Validation of RTE product safety is necessary, and helped by a combination of skills and principles.

New launch activity in ready-meals category addresses nutrition and quality trends.

Although Maple Leaf Foods has always been committed to food safety, the deadly 2008 listeriosis outbreak traced back to some of its products forced the company to adopt more rigorous food-safety processes.

Since environmental exposure is a major source of Listeria monocytogenes contamination on fully cooked ready-to-eat products, cook-in-the-bag processing has become very important. By not exposing the product to the environment between cooking and packaging, the chance of Lm contamination is eliminated, which reduces the need for some of the antimicrobial agents and the post-packaging pasteurization process to eliminate Lm on ready-to-eat meat products.

Chicago Boxed Beef Distributors Inc., a Shorewood, Ill., establishment is recalling approximately 3,200 pounds of raw and ready-to-eat sausage products that were not handled in a manner to prevent cross contamination between raw and ready-to-eat products.

Hot dogs, as well as pepperoni and deli meats, are relatively free of carcinogenic compounds, according to Kansas State University research.