Francisco Najar-Villarreal and Dr. Phil Bass return in this week’s MeatsPad podcast to talk with Dr. Dustin Mohrhouser, associate pork quality manager with Smithfield Foods.

Whole Foods Market recently announced it will phase out live-shackle slaughter from its chicken suppliers at all U.S. locations by 2026, becoming the first major retailer to follow the Better Chicken Commitment. 

Formulating meat and poultry products with naturally sourced ingredients is crucial to ensuring widespread consumer appeal. 

New packaging in the deli and lunchmeat category often is being driven by consumers’ lifestyle needs. For example, portable protein packs were created because consumers want to be fit and eat less while on the go. 

Sell by. Use by. Best by. No matter how it’s defined, shelf life is a key value driver for highly perishable meat and poultry products. 

Keeping meat and poultry safe during the grinding, mixing and stuffing processes can be difficult.

Depending on the species, processing facilities implement chilling methods that include air or spray chilling of carcasses.

A host of retailers and processors see innovation as the prevailing driver of packaging format changes in the future, says one veteran industry source.

A lot of work goes into a “clean label,” particularly with marinated proteins. To achieve the ever-popular clean label, processors have had to re-think more than marinades’ ingredient composition, functionality and chemical reactions, but also improve natural sanitation, injection equipment and filtering technology.  

Sales are on the upswing as consumers look for products that meet their indulgent, nutritional and emotional needs, and meat and poultry selections are an increasingly popular part of the mix, according to Mintel Group, a Chicago-based global market research firm.