A few years ago, Jessica Roosa, owner of This Old Farm, based in Colfax, Ind., was trying to solve employee turnover issues on the slaughter floor and began investigating solutions for her small, aged facility that is a custom service processor of beef, pork, lamb and poultry. What she discovered was changes that helped staff also helped her animals.

As I've mentioned before, dry-aged beef offers a flavor that is more intense than traditionally aged beef. And this is where our friend, the humble sheep, may have an opportunity to ride the wave of flavorful red meat.

While positive effects of dry aging on meat quality attributes have been reported in several scientific studies, specific chemical compounds associated with this unique dry-aging flavor have not been fully established.

As automated machinery continues to emerge in the industry and become more affordable, meat and poultry manufacturers will be able to reach new levels of process control standards.

While the fundamental design and operation of vision systems currently available in the area of quality assurance haven't changed dramatically in recent years, what is changing is the increased use of vision systems in this space due to lower prices for the components.

For poultry processors, water consumption, water reuse, ease of sanitary cleanup and robust operation are key elements driving plant operation and machinery selection today.

Postmortem aging is well known to improve eating quality characteristics, such as tenderness, juiciness and flavor; however, extended aging periods have been demonstrated to lower oxidative stability of beef muscles, resulting in discoloration and possible rancidity.

There is a lot of attention being given to the topic of alternative protein — "meatlike" products — which is causing concern among some people involved in the traditional production of meat.

Advancements are occurring with conveyors and belting for processors aiding in sanitation and longevity of the systems.

Inventory management is one of the most important management disciplines in every company that holds inventory. Inventory can provide the capability to meet a customer need, repair a broken machine, assemble products for sale or just keep production going.