As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the United States, the meat industry increasingly faces the potential of pandemic-related economic and legal threats. 

The move to reduced-use and no-antibiotics-ever production systems is prompting the broiler industry to explore other tools, not just for managing gut health but also for reducing the number of foodborne pathogens.

What if the key to improving food safety in thermal processing — heating, cooking and smoking — is more water?

Employee hygiene in packing plants is now not just about protecting food, but protecting employees.

Traditional processing of summer sausage applies lower fermentation pH values (≤4.6) and higher thermal treatments after fermentation to meet U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) performance standards for E. coli O157:H7 lethality (5D process; decimal reduction dose).

While listening to an inspiring podcast recently, the speaker made an impact on my view of the unusual times we as a global community have recently encountered due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The three main components of pre-harvest intervention — probiotics and prebiotics in animal feed, pathogen resistance through vaccines or antimicrobials, and biosecurity protocols — all work together to reduce foodborne pathogens in beef, poultry and pork. Each operation, however, has to tinker with the formula to create its ideal solution.