Food Safety

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The never-ending quest for greater operating efficiencies by meat and poultry plant operators is making the sector ripe for clean-in-place (CIP) systems.

Keeping workers safe is an ongoing challenge for meat and poultry processors.

A recurring question I receive from clients, former colleagues, the public, family and associates is, “HIMP, what’s the big deal with it?” Then it seems everyone has an opinion, most based on what they have “heard” in the media.

In the meat industry, one might consider Wayne Marcho, founder of Marcho Farms, to be a trailblazer, as he has had a long history of investment into doing “what’s right” by the company and its consumers — the most recent evidence occurring when its continuous-improvement efforts were turned toward its already-strong food-safety record.

Processors use post-harvest pasteurization methods to put another barrier between their product and Listeria — their clean, sustainable qualities are an added benefit.

In 1998 the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods defined a CCP as “a step at which control can be applied and is essential to prevent or eliminate a food safety hazard or reduce it to an acceptable level.”

Shelf life and shelf stability are two important characteristics for many of today’s meat and poultry products.

Recall after recall, there are indications that employee hygiene and good manufacturing practices are not being followed and companies are not leveraging their most powerful tools, their employees, to control the process and prevent these events.

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) are pathogens of concern across various food products as they have been connected to a wide variety of outbreaks and recalls.