Remote video auditing is gaining widespread acceptance amongst meat processors as another tool in slaughter operations.

Technology is improving process control at meat and poultry plants.

The training process for inspection and detection systems remains crucial, but technological improvements have helped make this equipment even safer.

Clean-in-place and open-plant-cleaning systems still grapple with food safety, environmental issues, water costs and availability, and energy costs.

Video image analysis systems, robots and live animal tracking tags are coming to a plant near you, if they haven’t already.

According to the recent National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s (NCBA) “2010 National Meat Case Study,” whole-muscle beef products are holding their own in the meat case, representing 40 percent of packages at supermarkets and club stores.

After a year of innovation, food-grade lubricant manufacturers are focusing on achieving more stringent certification after a new batch of food recalls in 2010.

Sausage may have the dollar menu at McDonald’s to thank for its resilience last year. Savvy breakfast eaters could find sausage biscuits, burritos and McMuffins at their local drive-throughs, and other fast-food and quick-serve restaurants (QSR) — including a surprising rebound from pizza restaurants — offered more low-priced options.

In the 1990s, a meat-plant employee entering a work station might have to use a decontaminating foot wash. Now, plant employees have to navigate a boot-scrubbing system, put on personal protective equipment (PPE) such as gloves, masks and goggles, and their movement is restricted to prevent any contamination.