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Forecasting the Future of Meat

Industry experts weigh in on how innovation in food safety, sustainability, technology, animal welfare and more will shape the direction of meat processing and packaging in the next decade.

Future of meat industry panel NAMI
L-R: Dave Miniat, chairman & CEO, Miniat Companies; Karen Christensen, senior director of animal welfare, Tyson Foods; Savannah Talmadge, director of business development, Sealed Air; Chad McCune, major account management, Birko; and Al Almanza, global head of food safety and quality assurance, JBS.
Michael Costa

Among the highlights at the 2023 International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE) in Atlanta was a wide-ranging presentation about where the meat industry is headed, and what tools are available for processors to streamline their operations. Five experts forecast key areas to watch during the session, and here are some of their takeaways and advice for food manufacturing professionals.

Food safety and labor

Al Almanza, global head of food safety and quality assurance at protein giant JBS (and former deputy undersecretary for food safety under U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Thomas Vilsack) focused on how a successful, proactive food safety culture goes much deeper than what happens on the plant floor.

“People are the ones that will make or break you,” said Almanza, “and everyone is responsible for food safety. I’m not going to use any names, but the cleaning companies that are utilized in the meat industry—I’m sure most of you know what happened [last year]. So, what’s that got to do with food safety? It hasAl Almanza JBS meat"People are the ones that will make or break you," said Al Almanza of JBS regarding food safety in the meat industry.Michael Costa everything to do with food safety, because we should have known about their hiring practices, regardless of whether they’re a contractor. So, if you have a security guard, or hire an outside company, or whatever, make sure all those people are adhering to your policies within your establishment and your facility, because that can cause you as much risk as anything.”

Almanza added that an unwavering focus on being proactive instead of reactive when it comes to food safety can mitigate hazards before they happen, but that vigilance requires daily attention. “When we see issues coming, we need to know how to address them,” he said. “There are opportunities for us to improve on a daily basis, but they’re always easier to put off until the next day or until our margins are better, and that’s something we need to do a better job of [as an industry]."

Technology like AI and predictive analytics can help make it easier to be proactive when it comes to food safety, according to Almanza, but the data generated by those tools needs to be applied daily. “What are you doing with that data? Are you making decisions that will make you better, or are you just collecting data for the sake of collecting data?”

Almanza concluded that adding automation today in meat processing facilities “is so critical. This has been a competitive three-shift, six-days-a-week industry forever. And people’s attitudes today are not aligned with the six-day work week,” he explained. “So even if 90% of your workforce is present and ready to go, that last 10% can throw your weight off. The more we can do to make jobs easier through automation, we won’t have to keep pressing three shifts a day all week.”

Sustainable packaging

Savannah Talmadge, director of business development at Sealed Air, detailed where sustainable meat packaging is heading, based on a 2021 survey conducted by Sealed Air. Talmadge’s team focuses on deploying sustainable food packaging solutions for renewable materials.

The survey queried 1,500 consumers that had purchased red meat in the past 30 days. The results revealed that 63% of shoppers threw their meat packaging into the trash instead of recycling it.

Savannah Talmadge Sealed Air sutainable packaging"The expansion of refill/reuse models and recycled packaging will always win the day," said Savannah Talmadge of Sealed Air.Michael CostaThose surveyed did say they were concerned about multiple sustainability features in meat packaging. At the top was recyclability (56%), followed by biodegradability (48%), using recycled materials (46%), and the amount of packaging waste (41%).

“By definition, [Federal Trade Commission] Green Guides say that packaging must be able to be collected, sorted, reprocessed and must be available to 60% of households to be recycled,” said Talmadge. “Recyclability means it’s actually collected and recycled back into packaging. Today only 9% of the world’s plastics is recycled. Demand is expected to grow by 5.5 times in the next five years, because most of the world’s largest consumer goods companies have made commitments to use recycled packaging. But the supply is lagging and there’s not enough recycled plastic to realistically meet those goals.”

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LAST CHANCE TO SAVE! New Trends for Food at PACK EXPO Southeast