Podcast
MeatingPod
Hosted by Meatingplace Magazine · EN
MeatingPod is the podcast of Meatingplace, the premier magazine and news source for the meat and poultry processing industry. Each week, our award-winning editorial teams put you in the room as we interview industry thought leaders in business, plant operations, marketing, science and technology on the topics that matter to our community. Tune in on Mondays and get the inside track on the people and processes that power the protein supply.
20episodes
Episodes
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Ep. 187: 7 to 17 seconds to choose
Nov 18, 202400:33:59Tap to summarizeU.S. consumers have a lot on their minds besides food, even as they’re standing in front of the supermarket’s display of meat or alt-meat packages. They’re keeping an eye on their kids, putting together a menu in their heads and gasping at the cost of proteins. An alt-meat brand has between 7 and 17 seconds to sell itself to a typical U.S. shopper. Those aren’t great odds, but Chris DuBois has some ideas about how to beat them as the alt-meat industry looks ahead to 2025. The executive vice president of fresh foods for research firm Circana counsels alt-meat brands to focus on frozen, on forms and flavors, and on the findable core group of heavy alt-meat consumers that already exists. Chris joined MeatingPod to elaborate on those ideas, and other trends in the U-S and global alt-meat consumer space.
Transcribe →From the Vault: Flexible automation, robotics update
Nov 11, 202400:25:15Tap to summarizeDr. Konrad Ahlin, senior robotics researcher at the Georgia Tech Research Institute provides updates on the use of flexible automated systems, robotics, artificial intelligence and virtual reality in food processing plants. In this episode, he outlines how these advances are affecting plant workers and refining specific operations, like movement of product and maintaining yields throughout the processing line. Dr. Ahlin also discusses how collaborations with researchers at other educational institutions are advancing development of new ideas for automated systems and robotics at meat plants.
Transcribe →Ep. 185 Talking Turkey with Butterball
Nov 4, 202400:21:16Tap to summarizeJust in time for Thanksgiving 2024, Butterball LLC Chief Operating Officer Neal Walsh updates MeatingPod on the turkey processor’s recent automation upgrades and addresses supply questions in the wake of declining avian influenza outbreaks among birds this year. Butterball’s Head of Innovation Michelle Lieszkovszky also will join the conversation to discuss a revolutionary new Butterball turkey that allows home cooks to skip the thawing step entirely and place the frozen bird directly into the oven while preparing the Thanksgiving holiday meal.
Transcribe →Ep. 184 The food safety/profitability link
Oct 28, 202400:19:38Tap to summarizeMaintaining proper food safety protocols can directly impact a processor’s profitability because overall it makes managing operations more efficient as well as affecting brand protection efforts, according to Tim Vlcek, a food safety consultant and also the CEO of a direct-to-consumer meat business. In this episode, he outlines the connection between maintaining consistent food safety standards that start from upper management and in an ideal situation work their way down to the production line. He also explains how his meat company develops new products by making sure he and his team understand what customers want either in retail or in foodservice.
Transcribe →Ep. 183: How to forge a new alt-meat path
Oct 21, 202400:37:22Tap to summarizeSeveral companies across several continents are blazing a trail to a future cultivated meat market for consumers — and they’ve run into slippery slopes and rock slides. One company that has run into fewer obstacles is Australia’s Vow. Known for adding a dollop of showmanship to its hard-core R&D, Vow is both producing a product that’s consistently available on the market and promising new announcements in the near future. Vow CEO George Peppou joined MeatingPod from Australia to discuss the cultivated meat business in general, and Vow’s business in particular.
Transcribe →Ep. 182: A deep dive into H5N1 issues
Oct 14, 202400:33:54Tap to summarizeA special panel of three specialists in virology and veterinary medicine will offer specific updates on how various forms of the H5N1 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) have affected U.S. birds, dairy cows and even humans in recent years. Our power trio of experts will focus on viral mutations, cross-species migration and what lessons the poultry industry might be able to offer regarding biosecurity efforts aimed at containing the spread of this ever-changing virus. They also note that processors can — and should — play a more specific role in efforts to limit the viral risk to overall food safety.
Transcribe →From the Vault: Meeting the FSIS challenge
Oct 7, 202400:23:59Tap to summarizeNow that USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued its final ruling designating Salmonella as an adulterant in raw, breaded and stuffed chicken products, poultry processors may soon be required take another look at their operations. In this episode, Dr. John Maurer from the School of Animal Sciences at Virginia Tech will outline some of the options available to the makers of such prepared foods have in addressing the new rules. Dr. Maurer has an extensive history studying how Salmonella colonization works in chickens and describes the status of plans being developed by the poultry industry to meet the FSIS standards when they go into effect in 2025.
Transcribe →Ep. 180: Food safety lessons post Boar's Head
Sep 23, 202400:25:33Tap to summarizeFood safety veteran Sharon Beals provides her perspectives on what food manufacturers need to know about continuing the learning process when it comes to protecting workers and customers from foodborne illnesses. In the wake of the recent listeria outbreak that sent nearly 60 people to the hospital and played a role in the deaths of at least nine people, Beals notes that deli meat processor Boar’s Head and others can glean new approaches to improve conditions at their plants. Vigilance, communication and sharing information on systems that work will be key to improving food safety down the road, she notes.
Transcribe →From the Vault: The lowdown on asset-light
Sep 16, 202400:35:18Tap to summarizeAll meat analogue companies face a potentially huge hurdle right out of the gate: The cost of the physical plant necessary to make their particular foodstuffs, whether in the form of bioreactors or extruders or mixers, or any of an endless number of other pieces of equipment. And that doesn’t account for the cost of running and maintaining and manning a facility. Many founders are vowing to build their business on an “asset-light” platform, but what does that really mean? Tony Moses, former executive at the food industry-focused design, engineering, construction and consulting firm CRB Group, explains the options, the pitfalls, the costs and the value of a solid TEA, which he explains in the podcast.
Transcribe →The End-User's Guide to the Meat Case, Vol. 2
Sep 10, 202400:28:04Tap to summarizeIn this second episode of a three-part series, Anne-Marie Roerink, principal at 210 Analytics and the author of the annual Power of Meat report for the last 19 years, will explain whether consumers understand or care about the millions of dollars that meat processors are spending to upgrade their operations through robotics and AI. She also will provide data on the importance of food safety to consumers and how processors should take advantage of the opportunity to explain how these tech advances are benefitting consumers in terms of product choices and food safety.
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