A Meat Expert's Point Of View On End-To-End Process Improvements

By Steve Dowd

A stalwart of food production in the U.S. and around the world , the American meat industry is changing with the times. Long invested in food safety, processors continue that commitment while increasing their focus on business and process improvements to deliver safe, high-quality products.

As someone involved in this industry for many years, I’ve seen this evolution firsthand. Slaughterhouses and processors are finessing their operations to make sure that whatever products they are shipping out are contaminant free and meet stringent criteria and specifications set by their customers or their own operations and quality assurance programs.

On the slaughter side, it’s about packaging products to a specification. The processor wants to blend or fabricate an incoming product as efficiently as possible; if a product they receive is too lean or too fat, the process slows down so test and correction steps can be taken. Inspection systems can help slaughterhouses make efficiencies happen. Advanced x-ray systems, including the Eagle FA3 series, with an experienced team of experts help slaughter operations label products based on what is in the container and achieve desired specifications.