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MeatingPod

Meatingplace Magazine

238 episodes

2 days ago

As storied as the history of the meat business is in the United States, the “old ways” are falling by the wayside now. They are being replaced by technology and training. Meanwhile, the meat industry’s workforce also is seeing upheaval. While traditional sources of labor are coming under fire, processors also are having trouble finding a new breed of employee, who can manage the electronics that are filling up the space in the once-humble meat plant. In this episode of MeatingPod, the editors...

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As storied as the history of the meat business is in the United States, the “old ways” are falling by the wayside now. They are being replaced by technology and training. Meanwhile, the meat industry’s workforce also is seeing upheaval. While traditional sources of labor are coming under fire, processors also are having trouble finding a new breed of employee, who can manage the electronics that are filling up the space in the once-humble meat plant. In this episode of MeatingPod, the editors...

Show more...

Episodes (20/238)

MeatingPod

Ep. 235: The 21st century meat plant

As storied as the history of the meat business is in the United States, the “old ways” are falling by the wayside now. They are being replaced by technology and training. Meanwhile, the meat industry’s workforce also is seeing upheaval. While traditional sources of labor are coming under fire, processors also are having trouble finding a new breed of employee, who can manage the electronics that are filling up the space in the once-humble meat plant. In this episode of MeatingPod, the editors...

1 week ago

27 minutes

MeatingPod

Ep. 234: Turkey’s wild ride

The economics of the turkey market are changing. HPAI and other diseases have tightened supplies but prices are down. And decades-long annual sales cycles seem to have been permanently altered by the pandemic’s effects on social gatherings — but ground product isn’t picking up the slack. As the holiday season, and holiday meals, draw closer on the calendar, Mark Jordan of LEAP Analytics joins MeatingPod to help make sense of this fast-changing market, with an eye on what to expect in 20...

2 weeks ago

27 minutes

MeatingPod

Ep. 233: How to move from 'passion' to 'business'

It seems a time comes when a meatcutter or rancher wants to take their passion for feeding their communities to a new level, and start up a processing plant. Most of them will need the advice and guidance of someone like David Zarling. The food manufacturing and operations consultant, and program manager for the Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network of Oregon State University Extension, has for years led enthusiastic but financially naive meat pros to adopt what he calls a “manufacturing mi...

3 weeks ago

34 minutes

MeatingPod

Ep. 232: Out with the Birdbath Water

Every pound a broiler chick puts on up to market distribution uses a gallon of water. Multiply that by the nearly 10 billion birds produced in the U.S. each year — predominantly in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states — and that’s a small lake’s worth of H2O. Much of that is the byproduct of processing, and managing that nutrient- and solids-dense water sustainably and economically is a priority for the entire poultry supply chain. Auburn University’s Brendan Higgins has been stu...

4 weeks ago

32 minutes

MeatingPod

Ep. 231: Trust sells

Most U.S. companies have stopped talking about their DEI initiatives, corporate social responsibility and sustainability efforts. Nevertheless, sustainability, in particular, remains a vital part of food companies’ relationships with their customers and end consumers. Pursuing greater sustainability and communicating those programs authentically are key steps to fostering consumer trust, and as Nancy Himmelfarb puts it, “trust sells.” She joins MeatingPod for a wide-ranging discussion o...

1 month ago

32 minutes

MeatingPod

Ep. 230: See it differently — Kim Stackhouse-Lawson on beef supply chain sustainability now

Processors’ efforts to understand and meet the array of 21st century standards for “sustainability” may feel overwhelming, but Colorado State Animal Science Prof. Kim Stackhouse-Lawson boils it down: The foundation of sustainability is simply efficiency — something the entire supply chain has gotten good at. Stackhouse-Lawson, also the director of Colorado State’s AgNext food and ag sustainability research collaborative, joins MeatingPod to discuss the complexities of advancing sustainability...

1 month ago

30 minutes

MeatingPod

Ep 229: Stats to story: How Archer turns data into shelf space

Meat snacks and sticks, particularly in the better-for-you market space, are soaring in popularity, but not all brands are benefitting the same way. Archer has reached aggressively across distribution channels with statistics that not only tell the obvious story — “stock us, we’re better” — but also educates retail buyers on exactly how the meat snack category performs for them vis-a-vis competitors and what they can do to boost their sell-through, as Archer’s Vice President of Marketing Andr...

1 month ago

32 minutes

MeatingPod

Ep. 228: Moving targets — How Glenn Valley Foods managed the aftermath of a devastating ICE raid

Would your plant — or your company — survive the overnight disappearance of more than half of your operations workforce? Glenn Valley Foods in Omaha did, after an ICE raid in June. In a conversation with Meatingplace Editor-in-chief Tom Johnston, Glenn Valley President Chad Hartmann tells the inside story of the raid and what the company did in the days and weeks that followed that got it back on its feet. And Hartmann issues a warning: Any processor, big or small, could be next.

1 month ago

33 minutes

MeatingPod

Ep. 227: A legal game of chicken, Part 2

What goes into the decision to fight — or settle — accusations of price-fixing and collusion? The calculation is different for each company, but the fallout of the antitrust cases filed against meat and poultry processors still rains on the industry, and will do so for years. Meatingplace News Editor Chris Moore joins MeatingPod for the second episode of a deep dive into the raft of antitrust cases filed against processors over the last nine years. In this installment, we tackle the hid...

1 month ago

19 minutes

MeatingPod

Ep. 226: A legal game of chicken, Part 1

For nearly a decade, processors of all types of meat have been hauled into court on allegations of price-fixing and other types of collusion. The legalities are complex — and expensive. Most companies are choosing to settle before the case gets to trial. A notable exception is Wayne-Sanderson, which was just Sanderson Farms when a jury handed the company a victory in late 2023. Meatingplace News Editor Chris Moore joins MeatingPod for a two-episode, deep dive into these antitrust cases, and t...

2 months ago

17 minutes

MeatingPod

Ep. 225: Whither pork in 2025?

Pork is enjoying a moment in the sun, after a bumpy post-pandemic ride. Affordable feed and expensive beef are fueling demand for the red meat, even as upheaval around tariffs and the offsetting changes in the value of the US dollar work to sow uncertainty in the market. In this MeatingPod episode, Mark Jordan, executive director and senior livestock economist for LEAP Market Analytics, discusses these and many other factors that are steering the U.S. pork market into the second half of 2025.

2 months ago

20 minutes

MeatingPod

Ep. 224: On the ground with AAMP

The annual convention of the American Assn. of Meat Processors tends to be more of a friends-and-family-type gathering than most other meat industry meetings, but the issues tackled over those days are as large as any processor faces. In this episode of MeatingPod, Meatingplace Managing Editor Peter Ricci introduces two interviews he did on-site at the 2025 AAMP convention, diving deep into the challenges faced by the sector’s small, often family-owned meat processing companies.

2 months ago

28 minutes

MeatingPod

Ep. 223: Wrap it up — Packaging is the fastest way to land a sustainability message

Consumers often say they would buy more meat and poultry if they knew it was more sustainable. At the same time, nearly as many shoppers say they don’t know exactly what steps protein companies have taken to improve sustainability. One of the fastest ways to get a sustainability message to customers and consumers is through the packaging that’s around the product. Research in sustainable packaging is exploding with new technologies, as our guest, Dr. Eva Almenar of Michigan State’s School of ...

2 months ago

30 minutes

MeatingPod

Ep. 222: AI, HPAI, UPFs and salmonella — The poultry business at mid-year

It’s mid-2025, and the poultry complex has had a tough first half. But, the next months look brighter, as Dr. Ashley Peterson notes in today’s MeatingPod episode. The senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs for the National Chicken Council tells us how broiler producers can find federal aid to install new technologies to fight HPAI. She also explains how the association will jump into the just-launched national discourse on ultra-processed foods. And looking ahead, Ashley a...

3 months ago

28 minutes

MeatingPod

Ep. 221: Consumers embrace meat again — but don’t fall too much in love

Good old-fashioned meat from livestock is enjoying renewed popularity, a shift in the zeitgeist fueled by consumers’ demand for simpler, more natural, and less- or unprocessed food products. Add to that a social backlash against plant-based meat substitutes, and a renewed connection in people’s minds between meat and masculinity. Meat advocates and companies no doubt are enjoying the break from years of unrelenting criticism. But don’t get too comfortable. According to MeatingPod guest Kevin ...

3 months ago

25 minutes

MeatingPod

Ep. 220: Its mid-2025 — Do you know where your alt-meats are?

After a white-knuckle first half of the year, the meat alternatives sector stares down the rest of calendar 2025 from a position of retail weakness. Sales trends that seemed poised to turn positive again at the end of last year, didn’t materialize, and dour consumer sentiment could easily drown other, more optimistic economic indicators. Chris DuBois, Circana’s executive vice president and Perimeter Practice Leader, once again brings his insights to MeatingPod, discussing what’s happened so f...

3 months ago

29 minutes

MeatingPod

Ep 219: Five things we learned at IFFA 2025

Every three years the shiniest and newest technologies in meat processing are put on display in Frankfurt at the IFFA trade show. Meatingplace has been in attendance for decades, and this year, managing editor Peter Ricci did the honors. He came back from Germany with fat stacks of notes on what he’d seen. He did us the favor of trimming all those observations down into a few choice technologies he shares with us on this Editors Roundtable episode of MeatingPod.

3 months ago

37 minutes

MeatingPod

Ep 218: Hang Glide — New tech for the toughest job in the plant

Picking up 5 or 10-pound weights at the gym doesn’t seem like such a heavy lift, but most people only do it for a few minutes at a time. Try lifting those weights for an entire workday, 130 times a minute. The job of rehanging carcasses on shackles after going through the chiller is one of the most difficult stations on the line to keep staffed. That's why Georgia Tech Research Institute's Konrad Ahlin spent the last several years devising a solution that all but eliminates the stress and the...

3 months ago

31 minutes

MeatingPod

Ep. 217: The ICE Man Cometh

Immigration enforcement is ramping up — again — and regardless of how carefully a company adheres to federal programs like E-Verify, it’s no guarantee that Immigration and Customs Enforcement won’t darken the door. But, companies can take concrete steps to properly prepare for and respond to a visit from ICE, as David L. Barron, a labor and employment law attorney with Cozen O’Connor in Houston, explains in this episode of MeatingPod.

4 months ago

23 minutes

MeatingPod

Ep. 216 Flavor innovation in the deli department

Developing new products that attract consumer attention is a goal for all food manufacturing companies, and Land O’Frost, a manufacturer of specialty meats and packaged deli meats is no exception. Julie Lubash, director of research and development and innovation at Lansing, Ill.-based Land O’Frost provides insights on how the family-owned company developed one of its newest innovations: a line of premium chicken breast and ham deli products featuring hot honey flavors. She describes how consu...

4 months ago

15 minutes