Tuesday, May 25, 2021

First foray into processing plants shows COVID preventions still in place ... and apparently working

 For those unaware, not only do I work for We R Food Safety!, but I'm also the editor-in-chief of the industry trade publication, The National Provisioner. I've been working for NP for more than 15 years now, covering all the innovation and attempting to share the great work the industry has done during that time (since the mainstream media isn't always the most helpful when it comes to that).

One of the primary tenets of my role with NP is to visit processors to see, learn and share details of successful initiatives, innovation and great ideas! These articles could be fielded over the phone and email, but we've always held the belief that readers wanted to see our editors learning first-hand, in-person. Even through the worst of the Great Recession, I traveled the country to report on "cool things" happening at plants all over the place.

So, as you might expect, the last 15 months of the COVID-19 pandemic had burned a hole in the very fiber of my being on NP. Although I don't relish spending hours in airports, airplanes and rental cars, I *do* very much relish the personal connections and eyewitness education I get when visiting these facilities and meeting the people.

Last week, finally, I got back on the road. I visited two processing plants in south Alabama for our upcoming June eMagazine cover story. I wasn't sure what to expect out on the road for the first time in 15 months, and there were some things that surprised me -- and some that did not.

First, all the COVID-19 precautions were in place and running smoothly at the plants I visited. Temperature screening to get into the plant was a cakewalk (and pretty sweet technology, if you ask me!) with no bottlenecks or problems. I did come in between shift changes, but still, the way it was set up appeared solid.

Although the absence of them in many public areas in south Alabama was a bit of a shock to the system for this Chicago resident, with regard to face coverings, everyone in and around the plants had them on. Then again, with the amount of personal protective equipment worn in "normal" times, a face covering on a plant worker isn't really a stretch.

Lastly, partitions were still up and being maintained all across the processing floor and in the break areas. The partitions were probably the most "odd," as I am used to getting up on a ladder or catwalk and taking in the entire processing floor from above. But with the partitions in place, it looked more like a stainless-steel individual cubicle farm, rather than a smoothly running disassembly line. Indeed, product was still running smoothly and workers had plenty of space to perform their tasks, but there was a certainly level of what I might call "loneliness" that I thought I'd feel if I had to work in one of those areas.

It was great getting out on the road again. And despite media reports of people getting kicked off planes for not wearing their masks, there was no one on my flights who caused any kind of ruckus. Everyone did what they were supposed to do: Follow the rules to keep people safe. I didn't even hear complaining, honestly. Well, not any more than a normal flight might see.

So, keep up the great work protecting your employees, obviously without sacrificing food safety and quality along the way. After a bumpy start, the industry engineered solutions that work. Let's keep them in place!

Friday, May 7, 2021

Cultured, 3D-printed ‘Frankenmeat’ has a long road ahead, but can’t be ignored

When I first heard of 3D-printed and “cultured meat,” I was once again thankful that when I die, I will not be leaving behind any children to live in this crazy world. Having had so many years of experience in the plant-based, meat-alternative business, however, I also decided that I still should educate myself on these matters.

The companies selling these meat alternatives have some very trendy arguments for why they are a good idea. They say these products can be created with a smaller footprint, meat protein can be grown in an incubator much faster than on the hoof, animals are not put down for the process, and well, gosh golly darn it, we just have so many more people that need to be fed nowadays.

I can see how these products could be considered useful in some of those respects: For example, if you lived on a small island or perhaps a space station, that all sounds good. However, lots of things look good on paper until they hit the real world. You can find people who all thought Communism, extended warranties and New Coke sounded good at one time or another — just saying.

To create 3D-printed meat, you start by removing stem cells from an animal, placing them in a petri dish and putting them in an incubator to replicate. Once enough cells are present, they are then made into a paste, which is put into a printer cartridge then placed in the printer much like a typical ink cartridge and printing begins.

The process of “printing meat” reminds me of cake decorating. As a matter of fact, the process can create some interesting shapes, but so far, I haven’t seen any that look like a chicken breast or steak. So, perfection/improvement of appearance and texture are still on the drawing board. The first finished product printed was a breaded chicken nugget. Did I fail to mention that Kentucky Fried Chicken is championing this research? No word yet on whether Colonel Sanders is rolling in his grave.

Anyhow, taste testers reported that it tasted just like a traditional chicken nugget, but when cut open you could see that it was a mass of goo that had bubbled during the cooking process. I do not think that alone would deter chicken nugget fans though, because it really doesn’t look all that different from a cooked, meat-taken-from-the-bird McDonald’s McNugget.

When it comes to beef, they would likely follow the same process to make a paste and are working on a beef burger. As you might imagine, the companies competing for this market share are very protective of their processes, so I was unable to find footage on how they were trying to achieve the coarse-ground look.

Naturally, printing burgers isn’t the only target for these entrepreneurs. (Writer’s note: Naturally? Printing burgers? I’m not sure those go together!)  Some companies are already growing steaks. At the point of this writing, it had been reported that the cost of a piece of cultured steak the diameter of a credit card and about twice as thick is around $60,000 — and doesn’t feature the fibrous muscle tissue look of real steak. The ultimate goal would be to produce Wagyu in a lab setting, which clearly is going to be a few years away.

None of these products are ready to hit the market yet, nor are they approved for sale in the United States. On March 7, 2019, the USDA and the FDA agreed to jointly share regulatory oversight of these products. Two years later, the details are still being ironed out. What I do know is that my own state, Missouri, passed a law saying that meat cannot be called meat unless it comes from a traditionally raised animal. This gives me hope. What the labels on these cultured-meat products will say in the future is anyone’s guess at this point. My only concern is that it must be clear to the consumer. 

This new technology could prove to be a challenge for the meat industry, although I do not see that happening very soon. I also see that there could come a time when traditionally raised meat is much more expensive and sought after. Whatever happens, this is an issue to keep an eye on, and it is important that each state get on the Missouri bandwagon and pass laws now that require meat to be defined as traditionally raised.

— Martha Gore, food safety consultant, We R Food Safety!