In this episode, Verde Farms CEO Brad Johnson outlines the challenges and processes aimed at maintaining innovations and safety standards for the company’s line of 100% grass-fed and organic beef products. The Mass.-based processor is focused on keeping the lines of communications open with its retail and restaurant customers in addition to conducting its own research on consumer trends. Verde Farms, he notes, is focused on trying to keep ahead of what shoppers are looking for when it comes to grass-fed and organic meat products.

More than any other segment of the alternative meats sector, cultivated meat is where innovation meets controversy. Long before it hits store shelves, meat grown in bioreactors has sparked a heated debate in the food culture wars. Government bans and social media backlash are complicating its path to regulatory approval and consumer acceptance. Fortunately, Kimberly Ong is here as our guide: The consultant with Boston-based Vireo Advisors science and policy firm spoke with Alt-Meat about the headwinds that slow the progress of the science and the policy. And, she has advice for leaders in the alt-meat sector on what to do about it.

In this episode, Agrimesh Technologies Vice President of Sales and Operations Erik Longtin outlines how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is opening doors for farmers, growers — and, even some processors — to increase operating efficiencies, reduce costs and generate valuable data that can help improve how their facilities work. The Canadian-based company currently works with a variety of food production and animal growers in both North and South America and is looking at new approaches to expand the use of AI systems to monitor and manage control systems across the food production and related agricultural industries.

In this episode, a panel of Danville Community College administrators and instructors describe a relationship the Virginia-based school has established with Tyson Foods Inc. The school offers a specific technical training program that gives eligible students who complete the program a chance to move into technical maintenance jobs at a high-tech Tyson chicken products plant in Danville, Va. Our panelists describe the progress the program is making in delivering qualified, full-time technicians and how the program is attracting new students in a “win-win” for all participants. The panel also describes how similar relationships with other types of companies in the region may be developed as feedback on the current partnership affirms the success of the program with Tyson.

Beyond managing programs at the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences that focus on food safety protocols, Dr. Francisco Diez-Gonzalez also is the co-author of recent research into the eradication of Listeria monocytogenes using blue light and polymers. In this MeatingPod, he’ll discuss progress in food safety management at food plants and the need for processors and researchers to maintain flexibility as pathogens adapt or emerge during the manufacturing stage. He also outlines the attributes that food safety experts of the future will need as challenges in maintaining food safety standards evolve.

The Israeli plant-based meat company Chunk has skipped over the patties and nuggets that dominate the alt-meat space at retail in favor of filets that fit quite nicely among high-end steakhouse offerings. Using a fermentation process, Chunk replicates the “grain” of a whole cut of beef steak, so it cooks and eats like its animal-based counterpart. Chunk founder and CEO Amos Golan spoke with Alt-Meat about its restaurant focus and the success the company has experienced in white-tablecloth steakhouses in the United States.

The expanding role of automation and robotics in meat processing plants remains a hot topic as companies and workers adapt to systems that can improve yields, affect food safety and avoid potential worker injuries. In this episode, Neal Walsh, chief operating officer at Butterball LLC outlines how these advances also have improved communication between executives, plant employees on and off the line, sanitation partners and customers. He also addresses what other factors beyond cost that other companies might consider with regard to their future upgrade plans.

Now 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.