Third-party audits are seen as a crucial component for food organizations today, meeting customer or corporate requirements, while providing them transparency and assurance. Unfortunately, just the mention of an audit is enough to stress some people.
The cellular structures that protect meat and meat fibers during a rapid freeze do not exist for plant-based products. The crystal growth protections afforded to animal proteins are not natively present in plant-based systems.
Supply chains across all industries are undergoing technological transformation to become more efficient, increase visibility, and improve transactions between trading partners and consumers. Product shortages and delays across multiple product categories during the COVID-19 pandemic made headlines, highlighting the impact of supply chains on people’s lives.
Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) entered the lexicon of foodborne pathogens in the mid-1980s. Initially associated primarily with meat contamination, STEC-contaminated produce products broke onto the food safety scene in 1996 when consumers became sick from drinking unpasteurized Odwalla-brand apple juice.
Tyson Foods is voluntarily recalling approximately 8.5 million pounds of frozen, fully cooked chicken as a precaution due to possible exposure to Listeria monocytogenes, a harmful bacteria. The affected products were produced at one plant located in Dexter, Missouri, between December 26 of 2020 and April 13 of 2021 and distributed to foodservice and retail customers nationwide and Puerto Rico.
Almost every refrigerated or frozen food product must be stored, transported, and sold with suitable packaging. For manufacturers and retailers, that packaging must enable damage-free transport, ensure stability, be easy to stack, and be lightweight to keep transportation costs low.