We R Food Safety!, the leading provider of food safety software backed by real-time, expert consultation, announces the hire of Andy Hanacek to the new role of Vice President of Communications. In this position, Hanacek will spearhead the development and execution of the company’s communications, public- and media-relations strategies and efforts, looking to expand the We R Food Safety! and Food Safe Pro! brands within the meat, poultry and food industries.

The American Meat Science Association (AMSA) announces Dr. Elisabeth Huff-Lonergan as the recipient of the 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award. The award was established to recognize excellence in the teaching of undergraduate and graduate meat science courses and the impact on the lives of those students in a highly positive manner. The award is sponsored by Hawkins, Inc. Dr. Elisabeth Huff-Lonergan will be honored on Thursday, August 6, 2020 at 3:30 p.m. (CST), during the Virtual 66th International Congress of Meat Science and Technology (ICoMST) and the AMSA 73rd Reciprocal Meat Conference (RMC) awards presentation.

Amid a devastating pandemic that’s crippling economies worldwide, here’s a Port of Oakland (Port) bright spot: meat exports to Asia. the Port said today its meat exports jumped 26% in the first quarter of 2020 over Q1 2019. The Port said it now controls 42% of the market for meat exports leaving U.S. West Coast ports. Its nearest competitor, the Port of Long Beach, has 31% of the market.

Smithfield Culinary, the foodservice unit of Smithfield Foods, the nation’s leading pork processor, has donated $25,000 to the Ferdinand Metz American Culinary Federation (ACF) Relief Fund to provide financial assistance to chefs, culinarians, and foodservice workers across America who are experiencing hardship in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Smithfield Foods will close its Cudahy, Wisconsin, and Martin City, Missouri, facilities later this week. Its Cudahy dry sausage and bacon plant will shutter for two weeks. Its Martin City plant, which employs over 400 people and produces spiral and smoked hams, receives raw material from the company’s Sioux Falls, South Dakota facility, which is closed indefinitely. Without these raw materials, the facility cannot continue to run. Smithfield will resume operations in Sioux Falls once it receives further direction from local, state and federal officials. This will also allow the company to bring its Martin City facility back online.

Smithfield Foods announced that its Sioux Falls, South Dakota, facility will remain closed until further notice. The plant is one of the largest pork processing facilities in the U.S., representing four to five percent of U.S. pork production. It supplies nearly 130 million servings of food per week, or about 18 million servings per day, and employs 3,700 people. More than 550 independent family farmers supply the plant.

The North American Meat Institute (Meat Institute) today said meat and poultry producers are leaning in to continue efforts to meet the global demand for meat under difficult circumstances.