Jan/San & Disposables News

Leading consumer packaged goods companies are continuing to reformulate food and beverage products with an eye toward appealing to consumer interest in foodstuffs that are perceived as “clean” or “authentic.” The trend is now emanating out of the center-of-the-store, shelf-stable product categories to processed meat items. A challenge many processed meat product formulators face is…

Clean label concerns may ebb and flow. Perhaps a sharp consumer focus may switch from avoiding azodicarbonamide to avoiding aspartame. Yet one category keeps riding a constant wave of sales growth. U.S. organic food sales reached $45.2 billion in 2017, a 6.4% increase from 2016, according to the Organic Trade Association, Washington. U.S. organic food…

The definition of clean label may vary from consumer to consumer, as well as from food company to food company and from retailer to retailer. Among the range of definitions, certain characteristics remain constant: products void of artificial preservatives, colors or flavors. Ingredient suppliers responding to this trend continue to offer innovations in natural alternatives,…

Safe and clean has become a mantra in the ready-to-eat (R.-T.-E.) meat space. Preservatives are added to R.-T.-E. meats to maintain food safety and extend shelf life by retarding oxidation, but they also must meet consumer expectations. Clean ingredients have become a requirement to draw and hold the attention of label-conscious consumers. “Future of food,”…

Regulatory insights tied to the burgeoning use of CBD in foods and beverages, as well as the handling of the plant-based meat substitutes now taking foodservice by storm, were key areas of discussion at the 14th annual Nation’s Restaurant News Food Safety Symposium this fall. The invite-only event, sponsored by Ecolab, drew three dozen operators,…

The Food and Drug Administration will convene a public meeting on Oct. 21 to discuss its New Era of Smarter Food Safety initiative that the agency says will build on the ongoing efforts to implement the Food Safety Modernization Act by incorporating new technologies to create “a more digital, traceable and safer system to help…

A food safety audit provides information about how good the total food safety program is and assures the processor how well it’s working. “Audits are a complement to testing,” Mr. Clark said . “They monitor and measure process control. Testing and auditing are used together.” Both approaches can be used in plants of all sizes.…

Testing for pathogens in products and plants is part of food safety, but not all of it. “The tests we provide are a look at what pathogens may be there,” said Mike Clark, a microbiologist and global marketing manager in molecular food diagnostics for Bio-Rad Laboratories. “But these tests are certainly not preventive.” The reason is, these…

While meat and poultry slaughterers and processors are always looking for ways to make their plants and products safe, they must embrace at least two approaches to accomplish these goals. They must take steps to prevent pathogens in the products they produce. In addition, and just as important, they must determine if there are pathogens…

Bakery foods, bread and prepared meals are among product categories generating increased demand for non-G.M.O. options, said Bethany Rahja, commercial analyst for Cargill’s global edible oils business in North America. Cargill offers an extensive non-G.M.O. ingredient portfolio that includes texturizers, sweeteners, fats and oils, starches, fibers, flour and ancient grains, cocoa and chocolate, Ms. Stauffer…