Investing in food safety
Food safety concerns every processing company and Burgers’ is no exception. Regulatory compliance is stricter than it’s ever been and processors of all sizes are committed to producing the safest food possible.
“We feel we have a moral obligation to produce safe food products,” Burger says.
Burgers’ maintains rigorous sanitation and testing practices and Fletcher says they’ve run the gamut of antimicrobials. And while there is no food-safety silver bullet, high pressure processing (HPP) is a technology many processors believe is the next best thing. HPP helps control pathogens by applying hydrostatic pressure of approximately 85,000 psi to packaged, ready-to-eat foods. It’s a large investment and one Burgers’ made after a lot of number crunching and thought. Burgers’ purchased the system, manufactured by Avure Technologies, about a year ago.
“It’s a great technology and it took us a while to get to that decision,” Fletcher says. “I’m glad we’re there and it’s the best solution we have right now for ready-to-eat product from a food safety standpoint. We really felt like for our company the best opportunity was to put this [HPP] in place so we can guarantee our customers a safe product.”
Packaged food is loaded into cylindrical vessels that are loaded into a large steel chamber. After filling with water, the chamber is pressurized. The massive pressure disables and ultimately kills any bacteria in the package. Burger notes that the process is a non-thermal intervention.
“We’re not reheating the product, changing the flavor, texture or color,” he says. “It gives us the complete kill without damaging the integrity of the product inside the packaging.”
Not only does the HPP provide Burgers’ with an insurance policy against recalls, it allows the company to benefit on another front.
“It gives us the opportunity for product innovation, clean-label evolution, that sort of thing. We can take out some of the chemical inhibitors and allow a natural, high-pressure process to intervene,” Burger says.
Filling a niche
Burgers’ Smokehouse’s advantage in the industry comes in the forms of size, flexibility and specialization. It’s one of the single-largest processors of dry cured, country hams in the country and produces artisan bacon on a large scale. However, as a medium-size processor, operations are batch-based, which requires constant flexibility.
“As a medium-size company, I think we can react very quickly with our customer base if they come to us with projects,” Fletcher says. “We have some advantages over a larger company that has got to go through a certain set of processes.”
A perfect example of the plant’s flexibility is its seasonal rib program. Burgers’ works with major grocery retailers to create ready-to-eat ribs that rotate flavors through the seasons.
“We’re big enough to provide a 1,000-store chain, but we’re small enough to be flexible and nimble enough to do a seasonal rib program,” Burger says. “Let’s say you want to run from a blueberry to a candy apple to a Kansas City style sauce. We can roll those flavors in and out on a seasonal basis.”
Burgers’ ranks as the largest cured and smoked meat mail-order company in the country. In foodservice they are the largest supplier of country ham in the nation.
“Through our unique products and processes, we fill a niche that other manufacturers don’t,” Burger says.
