No man or woman, and no department or job title, can function as an island in today’s competitive food and beverage manufacturing environment.

About a year ago, the food industry was embroiled in the lean, finely textured beef media frenzy.

Most of the topics we cover in Food Engineering each month focus on improving plant efficiency and achieving new levels of innovation using advanced technologies.

I think it’s about time I told you something very important. There’s a lot more to Food Engineering than what you can hold in your hands.

As we put together this enormous January issue, the Food Engineering staff was also putting the final touches on the program for the 2013 Food Automation & Manufacturing Conference (FA&M), scheduled for April 12-15 in Naples, FL.

Today, mobile devices are used on the production floor to monitor processes and to communicate with supply chains.

About 10 years ago, someone from a major food industry supplier called me to discuss his company’s commitment to sustainability. 

Over the past few months, the news media have been full of reports about novel weight loss drugs and new findings about calories, metabolism and diets, as well continued reports on the obesity epidemic.