CONTENTS 28 Bill Dumas approaches the craft of making sausage like an artist. Cover: Smithfield Foods' Kinston, NC, facility spans 230,000 square feet and processes boneless hams into lunch meat and other prepared foods. Source: Jason Arthurs 08 COMMENTARY Rising to the occasion 10 BUSINESS NOTES 14 WASHINGTON Wastewater regulations 16 COVER STORY Smithfield's Kinston prepared foods plant 54 SMALL BUSINESS Alpine Wurst & Meat House 60 POULTRY PROCESSING High-speed cut up lines 68 PET FOOD PROCESSING Coming clean 76 FROM THE CORRAL Auditing beef quality 78 CALENDAR 80 GIVING BACK 82 NAMES IN THE NEWS 84 SHOWCASE 86 CLASSIFIEDS 89 ADVERTISERS 90 THE INSIDER HOT DOG AND SAUSAGE REPORT 26 BY THE NUMBERS Sausage category is valuable 28 ARTISAN SAUSAGE The Sausage Sensei 32 NEW PRODUCTS New product innovations in hot dogs and sausage 38 SMALL BATCH Old Style Sausage 42 INGREDIENT ISSUES Sausage inclusions 50 TOOLS OF THE TRADE Sausage stuffers and hangers 4 MEAT+POULTRY | 02.24 | www.meatpoultry.com Photo courtesy of Bill Dumas; volff - stock.adobe.comhttp://www.meatpoultry.com