TOOLS OF THE TRADE Linking to success Stuffing, linking and hanging technology advances to meet today's processing needs BY KEITH LORIA | meatpoult r y@sosland.com S ince the pandemic, sausage products have been on the rise and continue to be in demand, with the latest Circana data showing that the category is up more than 15% in the past few years. The market is looking for quality meat products at lower price points, and sausage is ideally placed with growth in breakfast sausages, hotdogs, fully cooked links, and dinner sausages. Automation that supports the more flexible use of labor seems to be among the highest priorities today. Once in the domain of large commercial and industrial processors, recent advancements in technology translate into meaningful levels of automation that are becoming affordable for even the smallest operations. Sausage has shown growth across multiple categories. 50 MEAT+POULTRY | 02.24 | www.meatpoultry.comhttp://www.meatpoultry.com