I received a voicemail from an old associate from Smithfield Foods with some sad news. On June 22, Gene Gagliardi Jr., one of the greats, had passed away at 93.

Born Oct. 26, 1930, Gene was a husband, father, meat scientist, product developer, innovator. His many patents on meat and meat fabrication are still in use today, as well as a contributor to the meat buyers guide. I had the privilege to meet and partner with Gene on several projects and products, working side by side in his lab and the field. Mostly, for me personally, he was a great friend and mentor whose vision into our industry gave us all priceless knowledge.

Most prominently — and profitably — Gagliardi was the creator of Steak-umm. At its height, his family’s West Chester meat processing plant was slicing a million plus 1-ounce Steak-umm slices a week. Along the way, there’s also been KFC’s Popcorn Chicken, Spare the Ribs, Bojangles’ Buffalo Bites, and various Value Cuts for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. KFC sold 15 million pounds worth of Gagliardi’s invention in its first five weeks. Eventually, eight companies were making it. That alone rocketed Gagliardi’s then-Designer Foods from $1 million in annual revenue in 1991 to $33 million a year later (Main Line Today, Dec. 20, 2012).

Gene was the type of person that always looked to find a better way to get total utilization from the protein he was using: for example, taking trim that would be tossed in a pile for grinding and sold for pennies on a dollar and find a way to transform it into something elevated that could garner ten or 20 times as added value. He looked at the general makeup of trim and found a way to process that ground structure when run through one of his patented plates and formed would eat like a whole muscle when cooked. Truly unique the way his mind worked. Gene was considered an innovator in our industry; he always thought outside the box.

Rest in peace my friend. I hope you and Joan are reunited. Instead of a query this week, please share with others any memories, funny facts, or stories about this crazy mad scientist. You will be missed, Gene. Cheers.

Read Gagliardi's obituary here.

Live well

The passing of one of the great ones

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