Where does our food come from? Such a simple question that our childhood or often adult selves might find ourselves pondering. Growing up I never held or wanted to hold a job working in the foodservice industry. I intentionally avoided it because I didn’t want to know where my food came from, how it was being prepared or what was in it. I didn’t want to ruin the experience of eating at that restaurant or fast food chain. I stuck to “safe” retail jobs selling clothes or shoes; so, it’s ironic that I ended up here (and for the record wouldn’t leave either).

Now, here we are in this sweeping shift where more and more consumers what to know what’s in their food [meat]. I can’t say I was ever one of those people, but today after a decade of working in the food industry, I can see the comfort in knowing.

Now that I’ve visited farms, meat production and processing floors, and tortilla manufacturers to name a few, I find a comfort in knowing that our meat is produced in the most economical and safe ways possible. I’ve seen how clean the barns and meat production floors are, and I’ve met the people behind the magic. I only wish we could do this more — share this more — with the unknowing public. I have all the confidence that they would see it, too.

Many of the checkoff organizations have done this; they and their producer members have opened their doors for retailers, schools, dieticians and influencers. We’ve also seen these same organizations, state affiliations, meat companies, animal health companies and other allied industry members use video like the Glass Walls series, or virtual reality to give consumers “a look inside.” While I commend all these efforts, to quote the late great Marvin Gaye, “Ain’t nothing like the real thing, baby.” There is just something about the smells, the sounds, the atmosphere, and interacting with the farmers in the barns and the meat cutters on the production floor that bring the experience to life.

We can’t replicate that human element through technologies, and we can’t underestimate the power of “seeing for myself.” The opportunity to go through a production facility or a meat plant are invaluable experiences. We can, however, make a few tweaks to our current technology efforts which may help to close the gap.

For example, instead of virtual reality, why not a live virtual farm tour? Instead of a website with pictures explaining, why not a real-time feed of the happenings inside of a barn? To create trust and transparency in our industry, we must get better at figuring out how to instill that emotional connection one feels when visiting a farm or a plant for oneself.

Ain’t nothing like the real thing

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