Bonne said he believes the freshness of meat and poultry is the No. 1 purchase criteria for consumers, and from an industry or a grocery distribution standpoint, consistent freshness is the No. 1 reason that consumers decide what store they're going to shop in. At the same time, meat and poultry are the single largest revenue-generating product category for supermarkets, and also carry the greatest exposure to problems given their perishability, he added.

“From a packing industry standpoint, the whole purpose of what it is they do for a living is to transform these perishable products into products that can withstand the ravages of the distribution channel and get to the consumer in good shape. So all of that put together is why we decided that there is good reason to develop the products we've developed,” Bonne said.

“From the CDC statistics, we realized there's a real safety issue out there, and it gave us that much more impetus to produce these products.”

The controversy surrounding modified-atmosphere packaging and carbon monoxide-treated meat delayed release of the label last year, but prompted FQSI to make sure the freshness indicator label worked with both MAP and non-MAP products. The company is also working on similar products for seafood and produce.

Sterilox Food Safety, KES Science and Technology, and Ecolab have also created equipment to improve freshness and food security in produce departments, and behind the counter in deli and meat departments.

Ecolab, a cleaning, food safety and health protection product provider, has a new self-contained, mobile foam generator called the Formula Foam cleaning system, designed for food retailers.

The thick foam is meant to increase surface contact time and provide better control of application. It also reduces product usage and water waste and can be used on a variety of surfaces, including display cases, floors, walls, slicers, prep surfaces and holding racks.

The Formula Foam equipment increases the removal of protein soils from vertical surfaces by more than 80%. It also supports environmental sustainability by reducing cleaning-chemical and wastewater effluent by over 50%, according to Bobby Mendez, vice president and general manager, Ecolab Food Retail Services.

“There is very strong interest, especially from our retail development partners,” Mendez said.

“They essentially designed the final product. It's recognized as a major advance for cleaning and sanitizing in fresh departments. We believe every major retail chain has an opportunity to improve their operations using the Formula Foam system.”

Other recent food safety innovations from Ecolab include a pathogen-reduction product for produce wash water, and a solid drain sanitizer for pathogen reduction in drains.

Sterilox Food Safety, a division of Puricore, Malvern, Pa., offers retailers a food safety system used for misting produce departments and crisping produce, a method retailers use to rehydrate produce by running it under water. Usually, the product arrives at the store dehydrated from traveling from the field and through the distribution channel.

“One of the problems with [in-store crisping] is that it's a Critical Control Point in the process,” noted Tom Daniel, senior vice president of Sterilox. If a retailer receives a contaminated case of product, it is likely that any pathogens on that product will contaminate other fruits and vegetables washed in the same sink.

Sterilox's washing-machine-size generators use an electrical current to convert an environmentally friendly mix of salt and water into a nontoxic, bacteria-killing solution that also boosts the shelf life of flowers and produce by several days, reducing spoilage and shrink. At lower concentrations, the solution can be used in misting systems to keep biofilms, yeast, mold and other bacteria from growing on produce cases and misting nozzles.

Other options, such as specialized air purification systems, can help improve safety and cut shrink as well. Brookings Natural Foods, Brookings, Ore., installed the KES-manufactured and NASA-developed AiroCide PPT air purification system, and after the first month was able to cut produce spoilage by 50%, Joyce Tromblee, general manager, Brookings Natural Foods, said.

The system kills airborne pathogens responsible for spoilage, along with the ethylene gas that causes produce to ripen more quickly. Since it doesn't use chemicals or produce ozone, it's especially suited for organic produce.

“Ethylene gas removal may be the initial attention-getter for King Kullen, Rouses Supermarkets, Whole Foods Market, independents and natural food co-ops that use the system in their produce departments, but it is the ability to kill airborne pathogens like molds, fungi, bacteria and viruses that give these retailers a holistic approach to food safety,” said Charlotte Pietrowski, spokeswoman for KES Science and Technology, Kennesaw, Ga. The system only requires annual maintenance in the form of changing its ultraviolet lamps.

These new innovations are geared not only toward improving food safety, but also simplifying employee training and cutting back on the time required to complete routine tasks.