Revolutionizing Food Safety with Birko's Cutting-Edge Solutions

Introduction

Food safety and quality have always been paramount for companies like Pineland Farms, Stone Meats, and Birchwood Foods. With a shared commitment to delivering safe, high-quality products to consumers, these organizations sought a partner to help them meet increasingly stringent industry standards while improving efficiency and sustainability. Birko, a leader in food safety and intervention technologies, stepped in to provide innovative solutions tailored to their needs.

Challenge

Each company faced unique challenges:

• Stone Meats, a ground beef processor, struggled with bacterial cross-contamination during further processing and sought a system that balanced safety, quality, and sustainability.
• Birchwood Foods needed a comprehensive approach to address sanitation deficiencies, improve environmental safety, and reduce operational costs.

In every case, traditional solutions fell short of meeting modern demands, creating a critical need for tailored intervention systems.

Solution

Birko partnered with each company to design and implement customized food safety solutions:

1. Stone Meats collaborated with Birko to develop a multiple-hurdle intervention program, integrating advanced beef-side technology. Working with Utah State University, the program achieved significant bacterial reductions, improved product color, and enhanced flavor profiles. This partnership also reduced shrinkage and extended shelf life, directly benefiting both producers and consumers.
2. Birchwood Foods underwent a transformative SWAT audit conducted by Birko. This comprehensive evaluation identified areas for improvement, such as chemical distribution and sanitation practices. Birko introduced the BOSS system, which optimized chemical use and enhanced overall plant cleanliness, gaining praise from employees and executive leadership alike.

Result

The results across all companies demonstrate the transformative impact of Birko’s expertise:

• Stone Meats achieved better product quality, extended shelf life, and improved customer satisfaction, all while ensuring safety through innovative bacterial reduction methods.
• Birchwood Foods reduced chemical usage, improved sanitation consistency, and strengthened employee morale, laying the foundation for future improvements.

In every case, Birko’s customer service and technical support exceeded expectations, solidifying long-term partnerships.

Conclusion

Birko’s innovative food safety solutions, from cutting-edge intervention systems like Elite 360 to comprehensive audits and tailored sanitation programs, have revolutionized food safety for industry leaders. By prioritizing sustainability, operational efficiency, and consumer protection, Birko empowers its partners to achieve unparalleled success.

Let Birko help you achieve safer, smarter food safety practices—because nothing is more important than protecting the food chain.

Testimonials:

What our Customers Had to say:

We are very pleased with our newly installed laundry system. We were taking a substantial number of frocks out of commission each day because we couldn’t get them clean enough. Since we started using Birko’s Laundry system, we’ve dramatically reduced our rewash, saving us money on the frocks, but have also become more efficient, which is also saving us on water, energy and labor. Our technical sales rep and the Birko team has been with us every step of the way. Their knowledge and responsiveness can’t be beat. I know I can always count on our rep and the entire Birko team.”

Barry Trotter, Services Supervisor Bar-S, Elk City, OK

Birko knows laundry and their service is unmatched. We all know how stressful it can be to install and start up new equipment, that’s why it was so great when Birko took on helping us with our new laundry and chemical pumping system. Thanks to the Birko team, we had a smooth and successful startup of our new system. We can’t afford any downtime with our laundry so I appreciate that they regularly monitor our pumps and formulations which they report back to us so that we can ensure that everything is running smooth, safe and efficient.”

Derik Page, Plant Engineer JBS Hyrum, Hyrum, UT

The Automatic Mixing Station gives me confidence that we are maintaining consistent, reliable intervention spray dilution rates. The automation has allowed us to experience an increase in production flow, and a savings in labor. Birko’s equipment is durable and reliable, and because of its value to Lower Foods, we are continuing to purchase and install additional units on our plant floor.”

Mike Mortensen, Plant Manager Lower Foods, Salt Lake City, UT

Birko’s technical rep taught us some great practices around dating and covering equipment that was not in use, and dating plastic that we had to hang due to an issue. His leadership was instrumental in us having a successful audit. We look forward to working with Birko as we continue our CI initiatives.”

Tom Christensen, Plant Manager GoodHeart Brand Specialty Foods, San Antonio, Texas

We have been pleased working with Birko, and that relationship has only strengthened with the addition of the Elite 360 system. As a Birko customer for over 10 years, I can attest to the reliability and quality of the equipment, as well as the exceptional customer service.”

Chris Williams, General Manager Pineland Farms Natural Meats, New Gloucester, ME