Kerri Gehring

Kerri Gehring writes technically grounded, industry-facing pieces that translate meat science and food safety into clear guidance for professionals across the meat and poultry supply chain. As a guest contributor and specialized contributing editor for MEAT+POULTRY, she co-authors the recurring Meat Perspectives column, which focuses on the scientific side of meat quality, processing and product innovation. Her work sits at the intersection of academic meat science and practical plant operations, so her coverage centres on carcass characteristics, product quality and process control rather than restaurant culture or general consumer food trends.

Meat Perspectives

Meat Perspectives is the core vehicle for Gehring’s journalism, and it defines her subject focus. The column runs on a recurring schedule and consistently tackles technical questions the beef and pork sectors face, from how carcass size trends affect downstream cutting and merchandising to what “ground beef basics” really mean in practice.

Articles such as “Here today, gone tomorrow” explain how larger cattle and heavier carcasses change the dimensions of subprimals and retail cuts, and what that implies for processors and retailers managing yield, consistency and customer expectations.

In “Ground beef basics,” she and her co-author walk readers through the fundamentals of ground beef - including composition, fat levels and product differentiation - with an emphasis on clarity and definitional precision rather than marketing language. Meat Perspectives pieces on aged beef and instrument grading similarly focus on explaining underlying science and systems, using audits and grading technologies to anchor discussions of quality outcomes.

Across these columns, Gehring adopts an educational, stepwise style that breaks complex meat science issues into practical concepts that industry readers can apply.

Meat science and quality

Gehring’s recurring themes are carcass traits, muscle biology and fat quality, and how these translate into value for different sectors of the meat chain. In work on pork bellies, she dissects “soft bellies” by examining the relationship between saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, documenting how ratios influence firmness, and why firmness matters for bacon manufacture.

That coverage not only defines quality attributes like texture, oxidative stability and flavor but also connects them directly to processing performance and finished product reliability. In “The emergence of a new favorite rib,” she shifts to ribs, comparing beef and pork rib anatomy and highlighting how specific muscles, such as the serratus ventralis, affect eating quality and consumer appeal.

Her attention to cut identity, muscle structure and fat distribution runs through these pieces, and she uses that detail to explain why certain products gain momentum in the market while others remain niche. Even when the topic touches on popular items, such as aged beef or “meat candy”–style bacon, the narrative stays anchored in measurable traits - marbling, pH, fat firmness, curing and smoking - rather than lifestyle angles. This approach marks her out from general food writers; she treats meat primarily as a technical product whose quality is defined by science-backed criteria.

Food safety and HACCP

Food safety and HACCP systems underpin much of Gehring’s professional work and inform her journalistic perspective. She serves as president and chief executive officer of the International HACCP Alliance, a non-profit corporation that accredits HACCP training programs and supports industry, academic and government personnel with scientific and technical resources. Her public commentary on HACCP describes it as a process-control system built on seven principles, designed to identify hazards, establish controls, and verify that systems work as intended.

When coverage touches food safety milestones, she emphasises the evolution from basic HACCP plans to full HACCP systems that integrate sanitation, purchase specifications and prerequisite programs, with validation and data use as central pillars. In broader industry discussions, she highlights how regulatory frameworks and technologies - including whole genome sequencing and modern slaughter inspection systems - are pushing plants toward more data-driven control of pathogens.

This safety-first, systems-oriented lens feeds back into her Meat Perspectives columns, where process control and hazard awareness are treated as normal parts of discussions about product quality and innovation rather than separate regulatory concerns.

Barbecue, bacon and consumer trends

When Gehring writes about more overtly consumer-facing topics, she still frames them through definitions, standards and production realities. In Meat Perspectives: Texas barbecue’s melting pot, she uses the popularity of barbecue to explore how different cuts, cooking methods and flavor traditions converge within the modern meat landscape, treating barbecue as a case study in how technical choices shape a culturally important product category.

Her bacon work in a dedicated trends and technology supplement traces the global growth of the bacon market, detailing how innovation across species, cuts, grades and flavors has diversified what counts as “bacon.”

She explains regulatory definitions, such as the requirement that bacon be cured hog belly and how poultry analogues must be labeled and described, tying labeling rules to consumer understanding and product development. Even in these more accessible pieces, emphasis remains on standards, nomenclature and product attributes rather than lifestyle storytelling, which makes her coverage particularly relevant for companies needing to communicate technical accuracy alongside market narratives.

Across her body of work, Gehring consistently brings the authority of a meat science professor and HACCP Alliance leader to coverage that treats meat and poultry as complex, science-driven product systems. Her journalism is specialised, detailed and grounded in definitions and data, making her a fit when a story requires rigorous explanation of meat quality, processing or food safety rather than general food commentary.