mark eifert alpine wurst meat house high pressure processing HPP machine

Pennsylvania Meat Processor Alpine Wurst & Meat House Expands, Adds HPP Equipment

Dec. 20, 2023

The Honesdale, Pa., processor had been using a third-party toller for its high-pressure processing needs, but decided to invest in expanding its facility and installing its own machine.

Andy Hanacek

Honesdale, Pa.-based meat processor Alpine Wurst & Meat House has announced it has expanded its facility and installed high-pressure processing (HPP) equipment, aiming to improve food safety and shelf life for its products and those of potential processing partners.

The company, which is a second-generation meat processor owned and operated by Mark and Gretchen Eifert, has been using HPP on its products for the past eight years through a third-party HPP toll provider to avoid adding preservatives and other chemicals to its products. However, the cost of installing their own machine eventually matched up with the cost to transport product to and from their service provider, so Alpine decided to make the investment.

The new HPP equipment is housed in its own dedicated facility, built for the purpose, and is used for Alpine’s sausages and smoked product like bacon, cold cuts, pork chops and hams. The addition of HPP to the product line years ago has helped propel business growth to more than 400 grocery stores since the Eiferts took over the business from Mark’s parents in 2009. The company was founded in 1977 and specializes in European-style sausages along with its wide variety of meat cuts and products.

About the Author

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.