Protein PACT Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Meat Institute general member companies are encouraged to participate in data reporting. In committing to participate in the Protein PACT, your company will lead the industry on its journey of continuous improvement for the people, animals and climate of tomorrow.

Meat Institute will inform members of the specific data reporting windows each year. In 2022, the reporting window will begin July 11 and run through the end of the month.

Members who report data will receive reports on their company data. Those reporting data will also be able to see how their data compares with an industry aggregate for each metric.

The metrics will not be changed for Year 1 from what you see during the Pilot. Based on your participation and feedback, the guidance and help text may vary for the official launch.

Metrics were developed by Meat Institute member committees and a Protein PACT task force. These went through a public comment period, were revised, and then were reviewed and approved by an Oversight Group of representatives from the Meat Institute Board of Directors and unanimously approved for public release by the full Meat Institute Board of Directors. An overview of the full process is available here (add link to Protein PACT Board report)

Members are being asked to report on the metrics they are able to in 2022. For some this may only be baseline metrics that represent regulatory compliance. Meat Institute’s goal is for members to be able to report on all metrics by 2030, and the organization will utilize aggregated industry data to develop resources and content to assist members where reporting is limited.

If your company operates under a doing business as (DBA) or you have a subsidiary, it is up to the company to decide if all the information should be reported together or if the information should be reported separately.

Reminder: If you decide to report separately and have multiple individuals who work at both company and subsidiary, to have reporting access to both entities in the Protein PACT software the individual(s) verifying and reporting will need a unique email address (one for the primary company and one for the subsidiary) to be able to enter data.

As a company, you will be able to see internal company data reported.

Meat Institute staff and others will only be able to see aggregated industry data.

Protein PACT is about industry wide continuous improvement through the development of data driven proof points. Its success depends on member participation. All the metrics developed are things that many companies are already being asked for by customers, and if they aren’t, it is likely to be asked for soon. Protein PACT creates a common approach to be used throughout the industry that can be shared and easily understood by customers, investors and ultimately consumers.

Beyond the industry benefit, participating companies will have access to a customizable dashboard and metric scores to show how they compare to industry aggregates. This allows companies to prioritize their own efforts and investments for continuous improvement to keep up with industry trends. The dashboards will be comparable by species and company size so companies can evaluate how they stack in aggregate to peer data.

Data should be reported for the prior Calendar Year. For 2022 reporting, data would be from calendar year end 2021.

Contact support@piestar.com or Kristi Block, Meat Institute Strategy Director at kblock@meatinstitute.org.

As we continue to build our Protein PACT work, Meat Institute has contracted CatSquared and the software platform Piestar to begin data collection on the Protein PACT metrics.

Cat2 is a MES Software provider for the food manufacturing space with the goal of designing smart-factory solutions that design continuous improvement for food processors.

Piestar is a software provider that simplifies the collection and reporting of key performance indicator data and provides meaningful year-over-year reporting insights for its customers.

Meat Institute followed a thorough process including a request for qualifications from nearly 30 different data management firms followed by a request for proposals from firms that were deemed to be qualified to provide data management services. Meat Institute received a total of eight proposals which were reviewed by Meat Institute staff, consultants with a background in data management and software implementation and members. Following multiple rounds of presentations on the software, implementation and security protocols, the reviewers unanimously agreed that the firms selected were the best choice for the Protein PACT data management system.

Data security was a core element of the data management firm review process. The data security protocols of the software system provided by Piestar were thoroughly reviewed by external cybersecurity experts with the law firm Ice Miller as well as member cybersecurity experts participating in the Meat Institute’s cybersecurity committee. Both agreed the data security standards were strong and protective of member data. All data entered in the system will be stored on a secure third-party server and Meat Institute will only receive aggregated industry data and not be able to connect any data to an individual company.

As an added security measure, Meat Institute will require that all members appoint one individual as the data verifier to manage company access and company information in the system. The verifier can appoint other staff within a company to report data.

The system was tested by Meat Institute members during a pilot stage. Meat Institute staff also participated in the pilot and had their own testing period.

Protein PACT login screenshot Visit theproteinpact.meatinstitute.org or go to meatinstitute.org, select Protein PACT on the website header scroll to packer/processor and click on the button How to Participate. This will lead you to a member only page. Once logged in there is a button to take you to the Protein PACT reporting platform/portal.

There are two roles created in the system. One is the verifier who sets up and submits the final data. Think of them as the administrator for the company. The other is a reporting role or roles. This individual or individuals report on focus area(s) as assigned by the verifier.

The verifier can:

• Add company information
• Add individuals to help report on focus area(s)
• Reviews all data entered
• Submits data
• Can have a reporting responsibility

There is only one verifier per company and companies must provide the verifier information before being able to access the system.

Reporters may submit information on metrics relevant to a specified focus area(s) as assigned by the verifier. The reporter cannot change or add company information. There are no limits to the number of reporters reporting on a focus area or for the company.

Resources can be found on meatinstitute.org under Protein PACT. Meat Institute members will need to login to see the Resource Hub for reporting metrics.

Have suggestions for resources submit them to kblock@meatinstitute.org.

The Protein PACT reporting site can be accessed, and data submitted from a computer, tablet, or phone.

As a company, you may want to provide some internal guidance on how to interpret certain questions. Another suggestion was to hold a meeting of all the reporters of a focus area as a group and review the metrics. This would provide an opportunity for discussion over what a metric meant to the group and how it applied to the company’s internal procedures.

If you have multiple accounts to report for Protein PACT, you must have a unique email address for each account. As a data security measure, the software will not allow you to login to multiple accounts with the same email address.

As a verifier, the company data from the previous year will be saved. It is suggested to review and make any changes to that information effective from the last reporting period.

As the verifier, it is very important you only select your establishment IDs. Once selected another Company cannot select that establishment from the list.

If you are missing an establishment. Please email support@piestar.com. Provide support the Establishment ID you are missing and they will work with you to get the establishments properly linked with the correct Company.

There will be a question asking if you have any establishments to report on in Canada or Mexico. A list of the country specific establishment will appear if you mark yes.

All focus areas will be aggregated into the full company. Reports will be based off the company's aggregated metric.

• Each focus area (except Health, Nutrition & Wellness) will be asking you to report how many of the establishments of the total number of establishments you are reporting for to be entered.
  • Example: If I am responsible for reporting food safety metrics for 5 establishments. On the first metric of my 5 establishments, 3 establishments meet the metric. I report 3.
• If there are multiple reporters on a focus area, this information will be added together to represent the company as a whole.
  • Example: My colleague is also reporting on food safety metrics for his 3 establishments. On the first metric of his 3 establishments, 3 meet the metric. He reports 3.
• At the end of the reporting period, the software will add all colleagues who reported data on that focus area and metrics together.
  • Example: Final collection data would read that of 8 establishments, 6 establishments met the metric.

Health, Nutrition & Wellness is the only focus area that reports (for Year 1) from the company as one whole entity.

Due to this, we advise that you assign a single reporter to this Focus Area. If you need to gather data from multiple colleagues to report on this area, we suggest that the designated reporter print the metrics out and collaborate on hard copy and that the designated reporter aggregate that information before submitting.

No, you will only be able to see your own data reported as a company reporter. The company verifier will be able to review and see any data reported (once marked complete) by each company reporter.

If you are not seeing any modules/focus areas/forms on the left column it is either because the reporting period has ended, or your company verifier has not assigned a focus area to you.

Reporting on Deliver would be the number of facilities that met the goal during or by the end of the Calendar Year.

If the text box only allows for a single line of text, 250 characters is the max. For most text boxes, there is no maximum.

As a reporter, you can right click and select print. Then select, Save as pdf or print. Any metrics with data already provided should appear.

This is one option to save an actual hard copy or a digital hard copy for internal records. This might be a good option if you are reporting on a focus area and need to gather feedback from several individuals before inputting the data.

As a reporter, you can right click and select print. Then select, Save as pdf or print. This is one option to save an actual hard copy or a digital hard copy for internal records.

If this is your first-time logging into the Piestar software to report Protein PACT data, password reset will not provide you with login information. As part of the data security measures your information must be verified. If you know your company verifier, you may contact him or her and ask that they add you.

At the bottom of each form there are two buttons. If you select save, the data is saved and the icon in the left-hand sidebar will change to a burnt orange flag. Only the individual saving the data will be able to see the saved data. If you select Mark as Complete, the data is submitted and the icon in the left-hand sidebar will change to a green checkmark and your total progress completion percentage will go up, and the company verifier can review the data entered. If you are the Company Verifier and you select Mark as Complete in the Verification form. This will submit the data and the software will begin to analyze and aggregate the information submitted.

It is important to note that until the data is 100% Mark as Complete, anyone who has only saved the data and the reporting period hasn’t ended will continue to receive notifications to submit data.

The first year your company reports, it will not see longitudinal data. As your company continues to report, a trend line will appear on the dashboard for your company showing your internal changes over time and how those changes reflect the aggregate of the animal protein industry responding.

The first Protein PACT reporting period is in 2022.

Yes, most of the metrics for this first year of reporting are slaughter related. However, there are still some metrics that a processor can answer. For each focus area, we suggest assigning at least one individual to report on metrics that are applicable to your business. If there are metrics you would like to see included, the evaluation form would be a good place to suggest such metrics.

If your information is connected to multiple companies, you will receive an error message in the verification form that asks you to contact support. Please contact support as this is one of our data security elements.