Editorial standards

Sourcing

We prioritize primary sources: university extension services and regulators for food safety, manufacturer documentation for machine specifications, and research papers where they exist. Trade publications and qualified experts are secondary sources. Every article lists its sources with the date we accessed them.

Claims we will not make

We do not invent hands-on experience, publish shelf-life guarantees, imply that freeze-drying makes unsafe food safe, present state law summaries as legal advice, use unsupported superlatives, or publish reviews or testimonials that didn't come from real, identified people. If evidence for a claim is incomplete, we say so rather than filling the gap with plausible language.

How AI is used

Research and drafting are AI-assisted. AI never publishes: every page is reviewed by a human editor who checks claims against sources before it goes live, and pages touching food safety or selling rules get additional scrutiny. We use AI to work faster on evidence we've gathered — not to substitute for evidence.

Freshness

Machine prices and lineups are re-checked at least every 90 days; guides every 180 days. We update dateModified only when something material changes, and we describe significant revisions rather than silently re-dating pages.

Corrections

When we get something wrong, we fix it, note the correction on the article, and log it on the corrections page. You can report an error via the contact page.

Commercial independence

Editorial decisions are made before commercial ones. Any future affiliate relationship or owned product will be disclosed adjacent to the content it touches, and comparisons will never be constructed to crown a product we profit from without prominent disclosure. Details: affiliate disclosure.