Food & Food Equipment News

Biopack Updates United States Sustainable Product Launch

Biopack Environmental Solutions Inc., a leading designer, manufacturer, and supplier of 100% biodegradable packaging products, is pleased to provide the following update on its expansion strategy in the growing United States sustainable packaging market.

Biopack America, the Company's recently announced United States distribution partner, has initiated a multi-faceted strategy to enhance sales of sustainable packaging. Biopack America's strategy includes direct sales of “to-go” containers and catering products, participation in industry trade shows and conferences, and the identification and selection of sub-distribution partners throughout the United States, as more fully described below.

Direct Sales -

Biopack America has successfully introduced Biopack’s sustainable products into the United States, initially focusing on the restaurant industry. Biopack America's customers, which can be found in many states across the country, include:

• Smoque BBQ, a famous BBQ eatery in Chicago which has been featured on the Food Network's popular television show "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives."
• Maya’s Restaurant in Seattle Washington
• Old Fisherman’s Grotto in Monterey CA
• Big Fish Branding in Erie, CO.

Tradeshows and Exhibitions -

Biopack’s products have been showcased at several tradeshows, most recently at the Produce Marketing Association ("PMA") show in Anaheim, California. With more than 19,000 attendees, the PMA is one of the largest international events solely dedicated to fruits, vegetables, and floral. Of particular interest at the PMA was the Company's innovative moisture, grease and water resistant trays or “coated” trays. In addition to the PMA, Biopack participated at the Taste of Atlanta, a food festival showcasing restaurants and foods throughout the Southwest.

Sub-distribution -

Biopack America has secured sub-distribution partnerships in Atlanta and Puerto Rico to service the catering product markets. Biopack America has entered into a letter of intent with G4 Packaging, a leading provider of eco-friendly containers which is dedicated to supplying EPS foam alternatives in the packaging market. G4 Packaging has long standing relationships with retail chains, supermarkets and processors throughout the United States.

“Biopack places a high priority on our growth in the United States, which is the largest single market for packing in the world," commented Mr. Gerald Lau, Chief Executive Officer of Biopack. "We feel strongly that we are on the correct path following our multi-faceted strategy to introduce our biodegradable and compostable products. Our experience has led us to believe that it takes a lead time of about 6-12 months to break into new markets and develop new products on a case by case basis, so we are excited about the pace at which we are moving in the US. Our early results have shown that we have a product that has been easily accepted into the market, and we believe our efforts will result in larger orders and establishing a diversified and lasting customer base. The interest for our new spray coated products is also much higher than we originally anticipated. I am very encouraged with the amount of inquiries we have had in such a short period of time, and now that we have tested the market, Biopack will move forward aggressively in our expansion initiatives.”

About Biopack

Biopack manufactures 100% biodegradable consumer packaging products from locally available sugar cane waste called Bagasse. Based in Hong Kong with manufacturing facilities in Jiangmen, China, Biopack has earned the “premium brand” label in the biodegradable packaging market in Europe. Distributed under the “Roots Biopack” trademark, Biopack’s unique line of compostable packaging is sold in 12 European countries, North America, Hong Kong and Taiwan. 

For more information, visit Biopack.

Ashman Manufacturing & Distributing Co. Introduces New Pump Program

 

Ashman Manufacturing & Distributing Co. has introduced their new Pump Program. The program is as reliable as the Ashman Manufacturing name.

Distributor pricing or warehouse pricing will be $179.20 per case or $22.40 per ½ gallon container. Regular wholesale on the case is $224.00 or $28.00 per ½ gallon - $56.00 per GAL. The pricing of the new Ashman Manufacturing & Distributing Co. Pump Program matches McCormick’s pump program which has been discontinued. 

The following is a list of the available flavors:

• House Mango Key Lime                                  8 quantity ½ gallon per cs 
• House Citrus Wasabi                                       8 quantity ½ gallon per cs
• House Red Wine Dijon                                    8 quantity ½ gallon per cs 
• House Sweet & Spicy (new flavor)                  8 quantity ½ gallon per cs 

Each product case has 1 pump enclosed which is to be used for that case.  Any additional pumps may be ordered at $1.50 each.

About Ashman Manufacturing & Distributing Co.

Ashman Manufacturing and Distributing Company is celebrating its 20th year in business as a specialty food manufacturer and distributor. In fact, Ashman manufactures over 200 different specialty food products including the Virginia Gentleman Bourbon Sauce Line, the Classic American Specialty Sauce Line, the House Seafood Marinade and Dry Blends Lines as well as many unique restaurant retail concepts for Pierce’s Pitt BBQ Hill Country Barbecue Market (NY), Blue Smoke (NY), Tabla (NY), Union Square Hospitality Group, Rockland.s BBQ and Grilling Company (Washington DC), and for Chili Peppers Restaurant (Outer Banks, North Carolina).

For more information, visit Ashman Manufacturing & Distributing Co.

FDA Issues 2009 FDA Food Code

Updated code is a model for state, city, county, tribal, territorial agencies and industry.

 

The Food and Drug Administration announced the publication of the new FDA Food Code, a model code and reference document that provides a scientifically sound technical and legal basis for regulating the retail and food service segment of the food industry. The 2009 FDA Food Code is a key component of the President’s overall public-health-focused food safety framework for maintaining a safe food supply.

State, city, county, tribal, and territorial agencies regulate more than 1 million restaurants, retail food stores, and vending and food service operations in institutions such as schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and child care centers. The model FDA Food Code provides the basis for most of those agencies’ licensing, inspection, and enforcement activities, as well as serves as a model for their food statutes, regulations, and ordinances.

Release of the FDA Food Code provides all levels of government with practical, science-based guidance and manageable, enforceable provisions for mitigating known risks of foodborne illness. The FDA Food Code also serves as a reference document for the retail food industry.

“The FDA is spearheading an important initiative to improve the nation’s food safety system by establishing a fully integrated national system with federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial regulatory agencies,” said Dr. Stephen Sundlof, director of FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. “Food Code adoption and implementation in all jurisdictions are important for achieving uniform national food safety standards and for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of our nation’s food safety system.”

The 2009 edition of the Food Code is the seventh full edition published by the FDA. The previous full edition was released in 2005 with a supplement published in 2007.

Significant enhancements to the 2009 FDA Food Code include:

• Each provision in the FDA Food Code is now designated as a “Priority Item,” a “Priority Foundation Item,” or a “Core Item,” to assist the industry and regulatory community in prioritizing their food safety interventions and their inspections.  These designations are based on a qualitative risk assessment and replace the use of “Critical” and “Non-Critical” designations in previous editions of the FDA Food Code. 
• Cut leafy greens are now included among the foods that require time and temperature control for safety and a new supporting reference document, “Recommendations to Food Establishments for Serving or Selling Cut Leafy Greens,” is summarized in Annex 2.
• Requirements are added to improve food worker awareness of food allergen concerns in the food service and retail setting.
• Serving hamburgers and other ground meats in an undercooked form upon a consumer’s request is no longer an option for items offered on a children’s menu.
• A new definition and criteria are added in a new FDA Food Code section for the non-continuous cooking of foods comprised of raw animal products to address the safety of this cooking method.
• Several requirements related to the effective cleaning and sanitizing of equipment and surfaces are enhanced or clarified.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture were consulted on changes in this latest edition of the FDA Food Code that affect their agencies. The introduction letter of the 2009 FDA Food Code is signed by FDA Commissioner Margret A. Hamburg, USDA-FSIS Administrator Alfred V. Almanza, and CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden.

Copies of the 2009 FDA Food Code can be ordered from:

U.S. Department of Commerce

Technology Administration

National Technical Information Service

5301 Shawnee Road, Alexandria, VA 22312

(703) 605-6040; TDD: (703) 487-4639

Refer to report number PB2009112613

For more information, view the 2009 FDA Food Code.

Candy Hall Of Fame Ushers In Ross Born

 

Just Born, Inc. and its family of associates are proud to announce that Ross J. Born, Co-CEO, was recently inducted into The Candy Hall of Fame in Tampa, FL.  

The National Confectionery Sales Association (NCSA) hosts the annual Candy Hall of Fame induction ceremony, at which it recognizes the achievements of industry leaders drawn from across the world.  

Ross Born has been active in the confectionery industry since 1978, when he entered the family business. He serves as the company’s co-CEO alongside his cousin David N. Shaffer, with whom he has worked for the past 31 years.  Born is active in the confectionery business, working with the National Confectioners Association (NCA) for more than 20 years in a variety of positions. He is currently the ex-officio chairman.

About Just Born, Inc. 

Just Born, Inc. is a privately owned company founded in 1923 and headquartered in Bethlehem, PA, where it manufactures PEEPS®, HOT TAMALES®, MIKE AND IKE®, MIKE AND IKE® ZOURS® and TEENEE BEANEE® Brand Candies. PEANUT CHEWS® Brand Candies are produced in Philadelphia, PA.  Just Born employs 475 associates.

For more information, visit Just Born.

2009 Category Finalists and Winners, PMA Fresh Summit

 

Below is the list of all entrants and the winners, in each category, from the PMA Fresh Summit, 2009. Whether it is to catch a consumer’s eye and stand out on store shelves, to protect a product in transit and extend its shelf life, or to increase efficiencies with packaging that is more responsive to today’s needs – PMA believes that good packaging should not only be innovative, it should make an impact.

What is the PMA Impact Award?

The PMA Impact Award recognizes companies who are leading the way with exceptional produce and floral packaging that demonstrates imagination and makes an impact.

The Winners are...

 Environment/Sustainability

• Earthbound Farm (Winner)
• Earthcycle Packaging Ltd.
• L&M Companies, Inc.
• Mucci International Marketing, Inc.
• PWP Industries

Food Safety

• Clear Lam Packaging, Inc.
• Del Monte Fresh Produce
• Lowry Computer Products
• PWP Industries
• YottaMark, Inc. (Winner)

Functionality/Technology

• Clear Lam Packaging, Inc. & Taylor Farms, Inc. (Joint Submission) (Winner)
  
• Clear Lam Packaging, Inc. & Ready Pac (Joint Submission)
• Precision Packaging, Inc. & State Garden Inc.
• Primary Package, Inc.
• The Oppenheimer Group & SunSelect (Joint Submission)

Marketing Design

• Del Monte Foods
• Gems Global, Inc.
• Ocean Mist Farms
• Tanimura & Antle
• The Oppenheimer Group & ZESPRI (Joint Submission) (Winner)

Marketing Messaging/Content

• Dole Fresh Vegetables
• Mann-Packing Co., Inc.
• Progreso Produce
• Stemilt Growers, Inc. (Winner)
• Wholly Guacamole

Supply Chain Efficiencies

• Del Monte Fresh Produce
• F.D.S. Manufacturing Company
• IFCO Systems (Winner)
• NNZ Inc.
• Well-Pict Berries

For more information, visit PMA.

FDA & FSIS Collaborate To Improve Tracing Of Unsafe Food Products

The Goal is to Prevent or Mitigate Foodborne Illness

 

A joint public meeting focused on improving the system for tracing of food products and ingredients that are causing illness outbreaks or presenting other risks to the health of consumers was announced today by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Recognizing the need to increase the speed and accuracy of traceback investigations and traceforward operations, both agencies are building on existing efforts by seeking public input that would help identify elements of effective food product tracing systems, identify current gaps in food product tracing, and suggest specific mechanisms for improvements.

The meeting is also intended to improve the ability of FDA and FSIS to use the information in such systems to respond to outbreaks more quickly by rapidly identifying the source of contamination during outbreaks of foodborne illness, and improving the ability of all persons in the supply chain to more quickly identify food that is (or potentially is) contaminated and remove it from the market during traceforward operations. 

“This public meeting provides an opportunity for FDA to collaborate more closely with FSIS as well as with members of the food industry, many of whom have been making important innovations in food safety practices and technology, and all of whom bear primary responsibility for producing and marketing safe food,” said Michael R. Taylor, senior advisor to FDA’s Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, M.D.

“The Food Safety and Inspection Service is eager to work with FDA, public health officials, consumer advocates, and the food industry to improve our ability to trace products that may cause illness outbreaks,” said Jerold R. Mande, USDA’s Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety. “The public can provide valuable input to strengthen our prevention, surveillance and response and recovery efforts, as outlined by the Administration’s Food Safety Working Group (http://www.foodsafetyworkinggroup.gov/).” In March 2009, President Obama announced the formation of the Food Safety Working Group, and in July, President Obama released Key Findings, which highlight steps that FSIS, FDA, and other Federal Agencies are taking to improve food safety. 

Food can become contaminated at many different steps in the supply chain. Experience in conducting foodborne disease outbreak investigations suggests that improved product tracing abilities could help identify products associated with disease more quickly, get risky products off the market faster, and reduce the number of sicknesses associated with foodborne illness outbreaks.

The FDA and FSIS share authority for helping to ensure the safety of the nation’s food supply. Each agency investigates foodborne illness outbreaks and other foodborne risks associated with the products they regulate. These investigations, conducted in close cooperation with the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and state and local health and agriculture departments, often involve tracing backward or forward in the supply chain the distribution of food products and ingredients associated with risk to consumer health.  

A traceback investigation is an investigation to determine and document the distribution and production chain, and the source(s), of contaminated (and potentially contaminated) food, often in the context of an outbreak of foodborne illness. A traceforward operation is an operation to determine the distribution of contaminated (and potentially contaminated) food.

The meeting will be held Dec. 9 and 10 in Washington at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s South Building in the Jefferson Auditorium, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C., 20250.   

Online pre-registration is preferred, but pre-registration can also be done by faxing registration information (including name, title, firm name, address, telephone number, e-mail address and fax number) to 1-877-366-3322 by Dec. 2. Pre-registration is strongly encouraged for all persons who wish to attend the meeting, regardless of whether they also wish to request an opportunity to make oral comments at the meeting on issues and questions described in the Federal Register notice.

For more information, visit the FDA.

Sunrise Growers Committed To Quality With Their Frozsun Foods

The employees and growers of Sunrise Growers Frozsun Foods have a passion for excellence and constant improvement. Sunrise Growers is the leading value-added supplier of frozen strawberry and other fruit products in the United States, providing a complete solution from branded to private label products in the fresh and frozen categories. Sunrise Growers’ unique position as a vertically-integrated supplier in both the fresh and frozen strawberry market has allowed the company to develop significant advantages in quality and food safety while exceeding customers’ expectations.

Sunrise Growers maintains a commitment to food safety and the environment by following Good Agricultural Practices from the FDA and USDA and maintaining a strict food safety program, supporting small farmers through a grower model, using solar power, using recycled materials for packaging and reducing and recycling waste water. 

Sunrise Growers Frozsun Foods offers a full range of products, from fresh strawberries to frozen strawberries, blueberries, peaches, mixed fruit, cherries and blackberries; as well as a line of delicious smoothies. Sunrise Growers Pure Fruit Smoothies are made of 100 percent fruit and fruit puree with no sugar added. 

Sunrise Growers’ commitment to quality doesn’t stop with the product. Expertise in the category and a strong drive to innovate has led to seven years of Category Colonel Awards in a row, as well as three years of Annual Produce Marketing Awards. Along with providing quality products, Sunrise Growers Frozsun Foods strives to bring inventive marketing and promotion ideas to retail and food service partners. 

Visit Sunrise Growers Frozsun Foods at booth 1362 for a taste of its innovative thinking.

For more information, visit Sunrise Growers.

In Demand – Sunkist Organics

The first load of Sunkist organic navels rolled off the line in early November 2007 at Jeff Pfeiffer’s California Custom Packing line. And that, as they say, was the start of something good. 

Today Sunkist has three affiliated packinghouses certified to pack organics. In addition to Pfeiffers in California’s Central Valley, Oxnard Lemon packs organic lemons in California’s Coastal growing area and RBI Packing, LLC packs organic citrus in the fertile California desert. 

With an aggressive marketing strategy and attractive packaging, Sunkist’s organics program has been steadily growing. “Our customers tell us they are glad we have crafted an organics program and are anxious to have us involved in organics in an even bigger way,” said Sunkist President and CEO Russ Hanlin. 

More and more Sunkist growers are growing more and more varieties of organic citrus. It is not an easy transition, nor a quick one. It takes three years to phase into certification unless growers are able to plant on fallow land. 

For many Sunkist growers, however, it is a return to methods used to grow citrus when they were younger. And often the transition to organics is made easier because Sunkist growers have long relied on Integrated Pest Management (letting good bugs eat the bad bugs) rather than on chemicals. 

Currently Sunkist has Organic Navel, Valencia and Cara Cara oranges, Lemons and Satsuma and W. Murcott Mandarins. 

For more information, visit Sunkist.

Blakeslee Introduces ElectroShift Speed Controls On 60 & 80 Quart Mixers

Blakeslee Planetary Mixers are legendary for their simplicity, durability, long life and superior mixing performance. So how do you make a great mixer even better?

Blakeslee has introduced NEW ElectroShift Speed Controls, which are now available on 60-Quart and 80-Quart “V” Models. ElectroShift Speed Controls:

• Eliminate the balky mechanical speed gearshift handle.
• Have a simple dial to set the mixer speed.
• Allow the operator to change mixer speed at any time...with Shift-on-Demand!
• Have four factory pre-set mixer speeds:
• First Speed = 65 RPM
• Second Speed = 120 RPM
• Third Speed = 200 RPM
• Fourth Speed = 310 RPM
• Provide a five-second gradual speedup to set speed, which reduces splatter and cleanup
• Allow factory-preset of special (custom) mixing speeds

Additional Owner/Operator Benefits Include:

• Powerful 3-horsepower Vector-Drive Motor can handle heavy mixing loads.
• A motor overload protects mixer attachments and the drive system from potential damage.
• Easy access to motor overload RESET on back of mixer column.

For more information visit Blakeslee.

The Coffee Club To Deploy MICROS Simphony POS To More Than 200 Stores

MICROS Systems, Inc., a leading provider of information technology solutions for the hospitality and retail industries, is pleased to announce that The Coffee Club has commenced an enterprise-wide deployment of Simphony, MICROS's next generation point-of-sale (POS) solution.

Simphony will be installed in over 200 The Coffee Club stores across Australia and New Zealand over the next six months and will support The Coffee Club's growth in Australia. 

With a key focus on providing 'Good food, Great service, and Excellent Coffee', The Coffee Club is renowned for its relaxed atmosphere. When selecting a new POS system, The Coffee Club placed reliability and store-level resilience at the top of its wish list, making Simphony an obvious choice. Simphony's intuitive next generation technology and service oriented architecture will ensure maximum benefits for The Coffee Club's 200-plus franchisees in a time of economic uncertainty.

"With our store base growing rapidly across Australia and New Zealand, we had to make sure our next generation POS could satisfy our rigorous expansion plans," stated Rod Wakefield, CEO of The Coffee Club. "Simphony gives us strong reporting and control capabilities at the corporate office level, while providing our stores a reliable and easy-to-learn system."

"We are delighted that The Coffee Club selected Simphony after having utilized our MICROS 9700 solution for a number of years," stated Stefan M. Piringer, President of MICROS-Fidelio Asia Pacific. "MICROS enjoys a strong partnership with The Coffee Club and the scalability of the latest generation Simphony POS will provide exciting new opportunities to grow its business at a rapid pace."

For more information visit MICROS.