The National Provisioner June 2011

2011 PROCESSOR OF THE YEAR TYSON FOODS The Tyson team has focused sharply on eliminating inefficiencies and re-dedicatin...

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2011 PROCESSOR OF THE YEAR

TYSON FOODS The Tyson team has focused sharply on eliminating inefficiencies and re-dedicating itself to its customers.

Also Inside FOOD SAFETY: Putting metal detection/ X-ray technology to the test. SAUSAGE PROCESSING: Processors weigh in on a variety of topics.

Vol. 225 • Issue 6 • June 2011

PICTURED: Tyson Foods team members (seated, left to right) Nancy Trujillo, Kristal Delph, (standing, left to right) Mario Valdovinos, Mark Milbrodt and Jim Bob Spencer

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BY THE NUMBERS

Sausage Processing Survey

34

58| The National Provisioner surveys sausage processors on a variety of topics linked to sausage R&D and operations.

COVER STORY

2011 Processor of the Year: Tyson Foods Tyson Foods has kept its team focused sharply on eliminating inefficiencies and re-dedicating itself to its customers..

SPECIAL REPORT

Spare Parts 12 | Fight for Food Safety: Build sanity into sanitation 10 | Regulations & Legislation: What you may not know about frozen non-RTE products

Visit the new ProvisionerOnline.com

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Consumer trends Podcast!

Read Us Online

Hear about the latest research on consumer buying habits and its correlation with meat and poultry sales in our newest podcast.

The National Provisioner is online in an easy-to-navigate, easy-to-read digital format at www.ProvisionerOnline.com.

THE NATIONAL PROVISIONER | PROVISIONERONLINE.COM | JUNE 2011

108 | Six tips to improve spare parts management

Departments NCBA Column ............. 14 Food Safety Perspective ...18 New Products ................ 26 Business Strategies ..........32 Immigration Update ........64 Farm to Plate ...................66 Guest Column ..................70 RFF Plants of the Year .....84 AMI Expo Wrapup...........98 Protein Problem Solvers 114 Tech Showcase...............115 Classifieds ......................123 Ad Index.........................130

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June 2011

Tech

Volume 225 Issue 6

Editorial Board

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The National Provisioner’s Editorial Board comprises highly respected experts associated with the meat and poultry industries who assist the editorial staff in bringing you insightful, relevant information. When you see this logo, you are reading content contributed by an Editorial Board member. Tim Biela AFA Foods

H. Russell Cross Texas A&M University

CONTRIBUTING THIS MONTH Dan Emery

FOOD SAFETY |76

Meaningful Solutions

Metal detection / X-ray Systems

John E. Johnson

Putting detection to the test.

JBS

Huston Keith Keymark Associates

INGREDIENTS & FORMULATION

PROCESSING TECH

PROCESSING TECH

94 | Meat and poul-

104 | Experts offer

28 | Donna Berry

try processors are employing precision cutting equipment for improved worker safety and ergonomics.

protein processors a list of indicators of sustainable operations on farms.

discusses the incorporation of health-conscious ingredients.

Lynn Knipe Ohio State University

Gary McMurray Georgia Tech Research Institute

CONTRIBUTING THIS MONTH Mark Reed Border Management Strategies

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Editor-In-Chief > Andy Hanacek [email protected] Editor > Sam Gazdziak This month’s contributors > Donna Berry, Lisa Duchene, Elizabeth Fuhrman, Bob Garrison, Anne Halal, Dennis Johnson, Lee Johnson, Megan Pellegrini, James “Bo” Reagan, Steve Sinn, Phillip Slater, Shawn Stevens Art Director > Mary Ann Lawrence

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Regulations&Legislation

What you may not know about your frozen non-RTE products By Dennis Johnson

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veryone has heard the saying, “What you don’t know can hurt you.” If you make frozen, not ready-to-eat products, especially for household consumers, my question for you is, “How well does your product achieve lethality temperatures in the consumer’s home?” If you don’t know for sure now, you may find yourself in a bad situation later. Looking through the outbreak recalls of the past several years, the product implicated in the large majority of the cases was frozen, non-RTE products. Although frozen ground beef was the most common, the risk extends to all other non-RTE products that are sold frozen or could be frozen by consumers, whether beef, pork, chicken, turkey or veal.

One would expect that a prudent establishment would apply this lesson learned to assess the safety of its own products. The first and most basic question is whether preparation according to the cooking instructions on the label will ensure the lethality temperature was reached. In assessing the instructions, do not forget cooking on a grill; summertime is here and with it comes outdoor cooking. The second question is whether the product is designed to reduce risk of undercooking. Physical factors, such as size, weight and shape of the product can significantly impact cooking time. For example, in one study performed by an industry leader, frozen ground beef patties that were 1/2-inch thick cooked to 160ºF in just over 10 minutes; patties that were 3/4-inch thick needed more than 18 minutes to achieve the same temperature.1 One individual 3/4-inch thick hamburger took approximately 25 minutes on a flat top grill to reach 160ºF when cooked directly from the frozen state. One should not rely on a consumer to cook a hamburger for 25 minutes, even if instructed to do so by the label. If such a burger contained E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, or a non-O157 STEC, an illness could have occurred. Beyond design, there are also production variables which may make the patty harder to cook. Common issues are: (1) formation of air pockets in the patty caused by separation and (2) abnormally dense patties caused by excess mixing during blending. Finally, FSIS has also taken an interest in frozen, nonRTE products and has been working on a regulatory response. The likelihood of issuance increases with each outbreak linked to frozen products. So, what do you truly know about your frozen, non-RTE products: Do the cooking instructions get the job done? Is the product designed to facilitate cooking?

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Are there production issues making the product “harder to cook?” In the case of frozen, non-RTE products, ignorance is not bliss. 1 Siemens, Dr. Angie, Designing a Risk Reduced Ground Beef Patty, Cargill, Inc., 2009 Beef Industry Safety Summit.

Dennis R. Johnson is a principal with Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Bode Matz PC in Washington, D.C. Johnson has 30 years experience in food-safety law and regulation, representing large and small meat and poultry companies.

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FightforFood Safety

Build sanity into sanitation By Shawn K. Stevens

W

hat, one might ask, do sanity and sanitation have in common? Well, the etymology of the two words confirms they are each derived from the Latin word sanitas, meaning “health.” Effective sanitation is the cornerstone of any robust food-safety program. Companies faced with the daunting task of ensuring that unwanted pathogens never reach their food products, however, may on occasion become frustrated with the complexity of the task. After all, complete elimination of microscopic organisms — which exist naturally throughout our diverse environment — can sometimes seem a nearly impossible goal. Thus, before any effective sanitation program can be implemented (or enhanced), a company should identify and assess all potential sanitation hazards, then develop robust measures to combat each. Perhaps counterintuitively, the effective implementation of a standard sanitation operating program should start with a panoptic evaluation of the entire operation. Each step in the production process, including facility design, employee hygiene and dress, pre-operational sanitation, receiving, production, shipping, and maintenance must be carefully evaluated. Carefully assessing and then compartmentalizing each of the numerous potential hazards, once identified, will make the process of integrating them into a single sanitation program much easier. In addition, facilities and work areas should be engineered to mitigate cross-contamination, while also promoting the smooth, practical flow of product from receiving through shipping. Here too, careful assessment of hazards, followed by necessary enhancements to facility design, will allow unimpeded flow of traffic, effective use of space for critical interventions, and ample work area for employees, supervisors and inspectors. Controlled access to segregated break areas and restrooms, coupled with easy access to hand-washing stations located at each entry to the production floor, also will facilitate food safety by directing and keeping idle employees away from production areas. Pre-operational sanitation is also critically important

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to prevent contamination of products and — if pathogens are introduced — persistence. Thus, each facility should be divided into zones for cleaning, ensuring that no areas are overlooked. Each zone should also have detailed procedures for cleaning and sanitation, including the complete breakdown and sanitization of all equipment. Critical task checklists should be published, reviewed and signed off on, each day. Finally, the weakest point of your HACCP plan also will play an integral role in maintaining proper sanitation. In this regard, the failure of a single critical control point can allow unwanted pathogens to contaminate product or the processing environment. Thus, remember that your sanitation and HACCP plans are each, ultimately, dependent upon the effectiveness of the other. In the end, whether maintaining your individual sanity, enhancing your sanitation procedures or ensuring food safety generally, the true best practices are always about safeguarding health. Shawn K. Stevens defends and counsels meat companies in foodborne illness matters throughout the United States. Mr. Stevens also assists industry clients with regulatory compliance, recall planning, crisis management and other issues in advance of and following major foodproduct recalls. Additional information about his practice can be found at www. defendingfoodsafety.com.

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GuestColumn

New guidelines issued for sampling, lotting and testing beef By James O. “Bo” Reagan, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association

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ackers and processors are often targeted when beef safety issues surface. But we all know safety is not the responsibility of just one link in the beef production chain. That’s why representatives of many U.S. packers and processors joined beef producers, retailers, foodservice operators and government officials to establish “best practices” to meet new guidelines for sampling, lotting and testing beef products — the “Guidance Document for Sampling and Lotting of Beef Products and Sample Analysis for Pathogens.” The new guidance document is a resource for packers and processors looking for step-by-step procedures for sampling, lotting and analyzing beef and beef products for the presence of pathogens. The best practices will assist beef processing companies in implementing proven pathogentesting programs as part of a multiple-hurdle foodsafety system aimed at advancing beef safety. The No. 1 goal of the new guidance document is to eliminate pathogens from the beef supply by placing multiple hurdles along the beef production chain. With product testing, we can validate that the multiple hurdles are working to reduce the incidence of potential pathogens in the food supply. Developed through the Beef Industry Food Safety Council (BIFSCo), the guidelines bring together the industry’s best knowledge coupled with years of experience in developing efficient and accurate sampling, lotting and pathogen analysis systems, essential to establishing sound food-safety programs for the beef industry. The new guidelines plainly explain the proper procedures and methods that should be used to sample, lot and analyze different types of beef products, such as whole-muscle cuts, trimmings destined for ground-beef production, as well as frozen ground beef. While the guidelines are voluntary, they simplify the process for companies that are revising their current sampling programs or creating new ones. They serve as a roadmap for implementing the

14


most current safety knowledge to optimize safety programs while also identifying the expectations and issues that should be considered when developing a program for pathogen testing.

Engaging the industry in united efforts These new guidance practices for sampling, lotting and testing beef products were released at the ninth annual Beef Industry Food Safety Summit, hosted by BIFSCo. The event brings together more than 240 top industry leaders who share a commitment to the highest principles and most effective practices with a common goal: offer the safest possible beef supply. The summit is becoming one of the most recognized and respected food-safety organizations in both industry and government. Both the summit and BIFSCo are funded in part by the Beef Checkoff Program. BIFSCo unites the industry around the common

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GuestColumn Our commitment to providing the safest goal of improving beef safety, and nowhere is this unity more evident than at the summit. It gives company food-safety officials a chance to work with their colleagues in similar companies, as well as with their suppliers and customers. The face-to-face relationship-building is a big reason the event receives a large turnout every year. Because the summit isn’t open to the public or the media, participants can be comfortable in speaking freely. Company officials are honest as they share safety issues in their operations and ways to learn from them. Informative programs on emerging pathogens and important new sampling and testing techniques give attendees new knowledge. Research is presented and companies with beef safety products are on hand to describe their ideas. Now, more than 70 diverse organizations are members of BIFSCo, represent-

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beef products possible to our domestic and global beef consumers is unwavering... ing equipment manufacturers, packers, testing laboratories, grinders, restaurant operators and processors. All members unite through BIFSCo to identify foodsafety solutions through research and best-practices documents. Our commitment to providing the safest beef products possible to our domestic and global beef consumers is unwavering, and this new document is an example of that commitment. The Guidance Document for Sampling and Lotting of Beef Products and Sample Analysis for Pathogens and additional best-practices documents are available, free of charge, in the technical resource section of www.bifsco.org. These documents were developed by


groups of industry representatives who have applied their collective knowledge and summarized the current science and technology information that can be applied to beef safety systems. The documents are dynamic and are updated as the science evolves and new data is collected. I encourage you to also visit www. bifsco.org for details about the 2012 Beef Industry Safety Summit in Tampa, Fla. and how to become a member of BIFSCo. James O.“Bo” Reagan is senior vice president of Research, Education and Innovation for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

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FoodSafetyPerspective

Control the process, control food safety By Lee Johnson, West Liberty Foods

W

hen we use the term “process control” in food manufacturing, we evoke the idea of sophisticated manufacturing control systems and elaborate statistical graphs of microbiological or other analytical data. This is certainly the mainstream method of operations when detail is critical to the food-safety systems, such as temperature or pH control. Nevertheless, there is a much more simplistic use for the principals of process control in the management of food safety not related to detailed data capture. When we discuss process control, we are attempting to control the outcome of a system or process to a pre-determined level. This approach can and is used in simple manufacturing systems, such as basic good manufacturing practices (GMPs), as well as plant cleaning systems. West Liberty Foods is an advocate for developing manufacturing facilities and systems to make GMP and food-safety compliance easier. We believe that this approach to food-safety systems delivers far better results; and the management of these systems is easier with employee compliance being much more consistent. What do we mean by setting up plants and manufacturing systems with food-safety process control in mind? During initial planning of facility design or manufacturing systems, separation is key in making procedure compliance simple. This includes limiting access points into ready-to-eat (RTE) product areas, controlling the movement of people through physical separation, and having

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GuestColumn

physical barriers to limit the exposure of product to unnecessary risk. One example is physical separation between raw and RTE areas — areas that many manufacturing facilities today still do not separate. West Liberty Foods included additional physical separation in our facility designs between the RTE area, where product is exposed and sliced, to where cooked logs are moved and stored. Hand-washing is required 20

prior to entry in the RTE area and again before you enter the slicing rooms. Each individual will wash their hands two times before introducing themselves to any exposed product. Furthermore, the rooms physically limit who is allowed inside, and as a result there is far less movement of nonessential personnel around exposed product. Secondly, eliminating corrugated packaging, palletizing and boxing


from RTE slicing areas reduces the risk of cross-contamination, as well as decreases forklift or tugger traffic around exposed product. This can be accomplished by having a boxing hallway separate from the slicing rooms. Another area of food-safety process control is cleaning of equipment. Microbiological data will certainly aid in identifying trends; however, the physical process of cleaning the equipment

GuestColumn

is very important. Having systems set up to make the teardown and disassembly of equipment during sanitation makes the process easier, and will enhance the compliance and execution much more consistent and thorough. Racks holding loose parts aid in reassembly as well as identification and location of cleaned parts. Make sure to provide a mechanism to disassemble the parts and use a COP tank to aid in the cleaning process. This will ensure the sanitarian does a thorough job and reduces errors. Establishing a belt-washing system on a timer will ensure belts are washed thoroughly for the required length of time, avoiding potential human error or oversight. Simple organization of how work is done systematically will ensure consistency. Over the last 10 years, cleanability of RTE equipment has improved substantially and has made our job much easier and food much safer. To deliver consistent performance in manufacturing, process control is essential, and it is no different when applying similar principals across the food-safety systems. Keeping procedures simple, easy to follow and clear are key to making sure many food-safety systems stay under control. To get a better idea for the difficulty level of the procedure to be applied to the process, ask these questions: What do I want the employees associated with this area to do? How easy is it for them to do this?

Balance food safety and shelf life with clean labels

Meat manufacturers are under increasing pressure to deliver safe products while satisfying consumers’ desires for foods that taste great, have improved shelf life and label-friendly ingredients. The PuraQ® Verdad family of ingredients fights pathogenic and spoilage organisms in a wide variety of meat and poultry products ensuring shelf life and safety while maintaining the clean label sought by consumers. Purac is your proven partner, developing innovative products and providing technical support for almost 80 years. For more information, please visit www.purac.com/meatandpoultry. Purac, 111 Barclay Boulevard, Ste. 100 • Lincolnshire, IL 60069 • 888 899 8014

GuestColumn What don’t I want them to do if they had to move, walk, disassemble or work around this procedure, and how can we make it more difficult for them to do this? Process control is key in the manufacturing environment and crucial to food safety. Dr.Lee Johnson has nearly 15 years experience in the food industry,including technical roles in research and development as well as food safety and processing.Johnson is a graduate of Virginia Polytechnic University (B.S.) and Texas A&M (M.S.and Ph.D.).Most recently, he was appointed to USDA’s National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods by Agricultural Secretary TomVilsack.Johnson joinedWest Liberty Foods LLC in 2009.

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Harris Ranch unveils Angus ground beef products

Day-Lee Foods launches Purely Asian Brand entrée line

Harris Ranch introduces new Angus ground beef options — frozen ground beef patties and refrigerated chubs — produced to the highest standards by Harris Ranch and available in multiple lean points. Harris Ranch’s new Natural Angus Ground Beef Patties are available in both 81/19 and 85/15 lean points. The threepound resealable packages contain nine, one-third pound patties that feature a natural, hand-made shape. The new one-pound refrigerated Natural Angus Ground Beef Chubs are available in 81/19, 85/15 and 90/10 lean points.

Day-Lee Foods Inc. introduces a new line of restaurantquality entrees that combine fresh vegetables with the company’s premium-quality beef and all-natural, sliced white meat chicken. Purely Asian Brand entrees are high in protein, easy to prepare and free of preservatives, transfat and MSG. Varieties include: Mandarin Orange Chicken, Broccoli Beef, Teriyaki Chicken, Teriyaki Beef, Sweet & Sour Chicken, and Lemon Pepper Chicken. Purely Asian Brand products are made with U.S. sourced ingredients at the company’s state-of-the-art, award-winning plant in Southern California. The new line is currently available regionally in Southern California, Arizona and Texas.

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Bar-S introduces Deli Shaved Oven Roasted Chicken Breast lunchmeat

J&J Snack Foods adds soft pretzel-wrapped mini-dog to its product line

Bar-S Foods introduces Deli Shaved Oven Roasted Chicken Breast Lunchmeat to its already popular Deli Shaved lunchmeat line. The new Bar-S Deli Shaved Oven Roasted Chicken Breast is offered in a 9 oz. and 1 lb. sized package that offers convenience to both single households and families. The lunchmeat packaging is pillow-packed for long shelf life and freshness.

J&J Snack Foods is excited to announce the latest addition to the SUPERPRETZEL Soft Pretzel product line: SUPERPRETZEL Soft Pretzel Mini Hot Dogs. SUPERPRETZEL Soft Pretzel Mini Hot Dogs are mini 100% all-beef hot dogs wrapped in gourmet pretzel dough. Perfect for snacking, appetizers or kid’s meals, SUPERPRETZEL Soft Pretzel Mini Hot Dogs are packed six 10-count bags per case, saving operators time and money by only having to open what they need at one time. Additionally, SUPERPRETZEL Soft Pretzel Mini Hot Dogs are preformed and frozen — simply heat and serve.

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Ingredients&Formulations

Shopping for health-conscious ingredients By Donna Berry

he perceived healthfulness of foods and beverages continues to be a major factor influencing purchase decision, according to the hot-off-the-presses “2011 Food & Health Survey: Consumer Attitudes Toward Food Safety, Nutrition & Health.” Commissioned by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation, Washington, D.C., this annual national quantitative study took place this year during a two-and-a-half-week period in March and April. Of the 1,000 American adults surveyed, 66% identified healthfulness as a leading factor impacting purchase. This is a significant increase from the 2010 survey, when 58% of respondents said healthfulness impacted their purchase decisions.

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The survey data also indicate that 68% of Americans are actively using the Nutrition Facts panel for product information and almost half (49%) use the ingredient statement. Further, the majority of Americans believe that fortified foods and foods with added benefits have at least some impact on overall health.Yet, very few center-ofplate proteins are actively marketed for their healthfulness, other than the handful of lean meats that flag fat content, and now some products are highlighting reductions in sodium. There are many opportunities to improve formulations to better appeal to the consumer seeking healthful products. For example, Maxi Canada Inc., Quebec, markets a variety of frozen, fully cooked breaded chicken products, including nuggets, patties and dinosaur shapes. The company touts the omega-3 fatty acid content

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Photos courtesy of Mintel GNPD

of its products on package labels, and explains that the omega-3s come from heart-healthy canola oil and flaxmeal in the breading. These ingredients contain the omega-3 alphalinolenic acid (ALA), which is converted by the body to docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). Both DHA and EPA are well recognized as contributing to many health benefits during all stages of life, in particular in children up to age three, where DHA is essential for the development of the brain and eyes. After the age of three, both DHA and EPA are important for cognitive function, and research suggests that these fatty acids may improve behavior and learning disorders. Additionally, research indicates that EPA and DHA may reduce inflammatory conditions such as asthma, childhood depression and reduce the risk of type 1 diabetes. Most kids like hot dogs as much as they like chicken nuggets, so in efforts to appeal to the gatekeeper seeking out preservative-free wieners, a number of manufacturers are now offering uncured

Photos courtesy of Mintel GNPD

varieties.What they are really offering are hot dogs (and sometimes ham and other sausages) free of chemical curing agents such as sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite. Instead, they are often curing the comminuted and encased meat with the nitrates found in celery or spinach, two of the richest all-natural sources of nitrates. Celery juice, as a liquid or dried into a

powder, has been shown to be effective in controlling bacterial growth, one of the primary purposes of curing sausages and other meats. The USDA defines an uncured product as one that has been preserved without the use of chemical agents, such as sodium nitrite or sodium nitrate, which is why such products can be labeled “uncured,”“no

JUNE 2011 | PROVISIONERONLINE.COM | THE NATIONAL PROVISIONER

29

Ingredients&Formulations Natural vinegar, lactic acid and even lemon powder have also been shown to function as natural preservatives in processed meats. nitrites added” or “no nitrates added.” Natural vinegar, lactic acid and even lemon powder have also been shown to function as natural preservatives in

processed meats. For example, at the American Meat Institute (AMI) Expo in Chicago in April, one ingredient supplier introduced a concentrated dry vinegar

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product that can be added to seasoning blends for application in fresh and cured meat products. It is declared on ingredient legends as “dried vinegar,” and at levels as low as 0.8% has been shown to inhibit the growth of Listeria. Also at AMI, a number of fiber ingredient suppliers showed how fiber can be used to improve ingredient declarations on brined and marinated proteins, as well as burger-style products based on beef, poultry or vegetables. Certain fiber food ingredients bind moisture, which will increase yield and subsequently reduce fat and calorie content, as fiber-bound water is virtually fat- and calorie-free.This natural system can also replace chemical-sounding ingredients, and depending upon the application, contribute to the fiber content of the center-of-plate protein. For the healthconscious label reader, the addition of fiber is typically welcomed. And as mentioned, most protein manufacturers are trying to reduce sodium contents. One common approach is to substitute potassium phosphates for sodium phosphates in brines and marinades, as they work synergistically with added salt. Because there is a slight bitterness associated with potassium, flavorings and seasonings are often added to mask such off flavors. Another option is to introduce the mineral magnesium along with potassium. Magnesium has been shown to decrease bitterness and at the same time enhance flavor and provide similar functionalities as sodium. With more consumers reading labels, choosing better-for-you ingredients is becoming increasingly important for all formulators. Donna Berry has a bachelor’s degree in food science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has been writing on food formulating for more than 15 years.

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BusinessStrategies

Price pressure — putting the squeeze on all

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he current commodity markets are bad for everyone. Our economic climate is tenuous. Consumers are struggling to make ends meet and current fuel prices are forcing them to manage what they spend on food. American consumers play an integral part in any recovery because their spending accounts for about 70% of the nation’s economic activity. After ratcheting back spending during the recession, households have started shopping again. But with unemployment still high and wages barely budging, Americans remain sensitive to shocks, such as higher food and energy prices. Privatelabel products are growing at double-digit rates and key national brands are losing market share. In April 2011, gas stations reported the biggest jump, with sales rising 2.7%. Grocery stores saw Dan Emery, sales rise 1.5%. Spending at auto Meaningful Solutions Editorial Board dealers, clothing stores and nonMember store retailers, which are mainly online stores, also increased. Sales ticked down 0.1% at restaurants and bars, which are often cited as a barometer of the willingness of households to splurge. Consumers are not being frivolous with their money. With ethanol, exports and corn byproducts usage consuming an ever-increasing portion of the supply, corn prices are again hovering around the record levels of 2008. With feed representing over 33% to 50% of the cost of raising an animal, this has put serious cost pressure on food producers in the animal protein sector to raise prices. In April 2011, the cost of food rose 0.3% and energy prices increased 2.5% last month. The flooding and weather forecasts have produced a big topic of discussion. Unrelenting rains have meant unprecedented delays in planting corn. Concerns include whether the total acreage-pie is shrinking and how much of which crop is being reduced. Planting progress will be essential as the calendar approaches several crucial planting dates. Concerns also center along the Mississippi River (corn, cotton and rice planting), as well as several states in the eastern and southern corn belt where progress lags

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(Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky). There are northern states (North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota) where rain, flooding and cool temperatures have combined to raise concerns about spring wheat, corn and soybean planting. This is a moving target, but one that bears watching, as some commodities, especially corn, cannot stand to have acreage reduced by much. Regarding soybeans, supplies remain critically short. The 2011-2012 soybean output is projected to decline 1.3% to its smallest level in three years. Use estimates are similar to 2010-2011, which is expected to cause soybean supplies to remain critically short next year. World soybean supplies are expected to modestly tighten yet still be historically adequate. The combination of high corn and soybean prices along with the rising cost of transporting food and food ingredients will likely continue to contribute to higher food prices for consumers long-term. Retailers and foodservice operators are doing their best to keep prices low to satisfy their consumers. However, with the forecasted commodity markets, their ability to maintain low prices will be challenging. With producers already pressed to stay above water, the next few months will be challenging to all. Dan Emery has 25 years experience in the food industry, including 15 as vice president of marketing at Pilgrim’s Pride. He is directing Meaningful Solutions, a company founded to assist clients in solving problems.

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CoverStory

2011 Processo

TEAM-D turnaround Tyson Foods successfully navigated the recession by following a tried-and-true strategy that kept its team focused sharply on eliminating inefficiencies and re-dedicating itself to its customers. By Andy Hanacek, editor-in-chief Photos by Jeff Peak, Tyson Foods

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or of the Year Andy Hanacek (foreground), editor-in-chief of The National Provisioner, discusses Tyson Foods’ successful strategies with members of the company’s executive team (from left to right, Jim Lochner, Hal Carper, Donnie Smith and Donnie King).

DRIVEN A

s the national and global economy began to unravel in 2008 and 2009, many companies ran for the hills, begged for answers and reinvented or rebooted their entire strategic plan in order to compensate for the fear that littered the headlines. But Springdale, Ark.-based Tyson Foods doesn’t appear to have put much stock in the phrase,“Desperate times call for desperate measures.” Quite the opposite, actually, has been embraced throughout the hallways of the nation’s top protein processor, which adopted a straightforward stabilization plan just as the economy went south. The success of that plan has allowed Tyson to grow its busi-

A renewed emphasis on the corporate culture of teamwork and attention to detail has propelled Tyson Foods’ turnaround in recent years. Representing the Tyson Foods team, at the company’s Springdale, Ark., headquarters are (seated, left to right) Nancy Trujillo, orientation trainer, Berry Street plant; Kristal Delph, account manager corporate communications; (standing, left to right) Mario Valdovinos, director culinary services, research & development; Mark Milbrodt, manager international sales; and Jim Bob Spencer, manager customer marketing.


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CoverStory ness in spite of the economic headwinds, and has given it a head start, of sorts, as the economy begins to bounce back. Total company, year-over-year revenue growth from 2010 Q2 to 2011 Q2 (the latest results available at presstime) was a whopping 15.7%, and that follows a 9.7% increase from 2009 Q2 to 2010 Q2. Compare that with flat revenue results for the two 12-month periods prior. Based on these results, The National Provisioner honors Tyson Foods with the 2011 Processor of the Year award.

Making the moves that matter Based on numbers alone, volatility had begun to take hold of the food industry — fluctuating (and often skyrocketing) prices for commodities such as oil/fuel and grains/ feed had become the norm in the run-up to the 2009 recession. Tyson felt the pain, particularly on a quarterto-quarter basis (see “Tyson’s Turnaround” on page 38). Facing this instability, Tyson took a new approach to its own production. In the chicken segment, Tyson opted to discontinue the practice of scaling back broiler production — as Donnie Smith, president and CEO, says it had done repetitively in the past — and address the underutilized capacity it had created in previous cuts. “In our business, you often don’t cut the [general and administrative] expense and a lot of the fixed expenses when you cut production back, so you end up with a pretty severe cost problem,” Smith explains.“That was our issue, and so [labor and line] efficiency issues were absolutely a result of having cut back production.” Smith believes this decision was a turning point for the chicken business. “So we just said, we’re going to take care of our customers and run this business as efficiently as it should be, and get these plants filled back up,” he says, adding that demand (including seasonal adjustments) will, of course, still dictate Tyson’s supply strategies at the end of the day. In Tyson’s prepared-foods segment, Smith says the company began a project to “right-size” the production footprint to what it forecast three to four years down the road. Today, with the project completed, Smith says,“we are reaping the benefits of having a more efficient footprint spread over fewer facilities.” The beef and pork segments had already gone through a beneficial adjustment of capacity and redistribution of assets in the 2006-2008 time period. And Smith says that over the last couple years, the group has taken the next step in giving the business a shot in the arm. “Noel [White, senior group vice president, Tyson Fresh Meats,] and his team have done a phenomenal job in the plants driving yield, labor and line efficiencies, and those have made a tremendous difference in our business,” Smith says.“Their teams have been able to accomplish all this while improving our food safety, our quality and our service to our customers.”

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Remembering Don Tyson “Don [Tyson] meant a lot to so many of us, and we’ve learned so much about what to do from him. Maybe in a lot of our hearts, out of respect for him, there is a desire to carry on the legacy of taking care of our customers. Don taught us that this business is a people business, and our job as a leadership team is to take care of our Smith team members and trust them with the awesome responsibility of taking care of our customers. And you know what, they do a great job at doing just that. I think [his passing] brought back pride and heritage in what Don built, and then a desire to really follow through his legacy and that heartfelt desire to keep up the good work, doing what we’re doing and really making a difference for folks. He taught us well, and we’re still getting it done.” DONNIE SMITH, Tyson Foods president and CEO, on the impact of the death of former chairman and CEO Don Tyson on the company and its team members. Don, son of John W. Tyson, who founded the company, passed away Jan. 6, 2011, at the age of 80. John H. Tyson, son of Don, is the company’s current chairman of the board.

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Congratulations TYSON Foods 2011 Processor of the Year!

CoverStory

0.78 0.65 0.33

0.42

0.42

Q1

Q2

0.57 0.44

0.42

0.43

Q2

Q3 (e) Q4(e)

0.13

Q3

Q4

2008

|

Q1

|

Q2

Q3

Q4

2009

| |

Q3

Q4

2010

| |

Q1

2011 (e) - estimated

-0.01 -0.29

-0.28

Tyson’s Turnaround Quarterly earnings per share.

Source: Tyson Foods press releases; Charles Schwab & Co. Web site.

-1.23

Developing the playbook Certainly, the modified approach to doing business has brought a bountiful harvest to Tyson, but Smith and his executive management understand the real engine behind Tyson’s turnaround, and that’s its own team members — the people who interact with the customers on a day-to-day basis. “Last year, all four of our major segments operated in or above their normalized operating ranges, which has been consistency that we’d not seen in a while,” Smith admits. “But it is a direct reflection of this team’s focus on our customers and this team’s focus on operational efficiency.” Because of that, Tyson has returned to some of what Smith calls the “grassroots” corporate culture that was espoused by former chairman and CEO Don Tyson (who passed away in January 2011; see “Remembering Don Tyson” on page 36). “The key to any successful business is focusing on adding value to your customer — that’s our No. 1 goal as we come to work every day,” Smith says.“We’re going to take care of our people, our people will take care of our customers and that will take care of our shareholders. That’s the simple underlying principle.” It all starts with communicating clearly down the organization chart, something Tyson Foods has mastered to this point, explains Hal Carper, group vice presi38

dent, Research & Development, Logistics and Technical Services. “With the leadership that Donnie [Smith] and Jim [Lochner, COO,] have brought to the business, there’s no doubt among the people walking the hallways what is important to the company, and it gets cascaded down through the organization,” he affirms.“Everybody is really pulling in the same direction on the same things consistently without worrying about,‘Well, what will [our leadership] be


interested in tomorrow?’” The clear corporate messaging motivates the workforce to stay the course, regardless of the situation. “We’ve been able to focus and concentrate our efforts on the things that mattered and [pursue them] with tenacity,” Carper continues.“At times in the past, we might have had an initiative or something we’d focus on, but then we’d get distracted from that in the heat of the moment.” Donnie King, senior group vice president, Poultry and Prepared Foods, says Tyson was dissatisfied with its performance, but never its workforce, which it viewed to be hard-working and solid. But he agrees that focus was often an issue that concerned the leadership. “One of the things Donnie [Smith] used during that period of time was a clip from the movie ‘Seabiscuit,’ and said we were fast in every direction essentially, and we were,” King explains.“We wanted to be everything to everybody, and so we lacked focus.” Tyson’s executive team believes bringing that focus back was nothing particularly innovative or magical — it was simply getting back to basics and empowering employees to do their jobs with those basics in mind. “We really looked for every opportunity to simplify what we were doing, the fundamentals of the business — labor management, yield, customer service,

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CoverStory quality, taking care of our people and customer,” King says.“But there was no magic wand, and I think that confuses a lot of people.” White adds that, no matter where a team member works in the organization, these fundamentals are front and center. “There is tremendous clarity in what each of our goals and responsibilities are — it’s very visible,” he says.“We all understand [them], and it’s a matter of the team working together to assist in accomplishing each of those goals and responsibilities.” One revelation that helped team members get aligned under the same goals, Carper says, was the idea that the company could not run away from the realities of the core business and expect to maintain stability. “A big part of what has led to our improvement is a recognition that there is not a new product or new thing that can outrun sub-optimized execution of your business model,” he explains.“We need to chase new products and do it strategically, but we’ve got to have the strong foundation for the business for the long term. There’s been a really solid reinforcement of that concept here.”

Setting the objectives Once Tyson believed it had its workforce pointed in the same direction, the time began to narrow the primary objectives of the entire company — four goals that dictate where Tyson wants to go and how it plans to get there. The first two stated objectives — being the customers’ go-to supplier and being the best-in-class protein supplier by optimizing commodity businesses and driving out inefficiencies — are highly intertwined, particularly during times of inflationary wholesale prices. As a go-to supplier, Lochner says, Tyson can communicate with its customers the effects of grain and feed prices and what that does for demand and costs. Tyson can then advise them to adapt their product lines to be more efficient, and as a result, more cost-effective. Finally, Tyson can work with them within the scope of its own ability to drive inefficiencies out of the process, bringing the cost-savings to the customer. 40

The third objective Tyson has is to continue to build out its multinational enterprise, with poultry operations in Mexico, Brazil, China and India. Each is at a different stage of development, but Lochner says the company has been pleased with the job the teams in those countries have done so far. Finally, Tyson continues to pursue the use of animal products as raw material for renewable fuels and other processed products. Lochner advises that the technology has been very promising but has also been full of learning curves, as it is very new. The company’s Geismar, La., joint-venture with Syntroleum remains in startup mode, but Lochner says some of the challenges have been resolved and the plant should soon be converting fats to diesel or jet fuel, or even carbon for some plastics production.

Keeping it simple Regardless of the objectives Tyson pursues, its ability to maintain its focus throughout the entire organization — and keep the culture of teamwork a priority — will dictate how well the company operates moving forward. Smith believes Tyson has emerged from the worst of the recession with good momentum, and it’s hard to argue with the results Tyson posted through the recession. Despite the success, Smith doesn’t


expect anyone at the company will be satisfied. “I don’t ever anticipate a customer walking up to me and saying,‘That’s good enough,’” Smith says.“So we’ll never be satisfied either. Our job is to add value to their business. That means as they go more places, they’re going to want a consistent supply of high-quality food that meets whatever the demand is in that new region, country, segment, etc., and we need to be there for them.” Furthermore, Tyson will not limit itself in terms of growth — any angle, any idea is on the table, as far as the company is concerned. “That may mean we need to retool some facilities and maybe change from one type of processing equipment to another type of equipment to meet a customer’s changing needs,” Smith adds.“I can’t ever see a day when we’re not focused on innovation, being our customer’s go-to supplier, keeping our plants running full by growing our business, by meeting our customers’ needs, by being more efficient — adding value to whatever we touch.” That type of clear overall objective and its trickle-down effect throughout Tyson Foods are what unites the company’s thousands of team members and has them pulling the company in the same direction — far from the volatility that plagued it years ago.

CoverStory

Tyson Foods’ team at its Sherman, Texas, case-ready plant has done its fair share of helping the company turn itself around over the years, through its focus on efÀciency and corporate culture. Representing the facility are (front row, left to right) Pete Baker, industrial engineer; Mike Gerleman, complex manager; Bill McKeeman, operations manager; (back, left to right) Dustin Kratochvil, plant engineer; Rita Huske, complex H.R. manager; Yvette Weaver, asst. operations manager; Wayne Grove, material handling superintendent; and Tom Sharp, plant quality assurance manager.

CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK Tyson Foods’ Sherman, Texas, case-ready facility feeds its own growth via its versatility, innovation and reÁection of the corporate strategies and culture. By Andy Hanacek, editor-in-chief | Photos by Jeff Peak, Tyson Foods

A

company’s success occurs not because of the strategies of the board room alone. Achievement of top-flight results requires proper buy-in, execution and innovation at the plant level. The executive leadership at Tyson Foods, The National Provisioner’s 2011 Processor of the Year, certainly understands that and has made it clear in receiving the honor that their team members deserve this award at the end of the day.

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When looking for a microcosm of Tyson Foods’ overall efforts, turnaround and strategies, one needs look no further than its five-year-old Sherman, Texas, caseready plant. Sherman epitomizes Tyson’s ability to adapt and pounce quickly on trends driving the industry, and it also displays team members’ abilities to be innovative and take responsibility for driving out inefficiency.When asked specifically about the Sherman facility, Donnie King, senior group vice president, Poultry and


Prepared Foods, calls it a great asset for the company. “We have great people there, a great management and leadership team there, and they’re producing great products for some outstanding customers,” he says. “We operate that facility and two more like it that perform at the very top of the industry in every measure you would want to put before them.” King adds that the case-ready team as a whole has done an excellent job of making quality and customer service the top

CoverStory

Team members at Tyson’s Sherman, Texas, case-ready plant sort through a variety of fresh pork cuts traveling by them on a conveyor, and pack them onto pre-padded and labeled trays, each employee guided by detailed customer speciÀcations.

priority, led by Gary Sheneman, senior vice president of Case Ready Beef & Pork. “It’s interesting to watch, because every quarter they come in and find new and creative ways to absolutely wring out any waste in their system,” King adds. “They do a great job anticipating customer needs, and it runs very smoothly; we’d like to have a lot more like it.” The facts speak for themselves, with Sherman surpassing the six-millionpound production level (per week; beef, pork and ground beef production) in five years of operation. The facility employs nearly 1,500 people, and has been at that level consistently, says Mike Gerleman, complex manager. “We’re more efficient,” he explains. “Our pounds-per-man hour is at a higher level, and we’re getting more poundage with fewer folks.” Furthermore, as the industry has evolved (particularly case-ready preferences and technology), so has the Sherman plant, adding equipment as overwrap packaging grew in popularity to handle customer demand. 44

Sherman background While the plant is five years old in its current state, the building actually opened in 1974 as an Oscar Mayer bacon, hot dog and sausage facility. It was shut down in 1998 and purchased by IBP inc. in 2000. Four years after gaining control of the plant in the 2001 IBP acquisition, Tyson Foods announced in January 2005 that it planned to convert the plant into its third case-ready meats facility, building on the success of similar plants in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Goodlettsville, Tenn. (both of which were also acquired in the IBP deal). Dustin Kratochvil, plant engineer, explains that work ramped up quickly, with the facility being an empty shell, for all intents and purposes. “The demolition had been pretty much complete, and there wasn’t much equipment left, so it was a wide-open space with no utilities for the most part,” he says.“The shell was one of the reasons we came here rather than build from the ground up. To build a shell this size would cost a lot more money and take a lot more time.”


With a crew of more than 600 people working to get the plant going, and despite sometimes uncooperative weather conditions, Kratochvil says Tyson was able to go from its announcement to a total conversion of the facility quickly, at a cost of more than $100 million. Sherman is no miniscule facility, either, featuring 561,000 square feet of workspace, 10 production lines producing a wide variety of fresh beef and pork products, and six lines producing ground beef items. Because Tyson was able to design the facility within an empty shell, it was able to lay out production lines with efficiency in mind, and Gerleman believes the plant’s ground beef section is highly streamlined as a result.

Technology breeds efficiency During The National Provisioner’s visit, production versatility was on display, with items such as bone-in pork chops, boneless pork chops, cube steaks, petit

Tyson 2011 Processor of the Year Congratulations from JBT FoodTech

Your JBT FoodTech Solutions Team

CoverStory

Bill McKeeman (left), operations manager for the Sherman facility, and Andy Hanacek, editor-in-chief of The National Provisioner, discuss the different speciÀcations and technologies that the team uses to efÀciently minimize waste during production of boneless fresh pork items.

sirloins, and a variety of ground beef patties, among others, moving through the processing rooms in a steady stream. Gerleman says efficiency is affected positively by the fact that the facility has the room to run a variety of products at the same time. “Whenever you can run isolated products down an individual line, most of your efficiency is affected by changing from one product line to another,” he explains. “So the more we can do consistent runs of product, the more efficient the plant will be.” Once products are packed into modified-atmosphere mother bags and placed into boxes, they head to a combined sorting and palletizing room, where bar-coding and labeling technology has allowed the facility to streamline operations. Furthermore, the plant’s own engineering team and its ingenuity have given it an efficiency and cost-savings boost. The team was looking for a way to improve the process of applying the pad to the inside and nutrition label to the outside of the trays it was using for its products. 46

Palletized cases of fresh, case-ready beef products are about to be loaded and removed from the sorting room at the Sherman plant.


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CoverStory Sherman’s team members devised what the company calls the “concept room,” in which specialized equipment, designed in-house, applies the soaker pad to the inside of the tray and the label to the bottom of the tray quickly and efficiently. Kratochvil says the company has taken the design and incorporated it into all three case-ready plants.

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“That is a very specialized room that we have in the plant,” he says,“and it took a year of development in-house to get the speed and consistency to fit together.” In the end, Gerleman says, the room adds tremendous value in that it costs less than purchasing pre-padded trays, it takes only nine team members to operate (in comparison to the several dozen


team members who used to apply those items manually), and gives the plant approximately 2.5 days of tray inventory with which to work.

The bottom line Gerleman believes Sherman holds its own in terms of producing results and following the corporate strategies set forth by the corporate leadership in Springdale, Ark. “From an earnings standpoint, we’ve done very well,” he says.“From a community-relations standpoint, and fitting in to the Tyson model, we’ve done very well.” Yet, Gerleman makes it clear that Sherman has not peaked in its capability, citing the fact that there are several areas in the building that could be renovated to house additional production lines as needed. He says the Sherman team looks forward to future expansion and adds that Sherman proudly shares in the responsibility of improving the company from top to bottom — for much of that, he passes the credit to his team. “I’m very proud of the management staff we have here,” he says.“We’ve developed managers here who have also gone on to be successful in other plants, so we’re also feeding that pipeline.”

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CoverStory

Training Sherman’s ‘army’ Tyson Foods’ commitment to its team members shines through in the training, educational and philanthropic opportunities available at its Sherman, Texas, plant. By Andy Hanacek, editor-in-chief | Photos by Jeff Peak, Tyson Foods Companies bandy about the idea of “continuous improvement” quite a bit in today’s catchphrase-oriented world, and while many of those businesses may practice just that on the operations side, not all of them go the extra mile to encourage continuous improvement in their own employees. Tyson Foods is not one of those “pretenders” when it comes to their employees — visit any Tyson facility, as we have, and it becomes quickly apparent that the Springdale, Ark., processor truly invests in its team members and their abilities to advance and succeed. Tyson’s Sherman,Texas, facility — which won an HREVOLUTION Award from The National Provisioner in 2006 for its training efforts — supports its team members in their efforts to expand their education and skillsets, as well as its community through charitable initiatives.What follows is a discussion about these programs with the senior management team at Sherman, during The National Provisioner’s visit to the plant in the spring.

AUTOMATIC

HYGIENIC

Jeff Bodovsky (right), maintenance training supervisor at Tyson’s Sherman, Texas, plant, discusses the variety of custom-engineered, hands-on training stations available in the facility’s maintenance training rooms, with Andy Hanacek (center), editor-in-chief of The National Provisioner, and Dustin Kratochvil, plant engineer at Sherman.

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Congratulations to Tyson Foods for being recognized as the 2011 Processor of the Year.

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CoverStory Charlie Stone (right), general foreman at the Sherman plant, explains the facility’s labeling and packaging capabilities to Hanacek.

NP: From the maintenance training rooms with the hands-on training stations to the variety of educational programs here at Sherman, it’s obvious training is a big part of what you do for your team members. Talk about the plant’s culture and perspective of management as to how training fits into daily life here.

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Mike Gerleman, complex manager: Training is extremely important to us, because team members don’t come in with the skills needed in most cases. So we have to develop those skills within our facility. It doesn’t make a difference if they’re a person on a knife line, an MET, or a maintenance mechanic, we develop those skills in those people to make us better, make them better and reward them as well. NP: What about production floor workers? How involved is their training program? Rita Huske,complex H.R.manager: On the production lines, we use our Alchemy system, and we have line meetings that consist of 40-60 people at a time who go through the training.The system does test for understanding, and if there is, by chance, someone who doesn’t understand the material, we’ll come back and re-train them.The more they know, the better they can do their job.We also have hourly trainers on the floor and our orientation trainer who also helps with annual training. NP: Do you offer anything to team members in the realm of educational assistance, and if so, how much participation do you see? Huske: We’ve had six team members go through our tuition reimbursement program, and we have two going through it right now

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Are your poultry patty sales just as flat as the patties themselves? Then you need our Vemag FM250 Patty Forming Machine. The high-speed FM250 produces the lightest, fluffiest, VEMAG FM250 juiciest, and most tender poultry patty you’ll ever sink your teeth into. Unlike conventional patty forming machines that use high-pressure to compress meat into flat, rubbery “pucks”, the FM250 uses a gentle, low-pressure system to form patties that look homemade and have a tender bite that no other machine can produce. Meat fibers are not crushed or destroyed on the FM250 – instead they retain their natural alignment so that the finished patty has the superior bite, texture and eating quality of a hand-made product. Connected to a Vemag HP-E filler with an in-line grinder, the FM250 provides high output and exact weight portions. An easy-to-change forming nozzle allows quick product changeovers. Available with an interleaver and/or stacker, as well as a high-speed shuttle to load freezer and oven belts. A Vemag ProcessCheck check weigher can also be added inline to automatically monitor individual patty weights and adjust the filler – ensuring uniform weights and reduced giveaway.

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CoverStory

as we speak. If it pertains to something that would help our business grow, from business to quality control to safety to maintenance, it pretty much encompasses anything you can imagine.We will reimburse employees up to $3,000 per semester, and they do have to maintain a certain grade point average. NP: How do you promote and encourage ongoing training for team members in order to improve the capabilities of the overall workforce? Dustin Kratochvil, plant engineer: Each mechanic gets roughly three hours of training per week, paid. That’s on our time, but it makes them better and makes the plant better as well.

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Huske: We are one of the few plants that has its own computer lab, and we do offer free training to our team members — anyone who wants to learn how to use the computer a little better.We also offer English as a second language — we use Rosetta Stone for the second-language classes, and we have our training coordinator and a couple managers who are certified to train Microsoft. NP: How does Tyson expand its culture outward from the plant to the community? Do team members get involved in those initiatives?

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Huske: We do a lot in our community. Our major charities that we contribute to are United Way, the American Cancer Society via the Relay for Life, and Big Brothers Big Sisters.We help out with Earth Day, planting trees at schools, and Hunger Relief here. This year, to date, we have donated approximately $116,000 in our community alone. And that’s not just Tyson donations, but also Tyson team-member donations as well. Gerleman: There are roughly 60,000 people in the Sherman area, and the town was very happy to see this facility open. … They were starving for an industry like us to move in. And I’m not kidding you, when we went out to eat during construction, people would come up and say,‘Golly, we’re glad you guys are here.’ So, you know, they’ve been very good to us, and we believe we’ve been good for the town.We’re good community citizens, and we’ve been recognized as a good community leader.

© 2011 Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. All rights reserved. Copyrights in and to the Piggy Bank photograph is owned by a third party and licensed for limited use only to Thermo Fisher Scientific by Punchstock.

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BytheNumbers A NATIONAL PROVISIONER STUDY

Sausage Processing The National Provisioner surveys sausage processors on a variety of topics linked to sausage R&D and operations.

I

n March 2011, The National Provisioner and BNP Market Research surveyed sausage processing employees to get a glimpse into the market trends driving operations and research & development in the segment. What follows are a sampling of the survey answers, presented visually through charts and tables. To receive a PDF of the full survey including all of the results tabulated, go to www.provisioneronline.com, register for the site and search for Sausage Processing Study to download the PDF.

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Fastest-Growing Type of Sausage What is your fastest-growing type of sausage (not necessarily best-selling)? Total Respondents: 69

Breakfast (3) Beef (2) ■ Chicken (2) ■ Pork (2) ■ Poultry (2) ■ Smoked sausage (2) ■ Bangers ■ Beef hot ■ Cheese sausage ■ Gourmet cooked ■ Green chili breakfast ■ Jalapeno and cheese ■ Kosher ■ Natural ■ Picked sausage ■ Plain sausage patty ■ Polish ■ Red hots ■ Rope ■ Snack items - sticks, bites ■ Spanish ■ Specialty ■ Vienna ■

Italian 27%

■

Other 42%

Bratwurst 25%

Mexican (chorizo) 6%

Bythe

Numbers Healthier Sausage Demand/Formulation Alterations Have you seen a demand for “healthier” sausages (reduced salt, reduced nitrites/nitrates, etc.)?

Have you altered any of your formulations to meet the demand for “healthier” sausages?

Yes 70%

No 30%

Yes 64%

No 36%


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BytheNumbers A NATIONAL PROVISIONER STUDY

Smokehouse Smokehouse

23% 23%

Sausage-Processing essing Equipment Purchase Plans ns What is the next piece of sausage-processing equipment you plan on purchasing? g?

Stuffer Stuffer

22% 22%

Linker Linker

17% 17%

Grinder Grinder

Other Mentions: s: Other Mentions: Q Chopper (2) Chopper (2) Q Packaging (2)) Packaging (2) Q Declipper Declipper Q HPP vessel HPP vessel Q Patty-maker Patty-maker Q Smoke drench h cabinet Smoke drench cabinet Q Townsend continuous systemsystem Townsend tinuous continuous Q Variable speed ed mixer Variable speed mixer

6% 6%

Other Other

17% 17%

None** None

14% 14%

0% 0%

20% 20%

40% 40%

60% 60%

80% 80%

* “None” responses were taken from the “Other Mentions”

100% 100%

Note: Total may not equal 100% due to rounding

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‘‘We switched to Vemag and couldn’t be happier.’’ “Sure, we were hesitant to make a change with our stuffers. Our entire business is built around producing high quality German sausage products and we couldn’t afford to make a mistake that would change our product or compromise the quality. But after testing the Vemag, we made the switch and bought three machines. The Vemag gives us a better quality final product and produces our natural casing links to exact weight and exact lengths. Plus, it’s easier to service. Now we use the Vemag to produce everything from Braunschweiger and Peanut Franks to Bratwurst and Chorizo and couldn’t be happier with the results.” Ralph Schaller, President, Schaller & Weber

Harald Nagel Production Manager

George Nici Plant Engineer

Ralph Schaller President Dieter Rosenow Plant Manager

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BytheNumbers A NATIONAL PROVISIONER STUDY All-Natural or Organic Sausage Products What percentage of your sausage products is either all-natural or organic?

50% 40%

36%

32%

30% 17%

20% 10%

6%

0%

1-25%

26-50%

6%

3%

51-75%

76-99%

100%

None

Liquid smoke 32%

Smokehouse Products Which product(s) do you use in your smokehouses?

Both liquid smoke and wood chips 22%

Total Respondents: 69

Wood chips 46%

Priority Trends for R&D Teams Which, if any, trends have become a priority for your company’s sausage R&D teams? (Multiple response allowed)

Cook-in-package elimination of anti-microbials High pressure processing Q Lean chicken Q Natural pork Q New age Áavors - chipotle, turkey, sweet, etc. Q Reducing saturated fat Q Removing MSG

100%

Q Q

80% 60%

52% 30%

40%

28%

20% 0%

62

10%

Reducing salt

Reducing nitrites/nitrates

Other

THE NA NATIO NATIONAL TIO ONA NA PR NAL PROVI PROVISIONER O SIO OVI SI NER ER | PROVISIO PROVISIONERONLINE.COM SIONERONL SIO IO O ON NLIN NL INE N .COM | JUN JUNEE 2 2011 01 011

None of the above

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ImmigrationUpdate

Foreign investors at risk

F

oreign nationals who acquired conditional permanent resident status based upon a qualifying investment in a new commercial enterprise are now routinely being required by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to submit Forms I-9 for inspection to demonstrate that they employ(ed) authorized workers in order to remove the conditions of their residency in the United States. The USCIS has also recently refused to credit indirect employment in certain situations where a multiplier was based upon direct jobs creation if the direct employment involved unauthorized workers.

As a result, regulatory compliance and unauthorized workers have become a significant risk for foreign investors. Recently, numerous investors have had their I-829 petitions to Remove Conditions denied and now face removal proceedings despite the fact that their investments met all eligibility requirements for the capital Mark Reed, investment, and for job Border Management creation, except that USStrategies (BMS) CIS determined from I-9 Editorial Board Member reviews that some jobs were held by unauthorized workers. What is especially troubling about this situation is that new commercial enterprises were attempting to comply with the I-9 employment eligibility requirements. BMS recommends that investors establishing new commercial enterprises build an immigration compliance program that provides assurance and confidence that unexpected issues will not be encountered when they attempt to remove the conditions of residence. Waiting until the I-829 petitions are filed is too late to implement an effective employment eligibility verification program. The risks to investors and to future recruitment of investors to new investment plans are too high. The time to ensure that each business has an effective program is before employees are hired. Although the success of investments may be

eb

64


impacted by a variety of economic influences outside of the control of investors and managing partners, this is not the case with compliance with the jobs for Americans requirements of Section 203 of the INA. Mark Reed, CEO of BMS, was the highest-ranking career government official within the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) during his career. At retirement, Mark directed border patrol, investigation, detention and removal, adjudication, and inspection operations from the northern to southern U.S. borders. Today as head of BMS, Mark is a knowledgeable and respected governmental insider. He advises many large companies in the areas of immigration compliance, policy and training. He also has a unique view into the world of key policy initiatives dealing with immigration issues and policy trends. For more information, please contact him at (520) 529-8750 or at [email protected].

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FarmtoPlate ANIMAL WELFARE

Animal welfare on the label? Consumers remain skeptical and uninformed regarding animal-welfare product claims, and processors need to respond with education and simplicity. IN EARLY MAY, I LED A SEMINAR ON CATTLE WELFARE for the California beef and dairy industries. On the morning of the seminar, a faculty member from Fresno State University took me on a tour of a large dairy operation in California’s Central Valley. I was greeted by a herdsman that was about the same age as my parents. He looked me in the eye and shook my hand in a manner that left me with a great first impression. When I asked if he would be attending the seminar later that day, his no-nonsense response — “Why should I take time out of my day to attend your seminar?” — didn’t surprise me, because I hear similar responses quite often. I didn’t mince words in my reply. “Because you need to understand what society expects from you and what will happen if you don’t deliver.” If you’ve been looking for an explanation for the value of animal welfare to the consumer that goes deeper than the impact on product quality and yield, here it is. The practices that we find acceptable 66

and unacceptable in the world around us are largely influenced by our personal ethics. Personal ethics are our individual Kurt Vogel, University of feelings of right Wisconsin - River Falls and wrong, good Editorial Board and bad. They Member clearly vary from person to person as the issue under consideration changes. Differences in personal ethic can fuel arguments or drive innovation, depending on the emotional reactions that accompany these differences. The choices that a business owner or manager make are always influenced in part by personal ethics. When the personal ethics of a majority of a group of people are the same for specific issues, these beliefs become part of the societal ethic. The provision of stunning for commercially slaughtered

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livestock under the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act of 1978 made the use of pre-slaughter stunning in livestock slaughter facilities part of the societal ethic. The vast majority of society, which includes everyone from industry personnel to the consumer that has no more connection to meat processing than the meat case at the grocery store, accept it as a standard and necessary part of livestock slaughter. If we pay attention, it is not difficult to start to flesh out the basics of the societal ethic toward the care of livestock. In April, a gruesome undercover video of unacceptable calf euthanasia methods was recorded at E6 Cattle Company — a large calf ranch that grows dairy calves as replacement animals for dairy farms — by an activist group called Mercy for Animals. The employees in the video used hammers to euthanize calves that were very sick or had little economic value. This was not an acceptable method of euthanasia due to the high risk of not

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delivering a blow that caused immediate insensibility. The video is highly inflammatory to those who can bear to watch it. Not surprisingly, the reaction of the people in the livestock industries that I have observed watching the video is largely identical to the reaction of people that do not make their living in agriculture. This similarity uncovers a piece of the societal ethic toward livestock animals.We find it universally unacceptable to euthanize an animal with a method that has a high risk of inconsistency that can ultimately result in suffering on the part of the animal. This is exactly why society is supportive of adherence to humane slaughter techniques that have been proven effective. They understand that we raise and slaughter animals for food, but they do not tolerate negligence on the part of those who are responsible for the care, handling and slaughter of livestock. It is fair to say that society grants the members of livestock agriculture a certain level of trust that the animals under their care will be treated well, handled carefully and slaughtered humanely. Many call this trust a “social license.” If you do not keep up with the societal ethic, you can expect to lose your social license, which is the privilege to operate your business. In extreme cases, revocation of your social license entails complete closure of your business. More commonly, it results in decreased consumer demand for your products. It is difficult to put an exact monetary value on the impact of a breach of societal trust, but the reaction of consumers to such an event has been identified.

One study1 identified that when an animal-derived food product was offered to a consumer panel with a description of high-perceived standards of facility cleanliness and animal welfare, the consumers were more willing to pay for the product than other products that claimed different combinations of facility hygiene and animal welfare. The researchers also allowed the consumers to taste the products. They found that consumers relied more heavily on the taste and quality attributes of the product than perceived animal welfare after they tasted the product. This study clearly demonstrates the value of both animal welfare and product quality in consumer decision-making. A high level of perceived animal welfare is helpful in getting a product off the shelf, but the combination of animal welfare and eating quality brings impact whether consumers return to buy the product again or opt for another option. If a processor intends to add labeling that indicates the animal-welfare standards of their product, there are a few important factors to remember. A study in the U.K.2 revealed several common complaints indicated by adults that were surveyed on animal welfare-related food-purchasing decisions. The top complaint was that an excessive amount of label claims are unacceptable. It appears that too many label claims place the purchaser in a state of “information overload.” Consumers in the study also were confused about many label claims regarding animal welfare because they did not understand the production practices. Finally, and importantly, many consumers believed label information regarding animal welfare was biased, and they were unsure which companies were actually telling the truth! The importance of animal welfare to the marketing of meat, milk and eggs has been described in research and identified by many niche marketers in recent years. Information regarding good animal-welfare practices helps consumers to choose one product over another. However, before we flood the shelves with animal-welfare labeling, it is important to remember a few things. The consumer has to understand what the label claim means, you have to consistently source product or raise animals in facilities or using practices that adhere to your label claim, and most importantly, you have to make a great tasting product that the consumer will purchase again and again.

Kurt D.Vogel is an assistant professor of Animal Science with an emphasis in livestock behavior and welfare at the University of Wisconsin - River Falls. For more information, contact him at [email protected] or (715) 425-3704.

ENDNOTES 1) Carlucci, A., E. Monteleone, A. Braghieri, and F. Napolitano. 2009. Mapping the effect of information about animal welfare on consumer liking and willingness to pay for yogurt. J. Sensory Studies. 24:712-730. 2) Schroder, M. J. A. and M. G. McEachern. 2004. Consumer value conÁicts surrounding ethical food purchase decisions: a focus on animal welfare. Int. J. Consum. Stud. 28:168-177.

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GuestColumn

Commit to measure animal handling

Steve Sinn, owner of Lacuna Technologies, and his turkey farm’s automated turkey loader.

Photo courtesy of Steve Sinn

By Steve Sinn, Lacuna Technologies

I

’m lucky to be working in an extraordinary food system.Yet, as a second-generation turkey farmer, I am keenly aware of how our food system has evolved and that some of the biggest changes have occurred in animal agriculture. Most of us welcome modernization, but there are valid concerns. One area of scrutiny centers on animal welfare, or what I prefer to call animal state of being. I strongly believe there is a gap in our modern animal protein supply chain — an overlooked source of information that, if tapped, could help resolve the sometimes conflicting demands of stakeholders when it comes to animal care. The information I am referring to is individual live-animal measurements during pre-slaughter handling, which would provide the supply chain with powerful tools for creating quality and performance metrics.

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For the first time, a vaccine can help reduce the prevalence and shedding of Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157 much earlier in the chain — in the cattle — creating a way for cattle producers and veterinarians to team up with packers, retailers and consumers. Escherichia Coli Bacterial Extract vaccine* with SRP® technology, used at the feedlot, has been shown to reduce the number of cattle entering the plant with E. coli O157 by 85 percent.1 Less E. coli O157 entering the plant enhances your efforts to help eliminate foodborne pathogens. To learn more, visit www.SRPEcoli.com.

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*This product license is conditional. Efficacy and potency test studies are in progress. Thomson DU, Loneragan GH, Thornton AB, Lechtenberg KF, Emery DA, Burkhardt DT, Nagaraja TG. Use of a siderophore receptor and porin proteins-based vaccine to control the burden of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in feedlot cattle. Foodborne Pathogens and Disease. 2009;6:871-877.

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GuestColumn By adopting a system that yields objective evidence of ethical pre-slaughter care and handling, our good work can be demonstrated using clear descriptions of animal state of being. Lead the way We embrace “continuous improvement” in animal care, but we must also actively demonstrate our commitment to producers, processors, retailers and consumers. I have no doubt other individuals and groups will continue to tell us how to do it. Trouble is, initiatives that originate outside the industry focus exclusively on self-defined standards (“perception,” diet, confinement, slaughter method), rather than on outcomes (specific and measurable evidence of improved animal state of being). In short, the “feel-good” is too often designed for the media or an individual group’s fundraising goals and not necessarily for the animals (or the folks who husband the animals). The public would be surprised to learn there’s no objective evidence that the extra money paid does anything to enhance animal state of being.

“Data up” We need more data — specific, measurable and verifiable — informing discussions of animal state of being. While struggling with 30- to 40-pluspound male turkeys the past 20 years of my life, it had always occurred to me that we could make the arduous task of turkey loading easier on us and on the turkeys. About 10 years ago, I observed a custom grain-handling apparatus that removed corn stored in a silica sand mine using a unique telescoping conveyor belt. I realized a similar conveyor could load turkeys, hands-free. So we got to work, and after our second prototype, we had a viable automated turkey loader that our family farm continues to use today. We’re now working on constructing even more NP01104PDQ.indd 1

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12/15/09 2:15:45 PM

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GuestColumn We can and must balance the demands of consumers concerned m about animal care — some of a whom are increasingly raising w their voices and voting their consciences — with those of retailers, processors and producers. Let’s work together to tap the untold story of this productive meat supply system by measuring individual animal state of being prior to slaughter.

comprehensive technologies to assesss individual turkeys during both loading and unloading. These live-animal measurements will provide dispassionate data about our quality and performance — and a commonsense foundation for decisions about animal state of being by producers, processors, retailers and even consumers.

Reject false choices Some will argue you can’t be “big” and humane; others will contend we can’t worry so much about animal care and still maintain efficiencies. I don’t buy either argument. I’m confident we can work toward verifiable improvements in animal state of being and other performance outcomes that support our shared priority of maintaining an efficient and afford-

able protein supply chain. Economies of scale provide affordable, plentiful meat to millions of consumers. Our model should not be dismantled, but continuously examined for potential improvements. By adopting a system that yields objective evidence of ethical pre-slaughter care and handling, our good work can be demonstrated using clear descriptions of animal state of being.

Steve Sinn is the owner of Lacuna Technologies LLC. A turkey producer and entrepreneur, he is focused on developing synergistic solutions combining automated live-animal handling with individual live-animal measurements. His family’s grain and livestock farm has been producing turkeys for over 70 years.

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FoodSafety METAL DETECTION

Putting detection to the test By Elizabeth Fuhrman

METAL DETECTORS HAVE LONG BEEN FAMOUS at airport security checkpoints for their ability to keep unwanted objects off planes. Now X-ray scanners at airports have brought X-ray technology to the forefront of the public’s eye for their accurate ability to identify more materials that could be concealed. For meat and poultry processors, metal detectors and X-ray inspection systems are employed to identify foreign objects in their products in much the same way. These food-

Photo courtesy of OSI Group LLC

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safety tools are helping meat and poultry processors reliably remove more foreign objects from their processing materials. Metal detection and X-ray technology are being used more than ever, says Donna Schaffner, associate director of food safety, quality assurance and training at Rutgers Food Innovation Center, Bridgeton, N.J. These detection technologies have become critical to processors’ food-safety initiatives. “A large number of companies have X-ray and metaldetection equipment as a critical control point,” she explains.

Many meat and poultry processors use metal-detection and X-ray technology to check their final product before it is ready to ship. Some companies also use detection technology for checking raw materials. “The way they have written their HACCP plans — their food-safety plans — they have to do that. They cannot release their product without putting it through the metal detection or through the X-ray machine, so it’s absolutely essential.” Many meat and poultry processors use metal-detection and X-ray technology to check their final product before it is ready to ship, Schaffner says. Some companies also use detection technology for checking raw materials. “If a processor brings in a chopped meat that they are going to use in something else, sometimes they will metal-

detect just the meat as it comes in as a raw material before they put it into their process,” Schaffner explains. “That way, if they find any metal, that protects their equipment. They are typically metaldetecting their final product also, but at that point, they’ve already put the meat together with the other ingredients, cooked it and packaged it. So if you only checked it at the end of the line, you’d lose everything and not just the meat.”

Advancing food safety with X-ray OSI Group LLC, Aurora, Ill., has worked closely with X-ray suppliers to

improve the application of X-ray technology and integrate it into its processing systems globally. In a short amount of time, the company has been able to improve product quality significantly, leading to a marked increase in customer satisfaction, the company says. Justin Ransom, OSI Group’s assistant vice president of food protection and government affairs, says several factors contributed to the success of X-ray implementation. The company first worked with technology providers to present the product to them in a manner providers could X-ray and then remove the affected product out of the stream.


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FoodSafety “The best place to put an inspection system, in our opinion, as we continue to be committed to quality in food safety in all of our processes, is at the beginning of the process so that we’re not inspecting quality into it, but that we’re detecting foreign objects before they ever enter our process.” Justin Ransom, OSI Group’s assistant vice president of food protection and government affairs

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“So in taking a more holistic approach, we’ve tested X-ray application in different food matrices from raw material to preformed to finished product,” Ransom explains.“Understanding the challenges of each of those different matrices and how we reject foreign objects in our process has been critical to being able to get this technology going for us at the line speeds at which we operate.” OSI Group began putting X-ray technology into its processing systems about five years ago. “Basically once we began to understand where the best places to use X-ray were, we began putting it in processes all over the world, whether it be for some sort of patty, or a liquid product, or like beans and salsas,” Ransom says. “Each one of these different food matrices has a different algorithm that is used to detect foreign bodies. We just had to get into the process where we understand the risks, and work with the technology providers in making sure that we have the settings appropriate for the product that we are X-raying.” The ease of implementing X-ray technology depended on the product being processed. For example, for finished product patties, incorporation of X-ray technology has been fast, Ransom says. “It’s been relatively easy because the product is all the same size, the same shape and the same height, and that was relatively easy to implement there,” he explains. “The challenge has now become, how do we reject less product? “We only reject the product that has a problem rather than rejecting multiple patties at one time or multiple products at one time,” he continues. “That’s how we’re taking it to the next level.” Another challenge OSI Group cur-

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FoodSafety rently is undertaking is how to X-ray its raw materials. “The best place to put an inspection system, in our opinion, as we continue to be committed to quality in food safety in all of our processes, is at the beginning of the process so that we’re not inspecting quality into it, but that we’re detecting foreign objects before they ever enter our process,” Ransom says. “That’s what we really have spent the last 18 months on, working with different technology companies trying to help us identify a solution for raw-material inspection before it goes through our grinding process.” “It’s more of a whole systems approach that we are taking to identify and remove foreign objects from our process,” Ransom says. “That’s why working on the raw material is so critical and important to us.” While OSI Group continues to make progress in using X-ray technology in its food-safety strategies, the success of its currently executed X-ray detection systems has paid off already. “We’ve seen a significant improvement in reduction in total complaints, specifically bone complaints. In the U.S., we’ve also continued to improve, and with less sensitive customers, we have seen the same improvement in both our domestic and export markets,” Ransom says.

Moving detection forward X-ray has become a much more effective tool for processors since the technology has advanced to meet production demands. Ransom says that computers can run algorithms, identify a foreign object and remove it from the process to match today’s faster operating speeds. In addition to removing foreign objects from the processing system, X-ray has become an interesting tool for OSI Group because computers can analyze the data that’s generated by the X-ray system. “As data processing becomes faster and faster, I think we’re going to see increased ability from these detection systems to identify foreign objects throughout the process,” Ransom says. “Currently, they can do it. They just have to keep up with our line speeds [to allow us] to operate our systems efficiently.” While X-ray and metal-detection systems offer many viable detection solutions for processors, the detection field continues to grow. Plastics and materials that float continue to be a detectable challenge for processors. Non-metallic objects, especially brittle plastics, ceramic glass, wood splinters, also are a detection challenge for most processors, Schaffner says. “There are lots of other foreign materials that might get into a product — especially non-metal equipment parts — that could end up in a product that a metal detector cannot find,” she says. “X-ray is betNP03092JVH.indd 1

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ter at finding them, but even X-ray is not good with small splinters of glass, and some of the plastics just don’t show up well unless a company buys the metal detectable products.” More companies now are using barium-impregnated plastics for

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tools and small parts that were not detectable before as straight plastics, Schaffner says. The impregnated plastics can be found if lost in a product with the use of metal detectors or X-ray technology, she explains. “These materials are effective,” Schaffner says. “They are just expensive. Companies have to weigh the risk versus the cost, because it’s much more expensive to buy these products than the traditional ones.” False positives, particularly if a company works with frozen products with ice buildup, are another detection challenge many companies face. Location of the detection equipment in relation to other pieces of equipment also could cause electrical surges, which sometimes generate false positives, Schaffner says. “A big problem I see occurs when employees get used to false positives and [don’t pay] attention when there might be an actual problem,” she says, adding that accuracy is improving, however, as detection technology advances. Schaffner, who works with many small to medium-sized processors across the food industry, says that putting in X-ray equipment also is quite a large expenditure. “To go from just the simple metal detection to an X-ray machine is a big step for a lot of companies,” she says. Making the use of metal-detection and X-ray technology a priority also can be a challenge for some processors, Schaffner adds. “In the past, some companies have considered it non-essential, and now the way that food-safety concerns are growing, with much more emphasis on HACCP, I think that a lot more companies are being forced to metal-detect the finished product where in the past they didn’t,” she says. “I just see a much more wide use of it than it has been in the past.”

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SpecialReport

AND THE AWARD GOES TO… “Food Plants of the Year” is an annual honor published in The National Provisioner’s sister publication, Refrigerated & Frozen Foods. Nominations were solicited from industry experts and observers, industry suppliers and the editors of sister publications such as The National Provisioner, Food Engineering, Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery, Dairy Foods and Dairy Field Reports. Plant performance was evaluated against one or more of the following criteria: ; Worker Safety ; Community Involvement ; Food Safety ; Environmental Initiatives ; Process / Packaging Innovation ; Productivity R&FF then selected one plant from each of six refrigerated and frozen food processing sectors (regardless of sales channel). Want to be featured in 2012? Industry suppliers and food processors may submit nominations to Editor Bob Garrison at (574) 935-3724 or by e-mail at [email protected].

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CUTTING-EDGE PERFORMANCE These food plants demonstrate industry-leading best practices in environmental achievement, worker safety and process technology. By Bob Garrison , editor, Refrigerated & Frozen Foods

H

ere’s a metaphorical look at springtime in the food industry. Three of Refrigerated & Frozen Foods’ “Food Plant of the Year” honorees are entirely new facilities that came online during the past three years. Meanwhile, R&FF is just as pleased to showcase three existing operations’ efforts to improve environmental performance, worker safety and productivity. The National Provisioner is showcasing the two plants honored by R&FF, that are part of the proteinprocessing industry. In the following pages, you’ll read about Sara Lee Corp. and Cargill Inc.


of the MEAT CATEGORY AND THE HONOREES ARE: ENTREES: Sara Lee Corp.’s Zeeland, Mich., plant makes its name for worker safety; supports a growing Jimmy Dean breakfast business. (PAGE 87) MEAT & POULTRY: Cargill Inc. plants in Beardstown, Ill., and London, Ont., make noteworthy improvements to benefit the environment and workers alike. (PAGE 90) FRUIT & VEGETABLE: ConAgra Foods Lamb Weston builds the world’s first LEED Platinum certified frozen food plant in Delhi, La. DAIRY: General Mills picks its Methuen, Mass., Yoplait yogurt plant for the company’s first solar energy project. BAKERY: Chicago’s Gonnella Baking Co. invests in the latest technologies for its frozen dough plant in Hazle Township, Pa. SNACK, APPETIZER & SIDE DISH: Kettle Creations uses its new Lima, Ohio, plant and skilled employees to meet refrigerated side dish demand.

To read the proÀles of all honorees, go to

www.refrigeratedfrozenfood.com JUNE 2011 | PROVISIONERONLINE.COM | THE NATIONAL PROVISIONER

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Sara Lee’s Zeeland, Mich., makes its name for worker safety; makes its mark in the freezer case. JUST THE

FACTS Company: Sara Lee North American Retail Food plant(s) honored: Zeeland, Mich. Selection criteria: Worker safety, environmental initiatives Employees: Approximately 900 Facility size: N.A. Products: Processed refrigerated meats, frozen breakfast entrees

ake no mistake. Everything about Sara Lee Corp.’s processed meat plant in Zeeland, Mich. – is BIG. A flagship in Sara Lee’s North American Retail business, Zeeland is a 500,000-square-foot operation on a 123-acre site. It employs as many as 900 people and produces more than 200 million pounds of processed meats for nearly every Sara Lee’s retail and foodservice brand. Perhaps not surprisingly, Zeeland also has been a big contributor to Sara Lee’s Jimmy Dean breakfast business. When company officials wanted to push brand growth in frozen-bowl breakfast entrees, they selected Zeeland (in southwest Michigan) and renovated a portion of plant for frozen-food processing. Zeeland has helped fuel a growing business. Sara Lee has expanded the Jimmy Dean Breakfast Bowls line to seven items since the product’s 2006 debut. Officials say the latest offering, a new Jimmy Dean D-Lights Ham Bowl, offers 21 grams of protein per serving, contains just 220 calories and is ready in less than three minutes. Sara Lee says those popular new items – coupled with creative promotion – have propelled the brand to a 55.7 percent market share in the frozen protein breakfast category, according to Information Resources Inc. data (12 weeks ending Jan. 9, 2011). Plant Manager Ross Myers says no one could be more proud of Jimmy Dean’s success than Sara Lee’s Zeeland employees. “For Sara Lee to put its breakfast bowl line here

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Pride inside: Jimmy Dean Àrst- and second-shift team members.

was exciting for all us. It represented a big investment,” says Myers. “When it came to designing the new line, Sara Lee also sought input from those employees who would be running, maintaining and cleaning it. It was fun to take it from a concept and make it a reality.” Meanwhile, Zeeland employees also have much to be proud of. Sara Lee recognized the facility internally as its “Meat Plant of the Year” during fiscal 2009 (for achievement against internal key performance indicators). Sara Lee also honored Zeeland last year as the company’s top distribution center. Myers says the plant (certified at SQF Level 3) recorded “perfect scores” across a multitude of criteria including worker safety, on-time delivery and cost. Last but not least, the American Meat Institute also gave Zeeland a 2010 Worker Safety Recognition Award for employee safety and health performance. Myers notes that Zeeland’s recordable lost-time accident rate (as of February 2011) is less than 0.5 on a yearto-date basis. And again … remember Zeeland has nearly 900 employees. Myers says Zeeland embraced lean manufacturing in 2003 and says 88

– eight years later – its workers now adhere to a behavior-based safety program. Zeeland’s goal, he says, is to train every employee and involve them cross-functional, self-directed safety teams. In this context, he says co-workers help their peers identify and correct any potential issues. “It’s all about employee buy-in,” says Myers. “To be leaders in safety, employees have to be the ones who make things happen. It’s clear that they take pride in what they do.” For that matter, Zeeland employees likewise can point to several environmental achievements involving … … packaging and transportation. Myers said Zeeland employees helped corporate engineers design the Jimmy Dean breakfast bowl entrée line and even the bowl itself. Together, they eliminated handles that were fixed into the original bowl. Not only did this make line filling operations more efficient but the change also slimmed down the package – resulting in more cartons per case and more cases per truck. Officials say the slimmer package represents a paperboard savings of 74 metric tons per year and a reduced shipping case for corrugate savings of


34 metric tons per year. Plus, because Zeeland could add one more case to each pallet load, it saved an estimated 236 truckloads, 161,834 liters of diesel fuel and 431 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually, they say. … energy. Zeeland converted two older product mixers from hydraulic power to electric power. Myers estimates the shift “saves us the equivalent energy used to power as many as 150 homes.” … wastewater. Zeeland converted from a traditional brine chill system to a cold water chilling alternative. By eliminating salt in its chiller systems, Zeeland reduced overall chloride levels in its discharged water by as much as 50 percent, says Myers. While Zeeland does its part, corporate officials in Downers Grove, Ill., continue to do more to build Jimmy Dean and other brands. “We’re all proud when Jimmy Dean does anything – from a line extension to a new product,” says Myers notes. “And that goes for everyone here. We regard everything we do as a crossfunctional team effort, and it involves everyone from management to our hourly employees.”

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SpecialReport

Photos courtesy of Cargill Incorporated

Cargill reclaims methane from the wastewater lagoons and converts that methane into biogas to fuel plant boilers. Biogas now replaces up to 30 percent of natural gas demand at 11 meat plants.

JUST THE FACTS

Company: Cargill Incorporated Food plant(s) honored: Beardstown, Ill.; London, Ont. Selection criteria: Environmental initiatives Employees: N.A. Facility size: N.A. Products: Fresh and processed beef, pork and poultry

90

THINKING OUTSIDE (AND INSIDE) THE BOX New technologies, creativity and partnerships help Cargill push environmental, energy achievements. aste not, want not” is the time-tested admonition. Yet what are meat and poultry processors supposed to do when so many daily production activities create waste? The answer: Don’t waste that by product … particularly if you can reduce, re-use or recycle it. And chances are your good deeds won’t go unnoticed. When quick-service restaurant giant McDonald’s Corp. published its 2010

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Global Best of Green sustainable supply chain report, it recognized Cargill Incorporated’s North American meats business for its waste recovery and reduction achievements. McDonald’s credited Cargill Pork’s Beardstown, Ill., plant, which eliminated 95 percent of waste that previously went to a landfill or land application. McDonald’s also commended a Cargill Meats Canada poultry facility in London, Ontario, which reduced daily freshwater use (by 28 percent) and started recycling all other chilled

water – not once but twice. Environmental improvements are a big deal for Cargill, a $108 billion global giant with 32 North American beef, pork and poultry operations. Recognizing its corporate responsibility, this private company talks quite openly about activities in five “cornerstone” areas including environmental and energy practices. “McDonald’s is one our largest customers, and we partner with them in every area from menu development, to restaurant operations and risk-management solutions,” notes Scott Hartter, vice president of Environment, Health and Safety for Cargill’s Animal Protein group. “Understandably, McDonald’s is very passionate about sustainability,” he continues. “It’s one of their cornerstones and – at their first U.S. sustainability conference – they challenged suppliers about best practices in this area. We sit on their sustainability leadership committee and believe that this is a non-competitive issue where it’s important to be transparent and share our ideas.” Hartter says he leads a global team that just set aggressive five-year improvement metrics across every environmental and energy area. He notes Cargill’s commitment to the Chicago Climate Exchange (a 2007 pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions 6 percent by 2010) as well as ISO 14001 Certification (whereby all Cargill processing locations, feedlots and farms adhere to a strict environmental management system governing efficient water use and reuse). Cargill likewise has detailed goals and programs for responsible energy use, greenhouse gas reduction, water reduction and waste reduction. Many of those efforts caught McDonald’s eye and the foodservice operator chose to honor … … Beardstown, Ill. Cargill Pork Beardstown constructed a site to compost all agricultural waste from its plant – combining it with other cellulose material – to create a valuable compost material. This helped

Environmental improvements are a big deal for Cargill, a $108 billion global giant with 32 North American beef, pork and poultry operations.

InfraLab Meat Analyzer

The only “10 Second” Bench-top NIR Measurement Solution... Measure fat, moisture & protein accurately, and save time and money with its unique 10 second sample analysis capability. InfraLab also features: Ŷ

Secure, Passcode Protected User Access

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Full Data Logging

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USB & Ethernet Connectivity

At NDC we develop robust, easy-to-use, lab-to-line measurement solutions. Our latest InfraLab Meat Analyzer is the most cost-effective rapid meat sample analyzer you can buy. It’s fast, too!

Ask us for a free on-site demonstration. The Measure of Quality™

www.ndcinfrared.com/meat NDC Infrared Engineering Inc., 5314 N. Irwindale Ave., Irwindale, CA 91706 Tel: 626 960 3300 Email: [email protected] JUNE 2011 | PROVISIONERONLINE.COM | THE NATIONAL PROVISIONER

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SpecialReport

Beardstown eliminate 95 percent of its land-applied and landfill waste materials. Other Cargill Meat plants have adopted this practice and reduced Cargill animal protein’s direct land application and landfill volumes by more than 75 percent during the past five years. …London, Ont. In its primary, slaughter area, this Cargill Meats Canada poultry-processing plant uses fresh water to prepare birds for further 92

processing. The system to chill these birds to their proper temperature uses approximately 71,000 gallons of water per day. The facility also evaluated using recycled water a second time from the HVAC system to pre-rinse empty chicken crates. Cargill London installed a rotary screen process to filters out solids from the chillers’ overflow water system. This reduced the amount of solids going to the wastewater treatment plant. London


now pumps that chilled water to a makeup air unit in the primary area (cooling the room for employees). Then, it pumps the same water to a booster pump at the crate washing area. This helps create high pressure water, which employees use to remove large pieces of material before crates go through a fresh water and sanitizer spray. Cargill says this improvement reduced London’s freshwater consumption by 28 percent during the past 24

months. Moreover, 100 percent of all the chilled overflow water is being recycled twice. Employees now work in a cooler environment during summer months and London has eliminated fresh water use at the crate washer entrance. For his part, Hartter is just as excited about even more environmental achievements involving … … the Global Conference on Sustainable Beef. Cargill co-sponsored the fall 2010 conference with McDonald’s, the World Wildlife Fund and a handful of other companies. Cargill described the event as a forum to review current sustainability practices and build alignment around key impacts (both positive and negative) within the beef system. The conference featured tracks dedicated to science and research, better management practices and dialogue among all supply-chain members. … methane recovery at all large facilities. Cargill invested millions to install anaerobic reactors at all of its largest beef- and pork-processing plants. Here, Cargill reclaims methane from the wastewater lagoons and converts that methane into biogas that fuels plant boilers. That biogas now replaces up to 30 percent of natural gas demand at 11 meat plants. Cargill estimates that this already has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than 1.3 million metric tons in the last four years. “I call this a ‘triple bottom line,’ win-win-win proposition,” says Hartter. “It reduces pollution, increases our renewable energy and cuts cost. We are very proud that one out of every five cattle processed is done so with 100-percent renewable energy.”

Cargill Pork Beardstown constructed a site to compost all agricultural waste from its plant – combining it with other cellulose material – to create a valuable compost material. This helped Beardstown eliminate 95 percent of its landapplied and landfill waste materials.


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TechProcessing

Staying sharp During the Àrst-processing stage, meat and poultry processors are employing precision cutting equipment for improved worker safety and ergonomics. By Megan Pellegrini THE MEAT AND POULTRY INDUSTRY is constantly challenged by the balance of fostering a safe yet productive work atmosphere during production. In particular, during the first-processing stage, cutting equipment such as pneumatic cutters and automatic slicers can be a key focus of worker-safety and ergonomic programs, as well as efficiency improvements, cost reductions, proper manning and increased chain speeds. “Regular upright band saws are being phased out in larger processing facilities,” notes Paul McCauley, director of operations, Mountain States Rosen, Bronx, N.Y.“Hand knife cutting and trimming has been dramatically reduced in daily operations as well.” Instead, pneumatic trimmers and automatic slicers offer increased efficiencies while minimizing risk today, he says. More manufacturers are certainly offering precision cutting equipment then were years ago. And they can offer a wide variety of units with capabilities rang94


ing from cutting specific thickness to portion control, says McCauley. However, with high-speed cutting equipment, certain flexibilities can be lost during the first-processing stage, explains Dennis Stiffler, Ph.D., CEO, Mountain States Rosen. “Animal to animal variation — or size variability — can create issues; certain equipment may tear product more than conventional methods, such as clean-andjerk systems; possibly foreign object material issues could arise, and there may be increased inherent personnel safety concerns,” he says. The lamb industry, for one, is handling safety issues by utilizing cutting equipment that provides improved precision capabilities and accurate data capture and reporting, as well as easier maintenance and sanitation, says Stiffler. McCauley adds that any time an employee is involved with any type of fabrication equipment, there are risks.

“We try and minimize the risk level through a lock-out, tag-out program and constant training,” says McCauley.“Concentration and fatigue are two of the largest factors when manning any cutting equipment.” In addition, proper hand protection for employees, such as safety cut gloves, is necessary to minimize accidents. Many equipment companies realize that proper training is necessary to ensure a successful program, so they include training sessions with the equipment, says McCauley. “Operator safety has always been a priority, but there is an elevated level of thought process being built into machines today,” he says.“The addition of more safety cut-off points in the operation of unit has increased.” In today’s climate, all equipment manufacturers are aware and making concentrated efforts to ensure equipment contributes and complies with good food-safety requirements, instead of primarily focusing on increasing unit capabilities and throughput. “Today with so much more emphasis being put on food safety, they have no choice but to offer additional precautions built into the unit,” says McCauley.“Adding input and output conveyors minimizes actual food contact, which reduces the possibility of contamination. Many of the newer models are also being built with full wash-down capabilities.” However, self-sanitizing knives and better bone-dust control are two features McCauley would like to see improved.

After the live hang method is first used on the birds, and up until the bird comes out of the processing line, the bird is not touched by a person.

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Running the gamut: From band saws to lasers To create its custom orders,Wasatch Meats, Salt Lake City, mainly uses band saws and knives. According to Roger Rausch, operations manager,Wasatch Meats, the inherent risk associated with band saws involves operator error. “With any piece of equipment, training plays a key role,” he says.“We provide a lot of training to our meat cutters. Their operation of the equipment is vital and key.” Larger beef operations are using laser-guided and computer-driven cutting equipment, says Dale Woerner, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Animal Sciences, Colorado State University, based in Fort Collins, Colo. “Foodservice has driven portion-control cuts to a high rate of speed,” he says, noting that food safety could be improved

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95

TechProcessing if equipment was continually sanitized during and after operations. The poultry industry’s cutting equipment is also highly automated due to the sheer volume of birds that are processed every day — up to 200,000 to one million per plant. “Most innovations relate to speeding up the processing lines,” says Gary McMurray, chief, Georgia Tech Research Institute’s Food Processing Technology Division, in Atlanta.“Companies are also pushing software solutions that will collect more data from the machines on key performance indicators.” After the live hang method is first used on the birds,and up until the bird comes out of the processing line,the bird is not touched by a person,he notes.Then,the bird is re-loaded by employees into production lines where the claws are cut off,and the bird is eviscerated and sent to the chiller. “There is a little bit of error introduced into the system because of bird weight

“Most innovations relate to speeding up the processing lines.” Gary McMurray, Georgia Tech Research Institute

differences and when operators set the blades,” he says. Tyson Foods works with suppliers to develop site-specific equipment that builds upon previous innovations, says Worth Sparkman, manager public relations, Tyson Foods Inc., in Springdale, Ark. “One opportunity we are beginning to make headway in is applying technologies that quantify sharpness in knives and scissors,” he says.“This helps us stabilize performance in the sharpening room, as

well as identify team members on the line who need assistance in mastering online maintenance skills.” Tyson Foods has active ergonomics committees in all of its plants that systematically review jobs and develop corrective solutions to make work easier for its people. Another helpful tactic employed by Tyson is continual education and training of its team members. “Also, our industrial engineering team analyzes the work content of our jobs using standard motion time libraries, which are ultimately used to establish staffing levels,” says Sparkman.“This data has fatigue allowances built in to ensure we provide our people with adequate rest and recovery time.” At the end of the day, a good working environment leads to even greater food safety. “Safe equipment used properly can reduce fatigue and strain, and therefore team members are better able to focus on the immediate task at hand,” he says.

“I Stand Behind All Our Patty Paper and Interleaving Products.” Larry Czaszwicz Jr.

President/Owner

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s7ORLD CLASSCUSTOMER SERVICE sv3UPERIORv'-0 CERTIlCATION

3224 Butler Avenue South Chicago Heights, IL 60411 0F [email protected] www.framarx.com

Interleaving the worlds of meat, poultry, dairy, baking, and specialty products

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Ceramic Industry June 2011

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