NEWS BITES
Ecolab Earns 2009 IFT
Food Expo Innovation
Award
Ecolab Inc. has been named a 2009 recipient of
the “IFT Food Expo Innovation Award” for the
development of the first peroxyacetic acid-based
commercial sterilant system registered with U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for use
against the highly resistant pathogen, Bacillus
cereus. The program is part of Ecolab’s ongoing
commitment to partnering with its customers to
help them deliver food safely to consumers. Presented to Ecolab by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) at its Annual Meeting & Food Expo
on June 7, 2009, the award is designed to honor
outstanding innovation in products, instruments,
equipment, technology and services.
University of Guelph
Revitalizes Food
Safety Network
The Food Safety Network (FSN) is open for
business. The Food Science Department at the
University of Guelph (Ontario, Canada) is supporting FSN’s information service while a new
strategy is developed. Plans to reshape FSN to
meet future information and food safety research
needs are being developed. Food Science faculty, guest scientists and graduate student interns, as well as FSN staff, are providing content
for the FSN website. Activities and services will
be added as resources allow.
NSF and Paragon Partner
to Develop Next
Generation of Food
Industry Leaders
NSF International, a not-for-profit public
health and safety organization, has partnered with
Paragon Leadership International, a Novi, MI-based leadership development firm, to launch a
new series of food safety leadership forums: The
Food Epprentice Experience™.
Paragon Leadership created the Food Epprentice Experience to further develop the talents and
social contributions of the state’s best and bright-est future food industry leaders. Participants will
collaborate to create sustainable, innovative solutions to critical food safety challenges.
IAFP 2009 Award Recipients
The International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) presented
awards recognizing excellence in food safety to the following organizations
and individuals at IAFP 2009, July 12-15 in Grapevine, TX.
The Black Pearl Award was presented to Schnuck Markets, Inc., St.
Louis, MO, in recognition of Schnuck’s outstanding achievement in corporate excellence in food safety and quality. The IAFP Fellow Award was presented to Kathleen Rajkowski, USDA. IAFP Fellows are professionals who
have contributed to IAFP and its affiliates with distinction over an extended
period of time. Paula Fedorka-Cray received the Food Safety Innovation
Award for creating a new idea, practice or product that has had a positive
impact on food safety, thus, improving public health and the quality of life.
Joy Gaze received the GMA Food Safety Award in recognition of a long
history of outstanding contributions to food safety research and education.
Additional information about these and other award winners can be found
at www.foodprotection.org.
Silgan Containers Wins Hormel
Foods Spirit of Excellence Award
Silgan Containers was recognized by Hormel Foods with its Spirit of Excellence Award for the 16th consecutive year. Silgan is one of only two companies to have earned the honor consecutively during that period of time.
Silgan supplies a wide variety of metal and plastic packaging to Hormel
Foods. Criteria factored into qualifying for the Spirit of Excellence Award include the following: meeting requirements, making timely deliveries, providing accurate administrative support and maintaining inventories. The
awarding committee also looks for value-added benefits, including customer
support, awareness of environmental concerns and sales representative performance. A universal measurement system has been in place since 1990 to
ensure every supplier is held to the same standards. Silgan first won the award
in 1993, and has continued to earn it consecutively since then. Additionally,
Silgan was the recipient in 2006 of the No. 1 Award from Hormel Foods for
the third time. This is an honor that is only given every five years to suppliers
meeting stringent five-point requirements.
Recent Articles Available Online at
www.foodsafetymagazine.com/signature.asp
With recent food traceability scares affecting thousands of U.S. food
companies—food companies are faced with a choice as to how to address
the traceability legislation from the incoming raw ingredients of products all
the way through their process to finished and repackaged goods. Read
more in FreshPoint Invests in ‘Watertight’ Produce Traceability System
by S.G. Systems to learn more about traceability solutions.
Food recalls are becoming too commonplace in today’s global environment. Even with more stringent regulatory requirements, new solutions are
needed to ensure that manufacturers can balance the removal of affected
product—and only affected product—while completing the day-to-day operations necessary to survival. See the article Pistachio Threat Urges Recall Preparedness to learn about Stericycle’s On-site Effectiveness Checks
available to the industry.
