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The
Fruits of Consolidation in Chicago
Fresh Cut
January 2001
FRANKLIN PARK, Ill. — "There’s a sea change going on in
this business in terms of consolidation," asserts Carey Cooper, president
and CEO of Redi-Cut Foods Inc. "I think there will always be a place
for small, niche processors, but large customers want state-of-the-art
facilities and food systems, cutting-edge research and development, a
broad line of products, cost-efficient operations and broad distribution
areas."
That’s a tall order, but Cooper wants to fill it
and he came a step closer recently when Performance Food Group of Richmond,
Virginia, agreed to purchase Redi-Cut for about $130 million. The resulting
business unit will be capable of supplying nearly the entire eastern half
of the United States with fresh-cut fruits and vegetables.
"We’re excited about it," Cooper continues.
"We think we’re going to have a lot of success taking our brand
name and our reputation for quality and food safety to a much broader
geographic area."
Last September, Redi-Cut opened a new 55,000-square-foot
processing plant in Kansas City, Missouri. The company also recently opened
a new 36,000-square-foot plant immediately behind its main processing
plant in the Chicago area. Coupled with other plants owned by Performance
in Georgia and Texas, the company can now serve every area east of the
Mississippi River except the Northeast.
"This is our oldest plant and it’s only six
years old," Cooper says, referring to the 120,000-square-foot plant
housing his office. "We have a modern, state-of-the-art asset base
and that allows our customers peace of mind in buying our products. Our
size also allows them to take advantage of leverage. We think we can translate
that to lower costs for them."
Fruit Star Rising
Since the company was founded in 1978, Redi-Cut has traditionally
targeted foodservice clients, currently boasting about 500 line items.
After opening a fresh-cut fruit processing plant about five years ago,
however, the company has also made inroads into retail. The new plant
in Franklin Park will be dedicated mainly to processing fresh-cut fruit
but also will include a line for fresh-cut tomatoes and a newly developed
pico de gallo that has found early success in retail deli sections.
"We’re tremendously excited about fruit,"
Cooper reports. "We have a pretty good formula. Fruit is never going
to be a 12-day-shelf-life product you can ship from the coast and we don’t
want it to be. We want to offer a fresh product. To do that, you have
to be close to the customer. You have to have outstanding distribution
networks, which we believe we have."
Hired about two years ago, Redi-Cut’s "fruit
man," Austin Hough, was charged with boosting fruit sales companywide.
Thanks to help from Dr. Margaret Barth, vice president of quality, research
and development, Hough reports sales of fresh-cut fruit have nearly doubled
in the past year and don’t show any signs of slowing.
The "Adolescent Teenager"
A former chef, Hough sells both fruits and vegetables
to retail and foodservice accounts at Redi-Cut, but says he devotes about
80 percent of his time to his "adolescent teenager" — fresh-cut
fruit.
Food safety is a key ingredient in Redi-Cut’s fruit
program, according to Hough. He says the company’s retail program
got a big boost when a major customer no longer wanted the liability of
cutting fruit in-house.
"In the litigious society we live in, you have to
be very careful and it’s better to be safe than sorry," the
fruit man explains. "The people who say, ‘No, I’d rather
do it at the store level,’ have a misconception of what fresh-cut
is as opposed to ‘fresh-ly cut.’
"What I do is fresh-cut. I have a HACCP plan. I have
temperature controls. ‘Freshly cut’ simply means it was cut
just now or a short time ago at the store. It doesn’t mean there
were temperature controls in place. It doesn’t mean someone was wearing
a hair net or gloves or was using a sanitized knife."
The Right Package
Finding the right packaging system for fresh-cut fruit
has also been a key to unlocking the sales potential of these sweet, colorful
products, according to Hough.
"Packaging has been our biggest thing," the
sales executive declares. "We changed the packaging, gaining longer
shelf-life and it contributed greatly to the success of our program. It
was just a matter of somebody dedicating time to doing it."
Redi-Cut helped pioneer rigid fruit packaging with a "juice
catcher" feature that has become an industry standard, according
to Hough. Today’s packaging still features reservoirs that prevent
fruit pieces from sitting in their own juices, but more recently, Redi-Cut
has seen the wisdom in separating different fruits into individual compartments
to keep juices and flavors from mingling.
"The key was if you put cantaloupe and honeydew together,
it’s going to be okay, but if you start mixing in other fruits like
pineapple or watermelon, the dominant fruit is going to take over,"
Hough explains. "We compartmentalized everything. They all still
drain properly because they have drainage on the bottom. And they all
keep their own flavor. Everything retains its proper shelf life, too.
That was the key for us."
Redi-Cut offers fruit in several sizes of bulk rigid trays,
lidded bowls or party trays. Hough says the variety of packaging helps
retailers and foodservice operators select quantities and presentations
that work best for them.
Options for the Trade
"Some grocery stores will take my bulk trays and make big party trays
with them for the weekends," he points out. "By doing that,
they’re eliminating the cutting and the worry about chilling it down.
All they have to do is open it up and, with clean hands, put it in a clean
tray. Other grocery stores like to get their party trays already made
and some like to buy a combination of both.
"They may take these little one-pound bowls of cantaloupe
or honeydew and just put them out on the shelf. But they may also take
5-pound trays of honeydew, cantaloupes and watermelon and mix them all
up and maybe throw in some kiwi slices they make themselves. It gives
them options. The bottom line is, my job is to give people options."
Thanks again to perseverance and R&D support, Hough
says Redi-Cut was recently able to extend the shelf life of its watermelon
packs, turning watermelon into another viable leg of its fruit program.
"Watermelon has been unbelievable for us this year,"
he continues. "We weren’t able to sell watermelon before and
get a good shelf life. It took us a long time to figure out how to package
watermelon the right way and it’s just selling by the ton now.
Juicy, Red Success
"By adding watermelon, we were able to increase our fruit program
dramatically. If you can go out to a customer and say, ‘Hey, I can
do watermelon,’ and you prove it to them, you’re a shining star."
Once the new fruit plant in Franklin Park is online, Hough
says Redi-Cut will also add apple slices and citrus segments to its product
line. The company has procured an Atlas-Pacific apple coring and slicing
machine, a unit usually found in canning or freezing facilities.
"All we’re looking to do is basically wedged
apples for retail," Hough adds. "If we get residual business
from foodservice companies that want whole peeled Granny Smith apples
for baking or if there are some manufacturers out there we could sell
apples to, that’s great. But the main goal was for fresh-cut apples
at retail and we’re really excited about that."
Looking ahead to the melding of Redi-Cut with Performance
Food Group and its processing company Fresh Advantage, Carey Cooper says
Redi-Cut not only wants to be the "Rolls Royce of the pre-cut vegetable
processing business," but also brings expertise in fresh-cut fruit
to the table.
"We’ve respected Fresh Advantage for a long
time," Cooper says about the pending marriage. "We are excited
about the fact that they have some of the same types of customers we have
in different areas. We’ve felt the cultures are a good mesh.
Commitment to Quality
"What sets us apart is our undying commitment to provide a top quality
product. They have a culture that is quality-oriented, too. They also
had some gaps in their management team that would utilize our management
team. They don’t have someone who does fruit and we do.
"Austin is going to be responsible for taking fruit
and rolling it out into a larger geographic area. We intend to increase
and broaden the number of products we’re offering. We’re going
to do apples. We’re going to do citrus. We think our fruit offerings
are just going to be great. And we’ll take the knowledge we learned
here and try to translate that to the Southwest and the Southeast.
"We believe our customers, the major retail chains,
are not buying a particular brand name. They want to know their fruit
is processed locally and that it’s fresh. Fresh Advantage wants to
be a national player. This is a way we can get bigger very quickly. There’s
certainly not a national player in fruit right now and we want to compete
in that market. I think we’re nicely positioned to do it."
Hough agrees, "I think fruit is going to be the next
big thing. It’s starting to grow for us. Everybody is comfortable
now with fresh-cut vegetables. What else is there? It’s fruit. And
I know we can do a good job with it."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Applied
Research Improves Products
Fresh Cut
January 2001
FRANKLIN PARK, Ill. — A GC-Mass Spectrometer isn’t exactly standard
equipment for fresh-cut processors, but Dr. Margaret Barth’s department
at Redi-Cut Foods, Inc. recently had one delivered for in-house research.
"GC mass spectroscopy, along with sensory panel evaluation,
allows us to identify flavor components that are critical for a number
of our customers," reports Dr. Barth, a former University of Kentucky
researcher who now uses science and technology to solve real-world problems
for both Redi-Cut and its customers.
Nearly four years ago, Dr. Barth left her teaching and
research position at the university to become head of research and development
at Redi-Cut. Now, instead of comparing vitamin C content in packaged fresh-cut
broccoli to that of whole broccoli, she’s applying her knowledge
and training to such practical matters as sanitizing wash water, improving
product flavor and extending the shelf life of fresh-cut watermelon.
"Meg Barth helped figure out our system for watermelon,"
says Austin Hough, who heads up fresh-cut fruit sales for Redi-Cut. "We
really feel we can get a 10-day shelf life on watermelon, but a seven-day
shelf life is what we can guarantee. Before that, we couldn’t sell
watermelon and get a good shelf life."
Finding a Better Way
Fine-tuning the company’s fruit process with a focus on watermelon
is just one of the many technical projects heaped high on Dr. Barth’s
plate. Since President and CEO Carey Cooper hired her, he has promoted
her to vice president for quality, research and development and she has
added former student, Hong Zhuang, and food technologist Olusola Ishola
to her department to help carry the load.
One exciting area of focus for the team of researchers
has been wash water systems, according to Dr. Barth. Redi-Cut employs
several wash systems in its plant and has worked with an outside firm
to commercialize a containerized system that used ozone as its oxidizing
agent. She says the ozone system will be installed and operating by January
2001 and could revolutionize water sanitation and quality retention in
the company’s process.
On her office wall, Dr. Barth has a quote from Thomas
Edison that reads, "There’s a way to do it better. Find it,"
but she and her department are not just focusing on a single procedure
or process. They are attacking a number of challenges at once. Here is
a partial list of the projects currently underway:
Sliced tomatoes: The group is looking at cultivars, color,
stage of ripeness, pre-storage temperature, cutting equipment, packaging,
pre-rinses and other factors that influence the quality of sliced tomatoes
Redi-Cut is able to deliver to customers. The company is currently producing
sliced tomatoes and looking at ways to automate the process to provide
higher volume.
Flavor: Products may have 12 days of shelf life, but do they lose flavor
or other sensory qualities before their time? Dr. Barth and her colleagues
have formed a trained sensory panel by providing 12 members of Redi-Cut’s
staff with universal reference training in evaluating sweetness, texture
and other quality parameters. The panel has evaluated lettuce flavor,
aroma and other parameters over time to determine if there is a "drop-off"
in sensory quality prior to shelf life expiration. The group also developed
a flavor scorecard for specific company products.
Varietal testing: Redi-Cut is comparing vegetable varieties as they are
grown in different regions in order to provide consistent flavor, color
and other qualities in the products they sell their customers.
Oxygen transmission rates: Are packaging materials right for the products
they protect? Dr. Barth’s team is validating the OTR of major products
to be sure packaging systems are doing the best possible job in assuring
the proper shelf life over region and season.
Optimizing processes: Redi-Cut’s research arm is closely examining
every step of its processes to identify key areas where intervention or
changes could help improve quality and yield of its products. "We
examine the efficacy of our current system," explains Hong Zhuang.
"We also work on finding new methods to control microbe populations
in finished product." Food technologist Olusola Ishola agrees, "We
do a lot of what I call trouble shooting, trying to find key indicators,
if we have problems, and what could be the causes."
Microbial assessments: "We take steps at regular intervals to verify
the capability of our process to provide a wholesome and high-quality
product for the customer," Dr. Barth explains. "We’re also
doing shelf life validation work to determine how raw materials from different
regions perform on both shelf life and market quality."
Statistical process control: This relatively new product is aimed at improving
the company’s efficiency in assuring product safety and quality.
Working in the private sector to develop new technologies and systems
has opened up wider opportunities for collaborating with others, according
to Dr. Barth.
"At the university, we were involved with technology
groups, looking at application of their treatments, whether it was packaging
or a processing aid," she explains. "A group that we may have
worked with at the university we now may be working with in collaboration
with one of our customers or one of our suppliers. Now it’s not so
much like a grant, but that someone says, ‘Would you study this and
find the best packaging?’
From the Ground Up
"We’re actually working all the way from raw material and environmental
and postharvest handling of that material, through to the finished product
at the store level.
"At the university, we’re working more on an
isolated issue to look for an application or a comparative difference,
using one treatment versus another. We still use that approach here, but
we’re now working very closely with our raw material suppliers, with
postharvest handling practices. Here we’re doing more commercial-scale
trials."
Customers frequently instigate the projects Barth’s
department addresses, often because there are questions about such factors
as packaging, shelf life or flavor issues and whether or not these affect
quality to the customer at the restaurant level.
"If a customer is getting complaints about flavor,
for example, we may go back and look to see if it’s a raw material
issue, a process issue, a handling issue at the restaurant level or something
else," Dr. Barth says. "So we look at thresholds of chlorine
or whatever we’re using in the flume. We may look at different packaging
applications to see if they are contributing to the development of flavors
on the finished product. Temperature affects things like that, too.
"For example, we may work on a sensory evaluation
project at the restaurant level to determine the threshold conditions
for specific quality attributes. It’s much more of a real-world application,
looking for much more immediate kinds of quick wins for the customer."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Partners
Were Experts Almost Overnight
Fresh Cut
January 2001
They started in a converted garage, using coin-op clothes dryers to remove
excess water from their product, but within a few months, Phil Cooper
and Les Frankel were considered onion processing experts by their major
customer.
"It sort of took off from there," recalls Cooper,
who is still active in Redi-Cut Foods, Inc. 23 years after launching a
potato processing business with Frankel. "We originally started in
the fresh-cut potato business. Doing salads and onions was the last thing
on our mind."
Selling fresh-cut french fries and other potato products
to hot dog stands, small restaurants and distributors, the two men were
frequently seen making deliveries in their station wagons on South Water
and Randolph Streets.
Potatoes weren’t bringing the fledgling company enough
income, however, and the two entrepreneurs soon decided they needed a
major account. Cooper had a connection at a fast food chain and was surprised
to learn the company was "looking for somebody to run onions for
them."
The two had started their business in December 1977 and
by April of the next year they were running onions for their new client,
religiously putting quarters in two dryers they purchased for $50 and
$25, respectively.
A Prototype Processor
"Actually, maybe three months after we started with them, we were
kind of the prototype onion processor in the country," Cooper recalls.
"They brought in all the people throughout the country who were making
onions for them to show them how we were doing it. Nobody else was actually
doing them very well at the time."
Cooper and Frankel continued processing in their 15,000-square-foot
converted garage in Evanston, Illinois, for about four years, then leased
a 30,000-square-foot building in Rosemont which they later expanded to
50,000 square feet.
Just three years after launching their business, the two
added lettuce to their line of products and "just kept expanding
the business," Cooper recalls. In 1993, the company completed a modern
90,000-square-foot processing plant in Franklin Park and, by 1996, they
added another 30,000 square feet to that facility. In 1995, Redi-Cut purchased
Kansas City Salad Co. and recently completed a new facility for that arm
of their business. Most recently, the company is replacing a 12,000-square-foot
fruit processing plant with a new 36,000-square-foot plant to be dedicated
to fruit, tomatoes and pico de gallo, according to Cooper.
When asked the secret to Redi-Cut’s success, Cooper
says simply, "We always tried to be a very high quality company.
That’s basically what we sell is quality."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Researchers
Say, "Eat Your Medicine"
Fresh Cut
January 2001
A few years ago, the California Carrot Advisory Board and the American
Cancer Society published a poster featuring three beautiful carrots and
the phrase, "Mother Was Right."
As it turns out, Mom was right about more than just carrots.
Research continues to bear out her maternal instinct, demonstrating that
eating 5 A Day really does promote good health.
According to a recent study, diets rich in fruits and
vegetables and low in meat and sugar not only help lower blood pressure
but also reduce levels of homocysteine, a harmful amino acid linked to
heart disease. Funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute,
the study placed 118 subjects on a high fruit and vegetable diet, known
as Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH). Subjects on the diet
eat only low-fat dairy foods and reduce meat and sugar consumption.
Researchers conducted this follow-up study to determine
the effects of the DASH diet on homocysteine and found homocysteine levels
can be reduced through intake of folate, a B vitamin found in leafy green
vegetables and whole grains.
Scientists with USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
have found orange and other citrus juices contain bioflavonoids that can
help the body fight off cancer-causing substances. Bioflavonoids give
flavor to citrus and also are strong antioxidants.
Inhibiting Carcinogens
The scientists have identified several citrus bioflavonoids that inhibit
certain cytochrome P450 enzymes, know for turning cigarette smoke, pesticides,
and other substances, called procarcinogens, into carcinogens. One enzyme
of particular concern is P450 1B1. It not only turns cigarette smoke and
pesticides into carcinogens but also is present at high levels in breast
and prostate cancer cells.
The scientists discovered hesperetin, the most abundant
bioflavonoid in orange juice, inhibits P450 1B1 enzymes from metabolizing
procarcinogens, reducing the likelihood that the body will turn them into
carcinogens. Armed with a knowledge of hesperetin’s activity, scientists
may be able to develop alternatives to traditional cancer chemotherapy
treatments that affect both healthy and diseased cells.
Mom may not have been as insistent about onions as she
was about carrots and orange juice, but recent research at the University
of Wisconsin has shown onions inhibit platelet aggregation in human blood
and may promote improved cardiovascular health.
Reporting at the National Onion Association’s Summer
Regional Convention last July in Madison, Wisconsin, Dr. Irwin Goldman,
a UW associate professor of horticulture, said onion juice has shown promise
as a blood thinner for dogs. If the same result can be achieved with humans,
it may be possible to reduce the risk of blood clot formation and related
heart attacks and strokes.
Foods as Medicine
While the "crowning achievement" of modern medical science in
the western world has been the development of synthetic drugs, foods are
used as medications in much of the rest of the world and have been for
thousands of years, according to Goldman.
"Hippocrates said, ‘Let your food be your medicine
and your medicine be your food," Goldman said. He also quoted a Chinese
biologist who said recently, "Food and medicine are from the same
source, based on the same theories and have the same uses."
Bulb onions have been cultivated around the world for
thousands of years for flavor and also as a plant that promotes human
health, according to Goldman.
Onions contain a suite of compounds called thiosulfinates,
that give flavor both to them and to garlic. These substances are partially
responsible for some medicinal properties of onions and may play an important
role in human cardiovascular health.
"Somewhere very early in our development, we all
begin an atherosclerotic process, where plaque gradually builds up in
our coronary and other arteries," Goldman said. "If the plaque
gets to be too much and occludes the coronary artery, that can lead to
a heart attack or a stroke because enough blood is not flowing through.
If a piece of plaque ruptures, breaks off and blocks blood flow, we can
also have a situation that leads to heart attacks or strokes."
Onions Instead of Aspirin
Maintaining blood flow through coronary arteries is important. As plaque
develops and eventually ruptures, platelets begin to adhere to artery
surfaces and begin to aggregate and form clots. Many people now take aspirin
to inhibit platelet aggregation, but science is showing whole foods like
onions may accomplish the same thing, Goldman pointed out.
Along with Drs. Michael J. Havey, Kirk Parkin and John
D. Folts, Goldman is now looking into such possibilities.
"We began our work six or seven years ago by taking
blood from ourselves and the members of our laboratory," Goldman
explained. "Using a machine in our laboratory, our focus was on identifying
the onion properties inhibiting platelet aggregation. Thus far, we’ve
found pungent onions have a stronger anti-platelet activity than mild
onions. We’ve also discovered storing onion bulbs increases their
anti-platelet properties. We’re turning up many interesting facts,
including which of the thiosulfinates are important in inhibiting platelet
aggregation."
The researchers have also tested dogs, measuring the ability
of onions to inhibit platelet aggregation in coronary arteries.
Positive Health Benefits
"The bottom line is there appears to be a very positive health benefit,"
Goldman told the group. "The results are encouraging, but we still
have a number of significant questions to answer, including what happens
to the cooked onion that has become so popular in our marketplace? Preliminary
studies, using our model, suggest there is little or no value."
Dr. John D. Folts, Goldman’s colleague and a fellow
of the American College of Cardiology, professor of medicine and director
of the Coronary Thrombosis Research and Prevention Laboratory at the UW
Medical School, said a number of "functional foods" have shown
health benefits for humans.
"I am interested in functional foods we eat not only
for their protein and carbohydrates, fat content and other nutritious
things, but also for the micronutrients they contain," he said. "They
may be organic sulfur compounds. They may be flavonoids.
"We would like to have something in our diet that
would turn down platelet activity, so they are less likely to cause trouble."
Folts also addressed the role free radicals play in disease.
"They are found in both healthy and sick cells," he said. "Smoking
cigarettes increases free radicals in your body. It is now believed free
radicals contribute to arteriosclerosis and other degenerative diseases.
Hence, extra antioxidants in our blood or from our diet would be helpful."
Fighting Clogged Arteries
Altogether, overactive platelets, high cholesterol and free radicals can
lead to clogged arteries, and to clots that kill, Folts said. The number
one cause of death for men and women in most of the western world is heart
attack initiated by clots.
"We’re trying to do something about that,"
the researcher said. "There is much interest in polyphenolic compounds,
including flavonoids and organo-sulfurs found in plant-derived foods such
as onions, garlic and other vegetables, fruits, and fruit beverages such
as red wine and purple grape juice."
Vegetarians show much lower incidence of heart attacks,
strokes, cancers, diabetes and debilitating diseases, partly because they
eat more flavonoids, organo-sulfur compounds and other materials that
help provide anti-platelet and anti-oxidant activities. He said the French
have one-third the heart attack rate of Americans, possibly because they
drink red wine with their meals and eat more fruits and vegetables.
Red wine contains flavonoids and micronutrients from grape
seeds and skin. Remove the alcohol and the benefit remains. The key is
having enough residues from grape seeds and skin in wine or grape juice
for a long enough period.
"What may be just as important is the fact that the
French consume large quantities of onions, fruits and vegetables in their
diet on a regular basis, giving them micronutrients that also are helpful,"
Folts added.
In animal studies, Folts administered purple grape juice,
both intravenously and orally, to test its effect on blood clots. Both
methods worked. Taken orally, 10 to 12 ounces for an average man, purple
grape juice flavonoids are absorbed in the intestine, end up in the blood
stream, and "do something good." Clotting is inhibited and goes
away.
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
GMO
Debate and Product Liability
Fresh Cut
January 2001
MONTEREY, Calif. — Like it or not, genetic engineering has changed
food forever and could eventually turn the world of product liability
upside down, making even producers of non-engineered crops potentially
liable for damages.
That was the assessment of Thomas P. Redick, an attorney
with Chapin Shea McNitt & Carter of San Diego, California, a speaker
at a technical seminar held in early October by the International Fresh-cut
Produce Association entitled "Biotechnology: Friend or Foe?"
"As technology has evolved, so has the law imposing
liability and requiring compensation for those whom a jury considers to
have suffered harm," Redick wrote in a draft paper he supplied to
Fresh Cut magazine. "Strict product liability has been applied to
foods that cause foreseeably harmful, if natural, effects on consumers."
Ironically, producers of foods that have not been genetically
modified could be held liable because their "natural" products
may be unsafe or harmful in some way, according to Redick.
"The rDNA (recombinant DNA technology used in genetic
engineering) process enters the 21st Century facing a world ready to hold
it — and the foods it creates — liable for personal injury or
property damage linked to its use. The world may also use the rDNA process
to define the standard of care for non-GMO (genetically modified organism)
food. Negligence in creating food that has known or knowable risks is
generally actionable for a failure to use all available knowledge in designing
food or warning of its risks.
Using the Best Technology
"Whatever one’s perspective may be on genetic engineering, it
is clear product liability prevention requires the use of the best available
technology to prevent risks to man and his environment. If the rDNA process
were to set the standard of care for food safety in some crop varieties,
the rDNA process would increasingly be required to prevent product liability.
While the GMO frying pay may grow increasingly hot for U.S. food producers
whose products ‘may contain’ GMOs, the liability risks associated
with non-GMO varieties may actually mandate the use of certain GMOs in
certain situations."
Redick outlined two fallacies underlying the emerging
"non-GMO" marketplace and the rush to impose a "precautionary
approach" to the use of the rDNA process.
"The first fallacy lies in assuming that the non-GMO
marketplace will provide a haven for U.S. food producers from the negative
publicity campaigns of anti-corporate activists," he wrote. "Unfortunately,
the ‘non-GMO’ label of a multinational food producer may be
a virtual homing beacon for the genetic testing programs of activists.
"These activists will set their own arbitrary standards
for genetically improved crop content (a mix-in ‘tolerance’)
that may be impossible for large operations to consistently achieve. Companies
will have to look before they leap into the non-GMO marketplace.
Managing Risks
"The second fallacy is assuming that the genetically improved and
non-GMO options provide equal levels of consumer protection for known
health risks. The ‘precautionary approach’ to genetically improved
crops that is spreading around the world is driven by fear of unknown
food safety risks (e.g. hidden allergens).
"Applying the ‘precautionary approach’
evenhandedly to all foods bred by man, as product liability prevention
would require, we may find that the risks of many GMO foods are more effectively
managed than the risks posed by traditional plant breeding."
Redick went on to reason that food producers in the new
millennium will face a "bewildering array of legal barriers and documentation
requirements as the world’s food supply divides into non-GMO and
GMO chains of commerce.
"Segregation of GMOs will be imposed both by regulatory
requirements (in particular, the ‘zero tolerance’ standard for
varieties not yet approved overseas), and by the marketplace in its search
for certifiably ‘non-GMO’ supplies," he wrote.
People around the world are increasingly taking the "precautionary
approach" to GMO foods created by the rDNA process, according to
Redick. For example, he cited the European Union and many "like-minded
countries" that have protectionist tendencies.
Biotechnology concerns are forcing genetically modified
U.S. corn and soybeans to be marketed only on domestic soil thanks to
Europe’s precautionary approach.
Diverging World Opinion
While other countries are practically in a state of panic, the U.S. Food
& Drug Administration "does not consider the use of the rDNA
process sufficiently ‘material’ or ‘important’ to
U.S. consumers to require mandatory GMO labeling. Many trading partners
of the United States, however, including the E.U. and Japan, are increasingly
opting for mandatory GMO labeling, he noted.
"Anti-GMO activists have urged the world to adopt
the ‘precautionary principle’ to guide governments in setting
regulatory standards for approving genetically improved crops," Redick
reported. "This ill-defined principle could reverse the burden of
proof for regulators considering approval of genetically improved crops.
The rDNA process would be guilty until proven innocent, leaving other
more risky technologies innocent until proven guilty. This could create
the incredibly incongruous and perhaps unprecedented situation of having
regulators ban a technology on food safety grounds when that technology
may one day define the standard of care for avoiding certain food hazards.
"One expert has suggested the rDNA process could
provide the tools necessary to detect any allergy (using databases of
gene sequences) and create hypoallergenic varieties of rice and other
common crops (by deleting the allergen-producing gene sequences)."
Mothers in the 21st Century "will increasingly rely
upon the expertise of food companies to manage food safety risks,"
Redick continued. "Food producers contemplating a non-GMO option
should ensure that any products marketed to children are carefully screened
for mycotoxin, allergy, microbial and other known risks.
Second-guessing Perceptions
If today’s children file personal injury claims in the future, a
food producer will not have much hope of defending safety decisions that
were driven by perception of consumer perceptions (i.e. by assuming activists
successfully instilled irrational fear in parents about the ‘unknown’
risks of GMOs). Food producers should use the best science available to
protect children’s health.
"The simple truth, given the scrutiny directed at
GMO products prior to marketing is that certainly genetically improved
crops may pose fewer known risks than their non-GMO counterparts.
"In assessing the liability risks associated with
genetically improved and non-‘GMO product lines, companies have no
choice but to rely upon the truth as it is defined by scientific evidence—not
simply react to perceived consumer perceptions. Those customers, should
they be injured or misled, will rely upon scientific evidence if they
ever file suit for fraud or personal injury. The ‘Biotech Century’
could bring a tidal wave of genetic information that irrevocably alters
the landscape for food liability."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
>>
Return to top
Meeting
Nationwide Demand for Herbs & Specialties
Fresh Cut
February 2001
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO - For the founders of AgriVentures USA, Inc., it came
down to this: Either take the necessary steps for growth or scale back
and focus mainly on California.
Steven Hurwitz, Jay Fishman and George Gilman wanted to
grow, but they knew they would need capital to help their major customers
replace costly air shipments with just-in-time local deliveries.
"We looked at our customers and their needs and realized,
without substantial resources, we were just going to be a mid-level company,"
recalls Hurwitz, who served as president of the company. "That just
wasn’t going to cut it."
The AgriVentures trio changed their company name from
HerbThyme Farms last April to better reflect their business plan. They
will continue to use HerbThyme as a brand, but chose AgriVentures to unify
current companies under their umbrella as well as subsequent acquisitions.
During the name change, the partners attracted the attention
of Catalyst Equity Partners, an investment firm whose principals saw promise
in the AgriVentures/HerbThyme business plan. The three founders were already
operating herb and specialty produce distribution facilities on both the
Los Angeles and San Francisco terminal markets while managing their South
San Francisco production facility. They had plans in the works for further
acquisitions to expand service in key markets.
New Equity Partner
Less than a year later, AgriVentures announced a $10 million equity investment
from Catalyst that will help accelerate the eight-year-old firm’s
nationwide acquisition strategy. The company will establish a network
of regional distribution facilities in the Southeast, the Southwest, the
Midwest and the Northeast to expand customer service capability. There
is also another acquisition in the wings to broaden the company’s
product line and customer base. Hurwitz says the company will explore
ways to work with other regional herb suppliers to solidify consistent
supplies for its growing clientele.
Along with the investment, Catalyst is also providing
savvy business leadership in the form of Jerry Halamuda, who will serve
as CEO. He guided the success of Color Spot Nurseries, a $250 million
company with locations around the nation. Michael Vukelich, chairman of
the new company, also worked with Color Spot and has extensive experience
in building businesses and facilitating acquisitions. His primary focus
will be overseeing the company’s acquisition strategy.
"This is a historic day that will transform the company
into a powerful, nationwide marketing and distributing network that further
streamlines the procurement process for customers," asserts Hurwitz,
formerly president of the company.
"Jerry Halamuda is a world-class executive who has
a demonstrated track record of success. And with Catalyst Equity Partners,
we now have the financial resources and expertise to expand our distribution
network and product lines, strengthen our technology infrastructure, and
roll out national marketing programs to better serve our customers’
needs."
Hurwitz will head up sales and marketing for the new company
and partner and co-founder Jay Fishman, formerly CEO, will be president
of the fresh division. The third member of the founding trio, George Gilman,
will be vice president of growing and procurement and a fourth partner,
Charles Dible, will continue as controller.
Coast-to-Coast Network
While AgriVentures/HerbThyme has already established a network of regional
distribution centers, the company and its new management team are planning
to build a coast-to-coast network through acquisitions that will also
enhance retail service and significantly boost volume.
"When we were approached by our equity partner, the
light bulb came on because what we want to do is create a destination
in the retail produce department." Hurwitz explains. "And we
want to have the distribution network around the country to back it up.
Additionally, we want this retail center to tie in with foodservice to
give everyone a lift."
Everything the AgriVentures/HerbThyme team is doing is
customer-driven, according to Hurwitz. Sales in the newly configured company
will be split about 50 percent retail and 50 percent foodservice and he
expects demand to continue its current exciting growth rate. With growth,
however, comes an increasing need for more intensive customer service.
"We’ve had lots of customers over the years
ask us to put in distribution points near their hubs," the company
co-founder explains. "What they’re asking us to do is provide
them with more local/regional distribution. They want to eliminate the
freight, because air freight is very expensive, but they also want a just-in-time
ordering approach. It keeps their shelves cleaner and fresher and allows
the local distributor, who represents our product line, to merchandise
more, work the shelves, and help with education."
The timing is right for AgriVentures to expand its operations,
according to Hurwitz. Several factors are driving growth in what he calls
the "exciting niche" of fresh herbs and specialty produce.
Customer-driven Strategy
"Convenience, health and taste are driving everything," he reasons.
"People have a really good feeling eating these products and using
them in food preparation. And what we’re doing with our products
is appealing to all of those needs in the marketplace.
"No one wants to buy a product that requires a tremendous
amount of cutting, chopping or cleaning. If you provide it in a retail
or foodservice package, though, consumers save both labor and time. We’re
selling a lot more packaged items. We’re working more and more with
technology to enhance shelf life and to offer more processed items. Finally,
we are putting together programs that work for the customer."
Thanks to modern processing techniques and state-of-the-art
packaging, specialty greens and fresh herbs once reserved for pricey gourmet
restaurants are now more widely available, not only for foodservice but
also for consumers who want to add a touch of class to meals without excessive
cost or preparation time.
Once a high-priced specialty item, mesclun mixes have
become more commonplace, but Hurwitz says AgriVentures continues to grow
its specialty niche by providing custom salad mixes for chefs at white
tablecloth restaurants who are always looking for ways to delight customers
with new ideas.
"There’s been a void for these chefs who want
something different than what’s readily available at the supermarket,"
he explains. "They’ve asked us to create specialized custom
mixes. Some of the common ones we’re doing are micro-green salads,
Asian salads or perhaps herb salads that have herbs with the greens.
Demand for Convenience
"All of these might be enhanced with edible flowers. They continue
showing growth because they’re such an easy thing for a chef or a
consumer to use and make a difference in his or her presentation at a
very minimal cost."
In spite of the fact that fewer people are finding time
to cook in the new millennium, herbs and specialty salad mixes are showing
excellent growth at retail as well as in foodservice, Hurwitz points out.
"There’s a time and a place for everything,"
he continues. "When people come home and have time, they want to
be creative. That’s when the cooking process becomes fun. Another
situation might be that they’re running late and just want a quick,
healthy meal for their family. That’s where foodservice comes in!"
In addition to culinary herbs, medicinal herbs are big
business in pill form and Hurwitz says many customers are using them fresh
in teas or as ingredients in specialty salads.
"People are experimenting with fresh medicinal herbs,"
he says. "Why shouldn’t they be even more appealing when they’re
fresh? We’re also selling a lot more exotic or specialty herbs, things
like variegated sage or chocolate mint. Some of those items were slow
movers a couple of years ago, but they’ve picked up in volume. Basil,
rosemary and chives, just like the mesclun salad mixes, are becoming more
common and consumers are looking for something new and different, something
exciting."
Growing Ethnic Market
While typical American consumers may try something exotic at white tablecloth
restaurants and want to duplicate the dish at home with herbs, greens
and specialty produce, America’s burgeoning ethnic population is
also a factor in driving sustained growth at AgriVentures/HerbThyme, according
to Hurwitz.
"There’s an acceptance and a celebration of
diversity in this country that’s giving retailers the green light
to appeal to these ethnic groups," he asserts. "Where it may
have been a fringe trend in the past, diversity is now openly celebrated
and acknowledged.
"The various ethnic groups all have their special
selection of herbs. We talk about chain stores, but there’s a huge
amount of shopping going on in small corner ethnic stores. It’s really
common to see a Latino or an Asian market that’s maybe 600 to 800
square feet that reminds the first or even the second generation of immigrants
of home. That’s another level where we’re attempting to market
our products. It’s a very large, but untracked market.
"It’s important to remember the kitchen and
meal time are a much more important part of the family structure for these
ethnic groups. That’s the center. That’s where they meet. As
we get on in our generations, we’re more on the go and rushing around
and there’s less importance in that area. The ethnic groups, though,
still emphasize the meal at home with the family and the extended family.
Meals are a lot more celebratory."
Providing Demographics, Too
AgriVentures/HerbThyme provides retailers with demographic information
to help them stock the right items in their stores to satisfy local ethnic
demands in the right neighborhoods.
"It hurts these specialty programs when you put the
wrong ethnic mix with the wrong demographic group," he explains.
"For example, cilantro is an herb that’s used in a lot of traditional
Hispanic cooking. You don’t want to put things like lemon grass in
that store. So you’ve got to do your homework.
"One of our bigger chain stores actually asked us
to put together a demographic merchandising guide. It’s about 50
pages already. When you look at culture plus ethnicity and then mix that
with the holidays for each culture, you have three levels of permutation.
What’s exciting is the cross-merchandising potential in a grocery
store. It’s infinite.
"I would be so bold to say that herbs and spices
are the future of cooking because they connect the whole store together.
They are the spices, the flavors and additives. They’re so healthful.
They are in many respects, the literal meaning of ‘spice of life.’"
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Consumers
Speak Their Minds...
Fresh Cut
February 2001
ANAHEIM, Calif. — If honesty was what the produce trade wanted during
a PMA workshop entitled "Focus on the Consumer," they got their
wish as seven carefully selected consumers shared their perceptions about
everything from produce quality to online shopping.
"They’re going to be honest with me," consumer
researcher Dr. Laura Pelegrin told the workshop audience October 31 at
the Anaheim Convention Center. "I’ve asked them to share their
real feelings and opinions and, in the kind of work we do, that is the
truth."
Her company, Pelegrin Research Group, of Glendale, California,
conducts research projects for such companies as McDonalds, Ford Motor
Credit Company, Universal Studios and Holland-American Cruise Lines, uncovering
the hard, cold truth about how consumers really perceive specific products
and services.
"You’re industry experts," Pelegrin told
the audience preparing them to listen with open minds to the panel’s
feedback. "These people are not. They are a small representative
group of the kinds of people who are in stores every day buying produce.
What they think and feel—what you hear today—is reality, even
if you believe it to be different—even if you have facts that say
it’s different from what they say."
Perceptions about Quality
When asked how she determines whether a particular grocer cares about
produce quality, Debi, a 45-year-old secretary, said she looks at how
fresh fruits and vegetables are displayed and how the produce department
is kept up. If she sees insects or damaged fruit, she perceives a lack
of concern.
Responding to the same question, Elizabeth, a 25-year-old
single mother and full-time student, said she also looks for cleanliness
when judging the quality of a produce department, noting she is concerned
about pesticides.
"The produce department is the important part of
the supermarket, I believe," she asserted. "The food is exposed
to open air. It’s natural. Constantly it’s being sprayed with
pesticides. I just look for the bugs. I look for bruises."
Scott, a 40-year-old financial services salesman who works
out of his home and does some of the family shopping, said the size of
the produce department helps him determine whether a grocer puts sufficient
emphasis on fruits and vegetables. If there is fruit on the floor, he
said his opinion of produce quality and overall cleanliness of the department
is diminished.
The other man on the panel, 27-year-old Matt, agreed that,
for him, appearance is tantamount to quality in the produce department.
Appearance Matters
"The appearance would translate into how much they care about their
produce," he reasoned. "Even things like the appearance of the
floor would be really important to me. If you have fruit that’s been
squashed and spilled on the floor and the floor is sticky, it gets dirty
and you can tell. If it’s clean and the produce looks clean and it’s
organized well, you would get the impression that the produce people at
that store care about it and about keeping it in order."
Another panelist, Debra, a 43-year-old Orange County employee,
said she buys "a lot of produce" and her children’s take
fresh fruits and vegetables for their lunches. "That the first area
I shop in," she said about the produce department. "I look for
size, color and variety. If the produce has good size and color, it means
whoever is doing the purchasing cares about what the consumer is looking
for. You want the best products at the best price and so you look for
that."
None of the panelists had anything good to say about stickers
on produce items. They complained that peeling them off usually damages
the product.
Most had heard of 5 A Day, but thought it was something
they grew up with instead of a program that was initiated in the early
‘90s. All, however, were concerned about feeding their children healthful
foods and agreed fresh fruits and vegetables play an important role in
health.
Concerns about Nutrition
"I just feel the need to make sure my kids eat well and are raised
with an attitude of eating well," said Matt. "I know personally
I wasn’t and have regretted that. If you raise your kids eating fruits,
they’re going to like fruits. If you raise them eating candy, they’re
going to like candy."
Cheryl, a licensed child-care operator with three children
of her own, agreed nutrition is an important consideration when she shops.
"I use a lot of vegetables and fruit for my kids and they still like
candy bars," she said. "But I think [produce] is very convenient.
I think it’s very healthy."
The response by Philamena, a 56-year-old mother and grandmother,
indicated that some parents need the message of 5 A Day and good nutrition.
Indirectly, she said she is learning more about it through the schools.
"I wasn’t as health-conscious with my son as I am with my grandchild,"
she explained. "I think the school put that in her mind. She goes
to pre-school and they force nutrition on you. No cookies and cake, only
fruits and vegetables. It’s a good thing and they didn’t do
it when I had my son going to school."
For some consumers, pesticides are still an issue, though
most panelists said washing their produce gives them assurance that produce
is safe to consume.
Elizabeth noted she buys organic produce because of her
concerns about pesticides, chemicals and wax coatings, especially those
used on apples.
Queasy about Pesticides
"Natural is better," she explained about her frequent purchases
of organic items. "It’s more wholesome. Just knowing that makes
me feel healthy overall, eating a natural piece of food with no junk on
it."
Elizabeth said she washes her produce with hot water and
antibacterial soap, then rinses it quickly in cold water. Debi said she
creates her own produce with bleach, mild soap and water, while other
panelists said cold water suffices for washing their fruits and vegetables.
None mentioned commercial produce washes available on the market.
The need for additional consumer education became apparent
when Dr. Pelegrin asked, "What are we concerned about with pesticide
residue?"
"I don’t really know, to be honest, but I know
that it sounds ugly," responded Cheryl. "I mean, I wouldn’t
put [a household insecticide] in my mouth. So I want to wash it off, whatever’s
on there. But I don’t use bleach either. If I felt it was dangerous
or I could smell something on it, I wouldn’t eat it."
On the subject of genetic engineering, Matt, who is majoring
in chemistry at college, had some knowledge about the subject and had
some favorable and some unfavorable opinions.
Mixed Response to GMOs
"I think that it’s not necessarily a bad thing," he said,
responding to a question about genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
"I think it’s just something that needs to be tried and tested.
But it’s like that recent story with the taco shells and the genetically
altered corn. Somebody messed up on that, but that doesn’t necessarily
mean it’s bad."
Debra, however, expressed "fear of somebody messing
up again. Anytime that man has some input, there’s potential for
a problem and if somebody is disgruntled about the whole idea of something
that happened to them, then they’re going to just mess it up for
everybody else. I wouldn’t be open to it. I want to go to the farmer’s
market and try to find the closest to the earth."
When Dr. Pelegrin mentioned the potential for genetic
engineering to enhance the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables,
consumers on the panel had mixed responses.
"If you had some broccoli there that had extra vitamins
and minerals in it and some broccoli that didn’t, the regular stuff,
what would you choose?" Pelegrin asked the panel.
"I would probably go to the regular broccoli because
I’m too old to change," Philamena responded. Cheryl answered
she would try it if the genetic modifications did not alter the flavor
and other quality components.
"Natural Is Better"
Elizabeth, who buys organic produce, responded, "Natural is better.
It depends on how it is grown and the soil you put it into."
Scott’s response was similar to Elizabeth’s:
"No, I think I’ll take God’s design a little bit over man’s
design. Just going back to this mistakes of this corn ending up in our
food, I’m sure that ear of corn looks identical to the ear of corn
I could put on my table for my family. That and cloning, I’m not
ready for yet."
With regard to the acceptability of online grocery shopping,
all panelists responded favorably, though not all had experienced ordering
fruits and vegetables on the Internet.
"It’s great," said Matt, one panelist who
has tried homegrocer.com. "You get online. You make your order. I
work in the computer industry, so I’m constantly online and it’s
a convenient thing for me to use. You can put your order in as late as
11:00 at night and have your order at your house the next afternoon."
Matt said the produce he ordered was fresh. The one time
an item was not acceptable, it was replaced immediately by the delivery
service.
Other panelists said they had either tried online shopping
or had neighbors who tried it and raved about their experiences. No one
expressed hesitation about ordering fruits and vegetables over the Internet.
In fact, Matt said he likes the idea better than making his own selections.
"I’m sort of a convenience person," he
noted. "I would take less care in selecting than my wife would."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
...And Produce Experts Listen
Fresh Cut
February 2001
ANAHEIM, Calif. — "It was interesting to find out what quality
meant to the consumer," said Dean Fahselt of Natural Selection Foods.
"All they talked about was the store. They talked about the floor.
They talked about the sprinkler system.
"As a shipper, you work very hard to put out a quality
pack, but if they walk into the store and they see something on the floor,
they’re going to have this overall blanket perception that you don’t
have quality."
Fahselt made his remarks while participating in the PMA
workshop entitled "Focus on the Consumer," in the Anaheim Convention
Center October 31.
Moderated by Jan Delyser of the California Avocado Commission,
the workshop opened with comments from a seven-member consumer panel and
concluded with reactions from an industry panel including Fahselt, Roger
Schroeder of Stater Bros. Markets, Jeff Patterson of BI-LO, Inc., and
Dr. Laura Pelegrin of Pelegrin Research Group.
"I was interested to find that organics, in most
of their minds, meant better quality," said Patterson, responding
to consumer comments. "As a retailer, I don’t know that we necessarily
agree with that. I’m also surprised they all know somebody who’s
doing online shopping and only one of them is doing it. It looks like
that’s a direction they’re all going to go somewhere down the
road."
While consumer panelists focused on what produce quality
means to them, there was absolutely no mention of brands or particular
brand names, a fact that caught the attention of Roger Schroeder.
"I think a lot of suppliers out there are trying
to work on brand names to come up with a quality statement, yet I didn’t
hear anybody mention any brand names and say, ‘I’m confident
that’s always a quality product,’" Schroeder mused. "And
in the area of food safety, it is very apparent we have a long way to
go in issues of pesticides and educating consumers."
Another surprise for the produce experts was the willingness
of consumers on the panel to let other people select fresh produce for
them.
"I know several years ago when Peapod [Peapod.com,
an online grocery service] first got involved in it, they found out that
a lot of consumers don’t really know how to pick their produce,"
Fahselt asserted. "Also one of the gentlemen [on the panel], Matt,
mentioned he’s usually in such a hurry he doesn’t have time
to go through and really select his produce. So I think what you’re
finding is that a lot of people would trust other people that they perceive
as a produce expert to pick that produce out for them. And I think that
if you’re selling e-commerce and you develop a credibility for good
produce, they’ll eventually just turn that over to you and let you
pick out the produce."
While Schroeder argued consumers are probably more informed
than many experts think, he agreed they probably want help selecting certain
produce items that pose a challenge.
"Probably the area they most would like help in is
in selecting certain fruit items," the retailer continued. "Typically,
those are melons and things like that they don’t quite know when
the product is ripe, when it’s ready to eat, how to store it and
when to buy it if they want to eat it three days from now. That’s
probably where we have the most questions."
Another topic that generated discussion was produce pricing.
While consumers on the panel didn’t seem to indicate that price is
an issue, particularly for organic produce, when they purchase fruits
and vegetables, Schroeder insisted price becomes a problem when organics
are prices dramatically higher than conventional produce.
"When you’re standing in front of the display
and nobody’s looking and you’re reaching in your pocket for
the money and broccoli is 79 cents a pound for conventional and $2.40
a pound for organic — and the spread can get that big — it doesn’t
happen," Schroeder said.
"I would say the most successful organic item I have
is packaged salads because the spread is only 20 cents difference between
an organic package and a conventionally-grown package. The sales are very
good, but price does have an effect.
"If you look at the beach community in the high income
areas, you will find most of your organic sales there. I work for a company
that has stores in the Inland Empire or the heartland of California with
not quite as high an income level. Organic sales are very poor in that
area. Yet when you go into south Orange County and the beach communities
where you have a higher income level, organic sales go up. So obviously,
money does have something to do with it and it does have an influence
on the consumer."
Fahselt noted that educational level is also correlated
with organic sales. Demographic information points to the fact that college
educated people, students, high-income households and households with
children are the profile of the typical organic consumer. Price, however,
still plays a role.
"We see with organic sales that if you start getting
above 20 to 25 percent over the cost of conventional products, then it
becomes price prohibitive to consumers to start making that choice,"
he explained.
A question from the audience about why consumers seem
to believe produce from farm stands is pesticide-free prompted a discussion
of consumer perceptions and merchandising among the panel of experts.
"I think a lot of people feel that, for instance,
if you’re driving and there’s a little stand over there selling
oranges, that they came off that orange tree right behind the building
and they just picked it and put it in the box and nothing happened to
it," Schroeder surmised. "Never mind that there are boxes stacked
up behind the building and the fruit came from a wholesale market. I think
there’s a perception that the quality’s better. It’s fresher
and they’ve handpicked it. They’ve done a better job of selecting
it and maybe not used as many pesticides. I think it’s just that
perception that the local little farmers don’t use pesticides. It’s
big conglomerates that use them."
Based on her experience as a consumer researcher, Dr.
Pelegrin agreed, "One of the themes we heard was about simplicity
and back to basics. And I think it is a perception that that if it’s
a little stand, that’s as simple as it can get and they’re not
going to do anything bad to their produce."
Patterson added, "I think the trust in the farm market
is evident in the merchandising that a lot of retailers have been putting
in place in their supermarkets for years. We’re going after that
same trust factor and trying to convince the consumer that our product
is just as field fresh as what they perceive it to be."
Since cleanliness was an issue with the consumer panel,
the question arose about whether consumers purchase packaged produce because
they perceive it a cleaner, safer product.
"I quite frankly don’t think many people buy
packaged produce because they think somebody hasn’t touched it,"
Schroeder responded. "If it’s precut, I think most consumers
buy it for convenience. If it’s bagged potatoes or apples or oranges,
they buy it because it’s a better value.
Dr. Pelegrin noted this group of consumers is typical
of those found around the nation, although they were selected because
they are "sort of heavy users of produce, people who are in the produce
department at least once a week."
The question also arose about how to get the 5 A Day message
out more effectively and Pelegrin noted her market research has revealed
that tying produce in with its cancer-reducing and other health benefits
should help boost consumption.
Schroeder offered the solution to use repetition in the
media to "drill it down into their heads," and Fahselt recommended
targeting children.
"I think it’s kids, kids, kids," he argued.
"Let’s focus on those children and their eating habits and create
future generations. Let’s get that message out to the school systems.
Let’s get that message out to parents. I think we need to focus on
their children."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
>>
Return to top
Processor
Rings up Retail Fruit Sales
Fresh Cut
March 2001
HOUSTON—No matter what time of year Sam Petro’s cell phone rings
it always plays "Jingle Bells." The reason, he says, is simple.
Since he and Bryan Herr launched their fresh-cut fruit and vegetable business,
every day has been like Christmas.
A 35-year produce veteran, Petro joined Herr in mid-1999
after the latter had been supplying fresh-cut fruits and vegetables to
The Kroger Co. for about a year. Herr originally launched Country Fresh
Products, Inc. to do sprouts, then evolved into specialty produce and,
later, organic produce.
"Kroger prompted me to get into the fresh-cut business,"
Herr recalls. "They were my largest account in Houston and they came
to me and said, ‘Hey, we want to take cutting out of our stores.’
"At the time I was wholesaling specialty items and
organic produce, but wasn’t processing at all. I took Reggie Griffin
[of Kroger] to a friend’s plant in San Antonio and they said, ‘If
you can do it the same way, then we’ll support you on it.’"
About a year later, Petro, who operated a separate produce
wholesale business and had considerable fresh-cut experience, consulted
with Herr and the two decided to take their processing and marketing skills
to Orlando to service another potential buyer.
Joint Venture
While they still own separate businesses in Houston, the men have formed
Country Fresh, Inc. as a joint venture and are pursuing an aggressive
expansion plan to serve customers at multiple locations. While Herr is
in charge of production, Petro handles sales and marketing for the relatively
young company.
"Kroger got me into the business, then Sam came along,"
Herr explains. "He had a pretty good background doing fresh-cut and
it was the perfect match."
Petro remembers, "A customer who had experience with
both our companies asked us if we would consider doing something to get
him product in Orlando. After Bryan took a couple trips to Orlando, we
decided we would do that and we began looking for about 8,000 square feet
to get started.
"At first we couldn’t find anything suitable,
but then a really good situation came up with a building of about 19,000
square feet we thought was going to be about half ghost town. We really
didn’t know what we were going to do with all that space, but we
took it anyway.
"Within six months, we were pretty much bulging at
the seams in that building. Right now that location is about 300 percent
over what we projected it would ever be. It just took off like wildfire
and we've had tremendous support from our customers. It’s currently
doing more than a million and a half pounds of produce a month. It’s
gone from zero to a million pounds a month in just a year. Right now we
have plans on the drawing board to replace that building with a larger
one because we’ve outgrown it."
Rapid-fire Growth
If Petro and Herr aren’t outgrowing facilities, they’re opening
new ones—and they’re doing it in rapid-fire succession. The
Orlando facility went online in October 1999. Just four months later in
January of 2000, the entrepreneurs opened a third plant in Dallas. Less
than a year later, they opened a fourth facility near Greenville, South
Carolina, to serve retail distribution centers farther up the East Coast.
Prior to the recent opening of the South Carolina facility,
Country Fresh was serving customers in 12 states. The new plant extends
their coverage to 16 states and the partners plan to continue marching
north along the Atlantic seaboard to reach more customer distribution
centers.
Today Country Fresh, Inc. does about 4 million to 4.5
million pounds of packaged fresh-cut fruits and vegetable party platters
a month and Petro says he sees no end to the potential for continued growth.
"The customers have let us know what they want,"
he explains. "We’ve been able to deal with some really visionary
people in the industry who have helped us with their ideas and what they
expected for presentations in the future. They’re sending other customers
to us. We’re getting calls from other retailers."
When asked the secret to their incredible growth, Petro
and Herr sum it up in three words: quality, quality and quality.
Quality’s the Answer
"Quality is the only answer to every question in our industry,"
says Sam. "If we let down on quality, we’re going to hear about
it the minute we do."
The formula may sound simple, but quality is more than
skin deep, according to Bryan.
"Quality is probably the main focus we have,"
he says. "It all boils down to, number one, using the best quality
product we can find; number two, having controls in place to keep bacterial
counts low; and, number three, keeping the cold chain as intact as possible."
In order to start with the best fruit possible, veteran
produce buyer Todd Mudger procures nothing less than U.S. No. 1 fruit
for processing, but seeks to exceed the top grade in sugar content when
he can, according to Herr.
"There are a lot of things that go into U.S. No.
1 fruit other than sugar," Herr explains. "There’s overall
firmness. There’s texture. What we try to do is narrow it down to
what we want on sugar, texture, firmness, moisture content and so forth
so we’re consistent each time. I try to hit 12 percent sugar. It’s
not always obtainable, but that’s what we want. We’ve taken
a dedicated approach to incoming fruit to be sure we get a good end product."
The Cool Factor
Removing field heat from melons immediately after harvest is critical
to ensuring quality fresh-cut fruit in the grocer’s cold case, according
to Herr. All melons are chilled when they arrive at Country Fresh processing
plants and they are sanitized and scrubbed by hand before processing.
All product is kept cold until it reaches the retail distribution center.
Once melons are clean, plant workers take elaborate precautions
to make sure they remain clean and free from contamination during hand
cutting and packaging. Processing personnel wear standard sanitary clothing,
including hairnets and gloves. Employees must wash their hands and pass
through sanitizing dip stations to enter the processing area.
Bathrooms are cleaned and sanitized hourly and every two
hours, the entire processing area is washed down thoroughly to remove
any potential sources of contamination. Herr even tests the air circulated
in the processing area for potential sources of contamination.
"We’re AIB inspected," Herr reports. "We
have designed our own HACCP plan. We test product continuously through
all stages of production from start to finish. I switch back and forth
from end-test results on bacterial to total plate counts just to see where
a problem might exist in the line. The information you get from a lab
is very useful. It’s very expensive, too. Companywide, we spend a
tremendous amount of money every month just on lab work."
Standard Product Line
Currently, Country Fresh carries a standard line of fruits, including
cantaloupe, honeydew, grapes, pineapple and watermelon, as well as two
sizes of vegetable trays, according to Herr.
"We recently added a line that does peeled and sectioned
citrus fruit," Petro adds. "It’s a beautiful package. We
also incorporate citrus into various medleys with other fruit. It’s
been received extremely well."
"We have really been overwhelmed with the amount
of business involved in just taking care of the core items," Herr
elaborates. "We haven’t really pushed any new items yet, but
we have several new items we want to offer. We can foresee that we’ll
have 40 to 50 SKUs in a couple years.
"Retailers are saying they want it. They see the
potential and that’s how we measure our success, with satisfied customers.
Money is not the gauge. It’s what the customer thinks."
Petro agrees, "One measure of customer acceptance
is that when we start doing business with one distribution center for
a chain, they have inevitably recommended we go to their other distribution
centers. They’ll tell them what a good job we’ve been doing
for them.
"One of our major accounts called recently and said,
‘I’m in one of our stores in Alabama and I just wanted to tell
you I know your fruit has been beat up. It’s probably been abused
by either our distribution center or the trucking company, but here it
is on the shelf and it just looks great.’ He took the time to pick
up the phone and call me."
Processing with Pride
Both Petro and Herr are quick to point out the importance of good people
in their organization. They mention specifically, Joe D’Ottavio,
who took over from a former manager in Orlando and was "absolutely
besieged with business" from the outset, saying he "has performed
magic." In Dallas, Tommy Crochet "has been extremely steady"
in turning out quality products, while Glenn Nowak, manager at the new
South Carolina facility is facing the challenges of a plant startup.
"The driving force behind our company is pride,"
says Petro. "If you don’t give your customer a reason to leave,
he won’t. Customers don’t leave you because you’re doing
a really good job and they just want to try somebody else. They don’t
have time to test the water. So if you don’t give them a reason to
complain and if you don’t give them a product they’re not happy
with, you’re going to continue building that relationship."
The key to Country Fresh’s strong early growth is
that Petro and Herr are providing quality products for retailers while
also shouldering their food safety concerns.
"We’re talking about huge retailers now buying
from us instead of cutting in their stores," Petro reasons. "They
realize they cannot do the HACCP programs. They cannot follow GMPs. They
cannot do the things that need to be done on a store level to maintain
customer confidence that products are being done the way they should."
Enforcing Food Safety
Herr concurs, "It’s hard enough for us to train and keep tabs
on 100 or so employees. When you take a chain store that has 500 stores,
they can have four people per store cutting. That makes 2,000 people.
How are you going to maintain control over that many people when they
may be part-time or full-time and may not come in every day?"
"In their back rooms, retailers may not have chlorine
accessible," Petro adds. "A lot of times they don’t have
hot water at the temperatures they need to wash knives or cutting tables.
They may not have hairnets or other safety factors. And their back room
is probably 65 or 70 degrees. Since they don’t cut fruit in their
cooler, it won’t be as cold as it should be."
Both partners see a bright future ahead for fresh-cut
fruit. So far, Petro says, he sees no limit to the burgeoning business.
"This is almost becoming a cliché, but over
the last couple years in this business, cut fruit is about where packaged
salads were 10 years ago," Petro concludes. "You walked into
the stores then and you said, ‘Packaged salads are never going to
make it.’ I think cut fruit in the very near future will surpass
salads in sales because fruit has such a tremendous appeal to so many
people."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Functional
Food Potato Varieties on the Way
Fresh Cut
March 2001
If Dr. Chuck Brown, research geneticist, USDA/ARS, Prosser, Wash., has
his way, people everywhere will soon be looking at potatoes as more than
a vegetable available at the grocery store. They will be looking at them
as functional foods, or foods that can be eaten to achieve certain health
goals.
Part of Brown’s current potato breeding program emphasis
is to come up with just such potatoes — new varieties, for example,
that may be high in antioxidants and, hence, help control the free radicals
that contribute to the development of arteriosclerosis and other degenerative
diseases.
Speaking during the recent Washington Potato Conference
in Moses Lake, Brown showed slides of some of the early potato varieties
he is working with from South America. They come in all colors, sizes
and shapes. He is looking at various lines in hopes of coming up with
new potato varieties with special health benefits.
"In our crosses we have been able to identify potatoes
with various densities of red flesh, and even purple pigmentation,"
Brown said, asking the question, "Are these just curiosities or is
there any value?"
Measuring the antioxidant potential of several pigmented
lines, he said several were much higher in antioxidant content than white-fleshed
varieties, such as Norkotah. One purple variety, for example, had 330
percent higher content; a red variety, 270 percent. Garlic is ranked No.
1 in fruits and vegetables, with 625 percent.
"Purple potatoes have great potential as antioxidants,"
Brown said.
What Types of Products
Using such varieties, what kind of products could be marketed?
Brown showed samples of several types of products, from
red-fleshed potato fries to patterned potato chips, ranging in color from
red to blue, purple and orange.
Yellow-fleshed potatoes are commonly eaten in the Andies,
he said. In one taste test, orange-fleshed potato chips were "very
appealing" in appearance and scored very in taste.
Potatoes also have potential to become a cheaper source
of anythocyanin, the soluble glycoside pigments producing blue to red
coloring in flowers and plants, he said. This opens a whole new realm
of possibilities, from uses as functional foods, snack foods, dietary
supplements and natural colorants.
More research is planned.
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
The
Fresh-cut Clery Specialists
Fresh Cut
March 2001
OXNARD, Calif. — It was a natural for A. Duda & Sons Inc. to
take up processing fresh-cut celery. More than 80 years ago, Andrew Duda
Sr. started learning how to grow it and the family has made remarkable
progress since then.
In 1926, Duda planted his first commercial celery crop,
founding the business in Oviedo, Florida, with his three sons. In the
1950s, the family incorporated A. Duda & Sons and today, it is the
world’s foremost celery producer. This year, fourth-generation family
members will be among those celebrating the company’s 75th anniversary.
"We selected celery for processing because it is
the one commodity for which Duda is best known," says Bob Gray, president
of Duda California/Gene Jackson Farms Inc. in Salinas, a wholly-owned
subsidiary of the parent company. "We’ve got a very long association
with the crop. We’ve had a formalized research and development effort
focused on celery plant variety improvement since World War II, so we’ve
spanned more than 50 years of variety research and plant breeding.
"We own the world’s largest collection of germ
plasm, including varieties called processor types. They grow taller and
have longer petioles than other varieties. They provide greater yield
to someone who is trying to retrieve sticks and other products out of
a stalk of celery. We’ve also developed varieties specifically for
their flavor. We’re after the color, the shape and the flavor that
will give us a superior product. We have several lines that show the most
promise and we expect to have some of them available in the spring of
2001."
Duda has been processing fresh-cut celery for about three
years, according to Gray. The company was supplying celery sticks to a
large customer for use as an ingredient, but wanted to offer the vegetable
to foodservice and retail users as well. In 1997, they built a plant in
Oxnard with an expanded product line in mind and installed equipment that
would lend itself to providing cuts for the ingredient business as well
as other foodservice and retail uses.
Knowing the importance of food safety and sanitation at
the outset, Duda built it’s Oxnard plant with cleanliness in mind,
calling in a consultant early in the process, then seeking a third-party
inspection from the American Institute of Baking. Within a year, the new
processing plant had earned a superior rating from AIB and has maintained
that status consistently.
"We immediately adopted what we considered to be
the highest and best standards," Gray points out. "The consultant
helped us prepare to meet those standards. We were happy to get a superior
rating within our first year of operation."
Growth has been "steady" since completion of
the plant, according to Gray. Duda has remodeled and expanded the plant
once and plans a third phase of equipment modification and remodeling
in the spring of 2001.
"We don’t expect value-added celery to rival
the volume or popularity of the packaged leafy salad business, but it’s
enjoying steady growth," he explains. "It’s benefiting
from the general trend in the industry for ready-to-use, convenient products
that save preparation time and reduce waste.
"There’s a lot of waste involved in preparing
a product like celery. There are parts of the plant that are not usable,
the leaves and, of course, the root end which is a big part of the weight
of the plant. There’s a significant yield loss to any user, as well
as the prep time involved."
Because Duda plants, grows, harvests, cools, processes
and packages its celery, controlling the process from seed to sale, Gray
says delivering excellent quality product is the company’s strength.
"We converted a raw product customer into a finished
product customer and have since been able to maintain 100 percent satisfaction
with the product we deliver to them because we studied the processing
and invested a lot of time into the technology involved with doing a superior
job," he reports. "We took a page out of the salad industry’s
book by experimenting with the various laminated films to give us superior
appearance and shelf life with the appropriate respiration rates and oxygen
and carbon dioxide ratios."
Choosing Oxnard as the processing site was an important
step in creating a quality product, according to Gray. Because celery
is available from the area eight months of the year, it can be delivered
to the plant within minutes after harvest, providing the freshest possible
product for cutting and packaging. During the rest of the year, Duda trucks
celery from the Salinas area, keeping delivery time to only a few hours.
The result is a fresher, more flavorful product with better shelf life
than if celery had been trucked in cartons for several days before processing.
Currently Duda produces celery sticks for both retail
and foodservice. In the retail arena, sticks are usually four inches long
and are available either under the company’s own label or as a private
label product. Sliced and diced celery, however, is mainly a foodservice
product.
"We basically offer anything a customer wants to
do with celery," according to Sam Duda, who also works in the Salinas
operation. "We can grow all kinds of different celery in the field
that lends itself to different types of packs and we feel we have a unique
advantage to offer. We annually screen about 600 varieties. Most of those
in commercial production are patented. We have variety trials and evaluate
them for size, size of the petiole, color to the heart, how much you cut
it and what yield you get in the end.
"We can select a flavor customers would like better.
Or we can select celery for juice content. Certain varieties have higher
water content and lend themselves better to juicing. Some we select because
they cut better for processing. The deeper the vascular bundles are in
the celery stalk, the better it cuts. Typical celery is very stringy and
it’s hard to get a straight cut. We’re evaluating varieties
when they’re cut. You want celery that is all the same color, not
green on the outside of the stalk and lighter on the inside of the stalk."
Duda also produces fresh-cut celery as well as frozen
and canned product in Florida, supplying fresh sticks for its major ingredient
customer as well as fresh sliced and diced for foodservice users. Fresh
celery is processed at the company’s Belle Glade farm while frozen
and canned product is made at a plant at Lake Gem.
In order to keep pace with growing demand, the company
plans to build a facility in Florida similar to the Oxnard plant for fresh-cut
celery products. The freezing and canning operation will be relocated
farther north.
"Celery is labor intensive and also penalizes the
preparer with yield loss," Gray concludes. "So if we can deal
with a product that is difficult to process and save our customers the
headache and cost of labor and the penalty of yield loss, then we will
have created some real value for our customers. That’s what we’re
trying to do: take what otherwise might be a product that’s a nuisance
to handle and process and make it something that is attractive, painless,
cost effective and delicious. If we can do that, then I think we’ve
accomplished our mission of trying to create value for our customer base."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Economic
Boom Crives Irish Fresh-cuts
Fresh Cut
March 2001
DROGHEDA, County Louth, Ireland — Like many fresh-cut processors
in the United States, Paddy Callaghan started Nature’s Best Limited
on a small scale and then watched a booming economy fuel his company’s
impressive growth.
"We got into this business growing bean sprouts in
the garage attached to the family home back in 1985 and that took us into
stir fries," Callaghan recalled during a visit to the PMA show last
fall in Anaheim, California. "One product led to another and we’ve
got a very wide product range now.
"In addition to leafy salads and stir fries, we do
lots of things like wet salads or dressed salads with mayonnaise. We do
various configurations of cole slaws, tuna salad, egg salad, and we do
lots of salads with protein. We do a range of fresh sandwiches under our
own label and under private label for one of the Irish supermarket chains.
"We do a range of chilled pizzas, as well, for two
of the other Irish supermarket chains and we do some cook/chill vegetable
products. We’ve got about 210 people employed at the moment. Fortunately
the Irish economy is booming and that’s helped us a lot."
Callaghan built his first processing plant in 1987, adding
additional space on several occasions for a total of 18,000 square feet.
In retrospect, he attributed being able to employ 200 people in that small
facility to the fact that the workday included multiple shifts.
New, Larger Plant
"In 1998, we built our new, state-of-the-art plant. It is about 55,000
square feet," he reported. "It was laid out specifically with
this type of business in mind. It gives us much better efficiencies and
complies with all the hygiene and HACCP requirements that are in place
in Europe."
While Nature’s Best boasts a product line of about
170 items, fresh-cut fruit is not part of the mix, according to Callaghan.
He said different fresh chilled products are popular at different times
of the year.
"Obviously in the summer, there’s a stronger
focus on the salad products, the ones that are eaten cold," he explained.
"When we get into winter, there’s a bigger focus on the products
to be cooked and eaten hot, like stir fries, soup mixes, stew mixes and
pizzas.
"Everything we do is produced fresh to order every
day. We don’t produce anything for stock. We have our own refrigerated
distribution throughout the country."
Handling fresh vegetables as well as breads, dressings
and meats, the Nature’s Best facility is obliged to maintain a strict
HACCP program, according to Callaghan. The company employs a "very
strong technical team" of experienced people and the plant is fully
HACCP-coordinated and broken down into low-care and high-care areas.
In-house Laboratory
"We go out and audit our suppliers," he noted. "We’ve
got our own in-company Camden-accredited microbiological laboratory. Chipping
Camden is one of the foremost United Kingdom-based verification or auditing
authorities. They are highly regarded and widely respected in this type
of business. Their accreditation gives us the authority to do our own
in-house testing, which is then recognized by our supermarket customers.
"We’ve also been involved in a number of European-funded
research programs looking at various ways and means of extending the shelf
life and quality of chilled convenience products. That has given us contacts
with various other research institutes and organizations in Holland, France,
Greece, Italy and the UK. We export some of our products, but our main
market is the 32-county Irish market. We supply all the supermarket chains
there."
Nature’s Best focuses entirely on retail, according
to Callaghan. Foodservice is a limited market in Ireland thanks to a paucity
of restaurants that, for the most part, cut their own produce in-house.
"Mind you, that stands to change because of the labor
shortage we’re experiencing in Ireland," Callaghan pointed out,
referring to the Emerald Isle’s booming economy. "One of our
biggest problems has been getting staff. At the moment there’s practically
zero unemployment in the country. We’ve had to go abroad and take
in a number of foreign staff members in the last 12 months.
Reversal of Fortunes
"That’s very much a reversal of what happened in Ireland 20
or 30 years ago. If you go back to that time, Ireland was exporting workers.
There simply weren’t enough jobs in the home economy to employ everybody.
So now it’s gone full circle."
Ireland’s boom times have been driven mainly by foreign
investors, typically U.S. companies that have taken advantage of the country’s
tax climate and other factors to build plants that give them a distribution
point for the European market.
"Right beside our plant, just several hundred yards
down the road, we have a Coca Cola concentrate manufacturing plant that
makes concentrates for various Coke bottling plants in Europe, Eastern
Europe, Africa and the Middle East," he added. "One of the senior
people there told me recently that something like 5 percent, or one-in-20
of all soft drinks sold in the world originate at this plant."
Some of the other big names that have taken up residence
in Ireland include Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Gateway and Microsoft,
according to Callaghan, who also pointed out a "vast number"
of American health care companies have set up manufacturing sites on Irish
turf to serve Europe.
"Tiger Economy"
"It’s the place to be," he explained. "Ireland has
represented some very good tax breaks. We obviously speak English or a
variation of it. And we’ve also got a very highly educated work force.
The economy has absolutely been booming for the last four or five years.
It’s been growing at about 6 percent a year. We call it the ‘Tiger
Economy.’"
Ireland’s population is about 4.25 million people,
according to Callaghan. A million of those live in Dublin where Nature’s
Best has found fertile ground for its products among retailers.
"We’re experiencing a lot of new business, a
lot of growth," he elaborated. "We’ve been growing an average
of 15 to 20 percent per year. We just moved into our brand new factory
18 months ago and that was quite a step for us. All the predictions are
that the economy will continue to boom for years to come.
"We’ve built up good relationships with all
of our supermarket chains and supply them with both branded product and
private label."
While the economy is driving healthy demand for fresh-cut
produce and other convenience foods in Ireland, Callaghan said he also
attributes changing attitudes about eating for at least a portion of his
company’s growth.
Eating More Fresh
"I think more and more people are starting to appreciate the benefits
of consuming more fresh fruits and vegetables in their diets. The chilled
convenience market is growing very fast. It’s taking away from frozen
and canned product.
"We’ve got a big product development program
in place and have people permanently involved in that area. We work very
closely with supermarket chains and are continually watching trends in
different markets. That’s one reason we come to the United States
to attend this show. We want to get an appreciation of where the growth
areas are and try to predict what will be the winning categories two or
three years down the road.
"What’s very consoling is that I see a far greater
appreciation of the overall benefits of eating more fresh produce, but
I think that’s a message that still has a long way to go to be driven
home to its full potential. All the medical research that’s coming
at us from every angle tells us to eat more and more of this stuff and
stay away from the saturated fats and the high cholesterol stuff. So I
think it’s a great business to be in."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Supermarket
College to Name "Supermarketer of the Year"
Fresh Cut
March 2001
Stephen Quinn, business manager of the world famous SUPERQUINN supermarket
chain in Ireland, will accept the "Supermarketer of the Year"
award at Supermarket College, June 19 & 20, 2001, at Bally's Park
Place Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
"This annual award is given to the supermarket organization
we believe has created the most effective marketing, advertising and promotion
in the industry," said Neil Raphel, president of Raphel Marketing.
Awards for newspaper advertising, promotions and the Internet
will be announced at the conference.
The conference theme for 2001 is "How You Can Satisfy
Your Changing Customer." This information-filled two day conference
covers four topics: "Your Customers," "Your Competition,"
"Your Marketing," and "Your Future." It also includes
interactive panels with questions from the audience.
A new feature of Supermarket College 2001 is a full-day
pre-conference Loyalty Marketing Seminar conducted by Brian Woolf, consultant
and former COO of Food Lion. Woolf, who wrote "Customer Specific
Marketing," the definitive book on loyalty programs for the supermarket
industry, will cover the topics: Global Best Practices, Best Customer
Marketing, Reports to Use and Key Success Factors.
Other speakers at Supermarket College include Murray Raphel,
guru of food marketing; Russ Vernon of West Point Market, Ohio, (inducted
in Ohio Grocers' Hall of Fame this year); Michael Sansolo, VP, FMI; Bill
Lancaster, VP, Associated Wholesale Grocers of Kansas and many more. Professors
Richard George and John Stanton of the Masters' Food Program at St. Joseph's
University will host a consumer panel.
Supermarket College is organized by Raphel Marketing with
offices in Atlantic City, New Jersey and St. Johnsbury, Vermont.
Sponsors of this year's conference include Triversity,
Lee Enterprises, Vertis, Newspaper Association of America, Grocery Headquarters
and Promo Magazine.
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Industry
Adapts to New Technologies
Fresh Cut
March 2001
VANCOUVER, B.C. — High-tech business solutions are coming to the
produce industry and the advantages they provide to individual companies
could make the difference between success and failure in the future.
That was the message at the 76th Canadian Produce Marketing
Association annual convention and trade show February 1 as several experts
discussed such innovations as electronic couponing, worldwide produce
codes, EDI and business-to-business e-commerce.
"The future of the produce industry is bearing down
on us like a giant storm," asserted Jane Proctor, director of industry
technology and standardization for the CPMA, quoting from an industry
publication. "If you don’t have the boldness to stay ahead of
it by taking some risks as well as embracing innovation, it will pull
you up into its vortex and toss you backwards and out of the picture."
Proctor, who works with a number of industry groups to
help standardize produce coding for more efficient retail sales, said
the times are at once exciting and harrowing for the industry. Instead
of "evolution," she called the changes occurring in produce
technology "a revolution" that can be "rapid and daunting"
for produce companies.
Seeking Efficiencies
"A true retail industry leader in this area said at our convention
last year, the area of efficiencies is what will differentiate companies
as we go forward," Proctor continued. "Certainly the time is
quickly approaching and, in some instances is already here, when organizations
will find themselves shut out of markets if they are unable to provide
efficiencies throughout the supply chain. Keep in mind, the basis of all
efforts is improved efficiencies and that will lead to improved bottom
lines."
Last year, the CPMA announced the results of a member
survey that netted responses from 55 percent of Canadian food retailers,
according to Proctor. Respondents were asked if they conduct business
via the Internet, if they use case codes in the warehouse and whether
they use pallet codes. In all three instances, the responses were 100
percent in the affirmative, she noted.
"While some of the intended implementation times
may have been somewhat ambitious, we have all seen at the very least the
beginnings of implementation," she pointed out. "Take a look
at the responses and heed their warnings. It is no longer a question of
whether or not to implement efficiencies. It is only a question of when."
Grocers surveyed estimated one to three years for implementation
of case and pallet coding if they had not already implemented those systems,
according to Proctor.
Foodservice, too
The CPMA study also included foodservice operators, 100 percent of whom
also answered "Yes" to the use of the Internet as well as case
and pallet codes. Any who were still implementing those systems estimated
one more year was needed to get them fully in place.
"The survey indicated foodservice was already embracing
case and pallet coding and, if true to their word, the results indicate
full implementation at this time," she added. "At the time the
survey was done, far less than half the suppliers who responded stated
they had their own manufacturer code.
"As I noted earlier, at the case and pallet level,
the generic nature of produce coding disappears. To increase a case or
pallet code according to global standards, you must have your own manufacturer
number to uniquely identify your company. I would suggest if any of you
are sitting in the audience today who have not secured one in the past
year, put it on your ‘to do’ list when you return to your office.
I can guarantee you, the advent of case and pallet coding, and of new
coding symbologies, make this absolutely necessary."
Proctor told the audience to go to the Electronic Commerce
Council (ECC) in Canada or the Uniform Code Council (UCC) in the United
States to obtain their manufacturer codes.
Looking for Harmony
"Those of us who do business in Canada are probably more aware of
this than any other country," she continued. "In Canada, three
out of every four dollars spent on fresh fruits and vegetables at retail
and foodservice is spent on imported produce. We therefore have a vested
interest in ensuring that there is harmonization across all areas of trade,
including in the area of efficiencies."
Proper coding will help facilitate the movement of fresh
produce throughout the supply chain, Proctor said, noting that CPMA is
committed to working toward harmonization of codes around the world. The
Canadian group is involved in the Produce Electronic Identification Board
(PEIB), helping to manage codes for Canada. Other involvement includes
the PMA Retail Scanning Task Force, the PMA E-Commerce Committee, the
ECR Bar Code Subcommittee, and the International Working Group for Produce
Coding.
"Coding is the backbone of efficiencies within the
produce industry," she explained, noting that a new code, the RSS-14
omni-directional code, is designed to eliminate the need for keying four
digit PLU codes by hand at retail checkouts.
Following Proctor, Doug Grant, director of information
services for the David Oppenheimer Group, helped simplify the world of
business-to-business e-commerce by explaining the three different models
currently in use.
EDI Works for Some
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is one model that was mandated early
on by some companies who told suppliers they would pay extra charges for
invoices that were not submitted electronically.
"Some of them actually did that, but when we started
working on it three years ago, no one could actually figure this thing
out," he asserted. "It took three years to get that up and running
and we’re kind of in that same pattern with the whole Internet side.
"We’ve seen a lot of hype, a lot of interest
in it. It’s dying down a little bit, but some people are actually
starting to make it work right now."
While EDI is based on company systems that exchange information,
the dot-com model of e-commerce is based on using the Worldwide Web to
communicate through a system provider, according to Grant.
"There are specific kinds of alliances going on,"
Grant elaborated. "Some dot-coms aligned with retailers, others with
suppliers. Some of the leading ones today have figured it out: align with
the retailer and they will drive the business for you."
Grant mentioned that Albertsons and HE Butt have allied
with DTN Tradelink, while Safeway and Stater Bros. have linked with Agribuys.com.
He also noted Global Net Exchange (GNX), a global consortium of retailers,
has teamed with Tradingproduce.com to serve the industry. To date, The
Kroger Co. has aligned with GNX and C&S Wholesale has aligned with
GNX/Tradingproduce.com.
Making E-Sense
Helping to make sense of a complex field, Grant also outlined key business
strategies companies are embracing as they grapple with e-commerce.
"There are all kinds of different strategies,"
he reasoned. "The first thing is that as a company, I want my staff
to work off a single system with a single point of entry. I don’t
want to have someone log in to multiple company systems or multiple internal
systems. For efficiency, I want one system with real-time transactions
that can take care of all the business needs of my staff now.
"As a retailer, I want organized product information.
I don’t want my staff running around getting faxed quote sheets from
everywhere that are out of date by the time they get them. I want to have
an organized system online that I can work with that I can know is going
to be real-time and up-to-date.
"And finally, a third really big issue for retail
right now is invoice reconciliation. It’s incredible how the ripple
effect of inaccurate invoicing has such an effect across organizations
where suppliers send off an invoice the minute the truck leaves their
door. A good percentage of the time, there’s going to be some kind
of market adjustment, quality adjustment or some other return that’s
going to involve a claim or a return of money. I believe e-commerce has
a tremendous possibility to address not just those issues but all kinds
of problems that we have out there today."
Facilitating Transactions
One important strategy for suppliers is to make it as easy as possible
for retail buyers to do business with them through various forms of e-commerce,
according to Grant.
"If they want to get connected via EDI, make sure
you connect up the way they want to be connected up," he admonished.
"If they want to use the Internet, make sure you’re connected
up with them that way. And finally, you can gain an economy of scale by
getting linked to these Internet systems in the future. You will be able
to take advantage of huge capabilities and economies of scale such as
transportation and packaging."
In spite of the many options and benefits available through
various e-commerce models, however, the industry has been slow to adopt
high-tech methods, Grant continued. He noted more than 30 dot-com companies
came on the produce scene, while "a few of the most well known seem
to be making advances."
Grant blamed the industry’s hesitancy to adopt e-commerce
on a variety of factors, including an overall lack of standards and a
daunting array of different systems, many of which do not provide links
to the right partners.
"The focus is pretty much on the supplier and the
cost of getting systems updated," he explained. "It’s still
in the experimentation stage. I think currently for the Internet, probably
less than one-hundredth of one percent of produce industry revenue goes
through Internet systems at this time. EDI is really pushing through,
but the question is how do you get that critical mass of 20 percent of
the industry using it?
Success Stories Wanted
"Generally there has been resistance from the trading community.
People are reluctant to change the ways they normally work. It’s
a Catch-22. They want to see it work, yet they don’t want to try
it out. It’s going to take a few success stories for people to start
coming around."
In an effort to make sense out of Internet technologies
and protect their investments in technology, a group of suppliers have
created a consortium called ProduceSupply.org, according to Grant.
"We all believe in e-commerce," he asserted.
"We think it’s going to work, but how do we as a supplier community,
take some positive steps to try to build some kind of infrastructure that
will work for us so we won’t have to build multiple systems everywhere."
With ProduceSupply.org, supplier members can obtain one-time
integration into the system to provide linkage to retailers or other dot-coms,
as well as to other third-party systems, according to Grant.
"Seeing is believing," he announced. "We
have to see the fruit of some of these models that can work. Where are
the cost savings? There were a number of studies started up last summer,
but they kind of died out. They never really made it to the trade or were
never finished. So we don’t really have any good numbers to say whether
it will work or not. You need to integrate with trading partner systems.
You can’t base it solely on a web front end."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Vancouver
"Odyssey" a Good Trip
Fresh Cut
March 2001
VANCOUVER, B.C. — The Canadian Produce Marketing Association’s
76th Annual Convention & Trade Show, "Fresh Odyssey" turned
out to be a good trip.
More than 2,500 people participated in the four-day event,
according to Ron Lemaire, CPMA’s executive vice president and director
of marketing. The exposition included more than 240 booths and attracted
about 950 attendees.
A variety of processors and marketers of packaged salads
and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables, many from the United States, displayed
their wares during the exposition, many of them introducing relatively
new value-added products at the show.
At the Amerifresh Inc. booth, Dennis Domagala, president
and COO, Greg Reinauer, vice president, sales and marketing, and Greg
Cummins, general manager, had three relatively new value-added items on
display. The company is offering shredded cabbage for cole slaw and mixed
garden salad with iceberg, red cabbage and carrots in two pack sizes for
foodservice, as well as salad spinach. The three said they initiated the
fresh-cut program last September, working with a co-packer in California
to process and package the products under the Snoboy label.
Fresh-cut fruit is in the cards for the growing lineup
of Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A., Inc. processing facilities around the
nation, according to Bob Swartwout, general manager of the Portland, Oregon,
facility.
Del Monte Targets Fruit
"We’re doing a lot more fruit now," Swartwout said at Del
Monte’s colorful booth during the show. "We just came out with
this four-pound party tray that has all the different melons and pineapple
and grapes. We’re also using the same tray for three-pound vegetable
party tray with some dip in the center."
Swartwout also pointed out a two-pound, four-compartment
melon tray as well as small "grab and go" fruit cups. One cup
contained a melon medley and another held an entire fresh sliced apple.
Both are suitable for vending machines as well as retail and foodservice
venues, according to Swartwout.
"We don’t have them in C-stores yet," Swartwout
explained. "We’ve only had these containers about a month. We’ve
already called on a couple vending machine companies and they’re
saying, ‘How soon can we get them?’"
Swartwout said the cups will soon be available with heat-sealed
lids and are expected to be priced at approximately 99 cents for the sliced
apple and $1.39 to $1.49 for the six-ounce serving of fruit that could
include melons, pineapple, strawberries and other offerings.
"We’re still doing some test marketing,"
Swartwout reported. "We’ve had several customers tell us they
want it even smaller than this. With that lidding film, we can make it
a four-ounce serving and it can go on a tray for hospitals, airlines or
other foodservice applications. They’re looking for that low-profile
kind of thing so the trays can be stacked on carts."
National Network
Swartwout said Del Monte is moving quickly to provide a nationwide network
of processing facilities to expand its service capabilities for fresh-cut
fruits and vegetables. Existing facilities in Kankakee, Illinois, Jessup,
Maryland, and Portland, Oregon, are being expanded, while new plants in
Kansas City, Denver, and Plant City, California are in various stages
of completion and will be operating soon.
Fresh-cut fruit was at center stage in the Sun Rich Fresh
Foods Inc. booth, where Herb Ginther and Carol Ann Glancy pointed out
that all company products are cut by hand at processing plants in Richmond,
B.C., Corona, California, and Toronto, Ontario. From the Richmond facility,
packaged fruit is shipped east as far as Thunder Bay, Ontario, as far
south as Portland, Oregon, and as far north as Alaska, according to Ginther.
The company produces foodservice, deli and retail packs
in solution and its fresh-cut or "dry-pack" products are available
regionally for both foodservice and retail. The company was established
in 1988 and has been producing fresh-cut product for about three years,
according to Ginther. The plant takes orders for fresh-cut until about
noon, then company employees cut and ship it to customers the same day,
he added.
"They get it the day we do it," he said. "Nothing
is kept in the cooler."
The company sells 60 percent of its Richmond production
in Canada and 40 percent in the United States, Ginther added.
Fruit at Retail
Carol Ann Glancy, who is in charge of retail sales for the Richmond facility,
said the company’s 15-ounce package is the most popular with supermarket
consumers.
"It goes to a lot of the grab-and-go clientele,"
she explained. "It’s more convenient than the bigger packs.
We sell a lot of the bigger items on weekends and holidays because they
lend themselves better to parties and family occasions. The eight-ounce
package is also becoming more popular for people who are in a hurry and
need something for lunch."
It’s been a gradual transition, but retail sales
have become the central focus of the value-added business for Misionero
Vegetables, according to Greg Gattis, who manned the company’s CPMA
booth in Vancouver. He said the company’s business was once about
80 percent foodservice, but the mix has now changed to be about 40 percent
foodservice and 60 percent retail.
"Four or five years ago, we were doing all commodities,"
Gattis recalled. "Today, the raw commodity business we do is minimal.
We’re adding value at some level to almost everything. It’s
a whole different business than we used to do. We were one of the top
two or three iceberg lettuce shippers at one point. We don’t do any
of that any more. We still grow it, but it’s marketed elsewhere.
We do our own marketing only on the value-added products. Organics is
our niche."
Resealable Lettuce Packs
Gattis pointed out the company’s new reclosable bags of whole red,
green and romaine lettuce heads. The products are washed, trimmed and
cleaned, then packaged for convenience. Consumers can unzip the bag, take
out several leaves for a salad or just one or two for a sandwich, and
then reseal the bag for future use. Call Garden Cuts, the product is conventionally
grown, rather than as an organic product.
Another recent innovation at Misionero is a new, smaller
sized three-pound box of spring mix containing two 1.5-pound bags.
"It’s the same three-pounder we’ve been
doing for 10 years," Gattis explains. "It’s the same weight.
We just compressed it down into a smaller box so you get more per pallet.
The smaller bag is more convenient to use."
A new pack of romaine was in the spotlight at Tanimura
& Antle’s booth, where Rick Antle explained the company recently
began packaging heads in a special film to extend shelf life.
"This is generation one of a new product line we’re
looking at," Antle said, indicating a display of romaine heads packed
in crinkly clear plastic. "We’re ready to go straight to the
retail shelf."
Antle explained the cut end of each romaine head is treated
in the field to prevent discoloration and each head is wrapped in plastic.
The clear covering is then slightly shrink-wrapped to conform to the shape
of the head, he said.
"We’re getting three to four days’ extended
shelf life with this package," he reported. "The heads are completely
usable. You don’t have the leaves falling off when it comes out of
the box. You can put UPC and PLU numbers on the package and eliminate
bad rings at the cash register. We’re evaluating the package now.
So far the tests are looking good."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
>>
Return to top
Nashville's
"Saladman" Takes up Fruit
Fresh Cut
April 2001
He’s already famous around town for whipping up quick meals on television
that feature his salads, vegetables and fresh salsa, but now, as he celebrates
his 20th anniversary in business, Nashville’s popular "Saladman"
is adding fruit to his act.
Two decades ago, when Walter Strickland started his "produce
shopping service" for restaurants, he borrowed $5,000 from his father
to buy produce and a pickup truck to deliver it, but soon realized he
had to differentiate himself from other local distributors to succeed.
His father, Jimmy Strickland, a co-owner of Valley Tomato
Co., was also working part time with Walter and suggested cutting up lettuce
and onions to offer customers a value-added product. Strickland added
his flair for marketing to the mix and an award-winning fresh-cut processor
was born.
"We started almost immediately in 1983 marketing
our tossed salad line on TV," Strickland recalls. "There was
not a bag of salad in the stores in our market area at the time. One of
our competitors caught wind that we were working on this project because
we were cutting products for a large institutional account. They attempted
to cut lettuce and put it in a tray with a fork, but they had a problem
with the oxygen and thus had a pinking problem.
Artistic License
"We proceeded to package our product in a bag to achieve longer shelf
life. To draw attention to our product, we filmed a canned TV spot to
promote it. The commercial showed the ease of pouring salad out of the
bag and serving it. It also showed the bagging machine making and filling
the bag automatically."
There was nothing canned about Strickland’s subsequent
use of television to promote both himself and his products. A true southern
gentleman, the young entrepreneur created a persona in the Nashville market
by appearing in live, often hilarious, spots on "The Ralph Emory
Show," carried by the local CBS affiliate.
"We had a lot of freedom to do anything we wanted
artistically," Nashville’s saladman recalls. "They were
live; they were funny; and, sometimes, they were crazy. My Dad’s
favorite commercial was one where I was on the air with Norm Frazier [a
local TV personality] and he asked me, ‘Where’s your dad this
mornin’?’
"I said, ‘I don’t know. He was supposed
to meet me here at the station.’ All of a sudden Dad came running
onto the stage and his shirt was torn open. He had lipstick on himself
and his hair was messed up.
"I asked him, ‘Dad, what happened to you? Where
have you been?’ And he said, ‘Four girls off on spring break
attacked me. They said they wanted my salad. They were trying to get in
shape for their swim wear.’
Calling Attention to Salad
"And I said, ‘What did you do?’ Then he answered, ‘I
told them I’d be back tomorrow at the same time.’ It went on
for I don’t know how long and we had people in the studio audience
interact with it and they went crazy. It got so much attention! It was
just a calamity!
"These spots really developed a personality and brought
recognition to our company. We then decided to do drive-time radio spots
with the most popular personalities to reach shoppers on their way home
who were thinking about dinner. Radio proved to be a very good media choice."
His promotional efforts have brought Strickland a generous—and
diverse—portion of notoriety. People often recognize him in the line
at grocery and clothing stores, while others shout, "Hey, Saladman"
from the windows of passing cars. Once, after a show that involved dancing
the twist with people in the studio, an elderly lady called to tell him
she didn’t think a young man should act like that on TV.
"I could hire somebody to be my spokesperson for
me," he reasons. "I could hire a personality. But who best in
the world can talk about my product and my dedication to quality than
the person who manufactures the product and puts his integrity on the
line with his brand?"
A Real Live Success
His creative media advertising has brought name recognition not only for
Walter but also for his brand, "Strickland’s Supreme Salads."
"For me to have people I don’t know frequently
acknowledge me indicates my advertising has gotten a lot of mileage,"
he reasons. "And, of course, the brand has been successful.
"On a national basis, you see a little of that with
the Wendy’s commercials and Dave Thomas. Wendy’s certainly has
enough money to hire an NBA star to say, ‘I love to eat Wendy’s
hamburgers.’ Instead, it’s Dave Thomas. I think that’s
the kind of thing we’ve done. We’re telling consumers there
are real people with integrity behind every product we make. I liked the
live spots because they gave me an opportunity to become a local persona
in produce like Chef Martin Yan is in cooking."
Strickland says he is taking a break from the once-a-week
television spots that now air on a noonday cooking segment called "Talk
of the Town," but when they resume, he will begin promoting his new
line of fruit products. He currently offers two single-serve packs, one
with cantaloupe and another with a cantaloupe/honeydew/red grape medley.
He also offers a "basic line" of larger, family-size packs with
various combinations of watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew and red grapes.
"Our TV promotion should really help fruit sales,"
he predicts. "I’m actually surprised at how well fruit sales
are going with no publicity. They’ve really picked up well."
Challenges of Fruit
Strickland says he spent five years preparing to process fruit, taking
the time needed to work out challenges unique to delicate melons and grapes.
"The first challenge is flavor versus shelf life,"
he explains. "The fruit must be ripe enough to have a sweet flavor,
but cannot be so ripe that it does not have a good shelf life. The second
issue is technique and automation. We wanted to have a state-of-the-art
production line that was as automated as possible from the start. Part
of the equation involved waiting for equipment manufacturers to develop
the right equipment.
"The other concern was that we needed to allow our
retail customers the time to really understand fresh-cut and the necessity
of the cold chain. Our regular product line is very hardy and has a good
shelf life. Fruit, on the other hand, is much more sensitive to temperature.
There was a concern about the handling of fruit during distribution and
in the marketplace. Flavor and quality cannot be compromised with fresh
fruit.
"Not only did the truckers and the stores have to
get better at handling the product, but we still came from a general commodity
mentality in the way we handled produce. As far as critical control points,
there are more for fruit than for vegetables. So to change our people’s
mindset was an obstacle."
Strickland provided a day of special training for those
associates who work in his new fruit room before they were even allowed
to step into the sparkling new facility.
Game Plan for Quality
"Then, on the day it opened, we had a kind of pep rally before they
went into the room," he explains. "There was a game plan laid
out. We made it a special event. It wasn’t just ‘Let’s
make a product and go out the door.’ Then they walked into a brand
new room that had never been operated."
Strickland says fresh-cut fruit is an exciting prospect
for a number of reasons. The colorful and visually attractive nature of
the product is one factor that makes it appealing to consumers. Then,
if fruit is processed and handled correctly, its flavor is another factor
that promises to bring consumers back for more.
"The response to our fruit has been more than favorable,"
he adds. "There has been a general buzz of excitement. We’ve
had no bad comments whatsoever. I think people are excited about the look
of the package, too.
"I just got back from a meeting with one of my customers
who is not carrying the fruit yet. I laid the package down in front of
the people in the office and they opened it up and the girls started eating
it. They just ate everything in the container. It was delicious. So flavor,
appearance and the fact that it’s a new product has brought a great
response, even though fruit has a pretty pricey ring at the cash register."
For companies that will change with the times and continue
making improvements to their processes, Strickland says he sees a bright
future in fresh-cut produce.
An Ozone Pioneer
He has spent the last five working with a team of scientists and experts
to pioneer and develop a fully functional ozone wash system suited for
fresh-cut products. He has quietly been using the system on a test basis
for the past three years and has realized improved flavor, color and shelf
life in salads and other fresh-cut items and reduced microbial counts
on products. He has also been able to reduce the use of water in his processes.
(See stories, page 23)
"I think that, as long as we can add value to a product
for the consumer and raise the quality, the opportunities are endless,"
Strickland foresees. "In my few years, I have not seen anything slow
down. If the economy is good, everyone is striving to get further ahead.
If the economy is slowing, everybody is pushing to maintain his or her
position.
"The way I see it, good health is imperative and
eating healthy is a big part of the answer. Convenience is critical for
the busy lifestyles we lead. All these components assist in raising the
quality of life for people. Isn’t that what we’re looking for?"
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Celebrating
20 Years in Produce
Fresh Cut
April 2001
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—"Looking back over the last 20 years, there
have been many highlights in our company’s history," recalls
Walter Strickland of Strickland Produce, Inc. "Several people tried
to talk me out of starting the business. They said it would be too hard,
that the business world was tough. I should get a job with a big company
so I would have job security."
Less than two years after setting out to deliver high
quality produce to restaurants in the Nashville area, Strickland launched
a fresh-cut operation that has earned him accolades and awards along the
way.
"The creation of our fresh-cut program in 1982-83
was probably the monumental moment that defined who we were and were to
be," Strickland recalls. "The purchase of our first building
was a major event, too. My father met a man who owned a meat processing
company. It gave us room to grow and to create an environment to do business
rather than to reside in rented space."
Today, Strickland’s family operation includes his
father, Jimmy, who is a partner, his mother, Annie, his sister, Teresa,
and his brother, Charles, along with his wife, Cheryl. The company includes
the processing facility and a tomato repacking operation and, for the
sake of customer service, is set up much like larger companies with eight
different product managers assigned to handle specific production areas,
making clear lines of accountability for all sales that are made.
Plans for Expansion
In 1987, Strickland had to begin rebuilding his facility after a devastating
fire. To provide needed space, he also bought the building next door.
The company now employs more than 90 people and has a fleet of refrigerated
trucks for delivering fresh-cut products. He has made plans for future
expansion in downtown Nashville by purchasing a 21-acre site in an industrial
park.
Strickland has built his business on the firm foundation
of quality and food safety. Six years ago, he opened an in-house laboratory
to further support the company’s HACCP, food safety and plant sanitation
programs.
Strickland’s experience and work ethic has served
him well and brought him a number of honors and awards both in the industry
and in the business world at large.
In 1987, he helped found what is today the International
Fresh-cut Produce Association and served on the board of directors of
that group for a number of years, becoming chairman of the board in 1999-2000.
He also serves on the U.S. Senate Small Business Advisory Board and is
a past president of the Middle Tennessee Wholesale Association.
Twice, Strickland Produce, Inc. has been named Nashville’s
Small Business of the Year by the Nashville Business Journal and has been
named Vendor of the Year by Shoney’s Restaurants, as well as recipient
of the Best of America Award from Dun & Bradstreet and the National
Federation of Independent Business. In 1996, Strickland won the Blue Chip
Enterprises Award from Mass Mutual Blue Chip Co., the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce and Nation’s Business magazine and, in 1998, he received
the North American Agriculture Marketing Officials Award.
Customer-driven
It has been a busy two decades. There has never been a time when Strickland
didn’t have a building addition, a special project, or a new product
in the works.
"The idea for fresh-cut came out of need—the
consumer’s and ours," Strickland reminisces. "We needed
as a company to establish a position in the fresh produce business. All
of the other produce companies in Nashville had been in existence for
years. We needed to differentiate ourselves. It was hard to convince people
you could do a better job than the folks that had been there for 75-plus
years.
"I learned a lot about human nature, about hustling,
about making a difference. I learned you have to get out and be a part
of change rather than being caught up in change. All experiences in life,
whether good or bad, tempered me for the future. They made me who I am.
"That’s on the personal side. On the business
side, we need to rethink who we are, what we are, what we do and why we
do it. I ended up doing fine and making better products. And, today, I
don’t take things for granted. I appreciate every single day."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Biofilms
in Food Processing Plants
Fresh Cut
April 2001
by James Yuan, Ph.D., and Sejal Thakkar
Air Liquide America
Microorganisms are all around us—even on our own skin. We don’t
realize how many bacteria we are exposed to everyday because they can
only be seen with a microscope and not with the naked eye. Figure 1 shows
microorganisms on the surface of an apple under the scanning electron
microscope (SEM, original magnification X 2,500).
All bacteria have a certain niche and remain in that niche,
but when they have an opportunity to be in a new environment, they won't
deny it. They become opportunistic, posing a hazardous threat to the new
environment since they don't normally reside there. Thus, microbiological
problems are found in every field, including the food industry.
Food processors should take extra precautions when handling
not only food but also the equipment used to prepare it. Typically we
think only in terms of pathogens and spoilage organisms contaminating
fruits and vegetables, but we should also remember microorganisms can
be found on stainless steel tables or packaging equipment used for processing.
It is not only important to keep food free of contamination but also critical
to maintain clean equipment.
Cleaning, Sanitizing Critical
One potentially damaging microbiological problem for today's food industry
is formation of biofilms on food processing equipment. Because equipment
is costly, it remains in service for long periods of time. If it is not
properly cleaned and sanitized, microorganisms can aggregate on it and
form biofilms. Sometimes the surface may appear to be clean after disinfecting,
but the texture of the surface influences how thorough cleaning can be
(1,8). If the surface has a rough texture, bacteria can hide themselves
in crevices, where they are protected from bacteriocidal chemicals (1).
Bacteria attached to surfaces are more resistant to disinfectants
than free-floating cells because they strongly adhere to the surface.
This situation can be expensive for processors if equipment malfunctions
or downtime is required to remove biofilms once they are discovered.
Biofilms are simply layers of microorganisms, composed
of the same or different species, bonded tightly to a surface. They can
attach to high-tech, expensive machines or to stainless steel tables used
for cutting meat. Biofilms may consist of anything including bacteria,
yeast, molds, algae, etc. (7).
Microbes can attach themselves like glue to a surface
by releasing their own biological material, exopolymeric substance (EPS).
Made of carbohydrates and protein, this extracellular layer provides nutrients
as well as protection against disinfectants and sanitizers. Bacteria attach
to the surface and to each other, consuming available nutrients and growing
into a lawn of microorganisms. This lawn of growth is visible as discoloration
and corrosion. Microbes can also be the culprits in clogged water pipes.
Two Steps in Formation
For a biofilm to form, water (or any liquid) is needed because 85 percent
to 90 percent of biofilms are water (4). Biofilm formation is a two-step.
A reversible stage occurs when microbes are weakly bound to a surface
by electrostatic and van der Waals forces (2). An irreversible stage occurs
when the EPS helps microbes physically attach to a surface (13,14,).
If a surface is not properly cleaned and sanitized, residues
of cut meat, for example, can remain, allowing bacteria to feast on rich
nutrients and organic molecules. Such nutrient buildup is called a process-conditioning
surface. It is also the first step to biofilm formation (16).
The buildup attracts bacteria through a concentration
gradient to a surface and lays the groundwork for a lawn of growth. More
organisms will grow on the bottom because more nutrients are on the surface.
Subsequent layers of bacteria have fewer nutrients. They become adapted
to nutrient-deprived conditions and can withstand harsh conditions better
than surface bacteria (16).
The anatomical features of bacteria, including such things
as flagella (a whip-like tail that enables movement) and cilia (hair-like
projections on the cell that initiate movement and attachment), help in
forming biofilms (1,2). Without flagella for motility, bacterial adherence
decreases by 90 percent (12). The effectiveness of disinfectants may also
depend on the peptidoglycan layer of the bacterium. In gram positives,
the layer is thick (10-80 nm wide) whereas in gram negatives, it is thinner
(2-3 nm wide). Therefore, being tightly attached to the surface can enhance
resistance, but cell wall structure can also play a big role in disinfection.
Gram positive bacteria have no outer membrane, while gram negative bacteria
do. This membrane is composed of phospholipids, proteins, and lipopolysaccharides.
These components are easily broken down with chemicals, making gram negatives
more susceptible to cell lysis (destruction). If the organism also has
an envelope, it is just another type of protection for the cell, especially
if it's impermeable.
Terms of Attachment
In the food industry, microbes can attach to just about anything, including
rubber, glass, polypropylene, and, stainless steel. The key extrinsic
factors that play a role in cell attachment are temperature, time, and
pH. Tests show more cells attach over longer periods of time, regardless
of organism type. The rate of attachment due to these extrinsic factors,
however, may vary according to the substratum to which cells are adhering
(12). For example, biofilms form almost instantaneously (regardless of
temperature and pH changes) on stainless steel rather than Buna-N rubber,
but the detachment process is harder on rubber (12). Refrigeration temperature
(4° C) and excessively warm temperatures inhibit biofilms, but room
temperature (28° C) promotes growth (12). Research also shows changing
pH from acidic to alkaline slows attachment (12). Lewis et. al. suggested
that since the majority of surfaces in contact with aqueous solutions
are negatively charged, electrostatic repulsion between bacteria and solid
substrata would be greater at alkaline pH (12). Using proteolytic enzymes
has also been shown to decrease attachment rates, thus proving proteins
are involved in the initial attachment stage (12).
Researchers have used many applications to eliminate microbes,
including agitation, environmental stresses, shock, and various chemical
biocides. Since biofilms form on processing equipment, researchers have
studied chemical disinfectants and sanitizers closely to determine which
materials are most effective, yet safe for humans and the environment.
Chlorine vs. Ozone
Historically, the food industry has primarily used chlorine to rid processing
facilities of microbes. It is the least expensive oxidizer and is considered
very effective in killing microbes, but it can be dangerous in high concentrations
(11). Chlorine is effective against biofilms because it can destroy the
EPS and inhibit growth. Using chlorine at high concentrations for shorter
periods is more effective against biofilms than low concentrations for
longer periods. Chlorine dioxide is also an effective biocide against
biofilms, but, much like ozone, it is unstable. Like chlorine, it is corrosive
to metals and must be handled carefully (11).
Ozone (03 ) is a colorless gas with a distinct odor to
the human nose at concentrations low as 0.1 ppm (13). Over the years,
researchers have compared ozone’s effectiveness on bacteria to chlorine,
the classic disinfectant. Studies have shown ozone is 51 percent stronger
on bacterial cell walls than chlorine, while the kill rate is 3.125 times
faster.
Most cleaning procedures require two steps: 1) cleaning
surfaces and removing organic residues in which bacteria are embedded,
and 2) sanitizing to eradicate bacteria adhering to a surface. According
to an article from the Department of the Environment, no secondary biocide
is necessary when using ozone. It can kill bacteria, fungi, viruses, spores
(that withstand hostile environments), mold, mildew, etc. without the
help of other products.
Ozone Dynamics
Ozone is unstable in water and must be produced on-site in required amounts
precisely when needed (14). It has a half-life of about 10 minutes and
is better stabilized at cooler temperatures than at warmer temperatures.
Because of its instability, ozone wants more than anything to break apart
into two molecules, diatomic oxygen and free oxygen radicals. Free oxygen
atoms contact bacterial cell walls, attach to them and oxidize organic
material in bacterial membranes, thus weakening the cell wall (14). Eventually,
cell walls break down and lysis occurs (Figure 2, Copyright American Air
Liquide, Inc., 2001, all rights reserved).
Although ozone is a good biocide that works on both types
of cells, it has proved more effective against gram negatives than gram
positives (9). Gram negatives have a thinner peptidoglycan layer; therefore,
it's easier for ozone to penetrate the cell and destroy it. As a result,
ozone may possibly work at lower concentrations for gram negatives (9).
Because they are not only a food safety concern but also
an industrial concern, biofilms are a significant problem for a variety
of industries. Only one small bacterium is needed to initiate the growth
of billions of cells in a relatively short time. That’s why it’s
important to stop biofilms before they form.
Editor’s note: References are available from Dr.
Yuan at Air Liquide America, Countryside, IL. Call him at (708) 579-7907.
References are also available at Fresh Cut magazine (800) 900-2452.
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
In
Search of Better-Tasting Fresh-cut Fruit
Fresh Cut
April 2001
NEW ORLEANS — If Dr. John C. Beaulieu realizes his long-term research
goals, fresh-cut processors will be able to procure special varieties
of fruit that hold up well under shipping, handling, cutting and packaging,
yet still taste great when they reach the consumer.
As a USDA-ARS research plant physiologist at the Southern
Regional Research Center, Beaulieu is identifying and addressing factors
that influence the loss of flavor, texture and quality in apples, cantaloupes,
honeydews, peaches and mangoes after processing. He is studying the physiological
and biochemical processes involved in flavor, aroma and textural changes,
as well as postharvest and vitamin degradation, ultimately hoping to improve
the sensory quality of these fresh-cut fruits.
Flavor is critically important to the success of any fresh-cut
fruit program, perhaps more crucial than for packaged salads and fresh-cut
vegetables that often are eaten either raw or cooked with dressings, condiments,
spices and croutons, according to Beaulieu. Although certain vegetables
have specific characteristic aromas that must be perceived by consumers
for highest quality, "consumer acceptance of fresh-cut fruits most
often relies upon the inherent flavor and texture quality of the product,
seldom with accompaniments," he reports in a paper co-authored with
Dr. Elizabeth Baldwin.
Looks vs. Flavor
"Unfortunately, in the fresh-cut industry, it is generally assumed
that ‘if it looks good, it tastes good," Beaulieu says. "Slow
market growth for fresh-cut fruits may be attributed to the consumer’s
apprehension to repeatedly purchase products with inconsistent or unsatisfactory
aroma/flavor or textural quality.
"Our objective is to identify key markers or compounds
or classes of flavor volatiles that generally change in a negative manner
and actually end up causing flavor or texture loss. An end goal would
be to use parental breeding stock that can avoid some of those characteristics
as the seed companies are actually developing new cultivars, if we can
pinpoint them to certain varieties or lines in the breeding program."
Human perception of flavor is complex, according to Beaulieu
and Baldwin. "Consumers often buy the first time based on appearance,
but repeat purchases are driven by internal factors such as flavor and
texture," they write.
"Aroma compounds are detected by olfactory nerve
endings in the nose (in parts per billion). In contrast, taste is the
detection of nonvolatile compounds by several types of receptors in the
tongue (in parts per hundred). The brain processes this information to
give an integrated flavor experience. Unfortunately, extremely sophisticated
and complicated lab regimes or trained sensory specialists are often required
to tease out these intricate differences and make sense of them."
Maturity Level Critical
Previous fruit research has shown that to achieve optimum quality and
flavor, fruit must be harvested at just the right stage of ripeness, according
to Beaulieu and
Baldwin. If fruits are destined for processing, they should
generally be harvested specifically for that use and that is not necessarily
the harvest maturity required for the fresh market. More research is needed
to pinpoint all factors that combine to make quality fresh-cut fruits,
according to the researchers. In the past, fresh-cut quality has been
assessed generally on the basis of visual and subjective appearance.
Appearance isn’t enough, according to Beaulieu’s
research. He has found a passing increase in many flavor-related esters
and acetates after fresh-cut processing, followed by a decline, often
substantial, five to seven days after cutting, depending on initial fruit
maturity.
"Assuming that roughly 19 compounds are critical
to cantaloupe flavor, we have demonstrated that fresh-cut flavor decreases
appreciably after seven days’ storage," Beaulieu reports. According
to Dr. Karen Bett, (ARS-SRRC), trained sensory panelists determined that
certain flavor attributes increased, then decreased after seven to 10
days’ storage in four varieties of fresh-cut cantaloupe.
Changing Flavor Profile
"Although little trained sensory data are available concerning fresh-cut
fruit flavor changes during storage for both honeydews and apples have
yielded similar trends—a transient increase in sensory attributes
or flavor compounds, then a decline," Beaulieu reports.
The implications for fresh-cut fruit are obvious. If fruit
loses flavor after a period of time, consumers will not be satisfied when
they purchase it.
"The consumer often does not purchase a fresh-cut
product until two to five days after processing," Beaulieu writes.
"Any temperature abuse will exacerbate probable flavor loss that
may occur throughout the ensuing marketing and consumption windows. Further
aroma volatile and sensory analyses are needed to characterize how and
why fresh-cut fruit flavor varies markedly and appears to decline through
storage.
"Overall, flavor is affected by genetics, preharvest
environment, cultural practices, harvest maturity and postharvest handling
or storage. Generally speaking, flavor of fresh produce will not improve
after harvest (aside from the effect of continued ripening in climacteric
fruit). Thus, it is important to minimize flavor deterioration and maintain,
as much as possible, the original flavor at harvest, an especially difficult
task given biochemical changes that come about due to wounding during
processing."
"Plethora of Compounds"
Understanding the flavor and aroma changes that occur in fresh-cut fruit
is a highly technical process that involves analyzing "a plethora
of compounds and compound classes" present in different fruits that
may be important in fresh-cut flavor. In a recent publication (J. Agric.
Food Chem., March 2001), Beaulieu listed the categories of cantaloupe
volatile aroma and flavor compounds as esters and acetates, aromatic compounds,
aldehydes and sulfur-containing compounds. Their precursors are affected
by the above factors, and their biogenesis, the lipoxygenase pathway,
and sugars, organic acids and titratable acidity all have an important
contribution.
"Physical alterations and potential low-oxygen atmospheres
in packages may create significant negative changes in flavor and aroma,"
Beaulieu adds. "There are also synergistic interactions between numerous
factors such as variety, source, season, initial maturity, optimum processing
maturity, slicing and cutting equipment, GRAS treatments, container or
bag (including modified atmosphere packaging), temperature management,
shipping, handling and length of shelf life. The synergistic
interaction between the above factors may have negative consequences on
flavor attributes and sensory acceptability.
Ripeness Means Flavor
"It’s been understood for a long time that the more ripe fruit
is when it’s harvested, the better quality you’re going to get
for eating. But the whole problem is to ship and handle and cut it and
then ship and handle the cut product. You’re looking at a whole deck
of cards that you have to shuffle around and figure out, ‘Well, where
can I optimize this process?’
"If you work with ¼-slip cantaloupe which
actually processes beautifully and gives you something that looks perfect
and looks identical to ¾-slip fruit or full-ripe commercial fruit,
it’s not going to taste the same. It is not going to have the same
°Brix profile and sweetness (Figure 1). It’s also not going to
have the flavor or volatiles (Figure 2). The only way to really know that
for sure is to analyze it.
"A lot of times the processors don’t have the
luxury of doing these things and they go with a cursory appraisal of the
fruit when they get it. "So, if there was a little bit more control
in the whole chain and you knew what you’re getting and you knew
what the harvest was when you got it — and perhaps even knew the
variety — it could really help out overall quality."
One important reason for making an effort to breed new
varieties of fruit especially for fresh-cut processing is that many fruits
have been bred for color and size. Somehow in the process, flavor has
suffered, according to Beaulieu.
Breeding out Flavor?
"It’s just unfortunately happened with fruits like apples and
strawberries," he explains. "There are a lot of linked genes
and these traits are not so easily differentiated or carried from generation
to generation as the breeding and selection processes were conducted.
"Researchers and the industry need to work together
to overcome barriers that hamper national delivery of high quality fresh-cut
fruits throughout the year. As the foodservice industry and home meal
replacement expand, there will be a greater demand for fresh-cut fruits
and vegetables with acceptable flavor quality.
"Researchers and fresh-cut processors are becoming
aware that flavor quality will become a major driving force in the fresh-cut
industry. Seed companies can no longer simply sell seed. Rather, brand
name products and patent rights may become important.
"With this in mind, more research will likely be
directed toward determining critical fresh-cut flavor volatiles and precursor
compounds and elucidating their biosynthetic pathways for enzymatic regulation.
A successful and expansive fresh-cut market, especially for fruits, may
indeed be the driving force required to breed flavor back into some of
our important fruits and vegetables."
Editor’s note: This article was compiled from
verbal and written information contributed by Dr. John C. Beaulieu and
colleagues. Dr. Beaulieu can be contacted at the Southern Regional Research
Center (SRRC) in New Orleans at (504) 286-4471 or by e-mail at beaulieu@commserver.srrc.usda.gov.
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Recent
Findings on Fresh-cut Cantaloupe and Honeydew Melon
Fresh Cut
April 2001
by Trevor Suslow and Marita Cantwell
Dept. Vegetable Crops,
University of California, Davis
Fresh-cut melon products are among the most important of the fresh-fruit
products in terms of volume produced and value. Fresh-cut melon should
have color, aroma and flavor typical of the particular melon type, have
a crisp-melting texture, be free of any symptoms of decay and have minimal
microbial growth and little drained juice.
Here we discuss some of our recent research to address
issues of 1) melon surface disinfection, 2) impact of melon defects on
quality of fresh-cut pieces, 3) the relationship between melon ripeness
and effects of calcium chloride firming dips, and 4) the comparison of
various calcium treatments for their effect on piece firmness and microbial
load.
How can melon surfaces be efficiently disinfected?
The rind of cantaloupe melons can effectively harbor microorganisms and
be difficult to sanitize. As few as 150 bacteria per cm2 of the netted
rind surface may result in contamination of the interior pulp during cutting.
This is of particular concern if fruit are contaminated
with pathogenic bacteria such as species of Salmonella. Food-borne illness
attributed to Salmonella contamination has been linked periodically to
cantaloupe melon. When cross-contamination during food preparation can
be eliminated as the cause, the source of contamination has not been conclusively
determined. Contaminated hydrocooler water and shipping ice are implicated
in most of these cases.
Two factors elevate our concern for even low levels of
transfer from the outer rind to the edible flesh. Firstly, Salmonella
grows extremely well on many low-acid, high sugar fruits, including cantaloupe,
at temperatures above 59°F (15°C). The realities of post-process
distribution and consumer handling make it highly likely that temperature
abuse may occur.
Secondly, ingestion of as few as 10 live cells of the
most aggressive strains can be fully infectious to susceptible individuals.
These strains often harbor genetic elements, which give them multiple
resistances to medical antibiotics, and therefore infections are very
difficult to treat. Therefore, although the chance of becoming ill is
remote, improved surface decontamination methods for cantaloupe are needed
to increase our confidence in the microbial safety of fresh-cut melon.
Post-cutting treatment of the melon pieces is also an important part of
an overall microbial control program.
Melon handling at harvest. Artificially inoculated bacteria
applied to the surface of cantaloupe or honeydew to simulate contamination
immediately at harvest become undetectable (nonviable) during exposure
to natural sunlight and low humidity. Melons held in identical conditions
but shaded from direct sunlight had low, but detectable, levels of inoculated
survivors. Conditions that promote rapid surface drying accelerate bacterial
death.
Cleaning melon surface. Vigorous scrubbing during washing
greatly reduces but does not eliminate artificially applied Salmonella
from the netted rind of cantaloupe. Chlorination of wash and scrub water
further reduces but does not eliminate contamination (Figure 1). Similar
results were also obtained with several other chemical wash aids. Chlorine,
chlorine dioxide, peroxyacetic acid, ozone, peroxide, organic acids, etc.
all work to some degree (1-3 log reductions at best; 10 to 1000-fold reduction)
but none can be relied on to eliminate microbial contamination. Postharvest
germicidal UV illumination was a very effective treatment for honeydew
but very ineffective for cantaloupe. B-156 and Organiclean, proprietary
materials composed of naturally occurring plant extracts, are effective
in reducing artificially inoculated pathogens on melons. Aerated steam
(steam jets) and pressurized vapor heat (steam in retort) have been demonstrated
to be effective in eliminating laboratory applied Salmonella and significantly
reducing naturally contaminating thermo-tolerant coliform bacteria and
generic E. coli from the rind (Figures 2 and 3). The steam and vapor heat
treatments did not significantly reduce firmness or other sensory attributes
of fresh-cut pieces. The growth of common spoilage-associated bacteria
on fresh-cut melon pieces at refrigerated storage temperatures is delayed
by the application of chlorine washing and/or 30 seconds of steam (Fig.
3)
Considerations for disinfecting melons for processing:
Use of chlorine or other disinfectant for wash and scrub
water is essential to prevent buildup of contamination in wash water and
on brushes.
Scrubbing is more effective than soaking melons to reduce microbial load.
Scrubbing in running water is more effective than scrubbing in a tank
of water.
Steam treatment is very effective to disinfect melon surfaces.
Rinsing fresh-cut pieces in water that is chlorinated or treated with
another permitted processing aid further reduces microbial load.
[insert Figure 1]
Figure 1. Summary of treatments of cantaloupe rind to
reduce the natural bacterial load. The data represent the log reduction
of the treatment (difference between untreated and treated).
[Insert Figure 2]
Figure 2. Effect of surface disinfection treatment on
natural bacterial survival on
Cantaloupe rind.
[Insert Figure 3]Figure 3. Effect of surface disinfection
treatment of the intact fruit on the survival of total natural thermotolerant
coliforms, other gram-negative bacteria, and E. coli on Cantaloupe pulp
after 6 days at 5°C (41°F). In this study, populations of naturally
occurring E. coli where not detectable at the level of recovery sensitivity
used.
2. Do intact fruit defects affect the quality of fresh-cut
melon?
For fresh market distribution, melons should be free of
defects such as bruising, decay, and sunburn. Large ground spots, due
to contact with moist soil, should also be avoided. Fresh-cut processing
permits the use of melons that may be visually unacceptable for the fresh
market. Under normal processing, pulp from areas below ground spot or
sunburned areas of the fruit could be included in commercially prepared
fresh-cut products (Figure 4).
Fresh-cut pieces from sunburned areas of fruits had substantially
less orange color, 30 percent lower soluble solids, and were 40 percent
less firm than pieces from good quality fruit areas. Pieces from ground-spot
areas were of slightly less quality (less firm) than pieces from good
quality fruits. Decay development or shelf life of the pieces from defective
areas were not different from pieces from high quality areas, but respiration
and ethylene production rates of pieces from sunburned areas were significantly
lower.
A final consideration in the use of melons with large
ground spots or areas of decay is the recent finding that bacterial contamination
of edible flesh prior to processing is far more likely in these melons.
Naturally occurring and inoculated bacteria reached the edible flesh of
cantaloupe underneath the thin, poorly netted rind of ground spots and
within areas of fungal decay more frequently and at higher densities than
with sound, well-netted surfaces.
[Insert photo of cantaloupes (figure 4) ]
Figure 4. Cantaloupe melons of good quality (left), with large ground
spot (middle) and sunburn (right) defects.
3. How do melon ripeness and calcium chloride dips affect
firmness of pieces?
As melons ripen, there is a substantial decrease in pulp
firmness that corresponds to a change from a crisp texture to a more melting
texture. The relationship between other fruit quality attributes and firmness
is shown in Table 1 for cantaloupe melons and Table 2 for honeydew melons.
Riper fruits have more sugar and typical melon flavor but the softer pulp
presents challenges for processing and shelf life of the fresh-cut pieces.
Calcium chloride dips have been shown effective to firm
fresh-cut melon pieces and reduce firmness loss during storage. Calcium
chloride dips have an immediate firming effect on cantaloupe and honeydew
pieces and this persists during storage. Riper melons benefit more from
calcium chloride dips than less firm melons. Honeydew melons harvested
at different stages of maturity and ripeness (Table 1) illustrate typical
results (Figure 5). The benefit of calcium treatment is most noticeable
with riper fruit tissue. Concentrations of 0.25 percent and 0.5 percent
calcium chloride also had a substantial firming effect on honeydew melon
pieces.
Table 1. Characteristics of cantaloupe melons harvested
at 3 stages of ripeness. Stage 2
would be typical commercial harvest for summer fruit.
The data are averages from 3 cultivars.
| Ripeness Stage* |
External Color** |
Internal Ethylene |
Soluble Solids |
Firmness Newtons***
|
| |
|
ppm |
% |
8 mm probe |
| 1 |
1.0 |
2.4 |
11.3 |
38.5 |
| 2 |
2.1 |
53.3 |
11.7 |
27.6 |
| 3 |
3.8 |
88.6 |
11.7 |
18.6 |
| LSD.05 |
0.3 |
15.3 |
0.6 |
3.5 |
*Ripeness stage: 1=full size, no abscission zone; 2=abscission
zone ¾ to full, remove stem with thumb pressure, 3=full slip, stem
recently separated from fruit.
**External color: 1=green, 2=light green, green with small
area of yellow; 3=yellow-green, 4=yellow with slight green, 5=yellow-orange.
***Newtons =kg-force x 9.81 or pound-force x 4.45.
Table 2. Summary of characteristics of honeydew melons
(cv. Morning Ice) harvested at different stages of maturity.
| Ripeness Stage |
Description |
Internal Ethylene2 |
Soluble Solids |
Pulp Firmness
8 mm probe
|
| |
|
ppm |
% |
Newtons* |
| 0 |
Greenish external color; peel fuzzy/hairy; no aroma;
should not be harvested |
0.4 |
9.0 |
43.4 |
| 1 |
External color white with greenish aspect; peel slightly
fuzzy/hairy; no aroma; melon splits when cut, pulp is crisp; minimum
commercial harvest maturity |
2.4 |
10.3 |
37.9 |
| 2 |
External color white with trace of green; peel not
fuzzy, slightly waxy; slight to noticeable aroma; melon splits when
cut, flesh crisp |
4.1 |
11.8 |
35.5 |
| 3 |
External color creamy white to pale yellow; peel
waxy; noticeable aroma; flesh firm, when sliced but does not split |
16.9 |
12.1 |
21.8 |
| LSD.05 |
|
1.8 |
0.9 |
5.0 |
*Newtons =kg-force x 9.81 or pound-force x 4.45.
[Insert Figure 5]Figure 5. Effect of calcium chloride
dips on firmness of honeydew melons harvested at different stages of ripeness.
Ripeness stages correspond to those described in Table 2. Firmness was
measured with a 3 mm probe.
4. Do different calcium sources affect firmness and microbial
load of fresh-cut melons?
Although calcium chloride dips are effective in maintaining
firmness of melon pieces, presumably by cross-linking cell wall components,
calcium chloride may impart an off-flavor at higher concentrations (~1
percent).
We compared other calcium salts for their effect on firmness
and on the microbial changes of fresh-cut honeydew pieces during storage.
Calcium chloride (CaCl2) at 0.5 percent, calcinated calcium (CC) at 0.1
percent, calcium metalosate (CM) at 0.5 percent or calcium lactate (CL)
at 1 percent were all similarly effective in reducing firmness loss. All
treatments are GRAS except for CM, which is not approved for food applications
at this time. All treatments resulted in increased amounts of tissue calcium
compared to concentrations in untreated pulp (50 percent increase for
CM, 80 percent increase for CC, and a 130 percent increase for CaCl2 and
CL).
In this particular test, the initial total microbial load
of the pieces was relatively high, and all calcium treatments resulted
in a lower initial microbial count. After 4 days, some of the calcium
treatments had slightly higher total and lactic acid plate counts than
untreated pieces. After eight days, however, differences among treatments
were very small. No differences in fungi and yeast counts were found among
the untreated and calcium treated pieces. Other tests show similar results:
calcium treatment of fresh-cut melon did not notably affect microbial
development on the pieces.
Editor’s note: Trevor Suslow and Marita Cantwell
can be contacted at the Department of Vegetable Crops, UC Davis, Davis,
CA 95616, by phone at (530) 754-8313 and (530) 752-7305, respectively,
or by e-mail at tvsuslow@ucdavis.edu and micantwell@ucdavis.edu.
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Ozone
Is Making Its Fresh-cut Debut
Fresh Cut
April 2001
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Experts have touted the virtues
of ozone as a sanitizer and antimicrobial agent for wash water for years,
but until recently, making it work in a fresh-cut processing plant was
a challenge.
Recently, however, Walter Strickland of Strickland Produce,
Inc. announced he has spent about five years developing an ozonated wash
system and has been operating it successfully in his processing plant
for the past three years, achieving the desired results.
"We feel like we’ve made an astronomical step
forward," says the fresh-cut industry’s ozone pioneer. "We’ve
been working on this for a long time and we’ve been very tight-lipped
because we wanted to develop it and make sure it was sound science before
we did anything.
"We’re pretty excited. The desired outcome that
we had hoped for was longer shelf life, fresher taste, lowered microbial
counts and conservation of natural resources. The system has done everything
we had anticipated and more.
"We achieved all four of our target goals and our
customers should realize great benefits. We’ve seen shelf life just
sometimes more than double. I think it’s going to be a big stride
in taste perception. I think it’s going to be a big stride in food
safety and I think it will be a big stride in water conservation.
"When you can improve flavor and extend shelf life,
you have done the right thing by your customer. When you can conserve
natural resources, you have done the right thing for future generations
and you’ve controlled your immediate costs, too. As for lower microbial
counts, that’s a no-brainer.
New Level of Quality
"We believe the application of this new technology will move the
quality of fresh-cut to a new level."
His new technology is so successful, Strickland expects
others in the industry to begin adopting it. He plans to make the lessons
he has learned available to all who are interested.
"I think you’ll see it explode all at one time,"
Strickland says. "I think everybody’s got an interest. We’ve
been doing this for well over three years and we know what we’ve
seen: Extended shelf life, better color and other qualities. That’s
exactly right."
Interest in ozone really could explode once the U.S. Food
& Drug Administration makes its final ruling on a food additive petition
submitted last year for the use of ozone with food products. Dr. Dee Graham,
a consultant from Walnut Creek, California, who was instrumental in submitting
the petition, says ozone received a GRAS (generally recognized as safe)
affirmation for use in bottled water from the FDA in 1982. The FDA renewed
its affirmation in 1995 without modification.
In 1997, an expert panel made a GRAS declaration to the
FDA for use of ozone in food contact applications, according to Graham.
The FDA voiced no objections to the declaration at that time.
GRAS Status Ahead?
"Quite a few manufacturers went ahead on the basis of the expert
panel’s GRAS declaration and installed systems," Graham remembers.
"Then the FDA discovered a quirk in the 1982 bottled water standard
that said any other use of ozone would have to have approval by food additive
petition. It was a Catch-22 because GRAS declarations specifically don’t
require a petition. To resolve it, though, we went ahead and prepared
a rather substantial petition and submitted that. My information from
FDA is that they are just on the verge of issuing a ruling on that."
Graham, who has been a primary contractor for the Electric
Power Research Institute (EPRI) for the last 10 years, began focusing
on potential applications for ozone technology in 1996. About two years
ago, he went to work on Strickland’s project to help the processor
develop a system that would "give him greater assurance against pathogenic
E. coli and similar organisms and also conserve water and improve the
shelf life of the finished product.
"The other thing he wanted to do was to find alternatives
for chlorine in wash water," Graham continues. "He was looking
for other options and, when you look at the fact that ozone leaves absolutely
no residue in the water or on the product, it is a very logical thing
to consider. It simply breaks down to oxygen from whence it came. It obviously
leaves no residue on the product and no flavor changes that we’ve
been able to determine.
Topnotch Antimicrobial Action
"It has quite good efficiency against practically all types of microorganisms,
including some that are very difficult to handle like Giardia and Cryptosporidium
that chlorine will not kill."
Chlorinating wash water is relatively inexpensive compared
to an ozone system that requires on-site generation of the highly unstable
gas, however, Graham says he doesn’t think ozonated wash systems
will be prohibitively expensive once the industry climbs the learning
curve.
"Like anything, the first prototype is expensive,"
he allows. "It’s difficult. Once everything is pretty well worked
out, then it’s fairly straightforward. Walter has had to break some
very heavy new ground."
If washing fresh-cut produce were simply a matter of ozonating
water and running it through a flume, there would be no heavy ground to
break, but Graham, who also worked with Dr. Jurgen Strasser, a process
engineer, says the system isn’t that simple.
"We’ve found that just getting equipment suppliers
attuned to the kind of equipment they had to produce for this system was
quite an ordeal," Graham reports. "If they had done five systems
before this, it would have been nothing, but they hadn’t done even
one before."
Conserving water, yet keeping it clean enough to allow
ozone to function as a disinfectant when washing cut produce was the major
challenge Strickland, Graham and Strasser faced.
Filtering Organic Matter
"A lot of juice comes out of the product when you cut it," Graham
explains. "It’s a waste of time to put either chlorine or ozone
or any other sanitizer into a real heavy, juicy mixture. The organic matter
just consumes whatever sanitizer you put in place. Getting that pre-filtration
or pre-cleaning step to work satisfactorily has been the most time-consuming
part of it.
"If we would just use fresh water only, ozonate it
and feed it to the product, then it’s a no-brainer, but that’s
very expensive in the sense of conserving water. What we wanted to do
was reuse the water as much as possible.
"In some watersheds, water conservation is more critical
than it is for others. When we first started this project for Walter,
that didn’t seem to be an important requirement for him. Over a couple
years, however, availability of water, costs of water and then the cost
of disposing of that much liquid have all become major issues."
Of course, the central focus of Strickland’s ozonated
wash system is to be sure his fresh-cut produce is clean, a goal Graham
says the process has achieved.
"We’re getting a lot of [microbial] count reduction
and, more importantly, Walter is seeing — what empirically, as a
salad man, he can judge — the flavor is improved, the color is improved
and the shelf life is substantially improved. That’s really the bottom
line."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Tips
for Ozone Use: Buyer Beware
Fresh Cut
April 2001
Developing a system that uses ozone to sanitize wash water is not an easy
task and anyone who wants such a system should do plenty of homework before
purchasing components, according to users and experts who have worked
with this powerful oxidizer.
Generally speaking, prototypes of any new technology are
expensive to develop and ozonated wash systems are no exception, according
to Dr. Dee Graham of Walnut Creek, California. Graham, along with his
partner Dr. Jurgen Strasser, is part of the team that helped develop a
prototype for use on fresh-cut salads and vegetables at Strickland Produce,
Inc. in Nashville, Tennessee.
Graham has been a primary contractor for the Electric
Power Research Institute (EPRI) for about 10 years and has focused his
attention on ozone technology since 1996. He plans to publish an EPRI
paper on the results obtained with Strickland’s system.
"I think it’s unlikely we’ll be able to
write a recipe book that anybody without any background or experience
can pick up and run with, but there are a few vendors beginning to get
pretty good experience in the food field. They can do this right now,"
Graham says. "It’s not something I plan to commercialize myself."
Graham, in fact, does not believe there is enough proprietary
technology involved in putting together an ozone wash system to warrant
patents on any system components.
"Everybody has a gleam in their eye that they want
to patent a system, but it’s probably not going to work," he
argues. "Ozone technology and injection of ozone into water and treatment
of water with ozone have been established facts for 100 years and have
been used by something like 300 public water districts throughout the
nation. I don’t think there’s very much that can really be claimed
as proprietary in the end. So, if you learn how to do something and you
don’t tell anybody, then obviously you have that advantage for awhile,
but as far as being able to patent or license or charge a fee for the
basic technology, it’s not very likely."
Just because components aren’t patentable, doesn’t
mean anyone should just buy an ozone generator and presume he’s ready
to wash produce, though, Graham cautions.
"I think the ideal way to do it would be to identify
a qualified vendor that is not too distant from the location of the plant,"
he continues. "Then I think the best way is to retain experienced
engineers who understand ozone, have them do a site survey, and develop
a plan. I don’t think there’s enough background in produce at
this time to just take a system cookbook-style and install it in your
plant.
"In a day or two, ozone experts can visualize a system
that would be built from known components and could be assembled in a
way that would work and be able to cost it out so that the operator can
decide whether he can afford to do it or not."
Cost is a critical factor, according to Blake LaGrange
of Suntex Distributing, Houston, Texas, who has developed his own ozonated
wash system for whole produce through great effort and at great expense.
LaGrange, who does have plans to commercialize and patent
his Suntex Safety Wash System™, says, "If somebody says they
have an ozone machine and they say it can wash produce, be ready for about
a $500,000 education.
"If you don’t have a protocol and you don’t
have a process it can become really expensive to make it all work."
LaGrange echoes Graham’s assessment of the effort
required to perfect an ozonated wash system.
"There are a lot of people out there that are under
the impression that if they have an ozone generator, they can wash produce
with it, but it’s not that easy," he asserts. "It’s
been very expensive and quite a wild ride with regard to research and
development of a complete protocol and process. There hasn’t been
anybody to cheat from. There wasn’t anybody to borrow information
from. My biggest word of caution to anybody is, ‘Be careful!’"
LaGrange is currently marketing tomatoes, melons, berries
and winter vegetables washed in ozonated water to a few Texas retailers
under the "Suntex Clean™ label. He plans to assemble a network
of licensed packers to use his system to provide produce to consumers
with a high degree of confidence in food safety.
Strickland spent five years developing his system and
acknowledges there is a lot of science involved. He says he operated it
for three years to be sure he had the right formula before releasing information
to the public.
"It wasn’t something we thought about today,"
Strickland explains. "It’s technology that is sound. Right now
our thinking is that we don’t want to make it inaccessible for anybody.
"It’s not something you can just go out and
buy and hook up right now. The science of it and the understanding of
it are not like plumbing a pipe of water or something. It needs to go
with some education and understanding.
"There are dozens of places to buy a generator. That’s
not the problem. You’re dealing with something that’s a gas,
that becomes volatile and then you have to understand how to contain it
and what kind of materials it has to be piped through. It’s not like
buying a set of encyclopedias, but at the same time, it’s not a book
on how to program your VCR, either. It’s somewhere in the middle.
"I’ve been thinking about it for five years
and I’ve been doing it for three. If that gives anybody an idea,
it’s not like jumping rope."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
>>
Return to top
Showing
Consumers How to "Eat Smart"
Fresh Cut
May 2001
GUADALUPE, Calif. — Success in retail produce comes only with excellent
appearance and top quality product, but the folks at Apio, Inc. have gone
a step further by appealing to consumers’ perceptions about the health
benefits of fresh vegetables with their Eat Smart™ label.
The old maxim, "look sharp, be sharp," accurately
describes the company’s colorful packaging and the role Intellipac™
modified atmosphere technology plays in preserving freshness, but the
brand name also conveys an irresistible message for consumers who want
to "eat smart" but don’t have time to prepare vegetables
like Mom did.
"I think the exciting thing about fresh produce is
everything that continues to happen from a health and nutrition standpoint
as consumers, not only in the United States but also internationally,
become more aware of the benefits of eating it," says Bruce Knobeloch,
Apio’s new chief operating officer. "We’re really standing
tall from a product line perspective. The health and nutrition of produce
is a perfect fit. Healthy eating, nutrition and longevity all point to
growth within the produce industry and that excites me."
Well known in the produce industry, Knobeloch came to
Apio after 25 years with Schnuck Markets, Inc. in St. Louis and a short
stint with Buyproduce.com. He started as a bag boy and quickly moved into
the produce department, working his way up from clerk to produce manager
and eventually to assistant produce buyer and senior buyer. During his
last decade with the retail chain, he served as director of produce.
Retail Experience
Knobeloch came to Apio as vice president of corporate development and
was later named COO. His experience, as well as his understanding of the
retail produce department, is an asset to Apio as the company continues
to develop its potential to serve both retailers and club stores with
fresh fruits and vegetables and, since 1996, fresh-cut vegetables, as
well.
Apio was founded 20 years ago as a harvesting company,
but the principals, including current president Nick Tompkins, quickly
expanded the operation to include growing and marketing. Entering the
fresh-cut arena, the company built its processing plant in 1996.
At first the value-added focus was on providing custom
bins for bulk fresh-cut produce displays at retail, according to Jennifer
Browder, director of marketing.
"We would purchase the bins and retrofit them for
retail use," she recalls. "Then we would ship retailers the
vegetables in three-pound bags so they could open them and dump them in
the bins for consumers to buy at a line-item price. It allows customers
to make their make their own mix of fresh vegetables."
Fresh-cut carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and stir fry
mixes for bulk bin displays currently represent a stable part of Apio’s
business, according to Browder, but the company has also expanded its
line to include colorfully packaged Eat Smart™ vegetables for retail
sale.
Variety of Offerings
The company’s offerings include about 45 whole commodities from apples
and asparagus to tomatoes and watermelons and a growing fresh-cut line
that includes 12-ounce and 32-ounce bags of broccoli florets, cauliflower
florets, cut-and-peeled carrots and combinations of those. Bagged items
also include stir-fry mixes a vegetable medley and sugar peas.
In addition to bags, Apio also offers a 1.5-pound mini
vegetable tray, a 4.5-pound party tray and a 5.5 large occasion tray,
all with ranch dip. Introduced at last year’s PMA Show, there is
also a convenience line of four- and seven-ounce mini-sweet carrots, seven-ounce
celery sticks, six-ounce health topper mix, seven-ounce tipped and topped
radishes, 16-ounce celery and carrots and a 16-ounce relish tray.
Depending upon the item and its respiration rate, many
of Apio’s products are equipped with Intellipac™ breathable
membranes that help create the right modified atmosphere inside the package
without the use of ice. The atmosphere helps extend shelf life, maintains
crispness and reduces discoloration, unpleasant odors and off-flavors
often associated with fresh-cut produce.
Supplied by Landec, the company that purchased Apio about
a year and a half ago, the membranes are customized to provide oxygen
transmission rates that match the respiration rates of various produce
items. In fact, the OTR actually adjusts to temperature fluctuations,
allowing for variations in product respiration if the cold chain is ever
broken during handling.
Iceless Broccoli Crowns
Last year, Apio introduced iceless broccoli crowns for retail, thanks
to Landec’s packaging technology. Since ice is no longer needed,
72 unwaxed cartons of broccoli can be shipped per pallet, compared to
only about 48-56 cartons of iced broccoli. Other benefits include improved
worker safety because water does not drip from cartons onto floors and
improved food safety because water is eliminated as a potential medium
for microbial populations.
Apio’s iceless broccoli crowns are packed in case
liners that use Intellipac breathable membranes designed for a high OTR
to match broccoli’s notoriously high respiration rate. Landec is
now developing case liners with its packaging technology for larger shipping
packages and even larger modified atmosphere packaging for pallets. The
technology may even be used for fruit in the future. Apio is also an exporter
of produce to Europe and the Pacific Rim.
The company supports its products with a national sales
network that includes an office in Guadalupe, California, and seven regional
sales offices in California, Tennessee, New Jersey and Georgia. Sales
are supported at retail by brokers and by company-supplied point of sale
information.
"Point of sale materials, if utilized properly, are
very important at retail," Knobeloch says. The company offers plenty
of in-store support in the form of sales materials, rail strips and other
ways to attract consumers’ attention to help fresh-cut vegetables
stand out from the crowd in the produce department.
Dramatic Growth
How has Apio’s fresh-cut business grown in approximately six years?
"Our business has undergone dramatic growth with
fresh-cut vegetables," Browder says. "We’ve been introducing
many new products with our vision of creating a fresh-cut vegetables category
in the grocery store. Our product mix is to the point where we’re
going to be able to sustain that kind of category in some new and exciting
ways."
Customer service plays a major role in Apio’s strategy
for retail sales, according to Knobeloch. As a former retailer himself,
he says he always looked for suppliers who could provide not only topnotch
product but also excellent service and effective communication.
His advice to retailers who want to make the most of fresh-cut
vegetables in their produce departments is to work closely with good suppliers.
"Utilize all the data you have at your disposal and
utilize your suppliers as a resource of information as well," he
reasons. "I think the combination of knowledge that the retailer
has, combined with the knowledge that their suppliers have, is very powerful
if used jointly."
Looking toward the future, Knobeloch foresees that suppliers
who can provide added value to retailers through support and customer
service will be most successful.
"You can have the best programs and products in the
world, but if you can’t maintain a very high, disciplined level of
customer service, they don’t mean a thing."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Tour
Visits Wal-Mart, Kash N' Karry
Fresh Cut
May 2001
TAMPA, Fla. — Show attendees at United 2001 had plenty of opportunities
to hear from a Wal-Mart official during the show and then were able to
visit both a Wal-Mart Supercenter and a Kash N’ Karry grocery store
immediately after the event.
Wal-Mart is excited about fresh-cut produce, according
to Ron McCormick, who spoke during a fresh-cut workshop March 18. He said
packaged salads sales at Wal-Mart stores continue to grow at an incredible
rate, while other value-added items also look promising.
"We talk about bagged salads in our world at Wal-Mart
and other retailers all the time because we continue to be astounded by
them," McCormick said. "Right now we measure same-store sales
success by what we call double digits if we can increase sales on an item
in the same store by at least 10 percent per year. We blow that number
away in bagged salads and, incredibly, it’s happening that way year
after year after year."
McCormick said the effect of bagged salads on Wal-Mart’s
head lettuce sales has been good, too, but consumers who buy bagged salads
are also buying other types of salads, helping the category continue to
blossom.
Giving Customers Variety
"We’re trading those customers up who got used to buying their
iceberg lettuce salads with a little bit of cabbage and carrots in them,"
he reported. "Now they’re buying all kinds of exotic varieties
of lettuces, the radicchio, the red lettuces, the endives and escaroles
and a whole variety of lettuces that the average American consumer would
never have bought.
"We’re increasing the consumer’s palate
for buying things that are different and we have that potential to do
that on a whole variety of produce items that will bring our customers
back into the produce department."
Cut-and-peeled carrots are an example of how fresh-cut
items can generate repeat business and can even penetrate other markets,
simply because they help consumers save time, he noted.
"I don’t go to Appleby’s or any other restaurants
now and order my meal without seeing someone sitting at a table around
me who’s eating baby peeled carrots in some shape, form or mixture,"
McCormick reasoned. "So not only are we selling more carrots to the
consumer in the grocery store because they’ve got that convenience
and value and they know they can rely on those carrots being sweet, but
we’re also selling them in restaurants.
The Convenience of Carrots
"They’re also being consumed in lunchroom programs. Children
are getting little servings of baby peeled carrots you never would have
seen in the schools when I was going to school. That item now appears
everywhere, always because we’ve done this miraculous thing: we’ve
made it convenient and easy for shoppers."
McCormick predicted convenience will be a significant
factor in the success of the produce department of the future, by pointing
out that a recent study showed the average cook now spends less than 13
minutes preparing meals for the family at night.
"That ought to tell us, ‘Hey, we’ve got
to catch up here real fast," he said. "If our customers are
going to prepare dinner at night in less than 13 minutes, we can’t
continue to sell them a product that’s going to take longer than
that just to get ready to put in a pot, let alone ready to put on the
table."
Another challenge facing the produce industry today is
the fact that many consumers are less than adept at preparing produce.
"They’re trying to prepare the meal real quick
so they can get back out on the road to tennis matches, softball games
and everything they have to do," he explained. "So have not
only a cook who’s under pressure for time but also a cook who doesn’t
know how to prepare produce.
"Serious about Fresh-cut"
"We really have to get serious about fresh-cut. I think it’s
that type of initiative that can dramatically increase consumption, can
be profitable for both us as retailers and for the growers and can bring
a lot of people back to the table eating fruits and vegetables."
On the United tour, the first stop was a Wal-Mart Supercenter
featuring a produce department of about 12,000 square feet. Returnable
plastic containers were being used to stock tomatoes, apples and other
items, while upright refrigeration units displayed fresh-cuts and other
value-added items.
Gary Pickett, a Wal-Mart category manager echoed McCormick’s
assessment that fresh-cut produce is growing rapidly, though he said in
some instances fresh-cut items are loss leaders to help build the category.
"Cut produce is going to take over," Pickett
said. "Cut fruit is going to take over and exceed vegetable sales
on a long-term basis. We believe it will exceed even salad sales. We can
count on that happening and we want to be on the leading edge of that.
"We’ve taken a position as a company that we
don’t want to cut in our back rooms for sanitation reasons. We think
it’s clearly the right answer. So it’s a growing area for us.
We’re figuring out how to sell it."
Learning to Make Money
Pickett said Wal-Mart is not concerned with shrink, but simply wants to
make sure to have adequate supplies of fresh-cut fruit on the shelf when
consumers want to buy it.
"We can improve the shelf life of cut fruit easily,
but not yet without also sacrificing flavor" he continued. "And
we’re not willing to do that. We’ll figure out how to make money
at it later."
He also noted salads are very profitable for Wal-Mart,
while generally not quite as profitable as fresh commodities. Being able
to display packaged salads properly is an important part of the equation.
While fresh-cut vegetable sales have leveled somewhat,
Pickett pointed out some highlights such as fresh-cut corn on the cob.
"That’s growing by leaps and bounds," he
said. "We’ve got an overall same store sales increase on some
of the prepackaged, pre-trimmed corn of well over 100 percent I the last
year. It’s another way to get more variety out to the consumer, too.
If you’re looking a full ear of corn, it’s hard to know the
difference between white, bicolor and yellow without shucking the ears."
Steve Tursi, eastern regional category manager for supercenter
produce, agreed he is encouraged by the way fresh-cut fruit is "catching
on," while value-added vegetables are growing more slowly.
Packaged Okra
"One thing we’ve done real well with is packaged okra,"
Tursi said. "That was something that didn’t seem to get many
sales, but the package gives you accountability at the register. You get
that trackable, scannable data."
The Kash N’ Karry store on United’s tour was
one of the chain’s new rounded concepts. The front of the store is
a semi-circle, while immediately behind that are traditional straight
rows of grocery aisles.
When consumers enter the store, they see the deli and
prepared foods section straight ahead with its circular glassed counters
and the produce department is on the right around the circle.
The fresh-cut section in this store is relatively small
because the clientele is heavily weighted toward a lunch crowd from a
huge business park across the street where about 3,000 workers are housed.
Tony Rhodus, produce merchandiser for 46 of the chain’s
137 stores, said the store’s fresh salad bar is extremely popular
with the lunch time consumers.
"We do a phenomenal business here with the fresh
salad bar," he explained. "So in this store, the packaged salads
are probably not going to sell as well as they would in some of our other
locations because of the option to make your own fresh salad by the pound.
Fruit Sales Increasing
Fresh-cut fruit, on the other hand, is growing, especially as the melon
season approaches, Rhodus explained.
"You’ll start seeing a lot of sales increase
on those items, especially the watermelon," he said. "And we
also offer several different melon packs, as well as the mixed fruit pack.
That’s one of the most popular. It has several different melons in
it, plus pineapples and strawberries.
"We do all those in-store and it works out very well.
It can be a little labor-intensive, but this time of year they do sell
a lot of it. There’s a good margin to be made out of that section."
Tom Deblieck, another Kash N’ Karry official on hand
for the tour, said packaged salads will eventually have a larger facing
once the refrigerated case has been retrofitted with the right kind of
shelves.
"We plan to expand the salad area," Deblieck
said. "And fruit is a pretty good seller. At the moment we cut our
own, but we’re checking that out as far as sourcing some of it out.
Del Monte is actually building a plant here in Plant City and we’re
going to look real hard at that when their plant gets done."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Convenient
Grapefruit, Spuds Wanted
Fresh Cut
May 2001
TAMPA, Fla. — Declining consumption of both grapefruit and potatoes
is prompting both the Florida citrus industry and the National Potato
Promotion Board to take a hard look at fresh-cut or value-added technologies
that could help make both commodities more convenient for consumers to
eat.
March 18, during a United 2001 workshop entitled "Innovations
in Fresh-cut Produce Commodities," Dr. Mohamed Ismail of the Florida
Department of Citrus talked about the significance of an automated citrus
peeling system developed jointly by the FDOC and Heinzen Manufacturing
International (HMI) of Gilroy, California.
"Citrus is the premiere fruit crop worldwide,"
Dr. Ismail said. "No other fruit crop is produced in larger volume
than citrus and oranges are definitely the number one citrus fruit grown
in many countries and regions."
In general, statistics show fruit consumption has generally
been on the rise during the 20-year period from 1978 to 1998, according
to Ismail. Grape consumption is up 136 percent; strawberry consumption,
94 percent; banana consumption, 41 percent and lime, lemon and orange
consumption, 30 percent. Consumption of grapefruit, however, has declined
during the same period by 21 percent.
"From 1990 to 1998, grapefruit shipments in Florida
declined 33 percent from 23 cartons a year to 15 million cartons,"
Dr. Ismail pointed out. "And this happened in spite of a strong economy
in the ‘90s."
>An Inconvenient Fruit
Ismail blamed the decline on the inconvenience of eating grapefruit and
inconsistent quality. Other varieties of citrus fruit are easy to peel,
but not so with grapefruit, he said.
"What we would like to achieve with grapefruit is
this," he said, flashing a slide on the screen with a perfectly peeled
piece fruit. "This is simply a sample of peeled pink grapefruit cut
in half. It makes it a whole lot more convenient to eat in a cafeteria
setting."
Currently, some 55 percent of all meals eaten in the United
States are eaten away from home and 13 percent of those are eaten in the
car while people are traveling, according to Ismail, who said the practice
is called "dashboard dining."
"What we have been trying to do in our scientific
research for the past several years is to make citrus easy for the consumer
to prepare and eat," he added.
Ismail outlined the history of attempts at automated peeling
of citrus fruit, then discussed the recent success achieved by the FDOC
and Heinzen Manufacturing. The patented system they developed uses a unique
combination of methods to remove the peeling from fresh citrus products.
Automated Peeling
On the show floor, Rudy Groppe of HMI played a video and explained how
citrus fruit is first perforated with tiny holes, then infused with water
and an enzyme to soften the light inner lining of the peel. Finally, the
peel is scored to a depth of 1 mm to 3 mm. The scored sections are then
impaled and pulled from the fruit.
"I feel comfortable saying this unit can peel 50
pieces of fruit a minute," Groppe said. "And we’re continuing
to develop other equipment that would be downstream for gently segmenting
the fruit."
Ismail says fruit orientation is not important in the
peeling process and FDOC researchers have used UV light to achieve sanitary
conditions in a plant setting.
"I think there is a place for an attractive orange
and grapefruit in a convenient form on the market," Ismail said.
Another workshop participant, Bud Middaugh of the National
Potato Council, filling in for the National Potato Promotion Board (NPPB),
said the potato industry is also concerned about declining market share
and sees fresh-cut or value-added potatoes as convenience items to help
rebuild consumption.
"My background is in the meat business and this is
exactly what the meat folks did 10 to 12 years ago when they went from
a commodity to a value-added product," Middaugh related. "It’s
been the salvation of the cattle business and I think that’s what
the potato people feel probably needs to happen with potatoes."
Reinventing the Potato
In a recent press conference, Tim O’Connor of the NPPB said potatoes
were once the number one or number two item in U.S. produce departments,
but their position has "eroded" in recent years.
"According to the analysis we’ve done, we’re
now averaging number six across the board," O’Connor said. "Why
have we slipped? Or perhaps the better question is: ‘Why have we
been passed up by other commodities such as bananas, apples, tomatoes,
packaged salads and grapes?’
"They’ve offered new products and new varieties
to consumers. They’ve broken out of a traditional commodity presentation.
So beginning in July of last year, we embarked on an effort, driven by
our new strategy as a catalyst for change, to identify what the industry
needs to be competitive at retail going forward. We called this initiative
‘Reinventing the Potato.’"
O’Connor used Starbuck’s Coffee, children’s
scooters, packaged salads and even bottled water as examples of adding
value to a product to break out of the commodity mold.
"Water is one of the best commodity stories I can
think of," O’Connor continued. "There’s nothing more
typical of a commodity than water. It’s virtually free, but people
have made millions and millions of dollars adding value to water by making
it available and portable to consumers any time they want it.
Tuning in to Consumers
"So our core strategy is to understand the consumer because all the
value in the potato industry flows from the consumer and meeting consumer
needs is where we’ll find success."
During the same press conference, Linda McCashion, vice
president of domestic marketing for the NPPB, reported the board is focusing
its marketing efforts on women who have children at home who are more
likely to have meals with their families and are more conscientious about
those meals. Research shows women are still primarily responsible for
meals, but are spending less time preparing them and are preparing different
kinds of meals than in the past.
"The traditional dinners many of us grew up with
that would have a protein, a potato and other vegetables — that category
is shrinking," McCashion asserted. "It has been shrinking for
about 15 years. It’s very stable now and it’s very important
in that we have 40 percent of that category when someone has that type
of meal at home."
Consumers currently choose potatoes as a side dish four
times as often as other side dishes, but McCashion noted potatoes are
losing ground in the quick casual meal category — the fastest growing
meal category in the nation.
"Potatoes are only in this area for about 13 percent
of the meals because they consist of things like pizza, tacos and macaroni
and cheese," she continued. "We can be a part of this category,
but it’s challenging. Chips and fries fit in pretty easily."
Meat and Potatoes
Protein partners are important, McCashion said. Research shows that when
consumers have beef for dinner potatoes are chosen as the side dish 55
percent of the time.
The challenge for the potato industry, according to McCashion,
is to show consumers how they can get traditional meals with potato side
dishes on the table more quickly and conveniently. Dehydrated potato products
that can be cooked in 15 to 20 minutes are one alternative. Fresh potatoes,
too, can be made easier to prepare.
"Our biggest strength has always been how much people
love potatoes," McCashion reasoned. "Eighty-five percent of
households have fresh potatoes on hand at any given time. They have the
other products, like shelf-stable dehydrated potatoes, even more often.
We also know that when they go to a store, in many cases, they’re
planning to buy potatoes.
"There are new products coming on the market that
are going to help us do that and show families they can have these wonderful
traditional dinners but within the time frame they’re willing to
go with. So we will continue to build on our strengths to add value to
potatoes."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
>>
Return to top
To
Market, to Market—In a Hurry!
Fresh Cut
June 2001
SALINAS, Calif. — At Pacific International Marketing,
Inc., new product development is an in-house joke, according to Tom Russell,
but at the same time it’s a vital component in the company’s
ability to respond quickly to customers’ needs.
"I keep a large supply of different sized bags and
films with a ruler and a stapler for customizing," the company president
smiles. "When someone has a new idea, I start bagging and stapling
at my desk."
A good example of Russell’s rapid approach to new
products happened about three years ago when he received a call from an
important buyer one Saturday.
"He said, ‘Your romaine hearts are really good.
Too bad nobody does a celery heart like that, three in a big bag with
Ziploc™,’" Russell relates. "So I reached in my drawer
and pulled out my different bags and we made one and used the 36-size
celery — everybody else was doing a one-pound celery heart trimmed
off. We basically put three 36-size hearts in it and came out with a 40-ounce
bag — almost two and a half pounds — in a club pack."
By Monday, Russell’s film supplier provided a bag
in the right configuration and he was able to overnight a sample of the
product to the buyer.
Quick Response
"By Friday, they said, ‘Yes, go with it,’" he recalls.
"So we were able to get those into the stores in under four weeks
from concept to delivery and now we’re doing more than $5 million
a year in those celery heart Ziplocs. That’s what you can do if you’ve
got all the owners sitting in the same room half the time."
Quick decisions and decisive action have been a fact of
life for Russell since 1975 when, as an instructor at a karate studio,
he made a sudden decision to get into the produce business.
"One of my students was in produce," the entrepreneur
remembers. "After defending my second Fiesta Bowl Championship professional
karate title on a Sunday night, I decided on Monday to accept an offer
from the student’s family to try my hand in produce. On Tuesday morning
at 6:00 o’clock I was driving a tractor and learning how to harvest
honeydews. I eventually worked my way into the sales office and worked
there until 1982."
In that year, Russell launched Dynasty Farms, Inc., becoming
a sales agent for growers in New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Mexico.
Seven years later, he created Pacific International Marketing, Inc. to
do the marketing for Dynasty and Pacific Fresh Marketing, Inc., a Salinas-based
grower-owned company. Today, PIM represents more than 120 growers of both
conventional and organic produce.
Organics and Tomatoes
In 1997, the company formed Pure Pacific Organics, LLC, which now markets
fresh and processed organic produce from about 4,000 acres in Arizona,
Colorado, Utah, California and Mexico. Dynasty Farms ships from approximately
20,000 acres of conventional produce in the same areas. The company, with
Bob Meyer, also recently launched Meyer/Pacific to handle all marketing
operations for Meyer Tomatoes of King City.
A total of 27 individuals, all employees of PIM, own the
combined companies and are personally involved in their day-to-day operation.
In addition to Russell, top management includes Dave Johnson, vice president,
Jeff Hyosaka, a member of the board, Doug Schaefer, sales manager in the
Nogales office of Meyer/Pacific, Henry Dill, Salinas’ sales manager,
and Toni Bonfantini, product manager for non-Nogales Mexican produce.
Johnson, a former sales manager for Bruce Church, joined the company in
1986 and Hyosaka came aboard in 1984. Schaefer, who is handling all tomato
sales under the new agreement with Meyer, joined PIM in 1988, while Dill
joined in 1995 and Bonfantini joined in 1989.
There’s more to PIM’s marketing strategy, however,
than a quick response and good timing. The stockholder-owned company also
carries a sufficiently broad line of commodities and value-added packs
to help customers adapt to the rapidly changing eating habits of their
consumer clientele.
Value-added Ventures
"One of the first fresh-cut items we ventured into was packaged romaine
hearts," Russell recalls. "We started those in the early ‘90s
and they are still one of our steady items. Initially most of our fresh-cut
was very limited — more of a half-step between bulk commodities and
processed, ready-to-eat."
Today, the company’s main processing facility for
vegetables rotates seasonally between Yuma, Arizona, in the winter and
Greenfield, California, in the summer. Carrots and potatoes are processed
at additional facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, and Center, Colorado, while
another facility in Bountiful Valley, Utah, packages the company’s
onions.
"We do all our baby lettuces and our celery hearts
in our Greenfield plant," Russell explains. "That facility does
both organic and conventional products. Our partner in Colorado does our
organic baby carrots and our organic bagged potatoes. In Phoenix, we have
another partner who does our conventional baby carrots and snack packs.
We also pack bulk babies for other people who want to bag their own."
Just as with 40-ounce celery hearts, the right packaging
configuration can often provide exactly what a buyer wants, according
to Russell. Several of PIM’s most successful items fall into that
category.
Onions in the Green
"We just got one major buyer to put our new organic iceless three-bunch
green onions in a bag into two distribution centers," he explains.
"We bring them in from the field just like you would regular green
onions, but we trim them, wash them, cool them and let them sit before
we bag them the next day, so there’s basically no shrink on the rack.
And we were able to hit their price point of 99 cents a bag. Most chains
put them on sale three bunches for a dollar, but this will be their everyday
price. Now they plan to run it out nationally."
Packaging can make a big difference for organics, according
to Russell, who says cashiers frequently ring organic items wrong at the
cash register.
"The first response from most of the organic trade
was to put some little twist tie around the item that identifies it as
organic," he reports. "As several retailers have explained it
to us, though, if you put a twist tie on a head of romaine and then put
it in a bag, what does the cashier see? She sees a head of romaine and
she’s not going to dig in there to look for that organic tag or the
organic PLU.
"So, we began putting two heads of red leaf or two
heads of green leaf in a bag like the standard romaine hearts. It also
helps with shrink, because when you trim up red leaf and green leaf, they
just keep getting smaller and then you end up banding two together. The
bag helps the retailer have red leaf, green leaf and romaine all on the
same shelf and basically there isn’t any shrink because it’s
bagged. And it’s pretty hard to mis-ring because the scannable UPC
and PLU are on the outside."
Mesclun in a Clamshell
Clamshells proved to be the right answer for one retailer who wanted to
provide branded mesclun mix to shoppers. Again, flexibility and creativity
were instrumental in finding the right combination of processing, packaging
and delivery to make the product work, according to Russell.
"We are a big component supplier of baby greens,"
Russell explains. "We do a tremendous amount of baby arugula, frisée,
lollo rossa, tango, mizuna and other baby greens and we export them to
England pretty heavily. The customers all seem to want something different.
Some want them blended, not washed and another one wants a 12-pounder
so he can make his own packages on his end.
"So last year, we launched a new clamshell program.
It’s organic items like spring mix or spinach, but too often, by
the time it bounces across the United States, it’s all on the bottom
of the clamshell. So we set up a co-packing operation. We do all the processing
out here on the West Coast, washing it, blending it and shipping it bulk
product to an organic certified processor on the East Coast in 12-pound
bags. The processor puts it in the clamshell and delivers fresh to the
retailer’s warehouse every day."
Conventional Items
Conventionally grown bulk and value-added products make up about 80 percent
of PIM’s annual sales, according to Russell. They include such items
as: bulk and packaged broccoli florets; romaine hearts in bulk, club packs
and retail packs; bagged and bulk clipped spinach; and retail bags of
chopped kale, mustard, turnip and collard greens. Spring mix is available
in retail as well as three- and 12-pound bulk packs, while cut-and-peeled
carrots come in three-ounce snack, bulk and retail packs. Iceless green
onions are available in bulk, three- and four-bunch retail packs and six-bunch
club packs.
PIM also offers bulk bin lettuce, green cabbage and red
cabbage; as well as celery sticks, grape and cherry tomatoes in clamshells
and tri-heart lettuce with red leaf, green leaf and romaine.
Organic items include: wrapped and bunched broccoli; cello
green cabbage; cut-and-peeled carrots; celery hearts; bulk and stick celery;
cello lettuce; romaine hearts, iceless three-bunch retail packs of green
onions; three-pound bags of yellow, red and white onions; five- and 10-pound
bags of red and white potatoes; tri-heart lettuce; and two heads of bagged
green leaf and red leaf hearts.
Baby organic salads include five-ounce baby lettuces and
spring mix, six-ounce romaine and Asian mix and eight-ounce baby spinach
as well as bulk baby spring mix and spinach and clamshell spring mix and
baby arugula. Tray-packed items include corn, artichokes, zucchini, snow
peas and sugar peas.
The company’s newest organic items are a three-bunch
pack of green onions, two-heart packs of red leaf and green leaf, tray
artichokes and corn.
Building on Success
About 70 percent of the company’s business is retail and 30 percent
is foodservice, according to Russell. He says the company packed 22 million
packages in 2000 and set its goal at 32 million units for 2001, adding
that the company’s ownership strategy is at the heart of its continuing
success.
"We’re an employee-owned company," he concludes.
"As we kept adding growers and companies, we took the philosophy
that it is a lot easier to have owners who care about the business. So
right now we have about 30 stockholders and they are all the people in
key positions throughout the company.
"I spend every morning in the sales pit. That way
I know what’s going on. And Dave, the vice president of the company,
is still one of our best salesmen with the best numbers. The other key
stockholders are right at the desk or they’re in charge of production
or accounting. We can turn on a dime pretty quick. Our sales last year
were over $200 million and yet you don’t have to go through seven
bureaucracies to get things done."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Excitement
on the Show Floor
Fresh Cut
June 2001
The busy show floor at the International Fresh-cut Produce
Association’s 14th Annual Conference & Exhibition was an exciting
place to be and attendees showed interest in a variety of new technologies,
according to exhibitors.
"It’s the most attention I’ve ever received
in any booth at any food show I’ve ever been in," reported Tom
Gautreaux of Maxwell Chase Technologies, LLC of Smyrna, Georgia. "I
don’t think we had any less than 10 or 15 people around us and the
machine throughout the entire afternoon the first day."
Maxwell Chase manufactures rigid trays that absorb excess
moisture in the package, but the machine Gautreaux mentioned is capable
of slicing a tomato, removing the top and bottom slices, and automatically
depositing usable slices into a tray.
"We sold some at the show," he continued. "We
are the exclusive sales agents for this new slicer for North America and
Japan. It is made by a Belgian company called Techno-Foods.
"We needed to meet the requirements of customers
we knew of who were demanding that the top and bottom be removed and that
the tomatoes wouldn’t have to be handled by that they would be deposited
right into the container. It significantly reduces the direct cost and
labor of producing slices of tomatoes."
Sealers Wanted
Customers also want sealing units for the trays they buy and Maxwell Chase
has been working with several manufacturers to provide heat sealers, according
to Gautreaux.
"The IFPA show is an excellent vehicle for promoting
our products," he concluded. "If I had to go see 60, 80 or 100
processors, it would take months. This brings the industry into pretty
much one room at one time and gives us an opportunity to put our technology
or goods out there for them to take a look at. As long as you can get
them to come to the booth and spend a little time with you, I think it’s
an excellent value."
Steve Gill of Gills Onions, Oxnard, California, offered
a unique perspective on this year’s show. Elected this year as IFPA’s
chairman of the board, he served as conference chairman for the entire
event and also exhibited on the floor. He said other exhibitors he talked
to echoed Gautreaux’s sentiments.
"Most of the equipment guys I talked to seemed to
get pretty good orders out of the show," Gill said. "They had
a lot of interest and a lot of work to do after it was over to follow
up.
"It was good for our company, too. It’s an opportunity
to see a lot of our customers and just stay in front of everybody. We
got some new contacts out of it."
"Very Good Show"
Rick Martin of Pre-Pack Machinery, Inc., Champaign, Illinois, called IFPA’s
exhibition a "very good show" and said he experienced excellent
traffic both Friday and Saturday from customers interested in his automatic
melon peeler and other equipment.
"We sold five melon peelers at the show," he
said. "There was a lot of interest. I’ve heard from a couple
sources that even though fresh-cut fruit is still considered to be in
its infancy, it could become as large or larger than the fresh-cut salad
industry."
Martin said there is always follow-up work to be done
after a show, but this year excitement about his equipment and services
seemed to be stronger than usual.
"Typically I come back and get notes out to everybody
that stopped by, but I had folks calling me, following up with me before
I had a chance to follow up with them. We do a lot besides melon peelers
and when we sell machines, it gives us a chance to get into the plants
and maybe get some more work. We’re doing a complete line for fresh-cut
fruit processing and we’ve got two lines stacked up behind it. We
generated a lot of international interest at the show, too."
Along with increasing interest in fresh-cut fruit comes
the need for packaging solutions and Bill Kodama, vice president of sales
and marketing for WFI, makers of Roseware plastic packaging, said his
company always finds customers at the IFPA show.
New Packaging
"We had two new packages at the show," he explains. "The
one we’re selling right now is called the extra small Roseware container.
It complements our line and is designed for fruit cups and desserts, single
serve applications. The demand is unbelievable. Albertson’s has taken
that line on corporately.
"The other package we have is called our Times Square
Deli line. It also has applications for fruit. We will produce the lid
for both an inside fit so that it is leakproof as well as an outside fit
for those people that prefer to use a lidding film then a solid closure
over the lidding. They will come in standard deli sizes of eight ounces
through 32 ounces, but they are square, rather than round. We will introduce
that product at the end of June. The response was fabulous, very enthusiastic."
Kodama added WFI had "very high class" customers
visit their booth during the IFPA. He said the company generated new business
this year as a result.
At least one familiar face at IFPA was playing a different
role on the exhibit floor this year. Instead of walking the aisles inspecting
new processing equipment, Joe Graziano could be found at the colorful
Rivergate Farms booth, promoting whole and whole peeled onions grown in
the Columbia Basin. He founded the company about five years ago to provide
fresh onions for his processing plant. After selling Graziano Produce
to Del Monte Fresh Produce, N.A., Inc., he said he now has more time to
devote to the new enterprise.
Graziano said he chose the Columbia Basin as a source
for onions because of low bacteria counts in the soil.
Year-round Onions
"It’s just the lowest anywhere," he reported. "We
have state-of-the-art storage facilities that give us year-round availability
out of one area so there are no shipping costs to move product from one
area to another. Since we were processors, we custom built our peeling
lines to cater to the processors’ needs. We ship picture-perfect
onions.
"The show was just magnificent. We had traffic almost
nonstop from the beginning to the end. A lot of people were interested
in our product."
At the Backus USA, Inc. booth Larry Salone had high praise
for the benefits of exhibiting at the IFPA show.
"I thought the show was excellent," he said.
"It is the standard in the industry. I think we take it for granted
sometimes. We expect it to be the best show out there and it always lives
up to what it’s supposed to be."
Salone said many attendees came to his booth and were
especially interested in four machines. Most popular were two new slicers,
one especially designed for onion rings and the other custom tailored
for tomatoes. Also popular were a new fruit dicer and a unit for coring
peppers, he said.
Two New Slicers
"We actually have one machine that will slice both tomatoes and onions,
but we now also have individual machines for each," he said. "Each
one has been modified a little bit in case you’re only running one
type of product on a certain line.
"It was great show. We were busier than I could have
hoped for. I don’t think people realize how much work the IFPA puts
into making this show work. I think Edith and Reta and the rest of the
IFPA staff do such a tremendous job. I think we take them for granted.
We just assume it’s always going to be perfect."
For Doug Manchester, owner of Sani-Weld, Inc. of Houston,
Texas, this year was his second time around at the IFPA show. When one
of his processor customers first told him about the show to be held in
nearby Dallas, he said he wasn’t impressed with the attendance statistics,
but after exhibiting at the 13th annual conference and exhibition, he
became a believer. He found great interest in his stainless steel conveyor
system thanks to the benefits it provides for a processor’s food
safety program.
"What we’re discovering is that particularly
the fresh produce industry is now becoming aware of the economic benefits
and the reduction of their liabilities by having a better cleaning program
than they’ve been used to in the past," Manchester explained
after this year’s show.
Going Stainless
Manchester said Sani-Weld originally developed its stainless conveyor
system for a cheese manufacturer, then saw the merit in such a system
for other industries such as meat and poultry and fresh produce. He noted
the structure of the fresh-cut processing industry has made the IFPA show
a very effective venue for promoting his shiny products.
"Most of these companies start out as family-owned
organizations and then have developed their size and volume through years
of sales," he said. "So at the show, most generally we’re
talking to the people that have the ability to make a decision as far
as purchasing goes. We’ve showed at this show and so far this year
we’ve showed at the egg and poultry show in Atlanta. The difference
is that, from a sales standpoint, the people that go to the fresh produce
show carry their checkbook in their back pocket.
"We were pleasantly surprised. Because of the nature
of the way the industry is structured, it’s a very effective show
for the number of people that participate."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
IFPA
Conference Set for Australia
Fresh Cut
June 2001
PHOENIX, Ariz. — Among the many topics addressed
by speakers at the International Fresh-cut Produce Association’s
14th annual conference & exhibition, attendees came away with plenty
of practical advice to help with the nuts and bolts of the business.
Attended by nearly 1,300 registrants, the conference included
a show floor packed with the latest processing equipment and technology,
while the educational workshops offered practical helps on everything
from labor issues to choosing the best refrigeration system for a processing
plant.
"We are in a dynamic industry and we are subject
to all kinds of forces of change both within and without," farm labor
expert Rob Roy told his IFPA workshop audience April 6 after Pat Lynch’s
keynote address on hyperchange. "If we are going to survive, we are
going to have to get very creative."
Roy was featured speaker in a workshop entitled: "Who
Will Wear the Hairnet? The Challenge of Labor in the New Economy,"
moderated by Nelia Alamo of Gills Onions, Oxnard, California.
Changes ahead for the produce industry include but are
not limited to labor shortages, according to Roy, who represents labor
interests for about 150 grower and shipper organizations in Ventura and
Santa Barbara counties, including many clients who are processors as well.
Labor Shortages
"If my clients do not have the labor to get the produce harvested,
you guys really don’t have much to do from the processing end,"
Roy continued, blaming labor shortages on an expansive U.S. economy. "There’s
an old adage about a good economy always creating labor shortages.
"If you go back to the mid-80s when we had a good
economy, there were shortages that precipitated changes in immigration
laws. When the economy took a downturn in the late ‘80s and early
‘90s, we had plenty of workers in agriculture. Now we have a booming
economy once again and workers are leaving the industry."
Roy discussed past efforts to bring foreign workers into
the United States and told about Senator Phil Graham’s current proposal,
urging conference attendees to call their congressmen and senators and
express support for his idea or similar legislative action to help provide
laborers for agriculture.
Running concurrently with Roy’s workshop, a second
workshop entitled "Fresh-cut Packaging: Bagging the Best Ideas,"
included several speakers who outlined new developments in packaging technology.
Then, in the next round of workshops, speakers addressed the practical
matters involved in creating an effective processing environment in a
session entitled "Fresh-cut Facilities: Building for a Profitable
Future."
Planning New Facilities
Moderator and opening speaker John Serrato of JSA Architecture and Planning,
Ventura, California, urged processors to develop a master plan for at
least a 10-year period before planning a new facility or renovating an
existing plant.
"Spend the money on your infrastructure up front,
because if you don’t, you’re going to hate yourself down the
road and it’s going to cost you more money," Serrato cautioned
his audience. "Design your processing line first. You guys are experts
in what you do and if you communicate that to us after you have thought
it through, it makes everything so much easier. Dream of your ideal line
and then the next thing to do is contact the firm or company that is an
expert in laying out a new processing plant."
Spending enough money to be sure the new plant is as free
from maintenance as possible will pay dividends as time passes and the
work load increases, Serrato reasoned. It is always more difficult and
costly to maintain and repair a building while it is operating than it
is to be sure it built right in the first place, he added.
Serrato said costs of building a new facility fall into
the range of $125 to $250 per square foot and are usually higher for small
facilities than for larger operations.
Bigger Can Be Cheaper
"The reality is when you get a large project, you get economy of
scale so your costs actually come down," he pointed out. "If
you have a small project, your prices go up because you have to do basic
things that you would do in a large project, too, so you’re not really
saving a lot of money. If you are renovating or expanding an existing
facility, $65 to $100 per square foot is the range we use."
With larger facilities, however, it is important to remember
maintenance costs will rise. Whereas a small facility can be operated
and maintained by a few people, there will be more upkeep, painting, and
other maintenance and operation costs with larger plants.
Serrato said he does not recommend wood frame construction
simply because longevity of the facility is an issue. He pointed out that
the IFPA offers good guidelines on such things as sanitary plant design,
wall and floor finishes, lighting and other concerns.
He also cautioned that employee support is the backbone
of the plant. That includes washrooms, break/lunchrooms, lockers and restrooms.
In addition to building a "box" for the processing
operation, Serrato said it is important to make the right decisions regarding
equipment and also refrigeration. Two other speakers in the workshop addressed
these issues.
Choosing Equipment
Alan Heinzen of Heinzen Manufacturing International, Gilroy, California,
discussed the many decisions and logistics involved in selecting the appropriate
equipment for processing areas.
"Designing your facility around efficient processes
is a good way to do it," Heinzen explained. "We like to list
all the products you do and the production rates you want. We chart out
the equipment that is required for each product and group them in lines.
"You may want to run cabbage on your lettuce line.
You may use combination lines for bell peppers, onions and celery. By
analyzing your flow and charting how many production hours you need for
each individual product, it helps us understand what you do, so we can
do a better job for you. I can’t emphasize the importance of planning
enough. If you plan for capacity, it is easy to sell it, if you have the
equipment in place. If you try to sell capacity without having equipment
in place, you’re going to have troubles."
Heinzen also pointed out the importance of establishing
a budget, but also suggested starting with the ideal process and working
backward to what each company can afford. A new facility or upgrade should
result in an improvement in quality and sanitation.
Build for Flexibility
After discussing a variety of issues, such as bagging machines, flumes,
washing and dewatering systems, and slicers, he emphasized the value of
being flexible in designing production lines, especially in the preparation
area.
"We like to get the cleanest possible transfers in
and out of slicers and we like to set them up so they are as flexible
as they can possibly be," he said. "That way you can use more
than one slicer on the same source of product. You don’t want to
lock yourself into just a lettuce line. Flexibility makes a difference
with your labor. So when you design the trim lines, you just have to be
as flexible as you possibly can and keep in mind all the possible combinations
of product you are trying to run."
The concluding speaker, refrigeration engineer Kim Snowden
of Snowden Engineering, addressed the issue of selecting the right refrigerant
for a given cooling system, especially focusing on small processing plants.
"In considering refrigeration systems there are a
number of decisions you need to make, first remembering that cheapest
is not always best," she told the audience. "The more you take
the time to learn about your refrigeration system and the various options,
the better off you’ll be and the better value you will get for the
money you spend."
Considering Refrigerants
The size of the processing facility, its production capacity and the growth
projections for the facility are important factors in choosing a refrigeration
system, she continued. A variety of refrigerants are available, but she
discussed only ammonia and R-22, the two most commonly used in the produce
industry.
"The good news on ammonia is that it is naturally
occurring," she said. "In fact, most of the ammonia produced
in the United States is used as fertilizer. It is inexpensive and it is
self-alarming, meaning that you will definitely know when you have an
ammonia leak, long before your sensors go off. It is efficient, about
two to three percent more efficient than R-22."
Ammonia, however, is toxic, Snowden said. It can injure
or kill employees if they are exposed to sufficient quantities. It is
also more highly regulated than R-22. Depending on quantities used, it
may be necessary for the user to file a risk management plan to meet regulations.
If a processor plans to use R-22 as a refrigerant, he
will find his initial setup costs are lower than for ammonia, since equipment
needed for R-22 is less expensive.
"R-22 is not regulated as heavily as ammonia and
it is not considered toxic," Snowden reported. "As far as the
cons, you can’t smell R-22, so if you have a leak in the room, the
R-22 can displace the air and suffocation can occur. It is toxic when
it is burned and is not environmentally friendly."
Since R-22 is odorless, an undetected leak can result
in total loss of the refrigerant in a system, according to Snowden. Since
R-22 is about 10 times as expensive as ammonia, the cost of refilling
the system will be extreme, she said.
Snowden discussed a variety of refrigeration issues, including
equipment and cooling efficiency. She closed by reiterating the importance
of proper planning to avoid surprises.
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
>>
Return to top
Fresh-cuts
Ease Labor Pains at Brown
Fresh Cut
July 2001
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - When Peter Rossi needed an attractive,
upscale salad to grace the deli case at the Blue Room, a gourmet coffee
shop/deli with a view of Brown University's picturesque green, he turned
to Larry Frank, director of sales at Community Fruit Wholesale, for help.
"The restaurant manager was looking for a higher
grade salad mix to put in the glass case, something that would really
catch the consumer's eye," Rossi, purchasing manager at Brown, explains.
"Larry came up with the idea of cut romaine and we've been using
it ever since. It's been very successful for us."
The Blue Room is just one of five retail food outlets
operated by Brown University Food Services. Open weekdays from 7:00 a.m.
to 6:00 p.m., it is centrally located for grabbing a quick meal to go
or for sitting down in an attractive setting for soup and salad.
Elsewhere on campus, students can enjoy an 18-inch "X-treme"
pizza for lunch or dinner at The Gate or they can lunch on vegetarian
hot and sour soup or potato vegetable chowder at the Ivy Room. Josiah's,
another restaurant concept, is open for dinner from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00
p.m. and for snacks from 8:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. Grab-and-go snacks and
other foods are also available at the Campus Market, the university's
own convenience store.
$13 Million Operation
At $13 million annually, foodservice at Brown is big business, according
to Executive Chef John O'Shea. Counting the retail venues mentioned above,
the two dining facilities for students who pay for board, and the school's
many catering activities, O'Shea estimates his department prepares 10,000
meals a day.
"Brown University has more than 5,000 students,"
O'Shea elaborates. "We do roughly 4,000 to 4,500 meals out of Sharpe
Refectory [one of two student dining halls] alone and we do roughly 60
to 80 catered functions every week - anything from a continental breakfast
to a black tie affair with a four- or five-course meal. At commencement,
during a four- to five-day period, we do as many as 400 catered functions.
We also do some off-site catering."
O'Shea, a 25-year veteran of Brown University, manages
his massive feeding program with approximately 100 full-time professional
employees, supplementing the program with part-time students and workers
from the community — and he doesn't believe in using heat-and-serve
products for shortcuts.
"We're predominantly a scratch kitchen here,"
O'Shea says. "We do our own cooking. We buy very few convenience
products. We have our own scratch bakeshop. We have our own butcher shop
where we process all of our meats."
Tight Labor Market
About 10 years ago, however, when the labor market in the Northeast began
to tighten up, O'Shea decided to start bringing in fresh-cut vegetables
to help take some pressure off kitchen and commissary operations. While
his staff still cuts many items such as carrot sticks and highly perishable
items like summer squash, sliced tomatoes, and fresh fruits, the university
buys between 2,000 and 3,000 pounds of fresh-cut vegetables from Community
Fruit Wholesale every week.
Since he first came to Brown University in 1976, O'Shea
has seen menu trends evolve to include more fruits and vegetables. Years
ago, salad bars became popular and he has seen "a tremendous increase"
in that aspect of student dining throughout the '90s.
"To give you an example, years ago, we used to go
through 700 to 1,000 pounds of roast beef for a meal," he recalls.
"Today we might do maybe 300 pounds. With lasagna, which is still
a popular item, we used to make 120 to 140 hotel pans for a meal. We're
down to roughly 50 pans today.
"Students are looking for more variety. People are
more health conscious today. A lot of them are leaning toward vegetarian
eating. We have a vegan bar here. We have a small population of true vegans
here. We go through between 24 to 72 portions per meal at lunchtime and
the same thing at dinner. We utilize all precut vegetables in those dishes."
Staple Items
Brown's foodservice operation currently orders about 20 to 25 staple items
from Community Fruit, according to O'Shea. Carrots, celery and onions
are the most important of those, but the school also buys broccoli and
cauliflower florets, sliced and diced green peppers, cut and shredded
iceberg lettuce, salad mix, and peeled and diced butternut squash. Community
Fruit provides shredded, sliced, cubed and diced carrots, sliced and slivered
Spanish onions, diced onions, red onion rings, and sliced and cubed celery.
How does Brown's foodservice operation use fresh-cut vegetables?
"If you were to name a dish or a casserole, we do
it all," O'Shea reasons. "It's a university board menu. The
salad bar uses a lot of the product we purchase from Larry. On any given
day, we purchase a tremendous amount of vegetables from him and we use
their product in probably 90 percent of the cooking we do here.
"We have no set theme or cuisine. Our cooking comes
from any type of ethnic background. We do tacos, fajitas, burritos, Mexican
black bean soups, Indian dishes such as lentils and black bean casseroles,
and the dishes we do at the vegan bar. We use a tremendous amount of precut
onions in those. I bet we go through a thousand pounds a week."
Brown's student body hails from a variety of countries,
whose cuisines are as diverse as the students walking across the green.
Located in downtown Providence, Brown University doesn't exist in a vacuum,
either. The school finds it must compete with local foodservice establishments
to remain viable, according to Rossi.
Competing for Customers
"There are a lot of options in town," he asserts. "There
are a lot of different types of experiences you can have right here on
Thayer Street, which is basically the main drag here at Brown. So we're
constantly looking at ourselves, trying to see where we can be competitive,
what we can upgrade.
"I think foodservice as a whole constantly takes
a look at itself to see where we can improve, what we can make better,
even if it's something we feel we're doing well now. We want to maintain
our customer base."
Convenience and service are critical factors in Brown’s
foodservice operation, according to Rossi. The retail food operations,
including coffee carts, similar to food kiosks, are geared toward providing
food to students when and where they want it — and toward keeping
it in the family, so to speak. The university even claims first refusal
on all catered events on campus.
Meeting students’ evolving needs is so important
that it indirectly influenced the university’s choice of its fresh-cut
supplier, he notes.
"Brown does an annual bid for at least 80 percent
of their products," Rossi continues. "Precut vegetables are
one of those bids we send out. You tend to look at those vendors who are
going to help you move forward. You’re not just looking at cost,
which is obviously an important issue. You’re also looking for vendors
you can establish a relationship with and make a win/win scenario for
both customer as well as vendor.
The Right Supplier
"Some of the things Larry has done have been in response to issues
that come up or questions we have had, as well as letting us know about
some new things that are available."
One factor in choosing Community Fruit Wholesale was food
safety, according to Rossi. Frank says his company recently received another
in a long list of superior ratings, the highest score possible from the
American Institute of Baking (AIB) for the company’s HACCP and sanitation
program.
"It’s nice to have an independent auditor come
in and inspect you," Frank explains. "It just confirms you are
doing a good job. Food safety is the key issue. Everyone is mentioning
it, as far as our customers go. We deal with quite a few national chains
as well as colleges like Brown, and the large end users such as hospitals.
Food safety is a primary concern with everybody."
Community Fruit’s business is about 85 percent foodservice,
according to Frank, however, many food retailers buy fresh-cut components
then assemble them into party trays and deli salads such as coleslaw.
"We’ll do carrot sticks and celery sticks, broccoli
and cauliflower florets and they’ll put together vegetable platters
and other items," he notes. "We don’t do any retail packaged
products with our label, though."
Labor Drives Fresh-cut
While labor shortages are a concern for foodservice operations like Brown
University, the high rate of employment in the East is actually a boon
for a regional processor like Community Fruit, according to Frank.
"It’s benefited our business because everyone
is looking for more and more precut," he asserts. "If they can
come up with items that eliminate labor, it’s to their advantage.
Our labor situation has been pretty good. We don’t have much turnover
here."
Frank says helping foodservice customers develop new products
is a major ingredient in the service he provides and the success he has
seen. As a result, Community Fruit’s product line continues to grow.
He says he plans to meet with Rossi and O’Shea soon to discuss new
items that may help them streamline their kitchen operations. The company
is looking at products like sliced tomatoes to help foodservice operators
optimize their efficiency in the kitchen.
Many of the new products developed at Community Fruit
are the result of customer requests as they strive to offer exotic dishes
and variety to their clientele.
"Customers are always requesting different blends,"
Frank explains. "There are blends for side dishes, different salad
blends and blends for stir-fry mixes. We’re doing four different
stir-fry mixes right now. We have our own house blend and some customers
want to vary it. We cut vegetables for roasting and grilling. We do a
fajita mix, a primavera mix, and we do kabob cuts. The list just keeps
growing and so does the fresh-cut industry in general."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
International
Conference Down Under
Fresh Cut
July 2001
MELBOURNE, Australia — For those with an interest
in the technical aspects of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables and a desire
to visit "the land down under," Food Science Australia has scheduled
an international conference and exhibition on 'The Future in Food Safety
and Processing Technologies for Value-added Horticultural Products"
for October 30-31, 2001.
This international conference & exhibition will provide
up-to-date reports on research being conducted around the world. Participants
will discuss their findings on the challenges of food safety, international
trends in processing and sanitation technologies for value-added horticultural
products, washing systems and chlorine alternatives, management of food
safety risks, and product quality. Speakers will include:
Dr Frederic Carlin, France
Dr Gerald Sapers, USDA
Dr Roy Betts, UK,
Edith Garrett, president of the International Fresh-cut Produce Association.
Australian national specialists from the minimally processed horticulture
industry.
The conference will offer practical information on process hygiene and
wash water sanitation. Manufacturers and suppliers of sanitation systems
and other processing technology will also display their latest products.
Food Science Australia: Fresh-cut R&D
Food Science Australia is Australia's largest food research
and development organization. It is a joint venture of the CSIRO Division
of Food Science and Technology and the Australian Food Industry Science
Centre (Afisc). Pilot plant facilities and laboratories are strategically
located in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Food Science Australia offers
world class scientific expertise and employs more than 300 highly qualified,
experienced people with a variety of skills in such food-related disciplines
as microbiology, engineering, chemistry, food technology, packaging, sensory
evaluation and nutrition. The group conducts publicly funded research
for broad industrywide benefit as well as confidential commercial research
on a direct contractual basis.
Australians have made significant investments in research
and development, with the support of the Co-operative Research Centre
for International Food Manufacture and Packaging Science, Department of
Natural Resources and Environment, and Horticulture Australia. The objective
of the research is to improve the safety and quality of fresh-cut produce.
A few examples of the research currently in progress are:
Edible coatings developed using natural gums, anti-oxidants,
acids and chelating agents allowable in the Australian-New Zealand Food
Authority Food Standards. This technology has been applied to carrots
to prevent lignification (ie. whitening), peeled potatoes to prevent browning,
apple segments and dices to prevent browning, orange segments to prevent
dehydration, and, more recently, to peeled and sliced melons and mangoes.
Investigating the inhibitory effects of plant extracts and GRAS anti-microbial
peptides on ready-to-eat cut lettuce and carrots, both as washing agents
and as ingredients in edible coatings.
Enhancement of sanitizer performance by combining ultrasonics to improve
the reduction of bacterial populations attached to food surfaces.
Improving rapid detection of Listeria monocytogenes in minimally processed
vegetables by molecular techniques (polymerase chain reaction) and immuno-capture
sample treatment systems.
For further inquiries on research, please contact: Mr Lloyd Simons; tel
(03) 9731 3311, fax: (03) 9731 3250, email: lloyd. simons@foodscience.afisc.csiro.au,
web: www.foodscience.afisc.csiro.au.
Visiting Australia
Food Science Australia's Werribee facility is ideally located a short
distance from Melbourne, the Victorian state capital, and is only 1½
hours from the spectacular coastline along the Great Ocean Road. The area
also features vineyards and a multitude of other attractions.
For details on the conference, contact Pamela Tyers: tel
(03) 9731 3484, fax: (03) 9731 3201, email: pamela.tyers@foodscience.afisc.csiro.au,
or web site: www.foodscience.afisc.csiro.au
Information on tourist activities can be found at: http://www.visitvictoria.com.
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
A
New Way to Prevent Browning of Fresh-cut Lettuce
Fresh Cut
July 2001
Abrading, cutting, peeling and other processing steps
injure fresh-cut fruits and vegetables and reduce their shelf life. Injuries
also elicit physiological responses associated with wound healing and
defense reactions that can cause changes in phenolic metabolism associated
with browning.
Enzymatic and non-enzymatic reactions with phenolic compounds
and other organic compounds and oxygen within the tissue produce brown
pigments. The resulting browning of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables reduces
quality and often limits shelf life and marketability.
Some vegetables, such as artichokes brown rapidly in the
air after wounding. Preventing browning in these tissues requires deactivation
of the enzymes responsible (e.g., polyphenoloxidase), exclusion of oxygen
(e.g., oxygen levels below 1 percent), or application of chemical antioxidants
(e.g., ascorbic acid).
In other types of produce, (e.g., lettuce and celery)
the quantity of phenolic compounds in uninjured tissue is low and browning
occurs more slowly as wounds synthesize and accumulate phenolic compounds.
Cutting, cracking or breaking lettuce produces a wound
signal that migrates through the tissue and induces synthesis of enzymes
in the metabolic pathway responsible for increased production of phenolic
compounds. The first enzyme in the phenylpropanoid pathway is phenylalanine
ammonia-lyase (PAL). Induced synthesis of PAL after wounding is rapidly
followed by accumulation of phenolic compounds like chlorogenic, isochlorogenic
and dicaffeoyl tartaric acid, all compounds associated with browning in
lettuce.
Controlling Browning
Reducing agents, enzyme inhibitors, acidulants, and complexing agents
can be used to control phenolic metabolism that leads to browning and
loss of quality, but concerns about chemical toxicity precludes their
use on many fresh-cut fruits and vegetables.
Low oxygen and/or high carbon dioxide controlled and modified
atmospheres (CA and MA) are currently used in commercial packaging of
fresh-cut lettuce, however, CA requires special equipment for handling
and storage, while MA requires special packaging equipment, as well as
expensive films.
Therefore, the industry needs a method that prevents browning
without the use of chemicals or additives that is also easy and inexpensive
to use.
Every living organism, whether bacteria, plant, insect,
or mammal, produces a unique set of proteins when exposed to high temperatures.
These heat-shock proteins not only protect the plant from being injured
by further heat stress but also protect against other abiotic stress.
In many organisms, the induction and synthesis of heat-shock proteins
(HSPs) is accompanied by a dramatic reduction in the synthesis of other
proteins.
If plant tissues show a hierarchical response to different
abiotic stresses, then it would be possible to redirect protein synthesis
in lightly processed lettuce away from wounding toward heat-shock. In
this way, the synthesis of enzymes that participate in wound-induced phenylpropanoid
metabolism would be partially or completely repressed in favor of HSPs
and the browning of cut lettuce would be reduced.
Manipulating Stress
Some stresses are more important to the plant than others, and there appears
to be a hierarchical response of tissue to different abiotic stresses.
For example, normal protein synthesis is redirected by wounding toward
the production of enzymes of phenolic metabolism. The response of plant
tissue to heat-shock appears to take precedence over the response of the
tissue to other stresses such as wounding. The ability of heat-shock to
effectively "turn off" the synthesis of wound-induced proteins
(e.g., PAL) can be used to redirect protein synthesis in wounded lettuce
tissue and to prevent browning.
We have recently shown that browning can be significantly
reduced in wounded lettuce by a short heat-shock treatment. A heat-shock
of 45 °C for 90 seconds prevented the synthesis of PAL by wounded
lettuce leaf tissue and the subsequent accumulation of phenolic compounds
and tissue browning. This inhibition of PAL synthesis was accomplished
by redirecting protein synthesis away from wound-induced proteins (e.g.,
PAL) to the synthesis of heat-shock proteins. The heat-shock did not interfere
with the wound signal, since it was effective when administered both 4
hours after and 4 hours before wounding.
The heat-shock effect was so persistent that lettuce did
not show any browning even after being held at 5°C for 15 days in
ambient air. This heat-shock treatment could eliminate the need to store
fresh-cut lettuce in low-oxygen and/or high-carbon dioxide modified atmospheres
to prevent browning on the shelf.
Effects of Heat Shock
Polyphenoloxidase and peroxidase are two other enzymes of phenolic metabolism
that are naturally present at relative high levels in plant tissue. Their
activity may increase following wounding. Peroxidase is a relatively heat-stable
enzyme. Its activity is commonly measured to determine an adequate blanching
treatment for fruits and vegetables. A heat-shock of 45ºC for 90
seconds reduced polyphenoloxidase activity by 25 percent, while peroxidase
activity was reduced 30 percent.
Higher temperatures or extended durations of exposure
further reduced polyphenoloxidase and peroxidase activity, but injured
lettuce tissue. In contrast, PAL activity is normally low in unstressed
tissue. Wounding is needed to increase its activity enough to produce
sufficient quantities of phenolic compounds to cause browning. Heat-shock
treatments reduced wound-induced PAL activity by around 90 percent, not
by deactivating PAL already present in tissue (as it does with polyphenoloxidase
and peroxidase), but by preventing wound-induced PAL synthesis.
The recovery of normal protein synthesis following a heat-shock
is dependent upon the severity (i.e., temperature and time of exposure)
of the heat-shock. Treatment temperature, not length of exposure, caused
the most pronounced effect. Upon return to normal growth temperatures,
synthesis of heat-shock proteins declines and synthesis of normal proteins
resumes. By this time, the wound signal has dissipated and is no longer
present to induce increased PAL activity, phenolic accumulation and browning.
Because heat-shock controls browning when administered
either before or after preparation of fresh-cut lettuce, this kind of
treatment can be useful in commercial processing lines. A short heat-shock
produced by immersion in 45°C water for 90 seconds could replace the
wash step between chopping and spin-drying.
Heat-shock Costs Less
Centrifugal force not only removes water, but also cracks and crushes
tissue. An examination of packaged fresh-cut lettuce will reveal many
pieces that contain cracked and crushed tissue. Damaged tissue segments
in these packages are usually the ones that show extensive browning and
decay.
Expensive barrier bags to exclude oxygen and elevate carbon
dioxide in a package are not required to prevent browning, since phenolic
compounds are not synthesized in heat-shocked lettuce and wounded lettuce
has naturally low levels of preformed phenolic compounds.
Being warmer than the usual 0°C of lettuce in most
processing lines, water adhering to the heat-shocked lettuce is less viscous
and more easily removed by centrifugation. Alternatively, excess water
could be removed by vacuum cooling. This is not possible with lettuce
at 0°C, since heat needed to vaporize water for cooling would not
be there, but heat-shocked lettuce would be warm enough to take advantage
of vacuum cooling. Preliminary experiments in my laboratory have shown
vacuum cooling can both de-water and cool fresh-cut lettuce from 45 to
0°C.
No chemicals are used in heat-shock treatments and heat-shock
proteins produced by lettuce are natural compounds found in many fresh
fruits and vegetables. The ease with which a heat-shock can be administered
to lettuce and the lack of an offensive chemical residue makes it an attractive
method to control browning in fresh-cut lettuce and perhaps in other fresh
fruits and vegetables as well.
Table 1. The many advantages of using a 45-°C heat
shock for 90 seconds to reduce wound-induced tissue browning in fresh-cut
lettuce.
ADVANTAGES OF USING HEAT-SHOCK
1. Reduces browning of fresh-cut lettuce
2. Warm water is half as viscous as cold water and will
drain away faster
3. Vacuum cooling can both chill and dry the cut lettuce
without added mechanical damage
4. Less expensive plastic bags can be used to just control
water loss
5. It can be applied before or after processing
6. There is no chemical residue
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
>>
Return to top
Salt
Lake Processor Is 63 and Still Growing
Fresh Cut
August 2001
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - It was April 1938 when Charles F. "Chick"
Black and his wife Marietta founded Mrs. Condies Salad Company and began
making cole slaw in their kitchen after work each day. Today, the family
business they started is likely the oldest continuously held family-owned
fresh-cut processing operation in the United States.
As a young man in Salt Lake City, Chick worked for Grand
Central Market when it was "a nice fruit stand more than anything
else," according to his son, Gary Black, currently president of the
family business. It was when he went to Los Angeles to work for another
supermarket, that the company founder happened upon the idea for his future
business.
"He actually saw a package of cole slaw down there,"
Gary recalls. "So somebody was down in the Los Angeles market doing
it. This was probably in 1936 and then he came back up to Salt Lake and
met and married Mom. Then they started the business in 1938."
The couple's first customer was Chick's grandmother, Annie
Condie, who owned the Liberty Park Grocery Store. Their first salads didn't
have a name on the bags and, to help her grandson, Mrs. Condie recommended
the new product to her clientele.
"She would say, 'I've got this little package of
salad. Try it,'" Black recounts. "And that was how it got the
name Mrs. Condie's Salad Company. It carried that name until 1979 when
Charlie, Bruce and I bought Mom and Dad's remaining interest out and changed
it to Condies Foods."
Raising Vegetables
During the 1950s, Chick created branches in Denver and Helena, Montana.
He closed down the Montana facility because the market didn’t support
his business and, in 1979, sold the Denver operation to his partner, Leo
Barlow. Also during the 1950s, Black's entrepreneurial spirit led him
to start raising his own vegetables for processing. He started and later
closed down a farming operation in Glendale, Arizona, before establishing
Black Island Farms in nearby Syracuse, Utah, in 1964, where the family
still grows green and red cabbage, carrots, onions, peppers, radishes,
spinach and some lettuce.
Just last year, both Bruce and Charlie Black, Gary's brothers, retired
from Condies Foods. Charlie, who has been in charge of raising vegetables,
will continue to manage the family-owned farming operation, while at Condies,
the new management team includes Gary as president, Scott Black as plant
manager, John Longaker as purchasing manager, and Lorie Longaker as special
events manager. Keith Ross is sales manager.
With new management in place, Condies Foods is positioned
to continue the pattern of growth it has established over the past 63
years, according to Gary Black. His team is excited about several new
products and prospects that fit well with the company's production strengths.
About four years ago, Condies began sanitizing and repacking
tomatoes for major foodservice customers in the Salt Lake area who wanted
to improve the quality and safety of their fruit. That new operation has
brought exciting growth to the company and has helped set the stage for
the introduction of other tomato and tomato-based products that hold promise
for future growth, according to Black.
Salsa’s Getting Hot
"We've been doing salsa for a couple of years now," he explains.
"We do a corn salsa for a major foodservice customer and that gives
us the basis for doing our own proprietary recipe as a retail pack. Right
now it's in the grocery stores and sales are building just almost on a
constant basis. You see sales slowly increasing as consumer awareness
of the product grows.
"It's a delightful product. I can see where the retail growth will
happen and then we've got foodservice, too. We sell all the major foodservice
distribution companies that serve this area. We've introduced it to them
and we get tremendously great response when we go to their food shows
and showcase it. It’s been slow, but I think the salsa is a good,
viable product."
Black and his team are already dicing tomatoes for a variety
of customers and now major foodservice operators who are looking at bringing
pre-sliced tomatoes into their kitchens instead of buying whole tomatoes
and slicing them on-site. He and his staff look at the future of tomatoes
in light of recent successes with other fresh-cut items around the country.
"Fruit is an area that is not saturated yet in this
market," Black says. "There is a lot of opportunity in the fresh-cut
fruit area. Our thoughts are that sliced and diced tomatoes will blossom
like other areas in the next couple of years. We’re just in the beginning
stages on sliced tomatoes."
Black says Condies is purchasing a tomato-slicing machine
manufactured by TechnoFoods and distributed in the United States by Maxwell
Chase Technologies LLC. He chose the unit because it slices fruit, removes
both caps for dicing, and deposits usable slices into packages ready for
sealing.
Sliced Tomatoes Exciting
"I think the sliced tomato thing is going to be extremely exciting,"
says Keith Ross, Condies’ sales manager. "They could be as exciting
as salads were years ago when they started up. Other processed tomatoes
will be exciting, too, but the sliced tomatoes will be especially big.
Anybody is a potential customer that buys a certain sized tomato and slices
it in a restaurant. That’s why it’s going to be so huge."
Another product that benefits from Condies’ tomato expertise is seven-layer
bean dip. The company makes two sizes of bean dip trays that include diced
tomatoes, cross-cut green onions, diced onions, fresh salsa, manufactured
beans, cheese, sour cream and olives.
"People that buy this product like it," Black
says. "It’s very good and it sells well. They sell right alongside
the vegetable trays that have the carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. Some
holiday weekends, like New Year’s Day or for the Super Bowl, we sell
thousands of them. It’s kind of fun to see what happens when we put
them on the shelf."
Black’s son, Scott, agrees, "Fruit sales are
pretty consistent, but over the last year, the seven-layer bean dip has
actually increased. It’s constantly increasing. I actually think
just those two sizes of bean dip trays we’re doing could surpass
what we’re doing in fruit. Cinco de Mayo is coming up and it will
be interesting to see how the dip appeals to the Hispanic population during
that holiday. During the Super Bowl, we actually sold twice as much bean
dip as fruit. I think it will be a great product."
Tomatoes are just one of the top four products Condies
processes, according to Gary Black, who notes about 75 percent of the
company’s overall business is devoted to foodservice, while the rest
is retail. One popular item among foodservice establishments is potatoes,
a product Condies provides precooked, either as mashed potatoes or in
various cuts.
Raving about Potatoes
"They’re a preservative-free precooked potato," the company
president explains. "Most of them are breakfast-type, sliced, diced
or shredded for hash browns. We’ve done them for years and I get
great reviews from the people that buy them, but we don’t sell a
lot of retail product.
"We do a lot of things. We do broccoli, cauliflower, carrot sticks,
fajita mix, stir-fries and little veggie bags, but when you add them all
together, it isn’t measured in tons like these four major items.
Tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce and onions are truckload items."
As the 2002 Olympic Winter Games approach, the management
team at Condies Foods is preparing for three hectic weeks of booming business
by talking with processors in Atlanta who went through a similar experience,
according to Scott Black. The XIXth Olympic Winter Games will run from
February 8-24 and the VIIIth Paralympic Winter Games will follow from
March 7-16. The Olympics are expected to bring some 80,000 visitors to
Salt Lake City each day, or a total of about 1 million people.
"If you can imagine, our business will expand so
fast and it’s just for a short time," Keith Ross reasons. "It’s
going to be hard to be prepared. Crews at companies we talked to averaged
90 to 100 hours per week. We want to try to anticipate that a little bit.
The companies we talked to ended up having to buy a lot of raw product
at the normal produce market. That is normally high-priced compared to
buying truckloads off the coast. They couldn’t adjust their pricing
to compensate and they had some financial problems caused by the whole
thing. We’ll have some hard times, I think."
A Future for Tomatoes
Looking beyond the Olympics, however, John Longaker predicts a great future
for tomatoes while other segments of the business like potatoes and onions
continue at their current rate of growth.
"We may investigate tomato wedges or sliced romas," Longaker
predicts. "There are so many foodservice opportunities and countless
uses for tomatoes. We see a lot of growth potential for our company in
those areas."
Given the fact that Condies already repacks tomatoes for
customers, the company is in an excellent position to take on a variety
of tomato products because it will be able to control its supply of tomatoes
at the right stage of ripeness for its products, Gary Black agrees.
"We’re right on the frontier of the processed
tomato," he reasons. "Several processors have been dicing tomatoes
and amazingly diced tomatoes have a great shelf life. Then this salsa
thing has taken off and now the sliced tomatoes are getting started.
"If we were a processor in another area and we needed
tomatoes to slice, we would go to a repacker and source them, whereas
with us, we just have to transfer them from one side of the building to
the other. It allows us to tie tomatoes into our product line very well."
From their vantage point of more than 60 years in business,
Black says he and his energetic management team plan to continue in the
same tradition Chick Black started when he put up his first package of
fresh-cut cole slaw.
"He was a pioneer in processed salad," Black
concludes. "We will continue that tradition at Condies Foods by being
a trailblazer in pre-sliced tomatoes and other great new products. The
future is bright for our company and continues to get brighter each day."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Recent
Research on Fresh Peeled Garlic
Fresh Cut
August 2001
Peeled garlic is an increasingly popular minimally processed product.
High quality peeled garlic should be cream-white, firm, and free of mechanical
injury, decay or discoloration. Most discoloration and decay defects are
associated with mechanically damaged areas. Additional defects on peeled
garlic are sprout and root growth. Sprout growth is associated with the
end of garlic dormancy. Root growth is associated with high storage humidity.
Respiration rates
Fresh-cut processing generally results in increased product metabolism,
which is commonly assessed by measuring respiration rates. Intact garlic
bulbs have very low respiration rates (6 and 8 µL CO2/g-h at 5 and
10°C, respectively) and can be stored for long periods. Respiration
rates for cracked, unpeeled cloves are higher, however, and those of peeled
cloves are still higher (Table 1). Compressed air peeling resulted in
the highest respiration rates measured. Respiration rates for cloves at
5°C (41°F) are generally half those of cloves at 10°C (50°F).
This illustrates one of the main benefits of low temperature storage.
Effect of storage temperatures and modified atmospheres
As with all minimally processed products, temperature plays a critical
role in maintaining visual quality and extending shelf life (Figure 1).
At 0°C (32°F) and 5°C (41°F) excellent visual quality
was maintained for more than 21 and 16 days storage, respectively. At
10° (50°F) and 15°C (59°F), acceptable quality was maintained
for 12 and less than 8 days, respectively. The source of the garlic may
substantially impact expected shelf life, but the relative effect of different
storage temperatures will be the same. Discoloration on the cloves is
common in areas damaged during peeling. Modifying the O2 content of the
storage atmosphere had little effect on quality of peeled garlic, while
addition of CO2 had substantial benefits. Modified atmospheres of air
or 1-3 percent O2 containing 7.5-10 percent CO2 significantly reduced
decay and discoloration at 5° (41°F) and 10°C (50°F) (Figure
2). The modified atmospheres useful for peeled garlic cloves are similar
to those for other fresh-cut products.
Figure 1 Figure 2
Preprocessing storage conditions may impact the quality
of the fresh peeled product, especially in relation to sprout and root
growth. Recommended conditions for long-term storage of garlic are low
temperatures (-1 to 0°C, 30 to 32°F) with a relative humidity
of 65-70 percent. Good airflow is also necessary to prevent moisture accumulation
around the bulbs. Under these conditions, garlic can be stored for six
to nine months with little internal sprout growth. Modified atmospheres
may be a useful supplement to low temperature storage of the intact garlic
bulbs.
Control of sprout development
If the sprout in garlic is beginning to grow internally but has not emerged
from the clove, it is possible to heat treat the cloves as a pre-processing
treatment to retard further sprout growth. Treatments of cloves in 50°C
(122°F) water for 20 minutes or 55°C (131°F) water for 10
minutes were very effective to retard sprout and root growth, and did
not reduce the visual quality of the cloves when stored up to 14 days.
Other temperature-time combinations in the range of 50-60°C for 40-2.5
minutes were also effective. These hot water dips generally increased
respiration rates, but had little effect on the storage quality of peeled
cloves.
Compositional quality of garlic.
The flavor and health benefits of garlic are due to sulfur-containing
compounds. Garlic pungency is associated principally with the conversion
of the odorless precursor alliin to the volatile compound allicin, which
is responsible for fresh garlic’s typical odor and flavor. Allicin
is also the most important biologically active compound in garlic. Garlic
is reported to have cancer preventing, antimicrobial, antibiotic, anti-hypertensive,
hypoglycemic, and cholesterol-lowering properties, among others.
Figure 3
The compositional quality of garlic can vary substantially
in relation to cultivar, field production practices, and preprocessing
storage conditions. For example, the pungency of garlic is increased by
increasing irrigation and increasing nitrogen nutrition (Figure 3). Garlic
pungency is also greatly affected by choice of cultivar. Alliin content
can vary from negligible to more than 30 milligrams per 100 grams dry
weight. During storage at low temperature (-1 to 0°C, 30 to 32°F),
alliin content is relatively stable, but the ability of garlic to convert
this compound to interesting flavor components may change. As garlic loses
dormancy and begins to sprout, alliin content may increase. We are currently
studying the impact of storage temperatures and atmospheres on alliin
and allicin content of garlic. Presumably, garlic with higher alliin content
would have more flavor and greater health benefits.
Respiration
rate (µL CO2/g-h)
| Temperature |
Unpeeled Cloves |
Cloves Peeled Manually |
Cloves Peeled Compressed Air |
| 5°C (41°F) |
10.6 |
17.4 |
21.2 |
| 10°C (50°F) |
18.1 |
29.3 |
40.6 |
Table 1.
Respiration rate of intact, manually peeled, and compressed air peeled
garlic cloves at 5 and 10°C. Data average of 3 replicates over a 6
day period.
Editor’s note: Marita Cantwell is a member of the Department of
Vegetable Crops at the University of California, Davis, CA 95616, e-mail:
micantwell@ucdavis.edu.
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
International
Conference in UK
Fresh Cut
August 2001
The Second International Conference on Fresh-cut Produce will highlight
the latest "plough-to-plate" technologies, issues and new developments,
according to Brian P.F. Day, organizer of the event.
Slated for September 13-14, 2001, at the Campden &
Chorleywood Food Research Association in Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire,
UK, the conference will feature presentations by recognized international
experts in the fresh-cut industry.
Speakers from a several nations will address such topics
as raw material quality, traceability, organics, microbiology, marketing,
sulfite replacement, biocides for produce wash, and control of water condensation
and the effects of plastic film perforations on spoilage.
Participants from the United States include Dr. Nancy
Nagle of Nagle Resources, who will speak on marketing fresh-cut produce
in the United States, and Tom Gautreaux of Maxwell Chase Technologies,
who will address moisture absorbing and anti-microbial active packaging
for fresh-cut produce, as well as Professor Jeff Brecht of the University
of Florida, who will discuss the physiological basis of fresh-cut fruit
and vegetable differences. Speakers from Australia, Israel, Ireland, Belgium,
Italy, France and the UK will also participate in the program.
For information, e-mail training@campden.co.uk, call +44
(0) 1386 842104, or fax +44 (0) 1386 842100. Register on the Internet
at www.campden.co.uk.
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
>>
Return to top
Food
Safety with Pride
Fresh Cut
September 2001
In today’s fresh-cut produce industry, food safety is an indispensable
ingredient for success and Maria Ventura, quality control manager at Pride
of San Juan, is proud of the achievements of all the company’s departments
and the 15 associates who help her keep a tight rein on the quality and
safety of company products.
"We passed our AIB inspections in both our Arizona
and California facilities with a superior rating," she explains.
"To achieve this highest rating that you can get, you have to have
established written procedures from the field through to sanitation in
the plant. They’ve got to be perfect."
Ventura’s committee meets monthly and does self-inspections
for all company facilities. In addition, many outside auditors, including
customers, third-party inspectors and the U.S. Food & Drug Administration,
regularly scrutinize both plants, sometimes without warning.
Without advance notice for inspections, especially those
from the FDA, the only way to be prepared is to maintain the highest standards
every day without compromise, according to Ventura.
"Our employees are given training on food safety
on a weekly basis and also our GMPs (Good Manufacturing Practices) are
very strongly enforced with meetings every week," she explains. "Our
HACCP program is a strong one. If our produce doesn’t meet our HACCP
specifications, we either put it on hold or we dispose of it. All of our
quality control employees are given HACCP training by the American Food
Safety Institute.
"We have a formal, written recall program on all
our produce and we practice recalls every six months just so we can stay
on our toes. That includes trace-back from the field all the way to the
bag in the box and the buyer."
Employee Hygiene
One GMP that helps keep the company’s baby greens and herb processing
room sanitary is the anteroom through which employees must pass before
entering the clean facility. To pass through that room, each associate
must be properly attired in smock, hairnet, and gloves and must wash his
or her hands. Then each worker must pass through a hand-dip station and
over a foot-dip mat in the doorway to be sure everything is sanitized
before starting work.
"We’re very proud of our performance during our AIB inspection,"
Ventura explains. "We received a perfect score on pest control and
on cleaning practices."
When the FDA comes to inspect the company, there is no
warning and the government officials go through the company’s records
"with a fine-toothed comb," according to Ventura. "Our
customers give us audits, too. They are very particular about how their
products are packed. They also go through our records as well as come
in and check to see how clean and safe the place is."
One of the components of Pride of San Juan’s HACCP
program is a certification program by PrimusLabs.com. Ventura says she
is also proud of her sanitation crew’s performance on the weekly
swab testing performed by PrimusLabs.com.
"Our scores are very good on the swab testing and
also on the testing of our product," she explains. "They take
swabs all over our plant. They also come in here and do audits on our
plant. They told me I should be very proud of my sanitation crew."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Bringing
Baby Lettuces to Life
Fresh Cut
September 2001
SAN JUAN BAUTISTA, Calif. — Stephen Wyrick likes to call his company
"the hospital in which baby lettuces are born." His analogy
is appropriate because he says Pride of San Juan, Inc. is "a completely
integrated company from seed crops to our own harvesting, processing and
packaging."
"My love is farming, so I spend a lot of time watching
the crops out in the field," Wyrick asserts. "With the experienced
people I’ve been able to hire we can run out there and find out if
anything is wrong with a crop. It’s just really a team effort."
There are two reasons for Wyrick’s hands-on approach
to producing and packaging baby lettuces and greens, fresh culinary herbs,
edible flowers and specialty vegetables. First, it’s good to be in
control of these delicate products from seed to table. Second, by doing
everything in-house, Wyrick can run a tighter ship in what has become
a highly competitive marketplace where spring mix, once a high-priced
specialty item, is now approaching commodity status.
Spring mix once commanded $20 per box or more, but now
sells for about $5. During that transition, Wyrick says he has seen several
spring mix companies come and go as new players have entered the industry
and picked up the competitive pace.
"You have to control the whole process all the way
through, because you have to be able to keep that penny the harvester
was going to make on you," Wyrick reasons. "The market is so
competitive that you have to keep that money in your profit center. If
not, you’re not going to succeed."
A Farming Heritage
Wyrick’s life and that of his family have been deeply rooted in agriculture
for more than a century. His ancestors began farming in the Salinas Valley
in 1893. At that time, the operation included farms in both Upstate New
York and Florida. Wyrick has a photo taken in the family’s lettuce
packing facility in 1938, along with a letter from his great grandfather
to his grandmother discussing "typical farmer things, the yield,
the cartons, the FOB price and the labor. That’s when cooling was
not available for head lettuce," he says.
As a child, Wyrick grew up on his father’s farm, but spent his teen
years in the San Francisco Bay area. He came back to the farm in 1993
and that’s when he happened upon his first opportunity to grow baby
lettuces and greens.
"At that time a young grower approached my dad and
he didn’t want anything to do with him because he was an old school
farmer," Wyrick recalls. "So I grew 53 acres that first year
for that one company. Next I grew for another company and realized I didn’t
want to have one customer as my destiny. That’s when we started processing
and I looked into other things that would complement the spring mix items."
Counting acreage in Yuma, Wyrick produced about 200 acres
of spring mix his first year. This year, the team at Pride of San Juan,
now nearly 400 strong, will harvest about 7,000 acres of spring mix components,
specialty vegetables, culinary herbs and edible flowers.
"We grow about 30 percent every year," Wyrick
says. "Our current facility still has room for additional growth,
but we figure we’ll grow into it by next year and have to build again
in 2003."
Extensive Mix
Currently Pride of San Juan raises 23 different items for its spring mix,
including such lettuces and greens as arugula, beet tops, red and green
bibb lettuce, brunia, frisee, green, three varieties of kale, magenta
orach, mizuna, radicchio, radina, red and green romaine, baby spinach,
tango and tat soi.
"We plant every three days to maintain consistent size, texture and
quality of the product," Wyrick explains. "If I have a block
that has a problem, then I can stretch the one before it a little bit
longer and go into the one after it a little bit sooner. We’re never
completely out. We always have enough to keep going and make a mix. If
you’re only running eight or nine ingredients and have a problem
with one or two of those and are forced to use one of those, the product
is not going to have the quality you want."
Wyrick estimates spring mix comprises about 70 percent
of his business, while herbs, flowers and specialty items make up the
rest. Microgreens are an exciting variation on traditional spring mix.
When Wyrick says "micro," he’s not kidding about size.
Only slightly bigger than sprouts, microgreens from Pride of San Juan
are planted and allowed to germinate, then clipped just as one or two
immature leaves take on an identifiable shape. Sold in one-pound, 8-ounce,
or 4-ounce assortments, the rather pricey greens have created excitement
among chefs, who sprinkle these tiny delicacies on salads and other dishes
for both flavor and visual effect.
As in any business, stagnation can mean lost customers
and Wyrick is constantly testing and exploring new products and markets
in order to help his clients differentiate their establishments from competitors.
"We started growing pea shoots about a year ago,"
the young entrepreneur announces. "They’re a very popular item.
Whether they’re sautéed or served fresh, they taste like little
sweet peas."
Spotting Trends
Catching the next new trend in its infancy — or even initiating it,
in some cases — means incessantly sifting through new or unusual
varieties of fruits and vegetables. Recognizing the growing popularity
of heirloom tomatoes, Wyrick is currently testing 50 varieties. He is
also experimenting with 20 varieties of specialty peppers and five different
varieties of specialty melons. In the specialty vegetable category, gold
beets are already a popular part of his program and he’ll soon be
offering watermelon radishes, an up-and-coming item popular with chefs
who want to serve them sautéed to customers.
"Farming takes a whole year to learn something," he explains.
"We’re trying a lot of these tomatoes, peppers and melons this
year and maybe next year we’ll put in more. With heirloom tomatoes,
especially, I’m going to grab every variety I can and try to narrow
it down to what’s popular and what will work for our season and our
area."
Every item marketed by Pride of San Juan is grown under
its own unique program, depending on demand. Sometimes, as in the case
of mâche, the company must go to great lengths to assure quality
arrivals.
Grown hydroponically in the greenhouse, mâche is
planted in trays that are later broken into thirds and air freighted directly
to chefs who "harvest" them and serve them immediately to diners.
Pride of San Juan also produces upland cress, peppercress, chervil, cilantro
and watercress in the same fashion. Wyrick says mâche and watercress
are the most popular with chefs.
Complementary Products
Herbs and edible flowers complement Wyrick’s spring mix program and
are also subject to experimentation. The flower line includes bachelor
buttons, calendula, dianthus, Johnny jump ups, marigold, pansies and others.
Among the herbs he offers are arugula, basil, bay leaves, chervil, dill,
marjoram, mint, rosemary, sage and tarragon. He recently initiated an
experimental program for baby fennel, a new product that doesn’t
need to be shipped in a living state.
"This is another line item we’ll have year-round," Wyrick
notes. "We might have to increase our plantings."
Developing new items for his Junior, Salad Treasures or
Pride of San Juan labels is the lifeblood of Wyrick’s operation and
also provides a great service to his customers in the competitive world
of foodservice. Encountering their reactions to innovative products, though,
can be an adventure in itself.
"I can’t tell you how many samples we’ve
sent to our customers to try," he points out. "The only way
you get to sell things is to let them experience them. They go from, ‘What
are you sending me?’ or ‘What is that?’ to ‘Don’t
sell it to anybody else, only to me!"
Because many items are delicate, Wyrick estimates about
10 percent to 15 percent of the company’s products are shipped by
airfreight. Spring mix is the company’s most popular product, while
baby spinach is a distant second. Baby arugula, radicchio and frisee fall
share third place and herbs, flowers and specialty vegetables make up
the rest.
Balancing Act
Coordinating the growing, processing, packaging and shipping of all these
products is a logistical balancing act, but Wyrick says all the efforts
he and his team make are worthwhile in many ways.
"We constantly struggle with matching the sales to the available
product and quality, but it’s fun when you have the people that are
willing to do it and it’s an item that starts out as nothing and
ends up to be huge," he asserts. "I like doing everything ourselves,
not because we can necessarily do it cheaper, but because we have full
control.
"I hire people that are creative and like what they
do. If we can find out what’s the next big item, what’s the
next spring mix, and do a great job and provide it to all our buyers and
customers that’s why we’re here."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
PMA
Report: What’s Happening in Foodservice?
Fresh Cut
September 2001
MONTEREY, Calif. — Attendees at the annual PMA Foodservice Conference,
Tour & Expo were afforded a comprehensive look at the current state
of the nation’s foodservice industry and how it is expected to evolve
in the next decade during Monday’s opening general session entitled,
"What’s Really Happening in the Foodservice Industry?"
Moderator Tim York, president of Markon Cooperative,
Inc. outlined key points from "Foodservice 2010: America’s Appetite
Matures," a research study conducted recently
Tim York by McKinsey & Co. for several foodservice
associations.
"Food and beverage expenditures are anticipated to
grow by $140 billion between 2000 and 2010," York reported. "Growth
is projected at 1.6 percent over the next 10 years. The U.S. population
is expected to grow from 276 million to 300 by the year 2010."
Of the growth projected for food and beverage spending,
the foodservice industry is expected to command 61 percent or $87 billion,
York reported. While overall food and beverage spending will grow at a
rate of 1.6 percent, actual growth for the foodservice sector will amount
to 2 percent. Growth in retail spending is expected to be about $57 billion,
or 39 percent of overall growth expected. The retail sector’s actual
growth rate will be 1.3 percent, according to McKinsey.
Foodservice to Grow
"Foodservice will finally obtain that goal of 51 percent of all food
and beverage spending," said York, who is also chairman-elect of
the PMA. "Nation’s Restaurant News is a little more optimistic
and predicts it will actually be 53 percent. The point is obviously that
foodservice is growing and opportunities remain in foodservice. Of that
51 percent, McKinsey breaks it down into commercial and non-commercial,
43 percent commercial and 8 percent non-commercial."
Because of the maturing of the baby boomer segment of the population,
McKinsey’s report anticipates a shift in the foodservice industry
from quick-service restaurants (QSR) to full-service, York reported. While
that shift takes place, however, QSR business is still expected to grow.
"Our habits are influenced by our aging population
and it changes our dining preferences," York reasoned. "What
McKinsey says is that some operator segments will grow, such as full-service
restaurants, supermarket foodservice and recreational lodging. Still growing,
but at a slower pace, will be QSRs, vending and bars and taverns.
"Fifty percent of the U.S. population will be 40
years old or older in 2010. That will be up from 38 percent in 1990. The
over-50 generation — we’re 26 percent now — will grow to
32 percent by 2010."
Older people spend more money on food away from home,
but rising affluence in America is also an important factor in McKinsey’s
growth projections for foodservice, York continued. From 1993 to 1998,
the population earning over $50,000 per year grew from 22 percent of the
U.S. population to 30 percent, a significant figure since people in that
income bracket tend to spend more than half their food dollar eating away
from home. Another significant income trend in America is the 61 percent
of women who are now working, York added.
People Want Variety
The McKinsey report also noted attitudes and behaviors that will influence
eating trends in the coming decade, one of which is typified by the "Me
Generation," that says, "I want what I want, when I want it
and how I want it." People want variety and they want things their
way, York echoed.
Functional foods are expected to become more important as baby boomers
continue to fight the aging process "every step of the way,"
according to York.
"Functional food is specifically designed to improve
our health," he reasoned. "Are we marketing produce the way
in which we have the potential to do? If produce is a functional food,
that certainly improves our health. Are we missing a marketing opportunity
with it?"
The McKinsey report also discussed other issues that will
affect the foodservice industry in the future, such as industry consolidation,
labor, and food safety.
York cited a recent study by Technomic pointing out that
of the 830,000 foodservice operations in the United States, 500 of them
make up 51 percent of total foodservice sales. McKinsey’s report
predicted there would be six people available for jobs currently handled
by eight people today. That figure compares to 11 people holding the same
positions in 1990.
Changing Labor Market
"The report cites the difference between low turnover and high turnover,"
he noted. "Low turnover in the foodservice operator community is
143 percent per unit. That means for every position, 1.43 people are filling
it within a year’s time. High turnover was 242 percent."
According to the report, winners in the foodservice industry of 2010 will
ensure the safety and quality of their foods, examine their use of technology
and support industry strategy, address consolidation in some way, and
adopt a light labor model, putting "work where it is most efficiently
accomplished."
Winners in foodservice distribution will offer value-added
services and products that provide solutions for their customers and examine
the DSR’s role in selling, merchandising and making the most of their
product education. They will also explore partnerships, not ruling out
e-commerce.
In the food-manufacturing arena, winners will focus on
customers’ needs and expectations, as well as trends that influence
their business. They will also create innovative products for enhancing
brands, according to York.
Joining York for the opening general session were Mike
Rawlings, president of Pizza Hut, Dallas, Texas, Ted Fowler, president
and CEO of Golden Corral Corporation, Raleigh, North
Mike Rawlings Carolina, Xavier Teixido, owner of Harry’s
Savoy Grill, Wilmington, Delaware, and Caroline Perkins, publisher and
editor-in-chief of ID Magazine. Each of the three foodservice operators
offered insightful comments about
Ted Fowler how whole and fresh-cut produce are used in
their operations and what the future could hold for these products.
Xavier Teixido
"Raising the Bar"
"Ten years ago, I had one type of green salad with iceberg lettuce,"
Teixido reported about his fine dining establishment. "Now in all
the restaurants, you have iceberg lettuce, you have a romaine and Caesar,
and you have spinach. You’re raising the bar, the expectations. There
is more and more demand for variety."
Rawlings agreed, "I think consumers overall are not going to compromise.
They don’t have to. And the kids of those baby boomers, what we call
‘echo boomers,’ that the study shows, the next twist of the
python, so to speak, will make or break a brand. Our brand was built on
the back of the baby boomers 30 or 40 years ago and it will die if we
don’t capture the hearts and minds of those 13-18 year-olds."
In order to capture and keep market share, Pizza Hut has
made sure all vegetables on its pizzas are fresh and colorful and that
they are cut in more appealing ways, according to Rawlings.
"The visual appeal has some effect," he reported.
"People eat with their eyes so much. And that’s what happened.
We put chunky tomatoes, big slices of green pepper and red onions versus
white onions on our pizzas. We decided to have longer cuts and our quality
scores went up within six months. Once everybody got around to trying
it, they said they thought we were putting more money into our pizzas
— and we were. I’m so happy to have fresh mushrooms versus canned
mushrooms. You’ve got a lot of appeal there and the taste is really
good."
Variety, color and flavor are critically important in
fine dining and Teixido outlined the transition he has made in his facility
since its opening in 1988. He said he looked at menu items such as steak
and prime rib as "endangered species," although they are comfort
foods that customers continue to order. On the other side of the comfort
food scale, he added items with healthier connotations such as mesclun
mix, specialty mushrooms, baby watercress and other microgreens.
Psychologically Cleansing
"We’re looking for heirloom varieties," he said. "We
don’t really serve anything that’s dramatically different than
what you might find in a casual fine dining chain, it’s just that
we’ve changed all the components. But the wonderful thing about produce
is that it is the ‘antidote’ and all these little components
seem to be the answer for fat and cholesterol. I’m happy to state
that these wonderfully fresh vegetables and the salad and the way you
prepare them sort of psychologically cleanse us. So, now, if I’ve
had a wonderful steak, it’s like an old suit with a new tie and we
can change these fresh components all the time without changing the core
value that people want."
Teixido said he pleases his clientele by varying the fresh produce and
other foods that accompany his core items. In that respect, he said, he
becomes as demanding as his diners.
"When we see something new, we want it right now,"
he told the PMA audience. "We want it when we want it because, in
our segment, we move a little bit more at lightning speed. I can change
my menu tomorrow."
About Pizza Hut’s evolving menu and search for appealing
items, Rawlings commented, "There’s a core part of it that stays
very similar and people want consistency, but we have a term that says
we’re going to be consistent, but consistently surprising."
What about fresh-cut produce versus preparing everything
in-house? At the Golden Corral, the family restaurant chain offers steaks,
a buffet and bakery, but has had to rethink its menu as steak has dropped
from America’s number one favorite to number five.
Changing Concept
"We built our new concept around a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables
and actually changed our concept," he said. "We put the storage,
the preparation, the washing, the serving and all that right out in our
dining room in view of our guests and the reception area. As a result,
we found out that the guests perceived our restrooms to be cleaner and
our managers to be friendlier."
Although the theatrical nature of produce preparation is part of the show
at Golden Corral, Fowler says value- added or fresh-cut produce can fit
into the program, too. Everything depends on both price and value for
the consumer.
"If we can make a lower cost item taste good, we’re
not afraid of adding labor," he continued. "For example, we
used an instant mashed potato product and were using about 300 pounds
equivalent per week. Now we peel fresh potatoes, cook them and make mashed
potatoes and we’re selling 1,400 pounds per restaurant per week.
"At the same time, we were using a fresh hash brown
product. We had to cook the product, then let it cool down. Then we had
to peel it and then you had to cook it again. It was so complex and we
were so inconsistent, we had a processor cook it and we worked with them
on shelf life and now the hash browns we serve at the breakfast buffet
on Saturday and Sunday are a fresh product, not frozen or dehydrated,
but made to our standards.
"We got more consistent eye appeal and taste to where
our usage has gone up. So we look at it product by product to see what
yields the best taste. In our business, we can’t make money off anything
we aren’t selling. But if it tastes right, we’ll put labor in
and go for the better tasting products."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
PMA
Report: Getting Your Product on the Menu
Fresh Cut
September 2001
MONTEREY, Calif. — Operators of casual dining restaurants like TGI
Friday’s or Applebee’s are looking for easy-to-prepare, flavorful,
eye-appealing and reasonably priced items to wow their customers, according
to workshop speakers at the Produce Marketing Association’s foodservice
conference, tour & expo. It’s a perfect opportunity for produce
— especially the value-added kind.
"The main point we have to get across is how times
have changed," said Richard Rosen of Avendra, a newly formed purchasing
group for the hospitality industry. "The expectations of dining patrons
are always changing and they
Richard Rosen have changed dramatically. Along with that,
casual dining operators have to change as well. If they stay stagnant
and just keep offering the same things, they’re going to fall by
the wayside and lose market share to their competitors. It’s a very
competitive market."
Rosen made his remarks July 23 during a PMA workshop
entitled, "Getting Your Product on the Menu." Moderated by Ronnie
De La Cruz of Tanimura & Antle, the workshop also featured Jesse Warnken
purchasing manager for ESPN
Ronnie De La Cruz Zone, a seven-restaurant chain formed recently
as a division of Walt Disney Co.
A key role for any fresh-cut processor or distributor
is to help casual dining operators identify trends that influence the
eating habits of their dining clientele, according to Rosen, who helped
establish the fresh-cut produce program for Applebee’s International,
Inc. prior to joining Avendra. He said diners are looking for variety
in the food they eat — not just chocolate and vanilla ice cream,
but "every flavor and then some."
New Trends Ahead
"French fries and a hamburger just don’t do it any more,"
he continued. "They’re a popular trend, but there are new trends
coming on board. I define a trend as a change in attitudes or behavior
by a large segment of the population. There is a large segment of the
population that will eat sushi. It’s not for everybody, but it is
an example of a trend."
One trend Rosen discussed is the way consumers’ tastes have been
refined during the past decade. Their expectations for flavor in food
have risen to the point that casual dining establishments are handling
more specialty items and cooking them in more exciting ways to appeal
to consumers’ palates.
"The consumer has evolved to expect different flavors,
bolder flavors, higher spice levels — just beefing it up, so to speak,"
Rosen explained. "Or, if you have ever watched the cooking show ‘Emeril
Live,’ he talks about ‘kicking it up a notch.’ Operators
are looking for colorful things, products that just wow you, pop out on
the plate and have bigger, bolder flavor."
The search for something new is driven by competition,
according to Rosen. Every restaurant has basic fare like hamburgers, Caesar
salads, fruits, vegetables and potatoes, but operators are constantly
on the alert for items or dishes they can offer that steal customers from
their competitors.
The role of the processor or distributor, then, is not
only to offer a variety of innovative items that provide value for the
operator but also to bring service to the table, in the form of new ideas
that help restaurateurs develop their own distinctive signature items
and stand out from competitors.
Bringing Clients Value
"There are some factors that the supplier community has to consider
when coming up with new and improved ideas for the operator and bringing
him value, whether it’s a new product or a new flavor profile,"
Rosen proposed. "Those are the operational trends each restaurant
goes through.
"Everybody knows about the labor issues and storage issues the foodservice
industry faces. The walk-in coolers in the back of the house are becoming
smaller and smaller because of building costs. Everything is being consolidated.
"So what does the operator look for? He wants something
that’s easy to receive, not cumbersome, and easy to store. He wants
product that is easy to prepare and ties in to the availability and cost
of labor.
"Packaging is very important these days, especially
resealable packaging. There’s nothing worse than the employee in
the back of the house who rips open a bag of carrots or lettuce, uses
only a little bit, then finds a way to tape it or maybe just twist it
together and put it back in the cooler. There goes that product. Whatever
is left in that bag is going to be shot in eight hours or less."
Rosen continued what almost sounded like a commercial
for fresh-cut produce by explaining that operators also want to be able
to create complex menu items to impress their guests without lengthening
ticket times. Speed in the kitchen is at the heart of providing timely
service in the dining room.
Reduced Service Time
"How many of you go to a restaurant and wait and wait for your meal?"
Rosen asked the PMA workshop audience. "You don’t walk away
really excited about the dining experience you’ve had. It just can’t
take too long to be served. Suppliers can make suggestions for new and
improved items, but they have to be able to fit within the service time
frame those operators have to maintain. Otherwise they lose guests.
"They like to be able to bring new things from the supplier community
and create menu items that are going to look very intricate, very complex,
so when they put it in front of somebody on a table, if it looks beautiful,
they’re immediately going to say, ‘Wow, that must taste great.’
"People eat with their eyes first. So the more complex
it looks, the more intricate it looks, the perception is, ‘That looks
great.’ However, the operator needs to be able to find a way to do
that without spending hours to make that item and the little garnishes
that go on each of the salad or entrée items. There’s a lot
of prep work that can go into some of those things, but they need to find
a way to be able to do that without intensive labor."
Rosen pointed out that foodservice operators can buy a
box of lettuce from anybody, but most are looking for more than that.
"So what is it that’s going to make that operator
buy your product versus other products," he queried. "It’s
what you can demonstrate to him that brings him value. In this industry,
it’s all about relationships. It’s all about market share and
competition. The market research is ongoing all the time from one concept
to the next. And nobody ever stays in the lead in casual dining forever.
They analyze trends. They analyze their competitors’ trends and their
traffic. That stimulates their need to create new marketing schemes. And
those new schemes require creativity in the kitchen.
New Ideas Needed
"That new creativity doesn’t always come from the chefs or kitchen
managers. They go to the NRA. They read books. They watch TV shows about
cooking. They depend, as well, very heavily on the vendor community to
bring a new idea to them."
Rosen offered advice about getting fresh-cut items on foodservice menus,
pointing out a number of questions to ask even before approaching an operator
to suggest the concept.
"Question number one: Is there any fresh-cut currently
being used by the operator? If they are not currently using value-added
products, they may not be likely to want to listen. What does the operator
see as the pros and cons to fresh-cut produce and do they have enough
cooler space?
"The operator truly needs to know what converting
from non-value-added to value-added will do for him. Will he truly save
money or is it just hocus-pocus to sell him value-added products? Most
operators don’t really see or understand the savings in going from
cutting salad mix themselves to using something that’s value-added.
They truly don’t understand until you sit down with them and get
their attention and go through some mathematical models to explain."
Rosen also pointed out that suppliers should have an adequate
food safety program when approaching a restaurant with new or value-added
items. Thanks to a growing public awareness of the dangers of food-borne
illness, operators are paying close attention to cleanliness and safety
issues.
Food Safety Concerns
"If you’re going to approach an operator about a new item or
about adding value-added to their kitchen, you have to make sure your
organization is of the highest quality level and you practice all the
necessary food safety practices and more," he reasoned. "I would
venture to say a lot of these casual dining or restaurant chains are going
to require audits and inspections all the way back to the source of the
produce they buy. It’s coming."
While ESPN Zone is known as a high-tech sports venue
catering to a largely male audience, food is an important part of the
overall mix, according to Jesse Warnken, who aid the young chain is, "always
looking at changing our menu" to appeal to a broader clientele.
Jesse Warnken
"Atmosphere is not enough," Warnken explained. "It’s
also important that we cater to children and females so we can have the
whole family come in. It’s important that we have quality food. For
the women, we’re looking at more petite sizes of protein items and
salads, maybe in different sizes. Our other challenge is that we don’t
have two menus. We have the same menu for lunch and dinner. So it’s
important to have a fairly diversified menu."
ESPN Zone also does about $7 million a year in private parties and corporate
events, according to Warnken. Fruits and vegetables play an important
role in the décor for such events, even though many of them are
not on the menu.
"If someone would come in to see our day-to-day operation,
they wouldn’t understand that yellow peppers or red peppers are a
big item for us, they’re huge," Warnken said. "When we
have a party, we usually pick up 30 to 40 cases of peppers and just use
them for display."
"Fresh and Ready"
Produce on the menu must be "very fresh and very ready," Warnken
explained. Especially in the company’s new Denver site, the facilities
are becoming smaller. Another part of the formula will be to scale back
on labor.
"We’re looking for a smaller menu, a tighter menu, items that
we can have less back-of-the-house work with," he continued. "We
want it to be very fresh and very healthy. What we look for in produce
is a healthy attitude. We want the plate to cater to the health conscious
consumer. Even with our ribs, we might have a very healthy garnish to
it. It’s important that the color is there and there’s minimal
prep.
"We do go into value-added, though most of the chefs
I work with are very hands-on. We want to gain a competitive advantage
and reduce overall food costs. At the same time, we try to do this with
a balance. Maybe we play with some of the protein and add a small salad
to it, dress it up a little bit. We’re looking for something we can
put on the plate that’s very presentable."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
>>
Return to top
Great
Expectations for Fresh-cut Fruit
Fresh Cut
October 2001
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Phenomenal. Exciting. Tremendous.
They're all words Bryce Edmondson and Paul Rice use when describing not
only the growth they’ve experienced in fresh-cut fruit since buying
or launching various operations around the nation but also the possibilities
and opportunities they see in the future.
At a time when most fresh fruit processing operations have yet to celebrate
their 10th birthday, the folks at Del Monte Fresh Produce, N.A., Inc.
have been shipping cylinders, spears and wedges of fresh Hawaiian pineapple
to the states for about 15 years. Now, after carefully laying the groundwork,
they're transferring that pineapple expertise to melons and other fruit
and vegetable items—and they can't seem to find enough glowing terms
to describe the future they envision.
"In the mid-'80s, we put a large and modern plant
in Honolulu where we started doing fresh-cut pineapple and flying it all
over the United States," says Edmondson, who is Del Monte's senior
vice president for North America. "We now move in the range of 200,000
pounds a week.
"That was really our initial step into the fresh-cut
area and it was our only step for a number of years. We recognized, however,
after doing Hawaiian product, that down the road, we did want to bring
in other product lines and start in the fresh-cut business. As we looked
at it, we had a couple of hurdles to overcome."
The first of those hurdles was vertical integration. As
Del Monte's management team looked at processing fresh-cut cantaloupe,
honeydew and watermelon, they decided to approach these items in the same
way they had found success with pineapple—from the ground up.
Del Monte's management learned the fresh-cut business by starting with
pineapple. Now they're emphasizing other fresh-cut fruits in their ambitious
program.
Vertical Integration Critical
"Since the early '90s, we've been able to put in a significant year-round
melon operation," Edmondson continues. "We’re now probably
the largest grower/shipper in the United States in terms of marketing.
We have areas where we grow domestically in Arizona and California during
the summer and fall. Then, during the late fall, winter and spring, we
have our own growing operations offshore.
"We feel that for melons to come in consistently and with good quality,
you really have to do it yourself. We were a little hesitant to get into
a large fresh-cut program on melons until we had that vertical integration."
The second hurdle facing Del Monte’s fresh-cut fruit
program was the key to dealing with that catchy little word "fresh."
While it may be possible to package fruit with a 10-day shelf life, no
consumer really wants to eat 10-day-old fruit.
"We feel like a fresh-cut fruit business is essentially
a local business," Edmondson explains. "You may be able to get
10 days’ shelf life on your product, but really what you’re
trying to do is provide the customer with fruit that looks and tastes
as good as if they cut it themselves. To do that, you really have to be
able to get it distributed and into the stores, ready for customers to
buy it and eat it within 24 to 48 hours."
Based upon that assumption, Edmondson says Del Monte also
realized quick and efficient distribution would be an essential ingredient
in the success of any fresh-cut fruit program and began building a nationwide
network of distribution centers for handling both whole produce and the
company’s emerging fresh-cut items. To date, according to Paul Rice,
vice president of fresh-cut operations and distribution centers, Del Monte
has established DCs in Philadelphia, New Orleans, Chicago, Denver, Kansas
City, Atlanta, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Columbus, Ohio, and Plant
City, Fort Lauderdale and Jacksonville, all in Florida.
Efficient Logistics
Q.A. Manager Liliya Pirumova is in charge of the food
safety program at Del Monte's Portland, Oregon facility. "What we’re
doing is marrying up the fresh-cut facilities with our logistics capabilities,"
Rice reports. "They all have temperature capability as low as 32
degrees and cross-docking capability."
Preparing a microbial sample in the modern in-house laboratory
at Del Monte's Portland facility. With an eye toward establishing a nationwide
network of processing and distribution facilities, Rice says the company
already has five processing plants on-line and several more in various
stages of completion.
"We actually expect to have our capacity doubled
by this time next year," Rice predicts. "Our five current locations
are Portland, Oregon; Kankakee, Illinois; Atlanta, Georgia; Plant City,
Florida; and Jessup, Maryland. Construction has already begun in Denver
and Kansas City to add fresh-cut processing capabilities within these
facilities."
The Kansas City plant will be starting up by September
and the Denver fresh-cut operation is scheduled to start up about the
end of the year, Rice adds.
Since Del Monte began acquiring processing facilities
about a year and a half ago, both demand for fresh-cut fruit and growth
in the company’s business have been "phenomenal," according
to Edmondson.
"We’ve not only expanded on the companies we’ve
bought but also put in a couple of other units from the ground up,"
he continues. "What we’ve seen since we started in the business
is that those businesses have been growing at almost the rate of 100 percent
revenue growth a year. We’ve already had to move into facilities
that were two to three times the size of the original facilities we bought."
Bigger Facilities Needed
Del Monte officials expect to double their production
capacity by 2002. Rice says Del Monte has expanded its Kankakee facility
from 30,000 square feet to 100,000 square feet since the acquisition and
has also acquired more space in Jessup, Maryland, upsizing from 20,000
square feet to 75,000 square feet. The brand new facility in Plant City,
Florida, built from scratch, is "entirely new and the processing
lines are new." Its size is 50,000 square feet.
"All of these units are acting as part of a national
strategy," Edmondson explains. "We’re in a position to
do warehouse deliveries as well as direct store-door deliveries. The units
are fully integrated in terms of invoicing, receivables and all financial
systems. That said, however, we do balance localized market needs along
with national strategy. You’ve got to be able to provide local service
in the fresh-cut business and that’s what we’re trying to get
set up to do."
While demand for fresh-cut is increasing for a variety
of reasons and fueling much of the growth Del Monte is experiencing, the
company’s familiar brand name certainly plays a major role in helping
to establish fresh-cut fruit as a desirable product in the minds of consumers,
according to Edmondson.
"The business itself is progressing on a daily basis
and we are meeting our goals," he points out. "We recently switched
one retailer from his private label to the Del Monte® brand, for example,
and he’s seen a significant uptick in his business."
While the Del Monte name provides familiarity and credibility
for consumers, John Loughridge, vice president of marketing, says it must
be more than that if it is to make a lasting difference in the growth
of fresh-cut produce.
When consumers pick up a package of Del Monte cut fruit, they expect a
good experience and the company has set up a vertically integrated fruit
program to be sure they are not disappointed.
What’s in a Brand?
"I think the importance of brand in fresh produce is really when
the consumer sees the label and they know they’re going to have a
good eating experience if they buy," Loughridge reasons. "We’ve
got a brand that’s been around for more than 100 years, but we earn
our stripes every day. Our vertical integration from farm to store backs
it up, allowing us to put the best tasting, highest quality product out
there so the consumer takes it home, enjoys it and buys some more.
"In fresh-cut, you can only do that if you’ve got all those
pieces in place: superior agricultural practices; protection of the cold
chain; food safety all the way back to the farm. So, when we’ve got
all those pieces all the way through, we feel we’re going to be the
only company out there that can deliver high quality whole or value-added
product on a consistent basis so it’s a good experience for consumers.
This will keep fueling additional growth."
While Del Monte’s strategy is still "a work
in progress" and the network is not yet complete, according to Edmondson,
early results and feedback confirm that high quality, flavorful fruit,
cut locally and delivered quickly, coupled with a recognizable brand name
and attentive service are offering retailers the success they expect.
"There are two customers specifically in the Northeast
where we are actually doing direct store deliveries out of our distribution
centers," Edmondson reports. "When we were able to start up
fresh-cut in Jessup, Maryland, we were able to add them to the system.
We began in a few test stores to make sure they liked the product and
it worked well for them. Now both of those retailers have expanded their
fresh-cut fruit sales tremendously and are extremely happy with our service."
An Expansive Vision
While Del Monte’s vision is undeniably expansive, it also makes possible
all the personalized and creative aspects of a small, local business serving
a few customers well.
"We have the opportunity, since we are national, that if we see a
good concept that has been developed in one particular market, we can
evaluate it as to whether or not it’s something that might have nationwide
potential," Loughridge states. "It’s good to have multiple
local contacts because we can see trends and opportunities and then take
them across the entire network. I think as we build the network and have
all these contact points and have good relationships with the retailers
and stay in tune with local demand, we’ll come up with quite a variety
of exciting new products."
For instance, according to Edmondson, one local Del Monte
unit developed a single-serve fruit cup for supermarkets, C-stores, and
other quick service venues where consumers on the go can get a quick healthy
snack.
"Based on some local needs, we took a look at it
and now we’re trying to see how we can automate the process and expand
it into other market areas," Edmondson notes.
"We run a very flat organization, so when we see
something that works, there’s not a big bureaucratic structure you
have to wind through," Loughridge adds. "There’s a lot
of hands-on and a lot of communication so when we see an opportunity,
we can act on it. We like to be a big company that acts small. That way
we’ve got the flexibility and the responsiveness to take advantage
of opportunities.
Flexibility and Responsiveness
Rapid distribution is a key factor in a successful fresh-cut
fruit program, according to Edmondson. "Produce is a fast business.
Things are really fast paced. You need to be able to act quickly when
there’s a good opportunity. I think that’s one thing Del Monte
does better than a lot of big companies. We truly have big resources and
capabilities but we are as responsive and as nimble as a small company."
It’s good to be able to act small, but being large
also has its advantages, according to Loughridge, who says having a variety
of products, including the company’s flavorful Del Monte Gold®
pineapple, helps with the effectiveness of marketing efforts. For instance,
Del Monte has an exclusive agreement with an instant coupon company that
allows retailers to print coupons for consumers who buy certain items.
"That’s good for a couple things," Loughridge
outlines. "You can do cross merchandising. If they buy one item,
they get a coupon for another item. In other words, if someone buys a
whole Del Monte Gold pineapple, we can give them a coupon to try our fresh-cut
Del Monte Gold pineapple.
"It either gives someone an incentive to come back
and buy something they don’t normally buy or, if they’re a regular
customer, we’ve been able to measure significant change in the time
elapsed between purchases. When we started with one of our products, the
average time between purchases was about two months. After we put this
program in place, shoppers were buying it every 20 days. That’s what
you want to achieve. You want frequent repeat sales."
Consumers have been purchasing Del Monte brand products for more than
100 years.
Samples Help Sell
Del Monte’s size is also an advantage for in-store sampling programs,
according to Loughridge. He says the key to fresh-cut fruit sales is getting
consumers to try the product and have a good experience.
"Generally our sampling is more cost effective because we have a
broad product range," he continues. "It gets very expensive
to demo just one item, but with our product line, we can sample a variety
of items which makes it more cost effective for us and also helps build
sales for the retailer."
Both Edmondson and Loughridge consider fresh-cut fruit
to be in its infancy in terms of consumer acceptance, noting there are
tremendous opportunities awaiting processors who tailor products for the
right meal or snack occasion.
"I think fresh-cut fruit is in about the same place
as salads were about 10 to 15 years ago," Loughridge reasons. "We
need to get this product into consumers’ hands and let them try it
and see the value. So we spend a lot of effort getting trials at store
level and getting it introduced to the foodservice people to show them
how we can save them labor and provide a safe, but high quality product."
As retailers realize the value of purchasing fresh-cut
fruit from a centralized facility where food safety and other concerns
are handled effectively, Edmondson predicts there will be "tremendous
growth" in the category.
"Up until now, there really hasn’t been consistently
high quality fresh-cut fruit available," he asserts. "So while
the majority of consumers now come in and don’t even give a second
thought to buying a bagged salad, they’re still not used to going
in a store and picking up a bowl of fresh-cut fruit. It’s not only
getting it on the shelf, but it’s also getting the consumer to try
it. I think the latent demand exists, but it’s a relatively new area.
We’re tremendously excited about it."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Food
Safety Is Job One
Fresh Cut
October 2001
At Del Monte Fresh Produce, N.A., Inc., food safety is job one, according
to Paul Rice, vice president of fresh-cut operations and distribution
centers.
"When we made the decision to get into fresh-cut,
the first position we filled was national food safety director,"
he says. "That, in itself, demonstrates our commitment. In addition
to our food safety director, each facility has a quality control manager.
We have a lab on site in each facility. We have tight specifications for
raw product as well as finished product. We have a cold chain policy that
applies not only to the facilities but also to the trucks themselves.
Then we have merchandisers who can follow up behind the product and trace
it through distribution to the customers’ warehouses as well as to
retail."
Les Lipschutz, who now fills the newly created position,
has been hard at work since coming to Del Monte, setting food safety standards
for all the company’s facilities and making certain they are implemented.
"We’ve put in auditing programs for food safety
and quality," he explains. "I started out with the fresh-cut
facilities, then worked my way back to our distribution centers and through
our three growing areas in the United States, then back to the port facilities.
At the ports, we have formalized pest control, sanitation and preventive
maintenance programs and carried that through the distribution centers.
For our offshore agricultural operations, many of our management systems
are now certified for ISO 9002 or 14001 and are regularly audited by certified
third parties.
Traceable Products
"Del Monte has added tracking systems in both processing and growing
that enable us to trace the products and find out which fields they’ve
come from and where they’ve gone. The tracking system is an integral
part of our corporate recall/traceback program. We have rather rigorous
food safety programs for our fresh-cut facilities, too."
All Del Monte’s processing facilities are HACCP compliant, according
to Rice. Those programs are administered and carried out locally, but
Lipschutz follows up to verify that facilities are following all corporate
policy.
"I spend most of my time with fresh-cut and we have
two facilities that are coming on-line at this moment," Lipschutz
explains. "The auditing programs I set up are patterned after fast
food restaurant chains, since I felt they had the most stringent food
safety auditing programs in the United States."
The facility in Plant City, Florida that is currently
opening is all new construction, while the Kansas City plant, also in
the process of getting underway, is in an existing facility that has been
completely refitted.
Checking on Compliance
"I’ve been helping them get up and running and have been involved
in sanitary design, too," Lipschutz explains. "I write corporate
policy for all food safety and quality programs. The first year, I visited
all of our sites, including distribution centers. And I’ve been to
all the fresh-cut sites two to four times. I’m back there repeatedly,
to make sure they are in compliance with our policies."
Taking a proactive approach to food safety helps Del Monte facilities
prepare for audits and often enables them to be a step ahead of new regulations
that may come from customers or other sources, according to Lipschutz.
"We have standardized our microbial testing throughout
the United States," he reports. "We submit split samples to
a national company to make sure that all of the micro people in all of
our locations are performing at the same level of competency. We compare
our results to the national lab and see if we’re in agreement."
Lipschutz says Del Monte also has a program of strict
plant sanitation in place at each facility and employs a third party service
to perform environmental swabbing to audit how well the program is working.
"All of that is handled by outside laboratories,"
he emphasizes. "You don’t want to be looking for human pathogens
in your facility unless you have a laboratory that is physically separate
from your processing building. You never want to have the remotest chance
that a human pathogen can get out of the laboratory and into the facility."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Canadian
Firm Focuses on Quick Meals
Fresh Cut
October 2001
BARRIE, Ontario, Can. — Kurt and Ester Sattler have taken all the
convenience of fresh-cut produce to a new level by adding a variety of
protein items and creating complete meals consumers can pick up in a hurry
and enjoy wherever their busy schedules may take them.
Salads with protein are nothing new, but the Sattler’s
packaging technology is. They’ve extended the shelf life of their
Meals Express line of protein salads to 12 days by sealing them in convenient
bowls with modified atmospheres. Their salads are fresh and garnished
by hand, just as if consumers have chopped the romaine and added fresh
meat or cheese themselves.
"Once they’re in a container together, protein
requires a very opposite environment from fresh-cut romaine," Ester
Sattler explains. "So we spent a couple years developing technology
to make that possible. I like to compare it to having a fish and a bird
in the same cage. That’s really what we’ve accomplished by being
able to do fresh processed meat in the same container as produce and give
it a decent shelf life."
Though they started their Canadian fresh-cut business
in 1987, the Sattlers have actually been processing packaged salads for
22 years. They got their start in the late ‘70s while living in Germany
and "working at two very different jobs," according to Ester.
Ester Sattler: "This has just been a passion for food."
A Passion for Food
"This has just been a passion for food," she remembers. "I
used to teach art and my husband was in marketing for a food company.
We had a little specialty produce shop on the side. A long time before
we started fresh-cuts in Germany, we saw them in Switzerland. We looked
at that idea and started chopping some lettuce and washing it and putting
it in bags. It sold well, so that’s when we tried to figure out how
to do it right. We were one of the first to do fresh-cuts in Germany."
The Sattlers began looking for a market where fresh-cut produce wasn’t
yet available and finally came to Canada nearly 15 years ago to launch
their fresh-cut salad operation.
"We started with foodservice and institutional customers
and had three or four varieties of mixed salads under the Salad Sam label,"
she remembers. "We launched our first salad kit in 1988 and we know
we had a Caesar salad kit out long before they appeared in the United
States."
Those early efforts were accomplished in a plant of 5,000
square feet, but today Fresh Mix, Ltd. is housed in a plant of 40,000
square feet and is registered as a federal establishment by the Canadian
Food Inspection Agency. Being a federal plant is the equivalent to being
USDA-approved in the United States.
"We meet the regulations for Canada and we’re
also HACCP recognized," Mrs. Sattler asserts. "We also have
a meat inspector in-house."
High Food Safety Standards
HACCP certification or recognition is only necessary for meat and other
protein items, but measuring up to those standards helps the company set
a higher tone of food safety throughout the entire plant.
"We’ve always been a step ahead as far as standards were concerned,"
Ester Sattler reports. "We used to do fresh dressings and dips, cooked
meals and soups and, over the years, those things required more strict
regulations. We finally decided to go federal and we did that last year.
And now with HACCP recognition, that’s as far as we can take it.
That was a challenge and we’re really happy about it."
Since their early years, however, the Sattlers have also
tightened their focus to concentrate solely on the retail market, she
continues. They currently supply salads to Loblaws, A&P, and Costco
in Ontario, as well as the Metro-Richelieu chain in Quebec. They also
created the President’s Choice Fresh Cut line for National Grocers,
Canada’s largest retail grocery chain. About 45 percent of the company’s
business goes to points in the United States as far west as Indianapolis
and as far south as Louisville, Kentucky.
While still producing a full line of packaged salads under
the Salad Sam label, the company also recently introduced a line of eight
different specialty salads in bowls under the Meals Express label. They
include Caesar, Greek or Mediterranean salads, an Italian with prosciutto
and cheese, a bacon, lettuce and tomato (BLT), a chef salad, a chicken
breast Caesar, and mixed greens with turkey. They also make prepared seafood
salads for retail.
Better Retail Products
"It all started by looking at products that were being sold in retail
that were also made at the store level," Sattler explains. "With
the overall concern about food safety in the retail stores, there is a
demand for salad meals that come in from somewhere other than behind the
counter in the store. We found the retail trade was very receptive to
the idea because they’re running extremely high shrink and they have
no cost control in place. Cost control is difficult to achieve in a retail
store and they get a shelf life with our products they would never achieve
with products they make at store level."
To achieve its extended shelf life, the company developed its packaging
system with technical help from the Guelph Food Technology Centre, an
affiliate of the University of Guelph, along with Air Liquide Canada,
Inc., a Montreal-based manufacturer of gas packaging systems. The system
includes a nitrogen-based modified atmosphere with oxygen content balanced
at a midpoint beneficial for both fresh produce and protein items. Once
the atmosphere has been injected and the package is sealed, permeable
film used for lidding the package helps maintain the ratio of gases in
the package.
The cold chain is critical, too, according to Sattler.
Temperature must be maintained about the same as for regular packaged
salads "the only exception being that my product is much more sensitive
to temperature fluctuations than straight produce would be."
Sattler says Fresh Mix starts with "the best quality
romaine you can purchase anywhere." Approximately 80 percent of the
produce used in the company’s salads is romaine. About half the plant
is dedicated to fresh-cut produce while the other half is dedicated to
meat, seafood and other protein items.
Top Quality Romaine
"The kind of romaine we send out in our finished product is very
unique and very upscale," she explains. "It’s different
from mass-produced romaine cuts you find in the market. I think that we
are unique in that we make very difficult products that are hard to copy
and we’re good at it. We’re not a gigantic processor, but we
dedicate a little more attention and a little more time to quality than
would be possible if we were 10 times the size."
Attention to quality is also apparent in consumer response to the company’s
signature in-house salad dressings, according to Sattler. She says she
and her husband formulated their own dressings and outsourced their production
and packaging to another firm.
"We get immense positive feedback on that and I know
many consumers buy our products because of the dressings," she asserts.
"I think dressings are very important. We’ve been approached
to make those dressings available at retail, but that has never been a
priority for us. Believe it or not, we’ve had the same Caesar dressing
for 14 years and we’re still getting consumer letters about it, complaining
that they can’t buy it. I keep shipping little boxes of pouches to
consumers to make them halfway happy."
Demand for convenient meals is driving the company’s
business, Sattler points out, but consumers also increasingly demand higher
quality in the quick foods they eat. That’s why the company garnishes
all specialty salads by hand just as if they were made at home.
"More ready and more convenient is what people want,"
she continues. "Where I see us expanding is definitely in the meal
salad category and we’ve taken that a step further. We’re getting
ready to launch some microwavable or ovenable combinations of produce
and protein. We’re looking at rice bowls, pasta bowls and other dishes
with fresh vegetable toppings or meat toppings in the same concept as
the salad bowls.
"I think the bottom line is that it has to taste
good. Other than price, I think that’s what makes most of the new
products live or die. If people eat it and love it, they’ll go back
to have it again."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Long
Seedless Melons Make Inroads into Fresh-cut
Fresh Cut
October 2001
By Linda Williams
As summer draws to a close, one trend that appears to be carving out a
permanent place in the fresh-cut and foodservice industries is the use
of elongated seedless watermelons. Round seedless watermelons have been
the melons of choice throughout the fresh-cut industry in recent years
and, now, growers, produce distributors and others are discovering the
benefits of using long seedless varieties.
Mark Krauter, a branch manager for Amerifresh, says this
is the first year his company has shipped elongated seedless watermelons
(they've been shipping round seedless for about 10 years). He's been impressed
with the blockier varieties, and expects their popularity to increase
in both fresh-cut and foodservice.
"Once people switch over (to the long seedless)-especially
in foodservice-they usually don't switch back," Krauter says. "We've
enjoyed (selling long seedless) so far; they've been very successful."
Amerifresh, a produce distributor headquartered in Seattle,
ships watermelons mainly to retailers, terminal markets, produce distributors
and restaurants. Krauter, who works out of the company's Fresno office,
believes long seedless varieties offer many advantages to fresh-cut processors
and foodservice operators.
Paul Janiak, vice president of sales and marketing for
OBIM Fresh-Cut Fruit in Fort Worth, Texas, says his company processes
both elongated and round seedless melons. OBIM ships product to 15 states
in the Southwest and, with its partner company, Ready Pac Produce, ships
to about 25 states, has been selling fresh cut watermelon for the past
four years. Primary customers include major retailers and a few wholesalers
on the foodservice side.
Forever Seedless
Since his company began selling packaged cubes of fresh-cut watermelon
four years ago, Janiak says they have only sold seedless varieties. "That's
all we sell," he says. "We consider it (seedless watermelon)
to be a premium product and value-added."
Janiak says he, too, has been impressed with the new long seedless melons.
"The elongated varieties are very good for processing," he reports.
"They're easier to handle. We like the long seedless."
Sam Petro, co-owner of Country Fresh Products Inc., believes
there's less waste when using seedless. "You can get as much meat
out of a 10-pound seedless melon as you can with a 13-pound seeded melon,"
he says.
Petro, whose company has plants in South Carolina, Florida
and Texas and "sells to every retailer" in the Southeast, says
his customers began requesting seedless watermelon about five years ago.
"We have no customers who request seeded watermelons,"
says Petro. "We're as close to 100 percent seedless as we can get."
He has used the longer, seedless melons for processing,
but leaves it to the growers he contracts with to select the varieties.
He says these growers know that the melons must meet certain standards—deep
red color, minimum 10-12 percent Brix, good texture—or the shipment
will be rejected.
Superior Varieties
Gary Elmstrom, Ph.D., a senior watermelon breeder with Sunseeds, has been
developing watermelon varieties for more than 30 years. He says Sunseeds
is the first major seed company to commercially produce long seedless
watermelons. Elmstrom says these new varieties, which include Revolution
and Freedom, are superior in every way to round seedless watermelons he's
developed over the years.
Elmstrom says the elongated seedless varieties are highly suitable for
foodservice thanks to their improved shelf life and good interior quality.
He says longer seedless melons weigh between 18 to 24 pounds, have crisp,
firm flesh, high sugar content, and a deep red interior.
"They have the bright red color that is important
for food service," Elmstrom says of the long seedless. He notes that
Sunseeds' Revolution, a seedless variety introduced for commercial production
several years ago, "has really taken off."
He notes preliminary testing at Sunseeds' research facility
in Lodi, Calif. indicates long seedless varieties yield 10 percent more
usable flesh than round seedless watermelons of comparable weight.
Krauter says Amerifresh has been shipping Revolution and
Freedom to customers this year and has equal praise for both melons. "I've
had a customer tell me, 'Mark, this is the finest watermelon I've ever
seen,'" Krauter says. "I haven't cut a bad one yet."
New Year’s Surge
He and others surveyed expect fresh-cut watermelon to increase in popularity
as a year-round produce item. Janiak notes his company observed a spike
in fresh-cut watermelon sales after the first of the year and suggests
consumers were seeking out healthier foods and snacks after overindulging
during the holidays.
This year, Country Fresh has been developing special fresh cut packaging
aimed specifically at the foodservice market. "We are going aggressively
after foodservice business this year," Petro says, adding he is in
negotiations with an airline catering company to supply them with freshcut
watermelon.
Petro, who founded Country Fresh with Bryan Herr two years
ago, is finalizing a contract with a major hotel chain to provide seedless
fresh cut watermelon. He says when negotiations began, the hotel considered
using seeded watermelon but he convinced them to go with seedless. They
agreed after a trial run at some of their hotels in Texas and Louisiana.
"The seedless watermelon was a huge success."
Krauter of Amerifresh says there has generally been positive
response in the foodservice industry to elongated seedless varieties.
Some of his customers have praised them as having improved shelf life,
better color and better texture.
Looking to the future, OBIM's Janiak says he wants watermelon
flesh firmness standards adopted throughout the industry. He points out
he'd also like to see widespread use of a penetrometer at all levels of
the produce chain. A penetrometer is a device that measures firmness of
the watermelon "meat."
Janiak says a penetrometer is frequently used in the produce
industry and by the tree fruit industry. As a tool, it is relatively simple
to use and inexpensive. He suggests growers and shippers should use a
penetrometer along with a refractometer (to determine sugar content) before
shipping watermelons to a processor to avoid possible rejection of the
shipment.
"The two go hand in hand," Janiak says of the
measuring tools. "The more we can get our growers and shippers to
at least know what these items are-so we can talk on the same page-the
better off we'll all be."
Editor's note: Linda Williams is a freelance writer
based in Camarillo, CA.
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Setting
the Box on Fire
Fresh Cut
October 2001
By Jeff Donnell, Boxfire
Your company is faced with a business challenge. People rack their brains
in a vain attempt to come up with a creative solution. Someone mentions
the need to "think outside the box."
Consider this. If your company has to think outside the
box, it can be assumed that your organization spends most of its time
inside a box, constrained by rules that restrict creative thinking and
business breakthroughs.
When a business truly needs fresh thinking, the best thing
to do is set the box on fire. Douse it with gasoline, put a match to it
and reduce the box to ashes. From those ashes can come ideas that make
waves in the marketplace.
Consider the way lettuce sales have changed in recent
times. In the good old days, a shopper went to the grocery store and purchased
a head or two of lettuce. In most cases, that lettuce was an unbranded
commodity. Margins were slim for everyone in the channel from the grocer
to the grower. And the shopper had to go home and spend time turning the
head of lettuce into a ready-to-serve salad.
We all know what happened. The box was burned, the head
of lettuce was eliminated, and a new category was created. That unbranded
lettuce ball is now a bagged salad emblazoned with a brand name and an
exponentially higher price point. Everyone in the channel makes more money,
and consumers can make a salad by simply opening a bag and pouring the
contents into a bowl.
Imagine what might have happened if "thinking outside
the box" was the methodology rather than burning the box altogether.
Rather than deciding to do away with the head of lettuce, what if the
decision had been to look for new uses for the head of lettuce? Perhaps
jugglers could have been convinced to replace tennis balls or bowling
pins with heads of lettuce. Maybe Mexican restaurants could hang lettuce
heads like piñatas, allowing diners to bash them with sticks to
create salads with the lettuce leaves that are knocked loose.
Aside from being downright stupid, these approaches would
yield little in added revenues. By looking beyond the head of lettuce
and truly understanding customer needs, producers have been able to burn
the box and increase U.S. lettuce production by 16 percent since 1992.
While per capita sales of iceberg lettuce are down 13 percent since their
1989 head of lettuce peak, per capita sales of leaf and romaine lettuce
have more than doubled since the beginning of the 90’s thanks to
the advent of salad in a bag.
While burning-box thinking cannot be expected to routinely
create billion dollar markets virtually overnight, this kind of thinking
is required to creatively manage business challenges.
Consider the case of Maple Leaf Farms, the largest producer
of duckling for the foodservice and retail industries. For years, this
company struggled to grow the size of the duckling category by trying
to convince restaurant operators and consumers alike that duck was more
than a special occasion menu item. New product development efforts were
aimed at developing everyday items like ground duck meat for duck burgers.
Along the way, the company decided to conduct market research
with its employees and its customers. The company burned the box with
its research methodology, probing deeply to understand the rational and
emotional connections people had with the product. Chefs were asked to
pretend to be a Maple Leaf Farms duckling that keeps a daily journal,
and were then directed to write down what happened to them on the day
they were prepared and served. Consumers were asked to recount their best
dining experience where duckling was involved. These and other exercises
helped to reveal deep insights about the category and about the Maple
Leaf Farms brand.
When the results were in, it was apparent the company
needed to stop fighting perceptions that they were a special item for
special occasions. Instead, the company embraced this position and began
promoting Maple Leaf Farms duckling as part of "the meals you remember."
Duckling is now marketed as a memorable alternative to what consumers
described as boring, everyday items like chicken, turkey and pork. Product
development efforts are focused on creating items that reinforce their
brand position. The entire approach fits in well with the tendency for
today’s consumer to reward themselves for their hard work and to
live life to the fullest. The best news of all is the fact that sales
of the company’s duckling products are on the rise.
This company repeatedly tried to think outside the box
as so many experts have urged, but the result always meant developing
a position its customers simply would not accept. By burning the box altogether,
however, and embracing the true beliefs customers held, this company lit
a match under its efforts to increase duckling consumption.
There are a number of proven techniques that a company
can utilize to challenge conventional thinking and set the box on fire.
These range from creative brainstorming exercises to asking questions
that force an organization to look at its business differently. A few
of these questions include:
How would we put ourselves out of business if we were
a competitor?
What would wipe our product/service off the face of the planet?
If we had just purchased this company, what would we change?
How could we repackage this product or service?
What can we absolutely, positively, NOT do and what if we did it anyway?
If we gave this away, how else might we make money on it?
The next time someone in your organization states, "we need to think
outside the box," they are giving you a pretty good indication that
they spend a great deal of time inside of one. If boxed-in thinking is
systemic to your organization, it may be time to look for ways to set
the box on fire. Doing so can help you develop new products, processes,
operations and methods of going to market that will ignite your sales
and build your bottom line.
Editor’s note: Jeff Donnell is Vision Buddy and
Chief Marketing Officer at BoxFire, a business-to-business marketing firm
that helps its clients define, build, manage and profit from their brands.
Using their Brand ProfilingSM approach to market research and their Spontaneous
CombustionSM idea generation process, BoxFire helps organizations burn
boxes and build business. Jeff can be reached at Jeff_Donnell@burnthatbox.com.
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Surviving
a Competitive Carrot Deal
Fresh Cut
October 2001
TOLLESON, Ariz. — As a member of a four-generation Arizona farming
family, Will Rousseau departed from his family’s traditional cattle
operation in 1979 and began raising cotton and other field crops before
finally gravitating to carrots and other vegetables. Then in the early
‘90s, he saw the advantages in fresh-cut processing.
Today, Rousseau Farming Co. not only packs and ships cello
table carrots but also has a "clean room" processing plant for
turning out cut-and-peeled carrots, shredded carrots, cabbage, and broccoli
and cauliflower florets for both retail and foodservice.
Rousseau has been farming since 1979, about a century
after some members of his family came to the Phoenix area. He began raising
carrots in 1985 for the J.A. Wood Company and his brother, David, joined
the young operation in the mid-80s. Will handles growing and harvesting
for the family enterprise, while David handles administrative and business
matters.
"My father’s family came to Phoenix in 1892
in a covered wagon and my mom’s family came here in 1878, so we’ve
been here for quite a long time," Will explains. "The first
three generations of our family were in the cattle business mainly. They
built a freeway through our feedlot in 1982 and I’d been farming
a little on the side. My father retired when they tore down our feedlot
and I went into crop farming and decided I wanted to try the vegetable
end of it. Three years later, I ended up getting involved with the J.A.
Wood Co., growing carrots for them originally, then we branched out into
broccoli and all kinds of things."
Rousseau raised carrots for J.A. Wood until 1991, then
bought the packing plant and continued what he had started.
"The first field of carrots I had was 35 acres,"
he recalls. "Now we grow about 1200. At one point, we had quite a
bit more than that. We had carrots up in Center, Colorado. We’ve
tried growing them in Farmington, New Mexico. Back in those years, we
had considerably more than 1200 acres of carrots, but we’ve just
opted over the years to not expose ourselves to risk in those areas and
rely on a co-pack arrangement in Colorado."
When California carrot producers began processing cut-and-peeled
carrots in the late 1980s, Rousseau says he realized the trend would affect
his markets, too, and decided to get involved.
"We had been growing carrots from 1985 to 1991 and
the baby carrot deal was just kind of getting going about that time,"
he remembers. "We knew we wanted to get involved, but we needed to
wait until we made a little money and then, when we were finally able,
we built our first processing room. It’s undergone four or five remodelings
and relocations to the point where, today, it’s small, but it’s
a state-of-the-art facility.
"It’s in a clean-room environment. It’s
all stainless steel machinery. We have an in-house quality control guy
that has a HACCP background and, aside from quality control, he runs the
food safety program and checks mainly the carrots, but also all the other
processed stuff we do."
Rousseau Farming Co. produces one-, two- and five-pound
packs of cut-and-peeled carrots, as well as three-ounce snack packs. In
the same processing area, they also can shred cabbage, carrots and lettuce,
as well as cutting broccoli and cauliflower florets.
"We do some processing for some of the foodservice
distributors here," Will adds. "Probably our strongest market
is here locally in the Phoenix area, but the carrots go to retailers all
over the country and into Canada and Mexico."
Pacific International Marketing, a Salinas, California-based
firm that represents 120 growers of both organic and conventional produce
in New Mexico, Arizona, California and Mexico, handles vegetable sales
for Rousseau Farming Co., according to Will.
"They have an office here in Phoenix," he reports.
"PIM does all of our sales. Tom Russell, who is the main guy at Pacific,
has always been our sales agent because he used to run the J.A. Wood Co.,
too."
Rousseau plants carrots in mid-July and begins harvest
in mid-November. Most customers today want a year-round supply of carrots
and he has partnered with Hungenberg Produce in Greeley, Colorado, to
pack carrots for him during the off-season.
Rousseau Farming Co. also has an organic operation that
is CCOF certified and the packing and processing plant is certified organic,
too. Organic carrots, however, are not viable, for much the same reason
that the rest of the carrot industry is becoming tight — competition.
"Currently, at least, the FOB prices don’t warrant
being involved in the organic deal in carrots," Will asserts. "The
competition is just like on the conventional side."
Looking ahead at the future for carrots, Rousseau sees
a cloudy outlook for operations his size. Before the economic picture
for carrots, onions, mixed vegetables and melons can improve, he says
agriculture needs viable alternatives in the form of basic commodities
like cotton and wheat in the West and corn and soybeans in the Midwest.
"As long as all those things are as sick as they
are, then I don’t see the situation getting better," he reasons.
"We used to grow a lot of cotton and we don’t grow it any more.
When I started farming in 1979, cotton was the first crop I grew and I
was selling it for 75 cents a pound. The cotton market today is 40 cents
a pound and I don’t know how anybody makes that work."
Thanks to America’s dietary habits, fresh fruits
and vegetables hold more promise for today’s growers, he concludes.
"I think consumption is growing and, from an agricultural
standpoint, I’m glad we’re positioned where we are because I
would not want to be trying to compete with somebody offshore growing
a basic storable commodity," he explains. "By being in the fresh
market, we don’t have to worry about those people to a large degree.
There’s still some competition, obviously, but to a large degree,
we don’t have that issue. I’d rather be growing fresh fruits
and vegetables for an increasingly health-conscious and increasingly affluent
domestic population than to be growing cotton when nobody really seems
to care where it comes from."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
>>
Return to top
These
Mushrooms Are Clean and Ready
Fresh Cut
November 2001
WATSONVILLE, Calif. — At Monterey Mushrooms, Inc.,
creating a name for the company’s new washed and sliced packaged
mushrooms simply came down to calling them exactly what they are—"Clean
N Ready™." "We looked at and tested a number of different
names," recalls Carl Fields, Monterey’s vice president of marketing.
"But the fact that they are pre-washed, cleaned, ready-to-use and
ready-to-eat lent itself immediately to Clean N Ready and we said, ‘Let’s
call it what it is.’"
Innovation is nothing new at Monterey Mushrooms, a company that got its
start in 1971 as a single mushroom farm established by converting chicken
coops in Prunedale, California into mushroom beds. From that modest beginning,
the company has grown to include 11 mushroom farms, five processing facilities,
and four spawn and supplement manufacturing plants.
At the outset, annual mushroom production was less than
a million pounds. In 1975, however, the fledgling company began to grow
in earnest and, over the next few years, that growth was nothing short
of phenomenal. Along with plant expansions, came 150 percent leaps in
annual production. Today, the company turns out more than 200 million
pounds of mushrooms a year, offers a full line of domestic and specialty
mushrooms, and employs more than 2,400 people. Monterey Mushrooms is the
largest supplier of mushrooms in North America and the only one with nationwide
distribution.
Success at home brought international expansion, too.
The company has established a spawn plant in Vendome, France with spawn
and supplement offices in eight European countries, as well as a mushroom
supply and distribution facility, fresh mushroom farm and cannery in Mexico
for supplying Latin America.
Listening to Consumers
Monterey Mushrooms was the first to introduce sliced packaged
mushrooms, adding value for consumers who wanted more convenient foods.
Shah Kazemi, the current president/CEO and owner, says the development
of Clean N Ready mushrooms is consistent with the company’s history
of listening to consumers and developing products to meet their needs.
"I think if you look at the basic features and benefits of this product,
they are consistent with what the retailer is wanting
and what the consumer wants," he reasons. "We’re looking
at convenience, number one, because the product is already washed so the
consumer doesn’t have to wash it. It’s obviously sliced, so
it’s ready-to-use."
Peter Jensen, vice president of the company’s western
region, adds, "We were looking for a way to differentiate ourselves
and were also interested in food safety and convenience for our customers
and consumers. We knew that dirt on mushrooms has been a concern and have
been looking for a way to address that problem. We obtained exclusive
rights to a proprietary wash process because we liked the results. We
tested the product in the marketplace, got a good reaction and started
selling the product."
Coming from the company that first introduced sliced mushrooms
to consumers after listening to their needs, Clean N Ready mushrooms were
a natural progression in making mushrooms even more user friendly, particularly
to consumers who may not buy them regularly, according to Fields.
Increase in Demand
Monterey Mushrooms currently operates 11 mushroom farms
and five processing facilities, producing about 500,000 pounds of mushrooms
a day. "We noticed the increase in demand for sliced packaged mushrooms
because of their convenience, so we had to step back and ask ourselves,
‘What would be the next logical step?’" he explains. "For
frequent users of mushrooms, the appearance is less of an issue, but often
novice
users see specks of dirt, which is actually pasteurized peat moss, and
they are discouraged from buying them.
"Well, I saw that issue or concern about mushrooms
as an opportunity. For people who are concerned about having to wash mushrooms,
the fact that we’re saying these are clean and ready tells a nice
sanitation story that these mushrooms are unique. They’re already
prepped and they’re ready to go."
The company washes its white Agaricus Bisporus mushrooms
using a proprietary process employing food grade ingredients labeled Generally
Recognized As Safe (GRAS) by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.
The process inactivates the pseudomonas bacteria commonly found on mushrooms.
Harmless to humans, they nonetheless promote browning and shorten product
shelf life.
"Typically for sliced mushrooms, we’re talking
three to five days’ shelf life," Fields reports. "After
mushrooms have been washed in our process, they will have five to seven
days or more. That’s a 40 percent increase in shelf life under proper
refrigeration. When we’ve done shrink studies, some retailers have
been able to reduce their shrink 25 percent and others as much as 75 percent.
On the average, though, when we have conducted these studies out West,
the new product reduced grocers’ shrink an average of 50 percent."
Predictable Impact
As might be expected, cleaner, whiter mushrooms have a predictable visual
impact on consumers, too, according to Fields.
Currently white mushrooms outsell brown, but Fields expects sales of both
to continue growing. "We’re seeing an increase in sales,"
he continues. "This washing process actually results in a mushroom
that’s going to be brighter, whiter and more attractive. So from
the standpoint of an impulse purchase, these mushrooms are popping off
the shelf because they look better. The retailers we worked with were
averaging
about 20 percent more sales with these brighter, whiter mushrooms."
Appearance may be the deciding factor for impulse purchases
of mushrooms at retail, but when consumers get the new product home, they
also appreciate the time savings possible when using these mushrooms in
salads or other dishes.
"The number one use for mushrooms is in salads,"
Fields points out. "People also use them with sautés, meats,
Italian and casserole cooking, and as an ingredient in a variety of different
dishes. The fact that these mushrooms are pre-washed and pre-sliced eliminates
some of their prep time. What’s that worth? Now, when we write our
recipes, we don’t have to say, ‘Open the package, rinse and
slice the mushrooms.’ It’s just, ‘Open up the package and
add the mushrooms to the dish.’ We live in a fast-paced society and
there are a lot of time pressures on everyone. So that’s a time savings
that’s pretty valuable to people."
Convenience and Nutrition
Today’s busy consumers want quick and easy foods, but they’re
also looking for nutrition along the way, making mushrooms not only an
impulse buy, but also a healthy alternative. They’re low in calories
and are cholesterol- and fat-free. They have a good nutritional profile
and may even have value as a functional food.
"Today, mushrooms are fitting better into everyone’s lifestyle
because more and more people are concerned about what they’re consuming,"
Fields explains. "Everyone’s eating healthier. In fact, vegetarianism
continues to be on the rise, which is good for the produce industry.
"The fact that portabella mushrooms have taken off
so well speaks to the consumer’s interest in having a flavorful,
tasty food that many have seen as a meat substitute. They’re a center-of-the-plate
item, too. Consumers are enjoying portabella burgers and sandwiches and
other dishes where they substitute portabellas for meat. They have that
good crunch, feel and taste. Consumers continue to perceive mushrooms
as healthy and eye appealing. They help to enhance a meal."
Fields says Monterey Mushrooms is already working on adding
pre-washed, pre-sliced brown mushrooms to their product line because they
are a flavorful complement to white Agaricus mushrooms.
"We’re also looking baby white button mushrooms
and baby brown button mushrooms," the marketing vice president adds.
"We have named them White Pearl and Brown Pearl mushrooms. We’re
going to introduce them in the West before we launch them on a national
scale and we’re already seeing good interest in them.
Brown Mushrooms, Too
"White mushroom sales now predominate over portabellas and brown
mushrooms, but the more flavorful brown mushrooms continue to grow in
appeal, interest and demand. They’re the kissing cousin of the white
mushroom and they have just as many applications. You can substitute brown
mushrooms for whites in all dishes.
"Baby Bellas or brown mushrooms or criminis, whatever you want to
call them, are a soon-to-be-tapped opportunity for the industry. We’ll
promote them, but not at the expense of white mushrooms, just to provide
consumers with additional choices.
"By washing and slicing mushrooms, we’re offering
value-added product to the consumer that’s a no-brainer for them.
Given its convenience, these mushrooms are going to be more attractive
at retail so they jump off the shelf into their cart a little quicker.
"Already, consumers have been making unsolicited
comments that our new mushrooms are brighter and whiter and they’re
loving them. In fact, industry research shows whiteness is one of the
major criteria people use when buying mushrooms.
Reducing shrink, increasing sales, extending shelf life and looking whiter
are the benefits of selling Monterey Mushrooms' new Clean N Ready®
mushrooms at retail.
"So the fact that these new mushrooms are clean and
white is a good thing. Retailers will appreciate this, because they not
only have a faster selling product but also one that looks better, lasts
longer and provides them with better inventory management and less time
pressure within their distribution system. The result should be increased
sales and greater satisfaction."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Dole's
Formula for Making Safe Salads
Fresh Cut
November 2001
SOLEDAD, Calif. - At the Dole Fresh Vegetables Value-added
Products Plant, food safety is like motherhood and apple pie, according
to Seth Goldsmith, director of quality assurance and process improvement.
It's an integral part of the entire operation and everyone is involved.
"All parts of the program work together to make it function as well
as it does," Goldsmith says about Dole's comprehensive food safety
program. "We have a lot of discipline. Our prerequisite programs,
in terms of the Good Agricultural Practices, as well as our sanitation
program are fundamental to an effective HACCP plan.
"In terms of staffing our program, it's not just
the quality staff, it's everybody in the plant. This plant is one of the
few places I know in any industry where, instead of 'us and them,' it's
WE in capital letters. Everybody in the plant is focused on quality and
safety."
Food safety begins in the field. Dole growers maintain
high standards of quality in the form of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs)
for field sanitation, fertilizer application and pesticide usage, according
to Belinda Platts, one of Dole's agricultural managers.
Everyone involved with growing Dole vegetables must adhere
to strict guidelines for field sanitation and safety. They must be trained
in personal hygiene involving hand washing techniques and use of toilet
facilities. Proper toilet facilities must be available for all field personnel,
along with hand washing stations with potable water for drinking. There
are also guidelines for cleaning and maintenance of harvest equipment
as well as for the use of agricultural supplies. Workers who handle pesticides
must receive proper safety training and follow all federal guidelines
for worker protection.
Starting in the Field
Dole growers must also follow GAPs for application of soil amendments
and fertilizer. Soil amendments applied to fields include gypsum and lime
to help improve water penetration and soil pH. Incorporating crop residue,
compost or grape pomace into the field helps increase the organic matter
of the soil.
GAPs for pesticides include making applications only when needed and timing
the applications without limiting other farming practices. Growers must
have written recommendations from licensed pest control advisors, permits
for application, and a qualified applicator or licensed pest control operator
to make the application. A notice of intent to apply and a notice of completion
must be filed and notices of completion must be posted for workers. The
field must also be posted to prohibit entry until the re-entry interval
has expired. Finally, crops can only be harvested after the pre-harvest
interval specified by EPA has elapsed.
"These Good Agricultural Practices are basically
the building blocks of our program," says Mahipal Kunduru, Dole's
director of food safety. "We want to prevent contamination from happening
in the first place. It's a preventive program, instead of being a reactive
type of system."
In the interest of consumer safety and to monitor the
effectiveness of its program, Dole Fresh Vegetables has been testing commodities
for pesticide residues since 1988, according to Kunduru.
Residue Testing Program
"It's a huge program," he reports. "All growers and all
commodities are tested at random throughout the year. The testing and
analysis is done by an outside, accredited lab. Growers don't know when
their fields are going to be subjected to the random testing."
With the agricultural managers in the field, monitoring all phases of
production, Goldsmith says Dole has a high degree of control over the
raw material used to make Dole salads and other fresh-cut vegetables.
The company currently produces more than 100 SKUs at its $28 million processing
facility, turning out a daily average of 100,000 cartons of packaged salads
and other items six days a week. Products are made to order and more than
60 percent of the day's production is shipped out the same day it is packaged.
"Definitely our sourcing is one of our strengths,"
Goldsmith reasons. "We're harvesting a total of about a hundred acres
a day, but the good news for us is that most of the primary supply ingredients
are things we have carton business in as well. It allows us some flexibility
in selecting the material we need for both businesses. There is certain
lettuce we can use for salad that makes good salad and certain lettuce
that is appropriate for the carton market. We select the best lettuce
for each application."
After harvesting, bins of lettuce arrive by truck at Dole's
award winning 258,000-square-foot plant where receiving inspectors weight
it, inspect it and take its temperature. Cooling is the first priority
after that, according to Goldsmith.
Keeping Product Cold
"We'll typically cool product depending on how hot it comes in and
how soon we're going to use it," he explains. "If harvesting
is done early in the morning, there probably won't be much field heat."
After cooling, bin dumpers gently roll product into hoppers that feed
the trim lines where production personnel visually inspect lettuce and
manually trim it, removing defects and field debris. Waste from these
lines is removed via pneumatic conveyors at rates up to 40,000 pounds
per hour directly to the waste press for composting.
Trimmed lettuce then passes through cutting machines and
moves ahead to the triple-wash system where chlorination, water temperature
and product dwell times are tightly monitored.
"We have two critical control points in our HACCP
program," according to Kunduru. "One is the chlorine in the
wash water and the second one is metal detection. Chlorine is continuously
monitored in real time whenever the plant is in production. It is also
verified by manual chemical analysis once per shift, according to our
plan. And all our packaging lines have metal detectors."
Wash water temperature is also crucial, according to Goldsmith.
He says while chlorination reduces bacteria counts on the product, cold
water helps reduce the respiration rate of lettuce after it has been cut,
significantly protecting shelf life. There are built-in safeguards throughout
the processing facility and if wash water temperature increases beyond
a certain level, alarms alert plant personnel to correct the problem.
Real-time Monitoring
"We use full-time, real-time controls," Goldsmith points out.
"We run our wash system at refrigerated temperatures. When the water
starts to warm up, a flashing light will start—a visual alarm. As
it goes out of range, it will turn red and stay on until people see it."
Dole also closely monitors air temperature in the plant, according to
Goldsmith. Air pressure is greatest in the processing/packaging area,
creating positive airflow from critical areas inside the plant to outer
areas. Air forced into the processing/packaging area is filtered using
HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filters that are 99.97 percent
effective for particles one micron or less in size to create a clean-room
atmosphere. Completed in 1994, the plant was designed to isolate all work
areas from the clean processing/packaging area to prevent potential contamination
from outside sources.
After the wash step, product is dewatered, then dried
in centrifuges before moving to elevators that take it to computerized
combination scales that feed vertical form/fill/seal machines.
The quality assurance team includes four supervisors,
one manager and a total staff of more than 40 people, according to Goldsmith.
Dole does not employ an in-house microbiological testing laboratory, choosing
instead to outsource to an independent laboratory. The company verifies
the effectiveness of its sanitation program with ATP bioluminescence methods.
Variety of Tests
Dole's comprehensive quality and food safety program encompasses a wide
variety of ongoing tests and inspections, including bag integrity checks,
visual inspections of package graphics presentation, evaluations of modified
atmosphere in bags, defect level checks, microbiological samples from
raw materials to finished product, microbiological sampling of water,
and environmental sampling performed at specific intervals. It's a massive
effort to monitor every aspect of the operation to be certain all products
remain well within specifications, according to Goldsmith.
"People come in and ask us what we do with all this information,"
he explains. "It all gets tabulated and reported on a bi-weekly and
monthly basis. There are specific quantitative goals on consumer satisfaction
and complaint rates. Quality performance is tied to compensation. It's
a wonderful incentive."
Dole's entire program is designed to find and remedy every
kind of product defect before a bag of salad reaches the consumer.
"If product doesn't meet the specifications, we have
an 800 number on the bag and people call when they're not happy,"
Goldsmith points out. "If we have defects, we want to know and fix
them first."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Designing
Sanitary HVAC Systems
Fresh Cut
November 2001
by Don Graham
Graham Sanitary Design Consulting, Ltd
"Airborne contamination is strongly suspected as
the cause of some pathogenic contamination." This statement, made
by FDA a few years ago, has turned out to be more fact than suspicion.
Due to the danger Air filtration, airflow, and turnovers per hour have
become some of the more important aspects of sanitary design in food processing
plants. These are also areas that, up until recently, have been given
scant attention. Unfortunately, it took the reported contamination of
hot dogs with Listeria to wake up processors as well as engineers and
designers of processing plants to the importance of good sanitary design
and operation of air handling systems. Today, we are designing facilities
with various levels of air handling and filtration, depending on the sensitivity
of the product being processed and the stage of processing.
What’s in the Air?
Depending on the area of the country, the following items can be in the
air in and around a food processing plant in varying percentages. The
items we must be concerned about keeping out of plant air are: Water,
Bacteria, Gases, Yeast, Dust, Mold, Chemicals, Pollen, Viruses. From a
food-borne illness standpoint, we are mostly concerned with bacteria,
viruses, yeast, and mold. The microorganisms (viruses, bacteria, yeast,
and mold) normally exist in air as passengers on dust and other dirt particles,
within water droplets, and, in rare cases, as isolated organisms. A heating,
ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system, correctly designed and
maintained, will keep the vast majority of these unwanted organisms out
of the facility, especially in food areas where the product has high microbial
sensitivity.
Contamination Sources
Fresh-cut produce products are susceptible to contamination from many
sources. Organisms such as Campylobacter jejuni, Listeria monocytogenes,
and Salmonella can be spread through the air due to lack of positive pressure
or adequate filtration. Although the specific Listeria contamination source
of the hot dogs causing the 1998 recall is inconclusive, Centers for Disease
Control (CDC) findings suggest the bacteria spread through contaminated
dust particles activated during replacement of a refrigeration unit in
the hot dog plant during a July 4th weekend renovation project.
In processing plants, the presence of airborne microbes
means one of two things: 1) microorganisms are coming from the product,
or 2) they are coming from other sources and may invade the product and
affect the ultimate quality and safety of the food when consumed. Other
sources could be an evaporator hanging on the ceiling or an air handling
system not properly maintained, cleaned, and sanitized, as well as lack
of control over the source of makeup air in the room.
Makeup air is one of the central issues in maintaining
clean airflow in the processing plant. Air pressure relationships between
processing, raw material preparation, packaging, warehousing, raw material
receipt, shipping, and the outside environment around the plant site are
also critical factors. The highest positive, filtered air pressure should
be where the product is last in touch with the environment. This is normally
the packaging area. In many plants the processing room and packaging area
are not in separate rooms so air pressure is equal. Air should flow from
processing/packaging to raw material preparation to raw material receipt
in one direction and should be positive to the outside. In the other direction,
air should flow from the processing/packaging area to the warehouse, to
shipping, and again be positive to the outside when doors are open. If
the HVAC system is not capable of maintaining this type of air pressure
relationship, then a processor has no control over the flow or quality
of air entering the facility.
Where Air You Flowin’?
As I travel around the country doing sanitary design audits in various
kinds of processing plants, finding air flowing in the wrong direction
is not uncommon. Many times new pieces of equipment are added that require
exhaust fans. These fans are installed in the ceiling or wall, but no
thought is given to replacing air being exhausted. Consequently, air in
the room is made up with air from less clean areas or through doors, cracks/crevices,
open windows, etc. One processor found finished product (just prior to
packaging) to be contaminated, but could not find the source of bacteria.
Investigation revealed recent installation of a piece of equipment that
called for a minimum of 3000 cfm of air to be exhausted from the processing
operation. No supply units were installed to replace the exhausted air.
Therefore, air was being drawn in from the box storage room, the raw material
preparation room, and from other sources, including the outside. Testing
in the room at the product level revealed high counts of pathogens in
the air. After installing a filtered air supply creating a positive pressure
of approximately 0.1 inch of water column, the air contamination ended.
Fresh-cut produce can be particularly susceptible to airborne
pathogens since there is no kill step in the process, especially after
the washing operation. The recommended criteria to take into account when
designing or renovating and preventing or solving air contamination problems
in the plant are as follows:
All incoming air should be passed through filters at least
95% efficient at 5 microns.
If the product is highly sensitive after processing and prior to packaging,
it should be exposed to spot HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air), which
filters at 99.97 % efficiency at 1 micron or less.
Filtered air should flow from the clean areas to progressively dirty areas
of the plant and should be positive to the outside.
The only room in the plant that should exhibit negative air pressure is
the employee rest rooms. Air should flow into the rest rooms from an outside
hallway or anteroom. Rest rooms should have an exhaust fan exhausting
room air outside the plant, either through roof or wall vents. Rest room
doors should not open into process areas.
Refrigerated processing rooms should have a minimum of six complete air
turnovers per hour. To avoid dumping refrigerated air each time, it should
be recirculated through a filtered unit with 5-10 percent makeup or whatever
is required to maintain positive air pressure in the room.
In high humidity cold rooms consider a system of humidity control. It
has been shown that clean, dry, cold air will reduce counts in the air
as well as on the product itself.
Refrigerated air handling units should be equipped to allow warm air into
the cold process area during cleanup to prevent fog and condensate formation
during the sanitation shift.
All processing plants should be equipped with an air tester to monitor
airborne microbial levels. Action limits should be developed.
Maintenance should monitor air test results to be sure air filters are
functioning correctly and the filter replacement schedule is adequate.
If compressed air is used to contact product or to open packaging (such
as poly bags), there should be a point-of-use filter installed. The filter
should be preceded with a moisture trap and an oil trap. It should be
99.97 % efficient at 0.5 microns. Compressed air and compressed air lines
are often contaminated due to condensate formation or moisture entering
lines during cleanup.
Ceiling cooling units can also contribute to air contamination. All have
(or should have) condensate drip pans under the unit to catch moisture
condensing during defrost and cleanup. These pans should have a drain
leading to the floor and should be sloped to the drain so there is no
accumulation of water. Standing water in a condensate drip pan is an ideal
breeding place for Listeria monocytogenes. Many processors place a quaternary
ammonium or iodine block in the pans to provide continuous sanitizing
of any collected moisture. There is some speculation accumulated moisture
in drip pans could also harbor Legionnaires’ organisms. It is also
recommended that fins on condenser units should be stainless steel. Galvanized
fins will oxidize over time and will also react to cleaning solutions
and sanitizers.
If a facility has an evaporative cooler (swamp cooler)
pumping air into the plant, it, too, should be well sanitized to prevent
the growth of Legionnaires’ organisms. Usually a bromine-sanitizing
agent is used. Also consult the manufacturer of the unit for a recommended
chemical and proper procedure.
As a final recommendation: if any processors reading this
are planning to renovate a facility or an addition or to upgrade an HVAC
system, they should call in an experienced HVAC engineer. The engineer
should be familiar with food processing and inherent contamination problems
that can occur if an HVAC system is not engineered correctly. It will
be worth the expense.
Editor’s Note: Don Graham is a private consultant and can be reached
at Graham Sanitary Design & Consulting, Ltd., 14318 Aitken Hill Court,
Chesterfield, MO 63017, phone: (314) 878-5333.
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
Good
Sanitation Enhances Pest Control
Fresh Cut
November 2001
Fresh-cut processors who practice sufficient in-plant
cleaning and sanitation and also dispose of processing waste in a timely
fashion will not experience as many problems with insects and rodents
because they have minimized environmental conditions that attract these
pests. Dr. Zia Siddiqi of Orkin Exterminating Co. says his firm is able
to reduce the amount of actual pesticide applications necessary to control
insects as well as to cut down the need for traps and other control measures
for rodents if processors are doing a good job cleaning and sanitizing
their plants.
"The key thing these days is integrated pest management," Siddiqi
says. "You want to make sure nothing gets into your product. We are
in the exterminating business and we love to come and treat, but why should
we have to if we can make recommendations that help improve control?"
Siddiqi says fruit flies and houseflies are the primary
insect pests of concern to fresh-cut processors. Fruit flies can include
a number of types of small flies that breed in decomposing vegetable matter.
While they are a common nuisance around food, they are not a major source
of pathogenic contamination.
"The critical thing with controlling fruit flies
is sanitation, sanitation and sanitation," Siddiqi explains. "It's
important what happens to the peels and the parts that are not being used
but are discarded. How soon do they leave the processing area? Where do
they go? And how far do they go away from the plant?
Cutting Pesticide Use
"So, looking at a situation, our people can make recommendations
about how frequently something has to be cleaned or hosed down. If they
can do that, then we don't need to apply as much pesticide. If there is
a problem and you want to get rid of that problem at this particular moment,
of course, the insecticide application becomes the choice.
"It also brings with it a lot of challenges. You need to decontaminate
after the spraying is done. You need to hose everything down before the
next processing begins. Generally you cannot do this type of application
while the plant is in operation."
Siddiqi uses one of Orkin's customers as an example of
the effectiveness of integrated pest management. The company is a juice
manufacturer that was using "enormous amounts of pesticide applications"
in their plants before calling Orkin for assistance.
"Pest control is not a short-term deal," Siddiqi
asserts. "It's a long-term deal. We have made more recommendations
on sanitation and housekeeping than on pesticide applications. Right now,
after the seventh year, their pesticide applications are about 5 percent
of what they were seven years ago. We don't get any insects in the juice,
either. We have a full-time person at one of their locations and he uses
a lot of flytraps, air curtains, screens and things like that instead
of pesticides."
A Long-term Approach
Taking a long-term approach to pest control enables Orkin and its customers
to monitor insect or rodent pressure at all times of the year and be more
selective with the use of pesticide applications. Since it is impossible
to control what happens on adjoining property, monitoring pest pressure
enables the company to determine the worst times of the year and take
adequate measures for control.
"Mice or rats will always come from adjoining places because they
smell food," he continues. "We need to stop them from getting
into the building and that's where the integrated pest management comes
in. We emphasize inspections, monitoring and record keeping. It makes
us more proactive rather than being reactive."
In addition to fruit flies, houseflies can be a problem
for processors who don't understand the need to remove processing waste
as soon as possible after the run, according to Siddiqi. Unlike fruit
flies, houseflies are a source of bacterial contamination. Siddiqi says
when the feet of houseflies are magnified 600 times, they appear like
a pin cushion with an enormous capacity for carrying a microbial load.
To illustrate how houseflies can become a problem, he
uses the example of another customer that was having a massive fly problem
simply because processing waste was being piled too close to the outside
of the plant.
"When we went there, they were just dumping the peels
outside the four walls," he recalls. "There were piles and piles
of these peelings and they wanted us to get rid of the flies. The wall
on that side of the plant was loaded with flies. You couldn't see the
color of the wall there were so many flies sitting on it.
Getting Garbage Out
"They thought because the peelings had left their plant this material
was out and life was good. But it was not out of their compound and this
caused an enormous fly population. We started spraying right away, but
then we made some recommendations about moving the peelings."
The company was unable to remove peelings from its property for a certain
period of time and Orkin recommended simply moving the pile farther away
from the building until they could be removed. Siddiqi says the company
now has a garbage company that removes its peelings every three to four
days. Garbage removal at short intervals helps break the life cycle of
the housefly. Garbage bins should be hosed down every three to four days,
especially in the summer, to remove any maggots that may have moved out
of the garbage onto the walls of the bin to pupate and hatch. Now that
the company has implemented Orkin's recommendations, the flies are under
control and no pesticide applications are needed.
"If you can get rid of the food supply, then you've
solved the problem," he explains. "Unfortunately, when you look
at a food processor, their aim is to increase production and get the shipment
out the door. The sooner they do that, the more money they make. In that
process, sometimes we forget we have to get rid of the pests, too. That
has to become an integral part of the operation."
Controlling Rodents
In the case of rodents, the best defense is to have a tightly sealed building
that prevents them from entering as much as possible, according to Siddiqi,
who says mice, Norway rats and roof rats are the most common pests that
create problems for processing plants.
"Typically, rats and mice are living outside the facility,"
he explains. "They come inside typically for food and water. It is
best to build them out, making sure there are no cracks and crevices,
no holes where utility pipes go out of the building. All air vents should
be screened. You need to make sure everything is sealed and that tree
branches are not touching the roof of the building. Roof rats can go from
trees onto buildings."
Doors should be able to seal properly when they are shut
to protect against rodents, according to Siddiqi. It is best to determine
that no light can be seen through the door when it is shut.
"Door sweeps are a very common maintenance issue
and often get neglected," he says. "If I can run a pen through
the door, then I can guarantee you that a mouse can go through that door.
If the hole is a little bigger than a dime to the size of a quarter, then
a rat will get through it. These animals don't need a big hole. All they
need to do is get their head through a hole and their body will pass through,
too."
Stopping Rodents Outside
Bait stations spaced at intervals along the perimeter of the property
and immediately around the building are effective in keeping rodents out
of buildings. They can be spaced 50 to 70 feet apart, according to Siddiqi.
He recommends putting bait stations no closer than 10 feet from doors
along the walls of the building.
A thorough inspection using ultraviolet light can determine the extent
of a rodent problem. Siddiqi says mice can live in cold storage units,
their fur becoming thicker to adapt to the colder environment. He says
it is often helpful to put traps inside the building to monitor for rodents.
"For all these pests, insects and rodents, coming
back to our philosophy of proper sanitation in the pest control business,
it's a process with several steps," Siddiqi adds. "First we
try to build the pests out. Then, if they can get into the building, make
the environment hostile for them with heating, air conditioning and things
like that. Then sanitation is important. Even if a bug gets into the plant,
if there is no food for it, it is doing to die. Once you have built them
out, starved them out and made the environment hostile for them, it is
then much easier to kill them. It's typical Integrated Pest Management
101."
© 2003 Columbia Publishing
>>
Return to top
Vegetables
à la the Processor's Processor
Fresh Cut
December 2001
SANTA MARIA, Calif. - FreshKist Produce LLC is trimming fresh vegetables
in the field so fresh-cut processors can trim costs out of their business.
Founded just last year by six major California growers,
the new produce supplier is big enough to supply high volumes to customers
year-round but still flexible enough to harvest lettuce, broccoli or cauliflower
with an extra touch to save processors a few steps in their plants.
Company owners A&A Farming, Teixeira Farms Inc., Gold
Coast Packing Co. Inc., and PacFresh Produce Inc. in Santa Maria, have
combined with Byrd Farms in Guadalupe and Church Brothers LLC in Salinas
to plant, on average, 2.3 crops per year on a total of about 15,000 acres
of land. That means FreshKist has a land base of more than 30,000 acres
on which to grow crops for its customers.
If bigger is better in this era of consolidation, then
FreshKist is on the right track, putting about 1,600 workers in the field
to harvest an average of 100 acres of vegetables daily. Since establishing
FreshKist in April 2000, the company has grown from an initial volume
of about 15 million carton equivalents to a projected 25 million this
year. That's an increase of about 67 percent. Based on current size and
volume, FreshKist now ranks among the top vegetable suppliers in the country,
according to Tom Lathos, director of marketing for the new company.
Better Customer Service
"In April of 2000, these growers were doing their own marketing and
shipping. They formed FreshKist to better serve all their customers on
an annual basis and answer the changing marketplace we see today,"
Lathos explains. "The first reason they combined was due to the increased
amount of consolidation in the marketing area.
"Secondly, they wanted to bring a sizable amount of volume on an
annual basis to each and every one of their customers in all channels
of the industry. And finally, they wanted to take advantage of a growing
region in the Santa Maria Valley that historically had not really attempted
to meet the changing marketplace. The quality and logistics for this region
are just outstanding for supplying the industry with year-round product.
If you look in the trade publications or even in the USDA marketing surveys,
Santa Maria isn't even listed as a lettuce supplier, yet on a weekly basis,
we're one of the top five areas in the country.
"I think we've already seen a real positive response
from our customer base. They're very interested in the fact that we are
a land-based, grower-owned company. We are able to cater more to their
packaging concepts, their needs and their ideas. Because our growers are
also our owners, whatever a customer wants is just a phone call away.
"We're here to market our growers' crops and we can
act quickly, whatever situation presents itself. We're not working through
a board or some other bureaucracy."
In addition to being big and responsive, FreshKist's grower-owners
were already "processor-oriented" when they consolidated. They're
continuing that focus as a much larger company able to provide higher
volumes.
Processor Orientation
"About 50 percent of our entire business goes to fresh-cut processors,"
Lathos explains. "Lisa Dias is the one who handles all those customers."
Gary Anthony, FreshKist production manager, elaborates, "We have
a land base and we have consistent quality. It's something the processor
can count on every day. One of the things processors look for is somebody
who will actually do what they say they'll do. We can deliver consistent
quality on a daily basis and they are our priority customers. I'd say
that's probably the reason we're as successful as we are."
In addition to whole vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower,
cabbage, celery, iceberg and romaine, FreshKist harvesting crews also
turn out cored lettuce and broccoli florets especially for processors,
according to Anthony.
Perhaps the most essential element in providing pre-cut
items to processors is speed, especially in establishing the cold chain
as quickly as possible after harvest and then maintaining it strictly
throughout the journey from field to processing line, according to Lathos.
"Any time you start doing pre-processing in the field,
you're obviously cutting into the life of that product," the marketing
director reasons. "Because of our logistics with respect to our location
around our coolers and the ground that we are farming around our coolers,
we're able to maintain the logistics chain and the cold chain so we don't
reduce the shelf life of that pre-processed product. In Santa Maria, for
instance, our ground is within 10 minutes of our cooler."
The sheer size of the FreshKist operation is an advantage
in terms of providing freshness, quality and timely deliveries to customers,
adds Lisa Dias.
Speed Means Freshness
"With our program being as large as it is, the products we're harvesting
every day with the number of crews we have in the field means our product
is always fresh," she asserts. "It's faster for the processor."
Lathos says FreshKist is one of the top suppliers of lettuce for processing
in the nation, supplying iceberg to the nation's major processors of packaged
salads in the both the western and central United States. He says total
iceberg volume is about 5 million pounds a week.
"Seventy percent of that is cored," according
to Lisa. "Demand for cored lettuce has been increasing immensely
within the last year and we have implemented gassing at all our coolers.
Just getting the product into the cooler as rapidly as possible and getting
it gassed right away is so critical."
When speed is important, FreshKist is flexible enough
to deliver, especially if it means taking costs out of the system for
the processor, according to Anthony.
"We can do whatever a processor asks us to do,"
he stresses. "We have a lot of years of experience and we can move
very quickly. If a processor comes to us and asks for something, we can
do it in a very short period of time. For instance, one of the major processors
we're dealing with now has been doing all their own broccoli florets in
the plant, but we're going to be doing those in the field for them. The
whole process has taken only about three months from concept to practice."
New Romaine Pack
In the same cost-cutting vein, FreshKist has also improved romaine packaging
for its processor customers, eliminating the need for wax cartons, says
Lisa.
"We provide quite a bit of romaine to processors," she reports.
"And we cater to their needs as far as packaging. We've put a liner
in a dry box that is helpful for workman's compensation on the other end
because they don't have a wet floor. We call it a climate control pack
and the processors find they get a profound difference in usable product
with it.
"It's a large box, so they have less handling than
on a full-size bin such as for lettuce. It gives them a much more usable
product because there isn't so much damage in shipping."
Anthony agrees, "They're getting better yields with
the smaller unit. There is less mechanical damage and any time you can
put the atmosphere around the product and keep it like that, the quality
and shelf life are going to increase exponentially. And we've also been
able to reduce their disposal costs with the dry carton because they don't
have to deal with wax. It's been extremely beneficial in some of the more
sensitive areas of Canada."
Of course, food safety is a primary concern in all phases
of the FreshKist operation, especially when pre-processing items in the
field. Anthony says the company's HACCP program is a critical part of
the mix when fresh-cut processors begin delegating process steps to FreshKist
harvesting crews. That's why the vegetable marketer has about a dozen
quality assurance managers in the field and all harvest personnel receive
training in personal hygiene and food safety. For third party auditing,
FreshKist turns to regular inspections from the American Institute of
Baking and Primuslabs.com.
Third Party Audits
"Our coolers are AIB certified or Primus certified and we've received
superior ratings from both during the last two years," Anthony explains.
"Every field foreman and crew is audited and so forth on down the
chain. Just because of our size and the nature of our business, we pretty
much have someone from Primus somewhere on one of our ranches, in one
of our coolers or with one of our harvest | 