Fresh Cut Magazine

Potato processor made the choice to go green

There’s no set definition for sustainability, although a number of organizations are working on certifiable definitions. In agriculture, it can mean reducing pesticides or eliminating leeching and runoff. In a fresh-cut plant, it can mean reducing waste in packaging or water use. Sustainability can also relate to the community a business is in – paying living wages or supporting local community groups. But at Keystone Potato Products and its owners, nearly every activity relates back to sustainable practices. Sterman-Masser is a Pennsylvania potato-growing operation representing eight generations and more than 5,000 acres. The company, under the leadership of Keith Masser, grows primarily fresh-market potatoes and ships more than 5,000 loads annually. Sterman Masser is the largest of 60 shareholders of Keystone Potato Products, which recently completed a fresh-cut and processing facility that was built around sustainability. On the farming side, the growers use integrated pest management (IPM)…  » Read more

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The Best Risk Communication

Every food manufacturing company should have a risk communication plan that can be accessed quickly in the event a product sickens or kills customers. Every crisis management training course will provide good examples of risk communication – companies that addressed the problem in an open, honest manner. Maple Leaf Foods, a Canadian meat processor whose Toronto plant was implicated in a listeriosis outbreak in August, will likely be studied as an example of good crisis communication in public relations classes. The company issued a voluntary recall when a test from its plant came back positive for listeria monocytogenes, and released the results of its findings when two slicing machines tested positive for the pathogen after being disassembled. Cleaning regimens were strictly followed, but the pathogen was hiding deep within the machines – of which there were 14 within that one plant. Deconstructing the events of an outbreak…  » Read more

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Apple slices newest addition to Henderson’s Best Apples

When Allan Henderson began his entry into the world of fresh-cut apples slices in 2006, he found it a secretive place in which information was closely guarded and potential spies lurked everywhere. It wasn’t much like farming, where information flows fast and freely. Unable to obtain good information and advice, he traveled to Europe, saw what he was able to see, bought what he needed to buy, copied what he could and set up the Smile Factory in Hendersonville, N.C. Two years later, he’s like the other apple slice makers – secretive and suspicious that visitors might be spies from rival companies. But he grins while he admits to the charges. Like many others in the business, he gives tours where operations can be viewed through windows and from a distance, and no photographs are allowed. Like most processing lines, apple slice lines look pretty much alike…  » Read more

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Use of organic foods has leveled out, report finds

For fruit and vegetable growers, shifting from conventional to organic production methods would take time, expense and education and require major changes in the way they grow produce. So the obvious question for them is whether organics is a passing fad they can ignore or an enduring feature of the future, something they need to adopt. While consumption of organically produced foods has been increasing by 17 percent to 21 percent a year since 1997, organic food sales account for only 2.8 percent of total food sales, according to the Organic Trade Association. Total organic food sales grew from $5 billion to $16.7 billion in 2006, but that’s still a small part of the $600 billion total U.S. market for food. Will the growth continue? According to a new study from the Hartman Group released in July, there is evidence of a plateau in overall organic food sales…  » Read more

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