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www.gourmetnews.com n JUNE 2019 GOURMET NEWS 8 6 Two Good Food Awards for Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese The first cheese made by Point Reyes Farmstead, the iconic Original Blue, along with the company's newest cheese, traditional Gouda, both won prestigious Good Food Awards at this year 's gala event in San Francisco on January 11. Point Reyes Farmstead, now in its 18th year, was the only recipient in the cheese category to garner two of the winning recognitions. After receiving the awards, Point Reyes' Head Cheese Maker, Kuba Hemmerling, en- thusiastically thanked his team for their com- mitment and hard work. "Everyone is so committed. We continue to work hard to ex- ceed the quality expectations of our cus- tomers. These awards are testament to our continued focus on making the best cheese possible." An annual recognition program now in its ninth year, the Good Food Awards cele- brates American food and drink crafters who demonstrate a commitment to creating tasty, authentic and responsible products and in doing so, bettering our nation's food system. Each of the 2019 winners demon- strates both a mastery of their craft and a commitment to maintaining exceptionally high social and environmental standards in their work. Nori Chips Coming from gimMe Snacks By Lorrie Baumann gimMe Snacks gave Natural Products Expo West attendees a chance to weigh in with their thoughts about the company's plans to launch a new Nori Chip, a Japanese-style seaweed tempura chip. gimMe Snacks handed out samples of the new chips from its booth, and based on the response, the company plans to launch the product onto the American market sometime in the sec- ond half of this year, according to Steve Broad, the company's Chief Executive Of- ficer and Annie Chun, company co- Founder. At launch, the company will offer at least a couple of different flavors of Nori Chips. Those are now being finalized, Chun said. "We're really taking our time to make sure that we can go to market with more premium and healthy attributes and to be more healthy," she added. "I think our calorie count will be better also." Meanwhile, gimMe Snacks has also launched its new premium-grade Sushi Nori – sushi-grade nori sheets in half-size sheets that will make it easier to handle for those who are making their own hand rolls. The Sushi Nori will be shipping this summer in packages of 30 half-sheets that will retail for $5.99. The new Nori Chip will be a tempura-style snack cooked in avocado oil. The tempura batter is made with cassava flour, so it'll be, not just gluten free, but entirely grain free and therefore keto-friendly, Broad said. Packaging is still in development, but the company is considering gusseted bags in two sizes – one a 45-ounce package that will re- tail for around $3.99 and a single-serving 20- gram package that will retail for about $1.99. Like all gimMe Snacks products, the pack- aging will attest that the product is certified non-GMO by the Non-GMO Project. Annie Chun is well known to the natural foods community as the co-Founder along with her husband, Steve Broad, of the Annie Chun's brand of all-nat- ural pan-Asian foods. She was born in Korea and came to the U.S. in 1976. When the couple decided to start a food company in 1991, they thought about spe- cializing in Korean dishes, but they quickly realized that American consumers weren't yet very familiar with Korean cuisine, so Annie Chun's became a brand of pan-Asian cuisine made with healthy ingredients in a convenient format. After they sold that company, she and Broad decided that they still wanted to be in the food business. "I wanted to do something that would make Korea very proud," Chun said. The two of them recalled their expertise in making flavored seaweed snacks for Annie Chun's and decided that was a good place to start at gimMe Snacks. "That was the first time in seaweed snack history. We were the first to make seaweed snack flavors," Chun said. With that expe- rience as a starting point, the pair began thinking about ways they might be able to elevate the category for their new ven- ture. "It wasn't easy; it took a while," Chun said. "We created the category of organic seaweed. Now organic seaweed is very popular in Korea and in the U.S. That was my goal." Seaweed is an important component of both Japanese and Korean cuisine, but while Korean cooks typically serve it as a veg- etable side dish, Japanese cooks often pre- pare it as a tempura. "It's super-addictive because it's savory; it has umami. It's light and has a crunch. I wanted to do this but add a little more healthy attributes," Chun said. So while she and Broad decided to emu- late the Japanese tempura tradition for their gimMe Snacks Nori Chip, they also chose to use avocado oil for a crunch that's also light and airy, organic seaweed and cassava flour to keep it grain free. New Organic Fraud Prevention Solutions Program The Organic Trade Association has launched an Organic Fraud Prevention Solutions pro- gram. Through this program, organic busi- nesses may now voluntarily pre-enroll in a program to help minimize or eliminate or- ganic fraud both inside and outside of the United States. The new program is based on the Organic Trade Association's tested and completed "Organic Fraud Prevention Guide," which provides businesses engaged in organic trade with a risk-based process for developing and implementing organic fraud mitigation measures. "Fraud in the global organic supply chain poses a significant threat to the integrity of the organic brand," said Laura Batcha, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of the Organic Trade Association. "For the past two years, the Organic Trade Association has prioritized significant time and resources into organic fraud prevention solutions. We are fighting fraud on many fronts, including through the 2018 Farm Bill and through pri- vate sector initiatives. The more companies that join this industry-driven program, the stronger the organic supply chain will be." The global organic market has been on a steady rise for more than two decades, and has never been bigger. It is now an almost $90 billion market, with the American or- ganic market alone accounting for close to $50 billion. Organic imports into the United States in 2017 totaled around $2.1 billion, up nearly 25 percent from the previous year. In recent years, however, investigations have revealed imported products fraudulently la- beled as organic, and gaps in the complex or- ganic supply chain. Organic Stakeholders Stepping Up Already, several organic companies have pre-enrolled in the program. These compa- nies participated in a three-month pilot proj- ect last year that tested the program at their operations. The businesses represent the en- tire organic supply chain, from farm to processor and a diverse range of products, services and commodities including fresh produce, grain, dairy, eggs, meat, beverages, packaged and prepared foods, fiber and tex- tiles, importers and consulting services. They include Global Organics Ltd., a handler/im- porter; Grain Millers Inc., which handles and processes grains; I Was Thinking, an im- porter/handler of grains, seeds, legumes and sweeteners. Organic ValleyCROPP Cooperative is also involved, as is the J.M. Smoker Company and Stonyfield, among others. Consulting firms Wolf, DiMatteo & Associates and Miles McEvoy, Lacewing LLC have also pre-enrolled in the program as Trusted Advi- sors, a category of professionals that may qualify and partner with Organic Fraud Pre- vention Solutions and work with enrolled companies to develop an Organic Fraud Pre- vention Plan. Trusted Advisors are experts in organic certification as well as in conducting vulnerability assessments and organic fraud mitigation plans. Organic Fraud Prevention Solutions estab- lishes a framework and formal process for businesses to create continuously improving internal programs for achieving organic in- tegrity throughout their associated supply chains. The program requires training, an or- ganic fraud vulnerability assessment and the development of an organic fraud prevention plan. After a company successfully registers with the Organic Trade Association with the implementation of the organic fraud preven- tion plan, the company will be considered "Organic Fraud Prevention Enrolled." The enrollment process is integrated into the or- ganic certification cycle and maintained an- nually. The program is not a certification or ver- ification program nor is it a product label. It is a quality assurance program designed to complement and reinforce U.S. Depart- ment of Agriculture's organic standards and the work of the accredited certifying agencies. "Everyone plays a role in preventing or- ganic fraud," said Gwendolyn Wyard, Vice President of Regulatory & Technical Affairs for the Organic Trade Association and staff coordinator for the association's Global Or- ganic Supply Chain Integrity (GOSCI) Task Force, the 48-member task force formed two years ago to develop the fraud prevention program. "It is critical that organic busi- nesses have robust systems and measures in place that adequately support the promise of providing organic products that people can trust." Enrollment Eligibility To pre-enroll, a company must be an Organic Trade Association member and either certi- fied organic or listed with a USDA-recog- nized Material Review Organization such as OMRI (Organic Material Review Institute). Eligible operations include farmers, han- dlers, processors, distributors, traders, retail- ers and input manufacturers. There are also opportunities for accredited certifiers, con- sultants and advisors that would like to part- ner in the program. Pre-enrollment initiates the process, and signs the eligible company up for the first offered training that will take place in late summer or early fall. Kashi by Kids Super Food Bites Kashi has introduced its second product in the Kashi by Kids line: Kashi by Kids Or- ganic Super Food Bites, made for kids, by kids. The soft-baked snack bites are made with superfood ingredients and a tasty berry or Fair-Trade cocoa and chocolate blend fill- ing, providing layers of taste, texture and plant-based nourishment. Just like the rest of the Kashi by Kids line, Kashi collaborated with the Kashi Crew – a group of Gen Z leaders who share Kashi's desire to make food with a positive impact – to co-create these new foods. The Organic Super Food Bites are also made without peanuts, making them a school safe snacking option. The Kashi by Kids Or- ganic Super Food Bites are also USDA-cer- tified organic and made without artificial preservatives or color. For more information, call 877.747.2467 or go to www.kashibykids.com.

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