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GOURMET NEWS APRIL 2015 www.gourmetnews.com SUPPLIER BUSINESS 1 1 Polska Foods Continued from PAGE 1 to the East Coast, to delis where there were lines out the door." But none of those pierogi compared to the ones made by her grandmother-in-law in Poland with thin delicate dough and stuffed with savory fill- ings. So finally, the Piszczeks decided that they were just going to have to learn how to make their own. They asked Piszczek's grandmother for her recipes. "We started out making it just for ourselves, but when you make pierogi, you make a lot and you want to share them," McQueen-Piszczek says. Dinner parties with friends turned into requests from friends and family mem- bers for a chance to buy the pierogi for their own tables, and then that turned into sales at local farmers markets and then a sale to the local Whole Foods market. "We just kept taking one step after the other, and then one day you wake up and think, Wow, we've got a whole company," Mc- Queen-Piszczek says. It took a year after the Piszczeks decided to make the pierogi for the farmers market to find the right ingredients. "We visited the farms and the plants of all ingredient providers to guarantee quality and authen- ticity. Some of the ingredients, such as the cheese, had to be custom made to mimic the qual- ity you find in Poland," Mc- Queen-Piszczek says. "Today we work with one of the only local or- ganic mills in the Bay Area. Start- ing with excep- tional ingredients is essential to gourmet pierogi, and all our pierogi are made fresh and flash frozen to preserve the flavor, texture, and nutrients." The Potato Cheese and Mushroom Cab- bage Sauerkraut Pierogi were the first on the market. The Savory Beef & Pork Pierogi were added later because customers were asking for it, and the Organic Spinach & Feta Pierogi were added to the line as a more Americanized version of the tradi- tional dish. "You see Spinach Feta pierogi in Poland today, but it's not a flavor from many generations ago," McQueen- Piszczek says. The Potato Cheese Pierogi are certified or- ganic and use hand- crafted farmers cheese. The filling in- cludes organic pota- toes, organic caramelized onions, whole grain organic millet, roasted garlic, and fresh herbs. McQueen- Piszczek says that she occasionally gets questions about whether the inclusion of millet in the pierogi fill- ing is quite au- thentic, but it's true to the tradi- tional Old World recipes from past generations. "The millet gives it more fiber and also has a nutty flavor. It's a very old, ancient grain, and a lot of pierogi just had millet in them. It was used before potatoes," she says. There's a whole-wheat version and one made with unbleached, organic wheat flour. Mushroom Cabbage Pierogi with Sauer- kraut are made with a recipe that's several centuries old and is the kind of pierogi that Poles eat during the Wigilia Christmas Eve vigil, when traditionally, people didn't eat meat while they waited for Christmas Day. "It's the tradition of giving something up in order to gain. Religious tradition has changed, but this flavor is still very popular year round," McQueen-Piszczek says. "This recipe is from our family in Poland, from many generations of eating at Christ- mas-time. When Polish natives try this fla- vor for the first time, you can see in their facial expressions that this is the way their grandmother made it, and many tell us they haven't had it for 20-plus years. We get that a lot." They're vegan, and raw, fermented gour- met sauerkraut is the key ingredient, Mc- Queen-Piszczek says. " The second key is a slow cooking process where you caramelize the onions, and slowly cook all the herbs and vegetables together for hours, creating a complex, well-balanced flavor. We make pierogi just like home – no short cuts in our processing." The Organic Spinach Feta Pierogi are award-winning and vegetarian, made from organic spinach, organic caramelized onions, portabello mushrooms, roasted red bell peppers and feta cheese in a whole- wheat organic dough. They offer 16 grams of whole grains per serving. Savory Beef & Pork Pierogi are made with organic white flour, hormone- and antibiotic-free mini- mally processed beef round and pork along with caramelized onions, whole-grain or- ganic buckwheat, crimini mushrooms, roasted garlic, smoky paprika, spicy pep- pers and herbs in a tomato base. "You al- most don't need a topping on the beef and pork ones," McQueen-Piszczek says. "We use the best-sourced meats and ingredients that you can get." GN Smithfield Foods Announces New Structure, Appointments Smithfield Foods Inc. announced a re- alignment of its organization and key sen- ior management appointments that unify all of its independent operating compa- nies, brands, marketing, and more than 48,000 employees around the world under one corporate umbrella to acceler- ate the company's growth and further its mission of providing "Good food. Re- sponsibly." Smithfield's business opera- tions will now be organized in alignment with the company's customers and man- aged as four divisions – Packaged Meats, Fresh Pork, Hog Production and Interna- tional. "We are thrilled to launch this new structure that better supports our people, brands and customers while positioning Smithfield to take advantage of opportu- nities for growth," said C. Larry Pope, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Moving to a centralized structure and bringing our resources and brands to- gether into these four operating divisions enables us to best utilize management tal- ent across the company and maintain our commitment to serving our customers as we always have, while more effectively providing our full array of products. Fur- ther, we are excited about the potential to leverage marketing programs and spon- sorships, such as our involvement in NASCAR, across all of our brands." Following the realignment, the Packaged Meats Division will include all of the com- pany's packaged meats business previously operated under Smithfield Farmland and John Morrell Food Group within a single, cohesive division. The company's Fresh Pork division will encompass the former Smithfield Farmland fresh pork operations, and the company's hog production and in- ternational businesses will retain their ex- isting structure and leadership while operating under the new divisional struc- ture. In connection with the new divisional operating structure and related consolida- tion of certain business functions, Smith- field also announced several key senior management appointments. Kenneth M. Sullivan will assume the title of Executive Vice President, in addition to his current role as Smithfield's Chief Financial Officer, and will oversee consolidated finance, ad- ministrative and support services. Joseph B. Sebring has been appointed President, Packaged Meats Division. He most recently served as President of Smithfield's John Morrell Food Group, which he joined in 1994. Scott Saunders has been promoted to President, Fresh Pork Division. Saunders was previously Chief Financial Officer of Smithfield's John Morrell Food Group since 2008. For more information, visit www .smithfieldfoods.com and www.smithfield commitments.com. GN Mondelez International Acquires Enjoy Life Foods Mondelez International has acquired Enjoy Life Foods, a private U.S. snacking com- pany and the market-leading brand in the fast-growing "free from" segment. Enjoy Life offers more than 40 great-tasting prod- ucts, including cookies, chocolate, snack bars, and savory snacks that are allergy- friendly and gluten-free. Enjoy Life's products are free from the eight most common allergens – wheat, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, egg, soy, fish and shellfish – which together account for about 90 percent of all food allergies. "As we focus on continuing to drive growth in snacking, the acquisition of Enjoy Life Foods is a great strategic fit for us," said Mark Clouse, Chief Growth Officer at Mondelez International. "The Enjoy Life brand expands our portfolio into faster growing, on-trend, 'better for-you' areas and provides an excellent platform to make these delicious offerings available to con- sumers with 'free-from' needs or who are simply looking for healthy-lifestyle options, both in the United States and beyond." The $12 billion "free-from" market in the United States is large and growing at strong double-digit rates, driven by an increasing incidence of food allergies and food intol- erances as well as consumers adopting "free-from" as a healthy-lifestyle option. Mondelez International will operate Enjoy Life Foods as a separate, wholly owned subsidiary to continue to nurture its entrepreneurial spirit, but will provide back-office support and access to its global resources. Mondelez also announced the appoint- ment of Roberto Marques as Executive Vice President and President, North America. Most recently Company Group Chairman, Consumer North America at Johnson & Johnson, Marques will be responsible for Mondel z's $7 billion business in the United States and Canada. For more information, visit www .mondelezinternational.com and www.enjoy lifefoods.com. GN

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