Oser Communications Group

BY LORRIE BAUMANN With a new President at the helm, the Specialty Food Associ- ation and its board of directors are taking a fresh look at how the Fancy Food Shows will evolve beyond the vibrant marketplace they already are into a vehicle that provides even greater service to the association's member com- panies, said Phil Kafarakis, who became the SFA's President in July. Kafarakis brings 35 years of experience in the food industry to the table. Most of that was ac- quired in sales and marketing po- sitions with food producers, but most recently, he was the Na- tional Restaurant Association's BY LORRIE BAUMANN The U.S. Department of Agricul- ture is getting ready to release new regulations intended to en- sure that consumers who buy or- ganic meat, eggs and dairy products are getting products that came from animals that were treated humanely. At stake is pos- sible adverse reaction from con- sumers who believe that organic certification already includes an- imal welfare rules – which it does – but who might be disappointed in the way that the rule is inter- preted and applied by various or- ganic producers. "This whole question of animal care and ani- Animal Welfare Rules at Stake for Organic Livestock Continued on PAGE 9 Continued on PAGE 8 Continued on PAGE 8 mal welfare is really important," said Organic Trade Association Executive Director Laura Batcha, who cited a recent study funded by OTA which found that among the randomly selected consumer families with children in the home who were surveyed, the Millennial generation takes into consideration, not just possible pesticide contamination, but also animal welfare, environmental benefits and possible exposure to antibiotics as criteria for their de- cisions to buy organic items. The organic industry wants to get ahead of that potential back- lash by clarifying the existing standards so that the rules mean the same thing to all organic farmers and can be enforced con- sistently and fairly across the na- tion. "What we've heard from the National Organic Program was that they're intending to finalize the rule by the end of the year," said Nate Lewis, the Organic Trade Association's Farm Policy Director. The proposed rule is opposed by the American Farm Bureau Federation, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, National Pork Producers Council and the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, which argue that the Organic Foods Pro- duction Act of 1990 doesn't give the USDA the authority to pre- scribe practices to promote ani- mal welfare. "With regard to livestock, the National Organic Program's coverage should be limited to feeding and medication practices," Indiana Pork Advo- cacy Coalition wrote in its com- ment on the proposed rule. "Animal welfare standards not re- lating to feeding and mediation are not within the scope of the [Organic Food Production] Act and should be removed from this proposed rule." Organic industry Natural Products Expo East Attracts Record Attendance New President Brings Fresh Ideas to Specialty Food Association Chief Innovation & Member Ad- vancement Officer, responsible for developing effective rela- tionships between the asso- ciation and its members. At the Specialty Food Associa- tion, he's eager to help the Fancy Food Shows evolve to incorporate a little bit more education and entertainment around the periphery of the show and to leverage the association's media and social platforms into relationships with member com- panies that extend beyond the twice-yearly experience of the Fancy Food Shows. The Specialty Food Association will be celebrating its 65th an- niversary in 2017, and its growth over those years is a reflection of the innovation and en- trepreneurship of indi- viduals who might have started their small food companies in a garage but who then went on to create new categories that have entered the mainstream of the American food industry, Kafarakis said. "The Fancy Food Show has been the guiding light of the organization and of the food industry in gen- eral," he said. He suggested that while the BY LORRIE BAUMANN The Food Marketing Institute has canceled its 2017 FMI Connect event and will instead spend the year figuring out how to put to- gether a 2018 event that will do a better job of meeting industry needs, FMI President and CEO Leslie Sarasin announced on Sep- tember 28. "At FMI we continue to believe that events designed to bring together the entire food re- tail industry and their partners for meaningful conversation, ed- ucation, exploration and net- working are desired and needed, Continued on PAGE 9 Food Marketing Institute Kills 2017 FMI Connect but we have concluded these gatherings should occur in a framework that differs from the current FMI Connect design," Sarasin said in a statement re- leased after the announcement. FMI will be discussing with its constituents how to design a pro- gram that will do a better job of meeting the needs of a rapidly evolving grocery industry, includ- ing help with addressing its tech- nology needs, without the long lead time that's necessary for the execution of a trade show and its exhibit hall. "We must design new occasions more appropriate to the faster paced rhythms of food retail, and in unique formats more attuned to the specific needs of our industry," Sarasin's statement reads. "With the elimi- nation of having to fill football fields' worth of space as 'The Show' configuration required, FMI will be liberated to explore new, focused and more flexible events." The United Fresh trade show, which had been set to take place BY LORRIE BAUMANN This year's Natural Products Expo East drew more than 28,000 at- tendees to Baltimore, Maryland, September 21-24 for the show's largest-ever exhibit space and at- tendee count. Natural Products Expo East is produced by New Hope Network and offers a yearly fall showcase for natural foods, beverages, supplements, health care and pet products. This year, the exhibit space was expanded to accommodate 450 first-time ex- hibitors and a total of more than 1,450 brands. Bob Lyon, Vice President of Sales for National Accounts for Reed's, Inc., which makes natural sodas including Reed's Ginger Products, Virgil's Rootbeer and Reed's Culture Club Kombucha, is a veteran of the show who no- ticed that he saw a better quality of potential buyers at his booth this year than he remembers from last year's show. Those buyers were drawn to his booth looking for healthier drinks, and they were asking questions about the amount of sugar that's added to the Reed's products and how much real ginger is included in the Reed's Ginger Products – they wanted to know for sure that the VOLUME 81, NUMBER 11 NOVEMBER 2016 n $7.00 NEWS & NOTES n Your Brand Tells a Story About You and Your Customer PAGE 3 RETAILER NEWS n Super Natural Food Center Celebrates 43 Years in Business PAGE 10 SUPPLIER NEWS n Vegetarian Food Producer Raises the Bar for its Employees PAGE 11 NATURALLY HEALTHY n Millennials Choose Organic PAGE 14 SUPPLEMENT n Holiday Update PAGE 19 News ..............................................6 Ad Index .......................................23 Calendar.......................................23 www.gourmetnews.com G OURMET N EWS T H E B U S I N E S S N E W S P A P E R F O R T H E G O U R M E T I N D U S T R Y ® VIRGINIA DINER: A Passion for Peanuts SEE PAGE 12 SUPPLEMENT: Holiday Update SEE PAGE 19 NATURALLY HEALTHY: Fermentation Fervor SEE PAGE 16

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