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GOURMET NEWS JUNE 2017 www.gourmetnews.com Supplier News SUPPLIER NEWS 1 2 BRIEFS WMMB Cheesecyclopedia Offers Pro Cheese Education at No Cost BY LORRIE BAUMANN The Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board has a new training tool designed for anyone who wants to know more about cheese. Cheesecyclopedia™ is a total overhaul of a program that the Wisconsin Milk Market- ing Board has offered for many years. De- signed for those who are selling cheese at retail in either grocers or foodservice, Cheesecyclopedia offers a thorough educa- tion through an online program that people can enjoy on their own schedule. "For someone that's just learning about cheese as a category, it really starts with the milk and the farm and goes through the cheesemaking process," said Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board's Manager of Cheese Education and Training Sara Hill. The online program offers a comprehen- sive book on cheese at retail coupled with embedded videos to illustrate the material. Each chapter comes with a test, and when the tests are completed, there's a certificate that the student can use to present along with a resume when applying for a cheese- monger position. The certificate also qual- ifies for two continuing education credit hours (CEH) with the American Culinary Federation. "We do a lot of training with retailers around the country, and this is a great way to understand what cheese is all about, how it's made, starting with the cows and the milk," Hill said. "My goal is that every culinary school in the U.S. will use this as a part of their curriculum by giving extra credit to every student who can show their certificate." The course also covers the care and han- dling of cheese, including four options for cutting and wrapping cheese. It includes all aspects of cheesemaking, from animal feed to the milk, what a cheesemaker needs to know about the milk itself, the cultures and other essentials of cheesemaking and what happens during the aging process. While the course is primarily intended for those who sell cheese as part of their occu- pations, it's also open to anyone who wants to learn about cheese. Hill promises that the test questions really aren't all that hard. "All the material is in what you just read, so you can go back and look at the section and find the answer," she said. "The main purpose of our questions is really to make sure that the taker understands the concepts. We're not trying to trick them or outsmart them." Cheesecyclopedia is available at train- ing.wmmb.com. For retailers who'd like to use the training with their employees, Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board also of- fers the program on a thumb drive that's available by request. For that, email shill@wmmb.org. GN Organic Quality from Snoqualmie Ice Cream BY LORRIE BAUMANN Snoqualmie Ice Cream has introduced the first super-premium organic ice cream on the market. Pints of Sno- qualmie's organic line are offered in seven flavors, each with its own unique recipe. That's unlike most conventional ice creams, which are generally made from one ice cream base to which flavoring is added to make the various flavors of the finished ice cream. Snoqualmie ice creams are unique from their start. What they have in common is their super- premium quality and that all of the ingredients in Snoqualmie's new or- ganic line are carefully sourced and 100 percent organic. "That meant that a lot of our ingredients had to be custom-made for us," said Barry Bet- tinger, Snoqualmie's CEO. "The caramel and the fruit are all custom-made for us in Ore- gon." The ice cream starts with organic milk and cream that come from dairy farms just outside Seattle, where Snoqualmie is lo- cated. Organic cane sugar and organic eggs go into the mix. "Organic eggs are different from conventional eggs. The organic ice cream is more golden from the greater yel- low of the yolks," Bettinger said. "It really affects the flavor, the texture and the color of the ice cream." The introduction of the organic line is just the latest event in the evolution of the company that started when Bettinger and his wife Shahnaz bought Sno- qualmie in 1997 after working for a decade in Syracuse, New York, to save up the money to start their own busi- ness. After moving to Seattle to be closer to Shahnaz's brother and to take advan- tage of the Pacific Northwest's relatively healthy economy, they found Sno- qualmie Ice Cream, which was 10 years old at that time. "It was about the same size it had always been," Bettinger said. "We sold about 2,000 pints the first year." The Bettingers began building the busi- ness in conventionally produced pre- mium ice creams and turned Snoqualmie into a certified B corporation, with a mis- sion to do business in an environmentally sustainable way and to be a good com- pany for their employees to work for. The company has a rain garden that captures water from Seattle's frequent rainstorms so that it doesn't run off the property. A heat recovery system on the cooling sys- tem provides most of the hot water that the company needs for its ice cream pro- duction. Now producing well over a million pints of ice cream a year, Snoqualmie offers its 15 employees health insur- ance, a retirement plan and full tu- ition reimbursement. "We strongly encourage our employees to continue their education," Bettinger said. "If they can continue their education through us, we take care of that for them." Almost all of the company's employees belong to the Millennial generation, and Snoqualmie's commit- ments to its triple bottom line res- onates with them, according to Bettinger. "Being a B Corp. attracts them," he said. "We have an all-employee lunch on Friday, and we all get together. I can see it there." "Our mission and values, as with any company, comes from us, and that's re- ally what drives us," he added. "Every- thing we make should be as perfect as possible, and we have a responsibility to our customers, our community and our employees." GN PS Seasoning & Spices Attains SQF 2 Certification PS Seasoning & Spices announced that the company has recently received its SQF (Safe Quality Food) Level 2 certification. SQF is a comprehensive HACCP-based food safety and quality management certification system for all sectors of the food industry, from primary production to transport and distribution. As a Global Food Safety Initiative that is recognized worldwide, an SQF Certification demonstrates the supplier's commitment to produce safe, quality food as well as to meet international food safety requirements and to comply with other applicable food legislation. The new certification attests to PS Seasoning & Spices' ability to produce products that meet the highest level of food safety and quality standards. For more information, visit www.blendwithps.com for wholesale information and www.psseasoning.com for retail information. Nielsen-Massey Awarded (SQF) Level 3 Certification Nielsen-Massey Vanillas has been awarded the SQF 7.2 – Level 3 Certification by the Safe Quality Food Institute (SQFI). SQFI is a globally trusted and recognized food safety and quality program. Level 3 certification recognizes suppliers that have implemented a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) food quality plan in addition to a food safety plan and food safety fundamentals. It is the most stringent and highest-level certification awarded by SQFI. Impossible Foods Hires Genomics Pioneer as Chief Science Officer Impossible Foods is hiring National Center for Biotechnology Information Director David J. Lipman, M.D., as Chief Science Officer at the food technology startup. Lipman, 63, has led the NCBI since its creation nearly three decades ago. NCBI, part of the National Institutes of Health, is used by more than 4 million people who download more than 100 terabytes of data every day. Lipman will be part of Impossible Foods' leadership team and oversee research and development and information technology, reporting directly to Impossible Foods CEO and Founder Patrick O. Brown, M.D., Ph.D., a Stanford University biochemistry professor emeritus who has known Lipman since 1990. Impossible Foods has about 150 employees. The company's flagship product, the Impossible Burger, is the world's only burger that looks, handles, smells, cooks and tastes like ground beef from cows – but is made entirely from plants, with a much smaller environmental footprint than meat from animals. Impossible Foods is building its first large-scale production facility in Oakland, California, which could enable the company to make at least 1 million pounds of Impossible Burger per month when fully ramped up – enough to supply Impossible Burgers to 1,000 or more restaurants in the U.S.

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