Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/887673
Produce Show Daily Saturday, October 21, 2017 3 4 Bella Sun Luci: Staying on the Cutting Edge of Cuisine Mooney Farms has pioneered the sun dried tomato industry since 1987, and is still leading the way with a new interac- tive website and exciting marketing activities. In keeping up with today's eat- ing trends and consumer demand, Mooney Farms has newly designed the company website. Bellasunluci.com edu- cates customers about the exciting health benefits associated with eating sun dried tomatoes, explains the Mediterranean diet and offers many new exciting recipe ideas and food videos. Keeping the brand fresh and engaging for millennial home cooks, the art director has added micro recipe videos to the site, which teach viewers how to recreate all of the simple and delicious ideas the corporate chef prepares in Mooney Farms' Tuscan kitchen. These new videos on both Facebook and YouTube have attracted new customers of all ages. Mooney Farms' Facebook page alone has grown to 35,000 followers and continues to climb every day. Mooney Farms attrib- utes this success to posting an exciting new idea, recipe or video each day so viewers can get inspiration throughout the year. Every jar of Mooney Farms' product also includes a full color recipe booklet that changes seasonally featuring healthy ideas for consumers to prepare at home. These recipe booklets also announce the Annual National Recipe Contest where fans can send in their personal creations featuring one or more of Mooney Farms' products, with the opportunity to win one of its fabulous prizes. The contest runs year round and concludes July 1 when Mooney Farms' corporate chef helps narrow down the finalists and starts preparing the dishes. Next, the staff and family are involved in tasting and choos- ing the winners. It's a fun and exciting way to engage with loyal customers. During the past few years, thousands of bloggers across the U.S. have reached out to Mooney Farms who have used its products in their home kitchens and post- ed reviews and videos from their own websites. Today, these are some of the most influential individuals who play an important role in creating brand awareness and help form the choices of their followers. Food bloggers are emerging as key influ- encers in determining consumer choices on brands, home cooking and restaurants, away from 'traditional' direct advertis- ing. Mooney Farms' strong commitment to quality and consumer satisfaction is core to who it is and how it does busi- ness. Mooney Farms has an impeccable reputation in the industry and over the years it has gained this respect by consis- tently offering customers premium prod- ucts produced at its kosher certified, state-of-the-art facility. For more information, stop by booth #2822 or go to www.bellasunluci.com. An interview with Sanford Gleddie, Vice President Agriculture & Business Development, The Little Potato Company. PSD: It says on your booth that 'We have to be the best.' Why is that? SG: Since day one, we've been solely dedicated to the farming, packing and sales of Creamer potatoes. It's literally all we do. So we have to be the best. PSD: Why Creamers? Why not other potatoes? SG: Before Angela Santiago and her dad Jacob van der Schaaf, a Dutch immigrant, even started the business, Jacob lamented often that he couldn't find the small pota- The Little Potato Company: Not Your Average Small Potato toes here that he had in his youth. So they started this business with the intent of feeding the world a better potato. Our Creamers are a mature small potato with qualities that you don't find in other potatoes – hearty, rich in creamy fla- vor, highly nutritious and they don't require peeling, so they're incredibly easy to prepare. Also, the diversity of a Creamer potato allows us to have unique proprietary varieties that no one else can grow. PSD: You've just opened another plant in DeForest, Wisconsin. Why? SG: We believe that regional diversifica- tion is essential to maintain the best dis- tribution and to reduce our production risk. We have three production plants and five additional distribution cen- ters in Canada and the U.S. for a total of eight distribution centers. We are growing in 11 states and provinces, covering distribution for both countries. This geo- graphic diversity spreads our production risk and the risk of system- wide catastrophic crop failure, and also helps ensure a consistent supply of high quality Creamer potatoes. PSD: For the people here at PMA, what is a key selling feature of your product? SG: Simply, the capacity of our produc- tion. Each year we add more and more capacity and increase production of our Creamers. In fact, The Little Potato Company adds more production in one year than some of our competition has in total inventory. This allows us to take on more retailers with the added advantage of consistent quality, lower risk and more proprietary Creamer varieties than most of our competitors – several of our varieties are proprietary. PSD: Tell our readers about the vision and values of The Little Potato Company. SG: To quote our Chief Executive Officer, Angela Santiago, 'Our end goal is bigger than what we pack and send out the door each day.' This company was started by a father and daughter team with the belief that everyone deserves to have healthy great food, and that we have a gift worth sharing with the world. To this day, family ownership and values imbue everything we do – from our grower relationships, to the diversity of our people, to the respect we extend to all employees and partners alike. For more information, stop by booth #1063. After the show, visit www.little potatoes.com. Ensure Compliance with BRITE BELT The patented BRITE BELT conveyor belt cleaning and conditioning system will assist your company in meeting compliance with the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point program (HACCP). BRITE BELT recognizes the significant changes made by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). These food safety requirements are administered by both the USDA and FDA. Your company's HACCP team will determine the critical control points in your food processing system and then preventative maintenance and controls will be assigned to assure food safety. The BRITE BELT conveyor belt clean- ing and conditioning system can be an integral part of your preventative mainte- nance and control procedures. A critical control point in food pro- cessing is the surface of the conveyor belt. Not only can biological hazards sur- vive and grow on conveyor belt surfaces, they are also transported throughout the food processing facility. Biological haz- ards (pathogen microorganisms) are a recognized hazard that are likely to cause illness in the absence of good controls. These biological hazards include, but are not limited to, bacteria, viruses, parasites, yeasts, molds and fungi. These biological hazards all have one thing in common in order to grow and survive: food. They all need proteins and carbohydrates (sugars and starches). One method of controlling the growth and survival of these pathogen microorganisms is to eliminate their food source of proteins and carbo- hydrates. The BRITE BELT conveyor belt cleaning and conditioning system is designed to mechanically and chemi- cally remove biofilm from flat conveyor belt sur- faces. Biofilm found on conveyor belts used in food processing is com- posed of multiple pathogen microorganisms living in a slime and fed by particles of the foods being processed. The BRITE BELT scrubber pad breaks up the biofilm and allows the "killer" chemical to reach the pathogen microorganisms as well as remove residual food debris. The BRITE BELT conveyor belt cleaning and conditioning system has benefits beyond food safety. The clean- ing and sanitizing solution is metered through orifices which control the amount of chemical usage and apply the chemical continuously where needed. The pad attached to the sys- tem does not contain alu- minum or pumice, and there- fore will not scratch the con- veyor belt surface. This allows the scrubber unit to be left on the surface of the belt for longer periods of time to destroy pathogens. The BRITE BELT system does these tasks without incurring significant labor costs. Once in place, those ele- ments necessary to control biological hazards which include time, cleaning and sanitizing solution, and mechanical removal of bio-films are done without labor costs. Labor cost also includes sav- ings of benefits, payroll taxes, work- men's compensation and other related payroll expenses. For more information, go to www.brite belt.com or call 515.523.5803. the ideal location for them to thrive. The area's high water table, Mediterranean microclimate and rich volcanic soil from Mount Vesuvius all combine to give San Marzano tomatoes the taste and quality that sets them apart from other tomato varieties. San Marzano tomatoes have a firm pulp, deep red color, easy to remove skin, sweet flesh, low acidity and low seed count, all of which combine to make them the perfect tomato for sauce recipes. Cento goes to great lengths in mon- itoring its planting, growing and har- vesting processes to ensure Cento Certified San Marzano Tomatoes retain Cento (Cont'd. from p. 25) the world-renowned flavor that makes them so special. Cento is one of the only brands that owns its own production facility in the Sarnese Nocerino area of Italy, which allows local farmers to deliver hand-picked tomatoes to the facility within hours of selection for canning. Its tomatoes follow all criteria and guidelines to be classified as an authentic San Marzano tomato, certified by an independent third-party agency, Agri-Cert, and then additional steps are taken with the company's own propri- etary specifications and Quality Assurance testing processes. For more information, go to www.cento.com or email marketing@cento.com.