Food Processing - January 2008 - (Page 7)

E D I T O R ’ S P L AT E JAnuARy 2008 • Volume 69, no. 01 www.foodprocessing.com 555 W. Pierce Road, Ste. 301, Itasca, IL 60143 Phone: (630) 467-1300 • Fax: (630) 467-1179 Co-develop your company’s energy and green initiatives. EDITORIAL EDITOR In ChIEF MAnAgIng EDITOR nEWS & TREnDS MAnAgIng EDITOR-DIgITAL DAVE FuSARO dfusaro@putman.net DAVID FEDER, RD dfeder@putman.net DIAnE TOOPS dtoops@putman.net MIChAEL ERMITAgE mermitage@putman.net Think green, save money TEChnICAL EDITOR MARk AnThOny, Ph.D. PLAnT OPERATIOnS EDITOR MIkE PEhAnICh PACkAgIng EDITOR kATE bERTRAnD COnnOLLy DAVID JOy hOLLIS AShMAn, JACquELInE bECkLEy REPRInTS MARkETIng CLAuDIA STAChOWIAk FOSTER REPRInTS MAngAgER 4295 Ohio Street, Michigan City, In 46360 866-879-9144, Fax: 219-561-2019 claudia@fostereprints.com REguLAR COnTRIbuTORS REguLATORy COnSuMER unDERSTAnDIng M ix yellow and green and what do you get? Environmental responsibility and less reliance on foreign oil. most in the past year, to No. 5. Taking a multidisciplinary look at both energy and your company’s green initiatives seems like a good way of killing two birds with one stone. Sure, these ideas are good PR, but are they really improving bottom lines? Maybe not yet, but that day seems closer all the time. As I write this (early January), crude oil broke $100 a barrel for the first time. I shudder to think what the price of gasoline and other fuels will be just by the time you read this. The other thing in the news seems to be predictions of escalating food prices this year, not only in the U.S. but throughout the world. A key culprit: diversion of corn to make ethanol. Maybe it’s a part of the big equation, but ethanol alone is not our ultimate savior; not when my flex-fuel Ford Taurus gets 20 percent less mileage on the stuff and has a hard time starting. Wind turbines the size of desk fans atop the roof of Kettle’s Beloit, Wis., potato chip plant barely make a dent in its energy use. But it is a dent. Plus they buy solar energy credits – is it purely for the PR value or is this another dent? Two small dents make a bigger dent. Hundreds more would have some real impact. Is your company making any dents in the energy or environmental problems? DESIGN & PRODUCTION gROuP ART DIRECTOR ART DIRECTOR PRODuCTIOn MAnAgER STEPhEn C. hERnER sherner@putman.net JASOn VARgAS jvargas@putman.net AnnA MARIE McCAnn amccann@putman.net PUBLISHING PubLIShER kAy ROSS-bAkER kross-baker@putman.net ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF PRESIDEnT AnD CEO JOhn CAPPELLETTI VICE PRESIDEnT JuLIE CAPPELLETTI-LAngE VICE PRESIDEnT OF COnTEnT kEITh LARSOn VICE PRESIDEnT CIRCuLATIOn JERRy CLARk CIRCuLATIOn MAnAgER PATRICIA DOnATIu EDITORIAL ADVISORy BOARD gERRy gOMOLkA Vice President-Process Engineering The Stellar group Analyst, Ag Edwards & Sons Inc. Vice President-Engineering Sara Lee Foods national Food & beverage Industry Leader, grant Thornton LLP ChRISTOPhER gROWE DAVE kRAMER DEXTER MAnnIng WILLIAM MCCAbE Vice President-Ice Cream, Smith Dairy DOn nugEnT JAMES RICE DARyL ThOMAS ELAInE WEDRAL, Ph.D. President/CEO, graceland Fruit Inc. VP & general Mgr.-China Operations, Tyson Foods Inc. Vice President-Marketing, herr Foods Inc. President (retired), nestle R&D Cente Fuel and the environment: I don’t think industry in general has ever seen two seemingly conflicting trends that, when put together creatively, may result in a solution to both. The current interest in environmental responsibility is causing headaches for most manufacturers, food processors included. Animal fat being washed down floor sewers, huge drains of energy taxing the electrical power grid, tanks full of used cooking oil – those and many more problems can put food processors in the worst possible light in the eyes of environmentalists. Yet lying somewhere within those problems are opportunities that not only can paint food processors a nice shade of green but will reduce their growing energy bills. The yellow in my lead sentence refers to sunlight, used fats and oils and maybe even corn. Yeah, I know that’s a stretch. Our story on p.49 takes a look at several processors that are using alternative energy to fuel their plants. It’s not just Kettle Foods and other quirky fringe companies doing it just for the good PR. The Frito-Lay division of Pepsico is getting in on the act. Cargill and Tyson, too, are finding ways to take a few steps off the energy grids. The story also talks about them finding energy in their own waste products. Between animal fat and biogas produced at waste and water treatment facilities, both have a significant amount of potential feedstock. Now let me direct you to our cover story, the seventh annual Manufacturing Trends Survey (p.26). Food safety remains the top concern, as it has every year of the survey. But energy is No. 2, and environmental concerns rose the Dave Fusaro, Editor in Chief Tel 630-467-1300, ext. 424 E-mail: dfusaro@putman.net January 2008 Food ProcEssing • http://www.foodprocessing.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Food Processing - January 2008

Food Processing - January 2008 Contents Editor's Plate NewsBites The Trends Rollout Food Biz Kids Product Spotlight Seventh Annual Manufacturing Trends Surbey Product Development Ingredients Plant Operations Plant Operations & Packaging New Supplier Products Toops Scoops

Food Processing - January 2008

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