Meat + Poultry - May 2007 - 47
Food safety plays a vital role in the
production of Wellshire's products. "But
one thing about having processing partners is I don't have all the responsibility,
a great deal of the inspection responsibility is in their hands," Colameco notes.
His products also are audited for food
safety and shelf life. "Microbac comes
into our warehouse once a week and
examines five items. They are rated on a
scale of one to five based on their shelf
life. One is the best, if they show two or
three, there is less time for the product,
and if they get a four or five rating, they
are immediately discarded," he says.
An important part of Wellshire Farms'
food safety process is the record keeping
and the ability to track the product. "We
have total traceability," he notes. And if a
product shelf life is rated at four weeks
or less, the product is frozen immediately, and then given to a food bank or
other charitable enterprise.
The marketing process at Wellshire
Farms is tied strictly to the natural food
trend, Colameco says. "Our sales force
is made up of internal people. We've
grown so fast that we market within
our customer base; we don't have to go
outside to any great degree. And our
sales force was born and raised from
the natural food business, not the conventional side of the business. So they
know exactly what to do."
Lou Colameco believes the popularity of natural and organic foods will
continue growing. "This is not some fad
that's going to be around for another
year or two, and then disappear. I think
more consumers are interested in eating healthful foods. And once USDA
changes its regulations for natural foods,
over the next five years, there will be a
washout of some natural manufacturers. People who trust processors who
are serious about this will continue to
buy from them. I think we'll continue
to earn peoples' trust."
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