PolyConversions Inc.: 
(217) 893-3330 or visit www.PolyCoUSA.com

Cooker

At the 2011 Process Expo, among other things, Mepaco will be exhibiting its ThermaBlend line of cookers that features superior cooking, cooling, and blending characteristics. Constructed by ASME Certified Welders, ThermaBlend delivers long lasting reliability even after years of stress from large-scale cooking and cooling applications. Mepaco will also be exhibiting their 420V Continuous Vacuum Stuffer.

Mepaco: (920)356-7323 or visit www.mepaco.net

Pin Bone Puller

Jarvis Products manufactures handheld pin boners for salmon, trout, arctic char, lake whitefish and any other fish with similar muscle and bone structure that is through rigor. Jarvis pin boners handle up to 6 salmon fillets per minute. They are available in either pneumatic or battery power. Also available is a new Pin Boner model for use on fresh fish shortly after slaughter; perfect for sushi grade salmon.

Jarvis Products Corp: 
(860) 347-7271 
or visit 
www.jarvisproducts.com.

Rotary Chamber Packaging

New color literature is now available on Rollstock’s RC-300 Rotary Chamber Machine. Specifically designed for food processing and packaging wash-down environments, it features a 304L stainless steel modular frame. The machine has the ability to accept a multitude of chamber configurations, sealing profiles, and sealing widths up to 24 inches long. Its patented constant temperature sealing system allows for the capability of sealing through the thickest bags, through contaminants, and through excessive folds and wrinkles.

Rollstock Inc.: (888) 314-2152 or visit www.rollstockkc.com

Wing Cutter

The Cantrell Wing Cutter and Wing Stretcher work together to provide quality cuts with increased yields for generic foodservice or KFC style cuts. The Cantrell Wing Cutter solves the problems of potential downgrading of breasts that can come from miscuts on wings. It enables plants to remove wings by the pair as they are introduced into the machine from the shackle. The Cantrell Wing Cutter needs little maintenance while providing optimum yield.

Cantrell: (800) 922-1232 
or visit 
www.cantrell.com

Portioning Depositor

NuTEC Mfg. will have four machines on display at Process Expo, including the 725 Portioning Depositor, the 710 and 745 Food Formers and the Automatic Direct

Depositing and Tray Indexing Conveyor. The portioning depositor assures minimal product damage and accurate, consistent portions for products like quesadillas, burritos, empanadas, fajitas, chicken kiev, egg rolls, and other ethnic foods.

NuTEC Mfg.: (815) 722-2800 or visit www.nutecmfg.com

Cooking Bag

M&Q Packaging Corp. introduces the recyclable MQ120 Oven Bag for poultry, and beef and pork applications like ribs and roasts. Developed with performance and sustainability as priorities, this ovenable bag is a proprietary material that gives meat processors measurable yield and processing efficiencies, superior cook-in performance, and provides a truly renewable addition to its green initiatives. The MQ120 is a high-temperature structure oven-safe up to and including 400 degrees Fahrenheit for foodservice or consumer use.

M&Q Packaging Corp.: (800) 600-3068 or visit www.mqplastics.com

Saw

Hollymatic will showcase several of its products at Process Expo, including its Hi-Yield Meat Saw. The saw optimizes the use of power, resulting in reduced energy costs of up to 11%. It also offers significant safety features with a Quick Stop Brake that stops the blade within 1 second of shut-off to dramatically reduce the risk of injury.

Hollymatic Corp.: (708) 579-3700 or visit www.hollymatic.com

Metal Detector

Fortress Technology offers the new Stealth Metal Detector. Just added to the enduring series of Phamtom metal detectors, the evolutionary design of the Stealth unit offers full backwards compatibility, ensuring spare parts and upgrades are readily available for existing systems. Features of the new Stealth unit include powerful digital signal processing technology which provides high-speed precision detection, while ultra-sensitivity levels detect the smallest metal contaminants. Automatic testing and calibration allow for simple operation.

Fortress Technology: (416) 754-2898 or visit www.fortresstechnology.com

Industry News

OSI Group celebrated the opening of its new dry sausage plant located in West Jordan, Utah. This 50,000 sq. ft. facility will allow OSI to serve its customers’ west coast needs for pepperoni, Genoa salami and other dry sausage products.

Located just outside Salt Lake City, the West Jordan plant is a state-of-the-art, highly automated dry sausage processing facility, and one of the most modern in the industry. The plant, which is located next to OSI’s existing beef and pork processing facility, will produce dry sausage products for both the foodservice and retail channels.

OSI President and Chief Operating Officer David McDonald said, “Our investment in this new facility represents OSI’s commitment to being a trusted partner to our customers, and to serving their needs for these products in the western United States. We have operated our existing West Jordan plant since 1977, and this new world-class operation helps to further position us as a leading food processing company. OSI operates over 45 facilities around the globe, and we provide our customers with a wide range of quality value-added products customized to their specific needs. This new facility gives our customers even more options.”

The West Jordan facility is a high-volume and high-efficiency operation that can produce millions of pounds of dry sausage annually, with capabilities for both large and small diameter products, as well as specialty items. The latest processing technology was utilized to deliver the utmost in product consistency and quality, as well as industry-leading food safety.

Kansas State University’s Ted Schroeder and Master’s student Lance Zimmerman have produced a research paper attempting to show a correlation between Certified Angus Beef’s increase in pounds sold and an increase in demand analyzed additional data.

The methodology and results are explained in their research paper, “Defining and Quantifying Certified Angus Beef Brand Consumer Demand.”

“The demand for CAB has outpaced Choice product since 2002,” the paper says. “Demand for CAB increased 56% over the eight years and Choice demand increased 20%.”

In both cases, the biggest increase was from 2009 to 2010.

“Much of the 2010 demand growth had to do with export market opportunity,” Schroeder says, but also a return of restaurant visitors in 2010.

“We were a victim on the foodservice side and beneficiary on the retail side,” says Mark Polzer, CAB vice president of business development. In 2009, CAB’s foodservice business was down almost 5.5% and retail was up 9%, but 2010 brought good news in both sectors: foodservice increased 10% and retail by 20%.

CAB sales increased by more than 100 million pounds compared to 2009, and the brand’s cutout value increased more than $5 per hundredweight in deflated U.S. dollars. The paper notes, “There was not another year in the model where both per-capita consumption and real cutout prices increased relative to the previous year.”

Demand for Choice beef and demand for CAB products are closely related, but certainly not identical.

“The commodity product seemed to be more dramatically affected by negative macroeconomic factors, such as trade barriers and overall economic health,” the research states. “It is also worth noting that demand for Choice product appears slower to rebound during times of recovery than CAB demand.”

Deli Brands of America president Jeff Saval was elected president of the North American Meat Processors Association by the Board of Directors at its meeting last Wednesday before the Outlook Conference in Del Mar, Cal.

The Board also elected:

* Chairman of the Board Bobby Hatoff, Allen Brothers, Chicago, IL

* Vice President Mike Satzow, North Country Smokehouse, Claremont, NH

* Treasurer Tony Gahn, Jr., Gahn Meat Company, Milwaukee, WI

* Assistant Treasurer John Vatri, Cardinal Meat Specialists, Ltd., ON, CN

Each serves for a one-year term.

Deli Brands of America, is a division of Saval Food Corporation in Baltimore, Md. Saval is 48 years old and is a 1985 graduate of Boston University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.

Saval, a third generation family member in the company, is responsible for day-to-day operations. Now in its fourth generation, the company is a further processor of high quality branded and private label deli meats and value added items for the foodservice and retail industry.

Wheel of Fortune contestants this winter may be heading home with the means to purchase $1,000 each in T-Bones, Sirloins and burgers. Beginning January 9, $1,000 in Beef Bucks—pre-paid checks and or VISA debit card for purchasing beef at restaurants or grocery stores—will appear as one of the gift tags on the colorful carnival wheel that contestants spin for prizes during the popular nationally syndicated program.

Beef Bucks Inc. is a non-profit South Dakota-based organization whose primary purpose is to promote beef and educate consumers on beef nutrition and cooking.

“We were pretty excited when we received the call in August from the people at Wheel of Fortune,” said Bob Montross, beef producer, farmer and one of the eight Beef Bucks Inc. directors. “They told us that our Beef Bucks had been selected as one of the gift tags contestants can win. We knew then that we had made the big time.”

To date, Beef Bucks Inc. has sold more than $1 million worth of its beef-only checks and reloadable VISA debit cards which are backed by two financial institutions.

The Beef Bucks have been used, said Nancy Montross, in more than 40 states. For more information about the program, visit www.beefbucks.org.

“We wanted to have a convenient and fun method of purchasing beef at the retail level and something that could be given easily as gifts,” she explains. “Beef Bucks have done just that.”

Midamar Corp. received the “Distinguished Community Service Award” from the USDA’s Center for Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The awards were presented at the USDA annual Iftar dinner, in the USDA building, Washington, D.C. and the event was attended by USDA employees, senior officials, as well as business and community leaders. Midamar was the first company in America to receive the USDA award “For exemplary work in providing Halal food options for Muslims in America and around the world.”

Established in 1974, Midamar was the first food company in the USA to coordinate with USDA in the development of Halal standards and processes in USDA inspected and approved processing facilities. Since then, Midamar has become a globally recognized Halal Brand and leading exporter of USA produced Halal foods.

“From the outset, our mission was to provide premium quality, Midwestern meat and poultry to Halal consumers in the USA and around the world, and to do this while maintaining the strictest Halal compliance standards.” said Midamar Director, Jalel Aossey.

“While maintaining Halal integrity and producing products consumers desire is of key importance to Midamar, we have made an effort over the years to always remember the needy and less fortunate. With the blessings bestowed upon our business over the years, Midamar is committed to community service and support of charitable organizations the world over and to people of all faiths,” he added.

American Pasteurization Co., a leader in high-pressure processing for the food manufacturing industry, announced the launch of its fourth processing line at its Milwaukee, Wis., headquarters. The new line adds 350 liters of vessel capacity, nearly a 45 percent increase, to allow for greater production capacity.

“We’re proud to announce that our fourth line is now operational,” said Justin Segel, CEO. “The new line was assembled to meet the growing demand for high-pressure processing as a post-pasteurization technique, which underlines the industry’s heightened focus on food safety.”

To accommodate the new processing line, APC is leasing an additional 10,000 square feet. APC is the first company to offer high-pressure processing on a commercial tolling basis. Currently, APC serves food manufacturers nationwide.