The most profitable food industry businesses are not retail and restaurant outlets, but the companies that supply industrial customers with products, according to a national study conducted by Oregon State University researchers.

The highest growth and profitability reported of those examined in the report, “A snapshot of U.S. Food Business,” were businesses, such as those that sell ingredients for another business’s packaged or prepared foods. The report is being made into an Extension publication available at: http://fic.orst.edu/OSU/. The study is the first to document food industry business practices on a national scale and to identify best practices in each food business sector.

The study’s lead author, Aaron Johnson, food strategy business specialist with the OSU center, says businesses that focused on supplying industrial customers reported significantly higher growth and profitability compared to retailers and restaurateurs - in part due to their greater emphasis on competition, product differentiation and low-cost strategies.

Flexibility also plays an important role in both success and longevity, according to the report. Yet, research found that it was the established firms – those that have been around for 30 or more years – which successfully employed more flexible business strategies.

Younger businesses tended to use strategies focused more on innovation and product differentiation. Johnson's work with entrepreneurs at the Food Innovation Center confirms his finding that younger companies tend to be either too inflexible to take advantage of business opportunities or so flexible they are blown by the wind.

The researchers say they started the project "to better understand how food businesses function," Johnson explained. Survey answers were compiled from 360 respondents, representing everything from frozen foods to dairy to snack and specialty foods. Dividing the companies into retail, restaurants or industrial suppliers as well as size and age, researchers assessed the challenges facing the food industry.

While managers of small or new businesses can use this information to put a company on the track to larger success, larger companies that may have become stagnant can also use the information to seek more innovative business approaches.

There is still time to register for NAFFS Annual Technical Meeting to be held the morning of the New York IFT Suppliers’ Day on April 25.

Beginning at 9 a.m., this program being held at the New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center in Edison, kicks off with Richard Pisano, Jr. of Citrus & Allied Essences who will cover the origin of citrus, the production methods and the techniques for further processing of essential oils. Next Ian Sklar of TIC Gums will share his roadmap to QC efficiency through reduced testing and identify key processes and strategies. The program concludes with Fred Pucarelli of Takasago who will introduce us to the world of chiral chemicals and their importance in flavor creation.

At noon a networking lunch, included in the registration fee, follows. The IFT event begins in the adjoining hall at 1 p.m.

Registration and morning refreshments will begin at 8:30 a.m. Complete details are available on www.naffs.org. Register now!

FDA published a final rule authorizing the use of a health claim regarding the association between sucralose and the nonpromotion of dental caries. The final rule amends the regulation authorizing a health claim on certain noncariogenic carbohydrate sweeteners to include sucralose. The amended rule provides the following model claim:

Frequent eating of foods high in sugars and starches as between-meal snacks can promote tooth decay. Sucralose, the sweetening ingredient used to sweeten this food, unlike sugars, does not promote tooth decay.

The model health claim in the regulation is intended to serve as an example of a statement that meets the requirements of a health claim about nonpromotion of dental caries. Manufacturers of foods containing sucralose may design their own health claim consistent with the regulation.

USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service announced a forthcoming meeting of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB). The meeting will take place April 19 from 1 to 5 p.m. and April 20 from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Ramada Conference Center, 1450 South Atherton Street, State College, PA.

FDA DEVELOPS RESPONSE PLAN
FOR FOOD-RELATED EMERGENCIES

FDA has joined with several state and federal groups to develop a food emergency response plan to enhance protection of the nation’s food supply by emphasizing measures such as prevention and detection. FDA defines a food emergency as a deliberate or unintentional food contamination, threatened or actual, that may affect public health.

The response plan establishes the framework for actions that will take place during an incident response, establishes activation levels that provide decision makers with definitions of various degrees of an emergency, identifies all agencies, organizations and individuals (principal parties) needed to carry out the response and the roles and responsibilities for State, Federal, local agencies and the private sector.

NAFFS WELCOMES
NEW MEMBERS

Nielsen-Massey Vanillas
1550 Shields Drive
Waukegan, IL 60085
Phone: (847) 578-1550
Fax: (847) 578-1570
Website: www.nielsenmassey.com
e-mail: info@nielsenmassey.com
Contact: Craig Nielsen, CEO
Products: Conventional and organic vanilla products

NAFFS CALENDAR

Be sure to save these dates when filling in your calendars:

April 25 – NAFFS Technical Meeting to be held immediately prior to the New York/New Jersey IFT Suppliers’ Day. Location: New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center, Edison, NJ.