Packer

4 at Slaughterhouse Behind Beef Recall Indicted

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:37:58 GMT

A Northern California slaughterhouse involved in a massive beef recall processed cows with cancer while U.S. livestock inspectors took lunch breaks and later distributed the diseased cattle, according to federal charges announced Monday.

Prosecutors alleged that the owners of Petaluma-based Rancho Feeding Corp. schemed with employees to slaughter about 79 cows with skin cancer of the eye rather than stopping plant operations during inspector lunch breaks. Then, the government alleges, plant workers swapped the heads of diseased cattle with heads of healthy cows to hide them from inspectors.

Rancho operations were halted in February after a series of recalls, including one for 8.7 million pounds of beef. The meat was sold at Walmart and other national chains and used in products, including Hot Pockets.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has said Rancho processed diseased and unhealthy animals and circumvented federal inspection rules.

Slaughterhouse co-owners Jesse Amaral Jr. and Robert Singleton and employees Eugene Corda and Felix Cabrera were charged with distribution of adulterated, misbranded and uninspected meat.

Prosecutors said Cabrera and Corda were among those involved in slaughter of cows with skin cancer of the eye at Amaral and Singleton’s instructions and concealing the disease from USDA inspectors, resulting in distribution of about 79 diseased cattle that did not undergo full inspection.

Cabrera, based on instructions from Amaral, also directed Rancho employees to carve stamps condemning cattle out of carcasses and to process them for transport and sale, prosecutors said. The indictment accused the company of distributing 101 of these carcasses.

The defendants and their attorney could not be immediately reached for comment Monday.

There have been no reports of illnesses linked to the products, which were processed from Jan. 1, 2013, through Jan. 7, 2014, and shipped to distribution centers and retail stores in California, Florida, Illinois and Texas.

More than 1,600 food distributors in the United States and Canada were alerted to the recall that asked consumers to return products, including beef jerky, taquitos, hamburger patties and Hot Pockets frozen sandwiches.

In March, the USDA allowed another Northern California company, Marin Sun Farms, to take over the shuttered Rancho slaughterhouse.

Cargill: Friona, Texas Beef Plant Named 2015 State Water Conservation Winner

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 06:01:22 GMT

Texas Water Foundation, a non-profit educational organization dedicated to optimizing water use throughout the state, will convey its annual Blue Legacy Award for manufacturing companies to Cargill’s Friona, Texas, beef processing facility at a state capitol ceremony in Austin on March 26. Cargill’s Friona plant is the only manufacturing facility receiving a 2015 award for water conservation at the “Texas Water Day at the Capitol” event. The company was nominated for the award by the High Plains Water District based in Lubbock.

Friona is located in the Texas Panhandle, and sits atop the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the largest underground bodies of water on the planet. This aquifer covers 174,000 square miles in part of eight states throughout the Great Plains, including portions of South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas. It provides water for nearly 30 percent of irrigated land in the United States. In Texas, the Ogallala Aquifer supplies water to 36,000 square miles spread across 48 counties.

The aquifer has been stressed by population growth, agricultural irrigation, industrial use and drought. Cargill understands the importance of water for sustainable food production. During the past six years, Cargill’s Friona beef processing plant has reduced water use by 23 percent, saving more than 150 million gallons annually. Treated water from the plant is also provided to local farmers, reducing their need for water from the aquifer. The plant team has also created methods for capturing water used in heat exchangers and other equipment that can be reused for exterior plant cleaning.

In a related event, a landmark water rights agreement benefitting both the City of Friona and Cargill was signed in mid-2014 after a thorough assessment and reviews of numerous options. The final agreement involved the City of Friona exchanging 386 acres south of town to Cargill for 476 acres owned by the company north of town. Both parcels include water rights and Friona Mayor Pro Tem Greg Lewellen called the swap a “win/win for the city and Cargill.” Friona estimates it will save millions of dollars developing water access for city use on land closer to the community, while Cargill will have water in closer proximity to its plant, reducing infrastructure and handling costs.

“Working with multiple stakeholders to find long-term answers for water issues is important to communities, the economy and the environment,” stated John Keating, president of Wichita, Kansas-based Cargill Beef. “There are 2,000 wonderful people working at our Friona plant who call the area home and are supporting their families and businesses throughout the region. While the importance of water security is increasing worldwide, we believe there are innovative ways of finding solutions, such as the one that was reached in Friona.”

Nick McFarland, environmental superintendent for Cargill at Friona, and plant engineer Charlie Pope, will attend the March 26 event in Austin and accept the award on behalf of Cargill.

California Meat Plant Shut by Inspectors Reopens

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:37:58 GMT

A Northern California meat processing plant that was shuttered by federal inspectors Monday because of unsanitary conditions has reopened.

Officials at Central Valley Meat Co., a supplier for the National School Lunch Program, said in a statement Wednesday that they took immediate action to fix the cleanliness problems. Neither the company nor federal officials discussed the problems in detail.

“On Monday, FSIS suspended operations at Central Valley Meat Co. due to insanitary conditions at the establishment,” Alexandra Tarrant, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, said in a statement Wednesday. “After the company took corrective actions to address the issue, the suspension was lifted, and the plant has resumed operations.”

The plant is in Hanford, Calif., about 30 miles south of Fresno.

Central Valley shut down for a week in 2012 after Compassion Over Killing, an animal rights group, sent videos to federal officials showing workers torturing cows with electric prods and spraying hot water on the animals, the Los Angeles Times reported .

The abuse led to the end of the company’s relationship with In-N-Out Burger. The national lunch program and McDonald’s Corp. also suspended purchases.

Federal inspectors didn’t find that the animals’ treatment affected food safety.

The facility reopened after submitting a plan of action that included training its workers to use electric prods correctly and banning taking in cows not able to walk or stand.

Last September, Central Valley recalled 58,000 pounds of beef for the school lunch program after federal officials said the meat possibly contained pieces of plastic. There was no recall associated with this week’s announcement.

Source: Associated Press

Ocean Mist touts organic artichoke retail packs

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 06:21:00 GMT

New recyclable corrugated packaging options are available from Castroville, Calif.-based Ocean Mist Farms .

Ocean Mist’s organic artichoke packaging is now available in a two-count handle bag and a two-count recyclable corrugated clamshell pack, according to a news release. The packaging is designed for both size 24 or 30 artichokes, according to the release.

Ocean Mist will showcase its organic artichoke retail packs in the new product showcase at the Dec. 12 New York Produce Show at booth #242, according to the release.

“We’re looking forward to another great year at the New York Produce Show,” Diana McClean, senior director of marketing at Ocean Mist Farms, said in the release. “We had great engagement and conversations with our trade partners last year considering the Northeast is known for its heavy distribution of artichokes. This show is a great opportunity for us to put our fresh artichokes and other winter Italian vegetables on display.”

The release said Ocean Mist is preparing for its winter promotion, “Peace, Love & Artichokes,” set to start Jan. 15. The campaign aims to increase artichoke demand by focusing on healthy eating at the start of the New Year and promoting the nutritional benefits of artichokes to encourage in-store purchases.

Related articles

Ocean Mist Farms begins Friendsgiving Flavor campaign

Frost Kissed artichokes available from Ocean Mist

California lettuce growers expect strong deal

Has America Hit Peak Pumpkin?

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 04:54:04 GMT

In the freezer, bags of pumpkin spice coffee—apparently, there was a deal. Above, pumpkin spice creamer, pumpkin spice bagels, and pumpkin spice cream cheese to go on it.
All while smelling those little pumpkin spice wax cubey things that are melting all over the house.

When AgDay host Clinton Griffiths was a kid, his mom never bought pumpkin spice anything except pumpkin spice which she used in the pumpkin pie!

This obsession with pumpkin spice has gone from the coffee lines of Starbucks where every Tri-Delt in town stood in their Ugg boots cuddled in a scarf waiting for fall to kick off a season-long obsession of Venti PSL’s to build your own pumpkin spice hotdogs. Yes, that’s right—pumpkin spiced grilling meat. Frankly, I’m worried. Did you know there are now even pumpkin spice cough drops?

They say this obsession is now worth roughly $500,000. The use of the spice in food is up tenfold since 2004.

What is pumpkin spice anyway? The spice is made of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice. It does not include pumpkin! It’s the spice that goes in the pie, not the pumpkin itself. Although this little seasonal guilty pleasure is helping move fresh pumpkin as well. According to Nielson fresh pumpkin sales hit $121 million last year up 5 percent year-over-year. Nielson says it looks like growth in this category is slowing down and they’re even asking whether 2017 will be the year we see peak pumpkin.

That remains to be seen—but if Clinton’s house is any indication—this little addiction has room to run.

As they say in my home country—Happy Fall Ya’ll.

Study Examines Impact of Small Meat Processors in Iowa

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:33:30 GMT

By Laura Miller, Iowa State University

Investing in Iowa’s small meat processing plants could have positive local impacts in rural communities, according to a new report by Iowa State University economist Dave Swenson.

Swenson analyzed the state’s meat processing facilities for the Marketing and Food Systems Initiative at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. Swenson’s report, “Exploring Small-Scale Meat Processing Expansions in Iowa,” is available on the Leopold Center’s website .

Iowa is a prominent leader in the nation’s meat-packing industry, particularly in cattle and hogs. Yet the state’s farms have declined over the past two decades, and growing numbers of Iowans live and work in urban centers. Rural decline raises the question of whether small meat processing plants can continue to compete with larger processors.

Small plants in Iowa are generally more labor-intensive than large ones, with less return on the labor. Swenson’s study found that small plants require significantly more employees, providing 13.3 jobs for every million dollars of meat compared to the statewide average of 4.7 jobs. Employees in small facilities typically receive less pay, although there’s room to develop skilled trades through training programs.

Niche markets

With increasing demands for specialized meat, like grass-fed cattle and pasture-raised hogs, small processing plants have the opportunity to fill profitable niche markets. Consumers who buy from local plants fuel job creation and keep more money within the community, a concept called the “local multiplier effect.” Swenson’s study suggests that investments to improve the efficiency of small plants can make them more competitive, as well as give a boost to the local economies of nearby rural communities.