Food Processing - December 2008
PROCESSOR OF THE YEAR
“Our focus is always on delivering wholesome, nutritious and great-tasting products to our consumers,” Minerich says. “It’s a proud moment for our team when a new product is featured at one of our consumers’ tables for dinner.”
Two Awards for the Lab Folks
Awards for sound science are a valued addition to the hallways of the research and development center at Hormel Foods. Two awards were presented to the group in 2008. e microbiology lab achieved the American Assn. of Cereal Chemists (AACC International) Accuracy Award for microbiological analysis for having the most accurate and precise results of any private or public lab participating in the AACC pro ciency sample program. e lab also won the Accuracy Award in 2000 and has received an “outstanding” rating every year since 1998. e microbiology lab analyzes samples quarterly as part of this program and sends its results to the AACC, which compares Hormel Foods’ results with all other participating laboratories to determine if the lab is properly detecting the presence or absence of pathogens. e chemistry lab placed second in accuracy for its analytical procedures and techniques to measure cholesterol by the American Oil
Product and process development are uniquely intertwined at Hormel’s research and development center, behind the corporate headquarters in Austin, Minn.
THE MICROWAVE IS HOT FOR HORMEL
The microwave oven has been very good for Hormel … and vice-versa. A significant share of Hormel’s foods can be cooked, right in their packages, by the radar ranges, and Hormel has introduced several innovations – in process, package and formulation – that have advanced the state of microwavable foods. The company called it “good fortune” when “cuttingedge packaging technology landed on the company’s doorstep on Dec. 31, 1982.” The package was a semirigid, multilayered plastic tray with an airtight lid. Retortable and vacuum-packed, it could keep foods fresh for 12, maybe 18, months without refrigeration or freezing. After a long development effort, Top Shelf entrees were introduced in 1987. The pioneering product may have been too far ahead of its time because it never really gained significant market share. Hormel changed the name and some of the processes over the years, but stuck with the basic technology and finally hit paydirt last year under the name Hormel Compleats. Packaging development also led to microwavable single servings of popular Hormel products, primarily for lunches, including Hormel chili, Dinty Moore stews and Mary Kitchen corned beef hash. Those in turn led to Kid’s Kitchen shelf-stable entrees and Micro Cup soups and entrees. Another hot product is microwave bacon. Hormel first developed a microwavable bacon in 1988, in a unique package that simulated broiling but was not precooked. That has evolved into Microwave Ready bacon.
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FOOD PROCESSING DECEMBER 2008
Chemists’ Society (AOCS) Laboratory Pro ciency Program (LPP) – the most extensive and respected program of its type in the world. For the last ve years, the lab has placed in the top three for cholesterol testing. e
AOCS LPP
cholesterol test examines whether the lab correctly measures the amount of cholesterol in a product sample, which is important for nutritional labeling. Bruce Franta, senior chemist at Hormel Foods, developed this method of measurement. “ ese awards are proof that our laboratory consistently produces error-free results for our customers” says Phil Minerich, vice president of research and development. “Plant operations, quality control, our customers and regulatory agencies can trust our products are safe and properly labeled when they are tested by our lab.”
Hormel has been a leader in advancing retortable, shelf-stable technology from canned products (Hormel chili was introduced in 1935) to complete meals in plastic trays (Compleats were relaunched in 2007).
FOODPROCESSING.COM
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