Spring 2009 - Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center
Spring 2009 - Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center
Spring 2009 - Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center
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f a p c<br />
Adding Value to Oklahoma <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
RECIPES for SUCCESS<br />
2 Cups Service 1 Cup Convenience<br />
1 Tsp Value 2 Tbsp Variety<br />
The ingredients restaurants are using<br />
to flourish in a recession - page 12<br />
<strong>Robert</strong> M. <strong>Kerr</strong> <strong>Food</strong> & <strong>Agricultural</strong> <strong>Products</strong> <strong>Center</strong> Oklahoma State University<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2009</strong> 1
Adding Value to Oklahoma Volume 4 Issue 1<br />
news<br />
From the Director 3<br />
Graduate students awarded at FAPC Research Symposium 4<br />
By Stacy Patton, FAPC Communications Graduate Assistant<br />
FAPC Basic Training graduate bottles Oklahoma’s “deVine” history 6<br />
By Mandy Gross, FAPC Manager of Communications Services<br />
industry perspective<br />
Market for U.S. cotton shifts 8<br />
By Jay Cowart, Plains Cotton Cooperative Association<br />
foundation focus<br />
Unitherm supports food safety through equipment donation 9<br />
By Chuck Willoughby, FAPC Business & Marketing Relations Manager<br />
fuels of the future<br />
Methanol as a feedstock and transportation fuel 10<br />
By Nurhan Dunford, FAPC Oil/Oilseed Chemist<br />
business & marketing<br />
Recipes for success 12<br />
By Corey Stone, Business & Marketing Strategist<br />
Recession proof 14<br />
By Corey Stone, Business & Marketing Strategist<br />
pathogen patrol<br />
Another outbreak in peanut butter 16<br />
By Peter Muriana, FAPC <strong>Food</strong> Microbiologist<br />
from the test kitchen<br />
Sweet expectations 18<br />
By Darren Scott, FAPC Sensory Specialist<br />
food processing<br />
Finding your product niche 20<br />
By David Moe, FAPC Pilot Plant Manager<br />
quality management<br />
Using the basic quality tools 22<br />
By Jason Young, FAPC Quality Management Specialist<br />
FAPC Director<br />
J. Roy Escoubas<br />
Managing Editor<br />
Graphic Designer<br />
Mandy Gross<br />
Editor<br />
Stacy Patton<br />
Writers<br />
Jay Cowart, Nurhan Dunford, Roy<br />
Escoubas, Mandy Gross,<br />
David Moe, Peter Muriana,<br />
Stacy Patton, Darren Scott,<br />
Corey Stone, Chuck Willoughby,<br />
and Jason Young<br />
Adding Value to Oklahoma <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
<strong>Robert</strong> M. <strong>Kerr</strong> <strong>Food</strong> & <strong>Agricultural</strong> <strong>Products</strong> <strong>Center</strong> Oklahoma State University<br />
About the cover...<br />
Amidst reports of recession, businesses<br />
must compete for consumers’<br />
constricted cash. This may be a recipe<br />
for disaster for some industries, but<br />
restaurants keep serving up sweet success.<br />
This is why consumers continue<br />
to leave the cooking to the chefs.<br />
Oklahoma State University, in compliance with Title VI and VII of the<br />
Civil Rights Act of 1964, Executive Order 11246 as amended, Title IX of<br />
the Education Amendments of 1972, Americans with Disabilities Act of<br />
1990, and other federal laws and regulations, does not discriminate on<br />
the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, age, religion, disability,<br />
or status as a veteran in any of its policies, practices or procedures. This<br />
includes but is not limited to admissions, employment, financial aid, and<br />
educational services.<br />
Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, acts of May 8 and<br />
June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture,<br />
<strong>Robert</strong> E. Whitson, Director of Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service,<br />
Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma. This publication is<br />
printed and issued by Oklahoma State University as authorized by the<br />
Vice President, Dean, and Director of the Division of <strong>Agricultural</strong> Sciences<br />
and Natural Resources and has been prepared and distributed at a cost<br />
of $2346.96 for 700 copies. 0309<br />
2 fapc.biz<br />
f a p c<br />
RECIPES for SUCCESS<br />
2 Cups Service 1 Cup Convenience<br />
1 Tsp Value 2 Tbsp Variety<br />
The ingredients restaurants are using<br />
to flourish in a recession - page 12
news<br />
By Roy Escoubas<br />
FAPC Director<br />
roy.escoubas@okstate.edu<br />
In the last fapc.biz magazine, it was said the food industry in the United<br />
States is in constant change. The fact is everything around us is in constant<br />
change. It seems, however, in these recent times, the changes occur more<br />
quickly with more force and with more impact. Things that have occurred<br />
during a number of years are now causing immediate changes. Following are<br />
thoughts on these changes.<br />
<strong>Food</strong> safety issues<br />
In a January <strong>2009</strong> research report<br />
published by the U.S. Department of<br />
Agriculture Economic Research Service,<br />
a 20-year trend study showed<br />
U.S. livestock production has changed<br />
or shifted since 1987 to a highly industrialized<br />
and specialized business<br />
model with broiler operations becoming<br />
60 percent larger, fed-cattle operations<br />
becoming 100 percent larger,<br />
dairy operations becoming 240 percent<br />
larger, and hog operations becoming<br />
2,000 percent larger. Other information<br />
has shown that all agricultural,<br />
food manufacturing, food service, and<br />
food retail enterprises have changed<br />
(grown in scale), and these changes<br />
in size and scale have been driven in<br />
FOOD SAFETY ISSUES<br />
large part by economics and efficiencies<br />
of scale where, in the final analysis,<br />
the costs of food to consumers are<br />
improved.<br />
When a food safety interruption<br />
in the current market is discovered,<br />
consumers’ health and safety are af-<br />
fected, and because of the scale of the<br />
production and distribution base, large<br />
segments of the American population<br />
also are affected. In the process of<br />
addressing and solving food safety issues,<br />
the consumer base tends to lose<br />
confidence in the food industry and<br />
is loosing confidence in the government’s<br />
ability to assure food safety.<br />
Recently, Salmonella contamination<br />
in peanuts and peanut products<br />
has spread to almost every state. The<br />
<strong>Food</strong> and Drug Administration’s effec-<br />
From the Director<br />
tiveness has been called into question<br />
once more, and this event may result<br />
in changes that could affect a major<br />
change in FDA and USDA structure<br />
and function. Regardless of what happens<br />
at the agencies, changes in food<br />
safety compliance regulations will<br />
result and will affect the day-to-day<br />
safety compliance in all agricultural<br />
and food industry production and processing<br />
facilities.<br />
Environmental issues<br />
Changes continue to develop with<br />
regard to food industry operations<br />
and their impact on the environment.<br />
Green sourcing and the minimization<br />
of natural resources with a focus on<br />
renewable resources for manufacturing<br />
are in the forefront. A recent environmental<br />
topic relates to carbon dioxide<br />
regulation, the carbon footprint analysis,<br />
and carbon credit value assessments,<br />
and these will have an impact<br />
on Oklahoma.<br />
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES<br />
Operations costs<br />
The economic downturn has<br />
forced changes by food manufacturers<br />
to reassess the costs of operations.<br />
Non-essential components of businesses<br />
are again being trimmed away.<br />
It has been a general industry rule-ofthumb<br />
through the years that non-essential<br />
components of the business, or<br />
those components of the business that<br />
do not directly generate sales revenue,<br />
are closed when business profitability<br />
is compromised.<br />
OPERATIONS COSTS<br />
Work force<br />
Finally, an article was published<br />
recently in BusinessWeek,<br />
titled “Here Come The Millennials.”<br />
It seems that not only do the<br />
agricultural and food industries face<br />
changes in production, processing,<br />
new ingredients, new food safety issues,<br />
food safety compliance, new<br />
consumer and economic pressures,<br />
and greater pressure from globalization,<br />
but also agricultural and food<br />
industries must face a diverse and<br />
demanding labor force and a set of<br />
college graduating idealists and selffocused<br />
new young leaders. These<br />
graduating “Millennials” are said<br />
to be strong-willed and passionate,<br />
they like personal attention, they<br />
care about the world, and they expect<br />
success. This idealism mixed<br />
with a desire to work may be a good<br />
thing for the food industry. However,<br />
traditional managers must be<br />
prepared for a change in how these<br />
new “recruits” are mentored.<br />
WORK FORCE<br />
Adjusting to change<br />
These amazing demands on the<br />
food and agribusiness industries<br />
force us to be the best that we can<br />
be. A recent article in Supply Chain<br />
Management Review emphasized<br />
that a healthy and creative partnership<br />
with our stakeholders is fostered<br />
by a close business relationship,<br />
a willingness to discuss issues<br />
quickly and thoroughly, an attention<br />
to communicate thoroughly, an emphasis<br />
on flexibility, and a desire to<br />
create a learning environment at every<br />
opportunity.<br />
You are a valued stakeholder of<br />
the FAPC. Let us assist you as you<br />
compete in this market of change.<br />
Call our business and marketing specialists<br />
today.<br />
ADJUSTING TO CHANGE<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2009</strong> 3
Graduate students awarded<br />
at FAPC Research Symposium<br />
T<br />
he <strong>Robert</strong> M. <strong>Kerr</strong> <strong>Food</strong> & <strong>Agricultural</strong><br />
<strong>Products</strong> <strong>Center</strong> and the<br />
Institute of <strong>Food</strong> Technologists-<br />
Oklahoma Section held a Research<br />
Symposium in conjunction with Oklahoma<br />
State University Research Week.<br />
The symposium featured a combination<br />
of oral and poster presentations,<br />
with student presenters in both<br />
categories competing for $250 prizes,<br />
said Peter Muriana, FAPC food microbiologist<br />
and chair of the symposium.<br />
“I lobbied hard for the Research<br />
Symposium early on, drawing from<br />
the positive experience I had as a graduate<br />
student where we put on a similar<br />
type of event,” Muriana said. “I am<br />
glad that it has been received well<br />
by all the faculty and students who<br />
take the time to participate. I always<br />
thought it benefited students in helping<br />
to provide another opportunity to present<br />
and discuss their research.”<br />
Kalpana Kushwaha, an OSU doctoral<br />
student in food science, took the<br />
prize with her oral presentation, titled<br />
“In vitro and In vivo virulence analysis<br />
of strong and weakly adherent strains<br />
of Listeria monocytogenes.”<br />
“It’s an honor for me to be recognized<br />
with best oral presentation for<br />
my research work at the FAPC/IFT-<br />
OK Research Symposium, and my sincere<br />
thanks to Dr. Muriana for giving<br />
me an opportunity to work with him,”<br />
Kushwaha said.<br />
Likewise, OSU food science doctoral<br />
student Dinesh Babu won the<br />
poster division with his presentation,<br />
titled “Rapid and sensitive detection<br />
of aflatoxins in animal feeds, cereal<br />
grains, and food products using immunomagnetic<br />
bead-based recovery and<br />
real-time PCR assay.”<br />
“Working with Dr. Muriana itself<br />
is a rewarding experience, and being<br />
recognized with the best poster presentation<br />
for our research work during<br />
the FAPC Research Symposium is an<br />
added bonus,” Babu said. “Thanks to<br />
FAPC/IFT-OK and sponsors for creating<br />
this opportunity to OSU students.”<br />
In addition to highlighting food<br />
and agricultural product research<br />
conducted by the FAPC and OSU,<br />
the symposium included a keynote<br />
address by Michael Davidson, food<br />
microbiology professor and head of<br />
the Department of <strong>Food</strong> Science and<br />
Technology at the University of Tennessee,<br />
Knoxville. Davidson addressed<br />
the issues of natural antimicrobials in<br />
the food industry.<br />
The FAPC was delighted that Davidson<br />
could be the keynote speaker,<br />
Muriana said.<br />
“Not only is he a noted expert in<br />
the field of food antimicrobials, but<br />
also it was nice to bring in someone<br />
that was so impressed with our facilities<br />
and in a position to possibly guide<br />
students in our direction as well,”<br />
Muriana said. “Dr. Davidson said he<br />
also benefited from his visit in that he<br />
picked up a lot of ideas on extension<br />
activities, and he would like to come<br />
back with some administrators to visit<br />
our operation again in the near future.”<br />
The event also included a tour of<br />
the FAPC facilities, including demonstrations<br />
in the wet processing room,<br />
enology laboratory, and microbiology<br />
laboratory.<br />
“Several of the participants commented<br />
that they enjoyed the tour,”<br />
said Chuck Willoughby, FAPC manager<br />
of business and marketing relations.<br />
“This was a great way to really show a<br />
few examples of research and development<br />
activities at the FAPC, beyond<br />
the oral and poster presentations.”<br />
Sponsors of the FAPC/IFT-OK<br />
Research Symposium included 3-M<br />
Microbiology, PetSci, and Unitherm<br />
<strong>Food</strong> Systems.<br />
“I lobbied hard for the Research Symposium early on, drawing<br />
from the positive experience I had as a graduate student<br />
where we put on a similar type of event. I am glad that it has<br />
been received well by all the faculty and students who take<br />
the time to participate. I always thought it benefited students<br />
in helping to provide another opportunity to present and discuss<br />
their research.”<br />
Peter Muriana, FAPC <strong>Food</strong> Microbiologist<br />
4 fapc.biz
Michael Davidson from the University of<br />
Tennessee, Knoxville, addresses the issue of<br />
natural antimicrobials in the food industry.<br />
news<br />
By Stacy Patton<br />
FAPC Communications Graduate Assistant<br />
stacy.patton@okstate.edu<br />
Chuck Willoughby, FAPC business<br />
and marketing relations manager,<br />
presents Kalpana Kushwaha, OSU<br />
doctoral student in food science,<br />
a certificate and check for $250<br />
for taking top honors in the oral<br />
presentations.<br />
Chuck Willoughby, FAPC business<br />
and marketing relations manager,<br />
presents Dinesh Babu, OSU<br />
food science doctoral student, a<br />
certificate and check for $250 for<br />
winning first place in the poster<br />
presentations.<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2009</strong> 5
FAPC Basic Training graduate bottles<br />
Oklahoma’s “deVine” History<br />
B<br />
ottling a little of Oklahoma<br />
history is a dream come true<br />
for Max McDermott of Alva,<br />
Oklahoma.<br />
In 2003, the McDermott Living<br />
Trust purchased the natural water<br />
spring, commonly known by travelers<br />
as the “Artesian Well on Highway 11.”<br />
Drilled in 1954, the main well is located<br />
just north of the Great Salt Plains<br />
National Wildlife Refuge, which is<br />
just north of the original township of<br />
Vining, Oklahoma.<br />
“The well has been available to<br />
the public at no charge,” McDermott<br />
said. “People from all across the world<br />
have stopped to drink this thirstquenching<br />
water, and many locals fill<br />
their jugs and haul this water as their<br />
primary drinking water source.”<br />
Soon after purchasing the well,<br />
McDermott enrolled in Basic Training<br />
for <strong>Food</strong> Business Entrepreneurs, a<br />
one-day class offered by the <strong>Robert</strong><br />
M. <strong>Kerr</strong> <strong>Food</strong> & <strong>Agricultural</strong> <strong>Products</strong><br />
<strong>Center</strong> at Oklahoma State University,<br />
to learn what was needed to open his<br />
own bottled-water business.<br />
McDermott heard about the course<br />
through the process of gaining the water<br />
rights with the State of Oklahoma<br />
and coming in contact with many of<br />
the state agencies.<br />
“Just as I expected, the course was<br />
highly beneficial to our business plan,<br />
and I was pleased to gain knowledge<br />
pertaining to manufacturing,” Mc-<br />
Dermott said. “Our No. 1 goal was to<br />
build our own manufacturing plant and<br />
bottle our water at the source. By taking<br />
this course, I was fortunate to have<br />
an idea of the events to come.”<br />
During Basic Training, McDermott<br />
learned about business planning,<br />
marketing, good manufacturing practices<br />
and many other topics. McDermott’s<br />
first step following Basic Training<br />
was to work on the business plan.<br />
Chuck Willoughby, FAPC business<br />
and marketing relations manager, reviewed<br />
his plan and provided feedback.<br />
“Max’s plan was very well written<br />
and organized, and one thing he emphasized<br />
in the plan was the popularity<br />
and history of the well,” Willoughby<br />
said. “This provided a point of differentiation<br />
compared to other<br />
spring waters; the<br />
local consumers as well as many travelers<br />
are likely to have an emotional<br />
appeal to the water – a relational experience.<br />
I liked his idea for the brand<br />
name deVine, too – tying in the name<br />
of the local township and scripture.”<br />
Willoughby and his business and<br />
marketing team then provided a market<br />
study for the bottled-water industry<br />
that McDermott could incorporate into<br />
his business plan.<br />
Other assistance provided by<br />
the FAPC included an evaluation<br />
of used bot-<br />
6 fapc.biz
tling equipment by Tim Bowser, FAPC<br />
food process engineer. Unfortunately,<br />
suitable used equipment was scarce<br />
and the equipment McDermott had access<br />
to was substandard or over priced<br />
or had mismatched capacities.<br />
“Max was a great client to work<br />
with; his enthusiasm was contagious,”<br />
Bowser said. “I only wish suitable<br />
equipment had been available at the<br />
time.”<br />
After nearly giving up, McDermott’s<br />
entrepreneurial spirit prevailed,<br />
and he was able to locate bottling<br />
equipment.<br />
Because deVine water is bottled at<br />
the source, environmental displeasures<br />
cannot contaminate the taste nor content<br />
of the water throughout the bottling<br />
process, McDermott said.<br />
“Using only two very effective<br />
forms of disinfection, ozonation, and<br />
ultraviolet light, it is to our advantage<br />
and the consumers’ advantage<br />
that we are not<br />
required to use chlorine,” he said.<br />
“These, among many more, are all of<br />
the reasons deVine Natural Artesian<br />
Water truly is a taste of heaven on<br />
earth.”<br />
McDermott identified his motto as<br />
“I am the Vine, You are the Branches”<br />
from the scripture John 15:5. The<br />
name, deVine, was derived from the<br />
location and the McDermott family’s<br />
Christian values.<br />
“Like the ‘True Vine’ in God’s<br />
word (John 15:5), this Natural Artesian<br />
Water source is the vine and we,<br />
deVine LLC, are the branches,” Mc-<br />
Dermott said. “We in ourselves do not<br />
have the ability to produce this divine<br />
gift from nature, but our company is<br />
delighted to be the instrument through<br />
which it goes forth.”<br />
McDermott began his bottling<br />
company in a licensed clean room that<br />
he built at his residence north of Alva,<br />
with a small filling line purchased in<br />
San Antonio, Texas.<br />
He soon realized the water business<br />
was going to grow beyond his<br />
small facility, so McDer-<br />
news<br />
By Mandy Gross<br />
FAPC Manager of Communications Services<br />
mandy.gross@okstate.edu<br />
mott looked into finding a co-packer.<br />
Caldwell Bottling Inc. in Caldwell,<br />
Kansas, was already set up to bottle<br />
spring water.<br />
In 2006, McDermott purchased a<br />
5000-gallon food-grade stainless steel<br />
tanker and started hauling the water<br />
to Caldwell to be bottled, and on June<br />
7, 2007, he purchased the contents of<br />
Caldwell Bottling Inc. He continued to<br />
lease the building and bottle the water<br />
in Caldwell, while his new bottling<br />
plant was being built from February to<br />
July 2008.<br />
“We are excited about the natural<br />
bottled-water industry and everything<br />
it has to offer,” McDermott said.<br />
“Since the completion of our new facility,<br />
we have grown tremendously.”<br />
McDermott has continued his 3-<br />
and 5-gallon services in most of northwest<br />
Oklahoma, while also servicing<br />
routes in Kansas. His products include<br />
3- and 5- gallon bottles for home or<br />
office delivery; H/C water dispensers;<br />
many water accessories; 12-, 16.9- and<br />
20-ounce PET bottles; and the newest<br />
addition 750-milliliter glass bottles.<br />
Although deVine water is available<br />
for purchase at many locations<br />
and online at www.devinewater.com/,<br />
the main well by the highway still<br />
offers free access as a means of<br />
service to local and area travelers.<br />
This concept is the foundation of the<br />
deVine slogan, “The water is still free<br />
... All we charge for is the bottle and<br />
delivery.”<br />
Like many of the entrepreneurs<br />
FAPC works with, McDermott has that<br />
persistent, never give-up attitude, Willoughby<br />
said.<br />
“We were delighted to learn that<br />
Max never gave up on his dream,” he<br />
said. “Working with Max and folks<br />
like him inspire us to live out our mission<br />
– to add value to Oklahoma!”<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2009</strong> 7
industry perspective<br />
By Jay Cowart<br />
Plains Cotton Cooperative Association<br />
jay.cowart@pcca.com<br />
Market for U.S. cotton shifts<br />
Most U.S. cotton now consumed overseas<br />
Changing world dynamics have<br />
forced U.S. cotton producers<br />
to sell the bulk of their<br />
cotton in the global market, resulting<br />
in more U.S. cotton being consumed<br />
outside the country. The diminishing<br />
use of cotton in the United States is a<br />
direct result of a struggling U.S. textile<br />
industry, leaving cotton producers in<br />
search of a market for their crops.<br />
The decline of the U.S. textile<br />
industry was not an overnight occurrence.<br />
In fact, the downturn began in<br />
1997 with a dramatic increase in governmental<br />
intervention in the textile<br />
and apparel export sectors in China<br />
and other Asian nations. The trade<br />
policies set in motion at that time have<br />
continually allowed these governments<br />
to, among other things, devalue their<br />
currency, provide export subsidies, offer<br />
free financing, and set artificially<br />
low prices for textile and apparel<br />
products, thereby crushing free-market<br />
competition.<br />
The U.S. textile industry has found<br />
it difficult to compete with foreign<br />
textile imports under these trade conditions.<br />
More than 500 textile facilities<br />
in the United States have been forced<br />
to close including more than 30 textile<br />
plants during the last 12 months,<br />
according to data compiled by the<br />
National Council of Textile Organizations.<br />
Literally, hundreds of thousands<br />
of U.S. textile workers have lost their<br />
jobs during the last 12 years.<br />
Weaker Asian currencies have allowed<br />
textile and apparel companies<br />
to offer products in this country at<br />
prices so low that it has fundamentally<br />
changed the buying pattern of many<br />
U.S. retailers and garment manufacturers,<br />
and more garments are sourced<br />
out of Asia than ever before. This<br />
scenario, coupled with downward spiraling<br />
consumer spending during the<br />
current global recession, makes it even<br />
more difficult for the few surviving<br />
U.S. textile mills.<br />
As a result of fewer textile facilities<br />
operating in the United States, the<br />
domestic consumption of cotton has<br />
plummeted. In 1998, National Cotton<br />
Council data showed U.S. textile mills<br />
were consuming cotton at a seasonally<br />
adjusted annualized rate of 11.35<br />
million bales per year. By 2008, an<br />
annualized rate of only 4.61 million<br />
bales of U.S. cotton were consumed<br />
within the United States. The amount<br />
of cotton is expected to decline further<br />
as U.S. Department of Agriculture’s<br />
most recent supply and demand report<br />
pegged domestic mill use at just 3.9<br />
million bales in <strong>2009</strong>.<br />
Despite falling domestic cotton<br />
use, the United States remains one of<br />
the top three cotton producing countries<br />
in the world, as American cotton<br />
farmers will produce more than<br />
13 million bales in <strong>2009</strong>. In order to<br />
secure buyers for their cotton, U.S.<br />
producers have been forced to export<br />
the majority of their crop. The amount<br />
of cotton exports continue to grow as<br />
more than 13 million bales of cotton<br />
were exported in 2008, while only 7.5<br />
million bales were sold abroad just 10<br />
years before. A record-breaking 17.5<br />
million bales of U.S. cotton were exported<br />
in 2006.<br />
The stream of cotton flowing out<br />
of the United States is expected to<br />
continue while U.S. textile mills see<br />
no quick resolution to their immediate<br />
plight. Far from ideal, many in the industry<br />
see the irony of the situation.<br />
“As a result of the strong dollar<br />
policies of the 1990s, the third largest<br />
cotton producing nation must export<br />
cotton halfway around the world to be<br />
turned into apparel that is then shipped<br />
back to the United States to be worn<br />
by the world’s most efficient cotton<br />
producers,” a cotton analyst said.<br />
8 fapc.biz
foundation focus<br />
By Chuck Willoughby<br />
FAPC Business & Marketing Relations Manager<br />
chuck.willoughby@okstate.edu<br />
Unitherm supports food safety through<br />
EQUIPMENT DONATION<br />
Foundation Focus serves to support<br />
and enhance the programs<br />
that carry out the mission of the<br />
<strong>Robert</strong> M. <strong>Kerr</strong> <strong>Food</strong> & <strong>Agricultural</strong><br />
<strong>Products</strong> <strong>Center</strong> through donations of<br />
individual and industry partners to the<br />
Product Innovation Fund.<br />
Recently, David Howard, chief<br />
executive officer of Unitherm <strong>Food</strong><br />
Systems, provided a fully automated,<br />
walk-through boot wash system, valued<br />
at approximately $20,000, as a<br />
gift-in-kind to support food safety<br />
research and day-to-day food safety<br />
activities of the FAPC’s meat processing<br />
pilot plant.<br />
“We at Unitherm are pleased<br />
to be able to enhance<br />
the real-<br />
world experience the center offers,”<br />
Howard said. “The FAPC and its staff<br />
are world leaders in food safety; they<br />
have pioneered in pathogen control<br />
and HACCP plans across the country.”<br />
The FAPC’s pilot plant facilities<br />
are designed with the needs of<br />
the Oklahoma food and agricultural<br />
products processing industry in mind.<br />
Some of the services offered by the pilot<br />
plant facilities include training and<br />
demonstration; process system development<br />
and evaluation; new product<br />
development; equipment evaluation;<br />
evaluation of functional product ingredients;<br />
technology<br />
transfer; thermal process<br />
evaluation; and<br />
consumer market<br />
testing.<br />
This state-ofthe-art<br />
equipment<br />
has photo eye<br />
sensors to activate<br />
the system<br />
when a person<br />
enters. Meteredsanitizer<br />
mixes<br />
with water<br />
and is applied<br />
to<br />
the boot<br />
while brushes scrub the entire boot, including<br />
the sole, removing any debris<br />
on the boot.<br />
“The added cleaning ability this<br />
automated boot wash system provides<br />
will make our sanitation programs better,<br />
which means safer meat products<br />
coming out of our plant,” said Kyle<br />
Flynn, FAPC meat processing manager.<br />
“Many of FAPC’s meat industry<br />
clients look to FAPC as a role model<br />
in industry food safety practices,”<br />
Flynn said. “Microbial testing of the<br />
machine’s effectiveness is also being<br />
planned.”<br />
To date, the Product Innovation<br />
Fund has received nearly $500,000<br />
in contributions from the Oklahoma<br />
value-added industry and from private<br />
individuals. Future fapc.biz issues will<br />
feature other research and technical<br />
projects and programs supported by<br />
the FAPC Foundation Funds.<br />
To learn more about the Product<br />
Innovation Fund and how you can<br />
plant seeds of success, visit www.<br />
fapc.biz/fund/. For more information,<br />
please contact Chuck Willoughby,<br />
manager for business and marketing<br />
relations, by calling 405-744-6071 or<br />
by e-mailing chuck.willoughby@okstate.edu.<br />
Chuck Willoughby (left), FAPC business and<br />
marketing relations manager, and Kyle Flynn<br />
(right), FAPC meat plant manager, stand next<br />
to the boot wash donated by Unitherm <strong>Food</strong><br />
Systems.<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2009</strong> 9
Great emphasis has been put<br />
on lignocellulosic material<br />
and starch-based ethanol as<br />
the alternative fuel of the future, which<br />
will lead to independence from foreign<br />
oil. Nevertheless, the transportation<br />
fuel industry’s long-term sustainability<br />
can be achieved only if all the domestically<br />
available resources are evaluated<br />
carefully and risks are mitigated<br />
by diversifying the alternative fuel<br />
portfolio for the future.<br />
There are many lessons to be<br />
learned from the demonstration of<br />
methanol as a transportation<br />
fuel in the 1980s and 1990s. The economic<br />
crises in the 1970s led federal<br />
and state officials to encourage the introduction<br />
of alternative fuel vehicles.<br />
At that time, use of coal-derived methanol<br />
was seen as a promising transportation<br />
fuel because of the ample coal<br />
reserves and advantages of methanol<br />
as a fuel. By the late 1970s, the California<br />
Energy Commission was testing<br />
dedicated, methanol-fueled vehicles.<br />
Yet, the use of methanol as a transpor-<br />
The energy experts agree there is no<br />
dence. There are a number of feedst<br />
be evaluated. Methanol has a prove<br />
a significant part of the future energy<br />
tation fuel died out by the late 1990s.<br />
The lessons learned from the active<br />
demonstration of methanol as a<br />
transportation fuel are discussed in an<br />
article titled “Methanol Transportation<br />
Fuels: A Look Back and a Look Forward”<br />
by Gregory A. Dolan, Methanol<br />
Institute vice president for communications<br />
and policy. 1<br />
In the article Dolan states, “From<br />
these demonstration efforts, we<br />
learned there are no technical barriers<br />
to building methanol-fueled vehicles.”<br />
Nevertheless, the lack of strong<br />
support from the automobile manufacturers<br />
discouraged the expansion of<br />
methanol-fueled vehicles. Given the<br />
current status of science and technology<br />
in the U.S., in most cases, technical<br />
issues can be resolved within<br />
a reasonable time frame. Economic,<br />
political, and social issues are the most<br />
challenging hurdles to be overcome<br />
for the establishment of an alternative<br />
fuel transportation system.<br />
Because ancient Egyptians first<br />
obtained it by condensing gases<br />
from burning wood, methanol is<br />
also known as wood alcohol. In<br />
1823, <strong>Robert</strong> Boyle isolated pure<br />
methanol. He called it “spirit of<br />
box” because he produced it by<br />
distilling liquid obtained from<br />
burning boxwood.<br />
Methanol is the simplest and light-<br />
10 fapc.biz
fuels of the future<br />
By Nurhan Dunford<br />
FAPC Oil/Oilseed Chemist<br />
nurhan.dunford@okstate.edu<br />
TRANSPORTATION FUEL<br />
single solution to energy indepenocks<br />
and technologies that need to<br />
n track record to be considered as<br />
portfolio.<br />
est alcohol. It can be produced from<br />
a wide range of feedstocks such as<br />
natural gas, coal, landfill gas, waste<br />
wood, and fermentation. At first<br />
glance, methanol does not look like a<br />
promising fuel. It has lower energy,<br />
approximately 64,500 Btu/gallon, than<br />
gasoline at 124,800 Btu/gallon and<br />
ethanol at 76,500 Btu/gallon. It is toxic<br />
when ingested and, like ethanol, is<br />
corrosive to tank liners, pipeline seals,<br />
and gaskets.<br />
On the other hand, methanol has<br />
a higher octane rating than gasoline<br />
and burns cleaner. It produces carbon<br />
dioxide but eliminates hazardous<br />
gasoline combustion products such as<br />
carcinogenic benzene and particulate<br />
emissions. The higher ignition point of<br />
methanol than gasoline makes it less<br />
of a fire hazard. Because methanol is<br />
miscible with water, it will dilute and<br />
biodegrade in the case of a spill. Methanol<br />
also is extremely flexible as a fuel<br />
and feedstock. It can be blended into<br />
existing transportation fuels or used<br />
as a neat fuel in light- and heavyduty<br />
vehicles powered by internal<br />
combustion engines. It is the ideal<br />
hydrogen carrier fuel for fuel cell<br />
vehicles.<br />
In an interview published<br />
in Chemical and Engineering<br />
News magazine 2 , Nobel Laureate<br />
George Olah, University<br />
of Southern California professor of<br />
chemistry and director of the Loker<br />
Hydrocarbon Research Institute, said,<br />
“Methanol can be transformed into everything<br />
now made from oil and gas,<br />
and it’s a prime way to store, transport,<br />
and utilize energy.”<br />
Olah is one of the proponents of<br />
methanol as a feedstock and fuel. He<br />
emphasizes, “I am not saying methanol<br />
is the only solution to the world’s<br />
energy problem but we should use ev-<br />
erything that is feasible. But in this big<br />
mix, methanol has a significant role.”<br />
The energy experts agree there is<br />
no single solution to energy independence.<br />
There are a number of feedstocks<br />
and technologies that need to<br />
be evaluated. Methanol has a proven<br />
track record to be considered as a<br />
significant part of the future energy<br />
portfolio.<br />
References:<br />
1 http://www.methanol.org/pdf/<br />
MIPaperforISAF.pdf<br />
2 www.CEN.online.org, December 3, 2007<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2009</strong> 11
RECIPES SUCCESS<br />
The ingredients restaurants are<br />
using to flourish in a recession<br />
In tough economic times, consumers<br />
try to trim their budgets.<br />
Disposable income is diverted<br />
to savings, and people identify<br />
those comforts they can do without.<br />
Since most homes still come<br />
equipped with kitchens, eating in<br />
seems like a sure, cost-saving option.<br />
Consider the pure expense of<br />
eating out. Dinner for two for less<br />
than $25 is no longer an option at<br />
full-service restaurants. Even most<br />
fast-casual concepts can command<br />
more than $9 per person.<br />
But if you think premium pricing<br />
during an economic downturn<br />
is a disastrous recipe, think again.<br />
Restaurants are sticking with the<br />
recipe that put the industry where<br />
it is. In these unstable economic<br />
times, success has never tasted so<br />
sweet.<br />
Recession? What recession?<br />
Despite reports of a failing<br />
global economy, restaurant sales<br />
– though down from 2008 – re-<br />
mained stable in January and February,<br />
months that are notoriously bad for the<br />
industry. The steady business comes as<br />
no surprise to the restaurant industry.<br />
The National Restaurant Association<br />
is forecasting modest growth for <strong>2009</strong>,<br />
with restaurant sales projected to reach<br />
$566 billion, an increase of 2.5 percent<br />
during the last year.<br />
Fast food concepts are projected to<br />
post the largest increase at 4 percent.<br />
Full-service restaurants are expected to<br />
grow in sales by 1 percent, and taverns<br />
and similar establishments should see<br />
greater than a 2 percent increase.<br />
Still, $10 for a couple of enchiladas,<br />
rice, and beans does not seem like<br />
an option in a bleak economic climate.<br />
Customers regularly pay as much as<br />
four to five times the actual cost of the<br />
food they order at a full-service restaurant.<br />
This seems to defy logic upon<br />
cursory inspection; no meal can be that<br />
good.<br />
Secret ingredients<br />
A more scrutinizing look through<br />
the value-added lens reveals what<br />
consumers are really paying for. The<br />
convenience, specifically the savings<br />
of time and effort, of having a meal<br />
prepared is apparently worth a substantial<br />
premium. Add to this the fact consumers<br />
generally do not have the space<br />
nor expertise to purchase and utilize<br />
the myriad of herbs, spices, and secret<br />
ingredients available to restaurants.<br />
Dawn Sweeney, president and<br />
chief executive officer of the National<br />
Restaurant Association, says consumers<br />
are looking for value, variety,<br />
healthier options, and convenience,<br />
according to the association Web site. 1<br />
Restaurants are a key part of the American<br />
lifestyle. In <strong>2009</strong>, the Association<br />
predicts nearly half of consumers’ food<br />
budget will be spent in restaurants.<br />
Restaurants are at the high end<br />
of the value-added spectrum. These<br />
businesses offer to replace a meal at<br />
home, and do so with such speed and<br />
convenience as to warrant an appreciable<br />
premium. The industry is highly<br />
competitive, and competition breeds<br />
innovation. Consider some of the ways<br />
chefs plan to innovate in <strong>2009</strong>.<br />
12 fapc.biz
Menu inserts<br />
A recent National Restaurant Association<br />
survey of more than 1,600<br />
professional chefs, who are members<br />
of the American Culinary Federation,<br />
reveals nutrition and philosophy-driven<br />
food choices will be the hottest trends<br />
on restaurant menus in <strong>2009</strong>. Local<br />
produce, bite-size desserts, organic<br />
foods, healthful kids’ meals, and new<br />
cuts of meat top the list of more than<br />
200 items in the third annual “What’s<br />
Hot” chef survey. Rounding out the<br />
top 10 trends are vegetable or fruit side<br />
dishes for kids; superfruits, such as<br />
acai; small plates, tapas, mezze, or dim<br />
sum; artisan liquor; and sustainable<br />
seafood. 2<br />
National Restaurant Association<br />
research suggests Americans also<br />
are looking for healthier options and<br />
“greener” restaurants when dining<br />
out. Consumers also are showing an<br />
increased interest in value and convenience.<br />
Interestingly, “health and nutrition”<br />
did not quite break the top 10<br />
trends, coming in at No. 11.<br />
I’ll just have the usual<br />
Despite constant innovation, the<br />
restaurant industry is careful not to<br />
change its already successful core<br />
menu. Certainly, fewer consumer dollars<br />
are available these days.<br />
It is not that people are afraid to<br />
spend, but that they are making fewer<br />
choices when going out to dine.<br />
Well before these new culinary<br />
trends, the restaurant industry captured<br />
its piece of the consumer dollar by providing<br />
a service people were willing to<br />
business & marketing<br />
By Corey Stone<br />
Business & Marketing Strategist<br />
corey.stone@okstate.edu<br />
Fast food concepts are projected to post the largest<br />
increase at 4 percent. Full-service restaurants are expected<br />
to grow in sales by 1 percent and taverns and<br />
similar establishments should see greater than a 2 percent<br />
increase.<br />
pay a premium for. Consumers faced<br />
more time demands, families grew in<br />
size, and technology allowed more<br />
foods to be featured on menus. Do not<br />
expect restaurants to change this aspect<br />
of their business strategy anytime<br />
soon.<br />
With so many two-income homes<br />
and substantial suburban growth, modern<br />
families find it more difficult to<br />
make time to prepare meals at home.<br />
Consumers now demand convenience<br />
when making food choices. Wholesale<br />
clubs like Sam’s market bulk packaging<br />
and prepared family-size meals.<br />
While these retailers take up a portion<br />
of the convenience market, restaurants<br />
continue to dominate it.<br />
Service and convenience are hallmarks<br />
of the restaurant industry. Not<br />
only can a family meal be served more<br />
quickly and with more variety at a<br />
restaurant, but also every member of<br />
the family is free to enjoy each other’s<br />
company. No one is stuck in the kitchen<br />
preparing dinner.<br />
Restaurants also add value to the<br />
experience by providing entertainment.<br />
Servers are generally expected to be<br />
social with customers. Music appropriate<br />
to the genre of the eatery is piped<br />
through digital sound systems. Some<br />
concepts have interactive television to<br />
entertain customers while their food<br />
is prepared.<br />
Eating out is not an unreasonable<br />
decision. The customer may<br />
save up to an hour that would have<br />
been spent cooking and cleaning.<br />
Even if a $3 meal costs $10 at a restaurant,<br />
the customer has only spent<br />
$7 for the entertainment and convenience<br />
received in return.<br />
Many guests are regulars at a<br />
local restaurant. Of course, the restaurateur<br />
wants to do everything he<br />
or she can to bring business back<br />
in. Expect restaurants to strive to<br />
improve customer relations by stepping<br />
up service and being more personal<br />
with customer recognition.<br />
Just desserts<br />
Amidst reports of recession,<br />
businesses must compete for consumers’<br />
constricted cash. This may<br />
be a recipe for disaster for some industries,<br />
but restaurants keep serving<br />
up sweet success. This is why<br />
consumers continue to leave the<br />
cooking to the chefs.<br />
References:<br />
1 www.restaurant.org<br />
2 www.restaurant.org/research/chef_sur-<br />
vey_2008.cfm<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2009</strong> 13
A look at how Oklahoma might not avoid the economic downturn<br />
urrent confidence in<br />
the global market is<br />
not high these days.<br />
Whether it is best characterized<br />
as a recession,<br />
an economic downturn, or an expected<br />
part of the cycle, the climate remains<br />
one of uncertainty. Foreclosures are on<br />
the rise as employment numbers fall.<br />
Evidence of a downturn was available<br />
in early 2008. At that time, some<br />
economists reported a recession had already<br />
begun. People reacted by spending<br />
less, downsizing their personal<br />
lifestyles. Then in April 2008, Forbes<br />
magazine released an interesting list:<br />
America’s Recession-Proof Cities.<br />
According to Forbes, four of the<br />
top 10 cities were in Texas, largely the<br />
result of technology and energy industries.<br />
North Carolina had two cities<br />
and three others were far to the west.<br />
However, the city that ranked highest<br />
is located at the nation’s crossroads.<br />
Forbes magazine listed Oklahoma<br />
City as the United States’ No. 1<br />
recession-proof location, writing the<br />
statement below:<br />
“With falling unemployment, one<br />
of the strongest housing markets in the<br />
country, and strong growth in agriculture,<br />
energy and manufacturing, Oklahoma<br />
City might not have received<br />
the recession memo, and it looks best<br />
positioned of the nation’s metropolitan<br />
areas to ride out the current crisis.<br />
Booming valuations of Oklahoma<br />
City’s largest companies, like Devon<br />
Energy and Chesapeake Energy, suggest<br />
the energy sector is the right place<br />
to be.” 1<br />
At that time, unemployment numbers<br />
were falling in Oklahoma City. Its<br />
metro area boasted one of the country’s<br />
strongest housing markets, fueled<br />
by solid growth in agriculture, energy,<br />
and manufacturing.<br />
Forbes’ focus on the Sooner State<br />
probably did not come as a shock to<br />
some Oklahomans. In January 2008,<br />
Bob Ball, economic research manager<br />
for the Tulsa Metro Chamber, told<br />
the Tulsa World that Tulsa typically<br />
lags behind the rest of nation by nine<br />
months or so in a national recession.<br />
It was, however, the strong price<br />
of oil futures that had Forbes singing<br />
Oklahoma City’s praises. The price of<br />
crude oil was climbing at the time. In<br />
fact, a barrel of crude oil jumped as<br />
high as $135 in June 2008, up from<br />
$87 in early February.<br />
However, by January <strong>2009</strong>, oil<br />
prices had fallen below $40 a barrel in<br />
Asia as investors questioned the health<br />
of the United States economy and de-<br />
mand for crude oil. A month later, oil<br />
was less than $35 a barrel.<br />
Many businesses still parlay the<br />
“Oklahoma is recession-proof” sentiment<br />
as an advertising angle. Interestingly,<br />
the real estate industry is a chief<br />
proponent of this mantra. In the meantime,<br />
brand new houses remain unsold<br />
and vacant.<br />
Make no mistake; Oklahoma is<br />
not immune to the effects of recession.<br />
The same economic synergy<br />
running through the inter-industrial<br />
connections of other states is present<br />
in Oklahoma. Business growth has a<br />
multiplier effect on a local economy;<br />
business decline brings a directly opposite<br />
result.<br />
This is best illustrated by looking<br />
at the industry that broke the bubble:<br />
real estate. By mid-2008, rumors were<br />
surfacing regarding the solvency of<br />
Circuit City. The electronics chain<br />
was facing potential bankruptcy, a fate<br />
from which no national electronics<br />
chain has ever recovered.<br />
Circuit City staved off the reports<br />
with hollow assurances and a few store<br />
closings. The electronics chain filed<br />
for bankruptcy in November 2008 and<br />
is now facing the same fate as houseware<br />
retailer Linens ‘n Things liquidation.<br />
Circuit City hired a third party to<br />
14 fapc.biz
Make no mistake; Oklahoma is not immune to the effects of<br />
recession. The same economic synergy running through the<br />
inter-industrial connections of other states is present in Oklahoma.<br />
Business growth has a multiplier effect on a local economy;<br />
business decline brings a directly opposite result.<br />
sell merchandise in the remaining 567<br />
stores, and more than 30,000 people<br />
likely will lose their jobs.<br />
Although electronics may seem<br />
fairly unnecessary for day-to-day life,<br />
the recession’s effect is much broader.<br />
Belk’s and Dillard’s saw less than 75<br />
percent of customers return in 2008.<br />
“FOX Business” predicted in December<br />
2008 that Sears, Kmart, and<br />
Macy’s also might be candidates for<br />
bankruptcy.<br />
Consider the effect on real estate<br />
development. When Circuit City closes<br />
its Oklahoma City locations, the landowner<br />
does not get rent or, at most,<br />
three months from bankruptcy proceedings.<br />
The landlord is an unsecured<br />
creditor, who is waiting in line for<br />
scraps from the bankruptcy table. The<br />
landlord loses a vital income stream.<br />
The community loses tax revenue.<br />
If a corner store like Dillard’s goes<br />
under, other mall stores can pull out<br />
according to their contract. Eventually,<br />
the mall will shut down and jobs will<br />
be lost. Money will disappear from<br />
the local economy; money which was<br />
used on paper to secure home mortgages.<br />
This is why “FOX Business” reported<br />
potential trouble for Macy’s.<br />
Macy’s uses its prestige to contract<br />
for lower rents. The retailer signs covenants<br />
with malls based on a promise<br />
to generate traffic, so the mall offers<br />
to keep rent down. Now that Macy’s is<br />
not bringing in traffic, its retail outlets<br />
face substantial rent hikes.<br />
Retailers are in business to make<br />
money by providing consumable<br />
goods. If consumers do not need the<br />
retailers’ products, the failure of the<br />
business is a natural economic consequence.<br />
Perhaps a more sobering<br />
concern is the solvency of local governments.<br />
Most communities provide access<br />
to utilities for citizens. Utility companies<br />
issue bonds. Bond ratings are tied<br />
to the credit rating of the insurance<br />
company that underwrites the payment<br />
of the bond. Bonds come due under<br />
what might be referred to as a “calamity<br />
clause.” Simply, the bond comes<br />
due if something extraordinary from a<br />
predetermined list happens.<br />
One such calamity is a change in<br />
the bond rating. This effectively means<br />
that when the credit rating agency<br />
drops the rating of the underwriting<br />
insurance company, the bond comes<br />
due. The very real result is the utility<br />
company might not be able to operate.<br />
Unbelievable? Unfortunately, it<br />
is very realistic. As recently as September<br />
2008, radio station WBHM<br />
in Birmingham reported Jefferson<br />
County, Alabama, had already missed<br />
several bond payments for a sewer<br />
project. Local banks were engaged in<br />
emergency meetings to determine how<br />
to bail out the<br />
community.<br />
Oklahoma<br />
was predicted<br />
to survive the<br />
recession be-<br />
business & marketing<br />
By Corey Stone<br />
Business & Marketing Strategist<br />
corey.stone@okstate.edu<br />
cause of strong oil prices. That net has<br />
disappeared, but there are signs of stabilization.<br />
Prices of futures contracts<br />
for later this year suggest investors<br />
expect oil to recover. The March contract<br />
currently trades near $46 a barrel,<br />
while the April contract trades above<br />
$49. Some energy experts feel pricing<br />
will regain strength, and it’s not a<br />
question of if, but when.<br />
In a year’s time, a commodity that<br />
was theoretically priced according to<br />
supply and demand doubled from $69<br />
a barrel to nearly $150, and then, in a<br />
period of just three months, crashed<br />
along with the stock market. “60 Minutes”<br />
correspondent Steve Kroft reported<br />
the cause was complicated and<br />
the theories numerous. Many people<br />
believe it was a speculative bubble,<br />
similar to what caused the housing<br />
crisis, and that it had more to do with<br />
traders and speculators on Wall Street<br />
than with oil company executives or<br />
sheiks in Saudi Arabia.<br />
Oklahomans should remain wary<br />
of inferences that this state is immune<br />
to economic cycles. If oil prices rebound,<br />
the state will at best be insulated<br />
temporarily from the recession’s<br />
effects. It may truly be a good time to<br />
purchase real estate for planned business<br />
growth, but the decision to do so<br />
must be made with caution.<br />
1 The article, written by Joshua Zumbrun, was<br />
published April 29, 2008. It is available<br />
at http://www.forbes.com/2008/04/29/<br />
cities-recession-places-forbeslife-cx_<br />
jz_0429realestate.html<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2009</strong> 15
Another outbreak<br />
in peanut butter<br />
This significance of the recent Salmonella<br />
peanut butter outbreak does<br />
not begin with the Peanut Corporation<br />
of America (PCA). It starts two years<br />
earlier in 2007 with an outbreak of<br />
Salmonella (serotype Tennessee) associated<br />
with Peter Pan and Great Value<br />
peanut butter produced by ConAgra’s<br />
Sylvester, Georgia, plant.<br />
2007 ConAgra Salmonella outbreak<br />
This outbreak occurred because,<br />
evidently, moisture/condensation in the<br />
plant was contaminated with Salmonella<br />
Tennessee and somehow got into<br />
the peanut butter. This was the first<br />
outbreak in the United States of Salmonella<br />
associated with peanut butter as a<br />
vehicle and not the typical food associated<br />
with Salmonella outbreaks.<br />
The magnitude was enormous as<br />
peanut butter is widely consumed, and<br />
these brands are among the largest in<br />
the U.S. The outbreak resulted in 627<br />
people getting sick in 47 states.<br />
This recall, however, was limited<br />
to jars of peanut butter. You can imagine<br />
an outbreak of such major brands<br />
that everyone is familiar with would<br />
resonate largely with consumers, especially<br />
since their children are likely the<br />
major household consumers of peanut<br />
butter.<br />
2008 PCA Salmonella outbreak<br />
Fast-forward less than two years<br />
later, in late 2008, with increasing<br />
number of cases starting to implicate<br />
peanut butter … Again. But the story<br />
of Stewart Parnell, president, chief<br />
executive officer, and owner of PCA<br />
is not one of accidental contamination<br />
but of personal avarice and greed.<br />
Parnell worked with his family in<br />
a peanut roasting/blanching operation,<br />
taking a $50,000 business to $30 million<br />
annually, before selling in 1995. In<br />
2000, he bought a peanut plant in Plainview,<br />
Texas, and in 2001, bought the<br />
Blakely, Georgia, operation; the family<br />
also had a plant in Suffolk, Virginia.<br />
Parnell was able to quickly show<br />
profits by buying the cheapest raw<br />
peanuts he could find, running the<br />
business on a bare-bones budget, and<br />
using minimum-wage labor. Sometimes<br />
cheap raw materials are “cheap”<br />
for a reason.<br />
In Parnell’s case, he had several<br />
prior lawsuits for supplying peanuts to<br />
customers that were allegedly contaminated<br />
with aflatoxin, and the products<br />
had to be recalled.<br />
People who knew him would not<br />
buy his peanuts to feed their pigs allegedly<br />
because of aflatoxins. This is<br />
partly where his clients “went wrong.”<br />
It is generally prudent in today’s<br />
climate that clients either need assurances<br />
that the goods they are buying<br />
are legitimate (letter of assurance or<br />
specifications) or they check up on<br />
the products by submitting incoming<br />
ingredients/products for testing (i.e.,<br />
self-audit), or both.<br />
This helps companies to identify<br />
suppliers that are providing sub-standard<br />
or unacceptable products. Large<br />
companies (like McDonald’s) can require<br />
a supplier to run safety programs<br />
that are not even required by law. The<br />
magnitude of the PCA Salmonella outbreak<br />
was so large because more than<br />
one “fail safe” programs failed.<br />
For instance, the current outbreak<br />
also involved running a food business<br />
without proper regulatory registration<br />
(i.e., with the <strong>Food</strong> and Drug Administration,<br />
FDA). The PCA plant in Texas<br />
was not licensed with the Texas Department<br />
of Agriculture. The inspector<br />
who was responsible listed them as<br />
“licensed” because he was told they<br />
“had submitted for one,” but they<br />
never did, and PCA never got licensed,<br />
although the inspector in subsequent<br />
years kept listing them as “licensed.”<br />
Since they were not actually licensed<br />
to run a food business, the plant was<br />
not known to exist by FDA and was<br />
16 fapc.biz
pathogen patrol<br />
By Peter Muriana<br />
FAPC <strong>Food</strong> Microbiologist<br />
peter.muriana@okstate.edu<br />
T<br />
The Salmonella outbreak stemming from the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) adds further fuel to the fire<br />
supporting the need for sufficient food safety regulations, which cannot be undermined by greedy individuals.<br />
PCA is a private company in which Stewart Parnell was president, chief executive officer, and owner. As such,<br />
he was able to direct the alleged improper decision-making that would less likely occur in larger companies that have<br />
numerous administrative layers. Someone in a managerial position in a company that manufactures and distributes<br />
food should not have such disregard for customer and consumer health that they, as aleged in the media, knowingly<br />
ship Salmonella-tainted products.<br />
Normal, recurring outbreaks resulting from accidental contaminations have the potential to stir politicians to<br />
initiate new and more stringent regulations because the industry cannot seem to regulate themselves to prevent this<br />
from happening. It is significantly worse when, If as allegedly occurred with PCA, a nationwide outbreak results<br />
from personal greed and malfeasance. It has been interesting to notice that some of the largest corporations in the<br />
United States have called for greater regulatory oversight by the <strong>Food</strong> & Drug Administration, recognizing that rogue<br />
operators like Parnell have hurt the industry and affected legitimate companies in the peanut butter market.<br />
never inspected, but the plant was operating<br />
for more than 10 years.<br />
The Georgia plant had 12 isolations<br />
of Salmonella during the prior<br />
year, and product sample results that<br />
tested “positive” for Salmonella were<br />
allegedly resubmitted until a “negative”<br />
test result was achieved.<br />
It is understood that Salmonella<br />
that gets into peanut butter can survive<br />
in localized pockets and not necessarily<br />
be evenly distributed throughout<br />
the entire product. Most large, publicly-held<br />
companies know this would<br />
be a “death knell” and would never<br />
resort to such, although a rogue manager<br />
could still attempt such improper<br />
activities.<br />
In PCA’s situation, Parnell was<br />
the person making these decisions ...<br />
There was no one higher to override<br />
him and the decisions he made. One of<br />
the backlashes from this outbreak was<br />
for possible legislation (either state or<br />
federal) requiring companies to share<br />
results of product testing with FDA or<br />
other regulatory body. How this aspect<br />
of the case may eventually resolve<br />
itself is not yet clear and may not get<br />
worked out for some time.<br />
The current PCA outbreak in-<br />
volves peanuts and peanut butter contaminated<br />
with Salmonella serotype<br />
Typhimurium as both product and<br />
ingredient, which has resulted in more<br />
than 691 illnesses in 46 states. What<br />
is most alarming about this outbreak<br />
is the products that have been recalled<br />
are not similar-packaged food items as<br />
in the previous peanut butter outbreak.<br />
These products include more than<br />
3,500 items including peanut butter,<br />
peanut butter crackers, cookies, cake,<br />
pies, brownies, candy and cereal products,<br />
donuts, dressing and seasoning,<br />
dried fruits and vegetables, ice cream,<br />
snack bars, snack mix, pet food, and<br />
pre-package meals. This is one huge<br />
mess involving a lot of companies.<br />
The fact about Salmonella<br />
How does this get so out of hand?<br />
Are peanuts not heated? The answer is<br />
yes; they are roasted at temperatures<br />
sufficient to kill Salmonella.<br />
However, roasting occurs early in<br />
the long process that turns them into<br />
peanut butter, and if they get contaminated<br />
at some point thereafter, there is<br />
nothing to kill the Salmonella. Salmonella<br />
can survive in peanut butter, and<br />
the fat can protect the bacterial cells<br />
during its passage through the acidic<br />
human stomach and, subsequently,<br />
cause infection in the intestinal tract.<br />
In fact, in my food microbiology<br />
laboratory at the FAPC, researchers<br />
are currently testing whether growth in<br />
peanut butter provides heat resistance<br />
properties to Salmonella that may help<br />
them to overcome subsequent thermal<br />
or baking regimens.<br />
Ensuring product quality<br />
In conclusion, this is another example<br />
of why companies need to keep<br />
a close eye on their suppliers. The<br />
largest companies even go so far as<br />
to perform “audits” of their suppliers’<br />
premises to ensure the quality of the<br />
ingredients they receive. In the very<br />
least, they can require “letters of guarantee”<br />
or specifications, require receipt<br />
of independent laboratory results,<br />
require annual visit to the suppliers’<br />
plants, or other means to ensure the<br />
high quality of their suppliers’ products<br />
and ingredients.<br />
Failure to do so is “just not good<br />
business” and can put a company’s<br />
reputation and product safety in someone<br />
else’s hands.<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2009</strong> 17
Expectations<br />
Sugar is probably one of the most<br />
common, well-known food ingredients,<br />
which is no surprise<br />
given the long relationship with it. For<br />
the purposes of this article, sugar refers<br />
to sucrose.<br />
According to the <strong>Food</strong> and <strong>Agricultural</strong><br />
Organization of the United<br />
Nations, the current top three countries<br />
responsible for sugar cane production<br />
are, in descending order, Brazil, India,<br />
and China.<br />
It is believed the first species<br />
of sugar cane to be domesticated<br />
was Saccharum officinarum in New<br />
Guinea; however, it also has been suggested<br />
additional species may have<br />
been domesticated at approximately<br />
the same time, in areas such as India<br />
and Indonesia.<br />
The first definitive written record<br />
of sugar production appears in a Hindu<br />
religious document called the Buddhagosa,<br />
or Discourse on Moral Consciousness.<br />
This early sugar was probably not<br />
hard and brittle, but more like taffy in<br />
texture.<br />
It is believed Arabs improved<br />
upon the Indian techniques for cultivating<br />
sugar cane and producing<br />
sugar and, as they expanded westward,<br />
introduced sugar to Europe between<br />
700 and 900 A.D. Again, it is believed<br />
this early sugar was probably not the<br />
equivalent of the white, crystalline<br />
powder known today, but its exact<br />
form is unknown.<br />
Despite being quite commonplace<br />
today, sugar was once reserved for the<br />
very rich and powerful. In fact, the<br />
earliest written document referring<br />
to sugar in England is from the 12th<br />
century and is a record of the royal income<br />
of King Henry II (1154-89).<br />
It is interesting to note that because<br />
of its great expense and rarity,<br />
sugar would have been used exclusively<br />
as a spice or condiment in cooking.<br />
This means sugar would have been<br />
used to change the flavor of a food<br />
without plainly sweetening it.<br />
Before moving on to the present, it<br />
must be mentioned that along with its<br />
sweetness, sugar has had a very bitter<br />
edge. This was best summarized by J.<br />
H. Bernardin de Saint Pierre in volume<br />
one of his book “Voyage to Isle<br />
de France, Isle de Bourbon, The Cape<br />
of Good Hope … With New Observations<br />
on Nature and Mankind by an<br />
Officer of the King” (1773):<br />
“I do not know if coffee and sugar<br />
are essential to the happiness of Europe,<br />
but I know well that these two<br />
products have accounted for the unhappiness<br />
of two great regions of the<br />
world: America has been depopulated<br />
so as to have land on which to plant<br />
them; Africa has been depopulated so<br />
as to have people to cultivate them.”<br />
The modern process of making<br />
sugar is roughly divided into the following<br />
steps. First, the sucrose is<br />
extracted from the plant tissue. Sugar<br />
18 fapc.biz
cane and beets are the most important<br />
plant sources for the contemporary industrial<br />
production of sugar. However,<br />
palm, date, and sorghum also can be<br />
used.<br />
If the source is cane, this is accomplished<br />
by roller presses; however,<br />
if the source is beet, this step is accomplished<br />
by countercurrent extraction<br />
with hot water. This results in a<br />
solution with a purity ranging from 84<br />
to 86 percent with retained dry solids<br />
(RDS) of 14 to 16 percent, and remaining<br />
impurities from the plant tissue.<br />
These impurities may be removed<br />
by mechanical screening or separated<br />
by settling and filtering.<br />
The next step is evaporation,<br />
where large volumes of water are removed<br />
from the juice so that an RDS<br />
of 65 to 71 percent is achieved. The<br />
resulting syrup is called “thick juice.”<br />
It then undergoes crystallization in<br />
vacuum pans, where the dissolved<br />
sugar is processed into crystals mixed<br />
with a high-density liquid, or “mother<br />
liquor.” The mother liquor is centrifuged<br />
to remove the crystals from the<br />
liquid phase. The sugar crystals then<br />
are dried by hot air in rotating drums,<br />
cooled, passed through screens to<br />
determine particle size, then sent to<br />
packaging or bulk storage.<br />
Because of consumer demand,<br />
some manufacturers have begun to<br />
utilize raw cane sugar and honey<br />
rather than refined sugar. In the United<br />
States, Deluxe Honeydrop has created<br />
such a line of flavored waters that use<br />
honey for both sweetness and flavor.<br />
However, simply replacing sugar<br />
with an alternate sweetener may not<br />
be easy because sugar often performs<br />
several functions within a food system,<br />
so additional reformulation may be<br />
from the test kitchen<br />
By Darren Scott<br />
FAPC Sensory Specialist<br />
darren.scott@okstate.edu<br />
necessary. When J.M. Smucker introduced<br />
a sugar-free strawberry preserve<br />
sweetened with Splenda, the company<br />
utilized a combination of locust bean<br />
gum and fruit pectin to help maintain<br />
texture in the absence of sugar.<br />
Sugar also has a distinct flavor that<br />
may not easily be matched, depending<br />
upon the food application. Therefore,<br />
a combination of replacement sweeteners<br />
may be required to reach the<br />
equivalent desired flavor.<br />
Sugar continues to be a widely<br />
used and enjoyed sweetener. However,<br />
the intended target market or target<br />
application may limit its use. Being<br />
mindful of these factors will help ensure<br />
a product will meet everyone’s<br />
sweet expectations.<br />
References:<br />
1 Hitting the shelves. Prepared <strong>Food</strong>s. September 2008.<br />
2 New product trends. Prepared <strong>Food</strong>s. January <strong>2009</strong>.<br />
3 Sweetners: Nutritive. 1998. Eagan Press. Saint Paul, MN. Alexander, R. J.<br />
4 Sweetness and power: The place of sugar in modern history. 1985. Penguin Books. New<br />
York, New York. Mintz, S. W.<br />
5 Http://www.fao.org/es/ess/top/commodity.html?lang=en&item=156&year=2005<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2009</strong> 19
Finding your<br />
PRODUCT NICHE<br />
I<br />
n the last article, we looked at the<br />
many faces of the customer and<br />
the importance of having a target<br />
market for a new product or service.<br />
This time, we will dig a little deeper<br />
and look at finding or creating the<br />
niche where a product is most likely to<br />
be a success.<br />
According to the Merriam-<br />
Webster Dictionary, a niche can have<br />
a number of meanings, including “a<br />
place, employment, status, or activity<br />
which a person is best fitted” or “a<br />
specialized market.” InvestorWords.<br />
com defines niche as “a focused, targetable<br />
part of a market.”<br />
In other words, a niche market is<br />
a select group with similar or common<br />
interests. The target market for a product<br />
or service can be narrowed from<br />
the extreme of “being all things to all<br />
people” to a specific group or niche.<br />
The “common interest” defines the<br />
niche, and a business can develop or<br />
adjust product concepts to fit the needs<br />
of a particular niche.<br />
“Everybody wants what they do<br />
not have,” Anonymous.<br />
When I worked for a large food<br />
company, the marketing people always<br />
wanted something they did not have:<br />
“The price of our current product is<br />
too high.” “We need a product to compete<br />
against X.” “Client X will buy<br />
50,000 pounds a week of Y if we can<br />
make it for them.” “Oh, I forgot to tell<br />
you it must be priced lower than the<br />
product it is replacing.” “We need thin<br />
sliced and a re-closable package.”<br />
My job was to fill their needs and<br />
also take some of the excuses away.<br />
The next round was: “Now we have<br />
X, but-----.” It was obvious the target<br />
niche was to sell something to everybody<br />
with the “common interest”<br />
being low price. If you can provide<br />
customers with what they want, but do<br />
not have, then a niche has been discovered.<br />
For a start-up business, success<br />
is more likely if the niche fits your<br />
interest and passion. With passion, the<br />
30-hour-days become tolerable even if<br />
money is slow to follow. Moreover, the<br />
product(s) should fit what the intended<br />
customers want and not necessarily be<br />
based 100 percent on what you want.<br />
Many entrepreneurs who attend the<br />
FAPC Basic Training workshop have<br />
a great passion for the products they<br />
Ask the question “What does my product offer that the<br />
target customer cannot already get?” If you can come<br />
up with points of difference, you just may have found a<br />
niche.<br />
choose to market. However, most direct<br />
their passion toward the product<br />
and not toward a well thought-out plan<br />
defining who or where the market is<br />
for their product. A few define their<br />
niche up front, while others find their<br />
niche by accident, through trial and error,<br />
or never find it at all.<br />
Having a defined niche allows a<br />
business to tailor and develop products<br />
with the unique features desired by<br />
the particular common interest base.<br />
A unique feature may be price, but it<br />
is helpful to tell a good story and have<br />
a product with other features, such as<br />
convenience, healthy, or tastes good.<br />
The “unique” also can serve to differentiate<br />
a product from other similar<br />
products. The business then can stake<br />
out its territory and focus on how to<br />
reach the group or niche. Think of a<br />
niche as filling or creating a space in<br />
the market.<br />
An established company may fill<br />
niches based on current core business<br />
or on plans to enter a new market<br />
that may or may not be related to the<br />
core business. Often times, businesses<br />
choose to stay away from small niches,<br />
with low volume, until it has been<br />
demonstrated as a success for others.<br />
Sometimes a brand evolves into<br />
a niche. For example, Kashi has<br />
moved beyond “Seven Whole Grains<br />
and Sesame” to the slogan and niche<br />
“Join the Kashi Community,” which<br />
markets a broad range of products sup-<br />
20 fapc.biz
food processing<br />
By David Moe<br />
FAPC Pilot Plant Manager<br />
david.moe@okstate.edu<br />
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a niche can have a number of meanings,<br />
including “a place, employment, status, or activity which a person is best fitted”<br />
or “a specialized market.” InvestorWords.com defines niche as “a focused, targetable<br />
part of a market.”<br />
porting an active, healthy lifestyle. Mr.<br />
Clean® has moved from household<br />
cleaners to car care products and premium<br />
car wash facilities. Find a target,<br />
aim to dominate it, and become the<br />
expert or preferred choice.<br />
A niche also can be defined by<br />
special features, services, or delivery<br />
systems, and can consist of one<br />
or more characteristics. It can be a<br />
distribution channel: retail grocery,<br />
specialty retail, convenience store,<br />
foodservice, fund raising, Internet, or<br />
pyramid, to name a few. It may be a<br />
specific demographic: gender, ethnic,<br />
income, location, age, or market segment.<br />
It may be a brand, private label,<br />
meal category, or unique flavor, etc.<br />
Price and value is generally not<br />
niche specific, but are important considerations<br />
across the board. Low selling<br />
price is not always a result of low<br />
cost to produce. A product with some<br />
perceived, or real, extra value can be<br />
sold at a low price or higher price, depending<br />
upon the customers’ perception<br />
of the value received.<br />
“Price is what you pay, value is<br />
what you get,” Warren Buffett once<br />
said.<br />
The right niche will create additional<br />
value for the product. Certain<br />
values, such as convenience, quality,<br />
product safety, healthy, and re-closable<br />
packaging are things expected by<br />
consumers today. Other consumers<br />
may look for green, sustainable, local,<br />
weight control, back to basics with a<br />
twist, as well as natural or organic, to<br />
be standard product features. In addition,<br />
many product differentiating<br />
claims have moved mainstream. Try to<br />
find a product that does not state “all<br />
natural,” “no additives or preservatives,”<br />
“no trans fat,” “100, no, low,<br />
or reduced calories,” “no Trans fat,”<br />
“with omega 3,” or a similar claim.<br />
Consumer expectations make it more<br />
difficult to find a unique niche.<br />
In Oklahoma, farmers markets,<br />
festivals, specialty retailers, and the<br />
Oklahoma <strong>Food</strong> Cooperative serve<br />
the local food niche. All are potential<br />
options for people interested in where<br />
their food came from. This is a good<br />
place for small, start-up processors<br />
to start and gain market exposure for<br />
their product. Some are very successful,<br />
some drop out, while others move<br />
on to other niches. Several FAPC<br />
clients have started with specialty<br />
food products and have evolved into<br />
producing similar products for others.<br />
They are now in a completely different<br />
niche as co-packers or private label<br />
producers for other people.<br />
An all-beef hot dog can fit in a<br />
variety of niches depending upon the<br />
final target market. The real value<br />
(function/cost) and the total value (real<br />
value plus perceived value) may result<br />
in a final price point spread exceeding<br />
$2 per pound, even though the product<br />
is processed in a similar fashion with<br />
many similar ingredients. The majority<br />
of people will go for the regular beef<br />
hot dog based on price or brand. However,<br />
specific consumer groups will go<br />
for kosher, certified Angus, reduced<br />
fat, natural, organic, no preservatives,<br />
meatless, or other niche options and<br />
gladly pay more.<br />
Pet foods follow similar trends as<br />
human foods and are offered in natural,<br />
organic, health-fortified ingredients,<br />
special diet, gourmet, sold only<br />
by your veterinarian, etc. Although pet<br />
foods must include sufficient nutrients<br />
to sustain the animal, many pet owners<br />
choose to go for the special niche<br />
product versus the basic value product.<br />
Pet food makers are very adept at creating<br />
niches.<br />
One example I noted recently was<br />
Naturally Wild premium dog food,<br />
which was inspired by the wilderness.<br />
It contains venison, salmon, or turkey<br />
and is “the food nature intended.” The<br />
dog may not realize it is being served<br />
something beyond natural, but the<br />
product becomes an experience and a<br />
need for the pet owner.<br />
As a product, beef jerky falls in<br />
the snack foods niche. The big niche is<br />
where the large national brands dominating<br />
the meat snack section fit. They<br />
spend a lot of money in order to fill the<br />
racks in retail grocers and convenience<br />
stores. The small local producers fill<br />
niches where something different is<br />
preferred and each brand appears to<br />
have its own loyal following. In some<br />
cases, the uniqueness may be that the<br />
product is always in short supply.<br />
In summary, a niche may be just a<br />
place in the market, but there are many<br />
companies, large and small, aiming<br />
at the same targets. Ask the question<br />
“What does my product offer that the<br />
target customer cannot already get?” If<br />
you can come up with points of difference,<br />
you just may have found a niche.<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2009</strong> 21
USING THE BASIC<br />
Basic Tools, Classic Tools, Quality<br />
Tools, Process Improvement<br />
Tools, Quality Improvement<br />
Tools, and my favorite, The Tools<br />
... Quality professionals and various<br />
quality improvement programs make<br />
reference to the basic quality tools<br />
with a creative twist as if a marketing<br />
plan needs to be designed to convince<br />
organizations to use this simple set of<br />
tools that can have a big impact on the<br />
bottom dollar. If these tools have the<br />
potential for such a big impact, why<br />
do we not use them more?<br />
Quality tools add value to data and<br />
provide the value of information. This<br />
information is necessary for management,<br />
employees, and decision makers<br />
that need to understand, know, and<br />
take process improvement actions.<br />
These tools help turn raw data into<br />
knowledgeable wisdom used to create<br />
the “act” in the Plan-Do-Check-Act<br />
cycle of a living quality system.<br />
Joseph M. Juran states in “Juran’s<br />
Quality Handbook,” “Quality improvement<br />
teams that have mastered these<br />
tools are well prepared for most of the<br />
problems they are likely to face.”<br />
The traditional seven tools are:<br />
flowchart, checklist, Pareto chart,<br />
cause and effect diagram, histogram,<br />
scatter diagram, and control, or run,<br />
chart.<br />
Flow chart<br />
A flow chart is a pictorial representation<br />
that describes a process being<br />
studied or it is used to plan stages<br />
of a project. Flow-charting a process<br />
can be a starting point for every process<br />
improvement project. It helps an<br />
improvement team gain a common<br />
understanding of the process, provides<br />
a common language or reference point<br />
when dealing with a project or process,<br />
is a good way to start the documentation<br />
of a process, and is useful<br />
when examining how various steps of<br />
a process work together.<br />
According to “The Certified<br />
Manager of Quality/Organizational<br />
Excellence Handbook,” “In order, for<br />
improvement efforts to be effective, a<br />
systematic approach must be used to<br />
identify, understand, and address the<br />
opportunities.”<br />
Basic flow chart symbols can<br />
be used when analyzing a process.<br />
For example, rectangles are used to<br />
identify process activity; circles for<br />
continuation nodes; and diamonds are<br />
common decision points, such as yes<br />
or no and accept or reject.<br />
Flow charts commonly have been<br />
used as a first step to identify processes<br />
for the Hazard Analysis and<br />
Critical Control Point (HACCP) food<br />
safety plans. However, there are un-<br />
Continuous Improvement Tools for Beginners (C-IT-BEGIN) workshop<br />
is held quarterly at the <strong>Robert</strong> M. <strong>Kerr</strong> <strong>Food</strong> & <strong>Agricultural</strong> <strong>Products</strong><br />
<strong>Center</strong>. Attend the workshop to learn about continuous improvement<br />
tools and how to apply them in food and agricultural processing<br />
operations. Visit www.fapc.biz/continuousimprovement.html.<br />
limited uses of the flow chart, which<br />
most companies have not utilized. Add<br />
value to your operation by creating<br />
flow charts of OSHA safety activities,<br />
or use a flow chart to help visualize<br />
Standard Operating Procedures. A flow<br />
of a procedure also can serve as a visual<br />
guide for training operators.<br />
Checklist sheet<br />
“If it is not written down, it did<br />
not happen!” Where have we heard<br />
this before? Ask your line operator<br />
about the most common problem on<br />
the processing line, and they can tell<br />
you several problems that have occurred,<br />
giving you details about the<br />
most recent issue. Usually, they do not<br />
know the most frequent problem.<br />
The checklist sheet is a simple<br />
tool used to organize observations in<br />
a meaningful manner. Use it to collect<br />
data during a day, week, or product<br />
run to determine the major contributor<br />
to a defect or problem.<br />
In designing a checklist sheet, it<br />
is important to gather necessary data.<br />
Consider equipment, shifts, and suppliers<br />
when creating the checklist<br />
sheet.<br />
Locational or measles charts are<br />
alternate forms of the checklist sheet.<br />
These may use a schematic of the<br />
plant for pest monitoring devices or<br />
microbiological sampling plans. Activity<br />
and incidents then can be documented<br />
on this checklist sheet.<br />
Use the data from a group of<br />
checklist sheets and create a Pareto<br />
chart for analysis.<br />
22 fapc.biz
quality management<br />
By Jason Young<br />
FAPC Quality Management Specialist<br />
jason.young@okstate.edu<br />
QUALITY TOOLS<br />
Pareto chart<br />
The underlying concept of the<br />
Pareto principle is that 80 percent of<br />
non-conformances or variation can be<br />
attributed to approximately 20 percent<br />
of the causes, also recognized as the<br />
80/20 rule.<br />
“This is a tool used to establish<br />
priorities, dividing contributing effects<br />
into the ‘vital few’ and ‘useful many,’”<br />
Juran states in “Juran’s Quality Handbook.”<br />
The Pareto chart is a strong visual<br />
tool to graphically indicate how different<br />
causes or groups of causes contribute<br />
to a nonconformance under investigation.<br />
The chart is generated by<br />
graphing the number of occurrences of<br />
a particular cause in descending order.<br />
The Pareto chart is an excellent<br />
tool used to present data at process<br />
improvement or management meetings<br />
where data logically can be displayed<br />
to the participants. Using this chart<br />
allows the most frequent causes of a<br />
problem to be identified so resources<br />
are appropriately allocated to address<br />
the problem.<br />
Another alternative when using<br />
the Pareto chart is to replace the<br />
frequency on the y-axis with costs.<br />
All root causes do not have the same<br />
financial impact so choosing the cause<br />
with the greatest financial impact<br />
might have the highest economic<br />
return for the process improvement<br />
initiative.<br />
The final four quality tools will be<br />
discussed in the next issue of fapc.biz.<br />
Stay tuned.<br />
Example of Flow Chart<br />
Flow of Metal Detector Reject<br />
Metal Detector<br />
Rejects Product<br />
Hold Product<br />
Start Deviation<br />
Report<br />
Inspect Rejected<br />
Product<br />
Deviation<br />
Report<br />
Documents<br />
Action<br />
Rework<br />
Hold for Product<br />
Approval<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2009</strong> 23<br />
Reject<br />
Trash<br />
Example of Pareto Chart<br />
Example of Checklist Sheet<br />
The quality tools were not<br />
put together to be used in<br />
a sequential order, but as<br />
tools that can be used at<br />
any time. These tools can<br />
be used together during<br />
process improvement initiatives<br />
or separately to further<br />
gain more insight into<br />
a problem.
Oklahoma State University<br />
<strong>Robert</strong> M. <strong>Kerr</strong> <strong>Food</strong> & <strong>Agricultural</strong> <strong>Products</strong> <strong>Center</strong><br />
148 FAPC<br />
Stillwater, OK 74078-6055<br />
<strong>Robert</strong> M. <strong>Kerr</strong><br />
148 FAPC, Oklahoma State University<br />
Stillwater, OK 74078-6055<br />
405-744-6071 • www.fapc.biz<br />
Nonprofit Organization<br />
U.S. POSTAGE PAID<br />
Stillwater, OK<br />
Permit No. 191<br />
<strong>Food</strong> & <strong>Agricultural</strong><br />
<strong>Products</strong> <strong>Center</strong><br />
f a p c<br />
Adding Value to Oklahoma<br />
24 Division of <strong>Agricultural</strong> Sciences and Natural Resources • Oklahoma State University<br />
fapc.biz