Companies of all sizes and in all industries have ERP systems, but there are some applications unique to the food industry-such as traceability from one end of the supply chain

If officials at Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream Inc. and Nestlé SA wanted a symbol of their frozen snacks’ merger, they couldn’t do better than the expanded Dreyer’s plant in Bakersfield, CA. Since 1983, Food Engineering has celebrated outstanding examples of food and beverage facility design and construction from sea to shining sea with the annual Food Plant of the Year award. Nestlé’s Carnation plant in Bakersfield was honored in 1989 (“World’s largest ice-cream plant,” Food Engineering, March 1989).

The heart-rending story of Christina Desforges was a grim reminder of both the rationale behind the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) and the challenges faced by processors in helping safeguard consumers with compromised immune systems.

RFID mania has been a non-event for most food & beverage companies so far. For others, the hard work of implementing the technology and making it an investment rather than a cost is well underway.

Wringing costs out of operations and overhead is great for short-term profitability, but where are the new processes and products that kick-start growth?

How do you find employees who will be satisfied and loyal? One key-provide balance.

Energy, where you get it and how you use it, may impact your bottom line more this year than ever before. With the right knowledge, food and beverage plants can dramatically reduce these costs.

Beef Products Inc.'s five plants produce more than seven million pounds per week of boneless lean beef, much of it in fast-frozen 60-lb. blocks with fat and moisture content controlled.

Miller Brewing Company's strategy for reducing energy consumption is coordinated from the corporate engineering office in Milwaukee.

"Nobody has ever liked the price of energy, but now we are really trying to do something about it," says Tom Rieth, manager of infrastructure in environmental engineering for Pepperidge Farm, Inc.