Editor's Note

Calling all exceptional sustainable plant programs and projects

Food and beverage manufacturing facilities have made unprecedented improvements over the past decade, but industry leaders know there are still many ways to increase profits while addressing environmental concerns.

Once again, Food Engineering and PMMI’s OpX Leadership Network are partnering to honor exceptional sustainability achievements within food, beverage and consumer products manufacturing operations. These annual peer-reviewed awards recognize manufacturing plants for their efforts in driving improved performance through sustainability and honor companies and individuals who go beyond environmental compliance. Specifically, the awards focus on pollution prevention and enhanced environmental protection and stewardship, in addition to compliance assurance.

Multiple awards, including those for reducing water and energy usage, waste conservation, pollution prevention, packaging reductions and more, will be presented in the Program and Project categories. The 2015 Sustainability Excellence in Manufacturing Award (SEMA) winners will be honored in a special session at Food Engineering’s Food Automation & Manufacturing Conference (FA&M) scheduled for April 10-13, 2016 at the Sanibel Harbour Marriott in Fort Myers, FL.

Earlier this year at FA&M 2015, Sunny Delight Beverages Co. (South Brunswick, NJ) was honored as the 2014 winner in the Projects category, with Musco Family Olive Co. (Tracy, CA) and Keystone Foods (Camilla, GA) taking second and third place, respectively. The Guragon, India facility of Agro Tech Foods Ltd. (affiliated with ConAgra) received first place honors in the Programs category, while the Snyder’s-Lance, Inc. facility in Charlotte, NC took second.

The deadline for SEMA entries is November 9, 2015. For more information and to download entry forms, visit http://opxleadershipnetwork.org and click on “Calling All Sustainable Projects.”

Food Engineering and the OpX Leadership Network look forward to honoring the food and beverage industry’s sustainability leaders at FA&M 2016. The conference provides a unique forum of world-class speakers presenting essential solutions and education sessions on a variety of topics. It also gives attendees an opportunity to reenergize their careers at a casual, highly productive networking event. To register for FA&M 2016, visit www.foodautomationconference.com.

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Joyce Fassl has spent most of her career in magazine management. As the former editor-in-chief of Food Engineering, Fassl has directed the magazine’s editorial staff since 1986, except for a two-year stretch where she oversaw content direction for the debut of Packexpo.com. Her expertise is creating dynamic print and online content, building top-notch editorial teams and managing innovative custom publishing projects and live events. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Penn State University. In addition to supervising all Food Engineering content, Joyce is Program Director for the Food Automation & Manufacturing Conference.