Food Plant of the Year
Food Engineering honors the most innovative new food or beverage plant built in North America each year. The automation strategy, processing and packaging line design, and supply chain management plan of each plant project submitted are reviewed.
This year’s Food Engineering Plant of the Year Award goes to Kraft Heinz for its state-of-the-art facility in Davenport, Iowa. The 382,157 sq. ft. plant is the first completed greenfield construction project since Kraft Foods and Heinz merged. Built by Gray Construction, the facility produces millions of pounds of Oscar Mayer deli meat, including Deli Fresh, Deli Selects, Naturals, No Antibiotics Ever (NAE) and the meat packaged in Lunchables. This award recognizes the plant’s level of automation employed as well as hygienic design elements and the innovation present in the processing and packaging lines.