Over the last five years, there has been more thought and attention given to design and sustainability issues early on in the packaging process. This will become even more important in the future. So it is critical at the beginning of the development process to consider a package’s design, sustainability and end of life.

Most dairy industry meetings over the past year have devoted at least one session or agenda item to safety. DMI’s Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy established a Food Safety Committee almost two years ago to evaluate existing food safety tools and develop new ones. One of the main reasons for this focus was the passage in 2010 of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

A week or so before Thanksgiving 2011, Mexico became our first billion-dollar overseas market. It was like watching our first-born go through a graduation ceremony — the satisfying reward after years of careful nurturing.

Effective training of plant and quality assurance personnel is essential to achieving quality and food safety standards. The training should involve both technical and practical applications of the process. In addition, it must involve all employees, especially Bubba and his counterparts — Junior, Leroy, “They” and “Supposed To.”

So what actually is savory? That question is best answered by saying what savory is not, and that is sweet.

High levels of dietary sodium can increase blood pressure. But the health consequences of population-wide sodium reduction are still the subject of some debate. Americans consume on average 3,400 milligrams of sodium daily.

During a recent visit to Whole Foods Market, I slowed down my pace in order to better observe the trends in new products and label claims. Filtering out natural, organic and similar marketing tactics, one solid trend that was apparent across most food categories was a tie-in to fruit. The pork chops had a serving suggestion to include apple sauce. Breakfast cereals either contained dried fruit pieces or a recommendation to add something fresh from the farm stand.

As you turn the pages of this issue, you’ll notice a new graphic approach to the layouts and a new organization to how we present the articles.

On Valentine’s Day, Harvard Medical School’s HealthBeat newsletter ran an informative article entitled “What is it about coffee?” The authors reminded us of the days not too long ago when we worried that coffee would harm our hearts, give us ulcers, deform our babies and make us overly nervous.