The total combined registration of 19,155 at the co-located Process Expo and International Dairy Show was a record, the show organizers said on Wednesday. The Food Processing Suppliers Association and the International Dairy Foods Association sponsored the trade shows at Chicago's McCormick Place on Nov. 3 to 6. A total of 829 exhibiting companies occupied 314,600 net square feet.

At an awards ceremony on the final day, IDFA honored six exhibitors in its second annual Innovations Awards program. One winner was selected in each of five categories — food safety, ingredients/flavorings/seasonings/additives, packaging, processing and sustainability — and attendees voted during the show to select the winner of the Attendee Choice Award.

IDFA honors 6 exhibitors in the second annual Innovations Awards program

Winners are:

• ExtenData received the Food Safety Innovation Award for its MobileConductor, comprehensive mobile supply chain software that allows dairies, processors and marketers to track and trace milk from farm to store as it travels across the country, improving safety throughout the entire transport.
• Saputo Cheese USA Inc. earned the Ingredients/Flavorings/Seasonings/Additives Innovation Award for its Treasure Cave Crumbled Blue Cheese Flavors. Saputo brings home the newest menu trends with four new bold flavors of crumbled blue cheese: Buffalo Wing, Southeast Smoked, Chipotle Pepper and Southwest Chipotle & Black Bean.
• Curwood Inc. received the Packaging Innovation Award for its popular EZ Peel Reseal technology, which provides makers of chunk, sliced or snack cheeses with peel/reseal convenience in 100% flexible packaging with films as low as three-millimeters thick.
• Junction Solutions earned the Processing Innovation Award for its Blend Optimizer, which automates batching, blending and mixing operations and determines the best combination of ingredients for the most effective utilization of material resources.
• Quest Industrial LLC received the Innovative Sustainability Award for the Quest Pro Pick Pack, an intuitive three-in-one robotic cell that produces a box, picks the product and packs it all in one compact cell that is customizable to fit any facility's needs.
• Sargento Foods Inc. received the Attendee Choice Award for its Ultra Thin Sliced Natural Cheeses, which have 45 calories or fewer per slice but are cut from the same great quality cheese as Sargento’s sliced natural cheese. The Ultra Thin slices contain half the calories of traditionally sliced cheeses.
Dairy Foods was co-sponsor of the awards with IDFA.

SDSU's Taylor Jones wins top honors in Collegiate Dairy Products Evaluation Contest

Teams representing 11 schools traveled to Chicago this year for the 92nd annual Collegiate Dairy Products Evaluation Contest held in conjunction with the International Dairy Show.  In the All Products individual winner category, Taylor Jones of South Dakota State University won first place and $400. Jennifer O’Brien of Clemson University earned the second place award and $300. Blake Jorgenson of Iowa State University won third place and $200.

South Dakota State University received the first place trophy for winning the All Products team category, and Lloyd Metzger, associate professor in the Dairy Science Department at South Dakota State, was named coach of the year and received the Coach’s Award.

Product Category Winners
The first place individual winners in six product categories each received a $100 award. They are:
• Milk – Jennifer O’Brien, Clemson University
• Butter – Gabrielle Gunter, Clemson University
• Yogurt – Matthew Watson, Iowa State University
• Cheddar Cheese – Blake Jorgenson, Iowa State University
• Ice Cream – Samantha Young, Washington State University
• Cottage Cheese – Tim Pennings, South Dakota State University
Established in 1916 by several universities, the Collegiate Dairy Product Evaluation Contest initially was designed to identify quality defects in dairy products throughout the country so they could be corrected. It expanded over the years to recognize those students and dairy product judging teams that had mastered the ability to identify high-quality dairy products. The contest gives students the opportunity to showcase their evaluation skills and prepare for careers in the dairy industry.

All Products Winners
The 11 participating schools were Clemson University, Iowa State University, Loughry College, Michigan State University, Penn State University, South Dakota State University, University of Alberta, University of Missouri, University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin and Washington State University. For a complete list of winners, visit Winners of the 2013 Collegiate Dairy- Product Evaluation Contest.

IDFA honors safe plants, truck drivers

The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) announced the names of 47 dairy company operations that will receive IDFA Dairy Industry Safety Recognition Awards and Achievement Certificates this year. This is the 10th year that IDFA has sponsored the program, which highlights the outstanding worker-safety records of U.S. dairy companies. The awards were on display last month during the International Dairy Show and Process Expo at McCormick Place in Chicago.

The operations for each nominated company were judged solely on specific data required by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration on the facility's "Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses" report. This year's award decisions were based on data from OSHA reports for the 2012 calendar year.

The award program includes categories for both processing facilities and trucking operations in the dairy industry. In addition to the 21 processing category award winners, IDFA awarded Achievement Certificates to 12 processing operations for having no injury cases that resulted in lost time away from work. IDFA also recognized 14 trucking operations for having a Zero DART rate – zero cases with days away from work, restriction or job transfer in 2012.

Processing facilities were judged in four product categories: natural and processed cheese; dry, condensed and evaporated products; ice cream and frozen desserts; and fluid milk. Within each product category, IDFA accepted nominations for small, medium and large facilities that achieved the best overall safety performance rates based on the OSHA data.

2013 IDFA Plant Safety Category Award Winners

• Agropur Inc. - Hull, Iowa
• Darigold - Jerome, Idaho
• Darigold - Medford, Ore.
• Dean Foods Company - Midwest Ice Cream, LLC - Belvidere, Ill.
• Dean Foods Company - Model Dairy Inc. - Reno, Nev.
• Foremost Farms USA - Alma Center, Wis.
• Foremost Farms USA - Plover, Wis.
• Kemps LLC - Duluth Milk Plant - Duluth, Minn.
• The Kroger Co. - Crossroad Farms Dairy - Indianapolis, Ind.
• The Kroger Co. - Heritage Farms Dairy - Murfreesboro, Tenn.
• The Kroger Co. - Jackson Ice Cream - Denver, Colo.
• The Kroger Co. - Layton Dairy - Layton, Utah
• The Kroger Co. - Pace Dairy Foods of Indiana - Crawfordsville, Ind.
• The Kroger Co. - Tamarack Farms Dairy - Newark, Ohio
• The Kroger Co. - Tolleson Dairy - Tolleson, Ariz.
• The Kroger Co. - Westover Dairy - Lynchburg, Va.
• The Kroger Co. - Vandervoort’s Dairy - Fort Worth, Texas
• The WhiteWave Foods Company - Dallas, Texas
• Safeway Ice Cream Plant - Phoenix, Ariz.
• Safeway Milk Plant - Tempe, Ariz.
• Saputo Cheese USA Inc. - Monroe, Wis.

2013 IDFA Plant Safety Award Winners - Zero Lost Workdays

• Dean Foods Company - Meadow Gold Dairy - Orem, Utah
• Foremost Farms USA - Appleton, Wis.
• Foremost Farms USA - Clayton, Wis.
• Foremost Farms USA - Lancaster, Wis.
• Foremost Farms USA - Marshfield, Wis.
• Foremost Farms USA - Preston, Minn.
• Foremost Farms USA - Rothschild, Wis.
• Foremost Farms USA - Waumandee, Wis.
• HP Hood LLC - Sacramento, Calif.
• Kemps LLC - Cedarburg Milk Plant - Cedarburg, Wis.
• Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association, Inc. - Maola Milk and Ice Cream - New Bern, N.C.
• Saputo Cheese USA Inc. - Tulare, Calif.
 

2013 IDFA Trucking Safety Award Winners - Zero DART Rate

• Dean Foods Company - Meadow Gold Dairy - Logan, Utah
• Dean Foods Company - Meadow Gold Dairy - Price, Utah
• Dean Foods Company - Meadow Gold Dairy - Richfield, Utah
• Dean Foods Company - Meadow Gold Dairy - Rock Springs, Wyo.
• Dean Foods Company - Meadow Gold Dairy - Salt Lake City, Utah
• Dean Foods Company - Meadow Gold Dairy - Vernal, Utah
• HP Hood LLC - Heluva Good DSD Operations - Sodus, N.Y.
• HP Hood LLC - Heluva Good Fleet Operations - Sodus, N.Y.
• HP Hood LLC - Penn Maid Dairy - Philadelphia, Pa.
• Kemps LLC - Duluth Distribution - Duluth, Minn.
• Kemps LLC - Farmington Distribution - Farmington, Minn.
• Kemps LLC - Rochester Distribution - Rochester, Minn.
• Southeast Milk Inc. - Montezuma, Ga.
• Southeast Milk Inc. - Tallahassee, Fla.