AMI Foundation Honors Nine Facilities with Environmental Achievement Awards; Winners to Share Their Success Stories at Sustainability Pavilion During WWFE

Washington, D.C -- Nine meat and poultry plants will soon receive American Meat Institute Foundation (AMIF) Environmental Achievement Awards. These biennial awards are presented to member companies that go beyond environmental compliance by designing and successfully implementing an innovative plant upgrade, environmental program or outreach initiative.

This year's award winners, in five categories, are:

Advances in Environmental Technology
First Place:  John Morrell & Co. - Sioux Falls, S.D.

Environmental Outreach to the Public
First Place: Sara Lee Food and Beverage - Claryville, Ky.
Second  Place: Farmland Foods, Inc. - Monmouth, Ill.

Environmental Training Programs 
First Place:  Hormel Foods Corporation - Austin, Minn.
Sara Lee Food and Beverage - Claryville, Ky.
Second Place :  Curly's Foods, Inc. - Sioux City, Iowa

Pollution Prevention
First Place:  Sara Lee Food and Beverage - New London, Wis.
Second  Place:  Equity Group Ohio Division, LLC - North Baltimore, Ohio

Resource Conservation
First Place:  Smithfield Packing Company, Inc. - Tar Heel, N.C.
Second Place:  Equity Group Georgia Division, LLC - Camilla, Ga.

Award winners will be honored on Oct. 28, 2009, during AMI's International Meat, Poultry & Seafood Convention & Exposition, part of Worldwide Food Expo in Chicago, Ill. For the first time, several award winners will be sharing their success stories at the new Wordwide Food Expo Sustainability Pavilion, sponsored by Center for U.S. Dairy and Meat and Poultry magazine.

"We are proud of the innovative efforts of our member companies in enhancing their environmental programs," said AMI President J. Patrick Boyle, chairman of the AMI Foundation.  "We are also pleased that these leaders will share their stories in the Sustainability Pavilion at our upcoming convention and exposition so that others may benefit from their ideas."

The tentative schedule for Sustainability Pavilion presentations follows:

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

11:00 - 11:20 a.m. Energy Intelligence: Monitoring and Managing Toward Sustainability and Cost Savings in a Capital and Carbon Constrained World
Speaker:  A Representative from EPS Corp.

11:30 - 11:50 a.m.  Environmental Achievements in Resource Conservation: Singer Nozzle Replacement
Speaker:  Sylwia LaBudde, Smithfield Packing Company, Inc. - Tar  Heel, N.C.

12:00 - 12:20 p.m. "Downstream" Food Industry Sustainability Projects: What are your customers doing?
Speaker:  Jonathan Dierking, Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure Group

12:30 - 12:50 p.m. Environmental Achievements in Pollution Prevention: Focus on Recycling
Speakers:  Bob Wilt, Keystone Foods, LLC - Equity Group Ohio Division;
  Andy Kornick, Keystone Foods, LLC - Equity Group Ohio Division

1:00 - 1:50 p.m. Lessons from Dean Foods on How Efficiency Projects Helped Save Costs and Reduce Energy and Water Use
Speaker:  Dale Bunton, Dean Foods

2:00 - 2:50 p.m. Saving Money and the Environment with Clean-in-Place
Speaker:  Howard Depoy, Lala Foods, Inc.

3:00 - 3:50 p.m. How to Make the Decision on the Best Package
Speaker:  Gail Barnes, vice president, technology and packaging, Dairy Management, Inc.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

11:00 - 11:50 a.m. Tetra Pack Special Announcement
Speaker:  A Representative from TetraPak

12:00 - 12:20 p.m.  Liquid, Food & Beverage Carton Recycling
Speaker:  Robert Brown, Carton Council

1:00 - 1:20 p.m.  Quantifying the Environmental Impact of Sustainable Secondary Packaging
Speaker:  Peter Fox, Delkor

1:30 - 1:50 p.m. Sustainable Manufacturing of Innovative Molecular Technologies in Plants: Examples for the Food Industry
Speaker:  John Greaves, Ph.D., Kemin Food Ingredients

2:00 - 2:20 p.m. Environmental Achievements in Pollution Prevention: Reducing Chloride Use at the Plant
Speaker:  Scott Obremski, Sara Lee Foods - New London, Wis.

3:00 - 3:20 p.m. Environmental Achievements in Outreach to the Public: Environmental Scholarships via Metal Recycling
Speaker:  Isaac Yoder, Farmland Foods, Inc. - Monmouth, Ill.

3:30 - 3:50 p.m. Gaining Control: Energy Management Best Practices
Speaker:  Warren Green, Hixson Architecture & Engineering

Friday, October 30, 2009

11:00 - 11:20 a.m.  Sustainable Milk Growth
Speaker:  Keith Schafer, Fonterra (USA) Inc.

12:00 - 12:20 p.m. Sustainable Engineering
Speaker:  Marcelo Ferrer, Tetra Pak

12:30 - 12:50 p.m. Cabot Creamery: Committed to a Cooler Cheddar
Speaker:  A Representative from Cabot Creamery

1:00 - 1:20 p.m.  Process Heating Fits into the Sustainability Triangle/Using Direct Stream Injection
Speaker:  Mary G. Cohodes, Hydro-Thermal Corporation

1:30 - 1:50 p.m.  Green Refrigeration Equals Dairy Delicious Savings
Speaker:  A Representative from Johnson Refrigerated Truck Bodies

2:30 - 2:50 p.m.  Epstein: Cascading Energy
Speaker:  Darrin McCormies, Epstein

3:00 - 3:50 p.m.  Congratulations You're a Sustainability Expert!
Speakers: Dave Crowley, HP Hood; Bill Bennett, Oakhurst

The Worldwide Food Expo attracts approximately 900 exhibitors, who display the newest technologies in equipment, packaging, ingredients and services for processors of meat and poultry, frozen food, beverages, snack foods, dairy, beverage and seafood. Meat and Poultry professionals attend Worldwide Food Expo to find solutions spanning the entire manufacturing process - from receiving and blending to processing and packaging to material handling and distribution. Attendees have the opportunity to view just under one million square feet of exhibits offering everything that meat, poultry and food companies need to run more efficiently, create new products and improve profitability.

The show features two co-located events: the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) Food, Dairy & Beverage Exposition and the American Meat Institute (AMI) International Meat, Poultry & Seafood Exposition.

For more information about each session, including registration fees and daily agendas, please visit http://www.worldwidefood.com/.

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The American Meat Institute (AMI) represents the interests of packers and processors of beef, pork, lamb, veal and turkey products and their suppliers throughout North America. Together, AMI's members produce 95 percent of the beef, pork, lamb and veal products and 70 percent of the turkey products in the United States. The Institute provides legislative, regulatory, public relations, technical, scientific and educational services to the meat and poultry packing and processing industry. http://www.meatami.com/

The American Meat Institute Foundation is a non-profit research, education and information foundation established by the American Meat Institute to study ways the meat and poultry industry can produce better, safer products and operate more efficiently.

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