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New FoodPAC Steering Committee Chairman Lee Bonecutter presented
Outgoing Chairman David Lee with a glass plaque of appreciation for
his dedicated leadership and service the past two years. |
At its Summer Meeting held in Reidsville, Georgia, in
late August, FoodPAC’s Steering Committee welcomed its new Chairman,
Lee Bonecutter of Excel Corporation, a leading processor of fresh beef,
pork, and fully prepared meats that are sold around the world. Bonecutter
manages Excel’s case-ready plant in Newnan, Georgia. Outgoing Chairman
David Lee of D.L. Lee & Sons Inc., a family-owned further processor
of pork, ham, and bacon located in Alma, Georgia, passed the chairman’s
gavel to Bonecutter. Bonecutter then presented Lee with a glass plaque
commending him for outstanding service to FoodPAC during his two-year
tenure as chairman. Steven Woodruff of Woodruff & Howe Environmental
Engineering, Inc. (WHEE, Inc.), a full-service environmental
engineering consulting firm, will serve as the new vice chairman of the
Steering Committee.
The
purpose of the meeting, held at the historic Alexander
Hotel, was for the Steering Committee to establish the FY 2006 Program
Funding Plan.
Committee members agreed to follow the Governor’s guidelines and
submit a request showing a status quo amount, a 3% reduction and a 5%
increase. This range gives the state the ability to respond to program
needs based on changing revenue projections as the budget is approved.
Technical Committee chairmen gave an overview of their respective committee’s
FY 2006 Research Priorities. The listing of priorities and other pertinent
FY 2006 program information will be issued in November as part of the
FY 2006 Call for Proposals.
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FoodPAC’s Steering Committee members and invited guests posed for a group photo outside the historic Alexander Hotel in Reidsville, Georgia.
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Four project directors gave briefings on research
completed during FY 2004. These projects represented the
spectrum of research focuses being supported and demonstrated
the successful collaboration
between university research entities and industry, a primary
goal of FoodPAC. The four projects each have resulted in
strong industrial partnerships
and commercialization or near-term commercialization products.
(See “Projects Spotlight” to learn more.)
Other highlights of the meeting included a visit by State
Senator Jack Hill and a presentation by Gordon Meriwether
of The Uriah Group. Senator Hill, chairman of the Senate
Appropriations Committee, briefed the
committee on the state’s budgetary challenges, but emphasized his
opinion that FoodPAC’s continued funding should not be adversely affected.
Meriwether, a principal in The Uriah Group, a risk management
and training company, delivered a presentation describing the company’s
training exercises for responding to intentional contamination of food production
operations.
The meeting was coordinated through the Georgia
Agribusiness
Council. Special thanks to Gary Black for his organizational
efforts.
Steering Committee
Chairman
David Lee, D.L. Lee & Sons Inc., (912) 632-4406
Vice Chairman
Lee Bonecutter, Excel Corporation, (770) 252-5017
Executive Coordinator
Gary Black, Georgia Agribusiness Council, (706) 336-6830
Environmental
Technical Committee
Chairman
Reggie Prime, Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., (770) 989-3144
University Coordinator
Dale Threadgill, The University of Georgia, (706) 542-1653
Food Safety
Technical Committee
Chairman
Bob Lauxen, Keystone Foods, (256) 964-1086
University Coordinator
Michael Doyle, The University of Georgia, (770) 228-7284
Process & Product
Competitiveness Technical Committee
Chairman
John Leszczynski, Thinkage, (678) 574-3041
University Coordinator
Craig Wyvill, Georgia Tech, (404) 894-3412
A primary goal of FoodPAC’s research
program is to partner university researchers with food industry
commercial leaders to develop products that enhance the competitiveness
of the food
industry in Georgia. The following recent FoodPAC-funded projects
are successful examples of achieving that goal. Each project has
resulted in strong industrial partnerships and commercialization or near-term
commercialization products. Below is a general overview of each.
Commercialization of Recycled PET-Coated
Boxes as a Replacement for Waxed Boxes
Project Leader: Jeffery
Hsieh, Georgia Tech; Industrial Partner: EvCo Research, LLC
Overview: Using polyethylene terephthalate
(PET)-based technology developed by EvCo, researchers have helped create
comparative performance
data on PET-coated versus wax-coated boxes and added fabrication
strengthening features to address perceived structural
weaknesses in initial PET-coated
box designs. The technology is targeted at providing recyclable
boxes for chicken and other food packaging. PET is made
largely from recycled plastic that can be used not only
to coat paper and paperboard
products
to make them waterproof but to wet-end treat paper and
paperboard products to improve their strength while also
allowing them to still be repulped.
This allows an immediate economic benefit to end users,
who instead of having to segregate and divert their scrap
boxes to landfills, would now
be able to divert them with their other scrap cardboard
into recycled pulp. Commercialization efforts are underway,
with interest expressed
from a number of companies.
Use of Antagonistic Bacteria to Reduce Environmental
Contamination of Food Processing Facilities by Listeria monocytogenes
Project Director: Michael Doyle, University of Georgia; Industrial Partners:
Gold Kist Inc. and Ecolab
Overview: Working with Gold Kist Inc. and
Ecolab, researchers tested two competitive exclusion bacteria (Lactococcus
lactis subsp. lactis C-1-92
and Enterococcus durans 152) to determine their efficacy
at reducing Listeria contamination
in floor drains in food processing facilities. Results
over a 5-week period showed the developed treatment to
be highly effective (bacteria counts were reduced several
logs) at reducing Listeria counts
in the floor drains. Commercialization efforts are on the
horizon. Ecolab, a leading U.S. provider of cleaning agents
and sanitizers for the food
industry, is currently negotiating with UGA to license
the technology, and requests have been received from many
major meat and poultry processors
to use the cultures in their facilities.
Preparing and Validating Nutraceutical Formulations
from Georgia Commodities
Project Director: R. Dixon Phillips, University of Georgia; Industrial Partners:
AHD-International, LLC and Paulk Vineyards
Overview: Collaborating with AHD-International
and Paulk Vineyards, researchers studied approaches for extracting antioxidants
from Georgia-grown
muscadine grapes and rabbiteye blueberries to determine
the feasibility of commercial-scale
production of nutraceuticals from the fruits. Three relatively
simple extraction techniques were used: juice expelling/aqueous
extraction, extraction
with ethyl alcohol solutions of varying concentrations,
and fermentation of the fruits to wine during which antioxidants
are extracted into the
liquid phase. All three proved feasible, and researchers
anticipate the technologies should be easily scalable
to
commercial levels using readily
available equipment. Use of the technologies would be
a valuable addition to Georgia’s food industry and provide an additional market for those commodities, especially using lower grade and excess fruits.
The Commercialization of a Low-Cost, High-Speed,
Pick-and-Place Robotic Casepacker for Handling Retail Trays
Project Director: Gary McMurray, Georgia Tech; Industrial Partners: CAMotion,
Inc., Cryovac North America, and Excel Corporation
Overview: Working with its industrial partners,
the research team successfully developed and built an automated casepacker.
The casepacker was then installed
at Excel Corporation’s
case-ready plant in Newnan, Georgia, where it recently completed a six-month
field test. During the test, the system exceeded the productivity level of
manual casepacking by accurately packing 1- to 5-pound shrink-wrapped trays
of pork at speeds as high as 58 trays per minute. CAMotion has proceeded to
market the unit commercially under the name ProductPacker, and Excel is considering
automating two of its plants with the system. CAMotion has also received purchase
inquiries from several meat processing companies.
