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The Sampler Email Newsletter
August 2003



Welcome
Welcome to another issue of the FIBR Sampler, an electronic newsletter that keeps you connected with FIBR and regional food industry issues. Tell your friends and colleagues to sign up for this e-letter by filling out the information at www.fibr.info. However, if you do not wish to receive future issues of the Sampler, you can be removed from our mailing list by sending an email to list@fibr.info with REMOVE FIBR in the subject line.

Topics covered in this issue--

• Register Now for the 2003 FIBR Program on Food Safety and Quality Management
• New FDA Regulations Call for Trans Fat Content in Food Labels
• Growing Public Uproar over Obesity and Unhealthy Foods
• Snapshot of LA County Food Processing Industry
• Two-Year Old "Buy California" Marketing Agreement Snags First Major Retail Chain
• FIBR Members in the News
• Don't Forget to Join FIBR!

Register Now for the 2003 FIBR Program
on Food Safety and Quality Management!
Registration is starting for the fall program on food safety and quality management systems. Plan to participate this year!

Increasingly, retailers are requiring manufacturers to have HACCP plans in place and to pass third party audits as a condition of doing business. It is therefore no longer a matter of regulatory compliance. It is becoming a business necessity! HACCP implementation is critical if you want to expand your market share.

Schedule. This year's program will consist of nine Saturday sessions from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.--

September 6, 13, 20, and 27;
October 4, 11, 18, and 25; and
December 13 (half-day).

Location. The location for all sessions is the Los Angeles City Department of Water and Power at 111 North Hope Street, Los Angeles CA (across from the Music Center on Hope Street between Temple and 1st Streets).

Speakers. Trainers include representatives from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Food and Drug Branch of the California Department of Health Services and county health department agencies, as well as food industry experts and scientists.

Preliminary program. The following topics will be covered--

Testimonials. Manufacturers who completed past programs have reported new customers, expanded sales, even lower workers' compensation insurance premiums!

• Companies reported that their audit ratings went up substantially as a result of their participation in the FIBR program;
• Several companies used their HACCP plans as marketing tools to demonstrate their commitment to high standards in the manufacturing and distribution of their food products;
• One company presented his HACCP plan as a risk management strategy and successfully lowered his workers' compensation insurance costs.
• Suppliers who participated in the FIBR program found that they were better able to service customers who had their own HACCP plans.

Registration fees. The registration fees are based on whether your company is a FIBR member and the number of employees to be enrolled--

For FIBR members: $900.00 for 2 employees, $250.00 for each additional employee

For non-members: $1,200.00 for 2 employees, $300.00 for each additional employee

The FIBR program is one of the most affordable HACCP programs available in the marketplace. Compare us to competitors like Silliker Laboratories. If your company is a FIBR member, the cost is only $450.00 per employee, or $50.00 a day, for a nine-day program.

If you are not a FIBR member, but wish to join to get the benefit of a discounted registration fee, the annual membership dues are as follows--

• Manufacturer with 25 or fewer employees - $150.00
• 26 to 50 employees - $300.00
• 51 or more employees - $750.00

If you do not wish to become a FIBR member, you still get a bargain! Less than $67.00 a day for the first two employees.

For more details, call: Linda Wong at (213) 763-2520, ext. 235.

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New FDA Regulations Call for
Trans Fat Content in Food Labels
On July 9, 2003, HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced that new FDA regulations will require food manufacturers and some dietary supplement producers to list the trans fat content of their products on the Nutrition Facts panel, in addition to information about overall fat and saturated fat content.

Food manufacturers have until January 1, 2006 to add the trans fat content to their nutrition labels. This long lead-time is intended to minimize the need for multiple label changes and enables smaller companies to use up their current inventory of labels. However, if manufacturers want to list the trans fat content sooner, FDA will allow them to do so.

In addition, dietary supplement manufacturers will need to list trans fat on the Supplement Facts panel when their products contain more than trace amounts (0.5 gram) of trans fat. Examples of dietary supplements that may contain trans fat are energy and nutrition bars.

For more details about these labeling changes and examples of revised Nutrition Facts Panel contents, go to www.fda.gov/oc/initiatives/transfat/.

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Growing Public Uproar over Obesity and Unhealthy Foods
Veteran lawyers involved in years of tobacco litigation are now targeting the fast food industry for similar lawsuits. They blame the large portion size of many fast foods and marketing campaigns aimed at school-aged youth for the growing obesity problem in this country. According to a Los Angeles Times article (Karen Robinson-Jacobs, "Lawyers Put Their Weight Behind Obesity Cases," Los Angeles Times, July 2, 2003, p. A-1), McDonald's, KFC, Taco Bell and Burger King are some of the giants on the legal hit list. They will be challenged on such issues as vague ingredient labels, ads that fail to reveal health hazards, and marketing directed at young children and teens.

In the same edition of the LA Times, another article pointed out how "healthy" fast food may not be so healthy after all. When Jack in the Box announced its new turkey burger, nutritionists responded with a cold shoulder. The Turkey Jack actually has 700 calories and 32 grams of fat, compared with 690 calories and 38 grams of fat in a Jumbo Jack with cheese.

Wendy's Taco Supremo Salad without dressing already has 360 calories and 17 grams of fat--even before adding taco chips, sour cream and salsa. With blue cheese dressing, a customer can expect another 260 calories and 27 grams of fat on top of what is already there. (See Elizabeth Kelly and Karen Robinson-Jacobs, "New Burger's Toppings Can Tip the Scale," Los Angeles Times, July 2, 2003, p. C-2).

The controversy is not likely to go away. An op-ed piece by Greg Critser, author of "Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World," appeared in the July 20, 2003 edition of the Los Angeles Times. In "Big Food's Aisles of Excess," he took the issue of fatty foods and gave it a different twist, calling for an end to anti-competitive practices he identified as the heart of today's bad eating habits--namely slotting fees.

According to Critser, giants like Kraft and General Foods dominate the supermarket aisles because their multi-million dollar marketing budgets allow them to pacify the retail chains into accepting their products. In fact, manufacturers nationwide spend over $9 billion a year in slotting fees to place their products on supermarket shelves. As a result, the annual number of new products classified as snack foods has increased six times since the late 1970's, from 400 new items a year to about 2,400 a year. The consequences for food manufacturers are equally as clear. Despite the fact that the U.S. has over 15,000 food makers, only 20 companies account for 54 percent of all checkout sales in the grocery stores. This helps to explain why Kraft produces four different cartoon-based versions of its mac and cheese.

What is the solution? Critser says Big Food should "encourage" its suppliers to use a wider range of foods. For example, weaning themselves from corn and soybeans would be a start. Another is reducing the use of slotting fees and "symbiotic marketing." Then there is the issue of using children to influence parents' food-buying choices. This, says Critser, has got to stop, or at least toned down. However, he acknowledges that in the end only consumers can decide what goes into the shopping cart.

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Snapshot of LA County Food Processing Industry
With help from the research staff of the Community Development Technologies Center, we took a snapshot of the local industry to find out what happened over the past two years. Despite 9/11, the recession and the SARS epidemic, the industry has actually done quite well. Based on figures from Dun & Bradstreet, the total number of food manufacturers in Los Angeles County increased from 1,130 firms in March 2001 to 1,326 companies in July 2003. Employment also increased during this period, from 47,000 employees in 2001 to 51,000 in 2003. Even better, annual sales more than doubled: from $7.2 billion in 2001 to nearly $16 billion this year. Small firms (i.e., manufacturers with 50 or fewer employees) continue to dominate the industry; July 2003 figures show that they comprise two-thirds of all food manufacturing concerns in the County.

To see the chart and a breakdown by product category, go to www.fibr.info/lactyfoodmfg.html

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Two-Year Old "Buy California" Marketing
Agreement Snags First Major Retail Chain
Safeway, Inc. became the first retail chain to join the "California Grown" campaign, which was launched in 2001 with $5 million in state funds. Supplemented with industry dollars, the goal of the campaign is simple: increase consumer purchases of California grown agricultural products.

As a major supporter of the campaign, Safeway will feature "California Grown" signs in the produce departments of every Safeway and Vons supermarket statewide. According to a recent survey, 75 percent of California consumers are likely to buy California agricultural products when they have such a choice. This figure is up from 67 percent before the campaign began in August 2002 with TV and radio commercials.

For more information about the Buy California Marketing Agreement, go to www.cdfa.ca.gov/mkt/mkt/buycal.html.

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FIBR Members in the News

Dandy Don's Home Made Ice Cream and Mikawaya were featured on the front page of the Daily News' Business Section on June 21, 2003. The two companies joined forces to produce and distribute mochi ice cream--rice flour-coated frozen desserts with centers made of red bean, green tea, mango, strawberry and kona coffee ice cream. Says Don Whittemore, "it's like ice cream in a marshmallow." Don found Mikawaya through a profile of the company that appeared in the Fall 2002 issue of FIBR News. Mikawaya has produced mochi ice cream since 1993.

What made the joint venture unusual is that the product is being sold directly to consumers via the Internet. With this medium, the market potential is significant. Inquiries are coming from some of the unlikeliest places--Iowa and North Dakota, to name a few. But the number of orders is growing--an encouraging sign for both companies.

For information about the companies, take a look at their websites--www.dandydonsicecream.com and www.mikawayausa.com.

Quon Yick Noodle Co. officially opened its restaurant, Chow Fun, in June. Located in the heart of Los Angeles' Chinatown, near Spring and Ord Streets, Chow Fun serves Quon Yick noodle products. The cuisine is pan-Asian with a Southern (as in Deep South) accent. Chow Fun uses the spicy chicken sausage from another FIBR member, Money Saver's Meats. Try it out! The restaurant is located at 126 Ord Street, Los Angeles. Telephone: (213) 626-1678. Check out the websites for the two companies-- www.quonyicknoodle.com and www.moneysaversmeats.com.

Jeff Nelken, a food safety consultant, worked with KNBC investigative reporter Joel Grover when he visited the kitchens of local restaurants earlier this year and filmed what he saw. Remember the restaurant exposés that were aired on television several years ago? Unfortunately, the restaurants targeted by reporter Grover did not learn the lessons from the first series of news reports. Nelken was there with Grover, pointing out all the violations.

For the text of the stories, go to www.nbc4.tv and click on Team 4 Reports at the top of the screen. Then scroll down to "Restaurant Check with Joel Grover" and "Restaurant Check with Joel Grover Part 2."

For more information about Jeff Nelken, go to his website at www.jnelkenfoodsafety.com.

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Don't Forget to Join FIBR!
New business opportunities like the ones described above are just some of the benefits of membership. The FIBR Sampler will profile member companies and individuals to help you grow your business. For more information about membership, contact Linda Wong at lwong@cdtech.org.

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