Blanton Joins USDA
Bruce Blanton, executive director for the National Renderers Association from 1993 to 1997, was recently named special assistant to the administrator of the Farm Services Agency (FSA) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). FSA administers the Commodity Credit Corporation program.
Blanton was with Moyer Packing Company/Smithfield Beef Enterprises for the last six years. Prior to joining NRA, Blanton was employed with USDA for four years.
De Smet Develops New Assembly
De Smet Rosedowns, Ltd., Hull, England, has developed a new design of worm assembly to be retrofitted into Dupps screw presses. The assembly is directly interchangeable with standard assemblies currently being used in 10-inch and 12-inch presses. The patented, multistage low compression worm assembly will bring processors many of the benefits of the Rosedowns “Rosie” Sterling press, all within a regular maintenance budget.
The new assembly has been operating successfully in a number of plants across the United States on a range of raw materials in both 10-inch and 12-inch machines. The benefits are immediate as soon as the new assembly is fitted and the press started up, including up to 40 percent more throughput with the existing motor; up to 40 percent power saving per ton of feed to the press; no need for the hydraulic choke mechanism to be used; reduction in the burning of cake due to the low compression design; longer parts life per ton of feed processed; and reduced solids in fat leaving the press.
Rosedowns is in partnership with Jenkins Centrifuge Company, Kansas City, MO. Parts for “Rosie D” conversions, as well as parts for other presses, are stocked at the Jenkins facility.
Faster, More Accurate BSE Test Developed
Researchers at the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) have announced the development of a faster, more reliable test for identifying bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), possibly even in live cows. Current tests can only detect the disease after the cow dies.
According to UCSF researchers, the new test, which has already undergone animal studies, is called the conformation-dependent immunoassay (CDI) and can detect prion proteins with 100 percent accuracy at much smaller levels than conventional tests and only takes about five hours to produce results. Like conventional tests, the CDI is designed to detect prions in the brain tissue of cows only upon autopsy. Unlike other tests, however, this new test also shows promise for detecting the proteins in muscle tissue and even blood while the animal is still alive. In lab tests, researchers used the CDI test to detect prions in the muscles of living mice.
Project Leader Dr. Jiri G. Safar, an associate adjunct professor at UCSF, said the test has been used in a field trial to check for signs of the disease in the brains of 11,000 slaughtered cows in Spain, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Results were compared to those from standard immunoassays performed on the same animals. There were no discrepancies between the tests, he said.
The research group plans to use the CDI on an even larger scale among European cattle herds within the next year. If further tests prove successful, hopes are to eventually use the test to evaluate cows for BSE upon autopsy in the United States.
Gold Kist Consolidates, Shuts Plant
Gold Kist, Inc., will consolidate operations in Alabama and close its Trussville, AL, chicken processing plant in early November 2003. The action will eliminate the jobs of approximately 500 employees at the Trussville plant and in some affiliated positions in the feed haul, live haul, and catching operations in Cullman.
Gold Kist currently plans to continue to contract for the production of chickens from the approximately 165 growers who supply the Trussville plant. Production from the plant, which represents less than five percent of the company’s weekly capacity, will be consolidated at plants in Boaz, Guntersville, and Russellville, AL.
Kemin Makes Appointments
Andrew Martin has joined Kemin Nutrisurance, Inc., as account manager for the U.S. market, and Donley Moran has been named commercial director for Kemin in Europe.
Martin will provide day-to-day marketing and service support for a number of Nutrisurance’s pet food customers throughout the United States. He earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX, and a law degree from Cumberland School of Law, Birmingham, AL. As a practicing attorney, Martin gained technical expertise in a number of areas, including pet food ingredients and manufacturing processes. His office in located in New Orleans, LA.
Moran will be based at the Nutrisurance office in Herentals, Belgium, and will manage commercial efforts in Eastern and Western Europe as well as South Africa. He joined Kemin from a marketing and communications firm where he served as marketing director and headed up the agricultural division. Prior professional experience includes national pork marketing manager for North American feed manufacturer Land O’Lakes. Moran gained experience working in Europe while serving as director of marketing and national sales manager for Agrimerica, Inc., now a division of Lucta, Inc.
Moran holds a bachelor’s degree in animal science and biology from Florida State University and a master’s degree in ruminant nutrition from Iowa State University.
McBurney Joins Crown Iron
Crown Iron Works Company has hired Gerald (Jerry) McBurney as field project engineer. He brings more than 30 years of worldwide oilseed processing plant engineering, installation, and operation experience. McBurney holds a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Colorado State University.
New Introductions at Alfa Laval
Alfa Laval is introducing turnkey service for all brands of plant heat exchangers. Turnkey service is a complete regasketing service encompassing a technician’s visit to the customer’s plant to remove the plates from the heat exchanger, crate and transport them to an Alfa Laval service center, reconditioning and regasketing plates to good-as-new level, shipping and re-installation in the heat exchanger, and hydro testing on-site to verify that the heat exchanger is operating properly. Turnkey service is available from 31 service technicians at regional service centers located throughout the United States. The complete reconditioning service is provided for any make of plate heat exchanger on the market.
Alfa Laval is also introducing a new line of tank cleaning equipment, Toftejorg advanced equipment for automatic tank cleaning. The Toftejorg products include rotating spray heads, rotating jet heads, and accessories as well as assemblies for applications within the food, dairy, beverage, chemical, pharmaceutical, biotech, personal care, and marine industries. The tank cleaning equipment is suitable for tanks ranging from 500 gallons to silos with a 500,000-gallon capacity.
Rotary spray heads clean tanks by spraying a fan of cleaning media against the tank walls while rotary jet heads spray jets of cleaning media. The cleaning systems can be fully automated.
SafTest Kits Receive Certification
SafTest has received Performance Tested Methods Certification from the Association of Analytical Communities (AOAC) Research Institute for its PeroxySafe and FASafe Standard Test Kits.
PeroxySafe measures lipid peroxides, an indicator of product quality in foods and oils. The test takes 10 to 15 minutes to perform and has a sensitivity range of 0.05 milliequivalent (meq)/kilogram (kg) to 50 meq/kg. FASafe measures free fatty acids, an indicator of product freshness, in foods and oils. The test takes 10 minutes to perform and has a sensitivity range of 0.2 to 20 percent of oleic acid.
AOAC certification indicates that an independent, third party review of the two tests has been conducted and that the tests perform as claimed.
Tyson to Consolidate Operations, Acquire Choctaw
In an effort to improve efficiencies and customer service, Tyson Foods, Inc., is consolidating operations in its Pine Bluff, AR, facilities by moving production of its Second Avenue plant to its Jefferson Parkway facility.
The consolidation will involve the permanent closing of the company’s Second Avenue plant on or about January 10, 2004, after which all of the plant’s processing capacity will move to the Jefferson Parkway plant. New jobs created by the consolidation at the Jefferson Parkway facility will provide opportunities for many of the team members currently employed at the Second Avenue plant.
The Second Avenue plant, which was built in 1957, is a first processing (slaughter) facility, with a capacity to process 860,000 birds a week. In addition to first processing, the Jefferson Parkway facility produces value added products for the food service industry. Total output for the complex will not be affected, nor will relationships with the 170 independent farmers who grow chickens for the Pine Bluff operation.
Tyson Foods has announced it will acquire Choctaw Maid Farms, Inc., based in Carthage, MS, including two processing plants, two hatcheries, and a feed mill. Choctaw Maid has been operating with a long-term supply agreement under which Tyson Foods has acquired all of the output from both processing facilities.
The acquisition will be completed on September 28, 2003. According to the company, no significant changes in personnel, grower relationships, or processing output are planned for the operations.
Tintometer Establishes Color Lab
Tintometer, located in the United Kingdom, has established The Color Laboratory, a specialized color analysis service that is available on a test-by-test basis or as an outsource facility to companies around the world.
Tintometer’s Color Laboratory is a flexible service that is suitable for a broad range of sample types, such as edible and industrial oils and fats, oleochemicals, surfactants, biodiesels, and chemicals. Using experienced colorimetry technicians and master instruments to obtain the color data, Tintometer’s Color Laboratory can carry out measurements to all relevant international and other trade standards and specifications including American Oil Chemists Society methods.
October 2003 Render