Issuu

CAPITAL SPENDING OUTLOOK

Tightening the Belt

Companies underspent their 2025 capital expenditures budgets by billions of dollars and intend to keep budgets tight for 2026. • 24

Formulated to provide unsurpassed performance in food processing facilities. These high-performance, 100% synthetic, MOAH/MOSH free lubricants provide extended lube intervals, multiple application capability, lubricant inventory consolidation and improved performance. All while maintaining the highest level of food safety. These lubricants are not “synthetic blend” products. They are 100% synthetic/long-life.

Available products include:

Synthetic G ear Oils

Synthetic Compressor Fluids

Synthetic Hydraulic Fluids

Synthetic Oven Chain Lubricants

Synthetic Spray Lubricants

AFTER 180+ YEARS, AMERICA’S FINEST MIXERS STILL BEAR THE ROSS NAME. MADE IN THE USA, TRUSTED WORLDWIDE.

Hauppauge, N.Y. Plant - 1968

FEATURES

Tightening the Belt

Companies underspent their 2025 capital budgets by billions of dollars and intend to keep the purse strings tight for 2026. 24

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Dietary Guidelines Boost Animal Proteins

Processors using meat, eggs, dairy, even animal fats as ingredients are celebrating the new nutritional guidance.

Meat

& Poultry Back on Top

The new Dietary Guidelines give the category a shot in the arm and an opportunity to innovate.

Sanitation: A Clean Slate

Comprehensive sanitation provides a critical foundation for general food safety programs.

What To Do With Kraft Heinz?

I didn't like the merger, didn't believe in a split, but I hope Steve Cahillane can ﬁx this icon.

I’m glad I’m not in Steve Cahillane’s shoes, because I wouldn’t know what to do with Kraft Heinz Co.

While I never thought the 2015 merger of Kraft and Heinz made sense, I didn’t think the planned split of the two companies would ﬁx things either. Not with the same executives who created this mess.

But now they’re gone. And a new chairman and CEO, Cahillane, started Jan. 1, presumably to effect the split, as he had done in 2023 at Kellogg Co. Barely a month into the job, Cahillane probably surprised even the Kraft Heinz people by calling off the demerger and saying “many of our challenges are ﬁxable and within our control.”

I may be little more critical of this company because Heinz is from my hometown of Pittsburgh. I had a relative working at one plant and the pride of seeing a little reminder of my birthplace on tables all over the world.

I felt right from the start – the 2013 acquisition of Heinz – that 3G Capital, a Brazilian investment ﬁrm, and Berkshire Hathaway were going to ruin this company. In came a bevy of Brazilian executives, who maybe were not inept but just not adept at running a North American food company.

That’s not xenophobia. And it’s not just me saying it. It made as much sense as appointing an American as CEO of a Brazilian food company. Heinz was a company dependent on U.S., Canadian

and Western European sales (maybe too much so).

A lot of good people left after that acquisition, and most were replaced by people trusted by 3G Capital. They had big global ambitions for Heinz, which already was succeeding in some foreign markets, just not to the extent the new owners wanted.

Then came the 2015 merger with Kraft, another overwhelmingly domestic company after the split-off of Mondelez. That didn’t help the ambitions of 3G Capital. The results were waves of layoffs, cost-cutting and annual decreases in sales. Now, while Kraft Heinz’s foreign markets aren’t hitting any home runs, it’s North America, speciﬁcally U.S. sales, that have been the main drag on the company for years.

In 2019, six years after he stepped down or was booted, Bill Johnson, Heinz’s last chairman and CEO before the acquisition, told Fox Business, “I’ve lost a lot of conﬁdence in what’s going on there. In their zeal to cut costs and so forth, they’ve removed all the institutional knowledge, and therefore no one can tell them what they shouldn’t

do because it had been done before and hadn’t worked.”

Lately, while other food & beverage processors were creating new products, Kraft Heinz has been launching a new fast-food French fry container with a built-in ketchup compartment. Or skis that look like Ore-Ida french fries. Racing the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. What fun stuff! But I can’t see how any of those things will move the needle on sales. If the Marketing Dept. spent more than 5 minutes or 5 dollars on any one of those efforts, that was time and money wasted.

At the same time he called off the split on Feb. 11, Cahillane announced a $600 million investment in marketing, sales and R&D, “as well as product superiority and select pricing.” That’s a great start.

I’ve been encouraged to see Heinz ketchup and Kraft mac & cheese commercials on TV recently, the ﬁrst time in a long time. I hope there are more. More product development, more new categories, more meaningful marketing. And ultimately more sales. Good luck, Mr. Cahillane.

Written by Dave Fusaro

PRECISION SERVICE. PROVEN EXPERTS.

Ashworth Factory Service is trusted worldwide for quality products, reliable support, and smart solutions that boost productivity. Our full-service team offers system refurbishments, proactive maintenance programs, troubleshooting and phone support, installation and commissioning, controls retroﬁts, and more—keeping your line running at peak performance.

EDITORIAL TEAM

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Dave Fusaro dfusaro@endeavorb2b.com

SENIOR EDITOR

Andy Hanacek ahanacek@endeavorb2b.com

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Ed Avis, Claudia O’Donnell

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Mohamed Z. Badaoui Najjar, Ph.D. R&D Senior Director–Strategy & Portfolio Sector Food & Beverage, PepsiCo

James Davis

Director-Global Sanitation, OSI Group LLC

Leslie Herzog

Vice President of Operations & Research Services, The Understanding & Insight Group LLC (retired from Unilever)

Steven Hill, Ph.D. Vice President-R&D, QA, Food Safety, Sustainability, Engineering, Regulatory, Marzetti Co.

David Joy Partner, Keller & Heckman LLP

Leslie Krasny Krasny Consulting

Amit Pal, Ph.D. Director, R&D - Beverage, The Campbell's Co.

Jagriti Sharma Senior Vice President of Product, Poppi

Gary M. Stibel

Founder & CEO, The New England Consulting Group

DESIGN & PRODUCTION

ART DIRECTOR

Bill Antkowiak bantkowiak@endeavorb2b.com

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Rita Fitzgerald rﬁtzgerald@endeavorb2b.com

AD SERVICES MANAGER

Jennifer George jgeorge@endeavorb2b.com

EXECUTIVE STAFF

GROUP CONTENT DIRECTOR

Keith Larson

CIRCULATION REQUESTS

Lori Books

ENDEAVOR BUSINESS MEDIA, LLC

CEO

Chris Ferrell

COO

Patrick Rains

CDO

Jacquie Niemiec

CALO

Tracy Kane

CMO

Amanda Landsaw

EVP MANUFACTURING & ENGINEERING GROUP

Lisa Paonessa

VP OF CONTENT STRATEGY, MANUFACTURING & ENGINEERING GROUP

Robert Schoenberger

Endeavor Business Media, LLC

30 Burton Hills Blvd, Ste. 185, Nashville, TN 37215 800-547-7377

What’s New Online

Don’t miss what’s happening on FoodProcessing.com.

The snow doesn't slow us down. We're constantly adding content to FoodProcessing.com. In the past month, we've added features and commentary on ultraprocessed foods, sous vide cooking and plant-based foods. Following are some other highlights.

SURVEY RESULTS

Our full 2026 Manufacturing Outlook Survey results

If you missed our 25th annual Manufacturing Outlook Survey story from January, you can still read it online and, more importantly, download the infographics for all 11 questions we asked. It paints a mixed picture for plant operations in 2026: optimism is higher than it was last year at this time, but so is the emphasis on controlling manufacturing costs. Compare your outlook with that of 100 others at: www.FoodProcessing.com/ 55341099

Daily food & beverage news

We try to write a "best of" the news every other month in this magazine, but all the stories you see on pp16-21 first appeared on our website and in our daily newsletter. Stay up

to date on food industry news by visiting www.FoodProcessing. com daily or by signing up for our daily newsletter.

https://bit.ly/3yHyZLZ

EHANDBOOKS

Food safety, packaging and more educational stuff

We've started the new year with fresh ehandbooks on Food Safety in the Plant and Packaging. They're just the latest in our library of ebooks that includes topics such as advances in bakery manufacturing, "Food Safety and the War on Ingredients" and intelligent manufacturing. See the whole library at: www.FoodProcessing.com/ ehandbooks

PODCASTS

Economic outlooks, ethnic foods, appealing to kids

For those who like to listen, we continue to build our podcast library. In recent weeks, we added segments on the possibility of humanoid robots coming to plants, discussions on the new Dietary Guidelines and Conagra's view of the frozen food category. Strap on some headphones and head to: www.FoodProcessing.com/ podcasts

3 available raw or roasted

3 an excellent alternative to nuts and a great addition to balanced eating

3 mild in ﬂavor and add a pleasant crunch to food

3 packed with ﬁber, Vitamin E, zinc, folate, and hearthealthy fats

3 ideal for a variety of foods, including bakery products, granola, snack bars, salad toppings, high-protein breakfasts, and plant-based meals

With so much upheaval at the federal level, great changes could be coming ... or not.

A Regulatory in 2026: Unpredictable

year ago, I correctly foretold 2025 to be a year of signiﬁcant change. I see 2026 as much less predictable.

Will action be taken on the federal agencies’ initiatives set forth in 2025? Will the administration’s ideologies result in new regulation? Will the tariffs continue or be struck down? And what impact will any of this have on the food industry?

Despite the unpredictability of much of it, I’ll take a stab at a few areas for which I have a bit more conﬁdence in predicting.

The initiative I most expect to move forward, even possibly coming under regulation, is GRAS. The FDA has published an abstract of a proposed rule to amend the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) regulations to require the mandatory submission of GRAS notices, effectively eliminating the option for self-afﬁrmation. The rule would require that FDA maintain a public-facing GRAS notice inventory and would clarify the process under which FDA would determine that a substance is not GRAS.

Although it has been submitted to the Ofﬁce of Management and Budget, a proposed rule is not projected to publish until at least this spring, after which it would need to undergo a public comment and revision period before potentially being published as a rule. So, while it seems unlikely that the

industry would be subject to a new rule in 2026, it is even more unlikely that any self-afﬁrmed submissions not already accepted would be considered by FDA.

In relation to the initiative to phase out synthetic dyes, I wouldn’t expect to see even a proposed rule anytime soon. The administration seems content with its “understanding” with the industry, particularly as a number of major manufacturers have voluntarily begun the process to remove artiﬁcial colors.

How far the phase-out will go continues to be in question, however, as states are being blocked by the courts from enforcing food dye or additive bans, and certain manufacturers, i.e., candy companies, are continuing to hold out.

Then there is the battle against ultraprocessed foods. With one of the greatest sticking points of a regulation being the lack of a definition of what constitutes ultraprocessed, I would expect that to be a key focus. But how it will be defined, and how that would affect the food industry, could be highly controversial. So we may (or may not) see a definition in 2026, but I wouldn’t expect to see a regulation.

Just as controversial are the updates to the Dietary Guidelines. Robert Kennedy’s recommendation of “whole” foods, including full-fat dairy and red meats plus beef tallow over other oils for frying, have health professionals raising

concerns. So it will be interesting to watch how this evolves.

Even if the Supreme Court prevails in declaring that the president had no authority to impose the tariffs, he could attempt to reissue the levies under other rationales. Whichever way this goes, the turbulence of 2025 will in all likelihood continue.

In 2025 we saw several high-proﬁle foodborne disease outbreaks involving both common and uncommon situations – that is one area where I expect 2026 will be no different. And with FDA having lost important experts, industry is urged to not take your eye off your routine food safety programs.

Given all this, we could predict 2026 to be another year of change or a year of little to nothing changing. It could be a year of turbulence or one of relative inertia.

A year tends to be more predictable when action follows logic and evolving direction, but in the current environment, that doesn’t appear to be the basis of action. Rather, with pretty much anything potentially happening, one thing I can predict with any certainty is the year’s overall unpredictability.

Written by David Acheson

An Ultraprocessed Foods Risk Checklist

If you worry your product might be considered a UPF, use this checklist to prepare for repercussions – regulatory, legal and otherwise.

The Trump administration continues to focus on curbing chronic disease under its Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, discouraging Americans from consuming "ultraprocessed" and "highly processed" foods.

As policymakers grapple over classifying "highly/ultraprocessed" foods in U.S. nutrition policy, the food sector must brace for the effects these ambiguous classiﬁcations will have on food regulations, speciﬁcally labeling.

The USDA and Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently released the "Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030" (DGAs). They denounce "highly processed" foods and reﬁned carbohydrates. Federal health ofﬁcials recommend that consumers avoid "packaged, prepared, ready-to-eat or other foods that are salty or sweet, such as chips, cookies and candy."

Signiﬁcantly, however, the DGAs do not deﬁne "highly processed" foods. So what foods are considered highly/ultraprocessed?

Food industry leaders remain perplexed as to an appropriate and workable definition of this food category. Industry groups warn the public sector's oversimplification of processing-based categories presents risks of unintended consequences, and they emphasize science-based, nutrient profile approaches.

Many public health advocates encourage the administration to mandate express warnings about all "highly/ultraprocessed foods" and the alleged health consequences resulting from the consumption of these food products in any amount.

While the American consumer overwhelmingly presumes these "highly/ultraprocessed foods" include only the obvious "junk foods," the scope of this category does not appear so limited. Previous MAHA reports employed the well-recognized Nova classification system, which defines UPFs as all foods containing an industrial formulation of five or more ingredients. As of now, the DGAs apply the alternative "highly processed" term rather than the Nova classification's "ultraprocessed."

This MAHA focus presents a multitude of litigation risks for both food manufacturers and retailers, especially around deceptive marketing, consumer protection, failure to warn, front of pack labeling and "public nuisance" theories of liability.

While ultraprocessed food litigation is still emerging, the contours of future lawsuits could be easily anticipated to include claims of alleged false advertising, deceptive practices and unfair competition, claiming companies marketed ultraprocessed foods as safe/healthy while knowing of associated health risks.

The risks are particularly high for food labels promoting a product as

"natural" or "healthy" while falling within the future category of ultraprocessed food.

Despite the recent emphasis on ultraprocessed foods, litigation over them remains in its infancy. We have been following a now-dismissed lawsuit by a private plaintiff in Pennsylvania federal court that alleged food manufacturers produce highly addictive UPFs and promote them to children, causing an increase in obesity, diabetes and other chronic illnesses.

The judge threw out the case in August 2025, ﬁnding that the plaintiff did not adequately allege how he was harmed by the companies' products. However, the plaintiff is seeking to amend the complaint and continue with his case.

Notably, the San Francisco city attorney ﬁled a lawsuit in December 2025 against multiple food manufacturers claiming they intentionally designed and promoted ultraprocessed products that are highly addictive, similar to tobacco and illegal drugs. The sprawling 256-paragraph complaint is the ﬁrst attempt by any government to litigate in this space and provides a potential blueprint for private consumer litigation.

January saw the introduction of two more lawsuits, both by the law ﬁrm Douglas & London. A 20-year old plaintiff in Florida and a woman in Louisiana ﬁled nearly identical suits in U.S. District Courts in their states against Coca-Cola Co., Conagra

Brands, General Mills, Kellanova, Kraft Heinz Co., Mars Inc., Mondelez International, Nestle USA, PepsiCo, Post Holdings and WK Kellogg Co. — the same companies named in the unsuccessful Pennsylvania lawsuit and the pending one in San Francisco. Both plaintiffs claim they developed Type 2 diabetes as a result of eating the defendants' products.

Risk Mitigation Checklist for Food Manufacturers

→ Audit high risk products and consider re-evaluating product claims of "natural," "no artiﬁcial…" and/or other similar "healthy" statements. Likewise consider similar claims against ingredient lists and processing steps.

→ Maintain robust scientiﬁc substantiation for health-adjacent statements and ensure alignment with evolving FDA frameworks to support pre-emption defenses.

→ Reassess marketing to children and placement strategies, given the increased focus on youth targeting allegations.

→ Preserve R&D, marketing and safety documentation.

→ Prepare causation defenses and expert strategies emphasizing multifactorial disease etiology and regulatory compliance.

→ Track evolving FDA and USDA deﬁnitions and state laws to anticipate labeling/school channel impacts and prevent inconsistent messaging.

→ Retailers should assess private label exposure, shelf tag/claim content and co-defense agreements with suppliers. While retailers are not currently predominant defendants, retailers may soon see increased attention.

Written by Samuel Felker, Alexandra Bruce Rychlak, Desislava Docheva

• No moving components in the conveying system

• Extremely dependable, low maintenance

• Custom designed for each application

• Operates problem-free 24/7

• Improve employee safety

• Trim cutter indexes with packaging machine to eliminate any plugging Quickdraft’s pneumatic conveying systems are designed to consistently remove packaging trim waste out of your packaging room without the use of manual labor, without canisters and without interrupting your packaging process.

Attorneys with law ﬁrm Baker Donelson (www.bakerdonelson.com)

Trim Cutter

Henry Tiffany President, Control Concepts Inc.

INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE

Using Automation to Advance Dry-Cleaning Processes

Food and beverage processing engineers have much to balance when designing and optimizing facilities and production lines — including maintaining optimum food safety and process performance.

Implementation of hygienic air-handling systems should be a critical piece of that puzzle, says Henry Tiffany, president of Control Concepts Inc., who shares insights on how processors can ensure product integrity and safety, using innovative dry-cleaning systems.

Food Processing: Which critical points should process engineers focus on when it comes to food safety on the raw materials/ingredients handling end of the plant?

Henry Tiffany: Engineers are typically focused on operational optimization with respect to manpower, machinery, materials and processes. Advances in automation have streamlined manpower requirements, while state-of-the-art machinery offers superior performance, and material selection includes the procurement of cost-effective quality ingredients. While process improvements are often focused on safeguarding production and maximizing throughput, one area with signiﬁcant potential for enhancement remains manufacturing system cleaning, which is where our Airsweep product can help.

FP: You had mentioned seeing increased interest in ensuring food safety in the material handling, storage, mixing and blending areas of food and beverage processing facilities. What is driving that increased demand for solutions?

HT: Interest has increased as manufacturers strive to safeguard product integrity. A few years back, we were fortunate to assist a major baby formula manufacturer with dry-cleaning protocols, including cleaning matrices to reduce changeover frequency, which they had adopted to extend production time. While food safety practices have led to improved cleaning strategies, core cleaning methods have seen little innovation. Manual cleaning, including the disassembly of enclosed systems for access to product-contact surfaces such as dump hoppers, powder transport lines, blenders, sifters, magnets, vacuums, gassing and filling hoppers has been the norm and is still common practice. What I will call "the old method" is time-consuming and typically includes material flushing to ensure meeting microbial standards.

Our USDA-accepted AirSweep and Sanitary Pulse Valve solutions are designed to increase production yield, by reducing material loss and dramatically reduce downtime commonly associated with flushing the processing equipment.

FP: How can processors ensure efﬁcient operations and attain properly blended formulas while still producing a clean, foodsafe product?

HT: Manufacturers typically accept the loss of production hours and product caused by the need for cleaning due to product buildup or changes in SKUs and formulations — particularly in plants with single lines producing multiple SKUs. Installation of our USDA-accepted AirSweep and Sanitary Pulse Valve at the conclusion of production runs allows sequential line cleaning to be initiated immediately, with materials being flushed and collected efficiently. Our approach will increase yield and significantly reduces material loss commonly associated with flushing. Manufacturing downtime caused by end-of-process cleaning will be minimized — from up to four hours for a manual process to as little as 30 minutes — with dramatic reduction in material loss. Notably, the risk of microbial contamination (often introduced during manual system opening) has decreased, enhancing overall operational efficiency and delivering rapid return on investment.

FP: Keeping product or raw material from building up in niches and causing a contamination issue down the line is obvious to all processors when it comes to direct product contact surfaces, but why is it also critical for the components that

Food For Thought

Hear the conversation by tuning in to Food Processing’s Food For Thought podcast.

IN THIS SECTION

» '60 Minutes' tackles GRAS, UPFs

» Two new ultraprocessed lawsuits

» Nestle losing interest in foods?

Kraft Heinz Won't Split … at Least Not This Year

And maybe not at all, as fortunes improve in the fourth quarter and the new CEO says “many of our challenges are ﬁxable and within our control.”

It looks like Kraft Heinz will not split into two companies, at least not this year. Not when they just hired a new CEO, even if he does have experience splitting companies in two.

“We believe it is prudent to pause work related to the separation and we will no longer incur related dis-synergies this year,” Steve Cahillane, CEO since Jan. 1, said in the company’s fourth quarter ﬁnancial report Feb. 11. “Since joining the company, I have seen that the opportunity is larger than expected and that many of our challenges are ﬁxable and within our control.”

as product superiority and select pricing,” he continued.

“Thanks to disciplined ﬁnancial stewardship, our balance sheet is strong and our Free Cash Flow capabilities, robust – positioning us well to fund these investments and execute on the plan, while still generating excess cash. We are conﬁdent in the opportunity ahead and believe this investment will accelerate our return to profitable growth.”

Fixable requires investment, however, and the company appears ready and able to spend something on the order of $600 million to ﬁx itself.

“In order to accelerate the momentum we are already seeing in our Taste Elevation portfolio and to drive recovery in our U.S. business, we are today announcing a $600 million investment across Marketing, Sales and R&D, as well

At the moment, however, things remain broken. The company ended 2025 with overall sales down 3.5% — to $24.942 billion – and a net loss of nearly $6 billion. But that net loss was due to a $9.3 billion non-cash impairment charge announced in July, “primarily driven by a sustained decline in our share price and market capitalization,” the company said on July 30.

Things did improve in the fourth quarter. While overall sales were down 3.4% from the year-earlier period (to $6.354 billion), International Developed Markets and Emerging Markets both showed

sales gains. Only North America, which has been the problem for a while, lagged: sales at home were down 5.4% to $4.7 billion. And the ﬁnal quarter had a net gain of $651 million.

Sales have been going down almost annually since the 2015 merger of Kraft and Heinz. They peaked one year after the merger at $26.5 billion. They're now under $25 billion.

The company predicts sales in 2026 will decline -1.5% to -3.5%.

Last September, Kraft Heinz announced a plan to split into what at the time were called “Global Taste Elevation Co.” and “North American Grocery Co.,” both temporary names.

Also in February, Nicolas Amaya, who worked under Cahillane at Kellogg and Kellanova, was hired as president-North America, replacing Pedro Navio. Amaya started in marketing at Kellogg in 2001 and went with Cahillane when Kellanova was split off, most recently serving as a senior vice president and president of Kellanova North America, which put him on Kellanova’s executive committee.

Steve Cahillane

The Good, Bad and Middlin' From Consumer Analyst Group of NYC

Every February, the CEOs of some of the largest publicly held food & beverage companies address the investment community via the four-day Consumer Analyst Group of New York (CAGNY) meeting. They report ﬁnancials, reveal plans and explain strategies, all in an effort to "sell" their companies to the hundreds of assembled Wall Streeters.

Their experiences are as diverse as the companies, but there were some generalities. With the exception of Coca-Cola and Celsius, all are coming off a tough year. Nearly all the CEOs mentioned “the ﬁnancially stressed consumer.” While all were struggling with volume, most reported at least minimal increases.

Below, in highly subjective groupings are their reports. You can ﬁnd longer stories on all of them at www.FoodProcessing.com.

Continuing success stories

Coca-Cola Co. has had a great couple of years; hopefully that will continue under incoming CEO Henrique Braun, who presented for the ﬁrst time at CAGNY.

The executive vice president and chief operating ofﬁcer will take over as CEO on March 31 from James Quincey, who will transition to executive chairman after serving as CEO for nine years.

Maybe because he’s new, maybe following the “if it ain’t broke …” philosophy, Braun offered no major changes to the world’s biggest drink company.

He bragged about the company’s ability to cultivate billion-dollar brands; there are now 32 of them. Two of them are new, acquisitions over the past year: English juicer Innocent and Mexican dairy brand Santa Clara.

McCormick & Co. endured tariffs and other 2025 headwinds to ﬁnish its ﬁscal 2025 with a 2% increase in sales (to $6.84 billion) and net income flat at $789 million. Brendan Foley, chairman and CEO, expects a big sales jump in the new year thanks to its acquisition of a controlling interest in McCormick de Mexico, which just closed on Jan. 2.

With that acquisition and growth in other products and categories, executives are forecasting 13-17% sales growth (almost all of that resulting from the acquisition); otherwise, organic sales growth should be 1-3%. Adjusted operating income should rise 16-20%.

Bolstered by its distribution partnership with PepsiCo and given a boost by acquisitions of Alani Nu and Rockstar in 2025, Celsius is working to grow quickly but deliberately in the fast-growing energy product space. John Fieldly, chairman and CEO, said the company’s portfolio has about 20% share of the 2025 energy drink market. The company reported $5.2 billion in U.S. retail sales.

Its three brands are targeted at three distinct areas. The Celsius brand is sought out by males and females alike and is centered

on focus, workouts and lifestyle. Alani Nu, also a lifestyle brand, has a strong connection with women. Rockstar is male-centric and revolves around sports, music and gaming.

Fair to middlin’ or transforming PepsiCo had a mixed 2025. Dollar sales increased but volume in all key categories was down. Management thinks it can return to growth with “surgical” price cuts on key brands.

"Two trends we plan to capture at scale are ﬁber and hydration,” said Ramon Laguarta, chairman and CEO. He did mention the ongoing replacements of synthetic colors and other questionable ingredients in some products, especially from Frito-Lay, but in the context of consumer demands, not regulatory ones.

Despite challenges brought on by wild cocoa prices, Mondelez International closed 2025 with respectable but mixed results: sales up 6% to $38.5 billion, but net income halved to $2.45 billion. Dirk Van de Put, chairman and CEO, said the company plans marketing investments this year to battle the stable-to-shrinking retail basket size, and it has been working to expand affordable product options for consumers concerned about prices.

Mondelez will look to broaden offerings in its chocolate and choco-bakery businesses in the

Henrique Braun

Ramon Laguarta

coming year, and also plans to “unleash Toblerone” to expand its premium chocolate lines.

Unilever is becoming a smaller, more focused company with less reliance on foods. Underlying sales growth in 2025 was up 3.5% although profit fell 1%. The company sold a handful of small food brands last year and early this year, although the biggest subtraction was the December spinoff of its ice cream business into Magnum Ice Cream Co.

By the end of 2025, foods accounted for €12.9 billion in sales, down 3.2% from the prior year. “Food & Refreshment,” accounted for 38% of Unilever sales in 2021; it was 26% at the end of last year. In the future, Foods and Home Care together will amount to about a third of the company. Beauty & Wellbeing and Personal Care appear to be the company's keys for the future.

The fact that Hormel Foods has an interim CEO –longtime former CEO and chairman Jeff Ettinger – indicates the company is in a state of flux. There have been numerous executive changes recently. But Ettinger said he and President John Ghingo have “leaned into being the protein company everyone wants to be.”

its facilities. Hormel used 2025 to reset its foundation, sharpening its focus, centralizing its various businesses and investing and adjusting its efforts.

Ettinger admitted that, although the company saw top-line growth in 2025, earnings were challenged due to headwinds in raw materials, a product recall and a ﬁre at one of

Like Hormel, J.M. Smucker Co. recently made a number of leadership changes, including eliminating the COO position. While there are headwinds – especially green coffee prices and stubbornly disappointing results in its Hostess acquisition – Chairman and CEO Mark Smucker claims ﬁscal 2026, which ends on April 30, will be the seventh straight year of topline growth.

Worse before they get better At General Mills, apparently things will get worse before they get better. Financial guidance for its fiscal 2026, which concludes at the end of May, says sales will decline 1.5-2%, compared to the previous range of -1% to +1%, and adjusted operating profit will be down 16-20%, compared to the previous range of down 10-15%.

“We know we are not where we need to be today,” Jeff Harmening, chairman and CEO, told the analysts. But the company’s Accelerate strategy is beginning to turn things around, he claimed.

Green coffee futures are moderating, and the push is on to make Cafe Bustelo as big as the Folgers and Dunkin brands. Uncrustables sales are approaching $1 billion in sales for ﬁscal 2026. Uncrustables has expanded to the morning/ breakfast daypart.

Utz Brands was a first-time CAGNY presenter, but CEO Howard Friedman’s overall pitch was that the company – with a 105-year legacy but only five years in the public market – merits the same consideration from the financial community as, say, PepsiCo/Frito-Lay.

The key is geographic expansion. Currently in only 17 states and heavily concentrated on the upper East Coast, that leaves 33 states for growth. At the end of last year, Utz bought the California direct store delivery assets of Insignia International, and the company is excited to roll out its products in that most populous state.

Conagra also has had it tough, and reported continuing sales declines and a $499 million net loss for the first half of its 2026 fiscal year (its year ends on or around May 25). CEO Sean Connolly reaffirmed its essentially net-zero 2026 guidance but said the company in recent weeks is seeing growth in both volume and dollar sales.

Small successes in Canada, the UK and China make Steve Cahillane believe Kraft Heinz can reclaim growth instead of being split in two. He blamed a decades-old product look and marketing approach plus static product development, all done by an organization that’s seen too much churn and not enough investment. He’s pledged a $600 million investment across marketing, sales and R&D for that effort.

Jeff Ettinger

Sean Connolly

Mark Smucker

COMPLETE PROTEIN TO BREAK THROUGH

Real eggs deliver unmatched performance. They provide exceptional richness and texture, DORQJZLWKKLJKTXDOLW\SURWHLQWKDWVDWLVÀHVDQG sustains. With functionality you can rely on, real eggs elevate every product to its fullest potential and deliver superior results.

See what real eggs can do at incredibleegg.org

RFK: ‘Not Going To Regulate Ultraprocessed Foods’ More on Colors

“I’m not saying we’re going to regulate ultraprocessed foods,” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes. “Our job is to make sure everybody understands what they’re getting, to have an informed public.”

That revelation was one of the more conciliatory remarks Feb. 15 when CBS’ Bill Whitaker interviewed the secretary of Health & Human Services and (separately) former FDA Commissioner David Kessler on UPFs and the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) process.

Kessler was FDA commissioner during the 1990s when tobacco companies were regulated. Asked how UPFs compare in terms of a public health crisis, he said, “It’s as large, if not larger. Not everybody smoked, but ultraprocessed food touches all of us.”

More on UPFs

Speaking to the GRAS process, Whitaker said, “Kennedy and Kesler say it has allowed big food companies to use ingredients without a full government safety review and flood the market with ultraprocessed foods that now make up 50% of our calories and 60% of our children’s diets.”

Kennedy noted, “In Europe, there are only 400 legal ingredients. This agency does not know how may ingredients there are in American foods. The estimates are between 4,000 and 10,000. We have no idea what they are.”

Whitaker asked if the former commissioner would like to see the CEOs of big food companies “come before Congress, raise their hands and be questioned like the tobacco industry was?” Kessler dodged a bit, but offered, “I’d like them to understand the consequences of what they are doing and to do something about it.”

Law ﬁrm Douglas & London on Jan. 16 ﬁled separate lawsuits in Florida and Louisiana alleging ultraprocessed foods from 11 of the country’s largest food & beverage companies harmed its clients.

The ﬁrm ﬁled in U.S. District Court in Ft. Myers, Fla., on behalf of a 20-year-old who alleges she developed health conditions, including Type 2 diabetes, as a result of consuming their ultraprocessed foods. She is seeking $1 billion in damages from the processors.

In the Eastern District of Louisiana, an apparently identical suit was ﬁled Jan. 16 on behalf of another woman who claims she developed Type 2 diabetes as a result of eating the defendants' products.

At least in the Florida case, the defendants are Coca-Cola Co., Conagra Brands, General Mills, Kellanova, Kraft Heinz Co., Mars Inc., Mondelez International, Nestle USA, PepsiCo, Post Holdings and WK Kellogg Co. — the same companies named in an unsuccessful 2024 lawsuit in Pennsylvania and in a December 2025 complaint by San Francisco’s city attorney.

In early February, the FDA said it will use “enforcement discretion” to allow processors to use the claim “no artiﬁcial colors” on products as long as the seven petroleum-based color additives are not present.

The agency said it’s taking the step “to support the transition of our nation’s food supply from the use of artiﬁcial petroleum-based colors to alternatives derived from natural sources … In the past, companies were generally only able to make such claims when their products had no added color whatsoever — whether derived from natural sources or otherwise.”

Any added color ingredient not present in the natural state of the product — even if the additive was a natural ingredient — could not be called a naturally added color. So, beet juice added to beets would be acceptable; beet juice used to color strawberry ice cream would not be.

At the same time, the agency approved beetroot red, a new color option, and approved the expanded use of spirulina extract, an existing color additive derived from a natural source (algae).

The FDA also said it’s launching a reassessment of food preservative butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), considering whether BHA is safe under its current conditions of use. Butylated hydroxytoluene(BHT) and azodicarbonamide are not far behind. As part of this reassessment, the agency issued a Request for Information on the use and safety of BHA.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Nestlé Selling Ice Cream and Waters, Losing Interest in Food?

Nestlé SA is in “advanced negotiations” to sell its remaining ice cream business, began shopping its remaining waters business and is applying “disciplined portfolio management through targeted brand rationalization” for its mainstream Food & Snacks business.

The world’s biggest food company in mid-February reported full-year results for 2025 and a strategic update on direction for 2026. “We are focusing our portfolio on four businesses, led by our strongest brands, with prioritized resources and a simplified organization,” said Philipp Navratil, who has been CEO for five months.

Those four businesses are Coffee, Petcare, Nutrition, and Food & Snacks. “In the ﬁrst three, we have market-leading positions in truly global categories; these are approximately 70% of sales,” said a company statement announcing the results. “Food & Snacks is a more regional business, and we have leading global and local brands.”

The ice cream business is destined for Froneri, a company Nestlé created with investment group PAI Partners in 2016 when Nestlé contributed some of its European ice cream businesses. In 2019-2020, Nestlé transfered its North American ice cream business, including the Häagen-Dazs and Drumstick brands, to Froneri.

For Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages, “We began the

formal engagement process with potential partners in Q1 2026 and expect the business to be deconsolidated from 2027.”

Part of the reorganization includes workforce reductions. In

Briefly

its third-quarter ﬁnancial report Oct. 16, the company said global headcount would be reduced by approximately 16,000 by the end of 2027, including about 12,000 white-collar jobs.

Smithfield Foods will spend $1.3 billion over the next three years to build a fresh-pork and packaged meats processing plant in Sioux Falls, S.D., replacing the legacy plant in downtown. Construction is expected to begin first half of 2027, with operations anticipated to begin in 2028. The century-old, former John Morrell processing facility is the second-largest pork-processing facility currently in the company’s network. The new plant will be Smithfield’s largest combined packaged meats and fresh pork facility, with 1.1 million sq. ft. of production space planned.

Boar's Head Brand’s Jarratt, Va., plant, the source of a deadly listeria outbreak in 2024, resumed operations on Feb. 2 after being closed for a year and a half. The listeria outbreak from the plant stretched from May to November 2024, resulted in the deaths of 10 people across the country and infections of 61 more and led to the recall of more than 7 million lbs. of deli meats. Even before the incident, USDA inspectors found repeated violations of food safety regulations, including instances of mold, insects, liquid dripping from ceilings and meat and fat residue on walls, floors and equipment. But the plant a while back was cleared by USDA and the company has improved safety protocols company-wide.

Former Mars risk manager Paul Steed was sentenced to more than ﬁve years in jail, ﬁned and ordered to pay restitution for embezzling $28 million from his former employer between 2011 and 2023. Steed was employed by Mars Wrigley and worked remotely from his home in Stamford, Conn. As global price risk manager for Mars Wrigley’s Global Cocoa Enterprise, he directed various payments to Mars into accounts he set up for himself.

Once Upon a Farm, partly owned by actress Jennifer Garner, launched its initial public offering of stock on Feb. 5, selling 10,997,209 shares at $18 a share, netting the 10-year-old children’s food company and its investors $198 million. The stock, trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol OFRM, immediately traded up to $20; at one point it hit $26.

A U.S. District Court judge ruled that Texas’ 2023 law requiring more explicit labeling of plant-based analogues is unconstitutional, handing a victory to plaintiffs Turtle Island Foods (dba The Tofurky Co.) and Plant-Based Food Assn. The law required labels stating the products were not from animals in type equal or greater in size than the surrounding type and in close proximity to the name of the product.

ROLLOUT

Big, Bold Breakfast Bowls

Conagra Brands Inc. is bringing a protein-packed new offering to breakfast with the debut of Banquet Mega Breakfast Bowls. Each frozen, single-serve bowl contains 30g of protein.

The four varieties are Bacon, which features scrambled eggs, roasted potatoes, bacon, cheddar cheese sauce and shredded cheese; Meat Lovers, with scrambled eggs, cooked sausage, roasted potatoes, ham, bacon, cheddar cheese sauce and cheddar cheese; Sausage, which includes scrambled eggs, cooked sausage, roasted potatoes, cheddar cheese sauce and shredded cheese; and Sausage & Gravy, featuring scrambled eggs, cooked sausage, roasted potatoes, country gravy and shredded cheese.

The bowls feature a tray-in-tray steaming technology that separates the sauce and ingredients while frozen, then steams them to perfection in the microwave. This ensures the eggs stay fluffy, the potatoes tender and the proteins juicy.

Non-Dairy 'Milk' Goes Whole

With whole milk now back in schools and growing in popularity at retail, non-dairy milk brands want to capitalize on the full-fat beverage trend. Eclipse Foods is leading the way with its new non-dairy whole "milk" that made its debut at the 2025 Specialty Coffee Expo.

The beverage delivers on flavor, stability, sweetness and cloud-like color, the main attributes that plant-based milks fall short in, according to the company. Its stability allows the milk to foam in hot and cold beverages and hold that foam as long, if not longer, than conventional dairy, without settling at the bottom. The beverage boasts a neutral flavor, unlike the earthy flavors of many plant-based milk alternatives. It is made with a proprietary blend of chickpea protein, pea protein and rapeseed oil, among other ingredients. “Since launching our Non-Dairy Whole Milk last year, the response from foodservice partners and consumers has been overwhelming,” says Thomas Bowman, co-founder and CEO.

Fusion-Flavored Frozen Pizza

In a ﬁrst-of-its-kind collaboration, two powerhouse brands from CJ Schwan’s Red Baron pizza and Bibigo Korean-style foods — have joined forces to bring a bold fusion of flavor to frozen pizza aisles across the nation. The new limited-edition Korean BBQ-Style Classic Crust Pizza is available exclusively at Kroger stores, while supplies last.

Red Baron’s iconic crust is topped with savory Korean barbecue-style sauce, marinated beef, carrots, caramelized onions, green onions and a melty blend of mozzarella and cheddar cheeses. Founded in 2010, Bibigo is part of a global brand created by Korea's CJ CheilJedang. In the U.S., Bibigo products are distributed by CJ Schwan’s.

“Our innovation teams were excited to merge these two beloved brands and create something truly unique for our customers,” says Fed Arreola Carrazco, marketing vice president at CJ Schwan’s.

the main attributes t ing the compa in hot and cold b not bottom. The bev e

ROLLOUT

New Frozen Dairy Dessert Concepts

Turkey Hill is bringing the flavor and fun of soft-serve desserts out of the scoop shop and into the home freezer with nostalgia-inspired Soft Frozen Dairy Dessert. The new concept comes in two varieties, chocolatevanilla twist and plain vanilla, in 1.4-quart tubs.

Spicing Up Hot Sauce

Soft Pretzel Gets a Protein Upgrade

The soft pretzel that generations of Americans grew up loving is getting a timely update. J&J Snack Foods Corp. is introducing two new protein-forward frozen Superpretzel products designed to meet evolving snack habits while maintaining the classic taste and texture. Superpretzel Protein Soft Pretzels are Bavarian-style twisted soft pretzels with 10g of plant-based protein per serving. Each box includes four 2.5-oz. pretzels that are vegan and low in fat. They are ready in about 30 seconds in the microwave or 4-6 minutes in the air fryer or oven. The suggested retail price is $5.29 to $5.99.

Superpretzel Mini Soft Protein Pretzels come in a resealable bag. Each contains 7g of protein. The vegan snacks are made with whole grains and ready in as little as 40 seconds in the microwave, or 4-5 minutes in the air fryer. The suggested retail price is $4.29 to $4.99 per 10-count bag.

Turkey Hill also has collaborated with Entenmann’s, a brand of Bimbo Bakeries USA, to introduce two new frozen dairy treats. The Soft-Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies flavor features sweet cream blended with soft, chewy cookie pieces, while the Little Bites Fudge Brownies flavor is packed with rich chocolate indulgence and generous chunks of fudgy brownies. and in as little as 40 seconds in minutes in the air frye price is $4.29 to $4.9

“Protein has become m i

“Protein has become part of everyday eating for many families, including snacking,” says Lynwood Mallard, chief marketing ofﬁcer at J&J Snack Foods. “We wanted to add the beneﬁt of protein to a pretzel that people already know and love.”

McCormick & Co. is growing its Frank’s RedHot condiment line at retail, in foodservice and even in the candy aisle. There are three Wing Sauce & Dip varieties: Garlic Parmesan is a savory blend of garlic, parmesan and mild heat, while the Pineapple Hawaiian is a sweetmeets-heat combo of aged cayenne peppers and juicy pineapple. Fiery cayenne meets rich maple syrup in the Spicy Maple offering.

For consumers who like to test their tolerance for heat, there’s new Frank’s RedHot Ghost Pepper Ranch Squeeze Sauce. For those who like heat with a little sweet, as well as a little chew, McCormick teamed up with America! Huer Foods, a gummy candy innovator, to introduce a mashup confection: Huer x Frank’s RedHot Spicy Gummy Bears. This ﬁrst-of-itskind collaboration complements the fast-growing swicy (sweet and spicy) flavor trend. The candy features Huer’s gummy bears sprinkled with Frank’s RedHot Original Seasoning Blend.

And when Taco Bell decided to bring back its fan-favorite crispy chicken in late 2025, the fast-food chain teamed up with McCormick to add an extra layer of flavor into its hot sauce with new Frank’s RedHot Diablo, a creamy mashup of the original buffalo flavor, Taco Bell’s signature Diablo sauce and spicy ranch.

CAPITAL SPENDING OUTLOOK

Companies in our Capital Spending Outlook underspent their 2025 capital expenditures budgets by billions of dollars, and intend to keep budgets tight for 2026.

Written by Andy Hanacek SENIOR EDITOR

s consumers keep close watch on their spending and the global trade marketplace continues to be unpredictable, food & beverage companies have cut back on their own spending, at least in terms of their capital spending budgets.

“Given stagnating volume trends across the CPG space, we don’t think there is much of an appetite to meaningfully increase manufacturing footprints,” observes Erin Lash, director of consumer equity research for Morningstar Equity Research. The budgeting actions of the companies in our 2026 Capital Spending Outlook reflect that hesitance.

The 25 companies on this year’s list spent 8.8% less on actual capital expenditures in 2025 than they had budgeted for that year. Furthermore, they spent $1.6 billion less last year than they did in 2024. At least they’re

forecasting a scant 2.9% increase for 2026, up $1.4 billion over what was actually spent last year.

Last year at this time, the 31 companies in that March 2025 report allocated the ﬁrst year-toyear capex budget decrease since the 2008-2009 recession.

Now, underspending their budgets has become typical for these companies – but not by the amount they trimmed last year. For context, in 2023 this group (which included 32 companies at that time) spent only about a billion dollars less than they had forecast for the year, and in 2024, actual spending lagged forecasts by “only” around $300 million.

Of the 25 food and beverage processors featured this year, 16 spent less in ﬁscal 2025 than they had budgeted. Four of those companies cut their 2025 capex outlays by more than 20%; 13 trimmed at least 10%.

And although the group expects to spend more in 2026, the individual hits to capex keep coming. More than half the companies (14) in the

report plan to spend less in 2026 than they did in 2025 — with 10 of them trimming more than 10% from their capex budgets. Billy Roberts, senior analyst-food & beverage for CoBank, sees food & beverage companies deploying capital in other areas outside of traditional capex.

“The story has been more about almost retrenching in their space and fending off competition from private label and other brands to re-establish their market share,” he says, citing Kraft Heinz’s plan to invest about $600 million across product, packaging and price to drive volume growth, rather than focused on capex projects. “That seems to be the prevailing sentiment for a host of companies in the CPG food & beverage space.”

Hershey Co. is one of the few that didn’t show a precipitous drop in its 2025 capital expenditures ($455 million) versus its budget (in a range between $425 million and $450 million), but the company had already tightened its belt from 2024 when actual spending was

$606 million. For 2026, expect a continuation of 2025’s numbers, the company has said.

“You see capex kind of normalizing again back into the space where it should be,” Steve Voskuil, senior vice president and

step-up over the past two years, when our investments in capacity, automation and modernization reached 7% of net sales,” Kelley told the audience. “With this transformation largely complete, we expect our capex to step down to approxi-

“You see capex kind of normalizing again back into the space where it should be.”

—STEVE VOSKUIL, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, HERSHEY CO.

chief ﬁnancial ofﬁcer, said during Hershey’s fourth quarter 2025 earnings Q&A session.

Snack processor Utz Brands expects to get back to a normalized level of capex as well, at least according to comments from company CFO BK Kelley during the company’s presentation at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York event in mid-February.

“Our capex spending is now normalizing after the signiﬁcant

mately 4% of net sales in 2026, and … further to approximately 3% of net sales in 2027 and longer term.”

Utz’s published capex forecast for 2026 is roughly $60-65 million, down from $99 million and $103 million in actual spending the past two years.

Beer maker Anheuser-Busch appeared frequently in the news throughout the past year and a half for frequent investment in its U.S. breweries, headlined by

Image by Bill Antkowiak, generated with Shutterstock AI

Capital Spending and Forecasts for Top Food & Beverage Companies

its “Brewing Futures” initiative. That program, announced in May 2025, promised a $300 million expansion of its investments into its U.S. manufacturing facilities.

Still, Anheuser-Busch did underspend its 2025 budget

by about $200 million globally — but it did bump up its 2026 capex outlook to the same target as 2025 (in the $3.8 billion range). This approach fits with what Ken Fleming of OY6 Capital has seen in the marketplace.

“Capex appetites in 2026 are real, but cautious,” he says. “F&B companies want to invest — and many need to — but overarching economic and consumer pressures continue to create friction, slowing down the flow of major capital projects.”

CAPITAL SPENDING OUTLOOK

Top 15 Current Projects

Red Bull / Ball Corp. / Rauch Fruchtsäfte Concord, N.C.Energy drinksNew$1,5002,3002028

Smithﬁeld Foods Sioux Falls, S.D.PorkNew1,3001,1002028

Chobani Rome, N.Y.DairyNew1,2001,400NA

Kikkoman Jefferson, Wis.Soy sauceNew800240Fall 2026

Daisy Brand Boone, IowaDairy, dipsNew6761,000Late 2028

Chobani Twin Falls, IdahoDairyExpansion500500+Early 2026

Swire Coca-Cola USA Colorado Springs, Colo.BeveragesNew4756202028

Cattlemen’s Heritage Beef Mills County, IowaBeefNew450500NA

Wells Enterprises Dunkirk, N.Y.Ice creamExpansion4503502028

Electrolit Waco, TexasEnergy drinksNew400600Early 2026

Pilgrim’s Pride Walker County, Ga.ChickenNew4003002027

Pilgrim’s Pride LaFayette, Ga.Cooked chickenNew400NA2027

Walmart Robinson, TexasMilkNew350NA2026

Irresistible Foods Group / King’s Hawaiian Taylorsville, Ind.Baked goodsNew/Expansion254368+2026/2027

Bauducco Foods Zephyrhills, Fla.Baked goodsNew200+NAMid-2026

NA = information not available. There are 52 total project in the web-based table for this story; see it at www.FoodProcessing.com/55360478

Is AI stealing some funds?

Roberts believes a new investment target could alter capital spending fortunes, at least based on recent comments and moves by some of the publicly traded CPG companies.

“Agentic AI is clearly an area where companies are devoting considerable investment,” he says. “PepsiCo, Kraft Heinz, Unilever — even non-food CPG companies the likes of Clorox, Reckitt Benckiser and P&G — indicate agentic AI is an area where they are investing in either to support their supply chain or more consumer-focused ambitions.”

Agentic AI is a rapidly emerging category of artiﬁcial intelligence that can act autonomously, set or pursue goals, plan, reason and take actions with minimal human supervision.

Anheuser-Busch made a commitment of $300 million in additional capex in 2025 for improvements at its U.S. manufacturing sites.

Roberts adds that these companies have yet to share deep details of their ambitions, but agentic AI is top of mind for them; and implementing it will require further investment on the hardware and software sides.

Lash of Morningstar says companies are taking an approach aimed more toward realization of the beneﬁts of prior years’ investments in technology, ERP systems and the like. However, “not everyone falls into

Photo courtesy of

Anheuser-Busch

this camp,” she adds, as Mondelēz International and McCormick & Co., for instance, are still going through the implementation process.

To be clear, brick-and-mortar expansion or renovation has not been abandoned for 2026 and beyond, and all one needs to do is watch the recent newswires to discover some major capital projects. Chobani, Smithﬁeld Foods and a group led by Red Bull announced three separate, billion-dollar-plus plans to build new facilities this past year.

Chobani announced in May 2025 that it will spend $1.2 billion to build a processing facility in Rome, N.Y. (which is in addition to a $500 million expansion of its Twin Falls, Idaho, plant).

Foods announced a plan to build a

Smithﬁeld Foods in February 2026 committed $1.3 billion to build a new pork processing complex in Sioux Falls, S.D., to replace its legacy facility in the downtown area. And Red Bull teamed up with Ball Corp. and Rauch Fruchtsäfte to revive and break ground on a new energy drinks plant in Concord, N.C., that will cost the group $1.5 billion. That project was originally announced in 2021 but was delayed four years.

Food For Thought

Harrington revolutionary NER Food Grade electric chain hoists meet today’s toughest standards in food processing and food packaging facilities. These hoists also have a full menu of options available to customize for various processes. You can ensure the quality, safety and protection of your products with Harrington hoists.

• Safety

• Reliability

• Food Grade Oil and Grease - Standard

• White Epoxy Paint - Standard

These new projects, along with numerous others, are good news for growth, even as the top project on last year’s list (ranked by investment cost) is ramping up to full capacity. American Foods Group’s $800 million, 800,000-sq.ft., America’s Heartland Packing beef processing plant in Wright City, Mo., opened partially last June and is expected to be fully operational (handling 2,400 head of cattle per day) sometime this year.

• Lubricants comply with FDA Standards - Standard

• Stainless Steel and Nickel-Plated Components - Standard

Smithﬁeld

$1.3 billion pork processing complex in Sioux Falls, S.D., which would replace the century-plus-old facility in downtown Sioux Falls.

Photo

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

ANIMAL PROTEIN INGREDIENTS BOOSTED BY THE NEW DIETARY GUIDELINES

Processors using meat, eggs, dairy, even animal fats in their products are celebrating the new nutritional guidance.

Trimona Foods (trimonafoods.com) makes organic yogurt with milk from grass-fed cows, and the company emphasizes the high-quality, health-forward nature of its product in its promotions. So the fact that the newly revised USDA/FDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans put animal protein and “whole foods” in focus reinforces what Trimona has been saying all along.

Written by Ed Avis

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR and Dave Fusaro

EDITOR IN CHIEF

“We see the new Dietary Guidelines less as a shift and more as a conﬁrmation of

principles we’ve stood behind for years,” says Atanas Valev, founder and chief yogurt ofﬁcer of Trimona Foods. “The renewed emphasis on animal-based proteins, whole foods and minimally processed nutrition aligns very closely with what yogurt has always been when it’s made the right way.”

The revised guidelines have received mixed reviews from critics, but food processors that use animal proteins in their products appear to be pleased with the new direction. In interviews with processors and

Tatjana Baibakova / Shutterstock.com

Wilde uses chicken breast, egg whites and bone broth to make snack chips it hopes will supplant potato chips.

trade associations, the message has been that the guidelines may influence some consumers to shift their eating habits away from plant-based proteins to animal protein.

“For years, consumers have heard mixed messages about protein sources, so clearer recognition of the role animal proteins play in a balanced diet helps build conﬁdence on the shelf,” says Alicia Baker, senior director of marketing at duBreton (www. dubreton.com/en-us), a producer of organic pork products.

How much impact do the guidelines have?

The federal government’s Dietary Guidelines play some role in decisions people make at the grocery store, research shows.

For example, a USDA study published in 2012 concluded that the 2005 version of the guidelines,

which stressed the importance of whole grains, prompted American consumers to reduce purchases of reﬁned-grain bread by 3% and increase purchases of whole grain bread by 14%.

The guidelines’ influence also was demonstrated by data about Americans’ consumption of eggs following the publication of the 2015 version of the guidelines, which removed the cholesterol limits related to egg consumption; and further by the 2020 guidelines, which solidiﬁed the concept of eggs being important for brain development in children.

In the late 1990s, Americans ate an average of 1.8 eggs per week; that jumped to 3.4 eggs

Although created for consumers with gluten-sensitivities, Egglife’s egg white-based tortilla-like wraps may get a boost from the Dietary Guidelines’ promotion of animal proteins, including eggs.

per week in 2021, according to a study at University of California at San Diego published in 2025. While other factors may have played a role in that increase in consumption, the authors of the study concluded that the change in Dietary Guidelines was key.

Representatives of the American Egg Board (www. incredibleegg.org) agree with that conclusion.

“In 2015, when they first removed the cholesterol limit in the dietary guidelines, that was a huge deal for eggs,” says Mickey Rubin, vice president of research at American Egg Board and executive director at Egg Nutrition Center. “And the 2020 version was really big for eggs, because that’s when they solidified the importance of eggs as a first food for children. When you fast forward to the 2025 guidelines, we saw more of the same.”

ment at American Egg Board.

The revised guidelines also will give egg producers an important talking point when they’re trying to persuade food processors to use real eggs in their formulations instead of plant-based egg substitutes, notes Nate Hedke, vice president, innovation & customer engagement at American Egg Board.

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Hedke adds that institutional foodservice programs, such as school lunch programs and healthcare facility programs, rely on the federal guidelines as they make menu decisions, so the impact of the revisions will go beyond grocery store shelves.

“Ongoing interest in protein [is] reflected in the Dietary Guidelines as well as broader consumer trends, and eggs have long been a trusted protein source,” adds David Kroll, CEO of Egglife Foods, which uses egg whites to make tortilla-like wraps and, most recently, low-carb pastas. “That familiarity continues to resonate as people look for foods that are both nutritious and approachable.

“Egg protein is widely recognized as a high-quality, complete protein. It contains all nine essential amino acids in a naturally balanced profile and is highly bioavailable,” he continues. “Eggs are also a naturally nutrient-dense food and require minimal processing, which is increasingly important to today’s consumers.”

Jack Schrupp, founder of Drink Wholesome (www.drinkwholesome.com), a company that makes protein shakes that include egg protein, says the revised guidelines may help sales, but not because of the focus on animal protein.

“I don’t anticipate the emphasis on animal proteins will signiﬁcantly affect our sales, but I do expect that their focus on limiting the consumption of ultraprocessed foods will have a meaningful impact,” Schrupp says. “Most protein powders are made from ultraprocessed protein concentrates and isolates. Drink

Wholesome, on the contrary, is made from minimally processed protein sources like egg whites and almonds. I think the new guidelines will help people better understand our value proposition.”

Protein from milk-based products also got a lift in the new guidelines.

Katie Brown, president of the National Dairy Council (www. usdairy.com), feels the revised guidelines reinforce the case for including dairy products in Americans’ diets. She echoes Hedke’s point that health professionals who rely on the guidelines now will be more free to include a wider variety of previously limited foods – including dairy at all fat levels – on the menus they influence.

“The guidelines clearly identify dairy foods – milk, cheese and yogurt – as a nutrient-dense, high-quality food group that supports growth, development and long-term wellness — reinforcing continued beneﬁts to public health,” Brown says. “For food processors, the guidelines reinforce both the scientiﬁc credibility and market momentum behind protein-forward dairy innovation.”

Meat ingredients also get a lift

In announcing the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines on Jan. 7, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said, “For decades we’ve been fed a corrupt food pyramid that’s had a myopic focus on demonizing natural, healthy saturated fats, telling you not to eat eggs and steak.” When he revealed the new, upside-down Food Pyramid, animal proteins were in the widest area at the top, along with fresh fruits & vegetables.

Animal-based frying oils already were on the upswing before they got an additional boost from the 2025 Dietary Guidelines.

One meat product speciﬁcally mentioned in the revised guidelines is beef tallow. The product, a fat rendered from beef trimmings, had been on the no-go list for decades, but now is recommended for cooking.

Kettle & Fire ( www.kettleandfire.com) launched its Grass-Fed Beef Tallow in late 2025. Jack Meredith, vice president of marketing for the company, says timing of the revised guidelines could not have been better.

“The new guidelines explicitly list tallow alongside butter as a cooking fat option, which is a pretty big departure from decades of guidance that emphasized low-fat diets,” Meredith says. “As we work to gain retail distribution, we’re finding the guidelines give us a clear story to tell retailers and consumers: This checks the boxes for what better-for-you is supposed to look like now – real, simple, nutrient dense.”

The guidelines also are a timely boost for Wilde Protein Snacks. The company’s signature Protein Chips are meant to supplant potato chips as a snack.

“Chicken breast, bone broth and egg whites are foundational to how our snacks deliver protein, texture and crunch without fillers,” says Jason Wright, founder and CEO. “They reinforce what we already believe and build: real food snacks that satisfy.

“Chicken breast is one of the cleanest, most efﬁcient real protein sources you can build from,” he continues. “It’s naturally high in complete protein and low in sugar, with no processing tricks required. More importantly, it performs. Chicken breast in the form of our

Chicken snack sticks were growing 70% year over year — signiﬁcantly outpacing total meat snacks — and Mighty Spark thinks the new Dietary Guidelines will only accelerate that growth.

Wilde Protein Chips creates real structure, crunch and satisfaction in a way flours and starches cannot. Food built from real protein simply eats differently.”

Taking advantage in promotions

Many food processors that include animal proteins in their products already emphasize the advantages of animal proteins in their promotions, but they may be able to better lean into the guidelines now.

For example, duBreton has always positioned pork as a versatile, nutritious protein, Baker says. But the new guidelines increase their conﬁdence in that message.

“You may see us place greater emphasis on protein quality, nutrient density and responsible production practices in our storytelling,” Baker says. “That could show up in digital content, retail partnerships and recipe development rather than dramatic packaging changes.”

StarWalker Organic Farms (www.starwalkerorganicfarms.com), which produces organic beef and pork, is taking the same approach. The company is already known for healthful, high-quality meat, say owners Jason and Kristina Walker, so they plan to stay on message.

“We don’t typically anchor marketing strategies to policy changes, but we do pay attention to cultural and nutritional conversations as they evolve,” Kristina Walker says. “The stronger focus on protein creates an opportunity to deepen education around protein quality — not just quantity.

“Our products deliver meaningful protein content — for example, our meat sticks provide 24g of protein per 3-oz. package — while also emphasizing simple ingredients and transparency. As consumer attention toward protein grows, we’ll continue highlighting those attributes in ways that feel authentic and informative rather than directive.”

Meredith from Kettle & Fire says his company is working with recipe creators and influencers to build on the momentum of the guidelines. He anticipates that the idea of cooking with nutrient-dense protein, such as his beef tallow, will only grow.

In fact, he feels the sudden tailwinds on animal protein represents a bona ﬁde attitude shift.

“Candidly, this is bigger than marketing. I believe it will be a realignment of what the market will reward,” he says. “The guidelines signal that the next wave of growth in food will come from companies that deliver on nutrient density, minimal processing and transparency.”

Connecting the guidelines with the real world

The key to tapping the potential of the revised guidelines lies beyond just promotions, duBreton’s Baker asserts. She feels producers need to make a clear connection between the guidelines and eating habits.

For example, duBreton has supported in-store and digital campaigns that pair their pork products with recipes and meal ideas, she explains. The campaigns have included recipe cards with QR codes and merchandising displays that group complementary ingredients together.

“Companies that can connect nutrition guidance with real world eating habits will be the ones that beneﬁt most,” Baker says. “Ultimately, our goal is to bridge the gap with practical ideas that ﬁt routines and tastes.”

Ultimately, the market will demonstrate how much impact the revised guidelines have. But producers of newly highlighted products are optimistic.

“Dietary Guidelines play an important role in shaping the broader conversation around nutrition,” Valev says. “They influence education, institutional food programs and long-term perceptions of what constitutes healthy eating. That said, consumers ultimately make choices based on a combination of factors — taste, trust, values, price and how food ﬁts into their daily lives.

“For many people today, transparency, sourcing, animal welfare and environmental impact are just as important as nutrients on a label. When guidelines align with those values, as they do now, they can strengthen consumer conﬁdence and accelerate trends that are already underway.”

INGREDIENTS

Faba bean protein

Faba beans are not a food allergen, unlike soy for example, and contain numerous valuable nutrients, including dietary fiber, starch, essential vitamins and minerals. Faba bean protein concentrate provides a cost-effective, high-performing, clean-label and sustainable alternative that offers a wide range of benefits, allowing manufacturers to tap into growing demand for plantbased protein. They contain a minimum of 60% protein on dry matte , have an excellent amino acid profile and are rich in lysine, have a mild beany taste and light-yellow color and carry sustainability benefits.

Beneo; Mannheim, Germany +49 621 421-150; www.beneo.com

Emmenthal cheese flavor

Cheese Buds Emmenthal natural cheese flavor concentrate derived from enzyme-modiﬁed cheese offers a unique and cost-effective way to impart authentic, Swiss-like creamy, savory and nutty notes, while

providing versatility across a range of applications. It’s suitable for enhancing cheese flavor and/or reducing cheese solids in sauces, spreads, soups, snack seasonings, baked and extruded snacks and pasteurized processed cheese products. Its concentrated nature allows for low usage levels, providing meaningful cost savings.

Butter Buds Inc.; Racine, Wis. 800-426-1119; www.bbuds.com

Clean label marinade

OptiTender Marinade offers a USDA natural alternative to traditional enzyme-based tenderizers while delivering signiﬁcant

operational beneﬁts to protein processors. It provides enhanced meat tenderness while reducing cooking time by up to 25% in slow-cook applications. This product also eliminates the risk of over tenderization and does not impact flavor. It is designed for protein processors producing marinated and prepared beef and pork products for retailers and foodservice operators and is suitable for frozen processed pork applications, ready meal manufacturing, cook-in-bag applications and slow-cook processes where cooking time is a production bottleneck.

Grifﬁth Foods; Alsip, Ill 708-371-0900; www.grifﬁthfoods.com

One

Boost efficiency and reliability with automation built for demanding, high-throughput environments. Our systems help deliver reduced downtime and improved energy efficiency, consistency, safety and compliance. Power your operations with ABB.

ANIMAL PROTEIN BACK ON TOP

The new Dietary Guidelines give the meat and poultry industries a shot in the arm — and an opportunity to use technology to innovate.

Written by Andy Hanacek

SENIOR EDITOR

Animal protein is back, baby — well, at least that’s what the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans have communicated to the world. Yet, for many adopters of the term “everything in moderation,” meat and poultry products haven’t really gone anywhere despite price increases, pressure from plant and alternative protein segments and vegetarian and anti-meat advocates.

In fact, data from food & beverage intelligence company Datassential shows

animal protein has been bouncing back over the past 12 months, at least compared to plant protein. According to the company’s 2026 Trends Report, consumers have been making changes in the past year, with 37% of consumers saying they’ve increased their meat consumption more than they've increased their consumption of plant-based alternatives during that period of time.

Furthermore, there has been a 2% higher incidence of animal meat on menus in the past 12 months, and the incidence of plantbased meat on menus has declined by 3% in the same period. If that wasn’t enough evidence of the shift, the “Meat’s Back on the Menu” section of the report shows 34% of consumers believe it will be important to them to consume more meat when thinking about their health in 2026.

Nicole Johnson-Hoffman, chief operating ofﬁcer of The Meat Institute, says the group and its members are pleased that the new guidelines represent “a clear statement about the value that animal protein has for human nutrition, and we believe it’s been unequivocally stated in these new Dietary Guidelines.” The institute had been engaged in the process

Artiﬁcial intelligence (AI) has begun to help meat and poultry processors with foreign-material inspection and detection, and with additional innovation, those operations could further improve.

because of the importance to numerous government-supported programs, such as the school lunch program and SNAP beneﬁts.

“We believe with our whole hearts this is what’s best for public health and for Americans’ nutrition needs, so that part is thrilling,” she adds. “A lot of work has to be done on what it means to eat whole food and to eat real food, as Secretary Kennedy says, but we believe we’re on the right track.”

Tom Super, senior vice president of public affairs for the National Chicken Council (NCC), says the chicken industry shares the same level of excitement over the new guidelines, which encourage consumers to prioritize protein at every meal and position chicken as a whole, nutrient-dense, high-quality protein.

“If you thought the protein train was pulling into the station before, it has fully arrived,” Super says. “Chicken has been America's favorite protein for decades and is a mainstay of many healthy diets. Chicken is in a prime position to beneﬁt from the new Dietary Guidelines.”

He explains that the guidelines’ recommendations on saturated fat and low-carb patterns provide additional opportunity for chicken.

“If the guidelines are recommending to almost double daily protein intake but saying to still limit saturated fats, there are only a few foods that ﬁt here,” Super says, “and because chicken is a low-fat, high-protein and affordable option, chicken can play a major role in helping to meet these requirements.”

Johnson-Hoffman says she was not surprised to see the guidelines acknowledge meat’s role

“If you thought the protein train was pulling into the station before, it has fully arrived. Chicken has been America's favorite protein for decades and is a mainstay of many healthy diets. Chicken is in a prime position to beneﬁt from the new Dietary Guidelines.”

— TOM SUPER, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, NATIONAL CHICKEN COUNCIL

Nalidsa / Shutterstock.com

in providing high-quality, nutrient-dense protein in Americans’ diets.

“This is something that most of us are talking about in our homes, with our friends, with our loved ones and with our doctors, and I think it’s great to see this acknowledgement,” she says. “I think this is a positive for human health.”

Taking the next steps

Even with the support of the Dietary Guidelines, the meat and poultry industries still need to focus on what they’ve been doing best, Johnson-Hoffman advises, and that is meeting consumer needs with options to ﬁt the wide variety of diets out there.

“What we do really well is give people choice, and we need to ensure that we’re providing excellent options for all kinds of consumers that are food safe, that are good for people’s health and that are at the right price point for different people,” she explains.

Some of the options available are further-processed or value-added meat and poultry products — which might seem to be under threat based on the lingering debate over ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) and how that label should be deﬁned. JohnsonHoffman believes the exact label and deﬁnition shouldn’t be nearly as important as providing the variety of options to consumers, as mentioned above — logically and at the proper price point.

“If I need to put protein in my child’s lunch for school, it’s not going to be a steak, because that doesn’t work in the lunchbox,” she says. “But what works really well in the lunchbox is a beef stick and a

The new Dietary Guidelines place meat and poultry products among the highest-priority products on the new pyramid, emphasizing their importance in consumers’ diets today.

maybe a turkey sandwich, and I need to be able to do that in order to get my kid the right protein they need to have at lunchtime.”

The NCC believes the term UPF is overly broad and can mislead consumers by implying a food product is harmful simply based on how it’s made rather than its nutrient content. Super says any food characterization should prioritize nutritional composition and ingredient function, not the number of processing steps or ingredients.

“Consumers should be focusing on what is in the food, rather than how it was manufactured,” he says. “Chicken tenders and nuggets, for example, are great ‘bridge foods’; there are studies that show that when these products are on a child’s lunch tray, they're more likely to eat the broccoli or veggies that are also on the plate.”

Capitalizing on the potential for animal protein to grow requires meat and poultry processors to continue

to innovate their operations and overcome some of the challenges present. Labor remains a critical hurdle that many processors need to jump, and Johnson-Hoffman has hope that the insurgence of artiﬁcial intelligence (AI) into the industry can help take some of the truly labor-intensive, taxing jobs in the plants out of the hands of the employees and into the hands of automation.

“That’s something we’ve been working on in this industry for decades, but I think that work will never end,” she says. “We will always be looking for ways to make these jobs easier and more doable for our people, and also — where labor is scarce — to take out work that can be done by machines where we can’t ﬁnd labor.”

Johnson-Hoffman relays that she’s seen real-life application of AI into foreign-material detection operations in plants that process high-risk foods in the past year. She believes those opportunities are really exciting for the potential to further improve food safety for consumers and the bottom line for processors. Furthermore, tapping into AI and advanced technology to capture the legacy knowledge and experience that some of the retiring senior operators, technicians and management could be a gamechanger.

“If we can use AI to make the work easier for people with less experience and take some of the difﬁcult decision-making out of these roles, that’s a great win for everybody,” Johnson-Hoffman says. “My hope is that AI systems can teach that work to people with a lot less experience, and that they can get as good — or even better — results using those kinds of tools.”

A CLEAN SLATE

Comprehensive sanitation provides a critical foundation upon which successful food safety programs sit for processors across food & beverage.

Written by Andy Hanacek

SENIOR EDITOR MRO

Acomprehensive sanitation program remains one of the primary pillars needed to support even the most basic food safety program at food & beverage plants. Yet, even though proper cleaning of equipment and the plant environment might seem elementary, the simple fact is sanitation in an industrial environment requires a tight focus on procedure, training, execution and validation.

“We have a lot of equipment, and it all has to be sanitized every day, and [we] understand that it’s a challenging job,” says Tom Wisvari, director of processing at Cooper Farms. Many of those challenges root in having trained team members on the sanitation shift, and that has become more difﬁcult since the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It’s hard work and typically happens during an off shift; it’s wet and hot, too,” he adds. “It’s not a great environment, so attracting talent is tough.”

Indeed, a recent study titled “Food Safety and Sanitation Trends,” produced by PMMI’s Business Intelligence group, reported labor shortages and employee turnover to be impacting end users in food & beverage — with 61% of respondents saying it was directly affecting them.

Aside from the people factor, says Sharon Beals, founder of SKKB LLC and executive director of the Women’s Meat Industry Network, other common issues arise from not adhering to the master sanitation schedule and late turnover of the plant to the sanitation shift.

“Starting the shift on time is paramount,” she says. “Sanitation shifts are often ‘crunched’ to start with; take away another 30 minutes of that window and something has to give.” The master sanitation schedule should be built on data and followed, and the plant needs to adhere to the basic blocking

and tackling associated with dry pickup as well, she says.

According to Nolan Lewin, executive director of the Rutgers Food Innovation Center and director of the New Jersey Food Processors Assn., success in sanitation ultimately falls back on human touch, with employees putting in the extra effort to identify and clean where and when it's most needed.

“Because of the complex nature of manufacturing processes – with kettles, pumps, motors, chillers and so on – it's almost impossible to fully automate cleaning across all lines,” Lewin says. “You can clean kettles and pipes, but there will always be some place where bacteria can harbor.”

Ahead of the curve

Generally speaking, sanitation in food processing has improved, says Lewin. Many recalled products today aren’t the result of pathogen contamination, but instead are rooted

in mislabeling or similar issues. And as equipment design has advanced to make machinery easier to clean, the industry has also gotten better at ﬁnding even the smallest amount of contaminant via testing.

“[Sanitation] also requires validation and oversight,” Lewin says. “Having run a factory at LiDestri, I know if you don't check and verify, you run a higher risk of a problem.”

Processors seem to understand that, but according to respondents to PMMI’s food safety and sanitation report, proper validation can be challenging to achieve. While more end users (33%) said sanitizing small parts and components was a persistent issue they faced with regard to their sanitation program, 28% admitted to struggles with validating and measuring sanitation effectiveness.

Cooper Farms considers its cutting-edge bacterial swabbing program one of the most valuable tools it is using to validate its sanitation program, Wisvari states. Furthermore,

Food Safety and Sanitation Spending

The short-term future of food safety spending by food & beverage end users (processors) appears bright, according to the “Food Safety and Sanitation Trends” report, released by PMMI Business Intelligence.

Cooper Farms has applied software that allows it to go paperless in its validation program, speeding up the process and making it easier to analyze data in the moment.

“New technology now allows us to receive real-time results, so we don’t have to wait on a lab,” he explains. “There are a lot of checks that need to be done every day, and there are ways now to do that without paper and have real-time data in front of us at all times, rather than just at the end of the week or end of the month.”

Cooper Farms also focuses on sanitary design of the equipment. Wisvari says cross-functional managers comprise process improvement departments at each of the company’s two plants, which ensure the facility and equipment are designed to be easy to clean.

“For example, we make sure there are no hollow pipes or tubes and that we have platforms or catwalks to assist in cleaning tall or elevated equipment whenever possible,” he adds. “By doing this, we also ensure sanitation team member safety. In every project we do, whether it’s new equipment or an expansion project, sanitation leaders always have a voice.”

Beals believes that’s the right approach: understanding what the sanitation crew needs to be successful and then legitimately setting them up for that success. She also advises plants to take up a validation practice instilled in her and her colleagues at IBP in the late 1990s.

predict spending the same or more on food safety and sanitation equipment or services in the coming year.

plan to buy food safety-compliant equipment within the next three years.

SOURCE: PMMI BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE “FOOD SAFETY AND SANITATION TRENDS”

“Perform overnight sanitation reviews on a random night, rotating through the plant’s senior leadership team (because this is a team sport, not just the FSQ leader’s role),” she says. “I’ve brought that to every operation I’ve worked with ever since, and it’s eye-opening.”

Slicing and dicing

The Sprint 2 is a high-performance food dicer with a compact cutting zone that delivers precision cuts. It’s available with a built-in conveyor discharge to facilitate dispensing into totes. Buyers can select a 1.5hp or 3hp motor. It produces dices, strips, slices, granulations and

EQUIPMENT

shreds. Sanitation and maintenance are easy with its stainless steel construction with sloped surface areas to deter bacterial growth. Hinged access panels promote sanitation and ease of maintenance.

Urschel Laboratories; Chesterton, Ind. 219-464-4811; www.urschel.com

Protected against discharges

The Baldor-Reliance SP4 motor variant featuring integrated shaft

grounding technology is designed specifically for variable speed drive (VSD) applications while offering protection against electrical discharge damage, extending motor life and reducing costly downtime. Key features and benefits include integrated shaft-grounding ring, flexible configurations, efficiency, durability and reliability.

ABB; Fort Smith, Ark. www.abb.com

Updated seasoning system

The third generation of the FlavorWright All-in-One seasoning system is a compact, portable solution combining liquid and dry seasoning in a single

NETZSCH Sanitary NEMO®, NOTOS®, and Pumps and Barrel Emptying Systems

NOTOS® Multi Screw Pumps

Both product and CIP pump in one

Can run dry with a ﬂush seal

Can pump liquids with up to 60% entrained air/gas

NEMO® Progressing

Cavity Pumps

Low pulsation

High metering accuracy (deviation of < 1%)

CIPable when provided with optional ﬂushing connections

PERIPRO® Peristaltic Pumps

Excellent resistance to abrasion

High suction capability

Indeﬁnite dry run

No check valves or shaft seals

CIPable

Barrel Emptying Units

Continuous or intermittent emptying

Empties >99% of drum contents

Stainless steel, easy-to-clean design

NETZSCH Pumps USA 119 Pickering Way Exton, PA 19341 610-363-8010 npa@netzsch.com pumps-systems.netzsch.com

plug-and-play unit for continuously coating snacks, nuts, confectioneries, cereals, vegetables, fruits, frozen foods and more. The Gen 3 model features enhanced drum magnets, an optional stainless steel drum and additional advancements that support operator safety, expand application flexibility and increase production capacity. PPM Technologies/Duravant; Newberg, Ore. 503-476-7504; www.ppmtech.com

Multi shaft mixer for high performance processing

The VMC-300 combines three independently driven agitation systems in one unit. This multi-shaft mixer integrates anchor, high-speed disperser and axial flow turbine technologies to effectively manage complex and viscous formulations. Constructed with stainless steel type 316 product contact parts, this mixer has a 300-gallon working capacity and operates under full vacuum up to 29.5Hg and internal pressure up to 15 PSIG at 300°F. Ross Mixers; Hauppauge, N.Y. 800-243-7677; www.mixers.com

U.S. SALES

VICE PRESIDENT-SALES

Jason DeSarle (440) 476-9526, jdesarle@endeavorb2b.com

ACCOUNT MANAGER

Lisa Williman (205) 332-5915, lwilliman@endeavorb2b.com

ACCOUNT MANAGER

Roland Espinosa (201) 912-1112, respinosa@endeavorb2b.com

ACCOUNT MANAGER

Mike Kelly (331) 529-1973, mkelly@endeavorb2b.com

SALES DEVELOPMENT REPRESENTATIVE

Ryan Leonard (941) 208-43088, rleonard@endeavorb2b.com

U.S. ADDRESS

30 Burton Hills Blvd, Ste 185 Nashville, TN 37215

Food Processing © (USPS 203-820 ,ISSN 0015-6523), is a registered trademark. Food Processing is published 6x annually by Endeavor Business Media, 201 N Main St 5th Floor, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538 . Periodicals postage paid at Fort Atkinson, WI and additional mailing ofﬁces. Subscription rates per year: U.S. $100.00; Canada and other international: $290.00 (payable in USA funds). Single copies are $15.00. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. We make portions of our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services that September be important to your work. If you do not want to receive those offers and/or information via direct mail, please let us know by contacting us at List Services Food Processing, Endeavor Business Media, 201 N Main St 5th Floor, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538. Printed in the USA.

POSTMASTER: send address changes to Food Processing, PO Box 3257, Northbrook, IL 60065-3257

SUBSCRIPTIONS: Qualiﬁed reader subscriptions are accepted from key people with managerial responsibilities for processing activities in the food industries at no charge. To change or cancel a subscription, email foodprocessing@omeda.com. Subscription rate for non-qualiﬁed U.S. subscribers is $100/yr. Single copy rate is $15.00. International rate is $290/year Airmail only.