Food For Thought

This episode is part five of our Influential Women in Food Series, where we’re honoring women that have effected change for their colleagues and peers in the food and beverage industry. With us today is Jona Hightower, Senior Lead Assessor with LRQA. Jona is the epitome of an influential woman in the food industry. She describes herself as having a passion for teaching and sharing knowledge and it...

Today we’re talking with Tara Paster Cammarata, CEO and President, of Cenza, formerly known as Paster Training. We kick off our episode getting to know Tara, and how she turned a $500 gift 20 years ago into the multimillion dollar, privately-held training and consulting company it is today. Tara walks us through how Cenza educates and trains processors on numerous topics relating to food safety an...

With us today is Javon Nicholas, creator, founder, and owner of Egg Rolls Etc.   Javon was named one of Food Processing’s 2022 Influential Women in Food, and for good reason. Her Chicago-based frozen food company, which specializes in comfort-filled egg rolls, is a lesson in love.    Javon, who has always had insatiable love affair with all things food, knew from an early age that she wanted a car...

With us today is Ria Dake, Sr. Business Director, Balchem. This self-described introvert has been described by others as a ‘Master of Connection.’ We dig in to that juxtaposition by first talking about Ria’s career evolution and how one mentor early on helped Ria with a decision that would change her career path forever. We talk about what it means to be a ‘Master of Connection’ and how Ria used h...

Are you looking for a solution that can help give you a sustainable advantage in the supply chain? Then look no further than Infor.  With us on the podcast is Mikael Bengtsson Industry Principal for Infor Food and Beverage. We’re talking about how this global leader in cloud software is helping food and beverage processors leverage data, increase profitability, and support business growth.   Join...

We recently sat down with Liran Akavia, Vice President of Sales for Process Health at Augury, to talk about the complex challenges manufacturers are up against and how they can use an AI-driven approach to optimize production health.  During our conversation, we talked about how food manufacturers can identify the right AI technology as well as what the most common challenges food manufacturers fa...

Do you know what a SOYLEIC® soybean is? Here to explain what SOYLEIC® soybeans are and how they’re being used to create a healthier food system Bryan Stobaugh, Director Of Licensing And Commercialization at Missouri Soybeans. During this episode, we talk about how SOYLEIC® soybeans were discovered and what makes them non-GMO. We talk about the process of commercialization for Soyleic soybeans as w...

With us today is Cloeann Durham. Cloeann is the Vice President of Quality, Safety and Environmental Sustainability for Coca-Cola. A self-branded ‘science nerd,’ Cloeann’s college experience did not include visions of a future in the food and beverage industry. As her post-college experience evolved, so too did her options and she worked at several beverage companies before coming to Coca-Cola more...

With us on the podcast today are Brian Barr and John Archer, both of ABB. In this episode, we’re talking about the options food and beverage processors have when it comes antimicrobial cable ties. ABB recently expanded its line of Ty-Rap® cable ties with Ty-Rap® TyGenic™ cable ties, the industry’s first two-piece antimicrobial* and detectable cable tie. We talk about those ties on the episode, alo...

Ask anyone that’s been through a merger or acquisition, and they’ll tell you there are many more moving parts on the inside than what you see from the outside. The companies that are successful with M&A make the execution appear flawless. Such is the case with Motion’s recent Kaman Distribution Group (KDG) acquisition.  In this episode of the podcast, we talked with Randy Breaux, President of Moti...

Joining us on today’s episode is Maggie Slowik, Global Industry Director for Manufacturing at IFS. And we’re talking all about the power of data.    In today’s manufacturing world, there are as many uses of data as there are products. So how do companies determine what to focus on to build out their strategy? That’s what we’re talking about and more in this special bonus episode.  According to Mag...

Welcome to our midweek bonus episode of the Food For Thought Podcast.  Like your cellphone, your personal computer and your television, technology marches on and the latest editions really do have more functionality than the previous versions. That's also true for your ERP system. Advanced Requirements Planning not only accounts for expiring lots, but also helps to plan for yield losses as well as...

Today’s episode is a continuation of our Women in the Workplace series. Earlier this year we talked with women from GODIVA, Hot Bread Kitchen , and the Females in Food program about how each company is helping to empower women throughout the food and beverage industry.  Today we turn our attention to Jenn Palmer, CEO of eCapital ABL. At eCapital, Jenn leads an organization that specializes in fina...

With us on the podcast is Dr. Susan Blount, Vice President of Scientific & Regulatory Affairs for Mars Incorporated. Today we’re talking about food integrity, food fraud and adulteration and what Dr. Blount and her team are doing to ensure consumers throughout the world have safer foods.  We kick things off talking about what food integrity is – and isn’t and what companies like Mars are doing to...

A review of thousands of compressed air systems has reveal that, on average, users operate below 50% of system capacity. And, in fact, oversized compressors are among the most common problems in air systems. Here to talk amore about that on the podcast today are Kaeser Compressors’ Wayne Perry and Neil Mehltretter. They’ll address why oversizing occurs and how an oversized system reduces reliabili...

Is your pest control program as effective as you’d like it to be? In this episode, we talked with Sharon Dobesh, Director Of Technical Services, and Pamela Peckman, staff entomologist, both of Industrial Fumigant Company , about pest prevention strategies you can enact at your facility as well as what the future holds in pest management. We talk about the best way to design an integrated pest mana...

When it comes to digital transformation initiatives, have you ever wondered what the top food and beverage companies are doing? Here to help answer that question is Eric Campagna, Food & CPG Machine Health Lead for Augury. Join us as we talk about what’s working – and not working – for the top food and beverage processors as well as the importance of taking risks, particularly when it comes to dig...

With us on the podcast today is Steven Burton, Founder and CEO of Icicle Technologies . Originally launched to help solve the problem of foodborne illness, Icicle now helps food companies execute their food safety plans. In this episode, we get to the meat of the matter of lab-grown meat. We kick things off talking about why the notion of lab-grown meat and alternative proteins are growing in popu...

On today’s special episode, we’re talking with Kaeser Compressors about ISO Class 0 Compressed Air.  Join us as we talk with Neil Mehltretter, Technical Director, and Werner Rauer, Product Manager, about what Class 0 Compressed air really is.  We talk about what a Class 0 label really means as well as what guidelines and specifications there are for class zero air in food and beverage applications...

Are you feeling OK about the MRP in your ERP? If you’re feeling unsure, then listen in to this informative conversation we had with Plex Systems’ Ara Surenian about material requirements planning, especially as it relates to enterprise resource planning. We kick things off talking about how supply chain planning can help with inventory lots as well as with labor issues. We then segue over to a dis...

In this special bonus episode, we recently talked with Randy Smith, CEO and Founder of Vicinity Software about the supply chain and analytics and how the VicinityFood ERP system can help processors with predictive ordering and availability of ingredients. We talk about a lot of topics that are important to food and beverage processors right now, such as reviewing vendor performance, understanding...

In this episode of the Food For Thought podcast, we’re talking with Bill Besenhofer, CEO and Co-founder of The Fresh Factory .  This vertically integrated company partners with food and beverage brands big and small to help them scale up production of ‘fresh’ and ‘clean’ food products. With a mission to accelerate the growth of plant-based foods, The Fresh Factory owns and partners with emerging b...

With us on podcast today are Wayne Perry, Senior Technical Director at Kaeser Compressors and Neil Mehltretter, Technical Director at Kaeser Compressors. On today’s episode, we’re talking all about Compressed Air, but more specifically, how the location of your compressed air system impacts uptime, productivity, and equipment longevity.  We kick things off talking about all of things to consider w...

When it comes to your business, are you looking to streamline all of your management systems into one place? If so, you may want to consider an ERP system. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is an integrated management system that takes everything you need to run a company – from purchasing and sales information to things like inventory, distribution, finance, and even quality management – and put...

In today’s episode, we’re continuing the conversation we started last November how the pandemic has changed the game for food and beverage manufacturers. We kick things off talking about the pandemic’s ripple effect and lessons learned so far. We peel back a few more layers about how supply chain issues are continuing to affect food and beverage processors, with Maggie explaining the ‘Supply Shock...