Category: News

Fresno, Calif., (May 5, 2017) – Phil Lempert, one of America’s leading consumer trend analysts, most widely known for his appearances on NBC News’ Today show, Dr. Oz, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and 20/20, will present the keynote address to kick off the 2017 Fresno Food Expo on Wednesday, July 26. For more than 25 years Phil Lempert, commonly referred to as the ‘Supermarket Guru,’ has been on the forefront of the rapidly changing environments in the retail and foodservice industries, identifying and explaining impending trends to the food industry’s most influential business leaders.

“Analyzing consumer food trends and identifying their effect on the retail and foodservice industries has been a passion of mine for many years,” said Phil Lempert. “What better place to talk about consumer behavior and food industry trends than in Central California, where the majority of our food is grown and produced. I look forward to sharing my knowledge and exchanging views with the elite group of buyers attending the Expo and the diverse group of food industry leaders who make up the food capital of the world.”

Lempert’s keynote address will be centered around consumer trends and the new retail environment, focusing in on what Millennials and Generation Z are attracted to, and how Amazon Fresh, Home Delivery Meal Kits and Cellular Agriculture are impacting the marketplace. This event is open exclusively to registered buyers free of charge, and sponsors and exhibitors of the Expo.

“Being able to attract a world renowned food industry expert like Phil Lempert is a huge win for us.” said Amy Fuentes, Fresno Food Expo Manager. “Not only will his participation attract more retail and foodservice buyers to the Expo, but it will help raise the profile of our region’s thriving food industry, and bring recognition to what we are doing here in food.”

In addition to delivering the keynote address, Lempert will also partake in several other activities tied to the two-day regional food show. Lempert will serve on the Buyer’s Choice Award Judging Panel the morning of July 26, later attending Pairings, the Expo’s opening reception open exclusively to attending buyers and sponsors of the Expo, where he will announce the 2017 Buyer’s Choice Award first, second and third place winners. Lastly, Lempert will walk the Expo’s Business-to-Business Tradeshow the morning of Thursday, July 27, interacting with participating Central California food and beverage companies participating in this year’s Expo.

The keynote delivered by Lempert is part of the Expo’s expanded platform, which aims to foster business growth opportunities for participating Central California food and beverage companies year-round. As part of this expanded platform, the Expo kicked off their official Exhibitor Training Series last month with New York Times and USA Today’s best-selling author, Gregg Lederman, who spoke to participating companies about how the Essential Habits of Trusted Leaders. This series will resume with three additional trainings offered to all participating sponsors and exhibitors of the Expo, including:

• “From the Factory to Store Shelves,” on May 9, featuring decision-making buyers:
  • Roland Harmon, Senior Sourcing Director from Walmart, Roland Harmon
  • Mark Ford, President, JD Food
  • Craig Saladino, President, Saladino’s Foodservice
• “Be Prepared! Food Safety & Business Acquisitions,” May 18, featuring industry experts from:
  • Der Manouel Insurance Group
  • Baker Peterson Franklin
  • Landsberg Orora
• “Branding in the New Digital Era,” June 1, featuring industry experts from:
  • MJR Creative Group
  • Meza Films

The Fresno Food Expo will take place Wednesday, July 26 and Thursday, July 27. The main trade show portion of the Expo will take place during the day on Thursday, July 27, followed by the public celebration, Expolicious, where the public can purchase a ticket to attend. An anticipated 150 exhibitors and 950 key pre-qualified, domestic and international buyers expected to participate. Registration forms and additional information for exhibitors and buyers are available at www.FresnoFoodExpo.com. Tickets to Expolicious will go on sale at the end of May for $50.

Davis, Calif., (May 4, 2017) – A new, low-cost invention from the University of California, Davis, to help prevent food spoilage has been named as the top emerging technology for reducing food loss and waste across the African continent.

The tool, called the DryCard, shows farmers whether their dried food products are dry enough to store safely, reducing food losses and risks of mold and associated toxins.

In March, it beat out more than 200 entries to win the grand prize in the All-Africa Postharvest Technologies and Innovation Challenge at the first All-Africa Postharvest Congress and Exhibition in Kenya. During the challenge, DryCard and other technologies and innovations were pitched to an audience of about 600, including private investors and international organizations.

“I have never seen such strong interest in a technology like this,” said Elizabeth Mitcham, director of the UC Davis Horticulture Innovation Lab and a UC Cooperative Extension specialist in postharvest biology for the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences.

“I think it shows a tremendous need for a solution that can increase awareness of moisture content of dried food products,” said Mitcham, who represented the DryCard during the competition. “This technology has high potential to make an impact — and not only with dried produce and vegetable seeds, which was our original intent.”

She noted that much of the interest in DryCard has come from organizations that also work with staple crops.

“My hope is that we will find entrepreneurs and donors to help us spread this technology, so that every farmer who dries produce has access to it,” she said.

Engineering a solution that csts pennies to make

The DryCard is the brainchild of Mitcham’s UC Davis colleagues Michael Reid and Jim Thompson, who have a history of working together in California and around the world on postharvest technologies to reduce crop losses. During a Horticulture Innovation Lab workshop in Tanzania last year, Reid tested local dried foods as a class exercise and was driven to action by the magnitude of the problem. Read more about the backstory: “Inventing a Low-Cost Solution to Reduce Moldy Foods.”

The pair’s solution is about the size of a business card, with a strip of cobalt chloride paper that changes color based on humidity, a color index and directions. With a DryCard and an airtight container, farmers can easily test a sample of their product for dryness in 20 to 30 minutes.

“The DryCard requires zero calibration and can be reused many times for any kind of food you want to keep free of mold,” Thompson said. “Everything is on the card. The cobalt chloride strip is attached so it’s easy to keep track of, and the color guide is right there.”
Helps farmers reduce molds, toxins in food storage

So far, the Horticulture Innovation Lab has offered samples of the DryCard in multiple languages to researchers who can try the tool out in real-world situations.

Bertha Mjawa is one of the first researchers to test and promote the DryCard in Africa, during her work with the Market Infrastructure, Value Addition and Rural Finance Program of the Tanzania Prime Minister’s Office.

“The DryCard makes a promising solution for African farmers due to its cost effectiveness, clear indicators and ease of use,” Mjawa said. “Both farmers and agricultural experts can benefit from this technology.”

DryCard team hoping to spread the innovation
The recent All-Africa top innovation award was accompanied by a $5,000 prize for promoting and scaling out the DryCard. The research team hopes to connect with entrepreneurs who are interested in manufacturing and selling the cards.

The researchers estimate that approximately $70,000 could help the DryCard spread among seven African countries. Read more about the first All-Africa Post Harvest Congress.

More about the Horticulture Innovation Lab

The Horticulture Innovation Lab builds international partnerships for fruit and vegetable research that improves livelihoods in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Central America. The research program is led by UC Davis with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, as part of the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative called Feed the Future. Including the Horticulture Innovation Lab, UC Davis leads five Feed the Future innovation labs focused on improving agriculture to reduce poverty — more than any other university.

Agriculture Feed and Livestock Drugs Inspection Program has reached a settlement with animal feed manufacturer Western Milling LLC involving their manufacturing facility in Goshen, Tulare County. In September 2015, the facility produced horse feed that was adulterated with Monensin, a livestock drug that when fed to horses is known to be fatal. The adulterated feed resulted in a number of deaths. In 2016 the same facility improperly mixed the same livestock drug into medicated cattle feed, which contributed to the deaths of several dairy calves.

Per the settlement agreement, Western Milling has discontinued the manufacturing of horse and specialty feeds for species such as rabbits at the Goshen facility. The firm will implement extensive process improvements and acquire new state-of-the-art equipment for precision mixing and improved documentation, product identification, and traceability in the handling of medicated feeds.

Western Milling will pay a cash fine of $526,500 and is required to implement $200,000 of new equipment at the Goshen facility to ensure that feed safety measures over and above industry standards will be met.

CDFA’s Feed and Livestock Drugs Inspection Program is responsible for the enforcement of the state law and regulations pertinent to the manufacturing, distribution, and labeling of commercial livestock feed in California while preventing adulterated feed from being consumed by livestock. The program maintains registration of livestock drugs, their proper use and safe handling procedures, and issues Restricted Livestock Drug Licenses to retail stores selling restricted livestock drugs in California.