Knowlton retires as Hormel chairman
Richard Knowlton, who served as chairman of the board for Austin, Minn.-based Hormel Foods Corp. for nearly 15 years, has retired. He is succeeded by Joel Johnson, the current president and CEO.
Knowlton, who was born in Austin and began at Hormel in 1954, retired as CEO in 1993. During his tenure, Hormel sales grew to $2.9 billion and survived a tumultuous strike at its flagship plant in Austin a decade ago.
When he retired as CEO, Knowlton told Meat Marketing & Technology: "I feel I've provided an environment for change, directing our efforts toward the professional marketing side of the business. In order to succeed in this business, you have to be an innovator."
Knowlton was elected to the board in September 1974 while serving as vice president of sales. In 1979, he was appointed CEO, and in 1981, he was elected chairman of the board.
Knowlton was also president of the company from 1979 to 1992, longer than any previous Hormel president other than George Hormel and his son, Jay.
Knowlton's association with Hormel will continue as chairman of the Hormel Foundation, which was established by Jay Hormel to maintain a controlling stock interest in Hormel Foods.
Johnson has been with Hormel since 1991. He succeeded Knowlton as CEO in September 1993.
Smithfield officially takes control of John Morrell
Smithfield Foods Inc. has completed its acquisition of John Morrell & Co. from Chiquita Brands International Inc. The sale price is $58 million-$25 million cash and $33 million in Smithfield common stock.
John O. Nielson, president and chief operation officer of Smithfield, Va.-based Smithfield Foods becomes chairman and CEO of John Morrell. Joseph B. Sebring, president and COO of John Morrell, will continue in that capacity.
Smithfield hopes to use John Morrell's fresh pork and processed meats operations to become a national meat processor, Smithfield Chairman and CEO Joseph W. Luter said.
Smithfield markets its pork products in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic United States. John Morrell markets its branded processed meats mainly in the Midwest.
The Smithfield-John Morrell combination will create annual sales of more than $3 billion, according to estimates.
Meanwhile, Smithfield has named Thomas D. Davis president and COO of its subsidiary, Smithfield Packing Co. Davis joined Smithfield in June as senior vice president. He was formerly acting president of John Morrell.
Steam pasteurization gets go-ahead from USDA
A new technology that its designers believe will "be an important tool in the meat industry's efforts to reduce pathogens" has been approved for commercial use by USDA.
The Steam Pasteurization System, developed by Bellevue, Wash.-based Frigoscandia Inc. and Minneapolis-based Cargill Inc., is an enclosed, three-chamber cabinet, and is based on time and temperature.
Steam pasteurization works by exposing the carcass surface to a blanket of steam, thus killing bacteria. No chemicals are used and meat color remains unaffected.
During the de-watering process, filtered air is utilized at high volume to remove any surface water that might be on the carcass to ensure and enhance heat transfer at the surface.
Chilled water [33 degrees F] is then applied on the surface for 10 seconds immediately after steam pasteurization, which chills the surface to 36 degrees F.
IBP undergoes organizational changes
Dakota City, Neb.-based IBP inc. is reorganizing itself "for growth in the 21st century." The changes include:
-- Combining its beef and pork operations into the Fresh Meats Division, headed by Richard Bond. It will encompass four separate businesses-fresh beef and pork, hides and skins, bovine operations and IBP Canada.
-- Establishing a Consumer Products Division, focusing on establishing products closer to consumers through cooking, convenience and branding both at retail and foodservice. This division, headed by David Layhee, will also control Consumer Products Marketing and R&D activities.
-- Establishing an Allied Group Division headed by Gene Leman, which will consolidate critical support functions as well as direct the company's international presence in the protein marketplace.
-- Establishing a Corporate Development Division to target business and growth strategies for the firm's domestic and international operations. This division will be led by Larry Shipley.
South Korea to honor trade accord with U.S.
South Korea will honor its promise to open markets for U.S. beef and pork products, averting a trade confrontation with the United States, according to a meat industry official.
"The South Korean government has provided an acceptable response with regard to its commitments pertaining to meat and meat product imports," said Al Tank, vice president of the National Pork Producers Council. "It appears that the South Korean government has opted to accept sound science."
South Korea agreed in July to lengthen the shelf-life dates for imported meat products, and to allow manufacturers to dictate that shelf life.
This was thought to end a two-year trade dispute that began when South Korea seized a shipment of U.S. sausages and said they were allowed only a 30-day shelf life rather than a 90-day period that had been previously allowed.
The United States contended that South Korea's regulations were discriminatory and not based on sound science. USDA estimates that pork and beef producers lost more than $200 million in 1994 sales because of the regulations.
In November, U.S. trade and meat industry officials said South Korea appeared to be reneging on the accord. The United States warned that it would file a complaint with the World Trade Organization, the arbiter of trade disputes, if South Korea was found to be backpedaling from the agreement.
Supermarket chief dies
Israel Cohen, 83, CEO of Giant Food Inc., died Nov. 22. The cause of death was complications associated with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
In 1936, Cohen's father N.M. helped open the first Giant Food supermarket in Washington, D.C. In the next 59 years, Giant Food opened 164 supermarkets on the East Coast and became the largest supermarket chain in the country.
Giant is a major customer of IBP inc., ConAgra Inc., Excel Corp. and other meat companies.
Cohen conceived, designed and implemented many of the innovations which today characterize the modern supermarket. Giant President Peter Manos has replaced Cohen.
FDA unveils seafood HACCP regulation
FDA will require seafood processors to implement Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point programs in their plants to keep unsafe products from reaching consumers. It is estimated that these regulations will prevent 20,000 to 60,000 seafood poisonings a year, which cost consumers nearly $116 million.
Seafood processors will have to identify hazards that, without preventive controls, are reasonably likely to affect the safety of the products. If at least one such hazard can be identified, the processor will be required to adopt and implement an appropriate HACCP plan.
For example, a highly mechanized processing line would be checked regularly for metal fragments in the food, and records would be kept of those checks.
FDA Commissioner David Kessler called the new rules, which will be implemented over the next two years, an important step in food safety.
USDA expects to unveil its HACCP rule for meat and poultry processors early this year.
FDA plans to require HACCP for other segments of the food industry in the future.
Nothing resolved
EU hormone ban still in place after conference
The United States and European Union are one step closer to a trade war after a scientific conference convened to study the use of growth promoters in meat production did not result in the lifting of a six-year-old ban.
The EU's ban on hormone-treated meat will not be lifted until the final results of the conference are known, which was expected to be by the end of December.
"Once the final results of the conference are known, appropriate measures might be prepared," EU Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler told a news conference following the three-day scientific conference in Brussels. "The use of hormones in meat production is a complex issue for which there are no simple answers."
Meanwhile, USDA refused to speculate over the possibility of a trade war. But Secretary Dan Glickman said that if the issue is not resolved by the end of January, he would take the matter to the World Trade Organization.
"If the EU sticks to its ban, I don't think anyone would be too surprised if we took it to the WTO," a USDA official told Meat Marketing & Technology.
The official said he believed it is inevitable that the United States would file a complaint with the WTO, which is the arbiter of trade disputes.
Fischler shrugged off any talk of a trade war or the WTO. "I don't think there is any need to jump the gun on the issue," he warned.
The conference, which brought together more than 80 scientists and about 170 representatives from farming and consumer organizations, discussed all available scientific data on the effects of hormone use on meat.
Fischler stressed that the conference had been "justified," proving there was a great need for scientific information on hormones.
John Maddox, editor of Nature magazine and conference chairman, told a news conference that there was no evidence of any danger to human health when steroid hormones are used in a properly described manner, but that there was substantial concerns about the potential risk from the use of beta-agonists to human and animal health.
He added that there was a need to strengthen the coordination of national control systems to be able to tackle the problem of the illegal use of hormones.
Fischler called this abuse "the biggest problem, not only for the EU, but worldwide."
The U.S. meat industry has lost an estimated $100 million in sales since 1989 as a result of the hormone ban and other sanitary and phyto-sanitary restrictions implemented by the EU.
"This issue is about more than sending U.S. beef to Europe," noted Mark Armentrout, chairman of National Cattlemen's Association's Foreign Trade Committee. "It is a test of Europe's willingness to play by the same rules as the rest of the world."
AMI President J. Patrick Boyle said: "EU scientists have acknowledged publicly what American scientists have known for years-that meat from livestock treated with hormones is not a threat to human health. It is clear that the existing ban on these products in the EU is rooted in political science
Consensus important
Glickman seeks food safety legislation that has common ground
USDA Secretary Dan Glickman indicated his support for congressional legislation aimed at reforming the nine-decade-old meat and poultry inspection laws. But he warned that the range in differences of opinion from the various groups concerned would block progress. He said a "consensus approach" was needed.
Glickman made his opinions known during a USDA food safety forum on Nov. 8. About 50 representatives of the meat and food industries, consumer groups, government, the inspectors' union, and veterinarians gathered at USDA headquarters in Washington for the conference.
"One of the reasons we are holding this forum is to see if we can get any kind of consensus to move the legislative process forward," Glickman pointed out. "We will not pass legislation in a contested way."
During the past two years, USDA has held nearly 20 public hearings on food safety. The aim of the hearings is to help write a regulation that reforms the inspection process.
Earlier this year, USDA proposed its inspection reform plan, featuring mandated Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point programs, anti-microbial rinses, microbial testing, and consistent temperature controls.
But legislative reform is also needed to provide the right environment for the new regulations to function effectively. A House agriculture committee promises to begin working on the legislation as soon as the 1995 farm bill is written.
Despite the different groups with their different agendas, there is consensus on one point: Reforming meat and poultry inspection regulations must happen quickly.
"HACCP should have been done three years ago," noted Nancy Donley of Safe Tables Our Priority. "I applaud the thoroughness, but I would really like to get something done now." Donley's 6-year-old son died from E. coli 0157:H7 poisoning.
Of course, consensus is not easy to reach. A day after the conference, the Government Accountability Project released evidence of unsanitary conditions, direct product contamination, repetitive violations and records falsification in meat plants. Examples include carcasses falling into filthy "soups" on plant floors consisting of excrement, blood, rust, paint, insecticides and maggots.
"Meat is sometimes returned to the line without being rinsed," according to the report. "Animals that are dead on arrival from disease are processed anyway. If federal inspectors had not been there to enforce the law, these products would have received USDA's seal of approval."
Tom Devine, GAP legal director, noted: "Modern science is necessary but not sufficient to restore credibility for USDA's seal because the meat and poultry industries cannot be trusted, An industry honor system is a recipe for food poisoning tragedies."
Seventy-five USDA inspectors met with GAP officials in September to discuss the information, which was amassed from affidavits and government records.