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 The MWFPA Bulletin is underwritten in part by Focus on Energy | | |
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| Businesses Stand Their Ground on BPA Ban | | The food industry and major business groups, including the US Chamber of Commerce, threatened to withdraw support for S. 510, the food safety bill currently before Congress, due to their opposition to a proposed amendment banning BPA. Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-CA., offered the amendment.
On April 30th, MWFPA sent letters to the U.S. Senators from Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin urging them to oppose any amendment to the bill that would ban BPA. MWFPA members are encouraged to contact their Senators and express opposition to any such amendment.
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| Emmer Captures MN GOP Nod for Governor | |
State Rep. Tom Emmer captured the GOP endorsement for Minnesota governor defeating Marty Seifert in two ballots at the party's state convention April 30th.
The backing all but secures a spot on November's ballot with no competitive primary expected. Emmer, a lawyer from Delano, has been in the Legislature since 2005. The Independence Party, a factor in recent gubernatorial elections, will also field a candidate.
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| DFL Endorses Kelliher for MN Governor | |
After a bruising, daylong contest, Minnesota House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher won the Democratic-Farmer-Labor endorsement for governor. She is the first woman to be endorsed for governor by a major Minnesota political party.
She won the party backing on April 24th after leading on five ballots. After placing a strong second on all the ballots, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak pushed Kelliher over the top by conceding.
Kelliher will face two primary challengers in the Aug. 10 DFL primary: former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton and former House minority leader Matt Entenza.
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| MWFPA Addresses BPA Before IL Legislative Committee | |
On May 3rd MWFPA President Nick George appeared before the Illinois State Senate Subcommittee on Children's Environmental Health Issues in opposition to SB 3750 -- the BPA products ban. The MWFPA position paper on the ban can be viewed here.
The legislation would ban BPA in baby bottles, sippy cups, infant formula and other various containers like sports bottles and thermoses. The bill also requires labeling of all other containers like canned food and beverages if they have a BPA lining. The FDA has consistently found BPA to be safe and has taken no action to ban, restrict or even label these products.
The Illinois Senate is scheduled to adjourn on May 7th.
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| The MWFPA Bulletin is underwritten in part by FoxJet | | |
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| MWFPA Annual Member's Golf Outing Filling Up Fast! | |
GET YOUR REGISTRATION IN TODAY!! Sign up for the MWFPA Member's Golf Outing. It's filling up fast!
An evening reception on June 2nd is planned at the Hilton Garden Inn, then join us on June 3rd at Trapper's Turn in Wisconsin Dells, WI for a day of golf, lunch and cash prizes.
For more information and online sign-up or to download the pdf version of the Registration Form visit our website, www.mwfpa.org.
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| Welcome New Members! | |
Help us welcome our newest Association Member!
Find out more about this company by clicking the company name and visiting their website.
Elite Spice Inc
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| MWFPA Members Join Effort to Cut Salt | |
Sixteen US food producers, including Kraft and McCain Foods, have joined a national effort to reduce salt content in restaurant and packaged foods by 25% in the next five years.
Other companies involved in the program include Au Bon Pain, Boar's Head, FreshDirect, Goya, Hain Celestial Group, Heinz, LiDestri, Mars Foods, Red Gold, Starbucks, Subway, Unilever, Uno Chicago Grill and White Rose.
Kraft spokeswoman Valerie Moens said the company has started working to cut 10% average sodium across its North American operations over the next two years.
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| Ball Corps Consumes Less Energy | |
Through Focus on Energy, Ball Corporation has completed a number of energy-saving improvements and upgrades at its Wisconsin plants in Milwaukee and DeForest.
The changes are expected to save $650,000 annually due to reduced energy consumption. Since 2008, Ball has received $430,000 in financial incentives through Focus on Energy to boost its efforts toward improving efficiency.
The Milwaukee facility, which manufactures two-piece beverage and food cans, received the majority of incentive funds for projects that will reduce energy consumption by more than 1.8 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and 470,000 therms of natural gas annually-enough energy to power 665 homes for a year.
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| MWFPA Calendar of Events | |
May 25, 2010: Energy, Water, and Food Safety: A Food Processing Symposium Attendees to this University of Minnesota symposium will learn about opportunities for improving processes to further ensure food safety as well as to reduce water use, energy use, and waste water loading. This is a joint symposium hosted by the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Technical Assistance Program (MnTAP). For more information, click here.
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June 3, 2010: MWFPA Annual Member's Golf Outing Plan to join us at Trappers Turn in Wisconsin Dells, WI. More information and online sign-up is available on our website, www.mwfpa.org.
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June 8-9, 2010: GMA Food Labeling Workshop Designed to teach food company personnel and others involved in label design the skills they need, whether they are responsible for labeling compliance, food product marketing or product development. Click here for more information.
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June 22-24, 2010: How to Implement and Sustain Lean in Process Industries: Fundamentals of Lean --Part 2, held in Madison, WI. Applying the tools and techniques taught in this course will enable process industries representatives to better understand how to implement and sustain Lean in a process industry to reduce lead times, improve product quality,reduce inventories,improve customer service levels, and overall equipment effectiveness. Click here for additional information.
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June 28-29, 2010: Advanced Summit on Food Safety Regulatory Compliance, Millennium Knickbocker Hotel, Chicago, IL. MWFPA and the American Conference Institute are providing a forum for in-house regulatory and government affairs, food safety and compliance officers. This conference will put relevant stakeholders in the food industry - both in-house and government - in one place for two days of knowledge-sharing, policy shaping and strategy development. To learn more or to register, click here.
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Nov. 30-Dec. 2, 2010: 106th MWFPA Annual Convention and 83rd Processing Crops Conference Mark your calendar for next year's annual convention, to be held at the KI Convention Center in Green Bay, Wis.
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This newsletter is published periodically as developments warrant, and is intended for a general audience of manufacturers and suppliers of food and agricultural products. |
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