A health alert in Germany that began with the discovery of eggs and poultry meat contaminated with dioxin has spread to pork. It was discovered that dioxin-tainted feed had been given to hens and pigs on Jan. 3, and German authorities reported that the poison has now been found in pork and may have been sold.

The state government in Lower Saxony confirmed that at least 100 pigs from a farm that received the contaminated feed had been sold before the farm received a closedown order.

“No sales were made after the farm received its closedown order (in early January) but we cannot rule out that some sales were made before it received the order," a state agriculture spokeswoman said.

Prosecutors in Germany are investigating the cause of the contamination and specifically whether industrial fats and feeds company Harles and Jentzsch distributed fatty acids meant for industrial paper production to animal feed processors. China and South Korea have suspended imports of German egg and pork products.


Source: Reuters



Paul T. Moskowitz to join Sysco as senior vice president

Sysco Corp. announced that Paul T. Moskowitz will join the company as senior vice president, human resources, effective January 17, 2011. Moskowitz most recently served as chief human resources officer at Dean Foods Co. in Dallas, Texas.

"We are looking forward to having Paul join the Sysco team," said Bill DeLaney, Sysco's president and CEO. "His depth of human resources experience will help us build and execute an integrated talent management strategy across Sysco at all levels of the organization."

Moskowitz began his career in 1988 as a compensation consultant at Towers Perrin. After joining Brinker International in 1992, he progressed through a series of roles with increasing responsibility at Brinker and then two other premier restaurant companies, Darden Restaurants Inc. and Yum! Brands Inc., culminating with his role as chief people officer at Pizza Hut USA. In 2007, he joined Dean Foods in his most recent role. Moskowitz earned a bachelor of arts in history from Princeton University, and an MBA from Rice University. He and his family will relocate to Houston in the near future.


Source: Sysco Corp.



Hormel Foods to hold QA manager meeting at AMI Expo

Hormel Foods Corp. will hold a two-day corporate-wide quality assurance manager meeting during the AMI Expo, which is scheduled for April 13-16, 2011, at McCormick Place in Chicago, Ill. Approximately 40 quality assurance managers are expected to attend both the company meeting and the Expo. The meeting is sponsored by AMI and Marel USA, an AMI member and exhibitor at the Expo.

For more information on exhibiting at the AMI International Meat, Poultry and Seafood Industry Convention and Exposition, go to http://www.amiexpo.com/. The official site also includes registration, hotel and travel information and detailed conference information.


Source: AMI



JTM Food Group adds meatballs, Asian sauces to lineup

JTM Food Group, a Harrison, Ohio-based company specializing in menu solutions for the foodservice industry, has added two new products for its chain restaurant, healthcare and military foodservice customers. JTM’s new Chicken Meatballs and a collection of five new Asian Sauces join more than 450 food items on the JTM menu and reflect the company’s commitment to stay one step ahead of the marketplace.

“We work hard to stay on-trend with what is going on in the food service industry,” said Jack Maas, Jr., co-owner and vice president, sales. “We added our new Chicken Meatballs to our Cecilia’s meatball brand, and they deliver all of the taste consumers expect from a traditional meatball with significantly less fat. Our Asian Sauce line is designed to cover a broad range of the most popular Asian dishes. It has a huge range of applications and helps make speed scratch Asian dishes a snap.”

JTM’s new chicken meatballs are made with the a blend of Romano and Parmesan cheeses, all-white meat chicken, fresh breadcrumbs and natural spices. The new Asian sauces that are available include Asian Brown Sauce, Sweet & Sour Sauce, General Tso's Sauce, Hunan Orange Sauce and Szechwan Style BBQ Sauce.


Source: JTM Food Group