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Producer/Processor Spotlight – Black River Valley Natural, LLC

Black River Valley Natural is a micro-creamery and producer of small-batch artisanal foods. Located at the base of the falls in the tiny town of Lyons Falls, NY, we are fortunate to call the North Country home. Flanked by the Adirondacks to the East and the Tug Hill Plateau to the West, there is just no place we would rather be.

As a farm business, how is the Cornell Dairy Foods Extension Team a valuable resource for you?

Our partnership with Cornell goes back to our initial product development where we were able to utilize their world-class dairy processing facilities to help develop our product and produce our initial production runs. We continued to work with Cornell to purchase cream and do additional product development as our business expanded and our product line grew. Cornell was also instrumental in helping us to improve our food safety plan, cleaning and sanitation procedures, and our environmental monitoring program. We also appreciate the regular feedback we receive from the Voluntary Shelf Life Program that we actively participate in. Everyone at the Dairy Foods Extension Team is very knowledgeable and wonderful to work with and we would not be where we are today without them.

How do you interact with the dairy foods extension team?

Frequently via phone, text, email, zoom, and in person. The whole team is extremely approachable.

What services have been valuable for you? Has the team’s expertise helped you tackle unique challenges?

Everything Cornell and the Dairy Foods Extension Team has helped us with has been very valuable and has helped us in some critical way. Specifically, we have received a lot of value from the VSL program and the various initiatives that has triggered as we seek to continually improve our quality and perfect our processes. The frequent phone calls and discussions around food safety, formulations, environmental monitoring, and building connections in the industry have also been very important. The list goes on!

Have collaborations with the dairy extension team contributed to your successes? Please describe.

Our collaboration with the Dairy Extension Team has certainly contributed to our success. From the development of new product lines, improving our product quality and shelf life, to helping with the fundamentals of plant design, the team has helped us almost every step of the way. In fact, our recent school milk contract win would not have been possible without the help and support of the Dairy Extension Team and the world-class support they’ve offered us over the past few years!

Milk Quality Improvement Program visited Process Expo 2021 in Chicago to identify new dairy technologies. Part 2

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Aljosa Trmcic

There were a number of different equipment manufacturers exhibiting at the show that manufacture drains, pumps, valves, and other equipment that can be considered more traditional types of technologies. It was very positive to see that even within this more traditional technology arena, manufacturers are still working on further developing and improving the equipment. For example, one company introduced a centrifugal pump with new patented impellers that minimizes sheer and increases performance. Another company introduced innovations in drain shape and installation design that improves the longevity of drains and floors by minimizing the stress on both the drain and the floor during temperature fluctuations in the processing environment. There were also a number of innovations applied to these traditional pieces of equipment that improve the sanitary design and also makes them more user friendly.

When it comes to the dairy industry, heat exchangers would probably be considered the most traditional pieces of equipment and even here manufacturers were able to present some innovative designs. First one being an innovation in how heat exchanger plates are compressed together into the final press to eliminate long horizontal rods that can be found protruding into the space on some of the older plate heat exchangers. In addition, they also introduced improvements to labeling and design of the plates to prevent incorrect assembly and modifying the inlet portion of the plates to increase the distribution of the product across the plates and increase the efficiency of the heat exchanger. Another exhibitor also introduced improvements to efficiency of their tubular heat exchangers by introducing corrugation to the tubes in the heat exchanger which is a concept that can already be seen in plate heat exchanger siblings. Aside of these minor innovations introduced to different heat exchangers we are still to see if any new technology will ever replace this traditional piece of equipment that for so long has provided the dairy industry with the means to deliver that very important kill step and assure dairy products are safe.

The last large segment that needs to be mentioned is technology that relates to cleaning and sanitation. Almost all exhibitors at the trade show presented some innovation that relates to cleaning and sanitation, new sanitary design, or cleaning and sanitation equipment and chemicals. These innovations are probably also the one type of innovation that processors are exposed to the most through direct advertisement form the manufacturers inside and outside of the trade show. Although proper cleaning and sanitation is one of the most important aspects of making food, we will not go into details about what these numerous innovations are. We will maybe only mention one piece of technology that caught our eye. This technology utilizes, maybe the long forgotten, power of steam to clean and disinfect food surfaces. One application of steam, that is relevant in the era of FSMA and environmental monitoring, involves a simple rubber boot attached to a steam generator that can be used to treat drains and potentially inactivate pathogens. After seeing so many root-cause analyses of environmental monitoring activities pointing to old and pitted drains as the harborage points, this simple piece of equipment just might be that little innovation that can protect our product, customers and our business from environmental pathogens; that is until we do the right thing and fix those floors and drains.

New technologies are an important component in satisfying the demand for dairy products and dairy ingredients, but these technologies need to be safe, effective, and promising for companies to invest in the implementation of these new solutions. The Milk Quality Improvement Program is continuously searching for new technologies that might be of interest to the dairy industry and evaluating them to be able to give better insight into how realistic, effective, and worthwhile these specific technologies are.

Is your business being approached by companies selling tempting new technologies, but your team isn’t sure if the investment is worth it? Our Milk Quality Improvement Program is assisting dairy processors with this question. We are seeking input on which emerging processing technologies are of interest to dairy processors to help evaluate the efficacy and value of these advancements. You can share your thoughts with us by emailing Aljosa Trmcic at at543@cornell.edu or Rob Ralyea at rdr10@cornell.edu.

Upload Test 03.04.2022

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Prairie Farms General Manger Search Profile

Recent Dairy Research Publications – January 2022

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Chen, Long, Yadwinder Singh Rana, Dennis R. Heldman, and Abigail B. Snyder. “Environment, Food Residue, and Dry Cleaning Tool All Influence the Removal of Food Powders and Allergenic Residues from Stainless Steel Surfaces.” Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies 75 (January 1, 2022): 102877. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ifset.2021.102877.

Liu, Dasong, Tingting Yang, Yacine Hemar, Joe M. Regenstein, and Peng Zhou. “Physico-Chemical and Functional Properties of Milk Protein Concentrates Obtained Using a Two-Stage Decalcification Approach.” International Dairy Journal 126 (March 1, 2022): 105216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.idairyj.2021.105216.

Rivera Flores, Viviana K., Timothy A. DeMarsh, Patrick A. Gibney, and Samuel D. Alcaine. “Fermentation of Dairy-Relevant Sugars by Saccharomyces, Kluyveromyces, and Brettanomyces: An Exploratory Study with Implications for the Utilization of Acid Whey, Part I.” Fermentation 7, no. 4 (December 2021): 266. https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation7040266.

Symposium: Towards a True Systems Approach to Reducing Food Loss and Waste from Farm-to-Table

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Symposium: Towards a True Systems Approach to Reducing Food Loss and Waste from Farm-to-Table

Tuesday, March 15, 2022	12:00 pm to 4:00 pm EST (US & Canada)
Wednesday, March 16, 2022	12:00 pm to 3:00 pm EST (US & Canada)

All sessions will be held online via Zoom

Reducing food waste and loss and enhancing the sustainability of global food systems is clearly a hot topic. However, the subject is a lot more complicated and complex than some may think. This virtual symposium will not only address different implementation ready and emerging technology solutions, but also will discuss the economics of food waste and loss reduction and the implementation challenges. The symposium is designed to provide valuable information for industry and those interested in making decisions as to how to reduce food waste and loss as well as funding agencies and academics, who would like to better understand the challenges and opportunities in this field.

Hosted by the Cornell University Department of Food Science

in partnership with the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research

co-sponsored by

Cornell Atkinson

Center for Sustainability

Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

Business of Food Initiative

Cornell Institute for Food Systems

Industry Partnership Program

Registration required:

Please register HERE

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with Zoom link and other information to join the Symposium.

Cost:

Free

AGENDA

Roundtable panelists are listed in alphabetical order.

Tuesday, March 15, 2022, commencing at 12:00 pm (Noon) EST
12:00 – 12:30 pm	Welcome and Opening Remarks: An Overview of Current Challenges in Reducing Food Loss and Food Waste Martin Wiedmann, Cornell University
12:30 – 1:30 pm	Roundtable I: Opportunities and Challenges in Food Loss and Food Waste Reduction Moderator: Martin Wiedmann, Cornell University Caitlin Dow, Center for Science in the Public Interest Nicole Flewell, Taylor Farms Pete Pearson, World Wildlife Fund Paige Sorensen, Cargill Kathleen O’Donnell-Cahill, Wegmans
1:30 – 2:00 pm	Material Science Approaches to Reducing Food Waste and Loss Julie Goddard, Cornell University
2:00 – 2:15 pm	Bio-Break
2:15 – 2:40 pm	Upcycling approaches: Focus on Use of Bioconversions Sam Alcaine, Cornell University
2:40 – 3:05 pm	Established and Novel Approaches to Modelling Food Loss and Waste and Effectiveness of Reduction Strategies Renata Ivanek, Cornell University
3:05 – 3:45 pm	Roundtable II: Research Needs in Food Waste and Loss Reduction Moderator: Julie Goddard, Cornell University Sam Alcaine, Cornell University Renata Ivanek, Cornell University Alejandro Mazzotta, Chobani Turner Wyatt, Upcycled Food Association Abby Snyder, Cornell University
3:45 pm approx.	Day 1 Closing Remarks Martin Wiedmann
Wednesday, March 16, 2022, commencing at 12:00 pm (Noon) EST
12:00 – 12:10 pm	Day 2 Welcome; Day 1 Recap Martin Wiedmann, Cornell University
12:10 – 12:35 pm	The Economics of Food Waste Reduction Harry de Gorter, Cornell University
12:35 – 1:00 pm	Strategies to Reduce Farm-level Food Waste: Food Banks’ Gleaning Programs Miguel Gomez, Cornell University
1:00 – 1:25 pm	Addressing Food Waste in CPG Retailing Operations Vishal Gaur, Cornell University Retailers and manufacturers can undertake a number of steps in their supply chains to measure and mitigate the occurrence of food waste. Our research shows that traceability and packaging technology, innovative new business models, and using data in fulfillment and logistics decisions can be impactful in reducing food waste and creating new business value. I will describe examples from our research in this talk.
1:25 – 1:50 pm	Date Labels, Food Waste, and Implications along the Supply Chain Bradley Rickard, Cornell University We developed a survey to collect information on consumers’ intentions to discard 15 food products when exposed to different date labels including biosensors. Results show that the use of certain date labels has the capacity to reduce food waste, but the reductions would happen differentially across food groups and, in some cases, would lead to a relative decrease in household purchases of carbohydrates, sugar and lead to an increase in the relative purchases of fats, cholesterol, and protein.
1:50 – 2:05 pm	Bio-Break
2:05 – 2:30 pm	The Role of Nudges in Reducing Food Waste David Just, Cornell University
2:30 – 3:30 pm	Roundtable III: Implementation of Food Waste and Loss Reduction Strategies and How to Avoid Unintended Negative Consequences Moderating: Aaron Adalja, Cornell University Vishal Gaur, Cornell University Miguel Gomez, Cornell University Bradley Rickard, Cornell University
3:30 pm approx.	Closing Remarks Martin Wiedmann, Cornell University

This Virtual Symposium is supported in part by Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR, Washington, DC; award no. CA18-SS-0000000206). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in event are those of the participant(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research.

Speaker Biographies

Aaron Adalja is Assistant Professor in The Hotel School, SC Johnson College of Business. Dr. Adalja’s research interests include a range of topics in food and agricultural economics, drawing on consumer theory, industrial organization, and marketing to examine empirical questions in food labeling and quality certification, food safety, and agricultural marketing. Faculty Profile

Alejandro Mazzotta is Senior Vice President of Quality for Chobani. He previously worked for Campbell Soup, McDonald’s Corporation and Pillsbury. Dr. Mazzotta was appointed to the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods, serves on the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia and the BioMerieux Industry advisory boards and served as IAFP president. He earned a Master’s in biology from the University of Buenos Aires, and a Doctoral Degree in Food Science from Rutgers.

Sam Alcaine is Assistant Professor, Department of Food Science. Dr. Alcaine’s overall research program focuses on developing technologies that improve the quality, safety, and potential novel applications of fermented dairy products and co-products. Faculty Profile

Caitlin Dow is Senior Nutrition Scientist at Center for Science in the Public Interest. She evaluates nutrition science and translates it into useful information as a writer for Nutrition Action Healthletter, the largest circulating nutrition newsletter. She also provides scientific analysis for CSPI’s advocacy and food & nutrition policy efforts.

Abby Snyder is Assistant Professor, Department of Food Science. Her research is focused on the development of scientifically valid intervention strategies that improve food safety and microbial quality. Through research, teaching, and extension, she works to develop interventions that: 1) mitigate cross-contamination and 2) enable targeted recognition of microbial spoilage potential and environmental persistence. Faculty Profile

Nicole Flewell is Director of Sustainability at Taylor Farms. She leads the company’s national sustainability program and is an advocate of sharing best practices throughout the industry’s supply chain, from growing, to facilities, to distribution and has worked with state and local governments and utilities across the country to maximize impact of sustainability decisions.

Vishal Gaur is the Emerson Professor of Manufacturing Management, and professor of operations, technology and information management at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management. His research deals with data-driven analysis, modeling, and optimization of problems in retailing and supply chains. One of his current projects focuses on the reduction of food waste in supply chains through technology and analytics. Faculty Profile

Miguel Gomez is the Robert G. Tobin Professor, Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management & Director of the Food Industry Management Program. Dr. Gomez’s research program focuses on interrelated areas under the umbrella of food marketing and distribution, with respect to supply chains competitiveness, retailing and channel relationships, and sustainability. Faculty Profile

Julie Goddard is Professor, Department of Food Science. Dr. Goddard’s research program focuses on understanding the interface between food contact materials, food, and microorganisms and how to modify food contact materials to improve the quality, safety, and sustainability of our food supply. Faculty Profile

Harry de Gorter is Professor, Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. His research focuses on applied welfare economics and political economy of agricultural policy and trade. Faculty Profile

David Just is the Susan Eckert Lynch Professor in Science and Business, Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. His research focuses on food and agricultural economics and behavioral economics. Faculty Profile

Renata Ivanek is Associate Professor, Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine. The overarching goal of her research is to advance One Health — the interconnected health of people, animals, plants and their shared environment. Her computer lab develops new and sustainable data- and model-driven approaches for improving food safety, controlling infectious diseases, and optimizing food production systems. Faculty Profile.

Paige Sorensen is a Technical Sustainability Analyst for Cargill’s Protein North America Sustainability Team. She leads Cargill Protein’s Food Waste reduction strategy, a core component of the company’s BeefUp Sustainability Program which aims to reduce the climate impact of the North American beef supply chain. Before Cargill, she received a Master of Science in Environmental Conservation from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Pete Pearson is Senior Director of Food Loss and Waste at World Wildlife Fund. He works on food waste prevention and food recovery, helping businesses understand the intersection of agriculture and wildlife conservation.

Bradley Rickard is Associate Professor, Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. His research focuses on economic implications of policies, innovation, and industry-led initiatives in food and beverage markets. Faculty Profile

Martin Wiedmann is the Gellert Family Professor in Food Safety in the Department of Food Science at Cornell University. His research interests focus on farm-to-table microbial food quality and food safety and the application of molecular and modelling tools to study the biology and transmission of foodborne pathogens and spoilage organisms. Dr. Wiedmann also serves as co-director of the New York State Integrated Food Safety Center of Excellence. Faculty Profile.

Kathleen O’Donnell is the Chief Food Scientist at Wegmans Food Markets. Her responsibilities include regulatory compliance, food safety, emerging issues, and developing quality/food safety programs for various operations at manufacturing and retail.

Turner Wyatt is the Co-founder and CEO of Upcycled Food Association. He is a social entrepreneur focused on reducing food waste and improving our environment and economy. He oversees capital investment strategy, attracting venture capitalists to impact investing in startups in the upcycled product space and builds revenue-generating programming to reduce reliance on philanthropy.

Dairy Foods Innovation at Cornell: Webinar Recap

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Nicole Martin, PhD

The Milk Quality Improvement Program recently hosted a series of three webinars highlighting the role that Cornell plays in dairy food innovation in New York. From resources for dairy producers to cutting edge dairy foods processing and product research, and services offered through Cornell that facilitate dairy food innovation, our series covered why NY is the home of dairy foods innovation.

The first of the three webinars, “Dairy Foods Innovation Begins at the Farm”, we featured Dr. Thomas Overton (Department Chair and Professor, Animal Science Department), Dr. Paul Virkler (Senior Extension Associate, Quality Milk Production Services) and Dr. Daryl Nydam (Professor, Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Services; Faculty Director, Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability). Our speakers discussed the many ways in which Cornell partners with NY dairy producers to ensure the availability of a consistent, high quality raw milk supply for dairy foods processors. A full recording of the webinar can be accessed on the Milk Quality Improvement Program (MQIP) YouTube channel here.

In the second webinar, “Dairy Foods Innovation Research at Cornell”, which featured faculty from the Department of Food Science at Cornell, including Dr. Samuel Alcaine (Assistant Professor), Dr. Carmen Moraru (Department Chair and Professor), Dr. Alireza Abbaspourrad (Assistant Professor) and Dr. Syed Rizvi (Professor), attendees were introduced to the research on new processing technologies, innovative value-added dairy ingredients, utilization of dairy by-products and more. Find the full recording of the webinar here.

In our final dairy foods innovation webinar, “Facilitating Dairy Foods Innovation through Cornell Services”, our speakers included Rob Ralyea, MS (General Manager of the Cornell Food Processing and Development Laboratory), Alina Stelick, MS (Manager of the Cornell Sensory Evaluation Center) and Phillip Owh, MS (Associate Direct, Licensing & Business Development for Life Sciences at Cornell). In this final installment of our webinar series, attendees were introduced to services available through Cornell to dairy industry stakeholders that facilitate innovation, including pilot processing facilities and consulting support, sensory evaluation by consumer and expert panels and licensing of Cornell technology. Find the full recording of the webinar here.

Processor Spotlight – Lively Run Dairy

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As a farm business, how is the Cornell Dairy Foods Extension Team a valuable resource for you?
Cornell Dairy Extension has been an invaluable partner for Lively Run as we have grown over the years. From providing support while working with NYS and Federal regulatory agencies, Third Party Food Safety certification, and training programs for Lively Run staff members, Cornell Dairy Extension has made it possible for our small company to meet the regulatory and food safety standards that are required to play in the national marketplace.

How do you interact with the dairy foods extension team?
Cornell Dairy Extension has been a great resource for Lively Run. When I run into challenges, I have been able to work with Rob Ralyea, Kim Bukowski, or Anika Zuber (and Steve Murphy, although he is now retired!) to find the best ways to address the concern in question. They are quick to respond, knowledgeable, and always helpful. Rob, in particular, has been extremely helpful over the years, always willing to tackle whatever esoteric concern I throw at him!

What services have been valuable for you? Has the team’s expertise helped you tackle unique challenges?
Some services that Cornell Dairy Extension has been able to provide include training and certification programs for Lively Run staff and guidance with developing and maintaining our Food Safety Plan. Perhaps most important, assisting with the interpretation and implementation of regulations that are often written with much larger companies in mind.

Have collaborations with the dairy extension team contributed to your successes? Please describe.
In late 2021, Lively Run completed a Third Party Food Safety Certification with Merieux Nutrisciences. This would not have been possible without the training services and guidance that Cornell Dairy Extension has provided over the years. This certification has been extremely important for the continued growth of Lively Run as it has allowed us access to larger markets and vendors.

Milk Quality Improvement Program visited Process Expo 2021 in Chicago to identify new dairy technologies.

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Part 1

Aljosa Trmcic

Last November (Nov. 2^nd-5^th, 2021), Chicago was the host of Process Expo 2021, a trade show that brought together food and beverage processors, equipment manufacturers, and other companies that offer useful solutions to the Food Industry. The Milk Quality Improvement Program was there as part of their constant mission to identify new dairy technologies and assist dairy processors in evaluating the efficacy and value of these innovations. Although at the first glance this trade show seemed dominated by solutions for the meat and poultry industry, there were number of different innovations featured that show overall progress in food processing and support technologies including the ones that might be of interest to the Dary Industry.

We start with three technologies that organizers themself identified as the top innovations within individual food and beverage segments. (i) The first is a clamp-on temperature sensor, a showcase winner within the Dairy segment as well as the winner of the People’s Choice Award. By clamping-on to any section of the product piping system this relatively simple innovation offers both a noninvasive way of measuring temperature of the product as well as flexibility in where in the piping system these measurements can be taken. Although this sensor shows a lot of potential, any potential users are advised to pay strict attention to proper calibration of the device and validation of the measurements obtained by the device. (ii) The second innovation, that was honored by the Pet Foods and Treats segment, was an in-line imaging system that uses multiple spectrums of light to identify physical contaminants, like plastic, metal, wood, rubber, as well as provide some information related to the chemical composition of the product, like water and fat content. This innovation that offers a possible alternative to classical metal and X-ray detectors might see wider use by the Food Industry in the future including some large cheese processors. (iii) The Confectionery, Candy, and Sweets segment gave the award for the top innovation to battery-less sensors that are currently still limited to monitoring only small specific niches of process parameters; for example, monitoring decrease in machine performance by measuring increase in machine vibration or monitoring decrease in steam trap performance by measuring increase in temperature of surrounding air due to steam escaping from the steam trap. Even though the use of these innovative sensors might be limited now, they are the start of what will probably very soon define how process parameters are measured and used in the future. These sensors do not need external power and are able to continuously sense, process and wirelessly transmit data which makes them one of the key components that are enabling the development of technology called Internet of Things (IoT), a technology that could one day be able to control the process of food making with no or minimal human involvement.

Another advanced piece of technology that will no doubt shape the future of the food industry is Augmented Realty (AR). The AR technology merges digital elements and real physical world elements into modified reality; for example, overlaying live video with digital imaging or animation. One innovative trade show exhibitor shared their success story with offering AR solutions to the food industry. They showed that through the use of digital glasses or headset a view of the specific piece of equipment and environment can be supplemented with interactive and step-by-step visual display of how this equipment functions, how it is assembled, and how to maintain it. The same technology can also be used to enhance effectiveness of remote instructions given by a person by providing an option of adding visual cues that are accurately placed in space for the person that is receiving the instructions; for example, the person giving the instructions can draw an arrow to point to a specific nut that needs to be removed and the arrow will remain pointing to the same nut for the person receiving the instructions regardless of the movement. This technology seems very promising since it can offer more effective employee training, more accurate execution of SOPs, reduced demand for live trainer/supervisor or demand for physical presence of the same.

Join us in the next issue of our Dairy Extension Newsletter for more exciting innovations from Process Expo 2021.

Is your business being approached by companies selling tempting new technologies, but your team isn’t sure if the investment is worth it? Our Milk Quality Improvement Program is assisting dairy processors with this question. We are seeking input on which emerging processing technologies are of interest to dairy processors to help evaluate the efficacy and value of these advancements. You can share your thoughts with us by emailing Aljosa Trmcic at at543@cornell.edu or Rob Ralyea at rdr10@cornell.edu.