Customer Gets Doritos Bag With Only 3 Chips

A Taco Bell customer recently got a Doritos bag that only contained three chips. Since he had the free time, he took pictures and weighed the bag to document the incident. Pictures are available at The Consumerist website.

Photo source: www.commons.wikimedia.org

Celebrating The Holidays With Fried Chicken

While most Americans expect Christmas dinner to include ham, turkey or roast beef, in Japan, they splurge on some KFC for their holiday meal. According to Slashfood, The KFC Christmas Party barrel is a huge hit in Japan, featuring a bucket of chicken, a Caesar salad and a chocolate mousse cake. These dinners are so popular that some people reserve them two months in advance.

Photo source: www.commons.wikimedia.org

$324 For A Bowl Of Noodles?

A restaurant in Taiwan is selling a bowl of beef noodles for $10,000 New Taiwan dollars, or $324 USD. According to the owner, the dish is worth so much because he uses special cuts of beef, a unique soup blend and minimal, natural spices. I like pasta, but I think I'll stick to buying my $2 noodles at the supermarket...

Photo source: www.commons.wikipedia.org

Gulf Oysters Decimated By Oil 'Remedy'

Back in April, Louisiana's governor ordered released loads of freshwater in hopes of pushing oil back to sea. But the New York Times reports the freshwater has inadvertently destroyed much of the Gulf oyster population, which needs saltwater to survive... oops.

Photo source: www.commons.wikimedia.org

Worst Holiday Food Gifts

According to The Stir, some food gifts should be avoided like the plague, unless you're planning on giving your enemy a present this year. Personally, I think the World's Largest Gummy Worm sounds pretty cool.

A Festivus For The Rest Of Us... Even In Prison

Need better meals in prison? Just claim Festivus as your religion. That's what one prisoner in California did. He didn't like the salami meals served in jail, so he claimed to celebrate the Seinfeld-created religion, and a judge actually bought it, at least for a while.

Food Channel Predicts 2011 Food Trends

The Food Channel has been predicting the next year's food trends for 23 years. Of particular interest to food manufacturers would be #6: Small is the new big business. Here's this year's list:

1. The Canning Comeback: Canning is gaining popularity due to economic and health concerns.

2. Men In Aprons: Layoffs have led to more men cooking.

3. Local Somewhere: Consumers are looking for hand-grown, no matter where it's grown.

4. Don't Ask, Don't Tell: We're tired of being told where we can eat.

5. Appetite For Food Apps: We're using apps for recipes and coupon sources.

6. Small Is New Big Business: Corporations are thinking like small businesses.

7. Fresh Every Day: Rooftop gardens are part of this trend.

8. Chefs In Schools: Chefs are serving better flavors and more nutrition.

9. Discomfort Foods: Change makes us comfortable with more change.

10. Eating For Sex And Other Things: We're working longer, so apparently we need more energy in certain departments.

Click here for the complete press release.

Robotic Tea Pluckers

The food industry is becoming more automated everyday, and now it looks like our tea is being robotically harvested. According to this Daily Nation article, a research institute found that tea plucking and pruning machines reduced costs by 80 percent compared to their human counterparts.

Is Flame Retardant In Your Butter?

A research study recently turned up evidence of a flame retardant used in electronics in a stick of butter purchased at a Dallas grocery store. Apparently 95 percent of Americans have flame retardants in their bodies, but the butter had an especially high concentration of the chemical PBED. So, is this a fluke, or is our entire butter supply contaminated? According to the article, scientists have no idea. I'm reassured. How about you?

Jon Stewart Takes On Food Safety

Last week, the Senate passed its version of the Food Safety Modernization Act in order to mend an ailing food supply that has sickened thousands over the years with bacteria in everyday foods like eggs and peanut butter. However, the bill may not be signed into law this year, as the House and Senate versions still need to be resolved. The Daily Show's Jon Stewart gives his take on food safety and the bill in this video.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
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Mozart Bananas

It seems l ike food producers are always looking for new ways to increase product quality, and here's a really interesting one: playing classical music. According to The Japan Times, a Japanese fruit company is using Mozart's music to ripen it's bananas. I have no idea if this actually works, but apparently it's selling well. And it's not only fruit companies who are "going bananas" for the classics. A Japanese sake brewing company is using Mozart during the brewing process.

At Least You Have A Job

Anna Wells, Editor, IMPO

“Well… I guess I should just be glad I have a job.”

Ugh. I sincerely feel that this distasteful phrase is the ugly ribbon tied around our pre-packaged recession malaise.

Don’t get me wrong… I AM glad to have a job. But as we grapple up this economic canyon, the lingering cries of a desperately submissive workforce have muted our national confidence. We’re a nation of wet blankets, or worse, puppies — ecstatically licking our owners’ hands. In summary: I’m tired of the groveling. I’m tired of the daily fear that, lest we function at near-robotic levels of productivity, we’ll lose our positions.

And even thought things are improving, there’s a lot that’s staying the same. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Thursday that the national jobless rate — now at 9.7 percent -- is "still terribly high and is going to stay unacceptably high for a very long time" because of the damage caused by the recession.

Consistent work is scarce, yes; times are tough, but we can’t forget that the American workforce is working because their skills have value. I think we sometimes forget that the companies we work for—those trying to survive just as we are — need us as well. I think I’ll finally feel like the recession is over when, not only are we grateful for our jobs, but our employers feel they’re grateful for us.

I’ve met a lot of folks in management who, despite the recession’s heavy breathing, work hard to foster a company culture which places employees first. Sure, there’s a whole line of people who’d gladly fill a vacant position, but retaining good employees is the smartest way to keep from accruing more costs. It’s important that your team members feel valued, especially when all-too-common cost-cutting measures relative to salaries or benefits can be demoralizing.

And if you think fear of job loss is a good thing (productivity numbers are up, after all), the long term affects may backfire. According to CNN:

Jane Goldner, a hiring expert and CEO of the Goldner Group, says fear of losing one's job only motivates people for a short time.

‘We can burn the midnight oil to a certain point and then we're exhausted and we're not productive,’ Goldner says. ‘Fear does that to people.’

That fear bleeds into workers’ personal lives, she says. Some workers not only spurn offers of flex time, but they forgo personal tasks such as doctor appointments or household errands because they're afraid of being laid off.

Companies that exploit those workers' fears get higher productivity in the short term but they eventually lose, Goldner says. When the economy improves, those same employees will jettison those companies for a more humane working environment.

‘Those companies will have a revolving door,’ Goldner says.

What’s scary about Goldner’s remarks is you might not realize the type of environment you’re in. Have you sat your team members down and gauged their level of panic? Are some going so far above and beyond that they’re likely to burn out? It might be worth a few extra minutes of communication to be sure.

It’s also important to stress to your team that more work doesn’t necessarily equate to better work. An army of bleary-eyed “yes” men and women is probably not the type of creative team you’ve developed, and you shouldn’t let the recession manipulate the culture simply because unemployment fears make some succumb to the “work for work’s sake” mentality. Now is the time to push them creatively — so they can show not just how hard they work, but more importantly, how well-rounded they are. And at the end of the day, you’ll all be better for it.

And as far as the “recession lessons” go, I look forward to the day when I can stop doling them out… but I guess I should be glad I have a job.

How do you ensure your employees feel valued? How do you deter “over-productive” employees? Email me your thoughts at anna.wells@advantagemedia.com.

Making Friends In The Twittersphere

Krystal Gabert, Associate Editor

Social networking can be a giant waste of time.

I say that as someone charged with the task of maintaining Food Manufacturing’s presence on several social networking platforms. Don’t get me wrong: connecting with readers in the food industry on twitter has been a valuable experience, allowing me to keep up, in real time, with what you guys are concerned about in your day-to-day operations. Having that information has helped Editor-in-chief Karen Langhauser and me to better tailor our news and features—both in print and in our daily e-newsletter—to your tastes.

Having said that, it’s difficult to quantify the number of tweets—about Justin Bieber or whatever so-and-so just ate for breakfast—that I comb through before I find one useful reference to a topic relevant to the food manufacturing industry. While twitter has provided us a unique look at our readers, Food Manufacturing has long been devoted to a give-and-take relationship with you. Before facebook was a glimmer in Mark Zuckerberg’s eye, FM has been running a Market Update section in each print issue, collecting and distributing data collected from you, our readers. Beyond the benefit this survey provides to you, processing its results allow us at FM to pinpoint the exact topics that are of value to our readers… no Justin-Bieber-dodging required.

My crankiness aside, the complaint I’m issuing here is a pretty general one: doing anything on the internet requires more sifting. Finding news, getting opinion, networking, shopping. In some ways, these things are simplified online—I just bought myself some pretty excellent tax return presents that I found online and have never seen in stores—but in other ways, living online can be more difficult—the din of unfiltered, competing voices can be deafening. And no place is that online din louder than in the world of social networking.

Confusing, frustrating, time-wasting or whatever “kids, get off my lawn!” adjective I want to attach to social networking, there’s one more important label I’m leaving out: Unavoidable. We recently ran an article on foodmanufacturing.com which discussed the role of social media in effectively containing food safety hysteria. The author said, in part,

Social networking makes the unfiltered voice of the consumer more accessible and immediate than ever before—which means that any response by food processors must be both fast and effective if it is to have any hope of limiting adverse consumer sentiment and the resulting impact on business.

Just as social media is helping us connect with you, it can help you to connect to consumers and make sure that your voice and your message are among those they hear every day.

Food Manufacturing has started a new facebook page, and we’d love for you to join us. We’ll continue, as always, to keep you informed, and we hope you’ll find the news and features we provide helpful when communicating with your own clients. We envision the page as a place for you to communicate directly with us and with others in the industry. So come waste some time with us. Maybe you’ll make some valuable connections in the process.

On facebook: Food Manufacturing

On the web: www.foodmanufacturing.com

On twitter: twitter.com/foodmfg