Supplier Side
Pierino Frozen Foods doubles output capacity with new pasta cooker
Pierino Frozen Foods, Lincoln Park, Mich., a family-owned and operated manufacturer of frozen, precooked, filled and unfilled pastas for private labeling, said that in December of 2013 it installed a new pasta cooker As the demand for Pierino’s pasta products increased to an amount greater than the previous equipment could handle, the company decided a new pasta cooker was needed.
The new machine has the same footprint as the old machine but double the output. It allows the company to cook more than 3,000 pounds of pasta per hour. Plus, it combines many steps in the pasta production process, including cooking dry and fresh pastas, both laminated and extruded, which creates a higher level of cost-efficiency Most important, the pasta cooker maintains the high level of quality and consistency that Pierino’s clients expect and demand, the company said.
“There are many people in this industry who look for ways and shortcuts to make more money,” said Gianni Guglielmetti, vice president of Pierino Frozen Foods. “We look for ways to make the best products and save the consumer money.”
Pierino Frozen Foods said it offers custom pre-portioned, prepackaged servings for retailers’ and foodservice operators’ private label programs in weights varying from 4 ounces to 10 ounces. Each portion is individually packaged for 100 percent yield to ensure zero waste and maximum profitability, and each portion is individually frozen to offer a longer shelf-life. — M. Escobar
Ricos triples production capacity with new manufacturing facility
Ricos Products Inc., San Antonio, a manufacturer of branded and private label popcorn, restaurant-style tortilla and nacho chips in a variety of sizes and favors, said it moved its production plant from Lewisville, Texas, to Arlington, Texas, after outgrowing the Lewisville location. The Lewisville location was a 38,400-square-foot facility with 10,000 square feet dedicated to manufacturing. The newly renovated 100,100-square-foot plant in Arlington offers triple the production capacity of the previous location. It offers 30,000 square feet of manufacturing space, 65,000 square feet of warehouse space and 5,000 square feet of office space.
After purchasing the new production plant in Arlington, Ricos demolished the existing interior to transform the building into a customized state-of-the-art environmentally controlled manufacturing facility. The company added a new chip line, a new mezzanine and a distribution deck controlled by three separate interconnected control panels. It also incorporated a new flour delivery system to feed both chip lines with either bulk or 50-pound bag flour. The process area includes environmental control of not only temperature, but also relative humidity to increase throughput, ensure consistent quality and reduce waste. And the process area was also designed to accommodate up to two additional lines, for a total of four chip process lines, as the business grows, the company said.
Ricos said it also built a room dedicated to popcorn processing. The room is large enough to add an additional popcorn line or possibly a specialty line in addition to its current line. — M. Escobar
Canned foods tied to more healthful eating habits
Alternative packaging formats have been getting a lot of attention in recent years. But at least one traditional format — the tried-and-true can — is tied to more healthful eating habits on the part of consumers, according to recent research commissioned by the Washington, D.C.-based Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) and their Cans Get You Cooking campaign.
In fact, adults and children who typically eat six or more canned foods within a two-week period have more healthful eating habits than those consumers who eat only one or two of such items during the same timeframe, the study found. Such consumers have higher intakes of fruit and vegetables, as well as 17 essential nutrients. They also have higher Healthy Eating Index scores, which are tied to 10 specific dietary components; a higher score correlates with a better-quality diet.
Cans also offer today’s retailers an avenue to attract health-minded shoppers to store brand products and programs. For example, cans seal in freshness, nutrition, quality and taste without requiring preservatives and additives, according to CMI.
Moreover, fruit and vegetables packaged in cans are on par, nutrition-wise, with their fresh and frozen counterparts — and sometimes even beat them. Canned tomatoes, for instance, have more lycopene, a compound associated with the reduction of cancer risk, than their fresh cousins, CMI noted. And the canning process also helps make the fiber in vegetables such as beans more soluble — and thus, more useful to the human body.
Retailers that communicate these and other health benefits associated with store brand canned goods could see increased center-store traffic and sales. But they’ll also want to emphasize the fact that canned foods remain affordable and are infinitely recyclable. In fact, a recent Michigan State University analysis cited by CMI found that fresh green beans are almost 500 percent more costly and provide less nutritional content than their canned counterparts.