We spoke with Mairead Dunphy, mission communications manager at Stonyfield Organic, about the company’s #Playfree initiative; Christiane Lippert, head of marketing (food), at Lycored, about the company’s new online color matching tool; Innotech and Emsur R&D director, Pascal Reina and global marketing director, Cayetano Martínez, who tell us about the new facility the company has opened in Spain; and with Fonterra’s Komal Mistry-Mehta, director of NZMP Sports & Active Lifestyle, about the partnership with By-Health.
We also have our weekly look at the global dairy markets with Liam Fenton, from INTL FCStone.
Stonyfield Organic #Playfree initiative hits 1m milestone
Stonyfield Organic’s #PlayFree initiative to stop the use of harmful pesticides on parks and playing fields has reached a milestone, with the organic yogurt maker announcing it has brought organic model fields to more than 1m people so far.
The company also announced it has teamed up with 10 new communities to convert outdoor fields and parks to organic grounds management.
Gary Hirshberg, Stonyfield co-founder, said, “Kicking off in 2018 in honor of our 35th anniversary, we set off on our most ambitious mission yet -- to make all fields organic by stopping the use of toxic persistent pesticides and harmful chemicals, including glyphosate.
“It’s a huge milestone that we’ve brought organic pilot fields to more than one million people, but we’re particularly thrilled to see that work continue and even spread to other fields and communities. We’re very much looking forward to seeing that enthusiasm, awareness and action continue to grow with our next 10 #PlayFree communities and beyond.”
Each of this year’s selected cities will receive a $5,000 donation to use toward the purchase of organic inputs and/or landscaping equipment needed for organic grounds management. The communities will also receive in-kind technical support and guidance from Stonyfield’s collaborators, including Beyond Pesticides, Non Toxic Neighborhoods, Osborne Organics and Midwest Grows Green.
The 10 communities that will team up with Stonyfield over the next two years are East Grand Rapids, MI; Lisle, IL; Richmond, CA; Minneapolis, MN; University Heights, OH; South Euclid, OH; Chapel Hill, NC; St. Petersburg, FL; Austin, TX; and Pittsburgh, PA.
The #PlayFree communities selected in 2018 are under way with their conversions to organic management. Those communities are South Portland, ME; Costa Mesa, CA; Burbank, CA; Tustin, CA; Salt Lake City, UT; Houston, TX; North Miami, FL; Hyattsville, MD; Portsmouth, NH; and Dover, NH.
Last year, Stonyfield also set up a grassroots donation program geared toward 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations looking to take their community education and advocacy efforts to the next level. A total of $50,000 was awarded to 501(c)(3) groups.
One of the recipients, Herbicide-Free Campus, aims to stop the use of toxic herbicides at colleges and universities throughout the country.
Mackenzie Feldman, founder of Herbicide-Free Campus, said, "This movement is about a cultural shift in the way we manage landscapes and tend to the soil. It requires us to ask the question, 'If the alternatives exist, why are we still spraying toxic persistent herbicides at schools and allowing children, community members, and workers to be exposed?' For the sake of future generations, we must do better.”
In a recent survey, Stonyfield found 69% of American parents are looking to lessen exposure to pesticides in food, yet nearly the same number, 67%, do not consider sports fields, playgrounds and parks to be of concern. Stonyfield said it wants to bring attention to this issue by empowering everyone to make change locally to protect the health of children and the environment.
“Several of the most commonly used chemicals on playing fields are either proven or likely endocrine disruptors, which can interfere with the development of children’s immune, reproductive, and metabolic systems,” said Philip Landrigan, MD, MSc, founding director of the Children’s Environmental Health Center at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and author of the book ‘Children and Environmental Toxins: What Everyone Needs to Know.’
“I applaud Stonyfield and its collaborators for this initiative and encourage all parents to get involved in their local communities.”
Kim Konte, co-founder of Non Toxic Neighborhoods, said, “Non Toxic Neighborhoods and our advisors believe that it should be a basic human right that our children are protected from harmful pesticides where they play. Glyphosate and other synthetic pesticides simply should have never been used in parks, playgrounds, athletic fields and schools exposing the most vulnerable population, especially since they’re used for purely cosmetic reasons.
“Thanks to Stonyfield’s support of the organic pilot park in the city of North Miami, six additional pesticide bans and organically driven policies have come online as a result.”
Lycored introduces online color matching tool
Lycored, a provider of lycopene-based color and taste-enhancing ingredients for food and beverages, has introduced HueFinder.
The online tool is an online color-matching assistant to help Lycored’s customers find the hue they want for their food or beverage products.
On the page, customers answer a few questions about their product, then select the color they are looking for from a range of colors on a horizontal bar, which then provides the information on which of Lycored’s natural red, pink, gold, yellow or orange products will create the desired color.
Christiane Lippert, head of marketing (food), at Lycored, said, “The process of finding the right shade to meet color challenges and taste issues can be a daunting, time-consuming task for product developers.
“HueFinder seeks to harness our depth of application expertise and stability studies to make the selection process much smoother.”
“Our vertically integrated color portfolio of red shades is made from natural lycopene extracted from tomatoes, while our yellow, gold and oranges are sourced from our particular super producing strain of fungus called Blakeslea trispora.”
Lippert said both are tested for stability across multiple applications including flavored waters, UHT treated dairy drinks, juice-based beverages, hard coated confectionery, cheeses, prepared fruits and syrups, yogurts, fortified gummies and surimi seafood.
Taste neutral and temperature and light-stable, Lycored’s colorants are pH independent, and resilient enough to withstand the rigors of industrial food and beverage processing.
Lycored’s food colorant range is non-GMO, vegan, Kosher, Halal and allergen free.
Emsur Madrid inaugurates new Spanish facilities to target dairy market
The new 5,000m2 facilities include advances in safety and energy efficiency.
In addition, the plant has set up a new high-speed rotogravure printing line. The design and technology provides higher quality print registration and speeds up work changeovers thanks to the line ergonomics, also improving health and safety for employees and furthering the company’s commitment to environmental sustainability through improved energy efficiency.
The facilities also include a laminator that allows lamination with or without solvents depending on the technical requirements of each product.
With the completion of the project, Emsur Madrid, which has more than 120 employees, now has a capacity of more than 220m square meters.
Santiago Sebastián, managing director of Emsur Madrid and Emsur Valencia Saymopack, said, “This investment allows us to keep growing and extending our portfolio of products in Spain while at the same time we are able to guarantee top quality products and optimise our industrial efficiency which directly contributes to our pursuit of service excellence and customer satisfaction.”
The company also recently inaugurated the INNOTECH I+D centre that shares its facilities with Coexpan España. This new innovation and development centre has been created to help shape a sustainable future for plastic packaging in response to new market and consumer demands.
Emsur said this is another way for the company to strengthen its commitment to sustainability and to the circular economy of plastics.
Emsur is the Grupo Lantero division dedicated to the manufacture of flexible containers for packaging solutions, with both rotogravure and flexographic printing, primarily designed for the food sector.
Emsur has more than 900 employees at its nine production plants in eight countries. It has customers in more than 60 countries in America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia where it wholesales almost 1bn square metres.
Fonterra and By-Health partner on R&D of nutritional solutions
New Zealand dairy cooperative Fonterra and By-Health Co. Ltd., a global vitamin and dietary supplements (VDS) enterprise, have entered into a strategic R&D partnership to focus on developing innovative nutritional solutions for the health and wellness market.
Both parties will work together on joint health research and new product development.
The partnership will leverage Fonterra’s innovation in functional dairy proteins, Milk Fat Globule Membrane (MFGM) and probiotics and By-Health’s involvement in vitamin and dietary supplements.
In the space, Fonterra established a specialised Sports and Active Lifestyle Nutrition unit in 2019 to accelerate its growth in health and wellness nutrition, and By-Health acquired Life-Space Group to enable global expansion in dietary supplements.
Komal Mistry-Mehta, director of NZMP Sports & Active Lifestyle said consumers around the world are becoming more aware and proactive about health and wellness.
“Globally the probiotics market is seeing significant growth. With the market valued at US$40bn, Euromonitor forecasts the probiotics supplement segment alone to achieve 7% CAGR over the next five years. The growing consumer recognition of metabolic health, mental wellbeing and anti-ageing needs presents a significant opportunity for NZMP’s specialty nutrition ingredients, including dairy proteins, MFGM, and market leading probiotic super-strains BifidoB HN019TM and LactoB HN001TM,” Mistry-Mehta said.
Felix Zhang, By-Health research and development director, said, “Our strategy of providing nutritional solutions for consumers is underpinned by our collaborative R&D partnerships with materials suppliers, scientific research institutions, medical institutions and other stakeholders to build the industry’s capabilities to provide superior nutrition. Our strategic R&D partnership with Fonterra gives us access to valuable dairy nutrition expertise to develop high-quality and effective solutions for our customers.”
