Editor-in-Chief Michael Costa details how the cold chain’s efforts to practice sustainability are paying off today and laying an eco-friendly foundation for the future.
We are now accepting entries for our 2021 Best New Refrigerated Retail Products Contest. Similar to our recent frozen foods contest, we'll select 25 finalists for daily voting throughout the month of August on our website. The top-five with the most votes will be highlighted in a special section of our December magazine, and the overall winner will also be featured on an episode of our Cold Corner podcast.
We've pared down the nominees to 20 finalists. Now it's up to you to decide who wins.
April 7, 2021
Our Best New Frozen Retail Products Contest is officially live, where you can vote for one of 20 frozen food finalists. You can vote once a day for any of the finalists through May 2. See inside for more details.
Consumer stockpiling during the pandemic, plus an increase in HPP product variety, combine for one of the most successful years in the refrigerated segment.
The headline for last year’s Top 25 Refrigerated Foods Processors Report read, “Refrigerated Foods to Reign Supreme in 2020”. In no other year than 2020 could a headline that bold be an understatement.
On our latest From the Cold Corner Podcast, I talk with Vincent Free, chairman of the Controlled Environment Building Association (CEBA) about how the organization helps bring together suppliers, sub-contractors, builders and more, to move the thermal envelope industry forward through education and networking.
Looking back on what we’ll call 2020 B.C. (Before Coronavirus), the pipeline for cold storage construction was already robust and healthy. According to research by commercial real estate firm CBRE, overall industrial construction—which encompasses cold storage, along with warehouses, distribution centers, manufacturing facilities, self-storage, office and flex space—was at 298 million square feet (MSF) before COVID-19, bolstered by the ongoing rise of e-commerce.
This week on our From the Cold Corner podcast, I talk washdown motors for food processing with Regal Beloit’s John Calloway. We also discuss how the IoT (Internet of Things) is creating new efficiencies for motors, and how Regal Beloit is pivoting its business strategy amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Metal detection today remains the backbone of food safety compliance for the majority of the industry, but especially in the chilled and frozen food sector. Specifically, simultaneous multi-frequency scanning is making it much easier for manufacturers to identify hard-to-find metals in food products with high conductivity (so-called "wet" products). These products may, literally, have high water content. Additionally, above-average conductivity may also be linked to high levels of minerals, particularly salt. These can be found in products such as bacon, or ready meals.
The sports nutrition market has become more mainstream, whilst dedicated gym goers and sports people may have seen products as purely functional, everyday consumers want sports nutrition products that they can easily incorporate into everyday routines. Consumers are taking a more proactive, holistic and long-term approach to health. This means that there is a significant opportunity for brands of nutritious, “better-for-you” products to target these consumers. So, is the everyday consumer actively looking for sports nutrition products?