GEA will launch in November its new vertical SmartPacker CX400 D-Zip for pre-packaged food products for retail and foodservice. It combines fast, high-quality operation with maximum flexibility and uptime. Apart from producing premium quality D-ZIP bags, this easy-to-use machine can produce more than 10 different bag styles for a wide variety of applications such as candy, nuts, frozen fruits and grated cheese. The new machine integrates a newly developed corner seal unit, designed to reduce complexity and improve quality, flexibility and serviceability, thereby meeting the demands of today’s processors.

US Foods announced the launch of its Fall Scoop 2020 catalog, titled “On Point With Off-Premise – Designed To Make It.” This special edition of Scoop features 14 products designed to address trends within off-premise dining such as labor-saving products perfect for DIY meal kits, and products that will help ease diner safety and hygiene worries, including tamper-evident packaging and sanitation items.

In the upcoming September issue of Refrigerated & Frozen Foods, we highlight the pandemic pivots made by Sysco and US Foods in 2020 due to COVID-19 and its effect on foodservice clients like restaurants, hotels, caterers, stadiums, and other volume venues. While putting that story together, we also had a chance to speak to another foodservice distribution giant, Golden State Foods (GSF) and its Chairman and CEO, Mark Wetterau.

On our latest From the Cold Corner Podcast, I sit down with Neil Russell, VP of corporate affairs at Sysco, for details about the company’s constantly evolving strategies during the pandemic.