Go to the second day of live coverage here.
##5.21pm## Paul Comey from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, despite being here to talk about sustainability, has just mentioned the fact that the company acquired Diedrich Coffee this afternoon. A lot of what Paul’s saying overlaps with CSR, as the company seems to be proactive in being sustainable to the point where the business is becoming better for the local community and beyond. In other words, the changes it’s making to become more sustainable is having a positive effect on the rest of the business, and the knock-on effect is benefitting the whole supply chain, from source to distribution.
##3.23pm## Hear my chat with ETQ’s Tim Lozier at this link. You can also listen to my brief conversation with Ulf Åberg from ‘Invest in Skåne’, who’s hoping to secure some business for Sweden while he’s here. I also met G Campbell Barnum from DD Williamson, who talked about the myriad business opportunities available at this event, especially as it’s attended by some big hitters and decision makers. Listen to my chat with G Campbell at this link.
##1.51pm## Howard Moskowitz from Moskowitz Jacobs Inc opens the afternoon session with a keynote entitled ‘Typing mind genomics through rule developing experimentation’.
##12.20pm## Chor San Khoo follows Espen Thomassen’s presentation. She’s speaking about ‘Sodium and health sodium reduction’ on behalf of the Campbell Soup Company. The US is trying to affect consumer eating habits, she says, with particular focus on low-fat, low-calorie and low-sodium foods.
Current US sodium intake is 3,400mg (2005 Dietary Guidelines), but this needs to be reduced to 2,300mg and 1,500mg.
##11.51am## Late to the stage, Espen Thomassen from Tine presents ‘Omega-3 – claims, evidences and application know-how’. He provides a background of the company and the products it produces, including bread, fish-based products and meat-based products (featuring omega-3 EPA & DHA).
He focuses on the use of omega-3 in bread, talking about its increasing global popularity. However, in the US, bread contains only 32mg of omega-3 per serving, yet the global average is between 125-300mg per serving.
“Consumers are asked to eat more fish,” he says. “You get 500mg of omega-3 each serving, yet EFSA says the levels of omega-3 in foods should be 250mg. These are the challenges we meet every day. In Norway, where we don’t have these regulations, we’re having 500mg. At least now in Europe, we’ve got some guidelines, and that’s important.”
##10.32am## I just had a chat with Gabriel Almazan from Ingersoll Rand, a ‘commercial products manufacturer’ looking to secure some new business while in Chicago. I also met Joe Zucconi from the Zucconi Idea Agency – a reasonably successful creative agency who has worked with the likes of Hershey and Campbell Soup Company. The networking opportunities for companies large and small are abundant at this event. It’s a relatively small venue, yet everyone seems to be taking advantage of the in-between-speaker time.
Listen to my brief chat with Gabriel Almazan. Listen to my brief chat with Joe Zucconi.
##9.41am## The halls have split, with Todd Hale from The Nielsen Company talking about ‘The cautious optimism of your 2010 consumer’ in one hall, and Susan Forsell from McDonald’s talking about ‘A collaborative outlook on food safety for the new decade’ in the other.
##9.30am## Looking to the future, Timbie points out that businesses need to embrace social networking technologies, but also integrate them into existing, structured productivity solutions such as Oracle and IBM. He says this will “fuel innovation and meet consumer needs”.
The industry needs to attract fresh minds, posing the question: “Are working conditions attractive for the brightest or most progressive workers?”
Where technology is concerned, Timbie advocates collaborative computing (and perhaps cloud computing, too), and talks about how the concept of ‘multiple management boards’ has proven successful at McCormick.
“People of all functions have something to contribute to the business,” he says. “We are still people, with different backgrounds and different viewpoints, and we don’t always agree. Technology alone will not solve issues, but working together as people will be successful.”
##9.17am## Mark Timbie is focusing on innovation in the broadest sense; about attracting the best talent, leveraging consumer trends and high technology. “If you hear any negativity, don’t listen to it,” he says. “This is a great industry. As we work our way through the recession, we’re seeing people value the time spending time with their family, having a great meal at home or in a restaurant.”
“We may not be in the high-tech space, the amount of technology we use to bring food to people’s tables is better than people think. Our industry is not low-tech. Steady advancement rules the day.”
He tempts the audience with the question, ‘What two technologies during my business career have had the biggest impact?’. His answers aren’t so surprising:
Timbie talks about ‘game changers’: “I wish I was smart enough to work out what the next scanner is or the next internet. Social networking allows people to quickly communicate and rally support behind a cause. However, it’s very easy for false impressions to disseminate quickly. We need to begin now to understand it, learn from it and leverage it.”
Other ‘game changers’ according to Timbie are nanotechnology, enhancers, maskers (improving the flavour of foods), processing technologies (pressure stabilisation), emotion research (the elusive qualities that make something successful).
##9.02am## Lou Nieto, the chairperson for the conference, welcomes everyone to the event (organised by WTG). He shares some housekeeping with the audience and then introduces the keynote speaker, Mark Timbie from McCormick & Co. Timbie’s presentation is called ‘Back to the future’.
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