NJFPA NEWS Summer 2011

Welcome to the summer 2011 issue of the New Jersey Food Processors Association NJFPA NEWS. Our association is growing rapidly and we are continually providing new and enhanced benefits for our members. Information about a number of new events and opportunities follows below!

NJFPA Adds an Executive Director to its Leadership Team

The New Jersey Food Processors Association (NJFPA) has retained Beverly (Bev) Lynch, a principal of the Advocacy & Management Group (AMG) in Trenton, NJ, as our executive director. Bev has considerable expertise in association management, and has also served in leadership positions with the National Grocers Association and the New Jersey Food Council. She brings that knowledge and energy to NJFPA as its new executive director. The services of the AMG team will be utilized as well, with AJ Sabath leading NJFPA advocacy efforts and Christine Higgins serving as NJFPA associate executive director. In addition, the NJFPA offices will now be located in Trenton, the state’s capital.

“The NJFPA has grown considerably over the past few years, and we are excited to take our association to an even higher level. The Advocacy and Management Group will enable us to further expand and enhance the services that we offer,” said Lou Cooperhouse, president of the NJFPA and president and COO of F&S Produce Company, Inc. “We are very pleased that Bev, AJ, Christine and the AMG team are now on board to help the NJFPA expand our networking, educational programming, and government advocacy services throughout New Jersey and the surrounding region.”

AMG has a team in place to advance the already excellent cornerstone that exists at the NJFPA—and take them to new heights—with increased membership, timely communications, new benefits designed to grow the membership, and increased exposure to our state government in Trenton. AMG co-principal AJ Sabath is a veteran of years of service in state government who, along with Lynch, will work to increase the visibility of the Association and the New Jersey food processing industry. Staff member Christine Higgins, who has 10 years of experience working with mid-sized New Jersey-based associations and taking them to the next level, will provide event planning, association management, and administrative support.

Michele Hujber, NJFPA’s executive secretary, is moving in exciting new directions as well. She will be leaving her post at NJFPA to dedicate more time and energy to her company, Huber Public Relations (http://www.huberpr.com), which she founded in 2009. The company offers strategic public relations and communication planning, writing and editing, media relations, speaker bureau and special event coordination services. Building upon her work with NJFPA and the Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Hujber is focusing on building a client base within the food industry. She encourages NJFPA members to contact her about her services at 732-439-5625 or michele@huberpr.com.

Please note our new address! NJFPA will be visible now on State Street, in the State Capitol of Trenton, NJ. Bev and Christine will work with the Board and membership in a personalized, professional, and efficient manner—with an energized and exciting approach to association management. NJFPA can now be reached at NJFPA, 202 West State Street, Trenton, NJ  08608; 609-392-5558; bev@njfoodprocessors.org or christine@njfoodprocessors.org. As always, the New Jersey Food Processors Association welcomes your input and feedback. We invite you to take a fresh look at the NEW New Jersey Food Processors Association!

Peter Pappas Memorial Golf Tournament

This year’s Peter Pappas Memorial Golf Tournament was held on June 9 at the Buena Vista Country Club Buena, NJ and was a great success.

Once again, this event was a sellout!   Approximately 140 golfers braved the extremely hot weather and had the usual good time at the event. Players enjoyed networking and competing for prizes in our various contests, including Straightest Drive, Closest to the Pin, Longest Drive, and Team Putting Contest—see our website (http://www.njfoodprocessors.org/golf.html) for a complete list of winners. After golfing, golfers and non-golfers alike enjoyed our awards dinner, which offered recognition for our best golfers, door-prizes, and 50/50 drawing that benefitted the Jim Sclafani Scholarship for local high school students.

Next year’s tournament will be Thursday, June 7, 2012 and will again be at the Buena Vista Country Club. Save the date!

Next NJ Food Processors networking dinner event will focus on energy efficiency

The New Jersey Food Processors Association (NJFPA) will hold its next Networking Dinner on Wednesday, September 21, at the Westin Hotel in Mt. Laurel, NJ. The event, sponsored by J. H. Cohn, begins at 6:00 p.m. with cash bar and time for member networking. The dinner and educational program will begin at 6:30 p.m. and cost for attendance at this event is just $60 per person.

The educational program will feature a panel of three speakers who will address energy efficiency solutions for the food industry: Margaret Brennan, associate vice president of economic development at Rutgers and associate director of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station; Michael R. Muller, director of the Rutgers Center for Advanced Energy Systems (CAES); and Joseph Tighe III, CPA, a tax partner at J.H. Cohn.

Additional information about the speakers and registration information can be found on our website at http://www.njfoodprocessors.org/index.html.

NJFPA welcomes Its newest members

Frank Aversa, Aversa Brothers Industrial Contractors Inc.; Thomas Barry, Symrise Inc.; Matt Burra, Westco F G Corp; Robert Chesler, Lowenstein Sandler PC; Elizabeth (Liz) Cohen, SupplyOne; Debbie Diener, KDM Foodsales, Inc.; Linda Doherty, New Jersey Food Council; Rachel Freeman, Certified Laboratories Inc.; Leslie Gurland, Logotech, Inc.; Michael Kennedy, Temple Inland; Jeffrey Krawczak, Alliant Food Safety Labs; Mahwan Mundi, International Paper; David Rahal, National Food Trading Corp; Thomas Schmidt, Van de Vries Spice Company; Don Zimmerman, Amcor.

Upcoming events:

September 13, 2011: QA Roundtable, Diane Miskowski, EMSL Analytical Inc., will talk about tests for nutritional labeling, pesticides, and shelf life studies and conduct a tour of EMSL labs. The event will be held 9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. at EMSL Analytical Inc., 200 Route 130 North Cinnaminson, NJ 08077.

September 21, 2011: Networking Dinner, Margaret Brennan, associate vice president of economic development at Rutgers and associate director of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station; Michael R. Muller, director of the Rutgers Center for Advanced Energy Systems (CAES); and Joseph Tighe III, CPA, a tax partner at J.H. Cohn address energy efficiency solutions for the food industry. The event begins at 6 p.m. at the Westin Hotel in Mount Laurel. Register at http://www.njfoodprocessors.org/register_net_dinner2011.html.

October 11, 2011: QA Roundtable, Bryan DiMenna and George Argiriou of QC Laboratories talking about microbiological testing and water testing concerns for food processing plants. The event will be held 9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. at the Rutgers Food Innovation Center, 450 East Broad St., Bridgeton, NJ, 08302.

November 8, 2011: QA Roundtable, Joe Lacotte, NJFPA Board member, speaking about the New Seafood HACCP guidance that has just come into effect this summer. The event will be held 9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. at the Rutgers Food Innovation Center, 450 East Broad St., Bridgeton, NJ, 08302.

December 13, 2011: QA Roundtable, Charles Giambrone, Rochester Midland. The event will be held 9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. at the Rutgers Food Innovation Center, 450 East Broad St., Bridgeton, NJ, 08302.

January 30, 2012: NJFPA Annual Meeting and Conference. Details coming soon!

It’s time to renew your NJFPA membership

The new NJFPA membership year begins on August 1. If you are currently a member, you should have received a renewal letter in the mail. If you haven’t already renewed, please do so today.

There are many good reasons to renew—and to encourage your colleagues join—NJFPA. The association is an organization of manufacturers and suppliers of food and agricultural products joined together to promote best practices, share information and expand the industry. NJFPA programs are designed to foster education regarding food industry trends, technologies, practices and processes, and include a number of networking opportunities between manufacturers and suppliers to our industry. These include:

• The NJFPA Annual Conference, which this past January featured keynote speaker Lt. Governor of New Jersey Kim Guadagno and guest speaker Caren S. Franzini, chief executive officer of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. The date for the 2012 conference is Monday, January 30, 2012.
• The annual NJFPA Peter Pappas Memorial Golf Tournament, an extremely popular event offering a casual networking opportunity. For the past two years we've filled the course! A putting contest generates hundreds of dollars annually for the Jim Sclafani Scholarship, benefitting local high school students. The 2012 outing will be held on Thursday, June 7, 2012.
• Networking Dinners, which are held three to four times per year, keep our members up-to-date about issues that are of specific value and concern to their businesses. Our Networking Dinner this past March was a great success with 55 people attending, and we expect an even larger crowd at our next Networking Dinner on September 21.
• Industry Roundtable meetings, which are designed specifically to address issues in great depth that are of concern to our members. We have two Industry Roundtable groups in place now, one addressing food safety and the other addressing human resources. These roundtables meet six to 12 times a year, and others are planned for the future. The next roundtable will be held on September 13, 2011.
• Our NJFPA website, which is continually updated to include content of interest to our members.
• Sponsorship opportunities for our Associate Members, which enable all of our events to be made available for a very nominal fee to our members.

As you can see, the NJFPA is continually striving to provide value to its members. Membership for you and your company is well worth the cost of $400. There are two payment options available at http://bit.ly/byUVC0: 1) print out the membership application form from and mail completed form with a check for $400 to NJFPA, 202 West State Street, Trenton, NJ or 2) fill out the membership application and pay online via PayPal. Both new and renewing members can use either of these options. The current membership year runs from August 1, 2011 through July 31, 2012.

New website feature: NJFPA Job Board

NJFPA has a new member benefit! We are pleased to offer a job board to our members at no charge. Check out our two current job listings at: http://www.njfoodprocessors.org/new_employ.html. You can also navigate to this page by clicking on the dropdown menu under “What’s New” and clicking on “Job Board.”

To post a job, send your listing to Christine Higgins at christine@njfoodprocessors.org.

NJFPA call for photographs

NJFPA is revamping its brochure, and would like to use print-quality (300 dpi at 5 x 7 inches) photographs that show your manufacturing process at its best. If you have photographs that we can use, please forward them to Christine Higgins at christine@njfoodprocessors.org. Be aware that we will be using the images without captions—your company name will not be used in the brochure.