SEMA_________________________________ SOUTHEASTERN MEAT ASSOCIATION
|
OCTOBER 2008 |
VOLUME 23, No. 10 |
Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) requirements took effect September 30, 2008. USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) wrote the COOL regulation and have a list of questions and answers on the AMS website.
To view questions and answers go to: http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5071922. AMS can be reached at (202) 720-4486 or email questions to COOL@usda.gov for additional questions.
Q: Is there a web page where can I find more information regarding Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) requirements?
A: The Agricultural Marketing Service has a site set up on their web page. Please click on the attached link. www.ams.usda.gov/cool.
The above question is part of the FSIS database of questions, askFSIS,
which can be accessed at
www.fsis.usda.gov/Help/index.asp.
FSIS published on January 28, 2008 a Federal Register Notice (FSIS-2006-0034) that stated, “The Food Safety and Inspection Service will exclude from the Salmonella verification testing program schedule any slaughter establishment that processes all carcasses slaughtered into ready-to-eat (RTE) product or diverts all of its raw products to another official federally-inspected establishment for further processing into a RTE product.”
Even though most raw meat and poultry products are subject to Salmonella testing, there is a narrow set of circumstances in which sampling is not warranted. When an establishment processes all its products into ready-to-eat (RTE) product or moves all its raw products for further processing into RTE product at another federally inspected establishment, the establishment is to be excluded from the Salmonella verification testing program schedule.
An establishment meets the criteria outlined in the Federal Register notice when the establishment either processes all products in a product class into RTE product or moves all products in a product class to another official federally-inspected establishment for further processing into a RTE product. Example, an establishment slaughters steers and heifers and produces ground beef as one of its products. The establishment ships the entire ground beef product from this product class to another establishment that uses it to make an RTE product. In this example, IPP would not sample the ground beef; however, if other raw products are produced from the carcasses, the steer and heifer carcasses would still be eligible for Salmonella sampling.
Dr. Richard Raymond MD, who has been responsible for overseeing the policies and programs of the Food Safety and Inspection Service since July 2005, will retire October 1. The President has designated Elizabeth (Beth) Johnson as Acting Under Secretary of Food Safety. Johnson has most recently served as Chief Assistant to Deputy Secretary Chuck Conner and Deputy Chief of Staff since May 2005.
"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have." Thomas Jefferson
The USDA Pod casts can be a useful tool when developing, designing or updating industry programs. The food safety videos offer a collection of streaming video and audio resources for designing a HACCP Plan, developing a Food Defense Plan and other industry issues.
The website can be found at:
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/news_&_events/Food_Safety_Inspection_Podcasts/index.asp
September 18th Stewart Kyle Owens (53), who served as chairman and chief executive of Bob Evans Farms, passed away. Stewart Owens began his career working part time for his family’s Richardson, Texas-based Owens Country Sausage at age 14. He joined Bob Evans when the Columbus-based restaurant chain bought his family's Texas sausage company in 1987. Owens was named president of Bob Evans in 1995, became chief executive officer on April 29, 2000, and chairman of the board on April 27, 2001.
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Things to Ponder . . . . . . . . .
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and
independence.
You cannot help people permanently by doing for them,
what they could and should do for themselves.
Abraham Lincoln
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S.W. (Red) Smith Inc. has changed theIr company name to Red Smith Foods, Inc. Check the member listing for David Foster’s new e-mail address.
White Oak Pastures celebrated their grand opening in April and are moving into the retail and foodservice market. Whole Foods Markets in GA, AL, TN and FL carry their steaks, roast and ground beef and Buckhead Beef is making their product available to the restaurant trade. White Oak Pastures is now “Certified Organic” by the Georgia Crop Improvement Association’s Certified Organic Program and will soon be offering their beef for sale on-line. You can learn more about White Oak Pastures by visiting their web site www.whiteoakpastures.com.
CSB-System International, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of CSB-System AG, is a leading developer of innovative business software solutions specifically designed for process manufacturers.
Since 1977, CSB-System has enabled our customers to increase their market share while enhancing their competitive advantages, by providing the tools required to increase operational efficiencies, maintain regulatory compliance, strengthen customer relationships, and maximize profits. The CSB-SYSTEM is a single application that provides functionality for the entire enterprise including enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain management (SCM), warehouse management systems (WMS), automated data capture (ADC), computer integrated manufacturing (CIM), electronic data interchange (EDI), performance management & business intelligence (BI), and customer relationship management (CRM).
Its modular structure is designed to grow with your organization thus providing the flexibility needed to quickly capitalize on new markets, products, and customers. For information, please visit www.csb-system.com.
| Southeastern Meat Association 307.365.5661 Board of Directors Meeting |
Amelia Island, FL | Nov. 8 |
| North American Meat Processors Association (NAMP) 703.758.1900
Annual Convention |
Lake Las Vegas, NV | Oct. 16-19 |
| Chilton Consulting Group Basic HACCP Workshop 706.694.8325 |
Gainesville, GA |
Oct 28-29 Nov 10-11 |
| Chilton Consulting Group Advanced HACCP Workshop 706.694.8325 | Gainesville College, Gainesville, GA |
Oct. 30-31 |
Companies that invest in employee learning have higher
productivity, revenue growth,
and profit growth than companies that
do not.
Part 2 of the article submitted by Jeff Faulkner of The Rawls Group. Jeff was a speaker at the SEMA 2008 convention. Part 1 can be found in the September newsletter.
Before a healthy partnership can be developed, the members of the partnership must establish a shared concept of what a healthy partnership looks like. There are five fundamental traits that characterize a healthy partnership:
1. Shared Vision
Partners must together develop a shared vision about the direction
of the company and also about the direction of the partnership (relationship).
For the partnership to be successful, there must be a clear, common,
and compelling task. The power of the partnership will flow out of
each partner’s commitment to the vision. The task is to accomplish
an objective that requires them to work together with a high level
of teamwork. I have recently helped dissolve a partnership that went
south due to what I’d refer to as vision conflict. The two
partners had different ideas about where the company was going and
could not get on the same page.
2. Clear Roles and Responsibilities
Roles and responsibilities are not intended to limit the partnership,
rather they are meant to provide security and predictability with
regard to the relationships among the partners. I was recently asked
to facilitate a partner meeting for a group of CPA’s who are
stepping on each other’s toes and experiencing “turf
management” due to poor role definition. Roles create the guidelines
by which the partners design, divide, and organize the work. When
the responsibilities are clear, consistent and evenly applied, partnerships
can flourish.
3. Common Work Ethic
To share a vision for the company without a vision for the relationship
among its leaders leaves the company vision vulnerable to the dynamics
of the relationship. When partners have different expectations, at
least one partner will feel dissatisfied. A client recently complained
to me that, while he had not taken a family vacation the past two
years due to business circumstances, his partner and brother took
his full two weeks and did not seem to care about the state of the
business. When one partner cares and another partner doesn’t,
the one who cares will tend to begin to scrutinize the actions of
the other partner and may cause a feeling of “I’m working
on this and you’re not.” This would naturally cause them
to feel worn out and devalued in the partnership. If none of the
partners share a vision for the relationship, they will experience
disconnectedness within the relationship that will trickle down and
frustrate management and the direction of the company. Partnerships
are fundamentally relationships – and relationships require
contact, involvement, and a sense of being worked at.
4. Solid Relationships
Solid relationships of any kind are built upon a foundation of trust.
Contrary to popular belief, this does not mean that you have to be
best of friends. Diversity among partners and ideas is a real asset.
However, it is a truism that diversity affords discord. Therefore,
differences must be offset by a high level of trust, acceptance,
respect, courtesy, and a whole lot of understanding that divergent
attitudes
and personality differences are not only okay, but desirable. My experience tells me that partnership problems are typically the result of distrust among the partners that is borne out of inauthentic relationships.
5. Excellent Communication
Excellent communication occurs when a couple of things happen.
First, partners practice Stephen Covey’s 5th habit of highly successful people and “seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Most of us are trying so desperately to be heard and understood that we don’t shut up long enough to listen and understand. Therefore, communication is hindered by conflict that seems irresolvable. In working with partners/couples/siblings, etc., who are experiencing conflict (they are literally sitting in front of me yelling at one another), I often interrupt them and ask them what they would do if I left the room and sucked out all of the oxygen with me when I left, and locked all the doors and windows from the outside. The response is usually a progression of reactions that goes something like, “well, I’d try to open the doors and windows; then I’d yell for help; then I’d start banging on the doors and windows; then I’d pick up a chair and throw it through the window.” In the response is a natural progression of more and more extreme or aggressive behaviors in an effort to get their physical need for oxygen met.
In communication, we have emotional needs. Everyone has a need to be listened to, heard, and validated. With conflict, these emotional needs aren’t being met, so the conflict tends to escalate to more and more extreme or aggressive behaviors in an effort to get our emotional needs met. When we understand this dynamic, we can make the decision to shut up and listen and seek first to understand. And remember this . . . you don’t understand another person until that person agrees that you understand. I hear many people use the phrase “I understand” as a segway into arguing their side of the point. No, you don’t understand me until I tell you that you do. In other words, you have responded to me in such a way that makes me say, “Yeah, you got it. You understand.” Only then are you in a position to move forward with your side of the story. Imagine communication if everyone was seeking to understand the other party rather than seeking to be understood!
Second, we must remember that communication is only 7% words. The other 93% is non-verbal. This means that we must practice meta-communication. This is a fancy word that describes the manner in which we are talking to one another, the interpretations that we have of the words being used, the typical patterns of communication that we fall into, etc. When partners have an awareness of the consistencies and inconsistencies in the communication and meta-communication, they can improve communications dramatically. In English, if I understand the pattern that you are able to “push my buttons” by a particular approach, then I can make you aware of how that pushes my buttons; and we can agree to a different approach.
When these five aspects of a healthy partnership are adequately addressed, the partnership will be strong and will be unstoppable. Otherwise, the partnership will be limited and vulnerable. If you are not willing to put in this kind of work on the relationships, then don’t expect to have a great partnership.
Jeff Faulkner, MS, is a partner with The Rawls Group specializing
in business succession planning. Jeff’s private practice in the
counseling industry, as well as his training in financial planning,
has allowed him to gain specialized experience in working with families
in achieving mutually satisfactory resolutions in succession planning
issues. For additional information, contact him directly at 770-894-9056
or through The Rawls Group at 407-578-4455. www.rawlsgroup.com. © Jeff
Faulkner, All Rights Reserved.