SEMA_________________________________

SOUTHEASTERN MEAT ASSOCIATION
P.O. Box 620777; Oviedo, FL 32762 Phone: 407-365-5661

SEMA CONVENTION

SEMA members “charted” their course, at The Shores Resort & Spa in Daytona Beach, FL, June 2nd & 3rd. The convention will be held again at The Shores Resort & Spa, June 8th & 9th, 2007. Mark your calendars now for next year.

After breakfast and some discussion, the following are a few ideas that came out of Saturday mornings' Table Topics:

Listeria:

1. Insure your HACCP plan has been reassessed for Listeria for "Ready To Eat" products. This will insure all possible entry sources of Listeria are being assessed in the hazard analysis and are being controlled.
2. Consider the addition of anti-Listeria compounds in the formulation such as acidified sodium citrate or sodium lactate. You may also want to consider a post-process rinse with sodium hypochlorite or ozone.
3. Take a hard look at the sanitation program to insure your master cleaning schedule includes procedures for deep cleaning of duct work, switch covers on all equipment, vacuum lines and pressure lines on packaging equipment and cleaning pallet jacks and other items coming into the RTEA.

Moderator Dr. Estes Reynolds, University of GA

Insurance represents the 3rd or 4th highest expense for a company today.

1. Workers Comp:
   Have quarterly drawings if no lost time accidents. If a lost time accident occurs the "90 days clock" starts over before the next drawing.
2. Health:
   Cost is high for everyone
   Offer onsite health screening for blood pressure, diabetes.
3. Liability Insurance:
   It is cheap so get lots of it.
4. Property Insurance:
   If you have replacement cost coverage, make sure it will cover rebuilding.

Moderator Tom Carroll, Sunset Farm Foods

Animal identification and trace-back to origin of production:

As animal and product identification becomes a norm for our production system, significant impacts will be made in the meat processing area. Technology is growing fast with respect to tracing products from the farm to the plate but significant improvements must be made before it becomes a widespread reality. Once an animal is harvested, products take many different avenues before they eventually are consumed. Tracing animal products back to an individual animal will be a great undertaking requiring input at many different points along the way.

Moderator Dr. L. Wayne Greene, Auburn University

WORKPLACE ACCIDENT, WHAT DO YOU DO?

The good accident investigation will help in preventing other accidents.

A successful accident investigation:

• Takes place immediately after the accident.
• Determines the facts—What happened?
• Determines the causes—Why did this happen?
• Recommends corrective action to prevent future accidents.

Accident investigations must answer these seven key questions:

1. What happened? Exactly what happened moment by moment during the accident?
2. When did it happen? What time of day did it happen? On which shift?
3. Where did it happen? In what part of the facility did it happen? In which work area?
4. Who was involved? Who was injured? Who was working in the area? Who saw what happened?
5. How did it happen? What led up to the accident? What task or operation was involved? Which materials, equipment, or substances were being used at the time?
6. Why did it happen? What were the possible causes? Was there more than one cause? Were
   unsafe acts, unsafe conditions, or both, involved?
7. How can you keep it from happening again? What conditions need to be corrected? What procedures need to be changed? What additional training is needed?

Provided by Chilton Consulting Group

SEMA’S NEW TREASURER & DIRECTOR

Scott Kelley, of Kelley Foods of AL, was elected to replace Wayne Paulk, of Robbins Packing, as SEMA Treasurer. Wayne resigned due to business and family concerns. SEMA members would like to thank Wayne for his time served on the board. Robbins Packing will remain a SEMA member.

Karla Weiszer of Wolfson Casing Co. has been elected to serve on the SEMA Board of Directors. Karla will replace Joe Clark of Joe Clark Associates/Jamison Door. Joe retired from Jamison Door as of August first.

The SEMA Board welcomes Scott and Karla. We look forward to working with them and their participation.

TAKE-OUT BUSINESS CONTINUES TO GROW

Take-out meals continue to grow as consumers are busy with work, kids, etc. and do not have time to cook and do not have time for sit-down meals at restaurants. Growing in popularity is a niche market, store-kitchens offering take-out do-it-yourself meals. You can assemble a number of meals for a price.

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THINGS TO PONDER………………
Being happy does not mean everything is perfect.
It means you have decided to see beyond the imperfections.
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LET SEMA WORK FOR YOU

The SEMA web site has a classified section, with four categories:

• Business Opportunities – Restaurants, grocery or distributors looking for products or suppliers.
• Help Wanted - SEMA companies looking to fill a position within their organization.
• For Sale – Processing companies looking to sell excess equipment, paper goods or seasonings.
  SEMA processing companies needing to sell product overruns, discontinued products or
  paper goods. SEMA associate members needing to sell discontinued inventory.
• Looking for – Processing companies looking for new or used equipment, packaging supplies
  or products.
• Seeking Employment – People outside the Association who are looking for career opportunities.

The classified section is not password protected so web visitors may find your ad. To place ads, call the SEMA office, 407.365.5661 or e-mail, info@southeasternmeat.com.

SEMA companies, who have a press release or other happenings at your company, send it to info@southeasternmeat.com.

SEMA INDUSTRY NEWS

Econ-O-Marker has just introduced, new for 2006, the Stand Alone Printer System.
You can make your own custom labels right in your production area when you want and as many as you want on demand using the special keypad to enter your PLU numbers, quantity, customer name, etc. Switch from inspected label formats to Not For Sale, to specialty label formats in seconds then print and apply the quantity and product that you need. See a video on our website, www.absolutmarking.com and click the video button next to the printer. Give Mark a call for questions and product pricing at 800.488.9640.

Curwood: Jim Kyle, South Region Technical South Manager, retired July 1st after 24 years of outstanding service to Curwood and it's customers worldwide. He and Betty will be keeping the road hot in their motor home and fishing out the stock at various lakes. Marty Dahlke is the new South Region Technical Service manager. Marty has 15 years of experience in the meat industry at a variety of plants including Sara Lee. He has been with Curwood for over two years as a Technical Service Representative and has logged experience in a variety of applications beyond meat. Marty lives in Tupelo, MS with his wife and five children and likes the outdoor life.
You can contact Marty by e-mailing mvdahlke@bemis.com or calling the office 864 595 1780.

Alcan Packaging: Frank McDavid retired from Alcan as of May 31st. We wish him the best in his retirement. You can stay in touch with Frank by e-mailing frank@fempacconsulting.com

NEW SEMA ASSOCIATE MEMBER

American Risk Management Inc.
P.O. Drawer 789, Hamilton, AL 35570
Clyde Hampton, 800.548.0117

GET ACQUAINTED WITH NEW SEMA MEMBERS

Dade Service Corp. for fifty years has been designing and building coolers, freezers and processing rooms for the meat and produce industries, throughout the United States, Central America, South America and the Caribbean Islands.
Contact Frank Mihalik, Sales Engineer
700-A Fentress Blvd., Daytona Beach, FL 32114
386.274.5655

Ossid MH is the primary packaging business unit of Pro Mach Inc. Ossid is an engineering company that fabricates a variety of primary packaging machines for the beef, pork and, poultry industries. Pro Mach Inc. purchased a longstanding North American engineering company, Mahaffy Harder (MH). MH has been fabricating horizontal thermoform, fill and seal machines for over 40 years. MH has merged with Ossid to form Ossid MH.

Our core business is tray-sealing, stretch wrapping MAP machines and TFFS machines for atmosphere, MAP and gas flush packaging.

Our location is Rocky Mount, NC, where all fabrication, service and spare parts are based. Our clients are manufacturers or producers in the markets mentioned above. We feel we bring a large presence of expertise to the SE region for packaging expertise and we can call on other business units in the Pro Mach Inc group to augment our offerings.
Contact Fran Ventura, VP of Sales
P.O. Drawer 1968, Rocky Mount, NC 27802
252.446.6177 or 800.334.8369 ext 123.
www.ossidmh.com or www.promachinc.com

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Companies that invest in employee learning have higher productivity, revenue growth,
and profit growth than companies that do not.