HPP Podcast Episode 3: The Refrigerated Foods Association (RFA) Member Benefits & Events and National Deli Salad Month
Listen to the HPP Podcast here.
Episode 3 Transcript:
Jenny:
Welcome to the High Pressure Podcast, the podcast where we talk about all things High Pressure Processing. I’m your host, Jenny Tuggle, Marketing Director at Universal Pure.
Today’s episode will focus on the Refrigerated Foods Association or the RFA. Universal Pure has been an RFA member for about 10 years. Today we’re joined by RFA Executive Director, Meg Levin, and RFA President, Mark Rosenfield, as well as Bill Cook, the Vice President of Business Development here at Universal Pure. Meg, why don’t you start us off by giving an overview of RFA and then we’ll go around for some introductions.
Meg:
Hi there. Thanks Jenny – thanks for having us. Just to kind of give you an idea of who Refrigerated Foods Association is, we are a group of manufacturers and suppliers of prepared refrigerated food products. So the manufacturers are people that do things like deli salads, side dishes, dips, desserts – that kind of thing – and the suppliers provide things like equipment, packaging, ingredients or services for the industry. It was founded in 1980, and the goal of the Refrigerated Foods Association is to advance and safeguard the industry. We are heavily focused on education, mainly food safety and regulatory concerns. We work to provide networking and relationship building. We work to promote the interests of the industry in Washington, and a big part of what we do is elevating the perception of refrigerated foods within the marketplace. And I’m the Executive Director, and as Jenny mentioned, we have Mark Rosenfield on and he is the current President. Mark, you want to introduce yourself?
Mark:
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you, Meg. Yes, as Meg mentioned, I’m a member of the RFA for over 20 years and the current president and I’m also the Vice President of Retail Deli Sales for Reser’s Fine Foods in Beaverton, Oregon.
Jenny:
Welcome. We’re glad to have both of you on the podcast today. Thanks for that overview, Meg. Bill, why don’t you go ahead and give us a quick introduction.
Bill:
Yeah, sure. Thank you, Jenny. My name is Bill Cook. I’m the Vice President of Business Development for Universal Pure, been at Universal for just over 10 years. And I believe we joined the RFA the first year that I was there, so yes, 10 years we’ve been a member of the RFA and we’re focused on HPP 101 training when we are sitting in these RFA events.
Jenny:
Yeah, okay, well speaking of that, let’s go over some of the benefits of RFA membership. Mark, would you tell us a little bit about how RFA benefits members from a manufacturer perspective?
Mark:
Yeah, absolutely, Jenny. I think first off, I’ll start a little bit of my personal history. I made a transition over 25 years ago from a restaurant and hotel chef into food manufacturing. And I realized at that point in time in my career change that I needed to learn a lot about a lot of things that I knew nothing about, and somebody recommended the Refrigerated Foods Association as a great resource for me to embark upon that learning in my new career. So that was my introduction to the RFA and quite frankly, I have had the benefit of being a member for, like I said over 20 years, close to 25 years. From a manufacturer standpoint, I really don’t know where to start. There are so many benefits and, as you know, as the leading association of manufacturers and suppliers prepared and refrigerated foods, the RFA helps companies of all sizes by providing valuable technical information and support, as well as the opportunity to network with people in the industry, other manufacturers and industry related suppliers. Some of the key areas that really are huge benefits to members, obviously, for food safety and technical support, industry advancement and development. Like I said, the community and networking are huge. Those are all big pieces for any manufacturing member to really utilize and leverage.
Jenny:
A lot of good information there, Mark. Thank you. Bill, do you want to share some of the benefits from an associate member or supplier perspective.
Bill:
Yeah. Thank you, Jen. Probably the number one benefit of being a member of the RFA is networking with the manufacturers, like Mark mentioned, of refrigerated deli items such as the wet salads, dips, deli meat, dessert – categories that Megan mentioned earlier. To be able to sit with so many people face to face all in one or two or three days during the conference or symposium, it’s kind of priceless, right? It’s a very, very friendly atmosphere. I do love all the breakout sessions that they have at the conferences. You learn a lot; you get to learn a lot about the technical side of different, not just manufacturing, but other processes within the industry and meeting new people every year. Seems like every year Meg’s coming up with some new members and always nice to meet new people.
Jenny:
Yeah. And you can’t really put a price tag on face to face networking – it’s invaluable. And it seems like RFA is the place to be if you’re in the refrigerated food space for sure.
I read that RFA actually started out as the Salad Manufacturers Association focused around deli salads and I know that July is National Deli Salad Month. So Meg, you want to tell us a little bit about kind of the history I guess of deli salads with RFA and then why the National Deli Salad month is such a huge focus?
Meg:
Sure. Yeah. So yes, you’re right. We started as Salad Manufacturers Association in 1980 and in 1992, that’s when I started with RFA, they changed the name to Refrigerated Foods Association, and that happened just because the board was sitting around and said, “We all make more than salads.” We’re all you know, when you think of salads, you think a lot of times of, you know, of a tossed salad. And that’s not at all what Refrigerated Foods Association is about. And wet salad sounds kind of gross, so they kind of wanted to expand and represent Who? You know what? Really, the [RFA] members are making. So it’s side dishes, it’s deli salads, it’s dips, it’s desserts… it’s all kinds of things. But our heart is back with the deli salads. And that’s mostly what, you know, is in common with most of our members. Most of our members do make deli salads. They just do a whole lot more now. So in 2013, we decided to establish the National Deli Salad Month and that is actually an officially recognized holiday. It’s in the Chases Calendar of Events and it’s the month of July. So right now we are celebrating National Deli Salad Month. The purpose is to promote and feature convenient, fresh, delicious deli salads like potato salad and macaroni salad, protein salads, pasta, salads, that kind of thing. This, 2024, is our 11th year with National Deli Salad Month. And besides just promoting the purchase of refrigerated foods, the RFA has linked National Deli Salad Month with our collective effort to combat hunger and food insecurity.
RFA members have donated thousands of dollars over the years directly to Feeding America – we have a campaign that we have established. Feeding America is a top rated US charity, so we’re not directly affiliated with them, but we do support them through a campaign and Feeding America works to improve access to nutritional food, they advocate policies to address the root causes of food insecurity. It’s a really great organization and we’re really proud to support them in that way.
And one of the things the board was sitting around one day talking about, you know, “What else do we do? How else can we support the hunger effort in the US?” And we did a survey of members to see what members are giving beyond direct donations, direct monetary donations. So we send out the survey and everybody was very shy. They didn’t want to really share what they were doing, but we did have seven companies that reported back to us, and this was back in 2016. So of those seven companies collectively, they donated the equivalent of $300,000 a year.
Jenny:
Wow.
Meg:
With in kind donations, that was seven. Well, we have a lot more than seven companies, so it’s a huge impact. Yeah, we’re super, super passionate about it and proud of what Refrigerated Food members are doing to help fight hunger in the US. So that’s a part of what we do with National Deli Salad Month.
Jenny:
Yeah, thanks for that explanation, Meg. It’s a great cause for sure and sounds like the members are very passionate about it. Mark, would you like to tell us how Reser’s gets involved with National Deli Salad Month?
Mark:
Yeah, absolutely, Jenny. Yeah. As everybody probably knows leafy green salad month is in May, but the real Deli Salid Month obviously starts up in July. And National Deli Salad Month is a huge month for our industry. It really starts off with the 4th of July and our nation’s birthday and our efforts are tailored to help our retail customers provide value to the end users of our delicious, prepared salads during the season. And we have major contests with our retail partners that focus on the frontline people in the stores that provide sellers to the consumers. We run contests with the major retailers throughout their divisions to reward the divisions, the individual stores and the people within the stores that are really helping us move pounds and get our products out there in the marketplace. We also do a lot of in store promotions, an example of that would be winning a cooler and a gift certificate to people that sign up in the stores. We do a lot of point-of-sale stuff and even have influencers in social media that really help promote us during the National Deli Salad Month with the entire goal really to get the product out there for people to enjoy during the long summer months as appropriate.
Jenny:
Yeah, Mark, the timing is perfect with, like you mentioned, the 4th of July holiday. I know that’s something that everyone can relate to. They’re having cookouts and of course, I’m sure those deli salads to go with those entrees that they’re grilling out. So great point there.
Mark:
It’s funny, Jenny. I used to be in the soup business and when it was raining and cold, I knew I was selling soup. But now when I look outside and it’s hot and warm and sunny, I know that people are enjoying nice deli salads.
Jenny:
Yep, I know I will be.
Bill, could you talk a little bit about the food insecurity, food waste side and how HPP ties into that?
Bill:
Yeah, sure, Jenny. So we’re seeing more and more deli salad manufacturers utilizing High Pressure Processing. High Pressure Processing has been around for over 30 years now and we’ve done a lot of deli meats in the deli meat sector goes all the way back to the early 80s, early 90s, with Hormel being one of the number one users of the process. For everybody’s information here, High Pressure Processing is a non-thermal pasteurization, utilizing water and pressure, so not subjecting many of the product to heat which makes it perfect for the deli salad manufacturers. High Pressure Processing helps extend the shelf life, as well as provide a level of food safety, significantly reduces spoilage organisms, as well as high risk pathogens such as Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria, etc. So preserving the food, giving the long shelf life, taking out the [harsh] ingredients, which has been an industry trend for now for about 8 to 10 years – clean label. From a waste perspective, and matching up with the deli salad month, obviously with the extended shelf-life, you’re getting a lot of reduction in food waste across the industry.
Jenny:
Yep, shelf- life extension is one of the biggest benefits of HPP and why a lot of manufacturers choose to use HPP on their products.
Bill:
Yeah. I think, Jenny, it’s kind of been a long time coming, because the packaging has been a real struggle over the years. And now the packaging suppliers have really figured it out, we’re getting a lot less waste, which was a real problem little six, seven, eight, ten years ago. But now that they figured that out, we’re seeing a lot less waste, leakers in the process. So it’s not as expensive to run the product through the process.
Jenny:
Well, let’s switch gears a little bit and talk about some upcoming RFA events. I know that every year Universal Pure, we attend the RFA Annual Conference. There’s still a little bit of time until we get to that event, but Meg, you want to tell us about that as well as any other events that are coming up the remainder of this year?
Meg:
Yeah, sure. Yeah, that conference is kind of the pinnacle of our events. It’s held in February or early March each year and we picked the very best locations. We go to great places, we have great speakers, we have tons of social and networking opportunities, fun golf tournament. We always do a service project. It’s just a really, really good time for the industry to come together and address common concerns and find some solutions. Learn. Get to know some new people. It’s really kind of our biggest thing for the year.
But my favorite thing is coming up in September, we have a Fall Symposium. And that’s when we start in a hotel – this year, we’re going to Memphis – so we’re starting at the Peabody, which is just an iconic spot. And we’ll stay there for the first day and have some presentations, we’ll have a group dinner, and then for two days we hop on a bus and we travel around to different food plants or just related businesses, and we get kind of a behind the scenes tour at these different places. We’ve got seven stops planned in Memphis, so it’s amazing, even like the bus time is valuable because you’re networking and talking to everybody on the bus. We have just the one bus, so we’re all in there together and it’s so much fun and it’s such an incredible learning opportunity. So that’s coming up in September.
And beyond that we have webcasts scheduled like crazy. So webcast we offer almost every month and they are on topics that are pertinent for refrigerate food manufacturers and suppliers. We’ve got one coming up this month about trends, next month we’re going to be talking about 2D barcodes, and these webcasts are free for members. So that’s just included as part of your membership, you get to participate in these monthly or semi-monthly learning opportunities. We also have a lunch-and-learn coming up this month on comparing FDA, FSIS and GSFI HACCP requirements. So that’s on a special opportunity that we have for members to learn. And you know, we get expert speakers in and it’s just a really great opportunity for everybody to just kind of expand their knowledge in the industry.
Jenny:
Thanks for sharing. Bill, have we ever been to the Fall symposium?
Bill:
We have not. We’d love to be part of it.
Meg:
Y’all, we got 19 spots left.
Bill:
Yeah, we’ll take a look at that. We would also love to be a partner someday and potentially have an open house for the symposium at one of our facilities to really educate the members on High Pressure Processing. And I was just, as I was listening to you, Meg, I was thinking, you know, you reach out to so many companies and at some point you’re going to tap out the deli salad and dip manufacturers – what’s the next extension as you continue to grow? Is there another category that would fall within those parameters that you’re looking for, another maybe another product, or other category of a company?
Meg:
Right. Yeah, we are just kind of expanding the scope because there is, the issues are the same for refrigerated food products, whether it’s deli salads or side dishes. We’re looking right now at commissaries that can really benefit from membership, companies that do like, hummus and you know, yeah, we are looking at segments that we haven’t we don’t feel like we’ve really penetrated home meal delivery kits, sandwiches…those are some areas that we’re we are looking to grow and we are always interested in getting new members, because the more members we have, the stronger we can be and the better we can serve our members.
Bill:
Of course, yeah. I was thinking, you know, cheese. I don’t know how many cheese companies are in the RFA, but there’s a lot of them out there.
Meg:
Yeah, absolutely. So cheese, we usually, they would be considered like our supplier and they would be an associate member because they, the manufacturers use that as an ingredient. The way we define refrigerated foods for membership purposes is a little bit selective. It’s got to be kind of a value added thing, so the process value, so you know, if you take the cheese and you put it into a salad and you make, you know, a pimento cheese spread – that is a manufacturing member and the cheese itself is an associate member. It’s a little bit complicated.
Bill:
Good to know.
Jenny:
Okay. Is there anything else that we missed or didn’t go over that that anyone would like to mention?
Meg:
One thing we didn’t talk about was, you know, we did talk about the benefits of membership and how RFA members are supported with technical resources, but we do have a technical director on staff. Doug Marshall of Eurofins is our staff person and he’s kind of a food safety guru and he has a hotline so members can contact him directly with questions or needs and he can kind of work through and find some solutions for you. There’s a whole lot of, the benefits, I mean, we could talk forever on it, but there’s so much support for members. It’s an amazing organization and just the members themselves support each other. We have an e-list where you can post a question and get answers from other members and help, you know, with common problems. And kind of unique, you know, these a lot of times, are competitors and they don’t see food safety as a competitive issue, they see it as elevating the whole industry by keeping the food safe, which is how we all should be thinking. So it’s just it’s very refreshing to see that in action.
Jenny:
Yeah, I’ve heard, I’m sure we’ve all heard the saying, “If it isn’t safe, it isn’t food,” so it should be a focus for everyone.
Mark:
Yeah. And Jenny, I know Bill mentioned, you know, community and networking, but also a big benefit is industry advancement and development. And we have top notch speakers and panelists at our annual conference that really help us with trends and things impacting the industry.
We also have our webcast and seminars designed specifically for the industry. And again, as Meg mentioned, the symposium, that’s a wonderful event that we have on an annual basis, participation is limited to that bus load, so we’d love to have you guys join us and maybe next year, if we can make that happen.
Jenny:
Yeah, for sure, that’d be great.
Bill:
That’d be great. I have a question, Meg – do you have a regulatory expert at RFA?
Meg:
We do not – we are part, Refrigerated Foods Association, is part of an organization that works directly with Washington. It’s called Food and Beverage Industry Alliance. And through that organization we, and it’s the Executive Committee generally, is in charge of deciding, you know what needs supporting or what needs addressing. And Doug, our Technical Director, and also our, Janet Rowat Kraiss, is the chair of our technical committee. They’re involved in, directly with that group. So they are very aware of the issues that are affecting the industry and they help advocate for the group whenever it’s necessary.
Bill:
That’s great. Very good. Thank you.
Jenny:
Alright. Well, thank you everyone for joining us today and for all of the great information. I’ll be sure to link all of that along with the podcast when I post it, so if anyone wants to learn more or how to join, we’ll be sure to share that information and we look forward to seeing y’all at some of the upcoming events and hopefully being more involved with some of the other events that we haven’t attended in the past going forward.
Bill:
Well, thank you Jenny. And Meg and Mark, thank you very much for joining us today.
Meg:
Yeah, thank you.
Mark:
Yeah. Jenny and Bill, thank you very much and get out there and enjoy some of those delicious deli salads.
Jenny:
Thanks for joining us on this episode of the HPP Podcast. We look forward to our next episode. Stay tuned for more details and we’ll see you next time.
