Category: Education

Partnering to Drive Food Safety

Nelson-Jameson is a proud member of the Innovation Center for US Dairy. The Center and its members have a common goal “to advance a shared social responsibility platform and demonstrate U.S. dairy’s collective commitment to provide the world responsibly produced dairy foods that nourish people, strengthen communities and foster a sustainable future.”

Nelson-Jameson and the Center have a combined passion for furthering food safety in our nation. Recently, the Center published a terrific food safety resource for the dairy industry that includes numerous Spanish language materials. Resources to take advantage of include: interactive training courses for artisan ice cream and cheesemakers, food safety plan writing assistance, training support, pathogen guidance documents, and much more. 

The document’s publication is a reflection of the partnerships between organizations like Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, the American Cheese Society, the North American Ice Cream Association, International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), and numerous other stakeholders to bring educational materials and information to the forefront. Food safety isn’t a competitive advantage…it’s our collective responsibility. Check out the document here and please feel free to share!

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Nelson-Jameson Graduate Award for the Advancement of Dairy Food Science

Pictured Above: (left to right) Mat Bartkowiak, Adam Nelson, Maggie Becher, and John Larsen.

This past year, Nelson-Jameson worked with the Center for Dairy Research and the UW-Madison Foundation to establish the “Nelson-Jameson Graduate Award for the Advancement of Dairy Food Science” for graduate students at the CDR. Adam Nelson, Chairman of the Board, and Mathew J. Bartkowiak, Director of Strategic Relationships, recently had the chance to meet with the first-ever recipients and tour the progress of the Babcock Hall Building Project.

Maggie Becher and John Larsen, two current graduate students, were awarded the first round of scholarships. The two yearly $5,000 scholarships will be given to select graduate students working with the Center for Dairy Research at UW-Madison. Students, in good standing, receive $5,000 each year of their two-year master’s program.

Nelson-Jameson is proud to continue to support the important work of the Center for Dairy Research and all they do for the industry. There is great shared alignment in the pursuit of helping the industry to create safe, quality food, and seek out new innovations to push us collectively forward. We are excited to see what important work Maggie and John accomplish in their pathways towards careers in the industry.

 

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74 Years of Success in Serving the Dairy, Food, and Beverage Industries

Today we are celebrating 74 years of Nelson-Jameson being a successful family-owned and operated supplier to the food, dairy, and beverage industries! Our journey began in 1947 when Earl Nelson, his father Ted, Herb Jameson, and Bob Dougherty founded Nelson-Jameson as a dairy equipment and supply business in Toluca, IL. Their goal was to serve as a comprehensive resource for dairy plants, but they soon discovered that their Illinois location isn’t ideal. From there, it was decided upon that the headquarters of the business would be moved to Marshfield, WI—the heart of dairy production.

Today, Nelson-Jameson is now run by the fourth generation of the Nelson family. Earl’s grandson, Adam is Chairman of the Board, and his granddaughter Amanda is a senior executive as well. Over the years, Nelson-Jameson has expanded by adding distribution centers in California, Idaho, Pennsylvania, and Texas, plus a sales office in Illinois. The business has also expanded its product offerings to meet the needs of food, dairy, and beverage plants—becoming the supplier of choice in all 50 states, as well as many foreign countries.

Nelson-Jameson has played an important role in supporting the dairy, food, and beverage industries for the past 74 years. From sourcing over 50,000 products to developing over 10 different food safety programs to expanding to six different locations, we’ve brought a lot of success with us through these years, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds. Your safe, quality food is our business!

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Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy: Bringing Together People with Resources and Education

Nelson-Jameson strives to not only be a resource of products, programs, services, and industry expertise, but to also be of service to the food industry and focus on the mutually shared goal of food safety and quality. This allows us to work with a whole host of professional organizations, academic programs, regulatory agencies, etc. Over the past several months, we have enjoyed engaging and becoming active with the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy Food Safety Team. You may or may not be familiar with this volunteer organization, and even if you are, you may be surprised by the remarkable scope of resources available…   

The Innovation Center for US Dairy is a consortium of dairy industry producers, educators, and organizations that gather to align “pre-competitive priorities, drive progress and speak with one voice.” In terms of what Nelson-Jameson does on a daily basis, the Center’s food safety programs/materials have been especially beneficial as a welcome food safety resource. Their approach to their Food Safety Committee is based on four core strategies:

  1. Industrywide sharing of best practices to drive continuous improvement.
  2. Disseminate best practices via training, tools, and guidance documents.
  3. Support artisan, farmstead, and small dairy manufacturers.
  4. Identify new solutions through research.

This involves numerous industry stakeholders aligned into several key areas: the Innovation Center Committee, the Artisan Cheese Advisory Team, the Artisan Ice Cream Advisory Team, and a targeted Listeria Research Consortium. Along with pushing best practices and research forward, the Innovation Center heavily focuses on sharing information and resources for use by all industry stakeholders focused on each of these areas.      

If you browse through the  Innovation Center website, you will find an array of workshops, webinars, Spanish-language tools, etc. in areas as diverse as sustainability, animal care, nutrition, food safety, and community relations. Whatever portion of the dairy industry you fall into (and even for those outside of the industry interested in topics like food safety), exploring the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy will provide you a tremendous resource to assist with the process of making safe, quality food.   


Grilling & Food Contamination

Summer is here! What a perfect opportunity to get outside and enjoy the warm summer air we’ve all been craving! For some individuals, spending time outdoors could involve hiking, boating, or reading in the shade, but one thing we can all agree on, summer is the perfect time to enjoy some of our favorite foods on the grill. Whether with family, friends, or even coworkers, cooking food on the grill appears to be a popular summer activity. With summer holidays approaching, like the Fourth of July, it is important to keep your celebrations healthy and safe by following food safety tips to prevent contamination while grilling.

According to the FDA and the USDA Food Safety organizations, there are grilling food safety tips to be followed for all food types:

  • Be Clean: First, make sure to wash your hands thoroughly, especially after touching any form of raw meat. Before consumption, make sure to rinse off fruits and vegetables as there may be bacteria on the surfaces. Never rinse off raw meat as this can increase your risk of cross-contamination.
  • Separate: Keep raw meats away from other foods such as salads, dips, or fruit. Be conscientious of not using the same utensils for putting raw meat on the grill, and for taking cooked meat off the grill. Using the same utensils that touched raw meat could be covered in harmful bacteria, which can contaminate the cooked meat.
  • Temperature: Use a food thermometer to check if food is fully cooked. Sometimes grilling can give you a false impression where food looks fully cooked on the outside, but is under cooked on the inside. The recommended internal temperature for beef, pork, lamb, and veal is 145°F, ground meat is 160°F, whole poultry is 165°F, and fish is 145°F.
  • Fruits and Vegetables: Lastly, make sure to be aware of how long fruits and vegetables should be cooking on the grill. Thicker cut fruits and vegetables will have to cook longer than thinner pieces. Although, fruits and vegetables do not have to reach a minimum internal temperature like meat, it is still important to cook them thoroughly.

Although grilling out in the summer can be a fun thing to do, it is important to take action and be careful in preventing the harmful spread of bacteria to our food. To learn more about additional tips and guidelines to follow when cooking various foods this summer, check out the FDA and USDA Food Safety organization websites to learn more.

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