Tag Archives: safety

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

Posted by Marketing Dept.  –  Education, General
August 4, 2021

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

Posted by Mathew J. Bartkowiak, Ph.D.  –  Education, Events, Food Safety, General
July 28, 2021

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.   

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Grilling & Food Contamination

Posted by Marketing Dept.  –  Education, Food Safety, General
July 2, 2021

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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June is Dairy & Safety Month!

Posted by Marketing Dept.  –  Education, Events, Food Safety, General
June 29, 2021

June is an important time of year here at Nelson-Jameson, not only is it June Dairy month, but it is also recognized as National Safety month! We find these two topics to be important in the success of our business—being a single source food, dairy, and beverage processing plant supplier. Some questions you may be pondering are, “How did these two topics become nationally recognized and what makes them so important?” and “How do they relate to Nelson-Jameson?” Here is an overview of the correlation:

Dairy Month:

June Dairy Month started out as National Milk Month in 1937 as a way to promote drinking milk, and was a way to distribute extra milk during the warm summer months. According to American Dairymen®, “This month was initially created to stabilize the dairy demand when production was at a surplus, but has now developed into an annual tradition that celebrates the contributions the dairy industry has made to the world” (June is National Dairy Month, pp. 1).

Nelson-Jameson has been an active participant in local activities throughout the Marshfield area to represent the supporting role we play in the dairy industry. The two main activities we volunteered for were the Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce Dairyfest Drive-Thru Breakfast and the Marshfield Dairyfest Reverse Parade. Both activities involved volunteering directly with the community and expressing thanks to all individuals who make the dairy industry as successful as it is today.

In 1947 when Nelson-Jameson was founded, the main goal was to serve as a comprehensive resource for dairy plants. Once the founders realized their original Illinois location wasn’t ideal, it was decided to move the business to Marshfield, Wisconsin—the heart of dairy production. With roughly 7,000 dairy farms actively running throughout Wisconsin, Marshfield is a great centralized location.

Safety Month:

June Safety Month was founded by the National Safety Council (NSC) in 1996 where the goal was to increase awareness of the leading safety and health risks, and ultimately decrease the number of unintentional injuries and deaths in the United States. According to the NSC, the United States is seeing the highest number of workplace deaths since 2007. With 5,333 fatal workplace injuries in 2019, this observance is more important than ever (June is National Safety Month).

With a different topic covered each week, here is a recap of what topics were covered for this year’s National Safety Month.

Week 1 – Prevent Incidents Before They Start: Identifying risks and taking proactive safety measures to reduce hazard exposure on important topics from ergonomics to chemical management is crucial to creating a safe workplace.

Week 2 – Address Ongoing COVID-19 Safety Concerns: As the pandemic continues, employers play an important role in expanding operations and returning remote workers to physical workspaces, building trust around vaccines, supporting mental health and so much more.

Week 3 – It’s Vital to Feel Safe on the Job: Being able to be one’s self at work without fear of retaliation is necessary for an inclusive safety culture. Leading organizations focus not only on physical safety, but psychological safety as well.

Week 4 – Advance Your Safety Journey: Safety is all about continuous improvement. Whether organizationally or individually, NSC can help provide guidance for your path forward.

At Nelson-Jameson, we keep safety in the forefront of our minds everyday not only in the office, but in our distribution centers as well. Aside from Nelson-Jameson employees practicing safety in their everyday work environment, we also offer a large selection of products to help you keep your employees safe as well. From head and face protection, to protective clothing and footwear, to safety equipment and supplies, we offer products to not only protect your employees from injury, but also food products from possible contamination. Click here to download our Safety & PPE catalog, or request a printed copy of this catalog today!

Nelson-Jameson is proud to recognize both National Dairy and Safety Month. We recognize these months by showing appreciation to the important players in the dairy industry, and offering products and services to help keep your employees safe, and practicing workplace safety.

Sources:

Twin Rivers Media. (2015, April 22). June is National Dairy Month. American Dairymen®. https://www.americandairymen.com/articles/june-national-dairy-month.

VelocityEHS. (n.d.). June is National Safety Month. National Safety Council. https://www.nsc.org/work-safety/get-involved/national-safety-month.

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Minnesota Safety & Health Conference

Posted by Melissa Pasciak  – 
May 4, 2021

This year the Minnesota Safety Council will be hosting their 2021 Safety & Health Conference May 4th & 5th. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was decided for the event to be held virtually. With being completely online, the safety councils are able to offer more educational sessions and exhibits with safety solutions, as well as new networking opportunities!

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