Food News, January 2008

Upcoming Industry Events

Great People = Growing Profit$: Solving Your Workforce Challenges
February 26, 2008 - Grande Prairie AB
This results-oriented workshop will provide creative, practical, proven, low cost solutions you can use to find and keep great employees. Leave with a toolkit of templates that will provide immediate bottom-line results. Workshop leader is Dr. Denis Cauvier, a globally recognized expert in workforce recruitment and retention. Registration deadline: February 15. For more details or to register, contact Sherry or Mavis at 780-538-6208.

Lean Manufacturing Workshop
February 27, 2008 - Best Western Village Park Inn, Calgary AB
Join Gary Loblick of the Winslow Group for this hands-on workshop designed to provide company teams with in-depth understanding of lean principles and how they apply in the production environment. Several lean principles will be demonstrated through a role-playing exercise. Registration deadline: February 19th. For more details or to register, contact Jim Cooper at 780-679-5173 or jim.cooper@gov.ab.ca or Ron Lyons at 780-980-4363 or ron.lyons@gov.ab.ca

Customer Focused Collaboration: Mastering Value Chain Implementation
March 4-6, 2008 - Sheraton Cavalier Hotel, Calgary AB
This two and a half day advanced value chain management program is made possible by the Western Canada Value Chain Initiatives and is designed to keep you and your value chain team ahead of the game. The program explores the need for executives and senior managers to master both the opportunity and growth of their value chains and the need to adapt to the changing commercial environment. You and your team will gain practical business insights and tools to manage your value chain through its next evolution and beyond. Network with other value chain leaders as you practice applications and work together on collaborative problem solving. Two special break out sessions are featured: (1) Retail Scanning Data: Insights and Execution; and (2) Managing Growth in Food Service Value Chains. As space is limited, plan to register before February 1, 2008. For additional details, contact Margurite Thiessen at 780-968-3513 or margurite.thiessen@gov.ab.ca

Developing Foods for Health and Wellness
March 5-6, 2008 - Executive Royal Inn, Leduc-Nisku AB
This informative seminar is being offered to managers, product developers, and marketers of agri-food products. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to improve your knowledge and understanding of market trends and developmental opportunities as they relate to issues surrounding health and wellness. Hear presentations from both the industry and scientific community on a range of topics including nutrigenomics; understanding fats; formulating for trans fat free products; fibre; incorporating inulin into your products; understanding salt in the diet; pulses; immunoglobulins; and much more. For specific program details, contact Kathleen Bunnin at 780-980-4721 or kathleen.bunnin@gov.ab.ca. To register, contact the Ag-Info Centre at 1-800-3876030.

Spring HACCP Workshops

• HACCP III: Train the Trainer: Edmonton – February 6-7, 2008
• HACCP for On-Line Supervisors: Calgary – February 11, 2008
• Managing Allergen Issues: Edmonton – February 12-13, 2008
• HACCP IV: Validation and Verification of Your HACCP Plan: Calgary – March 4-5, 2008
• HACCP V: Effective Auditing of Your HACCP Plan: Calgary – March 6-7, 2008
• HACCP I: Documenting Your Prerequisite Program: Edmonton – April 14-15, 2008
• HACCP II: Development of Your HACCP Plan: Edmonton – April 16-18, 2008

• The business case to consider “HR as a Profit Centre” by examining the specific cost of employee turnover.
• Information to help you plan how to attract and retain great workers.
• Ready to use, practical tools that can be used as a stand-alone system or in conjunction with other resources and/or processes you already have in place.