Silliker, Organic Education Solutions Announce Upcoming Release of New Training Program
By John Williams Jr.
Silliker, Inc. has entered into a strategic partnership with Organic Education Solutions (OES) LLC to provide organic training and consulting services. Under the new agreement Silliker, a leading provider of education services for the food industry, will collaborate on and serve as the primary distributor of OES training products.
Growth and Challenges
The organic food industry has grown dramatically in the past 20 years. In 2008, sales of organic food and non-food products reached $24.6 billion in the United States, according to the Organic Trade Association. Manufacturers and retailers have created new certified products, added private label lines and co-manufacturers – all of which must operate under an Organic System Plan and in compliance with USDA National Organic Program (NOP) regulations.
Past and highly publicized incidents, however, have shown that companies making and/or selling organic products need to be sure that both their organic and food safety programs are strong and employees are effective trained, said Rick Martinez, OES Chief Executive Officer. OES' parent company is Organic Concepts LLC, a leading consulting organization that supports manufacturers with their pre-certification preparation and post-certification needs, as well as retailers' organic product lines.
Throughout their decades of experience as inspectors and consultants, Martinez and his partners have seen issues common to facilities large and small.
"One of the most serious problems we see is that a plant hasn't properly defined all of its organic control points. This is typically a result of not fully understanding the requirements of the NOP and doing a thorough assessment," stated Martinez. "Which leads to a related issue that impacts employees – a lack of clearly defined procedures to mitigate the organic control points."
Martinez notes that for a company to be successful, organic education needs to start at the top – with management, R&D, purchasing, marketing staff and production. Personnel who oversee the pest control and sanitation programs and vendors also benefit from organic education because of the specific requirements of the NOP are so different from food safety and other programs.
"Ensuring that corporate personnel and plant employees really understand the specifics and their role is essential. The new training products and services that we are collaborating with Silliker on will help the industry do just that," said Martinez.
Coming Soon "Keep It Organic: Best Practices for Production Personnel," the inaugural training program from OES will be released at the end of April. The DVD, which includes multi-media training presentations with video clips, photographs, and graphics, helps learners distinguish between organic and non-organic foods. Employees are introduced to key organic concepts and provided with a succinct overview of organic certification requirements, which pertain to their roles.
The groundbreaking training program emphasizes the importance of using best practices to prevent:
Commingling: Ensuring that organic and non-organic ingredients, and finished products do not unintentionally come into contact with each other.
Contamination: Ensuring that organic ingredients and finished products do not come into contact with prohibited substances such as sanitizers, pest control materials, and processing aids, that are not approved in organic handling.
It also reinforces support of the pest control program because the prevention of pest infestations is a key aspect of NOP, which limits the use of pest control chemicals.
Real World Applications
The insightful information contained in "Keep It Organic" is largely taken from decades of inspection and training experience.
"The training program is designed to help plant personnel understand the critical roles they play in ensuring that products they handle maintain their organic integrity," Martinez states.
To this end, the bilingual DVD (English and Spanish) features real-world applications of the organic certification requirements and easy-to-follow examples of best practices. Visual learning activities are included to help instructors teach key points. The DVD also includes:
A printable employee quiz to assess the retention / understanding, and provides documentation for annual inspections
An instructor guide with detailed notes to help new and seasoned facilitators deliver a great presentation
A PowerPoint template allowing companies to create a presentation specific to their organic program
The presentations can also be used to train an individual employee at a computer with the narrated version of the presentation.
Complementary Partners
Over the past few years, Silliker has cultivated relationships with training groups and associations to produce education programs for the food industry. Dr. Gustavo Gonzalez, Silliker Director of Technical Services, explained that the strategic partnership with OES is another example of the company's objective to serve the diverse sectors of the food industry with innovative training programs.
"We are excited to join forces with OES on a number of planned training programs that will help companies improve the competencies of personnel and increase compliance to the NOP," he said.
The "Keep It Organic: Best Practices for Production Personnel" DVD is only $250, and can be purchased through www.silliker.com after April 30. To sign up for email updates on organic training tips, and to be notified as soon as the DVD is released: please log on to: www.organiceducationsolutions.com.
Organic Food Facts:
About 70% of grocery stores in the U.S. offer some form of organic foods.
Fruits and vegetables sales are the largest category, representing 39%
Organic food sales represent 2.5% of all food products sold in the U.S.
Germany is the leading producer of organic foods
At least 70% of people in the U.S. have purchased or consumed some form of organic food.
Refrigerated Food Association's New Food Safety Training DVD Focuses on Needs of Experienced, Non-Technical Food Employees
To help meet stringent government regulations and ensure best practices in food safety, the Refrigerated Foods Association (RFA), an organization of manufacturers and suppliers of refrigerated foods, has produced the "RFA Food Safety Training for Experienced Employees" DVD Program.
The DVD focuses on the needs of experienced, non-technical food employees. It features the most updated information, including what food employees should know about third-party audits, food defense and allergens. Created and produced by the RFA technical committee, the program runs about 90 minutes and is divided into 10 training sessions covering:
Importance of Food Safety and Microbiology in R-T-E Foods
HACCP
Personal hygiene
Microorganisms in the plant
Sanitation and equipment cleanliness
Basic building maintenance
Allergen control
Food security
Preparing for an audit
Traceability/Recall
The DVD program includes an accompanying Data CD training manual, which includes sets of multiple choice and true/false review questions for each training session. The manual is designed to be customized to a company's own policies and procedures. There are English and Spanish versions of the DVD and training manual included on the same discs.
"This new DVD is a valuable tool for refrigerated food manufacturers," said RFA President Mark Brown. "It will provide experienced plant employees with the necessary food safety knowledge needed to operate their plants safely."
The RFA Food Safety Training for Experienced Employees DVD and CD manual is available for purchase for $225 through Silliker, Inc., the authorized distributor of the RFA DVD. To purchase copies of the RFA Training DVD for your plants, go directly to www.silliker.com. The DVD format is appropriate for the United States and Canada.
In today's rebounding economy, getting the most out of your capital investments is a bottom-line necessity. Silliker offers a dynamic range of cost-effective and highly relevant programs that are highlighted in our Winter / Spring 2010 Food Safety Education & Training catalog. Our professional offerings include:
• Public Short Courses: From HACCP to plant sanitation, we offer a full range of programs, including our "Implementing SQF 2000 Systems" short course scheduled for April 27-28, 2010 in Chicago, IL. Register for this course by April 16th and save 10% off the course fee. Please enter the code, EDNEML0310, when registering at www.silliker.com.
• SISTEM™ Training Platform: The SISTEM training and compliance management platform has a simple format that includes hand-held remotes, interactive courseware and a robust learning management system (LMS). Instantly train your staff on a wide range of industry-specific topics, in multiple languages, with automatic documentation of the results and advanced reporting capabilities. Used in over 500 food manufacturing plants in the US, Canada and Mexico, SISTEM is proven to reduce food safety incidents, turnover and production costs, while increasing worker morale and productivity.
• Customized, on-site training: Our specialists can tailor programs in English and Spanish to meet your specific needs. As part of our custom offerings, we can help your in-house instructors refine and improve their teaching skills through our "Food Safety Trainer" program.
• DVD / VHS / Multimedia Training: We feature an extensive library of professionally produced training programs that is unmatched in the food industry. With a push of a button, you can motivate your workers with our "GMP Basics: Employee Hygiene Practices" DVD, "Swabbing Techniques" CD, and other engaging, fast-paced training programs.
To order a FREE copy of our training catalog in a PDF format, please indicate your interest on the or write us at info@silliker.com.
Silliker, Inc. has entered into a strategic partnership with Organic Education Solutions (OES) LLC to provide organic training and consulting services. Under the new agreement Silliker, a leading provider of education services for the food industry, will collaborate on and serve as the primary distributor of OES training products.
Coming Soon
The DVD focuses on the needs of experienced, non-technical food employees. It features the most updated information, including what food employees should know about third-party audits, food defense and allergens. Created and produced by the RFA technical committee, the program runs about 90 minutes and is divided into 10 training sessions covering:
• Public Short Courses: From HACCP to plant sanitation, we offer a full range of programs, including our "Implementing SQF 2000 Systems" short course scheduled for April 27-28, 2010 in Chicago, IL. Register for this course by April 16th and save 10% off the course fee. Please enter the code, EDNEML0310, when registering at