An upcoming event is we host a dove hunt along with the Combat Marine Outdoors to both give back to the disabled veterans and raise funds for scholarships. This is a family friendly event and all are encouraged to attend. Even if you do not dove hunt, a skeet shoot is available, BBQ dinner and dancing.
To register for this year, info is further down in the newsletter. Coming up in November our Scholarship committee members will be doing interviews for the scholarships at Texas Tech and TAMU. It’s always a pleasure to talk with the students and learn what
they are up to.
We are working to grow our membership and expand our reach in the great state of Texas. If you have feedback or ideas for the TFPA please let me know.
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Janet Adams
President TFPA 2023-2024
469.271.7313
TFPA Updates
Upcoming Events
Legislative
Legislative Report – Noah Bass 9/15/2023
Denise Bode and Patrick Firth have both been involved with TFPA over the years, and have been strong contributors in the area of legislative & regulatory affairs. Denise and Patrick were previously affiliated with Grocery Manufacturers Association, and partnered with TFPA through Alan Mize. They have recently formed an organization in Washington, D.C. which they have named “Constitution Partners”.
Denise & Patrick recently reached out to our organization to request our help in communicating our thoughts on a couple of bills that are pending in the legislature in D.C.
The first bill is the SHOPP act, sponsored by Sen John Cornyn (R-TX), and Rep Jasmine Crockett (D-TX-30). While the intent of the bill is to expand the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program to include frozen fruits and vegetables, unfortunately it has some unforeseen negative effects, as it does not go far enough to include ALL forms of fruits and vegetables. Basically we are encouraging our membership to write to the legislators teams, encouraging them to broaden the bill. The board may also choose to send a letter signed by our board members, utilizing the language below. Please inform us if you have any opposition to the board sending the letter below. The suggested language from Constitution Partners is as follows:
I am writing on behalf of the Texas Food Processors Association, a non-profit trade association representing companies engaged in the production of food products. Our organization is aware of currently introduced legislation, the ‘Supporting All Healthy Options When Purchasing Produce (SHOPP) Act,’ which does our members significant harm and fails to address the needs of the American consumer.
We strongly support the science-driven conclusion that any programs that pertain to fruits & vegetables should be open to all forms of any variety of fresh, canned, dried, or frozen whole or cut fruits and vegetables as long as they meet the nutritional guidelines of the program. This allows for consumers to choose whichever variety of fruit or vegetable meets their dietary needs, culinary skills, storage availability, and budget. The current USDA Dietary Guidelines (page 28) call all forms of fruits and vegetables equally nutritious; as does a study from Michigan State University and a report from the
National Institutes of Health. Any legislation that provides preferential treatment to one form or another harms the American grower and does a disservice to the American consumer.
The United States is also facing an unprecedented reality: we are now a net food importer for the first time in our nation’s history [see chart and explanation on page 51]. This is a factor primarily driven by our increased imports of fruits and vegetables. Combined fresh vegetable and fresh and frozen fruit imports totaled $31.1 billion in 2022, up 10% from 2021 (Citation). These are self-inflicted wounds from programs and policies that give preferential treatment to foreign fresh (and now frozen) fruits and vegetables.
While American consumers, especially the least among us, rely on packed or dried fruits and vegetables, this is legislation that provides new subsidies to the least preferred options. For example, almost 80% of all beans sold in the U.S. are canned and only 5.1% of beans sold are frozen. We are subsidizing the most expensive, most often foreign imported fruit and vegetable options.
We request adjustments to this legislation to open this bill up to all forms of fruits and vegetables. The mission of the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program should be to expand options, not set artificial limits, for American consumers to get more access to fruits and vegetables.
Please let me know if you have any questions and we would be happy to discuss in further detail.
The second issue relates to a suggested amendment to the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act
to require a school food authority to make publicly available any waiver of the Buy American
requirement. This legislation is being led by Senators Braun (R-IN) and Brown (D-OH), and Reps. LaMalfa
(R-CA) and Garamendi (D-CA). The American Fruit and Vegetable Processors and Grocers Coalition
(AFVPGC) is strongly supportive of this bill that reenforces Buy America provisions within the school
food purchasing programs.
You can read more about this bill by simply googling “American Food for American Schools Act”, or by
following this link: https://garamendi.house.gov/media/press-releases/garamendi-lamalfa-re-introduce-
To sign on as a supporter, you can email adam_battalio@braun.senate.gov and
lain.Hart@mail.house.gov and notify them of your support.
Thank You!
Executive Director
President Vice President
Treasurer Secretary
Directors
Scholarships
The 2024 scholarship interviews will be in November of this year in Lubbock and College Station, TX. The scholarship committee cannot wait to meet and select the promising new recipients of the TFPA Scholarships.
The Scholarship Committee congratulated the 2023 recipients of the TFPA scholarships.
ATTN: Food manufactures - Are you needing summer interns for special projects this summer? Audit support, QA Responsibilities, Product Development assistance.
ATTN: Students - Are you seeking an internship this summer? Potential employer vetting, exercise Food Science & Technology Skills, gain experience, earn a paycheck all the while building your resume. TFPA is here to assist in connecting companies with qualified interns seeking internships. If so please contact:
Associative Members
Attached is a flyer to help promote TFPA to potential processor members. Please share with processors as you see fit.
We have also added a recruiting video to the website.Click here to watch. If you think you know of associates who would be interested in joining The TFPA
FSTC High Acid Fill Processing Class gets real time experience with R&D and production.
Written by Ashley Seelig
This summer four undergraduate students, one graduate student, and three faculty members teamed up for high impact learning activities in Food Processing. They had weekly industry visits and Zoom meetings with some of our members: Bestmaid Pickles, ICI Foods, Fischer & Wieser Specialty Foods, and Fiesta Spices. Students performed production test runs of lemonade and two SKUs of BBQ sauce. Thank you to Dr. Wagner for his help in establishing a Food Safety Plan and SOPs. Dr. Suzanne Talcott has secured several sources for support and training. Testing is on going with the ultimate goal of selling the lemonade and three BBQ sauce flavors online and at campus stores. They plan to be at Supplier’s night sampling their products.
