10 CapitalPress.com
December 2, 2016
Washington
Washington
foodmaker
fined $22,000 Haro receives first-
by Ecology time honor at food
Line workers honored with award
By DON JENKINS
safety workshop
Capital Press
Capital Press
A maker of organic grano-
la bars and cereals in Blaine,
Wash., has been fined $22,000
for water quality violations,
mostly for releasing acidic
wastewater into a city sewer
system, the state Department
of Ecology announced Tues-
day.
Nature’s Path Foods, based
in Richmond, British Colum-
bia, violated its wastewater
permit 39 times over a two-
year period that ended in July,
according to Ecology.
The company violated
permit conditions for flow,
dissolved oxygen levels and
suspended solids, according to
Ecology. The agency, howev-
er, singled out acidic wastewa-
ter as the primary problem.
A Nature’s Path spokes-
woman said the company was
not giving interviews about the
penalty, but that it did plan to
appeal the fine to the state Pol-
lution Control Hearings Board.
The company issued a
statement blaming faulty
equipment for mismeasuring
pH levels. The pH level mea-
sures acidity.
“We believe the past num-
bers we reported to the city are
inaccurate and that our past
pH levels were in fact aligned
with the city’s guidelines,”
Peter Diex, vice president of
operations, said in a written
statement.
Acidic wastewater can
damage sewer lines, and pose
health hazards to sewer workers
and the public if sewers over-
flow. In this case, the discharges
also could have passed exces-
sively acidic water into Semiah-
moo Bay, according to Ecology.
Ecology sent a notice to Na-
ture’s Path in December 2015
about violations that had oc-
curred over the previous year.
Violations, however, contin-
ued, according to Ecology.
A new Washington State
University Extension award
seeks to honor food process-
ing line workers.
Armando Haro of Borton
Fruit in Yakima, Wash., re-
ceived the first-ever annual
line worker award during
WSU Extension’s annual
food safety and sanitation
regional workshop held on
Nov. 7-8 in Portland.
The award highlights line
workers’ contributions to the
food processing industry, said
Girish Ganjyal, WSU Exten-
sion food processing special-
ist.
Companies nominate their
employees for the award. The
industry tends to recognize
their line workers internally,
but the award is designed to
elevate industry appreciation,
Ganjyal said.
“In the food industry,
whether it’s fresh packing,
harvesting or production of
a food product, this award
recognizes people who actu-
Online
http://ext100.wsu.edu/food-
sanitation/line-worker-award/
ally touch the food,” Ganjyal
said. “They’re very important
to the whole equation of food
safety.”
Haro received an engraved
glass award and $500.
Finalists were Romeo
Duron of Kershaw Fruit,
Juanlo Hernandez of Pacific
Seafood, Joseph Kintner of
Cowiche Growers, Frances
Maunder of Pacific Choice
Seafoods and Adrian Silva of
Allan Brothers.
Courtesy Washington State University Extension
Armando Haro of Borton Fruit in Yakima, Wash., receives the
first-ever Line Worker Award from Girish Ganjyal, Washington
State University Extension food processing specialist.
Limagrain leaders offer sneak peek at new varieties
Company continues
work on hard white
wheat development
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho
— Improved winter hardiness
and loaf quality are high on
Limagrain’s list of traits they
hope to offer farmers.
PNW breeder Jay Kalous
would like to improve win-
ter hardiness in some of the
company’s soft white wheat
varieties.
“I would like to keep ev-
erything we have in terms of
yield potential, disease resis-
tance, winter hardiness,” said
Frank Curtis, executive vice
president and chief operating
officer. “Without sacrificing
any of those, I would like
to improve test weight and
drought tolerance.”
Forthcoming varieties in-
clude hard red spring wheat
LCS Iron, hard red spring
wheat LCS Luna, hard white
spring wheat UI Platinum and
soft white spring wheat LCS
Silk.
The company began in
2010 by blending European
varieties from its global ger-
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Limagrain Cereal Seeds wheat breeder Jay Kalous talks about the company’s Pacific Northwest program Nov. 10 during the Tri-State
Grain Growers Convention in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
mplasm base into the PNW
programs. The company has
agreements with University of
Idaho and Oregon State Uni-
versity, resulting in Norwest
Duet, Norwest Tandem, UI
Castle, UI Magic, UI Palouse
and UI Stone.
Magic, Castle and Palouse
contributed roughly 200,000
bushels, a lot for a first year
of release, Curtis said, with
Magic accounting for roughly
150,000 bushels.
An Eastern Washington
farmer reported a yield of 192
bushels per acre with hard red
winter wheat variety LCS Jet,
which is “daylight-insensi-
tive” and doesn’t go dormant
during shorter days, Curtis
said.
Limagrain is promoting
hard red winter variety Evina
for organic farmers.
LCS is starting to create
its own varieties using its
own materials, with three soft
white wheats in the seed in-
crease stage.
“We’re really excited
about now really branch-
ing out and filling all market
classes, better quality types,
very good performance,” said
Jim Peterson, vice president
for research.
LCS is working to develop
hard white spring and winter
varieties because the industry
requests them, Curtis said.
“The growers are not, be-
cause the industry isn’t paying
them enough to grow them,”
he said. “We feel with time,
the industry will sort it out.”
Other key traits include
starch resistance and herbi-
cide tolerance that is comple-
mentary to Clearfield.
“In six and a half years,
we’ve come a long ways and
had significant market impact
with the materials coming
through,” Peterson said.
Wine research seminars expand
PROSSER, Wash. — An
annual seminar highlighting
wine industry research results
is adding two sessions on op-
posite sides of the state next
year to its full-day event in
Prosser.
Washington
Advance-
ments in Viticulture and
Enology (WAVE) seminars,
held by the Washington
State Wine Commission, are
designed to put viticulture
and enology research into
the hands of users and raise
awareness of the value of re-
search among grape growers
and winemakers.
A full day of research of
interest to growers and wine-
makers is scheduled for April
19 at the Walter Clore Wine
and Culinary Center in Pross-
er. The day includes lunch and
a wine social hour.
A condensed version,
called WAVEx, will be held
in the Woodinville and Walla
Walla Valley wine regions.
WAVEx is tailored for vint-
ners and will include research
and extension outreach,
such as practical winemak-
ing tips. The shorter sessions
will include lunch.
Southeastern
Washing-
ton winemakers may attend
WAVEx on July 11 at Walla
Walla Community College’s
Institute for Enology and Vi-
ticulture. The program will be
repeated for Western Wash-
ington vintners on July 13
at the Brightwater Center in
Woodinville.
Registration for WAVE
opens Jan. 30. A recap and
presentations from WAVE
2016 may be found at www.
washingtonwine.org.
— Dan Wheat
Tree fruit meet to talk technology, Cosmic Crisp
WENATCHEE, Wash. —
Jim McFerson, director of the
Washington State University
Tree Fruit Research and Ex-
tension Center, will give the
37th annual Batjer Address,
titled, “Technology Road Map
2.0,” at the Washington State
49-4/#13
Tree Fruit Association’s annu-
al meeting on Dec. 5.
The meeting and trade
show runs Dec. 5, 6 and 7 at
the Wenatchee Convention
Center.
Prior to McFerson the
opening session the morning
49-1/#7
of Dec. 5 includes updates on
anticipating change from: Jon
DeVaney, association presi-
dent; Kevin Moffitt, The Pear
Bureau Northwest president;
Todd Fryhover, Washington
Apple Commission presi-
dent; Bruce Grim, marketing
associations manager; B.J.
Thurlby, Washington State
Fruit Commission president;
Mark Powers, Northwest
Horticultural Council execu-
tive vice president; and Jim
Bair, U.S. Apple Association
president.
Mike Hulett, senior mer-
chant for Walmart Fresh, will
talk about retail trends in pro-
duce.
Afternoon speakers the
first day include Kirk Shulz,
president of WSU, and Mike
Willett, manager of the Wash-
ington State Tree Fruit Re-
search Commission, updating
the commission’s WSU en-
dowment.
Horticultural, quality stan-
dard and marketing aspects of
the new WSU Cosmic Crisp
apple will be discussed.
For more information:
www.wstfa.org.
— Dan Wheat