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10 CapitalPress.com January 12, 2018 Washington safety agency fines food processor $92,400 Freeze Pack appeals, denies all violations By DON JENKINS Capital Press Dan Wheat/Capital Press Jerry Milbrandt, president and owner of Milbrandt Management, at his new wine bottling plant at Ancient Lakes Wine Co. near George, Wash., on Dec. 26. The largest custom wine bottling operation in the state will start running in January. State’s largest custom wine bottling plant to open By DAN WHEAT Capital Press GEORGE, Wash. — The largest custom wine bottling plant in the state will begin operations in mid-to-late January at Ancient Lake Wine Co. in George. The 60,000-square-foot facility will be capable of bottling 250 bottles of wine per minute, 10,000 cas- es per day and 2.2 million cases a year, said Brandon Rice, winemaker and facili- ty manager. It will run about 44 weeks per year and is equipped to produce spar- kling wines. That’s still just one- fourth to one-third of the capacity of Ste. Michelle Wine Estate’s bottling plants in Patterson, Rice said. Those plants almost exclu- sively bottle Ste. Michelle wines from Ste. Michelle wine grapes, whereas An- cient Lake Wine Co. pro- duces wine from its grapes and others’ to sell to other companies to retail. It has no labels nor retail sales of its own. Ancient Lake Wine Co. is part of Milbrandt Manage- ment, which also includes Milbrandt Evergreen, Mil- brandt Vineyards, Wahluke Wine Co. and Desert Farms. Milbrandt is one of the larger wine producers in the state. Ancient Lake Wine Co. owns 1,500 acres of vine- yard in the Quincy-George area, 1,500 acres in Matta- wa and sources wine grapes from about 1,000 acres of independent vineyards throughout Eastern Wash- ington. The new, $6 million bot- tling plant has 20,000 square feet for the bottling line and 40,000 square feet for packed case storage, said Katherine Ryf, Milbrandt Management CEO and vice president. Some 750,000 square feet of packed case storage will be added later, she said. The first of four phases of the new winery began in 2014 and was finished last spring. The $10 mil- lion phase includes crushing equipment, one 250,000-gal- lon fermentation tank and 80, 34,000-gallon fermentation tanks all capable of crushing 23,000 tons of wine grapes annually for 3.8 million gal- lons of wine, Rice said. The winery handled 15,700 tons of grapes in 2017 and produced about 2.6 mil- lion gallons of wine, he said. “Every year we should have more tonnage and more wine but wine on hand will include carryover from the prior year,” he said. The stainless steel fer- mentation tanks range up to 40 feet tall and are outside and coated with white, res- in-based insulation, 3 to 4 inches thick to keep juice between 55 and 65 degrees, critical for fermentation. The second phase is the bottling plant and packed case storage. The third phase, to start in 2019, will be an- other concrete pad for a du- plicate set of fermentation tanks to raise total annual capacities to 50,000 tons of grapes and 8 million gallons of wine. A fourth phase will be a 45,000-square-foot bar- rel room. Currently, about $23 mil- lion is invested in the total project but when all four phases are done they are ex- pected to total $46 million and the timing of completion partly depends on demand from industry growth, Ryf said. A Pasco, Wash., vegeta- ble processor has been fined $92,400 for five safety vio- lations, including one that led to a worker losing part of a finger, the state Depart- ment of Labor and Indus- tries announced. Freeze Pack, a division of Oregon Potato Co., has appealed the fines to the Division of Occupational Safety and Health within the department. The company denies every violation. It also argues L&I should not have labeled it a “severe vi- olator,” an official designa- tion that means more work- place inspections. “Freeze Pack has been and continues to be commit- ted to providing a safe and healthy workplace for all employees,” company Pres- ident Frank Tiegs said in an email. L&I began an investiga- tion after a worker suffered a fractured wrist and partial- ly amputated finger on May 19. The worker’s hand was pulled into conveyor belt rollers as he blew away on- ion debris with an air hose. As the man worked under the belt, the hose was pulled into the rollers, taking his hand with it, according to L&I. The agency alleges the company didn’t follow safe- ty procedures to ensure the belt wouldn’t move. In its appeal, the compa- ny says that the rollers must be turning to be cleared of onion debris. Workers are trained to stand more than 3 feet from the belt while us- ing the air hose, the compa- ny stated. The company says the worker, a shift supervisor not trained to clear convey- or belts, got too close. The nozzle got caught in the roll- ers. Instead of letting go, the worker tried to yank out the hose, according to the com- pany. L&I issued a $52,800 fine for the incident. L&I says it has cited the company four times in the past three years for similar violations. Three times have involved an am- putated finger, according to L&I. The company also was fined $26,400 for two cases of allegedly not adequately safeguarding moving parts on conveyors. The violations were serious repeat offenses, according to L&I. The com- pany was cited for the same two violations in 2014, the agency stated. The company argues the exposed parts are not in areas frequented by workers and did not put workers at risk of serious injury or death. L&I also levied a $6,600 penalty, alleging the compa- ny endangered employees by issuing unsuitable tools. An L&I inspector reported see- ing workers equipped with paddles to open and close in- operable gates on conveyor belts. The paddles were too short, so workers walked on conveyor belts, risking falls, to open and close the gates, according to an L&I report. The company says work- ers used the paddles to break loose backed-up onions on conveyor belts. The paddles were used to open and close gates temporarily until the automatic gates were fixed, according to the company. L&I issued another $6,600 fine, alleging the company didn’t have a writ- ten plan to control the power supply to equipment. The company says that it did have a plan. State commissions help fund U.S. Wheat technician in S. America Potential demand could double exports By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press The Idaho, Oregon and Washington wheat commis- sions are helping pay for a new technician to help pro- mote the use of Northwest wheat in South America. Each commission will provide $30,000 per year to U.S. Wheat Associates for five years. Long-term demand on that continent could poten- tially double the current de- mand for Northwest wheat, said Mike Miller, president of U.S. Wheat Associates and a Ritzville, Wash., farm- er. He pointed to “huge” de- mand in Brazil and potential demand in Chile, Colombia and Peru. “The South American market has turned into as big a market now as the Pacif- ic Rim-Asian market,” said Darren Padget, board mem- ber of the Oregon Wheat Commission and a Sherman County farmer. Asia buys about 43 percent of U.S. wheat exports, he said, and South and Central America about equal that percentage. South American custom- ers who have visited the U.S. say they need a technician to determine how to best use wheat from the U.S., and the U.S. needs to have a pres- ence, Miller said. The goal is to increase sales for all classes of U.S. wheat and grow the market presence. Padget said the commis- sions heard about the need for a technician during a U.S. Wheat global staff meeting in Colorado last May. The three state commis- sions look for projects on which they can cooperate, Padget said. Having somebody on site is important if you’ve got a problem, he said. It could give U.S. wheat an advan- tage over wheat from such nations as Australia and Canada. U.S. Wheat is looking for the right fit for the position. The job description is not completely set, Padget said. “They’re trying not to put themselves in a box too much if the right person comes along,” he said. Padget hopes to have a technician in place by the Latin American Wheat Buy- ers Conference in Rio de Ja- neiro, Brazil, in July. U.S. Wheat will employ the technician and the com- missions will provide support for travel, equipment and oth- er needs, he said. “I’m kind of excited about it — it’s a great project the three states are wholeheart- edly behind,” he said. “I think it’s going to do a lot of good and it’s a good use of grower dollars.” WE SPECIALIZE IN BULK BAGS! BAGS: • Seed Bags • Fertilizer Bags • Feed Bags • Potato Bags • Printed Bags • Plain Bags • Bulk Bags • Totes • Woven Polypropylene • Bopp • Polyethylene • Pocket Bags • Roll Stock & More! HAY PRESS SUPPORT: • Hay Sleeves • Strap • Totes • Printed or Plain • Stretch Film (ALL GAUGES) WAREHOUSE PACKAGING: • Stretch Film • Pallet Sheets • Pallet Covers LOCATIONS: Albany, Oregon (MAIN OFFICE) Ellensburg, Washington CONTACT INFORMATION: Phone: 855-928-3856 Fax: 541-497-6262 info@westernpackaging.com ....................................................... 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