The screens provide a solution for protecting PVC exhaust vents from insects, rodents, birds and debris.
Nixalite offers termination vent screens available in 2", 3", 4" and 6" sizes. These screens are easily attached to standard PVC pipe fitting and provide a solution for protecting PVC exhaust vents from insects, rodents, birds and debris. The screens are designed with a slotted side that allows for condensation to drain. The small mesh stainless steel screens are great for excluding birds, rodents, and large insects from furnace vents, water heater vents, power vents and exhaust vents. The casing is made from HD Schedule 40 PVC material with the screen constructed of 3/16" square mesh stainless steel.
These make for an easy add on sale for your residential and commercial clients. For more information visit nixalite.com or call Nixalite of America Inc at 800-624-1189
Jim Donald replaces Wayne Denningham, who retired earlier this year.
Albertsons Companies has appointed Jim Donald, former president and CEO of Starbucks, as president and COO of Albertsons Companies, effective immediately. Donald is an experienced retail operator with extensive knowledge of Albertsons Companies, having previously held senior leadership roles at both Albertson’s and Safeway. Donald also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Rite Aid from 2008 to 2013.
Donald will have responsibility for the operations of the retailers’ 2,300+ store portfolio and help with the acceleration of the company’s growing omnichannel platform. Following the close of the recently announced merger with Rite Aid, subject to customary regulatory approvals and approval by Rite Aid shareholders, Donald will continue in this role and work alongside the rest of the combined company’s leadership team. Donald replaces Wayne Denningham, who retired earlier this year. Susan Morris, who was named executive vice president and chief operations officer in January 2018, will continue in her role.
“Jim Donald has built an exceptional career in retail. His knowledge of our company and industry is unmatched, and I know his contributions will be invaluable as we enter the next chapter of Albertsons Companies,” said Bob Miller, Albertsons Companies chairman and CEO. “We look forward to tapping his expertise in leading large consumer brands as we work every day to meet our customers’ needs, both in-store and online.”
Most recently, Donald served as CEO of Extended Stay America, a large US-based hotel chain, from 2012 to 2015. From 2009 to 2011, Donald served as president and CEO of food and pharmacy retailer Haggen. Prior to that, he spent six years at Starbucks, leading the company through a period of strong growth and performance, working his way up from president of its North America Division to president and CEO of Starbucks Corporation. Earlier in his career, Donald led Pathmark Stores and held a variety of senior management positions with Albertson’s, Safeway, and Wal-Mart Stores.
Having first worked at Albertsons 42 years ago, I have watched as an insider and from afar how their keen focus on customer service maintained a solid foundation for their team through the years,” Donald said. “Their acquisitive nature combined with their recent innovation efforts and strong Own Brands portfolio have helped them to build an even stronger company today. I look forward to being a part of the team that takes this great company into the future and continues to serve the food, health, and wellness needs of today’s busy customers.”
Three $50,000 prizes to be awarded to rising immigrant food preparers, beverage professionals, and food writers.
Applications are now open for the Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in the Arts and Humanities, this year awarded in the field of culinary arts. The Creative Promise Prizes were established in 2009 to celebrate emerging immigrant professionals who have demonstrated significant accomplishments, and to support them at crucial stages in their careers. Three foreign-born winners will each receive a $50,000 unrestricted cash prize.
“The culinary arts are a medium through which culture is preserved, elevated, merged, and enriched,” says Marica Vilcek, cofounder and vice chairman of the Vilcek Foundation. “For years, immigrants have been at the vanguard of culinary innovation, and we are pleased to recognize this rich body of contributions through the Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise.” Eligible applicants are immigrant professionals working in the following capacities:
Applicants must have been born outside of the United States; be 38 years of age or younger; and have at least five years of professional practice in the culinary arts. They should intend to pursue a career in the United States and must not be enrolled as full-time students.
Candidates will be asked to submit an application form, curriculum vitae, portfolio of work, press clippings, three short personal essays, and proof of immigration status (DACA recipients are welcome). Applications will be accepted from March 1 to June 11, 2018, 5PM EDT. The application and full eligibility requirements are available at http://www.vilcek.org/prizes/creative-promise.
A panel of distinguished experts will evaluate each applicant’s accomplishments, including the quality and creativity of the work presented in the portfolio, clarity of personal and professional purpose, and potential to advance the field of culinary arts. The winners will be announced in February 2019 and honored at the foundation’s annual awards gala in the spring of 2019.
The Vilcek Foundation is dedicated to honoring the contributions of foreign-born artists, scientists, and scholars to American society. In addition to bestowing the Creative Promise Prizes, the foundation also awards the prestigious $100,000 Vilcek Prize. Launched in 2006, the Vilcek Prize celebrates the lifetime achievements of leading figures in biomedical science and in a wide array of the arts, including theater, dance, film, music, fashion, literature, architecture, and fine arts. The Vilcek Prizes last recognized the culinary arts in 2010. The Vilcek Prize was awarded to Spanish-born Chef José Andrés. The Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Culinary Arts was awarded to Laotian-born Chef Varin Keokitvon. Since launching the prizes, the foundation has awarded approximately $4 million in cash prizes to 105 individuals from 48 different countries, including Guatemala, Iran, Romania, China, and Russia.
Both the Vilcek Prizes and the Creative Promise Prizes are awarded in the biomedical sciences and a rotating category of the arts each year. For information about the Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science, please visit Vilcek.org.
The Vilcek Foundation was established in 2000 by Jan and Marica Vilcek, immigrants from the former Czechoslovakia. The mission of the foundation, to honor the contributions of immigrants to the United States and to foster appreciation of the arts and sciences, was inspired by the couple’s respective careers in biomedical science and art history, as well as their personal experiences and appreciation of the opportunities they received as newcomers to this country. The foundation awards annual prizes to prominent immigrant biomedical scientists and artists and manages the Vilcek Foundation Art Collections.
To learn more about the Vilcek Foundation, please visit vilcek.org.
Industry consultant Mike Holcomb demonstrates importance of detail cleaning for IPM.
As an integrated pest management consultant, I have been working for more than 15 years with Gary, a contract pest control operator who works very closely with plant sanitation, in one of my pet food client facilities. I recently received an email from Gary with a photo (above) of a Whirl Pak full of product fines containing dozens of warehouse beetle (Trogoderma) larvae and the following explanation:
“These are the kind of infestations we are finding in equipment, slide gates, dead ends of conveyors and on ledges of equipment, on wall and ceiling beams, conduit, and pipes in difficult to access areas. We have been cleaning/treating these areas, which the (pheromone trap) counts are reflecting. It is labor intensive, but effective. It also reduces hundreds of gallons of non-ecofriendly fogging materials from being introduced into the facility. Furthermore, fogging the plant without the extra inspection/cleaning/treating is not showing as effective if you compare to historical trends.”
This example clearly demonstrates the importance of “detail cleaning” to the success of your integrated pest management program (IPM). As Gary describes, the hard-to-reach areas where organic debris accumulates (insect resource sites such as overhead ledges, corners, inside equipment etc.) can become hot spots of insect activity if left unattended. Detail cleaning is not easy; it requires more time and resources than general or aesthetic housekeeping, and it is made more difficult by insanitary design of equipment and facilities.
In my experience working with the various milling industries, I have observed that structural features and food manufacturing equipment that are difficult to access and clean, won’t get cleaned. At least they won’t get cleaned with the right intensity and frequency necessary to disrupt the insect breeding cycle. Gary also points out that detail sanitation leads to reductions in his pheromone trap counts over time. Clearly he relies on monitoring tools to orient sanitation effort toward insect resource sites, and to trend his progress over time (week to week and season to season). Whether or not he is aware of it, this proactive sanitation approach (resource reduction) helps the plant comply with two of FSMA’s most important food protection requirements: continuous improvement and prevention, and one of GFSI’s most strident food protection standards: verification.
Every food processor understands the value of using less intrusive pest control techniques and a reduced dependency on pesticides (described as “more ecofriendly” by Gary). And finally, an organized detail cleaning program also reduces non-productive downtime that results from reactive pest control such as fogging or fumigation. After all, when the plant is shut down and commandeered by the pest control operator to correct an epidemic insect infestation, deep dive sanitation, preventive maintenance, and general plant/equipment re-tooling opportunities are lost.
The new offering provides a convenient option when space is limited and portability is important.