Food Engineering Plant of the Year and Sustainable Plant of the Year winners announced

Food Engineering recognizes two outstanding food plants, Kraft Heinz and Dairy Farmers of America.

Food Engineering’s 2018 Food Plant of the Year goes to Kraft Heinz. The facility, located in Davenport, Iowa, produces Oscar Mayer’s Deli Fresh and Lunchables product lines. This is the first greenfield construction project to be completed by Kraft Heinz since undergoing the merger.

Gray Construction completed the 382,157 sq. foot facility located on 70 acres in the Eastern Iowa Industrial Center. The plant employs the highest levels of food safety and state-of-the-art automation to optimize efficiency.

Additionally, Food Engineering names Dairy Farmers of America as the recipient of this year’s Sustainable Plant of the Year for its milk drying facility in Garden City, Kansas. This award recognizes a newly constructed food facility that has went above and beyond to build a food plant focused on reducing, reusing and recycling. Shambaugh & Son completed the 267,000 sq. ft. facility on a 165 acre site.

Both awards will be presented at Food Engineering’s Food Automation & Manufacturing Conference and Expo at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point in Bonita Springs, Fla. held April 8-11, 2018. Both Kraft Heinz and Dairy Farmers of America will be there to accept the awards and deliver presentations detailing their exceptional plants.

Food Engineering wants to thank all of the companies and firms that submitted their new plants for review. It was an extremely tough decision this year, and we are honored to have received all of the excellent nominations.

Click here to read more about this year’s Food Plant of the Year award winner.

Click here to read more about this year’s Sustainable Food Plant of the Year award winner.

KEYWORDS: awards

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Debra Schug was Editor-in-Chief of Food Engineering. She began her media career over a decade ago writing and producing broadcast news for both television and radio at the local and national level. She spent many years as the managing editor for two trade magazines in the oil industry and the research editor for an annual petroleum report. She has a master’s degree in journalism and mass communication from Iowa State University.