The USDA's FSIS Announces Effective Date for Meat Grind Ruling

On December 14, 2015, the Food Safety and Inspection service (FSIS) announced it is amending its record keeping regulations to require that all official establishments and retail stores that grind raw beef products for sale maintain detailed records*. The effective date will be June 20, 2016.

The detailed records must include:

• The establishment numbers of establishments supplying material used to prepare each lot of raw ground beef product.
• All supplier lot numbers and production dates.
• The names of the supplied materials, including beef components and any materials carried over from one production lot to the next.
• The date and time each lot of raw ground beef product is produced.
• The date and time when grinding equipment and other related food-contact surfaces are cleaned and sanitized.

Applied Data Corporation (ADC) has been providing retailers with grind traceability solutions for over 5 years with their Meat Grind Traceability Management module, which is an electronic, automated system that captures and records source materials through the meat grind process, providing the information that both retailers and regulatory agencies need to quickly and effectively identify potential source materials that could cause or contribute to an outbreak, at any time.

ADC’s Meat Grind Traceability Management module is installed at a retailer's headquarters or hosted in the cloud and features an easy-to-use browser user interface that enables retailers to quickly implement the software with little investment in additional hardware. The software captures all of the required information from the primal’s barcode with wireless handheld devices.

To learn more about the proposed regulation or ADC’s software solution, please contact our office at +1.813.849.1818 or visit www.AppliedDataCorp.com.

*Read the complete final rule here.

Press Release: Kum & Go Selects and Begins Implementation of ADC's C-Pack and C-Pack+ Software Bundles

Tampa, Florida - October 6, 2015 - ADC announces that Kum & Go, a 430 store convenience chain headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa, has selected and begun implementation of ADC’s C-Pack, C-Pack+ and Label Print Manager software.

Kum & Go produces a variety of fresh food items in-stores, including breakfast items, sandwiches and pizzas.  To promote growth of their fresh food operations, and create efficiencies for associates, the chain looked for alternatives to the paper-based systems they’d been using to manage inventory tracking, forecasting and shrink.

Kum & Go selected ADC’s C-Pack and C-Pack+ software bundles to capture shrink, provide accurate forecasting for fresh food production and manage perpetual and physical inventory.  Additionally, C-Pack+ includes ADC’s NutriGen Recipe Manager, enabling Kum & Go to calculate costs, monitor actual margins of products sold and generate nutrition facts from recipes. Ingredient, nutrition facts and allergens are automatically sent to the label printer, ensuring all information in each recipe is also on the label.

“After an extensive, six month pilot in multiple stores running ADC’s software, we realized a net gain in sales greater than similar control stores that were set up to measure the effect of the pilot,” said Greg Tornberg, Vice President of Food Service at Kum & Go.  “We also saw a reduction in shrink compared to the control stores and significantly reduced our cost per label.These results gave us the confidence to move forward with a full implementation.”

ADC’s C-Pack and C-Pack+ software is being rolled out to more than 150 stores in 2015 and the roll out will continue through 2016, as Kum & Go’s food service program continues to expand. 

“Kum & Go is the first convenience store chain utilizing ADC’s software to improved fresh food sales, while reducing perishable waste,” said Steve Loveridge, CEO at ADC.  “We are very pleased with Kum & Go’s results and look forward to working with them as they continue to grow their fresh foods program.” 

ADC’s C-Pack and C-Pack+ software bundle are designed to improve fresh department operations for convenience store retailers.  C-Pack includes P-Cubed Production Manager and P-Cubed Shrink Manager.  C-Pack+ includes P-Cubed Physical Inventory Manager, P-Cubed Perpetual Inventory Manager and the NutriGen Recipe Manager. 

For more information, please contact:
Jamie Simon
+1.813.849.1818 Ext. 2238

About Kum & Go
For more than 55 years, Kum & Go has been dedicated to the communities it serves, sharing 10 percent of its annual profits with charitable causes. The fifth-largest, privately held and company-operated convenience store chain in the U.S, Kum & Go is an industry pioneer founded on providing exceptional service and delivering more than what customers expect. Established in Hampton, Iowa in 1959, family-owned Kum & Go has since grown to employ more than 4,700 associates across more than 430 stores and 11 states (Iowa, Arkansas, Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming).  Learn more at www.KumandGo.com. 

About Applied Data Corporation (ADC)
Since 1989, Applied Data Corporation (ADC) has specialized in the development of data-management solutions for the supermarket, grocery and fresh-food industries. The InterScale scales management software developed by ADC is a global technology leader for host management of supermarket barcode-printing scales and printers. The InterScale system is a member of ADC's InterStore suite of fresh applications which also includes: NutriGen recipe management and P-Cubed shrink management, fresh inventory management, perishable production planning and demand-driven ordering.  InterStore consolidates ADC's lead in the Fresh Item Management (FIM) software market with an integrated fresh software suite to provide greater efficiencies and optimize production in the grocer's fresh-food departments. ADC has over 125 supermarket chains and over 10,000 stores installed in 11 countries.  For more information on ADC visit www.AppliedDataCorp.com.

ADC held our 14th annual ReFresh Fresh Item Management (FIM) Conference from September 21-24, 2015 at the Sheraton Sand Key in Clearwater Beach, Florida.  This year’s ReFresh attendees represented twenty three retailers, making it the largest conference in ReFresh history.

The ReFresh agenda included informative subject matter expert presenters, FIM software presentations from ADC (including retail experience presentations), and retailer-chaired roundtable discussions.

Agenda highlights included:

• Federal Regulatory Update: What Retailers Need to Know by Erik R. Lieberman, president of U.S. Food Imports LLC and principal of Lieberman PLLC.  Erik shared the latest information on key regulations impacting retailers, including the FDA’s Menu Labeling Regulation and the proposed ruling on Meat Grind Management from FSIS. 
• U.S. Grocery Shopper Trend Report by David Fikes, Vice President of Consumer/Community Affairs and Communications at the Food Marketing Institute. David shared findings from FMI’s recent report, including insight into why individual food shoppers make the decisions they do in supermarkets.

Retailer Feedback:

• “Lots of important information presented in an interesting manner.  Thank you!”
• “The conference was informative and well planned.  The networking opportunities are a great benefit.  Thank you for a wonderful and informative conference!”
• “Nicely setup with good networking breaks.”

Sponsor Interaction – This year’s ReFresh was supported by 10 of ADC’s industry partners, including Bizerba, BRdata, DBK Concepts, Hobart, Janam, Mettler Toledo, NBI Digi, Rice Lake Retail Solutions, Specialty Printing and Truno. 

About Applied Data Corporation (ADC)
Since 1989, Applied Data Corporation (ADC) has specialized in the development of data-management solutions for the supermarket, grocery and fresh-food industries. The InterScale scales management software developed by ADC is a global technology leader for host management of supermarket barcode-printing scales and printers. The InterScale system is a member of ADC's InterStore suite of fresh applications which also includes: NutriGen recipe management and P-Cubed shrink management, fresh inventory management, perishable production planning and demand-driven ordering.  InterStore consolidates ADC's lead in the Fresh Item Management (FIM) software market with an integrated fresh software suite to provide greater efficiencies and optimize production in the grocer's fresh-food departments. ADC has over 125 supermarket chains and over 10,000 stores installed in 11 countries.  For more information on ADC visit www.AppliedDataCorp.com.

ADC Announces Second Subject Matter Expert Speaker for 14th Annual ReFresh Fresh Item Management Conference

ADC announces David Fikes, Vice President, Consumer/Community Affairs and Communications, at the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), as a confirmed speaker for ADC’s 14th annual ReFresh Fresh Item Management (FIM) Conference, which is September 21st-24th at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater Beach, Florida.

To learn more about ReFresh 2015 or to register, click here.

David’s areas of responsibility at FMI include consumer research, animal welfare issues and communicating the many socially responsible ways food retailers interact with their local community. Prior to his position with FMI, he served as the Director of Communication for the American Frozen Food Institute.

David’s presentation will highlight findings from FMI’s recent U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends Report, conducted by the Hartman Group, including insight into why individual food shoppers make the decisions they do and how their attitudes and piecemeal behaviors translate into large-scale shifts that affect supermarket revenues and growth.

ReFresh is ADC's annual FIM conference that brings together grocery, convenience and food service retailers, industry partners and subject matter experts to discuss and share information on the latest technologies for managing fresh foods. 

ADC at Food and Drink IT Summit

Look for ADC in Stand #40 at the 2015 Food and Drink IT Summit in Birmingham, United Kingdom at the Motorcycle Museum on July 7th.

Learn more about the Food and Drink IT Summit here.

ADC at NCR Synergy

Look for ADC in Booth #707 at the 2015 NCR Synergy show in Orlando, Florida from June 22-24 at Walt Disney's Swan and Dolphin Hotel.

Learn more about NCR Synergy here http://bit.ly/1Fnwtau.

ADC at FMI Connect

At this year's FMI Connect, we will be in Booth #2604 and demonstrating how InterStore, our integrated Fresh Item Management (FIM) software suite can help to minimize your perishable shrink.  FMI Connect 2015 is June 9-11 at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois.

In addition to exhibiting, ADC has a few other ways to interact with us at the show:

• Mark Molter, ADC's Director of Sales, Americas, is presenting in the Fresh & Prepared Pavilion on the topic of "Optimizing Fresh Food Retailing with Technology" on Wednesday, June 10 from 3:15pm-3:45pm.  To learn more, please click here.
• Erik Lieberman of Lieberman PLLC will be conducting two presentations regarding the upcoming FDA Menu Labeling Regulations, including what retailers need to know and how to prepare, and Grind Logs.  The presentations will be on Tuesday, June 9th and Wednesday, June 10th at 1:00pm in our Booth #2604.

Applied Data Corporation Presents at FMI Connect 2015 in the Fresh & Prepared Pavilion

ADC is pleased to announce that Mark Molter, ADC’s Director of Sales, Americas, will be presenting a “Fresh Bites” presentation in the Fresh and Prepared Pavilion at FMI Connect in Chicago, Illinois.

Mark’s presentation, “Optimizing Fresh Food Retailing with Technology”, outlines the most common challenges fresh food retailers face, including compliance with food safety regulations, such as FDA’s Menu Labeling Regulation and Grind Logs, as well as how to overcome these challenges through the use of fresh item management software, including ADC’s InterStore.

FMI Connect runs from June 9 through June 11 at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois.  FMI Connect is the annual event where retailers of all kinds, wholesalers, merchandisers, operations, CIOs and CTOs go for ideas, products, partnerships and professional development.  Attendees can also visit ADC in their Booth, #2604.

To learn more about FMI Connect, please visit www.FMIConnect.net.

Dansk Supermarked Gruppen Boosts Fresh Credentials with ADC’s Fresh Item Management (FIM) Software Suite

In the final article in conjunction with Retail Time's definitive Guide to Profitable Fresh Foods Retailing, we discuss how Dansk Supermarked Gruppen (DSG) has implemented ADC’s Fresh Item Management software to boost performance in its fresh foods departments at Føtex supermarkets and Bilka hypermarkets.

You can read the article here.

Milam's Markets Selects and Implements ADC's InterScale Scales Manager

ADC is pleased to announce that Milam’s Markets, a 4 store chain headquartered in Miami, Florida, has selected and implemented ADC’s InterScale Scales Manager.

Milam’s Markets was looking for a centralized scales management solution to work with their Hobart and Mettler Toledo scales, which led to their selection of ADC’s InterScale Scales Manager. 

Additionally, ADC provided consulting services to assist Milam’s Markets with organizing their data structure to ensure it would allow for seamless future integrations and implementations of software.

With InterScale, Milam’s Markets can manage all of the data for their barcode labeling scales, including change batch creation and management, performing network tests and re-loading scales with item price and food safety information.

“We’re pleased to see Milam’s Markets successfully install our InterScale Scales Manager in their 4 stores,” said Steve Loveridge, CEO at ADC.  “We look forward to working with Milam’s Markets on future Fresh Item Management projects.”
 
For more information, please contact:
Jamie Simon
+1.813.849.1818 Ext. 2238

About Milam’s Markets
We aren't some superstore that doesn’t have any roots to the community we serve- Milam's Markets is a Florida family owned business that has been employing Florida workers and contributing to our local community since 1984.  For more information on Milam's Markets, please visit www.MilamsMarkets.com.

About Applied Data Corporation (ADC)
Since 1989, Applied Data Corporation (ADC) has specialized in the development of data-management solutions for the supermarket, grocery and fresh-food industries. The InterScale scales management software developed by ADC is a global technology leader for host management of supermarket barcode-printing scales and printers. The InterScale system is a member of ADC's InterStore suite of fresh applications which also includes: NutriGen recipe management and P-Cubed shrink management, fresh inventory management, perishable production planning and demand-driven ordering.  InterStore consolidates ADC's lead in the Fresh Item Management (FIM) software market with an integrated fresh software suite to provide greater efficiencies and optimize production in the grocer's fresh-food departments. ADC has over 125 supermarket chains and over 10,000 stores installed in 11 countries.  For more information on ADC visit www.AppliedDataCorp.com.

A Retailer in the Midwest Selects ADC’S InterScale Scales Manager and NutriGen Recipe Manager

ADC announces that a retailer located in the Midwest has selected InterScale Scales Manager and NutriGen Recipe Manager.

The retailer selected InterScale Scales Manager to use with their Hobart scales.  Additionally, the retailer selected InterScale to increase accurate scale labeling, provide visibility of scale communication errors and re-loading scales with item price and food safety information.

Once implementation of InterScale is complete, the retailer will begin implementation of NutriGen Recipe Manager for the large variety of in-store prepared food items they offer in store.  NutriGen Recipe Manager will provide visibility of all recipes, the final cost of produced items (including packaging and labor), as well as legally compliant nutritional information for all produced items.

“We are pleased to see one of our newest customers moving forward with the implementation of our InterScale Scales Manager software, as they previously attended our ReFresh conference to learn more about our company and our software solutions,” said Steve Loveridge, CEO at ADC.  “We look forward to hearing the successes with InterScale and working with them on future FIM projects, including installing our NutriGen Recipe Manager.”

To learn more, click here.

A Tier-One Grocery Chain Selects and Implements ADC’s Meat Grind Traceability Manager to Over 1,000 Stores

ADC announces that a tier-one grocery chain has selected ADC’s Meat Grind Traceability Manager and implemented the software to over 1,000 stores.

The P-Cubed Meat Grind Traceability Manager provides an electronic traceability record for all meat that is ground in stores, with sanitation records for the meat grinder equipment. 

“To automate the traceability of our meat grind process, we installed ADC’s P-Cubed Meat Grind Traceability Manager to replace our existing paper-based meat grind logs,” said the Director of Food Safety at the retailer.  “Our primary focus was transparent record retention and retrieval; however, we have also greatly reduced labor for our store associates with ADC’s software.”

With the P-Cubed Meat Grind Traceability Manager, store associates use a wireless handheld scanner to scan the barcodes of supplied meat as it is included in each batch of grind. Traceability of grind content data is retained in a centralized repository at the retailers HQ and is available for inquiry and reporting via PDF or exported to Excel for distribution or further review.

In order to ensure all of our stores were using the new meat grind process as quickly as possible, we set a very aggressive implementation schedule of 150 stores per week,” the Director of Food Safety continued.  “Our team then went back in to see how stores were adopting the software and to make sure the new processes were being followed.”

The data collection and reporting solutions meet all current United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines and best practices for traceability in meat grinding and grind equipment sanitation.  

“We are pleased to see how quickly and smoothly this retailer has implemented our P-Cubed Meat Grind Traceability Manager software,” said Steve Loveridge, ADC’s CEO.  “Meat grind traceability continues to be a current topic in food safety and we continue to work with regulatory bodies and retail food safety groups to ensure our software continues to help retailers meet and exceed these regulations, in the USA and abroad.”

To learn more, click here.

ADC Announces Dates for 14th Annual ReFresh Fresh Item Management (FIM) Conference

ADC is excited to announce the announce dates for our 14th annual ReFresh Fresh Item Management (FIM) Conference – September 21-24, 2015 at the Sheraton Sand Key in Clearwater Beach, Florida.

ReFresh is an annual conference held by ADC that brings together grocery, convenience and food service retailers, industry partners and subject matter experts to discuss and share information on the latest technologies for managing fresh foods.

ReFresh attendees represent a range of roles within food retail, including Information Technology, Fresh Department Managers, Store Operations, Food Safety Managers and FIM Coordinators.  ReFresh is an excellent opportunity for current and prospective FIM users to discuss and share ideas on technology solutions for fresh food categories.

The ReFresh agenda is developed based on input from ADC’s Retail Advisory Board, current food safety regulations affecting fresh food categories, the latest developments in FIM technologies and feedback from previous conferences. The agenda is a combination of presentations by subject matter experts, retailer presentations, round-table discussions lead by retailers, FIM software presentations and networking opportunities. 

To learn more about ReFresh 2015, please click here.  To read a recap of ReFresh 2014, please click here. 

"ADC’s P-Cubed In-Store Fresh Production Planner helps Retailers Optimize Fresh Foods and Manage Waste"

In the third installment of Retail Time's definitive Guide to Profitable Fresh Foods Retailing, we explore how retailers can best manage fresh foods production, maintain availability, manage markdowns and shrink and cut food waste. 

Read the full article here.

Visit ADC in Booth #1304 at NRF 2015!

Be sure to visit ADC in Booth 1304 at the 2015 National Retail Federation (NRF) Show from January 11-13 at the Javits Center in New York City.  You can learn more here  http://bit.ly/1cdVJkH.