Land O’Lakes Trainers Support SNA In Teaching Regional HACCP Workshops

(March, 2006, Minneapolis, Minn.) – Two Land O’Lakes employees were certified by the School Nutrition Association (SNA) and its Child Nutrition Foundation (CNF) to teach HACCP principles to school nutrition professionals across the United States. Stacey Lasky, assistant marketing manager, and Christa Spaeth, school nutrition manager, R.D., L.D., both of Land O’Lakes, are among the 26 trainers SNA selected in January to conduct regional one-day workshops on the subject.

Land O’Lakes is a major supporter of the training program, created by SNA/CNF to help schools meet new federal food safety regulations. USDA Food and Nutrition Services has required all schools to have a HACCP plan in place by the end of the 2005-2006 school year. The workshop is designed to assist schools in complying with the USDA guidelines. It goes beyond explaining what HACCP is — focusing specifically on the practical issues of developing an effective school safety team, writing a HACCP plan, implementing HACCP processes, and training employees.

“We’re proud to partner with SNA to support schools in meeting their food safety program requirements,” says Sheila Bianconi, director, Land O’Lakes School Foodservice Division. “While school foodservice directors already have an excellent record for food safety, the added responsibilities of meeting the new HACCP guidelines puts one more thing on their already busy schedules. The workshop will help them bring their programs into compliance. As a leading dairy supplier to schools, we’re happy to share HACCP expertise and resources to make it easier for our customers to implement HACCP principles.” Beyond sharing its HACCP expertise and resources through training, Land O’Lakes School Foodservice offers some additional HACCP resources on its website at www.schoollunch.landolakesinc.com. These include a HACCP Helper section devoted specifically to safety reminders, HACCP steps for preparing all LAND O LAKES® school products, Critical Control Points for each Land O’Lakes recipe, as well as Raise Your Hand, a new section available to answer general and HACCP-related questions.

The HACCP workshops began in March and will be occurring throughout the year. Continuing Education Units will be awarded in accordance with SNA’s Credentialing and Certification programs. Full details, workshop dates and registration forms are available at www.schoolnutrition.org.

Land O’Lakes is a leading manufacturer of high-quality dairy products. It offers the foodservice industry and food manufacturers a broad array of value-added products to meet specific quality, nutrition and labor needs. More information about products and services for school foodservice is available at www.schoollunch.landolakesinc.com.