New York Farm Viability Institute Website Press Releases 

December 5, 2005

Contact: R. David Smith, New York Farm Viability Institute, 315-453-3823;
Sam Zappala, Empire Fresh Cuts, LLC, 315-343-1581

NY Ag Innovation Center Expertise Helps Build Processors’ Food Safety Plan; Plan Attracts New Customers to Empire Fresh Cuts

Working with food safety consultants available through the NY Ag Innovation Center of the New York Farm Viability Institute, Inc., Empire Fresh Cuts, LLC, Oswego, NY, has completed the rigorous process of developing a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) Plan. With that plan in place, the young, farmer-owned onion-processing business is now able to attract larger commercial and year-round accounts. 

The Empire Fresh Cuts plant, built by brothers and onion growers Sam and Jim Zappala, is processing and packaging whole peeled and sliced and diced onions in bulk and smaller packaging. The onions are sold to food services contracting with schools, corporate cafeterias, market accounts, restaurants and other food buyers. 

NY Ag Innovation Center (NYAIC) consultant Dr. Olga Padilla-Zakour, who is also director of Cornell University’s NYS Food Venture Center, says, “Most large food companies require processors to have a HACCP plan in place before they will order products.”

The plan produced specifically for Empire Fresh Cuts combines HACCP requirements with current recommendations from the International Fresh Cut Association.

Sam Zappala, who manages the processing plant, says, “Two of the biggest benefits of having this (HACCP) plan are attracting new buyers and being able to provide them with a comfort level that passes on to consumers. Ultimately, the consumers rely on our procedures to maintain a safe food supply chain.”

Zappala says he expects that having the HACCP plan will lead to a doubling of sales over time. 

“In addition to increasing our poundage, this plan also helps us retain our current buyer base,” he says.

“Fresh-cut processing continues to be one of the fastest growing sectors of value-added agriculture,” says NY Ag Innovation Center consultant Bob Weybright, who worked with the Zappalas. “The Zappalas are in tune with their industry and have timed their plant development right for the Northeast markets looking to reduce transportation costs through regional purchasing.”

To build Empire Fresh Cuts’ HACCP Plan, NYAIC consultants visited the Oswego plant several times; trained personnel in laboratory, monitoring and record-keeping requirements; developed the plan and needed forms; and evaluated the initial working processes of the new plant from receiving, topping, tailing and trimming to sealing, bagging and palletizing.

Quality Control and Sanitation Manager Robin Maurillo says the HACCP provides her with a reference to turn to whenever she has questions and helps her convey to customers the detailed food safety processes that Empire Fresh Cuts follows to assure customers receive a quality product. 

“The Ag Innovation Center consultants have been extremely helpful and I can call them anytime with a concern or to test a new idea,” Maurillo says.

HACCP Plans are reevaluated as processing conditions change and validated annually. The Empire Fresh Cuts HACCP team includes plant owner and manager Sam Zappala, line supervisor Abiu Velasquez, maintenance/sanitation supervisor Dale Chillson, and quality control/sanitation manager Robin Maurillo, and NYAIC consultants Dr. Olga Padilla-Zakour and Dr. Randy Worobo of Cornell University.

Thirty new jobs have been created by Empire Fresh Cuts’ new processing plant, which uses onions grown by Zappala Farms, one of New York state’s largest onion producers. Sam Zappala is also general manager of Oswego Growers and Shippers, which sells nearly30 million pounds of onions annually.

The NY Ag Innovation Center and its consultants assist farmers and growers with food processing and safety needs; value-added dairy, fruit and vegetable production; development of specialty products and sales and marketing strategies; business planning, structuring and record-keeping; and converting agricultural wastes into energy. 

To access the resources of the NY Ag Innovation Center, contact the New York Farm Viability Institute, Inc., 159 Dwight Park Circle, Suite 104, Syracuse, NY 13209, 315-453-3823, or click here for a list of contacts.

Read about Empire Fresh-Cuts success in Fresh Cut Magazine, Click Here