With a lifelong passion for international nutrition and more than two decades of experience in the food technology space, Erika joins the PFS leadership team as the Senior Director of Client and Technical Services. “I am extremely motivated to be a part of an organization that is directly focused on the goal of strengthening food security, improving nutrition, and increasing economic development in Africa by leveraging food science, and other disciplines, to better the food value chain,” she said. However, this is not Erika’s first time being involved with our organization. She first joined PFS as one of our earliest volunteers in 2009. Back then, she led various projects for clients in Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire so she already knows a lot about how PFS works.

In her most recent role at General Mills, Erika led an international team as the Technology and Process Applications Director for the Global Dairy Business Unit in Vienne, France. She was responsible for technical strategy development and execution for General Mills’ global yogurt and ice cream brands. Her vast technical experience in the food industry makes her a valuable addition to our team and resource for our clients.

When Erika is not learning about the latest food technology trends, you can find her biking, hiking, golfing, and, most of all, traveling internationally with her husband, Mike. Some of her favorite travel experiences include bungee jumping in New Zealand, making spring rolls in Vietnam and hut-to-hut hiking in the Italian Dolomites.

MINNEAPOLIS (July 2020) – Partners in Food Solutions, a consortium of world-class food industry companies – General Mills, Cargill, Bühler, DSM, The Hershey Company and Ardent Mills – working together to address food security, nutrition and economic development across Africa has announced that The J. M. Smucker Company has become the organization’s newest corporate partner. For over a decade, Partners in Food Solutions has connected highly skilled volunteers from its corporate partners with entrepreneurial food companies in Africa to help strengthen their businesses. Volunteers have contributed more than 100,000 pro-bono consulting hours. With the addition of Smucker, Partners in Food Solutions partner companies represent over 800 years of food industry knowledge and experience. 

As the population of Africa is expected to double by 2050, ensuring communities have access to an adequate supply of safe, nutritious and affordable food is more important than ever. Through a remote, virtual consulting model, pioneered by Partners in Food Solutions and recognized by political and development leaders around the world, volunteers from Smucker will have the opportunity to support African food businesses by sharing their technical and business expertise. 

The partnership is the latest example of how the Company brings its commitment to thrive together with all of those impacted by its business to life. 

“As a food Company, we are passionate about ensuring global food security and are thrilled to support Partners in Food Solutions and its groundbreaking efforts to aid African communities in this area,” said Tamara Fynan, Executive Director, Community Engagement and Philanthropy, The J. M. Smucker Company. “The unique opportunity to engage our employees and leverage their technical and business expertise to make a meaningful impact is especially exciting. Our employees share in our passion to make a positive difference in the world and will be eager to lend their support to this great cause.” 

The timing of this new partnership could not be more appropriate. “The J.M. Smucker Company is a trusted food producer with a talented workforce who are committed to doing good in the world. They bring new expertise and capacity that will help us go even further in supporting a critical link in the African food value chain - local processors - to improve food security across the continent,” said Partners in Food Solutions CEO Jeff Dykstra. “COVID-19 has the potential to have a long-term impact on Africa's food system in ways that are unimaginable. Our volunteers are helping our clients address current challenges so they can become stronger and more resilient. The J.M. Smucker Company has a long history of creating successful brands and being able to utilize their expertise and experience will be invaluable for many of our clients right now.” 

Partners in Food Solutions has a network of more than 1,200 expert volunteers who have shared their technical and business knowledge with over 1,500 clients. With the addition of Smucker, Partners in Food Solutions will be able to tap into its 7,000+ employees and provide even greater support to its African clients. 

About Partners in Food Solutions Partners in Food Solutions, an independent nonprofit organization, works to increase the growth and competitiveness of food companies in Africa and beyond. Our goal is to improve access to safe, nutritious, affordable food and promote sustainable economic development across food value chains. We do this by inspiring business leaders and linking highly skilled corporate volunteers from our consortium of leading companies with promising entrepreneurs and other influencers of the food ecosystem. To learn more about Partners in Food Solutions, please visit partnersinfoodsolutions.com. 

About The J. M. Smucker Company Inspired by more than 120 years of business success and five generations of family leadership, The J. M. Smucker Company makes food that people and pets love. The Company's portfolio of 40+ brands, which are found in 90 percent of U.S. homes and countless restaurants, include iconic products consumers have always loved such as Folgers®, Jif® and Milk-Bone® plus new favorites like Café Bustelo®, Smucker's® Uncrustables® and Rachael Ray® Nutrish®. Over the past two decades, the Company has grown rapidly by thoughtfully acquiring leading and emerging brands, while ensuring the business has a positive impact on its 7,000+ employees, the communities it is a part of and the planet. For more information about The J. M. Smucker Company, visit jmsmucker.com. 

After working in food safety and quality for over 19 years, Chrissie Tuetken knows a thing or two about keeping food safe for consumers and making sure the processing plants meet strict standards. “I feel like it’s my duty to ensure companies have the resources to produce safe food. I have extensive experience in this area and love sharing this knowledge with others in order to establish good practices,” Chrissie said.

Last fall, Chrissie joined PFS client Bee Natural Uganda, a honey processor, on a project that included reviewing their GMP documents before being audited by the Uganda national regulatory body. “I’ve never worked with honey before, so this was a new experience for me. I had to learn what they do every day for their honey process,” she said.

There are many steps involved in producing safe honey for customers, Chrissie explained. “The product is checked before the combs are crushed and honey is extracted, then sieved, sterilized and packed into containers. I found it interesting that many of the general food safety ideas are the same even though the production steps were different. For example, we have to ensure our suppliers bring in the correct product and that checks are performed throughout the process to confirm the products meet specifications. Like many food products, the quality of our supply chain is key in producing quality products.”

When the project ends, Chrissie hopes Bee Natural Uganda and their quality team will gain a better understanding of the GMP prerequisites and can go on to become certified in the near future. “Overall, I have enjoyed learning from Bee Natural Uganda and talking through their food safety challenges as some of them are similar to the challenges we face in our plants.”

*Update (October 2020): Bee Natural Uganda is now prepared for a food safety and quality audit. Chrissie has recently joined a second project with Bee Natural Uganda helping them put together a HACCP plan that will further improve their food safety management system. 

Spice World, a grain and legume processor based in Nairobi, Kenya, recently decided they wanted to expand their animal feed business. They were already producing animal feed but on a smaller scale, using by-products from their grain and legume processing. In order to grow their animal feed production, Spice World looked to Partners in Food Solutions’ expert volunteers to assist in formulating feed for ruminant animals. Joyce Kibiru, a sales manager at Cargill who also has an animal health and production background, joined the project team to lend her expertise.

“I have a particular passion for volunteer and community work; not to mention Cargill has ‘community enrichment’ as one of its pillars for success,” Joyce said. “I was excited by the rare opportunity to help other agribusinesses and play a role in ensuring African companies were successful. Adding value to the farming and feeding of dairy cows has been a key motivator for me.”

Joyce’s help in the Spice World dairy feed formulation project was invaluable. She was able to leverage her skills and expertise in animal nutrition to help facilitate proximate analyses of soybean, corn, wheat, and sunflower meal. “The purpose of the analyses was to evaluate the safety and nutritional value of the ingredients. Proximate and digestible values are important aspects of formulating a cost-effective and efficient animal feed,” she said. Additionally, she connected the Spice World team with the Cargill ruminant team based in the US and South Africa to ensure the feed formula they were developing met the needs of dairy farmers in Kenya and made sense for the local African market.

Today, Spice World is conducting preliminary trials with local Kenyan dairy farmers to grade its overall performance and see how the dairy cows are tolerating it. Once a final formula is selected, the team will then start discussing production capabilities and the cost associated with producing the product in the necessary quantity.

Michael is a packaging and bulk flour production manager at Ardent Mills and has volunteered on several projects with PFS over the years. 

PFS: Tell us more about yourself.

MJ: I have been in the flour milling business my whole career, about 33 years!

PFS: Why did you initially join PFS?

MJ: I started my involvement with PFS after getting a challenge from senior leaders and my mentor, Randall Garvert. One of the values of Ardent Mills is serving, and by helping across our company, in the community, and with PFS, I get to live out Ardent Mills’ values.

PFS: What skills are you using when volunteering with PFS?

MJ: The skills that are used in these projects are numerous. I get to practice listening, challenge my perceptions and work with others to collaborate on developing solutions. I’ve learned that I do not need to know everything about a process to be an effective leader of the solution.

PFS: What challenges have you experienced as a volunteer?

MJ: Challenges have included understanding language accents from different areas of the world, working across different time zones, faulty internet connections from all participants and not being able to easily ship packages or visit sites. All of these were overcome by pure diligence by all team participants to succeed.

PFS: You’ve volunteered on three projects. What motivates you to continue volunteering?

MJ: There is a feeling of gratitude, accomplishment, and the challenge of growing my leadership and collaboration skills.