American-Manufacturing Focuses on Health, Safety, and Quality
Between winter-time and covid-19, flu season this year has been much more of a worry than normal. Restrictions that had been rolled back were put back in place to help protect people during this risky time of year. And while that’s difficult for many of us to accept (because if y’all are anything like us, we’re getting very tired of looking at the walls of our homes), it is helping to protect us and get this pandemic under control so we can do all of those things we love and miss. With vaccines beginning to be administered, the future’s looking bright. Another piece of that bright future is President Biden’s support for Made in the USA products and small businesses. Essentially, this order ensures that when the federal government spends taxpayer dollars, they are spending them on goods that are made in the USA with USA-made components. Biden recognizes the potential of the American workforce, as well as the fact that products made in the USA are safer, healthier, and of a higher quality than those manufactured overseas.
First off, America has some of the most advanced technology in the field of manufacturing. Automation and other advances keep product quality consistent over time, as well as frees up employees to learn higher-level skills and develop more advanced and in-depth knowledge in their field. This prepares them for career advancements and makes them a stronger asset to their employer, and allows them to be more productive over a period of time and produce better quality products. Better technology and better-trained personnel lead to better and more consistent quality checks and higher quality products overall. Having your products made in the USA also shortens shipping times and decreases the number of hands that touch the product before it reaches your customers. This makes USA-based products healthier for the environment and for the consumers who utilize them.
On top of a more productive workforce, more advanced automation technology, and better shipping options, US-based manufacturers are also held to higher health, safety, and quality standards than many overseas manufacturers. One of those standards is an SQF (Safe Quality Foods) certification. SQF certifications are an internationally recognized standard of food-safety and product quality. It mitigates risk for buyers and consumers in partnering with manufacturers by ensuring them that the manufacturers place food safety and product quality at the top of their priority list. It shows preparedness on the part of the manufacturer as it requires procedures to be documented and in place for nearly every possible quality or emergency scenario. It demonstrates commitment, strong values and work ethic, as this certification is not an easy one to obtain and requires constant upkeep and auditing from the certifying body. SQF certified manufacturers are the best possible partners for consumer food-related products; their concern is the same as yours – keeping your customers as safe and healthy as possible while still providing the highest-quality products.
The face of manufacturing in the US is changing. As the federal government continues to increase support for American-Made products and US-based manufacturing, we will begin to see increases in demand for those products as well. The more we can support Made in the USA products, the more jobs we provide for American workers, and the higher quality of life we provide for our citizens. Many workers overseas are not provided with insurance, retirement benefits, or even minimum wage salaries. These improved standards of living make American workers and businesses more productive than competitors overseas, and with the influence of new legislation to encourage companies to choose American-made products, this can only increase moving forward. American businesses support American workers to help make the best products for the American people. What more could you ask for?
UrthPact Takes Pride in Being a 100% American-Based Manufacturer
Made in China. It’s a phrase many of us are used to hearing or seeing, but one that we didn’t pay much attention to until this coronavirus pandemic. And let’s be clear here: it has absolutely nothing to do with China’s position in this entire pandemic. The US workforce is experiencing one of the hardest times it ever has. With unemployment spikes rising to over 20% in the past weeks, the reason Made in America products have become so popular is to support and create jobs for the American people. At UrthPact, we are proud to be a part of that movement. We’ve always believed in the American workforce, and that they produce higher-quality and more health-conscious products than do their overseas counterparts. And we thread that message through the entirety of our company.
This week we celebrated Memorial Day. We honored the American men and women who lost their lives defending our country. We spent time with family (over social distance and video chat), and considered what the reopening of the country means for each and every one of us. As the single-use disposables industry continues to see increases in demand, we are working tirelessly to solve every problem, and to provide our customers with a 100% American-made, contaminant-free and food-safe product. And we keep moving forward, even if coronavirus has done everything in its power to hold us back. We are ramping up production of our home compostable straws and will be stocking our customer’s inventories in early June. Our coffee customers are experiencing higher demand than ever before. Our cutlery lines are preparing for an absolutely incredible new demand source. And everyone is keeping the planet in mind as they choose their disposables. If we’re going to use more disposables, why not choose ones that are healthy for the planet as well as for your customers?
To give you an idea of how many American workers you support when you choose UrthPact products, consider a single, wrapped, home compostable straw. Now, that straw started out as a canola plant that was sourced from American farmers. It’s then made into a home compostable, marine-degradable bioplastic resin by our American-based suppliers. That resin comes to UrthPact, where it is extruded into a straw. That process requires engineers and technicians to run the machines, operators to ensure a smooth flow through the production line, a quality team to inspect the product, and packagers and shippers to send it out. It then goes to a distributor or private-label brand, where that straw supports jobs in their sales and shipping departments again. And finally, it goes to the end-user, where it helps support take-out establishments, restaurants, and a variety of other single-use industries. Just one straw can provide jobs to a huge range of individuals in a variety of different industries.
Jobs are one of the most important things in America right now. We take great pride in being able to provide good jobs for our 100% American-based workforce. Our support of American workers, suppliers, partners, and their customers allows everyone to win. That’s part of our core mission here at UrthPact. Everyone deserves to win: us, our private label and brand customers, our distributor partners, their customers, our material suppliers, and our planet. So as we get back to normal life, we urge all private label brands, foodservice distributors, and all who provide single-use products to your customers, to assess the products you buy. Where are they made? How many Americans did they provide jobs to? Are they supporting people as well as the planet? Choose made in the USA. Choose to support the American people. Choose to protect our planet. Choose UrthPact.
Open For Business: Choosing American-Made Disposables Is the Way to Go
After over 60 days in quarantine, all 50 states have officially lifted stay-at-home orders. That’s right, our time cooped up indoors has finally come to an end. But as we begin to prepare to return to our normal, pre-corona, everyday lives, there’s a couple of things to take into account. And that’s what we’ve addressed this past week. As we get ready to dive headfirst into normal life, it’s time to restock and plan for the post-covid future that we’re facing. And in that process, it’s important to consider where your products are coming from, and the conditions they’re being manufactured in. We all want to take extra precautions to stay healthy when we leave the house, so what can you do to provide your customers with food-safe, contaminant-free, and high-quality products?
First and foremost: choose an American-made product, and specify that to your customers! America is ranked 4th on the Global Food Security Index for safety and quality of the products they produce. China on the other hand ranks 38th, and India even lower at 84th. Clearly, products made in the USA are of a much higher quality than those made overseas, and are more likely to come from a food-safe facility. The manufacturing industry in China and India–while having improved food-safety and cleanliness standards in the past 10 years–is so large and widespread that it is nearly impossible to enforce strong regulations. So even though there has been new legislation tightening the reins on the food and food packaging industries overseas, they are not nearly as well enforced as they are stateside.
Second: choose a product that is being manufactured in a Safe Quality Food (SQF) certified facility. As the coronavirus pandemic slowly comes to an end here in the US, food-safe and contaminant-free products are more important now than ever. Restaurants are even using wrapped, single-use cutlery in place of reusable metal cutlery to help keep customers safe as they slowly begin to reopen. But is wrapped cutlery really more sterile? Do you know where it came from, how it was manufactured, what standards it had to pass? An SQF certified facility guarantees products not only of the highest quality, but that are food-safe and contaminant-free. And in a post-covid world, that’s the most important thing you can provide for your customers: peace of mind and confidence in the products they use.
We’ve made it through one of the most tumultuous times in recent history. And we’ve learned so much because of it. Some of us want life to go back to exactly the way it was before corona, some think the world has been changed forever, and some fall in the middle of the spectrum. Reality is, we cannot stay cooped up in our homes forever, and we need the country to start getting back to some semblance of normal. Disposable products are an intricate part of that process. Take-out is still necessary, masks are still needed, and we need ways to protect consumers as they venture back out into the world. Disposables provide that. But where your disposables come from and how they’re made matters. So choose American-made to support the American workforce and guarantee the best quality. And choose SQF-certified to ensure food-safety and contaminant-free. And as a bonus? Choose compostable. As the single-use disposables industry surges, don’t let it be at the cost of the health of our planet. This is our chance to make a change for a planet and our country. Let’s take it.
American Manufacturers Elevate Manufacturing Standards With Top-Notch Safety and Quality
Have you ever dropped a piece of food on the floor, yelled “FIVE SECOND RULE!” picked it up, and ate it off the floor? Let’s admit, we all have. And while that’s a fine attitude to have in your own kitchen, it’s not an attitude you want to see in facilities where food and food packaging are being manufactured and handled. This week, we turned the spotlight on health and food safety regulations in America versus those in overseas facilities.
First and foremost: American facilities are better certified for food safety. The Safe Quality Food (SQF) certification is internationally recognized, and one of the strictest and most stringent standards worldwide for food safety. And while it’s an extra overseas, it’s the standard domestically. It guarantees an emphasis on food-safety on the part of the manufacturer and their suppliers, as well as promises consistent, high-quality products. Brands and buyers take on less risk in partnering with SQF certified manufacturers, as they can rest assured knowing that food safety and quality are their top priorities. SQF even outranks the ISO 1900’s of the world.
Now, what about overseas? What type of regulations for safety (both food and employee) are in place, and how well are they enforced? Well, that’s the big problem. While nations like China have greatly improved their food safety measures over the last five years (including implementing SQF certifications at a handful of locations), their food processing and production industry is so large and widespread that these new regulations aren’t being enforced. And the proof is in the numbers. There are more than five times as many work-related deaths per day in China than in the US1,2. The US is ranked #3 in the world for food-safety, behind only Singapore and Ireland, while China ranks #35 and India even lower at #723. Why haven’t we stopped purchasing from overseas when clearly, the US is safer and healthier?
In the current state of the world, food safety certifications are more important than ever. And as manufacturers continue to work day and night to produce the products we need to go about our everyday lives, plants throughout the country are implementing a huge range of safety and health measures to protect their employees. At UrthPact, all of our office staff are working from home, and our committed operators, technicians and engineers take every possible precaution while at work, from frequent hand washing and hairnets (nothing new for us under SQF regulations) to masks, gloves, and distancing. We want to recognize all of our staff, as well as manufacturing employees nationwide who put themselves at risk so the rest of us can self-quarantine.
To sum it all up: you’ll be safer purchasing an American-made product than one produced overseas. This applies to food safety, as well as employee safety. So take some time out of your day to thank a manufacturing employee. To acknowledge the people that molded your coffee pods (check two of our incredible partners, Cameron’s Coffee and San Francisco Bay Coffee on Amazon!), packaged your Oreos, or made your to-go container. We are all in this together, we’ll get through this, and THANK YOU.
1Work safety. (2020, March 20). Retrieved from https://clb.org.hk/content/work-safety
2Occupational Safety and Health Administration: Commonly Used Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.osha.gov/data/commonstats
3Global Food Security Index 2019. (2019). Retrieved from https://foodsecurityindex.eiu.com/Index
