From offices in Boise, Post Falls, Twin Falls, and Pocatello, TechHelp Specialists help Idaho manufacturers, food processors and entrepreneurs improve their competitiveness through continuous product and process innovation.

Garbanzo beans are poking up their protein laden heads and gaining attention in Idaho’s potato & wheat country. The healthy white beans are used to make many familiar products such as Hummus.

Food Safety 

Pacific Northwest Farmers Cooperative

Genesee, ID

PNW Aces Food Safety Audit

The Palouse region of Northern Idaho is blessed with rich soil and annual rainfall totals that consistently provide some of the highest yielding crops in the world. Moving wheat and legumes from these fields to tables around the world is the mission of the Pacific Northwest Farmers Cooperative or PNW.

Project

Demand for quality products and food safety led PNW to seek official certification of its food safety system. PNW brought in TechHelp, a member of the MEP National Network™, to provide technical assistance in upgrading food safety systems to meet the requirements of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), as well as develop a comprehensive food safety and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) program. TechHelp examined PNW’s facilities and helped the company prepare for and complete a third-party AIB Food Safety Audit and training new employees in running new technically advanced equipment.

Results

  • Increased sales by $3,133,100.
  • Retained sales of $10,000,000.
  • Saved $5,000,000 in unnecessary investments.
  • Invested $250,000 in workforce practices.
  • Made changes in plant, equipment, training, and processes that helped PNW pass a food safety audit with an “excellent” rating of 885.

“TechHelp put in a lot of hard work to get us up to speed on our GFSI audit. It’s a good feeling to know we were only 15 points shy of a superior rating. We are in the process of correcting items that will help us achieve that rating.”

– Bill Newbry, CEO of PNW