Seeking LEED Certification? See This

I recently criticized an article in Food Processing magazine as beingnot much more than a puff piece celebrating the “green” initiatives of food companies. Many such initiatives aren’t much more than public-relations, but the magazine treated all of them as equal.

The magazine has redeemed itself somewhat with an in-depth look at Hormel’s construction of a plant in Dubuque Iowa that is designed to become certified by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmentl Design (LEED) program.

When completed, it will be, the magazine claims, “one of the most efficient, eco-friendly plants in the food industry.”

I was surprised to learn that just two food plants have such certification to date: a PepsiCo Gatorade bottling plant in Virginia and Kettle Foods’ potato chip plant in Wisconsin.

More are surely to come, since LEED certification has become the gold standard for green building. So it is actually meaningful as well as making for good PR.

Any food producer interested in going green would benefit by taking a look at what Hormel is doing.