ST. PAUL, Minn., October 15, 2001 - Ecolab Inc. will be the first recipient of the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) Supplier Excellence Award during a ceremony Oct. 20 at the Worldwide Food Expo in Chicago, Ill.
IDFA, whose members represent more than 85 percent of the total volume of milk, cultured products, cheese, and ice cream and frozen desserts produced in the United States, developed the Supplier Excellence Award to recognize outstanding food and dairy industry suppliers. An industry panel judged the candidates on:
- Superior service to customers;
- Product/service innovations that assist customers; and
- Demonstrated dedication to the food industry, including specific recent contributions.
"Businesses like Ecolab that are dedicated to service and innovation are a critical component of success for the food industry. IDFA is pleased to launch this new recognition program as part of the Worldwide Food Expo, with Ecolab as an excellent first choice of the judges," said E. Linwood Tipton, IDFA President and CEO.
Ecolab was nominated for this award by Santee Dairies, Inc. in City of Industry, Calif. In the nomination process, Santee Dairies cited several examples in which Ecolab helped them start up a new $110 million milk processing plant. According to Paul W. Bikowitz, CEO of Santee Dairies, "Ecolab helped us meet and, in many areas, exceed the criteria for which the plant was designed - throughout the start up, and to date, the quality of our products has been superior."
"Ecolab is honored by this recognition from IDFA. All of our associates are proud of our long term customer relationships and the joint role we share with the dairy industry in providing the consumer with wholesome, quality products, " said Tom Arata, Ecolab Food & Beverage Division vice president, dairy and engineering.
The Ecolab approach to brand protection includes a complete program of plant sanitation, CIP engineering systems and services, employee hygiene, and quality milk programs for dairy farms. New technologies from Ecolab provide additional benefits by reducing water and energy consumption, and increasing production efficiencies.
Ecolab is the leading global developer and marketer of premium cleaning, sanitizing, pest elimination, maintenance and repair products and services for the hospitality, institutional and industrial markets. The Food & Beverage Division of Ecolab is the leading provider of critical environment sanitation systems and products for the food processing, dairy agricultural and pharmaceutical markets. For the year ended December 31, 2000, Ecolab reported sales of $2.3 billion; including European joint venture sales, Ecolab global sales coverage was $3.1 billion.
Ecolab news releases and other investor information are available on the Internet at www.ecolab.com and by telephone at 1-800-FACT-ECL.
Contact:
Terri Bringgold
Ecolab Inc.
(651) 293-2549
Michelle Lawler
Weber Shandwick Worldwide
(952) 346-6237