March 18, 2008



Pictured from Left to Right:  Marcos Cantharino, Director Global Sales & Marketing, DuPont Qualicon, Craig F. Binetti, President, Dupont Nutrition & Health, Mike DeSmet, VP of Food Safety and Quality, West Liberty Foods, Paul Hill, Chairman, West Liberty Foods, LeAnn Smith, Senior Compliance Manager, West Liberty Foods, Rick Biros, Food Quality Founder/Business Development Director, Wiley-Blackwell


West Liberty Foods, L.L.C. has been awarded the 7th Annual Food Quality Award Sponsored by DuPont Qualicon and presented by Food Quality magazine.  The award recognizes companies making exceptional contributions to food safety and customer satisfaction that have a positive impact on business results.  

“I’m very pleased that our company was selected for the award,”says Edward Garrett, President and Chief Executive Officer of West Liberty Foods.  “Our company was built on our commitment to food safety and quality.”  

Mike DeSmet, Vice President of Food Safety and Quality at West Liberty Foods, says the company is “thrilled with getting the award.  We think it’s based on all the hard work of our employees and, most important, everybody knows food safety and quality starts at the top and makes our jobs easier when it’s the focus of our company.”  

Based on comments from the award’s judges, “it’s clear that West Liberty Foods has implemented outstanding innovations in their approach to food safety,” says Luiz Fischmann, global marketing manager for DuPont Qualicon.   

According to one judge, “West Liberty Foods is a clear leader in the use of innovative technologies to drive improvement in quality and food safety, as well as in ‘lower tech’ approaches such as uniform design.”  Another judge cited the company for “the cooperative work they have done with Iowa State to develop sanitation programs [that] they implement across all facilities.   

Mike DeSmet, Vice President of Food Safety and Quality, LeAnn Smith, Senior Compliance Manager, and Paul Hill, Chairman accepted the award on behalf of West Liberty Foods on March 18, 2008 at the 7th Annual Food Quality Award Presentation and Reception during the Food Safety & Security Summit in Washington, D.C.  

West Liberty Foods, founded in 1996 and headquartered in West Liberty, Iowa, is a leading co-packer, private label manufacturer and foodservice supplier of processed meat and poultry products.  

For more information, contact:
Janelle Plantz
Marketing Manager
319-627-6131
janelle.plantz@wlfoods.com