4 The editorial
How are things in Finland today? We are not anymore living in a nest of our own but we depend on the world around us. We remember the bank failure and the depression about two decades ago. They caused big problems for a long period. But we also learned a lot. In bad times it is wise to be cautious, on the other hand, we must be brave and preserve an enterprising spirit because it gives employment to a lot of people. One can always see light in the end of the tunnel, even in our present situation, promises Veli Saarenheimo.

6 Seppo Korpela: “Let us together develop the meat branch”
Seppo Korpela is the new chairman of the Finnish Meat Trade Association. He hopes that the meat branch will recover and become more diversifies during the next years. The Finnish Meat Trade Association is according to Korpela an important authority both as an operating partner and as a professional interest group. He has followed the development of the branch during three decades.. Today the shopkeeper hardly has a possibility to decide the assortment of his shop. We are told that the multiple chains compete with each other, but on the shelves of the different chains there are almost similar products and almost at the same prices. It is sometimes difficult to recognize a profile.
- I hope that we will pull through the depression, that we shall have a suitable number of shops and that the assortment will be diversified, stresses Seppo Korpela. The meat enterprise Korpela was founded in the year 1958. The family business employs about 100 persons. The enterprise produces Finnish sauna smoked products, traditional sausages for meal preparing, cold cuts, and different meat products. The turnover is about 18 million euro/year.

10 An ecological and attractive meat package
Lihalehti asked some operators in the package branch their opinion about trends and possibilities of development. The answers emphasized ethical and ecological aspects, but the easiness to handle the packages was the most important.
- The consumers wanted packages that could be resealed and recycled.
- The environmental questions have grown in importance.
- Laminated packages consisting of several film wraps are difficult to recycle.

14 Tekes is an important financier
At Tekes the project Futupack is going on. It will last for two years and will close in March 2010. Small and medium sized companies can hand in applications for research, investigation and service from financial experts. At Tekes Chief Technology Adviser Anna Alasmaa deals with the future of the packaging branch. The aim of the Futupack project is to inform companies and organizations about the importance of packages in the business activities.
- The packages are an important part of a company’s strategy, reminds Anna Alasmaa.
Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation is the main government financing and expert organization for research and technological development in Finland. Tekes funds innovative research and development projects in companies, universities and research institutes.
Innovations are vital for the economy and society. Research and development creates new companies, businesses and services. It is also important for the environment, health care, safety and social well-being. Tekes finances industrial R&D projects as well as projects in universities and research institutes. Tekes especially promotes innovative, risk-intensive projects.

19 The Swan mark is rather well known
The mark shows that Finnish employees have of Finnish raw material produced the product. The interest concerning the origin of the raw materials has grown year by year. The Swan mark is voluntary by nevertheless it is the most well known mark for home products. One reason is of course that the consumers often see the mark. Another reason is that it has been used for 15 years and a lot has been invested in its marketing. A third reason is that the customers are interested in home products.

20 The meat grinder and the recipe of the month
Solotop represents FoodPack. FoodPack has made an exclusive cooperation and retail agreement with Solotop regarding flow pack packing machines that are produced by FoodPack. The Italian entrepreneur has about 25 different models of packing machines that can be applied for both food and non-food products, for instance for wipes, spare parts and hygienic articles. The game was worth 60 million euro. Although fewer animals were shot during the year 2007 the sales yielded almost 60 million euro. The quarry was 11 million kg meat of which 8 million kg was meat from moose. 307 00 persons took a game-license in the year 2007.. During the last 25 years the number of hunters has been about 300 000 persons. Paulig has got a new subsidiary company. In Denmark Paulig has a subsidiary company Oscar A/S that has bought itself into the Finnish company Puljonki Oy. Kai Iiskola, one of the founders of Puljonki, continues as managing director. Both companies, Oscar and Puljonki, produce clear soup, sauces, and soups, principally for professional use. In Denmark Oscar is market leader within the branch. Puljonki uses only organic raw material and their products are produced without additives. In their production they pay attention to the environment. 20 persons work at Puljonki. Protein makes weight control easier. Research-worker Kristiina Juvanen has within the scope of the ELVIRA-program of the Finnish Academy investigated the influences of proteins in weight control. The positive effects of the proteins are partly based on the fact that they give a good feeling of satisfaction. Continuous difficulties for the pork farms. It is hoped that during the year 2009 the price on pig meat will rise both in Finland as well as in Europe. If the production can be carried out more efficiently the situation can improve during the year 2009. Process technique and packages in Paris.
IPA 2008 - the international fair of process technique of the food industry and EMBALLAGE 2008 were arranged in Paris 17-21. of November. 600 exhibitors took part and 50 000 persons visited the fairs.
Sitra has published the book “Smart Food. Seija Kurunmäki has edited a book concerning the food branch today and in the future. In the book the director-general of the National Public Health Institute Pekka Puska states that our everyday food should be ”smart food”. HKScans managing director Kai Seikku is of the opinion there should be a slogan ”know what you are eating”. Jaana Husu-Kallio, director-general of Evira, points out that the families ought to arrange common meals and that Finland still is a developing country concerning ecological food. The recipe of the month is “Sauerkraut pirogue.”

24 The seniors are a challenge for the trade

When the children have moved away from home the contents of the shopping trolleys change. The pensioner couples represent 19 % of the Finnish households but they stand for 22 % of the daily purchases. Customer’s statistical surveys show that the value of the Finnish food basket in the year 2007 on an average was 18,10 euro. The share of processed products in the basket has grown. The dairy products represented a fifth, as did the meat products. The share of vegetables was 10 per cent.

26 Love for food
Food culture is what we eat and how we eat. In Finland we have a program that aims at developing our food culture and improve the appreciation of food. Where form does the raw materials and the food come? Who has prepared the food? How do our choices of food influence our health, our environment and the employment? Another goal is to help small entrepreneurs to get their products to become well known for their high quality. In Finland we have about 3000 food entrepreneurs of which 90 % are small entrepreneurs that employ fewer that 20 persons. The program wants also to create new forms of co-operation.

28 Murder and sausages in one problem
In Eero Pasanens detective story investigator of crime Kononen solves murder buy the help of the Finnish ring sausages. Some years ago the deceased Jukka Sipilä, chairman at the Sausage Club, inspired Pasanen to study the sausages and at the Restaurant Messenius in Helsinki he leraned how to cook them.

31 An Appointment
Change of head at the Centre of expertise in food development. Mari Norrdal has been appointed Development Manager per 7.10 2008. At present she is on motherhood leave and Project Manager Anna Hillgrén does the job.

32 Berlin controls the operations
The German CSB-System International has offered IT-solutions to our food industry during 30 years. During that time the enterprise has developed into an important IT-operator and is one worldwide leading supplier of ERP-solutions for the food industry. The system was originally created for the meat industry. The founder, Peter Schimitsekin, was a butcher. The system has over the years been developed and enlarged and suits today except the food branch also the chemical industry, the trade, the logistics and the service branch. CSB-System has today more than 1600 customers in over 30 countries.

36 Sial is still growing
Sial Food Fair in Paris gathered over 145 000 visitors. Half of the visitors came from abroad. Ethics and health were the most popular trends. The exhibitors were 5500 in numbers from 104 countries.

40 How are things at Monilaite-Thomeko?
he German enterprise the globally well-known Bizeba moved last summer all its operation in Finland to Monilaite-Thomeko. Thus Monilaite-Thomeco strengthened its position as a leading importer and wholesale company in its field. Monilaite-Thomeco is specialized in equipment for the food industry, material and accessories for the food retail, fast food and restaurant areas. Bizeba produces a wide variety of weighing instruments for the trade and industry. Their position in Finland is very good. Bizeba is such a big business that Thomeco invests in new personnel. The family business was founded in the year 1923 and has grown considerably during the past years. In the year 2007 the turnover of the concern was about 20 million euro. In Finland the enterprise employs 48 persons and abroad 45 persons. At the moment they are developing robots and packaging marks that change colour by time and temperature.

42 Index of services

52 My work
” Jarkko Suonpää makes vacuum packages. Jarkko “Masa” Suonpää joined Finnvacum as soon as he had finished his national service 14 years ago. Jarkko works still as machine-tender but the machines have developed a lot and the production of vacuum packages has become many-sided.
- But still the most important thing is to keep the equipment in optimal condition that is as good as new, tells Jarkko.
Jarkkos working day starts at seven o’clock and it begins with a run-through of the production list together with production manager Niklas Majander.
- Of course we try to run big amounts of the same product but first of all it is the customers special requirements that determines the job, stresses Jarkko.

54 Eviras pages deal this time with the auto control of packing materials in the food branch
The producer is responsible for the suitability of the packing material. A good solution to the packing problem is always a compromise between cost and quality demands. Many factors influence the packing material. For instance the characteristics of the food, the storage temperature, the length of the storage and how the consumer will use the product. The absolutely most important quality of the packing material is that it must bee safe, never dangerous to the health of the consumer.

64 The column
Which will be the following trend? The columnist Sakari Nupponen, editor at the evening paper Ilta-Sanomat, writes this time about trends. Are there in Germany any possibilities of success? Yes, in Gemany they have very tasty sausages.
- With those words I finished my column in Lihalehti 1/2008. But then I did not know that Sedu Koskinen, our big restaurant entrepreneur, should open two “Schönes Fräulein” restaurants. But as a trend German food is probably out, tells Sakari.
The Indian trend never became really popular before it died out. The Japanese trend is growing but for how long?
- Last time I ate sushi was in Viipuri in Russia.
No Russian trade is in sight, neither any Estonian. We have some Estonian stores that mostly are visited by immigrant Russians and Estonians. The most popular products are meaty sausages, Russian soups, sour cream and curd cheese products.
- It is really difficult to predict trends. I have a press cutting of Ilta-Sanomat from the 1980-ties. There some chefs tell their opinion about the pizza trend. Some of them thought that the trend should die out at least after four years. But another clever guy said: “If the pizza hadn’t existed the Finns should have invented it”. I dare to predict following:
Sinking: Indian and Tex-mex food and ethnic third-rate eating-houses.
Rising: European, Finnish, Japanese and Thai food and Wok, finishes Sakari Nupponen.
Translation: Nina Hackman.