Coming in Cold
Kelley Rodriguez, Editor-In-Chief of Refrigerated & Frozen Foods
Happy New Year and thank you for engaging with our first eMag of 2026!
This issue looks at the year ahead for the cold storage and food logistics industry, with all signs pointing to another busy year for temperature-controlled companies.
This fall, I was thrilled to be invited to tour Stampede Culinary Partners’ state-of-the-art protein processing facility in Sunland Park, New Mexico, just steps from the southern border. More on the plant tour and Stampede’s sizzling sous vide business in our feature story.
Plus, two outstanding Cold Chain Perspectives columns:
- Dean Brown, CEO of SafetyChain Software, tackles food labeling and compliance issues.
- Gayle Gleichauf, applications lab manager at Thermo Fisher Scientific, details how pH testing impacts food safety and QA.
And a look at some of the latest in new cold retail products.
Speaking of new innovation in the cold case, R&FF is soliciting entries for our annual Best New Retail Products contest!
Selected finalists will be featured for online voting throughout the month of March, to coincide with National Frozen Food Month.
Products receiving the top-three votes will be featured in Refrigerated & Frozen Foods’ May eMagazine and on our website, alongside a company Q&A. The product receiving the most votes overall will also be featured in an episode of our From the Cold Corner podcast in July.
Eligible refrigerated and frozen foods must have debuted on store shelves between January 1, 2025 - December 31, 2025.
The deadline for nominations is February 1, so don’t wait!With a New Year, comes a new set of industry events. R&FF will be represented at the International Production and Processing Expo (IPPE), January 27-29, in Atlanta; at the Refrigerated Foods Association’s 45th annual conference, February 15-18, in Jacksonville; and at the American Frozen Food Institute’s AFFI-CON, February 20-24, in San Diego. If you are attending any of these events, let’s connect. And, if there is an event you think R&FF needs to know about, drop me a line!
While you’re here, make sure to sign up for our weekly newsletter, What’s Hot in Cold, to keep up with the latest cold chain news.
