Many people who want to lose weight will eat “low fat” foods believing they are going to lose weight. In addition, they tend to eat more of the low fat food than they would have if it were full fat. What really matters when dieting is calories, eat fewer calories than you burn and you will lose weight. One interesting fact that most people don’t know is that when fat is removed from food a lot of the flavour is removed as well, therefore extra sugars and chemicals are often added to give back the flavour.

2. Fresh fruit is better than dried fruit

Many people often say that fresh fruit is much healthier and nutritious than dried fruit. If you are looking for vitamin ‘c’, then fresh fruit is best, but other than that, dried fruit contains just as many nutrients and sugar for energy as fresh fruit. The same is true of canned or frozen fruit.

1. Decaffeinated coffee contains no caffeine

Most people believe that the term “decaff” refers to coffee that is completely free of caffeine. Although the beans may have less caffeine in them, they still contain traces. If you have an allergy to caffeine, you should probably keep away from all forms of coffee including decaff. The method of removing caffeine also means that many other chemicals that are essential to the taste of coffee is lost. For those who can cope with caffeine, you will have a nicer tasting drink if you just opt for regular coffee.

Source: http://listverse.com/2009/03/18/top-10-food-myths-debunked/

The first golf course we played on was called Song Be Golf Resort just minutes from where we stayed in Ho Chi Mihn.  A day of golf includes your very own caddy, which could really improve your game.  My team and I played on the Palm course for the first nine holes and the Desert course for the last nine holes – both challenging courses.  The desert course is the newest and most challenging course.

The second course we played at was the SeaLinks Golf and Country Club located in the beach resort area, Mui Ne Phan Thiet of Vietnam.  It was an absolutely gorgeous course with sun and wind every day.  It was here that I hit directly onto the green in one shot. Definitely a highlight of the game for me!  During our stay in Phan Thiet, Dan On, President of Dan-D Foods, cooked some amazing seafood for us.  I tried the fresh, local crab, prawns and snails and they were all delicious.  Some other highlights of the trip were all the fresh and tropical fruits, pho soup and sugar cane juice squeezed freshly for you on the spot.

I returned home from Vietnam for about a week and then Monika from Marketing and I, were off to San Francisco for the Fancy Food show from January 15 to 17.  This was an excellent show for us and we met with many customers who we want to do business with in the USA.  Monika and I went to support our newly expanded office in Fresno, California.

It was only another week until Ana from Marketing and I, went off to Köln, Germany. We attended the annual ISM show from January 29 to Feb 1. This show focuses on snacks and confectionery products and is held in Europe every year.  We saw people from Chile, Turkey, Romania, Italy, England, Russia, Spain, Mexico, USA and Vancouver, BC!  It seems as though there is a lot of potential for us all throughout the world.  Once again, we ate some amazing food.  Köln is known for its local beer Kolsch, pork leg, sauerkraut, fried potatoes and/or spaetzle.  We also indulged in the most amazing baked goods like pretzels, apple strudels, chocolate croissants and freshly baked buns.  One day after the show, we stopped at a sausage stop or the “fast food” of Germany, and had Bratwurst or Bockwurst with mustard and a fresh bun.   Ana and I both left with a good selection of chocolate from Germany as well.  I must say that Germans make good chocolate!

It was amazing that through all the traveling I did in January, the universal language was kindness, good manners and making people laugh.  When communicating with people from all around the world, these traits were the most welcomed, recognized and appreciated.

Each trip has left an imprint and will leave me influenced forever.

Loi tam biet and auf wiedersehen!

Dan-D-Pak USA, a division of Dan-D Global Foods, has converted a 78,000 square-foot warehouse at Cherry and Jensen avenues into a factory capable of producing about 200 different products, including roasted almonds and trail mix.

“We wanted to be in the heart of the Valley because this is where the pistachios, almonds and raisins are from,” said Lincoln Markwith, general manager for Dan-D-Pak USA. “We can reduce handling and shipping costs and get product that is so much fresher.”

Dan-D Global Foods makes more than 2,000 different items ranging from oatmeal to dried fruit. The brand is well-known in Canada and Asia, but its notoriety is expected to grow in the Valley, thanks to the new Fresno plant.

Markwith said that during the next several months, the company will work to increase its visibility in grocery, discount and convenience stores.

The company recently opened its doors with about 15 workers and anticipates growing to at least 100 by the end of next year.

Newly hired employee Christina Linares, business administration officer, said she was thankful the company chose to open an office in Fresno. Dan-D Global Foods has factories in Canada, Thailand, Hong Kong and Vietnam.

Linares said she had looked for a job for two months after her previous employer, Z Foods in Madera, shut down this summer.

“It is exciting to be able to join a company that is growing,” Linares said. “And there is lots of opportunity here.”

Markwith said the company plans to buy as much of its raw food ingredients as it can locally.

Recently, the plant was packaging in Fresno raisins for shipment to Japan.

The Company has invested about $1.5 million in equipment and other improvements.

The plant has the ability to oil-and dry-roast nuts and produce flavoured popcorns, candy coatings and trail mixes.

It also operates a factory outlet store that is open to the public on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The reporter can be reached at brodriguez@fresnobee.com or 559.441.6327

By Daniel Ting – Managing Director

Dan-D Foods Toronto Expands into New Larger Facilities

Over the past few years, Dan-D-Foods expanded their premises by adding on additional units to their location in Richmond Hill, Ontario.  Every entrepreneur knows the cost to move a business let alone the disruption to business.  We were hesitant to move and learned to live with the inconvenience of having multiple units.   Finally, in Oct 2010, we made the difficult decision that Dan-D –Foods Toronto had outgrown our current facilities and needed more space.   We knew at that time, we wanted to build our new offices with a move in date of June 2011.

Planning for the new location involved projects such as design of the new office, computer systems upgrade, warehouse mapping and of course dealing with designers and contractors. Planning involved the feedback from staff in every department who gave valuable input to ensure the new design would optimize their workspace.

The new 18,000 sq ft. facility is located in Vaughan, Ontario and everything about the location is brand new.  Warehouse mapping was done by designers who knew how to optimize functionality.  This included the purchase of new racks and carton flow shelves to ensure proper turnover of product.  Customers who have visited our new location were impressed on how clean and organized everything was. Even the ceiling was painted white to make the environment more uplifting for the staff and to promote cleanliness.

Each office has an open concept with floor to ceiling glass windows partially frosted for privacy. The Inventory Control office has continuity to the warehouse through a large window.   The conference room is state of the art with monitors and hook ups to any input device and the web for presentations.  Interestingly, the conference room table can be easily taken apart to host training workshops.

By far the most popular room now is the full staff kitchen. “It’s my favorite part of the office, it is fully equipped with everything we need,” says Rebecca of Customer Service.  Our staff has cooked many meals for each other. This kitchen also equips us to train our demo staff in preparing and presentation of Dan-D-Pak products for in store demos. The kitchen has become another meeting place where staff can casually discuss new plans.

For Dan-D-Foods Toronto this is like Genesis or a new beginning and our staff could not be happier.  Happy employees mean better service to our customers.  New clean and organized space means fresh products faster to our consumers.  In the end, we designed our facilities keeping in mind that serving our customers’ needs was top priority.

By Diane Ting -Director of Sales Operations

You can make a difference too by stopping by for some stress-free holiday shopping at our outlet. Dan-D Foods has a great selection of festive holiday baskets, party & snack trays and more. 10% of the sales generated by our outlet will go to Variety, The Children’s Charity.

The outlet will be open to everyone during three weekends of December from 10am to 6pm. Have a look at our holiday work hours:

-          Saturday, December 3rd & Sunday, December 4th

-          Saturday, December 10^th & Sunday, December 11^th

-          Saturday, December 17^th  & Sunday, December 18^th

Our address is: 11760 Machrina Way, Richmond, BC, V7A 4V1 Canada. Intersection of Horseshoe Way and Machrina Way.

Shopping, sampling, draws, free coffee & treats, networking and more!

Enjoy the great outlet discounts and save on your holiday shopping, cash purchases only.

For more information email us at  holidays@dan-d-pak.com or call us at 604-274-3263 or toll free 1 800 663 4788.

We look forward to seeing you. Happy Holidays from all of us at Dan-D Foods!