fbpx Tasteful Visit from Food Service Directors - Perry's Ice Cream

Tasteful Visit from Food Service Directors - Perry's Ice Cream

March 6, 2015

Tasteful Visit from Food Service Directors

In August 2014, Perry’s Ice Cream invited a group of Food Service Directors from Monroe, Ontario and Steuben Counties to tour the plant. These individuals were able to witness the full production process: from raw milk product to a fresh ice cream bar right off the line!

Jim Liebow, Food Service Director for the Brockport Central School District, described his experience in Focus on School Nutrition magazine.

 

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream!
Submitted by: Jim Liebow, SNS
Food Service Director, Brockport CSD

During the heat of the Summer of 2014, a group of Food Service Directors from Monroe, Ontario & Steuben Counties were invited to tour the Perry’s Ice Cream plant in Akron, NY. Perry’s Ice Cream manufactures and distributes a huge variety of ice cream products. Besides making their own unique ice cream, they private label many other brands too. We had the opportunity to see the milk tanker trucks deliver the raw milk product then watch how it goes through the pasteurization process. Perry’s then actually cooks the pasteurized milk to a custard consistency. This is the base that makes Perry’s taste so good. Only a handful of ice cream companies in the country still do it this way. After 95 years and 5 generations, they must be doing something right!

The group then had the special opportunity to walk through the massive freezers and the actual production floor. This is usually off limits to any visitors due to food safety concerns. During this tour, Brian Perry, Chairman of Perry’s Ice Cream offered us a chance to taste a Toasted Almond Ice Cream bar just as it was finished being packaged. Watching the steps in the process was fascinating as the liquid product was put into the molds, chilled, sticks added, then dipped and coated with the toasted almond pieces. Can’t get any fresher than that!

Our tour finished with a great discussion of the status of school lunch and how Perry’s can develop products that meet the new guidelines in schools. We also were able to taste side by side some Perry’s ice cream vs. a competitor’s brand. Hands down, we all agreed “Life is a Bowl of Perrys!”

Perry's Plant Tour

Attendees: Jim Liebow, Brockport CSD, Paulette Vangellow, Pittsford CSD, Joe Kilmer, Corning-Painted Post CSD, Roberta D’Agostino, Churchville-Chili CSD, Nicole VanDerMeid, Brighton CSD, Peg Aderman, Webster CSD, Karen Bronson-Clark, Monroe 1 BOCES, Betsy LoGiudice, West Irondequoit CSD, Janet Elman, Victor CSD, Beth Krause, Fairport CSD, Gary Miner, Spencerport CSD, Brian Perry, Perry’s Ice Cream Co.

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