Top Stories: IFT10 tops 21,000 attendees; Child nutrition legislation clears House Education Committee; Changing the conversation about processed foods
July 21, 2010
IFT10 tops 21,000 attendees
This year’s IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo® in Chicago, Ill. came to a close on Tuesday, July 20, and from the crowds that roamed the 230,000 net sq ft at Chicago’s McCormick Place Convention Center and the packed Scientific Sessions it is obvious that the show was one of the biggest and the best in recent years. In all, more than 21,500 food professionals attended the 2010 meeting to learn and share the latest innovations in food science and technology. In addition, the IFT Food Expo was sold out with more than 1,000 companies exhibiting in more than 2,100 booths (10 ft x 10 ft equivalents).
We hope that you will join us again next year, when the IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo® is held in New Orleans, La., June 11–14. In the meantime, if you missed anything at this year’s event, be sure to check out the coverage on IFTLive! This edition of The Weekly will feature some of the top stories from the event, but there is much more coverage included on IFTLive’s Web site.
IFTLive
Child nutrition legislation clears House Education Committee
On July 15, The U.S. House Education and Labor Committee passed bipartisan legislation to support children’s health and reduce childhood hunger by dramatically improving federal child nutrition programs. The Committee passed the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act, H.R. 5504, with a bipartisan vote of 32–13.
The bill includes sweeping reforms to significantly increase access and remove barriers to child nutrition programs, improve the quality of the meals served, and implement new school food safety guidelines. The bill would increase the reimbursement rate for schools—the first increase in over 30 years. Additionally, for the first time, it would require schools to set standards for foods served outside the cafeteria, including vending machines.
“If we allow our children’s health to suffer, if we allow more children to go hungry by not taking swift action with this legislation, we fail our children, their families, and the future of this country,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), Chair of the House Education and Labor Committee and original co-sponsor of this legislation. “This legislation gives us a real opportunity to make dramatic reforms to help prevent hunger, to improve children’s health, and increase access to healthy meals. The health and academic success of an entire generation of children is at stake.”
In addition to other amendments offered by committee members, the committee voted on a managers amendment, offered by Miller, which would bolster the legislation and help achieve President Obama’s goal of enhancing and improving the federal child nutrition programs. The amendment would expand the national afterschool meals program so more children in afterschool programs can have an additional snack or meal. Among other provisions, it would improve nutrition education and make further enhancements to food safety and food quality.
The managers amendment also strengthens the science-based foundation that ensures the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program best meets the nutrition needs of participants by enhancing the Secretary of Agriculture’s existing authority to conduct scientific reviews and ensures that the review considers the modern food environment, including innovations in the marketplace that may enhance WIC foods to better meet nutritional needs.
Press release
Bill information
IFTLive: Changing the conversation about processed foods
As most members of the food industry would no doubt agree, the industry has a great story to tell but frequently is saddled with responding defensively to a steady stream of misperceptions and miscommunication about the role of processed foods in the American diet. In a session at the IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo® titled “Communicating the Contributions of Processed Foods and Addressing Public Perceptions” on Tuesday morning, July 20, four speakers shared their perspectives on the topic.
John Floros, Past President of IFT and Professor and Head of the Dept. of Food Science at Pennsylvania State University, set the stage for the discussion with presentation that highlighted key points from IFT’s recently released white paper, “Feeding the World Today and Tomorrow: The Importance of Food Science & Technology.”
“Obesity is an epidemic today, but it’s not the only problem we’re facing,” said Floros. “People are looking for more diverse foods. Patterns of consumption are changing. Market conditions are growing. The population is growing, but our natural resources are very, very limited.”
Meanwhile, he pointed out, “There’s a lot of negative publicity about our food system, and particularly food science and technology. The white paper came about after an IFT task force was convened with the purpose of addressing the issue. The report begins with an historical perspective on of the food system, moves into an examination of the modern food system, and, in its concluding section, takes a look at technologies for the addressing future food supply needs,” Floros explained.
“The food system of tomorrow … needs to be science- and technology-based,” said Floros. In addition, he observed, it needs to be consumer driven, assure the health and wellness of consumers, preserve the environment and natural resources, and be sustainable.
The session’s next speaker, Tom Nagle of Statler Nagle LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm, offered a provocative prescription for improving the food industry’s image. It’s a mistake to simply respond defensively to the assault the industry endures from activists and media representatives, he contended. Instead, the food industry should work to communicate a message that addresses consumers’ “higher-level” concerns, which tend to focus more generally on issues such as longevity/wellness and weight/health.
“So much of what the food industry is talking about is ‘here’s the way in which our food won’t hurt you,’” Nagle said. “We need to move ourselves up the benefit ladder to higher level benefits.”
A third speaker in the session, Victor Fulgoni, Senior Vice President of Nutrition Impact LLC, Battle Creek, Mich., presented an analysis of the contributions processed fruits and vegetables make to the diet based NHANES data from 2003 to 2006.
Processed fruits and vegetables provide about one-third of dietary fiber intake, one quarter of vitamin A, one half of vitamin C, and about 45% of potassium, Fulgoni said.
The final speaker in the session, David Schmidt, President and CEO of the International Food Information Council (IFIC), shared insights gleaned from some of the organization’s research projects. IFIC worked with a firm to come up with four positive messages about the food supply and found that after consumers were educated about these positive messages, their perceptions of processed foods were substantially more positive than prior to the educational initiative. IFIC is working now on a communication tool kit designed to help disseminate positive messages about the food industry, Schmidt said.
IFTLive article
IFT white paper
IFTLive: Drinking coffee regularly reduces disease risks
Habitual consumption of coffee has been shown to reduce the risks of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and Alzheimer’s, according to experts at IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo® Session 253 “Emerging health benefits of coffee: Recent advances in epidemiologic and experimental knowledge” on Tuesday morning, July 20.
Frank Hu, Harvard Medical School, noted that coffee contains caffeine, numerous bioactive compounds, chlorogenic acid, minerals, and antioxidants, which may help explain coffee’s health-promoting properties. Hu referred to several studies that suggested that coffee consumption is associated with reduced risks of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Others studies indicate that coffee consumption does not increase the risk of stroke or mortality.
Joan Lindsay, Univ. of Ottawa, discussed coffee consumption and brain function, health, and disease. Studies suggest that lifetime consumption of coffee in women was associated with higher cognitive function, better memory, and less cognitive decline with aging. However, there were no beneficial effects observed in men. A large Finnish study of men and women with a 21-year follow-up found that drinking 3–5 cups of coffee per day reduced the risk of developing Alzheimer’s by 65%. The Canadian Study of Health and Aging with a 10-year follow-up found that regular coffee consumption over 50 years resulted in about a 28% reduction in the risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Cognitive decline was seen less in coffee drinkers. The health benefits of coffee on the brain may be due to caffeine, antioxidants, as well as overall vascular wellbeing.
YiFang Chu, Kraft Foods Global Inc., presented research on how coffee may protect against oxidative stress and protect primary neurons in the brain. He also compared the antioxidants levels in green versus roasted coffees.
IFTLive article
IFTLive: Healthy nut components
The skins of almonds are an important source of phytochemicals, according to Karen Lapsley, Chief Scientific Officer of the Almond Board of California. She and other experts presented research at the IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo® session, “Nuts: Phytochemicals, Health Effects, and Flavor,” on Sunday, July 18.
Almond skins contain more phenolics than flavonoids, and they are bioavailable, said Lapsley. As a result, almond skins may have potential use as a value-added ingredient, she added.
Additional researchers presented information conducted on the phytochemicals in other nuts. They showed that phytochemicals in nuts have free-radical scavenging, anticarcinogenic, antimutagenic, cholesterol-lowering, and cardioprotective abilities. One researcher explained that consuming mixed nuts helped to improve cardiovascular risk factors and glycemic control in subjects with type 2 diabetes. There was a significant reduction from baseline HbA1c by -0.2±0.05 % units and a significant reduction in LDL cholesterol in the subjects who consumed 75 g of mixed nuts for 12 weeks, reported Cyril WC Kendall, Research Associate in the Dept. of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto.
IFTLive article
Argan emerging as rising star in edible oils
While the Innova Database recorded the launch of nearly 1,000 edible oils in the 12 months to the end of March 2010, the vast majority were standard products such as olive oil, sunflower oil, soy oil, and blended products, supported by specialties such as grapeseed, walnut, avocado, and macadamia. Within that, however, there are signs that a new star may be emerging, in the form of argan oil. Product activity is still extremely limited, but there are definite signs of rising interest in the use of argan oil, often also known as Moroccan Gold, and a move out of the cosmetics and supplements market and into the culinary oils sector.
Argan oil is made from the nuts of the Argan tree (Argania spinosa), which grows only in South Western Morocco, with its small and specific growing area making it one of the rarest oils in the world. It has traditionally been used by the indigenous Berber population in cooking and in cosmetics, but has been increasingly coming to the notice of the outside world due to its potential as a cosmetic and nutritional ingredient, as it is very rich in unsaturated fatty acids and has a high level of natural tocopherols (vitamin E), phenols, phenolic acids, carotenes, and squalene.
New product activity in argan oil recorded by Innova Market Insights dates back a number of years, but is notable for the emergence of skincare supplements based on argan oil beginning in the mid 2000s, particularly in France, followed by the appearance of an increasing number of culinary oils in a variety of countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Switzerland. Argan oil supplements have generally focused either on anti-aging in general, or skin care, including sun protection, or on the health of hair and nails, while the culinary oil can generally be used as a replacement for other oils, such as olive oil, in salad dressings or dips, and can be used to drizzle over pasta or meat and fish.
Most recently, Innova Market Insights tracked the German launch of Argan d’Or argan oil in May 2010 and the relaunch of Alili argan oil in the United States earlier in the year. This followed 2008 launches of Arganol argan oil in France in Natural and Roasted variants, and an argan oil under Swiss retailer’ Migros Selection brand in 2007. All the launches focused on the premium nature of the product, its Moroccan heritage, its organic status, and its production via cold pressing, packaging it typically in 100 ml glass bottles, priced at about €13.
“Alongside growing levels of product activity,” Innova Market Insights’ Head of Research, Lu Ann Williams reports that “there has been a rising level of press coverage on the benefits of argan oil and this should help to increase levels of awareness and interest, although the high pricing, even if it reduces from its current level, may well prove a barrier to further development.”
Press release
Consumers accepting stevia-sweetened foods
Not much more than a year into their retail availability in the United States, food/beverage products containing the natural sweetener stevia are showing consumer acceptance levels nearly on par with those of long-established artificial sweetener aspartame, and gaining on those of sucralose, according to market research firm The NPD Group.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved use of stevia in food/beverages in December 2008, and products containing stevia entered the U.S. market in early 2009. NPD’s Dieting Monitor, which tracks top-of-mind dieting and nutrition issues on an ongoing basis, began tracking consumer attitudes about stevia—which is sold under various trade names, including PureVia and Truvia—in August 2009.
June Dieting Monitor data show 35% of U.S. consumers reporting that they have either already consumed, or would consider consuming, food/beverages that contain stevia. In comparison, 39% reported the same about aspartame, sold under the Equal and Nutrasweet brand names; and 51% reported the same about sucralose, the artificial sweetener sold under the Splenda brand name.
Press release
Fast food chains have reduced trans fats
According to HealthDay News, new research indicates that major American fast food chains have substantially cut down on the use of unhealthful trans fats in their cooking oils. The finding comes from the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health, and was reported at the National Nutrient Database conference held in Grand Forks, N.D., July 12–14.
“While it took time for major fast food chains to decrease trans fats in their foods, I’m pleased to see that they have done it,” Lisa Harnack, Director of the university’s Nutrition Coordinating Center, said in a news release.
“I’m also pleased to see that they haven’t raised levels of saturated fats to replace trans fats,” she added. “This is good news, as the average American gets about 10% of calories from fast food. But moderation is still key when considering fast food. Calories and sodium are high and portion sizes are often too large.”
Relying on the school’s proprietary database on the nutritional value of more than 18,000 foods, Harnack and her research team examined trans fat and saturated fat levels in the French fries sold at five popular nationwide fast food outlets: McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Jack in the Box, and Dairy Queen.
The authors found that between 1997 and 2008, three major chains—McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s—significantly decreased the amount of trans fats in their French fries, with saturated fat levels either going down or staying the same.
Although Dairy Queen and Jack in the Box did not show similar decreases in the same time frame, the team noted that post-2008 data suggests that both have cut back on their trans and saturated fats use over the past couple of years.
HealthDay News article
Unilever to sell Italian frozen-food unit to Birds Eye Iglo
According to Bloomberg, Unilever, the world’s second-biggest consumer goods maker, agreed to sell its Italian frozen-foods unit Findus to a group led by Birds Eye Iglo for €805 million ($1.04 billion).
Unilever is selling Findus as it shifts away from local labels to focus on international brands to increase profit and reach its goal of doubling sales. The unit, which had revenue of €462 million in 2009, is the company’s last non-ice cream frozen-food business in Europe.
Unilever is now “in a stronger position to focus on its core categories outside frozen foods and to achieve long-term growth in the Italian market,” James Hill, Chairman of the London- and Rotterdam-based company’s Italian unit, said in the statement. About 650 employees will transfer to Birds Eye.
Unilever sold most of its European frozen foods unit, which included the Iglo and Birds Eye brands, to Permira Funds for €1.73 billion in 2006.
Bloomberg article
Schwan’s Food Service reduces sodium in school pizza
Early in 2010, Minnesota-based Schwan’s Food Service Inc. committed to reducing the sodium in its school pizzas by 10% by the fall of 2011. Efforts in one of the company’s biggest brands have resulted in sodium reductions exceeding that goal as early as this fall.
Michael Wiser, Senior Marketing Director for Schwan’s Food Service, announced at the 64th annual School Nutrition Association’s show that the company has achieved positive results with the reformulation of its Big Daddy’s brand, which represents approximately one-third of its school pizza business. “We’re pleased to inform our school customers that this fall, 12 months earlier than anticipated, they will be able to offer their students a variety of Big Daddy’s pizzas with a 15–25% reduction in sodium.” This, explained Wiser, is a meaningful start to additional work that is being done by the company in the area of sodium reduction.
“For more than a year, we’ve researched sodium reduction for Big Daddy’s pizza,” explains Sean Trygestad, Pizza Category Marketing Manager. “Our primary goal, in addition to reducing sodium, has been to retain and enhance the taste quality, ensuring that students would continue to enjoy the pizza.” Taste tests were held with students throughout the process to confirm that the reduced sodium products performed as well as the original recipes. Final results were achieved through a reduction of salt as well as the use of sea salt.
Press release
U.K. Burger King factory destroyed by fire
According to Metro, a Wessex Foods factory that produces all the burgers sold by Burger King at its 500 restaurants in Britain has been destroyed in a massive fire. Up to 100 firefighters spent more than five hours battling to control the blaze on July 11 at the Wessex Foods plant in Lowestoft, Suffolk, England.
The factory employing 150 people in the seaside town also produced steak products and 60% of the frozen retail mince sold in the United Kingdom. Wessex Foods is one of Britain’s biggest suppliers of frozen burgers, producing 16,500 tonnes—the equivalent of nearly 150 million quarter pounders—every year.
Wessex Foods spokesman Alistair McDougall said the blaze had “completely destroyed” the site, but he insisted it would not affect Burger King supplies. He claimed that production would be switched to other factories in Britain and Ireland operated by the firm’s parent company Irish Food Processing. McDougall said it was likely that the factory would be re-built. He was unable to estimate the cost of the damage caused by the blaze.
The fire is believed to have been started by an electrical fault in a chilling unit at the factory when it was shut down for the weekend with only security staff on duty.
Metro article
Extra Credit Reading
Cinnabon starts extreme makeover
Cinnabon, the 25-year-old quick-service chain known for its proprietary cinnamon rolls, is reinventing itself as a bakery-café concept complete with breakfast and lunch service as well as an expanded beverage program.
Kellogg introduces new FiberPlus Antioxidants Cereal
Fiber-containing food products have flooded the market as Americans struggle to meet their daily fiber recommendations, but the need for something tasty and nutritious doesn’t stop at fiber. That’s why Kellogg Co. is introducing new Kellogg’s FiberPlus Antioxidants Cereals, great-tasting sources of fiber and antioxidant vitamins C and E.
Snyder’s of Hanover offers new twist on sustainable packaging
Snyder’s of Hanover’s first foray into environmentally-conscious packaging hit stores in fall 2009. New 100-Calorie Pretzel Variety Sacks and Pretzel Sandwich Variety Packs are reportedly the first certified, fully compostable, outer retail package for multipack salted snacks. Made from a proprietary blend of natural starch-based polymers including PLA, the outer bag’s film is a 4.0-mil monolayer structure.
IFTLive: 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans to target obesity
The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA)—scheduled for release in December—will focus on recommendations for reducing obesity and improving health, stated Robert Post, Ph.D., Deputy Director of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, at a press conference hosted by USDA and IFT at the IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo® on Monday afternoon, July 19.
In June 2010, the USDA released the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) Report. The upcoming 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans will draw heavily from this report, which is unprecedented in addressing the obesity epidemic—the single greatest threat to public health in this century, said Post. Every section of the report was developed to address the challenges of obesity. For the first time, the report addresses children, whose prevalence of obesity has tripled in the past 30 years. The report discusses the relationship between dietary intake and childhood obesity and the effects of sodium intake on blood pressure.
Also for the first time, the report addresses eating behaviors, such as breakfast consumption, snacking, and fast foods, particularly in relation to weight control. It recommends that Americans shift food intake patterns to a more plant-based diet that emphasizes vegetables, cooked dry beans and peas, fruits, whole grains, nuts, and seeds.
The DGAC report identifies four nutrients of public concern for Americans: fiber, potassium, vitamin D, and calcium. They are singled out from a longer list of nutrients because of evidence that their low intake is directly related to health issues of public health importance. It also recommends that consumers reduce their sodium intake to 1,500 mg per day from the current goal of 2,300 mg, and it advises Americans to consume less than 7% of their calories from saturated fat. Seafood consumption is recommended; the report encourages consumption of 8 oz or two servings of seafood per week.
“One of the roles of the Dietary Guidelines serve is to stimulate product innovation,” explained Post. “Given what we have learned from the 2010 Advisory Report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, the formulation for the future means using food science to make more healthier food choices … choices with fewer calories but are flavorful and appealing, less added sugar but are sweet and flavorful and appealing, less salt but are flavorful and appealing and safe, less fat but are savory and appealing, and more fiber but are flavorful and appealing.
“It also means incorporating more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, seeds, beans, and peas into foods, along with seafood and fat-free and low-fat milk and milk products,” he added.
The food industry has contributed greatly to meeting public health through ingenuity in processing and formulating new foods, noted Post. He mentioned how canning and freezing alleviated vitamin C deficiencies, how fortification of grains with folic acid offset the problem of neural tube defects, and how processing and preservation increase the availability of products like seasonal fruits and vegetables year-round. “Once again, a public in need is calling on that ingenuity to contribute to a public health solution,” Post concluded.
IFTLive article
Food Standards Agency ‘will remain,’ government promises
According to the BBC, the U.K. government says it will retain the Food Standards Agency (FSA), following concerns the independent watchdog would be scrapped under reforms. However, it will hand over some responsibilities to government, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley confirmed.
The Department of Health will oversee nutrition policy and the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs will handle food labeling. This, says the government, will leave the FSA to focus on food safety.
The FSA was set up as an independent food safety watchdog in 2000, in the wake of the Bovine spongiform encephalopathy(mad-cow disease) crisis and a number of high-profile outbreaks and deaths from foodborne illness. More recently, the FSA has led calls for the Europe-wide introduction of a traffic light system requiring food companies to label the front of their products with red, amber, or green symbols to denote the amounts of fat, saturated fat, salt, and sugar contained per serving.
Lansley said bringing some policy-based functions ‘in house’ made sense. Nearly 100 of the Agency’s posts will be moved, leaving 2,000 remaining staff.
“It’s absolutely crucial for the Food Standards Agency to continue providing independent expert advice to people about food safety. But bringing nutrition policy into the Department makes sense. It will enable a clear, consistent public health service to be created, as our Public Health White Paper later this year will set out,” said Lansley.
BBC article
Hundreds of Texas food manufacturers were unlicensed
According to The Dallas Morning News, hundreds of businesses across Texas have been manufacturing and selling food without a state license and, in some cases, have escaped health inspections intended to ensure the safety of those products. The businesses were flushed out in a statewide crackdown on unlicensed food manufacturers, begun last year by the Texas Department of State Health Services.
“Many of the companies we have discovered are small operations that were simply unaware they needed a state license,” said Carrie Williams, a spokeswoman for the health department. “For the most part, they have been more than willing to get into compliance with us.”
The state has identified 355 companies that appear to be producing and selling a wide variety of eatable products—from barbecue sauce in Fort Worth, to pepper jelly in Dallas, to ice cream in Houston—all without obtaining a manufacturing license from the state.
The majority of these newfound food manufacturers have passed their state inspections without serious problems, Williams said. And so far, the state has levied no fines for unsanitary conditions.
“Some of them did have safety issues,” she said. “Most were corrected on the spot or we’re working with them to get them into compliance.”
The state went searching for unlicensed food manufacturers in the embarrassing aftermath of last year’s discovery of an unlicensed peanut-processing plant in West Texas. The Plainview plant, owned by a subsidiary of Peanut Corporation of America, had operated for four years without any state-required safety inspections.
None of these new cases investigated so far rise to the level of the peanut plant, which closed in February 2009 after Salmonella was detected in the plant. A subsequent state inspection found rodent parts and feathers in a crawl space above the peanut production line.
Health department officials, however, say this search for unlicensed food manufacturers is an effort to reduce any potential for food contamination, which could be more likely to occur if a business were unlicensed and not inspected.
The Dallas Morning News article
Call for proposals open: Share in the success of Wellness 11
Wellness 11
March 23–24, 2011
InterContinental Chicago O'Hare
Rosemont, Ill.
As consumers continue to improve the healthfulness of their diets, food industry professionals must be increasingly aware of the issues and technologies that impact the landscape of the wellness marketplace. By submitting your research findings, practical applications, insights, and scientific perspectives about healthful foods for the Wellness 11 conference, your organization will obtain visibility of this event as expressed by past attendees:
- 93% said they were satisfied with the overall quality of presentations
- 87% said the sessions provided balanced scientific, technical and business perspectives
To learn more about Wellness 11, or to submit your proposal, visit ift.org/wellness. Be a part of the success. The proposal submission deadline is Aug. 13, 2010, at 4 p.m. CDT.
Mark your calendar now for these relevant, timely educational programs
Global Regulatory Approval for Food Ingredients
August 11, 4–5:30 p.m. CDT
Improve your grasp of critical regulatory and technical information required to facilitate product approval.
Formulation and Utilization of Supplementary Foods in Developing Countries
September 15, 9–10:30 a.m. CDT
Explore well established ready-to-use therapeutic foods as well as novel approaches that are under investigation.