Face-to-Face: Meet Mark Kantor; Nutritional Potential of Rice Bean; Produce Safety Standards

Produce Safety Standards: FDA and Industry Expert Insights
On February 11, IFT and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held a webcast on the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) proposed rule on Produce Safety Standards to learn more about the rule itself and its potential implications for your organization. If you missed the live webcast, you can now view it on demand at ift.org. FDA speakers Samir Assar, Director, Produce Safety Staff at the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (FDA CFSAN), and James Gorny, Senior Advisor, Office of Food Safety, FDA CFSAN, discussed this proposed rule in greater detail. David Gombas, Senior Vice President, Food Safety and Technology, United Fresh, presented key insights into implementation considerations and how this proposed rule affects your business.

Face-to-Face: Meet Mark Kantor
In this month’s Face-to-Face series, we will be introducing you to Mark Kantor, Nutrition Scientist at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Prior to joining the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition’s Office of Nutrition, Labeling, and Dietary Supplements, Kantor was Associate Professor & Extension Specialist in the Dept. of Nutrition and Food Science at the University of Maryland. Kantor’s specialties include regulatory issues impacting Nutrition Facts label, health communications, and nutrition frauds and misinformation. Check out IFT’s Face-to-Face to see what Kantor envisions coming down the pipe for food and drug law in 2013.

Nutritional Potential of Rice Bean: An Underutilized Legume
Rice bean, a less known and underutilized legume, has emerged as a potential legume because of its nutritional prowess. The nutritional quality of rice bean—Vigna umbellata—is higher as compared to many other legumes of the Vigna family. In a study in the Journal of Food Science, researchers evaluated 16 diverse rice bean genotypes for major nutritional constituents, such as protein content, total lipids, dietary fiber, total carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, protein fractions, amino acid, and fatty acid profile. They found that among the different genotypes tested, BRS-2 was observed superior and could be advocated for consumption as well as for inclusion in crop improvement programs.

Food Technology Offers Related, Most Popular Content
Announced last month, the Food Technology magazine part of ift.org has been redesigned to offer more usability and readability for users. Part of this enhanced functionality includes links to related content and most popular content. Now, when you are reading a feature article from Food Technology magazine, you will see links to more content in the right hand column. The related content items take you to articles and/or information on a topic similar to the one you are reading. The most popular content links you to articles that have been viewed the most over the past 6 months. So, now you can see what everyone else is reading, and also find out more information on the topics that interest you.

Kelly Hensel
Digital Media Editor
[email protected]