LETTERS
Foodservice report comprehensive and relevant
Last night, I read the Sloan State-of-the-Industry Report, “Fast and Casual: Today’s Foodservice Trends,” by A. Elizabeth Sloan (September, p. 34), and I just want to compliment her on the job that she did and IFT for putting this in the magazine. I do a lot of reading of foodservice journals and reports on trends in the foodservice industry, and this is the most comprehensive and relevant piece of work I have ever read on foodservice trends in a long time. I hope you do this every year, because this is a point of differentiation for Food Technology. I talked to a lot of people this morning and asked if they had read this report. I recommended that they take a look at Food Technology—there’s a lot of things we do that people don’t give us credit for getting involved in. This illustrates a new dimension to what Food Technology magazine has to offer the industry.
—Dicki Lulay, Vice President of Business Development, McCormick & Co., Inc., Baltimore, Md.
Ingredient coverage appreciated
I want to thank you for Don Pszczola’s nice mention of GNT USA and our “Fruity Bears” in the September issue (p. 78). His ingredient profiles are always very interesting and informative, and they also provide a thorough description and functionality of the product. We appreciate your interest in our products.
—Paola Cortona, Marketing Coordinator, GNT USA, Inc., Tarrytown, N.Y.
Was industry involved in dialogue?
I just read the article entitled “A Dialogue on Pathogen Reduction” (September, p. 55). The subtitle says, “Experts from industry, government, and academia discuss pathogen reduction approaches designed to ensure the safety of the nation’s food products,” but there are no industry people cited in the piece. Did industry really participate? It would be nice to have seen at least one industry or trade association person’s thoughts.
—Rick Stier, Consulting Food Scientist, Sonoma, Calif.
Editor’s reply:
Although the speakers at the Food Safety and Inspection Service’s two-day symposium in May 2002 were only from government and academia, more than 80 people from industry and others from consumer groups attended the conference and asked questions following the presentations. Space limitations prevented our publishing the questions and answers, but FSIS plans to publish the complete proceedings, including the questions and answers, this month. More information can be obtained from Sharin Sachs at [email protected].
Back Page articles timely
Bottom line: the No. 1 article in Food Technology for me is the Back Page. It’s usually now and written by established experts. It’s a great cornerstone for Food Technology. The second most valuable to me are the Scientific Status Summary reports. Of course, the wonderful array of contributing editors are always refreshing and relevant. By the way, the aquaculture piece by George Flick (“U.S. Aquaculture Is Fighting an Upstream Battle,” Back Page, September, p. 124) complements the Southern California IFT Regional Section dinner meeting topic scheduled for next April. Definitely a now topic. Keep up the good work.
—Roger A. Clemens, Director, Laboratory for Analytical Research and Services in Complementary Therapeutics, and Adjunct Professor, Molecular Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Southern California School of Pharmacy, Los Angeles
Who’s who in photo
The people shown in the International Lounge but not identified in Photo 38 on p. 42 of the August issue were among the 13 Egyptian CEOs and owners of food companies who attended the 2002 IFT Annual Meeting in Anaheim to contact comparable industries, share information and new technological advancements, and explore possible export of raw and/or finished food products. They were part of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) program assisting Egypt in various industry sectors, including agriculture, technology, and food manufacturing. Tom Butterworth, Director of Technical Services for the Agriculture Led Export Business (ALEB), a branch of USAID, and I led the discussion by the participants.
—R.B. Toma, Professor of Food Science and Nutrition, California State University, Long Beach
Magazine “impressive”
Aaron L. Brody’s mention of our company in his article, “Food Packaging Stars at Food Expo®” (August, p. 106), is appreciated, and we were quite impressed with the magazine. Please have your advertising department send me a 2003 media kit when it’s ready so we can include Food Technology in next year’s advertising discussions. Please include membership info; IFT seems like an organization we should consider joining.
—Bernard A. “Bernie” Roche, Sales Manager, Perceptics Corp., Knoxville, Tenn.
Correction
In the article, “Fun, Fantasy, and Health Food, Too!” (August, p. 54), certain products exhibited at IFT Food Expo were incorrectly attributed to Kikkoman International Inc., P.O. Box 420784, San Francisco, CA 94142-0784 (phone 415-956-7750). Kikkoman did not, as stated on pp. 56 and 57, serve red soy sauce or sweet soy sauces with lemon and orange, nor did it promote grape seed extract, SoyAct, Nice Protein yogurt drinks, or Oh! Beautiful soup, which are not Kikkoman products. Kikkoman did serve Creamy Rice Soup with and without natural flavor enhancer NFE-S to demonstrate the balanced, brothy umami flavor that NFE-S provides for soups, meat, poultry, seafood, dressings, marinades, dry mixes, and seasoning blends. The company also served Teriyaki Chips made with Kikkoman Granulated Soy Sauce. Soy-Gingerbread Pagodas were served to highlight the flavor-enhancing qualities of Kikkoman Soy Sauce in a dessert application.