IFT WORLD
Section and division volunteers recognized
The IFT Sections and Divisions rely on the work of numerous volunteers, with some going “above and beyond.” This year’s Outstanding Section Members of the Year are Jerry Bard, Daniel Best, Mike Hosler, Atul Khare, Anna Lovis, Jan Miller, Susan Monckton, and Joe Stout (Chicago); Larry E. Clement (Florida); Mary Ellen Wagner (Great Plains); Jay Astle (Intermountain); William Gladhart (Kansas City); Richard Hricik (Lake Erie); Landon Terry (Lewis and Clark); James Duffy, Jay Glantz, Frank Vollaro, and Carol Zamojcin (Long Island); Hank Dres (Longhorn); Ashley Bond, Miguel Gutierrez, and Joongmin Shin (Louisiana Gulf Coast); Naomi Sundalius (Minnesota); Beth Anthony, David Horowitz, Sara McCormick, Mark Moisey, and Karen Penichter (New York); Ken Racicot (Northeast); Maria Vargas (Northern California); Nadya Antoniades (Nutmeg); Jeff Clawson, Kim Hutchinson, Carri Matthieu, and Sharon McFadden (Oregon); Barbara Brojack and Andrea Gerstle (Philadelphia); Chris Charles, Paul Cole, Mardi Fitzgerald, Offie Gallevo, Russ Haehl, David Lee, Megan Leifson, Tom McLean, Kirk Stallman, and Jim Sutton (Puget Sound); Erin Dormedy (San Joaquin); Adelia Bovell-Benjamin, Kristi Michele Crowe, and Leslie Taylor (South Eastern); Gerrie Adams, Barbara Cadwell, Toni Gitter, Ana Gumabon, Christy Kadharmestan, Alan Katusi, and Dan Rosson (Southern California); Virginia Mercer (Volunteer); Yaguang (Sunny) Luo (Washington, D.C.); and Warren Clark (Western New York).
This year’s Outstanding Division Members of the Years are Don Kramer, Alexandra C.M. Oliviera, Joe Regenstein, and Subramaniam Sathivel (Aquatic Food Products); Jonathan Allen (Dairy Foods); Denise I. Skonberg (Education); John Coupland, Ingolf Gruen, Joan King, and Zhimin Xu (Food Chemistry); Dennis Heldman, Rosana Moreira, Cristina Sabliov, and Juming Tang (Food Engineering); Linda Hallik (Foodservice); Jorge Fonseca (Fruits and Vegetable Products); Luis Fernandez (International Division); Rachael Eavenson and Bob Gallatin (Marketing & Management); Wes Schilling (Muscle Foods); Thomas Shellhammer (Nonthermal Processing); Allison A. Yates (Nutrition); Muhammad Asif (Product Development); Hudaa Neetoo (Refrigerated and Frozen Foods); Joe Regenstein (Religious and Ethnic Foods); and Daniel M. Ennis and Benoît Rousseau (Sensory and Consumer Sciences).
IFT recognizes the Central New Jersey, Louisiana Gulf Coast, Minnesota, New York, Northeast, Oregon, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. sections as Sections of Merit for meeting the basic standards. IFT also recognizes the Dogwood, Iowa, Kansas City, Keystone, Nutmeg, Rocky Mountain, Southern California, and Wisconsin sections as Sections of Excellence for going above and beyond the basic standards.
IIT post for Brackett
The National Center for Food Safety and Technology at Illinois Institute of Technology has named Robert E. Brackett Director and Vice President. He manages the center and continues to improve its stature as a national and international leader in the field.
Brackett most recently served as Senior Vice President and Chief Science and Regulatory Officer for the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), a position he has held since 2007. He has nearly 30 years of experience in scientific research in industry, government, and academia. Prior to working at GMA, he worked at the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), where he started as a senior microbiologist in the Office of Plant and Dairy Foods and Beverages in 2000. After several promotions, Brackett was appointed CFSAN Director, where from 2004–2007 he provided executive leadership to CFSAN’s development and implementation of programs and policies relative to the composition, quality, safety, and labeling of foods, food and color additives, dietary supplements, and cosmetics. Earlier in his career, Brackett held professorial positions with North Carolina State University in Raleigh, and the University of Georgia in both its Dept. of Food Science and Technology and the Center for Food Safety and Quality Enhancement.
Brackett is an IFT Professional Member, a member of the International Association for Food Protection and the American Society for Microbiology, and is a fellow in the International Association for Food Protection and American Academy of Microbiologists. He has been honored with the FDA Award of Merit, the International Association for Food Protection’s President’s Appreciation Award, and, most recently, the William C. Frazier Food Microbiology Award.
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FONA announces new hires
Several IFT members recently joined FONA.
John Martin has been named Director of Regulatory Affairs. He plays an active role in Tax and Trade Bureau formulations and filings, acts as an expert advisor in international/export tariff issues and nutraceutical/pharmaceutical flavors acceptability research, and is FONA’s primary contact to industry associations including FEMA. He received a B.S. degree in chemistry from East Stroudsburg University.
The company also hired Amy Lauer as Market Manager—Performance Nutrition. She comes to FONA with many years of experience as Global and B2B Marketing Manager with an international food packaging company. Lauer leads FONA’s strategic marketing, planning, and implementation for market projects to support its performance nutrition customers. She earned a B.S. degree in food and nutrition science from the University of Illinois, three Culinary Certificates from Kendall College, and a Masters in Integrated Marketing Communications from Roosevelt University.
Finally, Sharon Van Horn joined the company as Senior Applications Technologist—Grain. Her professional background includes product development experience that covers a broad spectrum of market products from confections to main meals and more. At FONA, Van Horn is involved with a variety of grain applications and works with customers to meet their flavor needs. She holds a B.S. degree in agriculture and is currently working on a M.S. degree in food science from the University of Illinois.
ITI appoints Jezek
ITI Tropicals Inc. has hired Gene Jezek as Senior Account Manager. He is responsible for existing accounts in the western portion of the United States as well as Canada.
Jezek received a B.S. degree in food science from McGill University. He has 25 years of experience in the food industry, working for Best Foods/Unilever, Kraft, Hidden Valley/Clorox, Firmenich Flavors, DSM Nutritional Products, and Frutarom Health Ingredients and Flavors.
He is a Member of IFT.
Kitchen science
why do pears ripen faster in a brown paper bag than in a bowl on the table? What makes brownies really chewy? How does brining make meat more tender?
Providing answers to questions like these is all in a day’s work for IFT Professional Member and former food industry executive Guy Crosby, 68. Five years ago, after spending 30 years in R&D for companies including FMC and Opta Food Ingredients, Crosby embraced a second career as Science Editor for Cook’s Illustrated magazine.
It all started when Crosby, a cooking enthusiast, contacted the magazine to offer his services. Eventually, he received a call from one of the magazine’s editors and joined the publication’s staff. Before long, he was also working on the “America’s Test Kitchen” television show, produced by the same company that publishes the magazine. Crosby works out of his home near Boston, reviewing and editing recipes and designing experiments to help test them.
“They’re probably the one cooking magazine and cooking show that wants to take a science-based approach to recipe development,” says Crosby. The episodes for the “America’s Test Kitchen” season are all filmed in May. During that timeframe,Crosby works with Cook’s Illustrated founder Christopher Kimball, rehearsing scientific explanations of cooking principles and filming segments. “There are two takes, and that’s it,” says Crosby. Fortunately, the former R&D executive’s ability to provide concise, cogent explanations was honed during the years he spent making business presentations.
Crosby, who has a doctorate in organic chemistry, applies similar skills to another post-retirement endeavor—teaching. He’s an associate professor of chemistry and food science at Framingham State College and teaches part-time in the Harvard School of Public Health.
He also finds time to garden and cook meals like roast chicken with herbs or fish chowder for himself and his wife. It’s not exactly a leisurely lifestyle, but after years of frequent business travel and managing a large department, Crosby relishes being focused on science, having summers off, and working on his own timetable. “I do exactly what I want to do when I want to do it,” he says.
Section & Division meetings
Visit www.ift.org to view the Events Calendar, including listings for Section and
Division meetings, and for information on how to list your event.