LETTERS

In his article, “Plot Thickens as Gums Add Special Effects,” Donald Pszczola states that xanthan gum “in 1974 won IFT’s Food Technology Industrial Achievement Award for its developer, Kelco, now CP Kelco” (December 2003, p. 45). I want to point out that Kelco and USDA’s Northern Regional Research Laboratory in Peoria, Ill., shared the award. An NRRL research team carried out the basic research to develop xanthan gum, and Kelco did the commercialization. William H. McNeely accepted the award on behalf of Kelco, and Allene Jeanes accepted the award on behalf of NRRL; the Agricultural Research Service in 1999 honored her posthumously for her work on xanthan gum and other career research accomplishments, by induction into the ARS Hall of Fame.