IFT NEWS

Call for Abstracts for 2005 IFT Annual Meeting
December 1 is the deadline for receipt of abstracts for the 2005 IFT Annual Meeting, to be held in New Orleans, La., July 16–20.

IFT’s Technical Presentations Committee (TPC) asks those submitting Volunteered Technical Paper abstracts for oral and poster presentations to send in their abstracts prior to December 1 to avoid delays that have been experienced in earlier years (when more than 90% of abstracts were submitted on the final day). Abstracts may only be submitted online. Go to www.ift.org and follow the links to the Abstract Submission page for details.

All abstracts must be offered in one of two categories: “Poster Only” or “Oral or Poster.” This allows Division TPC reviewers the flexibility necessary to schedule sessions. Abstracts must be designated to only one IFT Division of your choice for acceptance or rejection. If you are also entering your paper in a Division Student Competition, your abstract must be reviewed by the Division sponsoring the competition.

Abstracts are limited to 300 words or less, and must be organized under the following five subheadings: Justification, Objectives, Methods, Results, and Significance.

These are the key criteria reviewers will address for acceptance of abstracts. A sample abstract is available online. Slide presentations will not be allowed this year, but PowerPoint presentations are acceptable.

Abstract “help desk” available for 2005 Annual Meeting
Want to improve your chances of your paper’s being accepted for presentation at IFT’s 2005 Annual Meeting? Help is available.

A group of volunteers composed of experienced past authors from each of the IFT Technical Divisions will provide that extra proofreading help that can make a difference. The Help Desk program was established by the TPC and approved by the Annual Meeting Committee. It is coordinated by Christine Bruhn of the University of California, Davis (phone 530-752-2774), a Past Chair of the TPC.

If you would like to take advantage of the Help Desk service, obtain the “Guidelines for Preparation of Volunteer Abstracts” from IFT’s Web site at www.ift.org or request a copy by calling the IFT office at 312-782-8424. Next, prepare the abstract according to the guidelines and submit it through the IFT Web site before November 10, 2004. Requests for Help Desk assistance should be made at the time the completed abstract is submitted.

The Help Desk will evaluate the abstracts for appropriate use of English, communication effectiveness, and completion of required information, but the Help Adviser will not provide a scientific technical review. Contacting the Help Desk does not guarantee acceptance of an abstract, but it does provide comments to the author by November 19, 2004, which allows the author time to revise the abstract and resubmit it to IFT prior to the December 1, 2004, final deadline.

Those who would like to volunteer to serve on the Help Desk should contact their Division chair. The Division chair should then send Christine Bruhn (e-mail [email protected]) the name of one volunteer to serve as Help Advisor for the Division by October 1. Volunteers should not be serving as appointed Division TPC Review Representative for the current 2004 Annual Meeting, but should have been a TPC reviewer in the past. The Help Desk will be provided with model abstracts and criteria for acceptance.

SECTION & DIVISION NEWS
Bieler receives Riester-Davis Award
Anne C. Bieler, President of Food Technology Concepts, was presented the IFT Food Packaging Division’s 2004 Riester-Davis Award during the division’s business meeting at the 2004 IFT Annual Meeting + Food Expo in Las Vegas in July. After receiving the award, she presented a paper on “Chilled Food Packaging—Concepts to Commercial Reality.”

The Riester-Davis Award recognizes lifetime achievement in food packaging technology. Bieler has more than 25 years experience in the food packaging industry focusing on adapting new technologies. She was instrumental in the development of cook-chill systems used in food service. While working with Cryovac, she also commercialized deli, meat, and seafood programs. Her research led to a number of packaging material and process patents.

Bieler earned degrees in chemistry and food science from the University of Florida; she also served as past chair of the Food Packaging Division. In 2000, she established Food Technology Concepts to provide consulting services in technology and marketing assessment.

The Food Packaging Division established the Riester-Davis Award in 1986 to memorialize Don Riester of American Can Co. and Rees Davis of Continental Can, who helped found the division. After distinguished industrial careers, both Riester and Davis worked at the Food and Drug Administration, coordinating the efforts that finally led to U.S. approval of aseptic packaging systems. The first awards were given posthumously in 1986 to Riester and Davis.

Lim receives Sensory Evaluation fellowship
IFT’s Sensory Evaluation Division awarded its Silver Celebration Graduate Fellowship for 2004–05 to Juyun Lim during the Division’s gala at the IFT Annual Meeting in July. Lim is a doctoral student in the Dept. of Food Science at Cornell University. The fellowship was established six years ago at the Division’s 25th anniversary and is administered through IFT’s Scholarship/Fellowship program.

IFT recognizes outstanding Section and Division volunteers
The following Outstanding Section and Division Members of the Year were honored at the IFT Council Meeting held July 12 at the Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, Nev. Individuals received an “Outstanding Section/Division” pin in recognition of their dedication. The Sections and Divisions had the authority to determine whether to establish an award recognizing an outstanding volunteer. Each Section and Division also determined the qualifying criteria for recognition as an outstanding volunteer.

Section volunteers honored were Clair Hicks (Bluegrass); Lisa Chedid, Sophie Holbrook, Didem Icoz, and Dilek Kocer (Central New Jersey Subsection); Tricia Giron (Chicago); Mark Walsh (Florida); Cheryll Reitmeier (Iowa); Michael Meyer and Matthew Silvaggio (Lake Erie); Joe Warthesen, postumously honored (Minnesota); Shirley Barber, Robert Kluter, and Mel Darack (Northeast); Marty Potnick and Dave Sholty (Northern California); Ellen Bradley and Dann Barnard (Oregon); and Megan Liefson and Mark Davidson (Puget Sound).

Division volunteers recognized were Dallas Hoover (Biotechnology); Wayne Iwaoka (Education); Gustavo V. Barbosa-Canovas (Food Engineering); Luke LaBorde (Fruit & Vegetable); Miguel A. Jimenez (International); James Albrecht (Marketing & Management); Elizabeth Topp (Product Development); Robert Lapin (Quality Assurance); Michelle Claassen (Sensory Evaluation); Bala Balasubramaniam (Nonthermal Processing); S. Sefa Koseoglu and Fereidoon Shahidi (Nutraceuticals & Functional Foods); and Julie Nordlee (Toxicology & Safety Evaluation).

Technical Program reviewers earn thanks
The scope and quality of the IFT Annual Meeting’s 3½-day Technical Program can be traced to the tireless work of a small group of volunteers drawn from IFT’s Divisions. The work of the Technical Presentations Committee (TPC) of the Annual Meeting Committee ensures that no other such program tops IFT, which features quality speakers, a variety of food industry topics, and coverage of the latest research and its applications.

Some Divisions receive several hundred abstracts, and between December and mid-January, TPC members review these abstracts for acceptance or rejection, and develop them into technical sessions of interest to their Division members and all attendees at the Annual Meeting. It is not an easy task to project that a 300-word summary of what the researcher thinks will be accomplished by the next summer’s meeting will be a topic of interest to a large group of attendees. The use of electronic submission and distribution of abstracts has lightened this burden.

So here is a big “thank you” to the members of the 2003–04 TPC, listed by Division: William C. Haines (Chair), Denise M. Smith (Chair Designate), Kurt E. Deibel (Past Chair), Kerry C. Huber (Carbohydrates), William S. Stinson (Citrus Products), Robert F. Roberts (Dairy Foods), Sam K.C. Chang (Education), Karen P. Penner (Extension and Outreach), Kirk L. Parkin (Food Chemistry), Sheryl A. Barringer (Food Engineering), Stephen R. Drake (Fruit & Vegetable Products), Gustavo V. Barbosa-Cánovas (International), Daniel Best (Marketing & Management), Thomas J. Payne (Muscle Foods), Indra B. Mehrotra (Nutrition).

If you are interested in serving on the TPC in the future, let your Division Chair know.

by KAREN BANASIAK
Assistant Editor
[email protected]