Face-to-Face: Meet Meet Alexandria Huck, Quyen Nguyen; FDA Food Product Tracing Pilots

Technological Approaches to Minimize Industrial Trans Fatty Acids
Trans fatty acids (TFAs) mainly arise from two major sources: natural ruminal hydrogenation and industrial partial catalytic hydrogenation. Increasing evidence suggests that most TFAs and their isomers cause harmful health effects, such as an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. Nevertheless, in spite of the existence of an international policy consensus regarding the need for public health action, several countries do not adopt suffi cient voluntary approaches or have sufficient industrial strategies to eliminate deleterious TFAs from processed foods while ensuring the overall quality of the final product. A study published in the Journal of Food Science reviews the physical-chemical properties of TFAs, their usage and levels in processed foods, their main effects on health, and the major industrial methods (fat food reformulation, fat interesterification, etc.) that can be used to reduce TFAs in foods.

Face-to-Face: Meet Meet Alexandria Huck and Quyen Nguyen
In this month’s Face-to-Face series, we will be introducing you to the University of Arkansas student winners of the IFT Heart-Healthy Product Development Competition, sponsored by CanolaInfo, Alexandria Huck and Quyen Nguyen. Huck and Nguyen won for Simply Heart—a banana and cinnamon flavored breakfast bar made from an oat and sweet potato base, heart-healthy dried fruits, and coated in crispy puffed millet. Find out what they found challenging about the project, and see how these soon-to-be food scientists view the future of the industry in this month’s Face-to-Face.

FDA Food Product Tracing Pilots
If you missed this webcast in March, you can now view it on demand through ift.org’s Knowledge Center. From the farm to the family dinner table, food product tracing has critical implications for industry, regulators, and the consumer. In March, the FDA released IFT’s Report on FDA FSMA Product Tracing Pilots. Focused on the outcomes of two pilot projects for fresh produce and processed foods, the report provides recommendations on how to improve product tracing in a way that benefits all stakeholders. In this webcast, leaders of IFT’s Food Product Tracing Pilots, which include: Sherri McGarry, FDA; Jennifer McEntire, Leavitt Partners; and Tejas Bhatt, IFT, will provide an overview of the report, including important findings, recommendations, and next steps from the pilots.

IFT Live
Although the 2013 IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo^® is still three months away, there’s no time like the present to plan your time at the event. IFT’s online show daily, IFT Live, not only brings you exclusive news, live reports, onsite updates, photos, video, and much more from the IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo, but can also help you plan your Annual Meeting experience before you even arrive in Chicago. Check out the site now for speaker information, new products that will be on the Expo floor, and much more. You can also view a live feed of stories from IFT Live through the mobile event app.

Kelly Hensel
Senior Digital Editor
[email protected]