Volume XXI, Number I, April 1997
Al B. Wagner
Extension Food Technologist
Announcements
Government Says Obesity is a Major Problem
Safe Handling of Fruits and Vegetables
The Value of First-Hand Knowledge
Current MSG Labeling Adequate to Protect Public Health
Items of Interest
Rules and Regulations
Announcements
FROZEN FOOD FIESTA
The 12th Annual Frozen Food Fiesta will be held at the Hilton Palacio Del Rio in San Antonio May 15-17, 1997. For meeting information contact Jack Jarrell at 713/782-3625.
SANITARY DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION SEMINAR
A one-day course on Sanitary Design and Construction of food plants will be held May 8, 1997 at the Hyatt Regency OâHare Hotel in Chicago. It will be conducted by Don Graham of Sverdrup Corp. For more information call 312/416-1576.
BASIC THERMAL PROCESSING COURSE FOR LACF PROCESSORS
A comprehensive 5-day workshop that teaches the basic techniques of thermal process establishment and retort validation will be held May 19-23, 1997. This program is conducted by technical staff at their training facility in New Orleans, Louisiana. For information call 800/357-4831 or 504/733-0300, Ext. 234.
THE TEXAS NATURAL RESOURCE CONSERVATION COMMISSION ENVIRONMENTAL TRADE FAIR Î97
The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission proudly invites all organizations, businesses, and firms affected by state and federal environmental regulations to attend this comprehensive trade fair and conference April 28-30, 1997 in Austin, Texas at the Austin Convention Center.
Over 150 presentations will be made by the regulators themselves, and will concentrate on the 'what to do' and 'how to do it' of complying with environmental regulations. Presenters will be the staff of the TNRCC, providing a unique and across-the-board access to Texasâ environmental regulators. Donât miss this opportunity to see and visit with over 255 exhibitors whose companies support regulatory compliance.
For information, contact Diane Burnitt at 512/239-6322
E-mail: dburnitt@tnrcc.state.tx.us
or Richard Craig at 512/239-6328
E-mail: rcraig@tnrcc.state.tx.us
IFT TO OFFER CONTINUING EDUCATION PRIOR TO JUNE ANNUAL MEETING AND FOOD EXPO
Food safety, applied technologies, and food laws and regulations are the themes of the Institute of Food Technologistâs (IFTâs) pre-annual-meeting continuing-education programs June 13-14, 1997. Six two-day short courses will be held at the Clarion Plaza Hotel in Orlando, Florida before IFTâs Annual Meeting & Food Expo June 14-18.
ãSpice Sterilization: Technologies, Rules & Regulationsä is a 1.5-day course that will feature spice sterilization and fumigation technologies, particularly irradiation. The regulatory status of this technology will be addressed along with consumer-acceptance issues.
ãHealthful Grains: Complex Carbohydrates and Much Moreä will examine the importance of complex carbohydrates in the diet, including the functional properties, uses, medical implications, and biotechnology of healthful grains. New product formulation and marketing and media promotion of grains will also be covered.
ãIngredient Technologyä will focus on the technology and product-formulation guidelines of starches, hydrocolloids, stabilizers, antioxidants, emulsifiers, surfactants, flavors, food colors, low-calorie ingredients, bulking agents, vitamin and mineral fortification, antimicrobial systems, and ingredient interactions.
ãDesign of Experiments: Strategies for Product Development, Consumer Research, and Consumer Analysisä will address basic and advanced methods of statistical analysis, including experimental design, product optimization, consumer research, and sensory analysis.
ãRapid Microbiological Methods: Money-Saving Tools for Assuring Food Safety and Quality in the Food Industryä will look at the food and beverage industryâs adoption of new methods for rapid microbial analysis, covering issues dealing with validation, application of selected methods, and instrument design.
ãUnderstanding International Food Law: Competing in Global Marketsä will present the history of international food laws and regulations, trade agreements and restrictions, industrial insights, and global resources to enhance participantsâ trading in domestic and foreign markets.
For more information or registration materials, contact Dean Duxbury at IFT at (312) 782-8424 X171 or IFTâs web site at <http://www.ift.org>.
News
GOVERNMENT SAYS OBESITY IS A MAJOR PROBLEM
Americans are fatter than ever, with the percentage of adults who are overweight having risen to 35 percent from 25 percent less than two decades ago, federal health experts said recently.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said its latest statistics indicated 33.3 percent of American men and 36.4 percent of American women age 20 or above were overweight, based on their body mass index. The agency said 34.9 percent of adults were overweight in 1994, the latest year for which figures were available. The CDC said that in the late 1970s, 25.4 percent of adults were overweight. The CDC said that 14 percent of children aged 6 to 11 were overweight, as were 12 percent of teenagers between 12 and 17 and 35 percent adults. All of the figures are increases over a similar study conducted between 1976 and 1980.
Researchers said poor diet and physical inactivity are the two primary reasons why the percentage of people who are overweight is at an all-time high. ãWe have all seen an increase in average calorie consumption and many adults are very inactive,ä Cynthia Ogden of the CDCâs National Center for Health Statistics said. The agency found 33.7 percent of white men, 33.3 percent of black men and 36.4 percent of Mexican American men were overweight. There was a greater disparity among women. The CDC said 33.5 percent of white women, 52.3 percent of black women and 50.1 percent of Mexican American women were overweight.
ãOverweight prevalence among children, adolescents, and adults is at the highest it has ever been in the United States,ä Ogden said. ãOverweight adults are at an increased risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and some types of cancer, gout, and arthritis.ä
When a similar CDC survey was conducted between 1976 and 1980, researchers found 7.6 percent of children, 5.7 percent of teenagers, and 25.4 percent of adults were overweight.
Statistics from 33 cities released early this year by the Coalition for Excess Weight Risk Education found that New Orleans had the highest percentage of overweight people ÷ more than 37.5 percent. Denver, at 22 percent, had the lowest rate.
The report, based on CDC data, found that cities with higher rates of obesity tended to have higher unemployment, lower education and per capita income, and larger numbers of restaurants and food stores.
This information was reprinted from IFT Science Communications, March 7, 1997.
SAFE HANDLING OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
In recent times there have been several incidents of food-borne illness associated with fruits and vegetables and products made from them. In most cases these could have been avoided by proper handling at the distribution and consumer level. The following tips on handling fruits and vegetables will help reduce food-borne illness:
+ wash hands with warm water and soap before and after handling food, especially fresh whole fruits and vegetables and raw meat, poultry, and fish.
+ Rinse raw produce in warm water. Do not use soap or other detergents (they may contain substances not meant for human consumption). If necessary and appropriate, use a small scrub brush to remove surface dirt.
+ Use plastic rather than wooden cutting boards. Bacteria can hide in the grooves of wooden ones.
+ Wash cutting boards with hot, soapy water. After cleaning, you can further sanitize with a mild chlorine solution (1 teaspoon household chlorine per quart of water). Always wash boards after cutting raw meat, poultry, or seafood and before cutting another food to prevent cross-contamination.
+ Store cut, peeled, and split fruits and vegetables at or below 40oF. (5oC).
+ Stick with pasteurized juices and cider. If you do buy unpasteurized products, boil them for 3-5 minutes.
THE VALUE OF FIRSTHAND KNOWLEDGE
In a small business there is often an overlapping of responsibilities that gives everyone an understanding of each otherâs roles within the organization. It also allows employees at all levels to recognize instinctively what it is thatâs necessary to continue to ensure the success of the business. As companies grow, upper levels of management become increasingly isolated from the day-to-day operations of the firm. Often, the CEOs are in an entirely different location with little or no hands-on knowledge of what customers want. They rely on supervisors and secondhand information, such as performance reports and surveys, to keep them in touch with their public.
One way large corporations are responding to this isolation is by having senior-level managers do on-site work. ãWeâre beginning to see companies pulling people out of the office,ä says Claude R. Martin, retail marketing professor. ãThe concept is that if you are going to be customer-oriented, then somehow every decision you make has to be based on a real knowledge of whatâs happening with the customer.ä
The lessons to be gained from ãfield workä go beyond senior management gaining immediate knowledge of customer needs. Executives who participate at the work site will gain respect from workers who appreciate the effort made to understand the problems of operation they confront on a daily basis.
- Nationâs Business, December 1996, p. 38.
CURRENT MSG LABELING ADEQUATE TO PROTECT PUBLIC HEALTH
CHICAGO - In response to the proposed FDA rule to label free glutamate in food, the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) states that current scientific evidence does not warrant additional monosodium glutamate (MSG) or glutamate labeling to protect public health. Existing labeling regulations, which already require MSG to be listed as an ingredient when it is added to foods, are adequate, IFT says.
Labeling of free glutamate occurring as an inherent component of foods (e.g., parmesan cheese, peas, corn, tomatoes, chicken and beef) or food ingredients (e.g., hydrolyzed vegetable protein) is unnecessary because current scientific evidence does not demonstrate that MSG symptom complex occurs from consumption of foods containing glutamates or MSG. Moreover, the amount of glutamate in foods or ingredients with the potential to cause an adverse reaction remains to be determined.
A comprehensive scientific review conducted by the Life Sciences Research Office (LSRO) of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB, 1995) indicated that MSG symptom complex occurred in a subgroup of presumably healthy individuals challenged to an oral dose of 3g MSG or more without food. However, FASEB stated that ãthe presence of food, as in a mixed meal, attenuates the rise in blood glutamate and perhaps the effect, at least with regard to a direct CNS [central nervous system] effect." Moreover, MSG is unlikely to be consumed without food outside of a scientific study.
Items of Interest
OSTRICH PUBLICATION
A new publication on ãprocessing ostrich productsä can be obtained by calling Dr. Jim Keeton in the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M University. His telephone number is 409/845-3936.
3M KITCHEN SPONGE NO LONGER MAKING BACTERICIDAL CLAIMS*
Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co. (3M), St. Paul, Minn., will no longer claim that its O-Cell-O Brand of kitchen sponges kill, in the sponges, bacteria that cause food-borne illness, reported Reuters on March 17. The label change was sparked by an Environmental Protection Agency order on March 13 that 3M stop selling the sponges with a pesticide-type claim. Because the product label claimed the product destroyed pests, EPA considered the sponges pesticides and required that the product be registered as such. The product labels had included statements such as ãKills Germs! Like Salmonella and E. coli in the sponge,ä Reuters reported. ãConsumers should be aware that these products have not been proven to kill germs or prevent food-borne illness,ä EPA said in its news release. 3M will not recall products already in stores. 3M has been asked to stop selling and distributing them.
TOMATOES AND CANCER*
Preliminary research shows that diets high in red tomatoes and tomato products may reduce risk of certain cancers, according to researchers at a recent symposium sponsored by the American Health Foundation and the Tomato Research Council. The beneficial carotenoid appears to be lycopene, an antioxidant more potent that beta carotene, the March 12 New York Times reported. Lycopene is found in the U.S. diet at the highest levels in red, ripe tomatoes and in cooked or processed tomatoes and tomato products. Lycopene is also present at lower levels in red grapefruit and watermelon. To reap the benefits, consumers must eat tomatoes as part of a diet with about 20 percent calories from fat, according to John Erdman, U. of Illinois. The fat allows the carotenoid to be absorbed.
* From IFT Science Communications, March 21, 1997.
Rules and Regulations
REFRIGERATION LABELING GUIDANCE
The Food and Drug Administration has published a notice of its guidance on labeling of foods that need refrigeration by consumers to maintain safety or quality. FDA maintains that safe handling instructions on food should reduce the chance of ãtemperature abuseä by consumers and the consequent potential for food-borne illness and death.
This notice comes in response to recommendations from the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods, the National Food Processors Association, the Association of Food and Drug Officials, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The agency believes that current labeling is inadequate and, thus, has developed options for the placement and prominence of labeling. In addition, FDA has classified food which needs to be refrigerated into three groups (BELOW).
Group A foods are those which, if subject to temperature abuse, will support the growth of infectious or toxigenic microorganisms.
Recommended label: "IMPORTANT Must Be Kept Refrigerated to Maintain Safety."
Group B foods are shelf-stable as the result of processing but once opened, the unused portion is potentially hazardous unless refrigerated.
Recommended label: "IMPORTANT Must Be Refrigerated After Opening to Maintain Safety."
Group C foods are those items which do not pose a safety hazard (when opened) but may experience more rapid deterioration in quality over time if not refrigerated.
Recommended label: "Refrigerate for Quality."
For more information, contact Geraldine A. June, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, at (202) 205-5099.
- Feb. 24, 1997, 62 FR 8248-52.
FDA ADVISORY PANEL RECOMMENDS GMPs AND HACCP FOR FRESH JUICE SAFETY
The fresh juice industry should be required to follow Good Manufacturing Practices and mandatory hazard-analysis and critical-control-point plans but should not be required to pasteurize their products, said the fresh produce subcommittee of the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods in a draft report to the FDA.
The draft states, however, that ãproducers should strongly consider pasteurization until alternative risk-management strategies are developed,ä reported the Feb. 17 Food Chemical News.
NACMCF also recommended that labels on fresh juice products state whether the beverages have been or have not been pasteurized.
- Anonymous. 1997. NACMCF panel report on juice safety recommends GMPs, mandatory HACCP. Food Chemical News 38(52): 27-28. #97.058