Baking & Snack - November 2008 - 15

GFF briefs Hispanic
caucus on diet and
acculturation
The Grain Foods Foundation (GFF),
along with members of the March of
Dimes, the American Bakers Association
and the North American Millers' Association, briefed members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on new research
that addresses the relationship between
acculturation and diet among Latinos in
the US. The research was led by Sylvia
Melendez-Klinger, MS, RD and co-author
of the study, which was published in the
August issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
Speaking before the caucus, Ms. Melendez-Klinger, who is also a member of
GFF's Scientific Advisory Board, said the
Hispanic community is more at risk for
suffering the impacts of poor diets than
other racial/ethnic groups for a variety
of reasons, including food insecurity,
lack of access to healthy foods and low
socioeconomic status.
The research found that in addition to
increased incidence of diabetes, coronary
heart disease and lactose maldigestion, the
Hispanic community has a greater likelihood of having a child born with a neural
tube defect. With that in mind, the March
of Dimes briefed the caucus on the lack of
awareness about folic acid in the Hispanic
community. Folic acid helps to prevent
neural tube defects, which are 50% more
likely to occur in the Hispanic population.
"This is an important time to examine
dietary issues unique to the Hispanic
community," Ms. Melendez-Klinger said.
"It is equally critical that we promote
and provide solutions to the problem
that include nutrition education in
Spanish and programs directed in these
at-risk communities."
Judi Adams, MS, RD and president
of GFF, said that while the foundation's
public service campaign has been successful in reaching women of child-bearing age, it must continue to strengthen
its mission of educating consumers,
particularly Hispanic women, about the
importance of eating healthfully, which
includes enriched grains.

FDA, CDC, USDA introduce food defense kit
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention and the US Department of
Agriculture launched a food defense awareness training kit
for first-line food industry employees.
The FIRST kit uses five key points based on the acronym:
Follow company food defense plans and procedures; Inspect
your work area and surrounding areas; Recognize anything
out of the ordinary; Secure all ingredients, supplies and finished product; and Tell management if you notice anything
unusual or suspicious. This training focuses on preventing
food contamination.
The kit is free to employers and comes with a DVD,
training poster and on-screen instructions. It can only be
obtained by ordering from: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/fooddefense.
FDA also has an ALERT training kit to raise awareness of food defense issues and to
decrease the risk of food contamination. ALERT stands for: Assure the supplies and ingredients are from safe and secure sources; Look after the security of the products and
ingredients; know your Employees; provide Reports about the security of products; and
know whom to notify if there is a Threat.

BCMA focuses on industry education
In addition to increased attendance at
its 83rd annual technical conference
in September, the Biscuit and Cracker
Manufacturers' Association (BCMA) also
highlighted the dedication and investment the association has and will continue
to make to industry education. "We are
pleased that along with higher attendance,
we have had a very successful launch of
our Webinar program in the past year. We
also announced that we will be releasing
a Web-based version of our entry level
training program in English and Spanish in 2009," said Stacey Sharpless, BCMA
president, speaking at the meeting about
the upcoming year.

Scott Fullbright, BCMA chairman of the
board and senior vice-president, Interbake
Foods LLC/Norse Dairy Systems, added,
"The board is very pleased with the attendance and atmosphere of the meeting. We
are even more excited about the investments we are making in the mission of our
organization - industry education. The
annual technical conference along with Webinars, the new Web-based training initiative
and the industry standard technical course
will continue to keep us in the forefront of
training for the biscuit and cracker industry."
BCMA's 84th technical conference will
be held Sept. 20-23, 2009, at the Embassy
Suites Charlotte-Concord in Concord, NC.

Kellogg seeks ideas
Kellogg Company, Battle Creek, MI, launched a Web site -
www.kelloggsgreatideas.com - to encourage the submission
of ideas for new technologies and partnership opportunities. Specifically, the company is looking for new food,
packaging or processing technologies as well as partially
or fully developed new products and innovation collaboration opportunities. All proposals will receive a response
within six to eight weeks.
"When it comes to innovation, one of our guiding principles is that 'ideas come from
anywhere, always,'" said Jim Melluish, director of marketing for Kellogg's open innovation
team. "With this Web site, we can do an even better job of connecting external ideas and
opportunities with the Kellogg teams who can drive them."
November 2008 / BAKING & SNACK

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/fooddefense http://www.kelloggsgreatideas.com

Baking & Snack - November 2008

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