Rise and Shine for Sunrise Sessions
Introduced at last year’s Annual Meeting, Sunrise Sessions offer early risers an opportunity for some bonus education. Given their popularity last year, you will find more on the schedule for this year—four on Sunday, July 18, and three on Tuesday, July 20. Sunday’s bonus sessions are as follows.
Nanoscale Science for Food: A Primer
Session 6, Sunday, 7:30–8:30 a.m.
Room: S502ab
Track: Emerging Technologies & Ingredient Innovations
Nanoscale science, engineering, and technology is rapidly advancing and demonstrating great potential for applications in the food industry. This symposium will describe the fundamental concepts of science, engineering, and technology at the nanoscale level and discuss the potential impacts, both positive and negative. The focus will be on recent developments in application in the food and ingredient industry and their benefits to the consumer. Furthermore, the symposium will give a perspective of the potential risks and challenges facing nanoscale research.
How to Obtain and Manage AFRI Competitive Grants
Session 7, Sunday, 7:30–8:30 a.m.
Room: S501cd
Track: Food Engineering
The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) competitive grant programs of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), formerly CSREES, of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture are of high relevance to the food science and nutrition community, especially the Improving Food Quality and Value, Bioactive Food Components for Optimal Health, and Food Safety programs. NIFA national program leaders will provide overviews on the peer review process, attributes of a winning proposal, and tips for post-award management. An introduction to the AFRI and the perspectives of a panel manger and a recent grantee will also be featured.
Case Studies: Risk Assessment for Food Allergens
Session 8, Sunday, 7:30–8:30 a.m.
Room: S503ab
Track: Food Safety & Defense
Food allergies have emerged in recent years as a serious public health concern for the food industry. The food industry must increasingly perform risk assessments to evaluate the effectiveness of allergen control programs and to drive appropriate labeling decisions. In this interactive session, attendees will participate in the decision-making processes for risk assessment surrounding real-world case studies. Attendees will be expected to have a fundamental knowledge of food allergies and allergen detection methodologies. Participants will learn the benefits of quantitative information and how to apply it as part of the risk assessment process.
The Role of Water in Food Quality
Session 9, Sunday, 7:30–8:30 a.m.
Room: S501ab
This session will highlight the importance of a complete moisture analysis consisting of both water activity and moisture content. Definitions for water activity and moisture content will be established with a particular focus on their differences and how they are related through the moisture sorption isotherm. Methods for measuring water activity and moisture content as well as techniques for obtaining accurate measurements will be highlighted. The relationship between water, specifically water activity, moisture content, and moisture sorption isotherms, and food quality will be described in detail.