IFT Live 2012

Panel Discussion

Best practice risk communication: Challenges for food safety versus food defense events
Session 274: Tuesday, 1:15–2:45 p.m.
Room: S402ab
Track: Food Safety & Defense

When the outbreak happens, what will you say—to neighbors, to the press, to your customers? Is what you say and how you say it dependent on if the contamination was intentional or accidental? Communications scholars from the National Center for Food Protection and Defense have developed 11 best practices for risk communication. IFT was funded to explore which practices have been used in previous outbreaks, and how they might, or might not, work for you. Are there some best practices that you just can’t employ? Are there some you might use if contamination was accidental vs intentional? Participate in this interactive session to learn what the best practices are; hear what IFT has learned from talking with trade associations, government officials, extension specialists, and others; and share your thoughts on what tools you’ll need to react.

Symposia

Advanced food packaging for emerging processing technologies
Session 269: Tuesday, 1:15–2:45 p.m.
Room: S503ab
Track: Emerging Technologies & Ingredient Innovations

This session updates those food and food packaging technologies that have been advancing forward for the past decade without necessarily receiving high visibility in the media. Several of these technologies demonstrate promise to enter the commercial marketplace and gain significant niches in food preservation packaging. This symposium showcases emerging processing and packaging technologies, including: 1) microwave energy’s reduction of the thermal energy requirements for food sterilization and its impact on packaging requirements; 2) paperboard lamination containment for sterile particulate foods; and 3) a reduction of internal oxygen content to near negligible levels, which markedly increases the safety and quality retention of sterile foods under ambient distribution temperatures.

Modeling the food digestion process—in vitro, in vivo, in silico
Session 270: Tuesday, 1:15–2:45 p.m.
Room: S504cd
Track: Food Engineering

The quest to manufacture foods for healthy benefits is an underpinning goal of the modern food industry. Recent evidence indicates that how the food structure breaks down during gastric digestion significantly affects the rate of uptake of nutrients in the gastrointestinal tract. Understanding the postingestion food behavior and the knowledge of the availability of nutrients and their uptake kinetics can guide food processors to select appropriate ingredients and processing conditions at the time of manufacture.

Bioavailability and nutrigenomics of small fruit polyphenols
Session 271: Tuesday, 1:15–2:45 p.m.
Room: S401ab
Track: Food, Health & Nutrition

Consumers’ understanding of the benefits of antioxidants and associated claims must be carefully considered when launching new products. Producers want to enhance their output of foods with functional characteristics from the strong requirement by consumers for foods with health benefits that go beyond provision of nutritional requirements. Sustained growth of the functional food fields will, however, require additional investment and effort. Evidence is required to support health claims of functional foods. Allowing claims that lack adequate science threatens the credibility of the functional food industry. This program will offer a special opportunity to understand the distinctions between drugs, natural health products, and functional foods.

Research update: The role of dietary fibers in preventing and treating diabetes and metabolic syndrome
Session 272: Tuesday, 1:15–2:45 p.m.
Room: S403ab
Track: Food, Health & Nutrition

This symposium will provide an overview of the evidence linking dietary fiber with diabetes risk. It will examine epidemiological and laboratory-based studies to elucidate possible mechanisms for the role of individual dietary fibers in glycemic health and diabetes risk reduction. Previous research has shown that dietary fibers, and in particular cereal fibers, are associated with lower risk for diabetes. Viscous fibers have been found to lower glycemic responses. However, epidemiological studies have shown lower risk with insoluble fibers, not viscous fibers, suggesting that the underlying mechanisms are not simply related to the effects of viscosity on glycemic response. In addition, recent research has demonstrated that certain types of dietary fibers affect insulin resistance and other aspects of the metabolic syndrome. Thus, this symposium is an important update for food product developers interested in creating fiber-enriched foods that enhance glycemic health and prevent disease.

Approaches to the management of import food safety
Session 275: Tuesday, 1:15–2:45 p.m.
Room: S404abc
Track: Food Safety & Defense

This is part two of the session on safety of food imports. The issue of food safety has always been a major focus for industry, regulators, and consumers. This session presents detailed information on solutions for addressing the safety of imported foods and ingredients. This session will describe the approaches in a variety of sectors to improve the safety of products and ingredients used in both the food and diet supplement industries.

Change the food, change the consumer or change the food to change the consumer? Applying behavior change theory to develop food products that promote wellness
Session 276: Tuesday, 1:15–2:45 p.m.
Room: S401cd
Track: Product Development

How do you reconcile the need to change consumers’ nutrition behavior with developing wellness-related food products that sell? The key is to understand what triggers a consumer to change and adopt a new behavior. Most efforts in the health and wellness community focus on changing the consumer. But an alternate approach is to change food in a way that makes adopting a new healthful behavior easier and appeals to the innate desires of consumers for food that tastes good, is convenient, and enjoyable. This session will explore how behavior change science can be applied to food development to create an environment that is conducive to adopting healthful behaviors and to purchasing wellness-related products. The session will explore how consumer self-efficacy can be developed through novel food products and how such self-efficacy can perpetuate more healthful behaviors. Food product design and marketing can become an essential part of nutrition behavior change to promote wellness and offers a new frontier for the food industry to enhance product design and sales.

Off-odor issues caused by packaging and storage in food
Session 277: Tuesday, 1:15–2:45 p.m.
Room: S501ab
Track: Product Development

Flavor defects—so called off-odors—are sensory attributes that are associated with typical taste and aroma of food and beverages. These defects can be produced by several possible situations, especially when flavor components deteriorate and the flavor profile changes (especially when exposed to air, water, packaging, and storage). The intent of this session is to highlight how state-of-the-art analytical techniques and organoleptic approaches can be used in concert to identify sources of off-odors in food and beverage products to correct the problem. As part of this informative session, industry case studies will be presented.

Beyond Copenhagen: A food industry imperative
Session 278: Tuesday, 1:15–2:45 p.m.
Room: S501cd
Track: Sustainability

The implications of the COP15 meeting on food industry practices will be discussed. The contributions of the food sector to greenhouse gas emissions and hence, climate change, will be presented. Many companies are already making changes to their production, packaging, and distribution practices. Are these measures sufficient to not only stabilize, but also decrease carbon dioxide levels? How will carbon cap and trade apply to the food industry? Converting to renewable sources of energy requires major capital investment, but not doing anything or too little might not be an option for too long. Are there incentives for businesses to make this switch?