Europe faced a series of food safety crises around the turn of this century related to, among other things, BSE, Salmonella, dioxin contamination, and the use of chemicals in the food chain. Faced with public disquiet over the safety of the food on citizens’ plates, the near collapse of the European beef trade, and a deteriorating political milieu, legislators took the momentous decision to separate science from politics and to elevate the role of science in the policy making process. The enactment of the General Food Law in 2002 marked a watershed moment in the history of European food safety and gave birth to the European Food Safety Authority, the European Union’s independent risk assessment body.

A decade later, Europe can reflect on the relative merits and demerits of this food safety governance model, which has aroused global interest and been emulated elsewhere. Many factors have changed in EFSA’s operating environment during that decade, not the least of which is the economic crisis, which threatens the livelihoods of many and forces regulatory authorities worldwide to reconsider their return on investment for citizens. Ironically, while the need for evidence-based policy is gaining widespread acceptance, public trust in the scientific process and in scientists themselves is coming under increasing pressure. In parallel, there is a growing demand for greater social involvement in the democratic process and civil society groups have emerged as significant players in food policy decisions. Meanwhile, science advances relentlessly and complex food technologies are emerging with the potential to revolutionize our food production processes, aided by the easier transfer of technology from academia to industry.

Against this backdrop, Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle draws on her experience as Executive Director of EFSA since 2006, as a risk manager in the European Commission and in France, and as Chair of the Codex Alimentarius Committee on General Principles to chart European progress in establishing evidence-based food policy, and to identify the key future challenges facing the risk assessment community.

About Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle
Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle has been EFSA’s Executive Director since July 2006. Her renewed five-year mandate started on 1 July 2011. Throughout her career, Geslain-Lanéelle has held several positions of responsibility within the food sector. In 2000, she was appointed Director General of the Food Dept. within the French Agricultural Ministry at the height of the BSE crisis in France. In this post, she was responsible for managing health risks related to food, animal health and welfare, and plant protection as well as risk communications. Geslain-Lanéelle remained in this post until April 2003 when she became Regional Director of Agriculture and Forestry for the Ile de France region. She has held a number of international positions, notably as Chair of the Codex Alimentarius Committee on General Principles in 2001 and 2002, as well as Deputy Director of the French Dept. of International Trade from 1998 to 2000, managing French food aid. Here she worked closely with the European Commission and several other international organizations, working to promote the European agricultural model. She also worked at the European Commission from 1991 to 1993 as a National Expert at DG III (DG Industry and Internal Market) in the area of food safety. Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle has a Master of Science from the Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon and from the Ecole Nationale du Génie Rural, des Eaux et des Forêts.

About the Beacon Lecturers
The lectures made their debut in 2011 as a vehicle for adding new perspectives to the Annual Meeting with presentations by high-profile individuals capable of imparting cutting-edge, game-changing perspectives on food science and technology. The format for the lectures is a 30-minute presentation followed by a 15-minute question-and-answer session.

Dr. Zakaria’s presentation comes at a critical time for food professionals who face extreme challenges in both developed and developing nations ranging from food waste, food safety, and food insecurity to new nutritional demands and limitations on natural resources.

About Fareed Zakaria
Since 2008, he has hosted Fareed Zakaria GPS, which airs Sundays worldwide on CNN.  Dr. Zakaria’s in-depth interviews with the Dalai Lama, heads of state including Barack Obama, Manmohan Singh, King Abdullah II, Dmitry Medvedev, Moammar Gadhafi, and Lula da Silva, as well as countless intellectuals, business leaders, politicians, and journalists have been broadcast in more than 200 million homes in over 210 countries.  Within its first year, GPS garnered an Emmy nomination for an interview with Premier Wen Jaibao.

Dr. Zakaria was introduced as TIME Editor at Large in October 2010 after spending 10 years overseeing all of Newsweek’s editions abroad.  His cover stories and columns—on subjects from globalization and emerging markets to the Middle East and America’s role in the world—reach more than 25 million readers weekly.   While his columns have received many awards including a 2010 National Magazine Award, his October 2001 Newsweek cover story, “Why They Hate Us,” remains the most decorated.  Before joining Newsweek in October 2000, he spent eight years as managing editor of Foreign Affairs, a post he was appointed to at only 28 years old.

The Post-American World, which is Dr. Zakaria’s most recent book, was heralded in the New York Times book review as “…a relentlessly intelligent book” and The Economist called it “…a powerful guide” to facing global challenges.  Like The Post-American World, his previous book, The Future of Freedom, was a New York Times bestseller and has been translated into over 20 languages.

Born in India on January 20, 1964, Dr. Zakaria went on to receive a B.A. from Yale College and a Ph.D. from Harvard University.  He has received honorary degrees from numerous universities including Brown, the University of Miami, and Oberlin College. He lives in New York City with his wife, son, and two daughters.

Food aid has classically been surplus commodities donated to circumstances in which food shortages exist. In the past, donors of food aid have given little consideration to the appropriateness of nutritional content, food safety, and stability of foodstuffs. The advent of ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) for severe childhood malnutrition 12 years ago demonstrated the clinical benefits that can be accrued when nutrition, safety, and stability are key criteria for appropriate food aid. RUTF has an extremely low water activity, preventing the replication of microbes therein. With the addition of proper emulsifiers, oil separation and subsequent oxidation of fat-soluble nutrients have been reduced in RUTF. Cooking of the RUTF ingredients prior to their mixing has allowed RUTF to be consumed directly from the package, offering children the chance to space their dietary intake out over the course of many hours, thereby consuming more food and recovering more quickly. RUTF has made home-based therapy possible, allowing children to receive treatment earlier in the course of their malnutrition. Dramatic increases in recovery rates, from 45% to 85%, have been routinely seen, as well as huge reductions in the opportunity cost to participants. RUTF has allowed for increases in program coverage from 10% to 60%, allowing for 10 times as many children to receive this life-saving therapy. All of these lessons need to be applied to food aid that is used for moderate malnutrition, prevention of malnutrition, and food aid directed at other target groups, such as pregnant women and HIV-infected individuals. Application of basic principles of food science will move food aid into the modern age, the 21st century, where the recipient is given foremost consideration and benefit.

About Manary
Mark J. Manary, M.D., is the Helene B. Roberson Professor of Pediatrics at Wash. Univ. and Director of the Global Harvest Alliance, a joint venture between St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Wash. Univ., and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. He has made it his professional goal to fix malnutrition for kids in Africa. To this end, he has developed ready-to-use therapeutic food and used it in home-based therapy. Manary performed the first clinical trial with this food in 2001. He is currently formulating and evaluating new foods designed to augment the therapy of HIV in Africa, and treat moderate childhood malnutrition. Manary also recognizes the importance of work to prevent childhood malnutrition, and to that end he is exploring the use of lipid nutrient supplements as complementary foods for children aged 6 to 24 months in Malawi. Because he believes the ultimate solution for malnutrition is improved agriculture, he is an investigator on BioCassava Plus, a Gates Foundation project to develop genetically improved cassava that is enriched with iron, protein, beta-carotene, and zinc. Manary runs a plant genetics lab at the Danforth Plant Science Center, where he investigates nutrient-enhanced peanuts. He continues to explore the basic pathophysiology and metabolism of malnutrition, and he is currently looking at the gut microbiota and metabolome in kwashiorkor and marasmus, as well as zinc homeostasis. Manary loves engaging students in his work, and says they can be inspired to embrace global health issues and bring fresh perspectives to long-standing problems.

About the Beacon Lecturers
The lectures made their debut in 2011 as a vehicle for adding new perspectives to the Annual Meeting with presentations by high-profile individuals capable of imparting cutting-edge, game-changing perspectives on food science and technology. The format for the lectures is a 30-minute presentation followed by a 15-minute question-and-answer session.

Demand for resources will escalate over the next 20 years as the world’s population approaches 8 billion, with the population of more than 50 countries increasing by over one-third. A total of 261 river basins are shared by more than one country, 175 million Indians consume grain produced from water supplies that are not being replenished, and energy demand is likely to increase by 35%, with non-OECD countries accounting for 93% of that growth. Before 2004, about half of the disputes between nations involved resource issues; since then, all of them have. The global energy-water-food nexus is reshaping international affairs as countries large and small attempt to assert their national interests on the global stage. In the meantime, it is hard to overestimate the growing impact of emerging economies on global resources. Looking ahead, these countries will increasingly shape the future picture of energy and food demand; resource supply; CO2 emissions; technology standards; and the prospects for global trade, security, and the environment.

Robson will make the case that this is a future that demands our immediate attention. Policy and investment decisions are being made now that will determine our room for maneuver over the next 20 years. We will have to juggle a competing and conflicting set of international resource security issues, economic shocks, and justice concerns that yield a tangle of difficult-to-manage domestic consequences. How can we best support decision-makers in making the best strategic choices for an uncertain world, dominated by a complex web of food-water-energy issues? Advice is made all the more difficult when evidence of the future is proving rather hard to come by.

About Robson
Robson heads Scottish Government’s energy and environmental foresight capability, leading work across government to better anticipate strategic threats and opportunities. He started his career as a designer working in industry before moving to the Design Council to lead multidisciplinary design projects with commercial clients. He was later appointed CEO of Scottish Design Ltd., consulting with companies on design and product development. After moving to the international division of Scottish Enterprise to manage secondary foreign direct investment (Scotland’s primary Economic Development Agency), he was appointed Director of Innovation Development in the same organisation to lead a “do-tank” researching and developing innovation policy. Latterly, Robson became Director of Policy and Practice for Industries Division of Scottish Enterprise.

David started working for Scottish Government by serving as an associate deputy director assisting the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Energy and Environmental Security Directorate.  As part of his current government work, he leads an international government security community (under the Global Futures Forum) working on a range of issues that contribute to Human and Natural Resource Security—such as energy, environmental degradation, water and food security, global health, climate change, and bio-diversity.

About the Beacon Lecturers
The lectures made their debut in 2011 as a vehicle for adding new perspectives to the Annual Meeting with presentations by high-profile individuals capable of imparting cutting-edge, game-changing perspectives on food science and technology. The format for the lectures is a 30-minute presentation followed by a 15-minute question-and-answer session.

• Current and emerging nanoscience applications for sustainability, nutrition, flavors, food processing and engineering, and other areas
• Evaluating the safety of nanomaterials
• Non-U.S. perspectives on nanotechnology
• Consumer perceptions and education

New to Nanoscience?
Join us on July 12 for a primer workshop designed to help build or refresh your foundational understanding of nanoscience. Find out more information.

Registration is now open!

Save up to $150 when you register by May 31, 2012. Register today.

Not an IFT member?
Join now and save up to $220 off the cost of Annual Meeting & Food Expo Registration! IFT Member dues plus the member registration fee cost less than non-member registration rates alone! Join today and you’ll receive your IFT Membership number instantly.

Food professionals from all over the globe gathered in Las Vegas for the IFT 2012 Annual Meeting & Food Expo^® June 26–28, 2012, to make this year’s event a huge success. Attracting over 18,000 registrants from all 50 states and nearly 80 countries, this year’s event featured 1,066 exhibitors, which is an 8% increase from last year. The number of international exhibitors was 358. Over 100 educational sessions and 1,000+ poster sessions provided information on the latest developments and trends in food science.

Obviously, one person can’t make it to everything that the meeting had to offer in just four short days. IFT Live—the official electronic show daily—offers the chance for you to see what you may have missed. This year, IFT Live contains 100+ articles from the event, written by the Food Technology magazine staff. Not only does IFT Live offer articles covering the show, it also includes a photo gallery and videos taken at the show.

In this newsletter—the official wrap up of the show—you will find in-depth coverage of the sessions, award winners, products from the expo, and much more. Visit IFT Live.

Casimir Akoh Receives Appert Award
Casimir C. Akoh, Distinguished Professor, Dept. of Food Science & Technology, University of Georgia, was honored as the recipient of the 2012 Nicholas Appert Award on Monday, June 25, at the Awards Celebration. Roger Clemens, IFT President, presented Akoh with the award, which is IFT’s highest honor and is given annually to an IFT member for preeminence in and contributions to the field of food science and technology. The award includes a $5,000 honorarium and a plaque from IFT. Also honored Monday night were the 15 food professionals named 2012 IFT Fellows.

Here’s a look at some of the other awards and competition winners announced at the 2012 IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo^®:

Food Expo Innovation Awards
Phi Tau Sigma Awards Top Students in Division Posters
IFTSA Competition Winners
Healthy School Meals Come to Fruition
Poppy Award Winners Announced

Starbucks’ Schultz Urges Business Authenticity, Transparency, and Humanity
Despite the economic challenges facing the nation—and the world—business operators can prevail by staying authentic and transparent and managing their companies through a “lens of humanity,” said IFT Keynote Speaker Howard Schultz, Starbucks president, chairman & chief executive officer. Speaking to an attentive crowd at Tuesday morning’s, June 26, Keynote Session in the convention center, Schultz reflected on the essential principles that have guided the company he took public 20 years ago.

Howard Schultz wasn’t the only presitigous guest that spoke at this year’s IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo. Speakers also included IFT’s Beacon Leacturers: Jose Saavedra, Nestlé Nutrition and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Mehmood Khan, M.D., CEO, Global Nutrition Group, and Chief Scientific Officer of PepsiCo. Here’s a look at what they shared with IFT attendees:

PepsiCo’s Khan Challenges Conventional R&D Wisdom
Healthy Beginnings Lead to Healthy Lives

Fun Run is a Sure Bet for Attendees
Las Vegas never sleeps … well, the 600+ registrants who got up first thing Wednesday morning, June 27, for the 12th Annual Fun Run and Walk may not have gotten much sleep, but it was for a good cause. And even Elvis showed up to support the effort (look for him in the video). In total, sponsorships garnered over $81,000, once again a record high for Feeding Tomorrow scholarships. More than 15 student and corporate teams were among the participants. As in previous years, Bruce Ferree, California Natural Products, again raised the most money for a single person. Just for participating, all runners received a race t-shirt.

IFT Food Expo Provides an Array of Themes
Over the years, the IFT Food Expo has set the stage for a variety of exciting food and beverage prototypes that attendees can sample. This year, Food Technology Senior Editor Donald Pszczola noted that with casinos ranging from Treasure Island to Circus Circus, from the Venetian to Paris, Las Vegas is a city of themes. In a short distance, you can visit the duplication of various settings from around the world. It is quite appropriate then that many exhibitors at the IFT Food Expo showcased their own distinctive and exciting themes. Ingredient exhibitors use prototypes not only to capture the local atmosphere, but also to demonstrate, in a number of creative ways, how their ingredients can address trends in flavor, texture, functionality, and better-for-you formulating.

Here’s a look at some of Don’s other product development takeaways from the IFT Food Expo.
Celebrating 100 Years
ADM Spotlights Line of Transparent Isolated Soy Protein
The Next Steps in the Evolution of Sweetener Strategies
Going Wild in Vegas
Rediscovering Texture
Salt-Reduction Strategies ‘Mushroom’

Establishing the Taste for Nutrition
Before their second birthday, many children have begun to develop preferences for processed carbohydrates, in the form of added sugars and sugar-sweetened beverages, and sodium. As a consequence, scientific evidence shows that susceptibility for hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and obesity are rooted early in life. Several factors conspire to predispose children to consume diets that may lead to obesity, but namely, children’s taste preferences are innate and driven by evolution and environment. During the session “Flavor Perception, Satiety, and Nutrition: Implications Throughout the Life Cycle” on Thursday afternoon, June 28, speakers explained the science behind taste perception, flavor preferences, satiety, and nutrition.

With the industry highly focused on making food healthier, many of the 100+ scientific sessions offered at the IFT Annual Meeting addressed health and wellness. Here’s a look at just some of these sessions.

Wellness Takes on a New Meaning for Consumers Delivering Appropriate Levels of Micronutrients in Food
Anthocyanins: Not Just a Colorful Facade
Endothelial Function as a New Target for Health Claims
Specialized Nutrition for Targeted Audiences

Neural pathways were originally designed for seeking sweet tastes—it is human’s oldest reward system. It is thus not surprising that within hours of birth, infants exhibit a strong preference for sweet tastes. The taste for salt develops around the time infants reach 4 months of age. The intensity of sweet taste is elevated throughout childhood and early adolescence; that is, children have a preference for sweeter substances than adults do. Sweets even have an analgesic effect on infants, halting crying and inducing calm. And the liking of salt presumably evolved to attract children (and adults) to needed minerals.

According to speaker Maria Veldhuizen, Yale University, affective responses to taste are not learned; they are intrinsic. But affective responses to flavors are learned; the responses are dependent on consistency of exposure, and people learn to like what is available. This may explain why the use of nonnutritive sweeteners in food and beverages may cut calories, but it still strengthens children’s predilection for sweets.

Most food industry professionals know that overconsumption of salty and sweet foods is linked to hypertension, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and obesity. In the interest of giving children a better chance at a healthy life, speaker Julie Mennella, Monell Chemical Senses Center, suggested that the food industry not prey on children’s taste and flavor vulnerabilities. A healthy dietary intervention must begin early, she said.

And thanks to all the finalist teams that participated.

Product Development Competition, sponsored by Mars:

• 1st place: Cornell University — Dough TEMPtations
• 2nd place: Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison — Cranberry POPlers
• 3rd place: Ohio State Univ. — UnBeetable Burger

Developing Solutions for Developing Countries Competition:

• Domestic:
• 1st Place: Washington State Univ. & Univ. of Idaho — Mango Maandazi

• International:
• 1st Place: Universiti Putra Malaysia — Vit-A-Go

Nutritious Food for Kids, sponsored by Disney Consumer Products:

• Grand prize—University of Wisconsin-Madison — Peanut Butter Jamsicles
• First place—University of Wisconsin-Madison — Pitstop

Chapter of the Year:

• Chapter of the Year—University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Most Improved Chapter—University of California-Davis

Undergraduate Research Paper Competition:

• First place—Margaret Debrauske (Univ. of Wisconsin)
• Second—Brittany Miller (Cornell Univ.)
• Third—Graysen Ortega (Texas Tech Univ.)

College Bowl winner: Brigham Young

Thanks again to all of our Sponsors!