In a global marketplace with an increasingly complex food retail environment, it is vital to stay on top of new ways and technologies to enhance food safety. With one of the more popular focus areas in IFT being Food Safety & Defense, it is no surprise that attendees to this year’s Scientific Program will find many options to choose from. Here are just a select few:
Improving the Safety of Fresh Produce (session 022): Jodi P. Williams of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture with the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) will review the accomplishments of the National Integrated Food Safety Initiative Competitive Grants Program. Michael P. Doyle of the Univ. of Georgia will discuss minimizing Escherichia coli O157:H7 food safety hazards associated with fresh and fresh-cut leafy greens, and J. LeJeune of Ohio State Univ. will discuss validating pre-harvest and peri-harvest food safety practices for their impact on microbial contamination of fruits and vegetables. Lastly, L.D. Goodridge of Colorado State Univ. will discuss the use of microbial index organisms to predict the presence of Salmonella in a greenhouse tomato operation.- Food Safety Assurance in a Global Food Biotechnology Market (session 065): A. Gutsche of Pioneer Hi-Bred will describe how comparing the composition of a genetically altered crop to its parental conventional counterpart is one of the elements of a full safety assessment of the altered crop. Randal Grioux of Cargill Inc. will provide an overview of the global standards and guidance for the risk assessment of genetically altered foods, and Hector Quemada of the Biosafety Resource Network at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center will address developments in genetic engineering of crops and how communication and perception limit the ability to develop new technologies and products.
- Case Studies in Fresh Produce Safety, Fast Food, Food Processing, and Foodservice (session 181): C. Harold King of Chick-fil-A Inc. will discuss tools and procedures to prevent foodborne illnesses in restaurants. Valentina Trinetta of Ecolab will discuss use of chlorine dioxide and ozone for microbial inactivation on produce, and P. Crowe of Applied Oxidation will discuss a new chlorine dioxide technology called D-Fenz for pathogen control in food processing.
- New Tools and Emerging Strategies to Minimize Risk of Economically Motivated Adulteration (session 244): Jeffrey C. Moore of U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention will describe development of a searchable online
database of food ingredient fraud reports and detection methods and a project to create a toolbox of rapid authentication methods for skim milk powder. Joe Jablonski of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will address detection of adulterated skim milk powder. Ken Rosnack of Waters will discuss detection of adulterated pineapple juice, and David Bolliet of Kalsec Inc. will discuss adulteration of garlic and onion oils. - Safety, Quality, and the Future of Raw Milk Cheese in the United States (session 264): Dennis D’Amico of the Univ. of Vermont will discuss assessing the risks associated with cheeses made from raw milk. Diane L. Van Hekken of the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service will discuss the quality advantages and disadvantages of making cheese from raw vs. pasteurized milk, and John Sheehan of the FDA will review the federal regulations governing raw-milk cheeses.
