Noting the importance of having a collective international resource of food-specific risk communication materials, the International Center of Excellence in Food Risk Communication is announcing its formation and its new website, www.foodriskcommunications.org.
In the event of a much-feared bioterror attack involving ricin, food manufacturers may want to reach for the laundry cabinet. That’s because household bleach appears to be an effective, low-cost way to decontaminate the toxin on metal food preparation surfaces, scientists are reporting. They will describe the finding in Anaheim, Calif., during the 241st National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
A nanotechnology-based biosensor being developed by Kansas State University researchers may allow early detection of both cancer cells and pathogens, leading to increased food safety and reduced health risks.
Scientists are reporting on a new material containing an ingredient used to make bricks that shows promise as a transparent coating for improving the strength and performance of plastic food packaging. Called “nano-bricks,” the coating could help foods and beverages stay fresh and flavorful longer and may replace some foil packaging currently in use, they said. Scientists will describe the new, eco-friendly material at the 241st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim.
Five major scientific societies cautioned today that global production of phosphorus fertilizer could peak and decline later this century, causing shortages and price spikes that jeopardizing world food production. The white paper, Chemistry for a Sustainable Global Society, also cautioned about the supply of other natural resources where monopolies or political instability affect supplies or inflate prices.
To provide helpful background and context on food colors in advance of the FDA public meeting on this topic, the International Food Information Council Foundation would like to offer resources and experts.
J. Scott Smith, Kansas State University professor of food chemistry, and a K-State research team have found that ready-to-eat meat products -- such as hot dogs, pepperoni and deli meats -- are relatively free of carcinogenic compounds.
Many busy moms and dads rely on leftovers to feed their families throughout the week. IFT has teamed up with FoodSafety.gov, an online resource for food safety information from the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to educate consumers on food safety involving leftovers. Jennifer Cleveland McEntire, PhD, Senior Staff Scientist and Director of Science and Technology Projects at the Institute of Food Technologists provides tips on the safe handling and reheating of leftovers that can save you and your loved ones from foodborne illnesses in a blog post for FoodSafety.gov.
The Food Network, celebrity chefs, diet-related health issues and a heightened awareness of contemporary food movements (organic, local and sustainable) appears to be translating into more college students choosing to major in food science. On college campuses across the United States, undergraduate food science programs are showing substantial enrollment increases. An article in the March 2011 issue of Food Technology magazine, published by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), shows that the total number of students graduating with B.S. degrees from IFT-approved food science programs in the U.S. has almost doubled from 319 in 2004 to 591 in 2010.
As misperceptions about modern food production and technology become increasingly common, a new alliance has formed to better articulate how our food is produced. Today the Alliance to Feed the Future is announcing its formation and its new website, www.alliancetofeedthefuture.org.
Bacteria like salmonellae infect their host cells by needle-shaped extensions. A group of Viennese scientists employed recently developed methods of cryo-electron microscopy and have been able to clarify the structure of this infection apparatus on the near-atomic scale. The exact knowledge of the needles’ building plan may help to develop medication to prevent infection.
Space food for astronauts tastes better and is now healthier than ever before due to significant food science developments. However, a new study in the Journal of Food Science (JFS) published by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) highlights the challenges that need to be addressed so that astronauts can travel to Mars and beyond.
The following news briefs are from the Institute of Food Technologists® (IFT), a nonprofit scientific society with members working in food science, food technology, and related professions in industry, academia, and government. This media update includes information on new studies from the Journal of Food Science (JFS) as well as IFT news regarding science, policy and upcoming events. Topics include: Food for NASA’s Mission to Mars (JFS study); Does Guinness Travel Well? (JFS study); Agriculture, Food, Nutrition and Natural Resources R&D Round Table; Dietary Guidelines Online Resource Page; and Wellness11 Media Invite.
A visionary plan for a “Desert Development Corridor” in Egypt, researched and created by Boston University geologist Dr. Farouk El-Baz, has been adopted by the country’s interim government as its flagship program. According to El-Baz, the plan – which includes the construction, along 1,200 kilometers, of a new eight-lane superhighway, a railway, a water pipeline, and a power line – would open new land for urban development, commerce, agriculture, tourism and related jobs.
Recently, a research team from the Department of Emergency Medicine at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University discovered an alarming amount of lead contamination in ceramic cooking and eating utensils sold in Philadelphia’s Chinatown.
Chemistry researchers at McGill University have taken a key step towards making a cheap, portable, paper-based filter coated with silver nanoparticles to be used in emergency situations such as floods, tsunamis and earthquakes.
Press release announcing new NSF Shanghai Testing Laboratory in China.
New nanomaterials research from the University at Buffalo could lead to new solutions for an age-old public health problem: how to separate bacteria from drinking water.
The following news briefs are from the Institute of Food Technologists® (IFT), a nonprofit scientific society with members working in food science, food technology, and related professions in industry, academia, and government. This month’s briefs are derived from Food Technology magazine and Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety. The monthly media update also includes information on science, policy and IFT events. Topics include: sweet potatoes and vitamin A deficiency, gluten-free foods, new ingredients to boost immunity, Food Safety Law addresses product traceability, consumers demanding convenient meals at home, webcast on product tracing and Wellness11 Media Invite.
Although all varieties of sweet potatoes are nutritious, those that are orange may be the best source for vitamin A. An article in the February 2011 issue of Comprehensive Reviews of Food Science and Food Safety (CRFSFS) discussed how orange sweet potatoes could help prevent vitamin A deficiency in developing countries where this nutritional disease causes over 600,000 deaths per year--mostly of young children or pregnant women.
Using nano materials, food scientist Julie Goddard is improving food-handling safety by adding a thin anti-microbial layer to surfaces such as conveyor belts and work tables. Only tens of nanometers thick, it chemically “re-charges” its germ-killing powers every time it’s rinsed with common bleach.
Government regulators could more realistically assess the value of improving food safety if they considered the fact that consumers typically want to avoid getting sick – even if it means they have to pay a little extra for safer food.
In the confined space of a classroom, gastrointestinal illnesses can spread quickly, causing sufferers many painful and uncomfortable symptoms. But what is to blame for a school-based outbreak? In most cases, improper food handling is the culprit, says a Ryerson University public health expert.
Scientists are connecting tungsten to clusters of childhood leukemia cases in the Western U.S. after finding high concentrations of the element in residents' bodies. A Kansas State University scientist is digging deep to learn how tungsten contaminates the nation's groundwater and aquifers.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have found that particular strains of a food-borne bacteria are able to invade the heart, leading to serious and difficult to treat heart infections. Their study is available online in the Journal of Medical Microbiology.
Researchers recently tested the merits of two new dishware sanitizers, and found them more effective at removing bacteria from restaurant dishes than traditional sanitizers.
The following news briefs are from the Institute of Food Technologists® (IFT), a nonprofit scientific society with members working in food science, food technology, and related professions in industry, academia, and government. This month’s briefs are derived from Food Technology magazine. The monthly media update also includes information on science, policy and IFT events. Topics include: food safety legislation, food habits of the new American family, front-of-pack labeling, healthy beverages, 14 healthy foods, a product tracing webcast, and Wellness11.
Kansas State University professor Walter Dodds is providing a better understanding of how human activity affects water quality.
On Jan. 7, The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) held a forum in Washington, D.C. to discuss the implications of the new food safety legislation. The event, which attracted over 500 participants both in-person and via webcast, focused on product tracing, third-party certification, and preventive control plans, and featured the insights and perspectives of the following experts: 1) John Bode, OFW Law; 2) David Acheson, Managing Director, Leavitt Partners; 3) Robert E. Brackett, Illinois Institute of Technology; 4) Anthony T. Pavel, Partner, K&L Gates.
Inexpensive igloo-shaped, pollution-eating devices nicknamed “Poo-Gloos” can clean up sewage just as effectively as multimillion-dollar treatment facilities for towns outgrowing their waste-treatment lagoons, according to a new study.
NSF International, an independent public health organization that tests and certifies a wide range of plumbing and drinking water treatment products, strongly supports the passage of the Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act on January 4th, which significantly reduces the amount of lead allowed in plumbing products that contact drinking water.
The Australian Government National Water Commission funded a study to establish an approach to assess the quality of water treated using managed aquifer recharge.
Encouraging new evidence suggests that the bulk of the world’s fisheries – including small-scale, often non-industrialized fisheries on which millions of people depend for food – could be sustained using community-based co-management.
A new study by a Kansas State University professor and colleagues finds how the culture of food safety is practiced within an organization can be a significant risk factor in foodborne illness.
Dave Olds, a December 2010 doctoral graduate in hotel, restaurant, institution management and dietetics from Kansas State University, examined current safety precautions used by country club restaurants to protect food and beverages, as well as how often those practices were put into effect.
A recent study by a team of researchers at the University of Arizona has tracked the incident of pathogens in biosolids over a 19 year period in one major U.S. city and at 18 wastewater treatment plants in the United States over 3 years.
Highlights from the past 10 years in food safety include fresh produce outbreaks and the creation of a food safety culture, said Douglas Powell, an associate professor of food safety at Kansas State University.
The following news briefs are from the Institute of Food Technologists® (IFT), a nonprofit scientific society with members working in food science, food technology, and related professions in industry, academia, and government. The briefs are derived from the Journal of Food Science, Food Technology magazine and Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety. The monthly media update also includes information on science and policy and IFT events.
The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) commends Congress for passage of landmark food safety legislation, which represents the largest changes in the country’s food safety laws in more than 70 years. These changes will be discussed at a special food safety forum on January 7th, 2011.
A Kansas State University professor is part of a national research team that discovered that streams and rivers produce three times more greenhouse gas emissions than estimated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Engineering students won an international contest for designing a system to tell when water disinfected by solar rays is safe to drink. They share a $40,000 prize from the Rockefeller Foundation and are working with nonprofits to turn their concept into a reality.
Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have proven that measuring fluorescence could improve source water monitoring during a study of the McKenzie River in Oregon.
Used in the proper amounts, it can make teeth stronger and aid in the treatment of osteoporosis. When excessive amounts are consumed, however, it can be a killer — a carcinogen that causes bone, lung and bladder cancers. The “it” is fluoride, a common additive in most American communities’ drinking water and an ingredient in the vast majority of commercially produced adult toothpastes.
Right now, it looks a little like one of those plastic containers you might fill with gasoline when your car has run dry. But Scott Gallager is not headed to the nearest Mobil station. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) biologist has other, grander plans for his revolutionary Swimming Behavioral Spectrophotometer (SBS), which employs one-celled protozoa to detect toxins in water sources.
A study published December 7 ahead of print in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) reports what scientists believe is the worst documented U.S. case of food contamination with polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants. The incident also marks the first time food contamination has been thought to result from PBDEs in a food’s packaging.
Water engineering researchers at the University of Adelaide have developed a model to estimate potential urban water supply shortfalls under a range of climate change scenarios.
Craig Altier, associate professor of population medicine and diagnostic science at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, comments on U.S. Senate approval today of a long-stalled food safety bill that was partially inspired by last summer’s Salmonella contamination of eggs.
Studies in recent years have claimed multiple health benefits of pomegranate juice, including that it is a good source of antioxidants and lowers both cholesterol and blood pressure, especially in diabetic and hypertensive patients. A preliminary study now suggests that it can ward off a number of complications in kidney disease patients on dialysis, including the high morbidity rate due to infections and cardiovascular events, according to a paper being presented at the American Society of Nephrology’s 43rd Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in Denver, CO.
The following news briefs are from the Institute of Food Technologists® (IFT), a nonprofit scientific society with members working in food science, food technology, and related professions in industry, academia, and government. The briefs are derived from the Journal of Food Science, Food Technology magazine and Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety. The monthly media update also includes information on science and policy and IFT events.
Extracts from natural sources such as green tea, grape seed and bacteriocins such as nisin could be alternatives for food processors instead of chemicals as a means of protecting against pathogen contamination.
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