NAFFS Newswire - February 22, 2007
Hot Trends for 2007; FDA to Define "Gluten-Free"; USDA Issues Guidelines on National List Petitions; Still Time to Register for West Coast Flavor Industry Forum; FDA Extends Comment Period on Functional Foods; Research Uses Encapsulation to Mask Bad Taste; and more.
|
Friday, February 23, 2007
|
What can you expect to find on supermarket shelves in 2007? Tea will stay hot in more ways than one, reported The Chicago Tribune. This steadily growing category keeps blossoming with new varieties of black, white, green, red and herbal, fueled in part by research findings that continue to link tea to good health. Other hot trends include:
-
Tropical fruits like acai, kiwano, cupuacu, rambutan, feijoa and Chinese wolfberries are being sought by home cooks seeking healthful new flavors.
-
New varieties of squash, such as turban, curry pumpkins, sibley, kabocha, delicata, buttercup and warted hubbard are coming to supermarket shelves.
-
Exotic-flavored snacks are growing – Boulder’s Thai chips, Kettle’s roasted red pepper with goat cheese chips, Baji’s Indian papadums, Funyun’s wasabi onion-flavored rings and Terra’s aioli “frites.”
-
Expect “antioxidant rich” and other wording to increasingly surface on labels from dark chocolate to green tea to “new” fruit juices, such as those made with goji berries and acai. You may even begin to see terms as “ORAC ratings” (oxygen radical absorbance capacity, or the total antioxidant power of a food).
-
All things Spanish continue to be hot. In addition to foods, watch for an explosion of Spanish wines.
-
Members of a group in California call themselves “locavores” because they eat only foods grown within 100 miles of their San Francisco epicenter. The locavores’ guidelines: If not local, then organic; if not organic, then family farmed; if not family farmed, then local business; if not local business, then terroir. Across the country, people are pledging to follow the “100-mile diet,” promising to eat only foods grown nearby.
FDA TO DEFINE
“GLUTEN-FREE”
FDA is proposing to define the term “gluten-free” for voluntary use in the labeling of foods, to mean that the food does not contain any of the following:
-
An ingredient that is any species of the grains wheat, rye, barley, or a crossbred hybrid of these grains (all noted grains are collectively referred to as “prohibited grains”);
-
An ingredient that is derived from a prohibited grain and that has not been processed to remove gluten (e.g., wheat flour);
-
An ingredient that is derived from a prohibited grain and that has been processed to remove gluten (e.g., wheat starch), if the use of that ingredient results in the presence of 20 parts per million (ppm) or more gluten in the food; or 20 ppm or more gluten.
A food that bears the claim “gluten-free” or similar claim in its labeling and fails to meet the conditions specified in the proposed definition of “gluten-free” would be deemed misbranded. FDA also is proposing to deem misbranded a food bearing a gluten-free claim in its labeling if the food is inherently free of gluten and if the claim does not refer to all foods of that same type (e.g., “milk, a gluten-free food” or “all milk is gluten-free”).
In addition, a food made from oats that bears a gluten-free claim in its labeling would be deemed misbranded if the claim suggests that all such foods are gluten-free or if 20 ppm or more gluten is present in the food.
FDA says establishing a definition of the term “gluten-free” and uniform conditions for its use in the labeling of foods is needed to ensure that individuals with celiac disease are not misled and are provided with truthful and accurate information with respect to foods so labeled.
Comments on the proposed rule may be submitted by April 23. USDA ISSUES GUIDELINES ON
NATIONAL LIST PETITIONS
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) published guidelines, effective January 19, for submission of petitions to amend the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances (National List). The Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 (OFPA) and NOP regulations specifically prohibit the use of any synthetic substance for organic production and handling unless the synthetic substance is on the National List. It also requires that any non-organic, non-synthetic substance used in organic handling must also be on the National List. Any person may submit a petition requesting a substance to be reviewed by the NOP and NOSB at any time, however, each substance to be evaluated must be submitted in a separate petition. Only single substances may be petitioned for evaluation; formulated products cannot appear on the National List. Petitions under evaluation by the NOSB will be postd on the NOP web site at: http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop.
STILL TIME TO REGISTER FOR
WEST COAST FLAVOR INDUSTRY FORUM A Program You Can’t Afford To Miss: The “7th Annual West Coast Flavor Industry Forum” to be held Thursday, March 8 at the Hyatt Regency Orange, Garden Grove (Anaheim), California offers an exceptional educational and networking environment to meet and network with industry peers. The program begins at 12 noon and includes a networking lunch and closing reception. Complete details on this program, which is being held in conjunction with the Chemical Sources Association and the Society of Flavor Chemists, has been sent to all members and is available on the NAFFS web site. In addition to the great value on this joint program, meeting attendees can save up to $500 on registration for the Nutracon Conference!
FDA EXTENDS COMMENT
PERIOD ON FUNCTIONAL FOODS FDA has extended the comment period for the notice of public hearing where FDA requested comments on how the agency should regulate conventional foods marketed as “functional foods” under its existing legal authority. Comments, identified by Docket No. 2002P-0122, may be submitted to http://www.fda.gov/dockets/ecomments by March 5.
RESEARCH USES ENCAPSULATION
TO MASK BAD TASTE A low-cost, high-volume microencapsulation technique may offer an innovative alternative to expensive lecithin as a means of encapsulating water-soluble ingredients, according to researchers from the Hunan Agricultural University. Using simple brewers yeast to encapsulate polyphenols could mask the unpleasant flavor and boost stability of water-soluble antioxidants, the Chinese researchers say.
The health benefits of polyphenols have generated a lot of interest, but polyphenols in general are reported to be relatively unstable and have unpleasant tastes. The technology is attracting growing interest because it can also decrease costs for food makers, particularly those using sensitive ingredients like probiotics and by reducing the need for preservatives. March 8 – California Meeting, Hyatt, Anaheim, Cal. April 17 – NAFFS Technical Meeting, Edison, N.J. October 18-21 – The 90th Annual NAFFS Convention, Longboat Key, Fla.
|
