Watch your mailbox for information on the upcoming NAFFS Convention to be held October 18-21 at The Resort at Longboat Key Club, Longboat Key, Fla. The convention is also being promoted to non-members and press releases have been sent to industry magazines and web sites. Word is already getting out about the outstanding program on “The Real World Approach to Organics” and the excellent lineup of speakers.

Register now on www.naffs.org and find out why NAFFS’ Convention attendees say the NAFFS Convention offers the right balance of education and networking and an exceptional environment to meet and network with industry leaders and peers to exchange knowledge and insights.

FDA has introduced a new software program, called the CARVER + Shock Software Tool, to help growers, packers, processors, manufacturers, warehousers, transporters and retailers in the food industry to assess how vulnerable food facilities are to biological, chemical or radiological attacks.

The basis of the program’s name is an acronym (CARVER) standing for criticality, accessibility, recuperability, vulnerability, effect and recognizability. The program was developed by FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition along with Sandia National Laboratories, the Institute of Food Technologists, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, the National Center for Food Protection and Defense, state representatives and private industry representatives.

The CARVER tool also evaluates psychological impacts of an attack, taking into consideration that this impact is greater when there is a large number of deaths or if a target has historical or cultural significance.

The software tool can be evaluated and downloaded by visiting www.cfsan.fda.gov.

Organic products containing certain non-organic minor ingredients are now in non-compliance with U.S. government organic certifications, following the implementation of a new rule which became effective June 9.

The National Organic Program regulation clarifies that only ingredients appearing in the USDA’s National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances (National List) are permitted for use in organic products. The new rule particularly impacts the use of 38 non-organic ingredients, including colors, starches and oils, which are currently being used in organic products due to a misinterpretation of National List regulations.

USDA is currently working on revising its National List to include the additional 38 ingredients which means that manufacturers should be able to use these in their non-organic form when an organic counterpart is not available commercially. In the interim, all agricultural products used as minor ingredients in the 5 percent of products labeled as “organic” must currently be either certified organic or be already listed in the National List and have been determined by the certifier as not being commercially available in organic form.
USDA said that products that have been produced and labeled as of midnight June 8, 2007, will be considered in the stream of commerce and may continue to be sold as organic until supplies are exhausted.

The rule currently under review would add the following substances to the National List: colors from annatto, beet juice, beta-carotene, black currant juice, black/purple carrot juice, blueberry juice, carrot juice, cherry juice, chokeberry-aronia juice, elderberry juice, grape juice, grape skin extract, paprika, pumpkin juice, purple potato juice, red cabbage extract, red radish extract, saffron, and turmeric.

In addition: casings from processed intestines (used as sheaths in the manufacture of sausages), celery powder (used to facilitate the natural curing process of meat), and chia (used to add fiber and omega-3 to baked goods and beverages.

Other ingredients include: dillweed oil, fish oil, fructooligosaccharides, frozen galangal, gelatin, water extracted Arabic, guar, locust bean, and carob bean gums, hops, oligofructose enriched inulin, kelp for use only as a thickener and dietary supplement, konjac flour, unbleached lecithin, frozen lemongrass, unbleached orange shellac, pectin, chipotle chile pepper, cornstarch, unmodified rice starch, sweet potato starch, Turkish bay leaves, Wakame seaweed, and whey protein concentrate.

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is amending the regulations for the importation of wood packing material to bring the methyl bromide treatment schedule into alignment with current international phytosanitary standards. APHIS says this action is necessary because international phytosanitary standards have changed and the regulations need to be updated to reflect current standards.

The changes to the treatment schedule do not increase the application rate for methyl bromide but they do increase the length of time for the fumigation from 18 to 24 hours.

This interim rule is effective June 1. Comments can be submitted by July 31 to the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov by selecting “Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service” from the drop-down menu.

The popularity of "functional foods" is not showing signs of waning any time soon, reported The Hartman Group. However, if a food is going to boast of a health benefit, it has to make sense to the consumer.

From the marketer's perspective, consumers are looking to foods to help manage any number of health issues: high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol and so on. But from a consumer's vantage point, the benefits from the foods need to be naturally occurring. They must be able to easily connect a food product with the health claim accompanying it.

While the market for functional foods and beverages continues to expand from a production standpoint, American consumers are in the early stages of comprehending links between ingredients that exist primarily in dietary supplement forms and the foods and beverages they have used past and present.

Consumer acceptance of new functional products depends on the ability of manufacturers to develop products that are most closely allied with where consumers are now in the adoption of enhanced products, rather than products produced for a perceived “consumer of the future.”

October 18-21 – The 90th Annual NAFFS Convention, Longboat Key, Fla.