News & Notes
Phil Tong installed as 102nd vice president of American Dairy Science Association, and wins Cargill Award
At the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Dairy Science Association (ADSA), held July 7-11, 2008, in Indianapolis, Ind., Phil Tong, professor and director of Cal Poly’s Dairy Products Technology Center, was installed as its vice president. Don Beitz, professor of animal science at Iowa State University was installed as the incoming president for 2008. During a three-year period, Tong will serve on the Executive Committee of the ADSA Board of Directors.
At the same meeting, Tong received the 2008 Cargill Flavor Systems Food Specialties Award. This award was created to recognize important research contributions to chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, engineering, or technology pertaining to the cheese and cultured dairy products industries.
Since joining the faculty of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, in 1986, Tong has been active in research, research-administration, and teaching in the area of dairy manufacturing technologies. Over the last five years, his contributions have included enhancing our understanding of “gritty particle” development in cream cheese, functionality and use of membrane-processed dairy ingredients in cheese and cultured dairy products, development of novel analytical techniques for quantification of milk components, and the application of genotypic and phenotypic methods for examination of commercial species of probiotic bacteria.
Two UC Davis food science students win awards at LAB9
Dave Sela, a graduate student in the UC Davis Department of Food Science and Technology, won an award from Dannone for “outstanding excellence in lactic acid bacteria (LAB) research with industrial relevance” at the Ninth Symposium on Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB9), held in The Netherlands in September.
Three lactic acid industrial platform (LABIP) awards were given out among nearly 500 posters. Maria Marco of the Department of Food Science and Technology also won an award for her work at NIZO food research in The Netherlands.
The symposium, titled, Health, Evolution and Systems Biology, is organized under the auspices of the Netherlands Society for Microbiology and the Federation of European Microbiological Societies.
DCC offers health pros online course to prevent fractures
Dairy Council of California (DCC) is offering an online continuing education course for health professionals to help address the growing problem of bone fractures and poor bone health in children and teens.
The continuing education course recently became available for health and fitness professionals through the Dairy Council’s Web site (www.dairycouncilofca.org). Type “bone health” in the search box to find the link.
The course developed out of Dairy Council’s concern that many health professionals are unaware that bone fractures have increased among children and teens, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
“Poor bone health in young people increases their risk for fractures and, as adults, their risk for osteoporosis and other health problems,” said Peggy Biltz, Dairy Council chief executive officer. “The course helps health professionals show families how to reduce the risk of fractures and poor bone health by making lifestyle and dietary changes, including boosting consumption of calcium-rich milk and dairy foods.”
To date, nearly 300 health professionals have taken the course, which offers three continuing education credits.
Dairy Council previously spread the word about the decline in bone health through articles in professional journals, newsletters and on its Web sites, but staff decided an online course offering continuing education credits would reach many more health professionals, including registered dietitians, nutrition consultants, and fitness professionals.
Foster Farms dairy company will now go by the name Crystal
Foster Farms Dairy products, made in Modesto for 67 years, are getting a new name. In August the company announced that the brand will change to Crystal.
The new name comes from Crystal Cream and Butter Co., a Sacramento producer that Foster Farms bought last year. The Foster Farms name is well-known in and near Stanislaus County, but not in other parts of Northern California, said Dennis Roberts, vice president of sales and marketing for the company. Crystal, on the other hand, has “tremendous name recognition” in Sacramento and the Bay Area, he said.
The new name will go on fluid milk, butter, ice cream and other products that Foster Farms processes and makes at its plants on Kansas Avenue in Modesto and in Fresno.
“It’s made at the same place by the same people, but just a different label,” said Carrie Cardoza Bordona, whose Modesto public relations firm is working on the change-over.
This article was excerpted from a Modesto Bee article by John Holland.
The power of probiotics
Actress Jamie Lee Curtis surprised many of her fans this year by being featured in commercials for the Dannon Company’s Activia yogurts, discussing the importance of digestive health.
In the glamorous world of Hollywood, not many actresses would want to discuss bowel irregularity on national television. But Curtis has become part of a growing trend to openly talk about digestive problems and possible solutions, including the use of probiotic foods.
Researchers have found encouraging evidence that probiotics may help treat diarrhea, prevent vaginal yeast infections and urinary tract infections, treat irritable bowel syndrome and reduce bladder cancer recurrence, the Mayo Clinic reported this year.
Dr. Mary Ellen Sanders, an internationally recognized consultant in the area of probiotic microbiology at Dairy & Food Culture Technologies in Colorado, said the human body harbors approximately 100 trillion bacteria, and each person has his or her own unique “microbial fingerprint.” Most microbes are not harmful and, in fact, their presence bolsters the human body’s gut barrier function, intestinal function and immune development, she said.
But before consumers race to buy products containing probiotics, Sanders said they should check the labels and educate themselves about which products have actually been tested for health effects.
“Probiotics are live microorganisms that have been shown to have a beneficial health effect,” Sanders said. “But not all live microorganisms are probiotic because, in order to be officially called probiotic, it needs to have undergone some type of clinical research to document their health effect.”
Therefore, Sanders said it is important for consumers not to expect all probiotic products to work the same.
“It is really tempting to make statements that probiotics can help with irritable bowel syndrome symptoms and antibiotic-associated diarrhea, but what people have to be careful about is some of these products of probiotics have been tested in only these specific areas,” she said. “So people just can’t go to the grocery store or the health food store and buy anything that says, ‘live cultures’ or ‘probiotics’ on them and expect necessarily to have the same effect.”
This article by Stacey Eidson, was excerpted from the Aug. 26, 2008, issue of the Bradenton Herald, Bradenton, FL.
2008 edition of Dairy Facts available
The 2008 edition of Dairy Facts, published by IDFA and Dairy Foods magazine, will be available for purchase in October. This publication will provide a comprehensive overview of 2007 sales, consumption and production data for the dairy foods industry, as well as some 2008 figures, to offer an excellent summary of the overall health of the U.S. dairy industry and dairy trends.
Dairy Facts provides information from government and private market research sources on the fluid milk, cultured dairy, cheese, and ice cream and frozen desserts markets.
For more information, contact Tom Imbordino, publisher of Dairy Foods, at imbordinot@dairyfoods.com or (773) 755-8990.
