New
Service for TodaysSeniorsNetwork.com
readers...roll mouse over, click on
highlighted links in stories to review items
from Amazon
Now, keep up to date
with daily feeds of newly posted stories
about America's Seniors...click on the box
to the left
Popularity
of Ethnic Foods: A cause for concern?
Newswise — Ethnic foods
constitute one of the fastest growing
segments of the food service industry. The
rise of ethnic dining establishments
throughout the nation presents barriers to
the food inspection process.
Consequently, U.S.
inspectors who may be unfamiliar with ethnic
foods and customs can experience shock and
uncertainty upon entering ethnic restaurants
serving traditional dishes prepared with
items such as fertilized poultry eggs, live
eels and frogs, and animal genitalia.
Rather than compelling
immigrants from different countries to
abandon all of their customs and culinary
traditions, the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department
of Agriculture are working with different
ethnicities to develop standards and
regulations that allow the continuation of
ethnic traditions in a way that minimizes
foodborne illnesses and maintains the safety
of food preparers and restaurant patrons.
A symposium at this year’s IFT Annual
Meeting & Food Expo addressed the issues
regulators face when dealing with ethnic
establishments. FDA Regional Food Specialist
Kimberly Livsey discussed the safety of
ethnic foods in the United States.
She identified many foods
commonly found in Caribbean, Latin American,
Asian and African dining establishments and
offered suggestions to evaluate the
preparation of these foods.
Livsey also apprised
conference attendees of the customs that
Americans frequently use that may be
offensive to ethnic proprietors, which could
then hinder complete disclosure and thorough
inspections.
Now in its 68th year, the IFT
Annual Meeting & Food Expo® is the largest
annual scientific meeting and technical
exposition of its kind.
Last year the Annual
Meeting & Food Expo in Chicago attracted
nearly 20,000 attendees.
This year more than
1,000 scientific and technical presentations
will be given while the Food Expo® will
feature nearly 1,000 exhibiting companies.
Attendees include
professionals in R&D and other
scientific/technical positions as well as
corporate management, packaging, nutrition,
purchasing, higher education,
government/regulatory, and several other
scientific disciplines.
About IFT
Founded in 1939, and with world headquarters
in Chicago, Illinois, USA, the Institute of
Food Technologists is a not-for-profit
international scientific society with 22,000
members working in food science and
technology and related professions in
industry, academia and government.
As the
society for food science and technology, IFT
brings sound science to the public
discussion of food issues. For more on IFT,
visit www.ift.org. © 2008 Institute of Food
Technologists
...
...
...