Day 2 :
Keynote Forum
A. Baltazar
Coimbra Health School, Portugal
Keynote: Food safety good practices in seafood retailers in Portugal
Time : 10:05-10:45
Biography:
Ana Lúcia Baltazar is a professor in Coimbra Health School for the graduated course of “Dietetic and Nutrition”, attending the PhD in “Food Quality” in FCT-UN Lisbon, with certifications in various pos-graduated studies, Food Safety - HACCP auditor, and a Master in Occupational Safety. A dedicated and qualified Dietitian, with ten years of experience, a strong technical background, proven in management skills and an “agent for change”. Exceptional experience in monitoring progressive food industry and providing training, knowledge of food safety requirements and quality standards in food manufacturing.
Abstract:
Fish and shellfish are an important part of a healthful diet but, as with any type of food, it's important to handle seafood safely in order to reduce the risk of foodborne illness. Fresh seafood is one of principal foods available in Portugal, so the retail of this products is very common. The companies in the retail trade sector of fish and shellfish are from the 1st of January, 2006, covered by Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 of 29 April 2004, which lists the requirements to Food Safety.
The Code of Practice (CP) is an important pillar for any quality system and is an integral part of a food safety program, because lists a set of good practices with the aim of produce food products safely. The CP does not replace the implementation of the HACCP system or a system based on their principles, nor a quality system, and does not guarantee the safety of a product at the time of consumption, but it is a good basis for their implementation.
This article suggests good practice standards to the retail distribution of fish, allowing the companies in this sector to get to know and inform their employees, with ease, which are the acceptable / unacceptable performs.
Keynote Forum
Carla Vartanian
American Overseas Dietetic Association, Lebanon
Keynote: Food safety in the management of food sensitivities: Differentiating allergies from intolerances
Time : 11:00-11:40
Biography:
Carla Vartanian is certified in Clinical Bioethics from Harvard Medical School. She has a Masters in Nutrition from the American University of Beirut and the European Espen Diploma of Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. She is the Public Relation Chair of the American Overseas Dietetic Association and has a nutrition and health awareness TV show in Lebanon.
Carla has participated in many international scientific meetings, been teaching in different universities in Lebanon and published health articles in the Middle East. She is an active member of many international nutrition associations around the world.
Abstract:
Adverse reactions to foods is considered an important public health problem as millions of people experience them worldwide every year. Food allergies are slightly more common in young children and in people who have a family history of them. They mostly develop early in life, and many are outgrown. Clinical manifestations of various degrees of severity related to ingestion of foods can arise, only some of which can be defined as allergic implying an immune mechanism, unlike food intolerances which do not have immune system response to the offending food and the problem remains at the level of the digestive system.
Despite the risk of severe allergic reactions and even death, there is no current treatment. According to the latest Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Food Allergy and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the United States, following effective food safety guidelines and strict elimination of the offending food allergen from the diet and avoidance of any contact with the food by ingestion, skin contact, inhalation, or injection remain to date, the only proven medication therapy against a food allergy.
- Special Session on "Industrial use of high hydrostatic pressure in food industry: Realities for food safety"
Location: Valencia, Spain
Session Introduction
Hami Alpas
Middle East Technical Universtiy, Turkey
Title: Industrial use of high hydrostatic pressure in food industry: Realities for food safety
Time : 12:40-13:30
Biography:
Hami Alpas is a Professor at Food Engineering Department, Middle East Technical University, Turkey. He holds an MBA degree from Dept. of Business Administration METU on Total Quality Management. He has served as a “visiting scholar” in 1996 and 1998 at University of Wyoming, USA; as a “visiting scientist” in 2001 and 2002 at Ohio State University, USA and as a “visiting professor” in 2006, 2007 and 2008 at University of Bordeaux I, France. His main research areas are: Unit Operations in Food Engineering, Non-thermal Food Processing Technologies, Food Quality, Food Safety and Food Security through Total Food Protection. He is an expert in Food Defense training activities via NCFPD (USA). He has supervised 4 Ph.D and 11 M.Sc. thesis in Food Engineering Department. He has 67 international journal articles (SCI) and over 750 citations (ISI-Web of Sci; h-factor 17) as well as close to 55 academic presentations in 35 different international meetings. He has completed 15 national, 4 international projects including EU/JRC, CNRS-EGIDE and NATO ARW/ATC projects. He has authored 7 chapters in internationally edited books and has edited 3 international books by Springer. He has also organized and co-directed 3 NATO-workshops (ARW-ATC). He is currently co-director of EU-FP7 project on “Plant Food Security”.
Abstract:
High Hydrostatic Pressure (HHP), -also called as Ultra High Pressure (UHP), High Pressure Processing (HPP), High Pressure Pasteurization (HPP) – has been studied over 30 years under different names. Recently it has been branded-patented as “Pascalization” and is a “new”, “different”, “non-thermal” food processing method. Its main difference from conventional thermal processing is the addition of the third variable-pressure- to heat/time combination that already exists making it a 3-D process. More important than that the process is capable of producing industrial food products in a very short time making the process among the fastest food technology in terms of moving from the laboratory research to the market shelves. The process is fast, safe, effective and global producing food-edible products without any additives or preservatives ranging from meat-dairy-seafood-deli to fruit/vegetable juices and even pet food. The global HHP market currently reached to 10 billon USD with over 350 commercial equipment worldwide having a value of 0.3 billion USD. Unfortunately the products are not evenly distributed over the world map and the facts and myths about this –still called “new”- technology will be discussed.
- Workshop on "The role of non-conventional yeasts in preservation and organoleptic properties of fermented products"
Location: Valencia, Spain
Session Introduction
Amparo Gamero Lluna
University of Valencia, Spain
Title: The role of non-conventional yeasts in preservation and organoleptic properties of fermented products
Biography:
She works as Associate Professor in Nutrition & Bromatology area at the University of Valencia (Spain) and holds an European Ph.D in Food Science, Technology and Management. Her main research topic is the study of yeast fermentations. She has a wide range of publications and contributions to international conferences. She has worked and carried out short stays at different universities, research centers and companies of different countries: Spain (Spanish National Research Council, CSIC; University of Valencia; University of Zaragoza), The Netherlands (NIZO food research; Fungal Biodiversity Center, CBS-KNAW), Denmark (University of Copenhagen; Carlsberg Research Center; Christian Hansen), Belgium (University of Leuven).
Abstract:
Fermentation has been and effective tool to achieve food and beverage preservation for millenia, extending shelf-life of the products. During alcoholic fermentation, sugars are converted into ethanol and carbon dioxide. The low pH generated in addition to the toxicity of ethanol, prevents the growth of undesirable pathogenic microorganisms. Yeasts are the responsible for alcoholic fermentations and participate in the development of a wide range of fermented foods of animal and vegetal origin. Yeasts have not only a role in the preservation of these fermented products but also, as a consequence of their secondary metabolism, they synthesize several compounds afecting sensory attributes, such as aroma, taste or texture. Traditionally, fermentations occurred spontaneously, however, with the development of modern large scale productions, previously selected microorganisms are frequently added to carry out the fermentation to assure process control and homogeneity of the product. Selected Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains are currently used for the production of bread and alcoholic beverages such as wine, cider and beer. Nevertheless, yeasts are one of the most frequent microorganisms on Earth and the biodiversity in this group is immense. The yeast domain contains around 1700 other species, which some of them participate in the so-called traditional or spontaneous fermentations in which no starter is added. Most of these non-conventional yeasts are poorly studied but present a huge potential to be used in industrial fermentations.