SCIFTs Suppliers’ Night and Southern California Food Industry Conference – March 4, 2015

SCIFTs Suppliers’ Night and Southern California Food Industry Conference – March 4, 2015

This was another successful Southern California IFT Suppliers’ Night. Over 500 exhibitors showcased their products/services and it gave attendees the opportunity to learn about them. The show floor was vibrant with activity and it made the 4 ½ hours seem short.

Suppliers’ Night was preceded by the 28th Annual Southern California Food Industry Conference titled “Button Up for the Winds of Change”. The topics were very relevant to the regulatory changes including labeling, FSMA and consumer driven changes.

The event also included presentations from Chapul, USA’s first insect-based nutritional product. Very interesting comments were made as to how this is and has been a learning process for both the regulatory entities and Chapul. The conference also included the challenges faced by the emerging segment of Cannabis edibles.

Following are some points made during the presentation by Dr. Martin Hahn regarding the FDA proposed changes to nutrition labels and serving sizes.

LABELING:

Some of the proposed changes being reviewed:

Because mandating changes in just 1 ingredient would cost $ billions, the FDA would prefer changing several ingredients at once.

To require labeling “added sugar”, it would need to have a clear definition for, as examples, juice concentrate sugar or lactose.

Declare Vit K and D instead of Vit A and C.

Vit A and C could be voluntary as well as fluoride.

New definition of dietary fibers might include synthetic fibers.

Sodium:

Propose changing the sodium RDI to 2300 -2400 mg/day, instead of 1500 mg

Calories:

Calories from fat would not be required.

Servings per container:

They are revising the definition of servings per container

Proposal in review: Any container with <200% of RACC would be defined as 1 serving.

FDA is proposing the label changes be implemented in 2 years from the date of CFR publication, while the industry is requesting 4 years.

INSECTS AS FOOD

The presentations by Dr. Florence Dunkel and Pat Crowley were interesting in showing how people can overcome the “yuck” and/or “embarrasement” factors when consuming insects or insect based products. They also presented the sustainability of this nutrition source.

We highly recommend attending this event next year. Our experience has been that it provides a head start into the trend challenges that continue to be relevant in the months following the event.