A VISIT TO BOB'S REDMILL

Let's pay a virtual visit to Bob's RedMill, which years ago responded to the needs of the gluten-free community by investing in a dedicated gluten-free facility. This video offers insight into how grains move from the field to the table. BREAKING: Bob's plant is expanding.



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METRO NY BALLOON & MUSIC FESTIVAL 2007

What could be more uplifting than a balloon festival?

How about a balloon festival plus the opportunity to raise money with the Suffolk County Celiacs?

This weekend the Suffolk Country Celiacs, originators of Long Island's Gluten Free Vendor Fair, will get a percentage of the proceeds from a beverage concession it is operating at the 2007 Metro NY Balloon & Music Festival in Suffolk County.

I understand there are plenty of volunteers for Saturday, but that some are still needed for Sunday. For more information about helping out, call Barbara at 631-553-9161.

Here's some time-lapse video from a Reno balloon race back in 2006.



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THE MEME STOPS HERE

Ah, chain letters memes! Me? I'm...er...not a fan?

But sometimes I'm a soft touch, so I guess I'll grudgingly go along with Catherine of A Gluten-Free Guide (who's going along with Seamaiden of Book of Yum) and reveal 8 "random" facts about myself:

1. I can balance a trombone on one finger.

2. I delivered an editorial on Channel 11. And I was awful.

3. I voted for Lloyd Bentsen but declined to shake his hand.

4. I was on a winning adult spelling bee team—but I wasn't the best speller.

5. One of the very first times I ever ate Chinese food was in China (pre-diagnosis).

6. I've played in a brass quintet on a diving platform. (Almost everyone left during intermission.)

7. I received an award for Architectural Merit in a sandwich creation contest celebrating the hundredth anniversary of Carnegie Hall (pre-diagnosis).

8. I will not pass this along.

OCTOBER BENEFIT: CELIAC DISEASE CENTER AT COLUMBIA

The 6th Annual Celiac Disease Center Gala Reception to benefit the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University is scheduled for Wednesday, October 24, 2007 from 6:30-9:30 pm.

The honorees include Elisabeth Hasselbeck (pictured), Prometheus Labs, and INOVA Diagnostics. Cocktails, supper, and dessert will be served at the Metropolitan Club (1 East 60th Street) in Manhattan.

Tickets are $350. For more information, conduct Cynthia Beckmann at cb2280 @ columbia.edu.

GLUTEN-FREE TV: UNWRAPPED TO FEATURE ENJOY LIFE FOODS


















Erin at Gluten-Free Fun notes (with a good measure of excitement) that the Food Network's Unwrapped will air an episode featuring Enjoy Life foods at the following times:

Monday August 6 9 pm Eastern
Tuesday August 7 12 noon Eastern
Friday August 17 at 11:30 pm Eastern
Saturday August 18 2:30 am Eastern

Photo: David Marc Fischer

MEET MEGAN FROM MELBOURNE!

Friendly vlogger Megan (a.k.a. jewelchic) from Melbourne suffered from fatigue, canker sores, and severe weight loss before she got her celiac (a.k.a. coeliac) diagnosis and went gluten-free. She was tested after her mother had gotten a diagnosis a year earlier.

Until I watched this video I hadn't realized that the popular Australian spread Vegemite is forbidden on a gluten-free diet.



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FOOD INDUSTRY BUZZ

The market for gluten-free food is booming...the challenge is to improve taste, texture, and shelf life...and the FDA has received 700 comments on its proposed rule about defining "gluten-free."

Those are highlights of this news release from the Institute for Food Technologists (IFT), "a not-for-profit international scientific society with 22,000 members working in food science, technology and related professions in industry, academia and government" that is meeting this week in Chicago.

Newswise — An estimated 2 million Americans are afflicted with celiac disease, an intolerance for food containing wheat, and the market for gluten-free products is booming even while food companies and researchers have yet to fully solve their greatest challenge—making products taste good.

“There is clearly a market opportunity for gluten-free foods,” said Jodi Engelson, a senior research scientist at Cargill and speaking here at the Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting & Food Expo. “For the patients who suffer, the diagnosis rate is increasing. In response to this, we have witnessed over a 100 percent increase in gluten-free products over the last seven years.”

Yet taste—or more specifically, good taste—is an issue.

Wheat is more easily replaced in products like sauces, but more difficult in baked goods like bread and cookies. The products suffer in terms of texture and shelf life.

“That’s the real challenge for a product development person,” Engelson said.

Ranjit Kadan, a researcher with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said the gluten-free market is the fastest growing segment of health food products in the country. Where the market was estimated at $210 million in 2001, it is close to $700 million today. It’s projected to be $1.7 billion by 2010.

The demand for wheat-free products has grown as the number of people with celiac disease has risen

“Until recently, we thought it was a rare disease,” said Kadan, “But that’s not so. In 2003, we found that 1 out of 133 in the U.S. had it.”

Congress has mandated the Food and Drug Administration define gluten-free products by 2008. Currently, there is no standard, and products may claim food is gluten-free if it has no gluten, if it has a limited amount of gluten, or if it never had gluten.

“So far, we’ve received over 700 comments to the proposed rule,” said Geraldine June, an FDA official.

Now in its 67th year, the IFT Annual Meeting + Food Expo is the world’s largest annual scientific forum and exposition on food. Ranked among the largest U.S. conventions, the meeting delivers comprehensive, cutting-edge research and opinion from food science-, technology-, marketing- and business-leaders.

Concluding Tuesday, the IFT annual meeting precedes Wednesday’s IFT Global Food Safety & Quality conference, and the IFT Food Nanotechnology conference.

Founded in 1939, and with world headquarters in Chicago, IFT is a not-for-profit international scientific society with 22,000 members working in food science, 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, see http://IFT.org.

Mulling this over, I kinda wish that improving nutritional content had also been mentioned as an important goal.