NEWS ROUNDUP 1994-05-09 (2)

FDA Extends Comment Deadline

Food and Drug Administration has extended to May 28 the deadline for submitting comments for its proposed mandatory seafood inspection program.

The deadline originally was set for April 28. Proposed in January, the program excludes the retail food industry but covers processors, packers and warehouse operations.

After reviewing the comments, agency officials expect to release a final inspection program by year's end, with an effective date one year later.

The inspection program follows Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point protocol, or HACCP, which sets up preventative controls at various checkpoints in the harvesting and processing system. An HACCP program is considered the state-of-the-art approach to food safety.

FMI, NOAA Set Training Course

WASHINGTON -- The Food Marketing Institute here and the National Training Branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will be holding three training sessions for store-level seafood department personnel.

The program, called the "Seafood Splash Course," will be held May 15 to 17, Sept. 25 to 27 and Jan. 22 to 24.

The course is designed to provide hands-on education to small groups on fishing docks and in seafood processing plants, as well as in the classroom. It will start in Boston with classroom work and tours of the New England Fish Exchange and seafood processing plants, and then travel to Gloucester, Mass., to use NOAA's lab facilities for instruction in Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point food safety programs, species identification, quality assurance and merchandising.

For more information, contact Patty Boyland at FMI at (202) 429-4505 or Karla Ruzicka at NOAA at (508) 281-9269.

Gelatin-Topped Yogurt Unveiled

MINNEAPOLIS -- Kemps, a division of Marigold Foods here, has introduced a gelatin-topped fat-free yogurt to retail stores in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa.

The new product, called Duos, is a combination that consists of a layer of fruit-flavored nonfat yogurt topped with a layer of vitamin C enriched gelatin.

Duos is available in 6-ounce containers in the following flavor combinations: strawberry gelatin with banana nonfat yogurt, cherry gelatin with vanilla yogurt, blue raspberry with raspberry yogurt, red cherry gelatin with red cherry yogurt, raspberry gelatin with vanilla yogurt, fruit punch gelatin with blueberry yogurt and lime gelatin with lemon yogurt.

It has a suggested retail price of 49 cents to 59 cents for a 6-ounce container.

Protection Group Picks Chairman

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- The Conference for Food Protection here has named Paul Panico as its new chairman for 1994-1996. He is administrator of the Food Protection Program for the Ohio Department of Health.

The conference also elected two new members to its executive board: Tom Chojnacki, DuPage County Health Department, Wheaton, Ill., and Richard Barnes, Oklahoma Department of Health, Oklahoma City. And it re-elected the following members: Linda Golodner, National Consumer League, Washington; Chester R. England, Burger King Corp., Miami; Ernest M. Julian, Rhode Island Department of Health, Providence, R.I., and Jerry R. Rowland, Metro Health Department, Nashville, Tenn.

CFP, which divides its functions into three councils, named new chairmen and new vice chairmen to each. Council 1 addresses laws and regulations issues; Council 2 oversees administration, education and certification issues, and Council 3 reviews science and technology issues.

Shirley Bohm, Illinois Department of Health, Springfield, Ill., was named chairwoman of Council 1, and Peter Rojek, A&P, Montvale, N.J., was named its vice chairman.

John Farquhar, Food Marketing Institute, Washington, was named chairman of Council 2.

Dan S. Smyly, Florida Department of Agriculture, Tallahassee, Fla., was named chairman of Council 3 and Cory Hedman, Dominick's Finer Foods, Northlake, Ill., was named its vice chairman.