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doi:10.1094/CFW-54-2-suppl |
VIEW SUPPLEMENT C&E Spring Meeting 2009
Dear Friends and Colleagues, I am delighted to welcome you to this special supplement to Cereal Foods World, which contains the full programme and abstracts submitted for presentation at the 2009 Cereals&Europe Spring Meeting—Whole Grain Global Summit, held in Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K., March 24–27, 2009. This will be the second C&E Spring Meeting, following the highly successful inaugural meeting held in Montpellier in 2007. It is also the third in a series of Whole Grain Global Summits (after meetings at VTT, Finland, in 2001, and at the University of Minnesota, U.S.A., in 2005), and I am delighted to have been asked to host this special meeting at Newcastle University. Cereals&Europe is the European arm of AACC International and represents the largest grouping of cereal-based R&D professionals in Europe. The meeting was developed to bring together these experts with nutritionists and consumer scientists to debate the worldwide drive to promote the use of whole grains in human nutrition. The use of whole grains and their role in nutrition and health, and in food manufacturing cannot be more topical. Regulatory bodies, including the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in Europe and the FDA in the United States, are currently debating ways to promote their use, legislate on associated health claims, and establish workable definitions of “whole grain” and “wholegrain foods.” These organisations are charged with ensuring that the best interests of consumers are safeguarded, taking into account the industry’s requirements in regard to the claimed health benefits of whole grains. At the same time, industry must meet the challenges of developing tasty, safe, and affordable wholegrain foods that consumers will purchase. The aim of the C&E Spring Meeting 2009—Whole Grain Global Summit is to contribute to the discussion and inform these policymakers with a state-of-the-art and interactive programme, presented by leading experts from industry and the academic world. Two additional activities are included in the programme. First, there will be an open discussion forum to further discuss definitions of “Whole Grain” in collaboration with the AACC International Whole Grain Task Force, ICC, and the EU Integrated Project Healthgrain networks. Second, a half-day symposium organised by the GRAINITY project, a consortium of researchers from the Nordic countries, will focus on rye. The Plenary Session reviews progress made since the 2005 Whole Grain Summit in Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A., followed by four controversy-seeking presentations on the lead topics of the conference: nutrition, technology, consumer perception, and EU vs. U.S. regulatory and labeling issues. These key themes continue in four sessions with invited speakers and submitted papers showcasing the latest whole grain research. An “interactive” half day ensures active participation with alternating poster sessions and topical moderator-led workshops, picking up the same themes as the parallel sessions. The structure of the meeting will ensure close integration of nutritionists, food technologists, food processors, and regulatory affairs experts, offering a truly global, multidisciplinary perspective. The meeting is sponsored once again by AACC International and we are grateful for their generous help. It has also attracted tremendous support from our industry sponsors—thank you all. Take time also to examine the International Scientific Committee without whom this meeting would not have been possible. Chris Seal, Programme and Scientific Committee chair
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