Baking & Snack - April 2005 - 18

NEWSFRONT
Bakery founder wins
small-business award
Lynn Gordon, founder and president of
the successful South Minneapolis-based
French Meadow Bakery, has something else
to smile about. The US Small Business Administration named her Minnesota Small
Business Person of the Year.
In the mid-1980s, Ms. Gordon began the
business in her home kitchen. Last year,
French Meadow had close to $5 million
in sales. It operates out of a 24,000-sq-ft
building with 32 employees.
The certified organic bakery produces
more than 2 million loaves of bread a year,
which are distributed to all 50 states plus Italy,
Brazil, Japan, Singapore and Puerto Rico.
Ms. Gordon will be honored along
with other Minnesota SPA winners at a
May 20 Luncheon.

Lesaffre Yeast named
2004 vendor of year
Dawn Distributors Advantage, Jackson,
MI, a cooperative group serving the baking
industry through sales, service and distribution of bakery products featuring Dawn
and DDA labels, has awarded Lesaffre Yeast
Corp., Milwaukee, WI, its Vendor of the Year
Award for 2004.
DDA recognized Lesaffre for its
superior service, on-time delivery and
product innovation.

Ron Jones, president and c.e.o. of Dawn
Food Products, Inc., Jackson, MI, and Robert Olender, chairman of the DDA board
of directors, presented the award to John
Riesch, president of Lesaffre, at the DDA's
awards dinner during its annual meeting in
Destin, FL, Jan. 17.
"On behalf of the entire Dawn and DDA
family, we present this award with great honor," Mr. Jones said. "Dawn, DDA and Lesaffre
share the same dedication to personal service
and uncompromising quality, which have
made our companies successful. We value our
relationship with Lesaffre and look forward to
a long, mutually beneficial partnership."

20 / BAKING & SNACK / April 2005

United Nations report
cites acrylamide concerns
A recent report from the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants
of the World Health Organization and
the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization warned "that the unintentional contaminant acrylamide in certain
foods may be of public health concern since
it has been shown to cause cancer in animals"
and called for "continued
efforts to reduce acrylamide
in food."
Based on the committee's
evaluation, FAO and WHO
recommend that efforts to
reduce acrylamide levels in
foodstuffs continue.
"National food safety
authorities should urge
relevant food industries to
work toward improving food preparation
technologies that significantly lower the
acrylamide content in critical foods, particularly potato chips, French fries, coffee,
pastries, cookies, breads, rolls and toasts,"
the group said. But the committee cautioned
that major changes in food processing to reduce acrylamide need to be evaluated.
Acrylamide is formed when certain foods,
particularly plant-based foods high in carbohydrates and low in protein, are cooked
at high temperatures.
Committee experts said it was not possi-

ble to issue recommendations on how much
of any specific food containing acrylamide
was safe to eat because the amount of acrylamide could vary widely in the same foods,
depending on, among other factors, cooking
temperatures and time.
The committee, which met Feb. 8-17 to
consider the possible health risks associated with acrylamide and five other
food contaminants, concluded
that "on the basis of the tests
in animals, cancer was the
most important toxic effect
of acrylamide and that consumption of foods with this
contaminant at current levels of occurrence may be a
public health concern."
The conclusion was based
on a conservative evaluation, the committee
said, noting that there still was considerable
uncertainty about the mechanism of the toxicity of acrylamide, assumptions used to apply the most relevant animal data to humans,
and extrapolation of the intake assessments.
The experts said acrylamide should be
re-evaluated when results of ongoing toxicological studies become available. Results
from the most relevant long-term studies,
expected in two to three years, could help
reduce uncertainty in the current risk assessment, they said.

ADM to expand NovaLipid
zero/low trans fat production
Archer Daniels Midland Co, Decatur, IL,
will expand NovaLipid production by
adding capacity at its Mankato, MN,
enzyme intersterification facility. NovaLipid products are the
company's line of zero/low trans
fat oils and margarines.
Construction is scheduled to be
completed in late 2005. The expansion marks the second to the
NovaLipid line. Last year, ADM announced
it was increasing production at its Quincy,
IL, facility to help satisfy the food industry's
demand as it moves forward to meet Jan. 1,

2006, labeling requirements set by the Food
and Drug Administration.
"ADM is using its expertise to help
food manufacturers meet consumers' demands for variety, taste and
health," said Paul B. Mulhollem,
ADM president and c.e.o. "The
NovaLipid portfolio includes
naturally stable oils, tropical
oils, blended oils and enzymeintersterified shortenings and margarines
to provide alternatives in various food applications including baking, confectionery,
snack, frying and cereal products."

Baking & Snack - April 2005

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Baking & Snack - April 2005