"meeting" news and stories

Alton Brown served as keynote speaker for the recent Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Meeting in Orlando. Brown talked about the need for the food science community to communicate more openly with consumers, according to FoodNavigator-USA. At the same time, he stressed the consumer's responsibility to eat in moderation, saying "There are no bad foods, only bad eaters." The IFT site also has some notes on Brown's speech, as well as a variety of other press releases on other topics from this year's meeting. Other topics included the health benefits of beer; eating behind the wheel; and removing acrylamide from foods like potato chips and coffee. Audio recordings are also available, for a fee.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) wants Outback Steakhouse, Inc. to look into a method of chicken slaughter that is allegedly more humane, according to the Tampa Bay Business Journal. Called controlled-atmosphere killing, the method basically gasses the birds, thus putting them "to sleep." PETA raised the suggestion at the annual Outback shareholders meeting this week in Tampa. How did PETA get their item on the table? They own 80 shares of Outback stock, enough to have an issue voted on at the yearly meeting. According to the TBBJ, PETA has put similar items up for a vote to Kroger, KFC and Hormel. Every time, the proposals for investigation of controlled-atmosphere killing have received more than three percent of the vote. While that isn't much, it's apparently enough to allow the issue to be submitted again next year.

[Via Restaurant News Resource]