MINNEAPOLIS — AACC International’s largest division, the Milling & Baking Division, reported a busier than usual year when it met during the association’s centenary annual meeting in Minneapolis, Oct. 18-21.
Described by division secretary Becky Miller, Ph.D., Kansas State University, the group co-sponsored two symposia at the 2015 annual meeting. These examined the past, present and future of bakery ingredient matters as diverse as wheat breeding, clean label formulating, trans-fats, baking powders, whole grain flours and non-starch polysaccharides.
Also at the annual meeting, the division’s board established a travel grant to its Spring Technical Conference (S.T.C.), according to Chairman Jennifer Robinson, Bay State Milling, Quincy, Mass. The grant honors the late Leah Barna, the AACCI staffer who assisted the division for many years with its S.T.C. venue and housing arrangements. Ms. Barna died unexpectedly earlier this year.
The group reported a successful 2015 S.T.C. at Savannah, Ga., and announced that its 2016 S.T.C. would be held at Portland, Ore. Dates are tentatively set for April 20-22. The division is arranging an optional tour of Portland’s T5 Grain Shipping Terminal.
It awarded its George C. Minor Scholarship to Marie Feldpaush, a Kansas State University bakery science and management major.
Under division guidance, Charlie Hurburgh, Ph.D., Iowa State University-Ames; Scott Jensen, Foss, Montrose, Minn., and Ms. Robinson prepared a collaborative site supported by AACCI about food safety guidance. The book and its on-line version were announced at the annual meeting and provide the grain industry’s personal annotated guide to ISO 22000 food safety management standards.
To help processors cope with newly announced Food Safety Modernization Act regulations, the division collaborated with the milling industry on a British Retail Consortium (B.R.C.) v.7 requirement involving verification of gran shipper vendors and confirmation of origin.
Terry Nelson, Ph.D., a consulting statistician, was brought in to work with milling industry division members to prepare a white paper on testing methods. The division collaborated with AACCI’s Food Safety, Quality and Regulatory Task Force groups.
Dr. Miller represented the division as a judge for the AACCI Professional Development Panel’s Best Student Research Paper Competition at the annual meeting.
The division is working with the AACCI Foundation in developing a Student Young Professional Leadership Program.
And to help celebrate AACCI’s centenary annual meeting and a big year of activity for itself, the Milling & Baking Division of AACC International hosted “Up All Night,” a coffee bar hospitality room that attracted a crowd of nearly 100.
