July 24, 2008

Hamaker Wins Northwest Section's Geddes Award

AACC International’s Northwest Section honored Bruce R. Hamaker with their 2008 William F. Geddes Memorial Lecture. Hamaker is director of the Whistler Center of Carbohydrate Research and professor in the Department of Food Science at Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN. He obtained his undergraduate degree in biological sciences from Indiana University and afterwards went into the U.S. Peace Corps in West Africa. His graduate studies are in human nutrition (M.S.) and food chemistry (Ph.D.) from Purdue University, and he was a post-doctoral researcher at the Nutrition Research Institute in Lima, Perú, under George Graham of Johns Hopkins University.

Beyond the fact that Hamaker is a tremendous cereal chemist and has greatly advanced the science and methodology of the field, he has also merged the fields of cereal chemistry and nutrition in his own unique way. He has a number of clinical and nutrition group collaborations nationally as well as worldwide, which makes him a perfect role model in developing the next generation of scientists.

The award ceremony was held May 13, 2008, at General Mills Headquarters, where Hamaker delivered a lecture titled “Exploring New Ways to Improve Cereal Carbohydrates for Health.” The award is named after William F. Geddes, a pioneer in grain science research, and the award recognizes a current leader in grain research from outside the Northwest Section geography.

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AACC International to Sponsor Ferulate '08

The Ferulate ‘08 conference will be held August 25–27, 2008, in St. Paul, MN. The purpose of this conference, which is sponsored by AACC International, Kampffmeyer Food Innovation, and Cargill, is to bring together academics and industrialists from a broad spectrum of backgrounds with interests in different aspects of hydroxycinnamates and related plant phenolic compounds.

Hydroxycinnamates such as ferulic acid, p-coumaric acid, sinapic acid, caffeic acid, and their manifold derivatives such as chlorogenic acids were already a focus in 1998 when the first Ferulate conference was held in Norwich, UK. Hydroxycinnamates and related plant phenolics, which are widely found in cereals, fulfill a broad range of physiological roles in the plant but they are also of huge interest as potential bioactive compounds in our diets, as factors influencing food processing such as baking and milling, as flavor precursors, as factors limiting forage digestibility and biofuel production, etc.

The technical program of this three-day conference will cover these aspects in lectures, short oral presentations, and poster presentations. International presenters will give an overview about their latest results in six sections: general and analytical chemistry, biosynthesis and its role in plants, human nutrition, phenolic acids in food and nonfood processing, animal feed, and enzymology. Additional information about the conference is available at http://fscn.cfans.umn.edu/courses/ferulate_08.html. The deadline for the submission of last minute poster presentations is August 1, 2008.

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New AlveoConsistograph Handbook

AACC International Press has published The AlveoConsistograph Handbook, Second Edition, which provides an understanding of the technical data generated by the alveoconsistograph and gives timely application examples. Alveoconsistographs can help to classify, control, and select wheat and flour and optimize their blending for specific rheological properties. They measure the effects of improvers, ingredients, and other additives resulting in better control of dough on the production line and more consistent end-product quality. This handbook also explains the workings of the Chopin consistograph and provides a deep insight into its coupling with the Chopin alveograph.

Originally titled The Alveograph Handbook, this is the first revision of this resource in 20 years, and it explains major modifications and improvements of the alveograph through new and completely revised chapters. A new chapter on the consistograph, the component that is used to determine the water absorption capacity of flour, includes test procedures, applications, differences from other devices, maintenance, and troubleshooting. Another new chapter discusses the debate surrounding the testing of samples, using either constant water content or constant consistency methods.

In addition to wheat flour, the book provides guidance for using the alveograph on additional products like durum wheat semolina or durum pasta. All chapters have been rewritten to include the latest practices and will help users gain a better understanding of how this important technology is used in today’s food labs.

The book may be purchased for $149 plus shipping and handling from AACC International PRESS. To order, visit www.aaccnet.org and click “books” or call toll-free at 1.800.328.7560 from the United States or Canada or +1.651.454.7250 elsewhere.

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