IAFP iPod Touch Winner!

Congratulations to Joanne Ruebl of Cherney Microbiological who was our winner of an 16 GB iPod Touch from our survey giveaway at IAFP! We hope you enjoy your iPod.

You still have a chance to win!! We are giving away one more 16 GB iPod Touch for entering our online survey. Enter here to win!

Survey ends September 1, 2009. We will be drawing our final winner and announcing the first week of September.

IAFP Annual Meeting Recap

This week I had the opportunity to travel to lovely Grapevine, Texas (where it was a sizzling 106 degrees!) to attend my first IAFP annual meeting. The show was held at the beautiful Gaylord Texan Resort, and with an immense atrium including four and a half acres of indoor gardens and winding waterways it was a refreshing refuge from the heat.

We were able to showcase our R.A.P.I.D.® LT Food Security System and our EAT (Easy Accurate Timely) campaign and I was able to learn first-hand what a great forum for education and learning about protecting our food supply this annual meeting provides.

This was the 96th IAFP annual meeting and I was in the midst of over 1,800 attendees from the top industry, academic and government food safety professionals. The meeting also featured over 500 technical papers, posters and symposia, detailing current information on a variety of topics relating to food safety. Idaho Technology was proud to submit two posters: “Sensitivity and Specificity Testing of the new Escherichia coli O157:H7 PCR-based Detection Assay using Idaho Technology’s R.A.P.I.D. ® LT Food Security System” by Kelly Winterberg and “Evaluation of Idaho Technology’s R.A.P.I.D. ® LT Listeria Food Security System in Select Foods and on Environmental Surfaces” by Traci Hayes.

All in all, it was a great meeting and I’m looking forward to attending next year in Anaheim, California (I’m thinking Disneyland….)!

Food Safety Tip of the Week: Cut or cooked produce items such as baked potatoes or vegetable casseroles, should never be left out or held at room temperature for an extended time period.

More Responsibility Needed by Consumers and Companies

There is a great article on the FoodHACCP.com website written by Matt McKinney (Minneapolis Star Tribune) who interviews Bill Marler, a lawyer who specializes in food safety cases. Mr. Marler has a unique view into the state of our food safety laws and regulatory agencies. He offers his thoughts and advice on recent pathogen outbreaks and what we can do to improve food safety. Highlights from the interview include:

* More funding needed for food safety
* Combined FDA and FSIS would be more effective
* Food isn’t necessarily safer now than it was 20 years ago

To read the full article, please visit: http://www.foodhaccp.com/1news/070209b.html

Food Safety Tip of the Week: Always wash fresh fruits and vegetables under cool running tap water before eating. This removes any lingering dirt while also removing or reducing any bacteria or other substances.

It's Grilling Time!

Get those grills out! It’s time to celebrate Independence Day with a good old American-style backyard barbeque! Before you fire up the grill and even before you rush out to buy all the supplies, remember a few food safety precautions…

Always Cook Meat Thoroughly
Cook food to a safe minimum internal temperature to destroy harmful bacteria. Meat and poultry cooked on a grill often browns very fast on the outside. Use a food thermometer to be sure the food has reached a safe minimum internal temperature. Beef, veal, and lamb steaks, roasts and chops can be cooked to 145°F. Hamburgers made of ground beef should reach 160 °F. All cuts of pork should reach 160°F. All poultry should reach a minimum of 165°F. NEVER partially grill meat or poultry and finish cooking later.

To read the full story on keeping your BBQ safe, please visit:
http://www.wtoctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6559817

Happy 4th of July from all of us here at Idaho Technology, Inc.!

Food Safety Tip: Whether you are planning a backyard barbeque or going on a 4th of July picnic, remember to refrigerate your leftovers within two hours.