The 372nd meeting of the Society of Flavor Chemists Inc. (SFC) included a presentation by Janet Scalese and staff of the Alcohol & Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau (TTB) regarding changes to Nonbeverage Tax Drawback Regulations and Procedures. TTB is in the process of changing the regulations and procedures for submitting nonbeverage formulas to obtain drawback of tax. The changes will involve a certification process by the manufacturer instead of the current approval process.
TTB's Nonbeverage Products Laboratory staff provided background on the regulatory changes covered the various ways to certify that a nonbeverage product is unfit for beverage purposes. They also lead a discussion of organoleptic analysis and provided a hands-on session to help industry members determine which products can be certified as unfit for beverage purposes. Changes to the regulations will significantly affect businesses using alcohol as a component of their flavor manufacture.
The Future of the Flavor Industry
The dinner speaker during the event was Charles Manley, vice president, science and technology (retired), Takasago International Corp. (USA), who spoke on the topic “Our Flavor Heritage gives us the Direction of the Future!”
Our flavor heritage, Manley explained, has been formed in the last 50 years or more by the swift current of advances in the areas of science, business/economics, and governmental laws and regulations. The advances in science have offered our profession the tools to improve our abilities to create better and safer flavors for a demanding food and beverage industry and for their customers to enjoy convenient and fine tasting products.
The changes in the business world have led to the consolidation of many industries including ours, allowing for the creation of "super-sized" flavor companies with global organizations. Yet, the free enterprise spirit of the United States has allowed the continual creation of new companies serving markets that are new, unique or too small for larger companies to service.
The pressure of economics has also changed many sales and marketing strategies and practices of the industry. The development of food and ingredient laws and regulations, both domestic and international, has created a significant degree of global harmonization, but with additional burdens for the industry to shoulder. We are, however, still an industry based on the sensory properties of our creations and the close ties that we have with our customers, one another and the consumers. Many of us, the older ones of the industry, have complained that our industry is not what is use to be! But when we look around we see a world that is also not what it used to be. From all of this can we see the flavor world of the future in the heritage of the past?
New SFC Members
Speaking of the future, during the business meeting segment of the event, the following individuals were elected into the SFC (pictured below):
Apprentice:
- Getane Roy, Mastertaste
- Manuela Chevallier Rufigry, Mastertaste
- Jennifer White, Wild
- Mark Paff, Wild
- Cynthia Steward-Stokes, RJ Reynolds
- Adayit Kalo, Comax Flavors
- Hitesh Patel, Takasago
- Karyna Flood, Gold Coast
Certified:
- Anthony Rella, Flavor Dynamics
