The city of indulgence and excess will be this summer’s location for the largest annual scientific forum and food technology exposition.

The 2004 Institute of Food Tech­nologists Annual Meeting and IFT Food Expo runs July 12-16 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, bringing together more than 20,000 food scientists, technologists, suppliers, marketers, journalists and others from the United States and abroad. They can expect to encounter the driving forces behind the latest innovations and information affecting consumers, growers, processors, regulators and researchers who help make the U.S. food supply the most diverse of any in the world.

At the IFT Annual Meeting, 1,000 experts will provide their insight in more than 100 technical sessions ranging in focus from food nanotechnology, terrorism prevention, measures for fighting obesity and challenges of supplying food for space flight to Mars. This year’s theme is “Building Strong Futures: Science, Technology and Imagination.”

Scientific sessions will examine a broad spectrum of issues, including how to keep the food industry competitive. Symposiums will discuss food safety and quality; weight management solutions through food; dairy foods’ role in weight management; genetically modified foods; food processing for NASA; mad cow disease; food labeling, probiotics to fight allergies; functional foods, fats and oils; convenient food packaging; organic products; glycemic response of foods; and antioxidants.

During the Food Expo, which runs July 13-16, more than 800 exhibitors will present their latest innovations designed to make food more fun, functional, nutritious and appealing. The exhibits — to fill 250,000 square feet of exhibition space — will include ingredients, additives, processing and packaging equipment and supplies, laboratory instrumentation and food industry services.

Dean Foods Co. is rolling out a fresh, new packaging redesign through a year-long million-dollar promotion. The Dallas-based company’s Dairy Group is launching this “New Look” campaign at several thousand participating grocers in the Chicago; Green Bay, Wis.; Indianapolis; Madison, Wis.; and Milwaukee metropolitan areas. The comprehensive campaign will include print advertising in major daily newspapers throughout the region, radio, coupons and in-store enter-to-win opportunities, with a grand prize of a $50,000 “New Look” kitchen remodel, courtesy of Airoom. Dean will provide five second-place winners, one in each market, with a “mini-makeover” featuring four new appliances, courtesy of Grant’s Appliances.

Rosemont, Ill.-based Dairy Management Inc. (DMI) has launched a new campaign to promote its 3-A-Day of Dairy nutrition-based marketing and education program. The program will be promoted via national TV commercials, print advertisements and FSIs. Partners participating in dairy product couponing are Albertson’s, Cabot, Heluva Good, Darigold, Kemps, Kraft, Nestle and Shaw’s. Consumers are encouraged to clip 3-A-Day logos from milk, cheese and yogurt packages and mail them in for a chance to win a three-room prize
package. DMI’s public relations campaign uses advertorials in leading women’s magazines to remind moms to include three servings of dairy in their daily menu plans. Health professionals are also encouraged to alert their patients to the importance of three daily dairy servings.

Consumers can send for a free Wisconsin Cheese Wheel Recipe Box filled with 50 favorite cheese recipes in the latest FSI from the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, Rosemont, Ill. The first 5,000 respondents also will receive $12.95 in cheese coupons and rebates. Consumers must mail in three proofs of purchase from cheese products adorned with the Wisconsin symbol or the word “Wisconsin,” the original UPCs and receipts and a check for $4.95 shipping and handling.

Lincolnshire, Ill.-based Saputo Cheese USA’s Frigo brand of Italian cheeses is dishing up a refreshed package design created by Smith Design, Glen Ridge, N.J., and San Jose, Calif. The new design has a more contemporary look and includes a revitalized logotype in an energetic, brush italic lettering style. Frigo cheeses, including mozzarella, ricotta, parmesan and romano varieties, have been staples in cooking Italian dishes since 1938 and are available nationwide. Saputo’s latest promotion is a free CD-ROM containing more than 100 lasagna recipes. Consumers mail in three proofs of purchase from Frigo cheese products and a check for $1.95 for shipping and handling. FSIs also feature a 55-cent coupon for any Frigo cheese product.

Answering the call of consumers wanting low-calorie choices, Kraft Foods Inc. has teamed up its cheeses and Oscar Mayer meats for 30 recipes for sandwiches with less than 400 calories. Featuring Kraft Singles, recipes for the easy-to-make sandwiches like Grilled Pepperjack, Easy Ham and Swiss Wrap and Ham and Cheese Pull-Apart are available at www.kraftfoods.
com/4under400.

Straus Family Creamery, Marshall, Calif., will begin offering children’s tours of its family organic dairy this spring. On the 90-minute tour, young visitors will feed a calf, learn what cows eat, find out about organic farming practices, see Straus’ new methane digester which will power the dairy with barn waste, see cows being milked and make butter. Previously, tours were limited to adults and arranged through the Marin Agricultural Land Trust.

With last year’s annual seminar and expo breaking at­tendance and exhibit records, the International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association’s (IDDBA) 40th annual show promises to be “A Monumental Experience.” That’s a fitting theme for Dairy-Deli-Bake 2004, scheduled for June 6-8 in Washington, D.C.

IDDBA’s three-day convention will offer a host of seminars, hundreds of exhibitors amidst a monumental backdrop of our nation’s capital.

High-profile speakers will address such issues as life strategies, keys to success, realities of the global economy, current events, the power of one person, secrets for creating passionately devoted customers, paying the piper, the freshness perception, obesity’s impact and the value of dairy in the diet. Keynote speakers include TV talk show host and author Dr. Phillip McGraw, consumer advocate Erin Brockovich and former baseball player Cal Ripkin Jr. Slated speakers include Stuart Varney, host of CNBC’s “Wall Street Journal Editorial Board with Stuart Varney,” and Ari Fleischer, former press secretary to President George W. Bush.

Mini-symposiums will take on concerns important to each category. Speakers in the dairy symposium will discuss the pending Food and Drug Administration changes on the role of dairy in the food pyramid, the consumer’s perception of dairy’s role in a healthful diet and weight-loss programs and how processors and retailers can leverage the nutritional benefits of dairy through consumer education programs such as the 3-A-Day of Dairy and other programs.

The mini-symposium “Battle of the Bulge: Understanding the Obesity Issue and Its Impact” will address how consumers are talking more openly about eating more healthful foods and making better dietary choices, and if they’re actually doing anything about it.

The IDDBA’s Show and Sell Center capitalizes on the “monumental taste experience” with the hot new trend of “mini” departments. Dairy-related taste centers include cheese-themed seminars like CIA (Cheese Information Agency), Joint Cheese of Staff, Made in the U.S.A., International House of Cheese; Italian food fare such as Passport Pasta and Pentagon Pizza; and Souvenir Sandwiches featuring the best of Chicago, New Orleans and Philadelphia.