The International Society of Beverage Technologists hosted BevTech, its annual meeting April 11-13 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The meeting agenda included society business, technical committee forums as well as a forum for presentation of scientific and technical papers. The event also featured the first BevTech Technology Exposition.

The meeting’s program was organized around three areas of interest for beverage technologists: safety, health and wellness, and sustainability. Each day featured its own keynote addresses, including “Crisis Management” delivered by John Weber of Dezenhall Resources, “Emerging Contaminants — What’s Next to be Regulated?” presented by Andy Eaton of MWH Laboratories and “Juice Safety and Critical Limits” from Michelle Danyluk of the University of Florida.

Sessions also included the following: “CIP Optimization,” “BPA Update,” “Hybrid Sweetener Systems,” “Controlling Taste, Sweetness and Mouth Feel in Diet Lemon Lime Beverages,” “Regulatory Update,” “Packaging 1881 Subcommittee & CCMA Update,” “Application and Safety of Natural Antimicrobials Used in Food and Beverages,” “Global Food Safety Initiatives,” “Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Food Defense and Emergency Response.” BevTech also featured panel discussions that focused on “Beverage Dispensing Equipment Sanitation” and “Review of Latest Advances in Disinfection Technology.”

In addition, the agenda also included break-out Technical Committee Forums that featured a lineup of speakers addressing specific areas of the following topics: Environmental Health and Safety, Packaging Technology, Sanitation and Microbiology, Fountain, Non-Traditional, Sweetener, Water Quality, Global Issues, Product and Ingredient, Quality and Supply Chain.

Its Sweetener-focused forums included presentations, such as “Stevia Purification: A Greener Perspective,”“Advantame, A New High Potency Sweetener,” and “Reduced Sugar Beverages: Novel Strategies and Solutions to Improve Hedonic Consumer Quality Perception.”

Following the BevTech, the Foods Safety Symposium took place April 14. The symposium included presentations on several critical components of food safety, regulatory requirements of the recently enacted Food Safety Modernization Act, ensuring the safety and integrity of municipal water supplies used in bottling and canning, threat and vulnerability assessments in bottling plants and a special presentation from the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations. BI