Food News Today Transcripts for the week of May 14th, 2012

Allergy free eggs? Do sounds influence our eating choices and the Supermarket Chef Showdown, for May 16th, 2012, this is Food News Today.

Eggs are one of the most common childhood allergies and a fairly difficult food to avoid as eggs turn up in baked goods, salad dressings, many prepared foods and even flu vaccines. Luckily a team from Australia's Deakin University says they are in the process of creating not just hypoallergenic eggs, but the chickens that lay them will be hypoallergenic as well!  The majority of egg allergy-sufferers are sensitive to 4 of the 40 proteins contained within egg whites. The Australian team is working on extracting the four allergic proteins, "switching off" the allergenic parts of them, then reintroducing the now-non-allergenic proteins back into the egg. The chicken subsequently born from that egg should in turn lay hypoallergenic eggs. Voila!

The team’s goal is to create an allergy-free flu vaccine within five years, and consumable hypoallergenic eggs within five to ten years.  This is one of the first projects that attempts to make the allergic proteins harmless.  Egg allergies affect around one and a half percent of young children, but egg allergies are also likely to be outgrown over time. What are the symptoms of an egg allergy? Most reactions associated with eggs involve the skin, but the more serious anaphylaxis can also occur. Fortunately all FDA-regulated manufactured food products that do contain egg as an ingredient are required by US law to list the word “egg’ on the product’s label. 

>Earlier this month, 20 chefs headed to Dallas, Texas to battle for the title of Grand Chef for the Food Marketing Institute’s (FMI) Supermarket Chef Showdown. Hundreds of recipes were submitted in 4 distinct categories. The winner went home with $1,000, as well as admittance to a professional development course at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). It was an awesome time and Keoni Chang of Foodland Super Market, Ltd. in Honolulu, was crowned Grand Chef. Chang enticed the judges with his mouthwatering dish, Deconstructed Ahi California Roll, from the Indulgent recipe category. All of the chef’s were judged on the following criteria Flavor, Presentation, Creativity, Consumer Appeal, Showmanship. The Supermarket Chef Showdown was the first-ever food retail industry recipe challenge, recognizing the inventive, palate pleasing meals supermarkets create every day for their neighborhoods.

The three other category winners

Chef Brian Dunn of Roche Bros. Supermarkets with Indian Five Spice Lamb

Chef Rachael Perron of Kowalski's Markets with Spiced Orange Yogurt Parfaits

Chef Amber Pruett of Publix Super Markets, Inc. with Italian Pie

>The Chef showdown was surely exciting, with all of the colors and sounds and smells definitely made me hungry, which brings me to our next story - New research out of the United Kingdom has found that sound can have a striking impact on how people taste food they're eating. Here's what Oxford University professor of experimental psychology Charles Spence had to say about the findings of his study pertaining what influences what we taste.

Thanks so much Charles, always fascinating to hear about what you’re up to.