The U.S. Food and Drug Administration awarded 84 grants worth $18.5 million in fiscal year 2010 to help state and local regulatory agencies defend against and respond quickly to threats to the food supply and to outbreaks of foodborne diseases.

The grants fund major cooperative agreements in four major areas: response, intervention, innovation, and prevention.

“We are excited to award these grants in an effort to provide greater food and feed safety and defense capabilities to better serve the citizens of the United States,” said Joseph Reardon, director of the FDA’s Division of Federal-State Relations. “These cooperative agreements are another step in the FDA’s continuing efforts to build an integrated food safety system between federal, state, and local partners.”

The grants, recipients, and programs include:

Response: Rapid Response Teams
The Food Protection Rapid Response Team (RRT) and Program Infrastructure Improvement Prototype Project cooperative agreements will develop, implement, exercise, and integrate an all-hazards food and foodborne illness response capability to more rapidly react to potential threats to our food supply.

The RRT, designed to operate in conjunction with other food and feed agencies within state programs, other state RRTs, FDA district offices, and state emergency operations centers, is another tool to enhance response capabilities.

An RRT responds to food hazard incidents through the entire production and delivery process, from farm to table, using a formal crisis management system. Each recipient received up to $500,000 to exercise its response team, conduct a program assessment, purchase additional equipment and supplies, fund personnel, and train and share information and data as appropriate.

The following states were funded in the 2010 fiscal year: Virginia, Texas, Minnesota, North Carolina, California, Florida, Michigan, Massachusetts, and Washington.

Intervention: Food Safety and Security Monitoring
The grants for Food Safety and Security Monitoring provide funding to Food Emergency Response Network (FERN) laboratories. FERN laboratories provide additional capacity for analyzing food samples in the event of foodborne disease outbreaks or other large scale food emergency events. These samples could be foods and/or environmental samples related to foods, and will be collected by federal, state, or local agencies.

Determinations regarding the numbers of samples and the scheduling of samples will be made by the FERN National Program Office in coordination with state/local laboratory authorities. Federal or state surveillance assignments will also be a source of samples for lab analysis. Selected laboratories received up to $400,000 in grant funds. The grants are for microbiological, chemical, or radiological analysis capacity.

IIntervention: Food Safety and Security Monitoring
The grants for Food Safety and Security Monitoring provide funding to Food Emergency Response Network (FERN) laboratories. FERN laboratories provide additional capacity for analyzing food samples in the event of foodborne disease outbreaks or other large scale food emergency events. These samples could be foods and/or environmental samples related to foods, and will be collected by federal, state, or local agencies.

Determinations regarding the numbers of samples and the scheduling of samples will be made by the FERN National Program Office in coordination with state/local laboratory authorities. Federal or state surveillance assignments will also be a source of samples for lab analysis. Selected laboratories received up to $400,000 in grant funds. The grants are for microbiological, chemical, or radiological analysis capacity.

Prevention: Food Protection Task Force Program
The Food Protection Task Force Conference program supports meetings that foster communication, cooperation, and collaboration among state, local, and tribal food protection, public health, agriculture, and regulatory agencies within a respective state.

Washington, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Alabama, New Mexico, North Carolina, Indiana, Tennessee, and Nevada were selected to receive awards up to $10,000. These states join 17 other states including the District of Columbia with existing grants.

BSE/Feed Safety Program Grant
The cooperative agreements for the Ruminant Feed Ban/Feed Safety Support Program, supported by the FDA’s Office of Regulatory Affairs, Division of Federal-State Relations and its Center for Veterinary Medicine, enhance state, territorial, and tribal animal feed safety infrastructure and mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) prevention programs. Under these agreements, state, territorial, and tribal governments increase their ability to find and monitor companies that manufacture, distribution, and transport animal feed or whose operations involve feeding ruminant animals. Funds may also be used for laboratory analysis, and educational outreach to increase industry compliance with the ruminant feed ban and other regulations.

Twelve states were awarded up to $250,000: Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Texas, and Washington.

About:
FDA works with other government agencies and private sector organizations to help reduce the risk of tampering or other malicious, criminal, or terrorist actions on the food and cosmetic supply.

Contact:
Doug Karas
(site) http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodDefense/default.htm
(email) douglas.karas@fda.hhs.gov
(voice) 301-796-2805

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Consumer Inquiries: 1-888-INFO-FDA

It’s the book for every visitor to Northern California’s wine country who ever had the wistful thought, “If only I could take a piece of this home with me.” Christine Hanna’s The Winemaker Cooks: Menus, Parties, and Pairings—new from Chronicle Books and now available everywhere —is the product of a lifetime of working, living, playing, foraging and cooking in Sonoma County from a vintner, home chef, cooking teacher, mother and consummate hostess.

Part practical cookbook and part entertainment guide, The Winemaker Cooks captures the essence of a fast-evolving and much-admired culinary lifestyle. Hanna’s cuisine absorbs Asian, Middle Eastern and Latin American influences without forsaking California’s Mediterranean ethic—or its wine. And it does so with ease and grace.

A native San Franciscan, Hanna spent many a childhood summer day on her family’s simple Sonoma County ranch. Handed the reins of the family’s nascent winery in her 20s, she led Hanna Winery & Vineyards to great acclaim. Most notably, the rich yet fresh Hanna Sauvignon Blanc from the cool Russian River Valley—inspired by the foods Chris loves to cook for gatherings of family and friends, and which she shares with the public in cooking classes around the country—gained critical and consumer success.

In The Winemaker Cooks Hanna presents more than 100 recipes, drawing from local farmers’ markets and the garden that grows beside the rustic, century-old Alexander Valley hunting lodge she and her family call home. Her menus, brought to life with 75 luscious photographs by Sheri Giblin, pulse with the turning of the pages of the calendar, following the rhythm of the vineyard and the cellar.

“In the fall,” she writes, “we bring in the grapes. And the tomatoes and melons and eggplants and figs. We see trucks stacked with grape bins making their way up and down our rural roads and two-lane highways…. The farmers’ markets are open several times a week now, with a dazzling array. We eat al fresco almost always, the grill replacing the range.”

Wine is at the center of Hanna’s seasonally focused dining. In The Winemaker Cooks she sifts through the jargon and pretense to smartly address questions ranging from wine service to terminology to strategies for building a cellar and matches her impressively simple appetizers, main courses and seasonal salads with just the right varietal or regional specialty.

For instance, with Grilled Sweet and Hot Peppers, “Sauvignon Blanc can stand up to the heat of the chiles in this recipe,” Hanna writes. In her Fall Lettuces with Pear and Pecorino recipe, Hanna pairs the Chardonnay, “with its aroma and flavor of ripe pear, is a fine companion to this salad.” For Pan-Seared Hanger Steak with Porcini-Merlot Reduction, Hanna advises, “steak and Cabernet are meant for each other” and should be served with a classic Napa or Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon.

Holidays, too, have never been more gorgeous at your table then when you follow Hanna’s recipes and advice for special Thanksgiving, Christmas or Hanukkah feasts. And your unique parties—A Summer Dinner Under the Stars or an Ocean-Harvest Dinner—will be beautiful memories for all your guests for years to come.

About:
Terlato Wines International is the sole marketing agent for Hanna Winery.

Terlato Wines International has a global portfolio of more than 50 brands from a host of world class wine producers and presently markets more than one out of eight bottles of wine over $14 sold in America. Terlato, with more 90+ ratings than any wine company in the world, is the flagship company of the Terlato Wine Group, the parent company of several independent businesses specializing in the marketing and production of exceptional wines. Owned and operated by the Terlato family, the Group also includes the family’s winery investments and partnerships in some of the world’s most esteemed wine regions, including: Napa Valley; Sonoma County; Santa Barbara County; Victoria, Australia; the Rhone Valley in France; and Montalcino, Italy.

Contact:
Steve Singerman
(site) http://blog.hannawinery.com/the-winemaker-cooks/
(email) singermans@terlatowines.com
(voice) +1-847-604-5825

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