The increasing interest and acceptance of specialty salts by American home cooks inspired Morton Salt’s development of high-end sea salt, harvested off the coast of Spain’s Costa Blanca region. A popular ingredient among celebrity chefs, sea salt provides a greater sensory experience than table salt but can be used in many of the same applications as either a topping salt or in gourmet recipes. The suggested retail price is between $1.89 and $2.09

David Michael de Mexico SA DE CV received the company’s 2005 Whitehill Cup award for its 45-percent increase in business.

The Whitehill Cup, established by the David Michael board of directors, honors an international subsidiary attaining the highest growth rate in a fiscal year.

It is named for the late Edward Whitehill Rosenbaum and his vision of a global David Michael.

Family-owned and operated since 1896, David Michael & Co., a food-flavor-industry innovator, offers a comprehensive line of more than 30,000 flavors, stabilizers and natural colors, which can be custom-designed to meet the needs of virtually any food product.

With its global headquarters in Philadelphia, Pa, David Michael also operates in Northbrook, Ill.; San Bernardino, Calif.; and internationally in Mexico City, Mexico (David Michael de Mexico SA de CV); Valence, France (David Michael Europe, S.A.S.) and Beijing, China (David Michael (Beijing) Flavor Co. Ltd.).

Lincolnshire, Ill.-based Purac America introduces Purasal Powder Opti.Form, an optimum formulation based on sodium lactate and sodium diacetate in a powder form designed to increase safety for meat and poultry products.

Formulated from sodium salt of natural L(+)-lactic acid and sodium diacetate, Purasal Opti.Form is widely used in the meat and poultry industry to control Listeria monocytogenes.  

Purac introduced Purasal Powder S, sodium lactate powder in 2005. The ensuing worldwide interest for a sodium lactate/diacetate in a powder version resulted in Purasal Powder Opti.Form. Both products can be used in fresh meat and cooked whole muscle and emulsified products and are especially developed for spice blends.

Like Purasal Opti.Form in liquid form, Purasal Powder Opti.Form can be used to increase food safety, extend shelf life, enhance flavor and to protect the color of meat and poultry products.

Purasal Powder Opti.Form is produced in Spain (Barcelona - Montemeló). Production is carried out in accordance with HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) and GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) principles. www.purac.com/meatandpoultry

Flavorist Marie Wright is to speak at the Robert Mondavi Winery’s Taste3 convention, which is sponsored by International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (IFF). The July 13-16 event will be held in New York City at the COPIA Center for Wine, Food and the Arts.

“This is a great opportunity for people who are passionate about food, wine, and the arts to share in our passion for provoking the senses in ways they’d never imagined,” Wright, IFF flavor creation manager, says.

IFF is a leading creator and manufacturer of flavors and fragrances used in a wide variety of consumer products—from beverages and food products to fine fragrances and beauty care products, to soaps, detergents and other household products.

Wright plans to discuss IFF’s collaboration with Visionaire, the art and fashion quarterly, on Visionaire 47 Taste.

Wright was project leader on the IFF/Visionaire collaboration as well as a contributing flavorist to the project. She will be speaking in the segment of the conference on innovation called New Frontiers.

This groundbreaking project marries concepts and visuals by leading chefs, photographers, and painters with tastes created by IFF’s flavorists. The tastes, presented on breath films, range from the delicious and literal to the abstract and surprising. Attendees will be able to sample all 12 tastes and view the accompanying artwork.