1988, in Glen Cove, NY. The theme ofCAP 88 was "Now and To-morrow".International experts spoke on microbi­ological hazards of MAP, of optimiza­tion of parameters for MAP of produce,the concept of "hurdles" to ensurepublic health safety of MAPcooked/chilled food, centralized meatand fish packaging, pre-packagedpasta quality and business strategiesfor food processors and packaging sup­pliers. To-morrow's packaging technol­ogies included new innovations such ashigh permeability and microporousfilms, microperforated films, high per­formance foam trays, multi-compart­ment MAP and inpackage atmospherealterants.

Invited speakers from Canadaincluded Dr. Jim Smith, Department ofFood Science and Agricultural Chemis­try, Macdonald College of McGillUniversity and Dr. Bill Powrie, Depart­ment of Food Science, University ofBritish Columbia. Conference Proceed­ing can be obtained from SchotlandBusiness Research Inc., Three Indepen­dence Way, Princeton, NJ 08540. Tel­ephone 609-520-0100 or FAX609-520-8989.

An agreement has been reachedbetween Ireland's Limerick FoodCenter and the Canadian FoodProducts Development Center(CFPDC). The accord will enable thetwo centers to work closely togetherin exchanging information and inencouraging the transfer of technologyin food processing, agri-business andother natural resource-based indus­tries.

The Limerick Food Center, Ireland'sfirst custom-designed food processingcenter, was established by ShannonDevelopment Company to encouragethe development of industries based onvalue-added processing of native foodproducts. The CFPDC was establishedin 1978 and is jointly funded by theFederal and Provincial Governments.Based in Manitoba, it is operated by theManitoba Research Council.

Dr.Tam McEwen, Director of theCFPDC, travelled to Ireland in Augustto visit the food processing industriesin the Midwest Region. He wasimpressed with the state of develop­ment of infrastructure and the indus­trial maturity of the area.

Mr. John Dillon, Manager of theRaheen-based Limerick Food Center,

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noted that the agreement which wasreached with the Canadian outfit, willprovide access for Irish companies toa broad range of Canadian firms thatmay be interested in selling into theEuropean market. This will becomeeven more important with the adventof the Single European Market slatedfor 1992.

The Irish Center offers an incentivepackage unrivalled in Europe. Compa­nies establishing operations there canavail of capital and training grants,near-zero tax rates on corporateprofits, and other financial induce­ments. Because of low operating costs,and as a result of the superior environ­ment for industry which has been deve­loped there, Ireland is the most profita­ble location for industry in Europe. Thisis revealed in published data producedby the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Other incentives offered at theLimerick Food Center include servicedindustrial sites which are available tofirms wishing to construct their owncustom-designed factory buildings.Also available are custom units whichcan be used to develop and test newfood products, a food developmentlaboratory, a fully-equipped processingarea in which clients may begin produc­tion of their own proposed product,andaccess to Limerick Food Center affili­ates in France, Sweden, Switzerland,the United States, Denmark andNorway.

Suntory Limited of Japan and theLabatt Brewing Company Limited havesigned an agreement whereby Labatt'sNew Westminster plant will brew andpackage Suntory draft beer for exportto the U.S.A. Suntory has been export­ing draft beer directly to the U.S.A.from Japan for several years. Theagreement will allow Suntory to con­tinue supplying American customerswith Suntory beer. Suntory views itsbrewing agreement with Labatt as anopportunity to create a foothold in theU.S. as part of a planned worldwideexpansion of its beer business. About20 Labatt brewing and supervisory per­sonnel from New Westminster andLondon will travel to Japan to betrained in the Suntory technique. TheNew Westminster-brewed beer will beshipped directly to the existing Suntorywholesaler/distributor network in theU.S. Suntory draft is currently availa­ble in 12 states, including New Yorkand Massachusetts.

In 1980, Labatt became the firstinternational company licensed byAnheuser-Busch Inc. of St. Louis, MO,to brew Budweiser. Earlier this year,Labatt acquired the licence from UnitedBreweries of Copenhagen, Denmark, tobrew the Carlsberg line of products inCanada, and the dark Guinness stoutof Dublin, Ireland.

A one-and-a half day food researchreview meeting was held on Decemberthe 15th and 16th in Ottawa called byElizabeth Larmond, Food ResearchCoordinator for Agriculture Canada, asa continuation of a preliminary meet­ing held at the CIFST annual meetingin Winnipeg. Twenty-eight membersfrom industry, government and acade­mia participated in the session whichwas related to the roles and responsi­bilities of publicly funded food researchinstitutes. The opening sessionincluded talks by representatives of thethree sectors on a range of relatedtopics, including the roles of researchcentres, communication, relationswith industry, networking andapproaches to successfull foodresearch strategies.

Dr. Tam McEwen of the CanadianFood Products Development Centrediscussed the role of the "private"research centres, stressing theirproduct development and shorter termdevelopment approach as opposed tolong term research goals, which wasviewed to be more in the domain ofAgriculture Canada. Mr. Jim Oickleof Agriculture Canada discussed com­munications and technology transfer,specifically the ease, use and types ofdata bases which would be useful toboth industrial and research establish­ments.Means to make it easier toobtain data on who's who in govern­ment and what they do was considereda key factor to effective communica­tion. Mr. Peter Voisey of the Engineer­ing and Statistical Research CentreAgriculture Canada, summarized hisview of the Agriculture Canadaresearch establishments, their pros andcons in relation to the food industry.Agriculture Canada's mandate wasdefined as decidedly longer term withshorter term applied research for indus­try requiring some cost recovery. Con­cerns about competition with provin­cial/regional centres were in theprocess of being addressed and effortswere underway to implement an armslength means of operating and interact­ing with industry.

J. Inst. Can. Sci. Technol. Aliment. Vo!. 22, No. 2, 1989