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R e s t a u r a n t D a i l y N e w s S a t u r d a y, M a y 1 6 , 2 0 1 5 7 8 SALMON BRANDS TAKES TOP HONORS AT SEAFOOD PRIX D'ELITE Salmon Brands of Oslo, Norway was awarded the top prize in the 15th annual Seafood Prix d'Elite new products com- petition at Seafood Expo Global. The winner was selected from a field of 37 finalists and was announced this evening at a special Seafood Prix d'Elite recep- tion. The top award for best new retail product was given to Salmon Brands for its entry, Salmaraw. This ready-to-eat sashimi kit provides 90 grams of fresh salmon sashimi with sachets of ponzu sauce and sesame seeds, and a specially designed eating utensil. The product is presented in a unique airtight and leak- proof pack that beautifully displays and preserves the high quality of the salmon. The judges particularly noted that this product was very well conceived and executed from start to finish. In addition to the grand prize, the judges also gave five special awards: Salmaraw from Salmon Brands was also presented the Seafood Prix d'Elite special award for Originality. The pres- entation of the salmon sashimi kit in a long tray is unique and elegant, yet still allows the consumer to eat the product directly from the package. This combina- tion makes it well positioned for con- sumers who are looking for healthy take- away meals. The Seafood Prix d'Elite special prize for Health & Nutrition was award- ed to Marine Harvest of Brugge, Belgium for its product, Duo Norvégien au Four. The naturally healthy combination of cod wrapped in a thin slice of salmon is packed in an oven-ready aluminum tray and gives the consumer an easy way to serve an elegant seafood preparation at home. The Big Prawn Company of Melton Constable, England in the United Kingdom was awarded the Seafood Prix d'Elite special award for Convenience for its product Seafood Rarebit. A seafood take on a classic Welsh dish, this frozen retail product offers two pastry cases filled with king prawns and topped with a sauce flavored with English ched- dar cheese, mustard and spices. The top- ping melts down over the prawns and into the pastry during cooking. Perfect for a light lunch or part of a main meal, the product offers consumers a new, easy way to enjoy seafood. The Big Prawn Company was also presented the Seafood Prix d'Elite spe- cial award for Retail Packaging for its product, 2 Crayfish Thermidor Bakes. Designed for special holiday occasions, this product features twin ramekins filled with crayfish tails in a creamy thermidor sauce flavored with white wine, shallots and mustard, then topped with a ciabatta Grand Padano cheese breadcrumb. The package is elegantly designed with full- color photos of the prepared dish and a clear window to see the ramekins, which are covered with clear plastic domes. The package provides complete information for the consumer on nutrition, ingredi- ents, product origin, preparation, and package disposal. Rockabill Shellfish Limited of Balbriggan, Ireland was presented with the Seafood Prix d'Elite special award for Seafood Product Line for its "Something Fishy" line of seafood infused butters. Offered in Sweet Onion, Dulse and Asian Infusion flavors, the products combine Irish butter with freeze-dried and milled seafood protein, dried seaweed and seasonings. The result is a culinary butter that provides the savory deliciousness of umami to both enhance and complete the flavors of pre- pared dishes. The products can be used to flavor sauces, finish risottos, pastas and rice dishes, or to spread over seafood before or after cooking. At the discretion of the judges an award was not given this year for best new foodservice product. Although the judges noted some positive aspects of the products entered in the category, they felt that in many cases the information pro- vided by entrants was incomplete, and therefore it was not possible to choose an overall winner in the category. The winners of the 2015 Seafood Prix d'Elite were chosen from a field of 37 finalists representing 11 countries. The winners and finalists were on display at Seafood Expo Global and Seafood Processing Global, which ran through April 23. The judges for the 2015 Seafood Prix d'Elite new products competition were Debby Verheyen, Seafood Product Expert for Delhaize Supermarkets in Belgium; Thibault Faucon, Supply Chain Manager for Sodexo in Luxemburg; Filip Keersmaekers, Seafood Category Manager for Makro & Metro Cash & carry in Belgium; Ian Nottage, Chef Director with Reynold's Catering Supply in the UK; and Dominique Fenech, National Director of Seafood Purchasing for Monoprix in France. Ms. Verheyen served as chair- person of the jury. The Seafood Prix d'Elite finalists were judged on taste and overall eating experience, packaging, marketability, convenience, nutritional value and origi- nality. The judges' scores were verified by the accounting firm of Ernst & Young. FOOD SAFETY DATABASE NOW AVAILABLE University of Maryland faculty and grad- uate students in computer science and economics, together with a colleague from the University of California, Los Angeles, have created the largest nation- al database of food safety inspection information. In the U.S., such inspections are done by local public health departments, which can take different approaches to conducting, coding and reporting inspec- tion data. Using this unique new auto- mated database, food service businesses and consumers can monitor and compare food safety practices from outlets across the nation. The national database was devel- oped by UMD Professor of Computer Science Ben Bederson, UMD Professor of Economics Ginger Jin, UCLA Associate Professor of Business Management Philip Leslie, new Ph.D. Graduate Alexander Quinn (computer science) and UMD Ph.D. graduate stu- dent Ben Zou (economics). According to Bederson, who also is UMD's Associate Provost of Learning Initiatives and Executive Director of its Teaching and Learning Transformation Center, the team's database uses data robots to automatically collect data from local government websites and repre- sents a huge leap from local and state databases that are built using manually- collected and sometimes poorly correlat- ed data, and which can easily miss the big picture and have little impact on com- pliance actions. "Building our system to reliably collect information from so many different jurisdictions was a formi- dable engineering challenge," said Bederson. Another difficulty was developing normalization algorithms to compare data across jurisdictions where the data is very different. For some web pages, the team had to write custom 'scrapers' to get the data, and for others they had to inter- pret already available databases. "Our data robots cover a large number of local jurisdictions across the U.S., continuous- ly detecting new data posted by each jurisdiction, and integrating them into a single, standardized, and cumulative database," Bederson said, noting that the result is a database that is cost-effective, robust and scalable compared to manual alternatives. The researchers also developed ana- lytical tools that can be used to compare inspection outcomes across localities and states, and across chain and individual food outlets, such as restaurants, cafes, convenience stores, and grocery markets. This can improve inspection efficiency and promote retailer compliance, result- ing in a decrease in food-borne illnesses, according to Bederson. The team has created a regulatory data analytics company, Hazel Analytics, which according to Bederson is a direct outgrowth of their academic collabora- tion around food safety inspection data funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. For non-commercial use, the database is publicly available at InspectionRepo.com at no cost. "As we shared our work with indus- try players, government agencies such as the FDA and CDC, and other academics, our intuition was confirmed that there was commercial value in our database and analytical approach," said Bederson. Hazel Analytics now produces a com- mercial grade restaurant inspection data- base and analytical services for the food service industry. "We are currently in close talks with several major national chains. We expect to have our first pay- ing customers this year," Bederson said. The University of Maryland's Office of Technology Commercialization helped Bederson and his group to develop, license and commercialize the technolo- gy. Bederson plans to apply the web 'scraping' technology to other inspection programs implemented by the local gov- ernments. FISH TO FORK WEEKEND BENEFITS JAMES BEARD FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIPS Omni Amelia Island Plantation Resort hosted the second annual "Fish to Fork" culinary weekend in collaboration with the James Beard Foundation from April 30- May 3, 2015, benefiting the James Beard Foundation scholarship program. Building on last year's successful event and featuring new exciting activi- ties, the "Fish to Fork" culinary weekend is an unmatched foodie experience with true farm-to-table and dock-to-dish spe- cialties creating one-of-a-kind dining opportunities. "Fish to Fork" festivities this year challenged six award-winning chefs from around the country to join Amelia Island charter captains for a fishing excursion before turning their catch-of-the-day into scrumptious seafood during the weekend's main event. Additional resort activities avail- able during "Fish to Fork" weekend included interactive chef-led cooking classes, exclusive spirit tastings, the opportunity to fish alongside the chefs and more. The culinary competition culminated in a chef showdown featuring five renowned visiting chefs as well as Omni Amelia Island Plantation Resort Executive Chef Daven Wardynski. This year's competitors included 2015 James Beard Award semifinalist, Kathleen Blake of Orlando's The Rusty Spoon, three-time James Beard Award semifi- nalist Hector Santiago, previous owner of Atlanta's award-winning Pura Vida restaurant and current owner of El Super Pan slated to open in Atlanta in fall 2015. Also competing are previous James Beard Award semifinalist for "Best Chef South," Tom Gray of Moxie Kitchen + Cocktails in Jacksonville, Florida; Owner, Executive Chef and Wine Director of The Fig Tree in Charlotte, North Carolina Greg Zanitsch; and grilling guru Linkie Marais, who became a household name when she competed on the Food Network's hit show "Next Food Network Star." The main event showcased the chef's skills as they competed in individ- ual and group challenges; transforming a secret ingredient and local seafood sourced during their fishing excursions into delectable delicacies. The chefs were ultimately tested with a live vote from guests who sampled dishes throughout the event.