Masthead
 
Greetings!
Welcome to the February 2011 Member Update and all the best for the year ahead. This quarterly newsletter has been developed to ensure you are kept informed about Go Grains Health & Nutrition activities and member resources.

We encourage you to forward this email to your colleagues to help them get to know Go Grains.

Do email us if you have any comments on this newsletter or any other topic.
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Board news

> The most recent Board Meeting was held on 10th December 2010. At this meeting the Board approved Go Grains' relocation to Grain Growers Ltd building in North Ryde effective from the 20th January 2011. 

 

New Address:

1 Rivett Road, Riverside Corporate Park, North Ryde, NSW,2113

 

Phone Numbers:

Robyn Murray: 61 2 9886 2233

Erin Michael: 61 2 9886 2232

Dianna Crisp: 61 2 9886 2231

 

Fax: 61 2 9888 5821 (communal fax so please address to Go Grains)

 

Email addresses remain the same.

 

If you are visiting, please go to the Grain Growers/BRI reception desk and they will inform us of your arrival.

  

> With the recent resignation of Maria, an opportunity arose to review the current structure of GGHN. To that end the Board has approved the proposal to increase the focus on building our scientific based knowledge. David Roberts and Peter Williams have been engaged (outside of their role on the Scientific Review Panel) to provide a monthly review of the science. The process is as follows: 

 

  1. A list of relevant papers will be provided to David & Peter
  2. They will review and each choose one paper to critique
  3. These critical assessments will be discussed and made available to members. The critique will provide you information on what the paper is about, the study method, the findings and conclusion. It will also have a bottom line summary capturing David or Peter's opinion on the paper
  4. Key papers & the critique will be added into the database

 

> Peter has also been engaged to support GGHN by way of a Consulting Dietitian. In this role Peter will support Robyn through guidance on elements in context of nutrition science, dietetics, public health, regulatory affairs and advocacy. He will also provide guidance and coaching for Erin on key projects. 

 

> These decisions by the Board will result in a number of financial and resource benefits for the organisation. 

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In This Issue
Board news
Project news
External communications activities
Member resources
Dates for your diary
3rd March  Committee Meeting at Nestle Australia,Rhodes
10th March Board Meeting

Project news 

  

> At the 10th December Committee meeting, the key areas of focus for GGHN were agreed. 

  1. Wholegrains and High Fibre - health benefits and health claims 
    • Define the definition and characterisation of wholegrain foods
    • Substantiation and recognition of 48g DTI as a reference
  2. Nutrition benefits of Grains, specifically refined grains.
    • Review the question "What proportion of refined grains can be consumed in a healthy diet?" A literature review conducted by Peter Williams has been commissioned.

> The terms of reference for the consultation groups on both of these projects have been confirmed, please feel free to contribute to these groups. Contact Erin (erin@gograins.com.au) if you have any questions or would like to contribute.

 

 

> Gluten free foods has been put on hold until the last qtr of the financial year.

 

 

 

> We continue to work with FSANZ, DOHA and AFGC in context of our projects in particular our health claims work.

 

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External communications activities
It has been a quiet couple of months with respect to external communications due to the holiday period but we are looking forward to an exciting and busy year ahead.

> GGHN has been invited to present a paper at the AIFST conference in July in Sydney. The topic of the paper has yet to be finalised so we will inform you of this at a later stage.

> Robyn will be presenting the Grains & Legumes Health Report at the Crop Updates 2011 Conference in February.

> Erin will be attending the DAA Conference in May, we are waiting to hear back on a our submission for this conference.
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Member resources
> In prepartion for the 2010/2011 Operations Plan we have completed a review of the 2010 - 2015 Strategic Plan. This has resulted in a more streamlined plan. We will share this with you at the next meeting. We will also provide at the next meeting the Operations Plan process and timetable for development to ensure we gain your valuable insights for the year ahead.

> With the increased focus on our scientific knowledge base, we will be revisiting the structure of the database to incorporate the reviews done by David and Peter. There are currently over 200 papers in the database, we have added some new fields to improve the search accuracy

> The activity calender has been updated and is currently on the members section of the website. If you require any assistance logging on please give Dianna a call or email d.crisp@gograins.com.au

> Congratulations to Caroline on the birth of her baby boys, Henry (Harry as he is to be known) and Oliver on the 10/11/10. Harry was 2.4kg and Oliver 2.5kg, born about 25min apart. They are now 11 weeks old and are doing well.
 Caroline's twins(Oliver is on the left)
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Go Grains Health & Nutrition Ltd is Australia's leading independent voice for grain foods and legumes in health and nutrition.