Hello to All! I am looking forward to seeing all of your smiling faces, since I was unable to attend the September meeting. I want to thank the board of directors for keeping everything running to make the meeting a success. Thanks!

As the year is coming to a close and the Holidays are fast approaching our schedules become very busy, please remember to mark your calendar for our December 5th meeting. Our program committee has put together an informative and interactive meeting. Our education program will include "Tea Tasting" and a Seminar on "The Safety Evaluation of Food Ingredients." Our Dinner speaker has a very interesting Title "Vanilla, Spice, World Travel and Bird Watching." The Bylaws committee will be reviewing a section and asking for your support to change the wording, please plan to attend the business to participate in the legislation of your organization.

Earlier this Fall I attended the Natural Food Expo in our nation's capitol and it was my first time and I learned so much. I want to encourage any member that has never attended this show to try to make the West Coast Meeting in Anaheim, since it will be held at the same time as the West Coast Natural Food Expo. I will share just a few tidbits:

Have you ever heard of the term Ayurveda or Doshas? Well these terms were used in describing the benefits of complementary medical nutrition to satisfy cravings, lose body fat, increase lean muscle, and maximize health and sports performance.

The 2 top functional ingredients are omega-3 and magnesium.

2001-04 Product category growth forecasts:
Natural & Organic 9.1%
Functional Foods 7.2%
Personal Care 6.0%
Supplements 4.1%

Health care - self-care category is a $1.3 trillion market

Sincerely,

Joan Harvey
SFC President