Indonesian agreement targets poultry safety

By Neil Merrett

背景知识：新加坡衛生部長許文遠和印尼人民福利統籌部長巴克里今天在雅加達簽署諒解備忘錄，聯手推動控制禽流感疫情實驗計畫，參與這項計畫的還有美國和世界衛生組織等其他國際組織。

根據新加坡電子媒體發自雅加達的報導，根據這項備忘錄，新加坡將協助印尼落實這項計畫，以明確和集中的方式控制禽流感疫情。

在這項計畫之下，印尼將測試各種控制疫情方法的效果，並將獲得的知識運用在其他有疫情傳出的地區。

許文遠指出，這項計畫包括動物和人類的疫情監控策略、禽流感病人管理和動物的疾病控制，動物的疾病控制還包括家禽養殖場系統的改革與改組。

這項控制禽流感實驗計畫預計分三年推動，耗資四百五十萬美元，其中新加坡貢獻一百五十萬美元，提供專業技術和人力。

許文遠表示，實驗計畫的準備工作已經展開，在參與計畫中，新加坡人員將與印尼的醫生和科學家交流，同時提供培訓，這將加強雙方的研究實力。

許文遠並希望，新加坡也能從實驗計畫中受惠。

印尼是全球禽流感病例最嚴重的國家，截至目前為止共有九十五人染上禽流感，並有七十五人因而死亡，同時也影響全球禽流感的防疫工作

Singapore yesterday entered into an agreement with Indonesia to aid the country in stepping up measures to protect its poultry industry, which has been hit by an ongoing epidemic of avian influenza..

Under the memorandum of understanding, the countries will open a bird flu centre in Indonesia's Baten province. The cenre will focus on preventing further H5N1 outbreaks by acting on a more localised level.

Success for the project is vital for Indonesia's poultry processors as growing concern over the presence of avian influenza entering the human food supply chain continues to affect sales.

The issue is also prevalent for the wider Asia Pacific region, with concerns that any future Indonesian outbreak could spread to their own flocks.

As such, the centre, which is part of a trilaterally funded $4.5m pilot project with the US, will aim to focus Indonesia's national bird flu strategy specifically at the local level.

Depending on its performance, further centres may later be rolled out throughout the country to ensure all regions are protected.

The announcement will also be welcomed by the World Health Organisation, which has previously criticised officials in the country for falling behind its Asian neighbours in preventing the spread of the disease.

According to estimates by Indonesian officials, 75 people have so far been killed in the country by avian influenza, leading to a dearth of confidence in the safety of the country's poultry production.

Besides the human cost, this decreased confidence has also been felt strongly within the poultry industry.

In a report by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) earlier this year, Indonesia's ongoing problems with avian influenza were found to be adversely affecting poultry meat sales.

"In spite of a safe chicken consumption campaign, media coverage of the avian influenza victims has caused severe declines in poultry consumption," stated the report.  "People are afraid to consume poultry and are reportedly switching to beef, fish, tempe, and tofu as protein sources."

The USDA added that in January this year, broiler sales in Jakarta alone dropped by about 40 per cent to 50 per cent.

Malaysia plays host to Global Halal Forum

By Neil Merrett

背景知识：本次为第二届世界清真论坛。

最近几年,世界各地对清真食品的要求不断增加,清真食品的产量每年都超过1500亿美元。
根据市场上对清真食品的大量需求,在沙特阿拉伯首都利雅德成立了世界清真食品组织,以协调清真肉食企业的生产和销售。
由于清真肉食在宰杀清理方面的高卫生与高质量,不仅穆斯林对清真肉食品有需求,欧美的非穆斯林同样欢迎清真食品,
仅仅美国首都华盛顿一个城市便开设了140家清食品商店,这些商店专门出售清真肉食,尽管价格比通过流水线宰杀的普通肉价要高出许多,但顾客还是络绎不绝。
随着欧洲和美国作为少数族裔的穆斯林人口的不断增加,各国政府职能部门开始考虑向这些皈依的穆斯林供应清真食品。
“清真食品” 这一术语也随着世界对清真食品不断增加的需求,而被收录进欧洲各种不同的字典中,成为了人们日常生活中的一个惯用词。

The second ever World Halal Forum kicked off in Malaysia this week, as the country moves to become a global leader in production and distribution of the strictly defined certification.

Speaking during the event's opening yesterday, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi stressed the country's desire to further develop halal techniques not just domestically, but globally as well.

"The WHF together with its partner event the Malaysian International Halal Showcase (MIHAS) have been included in Malaysia's 15 Year Industrial Master Plan as annual events to boost the development of the halal sector," he said as during his key note speech.

The forum comes as a further sign of the opportunities, particularly in the food industry, for the country's halal processors and producers.  An increasing number of companies are producing halal goods to tap into the billion dollar global demand.

Halal is an Islamic term for permissible, which in food terms constitutes an approved slaughter and preparation for products such as meat, in a similar vein to kosher products.

During the two day event, 900 representatives from over 30 countries, ranging from key industry players to raw material suppliers will meet to discuss the biggest issues facing the industry, like the implementation of international standards.

Badawi also used the forum to announce the formation of the International Halal Integrity (IHI) Alliance, a non-profit, non-government organization designed to represent views of everyone involved in the industry.

The event is also expected to set the agenda for the halal industry over the coming year with a number of memorandums of understandings to be signed to further develop production techniques and certification.

These include developing an information and communication technology with Microsoft, as well as financial services, and human resource development with Thailand's Chulalongkorn University.

With more than 1.8bn Muslims globally, the total size of global halal food and non-food (such as financial services, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics) industries is estimated at RM7.98 trillion (?1.5 trillion) with an expected growth rate of 10-20 per cent each year.


Though the global market for halal food has never been measured, industry estimates of its value range from $150bn (?110bn) to $500bn (?368bn).

Book Descrīption
With its distinguished editors and an international team of contributors, Meat Processing reviews the latest research on what defines and determines meat quality, and how it can be maintained or improved during processing. Part 1 considers the various aspects of meat quality. Part 2 then discusses how these aspects are measured, beginning with the identification of appropriate quality indicators. Finally, the book reviews the range of new processing techniques that have been deployed at various stages in the supply chain. Providing detailed and comprehensive coverage of what defines and determines meat quality, this book will be a standard reference for all involved in the meat industry and meat research.

Book Info
Reviews the latest research on what defines and determines meat quality, and how it can be maintained or improved during processing. A standard reference for all those involved in the meat industry and meat research.


Contents
1. Introduction
2. Defining Meat Quality
Part I. Analysing Meat Quality
3. Factors Affecting the Quality of Raw Meat
4. The Nutritional Quality of Meat
5. Lipid-Derived Flavors in Meat Products
6. Modelling Colour Stability in Meat
7. The Fat Content of Meat and Meat Products
Part II. Measuring Quality
8. Quality Indicators for Raw Meat
9. Sensory Analysis of Meat
10. On-Line Monitoring of Meat Quality
11. Microbiological Hazard Identification in the Meat Industry
Part III. New Techniques for Improving Quality
12. Modelling Beef Cattle Production to Improve Quality
13. New Developments in Decontaminating Raw Meat
14. Automated Meat Processing
15. New Developments in the Chilling and Freezing of Meat
16. High Pressure Processing of Meat
17. Processing and Quality Control of Restructured Meat
18. Quality Control of Fermented Meat Products
19. New Techniques for Analysing Raw Meat
20. Meat Packaging

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Tata Tea to tap Chinese market

摘要：印度Tata公司将与浙江茶叶进出口公司合资，在浙江Anji经济开发区建厂，其中Tata占有70%的注册资金（总数Rs 70 crore，约$16 million），该厂主要生产和销售绿茶多酚，绿茶提取物，速溶茶，茶浓缩液以及其他茶饮料产品。

PTI[ TUESDAY, MAY 08, 2007 11:10:15 AM]

MUMBAI: With an eye over Chinese and Far-East markets, Tata Tea on Tuesday announced its joint venture with Zhejiang Tea Import and Export Company, which accounts for nearly 25 per cent of export volume of China.

The two companies would set up a joint venture entity at the Economic Development Zone of Anji County in Zhejiang at an estimated outlay of Rs 70 crore.

Tata Tea would own 70 per cent of the registered capital of the joint venture company and is planning to fund the project through a mix of equity capital and borrowings, Tata Tea said in a communique to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The joint venture company would manufacture and market green tea polyphenols, green tea extracts, cold and hot water soluble instant tea, liquid tea concentrates and other value added tea beverage products.

Recently, Tata Tea acquired two Polish brands Vitax and Flosana from Premium Foods for an undisclosed amount, a move after which its brand Tetley caught hold of the number two position in the Polish tea market.

Zhejiang Tea is engaged in trading of green, black and speciality teas and has clients in over 60 countries in Asia, Africa, North America, Europe, and Oceania.

Tata Tea's shares were trading at Rs 764, up 0.23 per cent on the BSE.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier said the Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. Ltd. and Binzhou Futian Biology Technology Co. Ltd. had exported the melamine-tainted products.

The FDA discovered melamine, a chemical used in plastics, fertilizers and flame retardants, in pet food recalled by Ontario-based pet food maker Menu Foods and traced the contaminated foodstuff to the two Chinese companies.

"The two companies illegally added melamine to the wheat gluten and rice protein in a bid to meet the contractual demand for the amount of protein in the products," said the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

非法添加化工原料三聚氰胺，以达到合同中所规定的蛋白质含量。

The watchdog said the two companies managed to evade quality check-ups by labeling them as exports that are not subject to quality inspection.

It said it had ordered local branches to strengthen quality inspection on all vegetable proteins and pledged to include all vegetable proteins on the exports list subject for quality check-ups.

It added the local public security authorities had launched an investigation into the cases and had detained related company officials.

The administration said it had found no further melamine-contaminated products after checking 399 samples from 173exporters nationwide.

The watchdog said it had notified the FDA of the investigation results and proposed to set up a cooperation mechanism on food safety with the United States.

Mystery disease kills pigs in Southern China

Mon May 7, 2007 12:57am ET © Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A mysterious disease has killed thousands of pigs in China's southern Guangdong province and authorities have disinfected affected farms, markets and abattoirs, several Hong Kong newspapers reported on Monday.

The outbreak began around early April in Silao town, where the animals stopped eating, developed high fevers and started hemorrhaging under their skin.

The disease has since spread to nearby towns, they reported. Its cause is unknown.

Beijing-backed Ta Kung Pao quoted officials in nearby Yunfu city confirming that more than 300 pigs had died in Silao town.

Some of the carcasses were hurled into rivers and that may have been responsible for the spread of the disease to surrounding areas, other newspapers reported, with some estimating total losses at more than 3,000 animals.

Faced with heavy financial losses, some farmers have hastily sold sick pigs at reduced prices, the Apple Daily reported.

Although the cause of the disease is unknown, experts ruled out the possibility of people contracting the disease.

EU strict on antibiotic residue in shrimp

The EU has taken a strict stand on antibiotic residue in shrimp consignments and made it clear that it will not allow re-exporting of contaminated shipments. The EU legislation prohibits re-exports of unsafe food and the only option left is to destroy the consignment. All costs associated with the destruction would have to be borne by the importer or his representative. Indian exporters are of the view that earlier consignments containing antibiotic residues were allowed to be shipped back to India, although with much difficulty. Almost 30% of India's seafood exports are now destined to the EU.

According to EU, for many antibiotics it was possible to define a limit, and food containing such residues below that limit could be considered safe. However, chloramphenicol and nitrofurans, which were not dose-related, were considered potentially harmful at any level. Accordingly, a limit of 0.3 ppb for chloramphenicol and 1 ppb for nitrofuran had been fixed and for chloramphenicol the risk could be fatal.

An official from The Marine Pro-ducts Export Development Authority (MPEDA), the countrys nodal agency for the development of trade and industry, said that the use of antibiotics in aquaculture farms had been reduced considerably. A series of awareness campaigns had been conducted and farmers were grouped into clusters for implementing good management practices. There are 11 approved laboratories across the country for under-taking analysis of antibiotics and farmers had started to use these services. Most of the diseases found in the farms were not caused by bacteria but by virus for which antibiotic treatment was not an answer, he added.

Bird flu resurfaces in central Vietnam

The Associated Press  Published: May 5, 2007

Bird flu has struck poultry in central Vietnam, just one month after the last outbreak in the Southeast Asian country, an official said Sunday.

Nearly 200 ducks died at a private farm in the central province of Nghe An on Tuesday. Test results released by a government laboratory in the area show they were infected with the deadly H5N1 virus, said Nguyen Xuan Yem, director of Nghe An's animal health department.

The ducks had not been vaccinated, Yem said.

Authorities have slaughtered the remaining 400 ducks at the farm and disinfected the area. Control over movement and trading of poultry has been tightened, he said.

The last bird flu outbreak was reported last month in northern Vietnam. Before that, the country went without reporting a bird flu outbreak for a year until the disease killed and forced the slaughter of about 40,000 birds in eight southern Mekong Delta provinces since January.

The bird flu virus has killed at least 172 people worldwide, including 42 in Vietnam, since it began ravaging poultry stocks across Asia in late 2003, according to the World Health Organization.

Supermarket secrets: 20 things their ads won’t tell you

06 May 2007  By Jennifer O’Connell              Sunday Business Post

1 - Babies weaned on jarred food sold in supermarkets are being trained to have a sweeter palate.

Few baby-food manufacturers supplying Europe add sucrose to their products these days - they know that parents are much too smart and nutritionally aware for that. But the use of concentrated fruits and the manufacturing process turns those harmless looking baby jars into very sweet offerings indeed.

Though the label reassures parents that the contents include only pure fruit and fruit concentrates, a 213ml jar of junior baby food apple and blueberry contains 33g of sugars - which is about the same as 11 sugar cubes.


The process that keeps fruits like pear and banana ripe on the shelf for months and months just serves to reinforce this sweetness. The fruit is cooked once, jarred, and then cooked again in the jar under pressure at a temperature of at least 121 degrees for 40 minutes - sterilising the fruit so that it stays fresh for months, and effectively caramelising it in the process.

All of which means that by the time they’re old enough to express a view on it, children have become passionate advocates of the sugar-laden, supermarket sold alternatives to mum’s home cooking.

And the food industry has been predictably slow to surrender this sugar-coated stranglehold on the next generation of little consumers.

The permitted level of sugar in baby food products is 30 per cent; recent proposals to cut this to 10 per cent as part of the global fight against obesity were blocked by the EU and the US.

2 - ‘Use-by’ labels are regularly - and legally - switched several times before the produce hits the shelf of your local supermarket.

The practice of switching labels to extend the life of food is perfectly legal, so long as it is done within the ‘‘recognised shelf life of the product’’, says the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.

In 2004, the British FSA investigated claims by Which? magazine that labels on chicken were being switched up to 20 times before they hit supermarket shelves.

It found evidence of relabelling, but concluded that it was only done during the recognised shelf-life period.

3 – Six bottles for the price of five, 40 per cent off this, 25 per cent off that.

Around two thirds of the wine we buy is now sold on promotion, with supermarket wine shops often boasting more discount stickers than a Moore Street stall. But just how ‘special’ are these offers?

The Guardian’s wine writer Victoria Moore recently launched an investigation into wine promotions and found that they aren’t always what they seem. She claims that the ‘original’, higher, price is often artificially concocted with a view to supermarkets selling the wine at that price for the shortest time legally allowable, before slashing the price and offering an impressive discount which is - you guessed it - all the wine was worth to begin with.

In Ireland, the legislation is a little tighter, so while supermarkets here can’t afford to inflate prices in the same way, it’s safe to conclude that they must be enjoying a healthy margin on any wine they can afford to offer at a 50 per cent discount.

‘‘Any bottle that you can buy at two for the price of one is a wine that you probably won’t want to buy if they were selling four for that price,” says The Sunday Business Post’s wine critic, Tomas Clancy. ‘‘Oddly enough, you never see bottles of Margaux, Lafite or Latour on a three bottles for the price of two offer.”

Some supermarkets are better than others, and there are bargains to be had in all supermarkets (for example, in bin end sales), but the message is to trust your palate - and don’t be blinded by the discount sticker.

4 - Do you want a divorce with that litre of milk?

In Britain, Tesco is now selling DIY divorce and wills packages from its Tesco Legal store. For just £14.99 or ?22, you can buy a Separation and Divorce kit, which is legally binding in England and Wales (and get 14 Clubcard points in the process), while the store’s best-seller is a £9.99 or ?14.66 Power of Attorney kit.

In Ireland, its offerings are so far confined to food, petrol, clothes, books, CDs, appliances, jewellery, diets and insurance policies.

Tesco mobile phones are on their way.

5 - Three thousand miles is the average distance travelled by your food before it hits the supermarket shelf.

6 - Some of the ‘Irish’ labelled chicken fillets sold in supermarkets are about as Irish as coconut milk.

According to the Department of Health, supermarkets regularly buy in meat products (other than beef) from outside the EU, make some ‘substantial transformation’ to them in the form of a sprinkling of spice or breadcrumbs, and relabel them as ‘Irish’ with local brand names and even health marks. This is all perfectly legal, but is it ethical?

In the meat section of one Irish supermarket, for example, one half of a fridge is filled with chicken fillets clearly labelled ‘100 per cent Irish chicken’.

The ingredients read ‘100 per cent Irish chicken breast’ and the name and location of the producer - a farmer in County Monaghan - is given on the front of the pack.

Sitting right next to them, in the other half of the same fridge, are more chicken breasts, this time covered in a sauce and labelled ‘Whole Irish deboned chicken with ginger and chilli and lime marinade.’ There’s no sticker touting the product’s 100 per cent Irishness, and no name given for the farmer who produced it.

So are they both ‘Irish’, or is one - or both - of them ‘100 per cent Irish’? And what’s the difference anyway?

It’s the kind of question which could tie a whole army of constitutional lawyers up in knots for weeks, and for busy shoppers, it’s probably a semantic too far.

7 - Smell anything funny in the fruit and veg aisle?

No? Didn’t think so. That’s because the fruit and veg on display has likely undergone what author of the supermarket expose, Shopped, Joanna Blythman, describes as a bizarre kind of ‘beauty pageant’ designed to make the produce look more attractive to consumers, give it the longest shelf life possible and, in the process, inadvertently strips it of any flavour or scent.

Ribbed, angular or misshapen tomatoes, for example, will be rejected, as will tomatoes with slightly chewy skin, ones with a colour of 0,1, 2 or 7 on the supermarkets’ colour chart, and tomatoes at different colour stages in the same box.

8 - Ever wondered why spinach only comes in bags?

Leaf spinach is one of the few vegetables that defies attempts by supermarkets to extend its shelf life.

Left to its own devices, it’ll look tired after a couple of days.

Supermarkets have simply stopped stocking it loose and sell it in bags, in a modified atmosphere (known as Modified Atmosphere Packaging, or MAP) that extends its shelf life by up to 50 per cent and strips it of every last vestige of taste.

9 - If you need a vitamin fix, steer clear of prewashed vegetables and ‘freshly’ prepared fruit salad.

Those alluring cubes of melon and pineapple that come ready-washed and chopped in neat little containers might not be the healthy lunch option they seem.

Most fruit and veg sold this way, from broccoli florets to mango slices, come in MAPs, or ‘pillow packs’.

Typically in MAP, the oxygen is reduced from 21 per cent to 3 per cent and the CO2 levels correspondingly raised. This slows any visible deterioration or discolouring. Great technology, it’s just a shame about the side effects.

The British Journal of Nutrition carried out a study which showed that MAPping strips vegetables of vitamin C, vitamin E, polyphenols and other micro-nutrients.

Research published by Which? magazine found that sliced chilled runner beans, for example, contain 89 per cent less vitamin C than their just-harvested brethren.

10 - When is a chicken fillet not really a chicken fillet?

When it’s a) 70 per cent chicken; b) 54 per cent chicken, or c) 43 per cent chicken?

The answer is: none of the above - at least if the chiller or freezer cabinet in your local supermarket is an indication.

According to the Irish Food Safety Promotions Board ‘‘it is not illegal to process chicken fillets by adding water and other ingredients, provided that these ingredients are approved and clearly stated on the label of pre-packed products, in addition to the added water content.

The percentage of meat content must also be accurately labelled.”

11 - Why did the chicken cross the continents?

This extract from a 2005 report by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland describes in stomach-churning detail the journey in 2001 of 400 million chicken breasts from Thailand and Brazil into European wholesale catering establishments, and from there into some of the prepared chicken dishes sold in restaurants and supermarkets.

‘‘On import, European processors tumble or inject defrosted imported chicken fillets with water and binding agents such as animal proteins (derived from a variety of different sources, including gelatine, blood, whey protein, spray-dried beef and pork protein, some of which may be mechanically recovered).

‘‘The chicken breasts are packed into boxes and frozen prior to distribution throughout the EU, including ROI and NI. These fillets are then sold into wholesale catering suppliers at a lower price than normal unprocessed chicken fillets.

‘‘The cyclical freezing and defrosting of such fillets does not contravene food safety, provided that it is done in a controlled manner. The issue of ‘freshness’ also arises as fillets with added ingredients that have been frozen and refrozen at different stages in the food chain may be sold in establishments as ‘fresh chicken’.”

Higher taxes slowed down the trade in chicken from Brazil and Thailand after 2001, but in 2005, the World Trade Organisation outlawed these tariffs.

12 - One in four euro spent on food or household goods in Ireland is spent at Tesco, but the retailer won’t disclose its Irish profits.

13 - The chilly truth about refrigerated ready meals.

Thousands of time-poor consumers are opting to buy chilled ready meals over their frozen alternatives in the expectation that they’re doing something better for their family.

Not so, say experts from the British Food Standards Agency to author Joanna Blythman.

Compared with frozen foods, many chilled, prepared foods come loaded with additives.

And you don’t necessarily get what you pay for - ironically, the more upmarket-looking, aspirational versions are often the worst offenders.

14 - Fancy a quick ham sandwich? Read this first

Now you’re avoiding chilled ready meals and prepared salads, slinging the ingredients for a ham sandwich into your shopping trolley might seem like a quick and healthy lunch option.

Not necessarily. Sliced white pans have fallen out of fashion with the health-conscious, but industrial wholemeal loaves - 70 per cent of which are bought in supermarkets - aren’t much better.

An analysis of the label shows they’re pumped full of water, yeast and chemicals to stop the bread going mouldy and help it hold more water, hard fat to stick it all together and salt to compensate for the lack of taste. And according to research published in July 2005 by Britain’s Pesticides Residues Committee, wholemeal bread contains more pesticide residues than any other type.

If you’re planning to use a butter substitute, you might be wise to avoid ‘cholesterol-lowering’ spreads. The label on one such spread carries a warning that the product shouldn’t be consumed by pregnant or breastfeeding women.

That’s because of the much-vaunted plant sterols, which are potential hormonal disrupters and can reduce the consumption of some vitamins. Yet these spreads were found separated from the butter on one supermarket shelf by the heading ‘‘healthier options’’.

Finally, Felicity Lawrence, consumer journalist and author of Not On the Label, has shed light on the manufacture of ‘‘formed’’ ham and, worse, ‘‘reformed’’ ham, which is guaranteed to put you off hang sangers for life. Much supermarket ham sold today is, she claims, formed or reformed ham.

‘‘Formed ham is muscle meat from the leg bones. It is chopped and passed under needles which inject it with a solution of water, sugars, preservatives, flavourings and other additives, or put into a giant machine resembling a cement mixer and mixed with a similar solution. The process dissolves an amino acid called myosin, so the meat becomes sticky and, when put into moulds, comes out looking like a whole piece of meat. If the ham is to be presented as a traditional cut, a layer of fat is stuck round the edge of the mould to make it look as though it has been cut off a whole leg.”

‘Reformed’ ham is made through basically the same process, but includes scraps left over from using formed ham - in other words, the gunge that collects at the bottom of the machine.

15 - A homemade shepherd’s pie contains about six ingredients. A supermarket alternative may have up to 60.

An own-brand sweet and sour chicken dish on sale in the chilled cabinet of one Irish supermarket chain has over 70 ingredients.

‘Cooked chicken’ accounts for just 20 per cent of it.

And even the chicken itself has more than 20 ingredients - five of them E numbers.

16 - If Tesco were a country, it would be the 54th richest in the world.

It’s one of a handful of supermarkets that controls much of what the world eats.

In Australia, two companies, Woolworths and Coles, sell a third of all food consumed.

In the US, Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world, controls 20 per cent of a $450 billion market.

In Britain, the so-called ‘big four’ sell 75 per cent of the country’s groceries, with Tesco alone controlling 30 per cent of the market.

17 - Bangladeshi workers making Tesco t-shirts earn 7 cent an hour.

A recent report by the charity Action Aid also found that women supplying British supermarkets with cashew nuts are earning just 44 cent a day for work that exposes their hands to corrosive acids.

Tesco said it acknowledged that conditions in developing countries were ‘‘difficult’’, but added that trade was the best route out of poverty.

18 - In 1980, the average meal took one hour to prepare; now it takes 20 minutes.

It is predicted that this figure will shrink to eight minutes by 2010.

19 - Supermarket chaplains, nail-bars and even in-store weddings could all soon be part of the shopping experience.

Wal-Mart, which owns the Asda chain of stores, attributes its success to a policy of low prices, selling non-food items, and what it calls ‘retailtainment’.

In Britain, this has translated to offering customers the services of an in-store chaplain or their local MP.

There are actors working as greeters, nail bars, singles nights and Asda has even hosted a wedding in one of its British stories.

Asda is opening three stores in the North and is believed to be looking for the site for its first store south of the border.

20 - Fancy yourself as an ethical shopper? Well don’t clap yourself on the back just yet. Many organic brands marketed as if they are small, independent, benevolent firms are actually owned by trans-nationals.

They include Seeds of Change, bought by Mars in 1997 ; Green & Black’s , snapped up by Cadbury Schweppes in 2005; and Back to Nature, held since 2003 by Kraft, which is a subsidiary of Altria, the company that owns tobacco giant Philip Morris.

Contents:

1. Introduction and Background

2. The Current US Food Safety System

6. Conclusions and Recommendations

Descrīption:

How safe is our food supply? Each year the media report what appears to be growing concern related to illness caused by the food consumed by Americans. These food borne illnesses are caused by pathogenic microorganisms, pesticide residues, and food additives. Recent actions taken at the federal, state, and local levels in response to the increase in reported incidences of food borne illnesses point to the need to evaluate the food safety system in the United States. This book assesses the effectiveness of the current food safety system and provides recommendations on changes needed to ensure an effective science-based food safety system. Ensuring Safe Food discusses such important issues as:

What are the primary hazards associated with the food supply? What gaps exist in the current system for ensuring a safe food supply? What effects do trends in food consumption have on food safety? What is the impact of food preparation and handling practices in the home, in food services, or in production operations on the risk of food borne illnesses? What organizational changes in responsibility or oversight could be made to increase the effectiveness of the food safety system in the United States?
Current concerns associated with microbiological, chemical, and physical hazards in the food supply are discussed. The book also considers how changes in technology and food processing might introduce new risks. Recommendations are made on steps for developing a coordinated, unified system for food safety. The book also highlights areas that need additional study. Ensuring Safe Food will be important for policymakers, food trade professionals, food producers, food processors, food researchers, public health professionals, and consumers.

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Bangladesh says bird flu spreads to more farms

DHAKA, May 3 (Reuters) - Bird flu has spread to six more farms in western Bangladesh, forcing authorities to cull thousands of fowl and destroy eggs, government officials said on Thursday.

The latest cases were uncovered on farms in Jessore district, 300 km (190 miles) west of the capital Dhaka, said a senior official at the Fisheries and Livestock Ministry.

Some 9,000 birds were culled at the farms, where thousands of eggs were also buried, officials said.

The H5N1 virus was first detected at six farms at Savar near Dhaka on March 22 and the virus has since spread across the country, they said.

There have been no cases of human infection.

Jessore district is adjacent to the West Bengal state of India, where bird flu was detected. Bangladesh also shares a border with Myanmar, which is fighting the disease.

So far, nearly 107,000 chickens have been culled in nine districts. Authorities have pledged to pay 70 taka (nearly US$1) for each culled bird.

国外相关食品专业院校汇总

美国

内布拉斯加州大学食品科学与技术系

加州大学戴维斯分校食品科学与技术系

加州福尼亚州立工艺大学农业学院

北卡罗来纳大学食品科学系

亚利桑纳州立大学营养科学系

伊立诺斯州立大学食品科学与人类营养系

佛罗里达州立大学食品和农业科学学院

克莱姆森大学食品科学与人类营养系

阿肯色州立大学食品科学系

明尼苏达大学食品科学与营养系

肯塔基州立大学

俄亥俄州立大学食品科学与技术系

俄克拉荷马州立大学食品与农业产品研究技术中心

俄勒冈州立大学食品科学与技术系

威斯康星大学食品科学系

密西西比州立大学食品科学系

堪萨斯州立大学农业学院

普度大学食品科学系

路易斯安那州立大学食品科学系

英国

Reading大学食品科学与技术系

Surrey大学生物医学和生命科学学院

立兹大学食品科学系

加拿大

Saskatchewan大学应用微生物与食品科学系

圭尔夫大学（Guelph）食品科学系

阿尔伯塔大学（Alberta）农业食品与营养科学系

曼尼托巴大学（Manitoba）大学食品科学系

其他

东京大学农业与生命科学学院

京都大学农学部（生命、食品、环境）

荷兰瓦赫大学农业技术与食品科学系

Gadot forges Chinese joint venture for citric acid

By Jess Halliday

Gadot is taking its first ever step outside Israel with a joint venture to build a new citric acid plant in China - a project that it expects to yield significant cost advantages thanks to the fermentation technology of partner Jiangsu Nuobei Biochemical, as well as doubling its existing capacity.

Ronny Hatcham, Gadot VP business development and marketing, told FoodNavigator.com that Gadot is in a relatively strong strategic position in Israel, with citric acid forming a small but significant part of its business alongside crystalline fructose and minerals.

However the company is looking outside the boarders of its home country to secure a competitive advantage in citric acid supply for the future, establishing a US$30m plant in Jiangsu Provice in a joint venture with Jiangsu Nuobei Biochemical.

"Looking at the market for the last five years, we saw that suppliers are losing their advantages over the Chinese," said Hacham. "It is important in our business to go where the advantage is - and today the advantage is in China."

Specifically, Gadot's project will use Jiangsu Nuobei's technology, which uses a non-processed carbohydrate source for fermentation - be it potato, cassava, or corn. In Israel, the process uses white sugar, which is considerably more expensive as it has already done through the purification process.

For its part, Gadot brings to the joint venture its purification technology, applied after fermentation. This, Hacham said, will yield a product of the same quality as presently supplied by Gadot.

The result, Hatcham said, will be a cost advantage for the final product. Moreover the companies have expressed adherence to environmental protection principles, which are factored into the plant's design.

The JV - in which Gadot holds a 51 per cent stake and Jiang Nuobei 49 per cent - will see the Israeli company's citric acid capacity double to 60,000 tonnes.  Hacham said that this is seen as the minimum capacity for economies of scale; he said that several stand alone citric acid plants in Ireland, the UK, the Czech Republic and Mexico have closed their doors in recent years as such smaller scale operations are not commercially viable.

For instance, in March Tate and Lyle announced the closure of its plant in Selby in the north of England, citing Chinese competition as a cause.

While Gadot's existing facility in Israel has a capacity of 30,000 tons, this is not a stand-alone plant, but one that also produces fructose.

The plant will produce anhydrous citric acid and citric acid monohydrate - forms of the acid with different water content (0 and 10 per cent respectively), and the salt tri-sodium citrate.

The company will be going after the same market as at present - the food and drinks industries, which currently use 80 per cent of the world's citric acid for flavouring and preservative purposes; detergents (10 per cent); pharmaceuticals (five per cent); and industrial uses (five per cent).

Most of the product from the JV will be destined for export, primarily to Gadot's biggest markets in Europe and North America. But the company is also looking to develop new markets. A tranche of the product will also be earmarked for the domestic Chinese market.

The plant is expected to be online within a year of construction starting.

   Canada confirms new case of mad cow disease

   The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) announced Wednesday that a diary cow in the western province of British Columbia had died of mad cow disease.

    No part of the infected animal had entered the human food or animal feed system, the CFIA said.

    This is the 10th case of mad cow disease in the country since 2003, when the United States imposed an embargo on Canadian beef amid fears of mad cow infection.

    The CFIA said the six-year-old diary cow was infected in its first year of life, possibly by exposure to a small amount of infected material.

    The CFIA is now inspecting other animals born about the same time and is trying to find out how the infection happened.

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Contents
INTRODUCTION

A. About the guide
B. Using and adapting the guide

Complex Carbohydrates in Foods

Title: Complex Carbohydrates in Foods (Food Science and Technology, 93)
Author: S.S. CHO, L. PROSKY, M. DREHER
Publisher: CRC
Publication Date: 1999-01-19
Number Of Pages: 700


Editorial Descrīption
"Explores the effects of complex carbohydrates (starch, gums, and dietary fibers) on human physiological function and establishes an appropriate dietary intake level for inclusion on nutritional labels. Addresses current research, applications, and implementation issues."

Contents

Preface iii
Contributors xi
1. Introduction 1
Susan Sungsoo Cho, Leon Prosky, and Jonathan W. Devries
Part I: Health Benefits and Definition of Complex Carbohydrates and Dietary Fiber       5
2. Dietary Guidelines for Complex Carbohydrates/Dietary Fiber                                      7
Joanne L. Slavin
3. Complex Carbohydrates and the Food Label: An FDA Perspective                             15
F. Edward Scarbrough
4. Dietary Fiber Properties and Health Benefits of Non-Digestible Oligosaccharides       25
M. B. Roberfroid
5. Suggested Alternatives to the Term ‘‘Complex Carbohydrates’’                                  35
6. Complex Carbohydrates: The Science and the Label                                                   39
David R. Lineback, Mark Dreher, Jonathan W. Devries,
Joanne L. Slavin, Alison Stephen, Dennis Gordon, Leon Prosky,
F. Edward Scarbrough, Gary Henderson, Susan Sungsoo Cho,
Beth Olson, and Fergus Clydesdale
7. The Role of Dietary Fiber in the Prevention of Lipid Metabolism Disorders                  53
Elzbieta Bartnikowska
8. Health Benefits of Complex Carbohydrates                                                                63
David Kritchevsky
9. Worldwide Dietary Fiber Intake: Recommendations and Actual Consumption Patterns 71
Susan Sungsoo Cho, K. O’Sullivan, and Sharon Rickard
Part II: Complex Carbohydrates—Chemistry and Analytical Methodology                     113
10. The Chemistry of Complex Carbohydrates                                                                115
David R. Lineback
11. Complex Carbohydrates: Definition and Analysis                                                        131
Susan Sungsoo Cho and Leon Prosky
12. Determination of Complex Carbohydrate Fractions in Foods                                     145
Betty W. Li
Part III: Resistant Starch—Analysis                                                                                  155
13. In Vivo Techniques to Quantify Resistant Starch                                                         157
M. Champ, L. Martin, L. Noah, and M. Gratas
14. Analytical Methods for Resistant Starch 169
M. Champ, L. Martin, L. Noah, and M. Gratas
Part IV: Resistant Oligosaccharides—Analytical Methodology 189
15. A Sensitive and Reproducible Analytical Method to Measure
Fructooligosaccharides in Food Products 191
F. Ouarne, A. Guibert, D. Brown, and F. Bornet
16. Inulin and Oligofructose as Dietary Fiber: Analytical,Nutritional and Legal Aspects 203
17. Determination of Inulin and Oligofructose in Food Products
(Modified AOAC Dietary Fiber Method) 213
P. Dysseler, D. Hoffem, J. Fockedey, B. Quemener,
J.-F. Thibault, and Paul Coussement
18. Polydextrose as Soluble Fiber and Complex Carbohydrate 229
S. A. S. Craig, J. F. Holden, J. P. Troup, M. H. Auerbach,
and H. Frier
Part V: Dietary Fiber—Analytical Methodology 249
19. Progress in the Certification of Five New Food Reference
Materials by AOAC, Englyst and Uppsala Methods of
Dietary Fiber Analysis 251
Alan W. Pendlington
20. High Performance Anion Exchange Chromatography with Pulsed
Amperometric Detection (HPAE-PAD): A Powerful Tool for the
Analysis of Dietary Fiber and Complex Carbohydrates 267
Alan Henshall
21. NIR Analysis of Dietary Fiber 291
Sandra E. Kays, Franklin E. Barton II, and William R. Windham
22. Definition and Analysis of Dietary Fiber 305
R. Mongeau, F. W. Scott, and R. Brassard
23. Estimation of Psyllium Content in Ready-to-Eat Cereals 317
Susan Sungsoo Cho and Mike Bussey
24. Food Sources and Uses of Dietary Fiber 327
Mark Dreher
25. Chemical and Physical Modifications of Dietary Fiber 373
Mary Ellen Camire
26. Production of Resistant Starch 385
Pierre Wu¨rsch
27. Effect of Processing on Dietary Fiber in Foods 395
Eckhard Rabe
28. Application of Complex Carbohydrates to Food Product Fat Mimetics 411
29. Patent Literature Review on Complex Carbohydrates as Fat Mimetics 431
Susan Sungsoo Cho
30. The Application of Complex Carbohydrates to Functional Food Development 593
Susan Sungsoo Cho and M. Jenab
Appendix I Perspectives on Dietary Fiber Definition 605
Appendix II Total Carbohydrates and Total Dietary Fiber
Content in Grain-Based Foods 609
Index 661

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