'Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.' Ovid, Roman poet
Food for thought . . .THE TROUBLE is that the war on obesity is like the war on terror ... It's slippery, and wobbly, and elusive, like a great, big jelly. You can staple people's stomachs, and lock them in at lunchtime, and lecture them until the cows come home and collapse in front of the telly, but if people want to eat themselves to death, they will.
Unless, perhaps, you're very clever. And the human mind can be very clever. According to a new study from Harvard, hotel cleaners doing hard, physical work for eight hours a day believed they were getting no exercise at all. And their health – as measured by weight, body fat, blood pressure, etc – reflected this conviction. Half of the group were then told that they were, actually, getting a lot of exercise, and the other half weren't. Four weeks later, the group who now felt virtuous were found to be significantly healthier than the ones who didn't. Mind over matter indeed.
Christina Patterson, columnist The Independent
Food Industry News CANADA: Maple Leaf takes responsibility for listeriosis outbreak
Maple Leaf Foods' CEO says the company has taken full responsibility for a Canadian outbreak of listeriosis. He said the issue was "ours to fix, which we are taking on fully." Read more
 EU: Danisco puts its focus on health and nutrition
Danisco will focus on its food ingredient business and biotech activities now that it has sold its sugar division, the company’s chairman says. Read more
 SA: Propak Cape to host latest trends and innovation
A range of latest trends, innovations and opportunities is anticipated at Propak Cape 2008, highlighting once again the show’s stature as the ultimate showcase for the packaging, food processing, plastics, print and labelling industries. The show takes place from 14-16 October at the world-class Cape Town International Convention Centre. Read more
 SA: Woolies Foods loses market share
Woolworths says it has recently lost market share in its food segment as consumers made a "flight to value" amid accelerating food price inflation, says CEO Simon Susman. Read more
 SA: Tiger Brands CEO on mission to regain public trust
Peter Matlare, CEO of diversified foods group Tiger Brands, is a man on a mission. Nearly five months after taking over the position from Nick Dennis, who left after the group admitted to price collusion with rival bread producers, Matlare says he has an idea of where he wants to take Tiger Brands. Read more
SA: Bandito’s and Peppadew in hot affairIn a unique blend of 'hot' tastes, two home- grown companies will come together following the acquisition of Bandito’s by Peppadew International. Read more
 SA: Get your taste Buds ready
Thirsty soccer fans will have to acquire a taste for Budweiser during Fifa’s 2010 Soccer World Cup. Anheuser-Busch, which signed up as a Fifa World Cup sponsor for 2007 to 2014, will continue the reign of Budweiser as the official beer at every Fifa World Cup since 1986. But SAB believes local will remain “lekker” during the tournament. Read more
 PERU: Taste buddies
SABMiller is taking blind tasting literally, hiring visually impaired people to quality test its products. The brewer believes that Backus, its business in Peru, is the only company to do so. Read more
 MEXICO: Tequila sunset?
Mexico without tequila? It seems a far-fetched notion but the country's farmers are shunning the famous agave plant because of poor prices and switching to profitable crops. Read more
 ASIA: Cambodians eat rats to beat global food crisis
Spicy field rat dishes with garlic increasingly seen on menus as boom in sales increases rodent prices four-fold. Read more
 Ayurvedic medicine: Toxic metals in remedies for sale on internet
Team randomly selects 193 remedies and detects lead, mercury or arsenic in 20.7% products. Read more
 EU: Wet summers bring flood of truffles
The mystical allure of the truffle spans the centuries. Greeks and Romans associated the fungi with sex and power, attributing to it therapeutic and aphrodisiac powers. Brillat Sauvaurin, the 18th-century French gourmet, once remarked that truffles aroused erotic and gastronomic memories. Read more
 Environmentalists travel by car to Greece using waste vegetable oil as biofuel
Carbon-conscious enthusiasts beg restaurants and cafes for waste vegetable oil to power their European journey, converting an estimated 350 litres of oil into fuel on their 11 day trip. Read more
Ingredients Stuff Stevia is all-natural and calorie-free, but is it safe?
The sweetener is banned from food products in the US due to toxicity fears. But the findings of several recent studies suggest otherwise. Read more
 BioGaia AB signs agreement with Nestlé Nutrition
BioGaia AB has signed an agreement with Nestlé Nutrition, giving Nestlé rights to use Lactobacillus reuteri in infant formula in a large number of countries.BioGaia’s patented probiotic is already used in formula products in some European and Asian countries. Read more
 MenaQ7 receives Innovation of the Year Award
NattoPharma ASA and PL Thomas announced that NattoPharma's natural vitamin K2 product, MenaQ7, has received the 2008 Frost Sullivan Product Innovation of the Year Award in the North American Vitamin market. Read more
Health & Nutrition Nutrition: MSG use is linked to obesity
Consumption of monosodium glutamate, or MSG, the widely used food additive, may increase the likelihood of being overweight, a new study says. Read more
MSG study makes unfounded conclusionThe Glutamate Association challenges conclusions offered in a recent paper that suggested MSG may be positively associated with body weight. Read more
 Public not clear on cancer prevention
People carry many misconceptions about the best ways to prevent cancer, according to a study. "The scientific evidence for the protective effect of fruit and vegetables is weaker than the evidence that alcohol intake is harmful," the International Union Against Cancer said. Read more
Science Stuff  Study: Genes may determine sense of taste
Some people might be genetically hard-wired to be especially sensitive to bitter foods, researchers found. In order to help children overcome their aversions, it could be helpful to repeatedly expose them to bitter tastes. Read more
Scientists create nano-sized 'Trojan Horse' to aid nutritionResearchers from Monash University have designed a nano-sized "trojan horse" particle to ensure healing antioxidants can be better absorbed by the human body. One thousandth the thickness of a human hair, it protects antioxidants from being destroyed in the gut and ensures a better chance of them being absorbed in the digestive tract. Read more
 Are Malthus's predicted 1798 food shortages coming true?
In 1798 Thomas Robert Malthus famously predicted that short-term gains in living standards would inevitably be undermined as human population growth outstripped food production, and thereby drive living standards back toward subsistence. We were, he argued, condemned by the tendency of population to grow geometrically while food production would increase only arithmetically. Read more
 Salmonella - Taking one for the team
New research on salmonella illustrate how even simple organisms appear to cooperate for the greater good of their species. Read more
 Industry giants explore uses for crop residue
ADM, Deere Company and Monsanto Company have agreed to collaborate on research to explore technologies and processes to turn crop residues into feed and bioenergy products. Read more
Comment: Prince Charles's fantasy farming won't feed Africa's poorPaul Collier: A return to organic peasantry will feed only affluent angst. To take on global hunger, genetic modification is crucial. Read more
That's it for this week, folks!
|
Current Newsletter 
