"Why not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the fruit is?"
Frank Scully, American writer
Food for thought . . . Unilever on innovation in today's economy
 "Our ambition is to accelerate the delivery of breakthroughs...We will win by connecting disruptive science and technology with the needs and aspirations of consumers. We are setting priorities and focusing on game-changing technologies. This leads to what we call our ‘Genesis’ projects."
Apologies to readers for a technical glitch last Friday! In shifting to a new server to better handle the growing traffic to FOODStuff SA, the weekly newsletter failed to publish until the matter was rectified on Monday. Things are now back to normal!  Editor's Stuff - The simple elixir that is a miracle liquid
The LA Times published a really interesting story this week, entitled: "Simple elixir called a 'miracle liquid'".
Intrigued, I clicked the link and read more: "Electrolyzed water cleans, degreases – and treats athlete's foot. The solution is replacing toxic chemicals. The stuff is a simple mixture of table salt and tap water whose ions have been scrambled with an electric current. Researchers have dubbed it electrolyzed water ... Used as a sanitizer for decades in Russia and Japan, it's slowly winning acceptance in the United States. A New York poultry processor uses it to kill salmonella on chicken carcasses. Minnesota grocery clerks spray sticky conveyors in the checkout lanes. Michigan jailers mop with electrolyzed water to keep potentially lethal cleaners out of the hands of inmates... (You can read more here).
On reading this story I had a 'WOW' moment, as impactful as that experienced in October 2001 when I was resting a weary back at the giant Anuga food expo in Cologne, Germany, chatting to a representative from a South African meat company in one of KolnMesse's vast meat halls. Their abattoir, he told me, had recently installed "incredible new sanitising technology that uses only water and a bit of salt", and what's more, he added, "after dabbing the solution on a cold sore, it vanished in day or so." As I later learnt, the wonder water was electrolyzed water, technology being newly developed by a Gauteng company, Radical Waters.
 A typical Radical Waters ECA system.
Much radical water under the bridge later, the company today is very much in business, and it's technology is very much in play. And I can testify first hand to that, as this week I happened across one of its plants when touring a superb new beverage factory in Bloemfontein. The biggest, and I mean, biggest, name in the game has opted for 'radical water' as its first choice sanitising/CIP technology.
The amazing 'radical waters' story, one of really simple chemistry working huge wonders, has been one I have followed for years. How heartening that this enviro-friendly, highly effective technology is now well on its way to mainstream acceptance around the world, to wit the LA Times article.
Radical Waters' technical director, Dr Robin Kirkpatrick, sent me a company update this week and you can read it here.
Enjoy this week's read. All correspondence is welcome.
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Congratulations to the winners of our
Nando's Peri Deli Give-Away!!
Wineen Duvenage (Pick n Pay); Natasha Smith (Cadbury SA); Chris Bentley (Savannah); Shamla Moodley (Anchor Yeast); Rajen Padayachi (Food Tech Dept, UJ).
Food Industry News
US: Rooibos goes mainstream with Coca-Cola Coca-Cola North America is about to launch NESTEA Red Tea, the first national RTD tea brand to bring to consumers the natural goodness and antioxidants of red tea combined with the sweet, refreshing taste of pomegranate and passion fruit.
'NESTEA Red Tea is made from the leaves of the South African rooibos ("roy-boss") plant,' says the company. 'Valued for generations as a source of antioxidants, red tea is also naturally caffeine-free. With only 50 calories per 8 fl oz serving, NESTEA Red Tea Pomegranate Passion Fruit contains no artificial colors and all-natural fruit flavors for immediate revitalizing refreshment.' Read more
 SA: Tiger no longer hunts AVI
After stalking AVI since October last year, Tiger Brands has decided not to pounce on its R8-billion hunt, citing worsening market conditions. Read more
SA: Food prices keep inflation on the boil; weaker rand plays a part  Stubbornly high food prices are keeping consumer inflation unexpectedly high, despite the fact that at the agricultural level food prices are falling.
Due to food price pressure at the consumer level, January inflation data disappointed yesterday at 8.1%, after 21 economists surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast inflation at only 7.5%. Read more
 SA: Distell makes inroads into Europe with Bisquit deal
Wine and spirits company Distell has bought prestigious French cognac brand Bisquit for €31 million (R405.3-million) in a deal expected to boost exports of the the firm's own premier brands - as well as lifting sales in South Africa. Read more
 SA: Cambridge Food captures commuters for Massmart
Cambridge Food, in Durban's busy Warwick Triangle public transport hub, opens at 5am and sells 2 000 breakfasts such as hot dogs while the middle classes are still waking up. . .
Read more on the wholesaling giant's burgeoning success in lower-end food and grocery retailing.
SA: Shoprite announces major feeding program  The Shoprite Group has announced the launch of a feeding program aimed at assisting the poorest communities in South Africa as part of a relook it has given its social spending budget for 2009.
The Group estimates that it will be distributing at least 3,88 million cups of soup over the next 12 months to alleviate the plight of especially children and senior citizens, as well as the thousands of people affected by job losses. Read more
  UK: Cadbury's Dairy Milk goes Fairtrade
The UK confectionery giant has today pledged to achieve Fairtrade certification for its top-selling product by the end of this European summer. The move will increase sales for those farmers who already have Fairtrade certification, and enable many more farmers to sell their produce under the system. Read more
WORLD: Falling commodity prices to ease food prices later rather than sooner The increase in food prices around the globe will ease later rather than sooner, as benefits of falling commodity prices take time to trickle through the chain.
According to Rabobank, a food and agribusiness lender, sharp falls in both the cost of agricultural and oil-derived products fell during the last six months of 2008 have not been reflected immediately in retail food prices. Indeed, prices continued to rise during the same period. This price ‘stickiness’ is a global phenomenon... Read more
CHINA: Enacts tough new food law China has passed a strict new food safety law, after a series of scandals involving food processing companies which killed several people.
The law, five years in the making, consolidates hundreds of separate regulations and statutes covering China's 500,000 food processing firms. The law pays special attention to food additives, which were at the centre of a tainted milk scandal last year. Read more
US: Nestlé puts its faith in aseptically-packaged RTD beverages Nestlé has launched its largest ready-to-drink aseptic products factory in Anderson, Indiana. The state-of-the-art factory and distribution centre, representing an investment of $359 million and the company’s largest single capital investment in its history, gives Nestlé a unique platform to leverage its nutrition, health and wellness strategy and sets the standard for future Nestlé ready-to-drink factories worldwide.
The Anderson facility, at 82 000m2, covers an area the size of over 300 tennis courts and is dedicated to meet growing consumer demand of Nestlé Nesquik Ready-to-Drink and Nestlé Coffee-Mate Liquid products in the US. A further $170 million will be spent on expanding the facility to more than 92,000m2 by 2011. Read more and see photos of this awesome site.
 US: Study pinpoints ‘missing link’ between fructose and insulin resistance
Yale scientists have reportedly found the ‘missing link’ to explain why high-fructose diets may boost the development of insulin resistance. Read more
Food Marketing
Juices: "the market is rife with claims which are not matched by reality"
 Fruit juices containing added extras such as herbal supplements or antioxidants do not have significant health benefits and may actually be harmful to some people, Australia's leading consumer group says.
An investigation by Choice has found juice with extras such as aloe vera, echinacea, ginkgo, ginseng, spirulina, barley grass and wheat grass did not contain enough of the extracts to have any meaningful health impact. Read more
 Why private label is cool these days
It’s quite likely that the recession/depression that we’re in will have some unforeseen effects, geographical or otherwise...in the world of marketing, it’s a good bet, for instance, that retailers and their private label brands will come out of all of this much stronger, but not just for the obvious reasons. Read more
 Preschoolers take to vegetables with fun names
Cool names can make for cool foods which, in turn, is likely to have picky preschooler opting for vegetables? A new Cornell University study shows that giving vegetables catchy new names - like X-Ray Vision Carrots and Tomato Bursts - left preschoolers asking for more. Read more
 The up and downsides of the electronic era for food marketers
High speed, mass electronic communication provides undreamed of benefits for food and drink companies. But they are also a threat, as PepsiCo recently discovered. Read more
 Frost and Sullivan: Consumers look to health and wellness in recession
Health and wellness, and building brand awareness are the most successful strategies for weathering the global economic storm . . . Read more
New Product Development
 McCain introduces the 'perfect chip' - thanks to ingredient technology
McCain Foods (SA) has high hopes for it new range of HomeFries, an ovenbake chip with the taste and texture of a fried chip. Claimed a true category innovation, it hopes to revitalise and redefine the frozen potato category. Read more
 KOO expands its canned lentil range
KOO, a core brand in the Tiger Brands stable, is bringing more lentil innovation to the canned beans aisle. Following the success of its homestyle Samp in a can range, the first of its kind and which won the Symrise/Food Review New Product Competition 2008 award, it has added three new variants: Chick Peas in Flavoured Brine, Lentils in Smokey Flavoured Brine and Split Peas Mashed & Smoke Flavoured.
UK: Cadbury plans gum NPD push in US, UK Cadbury is looking to launch a series of gum lines in the US and the UK this year in a bid to boost sales, the confectionery giant's CEO says. Speaking at the publication of Cadbury's 2008 results, Todd Stitzer said 2009 would be "an important year" for product innovation from the company's gum portfolio, which includes the Trident brand. Read more
US: Jones Soda debuts functional beverage with GABA Funky American beverage company, Jones Soda has launhced a tea-juice blend with the amino acid, GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), a key neurotransmitter in the regulation of proper brain functionality, and which has become extremely popular in Japan as a functional food and beverage ingredient. Read more
 US: PepsiCo goes retro
Pepsi Natural, Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback, all sweetened with natural sugar, will be hitting the beverage aisles in America this March and April. Read more
Sustainability
 Bottled water: talk about an energy drink
The first comprehensive and peer-reviewed energy analysis of a bottle of water confirms what many environmentalists have charged. From start to finish, bottled water consumes between 1 100 and 2 000 times more energy on average than does tap water. Read more
 Inconvenient truths: don't believe the greenwash
So you have flogged the 4x4, you eat organic and recycle all your household waste – but will that help to fight climate change? Simon Usborne of The Independent faces the facts many ecologists would rather ignore . . . Read more
 10 things we didn’t know about food
The authors of the new Rough Guide to Food proclaim a surprise consequence of writing a book about the food industry was to lose their appetites.
A month in, they add, they realised they had underestimated just how devastating the effects of our industrial food systems are on our health, animal welfare, climate change and the earth’s resources. Read more
Biofuels do far more harm than good The EU has just imposed temporary tariffs on US biodiesel because subsidies over there distort trade - but that shouldn't be the only reason to stop the biofuels juggernaut . . . Is there any trade crazier than the liquid biofuel business? Apart from a handful of cars and vans running on used chip fat, it exists only because of government rules and subsidies. So what social benefits do these buy? Read more
Food Safety Stuff
EFSA on 4-methylbenzophenone in some breakfast cereals Following a request for rapid advice from the European Commission, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published a statement on the risks arising from the migration of the substance 4-methylbenzophenone from packaging into certain breakfast cereals.
Riitta Maijala, EFSA’s Director of Risk Assessment, said: “Although the migration of 4-methylbenzophenone from packaging into foods is not desirable, only in the highest exposure scenario considered – regular consumption of products contaminated at the highest levels reported so far – could some children possibly be at risk. Read more
Testing may help verify foods labeled organic  Organic foods command premium prices at the supermarket, and wherever there is extra money to be made there is a possibility of fraud. Most organic producers adhere to certification standards, but there is little if any product monitoring at the retail level. So an unscrupulous producer could substitute a conventional food for an organic one. After all, organic milk doesn’t look any different from ordinary milk, right?
Not to a consumer, perhaps, but to a food scientist there are differences. Now a researcher in Germany has demonstrated the feasibility of laboratory testing to determine whether a carton of organic milk is what it says it is. Read more
Last Word  The financial crisis explained in simple, drunken, terms
Linda is the proprietor of a bar in Cork. In order to increase sales, she decides to allow her loyal customers - most of whom are unemployed alcoholics - to drink now but pay later. She keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans).
Word gets around and as a result increasing numbers of customers flood into Linda's bar.
Taking advantage of her customers' freedom from immediate payment constraints, Linda increases her prices for wine and beer, the most-consumed beverages. Her sales volume increases massively.
A young and dynamic customer service consultant at the local bank recognizes these customer debts as valuable future assets and increases Linda's borrowing limit.
He sees no reason for undue concern since he has the debts of the alcoholics as collateral.
At the bank's corporate headquarters, expert bankers transform these customer assets into DRINKBONDS, ALKBONDS and PUKEBONDS. These securities are then traded on markets worldwide. No one really understands what these abbreviations mean and how the securities are guaranteed. Nevertheless, as their prices continuously climb, the securities become top-selling items.
One day, although the prices are still climbing, a risk manager (subsequently of course fired due to his negativity) of the bank decides that the time has come to demand payment of the debts incurred by the drinkers at Linda's bar.
However, they cannot pay back the debts. Linda cannot fulfill her loan obligations and claims bankruptcy.
DRINKBOND and ALKBOND drop in price by 95%. PUKEBOND performs better, stabilizing in price after dropping by 80%.
The suppliers of Linda's bar, having granted her generous payment due dates and having invested in the securities, are faced with a new situation. Her wine supplier claims bankruptcy, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor.
The bank is saved by the Government following dramatic round-the-clock consultations by leaders from the governing political parties (and vested interests).
The funds required for this purpose are obtained by a tax levied on the non-drinkers.
Finally, an explanation I understand!
That's it for this week, folks! |
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