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| Editor’s Stuff: Get healthy – or else, says SA’s health minister! |
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 Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi was in FOODStuff SA’s headlines last week with news of the publication of the draft salt reduction regulations, and he’s in them again this week: this time strongly warning us that we will face harsh health laws if we don’t become healthier.
Motsoaledi, in an interview with The Times, has cautioned that lifestyle diseases are placing a huge burden on public healthcare. And he’s got a very valid point: the figures and statistics are scary, notably the dramatic increase in obesity and the onset of diabetes.
Every problem is an opportunity – that this country has so many diabetics, albeit many undiagnosed, will surely open interesting avenues for appropriate food-bev innovation and interventions in future.
 The third issue of SAAFoST’s new magazine FST (South African Food Science and Technology) has hit the streets. Some highlights include:
- Exciting ingredient developments in the biscuit sector
- Salt-reduction targets: authentic taste with reduced sodium
- Alternate crops and food security in Africa
- Fresh produce: safety and spoilage considerations
- Allergen control and effective cleaning
- Should you conduct microbiological product testing?
The journal is not online. For additional information or to subscribe, contact the editor, Tricia Fitchet
Enjoy this week’s newsletter!
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs! FOODStuff SA is a hub for food industry careers: find a job, or advertise any openings! Click here!
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| Local News and Developments |
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Kraft Foods has announced the arrival of new Cadbury Dairy Milk Bubbly, dubbing it a combination of “SA’s best loved chocolate with a burst of bubbles both inside and out. It’s the lighter way to enjoy your favourite milk chocolate”. It’s also a way of taking the cost out of chocolate.
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“We are in for a rough ride in terms of food price inflation… food prices will remain at a higher level for a long time,” comments Ernst Janovsky, the head of Absa Agribusiness on the likely local impact of the devastating drought in the US.
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Consumers turn to private label products in their hunt for value. When it comes to food they are finding it increasingly in retailers’ private label products.
For a growing number of SA coffee drinkers any old instant brew is no longer good enough. “Coffee drinkers’ demands are becoming increasingly sophisticated,” says Paul Hanlon, MD of Ciro Beverage Solutions, a unit of AVI.
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Energy drinks as a category has been operating in the South African market for approximately 15 years. During this time the category has seen tremendous growth and diversification of product, brand and target market. Some insights from BMI Research…
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Speciality cheese has come a long way in the past two decades, where previously it was super-premium and largely unknown and unexplored by the majority of consumers. It is a broad sector that BMI Research breaks down into four categories. As can be expected for high-end foodstuffs in recessionary times, market growth has been stable to negative.
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Sunspray, the Jo-burg-based specialist spray-drying ingredients company, has unveiled its newly revamped R&D lab on its Industria manufacturing campus.
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Incorporating generous time lines for compliance, the Department of Health has published draft regulations to reduce the amount of sodium in processed food. Health minister, Aaron Motsoaledi has made his intent on this issue well known for some time and the move is unlikely to be a surprise to the industry.
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| International News & Stuff |
America’s drought threatens a recurrence of the 2008 global food crisis, when soaring prices set off riots and unrest to parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, food experts warn.
US: Droughts, the economy and climate change The effects of the vast drought afflicting America’s farm belt are rippling across the economy. Major agri-food companies are feeling the heat from rising crop prices … But perhaps the most sobering implication of this agricultural crisis is what it heralds for the long-term health of the US economy.
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The winning formula could be decades away, but Coke and Pepsi are looking for a way to counter mounting health concerns over soda and get people drinking their products again.
In a supersized debate opinions flowed over at the public hearing on New York City’s proposed ban on large-sized sodas, on which the Board of Health is set to vote on Sept 13. Here are some of the for and against opinions…
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Nestlé Health Science has acquired a stake in US firm Accera, to support the ongoing trials and rollout of the firm’s key brand, Axona, a medical food intended for the clinical dietary management of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease.
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Food Trends and Marketing
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What is packaging’s role in the obesity epidemic? How does it persuade us to over-eat? It’s a topic of academic study in a new working paper by Pierre Chandon, Professor of Marketing and Director of the INSEAD Social Science Research Centre, part of the famous business university outside Paris. [Excellent paper on the role of packaging as a marketing tool. And you can download the paper free, too. Ed]
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A shift towards palm oil-free foods and ingredients could be an emerging trend in Europe, according to market analysts.
Cherries: More than just antioxidants
Like a number of “superfruits”, cherries boast formidable antioxidant content. However, it appears that they may have more specific health benefits to offer in a number of very promising growth areas, such as sports nutrition, pain management and combating sleeplessness.
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When it comes to gourmet food trends, there’s no city like New York to set the bar… and the latest food craze sweeping the city is hitting the sweet spot. While cupcakes and macaroons satisfy after-dinner cravings, bakers are discovering that the doughnut — a treat good from morning till night — can provide the most profit.
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The Cutie, a small, glossy, deep-orange citrus fruit is, acre for acre, the most profitable citrus in America. The story behind this mandarin/clementine variant is a fascinating tale of of big-money marketing…
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Nampak Closures has created a screwcap for Graça’s wine bottle, helping South Africa’s “favourite talking, eating, drinking, laughing, singing, and above all, sharing wine”, switch from its traditional cork closure to a screwcap.
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Global launch numbers for lactose-free dairy products more than tripled in the five-year period to the beginning of 2012, according to Innova Market Insights data.
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Food Science, Safety and Ingredients Stuff
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The secret to the deadly 2011 E. coli outbreak in Germany has been decoded, thanks to research conducted at Michigan State University.
Reducing salt content in food products is a growing issue for food manufacturers as government regulators and consumers become more concerned about sodium intake and the possible negative effect on health. Naturex, leading global natural ingredients supplier, has a range of inactive dried yeast products that offer several flavour-related benefits to the food manufacturer.
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Padu Krishnan, a food science professor at South Dakota State University, thinks he has a recipe to help Americans eat healthier. He has been cooking up treats using a novel ingredient — dried distillers’ grain or DDG — which he believes can make baked goods and snacks more filling and nutritious.
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American researchers at Cornell have identified the predominant spore-forming bacteria in milk, knowledge that can now be used to protect the quality and shelf life of dairy products.
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Health and Nutrition Stuff
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A study of the Hadza tribe, who still exist as hunter gatherers, suggests the amount of calories we need is a fixed human characteristic. This implies Westerners are growing obese through over-eating rather than having inactive lifestyles, say scientists.
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With the world’s biggest sporting showcase kicking off in London Friday, researchers are warning that physical inactivity has become a contributor to the burden of disease similar to tobacco smoking or obesity, responsible for 5,3 million of the 57 million deaths that occurred globally in 2008.
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After his newest adventures with medicine, the writer sometimes thinks he should be standing up in a room filled with other people with the same condition, as he builds up enough courage to confess: “Hi, my name is Brooks and I am a… diabetic.” Although there is an Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, even Overeaters Anonymous – there is no Diabetics Anonymous – but maybe there should be.
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Weird, Whacky and Wonderful Stuff
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A funky idea for ever-trendy espresso: this edible cookie cup is the prototype creation of a Venezuelan designer named Enrique Luis Sardi made for Lavazza, the famous Italian coffee company.
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Our love of the braai, the barbecue — and of meat in general — is a fascinating story because if you look at where our species came from, none of our primate cousins could ever survive such a meat-intensive diet as we do today. It all traces back to fortunate mutations in our DNA…
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Food bites…2012: Fallout at home of the big US drought
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 “A few weeks ago a public examination of the prices of 10 or so common goods was revealed, and what came through was that over the past decade prices have rocketed by nearly 200%. We are talking here about commonplace items like milk and bread, goods critical to the maintenance of life.
“Stand by for really bad news. The extent of the appalling drought that has seized more than half the US is so serious that as much as 60-million tons may be “removed” from the global corn (maize) market. The US is the world’s biggest producer of maize and the outcome of the drought is that internal American consumption is likely to match supply. That means no exports, and this comes on top of poor output from important Eastern European producers around the Black Sea.
“The US drought is reckoned to be the worst since 1956, with 70% of the nine states of the US Midwest, the country’s major maize, wheat, soybean and sunflower production region, in some stage of difficulty. Almost 1300 counties in 29 states have been declared natural disaster areas. The US agriculture department has slashed its maize production estimates to levels seen 25 years ago.
“If this sounds far from SA, think again. The effect on local food prices is bound to be dramatic.”
David Gleason, Business Day columnist, Read more
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