BAGGED SALAD-IS IT ABSOLUTELY SAFE?

As per the recommendations of nutrition experts, in order to maintain a good health one must eat large quantities of fruits and vegetables which supply many micro nutrients besides dietary fiber. This has created an opportunity to the fresh produce industry to offer fresh salad preparations in super markets which boast of tremendous convenience to the consumer. Preparing fresh vegetables for making salads is an involved process requiring time and lot of care which most modern families do not have and this situation has led to massive patronage of "Bagged Salads", ready to be consumed on the dining table or at any time. However countless recalls of salad products made by reputed manufacturers  due to suspected contamination with pathogenic bacteria during the last few years have literally created a panic in the American market with more and more consumers hesitating to buy them due to fear of contamination by virulent E.coli and similar disease causing bacteria. If such fears are not removed from the minds of consumers, there may be a possibility of significant reduction of intake of these health protecting foods in that country. Here is a take on this unfortunate development.

"Bagged salad is easy to open, great on a hot summer day and a super easy dinner. Is it safe to eat? Let's see what the experts say. I eat bagged salad and unless I am reporting a bagged salad recall will buy the Dole and Fresh Express products. I am careful and if there is a bagged salad recall, I check what's in my frig. This week, Fresh Express had a recall of 8,000 cases  of Hearts of Romaine. I have Fresh Express at home but it's Iceberg Lettuce. Apparently, I am not alone, a contributor of US Food Safety, Doug Powell, a professor of food safety at  Kansas State University, was quoted on nbcnews.com, "We call it faith-based food safety,"and most of it is faith-based." Powell and Christina Bruhn, a researcher in food science and technology at UC Davis, say that while figuring out what fraction of the lettuce may make you sick is a gamble, they still place their bets on the bagged stuff. "I go to the biggest grocery store I can find," he said. "They have requirements for what they put on the shelf." Even the crisp heads of lettuce in a farmer's market stall can be suspect, said Powell. They may be fresh and local, but that's no guarantee of safety. "The lettuce was sitting swamped in water for days," he said. "If I go to a farmer's market, I don't want to know that it's lovingly grown. I want to know you've taken steps for microbiological safety. If you can't answer those questions, I don't want to buy your lettuce." I will take my chances".

It is not understandable as to how greens can get contaminated if proper agricultural practices are used in producing them in the farms. Why such contamination problems are more prevalent in the US is also a mystery. Whether contamination takes place in the field or during handling, packing, distribution or retailing is also not clear. The industry has to take full responsibility for such a situation as contaminated products should not have come out of their premises unless tested rigorously by quality testers. The irradiation technology which has an answer for decontaminating tainted foods needs to be deployed more extensively if a fool proof distribution system is to be put in place. Consumers must realize that any technology used can have marginal influence on quality and it is trade of between safety and absolute eating quality! Safety authorities in the US must consider mandatory irradiation of products like bagged salads in the interest of consumer safety.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

"ORGANIC" EGGS-PRECEPTS VS PRACTICES

Organic foods are much sought after lately because of deeply entrenched fear about the credibility of the food industry in providing safe foods beyond a shade of doubt. Consumers are forced to pay a premium price for these foods because of the belief that the producer has to go extra length to maintain the viability of his operations through increased investment and recurring expenditure. They are supposed to be raised in farms with non-contaminated water for irrigation, avoiding chemical fertilizers and pesticides and following humane practices. Unfortunately there appears to be flaws in the system of quality monitoring and safety certification system prevalent to day raising some serious doubts regarding the veracity of claims regarding organic foods.

"Eighty percent of organic eggs on the market are produced by only a handful of farms, most of them industrial-scale factory farms. Though the operations claim to employ organic practices, they look strikingly similar to farms like Wright County Egg, one of the factory farms fingered for the country's recent salmonella outbreak. These "organic farms" house hundreds of thousands of chickens that literally sit on top of each other in crowded cages. While chickens are supposed to spend time outdoors in order for eggs to be labeled as "organic," Cornucopia Institute found that industrial-scale producers often cheat the system. "Many of these operators are gaming the system by providing minute enclosed porches, with roofs and concrete or wood flooring, and calling these structures 'the outdoors,' Charlotte Vallaeys, a farm policy analyst and the lead author of the report, said in a press release. "Many of the porches represent just three-to-five percent of the square footage of the main building housing the birds. That means 95 percent or more of the birds have absolutely no access whatsoever." While keeping birds in cages is undoubtedly cruel, more and more studies show that eggs from cage-free birds are actually safer and healthier, too. Cage-free eggs are less likely to contain salmonella than eggs that came from birds kept in battery cages (as Wright County Egg and Hillendale Farms can attest). Some research also suggests that cage-free eggs have about one-third less cholesterol and one-quarter less saturated fat than regular eggs, and boast higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin A, vitamin E, and beta carotene".

Whether the above findings are really supported by actual visits and studying of the operations in detail, cannot be certain as many animal activists target poultry farms for criticisms some of which lack credibility. Though some of the violations cited may be minor technical aberrations, condoning such practices can be harmful in the long run to the consumers. Cornucopia Institute which is a non-profit organization dedicated to protect the interests of small scale farms may have inherent reservations against mega farms which aggressively market their products affecting the economic interests of its constituency and therefore can be expected to exploit any opportunity that can bring down the image of large producers.. But the poultry industry in the US has enormous clout on the government agencies and with inadequate enforcement personnel with USDA, the watchdog agency and serious doubts regarding the reliability of third party technical auditing system, there can be many farms which can get away by flouting the regulations governing production of organic eggs.

V.H.POTTY

http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/

http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

DAIRY CRISIS AND THE AFTERMATH-THE CHINESE EXPERIENCE

The incidence of Melamine tainting of milk based baby foods in China resulting in several deaths and debilitation of a number of children has not yet faded from the memory of many families affected by this unfortunate episode. No doubt recovery from such a set back to the credibility of Chinese food industry called for taking many confidence building measures by the government as well as the industry. One of the far reaching measures taken by the government was to set up more stringent enforcement infrastructure to preempt recurrence of such incidences. While the above episode caused a steep fall in demand for dairy products from the local manufacturers, it provided an opportunity for some multinational companies (MNCs) to expand their business.

"Chinese dairy product industry, suffered from the doubles blows, however, did not cut down as a whole. There were many reasons for that. On the one hand, the demands for dairy products were irreplaceable for Chinese students, the olds and babies etc. Meanwhile, the occurrence of melamine event made Chinese consumers doubt the national dairy products, but the enterprises took different measures to reverse the consumers` confidence. Also, some regional enterprises began to construct or expand so as to occupy the market. The foreign funded enterprises intensified their distribution in Chinese market. Nestlé, Danone and so on, quickened their expansions in Chinese dairy product market. Some foreign funded enterprises in other food industry began to entered Chinese dairy product market. The market blank was quickly filled by Chinese regional dairy enterprises and foreign funded enterprises".

With stringent deterrent measures against adulteration put in place, it may be a question of time before locally made products recapture the lost market as they have distinct advantages in terms of reduced production cost and familiarity with the consumers and the market needs. MNCs, after all, have to depend on local sources of milk for value addition which is a distinct disadvantage and engaging in importation may not be a viable option in the long run.

V.H.POTTY

http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

CHINESE CONSUMERS-FALLING CONFIDENCE

When consumers lose confidence on the ability of the domestic industry to deliver products with assured quality and unquestionable safety, they look to imported goods from countries with high reputation and reliability. This is what is happening in China which went through a harrowing time when there were avoidable mortality of children due to kidney ailments after consuming adulterated baby foods. It is sad that domestic industry does not exercise its responsibility for the safety of its patrons when such sub-standard products are put in the market for short term gains.

If reports emanating from China are true, domestic industry there is bound to suffer by the skepticism of the consumers regarding their reliability. "It seems Chinese nationals don't trust domestically produced food products as much as they once did. After last years melamine-contaminated milk powder incidents more and more Chinese people are buying milk from overseas".

It is another matter that two of the functionaries of the industry found responsible for the above crime had to pay with their lives for the negligence that caused misery to many families. Food industry in other countries must learn a lesson from the Chinese episode and resist the temptation to short circuit the quality and safety process for short term gains.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com