LACTIC ACID BACTERIA-A PROCESSING AID?

Acrylamide scare is moving scientists to develop necessary means to tackle this issue at the processing level itself with minimum added cost to the processor. Though the danger posed by this chemical is not yet confirmed, there appears to be concerted move to "exploit" this "scare" and make a quick buck for the industry and fast fame for some scientists! Earlier there was this enzyme manufacturer in Europe offering appropriate enzyme system to preempt the Maillard reaction responsible for generating Acrylamide during high temperature processing. Now comes the report regarding the use of bacteria in making the precursors of Acrylamide innocuous and thus preempt the undesirable reaction.

"He and his research team found a method that limits the formation of acrylamide during the production of potato products and coffee. It was the patent for this method that provided the springboard for the company Zeracryl". "Our method is based on lactic acid fermentation," explains Dr Blom. "Acrylamide is formed as a reaction between the amino acid asparagine and simple sugars such as glucose and fructose. Put simply, the lactic acid bacteria remove these compounds and inhibit the formation of acrylamide." The team's ongoing experiments show that 10 to 15 minutes' immersion in lactic acid bacteria culture before cooking reduces acrylamide formation in the final product by roughly 90 per cent.

What effect LAB will have on the eating quality of fries made by the modified process has not been spelt out clearly. How far the modification will affect the continuous process of making fries is also an issue to be addressed by the industry while considering incorporation of the 15 min pretreatment step in the main process. Since maximum bacterial activity is obtained under optimum growing conditions and beyond the lag phase of growth, the 15 min process must have been based on an in vitro system where high density cell suspensions are used for eliciting the relevant enzyme activity to modify the constituents in the raw material responsible for Acrylamide reaction.

V.H.POTTY
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SPICY FOODS-DRAMATIC SURGE IN POPULARITY

Is it the influence of the emigrating Indians or the increasing intrusion of Mexican foods, that is responsible for the wide spread use of spices in a country like the United States? Indian presence is so ubiquitous now that there are Governors in some states and many elected representatives in some of the local, state and federal legislatures hailing from India and naturally the cultural practices of this country are bound to be disseminated and imbibed by the Americans, though the process may be very slow. Added to this there are thousands of Indian restaurants serving Indian foods to a wide clientèle, further popularizing Indian foods. The "hot" Mexican foods promoted largely by Taco Bell and Chipotle chain restaurants, have carved out a niche for them selves and no wonder spice consumption is soaring in the US. High quality spice powders and blends exported by companies boasting of ISO, HACCP and SAP systems naturally boosted the confidence about the safety of spices amongst American consumers. Though McCormick may not admit its Indian connections, it is a fact that a major part of its raw materials is procured from India. Recent collaboration with Eastern Condiments in India is obviously intended to meet the increasing demand for spices in that country.

"McCormick estimates in the '50s the average American spice drawer had 10 spices. Today the number's grown to 40. "People consume almost a billion pounds of spices a year," McCormick's Lori Robinson said. Twenty-five years ago it was half that. Spice experts say it's the melting pot that's producing spicier meals. As the country becomes more diverse, tastes change. "The cayennes and habanero sauces and spices, the things that really burn their mouth," said Alfonso Rivera, manager of El Centro Restaurant in New York City. Meals that used to be seasoned with salt and pepper now include everything from allspice to za'atar. During a five-year period, the amount of paprika imported into the United States rose from roughly 27 million pounds per year to almost 55 million pounds. Ginger has gone from 62 million pounds to almost 94 million pounds"..

Advent of oleoresins manufactured from a variety of spices has opened up new applications in processed meat products and Super Critical Fluid Extraction technology ensures that almost 100% of the culinary properties of raw spices is captured without any modification. Unlike spice powders, oleoresin emulsions enable the industry to have precision in recipe development and manufacturing with sustainable uniformity. Another reason for the spice portfolio becoming a main stream kitchen fixture is because of their health promoting value with spices and condiments like Turmeric, Ginger, Cinnamon etc becoming proven health protective ingredients. It may be prudent for a country like India to be eternally vigilant to protect its market through strict safety monitoring and stringent export regime.

V.H.POTTY
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FRENCH FRIES AND STATINS-A CONVOLUTED ARGUEMENT!

Scientific research in food area is straining its credulity by publishing patently unsustainable and some time bordering on non-sense, "findings" putting the consumer in great confusion and trauma. The latest to come out of the stable of a renowned college in the UK is the strange recommendation to consume a drug while indulging in a fatty meal to prevent a "heart attack"! One can understand a diabetic patient consuming a hypoglycemic tablet before eating a regular meal because it is necessary prevent glucose build up in the blood and avoid consequences there of. Similarly people with hyper tension disorder have to take medication before meals to control blood pressure within the limits. But a perfectly healthy person consuming a drug to prevent potential health hazards is some thing difficult to comprehend and such research findings even if true should not be encouraged. One should not be blamed if aspersions are cast on the true intention of this research-helping the consumer or the giant drug companies which stand to benefit if "serving" Statin in fast food joints become an accepted practice.

"Would you like a statin with your fries? Fast-food joints should distribute for free the cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins, taken by 24 million Americans to prevent heart disease andstrokes, to offset the effects of a fatty meal, a new study suggests. The researchers, at Imperial College London, concluded that the cardiovascular toll of a daily meal consisting of a Quarter Pounder with cheese and a small milkshake would be neutralized by a statin pill served as a side order. The findings of the clinical trial, which involved 43,000 participants, will be published Sunday in the American Journal of Cardiology. "In terms of your likelihood of having a heart attack, taking a statin can reduce your risk to more or less the same degree as a fast-food meal increases it," lead researcher Darrel Francis told reporters. And providing the pills would cost less than 7 cents per customer, about the same as a packet of ketchup. A fast-food statin may not be enough, however. The British Heart Foundation, stressing that the drugs are not a "magic bullet," recommends exercise and a healthy diet as the best bet for staving off heart problems, Reuters reports".

It is prudent for the experts to advice people that drug consumption is not a panacea for all health problems created by bad life styles and reminding them about the role of balanced diet, moderation in food consumption and regular physical activities that would burn the calories. Statins are already under a cloud with some critics raising serious questions regarding its role in protection of heart and with billions of dollars of stake in Statin business, the pharmaceutical industry can be expected to exploit the lack of unanimity amongst the scientists on the effectiveness in preventing heart attacks.

V.H.POTTY
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INDIAN HUNGER AND POVERTY-A COUNTRY'S NEVER ENDING SAGA

Recent news that some of the states in India are worse than many poor African countries in terms of providing adequate food and nutrition to the child population must be galling to patriotic Indians who want to take pride in the strides made by the country in many fields of economic activities. It looks as if the race to reach the milestone of an economic super power is obscuring the agenda for social upliftment with poverty still remaining number one problem of the country. Here is a sorry indictment of the present situation which if continued can spell disaster of a magnitude the country can ill afford.

India's ability, or inability, in coming decades to improve the lives of the poor will very likely determine if it becomes a global economic power, and a regional rival to China, or if it continues to be compared with Africa in poverty surveys. India vanquished food shortages during the 1960s with the Green Revolution, which introduced high-yield grains and fertilizers and expanded irrigation, and the country has had one of the world's fastest-growing economies during the past decade. But its poverty and hunger indexes remain dismal, with roughly 42 percent of all Indian children under the age of 5 being underweight. The food system has existed for more than half a century and has become riddled with corruption and inefficiency. Studies show that 70 percent of a roughly $12 billion budget is wasted, stolen or absorbed by bureaucratic and transportation costs. Ms. Gandhi's proposal, still far from becoming law, has been scaled back, for now, so that universal eligibility would initially be introduced only in the country's 200 poorest districts, including here in Jhabua, at the western edge of the state of Madhya Pradesh. With some of the highest levels of poverty and child malnutrition in the world, Madhya Pradesh underscores the need for change in the food system. Earlier this year, the official overseeing the state's child development programs was arrested on charges of stealing money. In Jhabua, local news media recently reported a spate of child deaths linked to malnutrition in several villages. Investigators later discovered 3,500 fake food ration booklets in the district, believed to have been issued by low-level officials for themselves and their friends. Inside the district hospital, Mr. Bhuria said he had applied three times for a food ration card, but the clerk had failed to produce one.

Though there are saner voices heard amongst the ruling elites that control the destiny of this nation, as a collective system riddled with muddled policies and inefficient management it does not inspire any confidence that the present trend can be reversed. The crorepati law makers, insincere bureaucrats and exploitative private contractors cannot be expected to loosen their grip on the economy and its management in the foreseeable future, giving very little hope that at least the next generation would see a better to morrow. No wonder that poor and down trodden people are placing more faith in extra constitutional outfits indulging in fighting the government of the day, rather than the lawful administrative set up, to get their due share of fruits of development.

V.H.POTTY
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HEART AILMENT-A NEW INSIGHT

"Heart attack" is commonly perceived as a result of cholesterol build up on the arterial walls due to excessive consumption of fatty foods, especially the ones rich in saturated fats. But what causes the cholesterol to stick to the arterial tissue is not that well understood. The routine testing of blood cholesterol levels and assessing the value against some notional ranges are considered adequate to conclude whether some body is vulnerable to heart attack or not. Also the relationship between circulating cholesterol and the extent of plaque build up inside the artery is obscure. The argument by a few experts that inflammation is the cause of cholesterol build up inside the arteries is not universally accepted though there is some logic in this proposition. Following is an excerpt from the writings of the reputed cardiac surgeon Dr Dwight Lundell, forwarded by one of the readers of this Blog, Mr Thomas Mathai from Mysore which is quite informative though for a layman it can be some what confusing.

"The only accepted therapy was prescribing medications to lower cholesterol and a diet that severely restricted fat intake. The latter of course we insisted would lower cholesterol and heart disease. Deviations from these recommendations were considered heresy and could quite possibly result in malpractice. It Is Not Working! These recommendations are no longer scientifically or morally defensible. The discovery a few years ago that inflammation in the artery wall is the real cause of heart disease is slowly leading to a paradigm shift in how heart disease and other chronic ailments will be treated. The long-established dietary recommendations have created epidemics of obesity and diabetes, the consequences of which dwarf any historical plague in terms of mortality, human suffering and dire economic consequences. Despite the fact that 25% of the population takes expensive statin medications and despite the fact we have reduced the fat content of our diets, more Americans will die this year of heart disease than ever before. Statistics from the American Heart Association show that 75 million Americans currently suffer from heart disease, 20 million have diabetes and 57 million have pre-diabetes. These disorders are affecting younger and younger people in greater numbers every year.Simply stated, without inflammation being present in the body, there is no way that cholesterol would accumulate in the wall of the blood vessel and cause heart disease and strokes. Without inflammation, cholesterol would move freely throughout the body as nature intended. It is inflammation that causes cholesterol to become trapped".

All said and done, it is common sense that if one lives a life of moderation, the possibility of acquiring any of the life style disorders is indeed remote. A balanced diet containing just enough calories to meet the demands of day to day activities, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber as evolved over a period of time and avoiding sedentary life style can be expected to maintain the correct BMI and provide reasonable guarantee against serious health ailments as one grows. Overwhelming predominance of factory processed foods over natural foods like whole grains, fruits, vegetables and others can pose a serious challenge in maintaining health in a prime state.

V.H.POTTY

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FARM ENERGY TO THE FORE-NEW UK INITIATIVES

The legendary septic tank which ushered in the toilet revolution in India is all set to make its debut in a western country and the purpose is not night soil disposal but generation of power at the farm level using local crops. Gobar gas system which became a standard feature in many rural farms basically generate methane gas for self consumption and these are mostly small scale operations insufficient to generate power. The process in absence of Oxygen uses a mixed culture of microorganisms uses many organic matters which include waste paper, grass and other farm wastes, left over food, sewage, animal waste etc. Though the primary intention is to dispose off the waste, it also serves to reduce emission of landfill gases to the atmospheres considered to be responsible for global warming and generates a biogas mixture containing mostly Methane (50-75%), CO2 (25-50%), and small quantities of Nitrogen, Hydrogen, Hydrogen Sulfide and Hydrogen. While small scale generators mostly use the gas for house hold cooking, medium scale units can yield power by burning just like fossil fuels. A typical anaerobic digester using municipal waste can generate about700 to 1300 kWH per ton of refuse. That anaerobic digestion approach is seriously being considered in the UK for generating power and production subsidization by the government there may be a good news for the eventual viability of the technology.

First up, energy firm Farmgen broke ground on the first in a wave of anaerobic digestion plants, designed to provide farmers with an additional revenue stream from "energy farming". The £2.5m project at Carr Farm in Warton, Preston will be the first AD plant built under Farmgen's proposed £30m UK-wide investment programme. Local crops will be used to create biogas that will generate 1MW of electricity, which will then be exported to the national grid. Farmgen said that it also plans to build a second £2.5m plant in Silloth, Cumbria later this year and is preparing planning applications for sites in Lancashire and Staffordshire. The coalition government has earmarked the accelerated roll out of AD plants as a key part of its renewable energy strategy and last month launched a consultation designed to assess how new policies could help increase support for the emerging sector. Under the existing feed-in tariff scheme, farmers or businesses installing AD systems generating up to 500 kilowatt hours (kWh) a year are eligible for payments of 11.5p per kWh, while those installing larger systems producing 500kWh to 5MW receive 9p per kWh. Industry insiders have warned that the rates are not currently high enough to drive the widespread roll out of AD plants and have been calling on the government to increase in the incentive. In related news, airport operator BAA announced yesterday that it has signed a deal with food management firm Vertal that will see travellers food and drink waste turned into fertiliser for use on local farms. The company said that food waste from Heathrow's daily 180,000 passengers will be collected separately and sent to Vertal's recycling facility in South London where it will be composted within 72 hours. It added that it hoped the initiative would save carbon emissions equivalent to around half a million air miles. Vertal founder and managing director Leon Mekitarian said he hoped the deal would encourage other firms with large amounts of food waste to invest in composting technology to reduce their carbon footprint.

United Nations Development Program (UNDP) of the UNO recognizes anaerobic digestion approach as one of the most useful decentralized sources of energy supply at low capital cost compared to that required for large power plants. In India this technology has remained more or less at the house hold and community level for which government extends economic incentives.But it has the potential to be a viable route to the energy grid in the country if proper policy initiatives are forthcoming from GOI. The enormous Municipal wastes generated all over the urban townships, collected and sent to landfills must be harnessed to produce energy through the anaerobic digestion system. Same is true with organic wastes emanating from industrial processing centers. Probably providing reasonable prices to the privately generated energy may trigger higher interest amongst the entrepreneurs to set up such facilities.

V.H.POTTY

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RICE THAT IS RICH IN ANTIOXIDANTS-IS IT A FAD OR A BREAKTHROUGH?

Relentless pursuit of antioxidant containing foods has thrown light on an unlikeliest source which is reported to be equal to blueberries in terms of this health protecting phytochemical. Ordinarily rice would never be considered as a source of anthocyanins though brown rice does contain small amounts. A variety of rice with historic connections to ancient Chines Kingdom, known as "forbidden rice" with intense black color, if not polished in the mill, is being touted as a future candidate for commercial promotion amongst the health fads. Black rice, also referred to as Indonesian rice is cultivated to a limited extent in some Asian countries for its flavor and taste. Compared to many white rice varieties, this version has non-pasty cooking characteristics. Its rich anthocyanin content and presence of higher fiber level and other nutrients like iron and vitamin E, seem to have attracted the attention of the industry looking for new products on the health platform. What is not realized is that health credentials alone do not make a product acceptable to the consumer and lot needs to be done to evolve main stream products familiar to the consumer from this obscure raw material.

"How would you like something with more anti-oxidants than blueberries for dinner tonight? If you're health conscious, sure you would. So meet the hot new food fad — black rice bran. Zhimin Xu of LSU (right) used his standard procedure — chemical constituent analysis of grains for General Mills' Bell Institute — and found a spoonful of black rice brancontains more anthocyanin antioxidants than a spoonful of blueberries, but with less sugar, more fiber, and more Vitamin E. It costs a lot less, too. Xu also found the pigments in black rice may be healthier than current artificial food coloring, and can be used to produce a wide variety of colors.He suggested black rice bran could also be used to boost the health characteristics of manufactured foods like cereals and snack cakes. (I'm thinking Ding Dongs.) Xu presented his findings last week at a meeting of the American Chemical Society and the reaction was immediate. The CBS lede was a bit misleading though — it's the bran that packs the punch, not the rice itself. Black rice is really just brown rice with a different pigment. The bran is the key".

Some times one wonders the direction in which food research is moving and this is a typical example of raising expectations which are bound to be unfulfilled in the foreseeable future. There are many better sources of antioxidants and they are much more preferred than rice especially amongst non-rice eating population. Even those who eat rice as staple, the consumer preference has been for white rice, polished to the maximum extent though brown rice is also consumed to a limited extent. Rice bran to day is considered a good source of edible oil and the economics of rice mills are closely linked to the income from rice bran, a by-product of the industry.

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