Are some foods more addictive than others? New findings with far reaching implications!

Can some foods be compared to alcohol, tobacco or psychotropic substances from the point of view of creating addiction?. A significant number of experts are veering around to the view that there are a few foods being manufactured by the food processing industry which are capable of inducing addiction and one suspects that the industry also is fully aware of this, exploiting this knowledge to develop more and more such foods for catering to the consumers vulnerable to addiction. If this is true can the industry get away with such sinister designs and will not they be liable for class action before the judiciary for suppressing such an evidence? We cannot forget how the cigarette industry was caught doing the same and what penalty they had to pay running into billions of dollars as reparation for destroying the health and lives of millions of people in the US. Food technology has evolved into a fine art to day and creating a food with right proportion of sugar, fat and flavor is very easy. This is what the industry seems to be doing world over to improve their bottom line! In such a situation what needs to be done to reduce such addiction which is playing with lives of people in countries like the US as manifested by obesity, diabetes, hyper tension, kidney diseases etc? Here is a critique on this important issue that is worth reading. 

"Are Americans in denial about symptoms of food addiction? But are these foods addictive?  Michael Moss, author of Salt, Sugar Fat, states: "I tried to use the "A" word sparingly because the industry argues convincingly that food lacks some of the technical definitions of addiction and narcotics. They prefer words like alluring, craveable, smackable. But the aim is the same, which is to create the perfect formula and amounts of salt, sugar and fat that will send us over the moon and make their products irresistible." (2) Moss reports, "There are estimates, of course, but we're averaging something like twice the recommended amount of salt. The best estimate of sugar is 70 pounds a year. We're averaging 11 percent of our calories [from] saturated fat, the bad one linked to heart disease, and the recommendation is to get it down to 7 percent or less." (2) New study reports that highly processed foods are shown to be addictive, leaving consumers with substance dependence symptoms and behaviors. The University of Michigan is hoping that their new study will help consumers make more informed decisions. The new study confirms what many people have suspected:highly processed foods like chocolate, pizza and French fries are the most addictive (3) This is the first study to examine which foods can truly be implicated in food addiction. This has recently become a growing interest due to rising obesity epidemic. Prior studies with animals showed that highly processed foods or foods with added fat and refined carbohydrates trigger addictive-like eating behavior.  Clinical studies performed with human subjects indicated that individuals eating processed foods meet the criteria for substance dependence. (3) U-M assistant professor, Ashley Gearhardt, explains that highly processed foods are known to be preferred for their taste, it has remained unknown whether these food elicit an addiction response. Unprocessed foods such as brown rice and salmon have not been associated with addictive behaviors. (3) Erica Schulte, lead author, explains that individuals with symptoms of food addiction or higher body mass indexes report greater difficulties with processed foods. "If properties of some foods are associated with addictive eating for some people, this may impact nutrition guidelines, as well as public policy initiatives such as marketing these foods to children," Schulte said. (3) Nicole Avena, co-author of the study, reports, "This is a first step towards identifying specific foods, and properties of foods, which can trigger this addictive response," she said. "This could help change the way we approach obesity treatment. It may not be a simple matter of 'cutting back' on certain foods, but rather, adopting methods used to curtail smoking, drinking and drug use." (3)"

To be fair to the industry it must be argued that they have to look for decent returns for their investments and efforts in the form profits by creating a market for their products and after all they can sell only products consumers demand. Whether one likes it or not, organoleptic quality of foods has been the single most driving force as far as product development programs are concerned and launching a product is invariably precede by a market acceptability study trying to gauge the reaction of the consumer. Until recently consumer always decided whether a product is acceptable based on his perception regarding over all flavor including color, taste and texture and only now health aspects are coming into focus with demands being made on the industry to make healthier foods. If foods like chocolates, pizza and others with high sugar or fat or salt content are really addictive as being made out to be, there must be restrictions against their manufacture and marketing. Can any country treat foods like alcohol and regulate their sale without impinging on the rights of the consumer to decide what he wants to eat from among the products that pass the quality and safety standards prevailing there? One has to only recall the experience of the government in New York which tried to restrict the size of bottle sizes of soda which was rejected by the courts there as violation of personal freedom! Similarly look at the resistance that is emerging in the US for a simple proposal to include extent of added sugar to a product by the processing industry on the nutritional label and it is unlikely that similar efforts in reining in food industry will ever succeed!

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

Mechanical tenderization of meat-What difference does it make?

Food technology always provides new insights into food quality and accordingly strives to develop appropriate processes and techniques to achieve the goals. Take the example of meat carcass from animals like cattle and pigs which are naturally tough to eat straight away unless they are softened for easy consumption and achieve the characteristic eating quality. Age old techniques like marinating, use of vinegar, wines, butter milk, yogurt, enzymes like papain, bromelain and actinidin to tenderize meat are giving way to more sophisticated techniques like mechanical tenderization using large machines with steel needles and blades. Though the new innovation does avoid too much handling by the workers in meat processing units, different type of problem seems to be emerging causing more contamination cases involving the much dreaded and virulent E.coli 0157H7. This has led to wide spread demand from the consumers to differentiate between traditional tenderization and mechanical tenderization on the display label that would help them to cook the latter more severely to kill the contaminant that might have been pushed deep into the product because of the use of needles and blades. Here is a take on this vexed issue that has led to a tricky situation faced by the industry and the safety authorities in some countries.   

"According to a final rule by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), mechanically tenderized beef products will not require special safety labels for at least another three years. The tenderization process softens the meat with tools and devices that are known to cultivate pathogens that can lead to food borne illness. Initially proposed in mid-2013, the meat labeling rule would require that food packaging displays specific cooking instructions for meat products. FSIS's concern has been that consumers are not cooking meat long enough to prevent foodborne illness.  The labeling rule was not finalized as expected by December 31, 2014, thus it cannot take effect before 2018 according to FSIS requirements. Had the rule been cleared in a timely manner, the meat labeling requirements could have been enforced as soon as next year. The two-year incremental delay is meant to make changes easier for food manufacturers to comply. Proponents of meat labeling believe that consumers will be put at risk for another two years without more stringent instructions to follow when cooking meat. However, the meat industry has taken a stance against this labeling proposal, arguing that measures put in place by meat processors are sufficient in making sure that meat distributed to consumers is already safe."

Though the number of serious cases arising out of meat contamination due to mechanical tenderization process is relatively far and few, consumers are fearful while selecting their meat requirements and therefore their demand for label declaration appears to be reasonable. Such a declaration will enable them to adequately cook the meat till the center temperature reaches 67-71C which is supposed to kill the contaminating pathogens completely. While this demand has been accepted in principle, what is causing consternation is the unnecessary prevarication on the part of the safety authorities in enforcing the labeling rule during the last three years which gives the consumers an impression that meat industry is getting more favorable treatment at the hands of the governments ignoring the well being of the citizens. It is time such an impression is nipped in the bud by immediately enforcing the new labeling rules and restore the trust between the industry and the consumer.

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

Food Adulteration cases withdrawal-Is it justified?

A million dollar question that may pose some problem to government of India pertains to the thousands of food adulteration cases pending before various judicial courts through out the country. This issue became a hot potato to the new government in Delhi when trader associations filed a plea with the Prime Minister's Office to dismiss all such cases immediately since the present food quality and safety laws have replaced the old ones prevailing between 1956 and 2012. But is it ethical for the government to direct the judiciary to ignore such cases, some of them pending for decades, when prosecutions were initiated based on laboratory evidence? A crime does not become a crime just because the law has been slightly tweaked! The new Food Safety and Standards Act has inherited all the liabilities and assets of erstwhile Prevention of Food adulteration Act 1954 and therefore a crime committed then cannot be condoned under any circumstances. Here is a take on this issue which makes a funny reading.  .

"Considering the plea submitted by the Chandigarh chapter of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) regarding withdrawal of cases registered under the erstwhile Prevention of food adulteration Act (PFAA), 1954, the Prime Minister Office (PMO) has directed the Food Safety Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) to take appropriate action. A significant number of cases were registered against traders under the erstwhile PFAA and are pending in various courts across the country. According to CAIT (Chandigarh) President Harish Garg, many of these cases are as old as 20 years and are still in the initial stages. "Now with the PFAA being replaced by the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, all the cases registered under the previous Act have no relevance. Highlighting the problems faced by traders, I had told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that all such cases should be compounded because there is no merit to continue these cases after the replacement of the Act." Garg said the PMO has considered the issue sympathetically and directed the FSSAI to take appropriate actions. The move will help traders carry out their businesses in a smooth manner. Garg also said earlier the issue was also taken up by the Central office of CAIT with former Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, urging him to evolve a "compounding of offences". Alternatively, if compounding of cases is not feasible, then "fast-track court or arbitration or reconciliation proceedings may be initiated, to clear all the pending cases".

What is appalling is that the PMO has unwittingly played into the hands of this lobby which is spearheading the campaign to withdraw these cases by directing the FSSAI to take action in the matter. It is not clear whether PMO has directed FSSAI to withdraw these cases or to just process their plea appropriately as per the law? No doubt the judiciary has to take some blame for this sorry situation because of its delaying procedures compounded by ruthless lawyers who try to prolong the cases as much as possible. Is it not a joke that some of the accused parties in such cases do not even live to day because of repeated adjournments and prevarications by the clever lawyers which drags such cases for decades deliberately serving the cause of those being prosecuted!

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

How safe is your food picked up from the market? Here is a useful guide

Are you confused by the label that appears on all packed foods available in the market? It is true that consumer has lot of information about the contents inside a pack on the label printed but the most crucial question remains unanswered even if you scan the label with a magnifying glass! That question is whether the contents inside are safe for consumption even after the expiry of the expiration date printed on the pack? There are many pundits who advise you to see whether the pack is bloated, torn, leaky etc which are some of the tell tale signs of product deterioration. But what if there is no apparent or visible changes on such date expired packs? Many countries are advising its citizens to curtail food wastage which, according to some estimates, can be as high as that capable of feeding almost the entire population of poor people inhabiting the continents of Asia, Africa and South America! One of the actions suggested is to test any date expired packs for signs of off color, off odor, unattractive appearance or touch feeling before tasting a speck of it for the ultimate decision whether it should be tossed out of your kitchen. Here is guideline which this blogger found very useful to take a decision on this matter. 

"Keep It or Toss It?  Browse Shelf Life Information By Category Fruits, Vegetables, Dairy & Eggs, Meat & Poultry, Fish & Shellfish, Nuts & Legumes, Grains & Pasta, Condiments & Oils, Herbs & Spices, Snacks & Sweets, Baked Goods, Beverages"   

Though the information provided in this web site is very useful, it cannot be taken as the Gospel truth. Individuals must take an appropriate decision based on their perception and understanding of the data furnished by the publisher. After all the sensitivity of foods, even if they are safe as measured by other yardsticks can vary from person to person and as far as possible one must try to buy the most recently packed foods if feasible. Also to be borne in mind is the scientific truth that most foods with a one month expiration date at room temperature (30C) is likely to keep good for another two months easily in a refrigerator at less than 10C. Till a non-destructive test is discovered to "divine" the safety of foods in a sealed pack, consumers have to depend on their common sense to decide whether a particular food is safe or not! 

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

Californian chickens to be happier under the new law? That is a million dollar question!

Is it humane to apply human standards to animals? That is the million dollar question now being asked by some critics who feel that the new law promulgated recently in the Californian state of the US has gone too far in upholding animal welfare. The issue is simple but the answer can be very complex! The new law stipulates how large a chicken cage must be and unless poultry farmers raise the layers in such cages their eggs cannot be sold in any market in that state. On the face of it it looks very "humane" but scratch a little deep then the realization comes that it does not make much sense. This is what the critics tell us.They ask the question whether the birds are happier now than before? Who can answer that question except the chickens themselves! If the contention that larger cages are more dangerous to the birds is some what difficult to understand but they illustrate their view by pointing out that birds in larger cages are more prone to physical harm and diseases. One of the reasons for small cages being order of the day is that if more moving space is given the birds start attacking each other, waste the energy through unnecessary movements and do not put on weight which in turn affect the meat yield. Listen to these opposing arguments and decide for yourself where the truth lies!

"California's revolutionary animal-welfare rules — which mandate that chickens be given enough room to lie down, stand up, fully extend their limbs and turn around freely — are finally going into effect with the new year, 2015. Voters passed the law (it was a ballot initiative) in 2008. Since then, there have been legislative tweaks and a lot of legal wrangling, all culminating in a law that bars selling eggs in California unless they come from chickens that are given a little more room to move around. There are two things that make this fascinating to a food-policy nerd like me. First, instead of primarily regulating farmers, the rules primarily regulate eaters. So far, voters and lawmakers have been a lot more interested in telling farmers what to do than in passing laws that constrain what eaters can buy. The distinction has massive implications for the effects of the law. Second, the rules institute a completely new logic for determining animal welfare than has traditionally been used in American farming. That has chicken farmers tearing at their hair in frustration: If you accept the traditional logic, these animal-welfare rules may actually leave the chickens worse off; but if you accept the logic of the reformers, it's clear that this will be an improvement (if only a marginal one). It's one of those tricky situations where the conclusions matter less than the reasoning used to reach those conclusions."

Traditionalists always feel that old is gold and chicken and egg produced by large farms to day do not taste as well as they did during olden days, say about 50-60 years ago. It is difficult to vouchsafe for this bland statement without any comparative scientific study. But it a fact that even to day many consumers have a distinct preference for cage free chickens and free roaming pasture animals for which they are ready to pay a little more in the market. If this is the trend industry has to fulfill the consumer asp[aspiration by changing their current practices irrespective of the cost involved. One of the problems inherent in a vast market with no boundaries is that such standards, if not accepted by all the producers across the country, there is bound to be wide price differences with most consumers invariably choosing to go for the cheaper versions whether they are bad or indifferent! If Californian eggs become costlier because of new cage rules, cheaper eggs from neighboring states are bound to dominate the domestic market. If that happens, what will happen to the domestic poultry industry? Probably the new law which started kicking in only recently, let us wait and watch the consequences of its operation, if any.  

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

Recycling of plastics-New approach to save water and energy

To day's world cannot live without plastics as practically every walk of life is associated with use of one or the other plastic material. Out of the 300 million tons production of plastics of different types world wide, about one third is used for packing,  rest being channeled into a variety of products like tubes, pipes, structural parts, sheets, containers etc. In India more than 40% goes for packaging including that for protecting foods. As they are derived from non-renewable fossil fuels, man must be wondering whether his head-on rushing into massive use of plastics will prove to be a folly, considering that world was using for centuries traditional materials like metal, glass, ceramics, wood etc all of which are readily recyclable endlessly and with relative ease, besides being renewable in nature. Plastics, which are high molecular organic molecules are impervious to water and are not degradable in nature for hundreds of years. Recycling of plastics can be done by just melting it after sorting and cleaning at relatively low temperatures but there is a limit as to how many times it can be recycled as its property is adversely affected after recycling. Conventional recycling involves use of high quantity of water and lot of energy, both at a premium in countries like India. A new technology reported from Mexico claims that the water consumption and energy use can be significantly reduced making the recycled plastic.cheaper. Here is a take on this new development.    

"Mexican startup Ak Inovex has developed a 'Greener' plastic recycling uses no water and only half the energy  At the same time, it produces plastic pellets of equal or better quality,  resulting in an environmentally friendlier process that also promises to be significantly cheaper. Plastic recycling can turn discarded bottles and other scrap into a myriad of useful objects, helping produce anything from polyester clothes to 3D printing filaments and even diesel. However, it is a long, laborious affair that consumes plenty of resources  –  especially water. Among other things, the plastic needs to be thoroughly washed to get rid of impurities, carefully dehydrated inside an oven, and then water-cooled once again as the newly-formed plastic filaments are cut into small pellets. According to Marco Adame, the new method that his startup has come up with can produce pellets of equal or better quality using just half of the energy by getting rid of the need for these temperature extremes, while also doing away with the need for water altogether. The system uses special walls that, on contact, are able to both mold the plastic into the desired pellet shape and cool those pellets at the same time. The energy-demanding dehydration process, which involves temperatures of around 180° C (360° F), had been a necessity so far because, after being washed, the plastic molecules would otherwise attract water to themselves and prevent the plastic from crystallizing properly. Being able to process scrap plastic without water has therefore simplified things considerably. Adame says that using his technique, the same machines are able to process styrofoam, polystyrene and ABS, which together make up about 90 percent of all plastics. The improved versatility would mean less space would be needed for operation."

Limitation vis-a-vis plastic recycling does not lie in technology but logistical problems associated with segregating different plastics from the garbage for channeling them to different recycling systems. There are at least two dozens of plastics in common use and they come to the garbage dump mixed with organic and biological waste and this restricts the extent of plastic recycling to less than 5% of total used through out the world, the figure varying from country to country. Increased use of plastic wastes for energy generation is another encouraging development that will remove more and more of these naturally indestructible man-made material from the environment. Comparing to paper which is recycled to the extent of 80% plastics will have to go a long way to remove the tag it has earned as "chokers" for its role in contaminating oceans and river bodies, bringing about destruction of natural aquatic creatures.

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

Indian Malls-Where are the customers?

What is a Mall? It is am American innovation for attracting customers by providing a comfortable shopping experience where a variety of products, mostly consumer oriented, with different brand names and some services are offered under one roof. Before the advent of Malls in a big way, there have been shopping arcades which also provided essentially the same service but on a smaller scale. Malls are generically huge in size with different individual shops with their own characteristic ambiance, inter connected for easy access and generally have food courts for refreshment and meal service. Being mostly air conditioned they provide protection from severe summer heat or winter cold. It is estimated that business volumes in such Malls for branded products are comparatively high because of high visibility and more foot prints of consumers. The ease of parking vehicles makes them particularly attractive for urban consumers, especially in India where most roads are cluttered, with parking space being at a premium! Still why the Mall concept is not catching on in India as expected though there are many established ones in a few cities like Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkatta etc? Here is an incisive analysis of this phenomenon which explains why Malls are not taking roots in India.

"Revenue from organised bricks-and-mortar retail in India is expected to more than triple to $150 billion by 2020, according to consulting firm Technopak - spurred by a raft of foreign retailers planning their first foray into the market, heating up competition for mall space. In the past six months, Gap Inc (GPS.N) has said it plans 40 stores, The Children's Place (PLCE.O) is looking at 50 while Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) (HMb.ST) has plans for an initial 50 shops. Established brands are also expanding, with Marks & Spencer (MKS.L) aiming to lift its store numbers to 80 from 45 by 2016/17. But India has only 77.6 million square feet of mall space, less than one tenth of U.S. levels, despite having nearly four times the population, with the shortage of attractive malls most acute in New Delhi and Mumbai. One in every six stores is empty, according to property consultants Jones Lang LaSalle, while advisory and management firm Beyond Squarefeet estimates thatup to 25 malls have been shut or converted to other uses in the past two years. That does not include two of Mumbai's oldest suburban malls, Centre One and Nirmal Lifestyle, which have said they are shutting down as shoppers stayed away. Many centres, especially those that went up during the 2006-2007 real estate boom, were built by developers with little mall building experience. Ownership of shops was often sold off piecemeal while many do not have sufficient parking for shoppers or areas for retailers to bring in their supplies. "Many of the malls that grew up did not even think of these things," said Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO of the Retailers' Association of India. Until new and better malls are built, some retailers are looking at alternatives such as leasing standalone shops that can often be less lucrative or investing big in fast-growing but nascent online services. "We...have to look at online spaces in a bigger way much earlier than before, because there is definitely a big shortage (of physical retail space)," said Govind Shrikhande, managing director at Shoppers Stop."

When government of India opened its arms to foreign companies to invest in India in the retail sector lot was expected and it was assumed that international retail chains would flock to India for setting their shop here. Alas this hope seems to have dashed looking at the retail landscape at present. Though many malls and supermarkets were established with lot of enthusiasm, due to poor customer response a significant number of them have already downed their shutters. Though market experts expect that the organized retail sector (a euphoric term for super markets, hyper markets and the Malls) would triple their business volume by 2020, it is a highly optimistic forecast, unlikely to materialize fully. We may recall how pundits were predicting the death knell of our traditional "mom and pop" stores, estimated to be about 8 million in number, once organized retailing comes to India with better resources, organizational skill, management wizardry, decades of experience and financial muscle. What happened? The ground reality is that they are not able to capture even 10% of the retail market business, in spite of struggling for past one and a half decades! Probably unlike in other countries, in India these super business models may not get a supremacy over traditional vendors in the foreseeable future and there has to be a peaceful coexistence between these two competing groups!

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