"FLOGGING" THE "FAT"-A "POPULISTIC" CONCEPT OR "SOUND" SCIENCE?

According to some commentators of modern food eating concepts, fats contained in foods one eats are unnecessarily and illogically being blamed for all the ills man faces to day. Though this is contrary to the present knowledge of human nutrition as exemplified by modern nutrition science, a patient hearing to the view point of antagonists will provide a right perspective to the issue. The publishers of Readers Digest have the following advice to its Diabetes Advisory Service subscribers which is interesting.

"It's rare for the world of medical research to get something so wrong. But for nearly 30 years, one of the most pervasive "truisms" about healthy eating—that dietary fat is your enemy—has been incorrect. In the last five years, a wide breadth of research has proven conclusively that dietary fat is not the demon we've made it out to be. It's an amazing about-face—one with extraordinary implications for how we eat for good health. To understand the significance of this, take a look at your cookbook shelf. How many books have "Low-Fat" in their titles? The idea was that by removing fat from your diet, you'd automatically lose weight. But for many, the opposite has proven true: By replacing the fats in our diets with so many refined carbs, we've not only gained weight, but also launched a diabetes epidemic!" "Today, we're kicking off the first part of a week-long series on that three-letter word we've inappropriately come to abhor. There are so many misconceptions about fat, it's time to set the record straight. Over the course of the week, we'll tell you why you need it and which kinds to eat, as well as the types that are indeed dangerous for your health. Why did fat get such a bad rap for so long? For starters, when physicians began recommending the low-fat diet a generation ago, they simply assumed it would work. Population studies had shown that people who eat high-fat diets tend to have more heart attacks, so the low-fat concept seemed to make sense". "Still, the low-fat diet had never been formally tested on a large scale in humans. Years later, when researchers finally conducted clinical trials with people who adopted the "eat less fat" approach, it flopped. In a 2006 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association—the first long-term study of its kind—scientists followed almost 49,000 women for eight years and found that eating a low-fat diet did not protect against heart attacks, strokes, or any other form of cardiovascular disease. The same kind of flawed thinking was applied to the weight aspects of eating fat. While carbohydrates and proteins each deliver 4 calories for every gram you consume, fat is more than double that amount, at 9 calories per gram. So it makes sense that by eating fat rather than protein or carbs, you'll consume far more calories and will gain weight". But nothing is quite that simple. As it turns out, fat breaks down in your body very similar to the way protein does, which has implications both for weight gain and blood sugar control. For example, fat doesn't raise blood sugar, and it doesn't require any insulin in order to be metabolized (its Glycemic Load is zero). It also takes a while to digest, and therefore slows the rate at which food leaves your stomach. The upshot? Not only does fat fill you up longer, but it also blunts the blood-sugar-spike effect of a meal, even if that meal includes carbs. So why does fat still get such a bad rap? Because people confuse the different types. Some forms of dietary fat are extremely healthy for you—these good fats protect your heart, lower your cholesterol, and keep blood sugar swings in check. Other forms are as unhealthy as doctors have been saying all along. These types clog arteries, contribute to heart attacks and weight gain, and hinder blood sugar management".

If one is to go by this recommendation, taking mono unsaturated and poly unsaturated fats and avoiding saturated and trans fats, as part of one's diet would not do any harm at all. Probably there is some truth in such a statement, though even unsaturated fats, if consumed in excess can do harm to the human body. Also not to be forgotten is the fact that many cooking oils do contain significant proportions of saturated fats along with unsaturated ones and consumers have no choice but to use them in their day to day food preparations. If 100% unsaturated fats are to be consumed such fats will have to be made by suitable fractionating techniques but whether they will be acceptable from sensory perception is a matter of conjecture.

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

THE GREAT SUGAR "PHOEBIA"-MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING?

In the last 10 years sugar and other caloric sweeteners are at the receiving end, attracting attention from consumers, nutritionists, health professionals and governments world over, for all wrong reasons. There is no doubt that sugar based foods are liked by most consumers, especially children and young age population and this practice has been sited as the major reason for increased body weight and Body Mass Index (BMI) noticed lately amongst populations in some affluent countries. An average adult needs about 2000 kC of energy through the diet contributed by carbohydrates, proteins and fats present in the food. While fat calories are restricted by guidelines to provide no more than 30% of calories, there is no upper limits suggested for sugar.

Since protein requirement is about 50-60 gm for an average adult, the calorie contribution from this source does not exceed 11-13% of total calories and balance has to come mostly from carbohydrates which works out to less than 60%, equivalent to 250 to 300 gm of carbohydrates a day. Sugar and starch are the major carbohydrates present in foods and there is no accepted guidelines regarding the ideal proportion of sugar to total carbohydrates considered safe for regular consumption. While a daily consumption of 44 gm of sugar is suggested by some as ideal to keep away some of the life style disorders that afflict the humans, there is no scientific study reported any where to substantiate this contention. Food industry manufactures thousands of products containing sugars as high as 70-80% and focus has been on these products which are considered unhealthy and dangerous. To prevent people from consuming such sweetened products, radical policies like high taxation and state regulations to control their manufacture are being advocated.

During the last decade High Fructose Corn Syrup ( HFCS), made from corn starch through hydrolysis and isomerization was castigated as villain sparing white sugar from too aggressive adverse campaign. That HFCS contains same mono saccharides glucose and fructose present in white sugar, does not spare it from criticism by its antagonists and fact still remains that no shred of supporting scientific evidence has been forthcoming to support such a stand. Probably the observation that increasing incidence of obesity is almost parallel to the growth of HFCS industry, which may be coincidental, could have provided the temptation to critics to put it on the dock.

It is unfortunate that more than a century of research in nutrition has not been able to bring out the role of sugar clearly in human body leaving the mankind to second guess the probable role sugar plays in weight gain. It is only recently that the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) came out categorically against blaming sugar for obesity, a stand opposite to the views of its counter part agency FDA of USA. According to EFSA not sufficient scientific evidence exists to fix any upper limit for daily sugar consumption. Further the data on obesity amongst the population in the US clearly shows that the epidemic is on the increase during the last decade while average sugar consumption in that country declined by more than 10%, clearly showing that the cause lies some where else.

Of course the above news could be sweet music to the ears of food industry, especially the caloric sweetener manufacturers but the views expressed by the EFSA should not be a blanket green signal for the industry to hook its consumers on nutritionally unbalanced products with high sensory pleasure. The key to over weight is often the excess calories consumed, be it from sugar or fat and psychologists have warned that high calorie foods are addictive in nature which should not be exploited by food manufacturers to inflict uncontrolled damage on the society. There must be synergy between consumer need and industry action.

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

THE TRACEABILITY TOOL-BECOMING AN INDUSTRY STANDARD

With the food-borne diseases capturing world-wide attention, traceability has become a priority area of consideration so that such out breaks and costly market recall of suspected products can be avoided as much as possible. The problem assumes serious dimension under a global trade regime that depends on food resources and ingredients used by the industry from different corners of the world. While many developed countries are formulating policies for putting in place a dependable traceability program, some industry players are taking a proactive stand by implementing their own voluntary traceability plans.

Those products undergoing minimum processing and made from lesser number of ingredients are easily amenable to any new requirements for making the information about supply sources. But it becomes complicated bordering on nightmare when it comes to products containing dozens of ingredients sourced from different parts of the world. The "one up and one back" approach evolved a few years ago is relatively easy to be accomplished and possibly if every one in the supply chain keeps the supply source record, it should be possible to identify all the players involved through elaborate investigations, though it may take quiet some time to get the full details. The present clamor for full traceability vis-à-vis the final product by the manufacturer has to be understood in this context. The surmise is that in the event of any suspected episode, the entire sequence and the players involved can be traced instantly. Electronic tracing will eventually become an industry practice in future.

A manufacturer of chocolate bar in the US recently introduced a "choc-o-lot" code, a series of numbers that customers can plug into the company's website revealing where the cocoa beans in that bar were grown and who grew them. The idea is to introduce customers to the farmer in Ecuador, Mexico or the Philippines who cultivated the bar's essential ingredient. Tracing the chocolate from the bean to the bar is an elaborate exercise and this ability to track an ingredient from origin to destination is what is accomplished by this small chocolate company. Fritto-Lays Inc, the potato chips giant, initiated its own efforts under the "chip tracker" program under which consumers can track electronically the journey of potato from the farms to the factory. The fruit berry company, Driscoll's have the traceability sticker on the pack to inform its buyer about the history of the produce marketed by them while Chiquita company has put in place its "Leaf Locator" program for the lettuce it is marketing.

While 100% traceability is a desirable goal, whether it can be enforced across the entire spectrum of food industry under the prevailing situation is an issue that requires more attention to the details of logistics and other constraints coming in the way. Imagine the tribulations of a company dealing with a produce like tomato which are accessed from different sources for supply to the market after a series of operations. Tomatoes are plucked at different stages of half ripening, cleaned, sorted, packed, labeled and dispatched to the market. Naturally any given pack can have tomatoes coming from more than one farm and how difficult it can be to trace any contamination when suspected, to any original source. Under a strict traceability regime, the processor will have to have separate handling facilities for produce coming from different sources or at least separate storage facilities for each supplier. Same applies to all food materials as blending, mixing and pooling are standard operations in food processing industry for maximizing quality, safety and profitability.

In a country like India traceability will remain a pipe dream with millions of growers supplying the raw materials to the industry and millions of retailers peddling the processed products through their small outlets. Probably few retailers in the organized sector may be able to achieve some traceability because of their ability and capacity to link with large growers with traceable address. But eventually all countries have to fall in line if traceability becomes a pre-requisite for international trade under the WTO regime.

V.H.POTTY

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INJERA VS DOSA- SOME SIMILARITIES

Injera is considered the staple food preparation for most of the population in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Yemen while Dosa is consumed widely in southern part of India. Both are fermented and baked in open stove for eating readily. Probably those who consume these two products would be totally ignorant about each other's food and one may not like the other because of perceptible differences in taste, texture and flavor. It will be interesting to know how similar and nutritious they are in terms of their various characteristics. While Injera is made from the unique coarse grain Teff, dosa batter is prepared using a blend of black gram and rice.

Teff is the smallest grain known to man with an average diameter of 1 mm. As early as 3359 BC, it was found in one of the Pyramids and it is grown in the northern highlands of Northeast Africa. it has some unique characteristics not found in any other food grains. Being rich in Calcium, Phosphorus, Copper, Aluminum, Barium, Iron and Thiamine, it comes with hues of colors ranging from white to brown depending on the cultivar grown. It is a grain containing 14% protein with balanced amino acid profile. Traditionally the fine flour from Teff is mixed with water and allowed to ferment for 2-3 days where upon the yeast present produces a dough or batter that can be poured on to a hot griddle for baking into slightly puffy pan cake like product with a pronounced sour flavor and taste.

Injera eating is also unique in that the product with a diameter of about 30-40 cm is consumed traditionally without a plate when stew preparations and salad are placed on the freshly baked Injera. Pieces are pulled out from the periphery and the accompaniments deposited at the center are scooped with the piece for eating. After finishing the stew, the remaining part of injera, soaked in the juice of the stew is directly eaten. Modern house holds how ever use stainless steel plates for serving Injera. R & D studies have made it possible to make injera with other cereal flours, often substituting them for the expensive Teff flour to a substantial extent. Even ready mixes that can be used to make instant Injera are now available.

Dosa, basically is made similar to Injera but using black lentils and rice. the fermentation time is

some what less, about 18-24 hours under warm climate or 36-48 hours under cooler weather conditions. For obtaining good dosa batter the proportion of rice to black lentil is 2:1 or 3:1, with the lentil ground fine incorporating lot of air during the grinding operation. Fenugreek is invariably added in small proportion which is supposed to provide better fermentation condition. There are indigenously designed stone grinders that make the batter without generating too much heat, considered harmful for promoting fermentation. Modern day electric grinders invariably give a much inferior batter and dosa made with such a better does not compare well with traditionally made products.

There are hundreds of versions of dosa with different recipes, ingredients, preparation procedure, taste, texture and flavor. Traditionally dosa is eaten with the side dish chutney mostly made from coconuts or sambar, the well established Indian curry or onion-potato masala. Open masala dosa is like Injera, eaten with the masala dish in the center. Same batter with varying water content can be used make uttappam, guliyappam etc with different shape, texture and taste. Pesarattu, Adai, Aappam, Uppupuli dosa, Rava dosa, Neer dosa, vegetable dosa, Urad dosa, Maida dosa etc are variations popular with different communities.

Both Injera and Dosa get their characteristic organoleptic characteristics from fermentation with natural microorganisms. The first face of the fermentation is dominated by bacteria like Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Streptococcus faecalis, Pediococcus cereviciae, , Lactobacillus plantarum, L.brevis, L.fermentum, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens etc followed by yeast strains like S.cerevisiae, Debaryomyces hausenii, Trichosporon beigelli etc. These microbes are contributed by the grains used for preparing the batter. Instant dosa mixes being offered by the food industry is based on chemical leavening agents and the end product is invariably inferior to traditionally made counterparts.

If Injera and Dosa are almost like "cousins" from two different continents, why not one think of creating an Indian Injera or an Ethiopian Dosa? Sounds exciting? Any takers?

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

"GOURME" COFFEE, CIVET CAT AND "HEAVENLY" PRICE

Connoisseurs of Tea are known to pay sky high prices for high quality natural products grown in high ranges like Darjeeling because the flavor obtained from such sources are unique. There are reports that such tea leaves cost 100-500 % more compared to their counterparts from the plains. The reason for such variation in prices is attributed to the cocktail of delicate aroma developed at high altitudes. But can one imagine such a situation with regard to coffee beans? Apparently there seems to be a limited trade in high value coffee beans "produced" in some Asian countries like Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia that can command prices as high as USD 2500 PER kg compared to less than $ 5 per kg for normal coffee, consumed world over! What is the "magic" involved in making such high priced coffee products from the very same varieties like Arabica, Robusta, Liberica, Excelsa etc?

As many of world's inventions are products of accidental events, the so called "civet coffee" known locally as Kopi Luwak, considered a gourmet product, also emerged from the jungles of Indonesia as an accidental discovery by the local population. To day this product is made in the islands of Sumatra, Java, Sulawezi in Indonesian Archipelago, in the Philippines, East Timur and Vietnam though it is known by different names in different countries. One wonders whether the so called connoisseurs of civet coffee would still enjoy the product if they really know the secrets involved in making this product with a halo around it.

Wild coffee plants that grow in certain regions where civet "cats" roam freely are the source from where civet coffee originates. Normal coffee berries are eaten by the animals when they are ripe and fleshy and after digesting the fruit pulp, the seeds are thrown out through the feces in about 36 hours' time which are collected by the locals for further processing. After gathering the beans from the feces, they are washed, sun-dried, lightly roasted, ground and brewed for obtaining an aromatic coffee with less bitterness and mild chocolaty after taste! The series of biological changes that take place in the digestive tract of the animal are due to action of several enzymes on the coffee berries and it is even reported that slight germination and mild Maillard reaction make the final coffee more aromatic and less bitter. Unlike normal coffee which requires admixture with Chicory to impart strength and body to the brewed beverage, civet coffee is reported to give a syrupy product with clean after taste. Why the western tourists who flock the tourist spots in South East Asia and enjoy the treat with civet coffee, with high sensitivity to food borne pathogens, is not concerned of E.coli or any other pathogens than can taint the final product remains a mystery!

Whether animal protectionists would like it or not there are captive civet farms being maintained in some coffee estates with closed boundaries to let the animals allowed to roam free during the nights to eat and defaecate for getting civet coffee of uniform quality. Asian Palm Civet is a small creature weighing hardly about 3 kg with the over all size of about 60 cm and a tail measuring about 45 cm. The anal scent glands secrete a fluid with a musky odor and whether this secretion plays any role in the characteristic traits of Civet coffee is not clear. Commercial considerations, with such high prices being fetched for this coffee, have led to artificial Civet coffee like products made by treating the harvested beans with a cocktail of enzymes that simulate the action in the digestive system in the animal, first pioneered by Vietnam. Civet coffee also goes by names such as Weasel coffee, Fox coffee, Cut chong, Squirrel coffee, Caphe chin etc. Kopi muncak is made from the dung of barking deer similar to civet coffee in some parts of Southeast Asia.

Considering that this highly priced coffee version is produced and consumed in limited quantities it is doubtful whether there is sufficient space for more players in the already crowded field. But for some limited studies by Vietnam on the biochemical aspects of converting fresh coffee berries into Civet coffee, no worth while scientific data exists on this unique bio-processed coffee. The need of the hour is to by-pass the animal and produce similar product with same characteristics and promote the product world wide. A cooperative effort amongst India, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam can put civet coffee on a better scientific and commercial footing in the coming years.

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

THE PANCHAYAT "COMPETITION"-A NEW TOOL FOR RURAL FOOD INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT

The rural development "mantra" was on the lips of every politician worth his salt till a few years ago as the national policy of rural upliftment was a top priority for all political parties. Even academia and research agencies were not spared and industries were pressurized for adopting villages for model development. The perception that more than 70% of the country's population lived in more than 0.6 million villages spread over all the states put some urgency in all the programs taken up by the governments at the state and federal levels. Billions of rupees were "spent" in the name of rural development though the results could at best be termed as "scratching the surface" of the Himalayan problem daunting the country. Even to day there are many programs with huge fund flow in different states for improving the living standards of rural people and probably the results are not going to be much different if one goes by the sincerity and intention of the bureaucratic and the political class that control the purse strings.

While the above scenario presents a bleak picture from the national perspective, the food industry pundits, promoters and policy makers have been singing the tune that food processing industry must come up in the rural backyard of the country where food is grown. Such a move was supposed to provide gainful employment to rural folks living in perjury for long due to marginal nature of agriculture. Philosophically this stand is logical because the easily perishable and not so easily perishable agricultural produce would have a better chance to maintain its quality if immediately processed, in stead of transporting to urban areas where most industries tend to locate their manufacturing facilities. But in practice many logistical problems like under developed infrastructure, power availability, personnel shortages, water shortages, etc in most of the rural areas are formidable constraints, especially for big players to locate their factories there.

The proactive policy of various governments extending financial and other favored considerations for setting up rural food industries, especially in backward regions, did not gel and entrepreneurs continued to flock around urban areas with better infrastructure to establish new ventures because of their conviction that projects were more viable and sustainable around urban consumption centers with assured demand. The setting up of the special purpose vehicle, in the shape of Ministry of Food Processing Industries did not change the situation very significantly in spite of massive funds made available to it for developing food industry. Is it the time to throw the towel now and express anguish at nation's inability to harness its agri-horticulture wealth for value addition, generate employment and ensure better returns to the growers who toil hard to raise crops against all odds?

A small program in Kerala, reported recently showed how the Panchayat administrations could be galvanized by an incentive based competition to change their attitude to common man, contains a clue to unlocking the inherent potential of people to demonstrate their capabilities in a succinct way. A collaborative venture between Doordarshan, Department of Local Self Government, State Suchitwa Mission and Center for Development of Imaging Technology, the program has enrolled 200 Panchayats for a competition to win Rs 10 million to be awarded to the most popular one with maximum citizen friendly activities. The way this program being telecast under the "Green Kerala Express" banner on every Friday on DD at Thiruvananthapuram seems to have changed the working style of most of the Panchayats in delivering services to the the citizens in double quick time compared to days and months it used to take for the same service under normal conditions!

If the same approach is used by different states to promote rural food industries at the Panchayat level, it may help entrepreneurs to set up such units with active help from the officials of the Panchayats. It is already known that in each state there are areas of plenty vis-à-vis food material produced locally and based on a master map some Panchayats can be selected for a special program for rural industrialization. Several financial incentives can be offered for those Panchayats achieving certain targets and nurturing the newly established processing units. One of the critical inputs required is the process technology and technical help to the entrepreneurs which will have to come from the District Industries Centers nearby. The Panchayats can even be given financial stakes in new enterprises for their continued involvement and prevent abandoning them after production is stabilized. This is where MFPI can play a vital role through escort service for the Panchayats selected under rural food industry programs. It is time GOI realizes that only rural food industries can provide socour to the farmers in this country though the organized sector may be more visible to the planners at Delhi!

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

TRANSFAT DANGERS-INDIAN "KUMBAKARNA" IS WAKING UP?

Many consumers must be wondering about the special attention being paid on declaration of trans fats (TFA) content in packed foods in some of the imported food products. The common perception is that saturated fat is not desirable and therefore foods that do not contain high levels of this category of fat are relatively safe. The health risks posed by TFA are well documented in western literature though Indian food safety agencies did not bother about it till recently. Hydrogenated fats which are the major sources of TFA still continue to be made in India with all its adverse impact on the consumer.

Trans fats are those containing the trans isomer of unsaturated fats, generated during the partial dehydrogenation (PHO) in order to modify the melting point to suit users like the bakery industry which could make superior baked goods when these plastic fats are incorporated in the recipes. The margarine industry also got into the PHO wagon when it found that butter substitutes made with PHO has vastly superior spreadability characteristics compared to that made with lard, as has been the practice before. Who does not like a butter like substance that can be taken out of the refrigerator and used straight away without waiting it to attain room temperature and this attribute was exploited by the industry to spawn out products that became instant hit with the consumer within a short time.

Why should TFA be condemned and avoided, if it is found in natural food items like milk, consumed widely world over? True not only animal milk, even human milk contains low levels of TFA, 1-7% of the total fat but these are comparatively harmless, especially the conjugated linoleyl acid (CLA) containing fats and mothers milk is a dilute product with low fat levels. When it comes to PHO, the situation is totally different because the TFA content in these man made products can be as high as 45% and most baked foods contain 35-50% fat in them. Though it was known almost 35 years ago that presence of TFA can cause high risk in terms of heart diseases, no worth while attempts were made to regulate their use by any country. The earliest to demonstrate the earnestness to tackle this menace was Denmark which banned use of PHO in foods by laying a very low limit of 2% in any oil or fat marketed in that country and 1 gm per day in human foods. World Health Organization has stipulated an upper limit of 1% of daily calories consumed that can be derived from trans fats in foods

As TFA is unnatural, the human system cannot break down it in the body leading to accumulation in the arteries causing the LDL levels to rise and HDL levels to go down. The LDL to HDL ratio consequently goes up, the rate in increase being more than double compared to saturated fats, spelling disaster in the form of Cardio Vascular Disease (CVD) to those consuming foods with high trans fats regularly. Besides There are scattered reports blaming consumption of TFA for many dreaded diseases like Alzheimer's, Cancer, Diabetes, Obesity, Liver dysfunction, Infertility in women etc most of which need further confirmation and consensus.

Indian authorities woke up to the dangers posed by TFA only recently, that too because of the dust and heat generated by the media and some health conscious consumer groups. Though the whole world is moving swiftly towards a regime free of TFA, there is no restraint on the domestic food industry which continues to manufacture hundreds of food items with high content of TFAs and the catering sector is slowly poisoning the consumers in this country by catering to them with high TFA containing foods. In the absence of any government regulations and absence of social accountability, one gets the unmistakable impression that hotels, restaurants, multi national fast food chains and the low profile street vendors are still using oils containing unacceptable levels of TFA with scant regard for human health.

According to knowledgeable sources it is time that the country wakes to the reality of TFA dangers and take concrete action on a long term basis. Such an action plan must include regulatory measures, by legislative action, to be adopted to put a threshold limit of TFAs levels, force the fat industry to make 'zero trans' fats, enforce mandatory labeling of packed food items and edible oils giving information about TFA content. Such a scheme must bring the catering sector into the ambit of compulsory declaration of TFA in their preparations and evolve compulsory logo for inclusion in the label to distinguish products that contain zero TFA, less fat, less sugar, less sodium, more proteins, more fibers and zero cholesterol.

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