The rabid"Fatophobia"-Consequences of past practices now being felt!

There has been a frenetic pace in the criticism of fats present in the diet during the last 3 decades, attributing practically every ailments at the doors of this food component present in all foods in varying quantities. The food industry world over has been castigated for manufacturing high fat containing and tasty foods that attract the consumers and dietary guidelines have been telling the consumers to shun foods rich in fat. It is true that fats, especially saturated versions, that too present in animal derived foods do cause obesity, diabetes, heart disease etc when consumed in excessive quantities though precise data were never generated as to how much is too much! American consumers and their counterparts in many affluent countries were told that fat consumption through the daily foods should not be more than 30% of the total calorie needs of the body. This did create a perception all around that fat is a "dirty" component in a healthy food to be shunned as much as possible. Even a school going child "knows" fat rich foods are not good for health! What are the consequences of such a great fat phobia? They are there to see in a country like the US where industry started pandering to this trend developing thousands of products with the so called "low fat" claims! 

How far we have been right in taking the fat phobia to such great heights? It now emerges that such commonly perceived beliefs were highly misplaced as reflected by the failure of such low fat foods to prevent the increase of obesity and other related diseases in these countries during the last 3 decades. It now emerges that the recommendation to cap fat calories at 30% of total calories was wrong and in stead of reducing the incidence of obesity, such a policy created the opposite effect! Why? Because the place of fat in the diet was taken over by carbohydrates which seem to have contributed to health afflictions. Of course the emphasis on unsaturated fats and plant derived fats was correct as they are relatively less harmful compared to saturated fats. Even blaming carbohydrates may not be wholly justified becauser the quality of carbohydrates consumed makes a big difference in deciding the healthiness of a diet. Food technology may have some thing to do with decreasing the carbohydrate quality progressively during the last 5 decades by developing newer technologies to "refine" food which effectively means removing healthy components during the processing.  

Fortunately a spate of recent research studies have been able to establish the futility of focusing too much on low-fat foods. Many recent scientific observations do confirm the above reality. Studies using large randomized trials involving thousands of subjects between 2006 and 2013 brought out the stark reality that a low-fat diet had no significant benefits in ameliorating incidences of heart disease, cerebral stroke, diabetes or cancer risks. In contrast a high-fat, Mediterranean-style diet rich in nuts or extra-virgin olive oil providing more than 40 percent of calories in total fat was able to significantly reduced cardiovascular disease, diabetes and long-term weight gain. There are also other similar studies which have shown that high-fat diets can have same effect or better than, low-fat diets for short-term weight loss. The types of foods, rather than fat content, relate to long-term weight gain. It is not proper to rule out completely the perception that high-fat diets are not healthy  or low-fat diets are less harmful. A universal principle that should be borne in mind is that too much focus on a particular food component in the diets can be misleading and food has to be viewed in a holistic way. Focus on total fat or other abstract numbers printed on the labels of packed foods will have to be replaced with right emphasis on eating more minimally processed fruits, nuts, vegetables, beans, fish, yogurt, vegetable oils and whole grains in stead of highly refined white grain flours, white potatoes, added sugars in what ever form and processed meats. 

Quantity of food eaten must be related to what we eat: As commonly believed cutting calories in the diet without improving food quality cannot be expected to cause long-term weight loss. It is this belated realization that has prompted health and food experts to modify the dietary guidelines, after singing the "song of 30% calories cap" for decades for consideration by the government without any upper limit on total fat. In addition, reduced-fat foods were specifically not recommended for obesity prevention. Instead, they want to encourage consumption according to healthful food-based diet patterns. The limit on total fat is an outdated concept, an obstacle to sensible change that promotes harmful low-fat foods, undermines efforts to limit refined grains and added sugars, and discourages the food industry from developing products higher in healthy fats. Fortunately, the people behind the Dietary Guidelines understand that but whether policy makers and the food industry take notice of this sane advice remains to be seen.

This discussion cannot be complete unless a mention is made about the life styles followed by the people to day,  especially with respect to their sedentary way of living with practically no exercise or any physical activity. The right way to lead a healthy life is to eat a balanced diet with adequate nutrition derived from whole grains, fruits, vegetables etc as mentioned above and do enough physical activity in any format that will burn the calories and achieve a dynamic metabolic activity in the body that can ensure sound health and mind.

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

American consumer, the law makers and the Science-A big cauldron waiting to boil over!

Though genetically modified foods are predominantly produced and marketed in the United States, most consumers are either unaware of it or are helpless to do any thing to stem this trend of overwhelming GMO containing foods. The safety or otherwise of GMO foods is still a matter that divides humanity into opposing camps, one section finding no fault with them while the others vehemently loathing them. The gravity of the problem can be realized from the fact that even among scientists there is no consensus on this issue and how can one blame the consumer to take a stand on this burning issue. Whatever it is, in the US of to day consumers have no choice but to accept foods made from GMO raw materials and ingredients unless one has the wherewithal to spend a fortune to switch over to 100% organic foods. The fight that is going on to day in that country centers around the so called constitutional right of the citizen to know what he is eating and for that what they are asking is to just declare on the label of products whether GMO ingredients are there or not in the food packet. A well reasoned demand though the industry, politicians and bureaucrats do not think so, obviously because of pecuniary considerations.

Look at the stand taken by the safety watch dogs in that country viz Food and Drug Administration and US Dept of Agriculture both of which considers genetically altered foods "practically" same as their natural counterparts and therefore felt there is no need to specifically mention about their presence in any food on the label. One is left with the impression that the US wants to be a unique country in swimming against international views on almost all issues, probably because of the arrogance of power, being the only super power left in the global landscape after the demise of erstwhile Soviet Union. Other wise it is difficult to explain why it is cocking a snook at 64 other countries which have made label declaration about GMO foods mandatory! Why is this happening in a country which is supposed to be the beacon for all democracies in the world? Obvious answer is the nexus among politicians, bureaucrats and industry lobbyists to deny the consumer his right and make unholy money for their own welfare!

A peep into the American situation will reveal this paradox. According to recent reports a fierce food fight is going on in the Congress over the labeling of genetically engineered foods.with a substantial section of the law makers trying to block any move to enforce mandatory labeling of GMO foods in any part of the country. Is it not a paradox that in a federal system of governance, where states enjoy high degree of freedom to legislate, their right is being usurped by the federal government through an insidious bill that will block the power of states to enact any law that will mandate compulsory labeling of GMO foods! Who are these law makers trying to help? Of course the GMO industry giants who have a stranglehold on the American economy through their close nexus with politicians. This attempt comes in the wake of three states already putting on the statute book law that requires labeling of foods marketed in their area. Attempts in the past by some big states like California to legislate on similar lines were frustrated by saturated misleading campaign by the GMO lobby pumping millions of dollars to brain wash the voters. 

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The attempt to pass a law called "Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act" if passed asks for setting up a voluntary nationwide labeling system overseen by the federal government. This bill, popularly renamed by the consumer activist groups as "DARK Act", acronym for Deny All the Right to Know" Act! Protagonists of GMO foods invariably argue that about 90 percent of the corn, soybeans and cotton grown in the U.S. are genetically engineered, meaning that the crops have been artificially altered to use less water or resist pests and no calamity has befallen in the country. Also other supporters cite the clearance given by The American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Medical Association and the World Health Organization all of them who have deemed all GMOs on the market as safe. 

However a major chunk of the consumer community is not convinced fully about the safety of such foods because of the common perception that industry does not have the well being of the citizens in their mind, relentlessly pursuing efforts to increase their profits and the scandals surrounding presence of unsafe chemicals hormones, steroids, transfats,etc further reinforce their distrust about the products churned out by the manufacturers. 

At present there are no government-approved labels to let consumers in the U.S. know which foods are derived from GMOs.It is funny that the US Government wants to leave to individual manufacturers to make any label declaration to indicate that their products are free from GMO ingredients without taking any responsibility to verify such claims! That has prompted many companies to advertise their food as "Non-GMO" by taking the services of existing Non-GMO Project which is a private nonprofit outfit floated by retailers. The group is claimed to be testing food products and do product segregation practices to verify that products with its butterfly seal contain less than 1 percent GMO ingredients. Can it be a long term solution when millions of consumers expect their government to come to their rescue by overseeing such label claims to infuse confidence in such products? If mandatory labeling is anathema to the political class which runs the country, least they can do is to set up a dedicated authority to verify claims of manufacturers that their products are free from GMO substances.Will this happen?  Depends on the intensity of struggle by the consumers on the government to sensitize them on this critical issue.

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

"Make in India"- Slogan Vs reality

There was a time when world was frowning on Japanese made products for their low quality compared to those from western countries. See how this tiny country, shattered by World War II, became one of the most industrially advanced countries within a span of 25 years after the War. Same thing happened in Korea too, which, through its sheer hard work reached a stage to day when it can stand shoulder to shoulder with Japan, the US and other wealthy countries. How about China? It is another story which is a lesson to aspiring countries like India as it is the second most economically powerful country to day after the US. True there are many reasons to counter argue that India is not like China as we have an over dose of misguided democracy where accountability does not exist at any level, be it top echelons of the power structure or the lowly rated daily worker. Our Prime Minister must be admired, for nothing else, but for his courage of conviction when he coined the famous slogan, "make in India" exhorting the industry to expand their production base to manufacture quality products! Are we realistic in expecting such a thing to happen in our life time?

Quality and reliability are the two pillars on which reputation of products rests. Unfortunately in to day's India both are conspicuous by their scanty presence. The country's infrastructure in monitoring quality is practically non-existent. The quality monitoring agencies, most of them, are highly bureaucratized, resulting in delays and inefficient execution of their duties. There is a shortage of technical skills for which no action is being contemplated though every state is competing with each other to start more and more capitation fee based engineering colleges with doubtful credibility. Look at the land bill controversy which is being played out in the open by the politicians who do not care to be the laughing stock in the international landscape! Farmers whose cause these remorseless politicians are claiming to be championing do not think about the relentless suicides going on in the country side as the farmers are caught between deep sea and the devil! Their land, many of them too small to be viable, cannot bring them adequate returns, pushing them deep into debt burden while selling their land to buy more time is not allowed under the existing laws. Talking of entrepreneurs, there are many serious aspirants with high hopes who want to start new industries but where will they go for getting the wherewithal to venture into manufacturing arena? Bureaucrats, financial institutions, technology agencies and industry promotional departments of the government just pay lip sympathy without raising a finger to help them out. Sorry situation indeed.

Coming to food industry sector, will any serious entrepreneur venture into this area after the recent foolish move by the government to penalize one of the most reputed global companies without giving them even an hearing before taking such a severe penal action? The food safety and quality system is in shambles with bureaucrats running the show and the state machinery supposed to "control" the industry is archival and under functioning or malfunctioning. How can we swallow the bitter truth that 16 of the 30 states do not have even a single food testing laboratory? The judiciary in the country and the money chasing, irresponsible lawyers espousing the cause of food fraudsters, have contributed to this mess by causing inordinate delays in clearing thousands of cases, many of them 10-20 years old. Food Parks and similar grand sounding schemes have not borne any fruit till now though hundreds of crores of rupees have been spent on them. Food exports from India are grievously hurt because of the callousness, dubiousness and recklessness of the manufacturers and exporters. Look at the recent ban of import of snacks from India by the US because of quality and safety considerations and it is a pity that a major exporter claims that Indian laws under which they manufactured the products are different causing rejection! How naive and frivolous such an argument can be!  

Here is a telling commentary on the present sorry state of affairs in the country vis-a-vis the manufacturing sector which self revealing:    

"While authorities are now making an example out of Maggi, it's hard to believe that this is the only consumer product in India that fails to meet safety norms. In fact, a 2015 report by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, the national food regulator, revealed that almost a fifth of all food samples tested were adulterated or mislabeled. In 2012, a government study revealed that over 68 percent of milk sampled was adulterated with potentially harmful additives such as detergents, hydrogen peroxide, and even urea.
While some commentators in India tend to blame foreign multinationals for producing lower-quality goods for Indian consumption, even when this claim turns out to be true, the real fault lies with Indian authorities. With a patchwork quilt composed of a central regulator and an array of state government regulators, many of which are woefully understaffed, it's a miracle that this system finds any product quality lapses at all. In such an environment, it's hard to see how Prime Minister Narendra Modi's grand "Make in India" initiative to turn the country into a global manufacturing powerhouse can possibly come to fruition. India is not yet a major exporter of manufactured food products, but it does export its generic pharmaceutical products to over 200 countries. Could a Maggi-style disaster be awaiting the Indian drug industry?
If you believe the results of a 2014 academic study by a team of researchers from the University of Maryland, the University of Ottawa, and the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington, D.C., think tank, the answer could well be yes. The researchers tested samples of antibiotic and tuberculosis drugs labeled "made in India" and sold in India, Africa, and other non-African middle-income countries. They found that 10.9 percent of the products were of poor quality — that is, they either contained none or less than the required dosage of active pharmaceutical ingredients. Of this 10.9 percent, 7 percent contained less than the required dosage of active ingredients, while 3.9 percent were duds without any of the necessary active ingredients. Drugs without or with less than the required pharmaceutical ingredients will be ineffective, and therefore potentially harmful since they won't treat the condition they're meant to address.
What's more, poor-quality drugs were more likely to show up in Africa than in India or other middle-income markets. While some of this difference could be due to counterfeit drugs and poor storage conditions, the authors of the study claim that a more plausible explanation is that Indian companies are directing lower-quality drugs to the African market. Roger Bate, one of the researchers on the drug study, believes that Indian drugmakers or their distributors are deliberately doing this since regulation in African markets is even looser and laxer than it is in India. For those who claim that Western multinationals are producing lower-quality products for India, the shoe might be on the other foot. Meanwhile, U.S. regulators are poised to keep Indian drugmakers on a tight leash. In May 2013, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd., a major Indian drug company,pleaded guilty to seven felony charges and paid a $500 million fine for fabricating data, committing fraud, and selling adulterated drugs in the U.S. market. Regulation may be at the heart of the issue. India's national drugs regulator, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization, has a staff of a little more than 300 employees, or about 2 percent the size of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). What's more, it only has authority over newer drugs; pharmaceuticals that have been on the market for over four years are under the regulatory jurisdiction of state-level regulators, who are understaffed and, in some cases, corrupt.
Low-cost Indian generics also continue to draw the ire of advanced economies like Canada, whose socialized medical system is trying to cut costs by importing cheaper drugs from India. Currently, some 5 percent of generic prescriptions in Canada are filled by drugs made in India. Meanwhile, in the United States, a whopping 40 percent of over-the-counter and generic drugs consumed are made by India's pharmaceutical companies."

What has been said about pharma products is true with respect to food products also. Can we be serious in bringing about a drastic change for the better and take actions, many of them painful, to streamline the food processing sector through scientifically sound, financially supportive, entrepreneur motivating, technically supporting, land acquisition facilitating and venture promotion policies without wasting more time on political chicanery? Being one of the top producers of many food materials like cereals, milk, fruits and vegetables, plantation crops, meat , poultry and fish, why can't we take up a massive program of establishing thousands of food processing units across the country with least bureaucratic hassle? Then only Indian can really claim that it is the food basket of the world.

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

Dilution of grain quality standards -Its impact on food scenario in India

The Minimum Support Price ( MSP) scheme offered by the Government for many commodities is to counteract the depressing market prices often manipulated by middlemen working in rural regions fleecing the farmers, especially when there is a production glut. Quality standards are in vogue based on which procurement operations are done. Many pundits feel that if India has achieved self sufficiency in food grains with enough quantities in the granaries for ensuring long term food security, these MSP programs are to be applauded. It is another matter that Food Corporation of India has been finding it difficult to manage the logistics of storage with a part of the procured grains becoming unfit for human consumption. Here again there is a raging debate whether silo storage or gunny bag storage is more suited to Indian conditions with both sides having their own points for justification. What stands out in this debate is that government, who ever has been ruling the country, could not do much to save grains going rotten inviting condemnation even from the Supreme Court of the country!

One often wonders what would have happened if there was no MSP program in India? Will the production base shrink? Will there be unbearable price escalation in the grain market? What would be its impact on the Public Distribution System (PDS)? Would there be more farmers' suicides? Will there be large scale starvation? Will the farmers abandon agriculture and increase the already high rate of urban migration?  Very difficult questions to answer! During the current year government diluted the food grain quality marks to accommodate offerings from farmers in some states where there were unexpected weather contingencies in the form of nonseasonal rains which are supposed to have damaged the harvest. It is a moot point whether such standards are to to be meddled with for the sake of convenience from time to time. Where is the sanctity for National Food Standards? Can government relax the provisions of food safety regulations allowing private traders to indulge in adulteration because of this situation? Again difficult to get a clear answer. 

Another dichotomy in the system is that government has quality standards for buying from the farmers but is least concerned with what happens to these grains after procurement and storage for years together before distribution at the PDS out lets? It is common knowledge that most consumers who depend on PDS supply for their survival find it hard to use these sub-quality grains unfit even for feeding animals!

Tragically food safety inspectors seem to have been "instructed" not to "touch" the so called ration shops for quality checking in the national interest! Accountability is a non-existent word in the dictionary of those handling food grains in this country, with all of them going scotfree for negligence, callousness and dishonesty in depriving the citizen of wholesome foods! The political gimmick now being enacted in the name of Food Security Act probably will worsen the problem further because of increased burden in procuring adequate grains for supply to the "entitled" citizens. Giving cash in lieu of entitled grains through jan dhan banks is another gimmickry because government is going to give to the deprived consumer cash, equivalent to the MSP price of these grains. In to day's market where rice and wheat are sold at prices varying from Rs 35 to 60 per kg, how much grain can be bought? Will it extinguish the fire in the tummies of poor and famished due to hunger?    

How is the government going to use the food grains procured during the current year? Is it legal to supply them under the Food Safety Act? Food Corporation of India (FCI) generally follows a practice of 'First In First Out' (FIFO) using the freshly procured to replace old stocks which are channeled into PDS. However the wheat currently being procured is not in a condition to be stored for long. According to experts most of the grain procured suffer from lustre loss, which is supposed to make it vulnerable to pest attacks, and thus long term storage of the crop is highly risky. FCI is supposed to supply food grain mostly consisting of rice and wheat to PDS from the previous stocks, while the new crop being procured is stored for about 2-3 years before routing through the distribution channel. .FCI supplies around 22 million tonne of wheat annually to the PDS. but this time the procurement is targeted to be 30 million tons for operationalizing the food security act. This has made the Government to relax the quality standards and pressure from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh,has further compounded the problem resulting in compromising with grain quality. Of course some minor value cut equivalent of around Rs 3.63 per quintal from Rs 1450 per quintal minimum support price was imposed on the grains not adhering to the food ministry's revised quality norms. The purpose of relaxing norms was to ensure that farmers in key wheat growing states could get almost the entire MSP for the wheat sold to FCI and state-owned agencies, irrespective of quality.

A relevant question that begs for an answer is the dynamics of management FCI has in mind to segregate the procured wheat this year so that they do not get mixed up with the existing stocks in warehouses from where PDS outlets get their supplies. How far the new policy of sending the freshly procured directly to the PDS outlets will affect the quality of the existing stocks some of them nearing their expiration period is an important question. Of course one has to sympathize with the current government which inherited such a chaotic system with no long term vision in mind and "managing" during the last few decades almost on a fire fighting mode! Probably it may be time to rethink these issues more deeply and evolve a long term policy for managing the food grain market in the country.

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

"Heavenly" Cocoa literally reaching the heaven! Supply side problems can destroy chocolate industry

Chocolate products made by processing cocoa beans into the cocoa mass and cocoa butter have carved out a niche place in the hearts of consumers both young as well as old over the last 5 decades with a few international conglomerates ruling the roost. Chocolates create a dichotomous image in that some scientists feel they contribute to the run away obesity syndrome that is common in many developed countries while the scientific community including health specialists vouch for the good aspects of cocoa nutrition to elevate it to a pedestal based on the antioxidant credentials of cocoa phenolics present in abundance in this beverage crop. Probably both arguments are true if the ground reality vis-a-vis cocoa industry is taken into consideration. Per se chocolates cannot be considered an obesogenic substance unless they contain high levels of sugar and saturated fat, both capable of generating high calories, which may be unnecessary for a person consuming a regular balanced diet.and eating chocolates in moderate amounts can always be condonable with no guilty conscience! Emergence of so called bitter chocolates with low sugar levels as a healthy food bears testimony to this fact. It is against this context that one has to view the alarming reports about likely scarcity of cocoa beans predicted to happen soon. Let us look at the multidimensional impact of such a shortage on the industry as well as the consumers.

If industry leaders are to be believed chocolate prices have been going north during the last 3 years with prices registering more than 60% increase for most brands. This inflationary trend has been attributed to supply sources being adversely affected reducing the flow of bean very significantly. More than 65% of global production of  cocoa beans, estimated at about 3.7 million tons, is accounted for by western African nations like Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria.and any productivity decline there can causes shocks in the international cocoa market. According.to International Cocoa Organization production of cocoa has suffered a 40% decline last year due to the impact of the devastating fungal disease called Frosty Food that has ravaged the agricultural landscape in Africa. There does not appear to be any let up in the production decline which has already caused a deficit of about 70000 tons currently which may reach the 1 million ton mark soon in about 7 years. Imagine the consequences of such a dimension of shortage on the fortunes of the chocolate industry since cocoa beans cannot be substituted with any other known substance to day. Naturally chocolate industry will have to find ways and means to tackle this problem in the long run with an adequate and feasible response.  

The production decline in cocoa alone cannot account for the shortage being experienced by the chocolate industry which always has the means to absorb minor shocks through technological means. For example products like white chocolate, milk chocolate or other varieties do not need as much cocoa solids as pure chocolates or bitter chocolates and small dip in cocoa production can be dealt with by varying the product mix to lessen the proportion of these high cocoa containing products. Similarly cocoa butter which is an essential ingredient in good quality chocolates can be replaced or substituted to a limited extent by plant fats with similar melting and crystallizing properties. Sugar component also can be increased or suitable fillers like caramel, nougats etc can be incorporated to reduce the cocoa solids level. Naturally such changes in formulations can reduce the over all sensory quality of these products and if cocoa crunch continues as being predicted, consumers will have no option but to compromise on eating quality expectations.        

Another interesting point being mentioned in chocolate circles is that growth of chocolate market, currently placed at $ 50 billion, is going through a high growth phase resulting in widening of demands across the world. Such unusual demand for chocolate is largely being driven by countries like China, Europe and the US where chocolate consumption is growing at a rate considered very high. China which is an established economic super power to day, has more people aspiring to imitate the life styles prevalent in the US and Europe and chocolate industry sees a great surge in demand in this country. Western Europe with a $ 12 billion market never seems to be getting satiated pushing the demand for chocolates further .Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Belgium. are leading countries driving the market in Europe. In the US consumers are demanding bitter chocolates and products containing more than 70% cocoa solids which again is putting a stress on the supply side of cocoa beans. In other markets like India and other developing countries due to buying power constraints lower end chocolate products like milk chocolates which use only about 10% cocoa solids may meet the market demand. Eastern Bloc countries are reported to be emerging as a dynamic market for chocolate products which did not exist a few years ago. 

Adding to the worries of the chocolate industry there is a powerful movement campaigning against use of cocoa beans from countries like Ivory Coast because of extensive use of child labor in the plantations there. According to some estimates in Ivory Coast alone more than 2,00,000 children aged between 5 and 15 years are working in plantations there with about 6% being suspected to be there through child trafficking. The famous Harken-Engel Protocol.now being insisted upon for buying cocoa beans stipulates that child labor is not used in production activities in cocoa plantations though there is no international agency at present which has the mandate to enforce the Protocol. "Slave free" label for all chocolate products were suggested but no one seems to be taking this seriously. So are the consumers who at present are not sensitive to this issue of child labor though in future there could be pressure from consumer community on the chocolate industry to shun supplies from plantations employing child labor. This can certainly further restrict supplies of beans substantially in coming years.unless major chocolate manufacturers attempt backward integration with producers of cocoa beans to make certain that slavery is avoided or reduced progressively over a period of time.

While technological approach to design new products with lesser and lesser cocoa solids can meet the market contingency, long term solution can come only if efforts are made to increase cocoa bean production through expanded acreage for cultivation and increased productivity from the existing plantations. Probably it is a question of time before agricultural scientists are able to coax the cocoa plant to yield more crops but there is some anxiety that meddling with natural cocoa plant may unwittingly reduce some of the desirable qualities for which cocoa is known. As apprehended preliminary experiments with new cocoa plants have already confirmed that these new "avatars" have a different flavor profile once it is converted and processed into the chocolate products which the consumers may have difficulty to reconcile to! .Chocolate industry on the other hand is being pushed to a corner with no alternatives but to use them with the hope that consumers will eventually accept them. Surely chocolate industry is at cross roads to day and only imaginative, constructive and environment friendly approach can save it from catastrophe!

V.H.POTTY

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

Water crisis-How food and beverage industry can help global water conservation efforts

Recent reports from Delhi "state" where a new government took over the reins assuring 20000 liters of water free to every family are indeed scary when the country is facing acute shortage of drinking water in almost all parts. While quantitatively this may be sufficient, what is missed about the quality of water supplied under the so called protected water supply system in almost all towns and cities are supposed to have. Besides the tendency for many families to consume more than that is necessary and waste this precious natural resource is indeed appalling! It is true that government in any country should have the onus to ensure that every citizen is provided with clean air and clean water in adequate quantities which is not taken seriously by any government in India since independence. In stead precious money is being invested on distributing freebies on an alarming scale.under the pretext of food security! If even a fraction of this money spend on food subsidies, a substantial portion going to the pockets of undeserving people, had been invested in on potable water infrastructure projects, the current day problem of water scarcity and mal distribution would not have been so acute to day.

There is a consensus that it is time for launching a coordinated global action program to reduce the amount of hidden water used in food and drink production. Can this be true? The amount said to be used as of now thus is really mind boggling and if the average per person is computed it is still considered very high. According to some experts we must set a global target to reduce the amount of water used in food production worldwide at least by one fifth within 5 years from now which may not be difficult to achieve. If we refer to the UN data base each person consumes between 2,000-5,000 liters of water directly or indirectly through the food consumed every day working out to a staggering figure of 7.3 lakh liters to 18.25 lakh liters annually!  According to health pundits on an average a person needs at least one ml of water for every calorie consumed and imagine the minimum requirement for food intake only by 7 billion people in this planet. This is the bare minimum we need for just survival. Then there are other needs like cleaning, bathing and other daily chores to keep diseases away for which additional water is needed. 

By a rough estimate we use around 70% of all freshwater available for agriculture and allied activities while industrial sector absorbs another 20%, leaving just about 10% for domestic use. But this supply dynamics cannot remain static with the ever growing population calling for increased food production and greater quantity of water for industrial and domestic use. From where are we going to get this additional supply? If futuristic need projections are to be taken seriously, our water needs may burgeon to more than 7 trillion cubic meters in another 35 years! What will be the impact of such a situation on the habitats of people? Simple, almost 70% of them would be living in water starved areas while to day the corresponding figure is just 7%! Under such dire predictions can the world close the eyes praying to God to save us without doing any thing ourselves? 

Sure lot can be done if we take a common sense approach to solve the impending water crisis. Efforts by all including individuals, families, educational institutions, industries, farmers and every one having a stake in preventing a water famine in future must put their heads together to cut down on water use, conserve it and deploy modern technologies to recycle water. Efforts must be redoubled to reclaim pure water from sea water and brackish water bodies through low cost technologies, as Israel and gulf countries have shown to the world. If this has to be converted into an action program there are some essential steps that need to be thought of. Primary responsibility of the governments world over must be to reorient their food production policies to cut down on water usage by different stake holders by 20% within a matter of 5 years. Though industry is using less water than farmers, there is considerable scope to reduce its water foot print through technically sound solutions including water recycling in a big way. Probably it can get support from the governments through financial and other incentives to adopt them in a big way to see the impact almost immediately. How effective government cajoling can be seen in Tamilnadu where rain water harvesting has been made mandatory in the city of Chennai way back and the water shortage there is no more a critical issue.substantial investments in water management technologies and water purification processes are inevitable and the world cannot shy away from this responsibility any more. It is known that world will need 60% more food by 2050 to feed the population than and even with the best of technologies an extra 20% of water will have to be secured to make the extra food required by then.

As for food and beverage industry water is a critical input there cannot be any compromise on water need if product safety is to be ensured. Operations like raw material washing ,cleaning , formulation, steam generation, packing etc need water and that too germ free water and there are continuous improvements being achieved by food scientists to reduce the water needs to as minimum as possible.  Water recycling is an area which needs urgent attention and government has a big role in facilitating and encouraging the industry to go in for massive recycling efforts through appropriate and practical quality and safety standards and financial incentives. It is time we realize that water is not an individuals problem or a particular nation's problem but it a global problem requiring cooperative global efforts.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
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Food gluttony that can destroy modern society -Why is man hurting himself through the food?

Food is a controversial subject being blamed for diseases caused by under eating as well as over eating. Hardly a day passes without any report blaming lack of food or imbalanced food for the under development of millions of people in the poverty ridden continents of Asia, Africa and South America. On the other hand same food is being implicated in causing a variety of modern day diseases among people in affluent countries, obviously due to over eating or consuming nutrition deficient diets. It is most unfortunate that food that sustains life on this planet is a cause for such a situation. It is not realized that food is like a weapon with multidimensional implications. If used wisely it can be a friend of human beings and if misused it can be a real threat to the lives of those who do not respect its virtues. Is it not a paradox that while some people struggle to get even the barest minimum of foods to survive there are others who indulge in gluttony and also waste foods unconscionably without a though for the poor? Is it not an irony that more money is spent to day across the world to fight health disorders and diseases caused by too much foods consumed than to eliminate the scourge of infection, malnutrition and under nutrition? 

We all grow up with this basic assumption dinned into our years that man needs a minimum of 2000 kC, 50 g of proteins, 50 g of fat and some micro nutrients essential which are not made in the body. Since last 3 decades dietary fiber and essential fatty acids were added as essential components of our diet. Interestingly these paradigm of health and nutrition remained almost static during the last hundred years except for some minor modifications. Has man changed much during this period? Of course the life styles of people who lived healthily hundred years ago were drastically different from the situation obtaining to day. The proportion of hard working people to the total population has been dramatically reduced during this period and the so called sedentary living is a rule to day than an exception! Why is that our great fore fathers produced children prolifically while to day two children family is the norm? Because they needed hands to help them to look after their avocation, be it agriculture or business. To day a farmer's son is unlikely to stay back in the farmland to carry on his father's tradition and culture and is more likely to end up in the urban ghettos that sprawl across hundreds of towns and cities across the country. Probably they want to earn fast and have no patience which is the most important trait of a farmer who has to fight with nature's aberrations and other uncertainties inherent in agriculture. 

If we look at the disease density in the urban areas and rural areas, though dependable statistics are hard to come by, many impartial observers agree that occurrence and prevalence of diseases like obesity, diabetes, hypertension in our rural hinterlands are relatively low. They are more vulnerable to water borne, air borne and food borne diseases due to acute safe water scarcity, utter lack of hygiene and less than healthy living environment. Ultimately it boils down to inadequate purchasing power and dilapidated infrastructure they suffer since decades with government not doing much to improve their lot. It may not be correct to blame the government alone for not doing many things which are within their ambit of action because lack of education and exposure to basic knowledge about good living also contributed to this Catch 22 situation. Hopefully this could change over the next few years if education facilities are expanded and employment opportunities are created. 

Why this talk about older generation and the present generation vis-a-vis food and health? During the last two decades thousands of studies have been undertaken to find solutions to modern day problems of health and invariably these studies focused on evolving methods and techniques to deal with diseases caused by over eating and wrong eating. Billions of dollars have been spent by several countries to deal with their citizens who have no control on the foods they eat and suffer from life style health disorders.While diseases like diabetes or blood pressure or heart disease are not curable easily but only to be managed through a plethora of drugs on which the pharma industry are making trillion of dollars churning out such drugs. There are two vital differences in the life styles of older generation population and the new generation in terms of physical work and quality of foods consumed.  Good old foods mostly unprocessed food grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, raw edible oils etc of yesteryears have yielded way to "unnatural foods" made by the food industry devoid of most of the nutrients including health protecting phytochemicals. As for physical work to day's generation has a living style not based on physical work but on intellectual work operating computers and mechanized gadgets in practically every walk of life. What is the necessity for such a person to have same calories, proteins and fats if they are not spent doing physical work? Naturally the excess energy accumulates in the body contributing to bloated bodies with expanded waistlines and consequent health related disorders. 

The restricted calorie diets and their favorable impact on life span has been brought out by a few studies pointing out why there is a need to cut down on calorie consumption, especially for those who lead a life with minimum body movement or exercise. To day's rush to develop remedies for the consequences of wrong eating or over eating is some what misplaced though as they may serve the limited purpose of medically dealing with those crossing the Rubicon knowingly endangering their lives. How ridiculous it is for perfectly normal people to pop in pills after leading an undisciplined eating regime to get relief for the ill effects of their indiscretion! Bariatric surgery and similar surgical intervention cannot be a routine procedure while many weight reducing medications should not have been there at all!  

Look at the latest "research" in this area  where some over enthusiastic scientists have come out with a modified chemical substance made from inulin, a natural oligofructosan found in Chicory, Jerusalem artichokes etc which is claimed to "kill" the appetite in human beings to a significant extent. On one side, highly attractive and tasty foods are created for the consumers to "enjoy" eating and then new chemicals are invented to curb their consumption! What a paradox! Both the food industry and the well being industry make money in this convenient alliance! Dietary discipline is what is needed to maintain the health and that is why dietary guidelines are formulated from time to time for the benefit of the consumers. Recent development of Inulin propionate esters (IPE), prepared from in the laboratory by reacting Inulin with propionic acid anhydride is being touted as a solution to curb the tendency for uncontrolled ingestion of food.       .  

In the case of IPE there is some rationale because Inulin is a soluble dietary fiber that does not contribute to any calorie, passing through the upper GI tract into the large intestine undigested. Obviously human body has no means of digesting this fiber but the microbiome inhabiting the gut feast on them producing short chain fatty acids considered beneficial to the health in many ways. What is so special about IPE? IPE is a combination of two naturally occurring substances inulin and propionic acid and therefore cannot be considered as a new chemical synthesized by scientists. Short chain fatty acids, (SCFA) which are organic acids with 1-6 carbons in their molecules have been known to exert influence on the metabolic system in the human body and among the most important ones are acetic acid, propionic acid and butyric acid which together make up 95%of the SCFAs in the gut. Propionates just make up about 25% while acetic acid happens to be the major SCFA. As propionates were found to exert a significant influence on excretion of gut hormones involved in satiety, it is often considered as a substance of therapeutic value. If so, is it possible to increase its concentration in the gut to a level that can exert significant influence on quantity of food eaten? This is where IPE comes into picture.

SCFAs are produced in the gut by microorganisms that reside there using residual food components not digested in the GI tract till they pass down to the large intestine. These include resistant starches, dietary fibers, sugar alcohols, undigested proteins etc but the concentration produced is not enough to exert any significant influence on satiety. If propionic acid levels in the large intestine can be increased, it can exert influence on gut hormone excretion that can achieve satiety fast. IPE can be made with different levels of esterification involving the hydroxy moieties in the fructose molecules of inulin. Higher the extent of esterification more effect it will have on satiety. IPE when ingested goes through the GI tract all the way to large intestine where microbes deesterify it to release propionic acid at levels that are effective in creating satiety and stop gluttony. If these findings are confirmed by other studies, IPE may become the darling of the well being industry and thousands of products incorporating IPE are likely to flood the market in the coming years. 

The question mark that why man is hurting himself through the food gluttony widely seen to day, may never be answered and no matter what remedies scientists come up with, the immediate provocation and seduction by good foods can never be resisted. As long as this continues, like cigarette and alcohol, food will cause lot of damage for those with fickle mind and irresistible cravings for junk foods! Sadly modern food industry, well being industry and pharma industry will be reaping the benefits from man's "Himalayan"  folly!  

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