Food trucks in India-Will they succeed?

Catering service comes in many formats and street vending is an established system in many parts of the world. Besides the foods served being cheaper, street vendors are supposed to provide a better sensory satisfaction to their clients. Unfortunately the urban infrastructure in India is so bad there is a constant conflict between the pedestrians and the vehicular traffic in moving ahead in this chaos to reach their destinations. Where is the space available for these vendors to serve their dedicated clients without attracting punitive action from the civic bodies? Whatever may be the constraints these vendors, thousands in number still manage to do business though the relevant question is whether they become a potential source of food poisoning dangers associated with inadequate hygiene and sanitation.

From time to time the issue of controlling street vending outlets crops up nationally as well as internationally and sporadic efforts are made to help them manage their business better with least inconvenience and risks to the citizens who flock to such places for a relaxed eating experience. Even recently the street vendors association organized a workshop in Delhi to train their members on sanitation and hygiene keeping in mind their vulnerability to undesirable food borne illness due to deficiency in service. Still street vending poses challenges to the civic bodies in terms of regularizing their activities without compromising on foot path facilities for the pedestrians. Though these bodies control them through the licensing provisions, very little is being done to oversee the quality and safety of the foods they prepare and sell through open vending exposing to the questionable quality of the environment they are working.

One of the biggest problems as far the consumer is concerned is the water being used by street vendors for their preparation, washing of cooking utensils and serving plates and disposal of waste generated. In many parts of the city where street vendors operate the stench emanating from the waste, droppings and wash water an be unbearable some time. Regular cleaning of the pavements every day by the civic authorities with antiseptics like phenyl, bleaching solutions and powders could reduce the dangers significantly. But this is almost never done leaving scope to cause discomforts to the customers, some times becoming a hazard with potential for major poisoning episodes. That Indians have strong bellies which are not easily affected by minor incidences of food transgressions cannot be an excuse to shut our eyes to wards negligence of hygiene, sanitation and tainted water and foods.

From time to time suggestions have been made to create food plazas in cities located at different locations where adequate facilities are provided for clean water, waste disposal and toilet facilities. But the food plazas that are coming up are invariably posh ones serving high cost foods and common man finds it difficult to access to these places because of cost considerations. The Amma canteens in Tamilnadu did create an aura for some time and they are still popular among low income population like workers and laborers but this is a government subsidized venture leaving very little for individual entrepreneurship. Recent advent of Food Trucks on India roads is a welcome development though we do not know how long they will last under the suffocating environment of bureaucracy and cluttered roads in most cities. In a country like the US where Food Trucks have notched up phenomenal success there are clearly demarcated areas where food trucks can be parked for doing business for limited ours without hindering the flow of pedestrians or vehicular traffic. It is doubtful whether the street vendors in India can ever be transformed into a food truck business entrepreneurs given the reality that exists in the country.

In spite of such reservations the news that some bold entrepreneurs have jumped into the fray in places like Delhi and Bangalore can be very encouraging. Properly designed food trucks should be elf sufficient in terms of on the spot cooking, serving facilities, waste handling, refrigeration etc, though one cannot expect them to provide toilet facilities. According to one view one can have a food truck with an investment of Rs 3-5 lakh but such improvised "trucks" would be probably mounted on old van type vehicles which cannot be called a food truck. A good self contained food truck many cost upwards of Rs 25 lakh with necessary minimum facilities and whether with such investments entrepreneurs will be able to garner sufficient business to ensure decent returns remains to be seen.

Catering sector in India is booming with regular eateries making a kill in the market with the consumers becoming insensitive to the prices at which the preparations are sold. Even a small eatery gets away with prices varying from Rs 15-50 for their preparations while more reputed and established caterers have steadily hiked up the prices during the last two years. It is impossible today for a family to get a decent meal for less than Rs 200 and buffet lunches are ruling at prices beyond that! Still most conventional eateries are doing very good business because of increasing disposable income with the lower and upper middle class population. This is the right environment for food trucks to blossom in the country and governments and civic bodies must facilitate their entry and help them to sustain with least impediments and supportive policies, in stead of harassing them as is being claimed by some of the pioneers who started this business recently.  

A recent development in street food market may throw a damper at the plans of new food truck entrepreneurs trying to venture into this new marketing ploy to attract the erstwhile customers of traditional street vendors. Many high end restaurants with reputed Chefs in their pay role are reported to be trying to romanticize street foods and introduce some of the items popular among street food patrons as a part of their menu. Their strength lies in the fact that they can provide a better ambiance within their premises and the safety of the foods they serve would be guaranteed institutionally and responsibly compared to the addressless street vendors. How far they can attract or shift the loyalty of regular customers of street vending segment remains to be seen.      

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

Science and common man-Vested interest vs truthful facts vs human health

The world has not come to a consensus regarding the risks or advantages inherent in adopting genetically modified food crops. What is tragic is that there is a clear cut division between pro and anti GMO people whether consumers, scientists or policy makers on the safety of GMO foods. America is in the forefront in allowing unrestricted use of GMO technology and practically every food product in the market there is either based on GMO derived raw material or GMO ingredients. Their stand is that there is no substantial difference between natural and GMO derived foods and therefore no separate approval is necessary for using them as ingredients or as foods for consumption. Many other countries take a different stand and there is either a total ban or limited clearance for some of the GMO foods created by MNC giants like Monsanto through gene manipulation technologies. It is the unfortunate that the consumer is caught between the proverbial "deep sea and the devil", not knowing what is the truth?

There are three issues that confront policy makers before considering giving clearance to GM crops and a balanced decision is possible only when all facts and real truth are placed before them. Science is a truth chasing activity and scientists cannot be expected to say any thing but truth. Unfortunately it has been proved time and again that some scientists are "purchasable" at right prices! That is why there is a wide chasm in opinions within the scientific community itself. First consumer would like to know whether GM foods are safe to consume on a long term basis and whether the exiting knowledge is sufficient to make him accept these foods for himself as well as his family including kids. Second issue is whether there is really any advantage to the farmer in terms of economic gains so that the technology can be adopted in the field level. Finally the third stake holder viz the regulatory authorities need to know what advantages or dangers the country will have by switching over to GMO crops without any restriction or control, long term as well as short term duration.

What is the ground reality to day? First there is no unanimity among scientists that GM foods are as safe as they are made out to be and practically no human studies on a long term basis have ever been undertaken as of to day. What consequence consumption of diets predominated by GM foods will have for future generations is also a grey area. The contention that Americans have been eating GM foods since long is an argument that is not objective enough to pass a judgement on this issue. Second the claim of increased yield has not been conclusively demonstrated universally in any meaningful way though in some crops it might be true. Here again to claim that the net yield for the farmer would more because of reduced losses due to insects and other vectors probably will not be sufficient to convince any body. Third, the prevalent seed regeneration practices  which has been the traditional way of perpetuating agriculture in countries like India need to be replaced with a monopolistic seed supply system, makes the farmer captive slaves of international business corporates and this makes the farmers extremely vulnerable to price manipulations and expose him to a "siege" environment which is not a desirable change. 

Recently there was a massive meta analysis of data available in the public domain on GM crops and according to this study GM crops are good for developing countries, not for developed ones! Read the excerpts from this report below:

"The "pro" side in the debate over the benefit of genetically modified foods got a big boost from science this month, with an international study funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the European Union's Seventh Framework Program FOODSECURE concluding that GM crops are good for the economy and reduce the amount of pesticides used in agriculture.  The German study is the largest review ever conducted on the effect of GM crops on farming. It is a meta-analysis, meaning a rigorous study of the numbers inside past studies on the topic. The review included studies of GM crops conducted from 1995 to March 2014 that were published in English. Published Nov. 3 in PLOS ONE, the peer-reviewed, open-access publication for the Public Library of Science, the meta-analysis found that GM crops are a "promising technology." According to the authors, GM crops have reduced chemical pesticide use by 37 percent, increased crop yields by 22 percent and increased farmer profits by 68 percent. Yield gains and pesticide reductions are larger for insect-resistant crops than for herbicide-tolerant crops, they reported. And in a conclusion that contradicts those who've argued GM crops are not right for the developing world, the authors found that yield and profit gains are higher in developing countries than in developed countries. Authors Matin Qaim and Wilhelm Klumper, both of Germany's Gottingen University, said they hope their research will help build public trust for GM technology. In a world that will be challenged to increased food production to meet future population growth, the study found GM crop yields can be increased by 14 percentage points more in the developing world than in the developed world. Pests and weeds are a bigger problem in developing nations, another reason GM technology brings bigger benefits there. Commercial GM crops include those that are modified to increase resistance to pests, to glyphosates or to herbicides used for weed control. The German study found that herbicide-tolerant crops have lower production costs, while insect-resistant ones do not. In that case, the need for less pesticide is offset by the higher seed prices, the study showed. 

The fact that this study had the blessings of European Union and the German government makes it a compelling report worth reading by every dispassionate denizen, curious about the subject of GM foods without being a party to the controversy. Whether this report satisfies the criteria enunciated by this Blogger above is subject o debate but one thing is certain that such periodic reports are no substitute to a world wide inter disciplinary scientific study involving some typical, more regularly consumed GM foods, without any controversy or difference of opinion, to conclusively establish whether GM foods are absolutely safe or  at least as safe as their natural counterparts or not. Till such time we have to live with such gimmicks going under the banner of scientific study!

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

Food poisoning- How well the world is managing the food-borne diseases?

Food-borne pathogens, innumerable in number, cause a catalogue of diseases, many of them with potential to cause death. Why is that we are not able to prevent such food poisoning episodes totally inspite of enormous scientific knowledge and large resources at our disposal? The question is a difficult one to answer satisfactorily though many reasons can be cited. Think of the gigantic size of this sector spanning across more than 150 countries in 5 major continents. According to some estimates food processing industry produces more than 50, 000 products at any given time and at least 10% of these are replaced by new products using new technologies. In such a scenario where millions of hands are involved in handling the food from farm to the fork and an extended distribution spanning over 15000 Km where do we look for the culprits whenever a food poisoning episode breaks out? It is like picking a pin from a haystack! Still world has done reasonably well so far .

Globally the out put of processed foods is variably placed at 1.6 to 4.8 trillion  dollars from a raw material base worth 48 trillion dollars. How far these figures are reliable we do not know but by any standard the dimension of this sector is gigantic. If this is so how well we have done in controlling this scourge with the facilities, expertise and experience at our disposal?  World wide 2 billion cases of food borne disease incidences are reported every year though some doubts remain regarding such a high figure. Except in developed countries like the US, Europe, Australia etc the documentation of food-borne diseases incidences in most other countries, is a sham lacking credibility. USA reports that there were 47.8 million cases of food related incidences, working to about 1600 cases per 1 lakh population which highlights the seriousness of food poisoning in that country. Out of this 9.4 million cases were pathogen related, caused by 31 known bugs. Even after hospitalization and best medical care Americans are known to get, there were more than 3000 deaths which could not be prevented. In the UK there were 5.5 million food poisoning cases, almost 1 in 16 of the population affected by infection carried by the foods they consumed. Compare this with what is happening in Asia where there were 7 lakh deaths caused by spoiled foods, it is said!.

What are these pathogens about which world is so scared of? They can be bacteria, viruses, fungi etc which cause symptoms to appear in 12-72 hours. These symptoms include vomiting, fever, aches, diarrhea and others. How can these vectors gain access to foods? Through negligence in handling, processing, storage and due to bad sanitary environment. Campylobacter jejuni, Salmonella spp, Escherichia coli 0157:H7 are the major causative organisms for a major part of the food poisoning cases reported in many countries. There are many other bugs like B.cereus, Listeria spp, Shigella spp, Streptococci spp, Staphylococcus spp and a few others pitching in to cause other food poisoning episodes. Bacteria like Clostridium botulinum, Clostridium perfringens and Bacillus cereus secrete enterotoxins which are poisonous while Aflatoxins and Ochratoxins are secretary products from fungi like Aspergillus parasiticus and Aspergillus flavus. If we know so much about these predators in our foods what holds us back to improve the process technologies to ensure their destruction totally? Unfortunately many food borne diseases are caused during post-processing phase of food handling which is outside the control of the manufacturers. 

One would assume that the food industry will be keen to deploy most reliable, fastest and lowest cost diagnostic tools to detect and eliminate pathogens from their raw materials, intermediate materials and final packed products.  Researchers from the US have claimed to have developed a new diagnostic tool for detecting the presence of bacteria, viruses and other pathogens precisely and quickly. The test is based on the accepted biological theory that each and every microorganism has a specific and unique biomarker in their cells that could be DNA or RNA and by targeting this marker through a specially designed biochip, presence of these vectors can be detected fast. Though the present stage of development is confined to single biochip for each individual pathogen, there appears to be technical feasibility of developing multiplex chips that has the ability to detect several pathogens at one go.

Probably the enthusiasm of the scientists was spurred by the sufferings of millions of people affected by food poisoning and naturally they assumed that the food industry would be the perfect market for their new innovation. The quick time test they developed is claimed to identify, several bugs including the dreaded E. coli 0157, which has caused a number of deadly outbreaks in the United States and other parts of the world. Their test also is supposed to identify other pathogens responsible for brucellosis also which results from eating undercooked meat or unpasteurized dairy products. Though their test was inexpensive and fairly fast, the food industry does not seem to be too impressed as the latter wanted even faster tests that could give results in a jiffy! 

Probably food industry does not want to save on the cost on the testing kit considering that the consequences of "not catching" the infection in time could be more disastrous in economic terms. A bench mark time of 2 hours was demanded to conclude the test which the above innovation was not able to achieve. That shifted the focus of the researchers to target medical industry where hospital sanitation is crucial to avoid infection of patients through ill maintained environment, furnishings, medical tools, foods served, human interface and many other sources. The test can also recognize the virus that causes Dengue fever, potentially valuable for surveillance activities both here and abroad, and human papillomavirus (HPV), which is linked to cervical and oral cancers. That is how a test targeted at food industry became a darling of the medical industry in no time. Thus food industry's loss became medical industry's gain! 

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

From food to fossil fuel-Guar bean's long journey!

India is the top most guar bean producing country and this humble seed is a vital source of a variety of gum used extensively by the food industry for viscosity and texture modification properties. There are also other edible gum sources from plants but guar gum is preferred for its extraordinary properties liked by the food processing industries world over. Besides there are gum like materials derived by modification of starch which also find application in some products. Guar gum became "famous" after the fossil fuel industry found that it is essential for extracting underground fossil fuel products through the process of fracking which has made America self sufficient in its energy requirement. This diversion has made guar gum more and more expensive and in spite of the fracking industry trying its best to find effective substitutes to it, not much success has been achieved so far.

The guar price which peaked at one time to about $15 per kg has crashed to a more sedate figure of  about $ 2 per kg at present. What future guar gum will have is some what uncertain as furious efforts are on hand to develop universally acceptable fracking fluid sans guar gum in the US. Also efforts are on to cultivate guar in Texas region in the US though the production there is still minuscule and the fracking industry still looks to India for bulk of its supply. Guar gum has become so dear to the oil industry there that many leading players are stocking the same to avoid escalation of prices in the international market in the near future. The pull from other industries like textiles, paper, explosives, mineral ore processing, food processing, pharmaceutical manufacturing etc also is a contributing factor to the escalating demand for guar gum. Guar gum and its modified version Partially Hydrogenated Guar Gum (PHGG) have properties such as solubility, stability under acidic conditions and heat that make it a choice for many of these industries.

Though Jodhpur in Rajasthan is closely associated with guar gum industry as large number of processing plants are located nearby, Kutch region in Gujarat account for more than 70% of country's production. The country produces about 3 million tons of guar beans and out of 1 million tons gum derived from it 90% is exported for use mostly for hydraulic cracking to extract gases from the shale underground. Almost 70% of the international demand comes from oil and gas industry. Imagine the gas industry in the US needs guar beans harvested from one thousand acres in India to dig a well and what efforts go for achieving this production at the farm level. A valid and relevant question that does not get a satisfactory answer is how far the farmers are benefited by this gas industry boom in the US? Like all other agricultural commodities guar beans also are susceptible to manipulations by middle men who invariably gorge a major part of the sale proceeds with no one able to control their activities. Probably the growers must be getting only a fraction of the money involved in guar beans trade!

The recent crashing of petroleum prices has added to the worries of the growers in India because an oil production cut is a distinct possibility which in turn may affect demand very significantly. Whether fracking industry will also resort to production cuts is some thing which cannot be predicted as of now. In the long run, guar beans growers will have to be weary about their future and if alternate crops can be raised in their lands that could be a better alternative option. Such a trend is seen when erstwhile guar farmers are shifting to cotton, sesame and cumin in large numbers due to steep fall in demand and their income from this crop. Food industry which uses guar gum for many functional applications like baked goods, ice cream, dairy products, fried foods, emulsification, antistaling etc probably may shift to guar gum  and partially hydrogenated gum (PHGG) as the current prices are considered reasonable. Also produced are Hydroxy Propyl Guar (HPG), Carboxymethyl Hydroxy Propyl Guar (CMHPG), metal complexes with Boron, Titanium, Aluminum, Antimony, Zirconium and Chromium all of which have properties suitable for different industrial applications. Besides the health connotations associated with guar may raise its stature further as it is considered a dietary fiber source and many health foods are right candidates for its wide scale use. While guar gum as available in nature is fermented to the extent of 75% in the gut, PHGG is 100% fermentable producing desirable volatile free fatty acids. They are regarded as pre-biotics because of their action in the intestine.  

There is also another face to the guar gum industry which many do not know. A casual visit to the so called guar mills can expose the indifferent and unhealthy working environment where thousands are employed at wages not considered comparable to other industrial workers. What is appalling is the "dusty" environment within the mill resulting from the inefficient machinery used by the owners spewing out fine particles of gummy cotyledon which are inhaled by the workers causing serious lung disorders. There does not appear to be too much concerns on the part of the government to protect their health through strict control measures. We only see the glamorous side of the industry which boasts of bringing in sizeable foreign exchange to the national kitty!

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

Organic foods with pesticide residue? An unenviable Indian situation!

Organic foods are supposed to be free from pesticides as the they are produced using no chemicals at all. Though some countries like the US permit limited use of chemicals and still call the product organic, this is not an acceptable option in many other countries. Fear of adverse effect of "artificial" or unnatural substances in raising crops or meat animals or during processing drive consumers in droves to the open arms of the organic food industry, willingly paying almost 50-100% more prices for them. But is the consumer guaranteed about the genuineness of organic foods, branded by the industry or is there an overseeing agency mandated to monitor the market and ensure the consumer is not defrauded? Obviously such controls by regulatory authorities in countries like India are at best nebulous. With such an unfettered access to the market, fraudsters and deceitful producers are having a field day! 

It is not that Indian government has not done any thing to encourage organic farming and processing but the progress in bringing the organic food industry to international level is less than encouraging. Organic food market world wide is estimated at $ 50 billion (bn) and current cultivation covers an area of 35 million (mn) hectares, spread of 141 countries involving more than 1.2 mn producers. Australia is the pioneering country that sets the agenda for organic food production and innovations related to it. USA is the major producing and consuming country accounting for more than 40% of global production. Compared to this India produces about 0.12 mn tons valued at $ 20 mn,  the cultivation area being mentioned as 2.5 mn hectares but these figures are some what skewed because a more reliable estimate puts it at 40, 000 hectares. India produces and exports about 30 products under the organic product banner which include Basmati rice, mango pulp, pineapple pulp, cashew nut, sesame, honey, walnut, spices, coffee, tea and tea and Indian products are imported into more than 70 countries through out the world.. 

Standards for organic foods are not uniform in all countries and even definition of what constitutes an organic food varies some what among the producers. In the US one can see 100% organic, 95% organic, 70%  organic etc throwing lot of consumers into confusion. World standards, about 61 in number, accepted among most nations include IFoam, Codex, EU, Demeter, JAS etc. In 2000 India government came out with the National Program for Organic Products (NPOP) to organize the production on a scientific footing and National Standards for Organic Products were set up to monitor the industry. Presently Agricultural Product Export Development Authority (APEDA) has been vested with the task of ensuring quality standards for organic products produced in the country. There are 11 accredited certification agency approved by the National Accreditation Board for checking the veracity of claims made by the industry vis-a-vis organic foods.

The malpractices in Indian organic food industry came to light recently when Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, came out with its findings that many organic food samples tested in Delhi by it contained pesticide residue. According to this institute its laboratory analysis showed 33% of the samples it checked  during the last two years containing pesticide residues which are not supposed to be there at all as per mandatory regulations. Probably it may be a shock for the consumers but the practice of using pesticides must have been there since long without any hindrance from any quarters. The vegetables that tested positive for pesticides included brinjal, ladyfinger, tomato, capsicum, chillies, cabbage, cauliflower, coriander and green peas. Many were found to contain residues from multiple pesticides. Dearth of reliable brands and sources is posing a major challenge to genuine buyers of organic foods in the country. Consumers have to be convinced about the authenticity of the organic food certification as only such a situation will  ensure that organic food product conforms to the respective national standards established by the certification procedures set out in 2000. 

What is disturbing is that this fact was known since last two years from the on-going testing program in IARI in Delhi, located just a few kilometers from the offices of APEDA, the government agency earmarked for certifying organic foods and supposedly to be looking after the welfare of Indians domestically and other citizens in importing countries where Indian products are exported! Can such callousness be condoned? World over organic food industry is growing at a fast pace and to day the value of these "safe"products churned out by the industry is about 1% of that by the mainstream industry which generates a business volume worth $ 5 trillion. If India continues to neglect the organic food industry by not putting in place an effective surveillance mechanism soon, the faith and trust of dedicated consumers wedded to organic foods will be badly shaken, if not lost once for all. Millions of denizens across the world want their children at least to grow in an environment not vitiated by the main stream food industry which uses thousands of chemicals and other unnatural additives to make their products look "sexy" and taste "glamorous" so that consumers get hooked on to them without realizing the terrible consequences of eating them regularly! Probably government of India could set up a dedicated organic foods certification and monitoring agency with adequate powers to enforce the national standards for organic foods, in stead of the present ad hoc arrangement involving APEDA.

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

Another crazy study-How about getting the benefit of dark chocolate through a pill?

Chocolates come in a variety of hues, shapes and tastes. Who is not attracted to products based on chocolates such as slabs, pastries, frozen desserts, many versions of confectioneries, dairy products etc? Whether an adult or a kid chocolate is always irresistible and this trait forms the basis of a roaring multi billion dollar industry across the world with a few giants operating out of the US and Europe dominating the industry. The health protecting properties of chocolates, more specifically some cocoa components, have emerged only recently and vow, look how the chocolate landscape is changing dramatically during the last few years.

Do we eat chocolates for their health benefits or enjoying the fine texture and delicate flavor? Most consumers will opine that they like them because they enjoy eating them to give a high sensorial satisfaction. Admittedly chocolates also have a health story to tell which is very compelling to listen to. Accumulation of a large body of scientific information during the last two decades and high degree of awareness among the consumers about the close linkage of food to good health have combined to create a euphoria and demand for a particular variety of chocolate called "dark" chocolates. These chocolates, also referred to as "bitter" chocolates, have high cocoa solids, some time to the extent of 90%, obviously containing far less sugar than that in conventional sweet chocolates. Why this shift in interest from sweet chocolates to bitter chocolates? Is it because of high sugar content in the latter or for any other reasons? The answer lies in the presence of a group of bioactive organic substances going under the name flavonoids in cocoa. 

Why this focused interest on flavonoids? Because they are reported to be beneficial in guarding the heart and protecting against cardiovascular disease and arterial related disorders, so common among people in many developed countries. Cocoa beans as they are present in the unfermented pods have very high flavonoid content but successive processing which the pod undergoes before reaching the final product stage brings down the level drastically. The final ready to eat chocolates will be having a fraction of this beneficial component compared to what was originally present. Still the concentration of flavonoids in bitter chocolates with high cocoa content is considered to be useful to get some of the benefits attributed to flavonoids.  

The jury is still out whether the health benefits attributed to cocoa are exclusively because of the flavonoids which are present in high levels in cocoa beans or other components which have not been studied properly. Methylxanthine, peptides and minerals in cocoa are known to have some influence on the health of humans. Still overwhelming evidence, available as of now, points to the predominant role flavonoids play, possessing high antioxidant properties, on the heart and brain health. Unfortunately all biological materials are vulnerable to inherent enzyme degradation and cocoa is no exception to this rule. Fresh cocoa pods are subjected to external fermentation to free the beans and debitter them before processing into chocolate products and loss of flavonoids can be any where from 30-70% between the pod stage and emergence of final products. High flavonoid cocoa are produced by Ecuador and according to industry experts if the process is carefully controlled almost 70% of flavonoids can be retained through the process. So called dark chocolates are bitter to taste because of the presence of high concentration of flavonoids which normally the processors reduce it through their processing operations. 

A recent report that some motivated scientists are working on a project to encapsulate the "health" promoting active principles from cocoa is both amusing and exciting. Amusing because if man is to depend on only pills containing various identified factors in food for good health what is the role of food itself in the lives of people? Exciting because such capsules will eventually be produced by pharma industries using standardized ingredients with assured purity and stability while cocoa by itself is a veritable mixture of many components with different properties with no assured value for a particular brand made by a particular manufacture. In the case of cocoa flavonoids, there are six sub-groups coming under this class of chemical entities in plants which include chalcones, flavones, flavonols, anthocyanins and isoflavonoids and cocoa is supposed to be rich in flavonols having the health boosting properties. Here again we have to content with monomers, dimers, trimers up to decamers, all categorized as cocoa flavonols. But flavonols can have stereo isomers also some of which are more bioactive than others. For example (-)epicatechin is six times more active than its stereoisomer (+)epicatechin and others like (+) catechin and  (-)catechin. 

In such a complex situation what will a future pill contain and how can it be made stable against undesirable stereoisomeric changes? It is well known that during the rigorous processing of cocoa highly active (-)epicatechin tends to transform into less active (+) epicatechin thus reducing the overall beneficial effect of the flavonols in general. The attraction of scientists to flavonols comes from the classical study on a section of population in Panama which consume more than 900 mg of cocoa flavonols in their diet every day through a drink made traditionally from cocoa beans and their health index was some thing unbelievable. Heart attack, cancer and diabetes cases among this population were just 10% , 6% and 20% respectively that of the national average! 

One interesting fact that emerges from this projected study is that one of the giants in chocolate industry is supporting this effort obviously with funding and one is puzzled by their interest in producing a pill that will compete directly with their products. One can understand if active cocoa growing countries or corporates are involved with this effort because positive results are bound to expand cocoa demand giving the economic incentives in future. Currently cocoa is in short supply and chocolate products are anticipated to be costlier due to this supply crunch. Probably far sightedness in hoping for a production glut in future and natural concern for the health of the consumers could have driven their push in creating a health pill out of cocoa.

As of now consumers should be weary of buying all and sundry brands of bitter chocolates or dark chocolates at a premium unless the label indicates the flavonol content in an unambiguous way. Probably it is time regulations are brought in to compel makers of these specialty chocolate products to declare the flavonol content on the label.

V.H.POTTY

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

Exploring aquatic sources in search of future antibiotics-Fight against drug resistance in bacteria

Man cohabits with billions of other living creatures, tiny, small or big numbering trillions and trillions. Some of them are visible to the naked eyes while extremely small microorganisms cannot be seen with out the help of powerful microscopes. The living environment is full of viruses, bacteria and fungi, most of them being benign and pose not much hazard to human life. But a small fraction of them can cause infection in human body which if not treated with antibacterial or bacteriostatic drugs can be very harmful and in many cases become fatal. Antibiotics, several in number, discovered in nineteen twenty eight starting with Penicillin, are the front line of defence against pathogenic microorganisms. However over use  and misuse of these antibiotics during the lat 6 decades have created an unenviable situation where many pathogens are developing resistance against the killing power of these wonder chemicals. Why?

The major culprits are indifferent physicians who prescribe antibiotics at the "drop of a hat" to most patients coming to them whether actually needed or not and the animal feed industry which incorporates these antibiotics in small amounts in their products for better growth of cattle and poultry birds. Constant exposure through the meat products carrying the antibiotic residues and over exposure through physicians' frequent prescription created opportunities to microorganisms to evolve mechanisms to overcome the lethal effect of antibiotic drugs over a period of time. Imagine how insensitive the animal food industry in a country like America could be considering that more than 80% of available antibiotics are used by the feed industry in that country during the last few years. This malpractice is spreading to other countries also thus expanding the dangers posed by antibiotic resistant super bugs in creating havoc with human lives. How to deal with this precarious and fast emerging situation that can be a threat to humanity?

Pharmaceutical industry is lagging behind in developing newer generation antibiotics, possibly because of the huge investments required to see through the process of testing and safety clearance while government led research investments are practically non-existent. We owe to many Universities and academic institutions for the scientific strides made by scientists and scholars in discovering new approaches in dealing with air-borne, water-borne and food-borne diseases working in different parts of the world.  One such area is discovery of Antimicrobial Peptides ( AMP) which were shown to have bactericidal, virucidal and fungicidal properties that can compliment the strength of current biotics and counter act the ability of pathogens to develop resistance. AMPs are short chain peptides containing 12-50 amino acids and mostly contain 2 or more positively charged residues provided by arginine, lysine and histidine. Besides they also contain hydrophobic residues to the extent of more than 50% of the chain length.They are derived from a variety of sources including humans, insects, amphibians, fish, pigs, cattle, crabs, fruit flies etc. But how feasible it is to manufacture them economically and logistically?

From whatever is known about these unique biological molecules, it is clear that scientifically they can counter act many micro vectors efficiently without causing any resistance in the invading species. Initial contact between the host surface and the vector takes place electrostatically as bacterial surfaces are anionic in nature. AMPs target the cytoplasmic membrane besides interfering with DNA synthesis, proteins synthesis and folding and cell wall synthesis resulting in a catastrophe leading to their death. One major limitation could be presence of cholesterol in human cells which makes them less reactive with invading vectors. However ribosomally synthesised peptides, unlike their non-ribosomally made ones are least prone to create drug resistance. Examples are Gramicidin, Bacitracin, Polymyxin and Vancomycin which are increasingly becoming popular as antibiotic alternatives. How can these peptide molecules be made commercially available? 

AMPs are present in almost all higher forms of living creatures in the dermis and they form the first line of defence against invaders when infection takes place. That is why they can be extracted from almost all of them including humans. However from a practical view point for a sustained supply of any product of uniform quality a reliable source needs to be identified. Recent works by a few scientific groups have identified aquatic creatures as a good source from which highly efficient AMPs can be made in a sustainable way. Gills in most fish species have AMPs that give protection to them against water borne infections while water is filtered through these gills for breathing. Each fish species secretes AMPs with different structural features offering a vast range for selection regarding their effectiveness against different species. Some of the fish species from which AMPs have be recovered and studies include Rainbow Trout, Carp, Winter Flounder, American Halibut, Atlantic Salmon, Zebra Fish, Puffer Fish, Tilapia and a few others. Diversity of genomic sequence encoding fish AMPs has been extensively studied and they can be a sustainable source for synthetic recombinant AMP products for use by therapeutic industry eventually. 

Recently progress has been made in bonding fish derived AMPs to Silicone, Gold and Silver surfaces so that the latter can be used in designing highly effective therapeutic applications in human beings. In transplantation and organ repair surgeries such coated surfaces can preempt contamination. and post surgical complications. Heart valve replacements or stent implants can also have such coatings for which further application studies are called for. As for direct use in human beings in place of current antibiotics, delivery mode has to be worked out for the AMPs to attack the invading organisms at the affected cites. Exciting developments in fish AMPs can be expected in the coming years and there is hope that the current antibiotic resistance among pathogens can be dealt with through fish AMPs.

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