"DRINKING STRAW"-WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ITS SAFETY?

Drinking beverages like soda and fruit juices is considered more convenient if a straw is used to such out the contents from the bottle directly or from a glass full of it. But rarely any one gives any thought to the safety of these straws offered in different places, especially in small juice or soda joints most of which use straws of indifferent quality. There are no standards for straws in many countries and under such an environment it is easy for many to indulge in production of straws of low quality and make a fast buck in the process. World over it is estimated that about a billion straws are manufactured for drinking liquid products and imagine the trash value of these disposable material which are littered all around in towns and cities with no strict environmental discipline. Straws which used to be made of paper a few years ago are ow made mostly from polypropylene plastics or polystyrene material with no biodegradable credentials. Besides these "tubes" can pose serious health dangers if the quality of raw material and ingredients used are not of food grade as it is reported from China recently. Here is a take on this little known area of food industry.  

"According to food experts, some straws could contain hazardous materials that can dissolve into drinks. Long term use can cause harm to the digestive system, premature sexual development, infertility or even cancer. An investigation team led by Lou Zhongping, who helped draft the standards on drinking straws, began inspections of wholesale stores in Shanghai's Yu Garden in early July and concluded only 10 percent of straws were qualified. Inspections 

also revealed forged quality safety logos. "In wholesale stores, we found the logo was hard to read and could be erased easily," said Lou,who is also president of the largest manufacturer of drinking straws worldwide, Soton DailyNecessities. Despite a request on July 3 by the market watchdog requiring that stores remove the straws from their shelves, a vendor said that the

straws are still being sold. Most of the quality safety logos are counterfeit, headded, showing a bag full of colorful drinking straws."Many beverage and milk tea stores as well as schools buy straws regularly, and we sell hundreds of packs every month," said the vendor, who only wanted

to be identified as Chen. In a beverage shop named Guoxiang in the Jing'an district, a manager surnamed Yang said he purchases straws from markets in YuGarden, and has never been aware of the safety concerns. Insiders said thick straws, such as those used for bubble tea, 

tend to be more at risk because they use more materials and are more expensive to make. "The price of a qualified straw is around 0.1 yuan ($0.016), which is double or even triple the price of a substandard one," said Han Ying, business department manager of Shanghai Guanxuan, a company that makes household products. "There is no threshold for producing inferior drinking straws asit's easy to attain recycled plastics, and anyone could start 

a business with several machines at home," she added. There are five straw producers in Zhejiang province's Yiwu, an international trade hub that produces at least 90 percent of the straws in the Chinese market, but the number of unlicensed producers in the country is more than 200, insiders said. The health supervision department in Changsha, Central China's Hunan province, issued a warning in May that some drinking straws might contain toxic substances after the findings of Lou's investigation".

The basic question raised by some health pundits is whether there is any need for using a straw at all in the instance? A very relevant issue. The Straw apologists contend that use of this contraption avoids contact of the sugary beverage with the teeth to a significant extent lessening the possibility of dental decay but there is very little evidence to support this argument. After all to get the full pleasure of drinking a beverage it is necessary that the liquid is moved around the mouth for the palate to sense the taste and flavor and even if a straw is used most will keep it in the oral cavity at least for a few seconds before gulping. Use of straw is also claimed to be helpful in avoiding contact of the mouth with the glass or cup which may be dirty or unhygienic. But it is silly to imagine that the contents in a dirty glass would be clean! All said and done it is time that strict safety standards are put in place for drinking straws immediately to protect the unwary consumers.  

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

RISE OF BARLEY-A GOOD THING

But for the brewery industry barley as a commercial crop would have faced extinction long ago. As it is the main ingredient in the manufacture of beer and a few spirits, cultivation of Barley received a fillip and there is no looking back once alcohol industry started growing in India at a frenetic pace. It is not that all alcoholic beverages need barley for the fermentation because most Indians consume Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), made by fermentation of molasses a by-product of sugar industry. Besides Arrack the distilled product from coconut toddy is the most popular drink in Kerala with practically every person consuming it regularly. Barley has a USP in that when germinated it produces the typical enzymes that convert starch into malt which in turn is a base material for making malt extract and alcohol fermentation. Interestingly Barley got further boost when consumers started getting more and more aware about health and the importance of non-starch polysaccharides like beta glucans in lowering cholesterol in the blood that keeps heart disease, diabetes, cancer etc at bay. Being a grain with low Glycemic Index (GI) it is considered one of the best foods for controlling blood sugar in those persons affected by diabetes. Here is the story of the revival of Barley as illustrated by one of the admirers and what future it has in India. 

Barley, a rabi (winter season) coarse cereal that had lost out to wheat in the post-green revolution period in terms of productivity and consumer preference, is back. The revival of farmers' interest in this versatile cereal has been triggered by increased demand from the malting, brewing, confectionery and pharmaceutical industries, coupled with the evolution of its high-yielding varieties suitable for industrial uses. Besides, it underwent an image makeover to regain consumer appeal as a health food, thanks to its high content of cholesterol-lowering fibres, both soluble and insoluble, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Barley is now increasingly being used as an ingredient in the multigrain health foods, including multigrain atta(flour) and bread, baby foods, cocoa-malt drinks and several other products.

It might not have escaped the notice of consumers who are bombarded with promotional ads in the electronic media regarding the USP of malt based dairy beverages which have very appealing flavor and color attracting every child. Malt extract prepared from barley malt is one of the most sought after flavoring materials in chocolate industry. The original Ovaltine and Horlicks, age old health drinks, owed their popularity to the barley malt extract. It is another matter that there are many new avatars which have appeared in the Indian market, equally popular with kids and adults alike. With prices of rice hitting the roof in India, Barley offers an attractive low cost alternative available at about 70-80% of the price of rice. Cooked whole Barley looks and tastes almost like red rice and the high nutritional content is an added bonus. Probably Barley getting into the mainstream cereal market may dramatically revive its fortunes. The only worry is that it should not go the Oat's way becoming a super hyped gran with all types of health claims priced at three times that of rice!    

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

SELF HEATING FOOD PACKS-A NEW INNOVATION?

Some years ago an entrepreneur of Indian origin with a wadof money and some innovative ideas landed in the country and started exploring the possibility of setting up shop to manufacture packed foods, ready to "heat and eat", with high hopes. Unfortunately the venture did not last long, forcing an early closure without a single packet ever being produced. Whether he was an unscrupulous investor with dishonest intentions or a genuine business man gone bankrupt under Indian conditions is still a mystery! But the idea of ready to "heat and eat" food portfolio, largely relevant to the armed forces, remained a distant dream. Now comes the news that "self heating" food cans are being promoted in the US which are considered very convenient especially during winter season for those travelling. Here is a take on this new development.

Last February, the world welcomed its first self-chilling beverage. Of course, a self-chilling beverage was only of so much interest during a time when much of the world's population could just step outside its door and chill its own beverages in the open air – June might have been a better time for that one. What folks could use during the cold season is a beverage container that automatically warms its contents. That container is called the Hot Can. The double-chambered aluminum Hot Can contains the beverage or soup in its outer chamber, and a mix of water and calcium oxide in its inner chamber. When activated, the water and calcium oxide mix, causing an exothermic reaction that heats the beverage by a total of 50 to 55 degrees Celsius in about three minutes. This means that a drink which starts out at room temperature (20ºC/68ºF) heats up to 70ºC (158ºF) – from a cold cup of mud to a piping hot cup of coffee. A polypropylene outer shell insulates the beverage for about 45 minutes and protects the hands from burns. Using the Hot Can sounds pretty easy. You turn it upside down, remove the protective tab and press the button to begin the heat reaction. Then you shake it for 20 to 30 seconds and stand it upright until it heats up. The heat indicator label lets you know it's hot and ready with a green emblem. If it should get too hot, a red warning sign activates instead. Because the Hot Can adds a set amount of heat to any beverage, it's designed to be stored at room temperature. Storing it in the refrigerator will mean it won't heat up to a warm drinking temperature, while storing it in a hot environment like a car in the hot sun will cause burn risks. Storing it below 5ºC (41ºF) can damage the heating element. The Hot Can could be super-useful for everyday use as well as for specific purposes. You could grab a coffee on the way out the door to work without ever having to brew a pot or stop off at a shop. Hikers, backpackers and other outdoor users could enjoy a hot drink without worrying about lighting a stove or fire".

Self-chilling and self heating food packs can be a little more expensive but should be affordable to those who value convenience and time. An interesting exothermic chemical reaction that occurs in nature has been harnessed to design a container that can be used for heating foods and beverages without the intervention of fire or power in any form. If and when these containers are offered in the market, probably they can be used for warming the already prepared food though it cannot be reused. Probably they can be single use containers suitable for soups and beverage industry to pack their products.

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

THE CAFFEINE "MANIA"-AN EMERGING NEW TREND

Caffeine is a natural stimulant and consumers get this into their system generally by consuming beverages like Coffee, Tea and Cocoa. While human body has the necessary ability to metabolize Caffeine, there is no clear cut consensus regarding the safe limit for daily consumption. While a 400 mg per day Caffeine intake can be considered tolerable for fully grown adults, many countries are trying to restrict the level to 180 mg per day for teenagers after the food industry started selling so called "energy drinks" with high caffeine levels targeting the younger generation consumers. Latest mad thing to happen in the US is marketing of a concentrated caffeine product in the form of drops with each drop designed to deliver a whopping 60 mg! As the regulatory authorities are more a puppet in the hands of the powerful industry, there does not appear to be any restriction, as of now, for marketing such products. Here is a take on this crazy development in that country.

"Each half-teaspoon serving of Mio, which is sold by Kraft Foods, releases 60 milligrams of caffeine in a beverage, the amount in a six-ounce cup of coffee, the company says. But one size of the bottle, which users can repeatedly squeeze, contains 18 servings, or 1,060 milligrams, of caffeine — more than enough, health specialists say, to sicken children and some adults, and even send some of them to the hospital. Several countries are reining in sales of energy drinks, pointing to the risks of excessive caffeine consumption by teenagers and even some adults. By year's end, Canada will cap caffeine levels in products like Monster Energy, Red Bull and Rockstar. Also countries like Mexico, France and India have or are considering steps including taxing the drinks more heavily to discourage their use".

It is true that Caffeine consumption keeps the consumer alert and therefore taking natural beverages containing Caffeine is understandable. But when it comes to children, young kids, old people, pregnant women, young nursing mothers and health compromised people Caffeine can pose serious problems. It is reported that there are at least 12000 emergency cases attended to in US hospitals every year with some casualties on account of Caffeine consumption. The habit forming properties of Caffeinated drinks are well known and if high Caffeine containing beverages, both natural and man-made, and Caffeine concentrates like Mio and tablets are allowed a free run in the market with no apparent restriction, it is a question of time before a major health crisis confronts the world!

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