Top Stories: USDA launches online nutrition SuperTracker; Obama administration upholds state-level oversight of raw milk; New FCC standards proposed for probiotic food ingredients
January 23, 2012
HEADLINES
USDA launches online nutrition SuperTracker
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has released the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s (USDA) new nutrition SuperTracker. The SuperTracker is a comprehensive resource available at ChooseMyPlate.gov designed to assist individuals as they make changes in their life to reduce their risk of chronic disease and maintain a healthy weight.
Release of this new web tool comes as the USDA highlights the second in a series of themed consumer messages supporting the MyPlate icon—“Enjoy Your Food, But Eat Less”—that the USDA is promoting the next three months in conjunction with more than 5,000 organizations participating in the MyPlate Nutrition Communicators Network.
“Overcoming the health and nutrition challenges we face as a nation is critical and the SuperTrackerprovides consumers with an assortment of tools to do just that,” said Vilsack. “This easy-to-use website will help Americans at all stages of life improve their overall health as they input dietary and physical activity choices into the tool.”
Consumers can access the free SuperTracker tool at anytime and can choose a variety of features to support nutrition and physical activity goals. SuperTrackeroffers consumers the ability to
- Personalize recommendations for what and how much to eat and amount of physical activity.
- Track foods and physical activity from an expanded database of foods and physical activities.
- Customize features such as goal setting, virtual coaching, weight tracking, and journaling.
- Measure progress with comprehensive reports ranging from a simple meal summary to in-depth analysis of food groups and nutrient intake over time.
- Operationalize the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines.
- Support family and friends by adding their individual profiles.
Press release
SuperTracker
Obama administration upholds state-level oversight of raw milk
The Obama administration has responded to the petition on WhiteHouse.gov to legalize raw milk sales on a federal level. The 6,078 people who signed the petition urged the government to legalize raw milk so that people could “choose whether drinking raw milk products is right for them.”
The response by Doug McKalip, Senior Policy Advisor for Rural Affairs in the White House Domestic Policy Council, states that the White House continues to support the current regulation of raw milk sales, which allow states to determine legality but prohibits its sale across state lines.
McKalip goes on to state that the health risks associated with raw milk are well documented and therefore the administration continues to support pasteurization. As a science-based regulatory agency, the FDA looks to the scientific literature for information on benefits and risks associated with raw milk.
“While the nutritional and health benefits of raw milk consumption have not been scientifically substantiated, the health risks are clear. Since 1987, there have been 143 reported outbreaks of illness—some involving miscarriages, still births, kidney failure, and deaths—associated with consumption of raw milk and raw milk products that were contaminated with pathogenic bacteria such as Listeria, Campylobacter, Salmonella, and E. coli,” wrote McKalip.
Today, 20 states explicitly prohibit the intrastate sale of raw milk in some form and 30 allow it.
Response
RESEARCH
New FCC standards proposed for probiotic food ingredients
With strong consumer interest in probiotics—and new manufacturer innovations for incorporating these ingredients into a broader array of food products—new standards to help ensure the quality of probiotic food ingredients are being proposed for public review and comment. The draft standards, which will be included in the Food Chemicals Codex (FCC), offer comprehensive information that is essential when utilizing probiotics as food ingredients, including testing to confirm the identity upon which probiotic product safety and health claims are based. Published by the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP), FCC is an international compendium of quality specifications for food ingredients.
Essential quality specifications such as identification and enumeration (microbe count), as well as intended uses in food, safety, regulatory status, and purity of probiotics and other microbial food cultures, are included in the new FCC Appendix, titled Microbial Food Cultures Including Probiotics. These specifications are available in the latest FCC Forum, the free-access, online vehicle through which proposed FCC standards are published for public review and comment.
Proper identification with probiotics is important because safety studies are most often based on the genus/species or strain level, so it is critical that manufacturers know exactly which microorganism they are incorporating into their food product to ensure safety. Identification also is important in supporting purported health claims. Given that many different strains of microorganisms are cultured and have been tested and used in foods, any supporting studies for justifying health claims are at the specific strain level. For any claimed health benefit, manufacturers should be able to confirm that what they are using in a probiotic food product is indeed the strain tested. Enumeration is similarly important because any claimed health effects supported by study trial data would also be specific to the level of intake.
“Testing for identity is difficult with probiotics, and this is a key area where public standards provided in the Food Chemicals Codex can be of significant value across the food, nutritional, and consumer products industries,” said Praveen Tyle, USP’s Chief Science Officer. “These are standards that all parties can use. With more manufacturers incorporating probiotics in products beyond yogurts based on rising consumer interest, scrutiny of health claims will grow, as will global sourcing of ingredients. We believe additional measures for determining identity and overall quality will be useful in protecting consumers and manufacturers alike.”
Interested parties are invited to provide feedback on the proposed standards during the public comment period, which closes March 31, 2012. The FCC Forum is accessible at www.usp.org/fcc/.
Press release (pdf)
Sweetness intensity may not correlate to overall caloric intake
A study published in the Journal of Food Science shows that although taste has an important impact on dietary choice, perceived sweetness intensity alone may not have a significant influence on food behavior and dietary intake in young adults.
One hundred and thirty university students enrolled in a food and nutrition unit completed the following assessments as part of their course work: a food and diet questionnaire, two 24-hr food records, a food variety survey, and a perceived sweetness intensity measurement. All students were invited to participate in the current study and 85 provided written consent to participate. The perceived sweetness intensity measurement test consisted of the subjects being given a sucrose solution to taste and then rating how sweet they felt the solution was. Out of the 130 students that participated, no correlation was observed between perceived sweetness and total caloric intake. The researchers concluded that, “overall, perceived sweetness intensity does not appear to play a role in food behaviors relating to sugar consumption and dietary intake in adults.”
This was the first study of its kind to investigate the correlation between sweetness intensity and specific food behaviors and nutrient intake and no associations were found between the two. It must be acknowledged that the study was done on a small scale and therefore caution should be taken when generalizing current findings to the broader population.
Abstract
Probiotics may help combat Listeria
A study published in PLoS One shows that modified probiotics, the beneficial bacteria touted for their role in digestive health, may be able to decrease the risk of Listeria infection in people with susceptible immune systems.
The Purdue University researchers found that the same Listeria protein that allows the bacteria to pass through intestinal cells and into bloodstreams can help block those same paths when added to a probiotic. The researchers’ earlier work showed that Listeria triggers intestinal cells to express heat shock protein 60 on their surfaces. That allows Listeria to bind to the intestinal cells using an adhesion protein and pass into them, acting as a sort of gateway to the bloodstream. Once in the bloodstream, even small doses of Listeria can cause fever, muscle aches, nausea and diarrhea, as well as headaches, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and convulsions if it spreads to the nervous system.
The researchers found that probiotics alone were ineffective in combating Listeria. However, by adding the Listeria adhesion protein to the probiotic Lactobacillus paracasei, they were able to decrease the number of Listeria cells that passed through intestinal cells by 46%, a significant decrease in the amount of the bacteria that could infect a susceptible person. With the adhesion protein, Lactobacillus paracasei interacts with heat shock protein on the surface of intestinal cells just as Listeria would. The probiotic then attached to the intestinal cells, crowding out Listeria.
The researchers noted that they could one day foresee the development of a pill or probiotic drink that could be given to at-risk patients to minimize the risk of Listeria infection. The results came from tests on human intestinal cells. The next step would be animal testing, which would the researchers to see whether different doses would have a greater effect.
Study
Starch intake may influence risk for breast cancer recurrence
Research presented at the 2011 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium shows that increased starch intake may lead to a greater risk for breast cancer recurrence. Researchers conducted a subset analysis of 2,651 women who participated in the Women’s Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) Dietary Intervention Trial, a plant-based intervention trial that enrolled about 3,088 survivors of breast cancer. WHEL researchers studied breast cancer recurrence and followed the participants for an average of seven years. The subset analysis involved an examination of how changes in carbohydrate intake influenced breast cancer recurrence.
The researchers obtained carbohydrate intake information from multiple 24-hr dietary recalls at baseline and at one year. In an annual phone interview, participants reported everything they had eaten during the last 24 hrs.
At baseline, carbohydrate intake was 233 g per day. Results showed that women whose cancer recurred had a mean increase in carbohydrate intake of 2.3 g per day during the first year, while women whose cancer did not recur reported a mean decrease of 2.7 g per day during the first year.
Starches were particularly important, according to the researchers. Changes in starch intake accounted for 48% of the change in carbohydrate intake. Mean change in starch intake during the first year was -4.1 g per day among women whose cancer recurred versus -8.7 g per day among women whose cancer did not recur.
When change in starch intake during one year was grouped into quartiles of change, the rate of an additional breast cancer event was 9.7% among women who decreased their starch intake the most during one year, compared with an event rate of 14.2% among women who increased their starch intake the most during one year. The change in starch intake was independent of dietary changes that happened in the intervention arm.
After stratifying patients by tumor grade, the researchers found that the increased risk was limited to women with lower-grade tumors. These results indicate a need for more research on dietary recommendations that consider limited starch intake among women with breast cancer.
Press release (pdf)
Diet patterns may reduce Alzheimer’s risk
A study published in Neurology shows that people with diets high in several vitamins or in omega 3 fatty acids may reduce their risk of having the brain shrinkage associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
Those with diets high in omega 3 fatty acids and in vitamins C, D, E, and B also had higher scores on mental thinking tests than people with diets low in those nutrients. These omega 3 fatty acids and vitamin D are primarily found in fish. The B vitamins and antioxidants C and E are primarily found in fruits and vegetables.
The study involved 104 people with an average age of 87 and very few risk factors for memory and thinking problems. Blood tests were used to determine the levels of various nutrients present in the blood of each participant. All of the participants also took tests of their memory and thinking skills. A total of 42 of the participants had MRI scans to measure their brain volume. Overall, the participants had good nutritional status, but 7% were deficient in vitamin B-12 and 25% were deficient in vitamin D.
Study author Gene Bowman, Oregon Health & Science University in Portland and a member of the American Academy of Neurology, said that the nutrient biomarkers in the blood accounted for a significant amount of the variation in both brain volume and thinking and memory scores. For the thinking and memory scores, the nutrient biomarkers accounted for 17% of the variation in the scores. Other factors such as age, number of years of education, and high blood pressure accounted for 46% of the variation. For brain volume, the nutrient biomarkers accounted for 37% of the variation.
In another finding, the study showed that people with diets high in trans fats were more likely to have brain shrinkage and lower scores on the thinking and memory tests than people with diets low in trans fats.
“These results need to be confirmed, but obviously it is very exciting to think that people could potentially stop their brains from shrinking and keep them sharp by adjusting their diet,” Bowman said.
Press release
Abstract
Walnuts rank highest in antioxidant content among nuts
A study published in Food and Function shows that the content and quality, or potency, of antioxidants present in walnuts was highest among the nuts.
Free and total (after basic hydrolysis) polyphenols in nine types of raw and roasted nuts and two types of peanut butter (54 commercial samples) were analyzed after methanol extraction using catechin as standard. Walnuts had the highest free and total polyphenols in both the combined raw and roasted samples. Total polyphenols in the nuts were significantly higher than free polyphenols. Roasting had little effect on either free or total polyphenols in nuts. Raw and roasted walnuts had the highest total polyphenols.
Antioxidant compounds neutralize agents in the body called free radicals that do damage to cell membranes, perhaps leading to cancer, heart disease, premature aging, and cell death. Polyphenols are one type of antioxidant that specifically target LDL (bad cholesterol) and are known to help protect the heart and fight atherosclerosis by slowing plaque buildup and improving artery and vein health.
“In addition to providing fiber, high-quality protein, and an excellent source of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), our research shows that an ounce of walnuts has more antioxidants than the daily sum of what the average person gets from fruits and vegetables,” said lead researcher Joseph Vinson, Department of Chemistry at The University of Scranton.
Abstract
NUTRITION
Diet rich in low-glycemic food may reduce markers of inflammation
A study published in The Journal of Nutrition shows that a diet rich in slowly digested carbohydrates, such as whole grains, legumes, and other high-fiber foods, may reduce markers of inflammation associated with chronic disease.
The controlled, randomized feeding study, which involved 80 healthy Seattle, Wash.-area men and women—half of normal weight and half overweight or obese—found that among overweight and obese study participants, a low-glycemic-load diet reduced a biomarker of inflammation called C-reactive protein by about 22%.
Study participants completed two 28-day feeding periods in random order—one featuring high-glycemic-load carbohydrates, which typically are low-fiber, highly processed carbs such as white sugar, fruit in canned syrup, and white flour; and the other featuring low-glycemic-load carbohydrates, which are typically higher in fiber, such as whole-grain breads and cereals. The diets were identical in carbohydrate content, calories, and macronutrients. All food was provided by the Hutchinson Center’s Human Nutrition Laboratory, and study participants maintained weight and physical activity throughout. “Glycemic load” refers to how the intake of carbohydrates, adjusted for total grams of carbohydrate, affects blood-sugar levels. Lentils or pinto beans have a glycemic load that is approximately three times lower than instant mashed potatoes, for example, and therefore won’t cause blood-sugar levels to rise as quickly.
“Lowering inflammatory factors is important for reducing a broad range of health risks. Showing that a low-glycemic-load diet can improve health is important for the millions of Americans who are overweight or obese,” said lead author Marian Neuhouser, a member of the Cancer Prevention Program in the Public Health Sciences Division at the Hutchinson Center.
The researchers also found that among overweight and obese study participants, a low-glycemic-load diet modestly increased—by about 5%—blood levels of a protein hormone called adiponectin. This hormone plays a key role in protecting against several cancers, including breast cancer, as well as metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and hardening of the arteries.
Abstract
Consuming fruits, veggies may not be enough to prevent weight gain
A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that solely consuming a lot of fruits and vegetables may not be enough to prevent weight gain.
The researchers examined the diet and weight information collected from 373,803 adults from 10 European countries participating in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study. Over five years, the study participants, ages 25–70, gained about one pound per year, on average. Among men, weight gain generally dipped somewhat as their fruit and vegetable intake rose. But that link disappeared when the researchers accounted for other factors, like the men’s daily calories, exercise habits, and education levels.
Among overweight women, those who said they ate the most vegetables tended to gain more weight over the next five years. That, the researchers speculate, could be because some of those women were on weight-loss diets that encourage eating a lot of vegetables. Many people who go on special diets notoriously see their weight yo-yo over time.
The only group for whom higher fruit and vegetable intake was linked to less weight gain was for people who quit smoking during the study period. The researchers speculate that healthy eating habits may help prevent the weight gain that many smokers experience when they try to kick the habit.
The researchers concluded that higher baseline fruit and vegetable intakes, while maintaining total energy intakes constant, did not substantially influence midterm weight change overall but could help to reduce risk of weight gain in persons who stop smoking. The current findings do point to the importance of overall lifestyle in maintaining weight as one ages.
Abstract
Colorful plates may boost children’s appetite
A study published in Acta Paediatrica shows that colorful food may entice children to eat more diverse foods. Specifically, food plates with seven different items and six different colors are particularly appealing to children, while adults tend to prefer fewer colors—only three items and three colors.
The researchers presented 23 preteen children and 46 adults with full-size photos of 48 different combinations of food on plates that varied by number of items, placement of entrée, and organization of the food.
Compared with adults, children not only prefer plates with more elements and colors, but also prefer to have their entrees placed in the front of the plate and with figurative designs. While much of the research concerning food preferences among children and adults focuses on taste, smell, and chemical aspects, this study demonstrates that people appear to be significantly influenced by the shape, size, and visual appearance of food that is presented to them.
“What kids find visually appealing is very different than what appeals to their parents,” said Brian Wansink, Professor of Marketing in Cornell’s Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. “Our study shows how to make the changes so the broccoli and fish look tastier than they otherwise would to little Casey or little Audrey.”
Abstract
FDA requests comments on nutrition label study
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is seeking public comments on an experimental study on consumer responses to Nutrition Facts Labels with Various Footnote Formats and Declaration of Amount of Added Sugar. Under the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990, the Nutrition Facts label is required on most packaged foods.
The FDA often uses consumer research to evaluate the effectiveness of the current Nutrition Facts label and to explore possible alternatives. The proposed study will explore how declaring the added sugars content of food might affect consumers’ attention to and understanding of the sugars and calories contents and other information on the Nutrition Facts label.
The FDA is considering requiring the amount of added sugars be declared under sugars with a double indention format because added sugars are a component of sugars. This possible requirement would be the first time that the mandatory declaration of a nutrient is shown in this format on the Nutrition Facts label. The agency is not aware of any existing consumer research that has examined this topic and is therefore interested in using this study to enhance understanding of how consumers would comprehend and use this new information.
Comments are due by Jan. 30, 2012.
Federal Register notice
NEW RETAIL PRODUCTS
Tea Forte brings coconut beverage trend to the tea category
Tea Forte, a luxury tea company, has introduced its new line of Coconut Teas. The product launch offers the tropical taste of coconut and takes advantage of the growing consumer demand for coconut beverages. Tea Forte’s coconut collection is available in Fair Trade Certified eco-friendly filter bags and the company’s signature pyramid infusers. The offerings include: Coconut Mango Colada Green Tea, Coconut Chai Latte Black Tea, and Coconut Chocolate Truffle Black Tea.
Press release
Kraft launches Fresh Take meal starters
Kraft Foods announced the launch of Fresh Take, a special blend of Kraft natural cheeses and seasoned breadcrumbs that creates a crispy and cheesy entree with five minutes of prep time. Found in the dairy aisle, the six flavors can be added to any meat or fish to quickly create a meal.
Fresh Take is packaged in a compartmentalized bag that also serves as a mixing bowl, requiring minimal preparation and no-mess cleanup. Consumers open the bag to break the center seal, combine the cheese and seasoned breadcrumbs, coat the meat or fish, and bake to the proper temperature. Fresh Take comes in six varieties and is now available throughout the United States for a suggested retail price of $2.99: Southwest Three Cheese; Italian Parmesan; Rosemary & Roasted Garlic; Cheddar Jack & Bacon; Chili Lime & Panko; and Savory Four Cheese.
Press release
Protica debuts all-natural protein shot
Protica Inc., the makers of the capsulized protein beverage, Profect, have added a new brand to its product line: Proasis. The new product is an all-natural version of Profect made with the natural sweetener rebaudioside A.
Like Profect, the 2.9-oz beverage utilizes Actinase, a patent-pending 25-g protein complex that stimulates the metabolism by signaling the body to increase assimilation and absorption of essential nutrients. Rebaudioside A (also known as reb A), a sweetener extracted from the leaf of the stevia plant, is said to be 300 times as sweet as table sugar, but without the calories. Proasis is available in five flavors and packaged in Protica’s ready-to-drink vial.
Press release
Kashi introduces GOLEAN Crisp! Cinnamon Crumble cereal
Kashi has announced the addition of GOLEAN Crisp! Cinnamon Crumble cereal to its GOLEAN family of foods. The cereal combines light and crispy whole grain clusters with natural cinnamon and then toasts them.
Each serving of GOLEAN Crisp! Cinnamon Crumble provides 10 g of protein, 9 g of fiber, and provides 20 g of whole grains. Additionally, the cereal is minimally processed with all natural ingredients and no high fructose corn syrup. Cinnamon Crumble joins GOLEAN Crisp! Toasted Berry Crumble and is now available at grocers and natural food retailers throughout the United States for a suggested retail price of $3.99.
Press release
Bossa Nova launches lower calorie acai juices
Bossa Nova, a brand of acai juices, is launching its organic, fruit beverages with only 90 calories per 10 fl oz. This represents a 32% decrease in calories and 30% fewer grams of sugar while maintaining Bossa Nova’s taste and nutritious profile.
Bossa Nova’s reduced calorie juices will be available in mid-February in four flavors: Organic Acai Original, Organic Acai Blueberry, Organic Acai Pomegranate, and All Natural Acerola Red Peach.
Press release
Chronic Ice debuts three new flavors of hemp iced tea
Kush Boys Worldwide will be debuting Chronic Ice in three new flavors in February. In addition, Chronic Ice bottles will sport a new look to better communicate the immediate energizing qualities and long-term health benefits of the ready-to-drink tea beverage.
The Original Lemon Chronic Ice hemp iced tea will sport the new design in the original Chronic Ice green tones, while the new flavors will debut in the same design but in a rainbow of colors. The new flavors and corresponding colors include Grape with a purple label, Ginger Ale with a brown label, and Peach with a peach label.
Chronic Ice is a tea made with organic sugar cane, whole-leaf green tea, black tea, and hemp seed. Each serving of the antioxidant-rich tea is free of preservatives and high fructose corn syrup.
Press release
COMPANY NEWS
Kraft Foods announces layoffs as it prepares for split
Kraft Foods has announced several moves to help ensure its North America-based snacks and grocery businesses are well-positioned to become two independent public companies before the end of 2012. Key decisions include realigning the U.S. sales organization, consolidating U.S. management centers, and streamlining the corporate and business unit organizations. These actions will result in the reduction of approximately 1,600 positions in North America throughout 2012, about 40% of which are due to the realignment of U.S. sales.
These planned workforce reductions do not include manufacturing facilities. With the impending separation into two independent companies, Kraft is continuing its review of manufacturing facilities to consider what’s best for both new companies.
“When we announced our decision to create two world-class companies last August, we said both would be leaner, more competitive organizations,” said Irene Rosenfeld, Chairman and CEO. “For the past year, the North American team has been working to streamline operations to deliver sustainable top-tier performance and continue to invest in our iconic brands. We’re confident that this transformational work will improve effectiveness and fuel the future growth of both companies.”
When the North American grocery company is spun off later this year, it will reduce its U.S. management center locations from four to two. The beverages business unit in Tarrytown, N.Y., and the Planters brand in East Hanover, N.J., will relocate to the Chicago-land area by December 2012. Most of the employees affected by these moves will have the option to transfer with their businesses to the future grocery company headquarters in the Chicago, Ill. area. Kraft also will close its Glenview, Ill., management center by the end of 2013.
The future global snacks company will also have its headquarters in the Chicago, Ill. area, with the choice of site currently under consideration. The North American region for the global snacks company will be based at the East Hanover campus.
Press release
ADM to cut labor force by 3%
Archer Daniels Midland Co. has announced that it will streamline its organizational structure, reducing its global workforce to enhance the cost structure of the company. Approximately 1,000 positions, primarily salaried, will be eliminated, representing 3% of the company’s total workforce worldwide. To help achieve this reduction, the company will offer a voluntary early retirement incentive in the United States. ADM expects that these actions, in concert with other targeted cost reductions, will, when fully implemented, reduce its annual pre-tax expenses by more than $100 million.
“To ensure that we can continue to compete effectively in our global markets, we are taking actions to streamline our organization and achieve significant, sustained cost reductions,” said Patricia Woertz, ADM Chairman and CEO. “These actions will help us enhance our productivity and earnings power.”
The company hopes to achieve a significant portion of the position reductions through the voluntary retirement incentive and will offer severance and outplacement assistance to other affected employees.
In its fiscal 2012 third quarter, ADM expects to record a $50–75 million pre-tax charge related to these actions. The company expects to begin benefiting from the cost reduction actions in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012, with the full benefit recognized by the end of third quarter fiscal 2013.
Press release
Nestlé opens cereal factory in Turkey; new dairy training institute in China
Nestlé continues to expand the market for its breakfast cereals with the opening of a new factory in western Turkey. The factory will produce breakfast cereals for the Turkish market as well as for 14 other countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Located in the Karacabey region, the factory was built with an investment of about 85 million Turkish Lira (almost CHF 45 million). It is owned and operated by Cereal Partners Worldwide, a joint venture between Nestlé and General Mills.
The factory in Turkey is the fifteenth factory now producing Nestlé breakfast cereals worldwide. Other factory locations are France, Poland, Portugal, Russia, the United Kingdom, and countries in Asia, Oceania, and Latin America. The factory will have an annual production capacity of about 15,000 tons of breakfast cereal. The majority of raw materials will be sourced from Turkey. This includes various grains such as wheat, corn, and rice.
In other news, Nestlé has built a new dairy farming institute in Shuangcheng, China, to help accelerate the development of the country’s milk industry. The institute, with its series of training farms, aims to be the country’s leading dairy training center, offering teaching courses from national and international experts. In partnership with authorities, Nestlé has distributed 1,000 free milking machines to farmers to ensure no farmers in the region have to continue milking by hand.
Dairy farm owners and workers from Shuangcheng and other Chinese regions will be able to improve their farm management skills and learn how to use the latest agricultural technology. They will gain practical experience in expanding their farm businesses, improving productivity, and sourcing high quality milk sustainably.
Cereal press release
Dairy institute press release
Cargill to modernize, consolidate Iowa soybean plant
Cargill will invest approximately $20 million this summer to modernize its soybean crushing plant on the east side of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Additional work at the Cedar Rapids facility over the next several years could bring the total investment to $60 million. Meanwhile, reflecting industry overcapacity in soymeal production, Cargill will optimize its soybean crushing operations in Iowa by closing its Des Moines crush plant on Feb. 4, 2012.
“Iowa is core to Cargill’s soybean crushing strategy,” said Mark Stonacek, President of Cargill Grain & Oilseed Supply Chain North America. “We remain committed to serving Iowa farmers and our soy product customers, which we can do more competitively through our Iowa locations in Sioux City, Iowa Falls, and our two plants in Cedar Rapids. The decision to close the crush plant in Des Moines was a difficult one due to the long history and loyal employees at this facility.”
Declining domestic meat consumption, substitution of competing proteins such as dried distillers grain in feed, and growth in international oilseed processing have created a difficult industry environment for soymeal, Stonacek said.
Press release
Coca-Cola partners with biotech firms for PlantBottle
The Coca-Cola Co. has announced multi-million dollar partnership agreements with three biotechnology companies to accelerate development of the first commercial solutions for next-generation PlantBottle packaging made 100% from plant-based materials.
This effort to commercialize a plastic bottle made entirely from plants builds on the company’s introduction and roll-out of its first generation PlantBottle package, which was the first ever recyclable PET beverage bottle made partially from plants. Since introduced in 2009, the company has already distributed more than 10 billion PlantBottle packages in 20 countries worldwide.
Agreements with Virent, Gevo, and Avantium—industry leaders in developing plant-based alternatives to materials traditionally made from fossil fuels and other non-renewable resources—were signed following an in-depth two-year analysis of different technologies by The Coca-Cola Co.’s R&D team and technical advisory board.
“While the technology to make bio-based materials in a lab has been available for years, we believe Virent, Gevo, and Avantium are companies that possess technologies that have high potential for creating them on a global commercial scale within the next few years,” said Rick Frazier, Vice President, Commercial Product Supply, The Coca-Cola Co. “This is a significant R&D investment in packaging innovation and is the next step toward our vision of creating all of our plastic packaging from responsibly sourced plant-based materials.”
Agreements with these three companies will help The Coca-Cola Co. support its long-term commitments through sustainable practices in sourcing and packaging supply. While Virent, Gevo, and Avantium will follow their own route to make bio-based materials, all materials will be developed in line with company and industry recycling requirements.
It is estimated the use of PlantBottle packaging in the first two years alone has helped save the equivalent annual emissions of more than 100,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide. Coca-Cola will continue to make investments in PlantBottle technology and aims to use PlantBottle packaging for the company’s entire virgin PET supply by 2020.
Press release
IFT & MEETING NEWS
Food Science & Innovation conference
Join experts and industry professionals in Guadalajara, Mexico on Feb. 27–29 for the IFT & ALACCTA Food Science & Innovation Conference. Speakers from some of the region’s leading organizations, such as SIGMA Alimentos, Gerber Latin America, Servicio Nacional de Sanidad, Inocuidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria (SENASICA),and Edelman México, will share their insights on the state of the global food industry. Pre-conference Short Courses will also be offered, including: Creating a Successful Product Tracing Initiative for Your Company, Food Additives, Fundamentals of Risk Analysis, and a Leadership Workshop for Students & Young Professionals. View the full event program and register today.
Wellness 12: March 28–29
Learn about up-and-coming functional food trends for the next two years, through the Top 10 Functional Food Trends 2012 at Wellness 12. This Opening Session will provide a preview of the 6th biannual Top 10 Functional Food Trends State-of-the Industry report. This, topped with more than 20 focused sessions and informal discussions with other industry professionals involved in bringing healthy foods to market, makes Wellness 12 your go-to event for the latest product development advances in the healthful foods arena. Check out the agenda with additional tracks and sessions, before registering today.