BEIJING, March 27 (Xinhua) — “I am wondering what’s in this flour. Are there additives, and are they toxic or safe?” asked housewife Wang Jinghua as she shopped in an outlet of Walmart in southwest Beijing.
    Wang told a Xinhua reporter she was worried about benzoyl peroxide, an additive widely used in flour, biscuits and other food. “A friend told me even a slight amount of this chemical is harmful, but I’m not sure what to do,” Wang said.
    Her confusion is understandable. No single agency or ministry in China …

March 27 – The Codex Committee on Food Additives last week agreed to adopt nine colours for use in food supplements at levels consistent with recommendations by the International Alliance of Dietary/Food Supplement Associations (IADSA).
At its meeting on March 17 in Beijing, the Committee agreed to put Allura Red AC (300 mg/kg), Caramel Colour, Class IV (20,000 mg/kg), Carotenoids (300 mg/kg), Chlorophylls, Copper Complexes (500 mg/kg), Erythrosine (300 mg/kg), Fast Green FCF (600 mg/kg), Grape Skin Extracts (500 mg/kg), Indigotine (300 mg/kg) and Iron Oxides (7,500 mg/kg) forward for the …

A discovery that two commonly used food additives are estrogenic has led scientists to suspect that many ingredients added to the food supply may be capable of altering hormones.
More than 3,000 preservatives, flavorings, colors and other ingredients are added to food in the United States, and none of them are required to undergo testing for estrogenic activity, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
“We need to be mindful of these food additives because they could be adding to the total effect of other estrogen mimicking compounds we’re coming into contact …

ELIZABETH JACKSON: Consumer and environment groups are concerned the burgeoning field of nanotechnology will soon be embraced by food companies and they want Australia’s Food Standards Code to keep pace.
The technology promises to make food look and taste better but little is known about its health impact. Some food giants are reported to be researching the technology, though none have publically acknowledged it.
Europe is poised for a moratorium on the technology’s use in food, while Australia thinks its current regulatory standards are sufficient.
From Melbourne Rachael Brown reports.
RACHAEL BROWN: Take a …

Take a strand of your hair, divide its width by 100,000 and that’s the size of a nanoparticle, a tiny particle with the potential to create a big stir in the food world.
The technology promises to make food look and taste better but little is known about its health impact.
Some food giants are reported to be researching the technology, though none have publicly acknowledged it.
Europe is poised for a moratorium on the technology’s use in food, while Australia thinks its current regulatory standards are sufficient.
Consumer magazine Choice says nanotechnology is …

“Superfood” is a term coined to define foods rich in phytonutrients. Phytonutrients are certain organic components of plants, thought to promote human health. Fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts and teas are rich sources of phytonutrients.
Common phytonutrients include carotenoids, coumarins, flavonoids, indoles, lignans, isoflavones (including genistein and daidzen) organosulfurs and phytosterols.
Phytonutrients are usually related to the color of fruits and vegetables — green, yellow-orange, red, blue-purple, and white. Because of this natural color coding of nutrients, dieticians recommend the rainbow diet—eating fruits and vegetables of varied color each day.
Evidence that eating …

Do you know what is really in the food you just ate?  Sometimes it can be a mystery.  With this article I hope to give you useful information so that you can be a more informed consumer. If you know what some of the additives are and why they are put into your food, then you can decide for yourself if this is something that is needed or if it was an additive that you would rather do with out.
 
Many food additives are considered safe by the USFDA.  Safe …

EAGAN, Minn.—Two leading researchers in food science will discuss how to leverage clinical research programs into credible health claims at the Institute of Food Technology¹s Wellness ‘09 conference March 25 to 26 in Rosemont, Ill.
The foundation for functional food and beverage products is clinical research; however, research programs should be designed in conjunction with marketing objectives to ensure that new products meet consumer needs.
Don Cox, Ph.D., and Roger Clemens, Ph.D., will examine the complexities of immune health claims for food ingredients. The session also will explore how clinical research is …

To say that the consumption of food is a vital part of the chemical process of life is to state the obvious, but sometimes we fail to realize that food is more than just vital. The only other activity that we engage in that is of comparable importance to our lives and to the life of our species is sex. As Kao Tzu, a Warring States-period philosopher and keen observer of human nature, said, “Appetite for food and sex is nature.”1 But these two activities are quite different. We are, …

 
‘Progress is the injustice each generation commits with regard to its predecessors.’
-E. M. Cioran
Since food has been so thoroughly swept up in current financial ablutions, I found myself grateful and a little impressed when the flight crew on a recent flight to Italy began preparing their carts for dinner. I have a great sentimental attachment to airplane food: my grandfather found it inexpressibly exotic, and in my distaste for it I appreciate how much broader is my frame of reference. Also, since a looting of all pleasure so often stands …