News Brief -- Disney bans junk food except in its parks

Walt Disney Co, said Tuesday it would ban junk-food advertising on its TV channels and Web sites from 2015 to help fight obesity among US children, Taipei Times reports today, c/o AFP (full article here).

“The nutrition guidelines are aligned to federal standards, promote fruit and vegetable consumption, and call for limiting calories and reducing saturated fat, sodium and sugar,” it said.

Disney also said it would roll out a “Mickey Check” check-mark icon this year to identify nutritious food and menu items at its retail shops and theme parks.
[In other words, it does not ONLY sell nutritious foods at its venues.]

Seventeen percent of US children are obese, a figure that has tripled in 30 years, according to a report last month from the Institute of Medicine.

However, others expressed skepticism.
“Kids aren’t obese because they are watching fast-food commercials on the Disney Channel,” wrote a Virginia resident. “They are obese because instead of being active, they are sitting in front of a TV ... How about creating TV shows that challenge kids to be active while watching?”

News Brief -- staff/camera in kitchen expose food recycling (Kaohsiung)

The well known Big Cow Beef Noodles (大牛牛肉麵) located on Zhongzheng Road (中正路) in Kaohsiung City has been exposed as recycling customers’ leftovers and selling them to other customers, the Broadcasting Corporation of China reported yesterday (full Chinese-language article here). 

That restaurant has now closed its doors before the city’s Department of Health could investigate and impose fines, but another restaurant of the same name located on Kaohsiung’s Siwei Road (四維路), although completely unconnected, claims its business has fallen by between 10 percent and 20 percent.

Translation copyright Jiyue Publications 2012

News Brief: Woman fights back against misleading advertisement

When the Mother's Day cake with 30 whole strawberries on top (as seen in advertisement) arrived with mere bits of strawberries instead, Ms. Zhou got a bellyful of anger, reports FTV today (Chinese-language article here).

The manufacturer claims it is still strawberry cake, the Consumer Protection Commission (行政院消費者保護會) is so far siding with Ms. Zhou.

News Brief: Food wasted in Taiwan

Statistics compiled by the Environmental Protection Administration show that Taiwanese in 2010 wasted 2.75 million tonnes of food, the equivalent of 20 years of -consumption by 260,000 low-income households, DPP legislator Lin Chia-lung was quoted in an article about establishing a food bank in today's Taipei Times (full article here).

Another interesting fact (assuming true) from the article is that:
US Department of Agriculture statistics show that more than 46 million Americans, or about 15 percent of the US population, lived on assistance provided by food banks last year, Lin said.

News Brief: 'Nuclear' fruit and vegetable origins re-labelled

A Tokyo vegetable and fruit wholesaler has been caught relabelling produce originating in the nuclear meltdown zone of Fukushima Prefecture by putting "Made in Yamagata" stickers, reports ANN News (Japanese-language article here), courtesy of an English translation by EZSKF (here).

News Brief: $39 food to cost $49

[apologies for failing to track food news lately]

Among all the recent stories of food price hikes comes one in today's Liberty Times (Chinese-language article here) saying that food items in Daiso stores (大創百貨)--where everything costs a flat rate of NT$39--will now be priced at NT$49.

News Brief: maximum levels for aluminium-containing foodstuffs should be set -- Consumers' Foundation

Food products using raising agents were found to contain excessively high levels of aluminium, the Consumers’ Foundation said Friday, the Taipei Times reports yesterday (full article here).

Two-thirds of 24 samples of doughnuts, fried dough sticks (油條), steamed buns (饅頭), kelp and silk noodles (粉絲) tested by the foundation in February were found to contain high levels of aluminium, which, it claimed, could affect memory.

Unlike the FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives and European Food Safety Authority both set maximum levels for such products, Taiwan has no legal limits on raising agents added to processed food, the CF said, making it difficult for consumers to know how much aluminium they have consumed.

Many of the food products tested had probably used alum (aluminium potassium sulphate) as raising agents to make the texture of the food more appealing.

 Excessive intake of aluminium has a suspected correlation with Alzheimer’s disease, as well as raising concerns about its effects on children’s growth and development, and on people with weaker metabolic function.

That some of the samples tested did not contain aluminium food additives, proves that these products can be produced without the substance, the CF said.

News Brief: Popcorn might not be all bad

Popcorn could prevent diseases and prolong life, Taiwan media report today (Chinese-language article here) picking up on a recent news in the United States (English-language article here).

US researchers claim that popcorn has higher concentrations of polyphenols--substances that might  protect against harmful chemical reactions in the body--than fruits and vegetables, and is a good source of fibre.

They acknowledge, however, that scientists don't know much about how such antioxidants work, and that the way they are normally consumed--cooked in oil with butter and salt added--means they are high in calories, fat and sodium. Nor do they contain the many other nutrients human bodies need, such as the vitamins common in fruit and vegetables.

News Brief: Tibetan Buddhist looks forward to Taichung snacks

When the 88-year-old Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche (堪布卡塔仁波切) arrives in Taiwan this week to teach Tibetan Buddhism, his interpreter will be a female lama Lodro Lhamo, formerly known to her Taichung family as Li Pei-guang (李佩光). When asked what she was looking forward to on her first visit to her homeland for many years, Li said what she missed most about Taiwan was its xiao-chi (小吃), the Central News Agency reports today (full Chinese-language article here).

Literally meaning “small eats”, the term xiaochi covers anything from snacks to light meals, including just about everything sold at night markets. Li, who originally followed the teaching of Taiwan’s Master Sheng-yen (聖嚴法師) before becoming a monastic of the esoteric Tibetan tradition, said she particularly looked forward to eating the “sun cakes” (太陽餅) of her native city.

Translation © Jiyue Publications 2012

News Brief: Plasticizers rear their ugly heads

Ten food items out of 322 recently tested by the Taipei City Government’s Department of Health (台北市政府衛生局) tested positive for excessive levels of plasticizers, TVBS reports today (full Chinese-language article here).

The items included drinks, probiotics (益生菌) and flavored pastes and sauces. Worst culprit was Chengtai (誠泰) brand mushroom sauce (香菇拌醬) from Xiluo (西螺) in Yunlin (雲林), which contained a diisononyl phthalate (DINP) level of 1944ppm, more than 200 times the permitted level of 9ppm.

The company responded that the DOH tests had been conducted on old stock with a form of packaging subsequently replaced, but which had not been completely removed from shop shelves. It agreed to allow the public to return purchases for a full refund.

Other products falling foul included a toon-flavored sauce (香椿醬) with DINP level of 1545.6 ppm and pineapple paste (鳳梨醬) at 16.9 ppm.

Translation © Jiyue Publications 2012

News Brief: official resigns over H5N2 "cover-up"

Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine director Hsu Tien-lai (許天來) resigned yesterday amid allegations he covered up a bird flu outbreak, a day after authorities announced they had culled thousands of chickens, Taipei Times reports today (full article here).

The piece also carries some more details carried yesterday by the Chinese-language papers about a possible cover-up (see NOMM here).

"According to Kevin H. J. Lee (李惠仁), a freelance journalist who spent more than six years investigating avian influenza in Taiwan and directed a documentary entitled A Secret That Can’t Be Exposed (不能戳的秘密), the council concealed the truth about the virus."

“In the process of my investigation, I discovered the situation is very different to what the council tells us. I discovered that the council has lied about the whole thing since 2004,” Lee said.


Additional reporting by Shad for NOMM:

According to Lee's documentary (see here: youtube),  Hsu Tien-lai has a habit of resigning to "take blame" only to be reinstated and promoted. Fourteen years ago he stepped down from his position as section chief to take responsibility during the foot-and-mouth epidermic. Interestingly, his co-resignee on that occasion, Chen Wu-hsiung (陳武雄), had risen as high as COA minister until the recent cabinet reshuffle and was, therefore, in charge of the council when Lee sent in his three dead chickens.

Lee claims Hsu sent back his chicken without testing it. When Hsu was questioned about this by local media yesterday, he said that as a public servant he was forbidden from receiving gifts from members of the public.

Perhaps for his role in undermining world animal quarantine and health regulations, thereby extending Taiwan's exports by two months or more, and protecting the income of Taiwan's poultry farmers, Hsu will be rewarded himself by appointment to COA minister in the not too distant future.

News Brief: new bird flu cases discovered and covered up

Almost 60,000 poultry in Changhua and Tainan were slaughtered late last week following an outbreak of bird flu, the Taipei Times reports today (full article here).

According to the Council of Agriculture (農委會; COA), it first appeared at a farm in Changhua in late December and is Taiwan’s first outbreak of the H5N2 avian influenza strain. 

If it turns out that the virus is highly pathogenic, Taiwan could be listed as an infected region and its exports of poultry products banned.

Poultry meat is one of the country’s top poultry product exports, with a value of between NT$360 million and NT$370 million per year, said Hsu Kuei-sen (許桂森), director of the council’s husbandry division, the Times reports.


What the Times did not say, but was covered by many Chinese-language papers, including its sister paper the Liberty Times, was that there was evidence of high pathogenicity as early as December, and the COA not only covered it up but also failed to report this to the international agency responsible.

Documentary director Li Hui-ren (李惠仁) is said to be behind the discovery. Alerted by the rise in egg prices late last year he became suspicious, and tracked down large numbers of dead birds. Three he sent to the COA and the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine (防檢局), and one he had tested. According to  Li, it was at this time in December that the COA should have alerted the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

News Brief: Breakfast stores are dirty, unhealthy and not nutritious

Hygiene and nutrition experts sent to survey fast-food breakfast stores in the Taipei area found shocking circumstances, the Common Health Magazine (康健雜誌) reports in the cover story of its March edition (full Chinese-language article here). 

Claiming that 80 percent of the population buys breakfast from these “lane mouth” breakfast stores (巷口早餐店) [NOMM: In Taipei perhaps, but for Taiwan as a whole this figure seems very high], CH magazine checked up on the nation’s five biggest chain franchises: 

Mei&Mei (瑞麟美而美), My Warm Day (麥味登), Good Morning Beautiful and Breakfast (早安美芝城), Glin MeRMe (巨林美而美), and Hongya Hamburger 弘爺漢堡). 

It assessed them for environmental hygiene (環境衛生), food safety (食品安全), and nutritional balance (營養均衡). 

On the first count: they found 0 percent of staff washing their hands between touching money and touching food; on the second: products in two-thirds of stores showed high levels of germs; and on the third: the food was too oily, too few vegetables were available, and the drinks were too sweet.

My Warm Day did the best [NOMM: perhaps “least awfully” is more accurate].

CHM’s found the nine main shortcomings to be:

1. Staff not washing or disinfecting hands after handling money and touching food. (100%)
2. Staff not washing or disinfecting hands after touching fridges then touching toast or hamburger buns.（100%）
3. Food handlers not wearing mouth masks or hats. (87%)
4. Serious accumulations of dirt and/or dust on ceilings, walls and/or pipes. (67%)
5. Contact with foodstuffs after using cleaning cloths. (60%)
6. Staff wearing rings, bracelets and/or other jewelry. (47%)
7. Trash not cleared from table surfaces and floors. (47%)
8. Sauce bottles not capped. (47%)
9. Mixing of raw and cooked foods, increasing the risk of cross contamination. (40%)

Translation © Jiyue Publications 2012

News Brief: artificial meat (from last month!)

oops, missed this one ...

Race to serve up artificial chicken for a $1m prize

The Guardian 21 January 2012 (full article here)

A small group of people will meet in Washington later this year for what they hope will be a lunch to change the world. The meal should consist of fried chicken and nothing else, but while it may look like chicken, have the texture of chicken and even taste like chicken, it will never have lived or breathed.

Five years ago Peta, the world's largest animal welfare group, gave scientists until 30 June 2012 to prove they could make "cultured", or laboratory meat, in commercial quantities. The first scientist to show that artificial chicken can be grown in quantity and be indistinguishable from "real" chicken flesh will be awarded $1m.
 

... Leading the race to show that it is possible is Mark Post, head of the department of vascular physiology at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. Post ... has claimed he will produce a synthetic beefburger this year.Post cannot win the Peta prize because he is working with beef, not chicken, but he has successfully grown strips of meat a few centimetres long. But his work is slow and it is proving hard to grow the meat any thicker or in large quantities.

Another group of scientists, at Utrecht university in the Netherlands, is experimenting with stem cells harvested from embryos. ... I think it is a decade away and we need research money," said Bernard Roelen, professor of veterinary science.

Coming from a different direction is US scientist Vladimir Mironov, ... now working with a Brazilian meat company. Mironov works with tissue engineering and has taken embryonic muscle cells from turkeys, bathed them in a bovine serum and successfully grown muscle tissue, but only in very small quantities.

...  the prize of being able to one day grow hundreds of tonnes of meat from stem cells is potentially vast, say animal welfare groups and food manufacturers. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation expects world consumption of meat to double between 2000 and 2050,

... Cultured meat has the added advantage of requiring far less energy and space to grow. Analysis by scientists from Oxford and Amsterdam last year showed the process could be engineered to use only 1% of the land and 4% of the water compared with conventional meat.

... For vegetarians, the prize is less animal suffering. "More than 40bn chickens, fish, pigs and cows are killed every year for food in the US alone, in horrific ways. In vitro meat would spare animals from this suffering," said Peta.

News Brief: Singapore to lift restrictions on Taiwanese foodstuffs

The Singaporean Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) has decided to lift safety measures on certain Taiwanese products and return to normalized trade, the Taipei Representative Office in Singapore announced yesterday, the Taipei Times reports today (full article here).

After the plasticizer food scare in May last year, Singapore enacted measures compelling five major foodstuff imports from Taiwan (sports drinks, juice products, tea products, jams and syrup products, and foodstuffs in the form of capsules, pills or powders) to be labeled with the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ (MOEA) Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection’s special proof of examination.

The plasticizer scare refers to the use of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, or DEHP, and other -plasticizers, -chemical substances used to increase pliability in plastic materials and which have been found to be endocrine disruptors, in food additives such as clouding agents.

The office said that after assuring the AVA that the plasticizer issue has been taken care of in Taiwan and urging it to consider lifting the extra safety measures on Taiwanese imports, the authority had agreed to a general lift of the measures starting on March 1.

News Brief: Eating shark fin could cause brain damage

People who like to eat shark fin should be careful, and not just because environmental groups want to stop consumption of this delicacy. Researchers in the United States have discovered the neurotoxin β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (甲氨基-丙氨酸; BMAA) in shark fin, which could cause brain damage or lead to Alzheimer’s disease (阿茲海默症), ETTV (東森新聞) reports today (full Chinese-language article here, and related English-language article here).
 
Concentrations of BMAA  found ranged from 144 to 1,838 nanograms per milligram, which were noted to be similar with the levels found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Translation © Jiyue Publications 2012

News Brief: Government clampdown on illegal eateries in Shida neighbourghood continues

The Taipei Times has more on this issue today (here).

Of particular interest to anyone thinking of opening a food outlet, apparently:

"In addition to noise and air pollution, some local vendors have also violated regulations as their locations are classified as a residential zone. According to land-use regulations, roads less than 8m wide in residential zones cannot be used for commercial purposes."

News Brief: beware "nutrient-enhanced" milk -- nutritionalist

Consumers of fresh or powdered milk products are urged to pay attention to information on food labels before making a purchase, as many items contain unnecessary and excessive additives, a foundation said yesterday, the Taipei Times reports today (full article here).

Although some milk cartons are emblazoned with words such as “nutrient-enhanced,” the milk itself has a high cream content, which translates into more fat and a less balanced diet, said Hsu Hui-yu (許惠玉), director of the nutritional section of the John Tung Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to public welfare.

A survey conducted by the foundation earlier this year found most milk products contain a wide range of additives such as calcium and sugar substitutes.

“Our bodies do not need these additives,” said Lin Wei (林薇), a professor at Chinese Culture University’s department of food health and nutrition science.

News Brief: cut back on those "all you can eat" buffets and hot pots

A salutary warning about the dangers of “all you can eat” buffets and hot pots was reported by the China Times online yesterday (full Chinese-language article here).

A young man from Taichung who likes to eat “bottomless buffet” almost once per week and eats hot pot pretty much every other day had gout (痛風) by the age of 18, didn’t ameliorate his diet or take the medicine prescribed him, and three months ago was found to have a serious edema (dropsy; 水腫) in his calf. Now subsequent blood tests show his kidney function is roughly one-tenth of normal and he faces a lifetime of dialysis (洗腎).

Taking the tastiest items from a buffet provides a diet with too much potassium and sodium, which can be a dangerous factor in causing high blood pressure. Combined with popular, more expensive items such as seafood and beef, the protein content often exceeds recommended levels, which over extended periods can lead to kidney disease. This kind of diet is also implicated in the onset of diabetes.

Translation © Jiyue Publications 2012

News Brief: Discount meals for speakers of oppressed languages

Tuesday (Feb 21^st) is World Mother Language Day for the promotion of threatened minority languages. In a related activity in Taiwan running all this week, almost 100 stores are offering discounts to people shopping in their mother tongues.

No, that doesn’t mean English &c. for foreigners, or even Mandarin for  descendants of Taiwan's 1 million+ 1949 immigrants, but the local, previously discriminated-against Hoklo Taiwanese, Hakka and Aboriginal languages.

In addition to some bookshops and even dentists, many participating outlets are restaurants ranging from Mom&Pop stands to haute cuisine establishments. CNA reports today (full Chinese-language article here).