"The British used to lead the world at breakfasting. The Victorians refused to start their days without first grazing on fish, cold meats, pies, kedgeree, eggs, toast and jams. They dedicated recipe books to the meal with titles such as Breakfast Dishes for Every Morning of Three Months. They had stoves installed at the end of their tables just so that they could fry bacon and eggs. The 19th-century writer, Leigh Hunt, was moved to reflect that "breakfast is the forecast of the whole day. Spoil that and all is spoiled".

"Yet the British breakfast was spoiled, drowned in bowl of soggy Rice Krispies. Mass-produced breakfast cereals first became popular in the mid-20th century – and have remained stuck to our national palate ever since, like a congealed Weetabix. While lunch and dinner have been transformed by their exposure to other cultures, breakfast has got stuck in a rut. It has become, in the words of Dr Kaori O'Connor, anthropologist and author of a biography of the English breakfast, "a kind of service operation, requiring neither thought nor enjoyment". "

Editor's Stuff - The Goats have spoken! 

If there's one taste on earth I dislike intensely, it's goat! But them goats have spoken and hot off the press comes news of SA's dairy highlight of the year, the Danisco Qualité Awards dinner, that was held in Stellenbosch last night. The evening belonged to the milk goats of South Africa, with a lesser known goat’s milk cheese from Gauteng crowned the 2010 Dairy Product of the Year. 

This unique hard cheese, matured for at least three months, modestly called Goat Peter Farm cheese, is handmade by Marianne Joos and Alastair Catto, proud owners of Goat Peter Cheesery at Hekpoort, north-west of Johannesburg. 

Marianne, with no formal cheese making training, invented the Goat Peter Farm cheese. The milk of Alastair’s 120 goats has its own taste, representative of the Hekpoort terroir and together with Marianne’s manufacturing method, creates a unique flavour. Currently Goat Peter Farm cheese is only available in Gauteng but let’s hope Alastair and Marianne see their way clear to share this marvellous cheese with the rest of us.

A record 847 entries from 74 large and artisanal manufacturers competed for the much coveted Qualité Award for excellence. A total of 80 products were capped as SA Champions, of which only 20 now carry the Qualité title awarded to products of outstanding quality. The fact that 36% of the coveted Qualité Awards went to goat’s milk cheeses is even more surprising as only 20% of the total entries were goat’s milk cheeses. The growth in popularity of goat’s milk cheese has simply been phenomenal during the last seven years, says event organiser, Agri Expo. 

La Rochelle Goat’s milk Cheese, a very small cheesery from De Doorns did exceptionally well with two Qualité Awards compared to mass producers Clover SA and Fairfield Dairy, who were awarded three each. Lancewood Cheese, Parmalat SA, and Sunpower each produced two Qualité Award winners followed by Belnori Boutique Cheesery, Butlers, Klein River cheese, Lausanne Dairy, and Morning Milk – De Pekelaar each with one.

Gourmands and ordinary cheese lovers will be able to meet some of the makers of the winning products while they taste, eat, drink and play to their hearts’ desire at the SA Cheese Festival from 24 to 27 April 2010 at Bien Donné on the R45 between Paarl and Franschhoek.

Why you HAVE to be at it! EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION ENDS 31 MAY!

All the award details are posted here. You read it first on FOODStuff SA!

Enjoy this week's read!

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SA Food Industry News

Pick n Pay full-year profit flat

South African supermarket chain Pick n Pay reported almost no growth in full-year earnings on Wednesday, and said it expected tough conditions to continue, underscoring the grim outlook for consumer demand in Africa's biggest economy. Read more

SA food marketers: Labeller beware

‘Regulations Governing the Labelling and Advertising of Foodstuffs', published on 1 March 2010 by the Department of Health, is designed to protect consumers against false and sometimes dangerous labelling of food products."This is a very big and contentious issue," says Professor Piet Delport, consul to the Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA). "The new regulations will completely alter the way in which food products are positioned and presented to consumers."

Existing regulations stipulate that food labels cannot make any health claims, and the new regulations take this concept further and outlaw the use of certain words that imply health or nutritional benefits. Commonly used descriptive words such as 'wholesome' and 'nutritious' will thus become illegal on labels and ads when the new regulations come into effect on 1 March 2011. Concerning fortified foodstuffs, food labels can only make nutritional claims if the packaging is in line with separate fortified foodstuffs regulations. Read more

Fairview launches a Fresher Feta!

Fairview's innovative new Feta cheese is packed flat, using so-called ’skin packaging’ that eliminates the need to include brine in the pack. Brine is the salty solution that old fashioned feta was packed in. In most tub-packed feta this means that along with 200g of cheese you are also taking home around 200ml of useless brine, to take up space in your fridge. Of course producers also need to transport that brine around, and someone needs to pay for the transport – you! Read more

Whiter teeth the promise of new Dentyne

Cadbury's has launched a new functional chewing gum, Dentyne Peppermint White, aimed at giving South Africans a whiter, brighter and healthier smile. Read more

Greener packaging solutions in SA

Jo'burg-based AGQPE is pioneering the use of sustainable food packaging in South Africa with the Enviropack range of green packaging solutions. This report on its growing impact in the local market. Read more

Food Industry News

US: FDA plans to limit amount of salt allowed in processed foods   

The FDA is planning an unprecedented effort to gradually reduce the salt consumed each day by Americans, saying that less sodium in everything from soup to nuts would prevent thousands of deaths from hypertension and heart disease. The initiative, to be launched this year, would eventually lead to the first legal limits on the amount of salt allowed in food products.

The government intends to work with the food industry and health experts to reduce sodium gradually over a period of years to adjust the American palate to a less salty diet, according to FDA sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the initiative had not been formally announced. Read more

US: Low-sodium product launches soar – but consumers go for taste

The US has launched more products claiming low or no sodium than any other country in the past three years, according to a new report from Packaged Facts – but consumers still prioritise good taste.

The US Department of Agriculture has estimated that the average American gets about 4,000mg of sodium a day, well above the recommended daily maximum of 2,300mg. Excessive sodium intake has been linked to increased risk of high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke. And with an estimated 75% of sodium in the average US diet coming from packaged foods, industry is already under pressure to reformulate foods to contain less sodium.

However, Packaged Facts claims that reducing sodium intake is not at the top of consumers’ list of priorities for dietary change. Read more

US: IFT emphasises role of food science in obesity fight

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) has said that food science has an important role to play in the federal government’s plans to reduce childhood obesity, including Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign. IFT said it would like to see more research in several areas, including the influences of packaging, labelling, cost, portion size and food composition on behaviour; the most effective ways to communicate nutrition information to consumers; the potential causes of obesity; the drivers of food-related behaviours; the effectiveness of weight management strategies; and biomarkers that could indicate risk of obesity ...

The organisation’s president Marianne Gillette (pictured) said: "We recognise the critical value of raising public discourse on food and health issues associated with childhood obesity, and food science will continue to play a critical role throughout that discussion. Read more

Starbucks sees worldwide sales of Via above $1 billion

Starbucks says it expects to sell more than $1-billion of its Via coffee worldwide as it starts offering the powdered mix in Japan, the world’s biggest market for instant coffee. “Worldwide we’re going to build north of a billion dollar business,” Starbucks Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz said in an interview last week in Tokyo ... Schultz is betting on Via to boost sales in Japan, where revenue at stores open at least a year dropped every month last year as consumers cut spending. Starbucks started offering Via six months ago across the United States. Read more

Nestlé and Greenpeace clash again

Orangutans continue to haunt Nestlé’s every move. The latest encounter comes at Nestlé’s shareholders meeting in Lauzane, Switzerland with the simian-dressed Greenpeace activists abseiling down from the roof to continue to highlight the company’s use of palm oil. The invasion of the meeting in Lauzane is the latest high-profile stunt by Greenpeace as part of their ‘Give the orangutans a break’ that hopes to halt the deforestation of the animal’s habitat in Indonesia, a large part of which is believed to be being caused by the use of unsustainable palm oil. Read more

Biofuels to blame for palm oil deforestation, says Nestlé

Political decisions encouraging biofuel production from palm oil is causing deforestation in Indonesia and not the low tonnage sourced by Kit Kat maker Nestlé, according to the chairman of the Swiss based food company. Read more

Ban trans fats and thousands of lives will be saved, UK told

Banning trans fats would save thousands of lives, researchers say. The UK should follow the example of New York, California, Switzerland, Denmark and Austria [and South Africa!] and implement a ban on the hydrogenated vegetable oils whose main selling point is that they are cheap, experts from Harvard Medical School and Harvard Public School of Health, Boston, US, say.

Trans fats – also known as trans-fatty acids – are found in cakes, pastries, pies, biscuits, snacks and fast foods. Read more

Hot Stuff

Foie gras, faux pas or faux gras?

Foie gras, a 5 000-year old French delicacy made of fatty duck or goose liver, is again the subject of debate between animal rights defenders, researchers, chefs, celebrities and those upholding a gastronomical tradition.On April 15, Kate Winslet, a renowned actress, joined the ranks of numerous celebrities in speaking out against the treatment of ducks and geese in the making of foie gras for this year's People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) campaign and video.

"Foie gras is sold as an expensive 'delicacy' in some restaurants and shops, but no one pays a higher price for foie gras than the ducks and geese who are abused and killed to make it," said Winslet, PETA's newest spokesperson. Read more 

Complementary medicine: Health risk or the real heal?

A controversial book questions the value of complementary medicine, says Jane Alexander. Do you receive reiki or put your feet in the hands of a reflexologist? Have you ever tried crystal therapy? Does an acupuncturist give you a needle? In short, are you one of the estimated 5.75 million people in Britain who visit a complementary health practitioner?

If so, according to Professor Edzard Ernst and Simon Singh, authors of Trick or Treatment, you're not only potentially wasting your money, you could be putting your health at risk. ''Millions of patients are wasting their money and risking their health by turning towards a snake-oil industry,'' they say.

Unsurprisingly, practitioners of complementary medicine have been less than ecstatic about the authors' stance. Read more 

Laying out the egg facts

As debate rages over whether laying hens should be kept in cages or allowed to go cage-free, efforts are underway to provide answers as to the true behavioral needs of hens. This video goes to Michigan State University to find out more about this research and how science and technology is being used to evaluate various housing options for hens.

Health & Nutrition Stuff

Risks for youths who eat what they watch

Many factors influence children’s food choices: where they eat; what their friends and siblings eat; what parents eat and drink and bring into the house; what is served at school; and, of course, what they like. But if you are a parent, would you want your children’s food and beverage choices determined by manufacturers whose primary goal is to make money by getting them hooked on products of questionable nutritional value? Read more

Weighing the evidence on exercise

How exercise affects body weight is one of the more intriguing and vexing issues in physiology. Exercise burns calories, no one doubts that, and so it should, in theory, produce weight loss, a fact that has prompted countless people to undertake exercise programs to shed pounds. Without significantly changing their diets, few succeed. But a growing body of science suggests that exercise does have an important role in weight loss. That role, however, is different from what many people expect and probably wish. Read more 

UK: Cereal offender - favourite cereals are 'more sugary than jam doughnuts'

Many breakfast cereals contain more sugar than a piece of chocolate cake or a jam doughnut, research shows. Eight best-selling brands are laden with more sugar than a slice of McVitie's chocolate cake and five of the ten are at least as sweet as a doughnut oozing with jam.

Kellogg's Crunchy Nut Cornflakes is the country's top seller but is also one of the worst offenders in the sweet stakes, with 13.6g of sugar in a 40g serving - more than three teaspoons per small bowl. In contrast, a jam doughnut contains 8.6g of sugar, and a slice of chocolate cake just 5.4g. Read more

Is veganism safe for kids?

A cruelty-free diet may be healthy for adults, but parents should be aware of the risks for their children. Paediatric dietician Helen Wilcock, a member of the British Dietetic Association, says she tries not to be judgmental about the rights and wrongs of vegan diets for young children, but any parent wanting to raise their child as a vegan needs to be very well-informed. Read more

Fish oil supplements provide no benefit to brain power in elders, study shows

The largest ever trial of fish oil supplements has found no evidence that they offer benefits for cognitive function in older people. The study investigated the effects of taking omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid supplements over a two-year period on the cognitive function of participants aged 70-80 years. Read more

Antioxidants may not be worth their salt in preventing cancer

To decrease your risk of cancer, don't count on antioxidant supplements, a panel of researchers said here at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. But assessing antioxidants' role (and that of many other dietary supplements) in preventing disease has been notoriously difficult. Read more 

Food Trends & Marketing Stuff

Innova: Inherent nutrition vs fortified foods    * FOODStuff SA exclusive*

Coca-Cola is riding the inherent nutrition trend with the launch of a new Minute Maid orange juice created by pressing the entire orange [including the peel], thereby offering double the antioxidant content of the company’s regular Minute Maid. Todo Naranja (the whole orange), which has just been launched in Spain, is made using Coca-Cola’s patented Wholepress juice processing technology.

Todo Naranja does however indicate a significant shift in direction, with several companies, including Unilever, indicating that natural inherent health holds more future potential than fortified foods. Read more

Innova: Fibre continues to make an impact     * FOODStuff SA exclusive*

The use of fibre as an ingredient for either functionality or health is growing. Innova Market Insights tracked 2,645 new products globally in the last year (Feb 09-Feb 10) using fibre, compared to 2,088 in the previous 12 months. A search of the ingredients being used found in the last 12 months found a dominant role for wheat fibre (417), oat fibre (410), vegetable fibre (239), chicory fibre (143), psyllium husk fibre (128) and pea fibre (124). Read more

Importance of innovation in the dairy industry

Tim van der Schraelen, marketing & communication manager at Beneo-Orafti, discusses the state of innovation in dairy at the moment: "If we look at the dairy business at the moment, volume wise it seems quite good but we know there’s a lot of pressure on prices. There’s probably one way for manufactures in the dairy sector to get out of that situation and that’s through innovation, especially in the functional parts of the market.

"This is the area that can still generate some margins and some good growth. This is especially true in segments such as drinking yogurts, where we see a lot of growth." Read more

Bad Economy or Bad Brands?

In the US, brands like Netflix, JetBlue and Boston Beer have fearlessly taken what was once the fringe into the mainstream as some legacy brands have fallen on hard times. Our advice to struggling brands? Stop picking on the economy and become active agents of cultural change.

In this white paper we address growing brand malaise and offer innovation opportunities for legacy brands to remain relevant, bad economy or no. Download the white paper here

Tripe goes mainstream thanks to offal revival

Tripe is enjoying a major revival, as consumers rediscovering the joys of offal become ever more adventurous. Beef tripe is cut of meat with such an unusual flavour and the texture usually described as “old bathmat”, meaning most consumers have only ever dared buy it for their pet dogs. However, butchers and the meat industry said sales have increased dramatically in the last couple of years.

Morrisons, the country’s fourth largest supermarket group, next week is rolling out its range of tripe from a handful of trial stores to 114 shops, confident that its customers will snap up a slice of an ox’s stomach lining, alongside their weekly cornflakes and washing powder. Read more 

Global recession fails to quench thirst for Scotch whisky

Exports of Scotch whisky reached record levels last year despite the global recession, with worldwide sales breaking through the £3bn barrier for the second successive year.

The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) said sales volumes of both blended and malt whiskies had increased by 4% in 2009, with sales buoyant in France, the United States, Brazil, Venezuela and South Africa, despite a slow start to the year blamed on weak consumer confidence and "destocking" by retailers. Read more 

'Greaseless Spoon' café serves low-fat fry-up

Britain's first "Greaseless Spoon" café has opened offering customers a "healthy" fry-up with 70 per cent less fat than the traditional dish. The "pop-up" café, which will be in Holborn, London, for one week only, boasts a range of low-fat interpretations of English café classics.

On the menu beside the lighter option fry-up, complete with eggs, bacon, sausage, beans and mushrooms, is a portion of chips made with just one teaspoon of oil and reduced-sugar jam on toast. Read more 

Science Stuff

New studies reveal how genes influence obesity, senility - and the effects of olive oil

In 2000 scientists completed the first draft of the human genome. Ten years on and medical researchers are now enjoying a 'genome bonanza' that has begun to elucidate the complex role of genes in human health. Three such studies are published this week. One describes how a gene linked to obesity is also associated with mental deterioration, a second shows how another gene affects memory and thinking in old age and the third study identifies the part of the human genome affected by a healthy Mediterranean diet - or more specifically virgin olive oil. Read more

Lay's changing basic shape of salt crystals for healthier potato chips

In fourth grade science class, we learned that sodium chloride always, always forms simple cube-shaped crystals. That was before a gang of mad potato chip scientists got their hands on it. In response to the FDA's imminent consideration of regulating the amount of sodium food manufacturers can include in consumer goods, Pepsico, whose Frito-Lay division makes Lay's potato chips, is redesigning the good old salt molecule to make it healthier ...  Read more

Genetic secrets underlying remarkable development of the domestic chicken

The domestication of animals and plants is perhaps the most important technological innovation during human history. This genetic transformation of wild species has occurred as humans have used individuals carrying favourable gene variants for breeding purposes. In a new study, researchers have revealed some of the secrets underlying the remarkable development of the domestic chicken. Read more

Miscellany

From dung to coffee brew with no aftertaste

Costing hundreds of dollars a pound, these beans are found in the droppings of the civet, a nocturnal, furry, long-tailed catlike animal that prowls Southeast Asia’s coffee-growing lands for the tastiest, ripest coffee cherries. The civet eventually excretes the hard, indigestible innards of the fruit — essentially, incipient coffee beans — though only after they have been fermented in the animal’s stomach acids and enzymes to produce a brew described as smooth, chocolaty and devoid of any bitter aftertaste. Read more

That's all the stuff for this week!