Here is a link to the latest newsletter (August 2016) from Food Standards Australia New Zealand.

http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=700bf5d7b419cc12102524e87&id=063499ae8c&e=b805b2144b

A summary of the issues included;

• Rockmelon Product Recall
• Food allergy resources
• Food complaint contacts
• BSE food Safety Risk Assessment results
• New Applications
• Calls for Submissions
• Code amendments

In 2013, on Mothers Day, one of the biggest food poisonings in Australia happened in Canberra.

This outbreak highlights why it is so important for food businesses to keep their temperature, cleaning and other records for at least five years.

Why?

Because it has taken  until now, three years later, for the case to come to court.

The source of the Salmonella outbreak of 162 cases (including a staff member), was found to be from eggs (from Victoria) in an aioli, which was used in a potato salad in the all you can eat deal happening that day in the restauyrant.

The restaurant is now closed but the owners are facing two criminal charges for selling unsafe food.

The case is before the ACT Magistrates Court, and it was told by health authorities that the outbreak had the quickest incubation period it has seen.

74 people have already had their cases against the owners settled.

The Magistrate will decide on the current case next month.

I was out and about the other day and had the radio on in my car. It was a talk show and the topic was Vegetarians and Vegans and why they have made the choice to be so.

The host seemed to be having difficulty in understanding why people would chose not to eat any meats but most who rang in were those who had made the choice.

Typically, most who give up meat say it is because of animal cruelty. In my case, after having spent five years doing product development of meat products, I simply grew to dislike the texture of all meats and have not eaten any in more than 20 years.

The show was very clear on the difference between a vegetarian and a vegan, and many restauraunts don’t really understand it and will usually simply present a plate of vegetables.

Vegetarians will not eat meat of any type – including poultry and seafood. Vegans will not eat any animal products at all, including dairy and eggs, in some people this also extends to honey as well.

Vegos and especially Vegans have to be good at managing their nutrient intake as removing meat from the diet does have an impact, particularly with iron and the B Group of vitamins. If carefully managed, it has been found that a vegetarian (or mostly vegetarian) diet is actually  beneficial to health. It is also well recognised that a vegetarian diet is more environmentally friendly, and a vegan diet is even more so.

The only real problem with vegetarian food to most meat eaters is that there is little taste or texture to the food, especiall with the meat substitutes which are now readily available – as an example the sausages  and lentil burgers do not really match meat.

So the latest news from the USA of a company which has developed a vegetarian pattie which has the same texture as a medium rare burger will be great news to the meat eaters.

The “Impossible Burger” contains a plant based molecule called heme, which is remarkably like the similar heme found in meat and so gives a distinct meaty flavour to the pattie.

Although not yet available in Australia, keep an eye out for it and other similar meaty type vegetarian products.

The following is a media release from Food Standards Australia New Zealand and is included here with permission.

Rockmelon linked to salmonella being removed from distribution

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), in consultation with state and territory food regulators, is coordinating a trade recall of whole rockmelons from Red Dirt, a rockmelon grower in the Northern Territory.

The relevant state enforcement agency is working with the company to ensure implicated product is removed from distribution. This follows some rockmelons from Red Dirt testing positive for Salmonella in samples tested in South Australia. The strain of Salmonella in the samples has not yet been determined.

Consumers are advised to discard any rockmelon in their home, particularly if it is intended for infants, the elderly, pregnant women or people with compromised immune systems.

Background

State and territory health and food enforcement agencies are investigating cases of Salmonella Hvittingfoss infection, a relatively uncommon strain, following an increase in cases in a number of states in Australia.

From the 14th of June, when the increase began, to the 2nd of August, 86 cases have been reported nationally (43 in NSW, 18 in SA, 9 in WA, 8 in Queensland, 6 in Victoria and 2 in the ACT).

Those mainly affected include children under the age of 5 years and the elderly. There have been no deaths reported.

Although case interviews are continuing, consumption of rockmelon is common to many of the cases.

Regulatory authorities have investigated possible food sources of the increase and have tested samples of rockmelon, leading to the detection in the rockmelons in South Australia.

If you are feeling unwell and suspect you have consumed affected product, please seek medical attention.

Media contact

FSANZ: 0401 714 265 (Australia) or +61 401 714 265 (from New Zealand)​ or media@foodstandards.gov.au 

Department of Health: 0448 207 226

More information

Advice on how to prepare rockmelons safely

South Australia Health issue rockmelon warning

NSW Food Authority media release

NSW Health media release

I started my food career in product development and there really is a buzz when you see a product you have been involved in developing for sale in a supermarket or in a quick serve business. Some of the products I was involved with are still for sale today. In fact for sentimental reasons, I picked up a packet of crisps from the supermatket this week that are flavoured as one of the products I helped to develop.
The interesting thing about product development is the huge number of projects which involve hours and days of work, which do not end up for sale. A lot of money is spent doing PD and it is only the projects with the greatest likelihood of good sales which make it through the process. If a company does it well and is more than a bit lucky, the products released will go on, like some that I was involved with, to be stayers and long term money earners.
Product Development is essential to all businesses. It expands product ranges and keeps customers comning back for more. It is intended to ultimately increase sales and profits. The crisps I bought this week are a simple example for why businesses do PD. There are old favourites in the crisps, eg; Salt and vinegar, plain, Chicken and BBQ, but in a world where we are wanting to eat healthier, these companies have to keep coming up with new flavours and products to keep up sales and to generate new customers.
It involves many steps and a lot of people, from the designers, to the packaging experts, to those doing taste panels, shelf life and other testing, engineers, scientists and then the marketing and sales team. At any point the project could be stopped or changed.
Innovation is the key, in terms of new products, packaging, processes, ingredients and equipment. Doing it well will make money and grow the business, even if it costs a lot to achieve it, and may well set the business up as a market leader. Being a market leader has a huge amount of value to a company.
A recent survey by UBS and the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC)found that those companies supplying the supermarkets have product development as a top priority.
A new joint survey from UBS and the has found Australian supermarket suppliers are investing in new product development as a top priority.
AFGC Chief Executive Officer, Gary Dawson, said; “The survey reflects the difficult domestic trading conditions, with a modest outlook for both sales and profit growth for Australia’s food and grocery manufacturing suppliers. It confirms retailer profit margins in Australia are compressing but they remain well above international peers. For suppliers the opposite is true – after years of declining profit share there has been some claw back of margin in the last twelve months, but profitability of Australian suppliers remains well below international peers.”

My mother was an RN and time and again she told my sister and I that the bowel is connected to the brain.
Obviously the two organs are not physically connected in the body, but her years of nursing showed her that if there is a problem in the bowel, there was a much greater likelihood of brain issues.
So having a healthy bowel has been found to reduce the potential for things like depression. Eating enough fibre and having regular exercise are the keys to keeping the bowel healthy.
A recent study by Monash University has found that eating a high fibre diet may actually help the bowel reduce food allergies as well.
A PhD student, Jian Tan, fed mice with a peanut allergy a high fibre diet and their gut and colon microbiota changed. These mice were then found to no longer have a peanut allergy.
The report from the study states; “The microbiota in the gut assist the immune system in resisting allergies through the breaking down of fibre into short-chain fatty acids. This opens up a potential route for drug therapy for allergies by delivering short-chain fatty acids as a treatment.”
The short chain fatty acids apparently boost the production of dendritic cells, which determine if the allergic reaction to foods occurs or not.
The report says; “Effectively, increased levels of short-chain fatty acids switch these cells to stop the allergic response, while a lack of fibre may have an opposite effect. These specialised dendritic cells require vitamin A, another factor which can only be obtained through the diet, and is high in vegetables and fruits.”
So now human trials are needed to find if the mice tests also apply to people. If so, this is significant for thos with food allergies.
The research is published in the Cells Report journal, Volume 15, Issue 12.

So it seems that all this promotion and advertising about wholegrains really is true.

The latest edition of “Circulation”, the journal of the American Heart Association includes an article about recent research showing one of the benefits of consuming high levels of wholegrains
The research was on 14 studies with over 780,000 participants.

The overall finding was that the higher the consumption of wholegrains the lower the risk of death from heart disease.

Australian Heart Foundation spokesperson for Nutrition, Beth Thomas, said; “In the findings, high vs low intake consistently linked to better health outcomes with a 28 per cent reduction in cardiovascular disease mortality. The way in which wholegrains appears to improve health include reducing blood glucose levels and blood cholesterol levels (total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol), lowering body fat percentage and increasing intake of minerals, antioxidants and fibre.”
So a wholegrain is a grain or flour which includes the endosperm, germ and bran.
Wholegrain is now appearing everywhere, in many foods.

The following is included with permission from Food Standards Australia New Zealand.

Below are links to four media releases FSANZ has issued today:

Call for submissions on the use of propionates in processed meat
Call for submissions on use of L-Cysteine as a food additive
Call for submissions on the addition of water during wine production
Call for submissions on irradiation of blueberries and raspberries

This information can be reproduced in your newsletters or journals as long as you mention that it is reproduced with permission of Food Standards Australia New Zealand. Please feel free to distribute this information to others in your organisation who may be interested (or suggest that they may also like to subscribe to this service). If you no longer wish to subscribe you can remove your details via the FSANZ website under the Subscription Service. If you have difficulty doing this contact subscriptions@foodstandards.gov.au

The following is from the recall notice from Food Standards Australia New Zealand and is included here with permission.
Please find below information on a recent Australian consumer level food recall. This information is also available on our website at www.foodstandards.gov.au/recalls

Date notified to FSANZ – 01/07/2016

Food type – Muesli bars

Product name – Hillcrest Chewy Choc Squiggle Muesli Bars

Package description and size – 8 bars in a 250g cardboard box

Date marking – Best Before 10MAY17

Country of origin – New Zealand

Reason for recall – The presence of an undeclared allergen (peanut)

Distribution – ALDI stores in NSW, ACT, QLD, VIC, SA, WA

Consumer advice

Any consumers who have a peanut allergy or intolerance may have a reaction if the product is consumed.

Consumers who have a peanut allergy or intolerance should not consume this product. The product can be returned to the place of purchase for a full refund.

Contact – ALDI Hotline 1800 709 993 www.aldi.com.au

With the new Health Claim labelling now coming into force for manufactured foods in Australia, recent news of a AUD $10800 fine to two of our major food companies, should be strong reminder to ensure label accuracy.

The two companies were fined by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for misleading use of the “school canteen approved” labelling.

Both companies had disclaimers on their product stating that they met the “amber” (or “select carefully”) school canteen criteria, but ACCC considered that these were small and not obvious enough to prevent consumers being misrepresented by the “school canteen approved” labelling.

A CHOICE report on the number of supermarket sold foods using canteen certifications and potentially misleading consumers, was the trigger for the ACCC action.

The ACCC had the option of taking the two companies to court but in this situation, a standard fine of $10800 was imposed instead.

ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court said; “The ACCC believes both companies were using logos to claim that these products were a healthy option for school canteens to supply to children, when they were not.”

Both companies are now adjusting the labels to reflect the requirements in the ACCC Infringement Notices.

Food companies need to ensure at all times that what is on the label is the truth and cannot be seen as misleading at any time. This is always important but with the new health Claims coming into effect, the need is even greater.

Ms Court said; “School canteen managers, parents and caregivers rely upon product packaging and labelling when choosing healthy snacks for children. The ACCC is currently examining consumer protection issues around ensuring that the health claims made by large businesses are accurate and will not mislead consumers.”