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OILS & FATS Don’t buy clear-bottled oils, especially any that have been displayed in a shop window or under fluorescent light. • Store in a cool dark place, tightly stoppered. Once bottles are open they are best stored in the fridge. The oil may become cloudy or solid. This won’t affect the taste and it will clear when brought to room temperature. • Oils don’t improve with age - use them as quickly as you can. Country of origin Buying extra-virgin olive oil from Italy You need to check the labels carefully - chances are it’s not made from Italian olives at all. Spain is the biggest producer of olives and olive oil. Italy is the second-biggest producer. But, because the Italians are the biggest consumers of olive oil, Italy doesn’t produce enough olives to meet local demand. A lot of the Spanish crop is exported to Italy, where it’s repackaged for sale as Italian olive oil. Other countries such as Greece and Turkey also export olives to Italy. Lupi says it’s “imported from Italy”. This gives the impression that the olives were grown in Italy but it probably only means the oil was bottled there. Rizzoli is a bit more upfront - the label says it’s “bottled in Italy”. If you’re looking for olive oil made with Italian olives look for the label “Product of Italy” or “Produced and bottled in Italy”. Extracted from a Consumer Magazine article by Belinda Allen, December 2008 Whey protein promises nanoencapsulation of omega-3 Whey protein beta-lactoglobulin may spontaneously bind the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and offer nano-encapsulation potential for formulators. Israeli researchers report that whey protein may be a nanovehicle for DHA. Nano-complexes with pectin produced transparent dispersion with extended shelf-life for the ingredient. They report their results in an upcoming issue of Food Hydrocolloids. “The new technology presented herein may serve to enhance the health promoting properties of beverages and foods while maintaining transparency and providing substantial protection to the encapsulant against deterioration during product shelf life,” wrote Patricia Zimet and Yoav Livney from the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. Zimet and Livney also note that this is the first time that the spontaneous binding of an omega-3 fatty acid to beta-lactoglobulin has been reported. Study details Omega-3 fatty acids are one of the success stories in health and wellness circles. However, their use in foods is limited by their low solubility in water and their sensitivity to spoilage by oxygen. Encapsulation is one method of protecting the oils. For the new study, the Haifa-based researchers investigated the potential of beta-lactoglobulin to spontaneously bind to DHA and to act as a carrier for the fatty acid. In combination with low-methoxy pectin, colloidally stable nanocomplexes of DHA-and beta-lactoglobulin were produced. An excess of pectin led to the formation of particles containing 166 times more DHA than the surrounding solution, added Zimet and Livney. Moreover, the particles were transparent and their average size was about 100 nanometres. Further experiments studied the stability and shelf-life of the resulting nano-complexes. An accelerated stress test (100 hours at 40 degrees Celsius) showed that only 5-10% of the DHA was degraded when bound with the whey protein. On the other hand, about 80% DHA degradation is observed for alternative processes. Source: Food Hydrocolloids Volume 23, Issue 4, Pages 1120- 1126, ‘Beta-lactoglobulin and its nanocomplexes with pectin as vehicles for Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids’, Authors: P. Zimet, Y.D. Livney Book Review Life - As a Matter of Fat - The Emerging Science of Lipidomics Edited by Ole G. Mouritsen (Springer Frontiers Collection), Springer, Berlin (Germany) 2005. Hardcover, 290 pages. Price 53.45 Euros. ISBN-13 978-3540232483. Presenting challenges and open problems at the forefront of modern physics in a manner accessible to scientifically literate non-specialists is the expressed aim of the Frontiers Collection 22 Food New Zealand
y Springer. This is exactly what Mouritsen achieves with his book. The reader gains insight into the deeper implications and the fascinating questions involved. The field of lipid research is central to essential aspects of life; its origin, its metabolic regulation, the brain, and decays in various forms. Traditional approaches to lipid research through physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine are complemented by nanotechnology, high throughput technologies, etc., and are now rapidly evolving into a multidisciplinary science, the lipidomics enterprise. For lipids, it is the third in a row of “omics”, after genomics and proteomics, that strives to put the “heap of stones into the shape of a house” (Pointcare). As Mouritsen puts it: a new lipidomics science has to go beyond the mapping of all lipid species in all cell types and must approach cellular functioning from a more holistic perspective. The present state of affairs is still largely such that the answers are there, but what are the questions This book is a plea for hypothesis-driven science that has to follow the undoubtedly necessary efforts of stamp collection. In that sense, the book is wonderfully exciting to read. It is structured into three parts: the first part (The Overlooked Molecules) describes in seven chapters the molecules, their chemistry and physics, and introduces the concept of larger shape creation through self-assembly. It ends with a six-page essay on ‘Models and Fashion’. As with all complex systems, models are important as nuclei for structured debate. With biological membranes - where the enormous breadth of scales in sizes (from Angstroms to millimetres) and in times (from picoseconds to days) exceeds normal imagination - this structuring power of models is of particular importance. Mouritsen gives a lucid critique on the existing membrane models. Remarkably, this chapter does not contain the fashionable “rafts”, which are found in almost every self-important publication on membrane biophysics of today, but have not yet been seen in reality. No fear, however, rafts do appear in the following part. The second part (Lipids Make Sense) is devoted to the structural and dynamic organisation of lipids at the supramolecular level. It covers the ‘phase’ aspect with all its associated phenomena, such as transitions, separations, fluctuations, also ‘rafts’, and interactions, arriving finally at the interaction with proteins. This part indeed covers a selection of relevant concepts and essential phenomena without getting into the maze of too many experimental results. The third part focuses on function (Lipids in Action). Cholesterol makes the start, as it does in the history of lipid science. This is followed by a brief chapter on how lipids match up with proteins - the mattress model and hydrophobic mismatch concept, among others. Then the text shifts to nutritional aspects of essential fatty acids, and how a physicist can rationalise such diverse phenomena of life, as e.g. anaesthesia, obesity, and apoptosis. ‘Smart nanotechnology’ stands at the end of this selection of examples. A whole legion of scientific texts on membranes and lipids have appeared over the past five decades, starting with the classics of Dennis Chapman in the late Sixties, some more and some less memorable. This book of Mouritsen’s is different in being very readable, stimulating and concise. Perhaps not unintentionally, its rather decent, unassuming layout - no glossy charts and pictures, no flashy highlights or boxes - supports its impression on the reader who wants to be seriously informed of current ideas and concepts, rather than be carried away with facts and figures. It will be an excellent companion for lipidologists, membranologists and lipidomiacs at all levels of expertise for time to come. It can be particularly recommended as a text for interdisciplinary university courses in life sciences. Andrew McKenzie Chief Executive NZ Food Safety Authority Good Operating Practice - guidance ready to pilot Under the proposed food regulatory system most food business operators will need to have a risk management tool such as a Food Control Plan (FCP) in place. This will document how they manage their business to ensure they produce safe and suitable food. In previous columns I’ve talked about the voluntary implementation of ‘off-the peg’ FCPs that has been rolled out in most parts of the country since July 2008. This is being done in anticipation of a new Food Act, so that we can make the most of the impetus created by the considerable amount of work that’s already gone into developing the new food regulatory system. An off-the-peg FCP is a ready-to-use plan, developed by NZFSA for food sectors where processes are similar across that sector. Custom-made FCPs will need to be created by operators of businesses that are more complex, or have unique or commercially confidential practices, to suit their particular process. They may be developed from scratch, or adapted from one or more of the off-the-peg FCPs as appropriate. Good Operating Practice (GOP) procedures covering both food safety and suitability are the basic building blocks in preparing a custom-made FCP. The procedures incorporate good hygienic practice and good agricultural practice/good manufacturing practice that are currently in use by industry. We expect hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) principles for food safety to be applied after the good operating practice components of the FCP are in place. NZFSA has released for comment draft guidance for businesses to develop their own good operating practice procedures, such as allergen management, cleaning and sanitation, product information, and pest control - as relevant to the business. Each guidance document prompts the food business operator on what they need to consider for effective hazard management. The draft guidance information is available to download from NZFSA’s website this month and operators have four months to review the information, trial it if they wish, and comment to NZFSA on its usefulness. NZFSA would be keen for food business operators to apply the draft guidance material to their business as appropriate over the next few months and let us know what worked well and what didn’t. NZFSA invites comments from anyone, whether you represent a business or are acting as an individual. You can download the draft guidance information and find out more about the proposed FCP manual from our website (www.nzfsa.govt.nz). Follow the green Food Control Plan link on the front page. Please email your response by 30 June 2009 to tss@nzfsa.govt.nz or send it to: Suzie McQuoid Adviser (Technical Standards & Systems) New Zealand Food Safety Authority PO Box 2835 Wellington 6140 www.nzfsa.govt.nz OILS & FATS February/March 2009 23
Page 1 and 2: February/March 2009 NZ’s Authorit
Page 3 and 4: Contacts Rosemary Hancock, Executiv
Page 5 and 6: In-Brief In-Brief New Years Honours
Page 7 and 8: Trade waste biosensor research at L
Page 9 and 10: Innovative bioplastic packaging at
Page 11 and 12: Keep noise down ACC 1741 Use quiete
Page 13 and 14: their favourite sites on the way, s
Page 15 and 16: Something old, something new: Hurdl
Page 17 and 18: Table 2: Examples of the diversity
Page 19 and 20: al flora used to produce red smear
Page 21: Oils and Fats News OILS & FATS Laur
Page 25 and 26: given specific advice about particu
Page 27 and 28: Conference Update NZIFST Food Eleme
Page 29 and 30: New Members NZIFST NZIFST welcomes
Page 31 and 32: Branch Activities NZIFST Canterbury
Page 33 and 34: NZIFST Enjoying the occasion are, (
Page 35 and 36: Graduate Opportunities at Cadbury..
Page 37 and 38: Pacheuri, who received a Nobel Peac
Page 39 and 40: MIA NEWS lers tions le ion t Kevin
Page 41 and 42: • Meat companies report profits -
Page 43 and 44: Scottish nationalism alive and well
Page 45 and 46: Book Review Food product developmen
Page 47 and 48: International Conference Diary List

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