By the Numbers

—According to a study done by the Co-Op Supermarket chain in Britain, only one in five British shoppers trusts the government to tell the truth about the safety of food, while 62% believe the food industry is more interested in profits than in public safety. Worries about such issues as genetically modified foods and the overuse of pesticides had persuaded 39% of the households questioned to change their shopping habits.

—According to a report in a recent edition of the Journal of Food Protection (Vol. 62, No. 12), high-intensity electric fields have been successfully applied to the destruction of Salmonella Enteritidis in diaultrafiltered egg white. The effects of electric field strength (from 20 to 35 kVacm), pulse frequency (from 100 to 900 Hz), pulse number (from 2 to 8), temperature (from 4 to 30°C), pH (from 7 to 9), and inoculum size (from 103 to 107 CFUam) were tested through a multifactorial experimental design. Experimental results indicate that, for Salmonella inactivation, the electric field intensity is the dominant factor with a strongly positive effect, strengthened by its positive interaction with pulse number. In the most efficient conditions, the pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment is capable of 3.5 ^log10 reduction in viable Salmonellae.

—According to a recent article in the publication The Lancet (Volume 354, No. 9195), the safety of St. John’s Wort, when used in conjunction with other medications, is being called into question. According to the author, the herbal antidepressant has proven phenomenally successful; U.S. sales of the product increased by 2800% in one year, while in Europe total sales for 1998 topped $6 billion. The herb has proven equally as successful in lab tests: In 1996, a meta-analysis of 15 placebo-controlled trials showed it to be as effective as conventional antidepressants. However, recent reports have raised the possibility of important adverse interactions between St. John’s Wort (hypercium extracts) and various prescription drugs. Apparently, hypericum extracts are potent inducers of hepatic enzymes; in particular they activate hepatic cytochrome P450 and roughly double its metabolic activity, significantly altering the blood concetrations of a host of prescription medications.

—According to self-described Belgium “dioxin commissioner,” Freddy Willockx, Belgium’s dioxin-contaminated feed crisis in mid 1999 reportedly slowed the country’s 1999 economic growth by 0.2 percentage points, on GDP growth in 1999 estimated at 1.9%. Moreover, Willockx told Reuters, Belgium agricultural exports that were up 0.4% in September over 1998 figures, had dropped 16 to 20% at the height of the crisis in June. Willockx was cited as saying that the crisis should serve as a catalyst to improve food safety controls in Belgium and in the rest of Europe.