Did You Know?

The Ultimate Water Recycling Project
The Orange County (California) Water District (OCWD) is expected to approve a proposed $352 million water reclamation project that will pump recycled, heavily cleaned sewage water into the county’s underground aquifer beginning in 2004. The plan, dubbed the Groundwater Replenishment System, allows for an initial three-step purification process at the Orange County Sanitation District, after which the water would undergo an additional three-step, high-tech purification using microfiltration, reverse osmosis, and ultraviolet disinfecting. “This will be the safest, highest quality of water that you can get anywhere,” claims Ron Wildermuth, public information officer for the OCWD. In five years of testing, not one virus has made it through the purification process.

That’s One Spicy Toothpaste!
If you like horseradish, you’re going to love this item: According to researchers at the Japanese food flavorings maker Ogawa & Company, wasabi, the pungent green horseradish that typically accompanies sushi, was recently shown to prevent tooth decay. “Wasabi contains isothiocyanates, which have been found to inhibit the activity of an enzyme that plays an important role in the formation of dental plaque” explains Ogawa research director Hideki Masuda. Although his findings are derived from test tube-based research, Masuda expects to begin testing the condiment’s microbe-zapping powers on humans in the coming months; the obvious application: wasabi-laced toothpaste.

FDA Sparks Internet Dispute
When the FDA recently warned Ocean Spray Cranberries to stop making unapproved health claims about its juices on the company Web site, industry watchers feared the move would have dramatic impact on the future of food marketing on the Internet. At issue were Ocean Spray’s claims that its juices “may help the body fight cancer” or “may help lower cholesterol.” The FDA concluded the company was promoting its drinks as if they were medications, going “beyond the scope of the types of claims that are permitted on foods.” Although Ocean Spray subsequently removed its claims, manufacturers are rightfully concerned that the FDA is beginning to apply the same stringent standards to company Web sites that it does to product labels. “They have fired a shot across our bow,” says Tim Willard, a spokesman for the National Food Processors Association. Chris Phillips, a spokesman for Ocean Spray concurs, noting that in this case hundreds of pages from the Internet are being squeezed into the narrow confines of the labeling laws. “There is a universe of literature about food nutrition,” says Phillips, “but only a few FDA-sanctioned label claims.”

CLA-Enriched Beef: A Potential Boon to the Industry
According to Dr. Zahir Mir of the Lethbridge Research Centre of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the beef industry stands to reap significant benefits from recent findings that Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA)—a fatty acid with proven anti-cancer and obesity-fighting properties—can be increased naturally in beef cattle by supplementing their diets with vegetable oil. Mir and his colleagues found they could increase the CLA in meat by 600 percent by supplementing cattlefeed with sunflower or safflower oils. While increased CLA concentrations in beef alone may not be high enough to provide anti-cancer benefits for beef consumers, Mir noted that if CLA concentrations could be raised in dairy cattle, it could be passed along to humans via dairy products like milk and cheese. According to studies, over the last 50 years the amount of CLA in North American human diets has decreased from 3 grams a day to 1 gram.