Did You Know?

Peat Moss Used as Preservative!
In an effort to expand the market for Norwegian fish in countries that cannot now afford it, researchers in Oslo, Norway are looking at an old Viking trick—peat moss—as a way of preserving foods and saving millions of dollars per year in refrigeration and freezer costs. According to an Associated Press article, 100 years ago, Vikings used the water from peat moss bogs to preserve the fish they caught while fishing in the mountains. Dr. Terence Painter, professor emeritus at Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim was quoted as saying the age old practice still works today. In recent studies, he notes, fish buried in peat moss or treated with moss extract stayed fresh weeks longer than untreated fish.

E. Coli’s Brief but Deadly History
A recent article appearing in the Los Angeles Times provides a historical chronology of the menacing E. coli bacteria. According to the piece, it wasn’t until 19 years ago that major recordable E. coli outbreaks began to occur and the food industry started to take notice of the dangerous effects of the foodborne pathogen. The article traces the earliest outbreaks to 1982 when two cases were reported at two separate McDonald’s—one in Oregon and the other in Michigan. Three years later, 19 residents of a Canadian nursing home died due to E. coli infections, and 55 others became ill. By 1993 the USDA had begun aggressively combatting the pathogen, and in 1995 the government lobbied for the adoption of the HACCP policy which was successfully implemented by meat processing plants in 1998, 1999 and 2000 respectively. In 2001, the CDC estimates annually there are approximately 73,000 reported cases of E. coli-related illnesses, of which 60 are deaths.

FDA Gives Ozone the Thumbs Up!
On June 26, 2001, the Food and Drug Administration published a final ruling approving ozone as an additive to kill foodborne pathogens. The FDA ruling allows for the use of ozone in the processing of all foods, including meat and poultry. Will the industry adopt the technology? “Ozone is the most effective oxidizing anti-microbial agent known,” explains Durand Smith, Director of Research and Development for Utah-based Cyclopss Corporation—one of the leaders in ozone technology. Ozone kills E. coli bacteria 3,125 times faster than chlorine, and because it converts to oxygen upon completion of the process, there is no environmental risk with its use. For more information on ozone technology and its uses in Food Processing, view the FoodTechSource.com interview with Cyclopss CEO William Stoddard, which appeared in FTS Forum #2

On the Weight-Loss Horizon
Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have identified a small protein in liver cells that helps convert excess dietary carbohydrates into fat stores. The team of scientists, led by Dr. Kosaku Uyeda, was able to determine that a protein they call ChREBP, found in the livers of rats, increased the activity of at least two enzymes responsible for making fats out of excess carbohydrates. “Inhibition of ChREBP activation would be expected to (lessen) excess fat accumulation resulting from a high-carbohydrate diet and provide novel opportunities to address the health consequences stemming from obesity and diabetes,” Dr. Uyeda notes. However, he adds, research into ChREBP is still in its infancy. The next step is to understand the structure of the protein and how it works.