23 July 2017:  Eyes on Hema Shanghai on China food safety and traceability

Shanghai - Food safety platform marks city’s tough line By Yang Jian | 00:01 UTC+8 July 12, 2017 -- The food safety information management and service platform will include a dozen existing systems of the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration on license issue, supervision, punishment and inspection, the administration said in a report to local legislators. The integrated data will be analyzed and shared between city and district-level watchdogs to better ensure the city’s food safety, said Yang Jingsong, director with the administration. http://www.shanghaidaily.com/metro/society/Food-safety-platform-marks-citys-tough-line/shdaily.shtml

•     Bloomberg reported that the Finance Ministry in Thailand is considering using tax measures to lower the sugar content in beverages. The ministry will carry out a study before issuing measures. Thailand may lower taxes for beverage companies that reduce the sugar content and vice versa.

•     In a related development, the Independent of UK reported that chocolate manufacturers are planning to reduce the size of some of their products by 20% to comply with new guidelines on sugar. Companies such as Mars, Nestle and Cadbury plan to shrink the size of chocolate bars like Kit Kat and Dairy Milk to reduce the level of sugar as part of a Public Health England plan to fight childhood obesity. The companies have not decided whether to cut the selling prices of the products in line with the reduction in the size of the chocolates. 

Palm oil under fire as potential carcinogen 31/01/17 by Dyna Rochmyaningsi -- [JAKARTA] An Indonesian food technologist admits that palm oil — which is widely used in the processed food industry — has a potentially carcinogenic contaminant, but says no epidemiological study has been carried out on its impact on human health.... Controversy has raged over the carcinogenic potential of palm oil since May 2016 when the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) claimed in a statement that palm oil “generated more of a potentially carcinogenic contaminant than other vegetable oils when refined at temperatures above 200 degrees Celsius.”  ... “In risk assessments of such compounds, evidence from human epidemiological studies are not needed in order to conclude on the human health risk.” Hellen Knutzen, EFSA... In January, Nature published the results of a study which showed that palmitic acid (major part of palm oil) boosts metastases (spread of cancer) through CD36 — a specific protein found in cancer cells that is responsible for taking up fatty acids.... The EFSA statement said palm oil generates glycidyl fatty acid ester (GE) when the refining process reaches temperatures above 200 degrees Celsius. Donald Siahaan, senior food technologist at the Indonesian Oil Palm Research Institute, says that while GE has been proven to be carcinogenic, it still does not warrant a ban on palm oil....“Firstly, no international standard has been set for GE concentration in palm oil and the contaminant naturally exists in many foods including those processed from soybeans,” Siahaan tells SciDev.Net. Secondly, says Siahaan, research concerning GE has been limited to laboratories. “Food is complex. What happens in the laboratory does not always happen in our body because there are so many factors which influence chemical reactions.”... While EFSA is not empowered to make regulations, the European Commission is contemplating steps that may include setting permissible levels of GE in food items.....Siahaan says Indonesia’s agricultural ministry plans to conduct its own survey of GE concentrations in palm oil across the country. Indonesia, the world’s biggest palm oil producer, has a target to produce 40 million tonnes of palm oil annually by 2020...http://www.scidev.net/asia-pacific/health/news/palm-oil-fire-potential-carcinogen.html 

Malaysia - Palm oil sector views process contaminants in vegetable oils seriously 3 February 2017 -- He said the 3-MCPD and GE were not found in the raw oil but when it was heated above 200 degrees celsius, a process that was common in processed food industry.... “(However) in the near future, palm oil produced in Malaysia will be free of these contaminants,” he said in response to a recent media report on consumption of Nutella, which uses palm oil as its major ingredient of causing cancer. A special allocation to assist in technology adoption to help reduce or eliminate these contaminants in palm oil was granted through the Malaysian government, he said. “We are currently executing measures to tackle these contaminants and possibly be ahead of all other edible oils in eliminating their occurrence in Malaysian palm oil,” said Kalyana.... As a first step and since palm oil is used in several leading infant food formulations, the occurrence of these contaminants was voluntarily reduced or eliminated in palm oil intended for infant formulations, he said. He said MPOC reiterated that the Malaysian palm oil industry viewed the occurrence of the contaminants 3 MCPD and GE with much concern, although the actual risk to human health has yet to be clearly defined, and appeared small in light of the accumulated data of potential exposures through foods.... “Meanwhile, we ask refrain from reference to palm oil and its association with cancer. There is no scientific evidence for these accusations,” he said. http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2017/02/03/mpoc-palm-oil-sector-views-issue-of-process-contaminants-seriously/

UK tabloid - Do YOU cook with vegetable oil? It could increase your risk of DEMENTIA, new research warns By Mary Kekatos For Dailymail.com 1 February 2017 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4181262/Vegetable-oil-drastically-increases-risk-DEMENTIA.html#ixzz4YF5Gl1ae 

26 Jan 2017:  Sat fats - diabetes - fatty liver link in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, sugar-obesity debate and acrylamide fear

Now baby food and biscuits are linked to cancer: Food watchdog issues alerts for 25 big brands after claiming that crunchy roast potatoes and toast could cause the disease By Sean Poulter Consumer Affairs Editor For The Daily Mail 23 January 2017 -- Crisps, biscuits and baby food have 'raised levels of cancer-linked chemicals'. Food Standards Agency says 25 products have higher amount of 'acrylamide'. Studies on animals suggests the chemical can trigger DNA mutations. Products including Kettle Chips, McVitie's and Hovis are on the danger list, -- Tests on best-selling crisps, biscuits and baby food showed raised levels of a chemical linked to cancer. The health alert comes just 24 hours after an official watchdog warned of the risks of eating burnt toast and roast potatoes.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4149890/Now-baby-food-biscuits-linked-cancer.html#ixzz4WpJshhLT

Wikipedia: Acrylamide can be prepared by the hydrolysis of acrylonitrile by nitrile hydratase. In industry, most acrylamide is used to synthesize polyacrylamides, which find many uses as water-soluble thickeners. These include use in wastewater treatment, gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), papermaking, ore processing, tertiary oil recovery, and the manufacture of permanent press fabrics. Some acrylamide is used in the manufacture of dyes and the manufacture of other monomers..... The discovery of acrylamide in some cooked starchy foods in 2002 prompted concerns about the carcinogenicity of those foods. As of 2016 it is still not clear whether acrylamide consumption affects people's risk of developing cancer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylamide