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EC wants a new innovation plan
Athletes thirst for salt
Ageing is new focus at Max Planck Society
Vet
proposals for bioweapons – Royal Society
BRIEFLY
US-based fast food vendor McDonald's
has appointed chief operating officer Charlie Bell to replace Jim Cantalupo
as CEO, following the latter's fatal heart attack this morning.
Coca-Cola Japan
is to establish a new brand, The Wellness from Coca-Cola, and make a
full entry into the health food market with four new products on 10 May.
Bosch
Packaging Technology has bough Swiss-based beverage packaging company SIG
Holding's dry packaging subsidiary, SIG Pack, for an undisclosed sum.
Bosch's packaging division sales were 360 million euros, while SIG Pack's
were 230 million euros.
A US medical task force wants
big changes to their profession and the health care industry to improve
patient care and stem “chaos” in the current health care system. It will
publish its report in the April 20 issue of the Annals of Internal
Medicine.
Drinkers and smokers
could soon have a patch that puts them off the booze and fags, reports Chemistry
& Industry magazine. The patches will contain nicotine, to help
smokers get off cigarettes, and a compound called mecamylamine, which
reduces a person’s desire to both drink and smoke.
The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts
and Sciences has awarded this year's Heineken Prizes to Andrew Fire
(biochemistry/biophysics), Elizabeth Blackburn (medicine), Jacques Le Goff
(history) and Simon Levin (environmental sciences).
Swiss-based beverage packaging groups
SIG Simonazzi has won a 70 million euro deal to replace fillers,
labellers and other bottling equipment at Mexico’s top brewer, the Modelo
Group. US-based Technology Flavors & Fragrance has chosen
Selerant's DevEX to handle its web-based product life cycle management
needs. It aims to cut the lifecycle of a sample request, to ensure
regulatory compliance, and boost team collaboration and communication.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Handtmann
Group, which makes food processing equipment and car parts, has chosen
Agile Software’s PLM product to do a similar job. Agile PLM replaces
Handtmann’s former EDS system and integrates with its CAD and ERP systems,
to create a central, enterprise product record. Later it will include sales
and marketing data.
Japanese market researcher Fuji
Keizai says the Japanese biologic component and material market grew
from 37 billion yen in 1998 to 62.6 billion yen in 2003, and is expected to
reach 69 billion yen in 2004, driven by growth in the health and functional
food markets.
The European Commission is to
spend 18 million euro on a five year integrated project, QualityLowInputFood,
which aims to improve quality, ensure safety and improve productivity in
organic food supply chains in Europe. Products in view include tomatoes,
lettuce, onion, potato, carrot, cabbage, apples, wheat, pork, dairy and
poultry products.
The Institute of Food
Technologists’ Annual Meeting + Food Expo will have a special Hot
Topic session on 13 July on obesity, which currently affects more
than a third of US adults and millions elsewhere. The following day will
feature trends and innovations now moving from the development stage and
onto the tabletops of consumers.
This may include discussion of Tulane
University researchers’ confirmation that several genes determine the
inheritance of obesity. Genes are implicated in 40% to 70% of obesity cases.
Based on the Bogalusa Heart Study over the past 30 years, this is the first
long term study of longitudinal data to link body mass measurements to
specific genes located on chromosomes.
Researcher Wei Chen said “We found
evidence of obesity-related genes on chromosomes 1, 5, 7, 12, 13 and 18 that
were linked to long-term trend of obesity from childhood to adulthood, and
the gene on chromosome 12 showed the strongest link.”
A possible genetic link to depression
is the subject of a new 7.3 million euro FP6 research project, NEWMOOD, to
develop new drugs to treat the condition.
Now that spring is here, UK aerosols
company Solvitol hopes its new promotion will help customers to stop
and smell the roses. It is offering 10 free metered air freshener dispenser
units when they buy one pallet (100 cases) of mixed fragrances. The units
are ideal for toilets, restaurants, retirement homes, offices, shops and all
public areas up to 6000 cubic feet.
Global cereal stocks will fall
18% by the end of the 2003/2004 season, but next year’s production will
rise 2% to 2,130 million metric tons, the UN’s Food & Agriculture
Organisation says. World demand in 2003/2004 is forecast at 1,971 million
metric tons, up 1 percent from the previous year, but still slightly below
the 10- year trend.
Japan Tobacco
has licensed its PureSpiral and the Multi-Left-Border technology to Dow
AgroSciences for an undisclosed sum.
PureSpiral technologies improve the
efficiency of Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, while Multi-Left-Border
Technology prevents unexpected vector integration into plant genome by
Agrobacterium-mediated transformation.
Crown Speciality Plastics Europe,
an affiliate of US-based packaging company Crown Holdings, has introduced a
range of advanced three-piece synthetic stoppers for glass wine and spirits
bottles with bores of 17.5mm or 18.5mm.
Godfrey´s
has brought out an extension to their original schnapps range, Vanilla
Jazz, based on Jamaican vanilla.
Danish brewer Carlsberg has
launched its third brand, Tuborg Green, into the Russian market, which is
showing 100%-plus growth. Made at the Vena brewery, the 4.6% “light”
beer is aimed at Russia’s “energetic and successful” 20 to
25-year-olds.
European consumers view fast foods,
processed foods and restaurants with some suspicion, according to
research under the EU’s Trust in food project. “Europeans' trust
in processed-food, meat and 'junk food' is low, with only one in five
consumers trusting the quality of burgers from fast food outlets and meals
from restaurants,” the researchers said. The British are the most trusting
consumers followed by the Danes and Norwegians, but the most sceptical are
Italy and Portugal, with Germany close behind.
Meanwhile new research on untreated
green olives has found that their labels may understate their shelf life
by lots. The study, published in the Journal of the Science of Food and
Agriculture, looked at olives packed in polyethylene pouches that are
vacuum-packed, filled with brine or packed in 'modified atmospheres'. Only
the vacuum pouches gave promising results, producing a shelf life of nearly
two years, while those packed in ordinary air had a true shelf-life of only
nine months.
Japan’s top car maker Toyota
plans to have a two-thirds share of a $38 billion market for biodegradable
plastics by 2020, says US market researcher Industrial Information Review.
The bioplastics will be derived from genetically modified and natural
sources such as sugar cane, corn, and tapioca. The biotechnology division,
started in 1994, also grows flowers, rooftops gardens and produces flour
using new technologies. Also from Japan comes the news that an apple a day
may help keep fat at bay. Asahi Breweries and Hirosaki University
researchers told a recent meeting of Japan Society for Bioscience,
Biotechnology and Agrochemistry that experiments with mice showed that
visceral fat deposits are significantly inhibited by the intake of apple
polyphenol.
Innovation
EC
wants a new innovation plan
The
European Commission's Enterprise Directorate-General has launched a public
consultation aimed at developing a new innovation action plan.
This
will, it hopes, address the market deficiencies that currently hamper
innovation in European companies by mobilising resources and agreeing
ambitious common objectives with member states. These include the regulatory
environment, the market in knowledge, and the financial and human resources.
The
consultation closes on 31 May. Anyone interested in responding should click here.
Ageing
Ageing
is new focus at Max Planck Society
Germany's
top research institution, the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of
Science, is to raise money to create Europe first institute to research the
biology of ageing.
The
biology of ageing is “an upcoming and rapidly expanding area of
research” that is not adequately covered at German universities or private
research institutes,” said Ulrich Hartl of the Society’s Institute for
Biochemistry.
The
new institute will follow the US’s Buck Institute, whose Judith Campisi
served on the advisory committee that recommended creation of the new
institute.
The
research will look at whether basic cellular mechanisms of aging are
determined by genetic programs and to what extent they are affected by
environmental influences. This will include seeking ways to define ageing at
the biochemical level.
NPD
Athletes
thirst for salt
With
the Athens Olympics starting to gear up comes the news that athletes prefer
salty rather than sweet carbohydrate-laden drinks to replenish themselves
after exercise.
Glycogen
content in the liver and skeletal muscles drops after exercise, and
prolonged exercise can lead to a decline in blood glucose concentration.
Thus it is important to take in carbohydrates after exercise to replenish
and restore glycogen.
Fluid
replacement is also crucial to avoid severe dehydration, and factors such as
taste and flavour are keys for successful rehydration. Tastes that stimulate
voluntary fluid intake during and/or after exercise include saltiness and
sweetness.
New
research shows after exercise, athletes prefer salty drinks and also show a
temporary increase in the perception of sweetness. This could be a starting
point for developing foods and supplements that meet the post-exercise taste
and nutritional needs of competitive athletes.
These
findings were presented at the American Physiological Society’s (APS)
annual scientific conference, Experimental Biology 2004, now on at the
Washington, D.C. Convention Center.
Censorship
Vet
proposals for bioweapons – Royal Society
The
UK’s premier research body, the Royal Society, says proposals for
scientific research should be vetted to stop harmful applications such as
the development of biological weapons.
In
a presentation to a meeting sponsored by the UN, US and the Nuclear Threat
Initiative, Brian Eyre, chair of the Society’s committee on scientific
aspects of international security, called for industrial and Government
sponsors to take measures to filter out research proposals "where there
is a tangible cause for concern in terms of harmful applications". But
he warned against filtering out basic research that could have both
beneficial and harmful uses, because it would be "difficult and impose
a burdensome layer of bureaucracy on the research enterprise".
Eyre
said "The enormous expansion in the life sciences, coupled to the
concerns about the potential for developing biological weapons capable of
causing major societal damage and chaos, has stimulated discussions on the
need for more rigorous regulation to filter out research that could lead to
such weapons."
However,
what constitutes a threat may have to be left to editors and peer reviewers,
he warned. "The research community must exercise judgement in the
publication of their work. This emphasises the need to raise the awareness
of the science community about the ethical and legal requirements relating
to their work."
The
meeting was to examine the role of the United Nations in responding to
threats from biological agents to international security. Eyre said
scientists need to be aware of the potential misuse of science and of their
responsibilities in meeting the requirements of international treaties and
conventions aimed at preventing the proliferation and use of chemical,
biological, radiological or nuclear weapons.
He
also called for an international scientific advisory panel to ensure that
the implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention keeps pace with
technological advances in the life sciences. He felt an international
consensus should be reached in adopting appropriate codes of good practice,
particularly in relation to preventing science from being diverted into
"activities that pose a threat to global security and peace".
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