Woof spoof?

Sometimes you just have to check the calendar and make sure it’s not April Fools' Day

The latest must-have in Japan, and now heading our way, is the Bow-Lingual, a two-piece digital device that translates dog barks into English phrases using voiceprint technology.

A small, collar-mounted microphone transmits barks to the wireless handheld receiver. The receiver analyses the voiceprint and displays the emotion category before providing an appropriate translation, graphics and other data on the LCD screen. Along with bark translation, the Bow-Lingual handset provides dog-owning tips and has a home-alone feature that logs barks for up to 12 hours while you're away. The system has a range of about 30 feet.

The science behind the device is based on recent findings by the Japan Acoustic Laboratory. Using digital analysis of voiceprints and sound waves, the lab researched over 5000 barks from over 80 breeds. Researchers found that dogs express six moods: happy, sad, frustrated, needy, on-guard and assertive. Bow-Lingual matches each bark with its mood then displays a translation (from nearly 200 phrases) that best represents what the dog is trying to say. A complete description of the Bow-Lingual Animal Emotion Analysis System is available at TheDogTranslator.com.

Divide and rule
Clean and green is good for business
EFSA moves
NFPA calls for cooperation on US diet
Animal antibiotics OK for humans
Golden harvest from orange waste
Atkins diet claims 32m
Ahold boss put pay at risk
Software house launches RFID kit
Apple a day keeps asthma at bay

Trade

Divide and rule

It’s the oldest trick in the book to split your enemies so that you can defeat them one at a time.

Clearly, the developing countries’ G21 alliance at the recent World Trade Organisation talks in Cancun was behind the failure. There is now talk that the US in particular will seek bilateral trade deals from G21 members. Unless the members stand by the goals they spelled out at Cancun, the ties that presently bind them are likely to loosen. This makes it far more likely that international trade will degenerate into disorder. The most likely beneficiaries are the developed countries.

Concurrent with the Cancun talks, the UK-based Fairtrade Foundation hosted a London meeting of over 100 small producers of bananas, coffee, tea, honey, cocoa, sugar and other foodstuffs.

Fairtrade Foundation executive director Harriet Lamb says  “Delegates said again and again that they want more sales of FAIRTRADE branded products but they also want more trade to be fair.

“The collapse of the WTO trade talks in Cancun underlines the urgent need to take dramatic steps that really will tackle poverty in developing countries. Fairtrade has shown that there are viable economic models which show how trade can promote sustainable development.”

Sustainability

Clean and green is good for business

Running the company following best practice rules for sustainability pays off.

Results from the 2003 Dow Jones Sustainability Index annual report, which judges the sustainability of the world’s top 2500 companies, shows that the index of the top firms did better than that of their peers by 23.1% to 22.7%. In Europe the margin was 9.2% to 7.8%.

“Across all industries the integration of economic, environmental and social criteria has moved further up the business agenda, and is increasingly incorporated into company strategies and core business operations,” says Dow Jones Indexes editor John Prestbo. Shareholders are starting to factor sustainability criteria such as reducing energy consumption and “environmental footprint”, organisational learning and adaptability into their sums on long term value.

“The expansion of CO2 emission trading, the healthcare sector finding ways to provide developing countries with cheaper drugs, and more fuel-efficient transport systems are more examples of best practice,” he says.

EFSA moves

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is to move into larger but temporary premises in Brussels while the wrangle over its permanent headquarters ambles on.

The EFSA management board decided yesterday to accommodate 50 of its planned 200-300 staff in a nearby building at Rue de Genève 10, 1140 Brussels. Although EFSA is operational in its main task of assessing food risk in the EU, it still only has a small proportion of its envisaged staff in place.  Consequently, the plans for moving forward in this area were discussed extensively.

EFSA chairman Stuart Slorach said “In addition to EFSA becoming operational in its main task of risk assessment, links with the EU member states are becoming firmly established via our Advisory Forum, and links with industry and consumer representative bodies are being set up. 

Health

NFPA calls for cooperation on US diet

The US food industry has called for cooperation between industry and government to address the US lifestyle, which has led to an obesity epidemic.

National Food Processors Association (NFPA) president and chief executive John Cady told an Executive Roundtable "Efforts to help provide consumers with health promotion or disease prevention information will be most effective if they are undertaken in partnerships between industry and government.” The roundtable was hosted by Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson, to address the HHS initiative "Steps to a Healthier US."

"The message to consumers must be on how to eat, not what to eat,” Cady said. The industry wants to see more emphasis on exercise to overcome weight and obesity problems. Cady added the industry has pushed for more flexibility and policies to “improve, extend and enhance the nutrition and health information available to consumers via nutrition labelling, health claims, nutrient content claims, structure function claims and dietary guidance messages”.

He added that websites of more than 50 government and public health groups now link to Napa’s consumer fact sheets. The NFPA is now revising its educational materials to teach consumers how to use the nutrition and health information available on food packages to create healthful diets,” he said. It is also providing input to the new Food Pyramid being developed by the US Department of Agriculture.

Health

Animal antibiotics OK for humans

A new risk assessment of two antibiotics used in cattle, poultry, and pigs finds they are unlikely to lead to resistance to the drugs in humans.

The findings on tylosin and tilmicosin were presented at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) in Chicago.

“The probability of someone in the US experiencing treatment failure due to the acquisition of resistant food-borne bacteria from eating meat or poultry from animals that have been provided or treated with either tylosin or tilmicosin is very low: less than one case in 10m for resistant Campylobacter and less than one case in 3bn per year for resistant Enterococcus faecium, the researchers said.

Tylosin and tilmicosin are used in feedlot cattle to treat respiratory diseases and to prevent liver abscesses. They are used in poultry and swine to treat, prevent, and control disease, as well as for improved feed efficiency and weight gain.

Waste

Golden harvest from orange waste

A Florida, US company is testing a novel method to extract ingredients for drugs and cosmetics from the material left over from juiced citrus fruit.

DDS Technologies will process all of the waste product (citrus pumice) from Natural Growers plant in Bartow, Florida.

DDS' proprietary "Dry System" disaggregation process converts the pumice into a consumable nutrient for sale to a variety of industries. Applications for the by-product residuals include fibber for animal feed, as well as the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.

Florida produces over one million tons of orange pumice a year. The DDS system uses a new longitudinal micrometric separator, along with other technologies, to separate various fractions (proteins, fibre, starch, etc) and converts processing waste streams into value added products for further processing or resale. Fragments of organic and inorganic matter are "crushed to collision" through violent accelerations and decelerations to break up the structure.

Diet

Atkins diet claims 32m

Some 32m Americans following the high protein, low carbohydrate diets advocated by Dr Robert Atkins risk not getting enough fibre, says a new study commissioned by Novartis Health Care.

The survey of more than 2,000 adults found that 15% are on an Atkins-type diet. This is equivalent to 31,745,550 adults.

"We've known for some time that most Americans get less than half the recommended intake of dietary fibre," said Joanne Slavin, professor of food science and nutrition at the University of Minnesota. "This survey and our analysis of diets and fibre intake show the situation is even worse for people following currently popular, low-carbohydrate diets," she said.

Current typical daily fibre intake levels for the average American range from 16 to 18 grams for men and 12 to 14 grams for women. The recommended amounts are 38 grams for men and 25 grams for women.

People

Ahold boss put pay at risk

Stung by criticism of pay without performance, Anders Momberg, the chief executive of the embattled Dutch retailer Ahold, has put his bonus and severance package at risk.

In a prepared statement he said "I have been concerned by the recent public debate in the Netherlands caused by the terms of my remuneration package. I understand that my current severance benefits and my guaranteed bonus are considered unacceptable in the Dutch environment, so I have taken the decision to modify both.

I have today advised the Ahold supervisory board and they have accepted, that any severance benefits, should they be necessary, will be established on the basis of all the relevant circumstances prevailing at the time. So, there will be no guaranteed severance compensation. In addition, we also agreed that my bonus compensation will be fully performance-related and will not contain any guaranteed elements.”

Momberg noted that when he joined Ahold in April last year he didn’t know of the impending financial crisis brought on by the overstatement of profits at its US Foodservice subsidiary and others. “There was very little financial or other information that could be provided at the time to help guide a personal decision to accept a very great risk. Without such information, I felt that there was the distinct possibility that events which happened before my arrival would prevent me from fulfilling my duties as CEO. In addition, I felt that my reputation as a successful business leader could also be damaged.”

Ahold also announced that chairman Henny de Ruiter will resign in October 2003. His replacement will be former Heineken boss Karel Vuursteen, who joined the board on 7 May 2002.

RFID

Software house launches RFID kit

A US software house has brought out a test kit to compliance of radio frequency identity (RFID)tags with US-based retailer

Wal-Mart's RFID directive. The directive asks Wal-Mart suppliers to convert to RFID-based stock control and logistics management by January 2005.

“RFIDware will enable product suppliers and 3PLs with an existing WMS, ERP or host system to become RFID compliant,” Provia claims. Provia was a member of the Auto-ID Center at MIT, which developed RFID. The software provides RFID support for standard WMS activities, including receiving, put-away, picking and shipping.

Health

Apple a day keeps asthma at bay

Australian researchers report that apples and pears may offer protection against asthma.

Asthma is a growing health hazard, especially for children, and affects about 7% of the US population at some time. Moreover, diagnosis rates rose 25% between 1999 and 2001.

The cross-sectional Australian study involving 1,607 adults aged 20-44 was published in this month's issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Of all the fruits and vegetables studied, study participants who ate apples and pears had the lowest risk of asthma. The researchers noted that more study is needed to determine whether changes in diet could be used to prevent asthma or lessen its severity.

Results confirm earlier findings by London researchers that people who ate at least two apples per week had a 22%-32% lower risk of developing asthma than people who ate fewer apples.

In addition to possible lung health benefits, recent research suggests apples, and foods made from them such as 100 percent apple juice, may provide "whole body" health benefits by reducing risk of a range of ailments, including heart disease, certain types of cancer, stroke and in weight loss programmes.