STRENGTHENING AFRICAN FOOD PROCESSING

SUPPORT FOR THE SMALL AFRICAN FOOD PROCESSING ENTERPRISE 

POMEGRANITE

foodproductiondaily.com- 23/10/2005

Pomegranate juice is likely to become very popular as the consumer starts to hear about its health benefits. Tesco reported 300% increase in sales since the start of the year, they now sell 500,000 litres per week.

Pomegranate juice is best known for its it heart health benefits. It seems that  pomegranate juice may contain almost three times the total antioxidant ability of green tea or red wine.

read the full article at FoodProductionDaily

COSMECEUTICALS

foodproductiondaily.com - 18/11/2003

This article really illustrates the differences between first and third world food processing issues. We are looking at food security as an issue of life and death and they are introducing cosmeceutical beverages that make you "younger from the within". Beauty Juicer contains grapefruit, ginger and white cocoa and is enriched with collagen and aloe vera.

read the full article at FoodProductionDaily

DARK BEER AND YOU HEART

foodproductiondaily.com - 18/11/2003

Here it is. It was not long ago that doctors discovered the benefits of aspirin to prevent heart attacks in heart disease patients. Now the American Heart Association says that dark beer may work just as well. How much more pleasurable!

read the full article at FoodProductionDaily

FAIRTRADE FRUIT GETS WIDER DISTRIBUTION

FoodProductionDaily.com - 19/06/03

"The market for Fairtrade mangoes in the UK has expanded rapidly this week with the announcement that the country’s two largest supermarket groups, Tesco and Sainsbury’s, are to add the fruit to their produce portfolio."

This article shows that FAIRTRADE is continuing to develop, with two major chains co-op and Waitrose selling fresh mangoes from Bakino Faso. AgroFair a UK fruit company owned by the growers. 

read the full article at FoodProductionDaily.com

INDIAN GOVERNMENT INVESTS IN FOOD INDUSTRY

foodproductiondaily.com

12/11/2002

This interesting article highlights a major investment of  approximately 130 million euro in the Food processing Industry in India.

The Government confirmed that the subsidies will be given for establishing new rice mills, modernisation and expansion of existing rice mills, oil mills, flower mills, bakery units, chilling centres, confectionaries and manufacture of ice-cream.

Currently one of the biggest challenges facing the progress of the Indian food processing industry is the lack of existing infrastructure. Currently it is estimated that only 2 per cent of agricultural produce is preserved for processing because of a lack of facilities for storage. In the US some 70 per cent of agricultural produce is currently processed.

Adressing this is expected to grow a food processing industry that could become a significant force in the world market. 

read the full article at foodproductiondaily  

GOVERNMENT SUPPORTS GARI PROCESSORS IN GHANA

AllAfrica.com

October 18, 2002

Ghana's Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs is to spend 1.48 billion cedis to have 200 gari processing machines, including cassava grinders, formulation and cassava dough packing stands, gari double screw pressers and gari dough sifters are to be manufactured by the GRATIS Foundation.

The Ministry allocates equipment to women's groups in the regions who are also supplied with loans.

For those from Southern Africa Gari is a cassava based staple food.

read the AllAfrica report  

FISH PRESERVATION: GRATIS SHOWS THE WAY

AllAfrica.com

October 15, 2002

The GRATIS Foundation in Ghana has developed a new fish smoker that is more efficient and produces a higher quality product than the traditional process but also eliminates wood usage and the labour of wood collection.The dryer is fueled by LPG and burns organic waste to add taste and colour to the fish.

Laboratory tests have shown that the cost of LPG for drying is less than half of that for dryers using firewood. While the dryers can be built in a range of sizes the current dryers can dry up to 1500 kg of fish.

read the AllAfrica report

21/05 Naked chickens 

ISRAEL: Naked chicken raises temperatures of animal rights campaigners

Source: just-food.com editorial team

Scientists at the Rehovot Institute near Tel Aviv have genetically engineered a new breed of “naked” chicken, which they claim tastes better than its feathered counterpart.

Israeli genetics expert Avigdor Cahaner said that the red-skinner broiler is designed to grow faster as it does not overheat like normal chickens, whose growth rate slows as they get hot in the summer.

“That's why poultry meat is expensive in hot countries,” he explained to thisislondon.co.uk. The naked chicken is also cheaper to produce, as it requires no plucking.

Cahaner added that it contains less fat than normal chickens, and produces leaner meat.

From the Green Party, Spencer Fitzgibbon responded to the news saying, “it's a monster of an animal. We should be working with nature, not against it.”

Adrian Bebb, a GM campaigner with environmental pressure group Friends of the Earth added that he condemned the move: “I think it will have a traumatic effect on animals and the public will be horrified.” 

Cahaner was adamant however: “Feathers are a waste,” he said: “The chickens are using feed to produce something that has to be dumped.”