Malaysian Reader
Contribution

Edited by James M. Kelly

Flying Fox on the verge of extinction in Malaysia

According to a recent survey conducted by scientists, the world’s largest fruit bat, known as the Flying Fox, is on the verge of extinction in Malaysia. According to the team of scientists, Flying Fox could be extinct from Malaysia as early as 2015 if its illegal killings are not curbed.

The research concluded that around 22,000 Flying Foxes are hunted annually. These bats are hunted for food, medicinal purpose and as a sporting activity. The shooting takes place at dusk, when the bats fly around in search of food.

These fruit bats are an essential component of the rainforest ecosystem in Malaysia. Having a wing span of about 1.5 meters, these bats eat fruit and nectar, and while doing so they drop seeds around the forest and pollinate trees thereby, helping in the growth of rainforest trees.

The research team carried out an extensive survey to track the number of these fruit bats in Malaysia. They also collected the government data on hunting licenses and used a computer model to predict the future of this species while varying their death rates and their current population.

In a first such initiative in Asia, satellite telemetry was used to track these bats in Malaysia. Individual bats were tied a collar around their neck, and the signals coming from these collars were tracked by satellites to study the flying pattern of Flying Fox. This advanced tracking method showed that a Flying Fox can travel approximately 60 kilometers a night in search of food.

The team of scientists has suggested that the government should impose a temporary ban on the hunting of Flying Fox so that their study can be extended and a more extensive assessment can be done. Ironically, the hunting of Flying Fox is banned in the neighboring Thailand and parts of Indonesia. Thus, a coordinated effort needs to be undertaken by all the neighboring countries in order to save this species from extinction.

Hong Kong
Bureau

Edited by James M. Kelly
IBM, FXA GROUP AND VIETNAM JOIN FORCES TO ENSURE GLOBAL SEAFOOD SAFETY

For years, IBM has been involved in projects relating to food and has provided millions of dollars in aid and for research and development in the field. With innovative technology, IBM has been providing effective solutions to ensure that all food products being exported are traceable at all times.

Now, in a one of a kind joint venture, IBM has united hands with the FXA group and the authorities of Vietnam to launch a campaign to aid the improvement of global food safety. The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) and the Vietnamese State Agency for Technological Innovation (SATI) are deeply involved in the project and aim to ensure the complete and absolute safety of seafood trade, in Vietnam.

Organizations associated with the VASEP have won numerous prizes, including the prestigious Grand Prize for nutrition and health at the Seafood Prix d’Elite competition, held under the aegis of the European Seafood Exhibition 2009 in Brussels, Belgium.

Vietnam exported seafood worth over $4.25 billion, in the year 2008. With this joint project, VASEP and SATI aim at the proper and regular tracking of Vietnamese seafood exports, which will be monitored via the radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. The entire exercise is being undertaken to ensure that the seafood being exported is totally fresh, when it arrives at the global markets.

The technology being offered by IBM and FXA will initially be tested in a few seafood farms in Vietnam, who export to nations like Japan and USA. By using the technology offered by these hi-tech companies, VASEP and SATI will be able to collect vital data regarding each batch of seafood, meant for purposes of export. The collected data will include information such as the name of the farm from where the seafood was procured, when and where it was processed, the temperature that needs to be maintained and the present location of the consignment or batch.

With all this information available, every single one of the parties involved will benefit, since they will have a steady flow of information. This project aims at offering a better solution for wholesalers, shippers as well as retailers.

Food Writer

Edited by - James M. Kelly
Malaysian Delicacies at Their Best

Although Malaysia does not have a cuisine style of its own, but due to a diverse mix of cultures and religions in Malaysia, the origin of Malaysian food can be traced back to the Indian, Chinese, Eurasian, Malay and Nyonya style.

Indian Food

The first taste of Indian food which Malaysia got was in the 19th century, when a lot of Indian immigrants were brought to Malaysia as contract laborers. Today, you can find a host of Indian restaurants and roadside hawkers selling traditional Indian style food.
Breads are the most famous items of north Indian cuisine. These breads are made of fresh dough, which is baked inside a hot tandoor and then flavored with onion or garlic. Paratha, naan and chapatti are the most preferred breads in Malaysia.

Tandoori dishes like the tandoori chicken are also very popular among the Malaysian people. Apart from traditional Indian dishes, you can also find modifies versions of Indian dishes that are specially created to cater to the taste of Malaysian people. Mee goring and Nasi Kandar are two such modified Indian dishes.

Chinese Food

Chinese food is basically derived from Cantonese food, which is known for its variety and freshness. Dim sum is a popular Chinese snack that is served widely in Malaysian restaurants and eaten during lunch or brunch. Extreme delicacies like shark fin soup and birds nest soup are also quite popular in Malaysia.

Apart from Cantonese food, the dishes of north and west of China like Szechwan, Shanghai and Peking can also be found in different eating joints in Malaysia.

Malay & Nyonya Food

Malay food is known for its spices and flavors, and is greatly influenced by countries like Indonesia, India, China and the Middle East. Rice is the main diet in Malay food and is served along breakfast, supper and dinner. Fish, beef, mutton and pork are popular dishes that are eaten along with rice.

Nyonya food is a delightful combination of Malay and Chinese food and is also native to Penang and Singapore. Nyonya food generally consists of coconut milk, along with spices like coriander and cumin.

Food Editor
James M. Kelly
Nature has bestowed us with an enormous range of fruits for the summer season. Every fruit has certain elements that are advantageous for the human body. Here is a comprehensive list of some of the favorite fruits of people during summer alongwith their respective health benefits.

Watermelon – the rich sweet taste and water in the fruit helps you in quenching your thirst and has a cooling effect on the body. Moreover, it is also a rich source of vitamin C, beta-carotene, potassium, lycopene and iron.

Berries of all sorts, strawberries, blackberries and blue berries aid in boosting up immunity levels in the body owing to the presence of phytochemicals in them. These are also excellent for protection against heart diseases, circulatory problems and cancer.

Mangoes and papayas are perhaps the most cherished summer fruits. Containing high quantities of vitamin C, vitamin A, beta-carotene and fiber, these two fruits are excellent options for beating the summer heat while relishing their sweet, delectable taste. In fact, only eating adequate quantity of mangoes can provide the body with the benefits of vitamin A.

Another set of fruits that contain appreciable quantities of vitamin C, antioxidant phytochemicals, beta-carotene and anthocyanins are plums and peaches. These fruits help purify the body be cleaning it of all the free radicals present in the body.

The unforgettable taste of pineapple makes it the favorite of fruit lovers from all over the globe. Apart from having almost all the essential vitamins and minerals, pineapple also contains bromelain enzyme that is extremely helpful in regulating the digestive system.

Few other fruits that are available in summers include apricots, cranberries and cherries that help cure constipation, urinary tract infection and the growth of carcinogenic cells in the body, respectively.

Summer time is great for soothing your taste buds with the delicious taste of so many fruits and also, for building a healthy body by deriving the nutritional benefits from these fruits.

Bangkok
Bureau

Edited by James M. Kelly
When one thinks of beer, there are a number of brands that pop up in the mind. But chances are that none of those brands will be Asian. Although beer has been popular in Asia for almost a century and has been consumed in large quantities, there are very few brands that have been able to win for themselves a global standing.

This is surprising, because Asian food is known to be spicy and nothing eases that hot sensation better than a cold beer. Even the climate has a large role to play in the growing demand for beer. The rising demand could probably explain why, today, there are a number of indigenous brands offering good quality lager.

For instance, China is being touted to becoming the largest manufacturers of beer in the world. Given that China has the largest population in the world, there is no real surprise in the fact that they also have the greatest demand for beer. Presently the country produces and markets almost twelve times more than that produced by a nation like Australia. Even though Indonesia is a Muslim country, this nation too has a thriving beer business. Most of it can be accredited to the high levels of tourist influx.

Similarly, in the Philippines, beer has managed to garner a large market. San Miguel, established in 1890 is one of the largest breweries in South East Asia and is on its path to beer glory. In Japan, beer was first introduced in 1870 by an American named William Copeland. He set up the very first brewery in Japan and called it the Spring Valley Brewery. Today, the Japanese people have adopted beer as their favorite alcoholic drink, as against the indigenous sake. Hundreds of microbreweries are presently functioning across the four islands of Japan.

Over the years, the demand for beer has grown by leaps and bounds in Asia. This reason is one of the prime facilitators for the rise of local breweries and indigenous brands. Today, people all across the world are beginning to recognize brands such as Chang Beer, Kingfisher, Singha Beer and Tiger Beer.

Manilla
Correspondent

Edited by: James M. Kelly
Despite the harsh economic climate the organic industry is still managing to maintain a steady growth rate. A group of green minded growers gathered together at the EchoStore in Serendra Piaza, Taguig City to try and convert industry leaders to the green side with some fresh ideas.
Mara Pardo de Tavera, who started the organic buzz in the metro 15 years ago with her company, the Organic Galaxy explained how the business is still booming and how many people are now going for quality to get the full value of their money.
And there’s room for 30 to 40 per cent growth so far, she added.
Rosalina Tan, an organic fertilizer producer also for the last 15 years, shares the same sentiment, although she prefers to focus by region.
“Mommy Lina,” as Tan is fondly called, is the founder of the Organic Producers and Trade Association with nationwide organic farmer members.
She adheres to the organic marketing principle to “buy organic produce closest to the community and meet the local demand.”
Tan explained how she wanted to concentrate on the regions rather than the whole of Manila.
Escaping from the middlemen
Pardo de Tavera tells how they can help the farmers if they wish to avoid the middlemen. The organic industry can easily set up a system where the farmers can supply to a local market on a regular basis themselves.
If organic produce is made accessible in every region, it would mean that the carbon footprint would lessen because it would be less fuel in transporting the harvest to different regions.
The Philippines is already known to be a huge exporter its processed organic products to India, China, Vietnam, and even the United States, Japan and Europe.
However, it has been reported that the main carrier of the Philippine harvest was down this year due to the economic crisis.

Singapore Correspondent

Edited by: James M. Kelly
Health food is everywhere now but how healthy is the food you are choosing from the supermarket? With so many products labelling to be low-fat, sugar-free, zero trans fat, no additives or made with whole grains one would suggest that everything is health, nutritional and safe from preservatives but you must turn the box over and take a closer look to get the real information on the ingredients.

Natalie Goh, a consultant dietician at Peaches & Pear Nutrition Consultancy helps us decipher ingredients lists with a few simply hints and tips. She explains how the ingredients list is the best way to identify hidden ingredients.

Simply start by looking out for a few keywords, like ‘hydrogenated’ or ‘partially hydrogenated’ this means that the product contains trans-fat, which is an unsaturated fat, made by the chemical process of hydrogenation, liquid oil is turned into solid fat by the addition of hydrogen.

Sodium is another important word to look out for. Ingredients with the chemical name sodium, contribute to the overall salt content of the product. While to figure out the sugar content, the giveaway words are those ending with the letters -ose. Sucrose, fructose, glucose, dextrose and maltose are all sugar.

Another important factor is to always check the ingredient list to determine if the sugar is natural or added. For example, a cereal that contains dried fruit is likely to contain more natural sugar than one without added fruit. If both have the same sugar content, the one with fruit may be a healthier choice as it probably has less added sugar.

Sounds simple enough - but there is still so much more to know.

Nehal Kamdar, a dietitian at Raffles Hospital explains how some ingredients may be disguised under alternative names. For instance, fat may be listed as shortening, milk solids, nuts or chocolate.

Innocuous-sounding names like yeast extracts, hydrolised proteins and baking powder actually indicate hidden salt. Sugar too can be masked by descriptions such as modified carbohydrate, polysaccharides, molasses, sorbitol, syrup, icing and fruit juice concentrate.

Kamdar explains how if you see some of these names in the first three items in the ingredient list, the product may contain unhealthy levels of fat, salt or sugar. She also adds not to be fooled into to thinking that if an ingredient is not listed, it is completely absent from the food.

This is because the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an international food regulatory body, allows food manufacturers to exclude ingredients that are present in very small amounts.
Local food regulations set by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) and the Health Promotion Board (HPB) follow FDA standards very closely.

For instance, trans-fat does not have to be listed if the total fat content of the food product is less than 0.5g per serving, and it does not claim to be free of fat, fatty acids or cholesterol.

There are times when nutritional values cannot be verified. Items are required to only carry a nutritional information panel when there are nutritional claims made.
Hence, the only clues you can get are from the ingredient list.

If we look at a bread product claiming to be made with 70 per cent whole grains we immediately believe that wholgrain is the main ingredient true? Not necessarily, if the first item listed has the word ‘whole’, it is likely that the bread is indeed mostly wholegrain. This is because ingredients are listed in order of decreasing weight. But if there are several grain ingredients and the first ingredient is not a wholegrain, the situation gets more complex.

For example, the ingredient list may read: enriched white flour, whole wheat, whole oat flour and whole cornmeal. From this ingredient list you will not be able to tell if your bread is 70 percent or 7 percent actual wholegrain.

Staff Correspondent

Edited by: James M. Kelly

Photo Courtest of Blogspot.

According to the latest draft law celebrities will now share the legal responsibility for advertising food products that are found unsafe and unfit for human consumption.

The draft food safety law specifies that all social organisations and individuals who now recommend unsafe food products in ads shoulder “joint liability” with food producers if the products harm consumers’ rights and interests.

The draft was submitted for review on Wednesday February 25 to the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee.

Law professor Yang Lixin from Renmin University of China explains that “joint liability” means that consumers can demand compensation from both the unsafe food’s producers and the celebrities that appear in the advertisements.

Liu Xirong, the deputy director of the NPC Law Committee told the China Daily that the change was in a response to the many legislators’ complaints about false or exaggerated food advertisements where a lot of them are featuring celebrities. It is said that the ads have been cheating and misleading the consumers.

He continued with the fact that they did consider it necessary to enforce stricter controls over food advertisements.

The new draft also bans food supervision authorities, and industry and consumer associations from recommending food products to consumers in advertisements or in any other form. And if the companies do not comply with the new laws, their directors or those with direct responsibility may face demotion or instant dismissal.

Since the melamine scandal in September started, unsafe food product advertisements became a major issue.

Many citizens have wondered it the celebrities who promoted the tainted products, especially those for the Sanlu Group should also share the responsibility for the six infants who died and the other 30,000 people who became ill.

Head of Peking University’s advertising department Chen Gang said he welcomed the legislation.

He told the China Daily that celebrities enjoy the vast social influence. It is a known fact that it is easier for the public believes something a celebrity says compared to an ordinary person.

Chen strongly believes that stricter controls are needed when it comes to food advertisement because food products can directly affect human health.

Some legal experts have mentioned that the law is well intended but it seems to have gone a little too far.

Yang explained how the rule aims to prevent the celebrities from abusing their influence, which is necessary, but actually subjecting them to joint liability does seem to be a bit too harsh.

NPC Law Committee member Wang Liming expressed how he felt and said that it was a bit unfair to put celebrities who appear in food advertisements on the same tier of legal responsibility as food producers.

The China Daily stated Wang saying, “There’s no doubt food producers should shoulder the primary responsibility if there are food incidents.”

Wang also believes that celebrities who recommend unsafe food products in commercials should bear some sort of responsibility.

The China Daily stated Yang saying, “It should matter whether the celebrities were or were not aware the food products were unsafe. Joint liability should apply to those who were.”

Jiang Wenjuan, agent of famous mainland actress Jiang Wenli stated that the new rule will now only force celebrities to think twice before appearing in food advertisements.

The China Daily stated her saying, “We’re already very careful about doing such ads. We usually ask for all relevant government certification to prove the products are safe. But if such a stipulation becomes law, it’s certain that we’ll be even more careful.”

Jiang also mentioned how the celebrities do occasionally sign a contract with the food producers stating that the star will bear no responsibility in the case of consumer complaints.

Written by:
Amber Butler-Davis

Edited by: James M. Kelly
Vietnamese Children Suffer Malnutrition
A report states that more than 32.6 percent of children in Vietnam are malnourished, stunted and underweight. This makes the country one of the world’s 20 worst performers in child nutrition.

The Ministry of Health’s National Institute of Nutrition reported that malnutrition in children is most common in Tay Nguyen, especially in the north western areas and the northern part of the central area.

Deputy Minister Tran Chi Liem explained at national conference on nutrition, which was held on February 16 in Ha Noi, that nutrition improvement activities had been underway since last year and had reduced the rate of malnutrition in children by one percentage point over the previous year.

However, he also mentioned that the programme had been delayed by the economic downturn and the outbreak of epidemics. He also asked the conference members to focus the discussions on how to solve the current nutrition problem.

Truong Hong Son, the secretary of the Child Malnutrition Prevention Programme told the Vietnam News that the program this year targets the increasing breastfeeding rate in the babies’ first six months by five percent and the number of mothers having proper knowledge of nutrition by ten percent.

Son also mentioned that a target had been set to reduce underweight by 1.1 percent and stunting by 1.3 percent.

The ministry has planned to keep strengthening public communication, education and the care of pregnant women. Also included will be nutrition recovery activities and supplement nutrition for pregnant women.

Other plans in the program include providing vitamin A for children from six months old to five years old and worming for children aged two to five who are living in targeted areas.

Nguyen Cong Khan, the director of the National Institute of Nutrition said Vietnam has made fast and sustainable progress in reducing the malnutrition rate in recent years.

He also explained how the growth-stunting rate will been reduced to under 10 percent within 15-20 years. However, in the short term, he does hope that Vietnam can reduce the underweight rate to be below 15 per cent by 2015.

Written by:
Amber Butler-Davis

Edited by: James M. Kelly
Pigs found to be contaminated with illegal additive.

The local health authorities reported that from February 20 -23 at least 70 have suffered food poisoning in the Guangdong province after consuming pig organs that were contaminated by a banned food additive.

Wang Guobin, an official with the Guangzhou municipal public health bureau explained how three people have had to remain in hospital for further observation while the remaining have been discharged after being treated.

All the victims were complaining of stomach aches and diarrhoea after eating pig organs that were brought into the local markets on Thursday. The authorities explained on Saturday that all of the victims of food poisoning were from the Tianhe and Zengcheng districts of Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong.

Wang told the China Daily in an interview that their initial investigation showed that the pig organs were contaminated with clenbuterol this is an additive that is actually banned in pig feed in China.

Investigators have now detained three people that are suspected to have involvement in the raising and selling of the contaminated pigs. Local authorities have successfully found that the contaminated pigs came from farms in several places in Hunan province.

Clenbuterol, also known as “shouroujing”, is an additive that prevents the pigs from accumulating fat. However, it is extremely harmful and can be fatal if humans consume it.

Clenbuterol residue often accumulates in organs such as the liver and lungs. One of the largest food poisoning cases involving clenbuterol happened in Shanghai in September 2006 when over 33o people were hospitalised after eating pig meat or their organs that were contaminated with the additive.