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Archive for the ‘Food’ Category

Orange juice can reduce Blood pressure

Posted in Food, health on 04/29/2011 02:56 pm by Harshit Trivedi

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2 glasses of orange juice a day can lower your blood pressure and cut the risk of heart disease, according to a research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. High blood pressure puts our arteries under greater pressure when the heart beats, and is one of the major risk factors contributing to a cardiac arrest or stroke.


Scientists at the University of Auvergne, France, investigated the effect of orange juice and its major flavonoid, hesperidin, on blood pressure and cardiovascular risk. They found that middle-aged, overweight men who drank half-a-litre of juice every day for a month, equivalent to about two glasses, saw a significant decline in their blood pressure readings.


However, if you are taking blood pressure pills, you should take your physician’s advice before consuming more orange juice than usual intake, as previous studies suggest that some fruit juices, including orange, grape and apple, can reduce the effectiveness of some drugs.


From: www.cercindia.org
 By: www.mindbodysoul.in

 

which Bread is good for you?

Posted in Food on 05/25/2008 07:55 pm by Harshit Trivedi








  • Which Bread is good for you?





  • This article is published under magazine INSIGHT, their research about breads.





  • We tested 14 brands of white bread, two of milk bread, and four of wheatmeal bread.





  • We tested the breads for chemical parameters such as total solid content, pH of aqueous extract, alcoholic acidity, ash, acid insoluble ash, crude fibre, and sorbic acid.





  • All the brands complied with the chemical parameters, except for alcoholic acidity. Both the milk breads, Kalory Milky Gold (1.08 per cent) and Super Milky (0.98 per cent) conformed to the PFA Act specification for alcoholic acidity but not the IS specification. IS : 11231-1985 (not more than 0.37 per cent by mass). Both brands however did not carry the IS certification mark.





  • A 100 gm bread, white, milk or wheatmeal, gave 0.2 to 2.0 gm of fat.





  • Protein content in all the three categories of breads (100 gm) was less than 10 gm.





  • We found 49.5 to 60.4 per cent (or gm/100 gm) of carbohydrates in all the three categories of bread.





  • All the brands of 14 white breads tested showed a very high amount of sodium ranging from 503 to 806 mg/100 gm, the two milk breads gave the lowest at Kalory Milky Gold (379 mg/100gm) and Super Milky (340 mg/100 gm). In the four wheatmeal breads, it ranged from 470 to 731 mg/100 gm.





  • Calcium in all the three categories of bread ranged from 51 to 83 mg/100 gm.





  • All the three categories of bread gave 215 to 255 kilocalories of energy, per 100 gm.





  • Though the PFA Act and the BIS do not have specifications for microbial tests for bread, our laboratory tested all the brands for total bacterial count, yeast/mould count, coliform count and E.coli as per the Canadian Standards for Bakery Products and CFTRI’s proposed draft standard.





  • Total bacterial count : As per the Canadian Standards, the total bacterial count should not be more than 50000 cfu/g (colony forming units/gm). Three white breads, Italian Sandwich (140000), Oven Fresh (130000), Fresh ?N? Fresh (1100000), and three wheatmeal breads, Kalory Vital Brown (210000), Super Brown (5100000) and Satyam Golden Crust (Wheat) (4300000) did not conform to this parameter.



  • Yeast/mould count : The Canadian Standards have set a limit of 500 cfu/g. Seven white breads Satyam Golden Crust (15000), Kalory White (3500), Aabad Continental (13000), Italian Sandwich (53000), Oven Fresh (52000), Fresh ?N? Fresh (160000) and Upper Crust (17000) and three wheatmeal breads Kalory Vital Brown (240000), Super Brown (120000) and Satyam Golden Crust (Wheat) (1700000) did not comply with this parameter.


  • Coliform count : The Canadian Standards specify that the coliform count in bread should not be more than 50 cfu/g. Among the wheatmeal breads, Satyam Golden Crust (Wheat) had 54 cfu/g.


  • E.coli : E.coli, as per the CFTRI’s proposed draft standard, should be absent in 0.1 g. All the brands, except Satyam Golden Crust (Wheat) (2/0.1 g) in the wheatmeal bread category, passed this test.


  • We tested the breads for their sensory qualities. Our panellists liked Kalory White (85) among the white breads the most, followed by Modern Special (78) and Satyam Golden Crust (77). Wheatmeal bread Super Brown (50) scored the least.


  • The mandatory labelling requirements for bread as per the PFA Act and the IS are name/trade name and description of food, ingredients, vegetarian logo, name and address of manufacturer/packer, net weight, date of manufacturing/packing, and ?best before? date.


  • Nine white breads, Empire Sandwich, Maruti White, Monginis Sandwich, Kalory White, Aabad Continental, Italian Sandwich, Oven Fresh, Fresh ?N? Fresh, and Upper Crust; the milk bread Kalory Milky Gold and two wheatmeal breads, Kalory Vital Brown and Super Brown, did not give the date of mfg./pkg. and the ?best before? date .


  • Though Super Sandwich and Britannia Premium did not mention the date of mfg./pkg., the ?best before? date was mentioned. Hence, they were considered conforming.


  • Super Milky did not mention the date of mfg./pkg. Though the ‘best before’ date was mentioned, we still considered it ‘non- conforming’ as it did not meet the IS specification for alcoholic acidity.


  • Oven Fresh did not give any other information except the name and address of the manufacturer.


  • Fresh ?N? Fresh had a plain wrapper without any information.


  • Satyam Golden Crust (Wheat) had put a sticker for the ?description of food? which is not permitted under the law.


  • Kalory Milky Gold did not mention milk powder among the ingredients.


  • Upper Crust, among the white breads, and Kalory Milky Gold in the milk bread category did not carry the vegetarian logo, nor did Kalory Vital Brown and Super Brown in the wheatmeal category.


  • According to the Standards of Weights and Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 1977, a packet of bread up to and equal to 400 gm should not weigh less than 368 gm. Among the white breads, two packets out of four of Aabad Continental did not comply with the Rules, while other two weighed less than the labelled weight.


  • With a good overall score and a reasonable price, white breads Modern Special and Super Sandwich, and wheatmeal bread Modern Kissan have been recommended as our ?Best Buys?.


with thanks from



www.cercindia.org

 

Cheese- which is better?

Posted in Food on 04/17/2008 07:09 pm by Harshit Trivedi

http://moneycosmos.com/?r=341457


Cheese- which is better?


Insight - The Consumer Magazine has published the test findings of its in-house comparative product testing laboratory on 11 brands of processed cheese.


Best Buys

In three categories of cheese ? cubes, slices and spread ? Insight recommends Amul as the best buy owing to high overall scores and low price. In blocks, Verka is the best and in pizza cheese the best buy is Britannia.


Price Vs Performance

The prices of 200 gm of cheese of different brands were compared with the overall score they obtained.

The results were an eye-opener. In some cases, the less expensive brand obtained the higher score. For instance, Amul cubes (200 gm) cost Rs 45 and obtained an overall score of 78 while the same quantity of Britannia cubes cost Rs 52 and obtained a score of 75.


Unjust Enrichment

No consumer should be made to pay for a quantity that he does not receive, even in a single pack, by even one gram.

While all Amul products were slightly above the labelled weight, all four samples of Britannia cubes and five out of six samples of Britannia cheese spread were underweight. The samples of cubes marked 200 gm weighed 191.35 gm, 193.45 gm, 193.20 gm and 195.65 gm.


High Sodium Content

A major finding of the tests was that all brands had high sodium content. Excess sodium is harmful to health as it causes high blood pressure.

As per a guideline by the UK Food Standards Agency, if a product contains more than 500 mg of sodium per 100 gm, the sodium content is high. Dairy-licious recorded the highest sodium content of 2270 mg per 100 gm, followed by Britannia cubes with 2135 mg, Britannia slice with 1963 mg and Amul cubes with 1947 mg. What is worrisome is that the labelled figure for sodium was much less than what the test found in some brands.


Sensory Scores

Seven panellists judged the cheese samples on the following criteria ? appearance, uniform colour, texture and consistency, odour and flavour, defects and taste.


In cubes, Britannia scored the highest at 84, while in slices, Amul topped the list with 81 points. In blocks, Dairy-licious block was preferred to Verka with a score of 79, and in cheese spreads Britannia was preferred with a score of 85. Britannia also fared better than Amul in a separate test for spreadability on bread.

In the performance test for pizza cheese Amul scored the highest with 92 points. Dairy-licious scored 48 and Britannia obtained a score of 36.


Nutrition

The brands were tested for the amount of calcium and protein. Against the ICMR-recommended dietary intake of calcium of 800 mg a day for adults, calcium in mg per 100 gm of the product was the highest in Amul cubes at 903 mg, followed by 890 mg in Verka cheese block. Amul pizza cheese had the highest amount of protein (24 per cent of the weight), followed by Verka (21 per cent).


Chemical Parameters

The brands were tested for moisture, milk fat, salt and sorbic acid as prescribed by the BIS. All the brands conformed to the standards set by BIS for moisture, milk fat and salt. In the case of sorbic acid, one brand, Dairy-licious did not conform recording a level of 0.2 per cent when the BIS limit was 0.1 per cent (1000 ppm i.e. parts per million). It, however, conformed to the more liberal limit set by the PFA Act of 3000 ppm.


Cheesy Facts

At least 400 varieties of cheese are available worldwide called by 2,000 names? Did you know that for years parents have warned their children not to have cheese before bedtime to prevent bad dreams? Sounds bizarre, doesn't it? But the fact is that cheese not only aids sleep, but if you want varied dreams, choose from a delectable range before bedtime.

Have you ever wondered what to do if your cheese block has mould? When it comes to mould on normally-not-mouldy hard varieties of cheese, you need to cut away at least a one cm chunk under and around the mould because it may have penetrated farther in than you can see.

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WHICH TOMATO KETCHUP TO BUY?

Posted in Food on 03/19/2008 10:24 pm by Harshit Trivedi

http://www.moneycosmos.com/?r=341457


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Which Tomato ketchup you should use?


Insight - The Consumer Magazine has published its in-house laboratory test findings on 15 brands of tomato sauce and ketchup from across the country and 2 unbranded samples from Ahmedabad.


Overall, Maggi Ketchup (79) scored the highest among the national brands followed by Kissan Sauce (78) and Heinz Ketchup (78). Among the regional brands, Madhur Premium Sauce and Ketchup topped the list. But our recommendation for the `Best Buy’ in the national category is Nilon’s Sauce since its price was less than that of Maggi Ketchup. Similarly Madhur Ketchup is the `Best Buy’ in the regional category. Two brands - Sona Continental and Tops Continental were tested as a separate category because it had vegetables as ingredients, besides tomatoes. Both the brands were found to be non-conforming, hence they were not rated and ranked.


The samples were also tested for colour, consistency, flavour and absence of defects. Among the national brands, Heinz Tomato Ketchup was preferred the most. Among the regional brands, Madhur Sauce was liked the most.


Yeast and Bacteria


Paulson Ketchup (165), Sona Ketchup (231), Druk Sauce (140) along with both the unbranded samples were found with a very high yeast and spores count and hence failed this test. Sona Ketchup and both the unbranded samples failed the test for bacteria count. Sona Ketchup had the bacteria count as 200 million per c.c against the limit of 100 million per c.c.


Bacteria, yeast and mould are responsible for many types of food spoilage before and during the processing.


Shelf Life


Paulson Ketchup (0.7), Sona Ketchup (0.9), Ohms Sauce (0.8) and one unbranded sample (0.8) failed in the test for acidity as acetic acid. If the acidity (acetic acid) is lower than the minimum limit, mould and yeast may grow, reducing the shelf life of the product. The PFA Act and the FPO have set the limit as not less than 1.0 while the BIS has set the lower limit as 1.2. R.K.’s Ketchup (1.1) and another unbranded sample (1.1) could not meet the requirement of the BIS but passed as per the PFA Act and the FPO.


Preservatives


The PFA Act, the BIS as well as the FPO have set the limit for preservatives as 750 ppm. Paulson Ketchup (1457), Sona Ketchup (898) and one unbranded sample (2812) were found with very high levels of benzoic acid.


Heinz Ketchup (87) was found with the lowest amount of preservative. But Heinz claimed that they are not adding benzoic acid. It could be that the spices added by the company have come up as benzoic acid in the test. CERS followed the method specified by the Bureau of Indian Standards, which was not found to be specific. But in compliance with the official and revised method prescribed by the BIS, there was no option. CERS has decided to make a representation to the BIS to review its method.


Lycopene


Lycopene found in tomatoes is known to have many health benefits. The more the lycopene, the more is the tomato content. Low levels of lycopene may be due to less quantity of tomato pulp or poor quality of tomatoes used. As such, even though none of the standards talks about the lycopene content of the sauce, we carried out the test to check the lycopene content of each brand. Madhur Ketchup (10.2mg/100gm) had the highest lycopene content followed by R.K.’s Ketchup (9.9mg/100gm) and Maggi Sauce (9.1mg/100gm).


The brands tested were Druk Tomato Sauce, Heinz Tomato Ketchup, Kissan Tom Tom Tomato Sauce, Kissan Tom Tom Tomato Ketchup, Madhur Premium Tomato Sauce, Madhur Tomato Ketchup, Maggi Tomato Sauce, Maggi Tomato Ketchup, Nilon’s Tomato Sauce, Nilon’s Tomato Ketchup, Ohms Tomato Sauce, Paulson Tomato Ketchup, RK’s Tomato Ketchup, Sona Tomato Ketchup and Tops Tomato Ketchup.