Dr. Carlos Sosa, Professor and Ex Dean, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Autonomous University of Queretaro, Mexico (carlosfranciscososa@gmail.com), May 2009.

Organisms that cause diseases, better known as pathogens, have evolved along with the organisms that host them, in a never ending race between adaptation and resistance. This competition or co-evolution has been altered by us humans, as we have changed the natural conditions in which this relationship has been developed. Among the causes of disease, outbreaks and their dispersion are: overcrowding, the disruption of the environment (like deforestation or watershed alteration), production and accumulation of pollutants, artificial selection of plants and animals, the misuse of pesticides and antibiotics, introduction of exotic plants or animals and other practices.

Although modern public health and epidemiology practices consider these factors, the control of diseases that have affected humanity for hundreds of years is far from being achieved, and new diseases keep appearing.

A valid question is: will sustainable agriculture and environment conservation help control the appearance and dispersion of diseases?

The answer will rest on the understanding of how intensive agricultural systems and environment make human populations more susceptible to infectious diseases, and on accepting that traditional medicine can provide cures to certain infections.

Artificial farm environments provide adequate conditions for some pathogens to cause infection. For example, conditions of temperature, humidity and ingestion of fecal matter causes coccidia infections in broilers, beef cattle and sheep under intensive (feed lot) conditions. Close contact between animals allows respiratory diseases to be transmitted. At the same time storing large quantities of feed stuffs, under these same systems, attracts rats, squirrels, birds and insects that can carry bacteria (like leptospira and listeria) and viruses that cause infections transmissible to humans. At the same time diseases that become endemic of farms (like tuberculosis, influenza and others) are transmitted to wild animals (like opposums or migratory birds) that will carry them to other locations. In some countries it has been found that viruses that cause blue tongue, swine fever, West Nile fever and others are not only been transmitted by wild animals but also are causing high mortality among them, or that it is needed to cull large numbers of individuals (like bats carrying rabies) in order to stop them from spreading the diseases even more. There are many examples of diseases introduced to the human population by disrupting natural habitats, such as the case of ebola, sars, aids and others.

Control measures for diseases or vectors, like use of antibiotics and pesticides in a large scale, has not only failed to stop outbreaks but has created resistant strains of bacteria and insects or ticks, thus making it more difficult to prevent or treat diseases that were supposed to be eliminated some time ago. Some countries have barred the use of antibiotics as food additives for livestock to avoid bacteria in becoming resistant to them.

Artificial selection of farm animals has resulted in individuals with efficient metabolism to convert food to meat, milk or eggs, but also in less genetic variation. The metabolic stress they endure makes them less resistant to infection diseases and parasites, thus the need for complex programs of vaccination and extensive use of disinfectants and antibiotics.

On the other hand extensive systems are not free themselves of diseases, mainly caused by parasites (internal and external) that have their natural cycles in the environment where animals are raised. These parasites may transmit infectious diseases to animals and to humans too. Some practices of grazing management may decrease the load of parasites and immunization programs may decrease the risk of infection. The culling of farm animals carrying infections is a practice that requires testing for positive reactors.

What can be done to stop this cycle of recurring diseases?

Many countries have in place plans to monitor animal populations for the control of outbreaks and to prevent them to be spread to humans. However, these plans have been more effective in controlling outbreaks in animals than in humans. Part of the reason for this failure is the lack of education of public and officials about the dangers of some practices associated to intensive production systems and the damage to the environment. Thus the first step to control and prevent epidemics is education.

It is essential to educate the public on the proper use of antibiotics. In some countries antibiotics are sold over the counter or used indiscriminately in farms or prescribed by Doctors to cure mild infections. Education is also needed to teach producers to change some agricultural practices to decrease the use of pesticides.

Research to rescue traditional knowledge on curative plants should be encouraged and should be financed by governments. These plants represent genetic resources that will help cure diseases that so far have not been controlled.

As an example on the effect of education and the use of traditional medicine is teaching people in malaria infested areas to use mosquito nets to prevent transmission of the protozoa (Plasmodium falciparum) and the use of the Wormwood plant (Artemisia annua) to treat those sick to avoid resistant strains. Similarly, the use of the neem tree (Azadiracta indica A. Juss) assists in controling parasites without the use of pesticides that may induce resistance.

A word of caution is that the cultivation of these plants should be promoted for local farms and the production of the extracts for local firms to make the cures more accessible and to promote sustainable growth. There is a risk that some companies may try to patent the extracts and then sell the products at a much higher price than if locally produced. Finally, in large cities it is required to educate public and officials on the importance of understanding and implementing ways to prevent the spread of transmissible diseases and to understand the true sources of disease to avoid panic or inadequate measures that may impose economic loses.

Dr. Noureddine Benkeblia, Professor, University of the West Indies, Jamaica, (noureddine.benkeblia@uwimona.edu.jm), May 2009.

Up to date, postharvest science has been using much genomics, and started using transcriptomics and proteomics recently. Gene expression resulting from natural processes, plant-microbe interactions, physiological disorders or, biotic or biotic stresses or other inducing phenomena, trigger many metabolic processes leading to the formation of hundreds of metabolites. Besides being specific to metabolic pathway, some of these metabolites have a very short life time and are indicators of specific metabolic reaction. Indeed, many metabolites are well known to be elicited during specific stresses, and these elicited components could be involved in accelerating undesirable processes, or to the contrary, triggering certain resistance of commodities to these undesirable processes. Metabolome profiling of the system biology constitutes a good survey of the different metabolites resulting from different reactions of different pathways. Profiling the metabolites preceding, during and/or following the stresses or any other process, would indicate the behavior of the produce not only at the whole level, but also at the cellular, even the compartmental (cell organelles) levels. This understanding would likely help to determine the appropriate conditions of storage and/or the physical treatments, such as modified atmosphere/controlled atmosphere, to divert the metabolism towards the desired pathway, or at least slow down the production of the undesirable metabolites by reducing the speed of the respective reactions. The issues of these results will also lead to make commodities acquire a self-defense, and extending the shelf-life of commodities with less stress and better quality attributes.

Dr. Richard E. Litz, Tropical Research and Education Center / Center for Tropical Agriculture, University of Florida, USA, (relitz@ufl.edu), April 2009.

Civilization, culture and fruit

Many fruit tree selections are ancient representatives of mankind’s patrimony and larger cultural story. Our history and culture have been impacted in many ways by our love of fresh fruit and their products. In some manner, the major fruits have entered into our consciousness, and have affected our view of the world. For example, the ancient Mediterranean civilizations were well acquainted with the grape (Vitis vinifera) and the effects of wine consumption on unleashing the human spirit. Dionysius was god not only of wine but also of the arts. The Greek word Συμπόσιον “symposium” originally referred to “drinking (wine) together.” European empires have come and gone during the last two millennia; however, the lasting heritage of grapes has been extensively documented. In the De Re Rustica, a 12 volume encyclopedia of Roman agriculture written by Lucius Iunius Moderatus Columella (4 – c 70 AD), there is a description of the grape cultivar ‘Duras’, which is still cultivated for wine production in parts of Europe.

This cultural affinity with fruit also holds true for the tropics. The Gautama Buddha (563 – 483 BC) is said to have been born beneath either a mango (Mangifera indica) or a sal (Shorea sp.) tree in Lumbini (India). The enchanting Amrapali, a dancer and a courtesan of the city of Vaishali, was so moved by his message that she presented a mango orchard to the Buddha; the ‘Amrapali’ is one of India’s great mango cultivars. An interesting miracle performed by the Buddha is said to have involved the king’s gardener, Ganda, who presented a ripe mango fruit to Buddha. The Buddha then told Ganda to plant the seed, from which immediately sprang a large fruit-bearing tree.

any mango cultivars that we know today were selected at the time of the Moghul emperor Akhbar (1556-1605), and were grown in the Lakh Bagh, a large orchard of 100,000 trees, near Darbhanga in Bihar state. The Ain-i-Akbari, an encyclopedic work that was written by Akbar’s friend and vizier, Abul-Fazl ibn Mubarak, contains a lengthy account of the mango.

Fruit and the evolution of development (evo devo)

Fruit trees are also repositories of invaluable information about the evolutionary history of higher plants. The avocado (Persea americana), for example, is in the family Lauraceae, which is part of a basal clade that contains most of the primitive angiosperms, originally classified as the magnoliids. The magnoliids include the Magnoliales, e.g., magnolia Magnolia spp., and the Laurales, e.g., avocado, in one clade and the Piperales, e.g., black pepper Piper nigrum, and Canellales, e.g., cinnamon Cinnamomum verum, in another clade. Many notable trends in floral evolution can be demonstrated with flowers of the Laurales: floral phyllotaxy (spiral to whorled), fusion among floral parts and variations in the number of floral organs. MADS box gene expression in avocado flowers differs from the ABC(DE) model, Arabidopsis thaliana, and may have evolved from a regulatory network inherited from stamens. Avocado flowers therefore provide a unique opportunity to examine the changes in regulatory controls that necessarily accompany this avenue of perianth evolution. Fruit development, maturation and ripening in avocado also depart significantly from the model plants. The great antiquity of the avocado suggests that evolution of flower and fruit development can be studied in the context of a link that joins the most primitive angiosperms with non-flowering ancestors, i.e., the gymnosperms. Hitoshi Kihara, the great Japanese plant geneticist eloquently stated: “The history of the earth is recorded in the layers of its crust. The history of all organisms is inscribed in the chromosomes.”

Fruit and genetic improvement

Kihara wrote a few years before the green revolution, which was based on classical breeding and genetics, transformed food production. This revolution, however, has had little impact on the improvement of most fruit trees, which even today are likely to have been chance seedling trees produced from uncontrolled pollinations. The long juvenile period of trees is probably the most widely accepted explanation for this anomaly; however, cultural issues must not be overlooked. In many societies, as described previously, there are strong cultural relationships with certain fruit selections. This is particularly true in south and south-east Asian cultures, where consumers are highly resistant to changes in the traditional diets. These traditional fruit selections often have serious production problems. 1) They lack resistance to many diseases and abiotic stresses. 2) Insect pests may be attracted to certain selections. 3) They have low yields and 4) they may be alternate bearing. 5) The tree architecture may not be suited to efficient harvesting and management. 6) The fruit may have poor shelf life. 7) The fruit quality (taste, texture, size, aroma, etc.) may be poor.

These and other problems afflicting particular cultivars have a genetic basis and they cannot be addressed by advances in horticultural practices and technologies alone. Is conventional breeding the answer? Certainly, genomics and marker-assisted breeding can accelerate breeding strategies of perennial fruit trees; however, these technologies are currently being developed only for a handful of crop species: citrus, fruits in the Rosaceae [apple Malus x domestica), peach (Prunus persica), apricot (P. armeniaca), plum (P. domestica), cherry (P. avium), cacao (Theobroma cacao) and papaya (Carica papaya)]. Even with these examples, molecular tools for screening large populations of seedlings that have been derived from controlled populations is still very much in the future: very few markers have been identified. Genetic engineering also must have a role in the development of superior lines of existing fruit cultivars. The first wave of genetic engineering was based upon induced mutagenesis, and had moderate success with perennial fruit crops in the early years; however, the random generation of point mutations, many of which were deleterious, seriously impeded the continued use of this technology. Mutation breeding has largely been superseded by genetic transformation. This technology, although widely accepted in the major food exporting (USA, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, Canada) and underdeveloped and developing countries, remains controversial in the EU, Japan as well as with many consumers. In many ways, genomics and genetic transformation represent the direction that fruit breeding must take in the future. To date, only two fruit crops have received clearance for human consumption, papaya and plum, both of which were being decimated by virus diseases caused by papaya ringspot virus and plum pox virus, respectively, with no resistance to the diseases in the ‘Solo’ type of papaya and in plum. Papaya and plum were engineered to be resistant to these virus diseases. In effect, genetic transformation must be credited with saving both of these crops. In the future, as the tools of genomics identify more genes that mediate horticultural traits, we anticipate that the fruit cultivars that have been treasured for many centuries can be modified to correct or reduce the effects of major production and post harvest challenges.

Bibliography

• Chanderbali, A., V. Albert, V. Ashworth, M. Clegg, R. E. Litz, D. Soltis and P. Soltis. 2008. Persea americana (avocado): bringing ancient flowers to fruit in the genomics era. BioEssays 30: 386-396.
• Gonsalves, D. 1998. Control of papaya ringspot virus in papaya: a case study. Ann. Phytopath. 36: 415-437.
• Litz, R. E., M. A. Gomez Lim and U. Lavi. 2009. Biotechnology. In: The Mango and Its Botany, Production and Uses, 2nd Edition, ed. by R. E. Litz, CAB International, Oxon, pp. 641-669.
• Maluszynski, M. 2004. Officially Released Mutant Varieties – The FAO/IAEA Database. Plant Cell Tiss. Org. Cult. 65: 175-177.
• Raharjo, S. H. T., Witjaksono, M. A. Gomez-Lim, G. Padilla and R. E. Litz. 2008. Recovery of avocado (Persea americana Mill.) plants transformed with the antifungal plant defensin gene pdf1.2. In Vitro Cell. Devel.Biol. 44: 254-262.
• Scorza, S., J.-M. Hily, A. Callahan, T. Malinowski, M. Cambra, N. Capote, I. Zagrai, V. Damsteegt, P. Briard, and M. Ravelonandro (2007) Deregulation of plum pox resistant transgenic plum ‘HoneySweet’. Acta Hort. 738: 669-673.

Dr. Joe Sebranek, Professor, Iowa State University, USA, (sebranek@iastate.eduk), April 2009.

Sodium and/or potassium nitrite has experienced a very long and somewhat checkered history as a meat curing ingredient and preservative. The first use of meat curing for preserving meat was undoubtedly done with nitrate and occurred so long ago that it has been impossible to determine when it actually began. However, there is written evidence that the Greeks and Romans utilized saltpeter (nitrate) as a meat curing agent. The best estimates available suggest that nitrite and nitrate have been used for some 5,000 years to cure and preserve meat. It is believed that meat curing with nitrate was first discovered as a result of adding salt contaminated with saltpeter (potassium nitrate) to meat and observing that, in addition to improved preservation, a unique color and flavor resulted from this process. The bottom line is that this process has been around for a long, long time.

The first true applications of science to meat curing became evident in 1822 when nitrate was first identified as an anti-botulism factor in cured meat. Somewhat later, in 1891, the first publication appeared reporting that nitrate-to-nitrite conversion was responsible for the preservation effects of cured meat. Then in 1899 and 1901, respectively, it was discovered that nitrite was the source of cured meat color and that nitric oxide was the active agent in forming cured meat color. It should be noted at this point that the meat industry “discovered” the importance of nitric oxide well over 100 years ago. Nitric oxide has, in only the past 20 years, become recognized as a very, very important compound in human physiology. The initial discoveries concerning nitrite and nitric oxide at the turn of the twentieth century resulted in several subsequent studies by the USDA and others in the early 1900s that resulted in establishment of the first USDA regulations in 1925. These regulations described appropriate use of nitrate and nitrite for meat curing. Following this, from the 1920’s to the 1950’s, researchers continued to refine curing processes by developing curing accelerators like ascorbate and erythorbate. The role of nitrite in cured meat was also clarified and shown to include the unique contributions of distinct flavor and a powerful antioxidant function in addition to the color and potent antimicrobial functions already recognized.

At this point, all was well.

However, in 1956, the first clouds appeared on the horizon when it was discovered that fish meal cured with very high concentrations of nitrite was responsible for inducing cancer in mink that were fed the fish meal. The cause was found to be n-nitroso compounds formed from nitrite and secondary amines in the fish meal. This resulted in extensive research in the 1960’s focusing on potential relationships between nitrite in human food, nitroso compounds and cancer in humans. Some nitroso compounds were found in cured meats, mostly in bacon and by the early 1970’s, there was serious consideration of banning nitrite from use in processed meats. However, research in the mid-1970’s showed that nitroso compounds in cured meat were not an issue with proper control of nitrite concentrations and meat processing conditions. Further, research in the late 1970’s discovered endogenous nitrate and nitrite in the human intestine and saliva, suggesting an important biological role for these compounds. This period of time turned out to be very important for two reasons; first, the extensive research and accompanying publicity on the relationship between nitrite and cancer resulted in firmly entrenched perceptions of cured meat as a contributor to human cancer that continue to this day, and second, the discovery of endogenous nitrite in the body was the forerunner to a subsequent major breakthrough in biology. The breakthrough came in 1986 when it was shown that nitric oxide was a major biological messenger molecule responsible for regulation of blood pressure and blood flow, neurotransmission and brain function, immune system function and wound healing. This turned out to be such a momentous discovery that the 1998 Nobel Prize for Physiology/Medicine was awarded to the three researchers who identified the critical biological role of nitric oxide.

The role of nitric oxide in control of blood flow and blood pressure means that nitric oxide has a potentially important role in cardiovascular health. One area where this may be important has been demonstrated in work with blood transfusions. Physicians have long been puzzled by the increased risk (~25%) of heart attacks and strokes following blood transfusions. Recent research has reported that collected blood shows a dramatic depletion of nitric oxide to 30% or less of normal levels within 24 hours. Research with dogs has shown that nitric-oxide-treated blood transfusions significantly reduced heart attacks (Reynolds et al., 2007).

However, the various contributions of nitric oxide to biological functions were not initially attributed to nitrite because the mechanism believed to be most important for nitric oxide formation has been the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) system. The NOS system generates nitric oxide by converting arginine to citrulline in the presence of oxygen. This system becomes limited in case of low oxygen such as restricted blood flow. Consequently, the current hypothesis is that tissue and blood nitrite provides a low-oxygen source of nitric oxide because nitric oxide is easily formed from nitrite. This would mean that nitric oxide may be a critical cardiovascular protective component when oxygen is limited such as the initial stages of heart attacks or stokes.

To test this hypothesis, researchers have been studying the effects of dietary nitrite on tissue concentrations of nitrite and on induced heart attacks in mice. They have found that dietary nitrite significantly reduced injury and increased survival from heart attacks (Bryan et al., 2007). They further suggested that dietary nitrite may be a critical component for cardiovascular health and that nitrite could part of the reason that vegetables have a positive impact on human health. Gladwin et al., (2005) concluded, “Most provocatively, these studies suggest that the cardio protective effects of leafy green vegetables could derive from nitrite, in addition to the often cited antioxidant effects of these food groups” and also suggested that “The solution to these problems should … lead to the potential consideration of nitrite as an “essential nutrient”…”. This is a complete, 180-degree change in thinking about nitrite and human health.

A recent comparison of the widely recognized Mediterranean diet, which is viewed as a healthful diet because of a low unsaturated fat intake, with a typical western diet showed the Mediterranean diet to represent about 10-12 fold greater nitrite/nitrate intake (Bryan, 2007). This led Bryan (2006) to ask “Could it be that the stringent regulations on nitrite/nitrate in drinking water and foods contribute to the contemporary diseases of today due to inadequate nitrite or nitrate in the diet…?”

Thus, nitrite has an important role in physiology and dietary nitrite appears to be protective against cardiovascular disease and injury (Mazzone and Carmeliet, 2008). It has been suggested that recommended dietary limitations on nitrate and nitrite be reconsidered for optimal health. This is a truly refreshing change in thinking about the role of nitrite in human health. Currently, there are several human clinical trials underway involving nitrite and much more information can be expected in the near future. Depending on the results of these trials, an extended effort to re-educate the public about the role of nitrite will be important in order to change current consumer perceptions.

References

• Bryan, N.S. 2006. Nitrite in Nitric Oxide Biology: Cause or Consequence? A Systems-Based Review. . Free Radical Biology & Medicine 41:691-701.
• Bryan, N.S. 2007. Dietary Nitrite and Nitrate Contribute to Cardiovascular Health and Disease. Proc. Meat Industry Research Conf., American Meat Science Association, Savoy, Il.
• Bryan, N.S., J.W. Calvert, J.W. Elrod, S. Gundewar, S.Y. Ji and D.J. Lefer. 2007. Effects of Dietary Nitrite and Nitrate on Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury. Proc. National Acad. Sciences, Early Edition. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0706579104.
• Gladwin, M.T., A.N. Schechter, D.B. Kim-Shapiro, R.P. Patel, N. Hogg, S. Shiva, R.O. Cannon III, M. Kelm, D.A. Wink, M.G. Espey, E.H. Oldfield, R.M. Pluta, B.A. Freeman, J.R. Lancaster Jr., M. Feelisch and J.O. Lundberg. 2005. The Emerging Biology of the Nitrite Anion. Nature Chemical Biology 1(6):308-314.
• Mazzone, M., and P. Carmeliet. 2008. A Lifeline for Suffocating Tissues. Nature 453(26):1194-1195.
• Reynolds, J.D., G.S. Ahearn, M. Angelo, J. Zhang, F. Cobb and J.S. Stamler. 2007. S-nitrosohemoglobin deficiency: A mechanism for loss of physiological activity in banked blood. Proc. National Acad. Sciences 104(43):17058-17062.

Dr. Leon A. Terry, Head of Plant Science Laboratory Cranfield University, UK, (l.a.terry@cranfield.ac.uk), March 2009.

The aim of onion bulb storage is to meet consumer demand for extended availability of onions whilst maintaining product quality. The principal biological factors leading to onion bulb deterioration are respiration, resumption of growth and pathogen attack. In onion bulbs a dormant period, when sprouting and rooting can not be induced, is followed by a period of internal changes that prepare the bulb for breaking of dormancy and subsequent growth. Out of storage, the bulb then proceeds towards flowering and seed production. Sprouting occurs when the leaf primordia that are produced in stored onion bulbs develop green leaves, rather than scale leaves, which elongate and eventually protrude from the neck of the bulb. The growth rate of the sprout inside the bulb varies according to cultivar and storage regime, and is a major factor in determining the storage life of onions. Temperature has a profound effect on the dormancy period and storage life of onion bulbs. In general, sprouting is inhibited both by low and by high temperatures, and encouraged at intermediate temperatures. Cultivars respond differentially to temperature. Typically, the optimum temperature range for sprouting in dry storage is 10-20ºC. Moisture loss is greater at temperature ranges <10ºC and >27ºC.

Many biochemical characteristics change during storage. These include changes in water content, the concentrations of flavour-related compounds, organic acids, carbohydrates, plant growth regulators and phenolics. Onions are eaten for their unique taste and the supposed health giving properties of their sulphur containing flavour compounds, S-alk(en)yl-L-cysteine sulphoxides (ACSOs). Total ACSO content is positively correlated with enzymatically produced pyruvate, which in turn is positively correlated with pungency. Water-soluble carbohydrates in onion bulbs include fructose, glucose, and sucrose, and a series of oligosaccharides called fructans (Davis et al., 2007), and can constitute some 60-80% of the dry weight. Fructan concentration in onion bulbs tends to decrease during cold storage. Biochemical changes during storage are likely to be linked with respiration. All nutrients required for growth of the sprout must come from within the bulb; therefore, changes in certain key characteristics might be used to predict the onset of sprouting. Maximal and minimal concentrations of certain substances are known to coincide with sprouting, but there is currently no biochemical assay that anticipates sprouting.

During storage a gradual change in the relative composition of plant growth regulators occurs as the concentration of growth promoters and/or growth inhibitors rise or fall, respectively. Abscisic acid (ABA) is a naturally occurring phytohormone. Endogenous ABA is found in all onion tissues. The absolute concentration of ABA varies according to plant age and tissue type, and is also influenced by environmental challenges such as drought stress prior to the falling of green leaves at bulb maturity, and has been associated with dormancy in onions. In a recent study at Cranfield University, onion bulbs of cultivars with long, medium and short storage lives, viz. Renate, Ailsa Craig and SS1, respectively, were stored in controlled atmosphere (CA) conditions (3.03 kPa CO2; 5.05 kPa O2; 2ºC). In all cultivars, bulb ABA concentration declined exponentially during storage. Onion bulb ABA concentration at harvest (measured on a fresh weight basis) may prove to be a better indicator of storage life.

It has been postulated that carbohydrate content is correlated with storage life. In a recent study, the effect of the transition between CA and air (and vice versa) on onion cvs. Renate, Carlos and SS1 in terms of the respiration rate, ABA concentration and non-structural carbohydrate composition was assessed. Removal of bulbs from CA storage resulted in an immediate increase in the respiration rate (measured in air), which then reverted to a lower rate following subsequent storage under air conditions for 21 days. In some cultivars, this could be sufficient to trigger the onset of sprouting and thus account for the detrimental effect of CA storage on shelf life. Delaying the start of CA storage of onions cv. SS1 for 21 days was as effective in suppressing sprout growth as CA storage for 42 days. There was a significant decrease in the ABA concentration between the time of harvest and the beginning of storage. This is likely to be due to the effects of curing and suggests that curing is having a detrimental effect on storage potential (Chope et al., 2007).

A newly commissioned project under the auspices of a Defra HortLink project (HL0182* Sustaining UK fresh onion supply by improving consumer acceptability, quality and availability) aims to create a more competitive and expanded UK onion industry based on energy efficient and residue-free long-term storage.

Further reading:

• Chope, G.A., Terry, L.A., and White, P.J. (2006). Onion bulb storage is related to a temporal decline in abscisic acid concentration. Postharvest Biology and Technology 39, 233-242.
• Chope, G.A., Terry, L.A., and White, P.J. (2007). The effect of the transition between controlled atmosphere and regular atmosphere storage on bulbs of onion cultivars SS1, Carlos and Renate. Postharvest Biology and Technology 44, 228-239
• Davis, F., Chope, G.A., Terry, L.A. and Faul, C.F.J. (2007) The effect of extraction procedure on measured sugar concentrations in onion (Allium cepa) bulbs. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 55, 4299-4306.
• Terry, L.A., Law, K.A., Hipwood, K.J. and Bellamy, P.H. (2005). Non-structural carbohydrate profiles in onion bulbs influence taste preference. Information and Technology for Sustainable Fruit and Vegetable Production. Frutic 05, 12-16 September, 2005, Montpellier, France.

Prof. Adel A. Kader, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Davis, (aakader@ucdavis.edu), March 2009.

The keys to successful handling of horticultural perishables, listed in the second to the fifth paragraphs below, are the same in developed and developing countries, but the extent of adoption of the necessary harvesting and postharvest technologies to maintain their quality and safety can vary greatly among countries and within each country, depending on the intended market and the return on investment, ROI (benefit/cost ratio) of these technologies. Availability and cost of labor, scale of operation, availability and dependability of electric power and its cost, and extent of utilization of facilities and equipment per year are important factors in determining ROI of harvesting and postharvest technologies. Availability and efficient use of the cold chain for handling fresh horticultural products is much more evident in developed countries than in developing countries. There is also great variation among and within countries in the extent of compliance with quality standards and food safety regulations, which is associated with the extent of participation in global marketing of fresh produce.

Recommended procedures regarding maturity and quality include: harvest at the proper maturity stage relative to intended use and marketing practices and periods; eliminate produce with serious defects, and inspect produce quality and condition when it is received; separate out produce that must be sold immediately, and place it on display first; and rotate produce when replenishing displays.

Temperature and humidity management procedures include: harvest during the coolest part of the day possible, and keep produce in the shade while accumulating it in the orchard or field; transport produce to packinghouse and/or direct-marketing outlet as soon as possible after harvest; protect produce on display from exposure to direct sunlight; ship packed produce to the market in refrigerated transit vehicles, and maintain proper temperature and relative humidity in display cases and cold storage rooms.

Procedures for minimizing mechanical damage include: handle produce with care during harvesting and hauling to the market or produce stand; use suitable materials-handling equipment; avoid drops, impacts, vibrations, and surface injuries of produce throughout the handling system; use shipping containers that will provide adequate protection for the commodity from physical injuries; and stack containers so that the pressure comes on the structure of the package, not on the produce.

Sanitation procedures to minimize potential contamination with plant and human pathogens include: train workers on their role in assuring food safety; wash produce with clean and disinfected water, then remove excess moisture if needed; sort out and properly discard decaying produce; and clean harvest containers daily, and clean reusable shipping containers, display and storage facilities periodically with water, soap, and disinfectants.

Dr. Jeff Brecht, Director, Center for Food Distribution & Retailing, University of Florida, USA, (jkbrecht@ufl.edu), March 2009.

Is anyone truly satisfied with the taste of the fruits that we find in supermarkets today? Fruits that are destined to be stored for extended periods to regulate marketing, or to be shipped extended distances to reach far-flung markets, are too often harvested at an early stage of development that provides no chance that those fruit will ever develop excellent flavor and aroma.

If one examines international grade standards for fruit, the reason for this situation becomes clear. It is obvious that tolerances in grade standards are largely based on visual appearance factors, and are especially stringent for such defects as bruising and decay that disproportionately affect riper fruit. Has anyone ever heard of a load of fruit being rejected because the fruit were too firm? But woe to the shipper whose fruit arrive over ripe, soft, bruised, or worst of all, with decay!

Grower/shippers too often address the problem of how to avoid having their customer ever open the doors of a trailer or marine container and find over ripe, soft, bruised, or decayed fruit by always erring on the side of an earlier, rather than a later, harvest. So it is that hard, green fruit are so commonly shipped, and their counterpart, the tasteless, dry fruit, find their way onto market shelves.

One way to change this situation might involve removing from the equation the incentive to harvest fruit early. If this could be done, then a more physiologically advanced population of fruit could be harvested. What is needed is a technology that can assure the grower and the packer that the ‘problem’ fruit that are most likely to cause a rejected load can be removed. The ability to sort items online according to maturity and quality factors such as texture and composition could potentially transform fruit handling systems.

Nondestructive online testing includes several approaches that are fairly mature technologies for real time measurement of factors that relate to quality and maturity. Commercial equipment has already been available for several years. For example, acoustic online firmness sorters are used by the avocado industry to measure firmness according to the acoustic resonance of the fruit and sort them according to when they will be ready to eat. The acoustic response can also potentially be related to ripeness, juice content, and the internal structure (i.e., density) of other products. Near infrared (NIR) light penetrating beneath the skin of a fruit can be detected by a sensor and the light spectrum analyzed to determine the sugar content and other internal quality aspects such as dry matter and acidity as well as defects such as apple water core or mango jelly seed. Internal quality sorters for packinglines that use NIR transmission are sold by several companies and are being used for several tree fruits. For example, NIR sorting of peaches according to sugar levels is being used to allow the fruit to be harvested at a more advanced maturity stage.

Changes in the surface appearance of fruits can provide visual clues to maturity and ripeness. These changes can be accurately captured and quantified through the use of digital imaging software such as a noninvasive glossmeter developed recently by the Michigan State University.

It is my belief that the use of online nondestructive quality sorting will increase, and must increase, if fruit suppliers are to recapture consumers who are currently turned off by the quality of most fruit that is available in stores.

Dr. Victoria Salin, Texas A&M University, USA, (vsalin@ag.tamu.edu), March 2009.

2008 was marked by a financial crisis, serious pain from rising costs of energy, and eroding economic fundamentals. Thirty-eight US banks have failed since 2008 began, another 16 in 2009 (FDIC), and “shotgun” acquisitions kept other weak financial institutions from failing. No wonder the American Dialect Society’s 2008 word of the year was “bailout!”

The financial sector is an important generator of economic activity in the USA, employing thousands of highly-skilled professionals, and its troubles contributed to an overall economic slowdown. The slowdown in financial deals, and losses from past deals going bad, have contributed to recent declines in GDP. Financial services accounted for just below 8% of the US gross economic output in 2007 ($2.01 trillion (U.S. Department of Commerce)).

The financial sector’s problems spread to other businesses, via a contraction in credit availability and an escalation in the cost of credit. The cost of corporate borrowing climbed in 2008 (Moody’s), even as the monetary authorities at the Federal Reserve Bank flooded liquidity into the banking system. Worrisome signs abound that the capital market failed to function in allocating funds during the fall 2008. Theorists describe such disequilibrium as credit rationing.

Why is credit rationing such a concern? Economic efficiency is characterized by allocation with the price mechanism—those who most want an item are willing to pay more for it. Plenty of economic theory establishes that the price mechanism operating in a free market allocates resources most efficiently for society. Rationing means that allocations are NOT done by price. Instead, allocations may be on a first-come, first-served basis, by who has the best connections, or according to who is most patient with queuing. By definition, rationing situations are less efficient for society than are allocations by the market mechanism.

Credit markets are subject to rationing more easily than goods markets, according to the Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, because the parties to a credit transaction have unequal amounts of information about the risk profile of the borrower and the project being financed. In theory, the result of credit rationing is that only the riskiest borrowers remain in the credit market, leading to an inefficient allocation of financial resources.

The recent evidence is suggestive of credit rationing, although not conclusive. As shown previously, cost of borrowing rose. Supply may have been disrupted as well. Commercial paper outstanding (very short-term working capital for larger firms) decreased markedly starting in summer 2007 (Federal Reserve Bank), and decreased again in September 2008. Bank lending to business customers was stable during the fall 2008 financial crisis, according to the Federal Reserve’s survey, a good sign. However, there was plenty of anecdotal evidence of credit shortages for good customers during September and October 2008. Therefore, both price and quantity evidence is consistent with a disequilibrium in the credit market last year.

Fundamentals

In describing the impact of the financial crisis, Jim Citrin’s 2008 New Years’ Eve blog bid good riddance to the “era of unchecked consumerism and financial excess.” He’s right that financial excess is not needed, but there are connections between finance and economic fundamentals: (1) in making business transactions efficient and (2) in generating consumers’ wealth.

As the policymakers continue to work to restore confidence in the financial sector, it is important to ask, how “fundamental” is finance to food businesses? Business managers choose the leverage position; strategic reasons, access to capital markets, and attitudes toward risk all influence a firm’s dependence on debt financing. But working capital finance is a real cost to most firms, and to their customers, so that the higher cost of business borrowing is a contributor to cost pressures. Companies will need thoughtful plans for controlling spending and streamlining budgets.

To what extent are financial sources of wealth a “fundamental?” In the USA, income derived from financial assets (that is, interest and dividends) was $2.1 trillion last year. Compare that to total disposable personal income in the USA of more than $10 trillion per year, prior to the financial crisis. Income from capital is likely to be more important to older persons, especially retirees, and to wealthier individuals, than it is to the average American.

It will be important to consider carefully the wisdom of the next financial innovation that will be proposed as a solution to the low returns available in a slow-growth market. In the 1980s, it was high-yield “junk bonds”; in the 2000s, the innovation was derivative securities tied to mortgages and other credit-related swaps. Higher expected returns do not come without risk, and in this interconnected global financial system, instability transmits quickly around the world (Lin). Fear, investor psychology, and mistrust are serious issues in financial markets. To the extent that investors have reconsidered their preferences for bearing risk, tangible capital assets may see more investor interest, leading to the potential for equity capital to flow toward manufacturing sectors and the service industries involved in food distribution.

For more information:

• American Dialect Society. “American Dialect Society 2008 Word of the Year is “Bailout”” press release Jan. 9, 2009. Accessed Feb. 15, 2009.
• Citrin, Jim. Posting on Yahoo finance, Dec. 29, 2008.
• FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.). Accessed Mar. 3, 2009
• Federal Reserve Bank
• Moody’s Investors Service. Yield on AAA corporate bonds, long-term (30-year), accessed via Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
• Stiglitz, J., & Weiss, A. 1981. Credit Rationing in Markets with Imperfect Information. The American Economic Review. Vol. 71, No. 3, (Jun., 1981), pp 393-410.
• Lin, Justin Yifi. 2008. “Impact of the Financial Crisis on Developing Countries,” paper presented to Korea Development Inst., Oct. 31, 2008.
• Trostle, Ronald. Factors Contributing to the Recent Increases in Food Commodity Prices, presentation by Economic Research Service, US Department of Agriculture. June 10, 2008. Related article available.
• U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis. Dec. 2008.

Dr. Gordon L. Robertson, Adjunct Professor, School of Land, Crop & Food Sciences, University of Queensland, Australia and Consultant in food, packaging and the environment, (gordonlrobertson@gmail.com), March 2009.

In an attempt to alleviate world poverty, there has been a huge emphasis on food production over the past few decades, with less emphasis given to processing, packaging and post-harvest treatment of that food so that it reaches the final consumer in a safe and nutritious form. Food science and technology does have a valuable role to play in alleviating food insecurity but its role is known largely only to professionals such as those reading this View. In order to reverse the situation, IUFoST is publishing a handbook.

IUFoST is a federation of 65 countries (represented by their appropriate national bodies, known as Adhering Bodies) linking over 200,000 food scientists and technologists and is the world voice on food science and technology. It represents food science and technology to other world bodies such as FAO, WHO, Codex Alimentarius, ILSI, UN University, OEDC and the International Council for Science (ICSU).

The primary goal of IUFoST is to promote the advancement of food science and technology throughout the world through education programs, workshops and regional symposia as well as through activities of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology (IAFoST). In addition, IUFoST aims to strengthen the role of food science and technology in helping secure the world’s food supply and eliminate world hunger by delivering programs such as distance education, workshops and integrated food systems targeted to these needs.

It was with the last aim in mind that the idea for a handbook arose during discussions at the 13th World Congress of Food Science & Technology held in Nantes, France in 2006. It is hoped that the handbook will show, through the use of case studies, how the application of food science and technology has improved nutrition and promoted national development in developing countries.

The IUFoST handbook is intended to transmit useful information on applications of food science and technology to those affiliated to both developed and developing countries. Making the chapters freely available for download ensures the widest-possible audience. The handbook is a work in progress and we are happy to continue to accept contributions from all those who feel that their experiences in this area are relevant and worth passing on to a wider audience.

Therefore I would like to invite all readers of this View to each contribute a chapter to the IUFoST handbook (details below). Many of you have supervised graduate students who have then applied their knowledge of food science and technology to improve food security. Please contact them and assist them to write a suitable case study for the handbook. Others of you are working in countries where food insecurity is still a major concern; please send in a relevant case study for the handbook. Already 8 chapters have been published with several more in preparation; the aim is to have 100 chapters and so your input is vital.

Title: Using Food Science and Technology to Improve Nutrition and Promote National Development
Sub-title: Selected Case Studies
Editors: Gordon L. Robertson and John R. Lupien
Publisher: International Union of Food Science & Technology (IUFoST)
Format: Downloadable from the IUFoST website
Aim: To show through the use of case studies how the application of food science and technology has improved nutrition and promoted national development in developing countries.
Contributions: Please send a 500 word outline of your proposed chapter to Professor Gordon Robertson at gordonlrobertson@gmail.com. Once your outline has been accepted, the final chapter will be due within 3 months.

Dr. Julio Retamales, Universidad de Chile and Valent BioSciences Corporation, Santiago, Chile, (julio.retamales@gmail.com), February 2009.

Ethephon is a known plant growth regulator that has been applied for many years and for which a myriad of possible uses on various agricultural crops have been developed. In horticultural crops it is applied, among other uses, as a harvest agent and ripening promoter. Its mode of action is based in the splitting of its molecule allowing to free the ethylene gas, the known endogenous plant hormone that participates in the regulation of processes in plants as diverse as abscission (e.g. shedding of leaves and fruits), plant growth and senescence and most particularly fruit ripening (especially in the case of so-called climacteric fruits). Further, ethylene can be used as a degreening agent in citrus and to enhance color development on table grapes (both known examples of non-climacteric fruits). In the latter case it is frequently used as derived from ethephon applications on colored grapes when natural conditions (e.g. warm temperatures at night) and cultural practices (e.g. high yield and berry growth as induced by other plant growth regulators) are precluding the obtention of enough berry skin color for marketing purposes.

Recent information has been released by the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) indicating that ethephon (available under different commercial names like Ethrel®) could face restrictions to its usage in various horticultural produces being sold at the European market, e.g. in cherries, tomatoes, pineapples and peppers (EFSA, 2008). For the case of table grapes it is proposed that the current MRL (Maximum Residue Limit) of 1.0 mg ethephon per kg of produce should be reduced to 0.05 mg/kg. With such reduction it is considered that the present usage of ethephon to induce appropriate color in table grapes is no longer feasible. Therefore, not only the European production, but also all the colored table grapes imports to the European market from foreign countries would be restricted to such limits and, in the practice, ethephon could no longer be applied as presently done. This would affect colored table grapes of countries as diverse as India, South Africa, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Brazil and United States, just to mention a few examples.

Attaining appropriate and homogenous berry color is a paramount quality factor in colored table grapes, as it can easily be appreciated by the consumer that relates this factor with a fully ripe and tasty fruit. Certainly, regarding handling of the crop for increased berry color, there is still room for improvement in cultural practices ensuring appropriate light exposure, plant nutrition and regulation of fruit load that can lead to increased berry coloration. However, market requirements and economic conditions should be also satisfied that are based in high yield and berry size precluding in many instances best color to be obtained. Therefore, not being able to use a tool like ethephon can constitute a major limitation for countries with rather warm conditions that make obtention of appropriate berry coloration more difficult.

Interestingly enough, as it has been shown already some years ago, abscisic acid (ABA), an endogenous phytohormone, can also upregulate the synthesis of anthocyanins, the natural plant compounds that are mostly responsible for berry coloration in grapes. A relevant recent development allowing ABA to be produced in a scale compatible with its usage as plant growth regulator is enabling a partial or full replacement for ethephon on table grapes. For such purpose, a full research program has been carried out in the last 5 years, including field trials in countries like USA, Australia, South Africa, Israel, Mexico, Brazil and Chile. Further, being a natural plant product and owing to its favorable biochemical and toxicological profile, registration procedure for ABA for such usage is favorably prospected and already under way in some countries. Therefore, it is considered that the introduction of ABA as a commercially-available plant growth regulator will eventually allow that the table grape industry of relevant countries can continue producing colored grapes even without ethephon being used as before.

EFSA (European Food Safety Authority), 2008. Reasoned opinion of EFSA prepared by PRAPeR on MRLs of concern for the active substance ethephon. EFSA Scientific Report (2008) 159, 1-31. Issued on September 15, 2008.

Dr. Sofia Diaz-Miranda, Professor and senior research scientist, Institute of Neurobiology, UNAM, Queretaro, Mexico (yoldi@servidor.unam.mx), February 2009.

Revestrarol is a natural polyphenol with anti-aging, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancerous properties that, nowadays, is also utilized in heart disease and obesity treatments. It is found in grape and its derivatives such as wine and grape juice, as well as in oyster and leguminous such as nut and peanut, among others.

Epidemiological studies in humans, performed by French researchers since 1997, have demonstrated its potential neuroprotective activity, observing the low rate dementia, including Alzheimer disease cases in people whose red wine consumption has been moderate. The neuroprotective effect confirmed with the resveratrol administration in cultured hippocampal neurons against amyloid β–peptide, a neurotoxic peptide that likely plays a critical role in Alzheimer. Thus, in rodents, pre-, co- and post-treatment with resveratrol significantly attenuated A-β-induced cell death.

A recent study of Rivera and coworkers (2008) at the University of Granada, Spain, has shown in Zucker rats (obese), that resveratrol reduces the concentrations of triglycerides, total cholesterol, and free fatty acids, leptine and insulin in plasma, and fat in liver. Thus, concluding that resveratrol improves dislipidemia, hyperinsulinemia, hyperpeptidemia and hypertension in such obese rats. Despite the skepticism concerning its short life in the organism, in vivo assays reveal that resveratrol is distributed in all organs: in mice liver and kidneys 90 minutes after its administration, and remaining six hours later in lungs, intestine, heart and brain. When ingested, it is absorbed in the duodenum and it can be combined with glucose and metabolized by liver.

At the present time, harvested products with high levels of resveratrol have been developed by genetic engineering, under the category of design of “functional foods” together with vitamins and other nutritious elements; ergogenic feature for sportsmen and aged people diets.

It has been shown, in laboratory researches, that resveratrol improves the physical capacity of animals fed with a diet enriched with these products; however, more studies in humans are required to clarify its true role in nutrition and physiology.

The antioxidant and anti-aging capacity of resveratrol is evident in the modifying the chromatin structure and the genetic transcription in yeast of the fruit fly, nematodes, fish and mice. In mammals, on the other hand, it prevents heart disease caused by aging, expanding life span.

Even though the findings are promising to propose resveratrol as an anti-aging molecule candidate, more clinical research has to be done to elucidate this potential role of the molecule.

Dr. Alicia Namesny, Spain (anamesny@ediho.es), February 2009.

Fruit Logistica was held in Berlin from February 5-7, 2009. This is a fair with a great power to bring people in; during the three days “all” global fruit and vegetable traders meet, as well as the international suppliers of postharvest materials. We also start to see some seed materials.

The impressions coming from Spain, where the atmosphere of discourage, are that “the world continues to turn”, although of course with the concern that in a globalized world it is difficult to avoid having islands that remain unaffected by crises. The most popular opinion among exhibitors was that perhaps there was a lower number of visitors, but in any case of better quality.

For fruit and vegetables, according to what happens with the handling and conditioning of fresh-cut, last year the consumer tended to reward the homogeneity of products. For example, in Italy, fewer salad mixtures were sold than bags with vegetables ready for consumption or vegetables presented alone, which would mean a slight shrinkage of the market. But the trend to eat with convenience is unstoppable and there are a lot of areas of potential growth for all markets. And even more so in fruit, where the consumption of something ready-made is just beginning. Several companies presented their “liquid fruit”, drinks made with 100% fruit with about 14 days of shelf life and without preservatives.

In relation to the technology of handling, preservation and packaging, companies continue to move toward “post-harvest precision”. An example of this is the equipment presented by Besseling Group, capable of measuring parts per million (ppm) of ozone present in a room, or Absoger’s equipment for ethylene, in its two versions (fixed or portable), which measures the gas with a precision of 0.01 ppm. The packages are diversifying, looking to adjust to the needs or preferences of consumer groups defined with increasing precision.

The need to market a better tasting fruit is all the rage. Evidence of this is the nomination, from among 10 new products presented at this fair, of the Turoni’s laptop equipment, based on the work of Dr. Costa from Italy, to assess the grade of ripening of fruit in a non-destructive way.

Dr. Rocio Arellano, MD, M.Sc., Professor at the Autonomous University of Queretaro and MD at the San Jose Hospital, Queretaro (roare2001@yahoo.com), Mexico, February 2009.

We all have heard about the “good” and “bad” cholesterol. LDL Cholesterol accumulates in blood vessels causing atherosclerosis, while HDL protects our vascular system by transporting back cholesterol from cells to the liver, and as a potent antioxidant. Something similar happens with kilocalories. Our body energy requirements need to be covered every day, and even when someone wants to lose some weight still needs kcalories. But the question is not only how many, but their quality content. Obesity is a public health problem worldwide and even though we know a lot about its causes, consequences and treatment, there is still the problem of educating people on how to eat healthy and light in kcalories.

Empty calories is a term used to refer to those energy dense foods with a lot of fat and carbohydrate content but with little or none of other nutrients, so these are the “bad “ kcalories. We’ll name as “good kcalories” those that provide a nutrient dense content with less kcalories.

Our internal energy balance is perfect under physiological conditions, so every kcal in or out should count. But not in the way it is listed on the tables of nutrient and kcal content of foods. Tables are not counting for the increased energy expenditure caused by the thermic effect of foods or the greater basal metabolic rate in individuals with larger muscle composition or under exercise conditioning. Neither the effect on energy storage when eating large amounts of food in sedentary hours as compared to eating the same kcalories while being physically active. So counting strictly the kcalories from a list of foods may not be the best way to quantify a diet and make it a healthy one.

Patients become overwhelmed and confused about these issues. They may ask how much more exercise should they do if with 30 minutes of aerobic exercise with an energy cost of 200-250 kcal, they can’t burn those extra calories ingested from a couple of beers over the weekend. Others are more concerned about the costs of dieting, considering that “diet foods” are expensive or even worse, some would choose to use some magical pill to avoid the effort of dieting and/or exercising.

So people at this moment need to stop counting calories, and stop having unrealistic expectations about dieting and drugs and other chemical compounds that promote weight loss, and understand more the concept of diet balancing and include all the good kcalories required for the purposes of a healthy diet and body weight loss and maintenance. People need to master the way they eat and feel confident about the fact that their diets are promoting a better quality of life and feel pride about it for being able to take good care of themselves.

Each country has established a public policy to provide nutrition education; in other words a system for people to understand what are the good kcalories they should be eating everyday. Basically all systems are consistent in including something of the three food groups in each meal:

• Vegetable and fruits. Providing a vitamin C rich food every day, and green leafy vegetables frequently, and giving variety according to season. Avoid creamy dressings by using instead vegetable oils or lemon and salt and adding flavor with herbs,
• Protein foods that are low in fat, like legumes, nonfat dairy products and meats, egg whites and some seeds and nuts, using non greasy preparations at the kitchen.
• Bread and cereal group of high fiber content such as grains (wheat, oatmeal, rice, corn) in amounts that vary with the exercise level of each individual. But that in a moderately active adult woman or man may not exceed 6-8 portions a day respectively. The “bad kcalories” from high fat and carbohydrate dense foods are usually included in fast foods, fried or sweet snacks, soft drinks, and with some meal planning and discipline we can avoid including these type of foods.

The best way to maintain a healthy body weight is eating the good kcalories, keeping yourself physically active, and stop worrying about counting each kcalorie, because what matters is the balance between energy consumption and expenditure according to individual metabolism.

Dr. Inocencio Higuera-Ciapara, Professor and General Director of Center for Scientific Research in Yucatan (CICY), Mexico (inohiguera@cicy.mx), February 2009.

Various definitions of food security have become popular now a days, but all of them contain two fundamental elements: a level of food availability and some measurement of access to the food supply by the population at large. A wider definition associates food security with the capacity of a given region to warrant – in a timely and reliable manner – access to an adequate food supply by all the population in such a region. While these definitions carry strong quantitative aspects they underestimate the importance of qualitative ones such as nutrient availability as well as those related to safety, which are equally important. Furthermore, the combination of various foodstuffs may lead to considerable changes (positive or negative) in the biological value of a given meal. Few studies have approached the problem of diet quality with the scientific rigor needed to draw valid conclusions at the national or regional level. In such an effort a dramatic change in the working model would be required, such that the interrelationship between economic and social variables with the nutritional assessment of the population be further and more deeply explored, thus taking into consideration factors such as alternative ways of increasing the food supply available in a given community, family values and traditions, and changes in food consumption habits due to the influence of globalization. In addition to such “external “ influences, it would be necessary to consider the changes in the nutritive value of foods during their handling, processing and marketing, as well as contamination with physical, chemical or microbiological agents which may occur throughout the food chain. This perspective may radically change the appraised food situation of a given region or country and perhaps more importantly it may also change the true role of particular technological developments´ contribution to food security. For instance, in this scenario, the role of Biocontrol – the application of biological systems or natural products for the control of pests or undesirable microorganisms – may allow the production of safer foods due to the elimination or reduction of pesticides and other chemicals during production or postharvest operations. Also, the utilization of Byproducts may provide a direct way of upgrading the total value of traditional crops, thus increasing farmers´ income and thereby increasing food purchasing power and the possibility of a wider spectrum of food selection. Thus, the innovation approach may not only provide more competitive agricultural products, it may also make substantial contributions to food security.

Dr. Leon A. Terry, Head of Plant Science Laboratory, Cranfield University, UK (l.a.terry@cranfield.ac.uk), February 2009.

Apples still represent one of the most important fresh produce types within the fresh fruit and vegetable category. Standard quality control for apple fruit is usually based on setting a numerical lower limit for firmness, soluble solids content, starch pattern index, colour and mass. All these factors affect quality but are commonly measured using rather rudimentary equipment which is known to have some flaws. This said, recent published research has shown that apple firmness is the most important factor in determining consumer acceptance of apples (Harker et al., 2008). Soluble solids content and acidity also play a role in defining consumer preference within specific cultivars. Mealiness is a negative attribute. There has been a positive trend towards consumers choosing to purchase firm/crisp apples, whilst a small proportion still value softer and more aromatic cultivars; these being inherently more challenging to store. However, is the consumer driving the selection of firmer varieties or is it availability (i.e. what they are presented with) and/or standardisation/consistency? Apple quality (the product) is only one aspect which governs consumer choice; price, promotion, place and packaging (the 5 P’s) are also important. In addition, availability is also key. This has been increased through cold storage, ethylene control/suppression and controlled atmosphere storage such that consumers are often faced with fruit from both hemispheres. Consumers thus have to choose (consciously or not) between short to long-term stored fruit (Varela et al., 2008). However, the notion that longer stored produce are less fresh and thus inferior does not always stand true. Time is only one factor which governs postharvest quality. The storage conditions, postharvest treatments and handling are the defining criteria which ultimately affect quality.

Significant advances in postharvest technology have reduced wastage and maintained quality, yet extension of storage life and thus availability of a consistent product are still primary concerns. Since the first work by Kidd and West after The First World War on developing CA storage to the recent advances in usage of the ethylene binding inhibitor 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) it could be argued that many of the fundamental challenges faced today by the apple industry have changed little in the last 90 years. A report by the now defunct British Government’s Department for Scientific and Industrial Research in 1930 (Food Investigation Report No. 38: J. Baker) stated that for apples ‘the most important losses are caused by over-ripeness, fungal rotting, bitter pit and internal breakdown, freezing and development of scald; Jonathan spot and brown heart are also found. Bitter pit and internal breakdown are most common in certain varieties, but all varieties are liable to suffer from fungal rotting. A survey of the present knowledge with regard to each of these abnormalities is given, with suggested remedies, but it is emphasised that in many cases more work is required before marked improvement may be expected.’

References:

• • Harker, F.R. et al. (2008). Eating quality standards for apples based on consumer preferences. Postharvest Biology and Technology, pp. 50, 70-78.
  • Varela, P., Salvador, A. and Fiszman, S. (2008). Shelf-life estimation of ‘Fuji’ apples. Postharvest Biology and Technology, pp. 50, 64-69.

Dr. Elhadi M. Yahia, February 2009.

Increasing incidences of some chronic diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular disease, especially in industrial countries, have raised a lot of awareness in the last few years regarding the importance of diet. It is estimated that one third of the cancer cases and up to half of cardiovascular disease rates are thought to be diet related. Many studies have shown mounting evidence that people who avoid fruit and vegetables completely, or consume very little, are indeed at increased risk of these diseases. Therefore, interest in the health benefits of fruit and vegetable consumption is increasing, fruit and vegetable consumption in many countries has increased, and therefore fruit and vegetable production has certainly increased.

Fruits and vegetables have historically been considered rich sources of some essential dietary micronutrients, some vitamins, and fibers, and more recently they have been recognized as important sources for a wide array of many other phytochemicals that individually, or in combination, may benefit health, and therefore some people had conferred on fruits and vegetables the status of “functional foods”. There are many biologically plausible reasons for this potentially protective association, including the fact that many of the phytochemicals act as antioxidants.

Phytochemicals present in fruits and vegetables are many and very diverse (more than 8000). Naturally occurring compounds such, as phytochemicals, which possess anticarcinogenic and other beneficial properties, are referred to as chemopreventers. One of the predominant mechanisms of their protective action is due to their antioxidant activity and the capacity to scavenge free radicals. Consumption of fruit and vegetable diet has shown to increase antioxidant concentration in blood and body tissues, and potentially protects against oxidative damage to cells and tissues, and therefore can protect from diverse illnesses. Many epidemiological evidences indicate that avoidance of smoking, increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, and control of infections can have a major effect on reducing rates of several chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease and different types of cancer. However, phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables also act in several other ways, other than been antioxidants. Among the most investigated chemopreventers are some vitamins, plant polyphenols, and pigments such as carotenoids, chlorophylls, flavonoids, and betalains.

Evidences indicate that for the effect of fruit and vegetable consumption on health, the whole may be much more important than the sum of the parts, meaning that individual components (phytochemicals) appear to act synergistically where the influence of at least some of these is additive. Therefore, in many instances some isolated compounds from fruits and vegetables do not work as the consumption of whole fruits and vegetables.

Therefore, it is argued that increasing intake (400 to 800 g/day) of fruits and vegetables is a public health strategy of considerable importance for individuals and communities worldwide. For this reason the World Health Organization (WHO), and several international and national health and nutrition organizations recommend daily intake of 400 g of fruits and vegetables or more per person (the National Institute of Nutrition in Mexico recommends 500g/person/day). Many of the putative chemoprotective phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables are colored (due to different pigments), and therefore the guidelines are sometimes based on selecting one serving daily of fruits and vegetables from each of 7 color classes (red, yellow-green, red-purple, orange, orange-yellow, green, white-green), so that a variety of phytochemicals is consumed. Many studies have shown that consumption of fruit and vegetables is still low in many countries, and efforts are still needed to increase it.

Therefore, there are many accumulating evidences that consumption of fruits and vegetables is important for human health, and that’s why medical authorities all over the world are recommending it. However, will the current world economic difficulties effect these efforts? It is very difficult to predict. Almost all fruits and vegetables are produced in Developing Countries, mostly to export to Developed Countries. Will the trend of consumption in Developed Countries be affected, and therefore affecting the amount produced and exported of these important food commodities? Unfortunately i suspect it will, although especially not being an economist, I hope I am wrong. Any views from better experts?

Prof. Dr. Edmundo Brito de la Fuente, Executive Vice-President of Kabi Innovation Centre, Business Unit Enteral Nutrition, Germany (edmundo.brito@fresenius-kabi.com), February 2009.

The term Enteral Nutrition (EN) is used to comprise all forms of nutritional support that imply the use of “dietary foods for special medical purposes also known as FSMP” as defined in the European legal regulation of the commission directive 1999/21/EC of 25 March 1999. This definition is independent of the route of application. It includes oral nutritional supplements (ONS) as well as tube feeding via different tubes placed inside patients (e.g., nasogastric, nasoenteral or percutaneous). This definition differs from others which may include blenderized food. Important to highlight here is the fact that prescription and thus reimbursement of EN products is in many countries (most Europeans) dependent of the use of industrial products rather than the route of application. EN is part of a qualified nutritional regimen in the in-and outpatient setting, and usually one of the tasks of professionals with special training in EN or the nutritional support team. The reader may already note that we are talking here of foods/nutrition for critically and chronically ill patients as well as those who need a specialized nutritional support as a consequence of disease specific treatments.

FSMP products either for tube feeding or as an ONS, may be (1) nutritionally complete (i.e., when given in the recommended amount, to be used as a sole source of nutrition or as a supplement to the patient’s normal intake) or (2) nutritionally incomplete, this means to be used as a supplement only and not as a sole source of nutrition. FSMP products can also be classified as (1) standard formulae – their composition should reflect the reference values for macro and micronutrients for a healthy population, and (2) disease-specific formulae which should include macro and micronutrient compositions adapted to the needs of a specific disease and/or digestive or metabolic disorder.

FSMP products are not clearly differentiated from Functional Foods at least from the definition side. Functional Foods have been defined by the European Commission’s Concerted Action on Functional Food Science in Europe (FuFoSE) as “functional if together with the basic nutritional impact it has beneficial effects on one or more functions of the human organism thus either improving the general and physical conditions or/and decreasing the risk of the evolution of diseases”. It is clear that both FSMP and Functional Foods may have similar health claims which should be clinically proven. It is also clear that these products, FSMP and Functional Foods, are in a so-called grey area which describes the overlapping interest of food and pharmaceutical industries.

From a business perspective, FSMP products are sold to hospitals and nursing homes, at least in Europe and they follow a special and complex regulation and registration pathway. On the other hand, Functional Foods are normally distributed through the massive food channels or supermarkets and health stores. FSMP products should be prescribed in order to get reimbursement whereas Functional Foods are usually a customer choice and thus they have to pay for them. Even though health claims for Functional Foods and thus registration is becoming increasingly complex, at least in Europe, FSMP are still far away in the regulatory frame and in many cases these products are treated as drugs for registration purposes (e.g., China and many LAM countries).

FSMP products have an attractive market, close to 3.6 Billions of Euros, with a double digit growth, in particular in some Asia Pacific countries like China. In most Western European countries, USA and Japan it is a well established market with big pharmaceutical companies (e.g., Abbott, Novartis, Fresenius-Kabi) being the main players. Recently, giant food companies like Nestle and Danone have entered more aggressively into this market and they expect to leverage from the scientific approach usually followed to design and develop new FSMP products, to increase their health image in the normal massive food retail market which includes the Functional Food sector.

As it has already been mentioned above, it is not clearly defined which products should be considered as Functional Foods, even if we only look at the food retail market. Therefore, it is rather difficult to estimate the market size for Functional Foods. Some authors (Hilliam, 2000 – The World of Food Ingredients, 12, 50-52) have estimated the global market to at least 33 billions US$. Other experts have suggested being close to 50 billion US$ (Sloan, 2002 – Food Technology, 56, 32-57).

Finally, the FSMP market is under huge pressure from different national governments in particularly in two fronts; reimbursement and costs. Nowadays, several governments are trying not to reimburse anymore all or part of the FSMP products offer by industry and transfer this specialized feeds/nutrition to the patient’s pocket and budget. The result of this will be a substantial decrease in the quality of life of many patients under Enteral nutrition regimes and in a substantial cost increase in the health care system, because nutrition has been recognized as an important variable that significant reduce the length of stays in hospitals.

On the other hand, regulatory constrains mainly related to health claims and use of specific healthy functional ingredients for Functional Foods is making this food business sector quite challenging. For both FSMP and Functional Foods, the common challenge is to identify efficient and effective responses to patients and consumer expectations for health-enhancing-supporting food and nutrition.

Pol Tijskens, Horticultural Supply Chains, Wageningen University, the Netherlands (Pol.Tijskens@wur.nl), February 2009.

Why is one mango different from another? Why is one batch of tomatoes different from another batch? Why are apples from Chile different from Dutch apples? Why does one season yields good quality products while another yields less?

No matter how we produce food, in a traditional way, by organic farming, high intensive agriculture, in open field or in greenhouses, a variation exists in the properties and quality of the produce. For ease of operation, from production all the way though the supply chain up to and including the consumer’s plate, man tries to avoid and decrease this biological variation e.g., by precision farming, by harvesting at a certain maturity, by sorting and grading. Production would be easier, distribution would be easier, retail would be easier and buying food would by much easier. But we do not succeed in avoiding biological variation. Not really. Moreover, life would become very boring!

Evolution is driven by genes, and genes are driven by variation. Life is driven by variation. Our food crops are driven by variation. Being happy in life thrives on variation! So, the battle against biological variation is bound to be lost. We can not beat nature. What we can do is trying to use the existing processes underlying that variation to our advantage. To do that we need to understand the rules of variation, where it comes from, where it is heading to, and above all how it develops or changes in every step of the chain.

During the last 5 to 10 years, exciting developments have been reported in the field of product properties and product quality that include this variation in experimental setup, in modelling and in data analysis, with amazing success. Always! The reliability of statistical analysis and prediction increased from a level of roughly 70% to well over 95%, just by including the variation between individual fruit. What always was considered by the experts, physiologist, physicists and statisticians alike, to be an unavoidable random effect, turned out to strictly obey deterministic rules. Applying this view on biological variation opens wide alleys for new and exciting research, to understand better the invariable rules of variability, the effect of season, weather, region etc.

It is therefore my strongest expectation, that within 20 to 25 years, all research in all food related fields has to include biological variation to really enhance the understanding of the behaviour and the control of our food chain from farm to fork.

Dr. Rocio Arellano, MD, M.Sc., Professor at the Autonomous University of Queretaro and MD at the San Jose Hospital, Queretaro (roare2001@yahoo.com), Mexico, February 2009.

Childhood obesity increasing prevalence is a threat to the world’s health systems, and it is becoming a big concern among public health programmers. Pediatricians are facing the problem of chronic disease early in life, where dyslipidemia, hypertension and non insulin dependent diabetes mellitus are seen in most obese children. Not to mention the ill consequences in bone and joint deformation and the psychosocial implications of living as an obese child, which may remain even if not becoming an obese adult. Nevertheless, it is not clear when does disease start to develop and how the causal factors interact to initiate the morbid states mentioned above and therefore when to start prevention.

Genetic, metabolic and environmental factors all interact in an individual in order to develop obesity and the associated diseases, but the greater increase in children obesity in the last decades is not likely to be associated to genetics but to environmental factors such as a decrease in physical activity and consumption of high energy dense food. But why some children become overweight while others seem to do the same without gaining weight and balancing their weight and stature during growth? Researchers have found that even small differences in the energy balance equation, that is between energy intake or expenditure, can cause weight gain and increased adiposity in young people. Therefore, parents, pediatricians, nutritionists and health care providers should be aware that the child may not be able to compensate for this positive energy balance in the long term. Even considering that the child is growing, if it continues to have a positive energy balance of any magnitude, even of a small proportion, the child will become overweight or obese. From this point of view, it is important that even a normal weight child should remain physically active and have a well balanced diet.

Parent’s food choices and health practices highly influence children food consumption and exercise from early childhood. The so called obesogenic environment where an overweight child lives involves all the ways parents, children, and families eat and exercise on a daily basis mainly at home, but also at school, vacation periods, holidays and social events. It is difficult to separate the genetic from the environmental factors involved in obesity and its comorbidities since both are shared between parents and children, but maybe it is not a fatal destiny to be the obese child of an obese parent and become a holder of a chronic disease, if parents start doing major changes to their own lifestyles and create a family based system to remain healthy.

In the past we knew about the vicious cycle between maternal and infant malnutrition and the infectious disease risk associated. Now we understand more about the metabolic consequences of low birth weight and adult chronic disease. The malnourished child develops an insulin resistance state during the accelerated catch up growth that will increase the risk of becoming an obese adult and developing the same chronic diseases as obese children. Diabetic mothers and women with gestational diabetes give birth to macrosomic children who will be at greater risk of obesity and diabetes.

From the previous insights the answer to the question of when to start prevention of childhood obesity? Is: as early as possible and at all levels. During pregestational care, mother health and nutrition need to be addressed in order to prevent childhood obesity and chronic disease. During office consultation with pediatricians, nutritionists, and health care providers, addressing the relevance and magnitude of the childhood obesity problem and its health consequences providing sound advice on children food practices and increasing physical activity. At home, starting with parent’s lifestyle and healthy body weight to favor a healthy family lifestyle, also at schools, clinics, social events, vacations, holidays and public health politics. It is a social problem and that is how it should be solved, increasing efforts at all community levels to reverse these trends, and developing research tools to understand more on energy balance, metabolism, interaction of environmental factors and genetics involved in the development of obesity in a growing individual as well as forms of preventing and treating obesity and chronic disease in youth.

Dr. Carlos Sosa, Professor and Ex Dean, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Autonomous University of Queretaro, Mexico (carlosfranciscososa@gmail.com), February 2009.

In 12,000 years of domestication of animals about 700 breeds have been created by humans. However, it has been acknowledged for more than a decade that there is a large dependency on very few species of domestic plants and animals to provide food and nutrition to the world’s human population. Maize, potatoes, wheat and rice on one hand and poultry, swine, beef cattle, dairy cattle and sheep on the other, represent the few genetic resources currently supporting the production of food in the world, and to make the dependence worse there are few strains represented in these species. The intensification of production systems and the international trade of so called improved genotypes have induced the substitution of local breeds and in some case their extinction. As an example, the Holstein breed of dairy cattle represents more than 90% of all milk producing cows in several developed and developing countries. While the improved breeds may increase productivity, they also increase production costs, as more expensive feedstuffs, vaccines, medicines and facilities are required to achieve their potential of production. The increase in costs causes that the marginal profit per unit of production decreases and therefore more animals are required to make the production systems profitable. Under intensive systems up to 65% of costs are represented by feed costs. Thus only large livestock companies or large farmer cooperatives in developed and developing countries have taken advantage of highly selected strains of farm animals. Those companies or cooperatives are also capable of processing animal products into pasteurized milk, powder milk, frozen and cured meats, etc. and thus participate in several links of the market chains positioning themselves to be able to collect on the added value of their products. In contrast, medium and small farmers obtain animal products mainly from improved local breeds and with less intensive production systems. These farmers sell their animals or products to the middle man, who pays them at unfair prices and who collects on the added value of the transformed products. Subsistence farmers, who keep animals mainly for self consumption, utilize mainly unimproved local rare breeds. These two last situations are far more common in developing countries. The local breeds have some advantages over imported improved breeds, mainly disease resistance, heat tolerance and the capability to use local feedstuffs, as they have evolved in the local environment for hundreds of years in some cases. On the other hand improved breed are highly dependent on controlled environments free of pathogens and on feeds that are in some cases expensive and imported from other countries. Thus a major outbreak of a disease, like poultry influenza or swine fever, or a food crisis like the recent one on grains, make improved breeds and intensive systems very susceptible.

FAO, through the Animal Genetic Resources Group, has issued recommendations for countries to characterize, to protect and to use in a sustainable fashion their animal genetic resources. However these represent challenges that require from governments to re-design economic and agricultural policies to allow farmers to produce in a sustainable fashion utilizing local breeds, but at the same time to maintain the supply of animal products to current markets. This scenario may be feasible in developed countries where subsidies to agriculture are kept in spite the pressure from WTO. The real challenge will be to implement such policies in developing countries under the current conditions of trade barriers, low prices and subsidies in developed countries.

Dr. Alfonso A. Gardea, Professor and Ex General Director of CIAD, Mexico (Gardea@ciad.mx), February 2009.

According to FAO officials the 2007 food crisis escalated the number of undernourished people to a peak high of 923 million, worldwide. Furthermore, estimates consider that food production must doubles by 2050 in order to secure food for a planet population of nine billion.

At the same time, the current financial crisis facing developed countries at present, is taking a heavy toll in their productive structure, since credit problems prevent growers to borrow money to expand or even maintain their current levels, affecting their export capacity and therefore food availability. From the consumer standpoint, it is expected that a shift in people preferences will lean towards less expensive items. If so, commercial exchanges will be severely affected.

The agribusiness commercial exchange between Mexico and the US has gone through deep changes since the establishment of NAFTA in 1994. At the beginning, such exchange meant a deficit for Mexico in the order of 477 M US Dlls, but 2002 closed with an increased deficit of 1,459 M US Dlls, for an accumulated total of 4,685 M US Dlls for the whole period. Under such scenario the most significant exports have concentrated in few produces. Current figures show an even more drastic scenario.

In a parallel story, the current financial crisis affecting the US economy is resulting in unprecedented budget cuts that will cause profound changes in government expenditures, and most agencies, if not all, will see their capabilities reduced, while other financial strategies are intended to increase jobs and support a steady return to previous economic standards, through a series of economic stimulus packages. Such condition prevailed in most of the world and was worsened by the current use of grains for biofuels. China was an exception due to the precautionary measures they established, and as today, China can feed itself and even export certain amounts of food. Although any problem affecting their food supply will result in an aggravated crisis worldwide. Should recent urbanization trends maintain the same rates in China, farmland shortage will inevitably lead to food shortages, which in turn will affect food global availability and security. Farmland use for biofuel production elsewhere will cause the same effect, while increases in fertilizers cost only aggravate this condition. So far the situation from the food security standpoint was addressed as affected by the food and the economic crisis, as well as their interaction. Food safety on the other hand may result as an effect of the above. Food safety being a key component of any product exchange may become jeopardized if regulatory agencies do not have the economic means to strengthen their activities. Even if consumer purchase capacities are diminished, assurance of safe produce should still score high in public health priorities.

In the US, in 2008 alone, serious health problems were caused by Salmonella infected hot peppers, and the largest beef recall ever recorded hit that industry strongly; while at present, the Salmonella outbreak in peanut butter products is causing an uneasy situation for a big segment of the food industry, aggravated by the fact that, according to FDA reports, the processing plant knew long in advance that problems along processing could result in consumers health risks. Ever since September 11 and Hurricane Katrina, careful guidelines were devised to face menaces like those and significant advances were made; however a 25 % cut in federal funds has already caused serious limitations to protect the American consumer. This is determinant for commercial exchange, since food imports are regulated under such rules, not to mention that timelines are extraordinarily important when dealing with perishable products. According to a joint report by Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) found among other key issues that ¨in addition to the federal decreases, 11 states and D.C. cut their public health budgets in the past year. In the coming year, 33 states are facing shortfalls in their 2009 budgets and 16 states are already projecting shortfalls to their 2010 budgets. Twenty states and D.C. did not meet or exceed the national average rate for being able to identify the pathogens responsible for foodborne disease outbreaks¨.

In short, budget cuts in the US may affect dramatically the guidelines for produce exports towards that market and most likely stringent control measurements will be established affecting profit margins.

Turning our attention to the situation for Mexican exporters and consumers alike, we can foresee that safety rules for our exports will become even tighter, which is understandable since the bottom line for US agencies is protecting the health of their consumers. However, the unavoidable question is who will pay for the costs associated for implementing measures to achieve access to that market? Although Mexican officials announced that our economy was strongly armored, past experiences do not support that claim, and even more, recent statements proved otherwise. Mexico federal budget faces strong cuts as well, adding to the effects of the world crisis, we must consider falling oil prices and significant reductions in dollars remitted by Mexicans working in the US. Added conditions that will result in a deficit budget affecting all activities sponsored by federal money.

While stimulus packages are being designed in the US to foster their economy, we still have to find out what will be implemented by the Mexican counterparts. Nonetheless, big expectations are out of order.

Clear and strict guidelines for food imports should be established to protect the health of Mexican consumers as well. Although, seemingly logical, there is always room for surprises, like the abolishment by Mexican officials of microbial analysis for beef product imports, on the grounds that ¨no violations are found on a regular basis¨. Taking as an example the past melamine scandal in Chinese milk and milk products, three officials are facing sentences, one for life in prison and two by death. Indeed a strong punishment for negligence! Is it necessary to relay in such extreme measures? Hopefully not, but consumer health safeguard should be a top priority for all parties involved, and not pretending that problems should be resolved solely on growers pocket. We -producers, distributors, retailers and consumers, taxpayers all, regardless of the side of the border we live in- deserve the best choice our money can buy, and our governments have the responsibility to assure that the proper conditions are met. At the end that is why we elect them and pay them for. Yet, resilience from our own experiences seems to oblige.

Dr. Javier Castellanos, Soil Science specialist and Director of INTAGRI, Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico (javier.castellanos.ramos@gmail.com), January 2009.

Organic farming appeared as a notable objective for the human diet: To consume food free of chemicals, and especially free of insecticides. It was born almost 30 years ago and little by little it has been gaining space in the market until recently approaching its limit because of high and unnecessary costs of production. In fact, this type of limit was expected from its very beginning. Most agriculturists foresaw this weakness of organic farming, but just did not pay much attention and did not believe that it was going to grow to the extent that it has.

The objectives of organic farming are noble, but due to the ignorance of those who developed and promoted the original idea, the adopted norms were unrealistic and it became a panacea, expensive and elitist. 1) Panacea, because there are not sufficient amounts of the required organic fertilizers in the whole world to supply the nitrogen and other plant nutrients required, 2) Expensive, because it prohibits the use of innocuous inorganic fertilizers and pushes the farmers to use organic sources that, in practice are very expensive, difficult to apply, and non-profitable for farmers to use, 3) Elitist, because only a few consumers can afford to regularly purchase these costly products.

If we accept the idea that one of the reasons for an increased incidence of human cancer was the lack of control of the massive use of chemical pesticides in the food production chain; particularly the use of chlorinated and phosphorylated insecticides, then the search for a chemical pesticide-free agriculture should have been the central objective of Organic Farming. Wouldn’t it have been a better strategy for improving health and reducing the causes of cancer to encourage human consumption of five or more servings of pesticide-free fruits and vegetables a day? What the world really needed was a chemical pesticide-free agriculture that is environmentally friendly, and even profitable. Instead, organic farming has prohibited all kind of agricultural inputs, except those of natural origin. They demonized fertilizers and pesticides, as if they are similar things.

Recently it has been demonstrated that crops can be profitably produced without the use of chemical pesticides, something that for years the transnational chemical pesticide companies made us believe was impossible. Currently more than 10,000 hectares of horticultural products are produced free of chemical pesticides in Almeria, Spain and they expect to grow to 15,000 has next year. Additional areas are similarly being developed in other countries. The use of beneficial insects and other organisms and the use of natural fungicides can totally defeat pests without the use of chemical pesticides. The struggle is just starting and we already see enormous advances. I have frequently asked myself, how far ahead we would be by now, if 20 years ago organic farming had promoted a chemical pesticide-free agriculture, rather than demonizing fertilizers. We are still on time to correct the course.

Prof. Adel A. Kader, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Davis (aakader@ucdavis.edu), January 2009.

Plant breeders have been successful in selecting genotypes with much higher contents of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in guava, pineapple, and tomatoes, beta carotene (provitamin A) in pineapple and tomatoes, and flavonoids in berries and tomatoes. Biotechnology approaches coupled with plant breeding can be utilized to improve the content of vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, and phytonutrients in fruits, especially those with high per capita consumption rates. Phytonutrients that can lower the risk of heart disease, cancer, and other diseases include carotenoids and flavonoids (anthocyanins, phenolic acids, polyphenols). The antioxidant capacity of fruits is related to their contents of anthocyanins, phenolic compounds, carotenoids, ascorbic acid, and vitamin E. Large genotypic variation in total antioxidant capacity have been shown in many fruits, indicating the potential for further genetic improvements.

Providing better flavored fruits is likely to increase their consumption, which would be good for the producers and handlers (making more money or at least staying in business) as well as for the consumers (increased consumption of healthy foods). To achieve this goal, future research and development efforts should address the following objectives:

• Replace poor flavor cultivars with good flavor cultivars from among those that already exist and/or by selecting new cultivars with superior flavor and good textural quality.
• Identify optimal cultural practices that maximize flavor quality, such as optimizing crop load and avoiding excess nitrogen and water, which along with low calcium shorten the postharvest-life of fruits due to increased susceptibility to physical damage, physiological disorders, and decay.
• Encourage producers to harvest fruits at partially‑ripe to fully‑ripe stages by developing handling methods that protect the fruits from physical damage.
• Identify optimal postharvest handling conditions (time, temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric composition) that maintain flavor quality of fruits and their value‑added products. Postharvest‑life should be determined on the basis of flavor rather than appearance. The end of flavor‑life results from losses in sugars, acids, and aroma volatiles (especially esters) and/or development of off‑flavors (due to fermentative metabolism or odor transfer from fungi or other sources).
• Develop ready‑to‑eat, value‑added products with good flavor and adequate shelf-life for successful marketing.
• Optimize maturity/ ripeness stage in relation to flavor quality at the time of processing and select processing methods to retain good flavor of the processed products.