Revised national standard for food additives protects food safety.
The Ministry of Health published the Health Standard for the Use of Food Additives (GB2760-2007) on March 25th. The new standard has added principles for use of food additives, classified additives allowed to be used in foods and defined their application scope and amount. Food additives are...

Healthy food in healthcare.
This report identifies the need to ensure that the food purchased for and served in hospitals and other healthcare settings supports healing, promotes health in all consumers (especially our patients), and reduces and eliminates adverse impacts to both human and environmental health from food production practices. Food production and...

Rapid analysis of coumarins using surface plasmon resonance.
Coumarin molecules are ubiquitous in nature. Several have come to prominence as potential clinical therapeutic candidates. The principal example is warfarin, which is a very widely prescribed anticoagulant. Other coumarin derivatives, such as aflatoxin [B.sub.1], are insidious contaminants in crop-derived foodstuffs. Extreme potency is a common feature of all...

What happens if the packaging gets into the food.
We've come a long way since making popcorn meant shaking a pan of oil and kernels over high heat on the stove. Now, in less time that it takes to get through a commercial, we can pop a package in the microwave and get popcorn ready to serve in...

Food additive loopholes.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 50 years ago, Congress passed a law that was intended to ensure that chemicals intentionally added to foods were safe. The Food Additives Amendment of 1958 requires that proposed new food additives be tested by manufacturers and accepted by the Food and Drug...

Stevia: sweet ... but how safe?
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This is a potential game-changer among zero-calorie sweeteners," said Lou Imbrogno, senior vice president of Pepsi Worldwide Technical Operations, in a press release in July. Stevia may be natural--unlike the other major non-caloric sweeteners. But is it safe ... and does it taste...

The dyes have it.
What gives Fanta Orange soda its color? In the United States, it's two synthetic food dyes: Red 40 and Yellow 6. In England, it's pumpkin and carrot extract. At a U.S. McDonald's, the strawberry sundae gets its color from Red 40. In England, the red comes from (surprise!) real...

Food safety advocates call for food dye ban.
Eight widely used artificial colorings that have been linked to hyperactivity and behavior problems in children should be banned from use in food in the United States, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group formally...

Making it work: the application of time as a public health control in the field.
Although most of the information presented in the Journal refers to situations within the United States, environmental health and protection know no boundaries. The Journal periodically runs International Perspectives to ensure that issues relevant to our international constituency, representing over 60 countries worldwide, are addressed. Our goal is to...

Evaluating dietary carcinogens.
A much-cited 1981 study concluded that some 35 percent of human cancer deaths probably trace to carcinogens in foods-both synthetic chemicals, such as pesticides and food additives, and naturally occurring ones, like fungal toxins. To get a better fix on the risks posed by such compounds, the National Research...