April 13, 2007

Barb Isman to champion canola biodiesel from private sector - After five years with the Canola Council, President Barb Isman announced this week that she will be leaving the organization to join Vancouver-based Canadian BioEnergy Corporation, which has announced its intention to build a global scale biodiesel facility at Ft. Saskatchewan. Barb says it will be incredibly difficult to leave the organization and the people in the industry. “Working at the Canola Council and for the canola industry has been an amazing experience and a great privilege,” she says. “I am leaving with the knowledge that canola will continue to grow in importance as superior value product and that the Council will continue to be an effective advocate for the interests of the entire industry.” Barb Isman will leave the Council at the end of July.

Health committee targets trans and sats - The Standing Committee on Health has endorsed the Trans Fat Task Force's recommendation to dramatically limit trans fat content in Canadian food, providing there is no increase in saturated fat consumption. This has positive implications for the canola industry, which has been emphasizing the importance of not replacing one bad fat with another since the Task Force convened.

“While the committee is recommending regulation, the addition of the saturated fat message is a really big win for us,” says Tyler Bjornson, vice president of corporate affairs for the Canola Council of Canada.

The report, “Healthy Weights for Healthy Kids,” was published in March and also includes musings on a saturated fat tax.

Harvard University shows major link between trans fat and heart disease - If you hadn't figured out already that trans fat is bad for you, read this study. The Harvard School of Public Health has published the results of a study on trans fat in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association that shows women in the U.S. with the highest levels of trans fat in their blood had three times the risk of coronary heart disease as those with the lowest levels.

“These data provide further justifications for current efforts to remove trans fat from foods and restaurant meals,” says senior author Frank Hu, associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at HSPH. “Trans fat intake in the U.S. is still high. Reducing trans fat intake should remain an important public health priority.

For more information on the study results, go to: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/03/trans_fat_heart_disease.html

Canola oil is trendy! Who knew? - Actually, canola has more staying power than that. Thirty-some years after its debut, canola oil is one of the cool kids - at least according to food trends expert Dana McCauley, who appeared on CTV's morning show, Canada AM on April 4. Canola oil was one of the items she featured in a piece on trendy cuisine.

“We have been trained by the media and by all kinds of messages that olive oil is the healthy way to go,” McCauley said. “Olive oil is healthy, but a lot of people are recognizing that canola - great Canadian product - is wonderful for us.”

She went on to say that unlike corn oil, canola oil is still an inexpensive option.

Canola a reality show star - MTV's cool car show Pimp My Ride is about to go green with the help of canola biodiesel. The show has in the works a special Earth Day episode that will see the crew convert a 1965 Chevy Impala to run biodiesel in an 800 horsepower diesel engine. California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will also make a “surprise” appearance on the show.

“I am very encouraged by the great potential in converting vehicles to run on biodiesel as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” says Schwarzenegger.

Biodiesel manufacturer Imperium Renewables provides the canola biodiesel fuel, engineering expertise, as well as a year supply of canola biodiesel to the car's owner. During this episode, Mad Max, one of the Pimp My Ride hosts, visits Imperium to see how biodiesel is made from canola oil. Imperium is set to build the largest biodiesel production facility in the U.S. at Grays Harbor, Washington this year.

For more information on this episode of Pimp My Ride starring canola oil, visit http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,86558.shtml.

Hickling to represent canola at China oilseeds conference - Dave Hickling ,vice president of utilization for the Canola Council, will address the Fourth International Conference on Oils and Oilseeds Market in Beijing, China next week. The event is sponsored by the China Cereals and Oils Business Net and the Chicago Board of Trade. It will feature presentations on soybeans, canola and palm oil, along with general overviews of the oilseed industry in China.

Hickling has been invited to speak about supply and demand for Canadian canola as it relates to China. He will present CANOLA . . . growing great 2015 and details about the canola industry's plan for increasing canola production over the next eight years.

Oil chemist receives international award - Jim Daun received the Eminent Scientist award for exceptional contributions to canola improvement at the 12th International Rapeseed Congress in Wuhan, China on March 27. Daun is the seventh person and the only non-geneticist to win the award since it was first presented to Baldur Stefansson in 1988.

The award recognizes Daun's work on the composition of canola seed, oil and meal and on the development of methods to measure canola quality, especially the use of Near Infrared Spectroscopy to support breeding programs. He carried out research on rapeseed and canola from 1975 to 2006 at the Canadian Grain Commission's Grain Research Lab as head of oilseeds and more recently pulse crops research. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Manitoba and a Fellow of the American Oil Chemists' Society.

Crowd of canola growers attends air-drill workshop - More than 180 canola growers got their hands-on the latest in seeding equipment during an air-drill clinic and seeding ready seminar hosted by the Canola Council and Alberta Reduced Tillage Linkages in Camrose, AB April 3. Equipment manufacturers walked growers through hands-on lessons in air-cart and air-drill specifications and reviewed key maintenance points for seeding equipment during the day-long session.

Canola Council agronomists and seeding and fertility experts also gave presentations on how to maximize effectiveness when seeding canola.

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