November 9, 2007

The annual canola convention is coming soon – Help the canola industry grow a healthier world by attending the 41st annual convention in Florida March 9-11, 2008. Watch the Canola Council website for details beginning next week.

Canadian canola crush up – The Canadian Oilseed Processors Association (COPA) reports that member canola crush plants operated at 100% of capacity for the week ended Oct 24, putting through 80,969 tonnes. This was a weekly record, up from 77,728 tonnes the previous week.

The crop year average to date is 72,139 tonnes. Cumulative crush for 2007-08 is up 11% at 865,664 tonnes versus 778,448 a year earlier.

U.S. mulls food label changes – Nutrition facts labels on food and beverages in the U.S. could be up for an overhaul, the Food and Drug Administration announced this week. FDA says it is considering the changes in order to bring recommendations up to date with new information on diet and health.

This could affect the calorie, fat, carbohydrate, fibre, protein and sodium components of labels, specifically the per cent daily value levels, which have not been updated since 1995. FDA is calling for comments on how daily values should be set, what they should be based on, and which consumer populations they should target.

FDA is asking the following questions about how fat content is labelled:

Calories from saturated fat

  • Should these continue to be voluntary or should they be made mandatory on labels?

Saturated fat

  • Should the current Daily Reference Value (DRV) of 20g/d from saturated fat remain?
  • Should research data be used to establish a DRV for saturated fat that is as low as possible?

Trans fat

  • Should research data be used to establish a DRV for trans fat that is as low as possible?
  • Should saturated fat and trans fat be listed on separate lines of the Nutrition Facts label, but have one numerical value for the percent daily value for these two nutrients together?

Polyunsaturated fat

  • Should it continue to be voluntary or should it be made mandatory to label this?
  • How should a DRV be developed?

Monounsaturated fat

  • Should it continue to be voluntary or should it be made mandatory to label this?

Cholesterol

  • Should the current DRV of 300mg/d remain?
  • How should a DRV be established?

Canola is king at Asian food expo – CanolaInfo co-sponsored last week’s The Rise of Asia conference at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in St. Helena, CA. Chefs John Littlewood and Todd Muir created delicious dishes using canola oil, Waygu beef and Berkshire pork (from Snake River Farms, Boise, ID).

The 650 chefs attending the conference appreciated the food and recipes - and all without one mention of olive oil!

Ming Tsai getting attention on behalf of CanolaInfo – According to the Meal Makeover Moms blog, CanolaInfo spokesman Ming Tsai has been getting some attention during his appearances on behalf of the canola industry.

It seems the Moms, Janice Newell Bissex and Liz Weiss, met Tsai during the American Dietetic Association conference in Philadelphia, PA. “Liz was invited up on stage to taste his food along with incoming ADA president Marty Yadrick and Jeanne Goldberg, Professor of Nutrition at Tufts University. Ming was as charming (and handsome!) in person as he is on TV … and his beautiful food tasted great too,” writes Bissex in the blog.

To read more, go to http://mealmakeovermoms.blogspot.com/

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