China probing claims of toxic cabbage: official

China is investigating claims vegetable sellers are spraying cabbage with harmful formaldehyde to keep it fresh, an official said on Tuesday, in yet another food safety scare to hit the country. Dozens of vegetable dealers in the eastern province of Shandong, a major vegetable supplier, are using the chemical to keep produce fresh on the way to market, media and Internet reports said this week. Formaldehyde -- commonly used as a preservative for laboratory specimens and embalming -- can be fatal if ingested and is also a cancer-causing substance. A local government official confirmed the practice and said authorities had started an investigation. "We are investigating this matter," an official from Dongxia town -- where the practice was originally uncovered -- told AFP. He declined to give details. The practice is widespread in Shandong and neighbouring Hebei province, especially in warmer months, the official Xinhua news agency has reported. "It's a common practice to keep the cabbage fresh. Otherwise, the vegetables stacked tightly in the trucks would rot in two to three days," a farmer in Dongxia was quoted as saying. Cabbage is a staple of the Chinese dining table, especially in the country's north. Chinese media say formaldehyde is used on other products, such as seafood and mushrooms. Officials say some sellers do not use costly refrigerated trucks for vegetable transport. China's government has repeatedly vowed to improve food safety as people grow increasingly alarmed about the quality of what they eat, but scandals still occur due to weak enforcement and unscrupulous business practices. Milk was at the centre of one of China's biggest food safety scandals in 2008 when the industrial chemical melamine was found to have been illegally added to dairy products to give the appearance of higher protein content. Last year, authorities arrested more than 30 people over the sale of cooking oil made from leftovers taken from gutters. More recently, employees of a leading Chinese poultry company sold diseased ducks to consumers, while a major dairy producer sold milk with high levels of a cancer-causing toxin, caused by cows eating mouldy feed.

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FDA warns of cough drug effects on young children

The Food and Drug Administration warned consumers on Tuesday that the accidental ingestion of Tessalon liquid cough capsules pose a serious risk of side effects or death to children under 10 years old.

Tessalon is approved by the agency to treat cough symptoms in patients older than 10. But, the agency said, the capsules may attract children because of their candy-like appearance. Brand name Tessalon is sold by Forest Pharmaceuticals Inc., though the product has been on the market for decades and several generic companies make versions of the product, also known as Benzonatate.

"Benzonatate (Tessalon) should be kept in a child-resistant container and stored out of reach of children," said Carol Holquist, director of the FDA's division of medication error prevention and analysis, in a statement. "The FDA encourages health care professionals to talk with their patients and those caring for children about the risk of accidental ingestion or overdose."

The agency has identified seven cases of accidental ingestion between 1982 and 2010. Five of those cases resulted in death in children 2 years of age and younger.

Common side effects include heart attack, coma, and convulsion. Signs and symptoms can occur within 15 minutes of ingestion and some of the deaths reported in children occurred within hours of accidental ingestion.

‘Botanical’ drink from eel extracts

MELAKA: The word ‘eel’ elicits various reaction from many but quite a number also realise that this fish constitutes several delicacies particularly from the east coast and northern part of the peninsula.

Known to locals as ‘belut’ or ‘ikan linang’, the eel is a familiar part among the rice and soup dishes in Kelantan such as eel soup and eel tom yam rice apart from nasi kerabu eel.

These rice dishes are common within the town and district

of Tumpat in Kelantan.

In the northern states of the peninsula, it is common for cooks to use the flesh of eels as the main composition of the gravy for laksa (rice noodles).

The eel or Monopterus Albus is a long slimy fish that resembles the snakehead and has gills.

Despite the fact that many refrain from eating eels, it is also a known statement that this fish exhibits a number of ‘nourishments’.

It is believed that eels can improve the body’s resistance to diseases, stabilise the blood pressure, smoothens the skin, inhibits eye infection, improves memory and prevents hepatitis. The eel is also rich in fatty acids, calcium, vitamins and iron.

Many say that eating eels helps to have healthy kidneys, prevents asthma and palpitations, erectile dysfunction and hastens wound healing.

Rancak Niaga, a Bumiputera firm based in Melaka has introduced the botanical drink with eel extracts under the brand name ‘Hibaat’. There is also a lotion under the same brand.

It is the company’s initiative for those who shy away from consuming eels due to their slimy character.

Rancak Niaga marketing director A Razak Kamis said the two products have been in the market for two months and received warm response from the public.

He said the botany drink with eel extracts was specially formulated to enhance the ‘male strength’ and stamina apart from stabilising the blood pressure and easing joint pains.

Among the constituents of the drink are eel extracts, herbs such as Tribulus terrasteris, Ginkgo biloba, Guarana and other spices.

The company markets the drink in two forms — 390 ml bottles and boxes of five 30 ml sachets each.

A Razak said the eel extract lotion was specially formulated to enhance facial beauty and skin care.

The lotion is enriched with extracts from white rose and chamomile believed to be good for the skin.

He said initially the focus of the products is in Melaka before being expanded to other states next year.

“In the first phase, the company produces 5,000 units of each product and in January next year the figure will be scaled to 10,000 units for each product,” he told Bernama here.

“This is only until December. Our turnover target is RM200,000 but for next year we expect RM5 million,” he said adding that RM70,000 was used as the initial outlay for both products. — Bernama

A Razak said the firm plans to produce another two items — the eel botany extract drink for women and massage oil from eel extracts.

A Razak said the idea to produce both items came about after he met a friend by the name of Zulkifle Ahmad at a restaurant in Duyong near here.

They were enjoying eel soup then.

“I actually did not have a taste for eels but my friend has and at that moment it crossed my mind why not make drinks and massage oil from eels,” he said.

He said the eel extracts were processed at a mill in Negeri Sembilan.

A Razak said the firm sourced the eels from local suppliers.

It plans to breed eels commercially in the future. — Bernama

North Korea 'creates super drink'

North Korea has claimed it has developed a "super drink" that can multiply brain cells and stop skin ageing.

The anti-oxidation drink contains 60 kinds of "microelements" extracted from more than 30 species of plants, according to the communist state's official news agency KCNA.

"It, with effects of both preventive and curative treatment, helps improve mental and retentive faculties by multiplying brain cells," KCNA said.

The drink can also protect skin from wrinkles and black spots, and prevent common conditions such as heart disease by removing "acid effete matters", it said.

Man charged with eat and run at top restaurants

LONDON - An unemployed man has been charged with wining and dining at a series of London's top restaurants, running up massive bills and then disappearing without paying, police said on Wednesday.

Latvian Janis Nords, 27, is accused of carrying out the scam on three occasions between October 14 and November 15.

He is accused of running off after amassing a 349-pound bill at the Glass House restaurant in Richmond, southwest London, and a 965-pound bill at the Connaught Hotel in central London.

The largest unpaid bill was at L'Oranger French restaurant in central London where he is accused of failing to pay for 1,021 pounds worth of food and drink.

Nords was due to appear in court later on Wednesday.

China milk campaigner 'forced to sack lawyers'

HONG KONG (AFP) - – A Chinese father jailed for "inciting social disorder" after campaigning for victims of melamine-tainted milk may have been forced to sack his lawyers, a rights group said Monday.

Zhao Lianhai, whose child was one of 300,000 sickened in the scandal in 2008, when six died, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison earlier this month.

The China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group, a Hong Kong-based organisation, said his two lawyers had tried to visit him at the Daxing detention centre, near Beijing, on Monday, but were not allowed to meet him.

In a statement the CHRLCG said his pair "suddenly received a note, with Zhao's signature and fingerprint, indicating to dismiss them as his lawyers" from the chief of the detention centre.

Pointing out that Zhao had stated his intention to appeal and Monday was the last day for him to do so, the CHRLCG said it was "strange" for him to sack the lawyers at that point and the note "might not represent Zhao's own wish".

"It was suspected that the Chinese government has been aggressively applying every measure to stop Zhao from lodging an appeal," the group said, adding that the move was "seriously violating the two lawyers' right to represent their client.

"We are very concerned whether Zhao has been coerced and faced any torture in the detention centre," it said, adding that Zhao's wife had given them a similar note.

The development came as state media said that authorities in central China were searching for a batch of dairy products containing high levels of melamine, the chemical involved in the scandal.

The government in Hubei province's Xiangfan city has asked all local businesses to look for 50 packages of a corn-flavoured dairy drink, the official China Daily newspaper reported.

Tests showed the melamine levels in the drinks were high, suggesting that the chemical -- which is normally used in making plastics -- was deliberately added during the production process, the report said.

It was not clear how many individual drinks were in one package.

The report said the company that made the drinks being sought in Hubei had bought milk powder as a raw material from a supplier in another province without knowing it was tainted with melamine.

China's dairy industry was rocked in 2008 by revelations that melamine was added to powdered milk to make it appear higher in protein content, sickening babies and causing worldwide recalls of products containing Chinese dairy ingredients.

The government said at the time it had destroyed all tainted milk powder and gave the all-clear, but reports of melamine-laced products have regularly re-emerged since then.

In July, authorities in China said they found 25,000 tonnes of milk powder tainted with melamine earlier this year.

The human rights group Amnesty International has condemned Zhao's conviction and imprisonment, saying it was "appalled".

High-caffeine energy drinks linked to alcohol abuse: study

WASHINGTON (AFP) - – Regularly consuming high-caffeine energy drinks significantly increases the risk of becoming alcohol-dependent and engaging in bouts of heavy drinking, a study published Tuesday found.

The study of more than 1,000 students at a US university found that those who consumed the caffeinated drinks on a weekly or daily basis drank alcohol more often and in greater quantities, and were more likely to become alcohol dependent than students who used energy drinks occasionally or not at all.

High consumers of energy drinks also had greater risk for alcohol-related problems such as blackouts or missing class because they were hung over, and were more susceptible to self-injury than non- or light users of energy drinks, said the study led by University of Maryland researcher Amelia Arria.

The study, which was released online ahead of publication next year in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, adds to earlier research that found links between heavy energy drink consumption and substance abuse and high-risk behavior.

The energy drinks, including Red Bull, Monster and Rockstar, deliver the equivalent caffeine dose of a cup and a half of brewed coffee but do not have to disclose their caffeine content on their label, which could lead to consumers of the drinks taking in more caffeine than they realize.

The researchers also noted that youngsters are tending more and more to mix energy drinks with alcohol, thinking that the caffeine, which keeps them awake, is counteracting the effects of the alcohol.

"They're under the misguided notion that they're not impaired when they are just as impaired as a person with the same blood-alcohol concentration. It's their subjective perception of drunkenness that is impaired," Arria told AFP.

Arria and her co-authors on the study called for greater regulation of caffeine-containing beverages to safeguard public health, and for consumers to be more aware of the dangers of the drinks.

"These drinks are distributed widely and the consequences of using them cost everyone, economically and socially. This doesn't affect a minority -- these things are pretty popular," Arria told AFP.

Nearly two thirds of the more than 1,000 students interviewed for the study used energy drinks at some time in the past year, and 10 percent consumed them on a weekly or daily basis.

Italian giant truffle sold for 105,000 euros

ALBA, Italy (AFP) – A giant white truffle was sold off on Sunday to a Hong Kong buyer for 105,000 euros (144,000 dollars) at a lavish auction near the town of Alba in northern Italy, organisers said.

The truffle weighed 900 grammes and the auction was held at the medieval Castello di Grinzane in a part of Italy famous for its wine and truffles.

The price per gramme for the truffle was therefore 117 euros -- lower than the rate of 133 euros per gramme paid at the same auction last year.

Last year's truffle also went to a buyer from Hong Kong.

Proceeds from the auction will go to scholarships for Italian students, a children's charity in Hong Kong and local charities in Alba.

"Truffle allows gourmets and gourmands from around the world to meet up in this corner of the Piemonte region to give life to an event with a big following," said Tomaso Zanoletti, a senator and one of the organisers.

Supermarket blasted for selling reindeer meat in UK

LONDON (AFP) - – A supermarket chain was under fire on Monday for selling reindeer meat in its British stores in the run-up to Christmas.

German discount chain Lidl is selling frozen Siberian reindeer leg steaks at six pounds (9.60 dollars, seven euros) for a 350-gramme pack as part of its deluxe range.

Reindeer are traditionally associated with the festive season -- the story going that Father Christmas travels around the world delivering presents on a sleigh pulled by a team of flying reindeer.

Animal rights campaigners blasted Lidl, which defended its decision to sell the unusual meat by saying the reindeer had been well treated.

"Lidl is destroying the magic of Christmas by selling dead reindeer," said Justin Kerswell, the campaigns manager for Vegetarians International Voice for Animals.

"What they term 'luxury cuisine' belies the truth behind an industry that exists to exploit wild animals," he told trade magazine The Grocer.

Siberian reindeer were often herded by snowmobiles and in some cases by helicopters and motorbikes, Kerswell said.

"This and lassoing them cause huge stress. They can become so distraught their muscle can waste away."

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said: "The idea of 'Rudolph' being slaughtered and sliced into steaks for a novelty Christmas dinner is revolting.

"Christmas is supposed to remind us of peace and goodwill -- and the rest of the animal kingdom could do with a taste of it, rather than being tasted."

Lidl, which has more than 530 stores in Britain, said the reindeer were fed on "local aromatic herbs and grass.

"They live in their natural habitat and have plenty of space to move around," a spokeswoman said.

The supermarket is also selling pheasant, venison and springbok in the Christmas build-up.

Non-stick cookware may boost cholesterol: study

WASHINGTON (AFP) - – Exposure to chemicals used to make non-stick cookware and which are found in microwave popcorn may raise blood cholesterol levels in children, a study says.

Researchers led by Stephanie Frisbee of West Virginia University School of Medicine assessed blood lipid levels in 12,476 children and teens aged one to 18 years for the study published in Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, a journal of the American Medical Association.

The children who took part in the study were part of a health project that began after a lawsuit was settled in 2002 after perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) was found in the water supply in the mid-Ohio River Valley.

To be part of the project, children had to have been exposed for at least a year to the contaminated drinking water.

For the study, believed to be the first to look at the link between perfluoroalkyl acids and serum lipids in youngsters, blood samples were taken from the children and teens in 2005 and 2006.

The average PFOA concentration in their blood was found to be 69.2 ng/mL and the average perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) concentration was 22.7 ng/mL -- both much higher than the national median.

PFOA and PFOS are part of the family of manmade compounds called perfluoroalkyl acids, which humans are exposed to through everything from dust to food packaging to microwave popcorn and non-stick pots and pans.

Among 12- to 19-year-old study participants who had drunk water from the contaminated supply for at least a year, PFOA concentrations were found to be substantially higher than those found nationally in kids -- 29.3 ng/mL for the study group and 3.9 ng/mL for the others.

Kids with higher PFOA levels had higher total cholesterol -- the most common measurement of blood cholesterol -- as well as increased levels of LDL or "bad" cholesterol.

Higher levels of PFOS, meanwhile, were associated with increased total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and HDL, or "good," cholesterol.

"PFOA and PFOS specifically, and possibly perfluoroalkyl acids as a general class, appear to be associated with serum lipids, and the association seems to exist at levels of PFOA and PFOS exposure that are in the range characterized by nationally representative studies," the authors of the study said.

High blood cholesterol is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease and stroke.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, claiming more than 600,000 lives a year, and stroke is the third-biggest, killing 136,000 people a year in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Total cholesterol levels should be less than 200 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL), according to the American Heart Association.

The study found an average difference of 8.5 mg/dL in total cholesterol levels between the one-fifth of participants with the highest and the fifth with the lowest PFOS levels.

Up to now, few studies have been conducted into the effects of long-term exposure to perfluoroalkyl acids and how they might affect health and development in humans, and the authors of the study called for more research into exposure to the family of chemicals.

Controversy over meal packs for YOG volunteers

By Republic Polytechnic’s Fann Sim
Local internet forums are buzzing over the sub-standard food being served to the volunteers at the Youth Olympic Games (YOG).

The issue surfaced after a volunteer snapped a photo of the meal and uploaded it onto his Facebook page.

According to the volunteer, a typical lunchbox consists of a piece of meat (fried chicken in this case), long beans, corn and white rice. Debate has raged on since the photo was posted on Tuesday.

Netizen Chris Liew, 33, an investment banker said, “Even if the meal was an isolated incident, such a logistics oversight of providing sub-standard meals to our volunteers should have been avoided at all costs.”

Another full-time NS man Leslie Wong, 20, who was stationed at the Marina Bay floating platform, was quoted on The Straits Times as saying, “One of the meals was a dry, tasteless piece of chicken with a few slices of carrot and soggy rice. I ended up throwing most of it away.”

Online socio-political website The Temasek Review even had an anonymous volunteer comparing the bland meals to “dog food”.

Food for the volunteers is provided by Singapore Food Industries (SFI), a subsidiary of the Singapore Airport Terminal Services (Sats). Sats has confirmed that the meal in the picture above was indeed part of a meal that was provided to the YOG volunteers.

“We have received feedback from the workforce regarding the meals served. We take their feedback very seriously and have promptly taken action to improve and ensure that the portions and variety served will provide the workforce with a balanced meal,” said the Sats spokesperson.

YOG’s organising committee have also been quick to respond: “We are aware of the feedback (on the meal) and have taken immediate action. We will work with the caterers to continually improve the meal standards.”

YOG volunteers Yahoo! Singapore spoke to had a mixed experience.

20-year-old Audrey Ng, a volunteer at the National Sailing Centre had a better dining experience.

Ms Ng said volunteers there are given meal coupons they can redeem at various food vendors.

When asked if she’s been given lunch like the one pictured above, she said ‘no’.
“The food at the other venues seems lousy. Ours is not that bad and we have free flow of drinks here. I’ve heard from my friend that the food provided was quite bad on the first day of rehearsal but it’s getting better,’’ said Ms Ng.

But 21-year-old Md Raziman Sani, a full-time NS man activated to volunteer at the YOG floating platform, agreed that the food he’s being served is similar to the lunchbox pictured above.

“Our meal consists of rice that’s cold, vegetables and a meat usually chicken or fish. It’s nice and generally enough to fill us,” he said.

For dinner, volunteers are given free drinks such as a can of Coca-Cola, green tea or ice lemon tea. On top of that, they get a packet of wet wipes and dry tissue and once a week, they get ice cream.

“We also got vouchers from McDonald’s and some Old Chang Kee vouchers,” said Raziman.

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Sushi-hungry Japan sells monster tuna

TOKYO (AFP) - – A monster tuna caught off Japan turned heads at a Tokyo fish market Friday, where the 445 kilogram (981 pound) bluefin -- the biggest caught here since 1986 -- sold for 3.2 million yen (36,700 dollars).

"Many of the people who work at the market have never seen a tuna that big," said an official of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which runs the Tsukiji fish market, the world's biggest seafood market.

The fish, which was auctioned at 7,200 yen per kilogram, had already been gutted and cleaned of its gills, meaning it must have weighed more when it was caught off Nagasaki prefecture this week, the official said.

"It is extremely rare to see a tuna heavier than 400 kilograms," he said.

The biggest Japanese tuna sold at Tsukiji was a 496-kilogram beast caught in April 1986 -- but the biggest tuna from the world's oceans to be sold here was a Canadian fish caught in 1995 weighing 497 kilograms.

Decades of overfishing have seen global tuna stocks crash, pushing some Western nations to call for a trade ban on endangered Atlantic bluefin tuna.

Japan consumes three-quarters of the global bluefin catch, a highly prized sushi ingredient, known in Japan as "kuro maguro" (black tuna) and dubbed by sushi connoisseurs as the "black diamond" because of its scarcity.

A piece of "otoro" or fatty underbelly can cost 2,000 yen (22 dollars) at high-end Tokyo restaurants.

Giant burgers cause jaw injuries in Taiwan

TAIPEI (AFP) – Taiwanese dentists have urged fast food chains to drop over-sized hamburgers from their menus following a growing number of jaw injury cases, a report said Thursday.

Patients have developed sore jaws or had difficulties opening their mouths after consuming giant burgers, the China Post quoted professor Hsu Ming-lung of the School of Dentistry at National Yang-Ming University as saying.

Problems can arise when fast-food fans tuck into hamburgers larger than eight centimetres (three inches) high, Hsu said according to the paper.

A human mouth is designed to gape over objects measuring up to four centimetres, and overextending can hurt the joint between the jawbone and the temporal bone in front of the ears, Hsu said.