International News on Fats, Oils and Related Materials : INFORM back issues from December 2008:
HOW TO SPOT "GREENWASHING"
Dec 01, 2008; ... IN THE CURRENT GOLD RUSH TO GREEN, "GREENWASHING" OR ~ THE ACT OF OVERSTATING THE ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS OF A PRODUCT OR SERVICE IS ON THE RISE Green can be gold these days, as products in- creasingly exhibit glowing claims about their en- vironmental benefits in order to boost sales ....
The impact of blending techniques, feedstock choice, and analytical techniques on biodiesel blend accuracy
Dec 01, 2008; ... This article is based on a presentation by Mr. Wilks at the 99th AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo held May 18-21, 2008, in Seattle, Washington, USA. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, USA, conducted a nationwide study released in 2005 that compared the actual ...
News & Noteworthy: Briefs
Dec 01, 2008; ... Brazilian officials told the Associated Press in October that Brazil's state-run oil company will partner with its Cuban counterp to produce vegetable oil in C The Brazilian officials also their country's agriculture exp will help Cuba begin large-s soy farming operations on form sugar lands ....
1979-1988: Coping with diversity: Of geographical, vocational, and technical change
Dec 01, 2008; ... AOCS membership had risen almost 25% during the previous decade to approximately 3,800 members in 1 97 9. The AOCS had held its first three world conferences - one on edible fats and oils, one on soaps and detergents, one on vegetable food proteins - nine more would follow during the next ten ...
Soy now leads China's oil production
Dec 01, 2008; ... Soybean oil has replaced rapeseed oil as the primary edible vegetable oil produced in China, according to a Xinhua News Agency report of a recent conference held in Shuangyashan, China. China produced 18.985 million metric tons (MMT) of edible vegetable oil in 2007, Xinhua said, an ...
Oilseed outlook
Dec 01, 2008; ... US oilseed ending stocks for 2008/09 are projected at 7.4 MMT, up 2.6 MMT from September's estimates owing to higher beginning stocks, reduced crush, and higher production, according to the October World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report from the US Department of ...
ACH and ADM form joint venture
Dec 01, 2008; ... ACH Food Companies, Inc. (ACH) and Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) have formed a joint venture - S tratas Foods, LLC - for the manufacture, marketing, and distribution of packaged oil products in the United States and Canada. Associated British Foods (London, England), which owns ACH, ...
Bunge/Corn Products merger off
Dec 01, 2008; ... Bunge Ltd. cancelled its planned merg- er with Corn Products International, Inc. on November 10, 2008, just days after the Corn Products board withdrew its support for the transaction. The Corn Products' board action followed a more than 60% decline in the deal's ...
Acquisitions/mergers
Dec 01, 2008; ... DP Supply, a Dutch manufacturer, has increased its capacity for producing spray-dried fat powders and vegetable-based creamers with its purchase of Nordmich's plant in Beesten, Germany, according to FoodNavigator.com. The Beesten plant, at full capacity, will be able to produce 50,000 metric ...
Closings
Dec 01, 2008; ... Cargill has closed its shortening facility in Carthage, Missouri, USA, facility as of December 2008. Production will be shifted to the company's facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, Cargill ...
New ventures
Dec 01, 2008; ... The University of Northern Iowa's National Ag-Based Lubricant Center (NABL: Waverly, USA) will help Canadian researchers develop a new oilseed to be used solely for the production of petroleum substitutes in such applications as fuel additives and lubricants. Linnaeus Plant Sciences, Inc., in ...
Commodities
Dec 01, 2008; ... CANOLA/RAPESEED A new canola crushing plant will come online in 2009 near the town of Munich, North Dakota, USA, according to Agweek magazine. The plant, which is being built by Northern Prairie Specialty Oils LLC, is expected to produce approximately IO million gallons (almost 38 ...
R&D
Dec 01, 2008; ... Nestlé, the Swiss food and beverage giant, inaugurated a new research and development (R&D) center in Beijing on October 31, 2008. Nestlé said it is the first western company to create a fullscale R&D center in China focusing on both basic research and product development. R&D ...
Stanol health claim approved
Dec 01, 2008; ... Food products made with plant sterol esters have been approved to carry a health claim by the European Food Safety Agency's Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition, and Allergies (NDA). The proposed claim reads: "Plant stanol esters have been shown to lower/reduce blood cholesterol. Blood ...
India amends rice bran oil regulations
Dec 01, 2008; ... The Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has amended its prevention of food adulteration specifications for refined rice bran oil after a six-year negotiation with the Solvent Extractors'Association of India (SEA) and other parties. Specifically, the new rules allow higher ...
Process for F1 hybrid oil palm seeds
Dec 01, 2008; ... Sumatra Bioscience, a subsidiary of one of Indonesia's largest plantation companies, London Sumatra Indonesia Tbk (Lonsum), has announced that it has developed what it says is the first process to produce Fl hybrid oil palm seeds and expects to commercialize their production by 2018. (An Fl ...
EFSA to review nanotechnologies
Dec 01, 2008; ... The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has begun a public consultation on its draft scientific opinion regarding nanoscience and nanotechnologies and food and feed safety. The consultation will focus on engineered nanomaterials (ENM) that could deliberately be introduced into the food ...
Biofuels News: Briefs
Dec 01, 2008; ... GreenHunter Biofuels, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of GreenHunter Energy, Inc. (Grapevine, Texas, USA) has acquired a lease option for 22 acres of waterfront property in Port Sutton, Florida, USA. Initial plans are to construct a biofuels terminal facility, followed by a biodiesel product ...
ASTM publishes biodiesel blend specifications
Dec 01, 2008; ... BIODIESEL ASTM International (West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, USA) has published new biodiesel blend specifications on its website, www.astm.org. These will benefit biodiesel producers, petroleum companies, engine and vehicle manufacturers, pipeline operators, fleets, and private ...
BioCentric and Zenxin to grow algae in Wuhan, China
Dec 01, 2008; ... BioCentric Holdings (Huntington Beach, California, USA), a research and develop- ment holding company, signed an associ- ation agreement with Zenxin in mid-Oc- tober. The partners will form BioCentric Energy Algae Hong Kong Ltd. Their first project will be to grow algae on the 40,000 tons ...
GreenFuel, Aurantia move forward on algae project
Dec 01, 2008; ... GreenFuel Technologies Corporation (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) and Aurantia, SA (Madrid, Spain) are moving ahead with their project to develop and scale up algae farming technologies at the Holcim cement plant near Jerez, Spain. The goal is to show that CO2 contained in flue gases from ...
Burner system for crude glycerol
Dec 01, 2008; ... Diversified Energy Corporation (Gilbert, Arizona, USA) has received an exclusive license from North Carolina State University (NCSU; Raleigh, USA) to develop a glycerol combustion system into a commercial design, manufacture the system, and conduct market sales and services. NCSU' s ...
Algae organizations meet to promote biodiesel use
Dec 01, 2008; ... The National Algae Association (NAA) and the Algal Biomass Organization (ABO) met October 23-24 in Houston, Texas, USA, and Seattle, Washington, USA, respectively. Between the two meetings, about 750 people attended. Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla was the keynote speaker for the ABO Algal ...
Fungus produces "myco-diesel"
Dec 01, 2008; ... GENERAL Scientists have identified an endophytic South American fungus that could be a new source of biofuel Microbiology 154: 33 193328, 2008). Gary Strobel (Montana State University, Bozeman, USA) and co-workers have found that the organism Gliocladium roseum, which grows inside ...
Speculation and corn prices, food costs
Dec 01, 2008; ... ETHANOL Record high prices for corn in the United States in the past three quarters were not closely related to demand for corn to be used in the manufacture of ethanol, according to Reuters. As evidence, the news service pointed out that corn prices are down about 40% from their record ...
Moving ethanol, biodiesel by pipeline
Dec 01, 2008; ... In mid-October, pipeline operator Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMEP; Houston, Texas, USA) announced completion of a series of tests in which it safely moved batched ethanol through its 16inch (4 I -cm) gasoline pipeline running between Tampa and Orlando, Florida (USA). Heretofore, pipeline ...
VeraSun Energy files for bankruptcy
Dec 01, 2008; ... VeraSun Energy Corporation, one of the largest bioethanol producers in the United States, and 24 of its subsidiaries filed for Chapter 1 1 bankruptcy on October 31. Its financial results for July-September showed a net loss of $476.1 million, compared with net income of $7.8 million for the same ...
Falling palm oil prices stimulate biodiesel production
Dec 01, 2008; ... Palm oil prices have fallen roughly 60% compared with mid-July of this year, and producers in Southeast Asia are boosting output of palm-based biodiesel in response. Reuters quoted Dorab Mistry, a leading oils industry analyst and director of Godej International (Mumbai, India), as ...
How much corn stover can be safely harvested?
Dec 01, 2008; ... Between 100 and 150 million tons (90- 140 million metric tons) of corn stover, or crop residue, is presently left on Midwest- ern fields at the end of the growing season to prevent erosion and return nutrients to soil, according to the US Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service ...
$100 million in bonds sold to fund renewable diesel plant
Dec 01, 2008; ... RENEWABLE DIESEL Dynamic Fuels, the joint venture between Tyson Foods and Syntroleum Corporation, will be funded in part by special taxexempt Louisiana state bonds issued and sold on October 21 to construct a new renewable fuels plant in Ge i s mar, Louisiana, USA. Anticipated costs to ...
Health & Nutrition: Briefs
Dec 01, 2008; ... A new study suggests that polyphenols in cacao (raw cocoa) may mitigate the toxicological effects of dioxin by suppressing the transformation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor. The research was led by Hitoshi Ashida of the Department of Agrobioscience, Graduate School of Agricultural Science at ...
Arachidonic acid and Alzheimer's
Dec 01, 2008; ... Complete or partial removal of an enzyme that regulates levels of arachidonic acid in the brain lessens cognitive deficits in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease, according to a study by scientists at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease (GIND: San Francisco, California, USA) and the ...
Developments in US food labeling
Dec 01, 2008; ... A new voluntary food labeling scheme has been introduced by a group of US food manufacturers including Unilever, Kraft Foods, and PepsiCo.The system, called the Smart Choices Program, involves front-of-pack nutrition labeling (including calorie counts) to help consumers make better nutritional ...
Interactions between vitamins E and K
Dec 01, 2008; ... Scientists have known for more than 50 years that excess vitamin E promotes bleed- ing by interfering with vitamin K, which is essential in blood clotting. However, they have not been able to pinpoint how the two vitamins interact. Now, nutrition researcher and AOCS member Maret Traber ...
How fatty foods curb hunger
Dec 01, 2008; ... A new study by University of CaliforniaIrvine pharmacologists shows that oleic acid triggers production of a compound in the small intestine that curbs hunger pangs. This discovery, the researchers say, points toward new approaches to treating obesity and other eating disorders. Daniele ...
USDA selects Dietary Guidelines committee
Dec 01, 2008; ... The members of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee were announced on October 24 by US Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer and Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt. Selected for their expertise in dietary intake, human metabolism, behavioral change, and health, the new ...
New vitamin D recommendation
Dec 01, 2008; ... The American Academy of Pediatrics has doubled the amount of vitamin D it rec- ommends for infants, children, and adoles- cents. A new clinical report, "Prevention of Rickets and Vitamin D Deficiency in Infants, Children, and Adolescents," rec- ommends all children receive 400 IU per day of ...
Prostate cancer study scrapped
Dec 01, 2008; ... A large study examining whether supplementation with vitamin E (provided as dlot-tocopherol acetate) or selenium can help prevent prostate cancer has been called off by the US National Cancer Institute. The researchers suspended the vitamin E and selenium portion of the federally funded ...
Soy minus oligosaccharides
Dec 01, 2008; ... Scientists in Singapore are reporting victory over some consumers' No. I complaint about soy products-the flatulence caused by indigestible oligosaccharides found in soybeans. In a study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (10.1021/jf801905y), the researchers describe a method for ...
Biotechnology News: Briefs
Dec 01, 2008; ... The VietNamNet Bridge reported on November I I that the government of Vietnam would move forward with the testing of certain genetically modified (GM) plants. These tests, which will continue through 2010, will focus on GM maize, cotton, and soybeans. "The productivity of each hectare of maize ...
Research finds new gene-silencing pathways in plants
Dec 01, 2008; ... In mid-November, Washington University (St. Louis, Missouri, USA) biologists published research that they believed "made major headway" toward explaining a mechanism by which plant cells silence potentially harmful genes. A team led by Washington University professor Craig Pikaard has been ...
GM developments in the EU
Dec 01, 2008; ... At the end of November, there were signs that Monsanto Co.'s (St. Louis, Missouri, USA) Roundup Ready 2 soybean was approaching an uncharacteristically quick approval by the European Union (EU). Trade news site Alibaba.com reported that, after EU governments had failed to agree on whether to ...
Monsanto disputes GM study's findings on fertility, weight
Dec 01, 2008; ... The Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported November 11 that a University of Veterinary Medicine (Vienna, Austria) study found that mice fed with genetically engineered maize experienced decreased fertility and body weight. The mice were fed with Monsanto's NK603 × MON810 sweetcorn variety, and the ...
New study examines disease resistance
Dec 01, 2008; ... In November, a five-year study that could help increase disease resistance, stress tolerance, and plant yields was announced at Purdue University (West Lafayette, Indiana, USA). The $4 million project uses a new technique called "mutant-assisted gene identification and characterization," or ...
Industrial feedstock yields in plants
Dec 01, 2008; ... A recent study ("Metabolic engineering of hydroxy fatty acid production in plants: RcDGAT2 drives dramatic increases in ricinoleate levels in seed oil," Plant Biotechnol. J. 6:819-831, 2008) investigated the production of industrial feedstocks in transgenic plants. J. Burgal and colleagues, of ...
S&D News: Briefs
Dec 01, 2008; ... Registration is now open for The Soap and Detergent Association (SDA) Annual Meeting & Industry Convention. According to SDA, hundreds of executives from more than 65 companies and 16 countries are already signed up for the 83rd SDA Convention, which takes place January 27-31 , 2009, at the ...
Europe harmonizes organic cosmetic regulation
Dec 01, 2008; ... Europe has harmonized organic personal care standards with the introduction of the European Cosmetics Standards Working Group's Cosmetics Organic Standard (COSMOS). After several years of discussion, the group officially launched COSMOS on November 4. It has called for public consultation on its ...
BASF reduces production worldwide
Dec 01, 2008; ... BASF (Ludwigshafen, Germany) is taking measures to avoid the creation of overcapacities as a result of a massive decline in demand. The company is temporarily shutting down around 80 plants worldwide. In addition, BASF is reducing production at approximately 100 plants. This was already ...
Cleaning products at the crime scene?
Dec 01, 2008; ... Spanish researchers report in a recent study that a new generation of cleaning products could help criminals get away with murder by making bloodstains invisible to forensic tests. A research group at the University of Valencia (Spain) found that new washing powders and other chemicals ...
Report surveys "green" consumers
Dec 01, 2008; ... According to a new report, Green 2008: Consumer Attitudes and Behaviors, from The NPD Group, Inc., a market research company based in Port Washington, New York, USA, more than half of consumers surveyed consider themselves extremely or very interested in environmentally friendly products. Women ...
In Memoriam: EVELYN JOYCE WEBER
Dec 01, 2008; ... An AOCS member since 1964, Evelyn Joyce Weber died October 19, 2008, at the age of 79. She received a B.S. in chemistry in I 953 from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (USA) and her Ph.D. from Iowa State University (Ames, USA) in 1961. She became the first woman in the ...
In Memoriam: EMORY TURNER PAYNE
Dec 01, 2008; ... AOCS has received word of the death of Emory Turner on July 25, 2008. At the time of his death he was residing in Tucson, Arizona, USA. Payne received his B.S. degree in chemistry from Texas Technological College (Lubbock, USA) in 1946 ....
New officers for Euro Fed Lipid
Dec 01, 2008; ... The General Assembly of the European Federation for the Science and Technology of Lipids (Euro Fed Lipid) elected new management in October for 2009-2010. President elect is Frédéric Staat, ITERG, Pessac, France; vice president is Marc Kellens, Desmet Ballestra (Zaventem, Belgium), and ...
Carlson recognized
Dec 01, 2008; ... Susan E. Carlson, of the University of Kansas Medical Center (Kansas City, USA) and the University of Missouri-Kansas City, who is internationally recognized for her work on DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), received the March of Dimes Agnes Higgins Award on October 27 for outstanding achievement in ...
Change in P&G CFO
Dec 01, 2008; ... Jon R. Moeller, currently vice president and treasurer of Procter & Gamble Com- pany (Cincinnati, Ohio, USA), will become chief financial officer ...
In Memoriam: EDWIN WILLIAM MEYER, SR.
Dec 01, 2008; ... Soy protein pioneer Edwin W. Meyer, Chicago, Illinois, USA died on March 1 4, 2008, in his home of 60 years at the age of 93. He was a 50-year member of AOCS. His first position out of undergraduate school in I 936 was as a research chemist on soy proteins at The Glidden Company under ...
In Memoriam: TOM L. YOUNG
Dec 01, 2008; ... Metallurgist Tom L.Young died on August 10, 2008, in Oro Valley, Arizona, USA, at the age of 75. He was president of Versitech, Inc., a chemical consulting/engineering services company, that he founded in Tucson, Arizona, with his wife Sharon in 1995. He spent his career in the mining industry, ...
In Memoriam: FRANKLIN PIERCE KHYM
Dec 01, 2008; ... Frank P. Khym died in San Antonio, Texas, USA, at the age of 93 on October 5, 2008. He is survived by his wife June, his daughter and son-in-law. Khym received his undergraduate education at Morgan Park College (Morgan Park, Illinois), the Illinois Institute of Technology, and the ...
Sustainable Oils announces appointments
Dec 01, 2008; ... Scott Johnson is the new general manager for Sustainable Oils (Bozeman, Montana, USA), a joint venture between Targeted Growth (Seattle, Washington, USA) and Green Earth Fuels (Houston, Texas, USA) that was formed in late 2007 to research, develop, and ...
Carlson joins Danisco
Dec 01, 2008; ... Kenneth F. Carlson left Crown Iron Works (Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA) to join Danisco (headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark) on October 3 1 . He will continue to work out of his ...
Personnel changes at Soyatech
Dec 01, 2008; ... Soyatech, a wholly owned subsidiary of HighQuest Partners (Topsfield, Massachusetts, USA), announced personnel changes on October 29. Chris Erickson, formerly partner and managing director of HighQuest, has been named chief executive officer of Soyatech (Bar Harbor, Maine, USA), a global ...
MRI creates new position
Dec 01, 2008; ... The Midwest Research Institute (MRI; Kansas City, Missouri, USA) has formed a new Center for Integrated Algal Research and appointed Stanley Bull to a new position as Director of Energy Programs. Bull was formerly associate director for science and technology at ...
Patents
Dec 01, 2008; ... Published patents Opacifying composition for paper or paperboard, processes using same and paper or paperboard produced therefrom Elgarhy, Y., et al, Tri Tex Co. Inc., 8/19/2008, US7413631 An agent for enhancing brightness and opaqueness in paperboard comprises a reaction ...
Effects of ultra-high-pressure homogenization treatment on the lipolysis and lipid oxidation of milk during refrigerated storage
Dec 01, 2008; ... Extracts & Distillates Effects of ultra-high-pressure homogenization treatment on the lipolysis and lipid oxidation of milk during refrigerated storage Pereda, J., V. Ferragut, J.M. Quevedo, B. Guamis, and A.J. Trujillo, /. Agrie. Food Chem. 5<5: 7 125-7 130, ...
Formation of lipid oxidation and isomerization products during processing of nuts and sesame seeds
Dec 01, 2008; ... Formation of lipid oxidation and isomerization products during processing of nuts and sesame seeds Yaacoub, R., R. Saliba, B. Nsouli, G. Khalaf, and I. B irlouez -Aragon, J. Agric. Food Chem. 55:7082-7090, 2008. The aim of the present study was to quantify some nutritional and ...