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... nutritional interventions need to be scaled up to tackle malnourishment and undernourishment that affects more than 200m africans, the african union (au) has said ... food fortification is one way to reduce african malnutrition levels, says nerad the au’s 10-year-old new partnership for africa's development (nepad) said at a recent meeting in addis ababa, ethiopia, that local networks needed to be better utilised to deliver more potent nutritional interventions ... “if africa does not invest in food and nutrition security, the consequences will be big,” said boitshepo bibi giyose, senior advisor for food and nutrition security at the nepad agency ... the call came ahead of the africa food and nutrition security day on october 30th, and emphasised four kinds of interventions: dietary diversity homegrown school feeding maternal nutrition child nutrition and food fortification “…the time is ripe for scaling up proven interventions,” nepad said ... “therefore, one of the main goals and objectives of africa food and nutrition security day is to ensure that information and knowledge is transmitted and communicated to all the different levels of consumers - policy makers, programme implementers and all the vulnerable households ... ” “the opportunity for intra-african trade of agriculture food commodities that are of high value and nutritionally sound is immense ... what needs to be done at the earliest opportunity is to apply some of the more relevant indigenous knowledge systems around the best nutrition, as has been done for generations

... genomic technologies to change the culturing of bacterial strains and map the resulting genome profile could help with flavour formation in cheeses, or boos the survivability of probiotic strains, say scientists from nizo food research ... the technology has already led to 10,000,000-fold improvements in the survival characteristics of certain probiotic strains in the gastrointestinal tract, or enhanced flavour formation and robustness of cheese starter cultures ... the tools have been developed by scientists working within precompetitive networks such as ti food and nutrition (tifn) and the kluyver centre for genomics of industrial fermentation (kc), and are directly applied for and with industry at nizo food research ... according to nizo, it also paves the way for simple selection of enhanced food bacteria with improved characteristics by high throughput screening of culture collections

... swiss food giant nestlé has reported a 13% drop in first-half profit after being hit by high raw-material prices and an elevated swiss franc ... nestlé, the world's largest food group by sales, said that trading in the first half of the year has been tough, with sales in the six months falling to chf41 billion, from over chf55 billion last year ... food and nutrition nestle said maggi and nescafe brands performed well in the emerging markets, with sales performing particularly well in china, south asia, pakistan, north-east and south africa, indonesia, and the indochina region ... 7 per cent in the asia, oceania and africa region to chf 7 ... reduced sales in weight management products, coupled with increased raw material costs saw the company’s nutrition division’s operating profit fall despite growth in infant nutrition areas

... 8 july 2011, rome - from mega-emergencies, such as the earthquake in haiti or the floods in pakistan, to headline-grabbing humanitarian crises, such as the conflicts in cote d'ivoire or libya, the international community has stepped up to help those impacted by disaster and tragedy over the last few years ... unfortunately, "slow-onset" humanitarian crises, such as the worsening drought in the horn in africa, have not received the same attention, leaving millions of women, men and children vulnerable to devastating hunger and malnutrition ... rather than waiting for a full-blown, life-threatening disaster, that will cost exponentially more in loss of lives, livelihoods and humanitarian interventions, we must act now to save those already suffering from hunger and malnutrition as we build resiliency and food security in the region ... unfortunately, we are already behind the curve, having lost a narrow window of opportunity to begin building upon food security gains in the horn of africa following several seasons of successful rains and harvests that had reduced the number of hungry people ... today, countries in the region are confronted with the failure of the short rains in late 2010 and negative trends that threaten the long rainy season in 2011 ... these conditions have already increased the number of severely food insecure people ... 3 million in early 2011 to 10 million today - a 40 percent increase - in djibouti, ethiopia, kenya, somalia and uganda (karamoja region) ... in addition, the number of somali refugees in camps in kenya and ethiopia has reached the unprecedented figure of about 517,000 people ... in 2010, the humanitarian community created an action plan to address the root causes of food insecurity to bring resiliency to a region that has suffered from protracted crises for nearly three decades ... this plan calls for a partnership between countries, humanitarian organizations and the development assistance community to link long-term development efforts with humanitarian assistance to build food security

... a high-fat challenge test employing cutting edge –omics technology may generate more and better information about the health effects of dietary ingredients and supplements, say researchers ... researchers from tno have demonstrated that the method, which is assessed using metabolomics and proteomics technology, can provide additional information on the metabolic effects of dietary ingredients and thus help to provide greater information on the health effects of diet than current testing methods ... the researchers, led by dr ben van ommen, principal scientist and program director of systems biology at tno, said that the extra information provided by the new testing methods could be of use in the substantiation of health claims ... the body deals with stressors on a daily basis, especially in terms of metabolism and inflammation ... speaking with nutraingredients, dr van ommen said that the main challenge for food and nutrition scientists currently is demonstrating that dietary interventions actually produce a change in health status ... changing thinking dr van ommen and his team at tno asked themselves whether there would be a better way to quantify these many subtle changes that a dietary intervention may have ... homeostasis is the regulation of the bodies internal processes in a healthy and balanced status

... kofi annan, chairman of the alliance for a green revolution in africa, has warned that the current food security crisis, with almost one billion people hungry, could turn into a permanent disaster, endangering millions of lives as well as international cooperation ... "along with tackling the linked problem of climate change, delivering global food and nutrition security is the challenge of our time,” he said ... delivering the 27th mcdougall memorial lecture on food security today, the former un secretary general and nobel peace prize winner said, "if countries cannot come together successfully to deliver food security – this most basic of human needs – our hopes for wider international co-operation look doomed ... we have seen a worrying rise in protectionism, unilateral export bans, land grabs and exclusive deals that meet the food needs of the rich but not the poor ... " frank lidgett mcdougall, an australian citizen was one of the founders of what was then the league of nations’ food and agriculture organisation in 1935 ... every two years, before the fao conference, the mcdougall lecture is delivered by a prominent personality working in the field of agriculture and hunger alleviation ... fao lead annan said fao can take the lead in increasing the transparency of global food stocks, and therefore dampening speculation and market volatility, by compiling more accurate and accessible information on the quantity and quality of these stocks ... fao said last week food prices will continue to rise over the next 10 years, threatening the food security of millions of people in developing and even developed countries ... world food output will have to rise 70 percent by 2050 as the planet’s population climbs to 9 ... land grabbing criticisedin his lecture, the african statesman also hit out at the phenomena of “land grabbing” by which countries are buying or leasing land in other nations to increase their own food security ... "it is very disturbing that a recent report found that agricultural land that adds up to the size of france was bought in africa in 2009 alone by hedge funds and other speculators," he said

... better policies, new agricultural research and techniques, and social investments are crucial to safeguarding global food security as grain prices are expected to rise by 48% on 2000 levels by 2025, says the ifpri ... modelling by the international food policy research institute (ifpri) indicates a projected rise in crop yields, food prices, and child malnutrition through 2050 and beyond ... “even without climate change, the prices of rice, maize, and wheat are projected to increase by 25 percent, 48 percent, and 75 percent, respectively, by 2050, in a business-as-usual scenario,” it says ... “although the threats to food and nutrition security are very real, these outcomes are by no means inevitable,” said mark rosegrant in a speech at the 2011 ag innovation showcase in the us this week ... “the myriad challenges underscore the importance of agricultural research, better policies, new technologies, and social investments to feeding the world’s burgeoning population while protecting critical natural resources

... a uk report has found most brits gain adequate levels of iron, but warned that the elderly, small children, girls, some women and the poor may be susceptible to deficiencies and should consider iron supplementation among other measures ... the elderly are one group that may be deficient in iron, finds coma “while most people in the uk are iron replete, health professionals need to be alert to increased risk of iron deficiency anaemia in toddlers, girls and women of reproductive age (particularly those from low income groups) and some adults aged over 65 years,” wrote the scientific advisory committee on nutrition’s committee on medical aspects of food and nutrition policy (coma) ... “those with symptoms suggesting iron deficiency anaemia should receive appropriate clinical assessment and advice, including dietary advice on how to increase their iron intakes and to consider use of iron supplements if required ... ” the report updated coma’s 1998 finding that high levels of red meat consumption were linked to colorectal cancer and also investigated the effects of reduced iron-rich red meat consumption

... rebuild small seed enterprises 28-02-2011 farmers' seed ventures key to food security in developing countries a japan-funded fao project in uganda has supplied farmers with improved rice varieties ... 1 march 2011, rome – small seed enterprises are the best way of ensuring the availability and quality of non-hybrid seeds for food and feed crops in developing countries, said fao in a policy guide published today ... according to the world bank, up to 50 percent of crop yield increases have come from improved seeds, while farmers' access to quality seeds is a key factor for better food and nutrition in poor countries ... in many places, especially africa, this has not happened as medium and large seed companies tend to concentrate on producing hybrid seed for high value crops grown by larger farmers and market them in more fertile, wealthier areas ... hybrid seeds provide better yields and disease resistance but cannot be saved by farmers for the next planting, as the hybrid plant seeds do not reliably produce true copies ... the majority of poor smallholder farmers growing food security crops such as sorghum, millet and cassava rely on self or open-pollinated seeds or crops that are propagated through dividing bulbs, or taking cuttings stored from previous harvests and grafting them ... "it doesn’t cost a lot comparatively to set up a seed enterprise, especially when it involves local farmers' organizations, but as case studies in the policy guide from three continents have shown, such enterprises can be highly effective in improving food output," said shivaji pandey, director of fao’s plant production and protection division ... brazil, india, cote d’ivoire the policy guide, entitled “promoting the growth and development of smallholder seed enterprises for food security crops”, is based on case studies from brazil, india and côte d'ivoire, the results of which have been published separately by fao ... examples include an efficient quality control and certification system, private sector support, flexible legislation and the legal recognition of the rights of farmers to save, exchange and sell seeds of commercial varieties

... further action on responsible fisheries recommended 10-02-2011 fao committee notes progress although major issues still need to be tackled a global record of fishing vessels could be a useful tool in the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (iuu) fishing ... the committee, the only global intergovernmental forum to examine and address major challenges facing fisheries and aquaculture, said that the code's principles must be more widely included in national policy, legislation and implementation ... it encouraged a broader application of the ecosystem approach to fisheries and aquaculture, requesting that fao provide countries with technical assistance, especially for the problems confronting the world's small-scale fisheries, including inland fisheries ... this was one of the largest committee meetings, attended by 565 participants, including 115 member states, specialized un agencies and observers from over 70 intergovernmental and international non-governmental organizations ... "the committee on fisheries is a unique international meeting where delegates can discuss the most pressing issues confronting fisheries and aquaculture and make the most appropriate decisions ... the committee recognized that illegal, unreported and unregulated (iuu) fishing is a major global threat to long-term sustainable fisheries, particularly to developing countries ... noting the adoption of the 2009 fao agreement on port state measures, the committee agreed that port state measures are a powerful and cost-effective tool in combating iuu fishing and welcomed the forthcoming fao technical consultation on flag state performance ... it also gave its support to the development of a global record of fishing vessels - an online database to provide vessel-related information on fishing and support vessels - as another useful tool in the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (iuu) fishing ... during its week-long meeting, the committee also adopted three sets of guidelines - on aquaculture certification, on the ecolabelling of fish and fishery product from inland capture fisheries, and on bycatch management and reduction of discards