Welcome
to the January edition of AFICNews.
AFICNews is a free
monthly e-bulletin, providing updates on current food safety, health and
nutrition news trends around the Asia Pacific region. If you are not
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DATES
FOR YOUR DIARY
NEW
FROM AFIC
The Preventing
Food-Borne Illness from Farm to Plate Highlights of Best Practise
document is now available in PDF format. This is the first release of a
series on best practices for the prevention of food-borne illness and
emerging risk factors. Sections included in this first release are An
Overview; The Farm – The Beginning of the Food Chain; Food Processing –
Preventing Food-Borne Illness and Improving Quality; Transport and
Storage – Safeguarding Food,; Food Safety and Retailing; Food Safety in
the Home. Click
here to downloading a section, or
here for all sections.
Most
Frequently Reported Food Safety and Nutrition News in Hong Kong and
Taiwan
COMMENTS
ON MOST POPULAR TOPICS
Supplements
and functional foods
Supplements were the
most popular topic in Hong Kong magazines surveyed (34% of articles
tracked), in the Taiwanese magazines surveyed, supplements and
functional foods each gained 17% of nutrition and food safety coverage
of magazines surveyed.
The Honk Kong
features emphasized the importance of choosing supplements carefully,
according to individual need, and stressed that supplements may aid in
prevention of disease or recovery but cannot cure illness. Taiwanese
magazine features highlighted the growing scientific evidence of the
health benefits of some supplements and the benefits of taking
supplements for those on restricted diets, such as reduced calorie
diets. Other tracked reports in Taiwan magazines outlined Taiwanese
labelling regulations for health claims, which currently approve health
claims for 39 foods. For further information, click on – AFIC’s
Dietary Supplements & Functional Foods - An Overview
Calcium
22% of the nutrition
and food safety features of the Hong Kong magazines surveyed focused on
the importance of calcium in a healthful diet, with particular emphasis
on women’s health. The role of calcium in a healthy pregnancy and in the
prevention of osteoporosis were most common themes.
For more information
click on AFIC’s
Focus on Women's Health and Diet,
AFIC’s Press Release –
Press Release-Bone Health – A Essential Element for Quality of Life in
Old Age
Healthy
Lifestyles
In Honk Kong, where
11% surveyed magazine coverage addressed healthy lifestyles and diet for
long term health, the main focus was on symptoms, causes, effects and
prevention of eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa. In Taiwan, a
similar proportion of surveyed magazine coverage fell under this
category, but the main focus was on lifestyle approach to health and
well-being with recommendations for balanced diet, regular physical
activity, avoidance of tobacco and stress.
For further information click on a range of Healthy Lifestyles
sub-topics, click on
Healthy Lifestyles Index on AFIC’s website.
Weight
Management
Both Hong Kong (11% of tracked coverage) and Taiwan (9% of tracked
coverage) features on weight management referenced the glycaemic index
of foods in effective weight management. Taiwanese magazines also
highlighted the importance of weight management in pregnancy. For
further information click on AFIC’s
The highs & lows on Carbohydrates
Glycaemic Index and
Appetite Enigmas
Children
and Infant Feeding
13% of surveyed
Taiwanese magazines were on the topic of infant feeding, principally on
the benefits of breast feeding, and 11% of articles were devoted to the
diets of older children. The most common theme was diets and foods to
boost children’s immunity to infection and disease. For a range of
articles on children and infant’s diets, click on
Children and Infants Category Index on AFIC’s website.
The
Asian Food information Centre is a not-for profit Singapore-registered
organization
Its
mission is to effectively communicate sound science based information on
food safety, health and nutrition to the media and other key audiences
in Asia
