Welcome to the October 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 already subscribed, but would like your own monthly copy, please send a blank email to aficnews-subscribe@afic.org . If you do not wish to receive AFICNews, simply send a blank email to aficnews-unsubscribe@afic.org, and your name and address will be automatically removed from the list. In case of difficulties email info@afic.org with your request to subscribe or unsubscribe, and we can do the rest

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

NEWS FROM AFIC

Ø       Workshops for Journalists: This month AFIC begins a series of workshops for journalists on best practice in reporting emerging health, nutrition and food safety news. These workshops are designed to help journalists who are responsible for writing and/or editing food-related health and safety news, identify the really important stories and trends, and how to ensure their information sources are accurate and reliable. The first will be held in Makati, in the Philippines on Friday October 11^th. Workshops in Bangkok, Thailand and in Beijing, China are scheduled for November. Journalists who would like to attend, or who would like to receive a press pack but are unable to attend a workshop should contact info@afic.org.

 Ø    Contact details for AFIC: AFIC correspondence should be addressed to: P.O. Box 140 Phrakhanong Post Office, Bangkok 10110 Thailand, telephone no.: + 66 2 318 1578, fax no.: + 66 2 718 1166.

MOST FREQUENTLY REPORTED FOOD SAFETY AND NUTRITION TOPICS AROUND THE REGION May-July 2002

 Food Safety Topics, May - July 2002

 Nutrition Topics, May – July 2002

 COMMENTS

AFIC continuously monitors daily press reports on food-related health and safety topics.  The graphs above illustrate reporting trend over a recent 3 month period of the most frequently reported topic areas.

FOOD SAFETY

Foodborne illness and biotechnology consistently remain the most commonly reported topics in the daily press around the region.

 A small number of reports on foodborne illness highlight strategic measures being taken by public health officials to improve food hygiene standards, but most commonly, stories filed under this heading are devoted to simply reporting large scale outbreaks of foodborne illness. Very few of such reports include precautionary advice, despite the fact that all foodborne illness caused by microbial contamination is preventable.

 Press interest in the topic of food biotechnology remains high, as the public debate over policy and the interpretation of recent scientific development continues. As the press becomes more familiar with this subject, reporting of this topic, appears to be gradually shifting to more balanced and informative commentary, although a great deal of misunderstanding and misinformation is still evident.

 Reports on the topic of BSE are now much less common, with only one further confirmed case in Japan. However, public interest in labeling has shown a steady rise, partly as a result of plans in Japan to revise its food safety surveillance and monitoring systems, and partly in response to public debate over nutritional labeling standards.

 Interest in pesticides is also now quite high, as producers look to organic marketing opportunities, and food importing countries both in and outside the region apply more stringent controls on permitted residue levels of imported foods.

NUTRITION

Public interest in the issue of overweight and obesity continues to rise, in parallel with the growing prevalence of this condition. WHO estimate that over 1 billion people around the world are now overweight or obese. More recently the focus has broadened to include concern over the increasing prevalence of overweight in children and the rapid rise in Type 2 diabetes (also known as non-insulin dependent diabetes). This is a topic of very significant interest to public health specialists, as some Asian ethnic groups appear to be particularly at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes if overweight or obese. As public interest in the topic of weight management continues to grow, interest in factors associated with the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity such as the shift in many societies towards more sedentary lifestyle also grows, but much more slowly, and there is still much work to be done to improve public understanding of the basic principles of achieving a balance between energy intake and energy expenditure.

 With regards to children’s health and diet, sub-topics of public interest during this 3 month period were allergy, the high levels of under-nutrition that persist amongst some populations in the region, and optimal diets for intellectual development, health and growth.

 The healthy lifestyles topic area mainly includes reports intended to guide and advise readers on behaviors and diets which might reduce the risk of developing non-communicable chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and diabetes. Many of the reports are based on sound science, but a significant minority promote extreme diets and behavior which have not been evaluated by scientific methods or peer-review, and are should therefore be regarded as unreliable.

 Reporting on topics relating to fats and cholesterol also remains a topic of some public interest, with the focus mainly on advice to reduce total and saturated fat content of the diet, but also a substantial number of commentaries on the importance of including adequate amounts of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in the diet.

 The topic of functional foods remains a topic of significant public interest, and most commonly includes reports on fortified foods, antioxidant-rich foods and polyunsaturated fatty acids in the diet.

 Please note that although reporting trends on children’s diets, healthy lifestyles and the related topic of fats and cholesterol expressed as percentage of total coverage all show slight declines, this is mainly due to rise in other topics. In fact interest in these topics remains steady and high.