August 16, 2007

CanolaInfo cooks with Ming Tsai - Ming Tsai, restauranteur and television food show star, will be an official spokesperson for CanolaInfo through the end of January 2008. He will highlight the benefits of his preferred oil – canola - in print, radio, television, online and live appearances in the United States and Canada.

Consistent with Tsai’s famed cuisine, the promotional campaign will have an Asian fusion ("East meets West") theme. It will include photography and videography; U.S. radio and satellite media tours and other media outreach; a live cooking demonstration on September 30 at the American Dietetic Association (ADA) meeting in Philadelphia, Penn.; promotional materials; advertisements in trade magazines, and appearances on the CanolaInfo (www.canolainfo.org) and Canola Council of Canada (www.canola-council.org) websites. Photos and videos of Tsai along with some of his recipes will soon debut at canolainfo.org.

Tsai is co-owner of Blue Ginger restaurant in Wellesley, Mass., which has received countless awards since opening in 1998. The same year, he won an Emmy Award as host of “East Meets West with Ming Tsai” on the Food Network. Tsai is currently the host and executive producer of the award-winning cooking show, “Simply Ming,” premiering its fifth season this October. Classic episodes of “East Meets West with Ming Tsai” and “Ming’s Quest” can be seen on the Fine Living Network. He is author of three cookbooks: Blue Ginger: East Meets West Cooking with Ming Tsai, Simply Ming, and Ming's Master Recipes. More information about Tsai is at www.ming.com.

Release of DNA sequences could help canola industry develop health benefits - The National Research Council of Canada and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada recently released the single largest number of DNA sequences for canola and related plant species to GenBank, the global repository for DNA sequence information.

As part of a long-term research effort, AAFC and the NRC Plant Biotechnology Institute have been working with Expressed Sequence Tags (EST) to understand how specific genes within canola react to their environment and create compounds important in healthy oils for food and biofuels. Using ESTs to study how genes are expressed in canola helps scientists determine ways to improve crop yields and produce stronger seeds for food and other applications.

For more information on GenBank, go to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

Pennsylvania forms trans fat task force - Pennsylvania will form a statewide panel to examine the health risks of trans fat consumption and develop ways to educate the public about them.

State health secretary Dr. Calvin Johnson says the task force will also look at legislation intended to address trans fat and make recommendations for Pennsylvania.

Unidine takes trans fat off the menu - Hospitals, seniors homes and businesses in 13 states will feature healthier food choices following an announcement by Unidine that it has switched to a trans fat-free cooking oil. The company has not yet indicated which oil it will be using.

Unidine handles food services for 70 clients in 13 east coast states. It recently became the first food services management firm in the U.S. to sign Healthcare without Harm's Healthy Food in Healthcare pledge, a voluntary commitment to serve food that is healthier for people and the environment.

Kids can learn to eat healthy fats - A study in Finland has found that children who were taught to focus on healthy fats in their diet continued to eat well in their teens and as they begin eating more meals away from home. They also have slightly lower cholesterol levels than children who ate unrestricted diets.

Dr. Sarah Blumenschein, a pediatric cardiologist with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, says the study shows that early intervention is the key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. "The earlier you intervene, the more likely you are going to be successful," she says.

Visit http://circ.ahajournals.org/ to see the latest issues of Circulation.

Imperium Renewables opens plant to turn out 100 million gallons per year of canola biodiesel - This week, Seattle-based Imperium Renewables opened the largest biodiesel facility in the U.S. at Gray’s Harbor, Washington. The company had already announced a deal to sell 15 million gallons of biodiesel this year to Royal Caribbean Cruises.

Imperium is producing canola biodiesel exclusively and company officials confirm they have sourced supplies of canola oil, mostly from Canada, for the rest of 2007 and 2008. Check the complete story at http://insidegreentech.com/1612/imperium-gets-big-with-biodiesel.

Canola becoming part of pop culture - Here’s an example of how the word canola is entering the American vernacular - Daddy Day Camp, a movie in theatres this summer, starring Cuba Gooding Jr., features a rival camp to the hero's rundown kids’ camp, called "Camp Canola".

The Camp Canola kids are the bad guys in this comedy but maybe this falls in the category of any publicity is good publicity?... And they did spell CANOLA right!

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