November 23, 2007

Los Angeles restaurants to tout trans fat-free status - Restaurants in Los Angeles County that voluntarily agree to reduce or eliminate the use of trans fat on their menus will receive a health department decal to promote their efforts as part of the Voluntary Artificial Trans Fat Reduction Program.

The LA County Department of Public Health launched the program to encourage restaurants to stop using trans fat. Decals are offered to foodservice establishments that don't store, use or serve food containing more than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving, except for food served in the manufacturer's original sealed packaging. Restaurants will be inspected once a year.

Andrew Casana, director of local government affairs for the California Restaurant Association's Los Angeles chapter, reportedly said most of the area's 36,000 restaurants have already phased out trans fat on their menus.

Manitoba to ban trans fat in schools - Manitoba Citizenship and Youth Minister Peter Bjornson announced amendments this week to the province's Public Schools Act that would see the sale of foods containing high levels of trans fat in schools banned.

Under the proposed changes, school boards would have to ensure artificial trans fats are not contained in packaged foods or other food products a school sells or distributes to students. The trans fat content of vegetable oil or spreadable margarine used in the preparation of foods at a school must not exceed 2% of the product's total fat content. Trans fat content of other foods, excluding meat or dairy products, must not exceed 5% of the food's total fat content. Exceptions would be made for special occasions such as student lunches, school bake sales, hot dog days or pizza lunches if the food items are not available in the school every day.

"The proposed legislation demonstrates continued commitment to the promotion of healthy food environments in Manitoba schools," says Candice Rideout, assistant professor of human nutritional sciences at the University of Manitoba. "The amendments not only recognize the health benefits of reducing the consumption of artificial trans fat, they also highlight the importance of continuing to empower schools to take ownership of their food and nutrition policy."

Study gives thumbs-up to GM canola - Researchers from Charles Sturt University in New South Wales, Australia, have found genetically modified (GM) canola can deliver better yield and profit to farmers. The research, funded by Monsanto Company, compared crop rotations over five years using GM varieties, conventional canola and a triazine-tolerant variety.

Professor Jim Pratley says the GM canola improved profit, and that helped subsequent wheat and lupin crops.

"I think it's often the case that we just look at a crop in a single year but of course how that performs impacts the crops that follow," he says. "What we've found in our work was that there was a carryover effect of the better yield and better crop control right through the rotation."

Predictions for Canadian canola supply all over the map - Analysts' projections for Canada's canola carryover in 2007-08 vary widely. They range from as low as 1.1 million tonnes to 1.9 million tonnes. Ending stocks this year were 1.82 million tonnes.

In October, Statistics Canada estimated 2007-08 canola production at 8.864 million tonnes, just under last year's 9.0 million tonnes of production.

Canola cleans up at CAMA - Canola won double at the Canadian AgriMarketing Association (CAMA) Awards in Regina, SK, November 13.

First - the Canola Council's Performance On-line Database (POD) was given the award of excellence for electronic publications. POD allows growers to explore canola performance trial results from a broad range of sources in their own area. The Council shares the award with POD's developer Issues Ink of Winnipeg, MB. Check POD at http://81.137.139.227pod3/index.aspx

And then - CAMA awarded its top prize for publications from an agricultural association to Canola Digest, the official publication of Canada's canola growers. Digest publisher Direct Publications entered the Digest and accepted the award for the Council in Regina.

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