Verifying the origin of food

Following the discovery of horse DNA in a number of products labelled as beef, consumer and industry awareness of global food labelling and safety has skyrocketed. Issues such as legislation and import guidelines have shifted from being purely a focus of industry and have now become public concern. 

Woodhead Publishing's comprehensive list of Food Science, Technology and Nutrition books includes a number of titles that address these important areas:

The bestselling Innovations in food labelling provides important information about the principles and requirements of food labelling and considers standards and legal issues, and the forthcoming New analytical approaches for verifying the origin of food reviews new analytical methods and their applications.

The chapter Labelling of meat, poultry, seafood and their products in the EU (from Advances in meat, poultry and seafood packaging) details the existing rules for labelling meat, poultry, seafood and their products on an international, European Union and UK basis. This chapter is available for purchase or rental from our e-book platform Woodhead Publishing Online and was written by Dr Mark Woolfe, a former Food Standards Agency senior scientist who has given a number of interviews on the regulation changes that could have played a part in industry use of horse DNA:

• BBC News: Mince ban 'linked to horsemeat scandal'
• The Guardian: Horsemeat scandal: traces found in school dinners and hospital meals

Dr Bert Popping, from Eurofins Scientific Analytics, France, has made numerous media appearances regarding Eurofins' work on detecting horse meat in meat products. Dr Popping co-authored the chapter Meat and meat products in our book Food authenticity and traceability and has given  media appearances on Eurofins' work:

• BBC News: Horsemeat Scandal: Inside lab testing products
• FoodQualityNews.com: Dr Popping explains the methods used to test for the presence of horse DNA in meat
• Eurofins press release: Eurofins increases testing capacity to support food industry in responding to horsemeat scandal and offers tamper-proof AnalyticalTraceability™

To view the full list of Woodhead Publishing titles in these areas visit:

www.woodheadpublishing.com/food 

Or browse through our e-book collections on:

www.woodheadpublishingonline.com/food

I've always paid my taxes, so why shouldn't they?

2012, 'I've always paid my taxes, so why shouldn't they?'
Financial Times, 13 November, p.12.

Martin Woodhead, Managing Director of Woodhead Publishing, had his letter printed in today’s Financial Times. 

What are your thoughts on the tax issues currently in the news? Leave a comment or get in touch via our Twitter or Facebook pages.

Access to the letter online is available for subscribers to Financial Times: "I've always paid my taxes, so why shouldn't they?"

Team WP raise money for Breakthrough Breast Cancer

After months of hard work training in the sun, wind and mostly rain, a small team from Woodhead Publishing recently took part in the London to Cambridge bike ride to raise money for Breakthrough Breast Cancer. Team member Sarah sums up the day here.....

The day got off to a wobbly start when, early Sunday morning, three key members of Team WP were unable to squeeze onto the first train to Pickett’s Lock. In the interests of team morale, we sent a sympathetic text to the unhappy group stranded in south Cambridgeshire before abandoning them to their fate.

Cathryn, Richard, Mandy, Nell and I zoomed through the start shortly after 9am, straight into busy London traffic.   The first few miles were hectic, with the cars, junctions, roundabouts and other cyclists making it difficult to settle into a steady pace.  Within the hour, however, we had left industrial Enfield behind and were making good progress towards The White Hart at Roydon.
Having made it to the first stop, and with no word from Steve, Rachel and Jonny, we paused for a quick drink (of water!) outside the pub before continuing on our way. The next leg was fairly uneventful for Team WP, although the muddy playing fields at Widford, stop number two, caused a few sticky moments for some of our fellow cyclists. We were pleased to find ourselves averaging a respectable 13mph, having completed the first 20 miles in well under 2 hours.

We knew by this time that the others were on their way, and seemed to have expectations of catching us up! This spurred us on through the rather hilly third section of the ride. However, a mile or so before Furneaux Pelham, it became clear that all was not well with my bicycle. As my team-mates whizzed ahead (thanks guys!) I prodded at my worryingly soft back tyre.  After I’d limped up the final hill to stop  number three, we pooled our resources (mostly Mandy’s) and expertise (mostly Richard’s) to change the punctured inner tube. After losing an essential nut and finding it again, and a little mild profanity, we were ready to go – or so we thought.

A few minutes and some distressing rattling noises later, Richard and I were heading back to Furneaux Pelham in search of a mechanic, while the others continued on their way. Luckily, with the right tools the problem was easy to fix, and we were also pleased to see some familiar faces arriving while we waited.  Starting out again up the steep hill from Furneaux Pelham was grueling, especially after losing so much time.  It was well worth the effort though since this was the prettiest section of the course, and the lovely views and brilliant sunshine were welcome distractions.

We caught the others up at Langley and sprawled on the village green with our ice-creams, delighted that all the members of Team WP were finally in the same place.  However, our three late starters had pushed very hard to catch us up, and elected to take a longer rest stop while the others pressed on. The long stretch to Duxford was the most challenging part of the route, with some fiendish hills to climb, which seemed to come just as I was feeling at my most tired.

 From Duxford we were on home-ground, however, and I managed to pick up the pace for the final 10 miles, even resisting the temptation to take a short-cut through Shelford. Although we had become rather strung out over the last section, Nell, Mandy and I caught up with Cathryn and Richard, and so we crossed the finish line within a few moments of each other.  We gratefully accepted our pink medals and bottles of water from the marshals before collapsing on the grass at Midsummer Common to await the arrival of Rachel, Steve and Jonny. They weren’t far behind us, and we managed to rally for some team photos at the finish.

Here are a few statistics from the ride:

Distance: 57.86 miles

Cycling time: 4h:49m:32s
Average speed: 12.0 mph
Max speed: 30.4 mph (!)
Calories burned: 3433
Fastest mile: 2m:45s

Congratulations to everybody that took part! There are a few more photos of the ride on our Facebook page

A brief Q&A with...

Huub Lelieveld, editor of
Hygienic design of food factories (2011)

  

Food safety is vital for consumer confidence, and the hygienic design of food processing facilities is central to the manufacture of safe products. An important new book from Woodhead Publishing, Hygienic design of food factories provides an authoritative overview of hygiene control in the design, construction and renovation of food factories. It is co-edited by John Holah and Huub Lelieveld, who have worked together on several books in Woodhead's Food Science, Technology and Nutrition series, including Handbook of hygiene control in the food industry (2005) and Hygiene in food processing: Principles and practice (2003), and are currently working on a second edition of Hygiene in food processing (due 2013).

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We asked Huub Lelieveld a few questions about Hygienic design of food factories. He told us how it differs from his previous books, the challenges it addresses and what professionals can expect to learn from it:

Woodhead Publishing: Hygienic design of food factories was published following requests from readers of Hygiene in food processing and Handbook of hygiene control in the food industry. How does Hygienic design of food factories differ from/expand upon these two bestselling books?

Huub Lelieveld: Hygiene in food processing and Handbook of hygiene control in the food industry pay limited attention to the processes involved in hygienically designing and building food factories, and there appear to be no other books on the market covering this either. This new book covers important aspects of the hygienic design of food factories that have not been treated to the full extent in the other two books.   

WP: Which professions do you believe will benefit from your book?

HL: In my opinion, food scientists, including food engineers, would benefit from this book, as well as those involved in production, inspection and consultation of food factories.  

WP: What would you say is the biggest challenge that your book addresses? 

HL: The biggest challenge the book addresses, as with the other two books, is how to ascertain that food products are protected from contamination; however Hygienic design of food factories also discusses how to prevent contamination in the earliest possible stages of factory design. 

WP: What can food factory designers learn from your book?

HL: Many important hygienic design aspects that impact on food safety are often forgotten during the planning stages of food factory construction, which results in problems surfacing in the first two years after production has started. This book discusses these problems and outlines how best to avoid them. 

WP: A second edition of the popular Hygiene in food processing is scheduled for publication in 2013 - what can we expect it to cover?

HL: The second edition of Hygiene in food processing will expand upon and update the first edition. It will include 8 new chapters on areas that were not included in the first edition, such as contamination routes, hygiene regulation outside Europe and the US, and rodent and bird control.

WP: And finally, how would you describe your experience of publishing with Woodhead?

HL: Cooperation with the Woodhead staff and others involved is very good. They keep track of the progress of the authors, ensure proper formatting and, where needed, edit the English. This allows the editors to focus on the scientific and technical content.

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Receive 15% off
Hygienic design of food factories
| Quote 'BLOG15' at the checkout when you order |
via our website
or over the phone: +44 (0)1223 499140
|This offer is only valid on print books purchased before 31st May 2012.|
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|For more information on this book and other books|
by Huub Lelieveld, please visit:

|www.woodheadpublishing.com/Lelieveld |

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|This book is now available in e-book format on|
Woodhead Publishing Online. To view our range of innovative purchase options or to request a free trial, visit www.woodheadpublishingonline.com  
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Huub Lelieveld was President of the European Federation of Food Science and Technology for four years, and was President of the European Hygienic Engineering and Design Group (EHEDG) for over 12 years. He has also been Chair and Co-founder of the Nonthermal Processing Division and Chair of the International Division of the Institute of Food Technologists, of which he is a Fellow. Until his retirement he was with Unilever, responsible for novel food preservation techniques and hygienic processing and plant design.

In 2011, Huub was presented the 2011 EFFoST (European Federation of Food Science and Technology) Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as an IUFoST award for the Advancement of Food Science and Technology Worldwide.

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|Coming soon|

|An interview with John Holah, co-editor of|
Hygienic design of food factories

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Woodhead Publishing Limited is an independent international publishing company publishing in the areas of Food Science, Technology & Nutrition, Materials Engineering, Welding and Metallurgy, Textile Technology, Environmental Management and Finance, Commodities and Investment and Mathematics.