It's all those pies!

Aren't the sausage skins a bit 'suspect'. Aren't they made from something 'internal'? :-?

I don't know if it is the same over NZ, but I've found beef really cheap. In fact, it is cheaper to give beef schnitzel (thin slices of beef) to my kids than decent bacon for breakfast. Beef steak and stir fry is also cheap and we have a meal for under $10. Pork, lamb and chicken is usually more expensive and I usually buy when reduced to get that meal for under $10. Funnily enough, you can get a hot cooked chicken for under $10 so I have rarely bought an uncooked chicken.

We like sausages too - especially pork and pineapple - but don't really feel too happy now eating them, pies too. Then again, maybe our perception of 'meat' has become too fussy ... our hungry ancestors wouldn't hesitate to eat all manners of body parts. :-/

Pie rules may lessen squirm reaction
07 October 2006
By YVONNE MARTIN

Attempts by bakers to redefine the humble Kiwi meat pie may improve its public image but will not make it healthier, say nutritionists.

Proposed changes to the rules on what can go into meat pies means that snouts, tongues and lung material may be on the way out. But animal rind, fat, connective tissue, nerves, blood vessels and chicken skin are still permitted.

Australian pie company Mrs Mac's is driving the changes to improve the image of pies and give consumers confidence that they will not find a snout in their lunch. Pies had to contain 25 per cent meat, which was any part of a slaughtered animal carcass, said Food Standards Australia New Zealand spokeswoman Lydia Buchtmann.

The new rule would require pies to have a minimum 25 per cent "meat flesh" – defined as skeletal muscle including the fat, connective tissues, nerves and blood vessels.

"They (piemakers) are trying to get rid of the perception that all sorts of weird things go into pies, when in fact they don't," said Buchtmann. "Consumers won't notice the difference. All we will do is get over this weird perception that strange things go into pies."

Public health nutritionist Bronwen King said pies were still a high-fat product and that would not change.

"In other words, the regulations will still allow pies with almost negligible lean meat content and the fat content could in fact be greater," she said. "Most people I know want meat pies to contain significant quantities of real meat, not fat or connective tissue."

The New Zealand Food Safety Authority opposed the changes, saying they would not prevent poor quality, fatty fillings. A pie could still be very fatty, as meat flesh was not necessarily higher quality meat, said the authority's director of food standards, Carol Inkster.

Mrs Mac's general manager Murray Beros said the change was sought to banish speculation that manufacturers could be putting snouts, tongues and lung matter into pies.

"We wanted to ensure that meat pie manufacturers, if there were some out there doing the wrong thing, that they couldn't," he said. "And, secondly, that it would avoid speculation by various elements of the media."

In August, Mrs Mac's was warned by the Commerce Commission about a lack of meat in its pies, following a Press investigation. Tests done for the commission revealed that the average meat content of Mrs Mac's steak pie was below that claimed on the wrapper, supporting The Press's findings.

- The Press

For Loopylu: * Homemade sausages. ;)

For Glenda: *What are sausage skins made of?
Natural skins are made of the intestines of pigs, sheep or cow's intestines. The natural skins are semi permeable and allow the sausage to 'breath' during cooking - letting some fat out and keeping the juices in. Artificial skins are made from collagen which is normally from cow skin, these tend to be used by the poorer quality sausages and are not used by many of the 700 Producers listed on the site.

Here we are, ladies. ?Some recipes for homemade sausages. ?(scroll down to Homemade Sausages). There's even a vegetarian one - check out Glamorgan Sausages.

I think we should start up a little business - MovetoNZ bangers. Sorry, can't think of a more original name for them. ?Still too early in the morning for me. ? :D

If it's fatty and sweet, we can't resist
Wednesday October 25, 2006
By Martin Johnston



New Zealanders' love of burgers, chips and especially pizza just grows and grows - matching our waistlines. Figures released by the Ministry of Health yesterday show how big the swing away from home cooking was in the five years to last year.

Revenue at supermarkets, grocery stores and dairies grew by 37 per cent, but the income of takeaway food shops rose by 67 per cent - nearly twice as much - to $1.02 billion. This was matched by big rises in the number of takeaway outlets.

Although the number of supermarkets rose by 17 per cent, the number of take-out pizza joints jumped by 57 per cent and chicken takeaways by 33 per cent. Last year New Zealand had 3524 takeaway food shops - and 6705 cafes and restaurants.

In 2003-04 the average household, comprising 2.7 people (adults and children), spent $19.20 of its weekly food budget of $142.50 on meals out. Proportionally this was a rise of nearly 3 percentage points in three years. This average household also spent more on confectionery ($6.50) than on fresh fruit ($5.90).

Quoting the Restaurant Association, the ministry's Food and Nutrition Monitoring Report 2006 offers a possible reason for the pizza proliferation. "Pizzas, with low food costs, can be produced by low-skilled staff and will continue steep growth."

The association's Foodservice Facts also comments on the pressure for chains to offer healthy foods. "History suggests consumers will let their taste buds dictate and salads with a burger will be a 'one-day wonder'."

In a first, the ministry has bought information on advertising expenditure from ACNielsen Media Research showing that spending on fast-food chains, restaurants and cafes exceeded $67 million last year.

McDonald's was highest in that category, at $21.4 million. Chocolate, confectionery and fizzy drinks attracted advertising spending of $57.3 million, nine times the $6.2 million on fruit and vegetables.

The report reveals a subtle but significant change in the ministry's direction on obesity, nutrition and the food industry by providing the advertising figures and by raising questions, as it does, on matters such as the risks of food advertising to children, a battle long fought by public health campaigners.

Food marketing practices were not previously considered a core part of food and nutrition monitoring, the report says. But options for systematic monitoring were being explored and it would become central.

The report says the food industry has detailed information available to it on the impact of food marketing. "But most of this information is not widely available because it is commercially sensitive and probably provides evidence that food advertising does increase sales."

Obesity Action Coalition executive director Celia Murphy said the release of the advertising figures provided strong evidence that "we need to restrict the kinds of foods that can be advertised because it's not the healthy foods that are being advertised".

Weekly household food spending

• Total: $142.50.
* Meals out: $19.20.
* Ready-to-eat foods: $17.70.
* Confectionery: $6.50.
* Fresh fruit: $5.90.

Source: Ministry of Health (figures for an average household of 2.7 people in 2003-04)

Child diets alarm experts
25 October 2006
By JOANNA DAVIS

Parents are spending more on lollies for their children than fruit, prompting health experts to warn that the young are not getting vital nutrients. A Health Ministry monitoring report has found the average household spends more on confectionery each week ($6.50) than it does on fresh fruit ($5.90).

At a time of epidemic levels of childhood obesity – with nearly one-third of children aged five to 14 overweight or obese – the report found a 67 per cent growth in takeaway sales since 2000.

Health Ministry nutrition adviser Christine Stewart said about 40 per cent of children did not have a recommended daily vegetable intake (three or more servings) and up to 60 per cent did not eat the recommended two or more servings of fruit. Stewart said concerns were growing about deficiencies of iron, vitamin D and iodine among children starting school.

The ministry's report also found inadequate calcium intake and zinc levels in some children. Stewart said children's nutrition was particularly important as they were growing rapidly and often had erratic relationships with food – "sometimes incredibly interested and sometimes particularly disinterested".

St Albans mother Kimberley Brackenridge said she struggled to get vegetables into her three-year-old daughter, Olivia. "I do all the things you're not supposed to do, like say, `Have two more pieces of carrot and you can have dessert'," she said.
She resorted to hiding peas in mince bolognaise and calling water "tap juice" so her daughter would not request the sugary drinks she saw advertised. Brackenridge said she spent much more on fruit than lollies each week, about $30 compared with $5. She said a busy life made it tempting to cut corners when preparing meals.

Mother-of-three Robbie Gerard said she was not fanatical about healthy food for her children, Georgina, five, Oliver, four, and Katie, two, but wanted them to eat well. She did not give them lollies or sweet biscuits, except at parties, and they never had fizzy drinks.

Christchurch public health nutritionist Bronwen King said children's dietary problems started in infancy. "It's very hard to get a child to eat fruit or vegetables at six or seven if they haven't been exposed to them earlier. If you've given them bland little jars of (baby food), you're setting them up for a life of processed convenience foods," she said.

King said parents needed to introduce new healthy foods to children up to 15 times before they accepted them.

Other trends over the past 40 years identified in the Health Ministry report were:

Declining use of butter (down from 50g a day to 25g a day).

An eight-fold increase in the amount of poultry eaten.

Declines in the amount of beef and sheep meat eaten.

Increasing availability of vegetables and fruit.

The report identified low levels of breastfeeding, with only 56 per cent of babies fully breastfed at three months. It also found fast-food chains, restaurants and cafes spent $67 million on advertising last year, compared with $6.2m spent advertising fruit and vegetables.

Health Minister Pete Hodgson described the trends as alarming. "Improving the nutrition of New Zealand families is one of our most pressing public health challenges," he said. "This report underlines the urgency surrounding that task, but also shows how difficult it will be to make significant improvements."

The Health Ministry will put out a draft paper on new guidelines for toddlers' nutrition early next year.

- The Press

*Waaaaa! *My favourite!

Baker of low-rated pies wants tests standardised
06 November 2006

Australian pie baker Mrs Mac's is trying to get standard test methods introduced for meat pies after its product failed tests in New Zealand.

Mrs Mac's choice steak pie rated the second worst of five popular brands of pie in tests commissioned for a story in The Press in June. Its meat content tested at 15 per cent, below the 25% minimum required by the food standards code and the 33% steak claimed on the wrapper.

Follow-up tests of 10 Mrs Mac's pies organised by the Commerce Commission found the fillings' meat content ranged from 24% to 34%, when the packaging claimed 31%. It urged Mrs Mac's to rectify the problem.

Mrs Mac's general manager, Murray Beros, said he was surprised by The Press's results as testing for meat content in Australia had confirmed its pies' percentage claims. As a result, the company commissioned tests of its own and competitors' pies in New Zealand and Australia.

It discovered that laboratories used different test methods, which affected the outcome. In particular, varying nitrogen factors were being used in the formulation to determine the meat content of a pie. Different nitrogen values could lead to a 4% variation in test results.

Also, Mrs Mac's said the way the meat filling was removed from the pastry case for testing could produce an 11% difference in results. "As a manufacturer bound by regulation, we need certainty in our ability to comply," said Beros.

The company has applied to Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) to introduce standard testing procedures.

Mrs Mac's already has a proposal before FSANZ to change the rules on what manufacturers can put into meat pies. It wants the minimum 25% meat content changed to "meat flesh" – defined as skeletal muscle, including the fat, connective tissues, nerves and blood vessels.

Beros said Mrs Mac's wanted to banish speculation that manufacturers put snouts, tongues and lung matter into pies.

Submissions on this proposal close on November 15.

- The Press

Long trek to burn off burger
08 November 2006
By IAN STEWARD

One of New Zealand's most calorie-laden burgers is so fatty that an average man would need to walk from central Christchurch to Taylors Mistake to burn off the calories – or to Kaiapoi if he added the fries and a drink.

According to Burger King's nutritional information, the company's Double Whopper with cheese, bacon and barbecue sauce contains 4313 kilojoules (1031 calories), including 64g of fat – about equal to the size a ping-pong ball.

An 80kg person would need to walk just over 11km to burn off the calories, according to new research by scientists at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

The fattiest McDonald's burger is The Boss, with 53g of fat and 798 calories. The basic Burger King hamburger has more fat and more calories than a McDonald's hamburger, although Burger King's is about a third bigger.

A McDonald's McChicken contains more fat and more calories than a Big Mac and, per 100g, the fattiest Burger King burger is the BK Chicken. A piece of KFC Original Recipe chicken has as much fat per 100g as the BK Chicken, 18g, although its burgers are in the respectable 8g-13g per 100g range. Pizza Hut's Meat Lovers pan pizza is right up in the fatty stakes.

Nutritional website nutritiondata. com says a 100g serving of the Meat Lovers pizza contains the same amount of fat as 100g of the cheese and bacon Double Whopper – 16g.

Fast-food customers seem unconcerned by the results. Students spoken to at Burger King said they knew the risks of eating fast food and did not mind as they ate it only once a week or so. Their favourite burgers were two of the fattiest by volume.

"If you go to McDonald's, you don't expect a healthy burger. Thank God for a high metabolism," said Chris Young, 17. "If Burger King disappeared today, I don't think I'd be at home shaking in my room with withdrawal symptoms."

Young and his friends said they preferred Burger King to McDonald's because "it's hot and fresh and it just tastes better".

A Fight the Obesity Epidemic spokeswoman, Robyn Toomath, said moves by burger chains to introduce healthy options were probably having little positive effect, with fat-laden burgers still available. "My prediction is that it makes people feel better about going to McDonald's. I'd love to see their sales figures and see if people have started buying salads instead," she said.

Toomath said she would like to see changes such as reduced portions and bigger chips that, because of their reduced surface area to volume, would soak up less fat.

McDonald's communications manager, Joanna Redfern-Hardifty, said the company was happy with its new menu options, which were "holding their own". The company was considering a new type of cooking oil to reduce saturated-fat and detailed nutritional information was being prepared to help customers. Burger King declined to comment.

- The Press

Full sugar soft drinks to disappear from schools by 2009
3.45pm Monday December 11, 2006

The New Zealand distributor of Pepsi beverages, Coca Cola Amatil (NZ) Limited (CCANZ) and Frucor Beverages Group Limited (Frucor), have signed the world's first agreement to stop directly selling all full sugar soft drinks and full sugar energy drinks to New Zealand schools.

The voluntary agreement was signed between the beverage industry and government this afternoon.

CCANZ and Frucor have agreed to stop directly selling full sugar carbonated soft drinks and full sugar energy drinks to any in New Zealand. This will take affect progressively from today and will be completed by 2009.

Both companies will provide alternatives, including no or low sugar soft drinks, fruit juices and flavoured waters.

Coca-Cola Amatil (N.Z) Limited Managing Director, George Adams, says the industry was prepared to do its small part in the battle against rising obesity levels in New Zealand.

"This is a massive decision for us to make about our products. We are taking a proactive leadership position in-line with our 2003 voluntary removal of fizzy drinks from Primary schools - which should signal to the public the seriousness of the threat of rising obesity levels.

"We now expect the debate to shift to areas which will have a much greater reduction on obesity levels - such as education about eating for healthy lifestyles, increased physical activity and balanced food choices," Mr Adams says.

Frucor Beverages CEO Carl Bergstrom says a pivotal part of the agreement was the intention to shift consumption to other types of drinks.

"A key message for people is that they need to eat and drink in tune with their lifestyles - so it is important that this agreement encourage children, particularly those who are not physically active, to choose alternative drinks.

"Bans are not an effective mechanism because people want beverage choices, and this agreement means we will continue to provide a wide choice of beverages while removing a substantial volume of sugar from schools."

The beverage industry is the first sector group to sign a voluntary agreement to help in the fight against obesity under the Food Industry Accord.

- NZ HERALD STAFF

Government's line on sugary drinks too soft: campaigners
Tuesday December 12, 2006
By Ruth Berry

Full-sugar fizzy and energy drinks will be removed from all secondary schools by 2009, after a voluntary agreement between the Government and two of the biggest beverage companies. But they intend to continue selling fruit juice and carbonated diet drinks, several containing caffeine. This has angered some anti-obesity campaigners who believe the Government should be taking a harder line.

Health Minister Pete Hodgson said the agreement, reached with Coca-Cola Amatil and Frucor Beverages - which sells Just Juice, Myzone, Fresh Up, V and distributes Pepsi here - would see 1.1 million litres of full sugar beverages removed over the next three years. The average 330ml can contains about eight teaspoons of sugar.

The Government believed a "prohibitionist" approach would not work, as a total ban risked alienating children and turning fizzy drinks into a "forbidden fruit", he said. Mr Hodgson thanked the companies for their "leadership" and said the agreement was a world first.

Yet earlier this year, Mr Hodgson warned the industry he'd regulate to remove the products if the industry failed to copy their United States' counterparts, who agreed to a voluntary ban in May. At the time, Coca-Cola Amatil, which pulled similar products out of New Zealand primary schools in 2003, said it had no plans to follow suit.

The US deal was brokered by former President Bill Clinton, but did not involve the Government, enabling Mr Hodgson to call it a world first.

Coca-Cola Amatil managing director George Adams said there was "no silver bullet" to obesity, but the industry wanted to "do its bit". The decision would have a multimillion-dollar impact on the company, but he could not give specific costs.

He hoped the debate would now shift towards areas which had a much greater impact on obesity, including education about healthy eating and personal responsibility.

Frucor Beverages chief executive Carl Bergstrom said soft drinks only accounted for about 2 per cent of the energy intake of children. It was important that children who were not physically active were encouraged to choose alternative drinks. Green MP Sue Kedgley said children would continue to be exposed to "nutritionless, enamel-destroying soft drinks with addictive and controversial additives in them".

The so-called agreement was a public relations move, designed to enable the companies to keep selling their products in school vending machines, she said. "I am deeply disappointed that the Health Minister has not followed his British and French counterparts and required that all soft drinks are removed from schools - not just sugar-filled ones."

Diet drinks might also contain additives like aspartame "which has been linked to cancer in animals", she said. Mr Bergstrom said there was no more caffeine in diet soft drink than there was in a cup of tea. He dismissed the aspartame claim, saying it was approved by the World Health Organisation.

Mr Hodgson said the Government would next year unveil a set of non-compulsory guidelines informing schools what food and drinks should or should not be sold. He said no decisions had been made on how diet soft drinks and fruit juices should be rated, but water and low-fat milk would be rated as the beverages of choice.

The Government is thinking of using a "traffic light" ratings system for the guidelines.

Asked how Coca-Cola Amatil would feel if its diet drinks got a "red light", Mr Adams said: "We would be reasonably unhappy."

SWEET AS

* 8 teaspoons of sugar in a 330ml can of soda.

* 1.1 million litres of full sugar beverage will go from schools.

McDonald's adopts step to cut more fat

Fast food giant McDonald's says it has taken a further step in reducing fat levels in its food. The company announced yesterday that its suppliers would be partially cooking products in non-hydrogenated canola oil, reducing saturated fat levels.

In June 2004, McDonald's New Zealand changed to a vegetable cooking oil blend, with a trans fat level of less than 1 per cent. Trans fats can occur in vegetable oils as a result of industrial processing. Fast food outlets commonly use artificial trans fats which can contribute to heart disease by raising the body's "bad" cholesterol and reducing the "good" cholesterol.

Some health advocates have argued thousands of lives could be saved by introducing regulations that limit trans fats in New Zealand restaurants - a move recently made in New York.

McDonald's New Zealand country manager Mark Hawthorne said the change meant a total reduction of more than 725 tonnes of saturated fat or an 83 per cent reduction in saturated fats compared with early 2004.

Mr Hawthorne said the step would improve the nutritional profile of the menu. The move followed the company's introduction of nutrition labelling and daily intake percentage on packaging to better inform customers about McDonald's products, Mr Hawthorne said.

New York has led the way in the battle against trans fats, with strict new health standards reducing the levels allowed in the city's restaurants to take effect from next year.

McDonald's Europe last month announced it would cut trans fat levels in its cooking oil to 2 per cent by mid-2008, following Wendy's International in August and the United States arm of KFC in October. Denmark has almost eliminated the artery-clogging fats from its food supply.

The Heart Foundation recommends that trans fat levels for frying oils be no more than 1 per cent.

- NZPA