Statistics for Food Poisoning in Australia

There was an interesting article in the Sydney Morning Herald on 2008.05.08

http://www.smh.com.au/news/health/is-it-safe-to-reheat-leftovers/2008/05/07/1210131040866.html

which discusses the importance of not leaving food out too long.

There are lots of statistics which show that food poisoning is much more prevalent than most people assume. In fact, many cases of food poisoning are likely shrugged off as upset stomachs or stomach bugs not realizing that mishandling of food was the cause. This article however states that there are 5 million cases of food poisoning in Australia every year. That is pretty amazing considering the entire population is only around 20 million.

I checked with the source sited in the article and indeed the Food Safety Information Council states that there are 5.4 million cases of food borne disease a year.

http://www.foodsafety.asn.au/mediareleases/backtouniwarningonfo3472.cfm

I then found the original source of the information, the Australian Department of Health and Aging's "Foodborne Illness in Australia" report of 2000.

http://www.ozfoodnet.org.au/internet/ozfoodnet/publishing.nsf/Content/reports-1/$FILE/foodborne_report.pdf
(** PDF file **)

It turns out to be even more interesting. This survey estimates 17.2 million cases of gastroenteritis a year, of which 5.4 million are thought to result from contaminated food. The definition is broad enough to cover many cases which do not result in a visit to the doctor, but these are still pretty surprising statistics considering the population of the country.

I might try looking up the numbers for Japan, but nevertheless think it would be hard to directly compare the two (the survey methods would likely be significantly different).

In addition to being a measure of how important it is to handle food properly, this also makes a case for consuming probiotics - the easiest way I know of to avoid gastrointestinal problems. Most probiotics sold by major dairy food companies have scientific data backing up their claims of effectiveness. Probiotics will not prevent gastrointestinal problems but there is a great deal if evidence that they reduce occurrence of such problems.

In Japan, probiotics along with prebiotics make up the largest category of FOSHU foods - that is foods with government approved health claims. In fact, the majority of yogurts sold in Japan have probiotic strains added, not just starter strains.

How about some Sushi and Guinness?

There is a nice kaiten (or conveyor belt) sushi bar in Odawara City Mall which boasts a collection of the world's best beers. It is called Sushi-Bee (or Bay's Table) in English and すし兵衛 in Japanese (http://www.sushibee.com/).

Not only is there a nice selection of European beers, but there are also wines and Japanese sake and shochu. Faux German beer hall wallpaper which along with the ornamental beer taps give the place some atmosphere. And most importantly, the sushi is pretty good.

As with all keiten sushi restaurants, the prices are indicated by the plate colors. Aside form the Japanese-Western mix, it does seem a little odd to have fine beers and wines (slow dinning) paired with keiten sushi which is a high turnover concept.

There is some English displayed on the wall almost as decoration. "The concepts of our menu are arranged widely for young to generation." and "Delicious sushi dishes in good place, with kindly service is our basic." I think I get the idea.

My interest is more on the production end of things, so I will try not to stray into food criticism.

One reason I am writing about this restaurant is because it seems like a good example of how many traditions are more firmly adhered to outside the country of origin.

The kaiten sushi restaurants I have seen outside Japan stick pretty close to the basic sushi lineup. In Japan, the kaiten sushi restaurants always have sushi, of course, but they also offer, on the same conveyor belts, just about everything else the customer might want: tempura, fried chicken nuggets, fruits, desserts, canned drinks, etc. I have even seen burgers and sandwiches making the rounds.

Zero Sugar Beer

This is a good example of subjects which interest me.

One recent trend in Japan is zero sugar beer, which is interesting for a number of reasons:

1) it is not really "beer", because the malt content is kept low enough to be classified as "happoshu" under the law, and is therefore subject to a lower tax rate. ("Happoshu" is a good deal cheaper than "beer", but cannot be labeled "beer".)

2) production processes are used which result in all or most of the sugars being consumed by the yeast, before the yeast are killed. If there are fewer than 0.5 grams of sugar per 100 ml, it can be labeled as zero under the law. So there actually are sugars in all of these "zero sugar beers". In fact, carbohydrates (for which the definition is broader) are not addressed by this labeling at all.

3) what is the marketing angle for these beers (I will call them beers, at least in this post)? Being able to put a big zero on the label is most likely the main attraction. Some customers will, no doubt, assume the zero refers to calories. The beer companies are unlikely to go to great lengths to disabuse these customers of their mistake. But for customers who do know what is being referred to, and Japanese consumers are relatively well informed, these beers certainly do hold an attraction - mainly for people concerned about high blood sugar and diabetes. These products should also be attractive to people on low carbohydrate Atkins-type diets.

4) the sugar taste has to be compensated for and the individual formulations differ, some including artificial sweeteners.

and

5) these are beers where both the malt and sugar contents are being held very low, a challenge for a product which is produced from a limited number of ingredients. Beer is a complex chemical mixture, but it starts out from a deceptively simple combination of ingredients. (Granted, this is not Germany and even the German law has been revised, but under the "German Beer Purity Law" only water, barley and hops were allowed in the production of "beer".)

I plan on revisiting many of the above points in the future.

The three zero sugar beers shown in the picture are Asahi Free Style (Toshitsu Zero), Suntory Zero-Nama and Kirin Zero. All varieties shown are 500 ml cans of happoshu-type beers.