We cannot speak about Mediterranean diet without the presence of olive oil in our dishes. This fruit juice plays an essential role in the gastronomy of our country.
Extra virgin olive oil, virgin olive oil, olive oil, olive-pomace oil…all of these products are obtained from olives, each one of them has their characteristics, but what differentiates one from another and how we can choose it?
The process of olive oil production, physico-chemical parameters and in the case of virgin oils, the sensory quality (evaluated with an expert taster panel) are used to classify the olive oil.
If we speak about tasting or sensory analysis of a product, it can think and not without reason, in a subjective process and under many errors in their implementation, ambiguous or subject to interpretation expressions. But sensory analysis is a scientific discipline used to evaluate the organoleptic characteristics of food, and it has been used for many years like a method to measure, analyze and understandhuman reactions to the organoleptic characteristics of food by the senses. Data from a sensory analysis are evaluated by a panel of tasters trained for it and are statistically treated in order to minimize errors and make objective results.
In the case of tasting olive oil for classification as extra virgin olive oil, virgin oil or lamp oil, it is carried out by a panel of experts, which will also be authorized by bodies of the member states, to carry out official control of the country.
The tasting test is carried out under a specific regulation developed by the International Olive Oil Council, in which the tasters follow a profile sheet with positive attributes and some negative attributes that are valued on a scale of 10 cm. The tasting test is carried out in a glass for oil specific and the oil samples shall be kept in the glasses at 28ºC±2ºC throughout the test, this temperature has been chosen because it makes it easier to observe organoleptic differences than at ambient temperature.
In the method for the organoleptic assessment are detailed the number of samples, amount of oil, explanation of vocabulary, etc.. to assessing the virgin olive oil.
The positive attributes that are valued in oil are fruity, bitter and pungent, these attributes will depend on the variety of olive, the degree of maturity of the same, and the time they have been harvested.
The negative attributes are determined by the following attributes:
1. Fusty/muddy sediment Characteristic flavour of oil obtained from olives piled or stored in such conditions as to have undergone an advanced stage of anaerobic fermentation, or of oil which has been left in contact with the sediment that settles in underground tanks and vats and which has also undergone a process of anaerobic fermentation.
2. Musty-humid-earthy Characteristic flavour of oils obtained from fruit in which large numbers of fungi and yeasts have developed as a result of its being stored in humid conditions for several days or of oil obtained from olives that have been collected with earth or mud on them and which have not been washed.
3. Winey-vinegary. Characteristic flavour of certain oils reminiscent of wine or vinegar.
4.Acid-sour. This flavour is mainly due to a process of aerobic fermentation in the olives or in olive paste left on pressing mats which have not been properly cleaned.
5. Rancid Flavour of oils which have undergone an intense process of oxidation.
6. Frostbitten olives. (wet wood) Characteristic flavour of oils extracted from olives which have been injured by frost while on the tree.
On the same tab tasting the taster may indicate other negative attributes such as a heated or burnt, hay-wood, rough, greasy, vegetable water, brine, metallic, esparto, grubby and/or cucumber.
To be considered extra virgin, the oil shall not have any defect and the fruity attribute must be greater than 0; if the oil has a defect (less than 3.5 on the scale) and the median of the fruity attribute is above 0, would become a virgin oil; and if the oil was very defective in sensory quality is classified as lampante virgin olive oil and should be refined for consumption.
In most cases as consumers, we will not be able to distinguish all of these attributes, but it’s all about training your palate, have good sensory memory and taste, taste and taste different oils. And whenever we want to enjoy quality oil, choose an extra virgin olive oil, where we can appreciate the variety of olive, the time of harvest the fruit, nuances of smells and flavors of the harvested area. Not all olive oils are the same … taste, let’s try and enjoy the liquid gold.
Surely many of you have as childhood memory go shopping with your parents to buy fresh milkfrom farm or the nearest village, or even remembers the van of milkman that went selling the milk in jugs by the streets. This flavour, the cream was left on the surface after boiling at home and what good this cream was to prepare delicious pastries!
In Spain the direct supply by the producer of small quantities of raw milk to the final consumer or to local retail establishments that supply directly to consumers is prohibited, according to Royal Decree 640/2006.
But meanwhile the AECOSAN (Spanish Agency of Consumer Affairs, Food Security and Nutrition) is considering the possibility of amending Royal Decree 640/2006, so that by 2015 it requested the Scientific Committee to report on the microbiological risks associated with the consumption of milk raw and processed dairy products made from raw milk. The report by the Scientific Committee gathered concretely aspects:
The sale of raw milk and cream
The production of cheese more than 60 days with raw milk that does not meet the criteria somatic cell and total germs
The applicable requirements colostrum.
However, the sale of raw milk and cream in Spain intended for direct human consumption is not limited or prohibited, if all the requirements of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 and Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 are achieved.
Therefore, currently in Spain we can find places to buy raw milk, in fact the trend for “natural is healthier” and other trends have increased the sale of this product. In Spain 42 tons of raw milk were consumed in 2013 (1.2% of all milk consumed), according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment. In the United States these trends are much higher, and there are lobby groups that promote the consumption of raw milk and dairy products, but is it safe drinking raw milk?
According to European Union (EU) legislation, “raw milk” is defined as milk produced by the secretion of the mammary gland of farmed animals that has not been heated to more than 40 °C or undergone any treatment that has an equivalent effect. Therefore, when it comes to raw milk consumption we refer to milk without any treatment, not even if we purchased raw milk and it is boiled by us in our home, and by the way, it is made at the discretion of each one.
Milk is a rich in nutrients, high water activity and with proper pHfor growth of microorganisms, both microorganisms beneficial (species of the genera Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, Enterococcus) as pathogens (the most common organisms Salmonellaspp., Campylobacter spp., Escherichia coli, Yersinia enterocolitica, Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus, but also viruses, parasites and food toxins) and this is where it runs a risk when consuming raw milk or products made from it.
Raw milk, contrary to what many people think, is not sterile, and may be the vehicle for the transmission of various diseases, some of them very serious depending on the state of health of the affected person or the moment of the life (children, pregnant women, ageing people, immunocompromised persons, etc.). Potential pathogens are not eliminated because does not exist a heat treatment, and may have reached the milk by a systemic infection of animals, or mastitis thereof (udder infection), addition during milking and subsequent distribution there is a risk contamination and deterioration thereof.
Treatments like pasteurization (heating for a specified time at temperatures below 100 ºC) or sterilization (higher than 100 ºC for a given time), allow us to have in our homes safe milk for our consumption, killing vegetative forms in first case and vegetative and spore forms the second.
The movements and groups advocating the consumption of raw milk, recommend its use without any heat treatment, even for children, arguing that the milk itself is safe, and they rely on the control of livestock and good practices. They also believe that raw milk is able to prevent allergies and intolerances. Neither pasteurization or sterilization determine allergy or intolerance to milk, milk either raw, pasteurized or sterilized is not suitable for people who have intolerance to lactose.
Processing operations of milk have influence in their organoleptic quality, and someflavors and tastes that have raw milk are lost during these operations, mainly due to the process of homogenization of fat, rather than processes heat to make it safe for its consumption.
The technology of food processes has allowed over the years to provide safe and affordable food to consumers. In the case of milk may we yearn for the taste of milk, their original taste, but if we do a real analysis of the risks of drinking raw milk without any treatment not worth playing roulette with a glass of raw milk… even if it is yummy.
‘And because I do not like dry steaks, mom, take a little sauce and flavor’. As this Spanish rumba says, in our country we use ‘salt-cellar’, in the full sense of the word. In fact, we consume 9,8 g of salt daily, which is almost twice the recommended amount. But we are not the only ones. Americans follow us closely eating an average of 8,5 g every day. World Health Organization (WHO) admits that we have a serious global problem, establishing salt reduction as a priority measure in preventing cardiovascular disease.
Each gram of common salt (sodium chloride or NaCl) provides us approximately 0,6 g of chlorine (Cl) and 0,4 g of sodium. Sodium, although is needed in small quantities, is clearly ‘the bad guy’. Sodium excess causes fluid retention (weight increase), heart problems and hypertension. WHO suggests that the quantity of salt that an adult should consume daily is 5 g, equivalent to approximately 2 g of sodium. Attention! 5 g is only a little teaspoon or a thimble.
We just have to look at the following table elaborated from the data about the salt content of a group of foodsof the ‘Plan Cuidate+’, created by the Agencia Española de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutrición (AESAN). So if we get four ham slices, we have made the day as far as salt is concerned. And if we eat it in a refrigerated sandwich, I do not think more… I just hope that WHO has calculated well because, according with them, it seems very easy to overcome the recommend intake daily. In addition, anyone dares to say to WHO something about the salt of a ham sandwich, because I imagine they would say: and who tells you to eat ham? Do not you know our recommendations about the processed meat consumption?
We are going to suppose that we try to reduce our salt consumption. In this case, it is not too easy, because the 72% of our salt consumption comes from processed food (prepared meals, fast food, snacks, cheese, cereals, etc.). This is what is known as ‘hidden salt’, and here is where manufacturers have to make an effort. In this sense, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in The United States of America is developing a guide in order to promote, voluntarily, the reformulation and development of new products reduced in sodium. To do this, from 2 June to 31 August, we can send them comments about sodium reduction
Little by little, our palate should get used to a less salty taste. Surely, everyone has seen that salty foods are able to modify our behavior: they are a generator of appetite and they stimulate our intake. We just have to eat pipes with salt and without salt. You can’t stop to eat the bag with salt until you finish it. (It is not an experiment with scientific rigor, but it serves to get an idea).
Every day in the supermarket, we have to face the decision to buy one product or another. Unconsciously, and according to experts, we dedicate about 6 seconds to choose. If we only look on nutritional aspects, manufacturers must be able to communicate that their products offer advantages in relation to others. Thus, by nutrition labeling, manufacturers inform us about nutrients that a food gives us (nutrition claims) and even gives us information about possible health effects (health claims).
From the consumers’ point of view, nutrition labelingwould allow to choose a product knowingly, favoring even some changes in their eating behavior. Until now, at European level, some models for nutritional information have been designed so that information arrive easily to consumers, such as the use of Guideline Daily Amount (GDA), the nutritional traffic light, different symbols or health logos, etc. However, it does not seem that we are getting it, because some labeling studies continue showing that this information is difficult to understand for almost the 44% of people.
Having in mind that in the UK more than two thirds of the population is overweight or obese, the Royal Society for Public Health insists on the urgent necessity to propose innovative measures, relating to the labeling, able not only to provide information, but to change the consumer behavior. And for this, they propose to inform about the calories of food from a totally different perspective. So, instead of indicating the calories of a food, the product provides us the information about the necessary physical activity indicated to spend those calories, it means ‘equivalent activity’.
At the beginning, I have to admit that I like this labeling proposal, because it offers an easy reference and understandable for all, and it encourages to think about the necessary balance between calories consumed and those that are spent. But the best thing is that this initiative uses positive reinforcement, so that encourages us to get started in physical activity rather than stop eating certain foods. In this way, I believe that it could be possible to influence in the eating behavior of consumer and their lifestyle. I think that now the message that my brain receives will be: ‘you will burn these sweet biscuits with the sweat of your brow’, instead of ‘if you eat these biscuits, they will live in your body forever’.
Other proposal for labeling, which comes from the same British company, is based on including photos with the amount of sugar or salt that a food carries. Of course, the impact of reading that you are ‘eating’ 60 grams of sugar with a drink is not the same as watching equivalent to 15 sugar cubes. Is it?
I want to call these brilliant and wonderful ideas of labeling ‘ideas of clear labeling’, and I hope to collect more of them in order to tell them us in this blog.
The photographer Peter Menzel few years ago visited different countries of the world in order to photograph families of those countries with the food they consume regularly for a week. A book was published based on this work, “Hungry Planet”, where tastes, preferences and food culture of these countries are reflected, but in addition we can see the reality of our world, in which millions of people suffer from hunger and malnutrition, while in other countries obesity rates grow as epidemic and food are wasted in large amounts.
The expense that a family does in your shopping basket is very different between countries reflecting Menzel. In some, like Chad, they survive as little more than a dollar a week, while in others, we eat with excess of calories and we are wasting big amounts of food. With our habits, we contribute to wasting much of the food we buy and consume in our homes.
I used the pictures of Menzel in this occasion to close this post the serie about food waste in particular, to speaking about food waste in households.
The 42% of food are thrown out in household according to UE, and Spain is the seventh country that more food waste to 7,7 million tons. In 2013 a study was published by Hispacoop and supported by the National Institute of Consumption in which it was noted that in Spain the average waste per household is 1,3 kg/week. The group of breads, cereals, pastries and others foods (19,3%), fruits and vegetables (16,9%), milk yogurts, cheeses and other dairy products (13,3%) and pasta are the most waste food, among all these groups account for 62.6% of wasted food in households.
Leftovers, main reason Leftovers meals are the main reason why food is thrown away in the household (86.5%), not to calculate the portions not plan well or menu beforehand.
We have to recover recipes and seek to take advantage of these leftovers, our recipe book is full of dishes that are born like recipes of leftovers: “croquetas”, “ropa vieja”, the delicious “torrijas”, etc. All of them have appeared of wit of chefs, cooks and especially housewives who have sought the way to harness remains of bread, meat, vegetables and give them a second chance like delicious dishes.
The deterioration of food by poor storage or excess in storage has been reflected as the next reason to reject food in Spanish households. We tend to save the leftovers of the meal, with the intention to use it for a later meal, but then we do not plan well, or we let spoil this leftovers, to finally end up in the rubbish bin.
Planning, kitchen and reused To reduce this waste in our homes we should start by good planning. We have to think the weekly menu, and the food we need for this menu, and what we are going to do with leftovers. Knowing the weekly menu will help us to know previously what quantities and ingredients we need to do it.
In this way we will not buy too much and thus we will avoid some of these foods end up damaged, or buy food we already have in the pantry. When we make the purchase it must look at the expiration date or preferred consumption of food, ensuring that falls within our planning.
At the time of cooking we should adjust the amounts of ingredients to the number of people, using kitchen utensils to help us calculate the portions always in the same way. It can be calculated for cooking more quantity if you have a clear intention, and freeze the leftovers for a later meal planned, but this must be taken into account.
‘Did you know that cocoa increases mental activity? We are going to discover and prove scientifically the incredible power of what we have in the pantry’.
With these words, the Spanish cooker Alberto Chicote started ‘Superfoods’, his special TV program, on March28. When it started, I said to myself: I won’t miss it! I have to admit that I had some uncomfortable moments, and I thought: Oh my god! They are getting on top!
According to the ratings, the program was a success. And, on the one hand, I am glad because it shows the Spanish interest in eating in a healthy way (beyond football or ‘big brother’). Secondly, I am glad because it evidences the huge potential of television to increase the nutrition knowledge.
We must learn how to communicate science in an educational and funny way (as Chicote), but always under the strict sight of scientific evidences. After living a few crazy years proclaiming the miraculous effects of food, the publication of Regulation (EC) 1924/2006, related to nutrition declarations and health properties of food, the scene has changed radically, prohibiting attribute to any food a beneficial effect without scientific basis and without being expressly authorized.
In this case, I dedicate today’s post to check briefly the science behind the effects that the program attributed to the 10 ‘Superfoods’. Chicote ensured that:
‘The extra virgin olive oil strengthens bones and eliminates fats’. ‘Cocoa strengthens teeth and streamlines the mind’. ‘Blue fish is good against stresses’. ‘Coffee prevents fatigue driving’. ‘Oranges slow aging’. ‘Pasta increases athletic performance’. ‘The tomato prevents sunburn’. ‘Broccoli protects your eyesight of the sun’. ‘Legumes reduce cholesterol’.
On the one hand, the following table lists the so-called ‘superfoods’ and their benefits reported on television. And on the other hand, it includes the active ingredients that provide these foods, the beneficial effects scientifically accepted by the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) and it today is authorized to inform European consumers about the benefits.
Indeed, there is scientific evidence that selected foods have certain beneficial effects. However, the word ‘Superfood’ is not the right word, because it could give the idea that they are ‘miraculous’, and then we start doing strange things such as ‘broccoli diet’ or eating 2kg of oranges every day in order to get eternal youth.
Looking at the table, we can conclude that:
It is very curious that this program shows some effects of these foods which do not count with the scientific evidences, instead of the recognized healthy effects.
In the case of pulses, because of their phystosterols contents, we could admit that ‘they help to maintain normal cholesterol levels’, but not ‘reduce cholesterol’.
Scientifically, effects on our concentration related to the caffeine consume are demonstrated. However, Europe is not authorized to publicize these effects to avoid excessive consumption of coffee or caffeinated beverages. For more information of caffeine, you can check the following EFSA’s poster.
