I recently read an article entitled 'Frankenstein wine' warning over French supergrapes.
Apparently, French wine scientists have developed some vines that are impervious to fungal attack, specifically downy mildew and powdery mildew, and therefore requiring little or no fungicidal chemicals. You'd think that this was a good thing and would be welcomed. But no, some people, who may have a vested interest in turning back innovation, are claiming that the "lab-grown creations" combine genes from around the world and could lead to dumbed-down, low-grade "Frankenstein wine", whatever the hell that means. The implication is that the new varieties are somehow unnatural. As far as I can tell, genetic engineering has not been involved; conventional cross breeding has been used.
Let's just step back from this hysterical attack on scientific improvement in winemaking. As a result of claimed cancer links among grape growers, the French are under intense pressure to reduce the amount of fungicides used. The use of these new varieties would therefore seem to be a good move. However, a winemaker and researcher from western France has claimed that these vines, which are hybrids, would lead to "artificial and unnatural 'Frankenstein wine'." According to the article, he likened the development of the new vines to crossing a monkey with a man - technically feasible but going against nature. That is a completely over-the-top reaction, but I'd be keen to see the resulting animal!
The development and growing of hybrid grape varieties has in fact been going on since the 1950s in the northeast and Pacific Northwest of North America. Those varieties have enabled production of wines in these short season, cooler and more humid areas. They also have greater resistance to disease and therefore require less use of chemicals.
Though rare, natural interspecific hybrids do occur as a result of cross-pollination, the earliest known was discovered in 1740 near a vineyard planted in Vitis vinifera.
Showing posts with label mould. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mould. Show all posts
Monday, August 20, 2018
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Mould, the consumer and the retailer
Many searchers of this blog have asked "Will spoiled food make you sick?" I have commented on this before.
Over the last few weeks, I have purchased two blocks of cheddar cheese from a large supermarket chain in New Zealand. When they were opened, both blocks were found to have a few mould colonies growing along the edges and at the corners. This became apparent when the plastic film was peeled back.
Do these mould colonies represent a health hazard? According to Dr. John Pitt, Aspergillus flavus is unable to produce aflatoxin at refrigerator conditions, so it is unlikely that there is a health hazard if the cheese is eaten. I just cut the mould off, together with a bit extra to avoid eating cheese with changed flavour resulting from the mould growth.
My wife, who is obsessed with "food going out of it's date stamp" suggested that the cheese might be old, ("Well, that's why you buy mature cheese, dear"), but the best-before date stamp was mid-2013.
I wrote, complaining to the supermarket chain and pointing out that there were probably only two reasons that these blocks of cheese could have had mould growth inside the pack - the cheese was packed under poor hygiene conditions in which mould spores were able to contaminate the block, and maybe the film had been pulled too tightly at the edges and corners, increasing the gas permeability and allowing air to penetrate the pack to allow the strictly aerobic moulds to grow.
No harm, no foul you might say. But the consumer is entitled to buy safe, wholesome food and to have mouldy cheese only when mould is part of the normally accepted description of the cheese, such as Brie, Camembert and Roquefort. Cheddar is not mould-ripened.
What I found interesting about this, besides the technical issue, was that the supermarket chain completely ignored my complaint, not even sending some sort of "We are looking into it" brush-off. Do they not care about consumer perceptions of their stores, or does this happen so often that they feel it is 'normal'?
Over the last few weeks, I have purchased two blocks of cheddar cheese from a large supermarket chain in New Zealand. When they were opened, both blocks were found to have a few mould colonies growing along the edges and at the corners. This became apparent when the plastic film was peeled back.
Do these mould colonies represent a health hazard? According to Dr. John Pitt, Aspergillus flavus is unable to produce aflatoxin at refrigerator conditions, so it is unlikely that there is a health hazard if the cheese is eaten. I just cut the mould off, together with a bit extra to avoid eating cheese with changed flavour resulting from the mould growth.
My wife, who is obsessed with "food going out of it's date stamp" suggested that the cheese might be old, ("Well, that's why you buy mature cheese, dear"), but the best-before date stamp was mid-2013.
I wrote, complaining to the supermarket chain and pointing out that there were probably only two reasons that these blocks of cheese could have had mould growth inside the pack - the cheese was packed under poor hygiene conditions in which mould spores were able to contaminate the block, and maybe the film had been pulled too tightly at the edges and corners, increasing the gas permeability and allowing air to penetrate the pack to allow the strictly aerobic moulds to grow.
No harm, no foul you might say. But the consumer is entitled to buy safe, wholesome food and to have mouldy cheese only when mould is part of the normally accepted description of the cheese, such as Brie, Camembert and Roquefort. Cheddar is not mould-ripened.
What I found interesting about this, besides the technical issue, was that the supermarket chain completely ignored my complaint, not even sending some sort of "We are looking into it" brush-off. Do they not care about consumer perceptions of their stores, or does this happen so often that they feel it is 'normal'?
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