Food

The technological changes and innovations during the last 20 years have created a remarkable array of new creations. All living organisms are compromised of a substance called deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), which contains genes that are the blueprint for that organism. Scientists discovered that DNA was interchangeable between organisms and created new breeding methods such as crossbreeding, gene injection, and DNA modification techniques. This allowed scientists to take desirable traits from one organism and give that characteristic to another.

A genetically engineered product is one that was developed by modifying DNA. (www. aphis. usda. gov/bbep/bp/overview. html) There has been an increase in generically engineered crops over the years and they continue to rise. In 1996, 4 million acres of land worldwide were planted with these crops versus having 98 million acres with genetically engineered crops in 1999 (Frankmore, p. A-38). In 1998, 77% of the worlds genetically engineered crops were produced in the United States (Batie, 1999).

Currently the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not require the labeling of genetically engineered products (Kessler, 1992, p. 1747). However, legislation is now being introduced into congress to determine how these products should be dealt with. In 1998, the United States patent office received 289 applications for patent approval for new genetically engineered crops (Batie, 1999). It is often hard to understand complex technological and scientific concepts when one does not have prior experience in the field. Genetic engineering is a division of biotechnology.

It is something that one encounters in their everyday life, but at the same time its hard to understand what a genetically engineered product is, and what effects it could have on your life. While is has been well documented that the European Union is opposed to genetically engineered foods which they nicknamed Frakenfoods, the thoughts and beliefs of American consumers has not yet been examined (Batie, 1999). The main goal of the biotech community should be to take the complex topic of genetically engineered crops, and make it understandable to Americans to allow them to formulate and make educated decisions on the subject.

Due to the high complexity and scientific nature of genetic engineering, people arent aware of this topic. However, the spectrum of genetic engineering reaches beyond the realm of science, as it is part of each area of general education. For example, it affects globalization because it could have an impact on population rates, provides nutrition, affects people differently and have social and economic impacts. Biotechnology crosses the area of pluralism as it has an effect on public policies and opinions. It is part of the area of aesthetics as it could change the landscapes and food appearance.

Mathematics is involved in the use of forecasting future trends and profits. New genetically engineered products have the potential to drive a large amount of businesses out of business. For example, a genetically engineered product called BgH can increase milk production by 40% and would tend to force about 30% of all dairy farms in the US out of business once introduced into the market (Perlas, 1994, p. 40). In the case of new genetically engineered golden rice which contains high level of beta-carotene (Vitamin A) to combat blindness in malnourished Asian countries.

Instead however, Asians experienced a Vitamin A toxicity which resulted in abdominal pains, nausea, vomiting, dizziness and deformities of the body as well as problems with the depletion of its scarce water resources by using more then the traditional amounts (www. purefoods. com). Genetically engineered products have the potential to be highly destructive creating gene mutations, superweeds, health risks, and unknown effects from lack of research and evidence on safety issues. Consumers should be aware of the foods that they are eating and possible long term effects.

For the well-to-do, eating during the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods was a fancy affair. A king or queen when going abroad could expect banquet tables filled with hundreds of dishes–for just one meal! There was much pageantry and entertainment. At Leicester, Queen Elizabeth I (predecessor of King James VI & I) was greeted with a pageant of welcome displayed on a temporary bridge. There were cages of live birds–bitterns, curlews, hernshaws and godwits. One pillar held great silver bowls piled with apples, pears, cherries, walnuts and filberts.

Other pillars held ears of wheat, oats and barley, gigantic bunches of red and white grapes, great livery pots of claret and white wine, sea fish in quantity laying upon fresh grass, and the last pillar was devoted to the arts. There were arms and music explained by a blue-clad poet. The evenings were marked by entertainments of various sorts like a water pageant with a costumed actor riding in on a dolphin. The food was brought in thousands of crystal and silver dishes served by dozens, sometimes hundreds, of gentlemen.

Rich Elizabethans dined twice a day–breakfast at eleven or twelve and supper between five and six. Of course, the meals of the common man were not so extravagant. The common man ate three meals a day: breakfast in the early am, dinner at twelve and supper at six. The poorer sort, supped when they could. A poem by Thomas Tusser gives a good idea of the break fast of the typical farmer: Call Servants to breakfast, by day star appear, a snatch to wake fellows, but tarry not here.

Let Huswife be carver, let pottage be eat, a dishful each one with a morsel of meat. Rich Elizabethans loved hospitality and had chronic guests. In following the old custome, they gathered in the Great Hall where the host sat at the head of the table and guests were arranged in order of importance. Food was prepared in vast quantities and what was left over went to servants. After the servants ate, the remaining food was given to the poor who waited outside the rich men’s gates–reminds one of Lazarus and the rich man.

Kitchen Equipment: brick ovens, working table, spits, pots, posnetts, chafing-dishes, graters, mortars and pestles, boilers, knives, cleavers axes, dripping-pans, pot-racks, pot-hooks, gridirons, frying pans, sieves, kneading troughs, fire shovels, barrels, tubs, pantry, buttery (wine and other provisions stored here), wet and dry larders, spicery, mealhouse sieving or bolting house, coals kep in squillerie along with brass pots and pans, pewter vessels and herbs, covered dishes, court cupboard, sideboards.

Drinking vessels: gold, silver, pewter, horn, leather, glass, earthenware. Meat: beef, mutton, lamb, veal, kid, port, coney, pig, venison, fish (sometimes salted–pike, salmon, haddock, gurnard, tench, sturgeon, conger-eels, carp, lampreys, chines of salmon, perch, white herring, shrimp, pilchards, mackerel, oysters), sausage, eggs, sheep’s feet, meat pies. Due to lack of refrigeration, techniques for preparing spoiled meat–vinegar, burying, sauces, spices.

Cheese Fowl: domestic and wild–crane, bitter, swan, brant, lark, plover, quail, teal, widgeon, mallard, shelldrake, shoveller, peewit, scamen, knot, olicet, dun bird, partridge, pheasant, sparrows, doves, pigeons, cocks, hens, geese, ducks, peacocks of the Ind, turkeys, pelican, blackbirds,. Vegetables: beans, turnips, greens, parsnips, carrots, cabbage, colewart, beetroot, salsify, artichokes, asparagus, peas, salads, lettuce, onions, leeks, pumpkins, melon, cucumbers, skirret, horseradish, gourds, olives, potatoes, yams.

Herbs: chervil, young sow thistle, corn salad, leaves of clary, spotted cowslip. Bread: wheat, white, rye, barley. In times of dearth bread made of horse-corn, peas, beans, oats, tares, lentils, acorns. Fruit: oranges, cherries, rasberries, strawberries, mulberries, peaches, apricots, cornels, currants, raisins, lemons, gooseberry, plums, pears, apples, grapes.

Throughout the history of mankind science has searched into the realms of the unknown. Along with it bringing new discoveries, allowing for our lives to become healthier, more efficient, safer, and at the same time, possibly more dangerous. Among the forces driving scientists into these many experiments, is the desire to preserve the one fuel that keeps our lives going; FOOD. As early as the beginning of the 19th century, major breakthroughs in food preservation had begun. Soldiers and seamen, fighting in Napoleons army were living off of salt-preserved meats.

These poorly cured foods provided inimal nutritional value, and frequent outbreaks of scurvy were developing. It was Napoleon who began the search for a better mechanism of food preservation, and it was he who offered 12,000-franc pieces to the person who devised a safe and dependable food-preservation process. The winner was a French chemist named Nicolas Appert. He observed that food heated in sealed containers was preserved as long as the container remained unopened or the seal did not leak. This became the turning point in food preservation history.

Fifty years following the discovery by Nicolas Appert, another breakthrough had developed. Another Frenchman, named Louis Pasteur, noted the relationship between microorganisms and food spoilage. This breakthrough increased the dependability of the food canning process. As the years passed new techniques assuring food preservation would come and go, opening new doors to further research. Farmers grow fruits and vegetables and fatten livestock. The fruits and vegetables are harvested, and the livestock is slaughtered for food.

What happens between the time food leaves the farm and the time it is eaten at the table? Like all living things, the plants and animals that become food contain iny organisms called microorganisms. Living, healthy plants and animals automatically control most of these microorganisms. But when the plants and animals are killed, the organisms yeast, mold, and bacteria begin to multiply, causing the food to lose flavor and change in color and texture. Just as important, food loses the nutrients that are necessary to build and replenish human bodies.

All these changes in the food are what people refer to as food spoilage. To keep the food from spoiling, usually in only a few days, it is preserved. Many kinds of agents are potentially destructive to the healthful haracteristics of fresh foods. Microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi, rapidly spoil food. Enzymes which are present in all raw food, promote degradation and chemical changes affecting especially texture and flavor. Atmospheric oxygen may react with food constituents, causing rancidity or color changes.

Equally as harmful are infestations by insects and rodents, which account for tremendous losses in food stocks. There is no single method of food preservation that provides protection against all hazards for an unlimited period of time. Canned food stored in Antarctica near the South Pole, for xample, remained edible after 50 years of storage, but such long-term preservation cannot be duplicated in the hot climate of the Tropics. Raw fruits and vegetables and uncooked meat are preserved by cold storage or refrigeration.

The cold temperature inside the cold-storage compartment or refrigerator slows down the microorganisms and delays deterioration. But cold storage and refrigeration will preserve raw foods for a few weeks at most. If foods are to be preserved for longer periods, they must undergo special treatments such as freezing or heating. The science of preserving foods for more than a few days is called food processing. Human beings have always taken some measures to preserve food. Ancient people learned to leave meat and fruits and vegetables in the sun and wind to remove moisture.

Since microorganisms need water to grow, drying the food slows the rate at which it spoils. Today food processors provide a diet richer and more varied than ever before by using six major methods. They are canning, drying or dehydration, freezing, freeze-drying, fermentation or pickling, and irradiation. Canning The process of canning is sometimes called sterilization because the heat treatment of the food eliminates all microorganisms that can spoil the food nd those that are harmful to humans, including directly pathogenic bacteria and those that produce lethal toxins.

Most commercial canning operations are based on the principle that bacteria destruction increases tenfold for each 10 C increase in temperature. Food exposed to high temperatures for only minutes or seconds retains more of its natural flavor. In the Flash 18 process, a continuous system, the food is flash-sterilized in a pressurized chamber to prevent the superheated food from boiling while it is placed in containers. Further sterilizing is not required. Freezing Although prehistoric humans stored meat in ice caves, the food-freezing industry is more recent in origin than the canning industry.

The freezing process was used commercially for the first time in 1842, but large-scale food preservation by freezing began in the late 19th century with the advent of mechanical refrigeration. Freezing preserves food by preventing microorganisms from multiplying. Because the process does not kill all types of bacteria, however, those that survive reanimate in thawing food and often grow more rapidly than before freezing. Enzymes in the frozen state remain active, although at a reduced rate. Vegetables are blanched or heated in preparation for freezing to ensure enzyme inactivity and thus to avoid degradation of flavor.

Blanching has also been proposed for fish, in order to kill cold-adapted bacteria on their outer surface. In the freezing of meats various methods are used depending on the type of meat and the cut. Pork is frozen soon after butchering, but beef is hung in a cooler for several days to tenderize the meat before freezing. Frozen foods have the advantage of resembling the fresh product more closely than the same food preserved by other techniques. Frozen foods also ndergo some changes, however. Freezing causes the water in food to expand and tends to disrupt the cell structure by forming ice crystals.

In quick-freezing the ice crystals are smaller, producing less cell damage than in the slowly frozen product. The quality of the product, however, may depend more on the rapidity with which the food is prepared and stored in the freezer than on the rate at which it is frozen. Some solid foods that are frozen slowly, such as fish, may, upon thawing, show a loss of liquid called drip; some liquid foods that are frozen slowly, such as egg yolk, may become coagulated. Because of the high cost of refrigeration, frozen food is comparatively expensive to produce and distribute.

High quality is a required feature of frozen food to justify the added cost in the market. This method of preservation is the one most widely used for a great variety of foods. Drying and Dehydration Although both these terms are applied to the removal of water from food, to the food technologist drying refers to drying by natural means, such as spreading fruit on racks in the sun, and dehydration designates drying by artificial means, such as a blast of hot air. In freeze-drying a high vacuum is aintained in a special cabinet containing frozen food until most of the moisture has sublimed.

Removal of water offers excellent protection against the most common causes of food spoilage. Microorganisms cannot grow in a water-free environment, enzyme activity is absent, and most chemical reactions are greatly retarded. This last characteristic makes dehydration preferable to canning if the product is to be stored at a high temperature. In order to achieve such protection, practically all the water must be removed. The food then must be packaged in a moisture-proof container to prevent it from absorbing water from the air.

Vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, and some other foods, the moisture content of which averages as high as 80 percent, may be dried to one-fifth of the original weight and about one-half of the original volume. The disadvantages of this method of preservation include the time and labor involved in rehydrating the food before eating. Further because it absorbs only about two- thirds of its original water content, the dried product tends to have a texture that is tough and chewy. Drying was used by prehistoric humans to preserve many foods.

Large quantities of fruits such as figs have been dried from ancient times to the present day. In the case of meat and fish, other preservation methods, such as smoking or salting, which yielded a palatable product, were generally preferred. Commercial dehydration of vegetables was initiated in the United States during the American Civil War but, as a result of the poor quality of the product, the industry declined sharply after the war. This cycle was repeated with subsequent wars, but after World War II the dehydration industry thrived.

This industry is confined largely to the production of a few dried foods, however, such as milk, soup, eggs, yeast, and powdered coffee, which are particularly suited to the dehydration method. Present-day dehydration techniques include the application of a stream of warm air to vegetables. Protein foods such as meat are of good quality only if freeze-dried. Liquid food is dehydrated usually by spraying it as fine droplets into a chamber of hot air, or occasionally by pouring it over a drum internally heated by steam. Freeze-drying A processing method that uses a combination of freezing and dehydration is called freeze-drying.

Foods that already have been frozen are placed in a vacuum-tight enclosure and dehydrated under vacuum conditions with careful application of heat. Normally ice melts and becomes water when heat is applied. If more heat is applied, it turns to steam. But in freeze-drying, the ice turns directly to vapor, and there is little chance that microorganisms will grow. Freeze-dried foods, like those that are dehydrated, are light and require little space for storage and transportation. They do not need to be refrigerated, but they must be reconstituted with water before they are ready to consume.

Irradiation As early as 1895, a major breakthrough in the world of science had arisen; the discovery of the X-ray by German physicist Wilhelm von Roetengen. This technological advancement, along with the soon to be discovered concept of adioactivity by French physicist Antoine Henri Becquerel, became the focus of attention for many scientifically based studies. Of most importance, to the field of food preservation, these two discoveries began the now controversial process of food irradiation. Food irradiation employs an energy form termed ionizing radiation.

In short, this process exposes food particles to alpha, beta and/or gamma rays. The rays cause whatever material they strike to produce electrically charged particles called ions. Ionizing radiation provides many attributes to treating foods. It has the ability to penetrate deeply into a food interacting with its toms and molecules, and causing some chemical and biological effects that could possibly decrease its rate of decay. It also has the ability to sanitize foods by destroying contaminants such as bacteria, yeasts, molds, parasites and insects.

Irradiation delays ripening of fruits and vegetables; inhibits sprouting in bulbs and tubers; disinfests grain, cereal products, fresh and dried fruits, and vegetables of insects; and destroys bacteria in fresh meats. The irradiation of fresh fruits and vegetables, herbs and spices, and pork was approved in 1986. In 1990 the FDA approved irradiation of poultry to control salmonella and other isease-causing microorganisms. Irradiated foods were used by U. S. astronauts and by Soviet cosmonauts. Public concern over the safety of irradiation, however, has limited its full-scale use.

It is still off to a slow start, with only one food irradiation plant open in Mulberry, Florida, but it is seemingly catching the eyes of the producers and the consumers throughout the world. Miscellaneous Methods Other methods or a combination of methods may be used to preserve foods. Salting of fish and pork has long been practiced, using either dry salt or brine. Salt enters the tissue and, in effect binds the water, thus inhibiting the acteria that cause spoilage. Another widely used method is smoking, which frequently is applied to preserve fish, ham, and sausage.

The smoke is obtained by burning hickory or a similar wood under low draft. In this case some preservative action is provided by such chemicals in the smoke as formaldehyde and creosote, and by the dehydration that occurs in the smokehouse. Smoking usually is intended to flavor the product as well as to preserve it. Sugar, a major ingredient of jams and jellies, is another preservative agent. For effective preservation the total sugar content should make up at east 65 percent of the weight of the final product.

Sugar, which acts in much the same way as salt, inhibits bacterial growth after the product has been heated. Because of its high acidity, vinegar (acetic acid) acts as a preservative. Fermentation caused by certain bacteria, which produce lactic acid, is the basis of preservation in sauerkraut and fermented sausage. Sodium benzoate, restricted to concentrations of not more than 0. 1 percent, is used in fruit products to protect against yeasts and molds. Sulfur dioxide, another chemical preservative permitted in most states, helps to retain the color of ehydrated foods.

Calcium propionate may be added to baked goods to inhibit mold. Packaging The packaging of processed foods is just as important as the process itself. If foods are not packaged in containers that protect them from air and moisture, they are subject to spoilage. Packaging materials must therefore be strong enough to withstand the heat and cold of processing and the wear and tear of handling and transportation. From the time the canning process was developed in the early 19th century until the beginning of the 20th century, cans and glass containers were the only packages used.

The first cans were crude containers having a hole in the top through which the food was inserted. The holes were then sealed with hot metal. All cans were made by hand from sheets of metal cut to specific sizes. In about 1900 the sanitary can was invented. In this process, machines form cans with airtight seams. A processor buys cans with one end open and seals them after filling. Some cans are made of steel coated with tin and are often glazed on the inside to prevent discoloration. Some are made of aluminum.

Frozen foods are packaged in containers made of layers of fiberboard and lastic or of strong plastic called polyethylene. Freeze-dried and dehydrated foods are packed in glass, fiberboard, or cans. Research The research activities of processed food scientists are numerous and varied. New packaging materials, the nutritional content of processed foods, new processing techniques, more efficient use of energy and water, the habits and desires of today’s consumer, more efficient equipment, and transportation and warehousing innovations are some of the subjects being studied.

The challenge of the food researcher is to discover better and more efficient ways to process, transport, and store food. Processed foods have changed the world. In developed countries they are part of almost everyone’s diet. The United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom all produce large quantities of processed foods, which they sell domestically and abroad.

In the United States in the early 1980s, annual production of fruit was 1. billion kilograms canned, 1. 4 billion kilograms frozen, and 1. 1 billion kilograms in fruit juice; production of vegetables was 1. 4 billion kilograms canned and 3. 2 billion kilograms frozen. From the modest canning industries in 1813 to the sophisticated food rocessing plants of today, food processors have provided the world with more healthful diets, food combinations never before possible, and a convenience unimagined 200 years ago.

We as consumers can only imagine what further achievements will be made in the field of food preservation. But one thing is for certain; it is all for the general good of mankind… to reduce starvation levels globally and insure the availability of nutritive foods to all. It is through this way that man survives… and fits in Darwin’s hypothesis of the survival of the fittest. For it is only the fit who will prevail in the end.

Rice is the main food for about one-third to one-half of the world’s population. A mature rice plant is usually two to six feet tall. In the beginning, one shoot appears. It is followed by one, two, or more offshoots developing. There are at least five or six hollow joints for each stalk, and a leaf for each joint. The leaf of the rice plant is long, pointed, flat, and stiff. The highest join of the rice plant is called the panicle. The rice grains develop from the panicles. (Jodon, 300) Rice is classified in the grass family Gramineae. Its genus is Oryza and species O. sativa. It is commonly cultivated for food in Asia.

Some varieties of rice include red rice, glutinous rice, and wild rice. (Jodon, 303) The kernel within the grain contains most of the vitamins and minerals (298). The kernel contains thiamine, niacin, and riboflavin (299). Rice has many enemies that destroy a majority of the rice crops. The larvae of moth, stem borers, live in the stems of the rice plants. Some insects suck the plant juices or chew the leaves. Birds, such as bobolink, Java sparrow, or paddybird, would eat the seeds or grains. Disease causing factors such as fungi, roundworms, viruses, and bacteria also destroy the rice plants.

Blast disease is caused by fungi which causes the panicles containing the grains to break. (Jodon, 300) There are various types of rice grown all over the world. A majority of rice grown is cultivated rice. When rice is grown with water standing on the fields, it is called lowland, wet, or irrigated rice. Rice plants grown in certain parts of Asia, South America, and Africa are called upland, hill, or dry rice because they are raised on elevated lands that cannot be flooded, but with plentiful rainfall. Wild rice is grown along lake shores of Canada and the Great Lakes. It is usually eaten by people in India.

Scented rice is the most expensive because is has long grains and tastes like popcorn when cooked. Glutinous rice is waxy rice consumed by Asians. It is cooked to a sticky paste and is used for cakes and confections. (Jodon, 299) Rice was thought to have originated in southeast Asia when Alexander the Great invaded India in 326 B. C(Jodon, 303). Further research revealed that rice was cultivated around or at the Yangtze River in China, around 4000 to 11,500 years ago. One archaeologist, Toyama, surveyed data on 125 samples of rice grains, plant remains, husks, and other factors from numerous sites along the length of the Yangtze River.

He reported that the oldest samples. . . are clustered along the middle Yangtze in Hubei and Hunan provinces. Samples from the upper and lower portions of the Yangtze River were found to be younger, around 4,000 to 10,000 years old. This pattern. . . suggests that rice cultivation originated in the middle Yangtze and spread from there. Archaeologists see more than a decade of excavation of the Yangtze River and nearby sites to confirm that the Yangtze River is where rice was first cultivated. (Normille, 309)

The Greeks learned of rice when Alexander the Great invaded India around 326 B. C. Spain was introduced to rice when it was conquered by the Moors during the 700’s A. D. Spain then introduced rice to Italy, around the 1400’s. The Spanish also introduced rice to the West Indies and South America, around the 1600’s. Rice was introduced to the United States when a Madagascar ship docked in the Charleston, South Carolina harbor. The ship captain presented the governor with a sack of seed rice. It was then grown in states south of the Ohio River and east of Mississippi. (Jodon, 303)

Rice is usually grown in lowland fields divided by dirt walls (Jodon, 300) A majority of the rice crops are grown with water standing on the fields (Jodon, 299). On level land, these paddies and dirt walls are built in wavy or straight lines. On hill-like land, they follow the slopes and form paddies that rise like steps. The dirt walls are used to hold in water for the fields. (300) Cultivation of the rice plant requires controlling the water supply and weeding the rice fields. Water must be two to six inches deep for the seeds to germinate properly. After the grains germinate, the water is drained.

The rice plant is then cultivated by hand. (Jodon, 301) Besides steaming the rice for consumption, it is also used for other products. Enriched rice is regular kernels and vitamin and mineral coated kernels mixed together. The Japanese use the fermented rice kernels to make sake, rice wine. Rice is sometimes used in making beer in the United States and Europe. Powdery by-products, bran and polish, are used to feed livestock. Starch from the rice plant is used in laundry starch. The Japanese usually use the rice hulls to prevent breakage of fragile objects during shipping.

Rice hulls also serve as fuel for steam engines. The dried stalks of rice are used to make sandals, hats, raincoats, and thatching roofs. In the Philippines, farmers grow mushrooms on beds of rice straw. (Jodon, 298-99) The purpose of the Super Rice challenge is to create rice plants that are disease resistant, insect resistant, and produces twenty-five percent more food per acre. The International Rice Research Institute has been working on this challenge. It is competing with many various factors that are pushing the International Rice Research Institute to try and complete the challenge as soon as possible.

Factors such as growing population, limited areas for growing rice, and the common farmer’s philosophy of get anything to grow are pushing researchers to complete the project as soon as possible. Also, the new varieties of rice has raised a question of the farmer’s health because of the uses and effects of agricultural chemicals. Since normal rice grown in paddies produces high amounts of methane, the International Rice Research Institute must also find a way to create rice plants with a low methane production. Gurdev Khush believes that the super rice will be ready for farmers to plant them around the end of the century.

Bioscience, 239) Researchers were able to develop a type of rice during the 1960’s. This type of rice, called miracle rice, because of its high yields. Researchers were able to develop it by combining a short variety of rice with a tall variety. This crossbreeding resulting in a rice plant that can withstand wind and rain and have a high production yield. This new breed was thought to have been to reduce the food shortages that depend on rice as a staple food, but because of various conditions in other countries, this rice plant was not very successful.

Jodon, 299) Blight, caused by bacteria, spreads rapidly through rice fields in water droplets. The rice plant would develop lesions and die in a matter of days. This disease could destroy about half of a rice crop. Through genetic engineering, the author and her colleagues have been able to introduce isolated disease-resistant genes into the rice plants. (Ronald, 100) The gene, called Xa21, was discovered by the International Rice Research Institute, and Ronald attempted to clone Xa21 from the International Rice Research Institute variety. 01)

The Cornell group created a genetic map which showed the location of hundreds of markers on the twelve rice chromosomes. Ronald and her colleagues used this genetic map to locate gene Xa21 by examining over one thousand rice plants to see how often known DNA markers showed up in conjunction with resistance to blight. They used chromosomal swapping and rearranging that goes on during sexual reproduction. The more often they saw resistance in the next generation of rice plants, the closer they were to locating the gene. (102)

Since rice plants are defiant in accepting outside DNA, they used a gun that shoots microscopic particles into intact cells, which was developed by John Sanford of Cornell. After using this procedure to introduce Xa21 into an old, but susceptible, rice plant they exposed the plants to blight. They found that the plants were resistant to the blight. Ronald and her colleagues current goal is to introduce Xa21 into rice varieties that are agriculturally important. (102-03) Current studies showed that rice plants introduced to the cloned Xa21 gene have become blight resistant.

Since farmers prefer to grow plants that have adapted to the various climates and conditions, Ronald stated that the genetically engineered versions will be identical to the original plants except for the addition of the single cloned gene…. Ronald and her colleagues still have to field-test the new varieties for yield, taste, and hardiness to confirm that the original adaptations have remain unchanged. (104) The success of this project has reached into testing the process and the gene on other plants. Scientists hope that Ronald’s process of making the rice plant blight resistant will work on other plants.

They hope that this process will be successful on valuable crops, such as citrus crops. They plan to combine the gene Xa21 and other disease resistance genes to enhance the plant’s resistance to disease. The problem with cloning the Xa21 gene is that it is still vulnerable to other diseases such as grassy-stunt and ragged-stunt viruses. (Ronald, 104) The purpose of Japan’s rice genome project is to fully map the twelve chromosomes of the rice plant. Low funding of this project has hindered the progression of this project.

Since Japan has increased its funding to its genome project, the rice genome division can now complete mapping the twelve chromosomes of the rice plant. (Normille, 1702) Rice is one of the world’s most important crops because a majority of the world depends on this as a staple food. The number of rice plants planted, however, are greater than the number of rice consumed. This is because of various factors that destroy the rice plants before they can be harvested for commercial use. Various factors, such as insects, birds, and disease, destroy the rice crops.

Projects are being conducted to improve the rice plant, but researchers encounter various obstacles. Making the rice plant disease-resistant to blight may be useful and valuable, but they must also find a way to make the rice plant resistant to other diseases and viruses such as ragged- stunt. Since Japan has increased its funds to its genome projects, they have been able to increase the work on mapping the twelve rice chromosomes. Scientists hope that these projects will be finished, and that farmers will be using the enhanced genes on their rice plants by the beginning of the next century.

The culinary herb oregano is mostly used in foods. Oregano also known as the pizza herb is used in a number of Italian dishes as it goes especially well with tomatoes. All the flavors of oregano are prominent in Italian cooking and in robust dishes of certain other cuisine, such as Mexicans chili con carne. Italians call oregano the mushroom herb but use it with many other foods as well. The Spanish word oregano means marjoram. Oregano is also known as marjoram in northern and central Europe. In Greek, Oregano means Joy of the Mountains from where it is gathered.

Before modern day medicines were invented for stomachaches, oregano was used for minor food poisonings and convulsions. Externally, oregano was used on skin irritations to cease the itch. The French included it in soaps and pomades. The Greeks crowned newlyweds with oregano and planted it on graves as well as using the herb medically. Oreganos German name, wurstkraut, reveals its use of seasoning sausages. The English used oregano for perfumes, washing waters, and used it for dyes to turn wool purple and linen reddish brown.

In good health and quality, oregano should have good color, even sized leaf pieces and a fresh aromatic aroma. The leaves of oregano are very aromatic, slightly pointed and hairy. The flowers are white, and bloom from late July to September. Oregano grows to be 2 feet tall, and rich, moist soil makes the aroma and flavor of oregano weak. Oregano has been used for many other things in the past, and has been very helpful and constructive to humans. It has been essential in cooking and an important ingredient in types of medications.

Jamaica is a beautiful island south of Cuba, between North and South America. The island has a great deal of “rich agricultural land, and although much of the mountainous are is not very fertile, here and there in the hills are pockets of land which can bear abundantly” (Buisseret, 1969, i). Jamaica’s uniformities and diversities concerning their food, as well as their unique religious functions, geography, economics, and technology contribute to their distinctive food culture. Most Jamaicans are able to produce their own food, such as sugar crops, bananas, and citrus fruits (Buisseret, 1969, 58).

They use these products in trade, as well as for themselves. Also, they grow a great deal of domestic crops, such as “corn, vegetables, fruits, cassave, yam, cocoes, dasheeen, and sweet potatoes” (Bent, 1966, 44). Though rice is an important food to Jamaicans, they are forced to import it from Guyana, mainly (Bent, 1966, 45). Also, beef cattle, pigs, poultry, fish, and sheep are a significant part of the Jamaican food consumption. They raise them themselves, though sheep rearing is a great deal less successful. Most of the meat consumed in Jamaica is imported or grown by a few local livestock owners.

Jamaicans buy their goods at markets in the largely populated cities (Bent, 1966, 75-78). Planters are well respected in Jamaican society, since they tend to be more well-off than most (Stewart, 1971, 126). Most food preparation involves pepper and the cook’s “special ingredients”; however, much of the cooking of meat is done in small drums on charcoals (Johnson, 1982, 25). Jamaicans are much like Americans concerning their food storage. They keep dried foods in pantries and keep milk, etc. in refrigerators (Johnson, 1982, 84). The act of eating itself is also “modernized just like the United States” (Johnson, 1982, 86).

Also, they dispose of food in the generalized dumps, though mainly, food is not wasted in the Jamaican culture. The only unique function of the Jamaican food culture is the drinking that occurs during the reggae concerts. The concerts occur almost everywhere in smaller, more rural areas, and the Jamaicans drink a great deal of rum. Rum is an alternative income for the estates when the sugar production is not good. No religious feasting seems to occur in Jamaica, oddly enough, since a great deal of feasting tends to occur on holidays. Rum consumption is the Jamaican’s main way to celebrate a festive occasion (Phillipo, 1975, 115).

Geography very obviously influences the Jamaican food ways: bananas, sugar cane, and citrus fruits are the main exports due to the warmer Jamaican climate (Buisseret, 1969, 55). Though the terrain is very rugged, farmers have worked past the scrubby area (Buisseret, 1969, 56). Also, Jamaican economics influence the food ways. Since Jamaica is still considered to be an underdeveloped country, most of the economy revolves around the import and export of food. Though imports are a great deal more expensive, Jamaica export money has increased a great deal in the recent past, making food cheaper and easier to obtain (Johnson, 1982, 96).

Jamaican technology has also made it possible to store food more efficiently (Johnson, 1982, 94). Jamaican food culture is an interesting collection of diverse and exotic foods. Their society places a great deal of importance on food due to their importing and exporting. Their food ways are much like America’s in their storage and preparation. Though they do not really have much religious association with their foods, alcoholic beverages are a major part of their culture as well. A Jamaican’s way of life is defined by the foods and the types of foods they eat.

“The greatest of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. ”(Mahatma Gandhi Quotes) Gandhi said this in his book, The Moral Basis of Vegetarianism, this belief is still valid in today’s modern society. At the present time in the United States, the concern for the health and well being of animals is drastically increasing. And one of the most substantial indications of this is the increasing number of vegans and vegetarians in our nation. Today there are over half a million vegans and countless millions of vegetarians in the United States alone.

There are several different kinds of vegetarians following this practice. A vegan consumes no foods of any kind produced by animals. An ovo-vegetarian eats eggs, but no dairy foods or animal flesh. A lacto-vegetarian eats dairy foods, but no eggs or animal flesh. A lacto-ovo-vegetarian eats dairy foods and eggs, but no animal flesh. These people are most commonly referred to as just vegetarians. A semi-vegetarian eats dairy food and egg and occasionally includes fish or chicken but no other animal flesh. (Seameons,p2) Aside from dietary habits, a vegan also has several more rules to follow.

A vegan cannot use any product made from the body parts of an animal such as leather, ivory, fur, and even pearls. They also cannot use products which have been tested on animals. Vegans are sometimes referred to as an animal’s greatest ally. Veganism originally started in India in the first century A. D.. Hindus did not become vegan because of deep religious reasons or for personal health reasons, “but because of environmental pressures. It became both uneconomical and unsanitary to raise animals in so crowded an environment”. (Seamen p. 5).

Through the centuries veganism never really caught on due to lack of modern medicine and improper understanding of the functions of the human body. Around the beginning of the twentieth century, it is thought that the discovery of vitamins and minerals gave birth to the idea of eating for optimum health and fitness, and thus, the rediscovery of veganism. Up through the 1900’s, more and more people started to say stop to the unfair torture of animals. Since the dawn of man, humans have used animals to their advantage. Animal flesh has been a good source of vitamins and protein.

The skin was used for warmth and shelter. Before several of the modern advances made by mankind, animals were needed to sustain human survival and prosperity. In today’s society, many of the products on our store shelves are tested on animals for safety reasons. Even with all the great uses there are for dead animals, modern nutrition and science has made so many new advancements in research that it has become completely unnecessary to kill any animal for any reason. Humans can survive solely on vegetation and supplementation. Animal testing is unnecessary due to new DNA and computer graphic research.

In this paper three major issues dealing with veganism will be discussed. Whether or not the vegan life style is healthier then the average way of life? Is animal testing necessary or should it be banned? And should animals be used in the entertainment industry? There is no reason to injure or kill animals for any reason. Americans as a society should be vegan. One major issue is whether or not the vegan lifestyle is healthier than the average way of life. The average way of life consists of the four major food groups: meat, dairy, grains, and fruits/vegetables.

In the vegan lifestyle, meat and dairy foods are cut out of the diet. From a nutritional standpoint, “animal food does have its advantages. For one thing it is nutrient-dense; it is a concentrated source of calories, protein, iron, zinc, copper, and in the case of dairy products, calcium. ” (Seameons p. 4) Veganism is actually much healthier than consuming meat and dairy products. Most people who become vegans use improper supplementation and will eventually make themselves sick. It is not denying the body meat that vegetarians and vegans have roblems with, but instead a lack of calories.

The human body needs a certain balance of vitamins and minerals to sustain proper health. Usually, when a person decides to become a vegan, they make the transfer automatically. The transfer to veganism must be made slowly and in parts. First, it’s good to give up red meat, next give up all meats, poultry and fish. After about one year of this, eggs and dairy foods are given up. Through all of this, vegans should take vitamins and protein supplements. The B-12 vitamin is essential and can naturally be found in only meat.

Deficiencies of B-12 “can lead to pernicious, megaloblastic anemia, loss of appetite, fatigue, pallor, dizziness, numbness or tingling in the extremities, and impairment of brain and nerve tissue that may result in permanent neurologically damage. A major concern with B-12 deficiency is that it is not easily recognized before it has already caused physiological damage. ” (Seameons p. 4) As long as a person watches their vitamin intake, they will retain proper health. But even without monitoring vitamins and minerals, a person who leads a vegan lifestyle will still be healthier than a person who consumes meat.

John Robbins, in his new book May All Be Fed, suggests that the hazards of using animal foods, even the so- called healthier ones, are considerable: I am frequently asked what I think of eliminating red meat and substituting chicken and fish, cutting the skin off poultry and cooking it in oil without fat, eating primarily low- or non-fate dairy products, and restricting egg-yolk intake to two or three a week … the data leads me to the conclusion that such a strategy is the equivalent of cutting smoking down to one pack a day. (Seameons p. 2)

When someone makes the switch to the vegan life style then must understand that: it is essential to eat a wide variety of yellow and green fruits and vegetables and different grains. If you do that plus make sure that you have an adequate source of vitamin B12 … from fortified cereals, soy beverages, and nutritional yeast, or from a multi-vitamin and mineral supplement, you will be meeting all your nutritional needs. It really is not that hard. (Seameons p. 3) The next major issue involved in veganism is whether or not animal testing should be banned.

Animal testing is experimentation, using a variable and a controlled group in which household products and pharmaceuticals are given to animals to observe what results are obtained. Another form of animal testing is dissection; this is the cutting apart of already dead animals for study in the classroom. The proponents to animal testing and dissection say that there are not enough proven alternatives to ensure the safety of new ingredients and products. Proponents say that in the classroom nothing can teach the realistics of anatomy as well as dissection.

The major companies say that animal testing is necessary to ensure the safety of all people. The truth is, every year “more than 14 million dogs, cats, rabbits, rats, monkeys, and other animals suffer in products tests that lead to blindness, severe burns, and eventual death. ” (Newkirk p. 10) Out of all of the companies which subject their products to animal testing, Procter & Gamble Inc. is the largest and kills the most animals: In Procter & Gamble (P&G), cosmetic and household product testing, caustic chemicals are forced into rabbits’ eyes and applied to their raw, shaved skin.

Laboratory workers lock the rabbits in restraining devices so they are unable to move while chemicals burn into their eyes and skin. The rabbits are given no sedatives or pain killers to ease their suffering. They sometimes break their necks and backs in a desperate struggle to get away. Those who survive are used again … until they are finally killed. P&G’s innocent victims include rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, and ferrets. Even though these tests are not required by law, P&G insists on continuing their torture. (Newkirk p. )

Many of the finest biologists in the country say that dissection is of valid importance in learning anatomy. But they are wrong, dissection is murder. All different kinds of animals such as cats, frogs, and pigs are either raised, stolen, or caught in their own habitat, this unbelievable amount of deaths often leads to a large decrease in the population of a particular species. Since the intent is to kill a large number of specimens as fast as possible, they are all shoved together into small containers and gassed to death.

Some of the animals do not die immediately, but the animals die when they are injected with the preservative formaldehyde, this causes an intense burning sensation. Dissection is not necessary to learn anatomy, there are alternatives to dissection such as computer simulation and video tape of past dissections to prevent more in the future. Some states, “such as California have laws ensuring that students are given alternatives. Many states are still behind the times on this issue. ” (Hepner p. 23) All of the companies which conduct animal testing claim to be trying to cut down and possibly eliminate the testing altogether.

P&G claims to be a world leader in researching humane testing methods. But the reality is that P&G spends more money in seven days on advertising than it has spent in eleven years on alternatives to painful and lethal animal tests. These “cruel and unnecessary experiments are paid for with profits from the sale of P&G products. Every bottle of Pantene, every tube of Crest, every pack of Tampax tampons, and every box of Tide, Bounce, or Bold that is purchased means more money for painful experiments. ” (Newkirk p. )

The three other major companies which conduct animal experimentation are Colgate-Palmolive, Johnson & Johnson, and Lever Brothers. Another major issue concerning the treatment of animals is whether or not it is humane to use animals in the entertainment industry. The definition of the word humane is “characterized by tenderness, compassion, and sympathy of other beings, especially for the suffering or undistressed. ”(Webster Dictionary) The entertainment industry includes television, radio, movies, and theatrics. Proponents argue that the use of animals for entertainment purposes is perfectly valid.

The owners and trainers will argue that all of the animals used are not harmed and are treated quite well. They say that the animals enjoy working and they enjoy their homes and are well cared for. However, the complete opposite is true. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that animals do not enjoy being electrified, kept in tiny spaces and burned. Amazingly enough, these practices are commonplace in the entertainment industry. Wild animals are kept in unnatural environments and usually fear and pain are their primary motive to perform. (Kiley p. 15)

Famous animal stars such as in “Free Willy”, “Babe”, and “Flipper” seem to have a good life in which no one mistreats them, but in reality Willy was held in captivity for seven years in tanks an average of three times his body size until he was finally released into the wild once the movie production was completed. That is hardly a natural or enjoyable environment for a mammal. Babe, the pig, was confined to a small cage. He was often beaten into submission and was finally rewarded by being sent to a nice house owned by his trainer.

Flipper was also kept in a small tank and he died in captivity. In all fields of animal related work ,the animals suffer, “Animals do not escape abuse even when they are used for entertainment. Circus animals suffer the most from the harsh conditions during training, transporting, and captivity. Meanwhile, animals used for television and films are also maltreated during filming. ” (Derly p. 5) There are many different types of abuse animal actors must endure when they are voted into being actors. When an animal is captured in the wild usually tranquilizer darts are used which induce nausea.

Once an animal is captured the hardships it endures is onnected with the field of entertainment it works in. For example,”horses are fitted with painful bucking straps in rodeos, and the front paws of circus bears are burned to make the animals stand on their hind legs. Elephants are often beaten until they follow their trainers’ instructions. ” (Kiley p. 15) Elephants are possibly the most abused animal in the entertainment industry. Animal rights activists are trying to improve the living conditions of circus elephants and to “stop the practice of making them do humiliating tricks.

Inhumane treatment has led any circus elephants to become aggressive often causing death or injury to people. ” (Derly p. 10) Even though America’s entertainment industry is the greatest in the world, we have always been willing to do anything in order to achieve this. Animal torture is not entertainment, it is sick. Americans must not allow themselves to be entertained by such gruesome atrocities. However, the average American is totally unaware of the abusive treatment that entertainment industry animals go through. It will take a great deal of education to bring this problem to the attention of the American public.

Americans as a society should be vegan. We have discussed whether or not veganism is healthier than the average way of life, whether or not animal testing should be banned, and finally, whether or not it is humane to use animals in the entertainment industry. Many people “view veganism as simply a restrictive diet, a list of products and ingredients to avoid. Actually, it is part of an affirmative, compassionate philosophy of life. Veganism is the embodiment of ahimsa — non-violence towards and respect for all sentient beings. ” (Braunstein p. 30) Mankind can do something about animal cruelty.

First everyone must become vegan in order to save the lives of countless animals. When meat and dairy products are consumed, the industry sees that they must kill more and more animals. If nobody ate these products, no animals would have to die for the sake of being consumed. Many of the products of today’s market are tested on animals, and we must put a stop to this. When in a supermarket, buy products that bear the label “cruelty-free” and boycott all of the companies which use animal testing. A boycott is when a group of people refuse to buy a product or service for a particular reason.

Four of the largest companies which use animal testing are: Procter & Gamble 1-800-543-7270, Colgate – Palmolive 1-800-221-4607, Johnson & Johnson 1-800-526-3967, and Lever Brothers 1-800-451-6679. Another way to put a stop to animal testing is to alert the companies that we are partaking in the worldwide boycott. Animals in captivity need to be released into the wild where they can live their lives free from abuse. As consumers, we have power: “a circus will not come to town if no one will attend the show.

Choose to attend entertainment events which are not dependent on animal fear and distress. Kiley p. 16) Founded by veterinarian Dr. Elliot Katz, In Defense of Animals(IDA) is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to ending the exploitation and abuse of animals by defending their rights, welfare, and habitat. Through protests, boycotts, lobbying efforts, lawsuits and civil disobedience, IDA promotes justice and compassion for all creatures. Many people have joined the IDA in hopes of making their friends and communities more aware of animal abuse in every day life. Many people our age are overwhelmed by problems the world faces and don’t feel that we have the power to affect real change.

Fortunately, there are things we can do to make a significant and lasting difference. By adopting a compassionate lifestyle, we can directly help animals and the ecological state of the earth: The most powerful tool we have in working for a better world is our positive example. If you do not think we are making a difference, just compare the world currently to that of only twenty years ago. Vegans used to be extremely rare, but today almost everyone knows at least one vegan. Society is becoming more vegan friendly all the time. (Braustein p. 50)

Rice is the main food for about one-third to one-half of the world’s population. A mature rice plant is usually two to six feet tall. In the beginning, one shoot appears. It is followed by one, two, or more offshoots developing. There are at least five or six hollow joints for each stalk, and a leaf for each joint. The leaf of the rice plant is long, pointed, flat, and stiff. The highest join of the rice plant is called the panicle. The rice grains develop from the panicles. (Jodon, 300) Rice is classified in the grass family Gramineae. Its genus is Oryza and species O. sativa. It is commonly cultivated for food in Asia.

Some varieties of rice include red rice, glutinous rice, and wild rice. (Jodon, 303) The kernel within the grain contains most of the vitamins and minerals (298). The kernel contains thiamine, niacin, and riboflavin (299). Rice has many enemies that destroy a majority of the rice crops. The larvae of moth, stem borers, live in the stems of the rice plants. Some insects suck the plant juices or chew the leaves. Birds, such as bobolink, Java sparrow, or paddybird, would eat the seeds or grains. Disease causing factors such as fungi, roundworms, viruses, and bacteria also destroy the rice plants.

Blast disease is caused by fungi which causes the panicles containing the grains to break. (Jodon, 300) There are various types of rice grown all over the world. A majority of rice grown is cultivated rice. When rice is grown with water standing on the fields, it is called lowland, wet, or irrigated rice. Rice plants grown in certain parts of Asia, South America, and Africa are called upland, hill, or dry rice because they are raised on elevated lands that cannot be flooded, but with plentiful rainfall. Wild rice is grown along lake shores of Canada and the Great Lakes. It is usually eaten by people in India.

Scented rice is the most expensive because is has long grains and tastes like popcorn when cooked. Glutinous rice is waxy rice consumed by Asians. It is cooked to a sticky paste and is used for cakes and confections. (Jodon, 299) Rice was thought to have originated in southeast Asia when Alexander the Great invaded India in 326 B. C(Jodon, 303). Further research revealed that rice was cultivated around or at the Yangtze River in China, around 4000 to 11,500 years ago. One archaeologist, Toyama, surveyed data on 125 samples of rice grains, plant remains, husks, and other factors from numerous sites along the length of the Yangtze River.

He reported that the oldest samples. . . are clustered along the middle Yangtze in Hubei and Hunan provinces. Samples from the upper and lower portions of the Yangtze River were found to be younger, around 4,000 to 10,000 years old. This pattern. . . suggests that rice cultivation originated in the middle Yangtze and spread from there. Archaeologists see more than a decade of excavation of the Yangtze River and nearby sites to confirm that the Yangtze River is where rice was first cultivated. (Normille, 309)

The Greeks learned of rice when Alexander the Great invaded India around 326 B. C. Spain was introduced to rice when it was conquered by the Moors during the 700’s A. D. Spain then introduced rice to Italy, around the 1400’s. The Spanish also introduced rice to the West Indies and South America, around the 1600’s. Rice was introduced to the United States when a Madagascar ship docked in the Charleston, South Carolina harbor. The ship captain presented the governor with a sack of seed rice. It was then grown in states south of the Ohio River and east of Mississippi. (Jodon, 303)

Rice is usually grown in lowland fields divided by dirt walls (Jodon, 300) A majority of the rice crops are grown with water standing on the fields (Jodon, 299). On level land, these paddies and dirt walls are built in wavy or straight lines. On hill-like land, they follow the slopes and form paddies that rise like steps. The dirt walls are used to hold in water for the fields. (300) Cultivation of the rice plant requires controlling the water supply and weeding the rice fields. Water must be two to six inches deep for the seeds to germinate properly. After the grains germinate, the water is drained.

The rice plant is then cultivated by hand. (Jodon, 301) Besides steaming the rice for consumption, it is also used for other products. Enriched rice is regular kernels and vitamin and mineral coated kernels mixed together. The Japanese use the fermented rice kernels to make sake, rice wine. Rice is sometimes used in making beer in the United States and Europe. Powdery by-products, bran and polish, are used to feed livestock. Starch from the rice plant is used in laundry starch. The Japanese usually use the rice hulls to prevent breakage of fragile objects during shipping.

Rice hulls also serve as fuel for steam engines. The dried stalks of rice are used to make sandals, hats, raincoats, and thatching roofs. In the Philippines, farmers grow mushrooms on beds of rice straw. (Jodon, 298-99) The purpose of the Super Rice challenge is to create rice plants that are disease resistant, insect resistant, and produces twenty-five percent more food per acre. The International Rice Research Institute has been working on this challenge. It is competing with many various factors that are pushing the International Rice Research Institute to try and complete the challenge as soon as possible.

Factors such as growing population, limited areas for growing rice, and the common farmer’s philosophy of get anything to grow are pushing researchers to complete the project as soon as possible. Also, the new varieties of rice has raised a question of the farmer’s health because of the uses and effects of agricultural chemicals. Since normal rice grown in paddies produces high amounts of methane, the International Rice Research Institute must also find a way to create rice plants with a low methane production. Gurdev Khush believes that the super rice will be ready for farmers to plant them around the end of the century.

Researchers were able to develop a type of rice during the 1960’s. This type of rice, called miracle rice, because of its high yields. Researchers were able to develop it by combining a short variety of rice with a tall variety. This crossbreeding resulting in a rice plant that can withstand wind and rain and have a high production yield. This new breed was thought to have been to reduce the food shortages that depend on rice as a staple food, but because of various conditions in other countries, this rice plant was not very successful.

Blight, caused by bacteria, spreads rapidly through rice fields in water droplets. The rice plant would develop lesions and die in a matter of days. This disease could destroy about half of a rice crop. Through genetic engineering, the author and her colleagues have been able to introduce isolated disease-resistant genes into the rice plants. (Ronald, 100) The gene, called Xa21, was discovered by the International Rice Research Institute, and Ronald attempted to clone Xa21 from the International Rice Research Institute variety. 01)

The Cornell group created a genetic map which showed the location of hundreds of markers on the twelve rice chromosomes. Ronald and her colleagues used this genetic map to locate gene Xa21 by examining over one thousand rice plants to see how often known DNA markers showed up in conjunction with resistance to blight. They used chromosomal swapping and rearranging that goes on during sexual reproduction. The more often they saw resistance in the next generation of rice plants, the closer they were to locating the gene. (102)

Since rice plants are defiant in accepting outside DNA, they used a gun that shoots microscopic particles into intact cells, which was developed by John Sanford of Cornell. After using this procedure to introduce Xa21 into an old, but susceptible, rice plant they exposed the plants to blight. They found that the plants were resistant to the blight. Ronald and her colleagues current goal is to introduce Xa21 into rice varieties that are agriculturally important. (102-03) Current studies showed that rice plants introduced to the cloned Xa21 gene have become blight resistant.

Since farmers prefer to grow plants that have adapted to the various climates and conditions, Ronald stated that the genetically engineered versions will be identical to the original plants except for the addition of the single cloned gene…. Ronald and her colleagues still have to field-test the new varieties for yield, taste, and hardiness to confirm that the original adaptations have remain unchanged. (104) The success of this project has reached into testing the process and the gene on other plants. Scientists hope that Ronald’s process of making the rice plant blight resistant will work on other plants.

They hope that this process will be successful on valuable crops, such as citrus crops. They plan to combine the gene Xa21 and other disease resistance genes to enhance the plant’s resistance to disease. The problem with cloning the Xa21 gene is that it is still vulnerable to other diseases such as grassy-stunt and ragged-stunt viruses. (Ronald, 104) The purpose of Japan’s rice genome project is to fully map the twelve chromosomes of the rice plant. Low funding of this project has hindered the progression of this project.

Since Japan has increased its funding to its genome project, the rice genome division can now complete mapping the twelve chromosomes of the rice plant. (Normille, 1702) Rice is one of the world’s most important crops because a majority of the world depends on this as a staple food. The number of rice plants planted, however, are greater than the number of rice consumed. This is because of various factors that destroy the rice plants before they can be harvested for commercial use. Various factors, such as insects, birds, and disease, destroy the rice crops.

Projects are being conducted to improve the rice plant, but researchers encounter various obstacles. Making the rice plant disease-resistant to blight may be useful and valuable, but they must also find a way to make the rice plant resistant to other diseases and viruses such as ragged- stunt. Since Japan has increased its funds to its genome projects, they have been able to increase the work on mapping the twelve rice chromosomes. Scientists hope that these projects will be finished, and that farmers will be using the enhanced genes on their rice plants by the beginning of the next century.

For centuries, rice has been one of the most important staple crops for the world and it now currently feeds more than two billion people, mostly living in developing countries. Rice is the major food source of Japan and China and it enjoys a long history of use in both cultures. In 1994, worldwide rice production peaked at 530 million metric tons. Yet, more than 200 million tons of rice are lost each year to biotic stresses such as disease and insect infestation. This extreme loss of crop is estimated to cost at least several billion dollars per year and eavy losses often leave third world countries desperate for their staple food.

Therefore, measures must be taken to decrease the amount of crop loss and increase yields that could be used to feed the populations of the world. One method to increase rice crop yields is the institution of transgenic rice plants that express insect resistance genes. The two major ways to accomplish insect resistance in rice are the introduction of the potato proteinas e inhibitor II gene or the introduction of the Bacillus thuringiensis toxin gene into the plant’s genome.

Other experimental methods of instituting insect resistance include the use of the arcelin gene, the snowdrop lectin/GNA (galanthus nivallis agglutinin) protein, and phloem specific promoters and finally the SBTI gene. The introduction of the potato proteinase inhibitor II gene, or PINII, marks the first time that useful genes were successfully transferred from a dicotyledonus plant to a monocotyledonous plant. Whenever the plant is wounded by insects, the PINII gene produces a protein that interferes with the insect’s digestive processes.

These protein inhibitors can be detrimental to the growth nd development of a wide range of insects that attack rice plants and result in insects eating less of the plant material. Proteinase inhibitors are of particular interest because they are part of the rice plant’s natural defense system against insects. They are also beneficial because they are inactivated by cooking and therefore pose no environmental or health hazards to the human consumption of PINII treated rice. In order to produce fertile transgenic rice plants, plasmid pTW was used, coupled with the pin 2 promoter and the inserted rice actin intron, act 1.

The combination of the pin 2 promoter and ct 1 intron has been shown to produce a high level, wound inducible expression of foreign genes in transgenic plants. This was useful for delivering the protein inhibitor to insects which eat plant material. The selectable marker in this trial was the bacterial phosphinothricin acetyl transferase gene (bar) which was linked to the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter. Next the plasmid pTW was injected into cell cultures of Japonica rice using the BiolisticTM particle delivery system.

The BiolisticTM system proceeds as follows: Immature embryos and embryonic calli of six rice materials were ombarded with tungsten particles coated with DNA of two plasmids containing the appropriate genes. The plant materials showed high frequency of expression of genes when stained with X-Gluc. The number of blue or transgenic units was approximately 1,000. After one week, the transgenic cells were transferred onto selection medium containing hygromycin B. After two weeks, fresh cell cultures could be seen on bombarded tissue. Some cultures were white and some cultures were blue.

Isolated cell cultures were further selected on hygromycin resistance. However, no control plant survived. Then twenty plates of cells were bombarded with the PINII gene, from which over two hundred plants were regenerated and grown in a greenhouse. After their growth, they were tested for PINII gene using DNA blot hybridization and 73% of the plants were found to be transgenic. DNA blot hybridization is the process by which DNA from each sample was digested by a suitable restriction endonuclease, separated on an aragose gel, transferred to a nylon membrane, and then finally hybridized with the 1. kb DNA fragment with pin 2 coding and 3′ regions as the probe.

The results also indicate that he PINII gene was inherited by offspring of the original transgenic line, that the PINII levels were higher among many of the offspring and that when PINII levels rose in wounded leaves, the PINII levels in unwounded leaves also rose. However, the PINII gene is not 100% effective in eliminating insects because it does not produce an insect toxin, just a proteinase inhibitor. Yet, greater insect resistance can be achiev ed by adding genes to produce the Bacillus thuringiensis or BT toxin.

Bacillus thuringiensis is an entomocidal spore-forming soil bacterium that offers a way of controlling stem boring insects. Stem borers such as the pink and striped varieties are difficult to control because the larvae enter the stem of the plant shortly after hatching and continue to develop inside the plant, away from the toxins of sprayed insecticides. Therefore, the stable institution of the BT gene into the rice plant’s genome would provide a method of reaching stem borers with toxins that are expressed in the plant tissues themselves.

Bacillus thuringiensis is comprised of so-called cry genes that encode insect specific endotoxins. Recently some lower varieties of rice, such as Japonica, have been successfully transformed ith cry genes, but the real challenge lies in transforming Indica rice, an elite breeding rice that composes almost 80% of the world’s rice production. In order to transform Indica rice, the synthetic cry IA gene must be used because it is the only cry gene to produce enough of the BT protein. Next, the synthetic cry IA gene under the control of the CaMV 35S promoter is attached to a CaMV cassette for hygromycin selection of transformed tissues.

Following the linkage of the cry IA and the CaMV 35S cassette, the DNA is delivered to the embryonic cells by particle bombardment with a particle inflow gun. More specific transformation includes the following: Immature Indica rice embryos were isolated for ten to sixteen days after pollination from other greenhouse plants and were plated on a solid MS medium containing sucrose (3%) and cefotaxime. After twenty four hours, embryos were transferred to a thin layer of highly osmotic medium containing a higher percentage of sucrose (10%), were incubated, and then were bombarded with plasmid pSBHI and gold particles by the particle inflow gun.

After bombardment, the thin layer of 10% sucrose was placed on the layer of 3% sucrose. This sandwich technique allowed continuous adaptation of the target tissue to the osmotic conditions, which was shown to be optimal for callus induction. After twenty four hours, the 10% sucrose layer was removed and the embryos were cultured on the 3% sucrose layer. After one week, they were transferred to a 3% sucrose medium that was selected for hygromycin B resistance. After a further three to four weeks, regenerated plants were transferred to soil and placed in the greenhouse under appropriate conditions.

The results of this process were eleven transgenic plants out of a total of thirty six. Transgeneicy of the rice plants was confirmed by similar banding patterns in Southern blotting. The presence of the BT protein was also demonstrated in Western blot analysis, where a protein with the expected size of sixty-five kilobases was found in all plants tested. Interestingly enough, the BT protein levels were higher in older plants than in younger plants, possibly questioning the role of inheritance of BT gene. Yet, inheritance was determined by using DNA blot hybridization, which revealed a segregation ratio of 3:1.

This indicates the integration of all copies of transgene at a single locus. To assess the mortality rate among different insects, both petri dish assays and whole plant assays were performed. In petri dish assays, mortality rates were as follows: European corn borer = 85-95% Yellow stem borer = 100% Striped stem borer = 100% Cnaphalocrocis medinalis (leaffolder) = 67% Marasmia patnalis (leaffolder) = 55% In whole plant assays, no surviving insects were found on any BT expressing plants, although insects still survived on the control plants or non expressing BT plants.

In addition to this recent insertion of the BT gene into Indica rice, a similar procedure was conducted on Shuahggei 6, a variety of Indica rice. Transgeneicy of Shuahggei 36 was achieved by taking plasmid P41ORH, which contained the coding region of the BT gene with the marker CaMV 35S-HPI-NOS plus 1. 0 kb of DNA fragment, and inserting it into the pollen tube pathway. More specifically, the plasmid DNA was applied at the cut ends of rice florets from one to four hours after pollination. Next the seeds that were harvested were germinated under hygromycin B resistance.

However only 3% of the plants survived hygromycin resistance. After this, the seedlings from the second generation were again segregated for hygromycin esistance. From these seeds, seventy plant lines were screened for transgeneicy and fifteen displayed the BT protein. These results and the inheritance of the BT gene into offspring were confirmed by Southern blotting. Nevertheless, the question remains whether the BT gene was really integrated into the genome or whether it was expressed only as a plasmid.

The use of the arcelin gene is another experimental method of creating transgenic rice plants. The arcelin gene is a translationally enhanced Bacillus thuringiensis toxin construct that is effective on the rice water weevil. The rice water weevil or RWW is the ajor pest of the Texan rice crop. Previously, the RWW was combated by granular carbofuran, an insecticide that kills the RWW but has deleterious effects on water fowl that live in the crop area. So environmentalists have forced the cessation of the use of granular carbofuran and therefore, new methods have to be developed.

One of the major genes that confer resistance to the RWW is the arcelin gene. Arcelin is a lectin that was originally discovered in the seeds of bean cultivators that showed resistance to the Mexican bean weevil. Next, researchers isolated a genomic clone encoding arcelin from the bean eed and then placed it under regulation of a rice actin promoter. Then the clone with the rice promoter was introduced into rice protoplast s. Transgeneicy and inheritance was then confirmed by genomic DNA blots and immunochemical blots.

In two separate experiments, six transgenic rice plants were subjected to RWW infestation under controlled conditions. The results of the first experiment are that similar numbers of RWW larvae were recovered from each set of six plants, but the size of those from arcelin expressing plants were significantly smaller. In the second experiment, although many normal larvae were recovered rom control plants, only three small larvae came from arcelin expressing plants. This would indicate the benefits of inserting the arcelin gene into rice plants for RWW resistance.

Another experimental method of creating transgenic rice plants that are insect resistant includes the use of snowdrop lectin or galanthus nivallis agglutinin (GNA). Snowdrop lectin helps to control the sporadically serious pest the brown planthopper (BPH), which has developed a resistance to many pesticides. Luckily for the environment, snowdrop lectin provides high levels of toxicity to BPH but not to other animals. BPH is a member of the order Homoptera and feeds by sucking the phloem sap from the stems of rice plants.

The major problem with combating BPH is that rice plants can not be engineered for BT toxin resistance against this pest because BT toxins that effect Homopterans have not yet been discovered or reported. Therefore, other types of genes had to be manipulated in order to produce insect resistance against BPH. The best plant protein that provides resistance to BPHs turns out to be snowdrop lectin, and this was first confirmed by artificial diet bioassays. To create the transgenic rice lants, embryonic cell suspension cultures were initiated from mature embryos from two Japonica rice varieties, Taipei 309 and Zhonghua 8.

Next, the protoplasts isolated from these cell suspension cultures were transformed by using the plasmid pSCGUSR, containing the nos-npt II gene as a selectable marker. Plasmid uptake was then induced by the PEG process and geneticin was used as a selection agent. Geneticin was added to the protoplast-derived colonies during the four and eight cell stages. From this, more than fifty putative transgenic plants have been regenerated from one thousand resistant colonies. Another way of combating the brown planthopper is by producing phloem-specific promoters.

These promoters are necessary because phloem is the exact site of feeding for the BPH. Although the CaMV promoter is active in phloem tissue, the possibility exists to institute a promoter from a gene that is specifically expressed only in phloem. This would be advantageous if there are other parts of the plant that may be negatively affected by the promoter and in this scenario, they would be unaffected. Recently, a phloem specific promoter has been obtained from the rice sucrose synthase gene RSs 1. RSs 1 promoter was used to drive the snowdrop lectin or GNA protein.

The results were confirmed by the use of immunological assays and they indicated that not only is the gene being expressed in the phloem tissues, but that the protein product has been successfully transported to phloem sap. Unfortunately, RSs 1 is heavily expressed in the seeds of rice plants, so an alternative promoter called PP2 is currently under study. So far, PP2 has been purified and partially sequenced. Also, a full cDNA library has been created for the gene and it has been used to probe a genomic library to obtain the corresponding gene. The promoter region form the PP2 gene is now being assayed.

One final method of creating insect resistance in rice plants is the use of the SBTI gene. SBTI gene is a trypsin inhibitor that acts against pests such as the yellow stem borer and the gall midge. Greater insect resistance can be created by introducing the Kunitz soybean trypsin inhibitor (SBTI) gene into varieties of Indica rice plants. First, a PCP product corresponding to the protein was isolated by oligonucleotide primers. Then, the resulting fragment was cloned, sequenced and expressed in E. coli cell cultures. The results were a recombinant SBTI gene that effectively fought off gall midges and yellow stem borers.

Presently, the SBTI gene is being cloned into vectors and is being used to transform other types of embryos using the particle gun technique. In conclusion, through the use of new technologies such as the introduction of potato proteinase inhibitor II gene, the establishment of the Bacillus thuringiensis toxin gene and the experimental methods of using the arcelin gene, the snowdrop lectin/GNA (galanthus nivallis agglutinin) protein, and phloem specific promoters and finally the SBTI gene, rice plants have become almost completely resistant o insects that used to destroy much of the crop.

This has been an important step in biotechnology because the improvement of rice plants is a major concern that could potentially effect almost all of the populations of the world. Biotechnology has become an increasingly accepted method of solving some of the major problems in agriculture, medicine, and industry. Potentially, with the advancements of many techniques, almost whenever people eat, drink, take medicine, or go to work, they will be touched in some way by the many complicated processes of biotechnology, that are striving to make our world a bette r place to exist in.

At one time, golden rice was just a wild idea that Ingo Potrykus thought up. Optimally, golden rice would improve the lives of millions of the poorest people in the world. The rice would contain beta-carotene which is the building block for vitamin A. However, imagining golden rice was one thing and bringing it into existence was another. He struggled for years with his colleagues to deal with the finicky growing habits of the rice they transplanted to a greenhouse near the foot hills of the Swiss Alps. Potrykus and his colleagues became successful in the spring of 1999.

By creating golden rice, Potrykus wanted to be sure it would reach malnourished children of the developing world; those for whom it was intended. He knew that would not be easy because of the fact that the golden grains also contained snippets of DNA borrowed from bacteria and daffodils. Being a product of genetical engineering, Potrykus’s product was entangled in a web of hopes, fears, and political baggage. Until now, genetically engineered crops were created to resist insect pests or to control the growth of weeds by using herbicides.

However, in this circumstance the genetically engineered rice not only benefits the farmers who grow it, but primarily the consumers who eat it. These consumers include at least a million children who die every year because they are weakened by vitamin-A deficiency and an additional 350,000 people who go blind. In addition to this concern, there is another. It is prospected that by the year 2020, the demand for grain, both for human consumption and for animal feed, is projected to go up by nearly half, while the amount of farmable land will probably dwindle, thus introducing a whole new series of problems.

There is only a short four step process that enables one to produce golden rice. The genes that give golden rice is its ability to make beta-carotene in its endosperm come from daffodils and a bacterium called Erwinia uredovora. These genes, along with promoters (segments of DNA that activate genes), are inserted into plasmids that occur inside a species of bacterium known as Agrobacterium tumefaciens. These agrobacteria are then added to a Petri dish containing rice embryos. As they “infect” the embryos, they also transfer the genes that encode the instructions for making beta-carotene.

The transgenic rice plants must now be crossed with strains of rice that are grown locally and are suited to a particular region’s climate and growing condition. There are a few concerns with product such as golden rice. All foods created through genetic engineering, are potential sources of allergens. The genes that are transferred contain instructions for making proteins, in which all proteins are not created equal- some proteins cause allergic reactions. “Genetic pollution” is another major concern.

Pollen grains from wind-pollinated plants as corn and canola, for example, are carried far and wide. Transgenic canola, for instance, grown in one field can very easily pollinate nontransgenic plans grown in the next, obviously causing problems. Ecological concerns also exist. Entomoligist John Losey performed an experiment by dusting Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn pollen on plants populated by the monarch butterfly caterpillars. Many of the caterpillars died. Bt has different strains of which produce toxins that target specific insects.

Bt is claimed to be a safe and effective natural insecticide that is popular with organic farmers. Like anything, genetically engineered rice will have it’s pros and cons. Bina Robinson stated “the Food and Drug Administration seems to have left safety considerations up to biotech companies, who see nothing wrong with snipping genes out of one species and inserting them into a completely unrelated one, thus blurring distinctions between plants and animals. This constitutes a nightmare for people with food allergies or religious or ethical concerns about eating animals.

We need to evaluated genetic engineering’s products more carefully before turning them loose in the environment and in people’s stomachs. ” In my opinion, genetical engineering is wrong. It is a radical new technology, one that breaks down essential genetic barriers- not only between species, but between humans, animals, and plants. By blending the genes of unrelated species, permanently transforming their genetic codes, organisms are created and will pass the genetic changes onto their offspring. Consequently, it will alter the entire species.

The genetic engineering of crops and food-producing animals can produce toxic and allergic reactions in humans. Scientists are combining unlike organisms to create the perfect product. Consumers are not completely aware of what is being used or replaced in the product they are ingesting. By continuing to alter plants and animals genetically, it will essentially endanger species and defiantly reduce biological diversity. In addition to these concerns, there is a moral issue. If we proceed to allow genetic engineering to prosper, it will only be a matter of time before we are choosing what our children will look like.

The soft-drink battleground has now turned toward new overseas markets. While once the United States, Australia, Japan, and Western Europe were the dominant soft-drink markets, the growth has slowed down dramatically, but they are still important markets for Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Globalization has become an important word in the 90s and Eastern Europe, Mexico, China, Saudi Arabia, and India have become the new “hot spots. ” Both Coca-Cola and Pepsi are forming joint bottling ventures in these nations and in other areas where they see growth potential.

As we have seen in the Japanese video dealing with Cokes business in class, international marketing can be very complex. As I begin to examine the international soda wars this will become very evident. The domestic cola war between Coca-Cola and Pepsi is still raging, as we clearly know. However, these two soft-drink giants also recognize the opportunities for globalization in many of the international markets. Both! Coca-Cola, which sold 10 billion cases of soft-drinks in 1992, and Pepsi now find themselves asking, “Where will sales of the next 10 billion cases come from? The answer lies overseas, where income levels and appetites for Western products are at an all time high. Often, the company that gets into a foreign market first usually dominates that country’s market. Coke patriarch Robert Woodruff realized this 50 years ago and unleashed a brilliant ploy or in a way a very simple global strategyto make Coke the early bird in many of the major foreign markets. At the height of World War II, Woodruff proclaimed that Wherever American boys were fighting, they’d be able to get a Coke.

By the time Pepsi tried to make its first international pitch in the 50s, Coke had already established its brand name and a powerful distribution network. During the last 40 years, many new markets have emerged. In order to profit from these markets, both Coke and Pepsi need to find ways to cut through all of the red tape that initially prevents them from conducting business in these markets. One key movement for the soda wars occurd in Europe in 1972, Pepsi signed an agreement with the Soviet Union which made it the first Western product to be sold to consumers in Russia.

This landmark agreement gave Pepsi the first advantage. Presently, Pepsi has 23 plants in the former Soviet Union and is the leader in the soft-drink industry in Russia. Pepsi outsells Coca-Cola by 6 to 1 and is seen as a local brand, similar to Cokes reputation in Japan. However, Pepsi has also had some problems. There has not been an increase in brand loyalty for Pepsi since its advertising blitz in Russia, even though it has produced commercials tailored to the Russian market and has sponsored television concerts. On the positive side, Pepsi may be leading Coca-Cola due to the big difference in price between the two colas.

While Pepsi sells for Rb250 (25 cents) a bottle, Coca-Cola sells for Rb450. For the economy size, Pepsi sells 2 liters for Rb1,300, but Coca-Cola sells 1. 5 liters fo! r Rb1,800. Coca-Cola, on the other hand, only moved into Russia 2 years ago and is manufactured locally in Moscow and St. Petersburg under a license. Despite investing $85 million in these two bottling plants, they do not perceive Coca-Cola as a premium brand in the Russian market. Moreover, they see it as a “foreign” brand in Russia. Lastly, while Coca-Cola’s bottle and label give it a high-class image, it is unable to capture market share.

Another country in the hot battleground for Coca-Cola and Pepsi is Romania. When Pepsi established a bottling plant in Romania in 1965, it became the first US product produced and sold in the region. Pepsi began producing locally during the communist period and has recently decided to reformat its organization structure and retrain its local staff. Pepsi entered into a joint venture with a local firm, Flora and Quadrant, for its Bucharest plant, and has 5 other factories in Romania. Quadrant leases Pepsi the equipment and handles Pepsi’s distribution.

In addition, Pepsi bought 500 Romanian trucks which are also used for distribution in other countries. Moreover, Pepsi produces its bottles locally through an investment in the glass industry. While the price of Pepsi and Coca-Cola are the same (@15 cents/bottle), some consumers drink Pepsi because Pepsi sent Michael Jackson to Romania for a concert. Another reason for drinking Pepsi is that it is slightly sweeter than ! Coca-Cola and is more suited for the sweet-toothed Romanians. Lastly, some drink Pepsi because, in the past, only top officials were allowed to drink it, but now everyone can.

Coca-Cola only began producing locally in November 1991, but it is outselling all of its competitors. In 1992, Coca-Cola saw an increase in Romania of sales by 99. 2% and outsold Pepsi by 6 to 5. While Pepsi preferred to buy its equipment from Romania, Coca-Cola preferred to bring equipment into Romania. Also, Coca-Cola brought 2 bottlers to Romania. One is the Leventis Group, which is privately owned. Coca-Cola has invested almost $25 million into 2 factories. These factories are double the size of the factory Pepsi has in Bucharest.

Moreover, Coca-Cola has a partnership with a local company, Ci-Co, in Bucharest and Brasov. Ci-Co has planned an aggressive publicity campaign and has sponsored local sporting and cultural events. Lastly, Romanians drink Coke because it is a powerful western symb! ol which was once forbidden. Finally as far as European markets are concerned there is Poland. Poland with a population of 38 million people, is the biggest consumer market in central and eastern Europe. Coca-Cola is closing in on Pepsi’s lead in this country with 1992 sales of 19. 5 million cases versus Pepsi’s sales of 26. million cases.

The main problems in this area are the centralized economy, the lack of modern production facilities, a non-convertible local currency, and poor distribution. However, since the Zloty is now convertible, Coca-Cola realizes the growth potential in Poland. After a company called Fiat, Coca-Cola is now the second biggest investor in Poland. Coca-Cola has developed an investment plan which includes direct investment and joint ventures/investments with European bottling partners. Its investments may exceed $250 million, and it has completed the infrastructure building.

Coca-Cola has divided Poland into 8 regions with strategic sites in each of these areas. It has o! rganized a distribution, which Coca-Cola has spent a lot of money organizing, extremely important to challenge Pepsi’s market share and to maintain a high level of customer service. All of this has helped Coca-Cola to close in on Pepsi’s lead in Poland. Both Coca-Cola and Pepsi are trying to have their colas available in as many locations in Eastern Europe, but at a cost which consumers would be willing to pay. The concepts which are becoming more important in Eastern Europe include color, product attractiveness visibility, and display quality.

In addition, availability, acceptability, and afford ability are the key factors for Eastern Europe. Basically if you think about it, the four bottom line practices of managers and companies are being practiced, Quality, Cost, Innovation, and Speed. Both companies hope that their western images and brand products will help to boost their sales. Coca-Cola has a universal message and campaign since it feels that Eastern Europe is part of the world and should not be treated differently. As for the rest of the world, Mexico is another large factor in the soda wars.

Mexican government recently freed the Mexican soft drink market from 40 years of price controls in return for a commitment from bottling companies to invest nearly $4. 5 billion and create nearly 55,000 jobs over the next 7 years, which many feel was a result of NAFTA. Naturally, Mexico has become another battleground in the international cola wars. In Mexico, Coca-Cola and Pepsi command 50% and 21% of the market respectively. The cola war is especially hot here because the per capita consumption of Coca-Cola and Pepsi exceeds that of the United States (Murphy, 6). Mexico is the only soft-drink market in the world that can make this claim.

The face off in Mexico is between Gemex, the largest Pepsi bottler outside the United States, and Femsa, the beer and soft drink company that owns the largest Coca-Cola franchise in the world. Femsa, however, may be at a disadvantage. Despite being part of ! the conglomerate group Vista, Femsa lacks financial punch because it plays only a small part in the conglomerate’s overall interests. The challenge in Mexico is to win market share through distribution efficiency (Murphy, 6). Keeping this in mind, each company is undertaking strategic efforts designed to sustain their shares of the Mexican market.

Pepsi is moving in on the Coke-dominated Yucatan peninsula while Femsa, the Coca-Cola franchisee, is planning to invest $600 million more for 3 new Coca-Cola plants next to Gemex’s Mexico City facilities. The parent companies have joined the battles as well. Coca-Cola has made a $3 billion long-term commitment to the Mexican market, and Pepsi has countered with a $750 million investment of its own. Another important country in the soda war is China. Coca-Cola originally entered China in 1927, but left in 1949 when the Communists took over the country. In 1979, it returned with a shipment of 30,000 cases from Hong Kong.

Pepsi, which only entered China in 1982, is trying to be the leading soft-drink producer in China by the year 2000. Even though Coca-Cola’s head start in China has given it an edge, there is plenty of room in the country for both companies. Currently, Coca-Cola and Pepsi control 15% and 7% of the Chinese soft-drink market respectively. The Chinese market presents unique problems. For example, 2,800 local soft-drink bottlers, many of whom are state-owned, control nearly 75% of the Chinese market. Those bottlers located in remote areas have virtual monopolies (The Economist, 67). The battle for China will take place in the interior regions.

These areas are unpenetrated as most of the foreign soft-drink producers have set up in the booming coastal c! ities. China’s high transportation and distribution costs mean that plants must be located close to their markets. Otherwise, in a country of China’s size, Coca-Cola and Pepsi risk pricing their products as luxury items. In China, it is easier and politically safer to expand through joint ventures with local bottlers. It is expected that, in China, the company that wins the cola war will win based on the locations of their bottling plants and the quality of the partners they choose (The Economist, 67).

Coca-Cola is bottled at 13 sites across China; five of these are state-owned. Also, Coca-Cola owns 2 concentrate plants in China. By next year, Coca-Cola and its joint venture partners will have invested nearly $500 million in China. Pepsi is planning a $350 million expansion plan that will add 10 new plants. Both companies are dumping profits straight back into expansion. Both companies have there sites clearly set on not seeing a return in profits until the next cent! ury. In Saudi Arabia, another important country, Pepsi is the market leader and has been for nearly a generation.

Part of this is due to the absence of its arch-rival, Coca-Cola. For nearly 25 years, Coke has been exiled from this country. Coca-Cola’s presence in Israel meant that it was subject to an Arab boycott. Because of this, Pepsi has an 80% share of the $1 billion Saudi soft-drink market. Saudi Arabia is Pepsi’s third largest foreign market, after Mexico and Canada (The Economist, 86). In 1993, almost 7% of Pepsi-Cola International’s sales came from Saudi Arabia alone.

The environment in Saudi Arabia makes the country very conducive to soft-drink sales: alcohol is banned, the climate is hot and dry, the population is growing at 3. % a year, and the Saudis’ oil-based wealth “make it the most valuable market in the Middle East” (The Economist, 86). Coca-Cola, long known as “Red Pepsi”, has finally started to fight back. The battle for Saudi Arabia actually bega! n 6 years ago, when the Arab boycott collapsed and Coca-Cola began to make inroads into the Gulf, Egypt, Lebanon, and Jordan. The start of the Gulf War, however, temporarily stunted Coca-Cola’s growth in the region. Pepsi’s 5 Saudi factories worked 24 hours a day to keep the troops refreshed.

The most significant blow to Coca-Cola’s return to the desert, however, came at the end of the war, when General Norman Schwarzkopf was shown signing the cease-fire with a can of diet Pepsi in his hand. Coca-Cola aims to control 35% of the Saudi market by the year 2000. Coca-Cola, which plans to pour over $100 million into the Saudi market, is focusing on marketing to get there. Also, Coca-Cola put $1 million into sponsoring the Saudi World Cup soccer team. This alone has doubled Coca-Cola’s market share to almost 15%.

America’s Reynolds Company is among the investors looking to cash in on Coca-Cola’s return to Saudi Arabia. The company is among the investors in a new factor! y which, by 1996, will be producing 1. 2 billion Coca-Cola cans per year. This equates to nearly 100 cans for every Saudi in the country. Pepsi, trying to fight off the Coca-Cola onslaught, has responded with deep discounting. Now on to one of the largest economic growing markets in the world, India. Coca-Cola controlled the Indian market until 1977, when the Janata Party beat the Congress Party of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

To punish Coca-Cola’s principal bottler, a Congress Party strong and longtime Gandhi supporter, the Janata government demanded that Coca-Cola transfer its syrup formula to an Indian subsidiary (Chakravarty, 43). Coca-Cola refused and withdrew from the country. India, now left without both Coca-Cola and Pepsi, became a protected market. In the meantime, India’s two largest soft-drink producers have gotten rich and lazy while controlling 80% of the Indian market. These domestic producers have little incentive to expand their plants or develop the country’s potentially enormous market (Chakravarty, 43).

Some analysts reason that the Indian market may be more lucrative than the Chinese market. India has 850 million potential customers, 150 million of whom comprise t! he middle class, with disposable income to spend on cars, VCRs, and computers. The Indian middle class is growing at 10% per year. To obtain the license for India, Pepsi had to export $5 of locally-made products for every $1 of materials it imported, and it had to agree to help the Indian government to initiate a second agricultural revolution.

Pepsi has also had to take on Indian partners. In the end, all parties involved seem to come out ahead: Pepsi gains access to a potentially enormous market; Indian bottlers will get to serve a market that is expanding rapidly because of competition; and the Indian consumer benefits from the competition from abroad and will pay lower prices. Even before the first bottle of Pepsi hit the shelves, local soft drink manufacturers increased the size of their bottles by 25% without raising costs.

In conclusion, the new battleground for the soda wars is in the developing markets of Eastern Europe, Mexico, China, Saudi Arabia, and India. With Coca-Cola’s and Pepsi’s investments in these countries, not only will they increase their sales worldwide, but they will also help to build up these economies. These long-term commitments by both companies will raise the level of competition and efficiency, and at the same time, bring value to the distribution and production systems of these countries. Many issues need to be overcome before a company can begin to produce its goods in a foreign country.

These issues are of the marcoenvironment (see Appendix, page 2) which include political, social, economic, operational, and environmental topics which must be addressed. When companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi effectively analyze and solve these problems to everyone’s liking, new foreign markets can translate into lucrative opportunities in the long run. Currently, it is difficul! t to say who is winning the cola wars since the data from the relatively new market research firms focuses on major cities.

Pepsi had a commanding 4 to 1 lead in 1992 in the former Soviet Union. Without this area, Coca-Cola has a 17% share versus Pepsi’s 12% share in the soft drink industry. Coca-Cola and Pepsi are in a dogfight, but both will end up as winners as the continue to expand globally, using the basic management skills consisting of: continued effort for total quality, trying to be the most efficient and cost affective, a continued effort to innovate their products, and finally speed, get their product on the shelves first and keep it there.

Throughout the history of mankind science has searched into the realms of the unknown. Along with it bringing new discoveries, allowing for our lives to become healthier, more efficient, safer, and at the same time, possibly more dangerous. Among the forces driving scientists into these many experiments, is the desire to preserve the one fuel that keeps our lives going; FOOD. As early as the beginning of the 19th century, major breakthroughs in food preservation had begun. Soldiers and seamen, fighting in Napoleons army were living off of salt-preserved meats.

These poorly cured foods provided minimal nutritional value, and frequent outbreaks of scurvy were developing. It was Napoleon who began the search for a better mechanism of food preservation, and it was he who offered 12,000-franc pieces to the person who devised a safe and dependable food-preservation process. The winner was a French chemist named Nicolas Appert. He observed that food heated in sealed containers was preserved as long as the container remained unopened or the seal did not leak. This became the turning point in food preservation history.

Fifty years following the discovery by Nicolas Appert, another breakthrough had developed. Another Frenchman, named Louis Pasteur, noted the relationship between microorganisms and food spoilage. This breakthrough increased the dependability of the food canning process. As the years passed new techniques assuring food preservation would come and go, opening new doors to further research. FOOD PROCESSINGFarmers grow fruits and vegetables and fatten livestock. The fruits and vegetables are harvested, and the livestock is slaughtered for food.

What happens between the time food leaves the farm and the time it is eaten at the table? Like all living things, the plants and animals that become food contain tiny organisms called microorganisms. Living, healthy plants and animals automatically control most of these microorganisms. But when the plants and animals are killed, the organisms yeast, mold, and bacteria begin to multiply, causing the food to lose flavor and change in color and texture. Just as important, food loses the nutrients that are necessary to build and replenish human bodies. All these changes in the food are what people refer to as food spoilage.

To keep the food from spoiling, usually in only a few days, it is preserved. Many kinds of agents are potentially destructive to the healthful characteristics of fresh foods. Microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi, rapidly spoil food. Enzymes which are present in all raw food, promote degradation and chemical changes affecting especially texture and flavor. Atmospheric oxygen may react with food constituents, causing rancidity or color changes. Equally as harmful are infestations by insects and rodents, which account for tremendous losses in food stocks.

There is no single method of food preservation that provides protection against all hazards for an unlimited period of time. Canned food stored in Antarctica near the South Pole, for example, remained edible after 50 years of storage, but such long-term preservation cannot be duplicated in the hot climate of the Tropics. Raw fruits and vegetables and uncooked meat are preserved by cold storage or refrigeration. The cold temperature inside the cold-storage compartment or refrigerator slows down the microorganisms and delays deterioration. But cold storage and refrigeration will preserve raw foods for a few weeks at most.

If foods are to be preserved for longer periods, they must undergo special treatments such as freezing or heating. The science of preserving foods for more than a few days is called food processing. Human beings have always taken some measures to preserve food. Ancient people learned to leave meat and fruits and vegetables in the sun and wind to remove moisture. Since microorganisms need water to grow, drying the food slows the rate at which it spoils. Today food processors provide a diet richer and more varied than ever before by using six major methods.

They are canning, drying or dehydration, freezing, freeze-drying, fermentation or pickling, and irradiation. CanningThe process of canning is sometimes called sterilization because the heat treatment of the food eliminates all microorganisms that can spoil the food and those that are harmful to humans, including directly pathogenic bacteria and those that produce lethal toxins. Most commercial canning operations are based on the principle that bacteria destruction increases tenfold for each 10 C increase in temperature. Food exposed to high temperatures for only minutes or seconds retains more of its natural flavor.

In the Flash 18 process, a continuous system, the food is flash-sterilized in a pressurized chamber to prevent the superheated food from boiling while it is placed in containers. Further sterilizing is not required. FreezingAlthough prehistoric humans stored meat in ice caves, the food-freezing industry is more recent in origin than the canning industry. The freezing process was used commercially for the first time in 1842, but large-scale food preservation by freezing began in the late 19th century with the advent of mechanical refrigeration.

Freezing preserves food by preventing microorganisms from multiplying. Because the process does not kill all types of bacteria, however, those that survive reanimate in thawing food and often grow more rapidly than before freezing. Enzymes in the frozen state remain active, although at a reduced rate. Vegetables are blanched or heated in preparation for freezing to ensure enzyme inactivity and thus to avoid degradation of flavor. Blanching has also been proposed for fish, in order to kill cold-adapted bacteria on their outer surface.

In the freezing of meats various methods are used depending on the type of meat and the cut. Pork is frozen soon after butchering, but beef is hung in a cooler for several days to tenderize the meat before freezing. Frozen foods have the advantage of resembling the fresh product more closely than the same food preserved by other techniques. Frozen foods also undergo some changes, however. Freezing causes the water in food to expand and tends to disrupt the cell structure by forming ice crystals. In quick-freezing the ice crystals are smaller, producing less cell damage than in the slowly frozen product.

The quality of the product, however, may depend more on the rapidity with which the food is prepared and stored in the freezer than on the rate at which it is frozen. Some solid foods that are frozen slowly, such as fish, may, upon thawing, show a loss of liquid called drip; some liquid foods that are frozen slowly, such as egg yolk, may become coagulated. Because of the high cost of refrigeration, frozen food is comparatively expensive to produce and distribute. High quality is a required feature of frozen food to justify the added cost in the market. This method of preservation is the one most widely used for a great variety of foods.

Drying and DehydrationAlthough both these terms are applied to the removal of water from food, to the food technologist drying refers to drying by natural means, such as spreading fruit on racks in the sun, and dehydration designates drying by artificial means, such as a blast of hot air. In freeze-drying a high vacuum is maintained in a special cabinet containing frozen food until most of the moisture has sublimed. Removal of water offers excellent protection against the most common causes of food spoilage. Microorganisms cannot grow in a water-free environment, enzyme activity is absent, and most chemical reactions are greatly retarded.

This last characteristic makes dehydration preferable to canning if the product is to be stored at a high temperature. In order to achieve such protection, practically all the water must be removed. The food then must be packaged in a moisture-proof container to prevent it from absorbing water from the air. Vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, and some other foods, the moisture content of which averages as high as 80 percent, may be dried to one-fifth of the original weight and about one-half of the original volume. The disadvantages of this method of preservation include the time and labor involved in rehydrating the food before eating.

Further because it absorbs only about two-thirds of its original water content, the dried product tends to have a texture that is tough and chewy. Drying was used by prehistoric humans to preserve many foods. Large quantities of fruits such as figs have been dried from ancient times to the present day. In the case of meat and fish, other preservation methods, such as smoking or salting, which yielded a palatable product, were generally preferred. Commercial dehydration of vegetables was initiated in the United States during the American Civil War but, as a result of the poor quality of the product, the industry declined sharply after the war.

This cycle was repeated with subsequent wars, but after World War II the dehydration industry thrived. This industry is confined largely to the production of a few dried foods, however, such as milk, soup, eggs, yeast, and powdered coffee, which are particularly suited to the dehydration method. Present-day dehydration techniques include the application of a stream of warm air to vegetables. Protein foods such as meat are of good quality only if freeze-dried. Liquid food is dehydrated usually by spraying it as fine droplets into a chamber of hot air, or occasionally by pouring it over a drum internally heated by steam.

Freeze-dryingA processing method that uses a combination of freezing and dehydration is called freeze-drying. Foods that already have been frozen are placed in a vacuum-tight enclosure and dehydrated under vacuum conditions with careful application of heat. Normally ice melts and becomes water when heat is applied. If more heat is applied, it turns to steam. But in freeze-drying, the ice turns directly to vapor, and there is little chance that microorganisms will grow. Freeze-dried foods, like those that are dehydrated, are light and require little space for storage and transportation.

They do not need to be refrigerated, but they must be reconstituted with water before they are ready to consume. IrradiationAs early as 1895, a major breakthrough in the world of science had arisen; the discovery of the X-ray by German physicist Wilhelm von Roetengen. This technological advancement, along with the soon to be discovered concept of radioactivity by French physicist Antoine Henri Becquerel, became the focus of attention for many scientifically based studies. Of most importance, to the field of food preservation, these two discoveries began the now controversial process of food irradiation.

Food irradiation employs an energy form termed ionizing radiation. In short, this process exposes food particles to alpha, beta and/or gamma rays. The rays cause whatever material they strike to produce electrically charged particles called ions. Ionizing radiation provides many attributes to treating foods. It has the ability to penetrate deeply into a food interacting with its atoms and molecules, and causing some chemical and biological effects that could possibly decrease its rate of decay. It also has the ability to sanitize foods by destroying contaminants such as bacteria, yeasts, molds, parasites and insects.

Irradiation delays ripening of fruits and vegetables; inhibits sprouting in bulbs and tubers; disinfests grain, cereal products, fresh and dried fruits, and vegetables of insects; and destroys bacteria in fresh meats. The irradiation of fresh fruits and vegetables, herbs and spices, and pork was approved in 1986. In 1990 the FDA approved irradiation of poultry to control salmonella and other disease-causing microorganisms. Irradiated foods were used by U. S. astronauts and by Soviet cosmonauts. Public concern over the safety of irradiation, however, has limited its full-scale use.

It is still off to a slow start, with only one food irradiation plant open in Mulberry, Florida, but it is seemingly catching the eyes of the producers and the consumers throughout the world. Miscellaneous MethodsOther methods or a combination of methods may be used to preserve foods. Salting of fish and pork has long been practiced, using either dry salt or brine. Salt enters the tissue and, in effect binds the water, thus inhibiting the bacteria that cause spoilage. Another widely used method is smoking, which frequently is applied to preserve fish, ham, and sausage.

The smoke is obtained by burning hickory or a similar wood under low draft. In this case some preservative action is provided by such chemicals in the smoke as formaldehyde and creosote, and by the dehydration that occurs in the smokehouse. Smoking usually is intended to flavor the product as well as to preserve it. Sugar, a major ingredient of jams and jellies, is another preservative agent. For effective preservation the total sugar content should make up at least 65 percent of the weight of the final product.

Sugar, which acts in much the same way as salt, inhibits bacterial growth after the product has been heated. Because of its high acidity, vinegar (acetic acid) acts as a preservative. Fermentation caused by certain bacteria, which produce lactic acid, is the basis of preservation in sauerkraut and fermented sausage. Sodium benzoate, restricted to concentrations of not more than 0. 1 percent, is used in fruit products to protect against yeasts and molds. Sulfur dioxide, another chemical preservative permitted in most states, helps to retain the color of dehydrated foods.

Calcium propionate may be added to baked goods to inhibit mold. PackagingThe packaging of processed foods is just as important as the process itself. If foods are not packaged in containers that protect them from air and moisture, they are subject to spoilage. Packaging materials must therefore be strong enough to withstand the heat and cold of processing and the wear and tear of handling and transportation. From the time the canning process was developed in the early 19th century until the beginning of the 20th century, cans and glass containers were the only packages used.

The first cans were crude containers having a hole in the top through which the food was inserted. The holes were then sealed with hot metal. All cans were made by hand from sheets of metal cut to specific sizes. In about 1900 the sanitary can was invented. In this process, machines form cans with airtight seams. A processor buys cans with one end open and seals them after filling. Some cans are made of steel coated with tin and are often glazed on the inside to prevent discoloration. Some are made of aluminum.

Frozen foods are packaged in containers made of layers of fiberboard and plastic or of strong plastic called polyethylene. Freeze-dried and dehydrated foods are packed in glass, fiberboard, or cans. ResearchThe research activities of processed food scientists are numerous and varied. New packaging materials, the nutritional content of processed foods, new processing techniques, more efficient use of energy and water, the habits and desires of today’s consumer, more efficient equipment, and transportation and warehousing innovations are some of the subjects being studied.

The challenge of the food researcher is to discover better and more efficient ways to process, transport, and store food. Processed foods have changed the world. In developed countries they are part of almost everyone’s diet. The United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom all produce large quantities of processed foods, which they sell domestically and abroad. In the United States in the early 1980s, annual production of fruit was 1. billion kilograms canned, 1. 4 billion kilograms frozen, and 1. 1 billion kilograms in fruit juice; production of vegetables was 1. 4 billion kilograms canned and 3. 2 billion kilograms frozen. From the modest canning industries in 1813 to the sophisticated food processing plants of today, food processors have provided the world with more healthful diets, food combinations never before possible, and a convenience unimagined 200 years ago.

We as consumers can only imagine what further achievements will be made in the field of food preservation. But one thing is for certain; it is all for the general good of mankind… to reduce starvation levels globally and insure the availability of nutritive foods to all. It is through this way that man survives… and fits in Darwin’s hypothesis of the survival of the fittest. For it is only the fit who will prevail in the end.