 When you read about some flash person buying a £1,000 bottle of wine or paying £7,000 a night to stay in a room at Claridges London it seems an utter disgrace that so many people around the world are starving and living on the equivalent of cents or pennies a day.
The World has always been a tough place for those with few resources and little money. In many ways, in spite of trillions of pounds and dollars worth of aid being spent, the problems continue to increase. Some of it is down to climate change, conlfict and civil unrest but a rapidly increasing world population is not helping. With bad years for crops things have not improved much. In the UK food stuffs such as peas and apples which are usually in abundant supply shot up in price due to shortages in 2012. Too much rain, not enough rain, wildfires, floods, earthquakes, storms and more have all played a part in reducing world food stocks. Scientists have been researching the use of Genetically Modified food for some time but is it safe? GM food is said to be safe but there are obvious concerns about eating such foods. We would all prefer to eat healthy fresh food straight out of the garden, never touched by radiation, insecticide and the like. In reality though that is not so easy unless you have a small holding or farm. Try to buy even organically produced foods and you will pay through the nose for the privilege. Yet some worry about how genuine "organic" claims are as a whole. One possible innovation could see bread produced which will remain mold free for up to 60 days. Yes 60 days. That is a huge lengthening of the "eat by" date of bread. If it was possible to extend the lifespan of a simple loaf of bread in the UK, for example, it would save a huge mountain of waste. Most people in the UK throw at least half a loaf of bread away on a regular basis. With wheat shortages and drought in parts of the USA in mind this is scandalous. Yet it is a fact It also seems to be true that bread does not last as long as it used to. Perhaps this is sometimes due to bread sold in supermarkets being far from fresh; it may have already been frozen for some time but whatever the reason bread does get moldy and stale quicker than it used to. Another point to bear in mind is that in fifties Britain for example bread that was purchased was consumed as it was cheap. Waste was not on. Money was tight and hard bread was toasted rather than thrown away. If all else failed in winter it was fed to the birds outside. Now that people have more choice how many snack on good old fashioned bread and jam? Not many we think. That does not mean people should have less money and a poor diet but rather just using this as a possible explanation as to why bread was not thrown away so much in the past. So back to bread which could last 60 days and may sound attractive or not. Presumably when food stuffs were first canned, and thus enabled to remain edible for years, people were aghast. These days you would think nothing of eating food from a tin as long as it was within its expiry date. Is bread so very different? Well it does remain to be seen. It depends how the bread is treated to extend its shelf life. My gut instinct is no way would I eat that but you never know. Researchers at Texas Tech University in Lubbock have said that their experiments could help stop many food borne illnesses. Tests have been carried out on various foods and not all have been successful but many have. The scientists use a microwave system to "sterilise" the foods. If the US authorities give the company the go ahead the foods will initially be used in war torn regions. That is worrying. It is like using the people involved as guinea pigs. It is easy to see how though a food with a long life could be useful in conflict. What is always a cause for concern is will such foods be on sale in our stores and if so will they be labeled accordingly? We may want to try the latest technology or want to give it a wide birth. In the end that should be our choice. Read more here And here http://www.businessinsider.com/microzap-60-day-fresh-bread-2013-1
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