New Building
The Al-Saffar new building currently being built in the
Seef district should be ready by end of June 2003. It is a 5
story building with plenty of underground car parking space.
Once this is ready we will be shifting the MES Head Quarters
to the Seef district.
More
findings on cancerous foods (Published
in Khaleej Times 5th Oct 2002)
WASHINGTON- Scientists have found a clue to the chemical
reaction that may cause potato chips, French fries and other
fried or baked starchy foods to build -up high levels of a
possible cancer-causing substance.
The suspect is asparagine, a naturally occurring amino acid
that, when heated with certain sugars such as glucose, leads
to the formation of the worrisome substance acrylamide.
The US Food and Drug Administration has made studying
acrylamide's risk and determining how to lower its levels in
food one of its highest research priorities, according to a
plan that agency officials will discuss today with consumer
groups and food manufacturers.
Canada's government made the discovery about the suspect
chemical reaction and has ordered food manufacturers to look
for ways to alter it and thus lower levels of acrylamide in
food. Cincinnati based manufacturer Procter & Gamble Co,
says its scientists, too, have found the asparagine
connection.
It is the first clue to emerge in the mystery of acrylamide
since Swedish scientists made the surprise announcement in the
spring that high levels of the possible carcinogen are in
numerous everyday foods; french fries, potato chips,
some types of breakfast cereals and breads plenty of high carbohydrate
foods that are fried or baked at high temperatures. The
chemical was not found in boiled foods, which are cooked at
lower temperatures.
Sweden's findings were confirmed in June by
governments in Norway, Britain and Switzerland, and
preliminary testing of several hundred foods by the FDA
suggests US foods contain similar acrylamide levels,
said Richard Canady, who is directing the agency's
assessment of acrylamide's risk. Acrylamide is used to
produce plastics and dyes and to purify drinking water.
Although traces have been found in water, no one expected high
levels to be in basic foods.
It causes cancer in test animals, but it has not been
proven to do so in people. Still, Swedish scientists have said
the levels are high enough that food borne acrylamide might be
responsible for several hundred cases of cancer in that
country each year.
In the United States, the FDA has been careful to caution
that acrylamide so far is only as suspected carcinogen. The
FDA has not yet advised consumers to alter their
diets to avoid it.
Still uncertain is whether the FDA, once it finishes
testing different foods next year, will publicly identify
which brands contain the most acrylamide information wanted by
consumer advocates.
For now, Canady said, We want to reinforce... eating a
balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables. That's the
best way to ensure that you're getting adequate
nutrition." The food industry stresses that while fried
potato products are getting most testing so far shows the
highest levels in them acrylamide is in a wide variety of
foods.
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