Artigos de revistas sobre o tema "Added-value frozen fish"

Koto Mesjid village is familiar with named “Kampung Patin”, one of pangasius fish cultivator is CV. Graha Pratama Fish. The purpose this research was to analyze value-added of frozen pangasius fish fillets, to know the person of the supply chain in frozen pangasius fish fillets, to know circle supply chain in frozen pangasius fish fillets and to analyze the performance of supply chain in frozen pangasius fish fillets. Using a case study, data was analyzed by Model DEA-CCR. This result evidence that value-added obtained is IDR 6,391 per Kg. The person of the supply chain in frozen pangasius fish fillets are a supplier of pangasius fish raw material, entrepreneur of frozen pangasius fish fillets and customer. The circle supply chain consists of product flow, financial flow and information flow. The performance SCOR of frozen pangasius fish fillets generally is performing well. DEA in frozen pangasius fish fillets has 5 suppliers that achieve 100% efficiency in green condition, from December 2018 to January 2019. While the frozen pangasius fish fillets supply chain achieve 100% efficiency in green condition obtained in January 2019. Cash-to-cash cycle time sensitivity is the most influential variable on efficiency value of the pangasius fish supply chain and there is no sensitivity value that most influences the efficiency of frozen pangasius fish fillets. Recommendations for improvement of the total potential improvement namely variable input cash-to-cash cycle time 98,78% and input costs 1,22%.

China has been the largest producer of fish in the world since 1989 and became the largest consumer of fish and fishery products recently. With increase in China’s demand and preference for shellfishes and value-added fish products, India sees China as the second largest export destination after the US. This study analyzed the status, export performance and competitiveness of Indian fish export to China based on data (2000-2018) from trademap.org and UNCOMTRADE statistical database. Compound Growth Rate (CGR) revealed that the seafood export grew at an annual rate of 9.68% in terms of value with instability of 0.24 from 2000-2018. The Simpson Index of Diversity (SID) to the China revealed that the index values remained highest all throughout the years as compared to USA and the rest of the world. The Unit Value Realization (UVR) was found highest in live fishes ($34.92/kg) followed by fresh chilled fish ($7.19/kg), crustaceans ($5.97/kg) and others for 2018. Commodity wise RCA revealed that it is highly positive for frozen fillet meat mince (10.22) followed by crustaceans (8.0) and frozen fish (5.05), indicating that India has a strong comparative advantage in exporting these commodities to China.

Although tilapia is one of the most cultivated fish species in Bangladesh owing to its high growth rate, comparatively easy culture practices, higher survival rate and short culture period but low market preference marked it as a low-priced fish. Various approaches have been adopted to enhance consumer acceptability and ensure better use of tilapia, including the production of value-added products such as tilapia-prepared fillets, which attract increasing interest. Therefore, the current study was designed and carried out in order to prepare tilapia fillets and to estimate their shelf life at frozen (-18±20C) and refrigerated (4±10C) temperatures. Fillets were produced from tilapia collected from local fish markets of Sylhet city, Bangladesh with according to Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) established by International Standards Organization (ISO) and packed in polyethylene bags. Proximate composition, total volatile base nitrogen (TVBN), peroxide value (PV), pH, total plate count (TPC) and sensory properties of fillets were analyzed to determine shelf-life. A portion of the fresh fillet sample was immediately analyzed and the remaining portions were preserved for up to 12 and 90 days at refrigerated and frozen storage temperatures, respectively. Results revealed that, at a definite interval of time, changes in the chemical, microbial and sensory attributes of tilapia fillets were found to be more pronounced in refrigerated storage conditions than fillets stored in frozen conditions. The shelf life of refrigerated and frozen tilapia fillet samples was 9 and at least 90 days, respectively, per the results of sensory, microbial and chemical evaluation. Res. Agric., Livest. Fish.8(2): 231-240, August 2021

Abstract Tuna is a large pelagic fish that is widely found in Indonesian waters as one of the countries that have an important role in global tuna production. Moreover, tuna has the potential to be processed into frozen tuna. The added value as the result of the freezing process will increase the economic value of this product. Thus, it makes frozen tuna potential to be developed into an industry. One of the things that need to be considered in the establishment of an industry is location determination. The study was aimed to determine an alternative location for the frozen tuna industry in Banda Aceh city will be done. The method used in this research is the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The criteria used are Tuna Fish Production, Human Resources, Transportation Access, Institutional Support, and Availability of Infrastructure. The alternative location that will be determined is Kuta Alam Sub-district, Kuta Raja Sub-district, Meuraxa Sub-district, and Syiah Kuala Sub-district. The calculation result using the AHP method indicates that that the most appropriate location for the establishment of the frozen tuna industry is Kuta Alam Sub-districts with a weight of 0.428, thus the district was chosen as the best location for the establishment of the frozen tuna industry.

Kabupaten Merauke, Provinsi Papua, berpeluang untuk mengembangkan ekonomi yang bertumpu pada komersialisasi ikan-ikan demersal karena tingginya produksi ikan jenis tersebut. Tantangannya adalah produksi ikan demersal belum dapat dipasarkan dengan baik karena nilai tambahnya rendah. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji pola distribusi pemasaran dan merumuskan strategi pengembangan pasar hasil tangkapan ikan demersal di kabupaten tersebut. Penelitian dilakukan pada bulan April—Mei 2019 di Distrik Merauke. Pengumpulan data menggunakan metode survei dengan menggunakan kuesioner, yang dipadukan dengan teknik wawancara mendalam (indepth interview) dan observasi langsung. Data dianalisis secara deskriptif kualitatif dan analisis SWOT. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan adanya dua pola distribusi ikan demersal, yaitu (i) pola distribusi ikan segar dan beku, dan (ii) pola distribusi ikan olahan dan gelembung ikan. Saluran pemasaran ikan segar dan beku, terdapat 4 (empat) jenis, sedangkan ikan olahan terdapat 3 (tiga) jenis saluran pemasaran. Saluran pemasaran terpendek adalah “nelayan—pengumpul besar—eksportir”, sedangkan yang terpanjang adalah “nelayan—pemborong—pengumpul besar—eksportir”. Permasalahan-permasalahan utama yang teridentifikasi pada pola-pola pemasaran ini adalah (i) jauhnya lokasi pasar, (ii) terbatasnya kapasitas pengangkutan, dan (iii) tingginya biaya transportasi. Berdasarkan analisis SWOT, strategi pengembangan pasar hasil tangkapan ikan demersal perlu diterapkan dalam mendukung kebijakan pertumbuhan yang progresif melalui (i) integrasi ke depan, ke belakang, dan horizontal; (ii) penetrasi pasar; serta (iii) pengembangan pasar. Oleh karena itu, beberapa hal yang dapat direkomendasikan untuk menjalin kemitraan dan pengembangan pasar, yaitu melalui (i) penjaminan kepastian pembayaran antar mitra, (ii) peningkatan aksesibilitas pasar, (iii) penjaminan kontinuitas produksi, (iv) penjaminan kapasitas input produksi dari hulu, serta (v) peningkatan added value dan diversifikasi produk.Title: Market Development Strategy of Demersal Fish in Merauke RegencyMerauke Regency of Papua Province has the opportunity to develop a good economy through expanded commercialization of demersal fish, owing to the high production of this type of fish. The challenge is that only few demeral fish production can be delivered to potential markets due to its added value is low. This study aimed to examine the existing market distribution patterns and to formulate market development strategies for demersal fish in the district. The research was conducted in April—May 2019 in the main district of the regency, namely Merauke District. Data collection used survey method through interviews with questionnaires and in-depth interviews. Data were analyzed with descriptive qualitative method and SWOT analysis. The results showed that there were two demersal fish distribution patterns, namely (i) fresh and frozen fish distribution patterns and (ii) processed fish and swim bladder distribution patterns. For fresh and frozen fish, there are 4 (four) types of marketing channels and for processed fish there are 3 (three) types of marketing channels. The shortest marketing channel is ‘fishermen-wholesaler-exporter’ while the longest one is ‘fisherman-middlemen-wholesaler-exporter’. The main problems identified in these marketing patterns were (i) distances of market locations, (ii) transportation capacity, and (iii) transportation costs. Based on the SWOT analysis, a strategy for developing the demersal fish catch market needs to be implemented to support a progressive growth policy through (i) forward, backward and horizontal integration, (ii) market penetration, and (iii) market development. Therefore, there are some recommendations to establish partnerships and market development, namely: (i) payment guarantee among the partners, (ii) increase market accessibility, (iii) ensuring production sustainability, (iv) ensuring upstream capacity of input production, and (v) increase added value and product diversification.

This research analyzes the economic indicators of the fishery complex of the Kaliningrad region in recent years. The introduction of modern biotechnological solutions in the fish processing sector is substantiated. At present, the industry focuses on oceanic and coastal fishing, large fish complexes are leading in fish processing. Food product groups are mainly represented by chilled and frozen semi-finished products. Among food fish products, the production of sterilized canned food predominates; in smaller quantities, preserves, salted, smoked, dried and dried fish products are produced. The fish factories practically do not process fish by-products and there is no production of fish meal. To improve the economic performance of the industry, it is promising to use innovative biotechnologies and advanced foreign experience, which allow processing the extracted raw materials with maximum added value. The Strategy for the Development of the Fisheries Industry of the Russian Federation until 2030, adopted in November 2019, outlines the prospects for the development of marine biotechnology in key segments - aquaculture, production of functional and biologically active products, processing of by-products. The article presents the volumes and problems of fish by-products processing accumulating at fish processing enterprises of the region. A complex scheme of biotechnological by-products processing with the production of valuable biologically active substances (proteins, lipids, mineral substances) is proposed. The technology and production line for the production of protein, protein-mineral and lipid preparations from secondary fish raw materials are described. A modular implementation of biotechnology in marine conditions is proposed. The economic calculation from the introduction of innovative biotechnology in the processing of secondary fat-containing fish raw materials is presented.

The study addresses the problems of the Fisheries industry development in the Murmansk region. It has been acknowledged that the percentage of the frozen fish in the output of hydrobionts food products is about 90 %. The focus areas for the Russian Fisheries industry are the increasing share of products with high added value and the development of the domestic consumer market of fishery products. It has been found that the air-dried and dried fish products with defined organoleptic properties is traditionally in strong demand with the population. However, the range of air-dried and dried fish products available for the consumers is rather limited. Moreover, there is a very small part of air-dried and dried fish in the total volume of hydrobionts food products. It is possible to increase the efficiency of air-dried and dried fish production by using the scientific-based process solutions, which allow to reduce the production costs and improve the consumer properties of the finished products. This paper presents the aspects of generalization of the dehydration processes in the production of dried, air-dried and smoked fish. A link between the initial, critical moisture content of fish and the potential conductivity of mass transfer coefficients has been established. A mathematical relation for calculating the duration and modeling the kinetics of drying processes in production of dried and air-dried fish has been determined. The equations for calculating the water diffusion coefficients in the critical points of the kinetics curve have been obtained. The combined use of the received patterns allows to model the dehydration processes when producing the air-dried and dried fish products, calculate the drying time, determine the moisture diffusion coefficients and build dependencies of water distribution in the thickness of the processed object.

Trout was introduced in our country in 1928 and managed to adapt to the freshwater ecosystems of the Peruvian highlands. It currently represents the economic livelihood of many micro and small-scale fish farmers, together with medium and large companies in regions such as Puno, Pasco, Huancavelica and Junín, whose growth in recent years has been considerable. The 71.98% of this resource was destined for consumption in its fresh state and only 28.02% was processed as frozen, which shows the lack of diversification of value-added products in the production chain of this sweet aquaculture species, together with a shortage of research. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to compile the latest studies, carried out in different countries, related to the processing of this species because it is an excellent raw material due to its nutritional value and techno-functional characteristics. The research work collected covered the use of traditional methods and technologies such as marinating, salting, drying, and smoking, as well as innovative restructuring processes applied to trout minced muscle and filleting by-products. These investigations found that the different food products were differentiated by their physical and sensory attributes, techno-functional properties, shelf life and/or preparation. With this review, we hope to contribute to the triple helix model focused on this resource, from and for the Andes, to promote its sustained production, productive chain, and food security for the inhabitants of the Andean regions.

Abstract Background Diagnosis and treatment of hematological malignancies relies increasingly on the detection of underlying genetic abnormalities. Various laboratory techniques, including karyotyping, SNP-array, FISH, MLPA and RT-PCR are typically required to detect the full spectrum of clinically relevant genetic aberrations. These techniques are also hampered in their sensitivity by their targeted approach or lack of resolution. Ideally, an unbiased genome wide approach like RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) as a one-test-fits-all, could save costs and efforts and streamline diagnostic procedures. In the Netherlands, the care for all children with oncological disorders has been concentrated in a single, national center. Within the Laboratory of Childhood Cancer Pathology, we aim for a comprehensive diagnostic pipeline by implementing RNA-seq to aid diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of all children with cancer in the Netherlands. Methods We have established an RNA-seq based diagnostic pipeline, primarily aimed at detecting gene fusion events. Library prep is performed on 50-300 ng total RNA isolated from fresh (frozen) samples, followed by ribo-depletion and subsequent paired-end sequencing (2x150 nt) using the Illumina NovaSeq platform. Data is analyzed using the StarFusion algorithm for gene-fusion detection. We are prospectively comparing the results with routine diagnostic procedures. In addition, we are validating the detection of single nucleotide variants (SNVs) from RNA-seq data and developing a diagnostic classifier, using a nearest neighbor network approach. Results Based on RNA-seq profiling in diagnostics for all patients entering the Princess Maxima Center, there are several use-cases that highlight the value of RNA-seq. 1) In a prospective cohort of 244 patients (pan-cancer, including 97 hematological malignancies) we have shown that the diagnostic yield for detecting gene fusion events increased by approximately 40% compared to classical methods. An example is the TNIP1--PDGFRB gene fusion in a patient with pre B-ALL, making this patient eligible for imatinib treatment, which was not detected by other methods. 2) Variant calling on RNA-seq shows that activating mutations in e.g. KRAS are detected with high sensitivity, stratifying patients for therapeutic MEK intervention. 3) By expression outlier analysis, we were able to detect various promotor exchanges, e.g. IGH-MYC or IGH--DUX4, which are typically hard to detect by molecular techniques since the genomic breakpoint is highly variable and no chimeric transcript is formed. 4) Preliminary results from our diagnostic classifier show its potential to predict subclasses of hematological malignancies, e.g. high-hyperdiploid or bi-phenotypic ALL patients. 5) Fusion gene breakpoints detected by RNA-seq serve as a target for MRD analysis, allowing us to monitor disease progression and therapy response in individual patients. Currently, RNA-seq data is available for more than 1500 pediatric tumor samples. At the upcoming conference we will present an update of our results and some typical cases highlighting the added value of RNA-seq in routine diagnostics. Conclusion We show that RNA-seq on pediatric cancer samples is feasible and of great value for routine diagnostics. It has a higher sensitivity to detect gene fusion events compared to targeted assays. RNA-seq based gene fusion detection, in combination with mutation and expression analysis, is also promising to improve classification of malignancies, prognosis and stratification of patients for targeted therapies. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Abstract Background: Defects in the p53 gene predispose B-CLL patients for an inferior outcome, particularly a resistance to treatment by conventional chemotherapeutics. Very little data exist, however, about the efficacy of monoclonal antibody rituximab on B-CLL cells bearing p53 abnormalities. One reason for that might be a methodological - rituximab alone does not have virtually any effect on the viability of B-CLL cells when cultivated in vitro, unless an active human plasma is added. After that, however, the cells are quickly lysed by complement, what is a process independent on p53. Aims: We used an in vitro system (not containing the active human plasma) to monitor a rituximab activity on B-CLL cells with p53 inactivation in relation to subsequently used nucleoside analog fludarabine, which demonstrably acts through the p53 in B-CLL cells. Methods: The p53 abnormalities in blood samples of B-CLL patients were detected by FISH and by functional yeast analysis coupled to sequencing, as described previously (Trbusek et al., Leukemia2006, 20: 1159–1161). Vitally frozen samples were used in all cases, after 24h pre-cultivation. Mononuclear cells were cultivated for 72h with or without 20μg/ml of rituximab and subsequently for another 48h with four different concentrations of fludarabine (40μg/ml–0,625μg/ml). The cell viability was determined by a WST-1 assay. A sensitization effect of rituximab pretreatment was determined by an ANOVA analysis, with the value p=0,05 being a threshold for a statistical significance. To monitor an apoptosis (a suppossed mechanism of fludarabine action), the Western blotting was used for the caspase-3 cleavage, which was proved previously to occur in drug-treated B-CLL cells. Results: In the subgroup of eleven p53-wt samples the three cases manifested sensitization by rituximab for fludarabine activity, one case showed an oposite (antagonistic) effect, while there was no significant difference for another seven samples. Among ten p53-mutated samples there was just one case exhibiting no influence of rituximab pretreatment (with the p53 alleles being deletion / 281 Asp→Glu), one sample manifested with antagonistic effect (del / 220 Tyr→Cys), while the remaining eight cases showed a statistically significant sensitization by rituximab (del / truncated protein aa 314, del / no protein, del/ wt protein, del / 248 Arg→Gln, del / 249 Arg→Gly, del / del aa 252, del / del aa 252–254, and a composed mutant 281Asp→Asn / 254 Ile→Thr). We noticed a statistically significant potentiation also in three out of four ATM-deleted samples (ATM is the p53-regulatory kinase). An apoptosis occured after fludarabine addition both in pretreated and control cells, as evidenced by the caspase-3 cleavage in some (but not all) samples. Conclusions: We show, to our konwledge for the first time, that rituximab can significantly sensitize the B-CLL cells bearing different types of p53 mutations to fludarabine. This result warrants further investigation of the mechanism behind.

Zinc deficiency is associated with impaired growth, poor immune function and also adverse pregnancy outcomes. The main strategies to alleviate mineral deficiencies are food diversification, food fortification or supplementation. Recently, there is a growing interest on the metal oxide nano-particles owing to its various aspects such as bactericidal agents, destruction of carcinogenic cells and drug delivery applications. Fortification of zinc can be done with Zinc oxide (ZnO), currently listed as a generally recognized as safe (GRAS) material by the Food and Drug Administration. Due to the high antibacterial activity, chemical stability and solubility, nano-ZnO shows great interests in the application in fields of food additives, packing and agriculture, and biomedicine. The minced fish technology minimizes wastes, efficiently uses existing resources, helps in production of new versatile and nutritious foods and provides economic advantage to both the producer and consumer. Minced meat is used as a raw material for preparation of number of value-added products such as fish sausage, cakes, cutlets, patties, balls, pastes, texturized products, etc. Tilapia, an economically important food fish, is hardy and easy-to-grow, white-fleshed, mild-flavored and soothing palatability, thus regarded as a successful farmed fish and raw material of fish mince and subsequently surimi. During frozen or refrigerated storage, fish mince undergoes degradation; significant deterioration of sensory quality and loss of nutritional value have been detected as a result of changes in the protein and lipid fractions, formation of amines (volatile and biogenic) and hypoxanthine and changes in the physical properties of the muscle. The use of Zinc nanoparticles may be an efficient way of extending shelf life and food safety through the inhibition of spoilage and pathogenic bacteria without altering the nutritional quality of raw materials and food products due to broad-spectrum antibacterial activity of ZnO Np against pathogenic bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella enteritidis, Salmonella typhimurium, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Campylobacter jejuni, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Listeria monocytogenes. Thus, after reviewing a wide range of literatures, it can be projected that development of low-cost Zn Nano-particle fortified value-added fish product is the ultimate future to eradicate zinc deficiency and can be rational kick start to alleviate protein as well as zinc malnutrition.

Demands for fish protein including dried fish protein to develop functional food are gradually growing in the world. Surimi, the concentrated myofibrillar protein extracted from fish flesh by washing minced meat, separated from bones, skin, and guts with added cryoprotectants such as sugar or alcohol (most commonly used cryoprotectant in the surimi industry is 1:1 mixture of sucrose and sorbitol at a concentration of 8%), finally stored in frozen condition in block form, is used as a raw material for preparation of number of value-added products. The dried form of surimi can be prepared from frozen surimi blocks by adopting different drying technologies and it offers many advantages such as ease of handling, lower distribution costs and more convenient storage. The present work is aimed to study the effect of drying temperature on the quality of dry surimi powder, prepared from Pangasius meat. A significantly higher (p<0.05) value of ash (1.83±0.47%) was recorded in surimi powder dried at 60°C than at 50°C and 70°C. The moisture content significantly (p<0.05) reduced at 60° (9.05±0.22%) and 70°C (9.55±0.51%) as compared to 50°C. The quality parameters such as TVB-N, PV, pH and TPC were all found to be well within the recommended level of acceptability except for the surimi powder dried at 50°C, wherein the TVBN (36.24±1.26 mg/100 g) crossed the limit of acceptability. Drying temperature was found to affect the colour of the surimi powder with the optimum acceptable colour score achieved at 60°C (6.38±0.52). At higher temperature of 70°C darkening was observed with consequent decrease in the colour scores (5.75±0.46). Therefore, the optimal temperature for drying of Pangasius surimi into its powdered form was achieved during its exposure at temperature of 60°C.

The article presents the results of technological and merchandising research on the development of formulations of frozen semi-finished products from sweet pepper stuffed with minced fish, bulgur, quinoa and couscous, enriched by CO2-extracts with spices and smoking preparation. Feasibility of making frozen semi-finished products from fish is confirmed by an increase in consumer demand for these products, besides, shock freezing of semi-finished products with liquid nitrogen helps to preserve the most valuable components of the original animal and plant raw materials. The technology of cooking stuffed pepper from zoned raw materials is presented: sweet pepper sorts “Pride of Russia”, “Yellow Bull”, “Topolyn” grown in the open ground of the environmentally friendly Novopokrovsky district of the Krasnodar region by experts of the company “Vegan Line”, and muscle tissue of grass carp migrated from the Far East, acclimatized in the water bodies of Kuban and the Astrakhan region. For the first time in technological practice there the wheat grain modified products - bulgur and couscous with biologically active substances have been added to minced meat. A detailed analysis of chemical composition of pepper sorts mixture and grass carp caught in the Anapa district of the Krasnodar region was performed. In the course of studying the chemical composition of bulgur, quinoa and couscous there was stated a high content of alible proteins, vitamins, macro- and microelements. There have been formulated three recipes of stuffed sweet pepper of yellow, green and red colors: with bulgur, couscous and quinoa. A hardware-technological scheme has been developed for producing semi-finished sweet pepper stuffed with minced fish, cereals and CO2-extracts of spices and smoke preparation. There has been analyzed the chemical composition of the finished semi-finished products, provides information about the nutritional and biological value of the product, indicating a higher content of basic food and biologically active substances.

In Thailand, the production of tilapia is about 140,000 tons, which is the sixth tilapia production in the world. From the processing, the scale was generated as waste. To produce a value-added product, the production of collagen from tilapia scale could be an alternative. Generally, collagen from fish scale possesses a less fishy odor and flavor than that from fish bone and skin. From the results, the fish scale is an interesting alternative source for collagen extraction. The objectives of this study were to extract collagen from Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) scale from the production of frozen tilapia fillet as well as to study its properties. Extraction of acid (ASC) and pepsin soluble collagens (PSC) from Nile tilapia scale, as well as the determination of their yield, amino acid compositions, SDS-PAGE patterns, FTIR spectra, thermal denaturation temperature (Tmax) and zeta potential, was conducted. ASC and PSC had a yield of 0.77 and 0.71% based on dry basis), respectively. The major amino acid found in both collagens was glycine (322-332 residues/1000 residues). Also, they had a high amount of imino acid (199-205 residues/1000 residues). Based on SDS-PAGE pattern, both collagens were classified as type I collagen ((α1)2α2-heterotrimer). The similar FTIR spectra of both collagens were found. Their amide peaks had no shift in wavenumber. ASC and PSC had Tmax of 36.15 and 34.70 °C, respectively. From zeta potential analysis, ASC and PSC had the zero of net chart at pH 5.09 and 5.84, respectively. Based on the characteristics of the collagen, the scale could be an alternative source for collagen production, however their yield should be improved to serve as a potential source for further application.

Background “The sense of taste,” write Nelson and colleagues in a 2002 issue of Nature, “provides animals with valuable information about the nature and quality of food. Mammals can recognize and respond to a diverse repertoire of chemical entities, including sugars, salts, acids and a wide range of toxic substances” (199). The authors go on to argue that several amino acids—the building blocks of proteins—taste delicious to humans and that “having a taste pathway dedicated to their detection probably had significant evolutionary implications”. They imply, but do not specify, that the evolutionary implications are positive. This may be the case with some amino acids, but contemporary tastes, and changes in them, are far from universally beneficial. Indeed, this article argues that modern food production shapes and distorts human taste with significant implications for health and wellbeing. Take the western taste for fried chipped potatoes, for example. According to Schlosser in Fast Food Nation, “In 1960, the typical American ate eighty-one pounds of fresh potatoes and about four pounds of frozen french fries. Today [2002] the typical American eats about forty-nine pounds of fresh potatoes every year—and more than thirty pounds of frozen french fries” (115). Nine-tenths of these chips are consumed in fast food restaurants which use mass-manufactured potato-based frozen products to provide this major “foodservice item” more quickly and cheaply than the equivalent dish prepared from raw ingredients. These choices, informed by human taste buds, have negative evolutionary implications, as does the apparently long-lasting consumer preference for fried goods cooked in trans-fats. “Numerous foods acquire their elastic properties (i.e., snap, mouth-feel, and hardness) from the colloidal fat crystal network comprised primarily of trans- and saturated fats. These hardstock fats contribute, along with numerous other factors, to the global epidemics related to metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease,” argues Michael A. Rogers (747). Policy makers and public health organisations continue to compare notes internationally about the best ways in which to persuade manufacturers and fast food purveyors to reduce the use of these trans-fats in their products (L’Abbé et al.), however, most manufacturers resist. Hank Cardello, a former fast food executive, argues that “many products are designed for ‘high hedonic value’, with carefully balanced combinations of salt, sugar and fat that, experience has shown, induce people to eat more” (quoted, Trivedi 41). Fortunately for the manufactured food industry, salt and sugar also help to preserve food, effectively prolonging the shelf life of pre-prepared and packaged goods. Physiological Factors As Glanz et al. discovered when surveying 2,967 adult Americans, “taste is the most important influence on their food choices, followed by cost” (1118). A person’s taste is to some extent an individual response to food stimuli, but the tongue’s taste buds respond to five basic categories of food: salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and umami. ‘Umami’ is a Japanese word indicating “delicious savoury taste” (Coughlan 11) and it is triggered by the amino acid glutamate. Japanese professor Kikunae Ikeda identified glutamate while investigating the taste of a particular seaweed which he believed was neither sweet, sour, bitter, or salty. When Ikeda combined the glutamate taste essence with sodium he formed the food additive sodium glutamate, which was patented in 1908 and subsequently went into commercial production (Japan Patent Office). Although individual, a person’s taste preferences are by no means fixed. There is ample evidence that people’s tastes are being distorted by modern food marketing practices that process foods to make them increasingly appealing to the average palate. In particular, this industrialisation of food promotes the growth of a snack market driven by salty and sugary foods, popularly constructed as posing a threat to health and wellbeing. “[E]xpanding waistlines [are] fuelled by a boom in fast food and a decline in physical activity” writes Stark, who reports upon the 2008 launch of a study into Australia’s future ‘fat bomb’. As Deborah Lupton notes, such reports were a particular feature of the mid 2000s when: intense concern about the ‘obesity epidemic’ intensified and peaked. Time magazine named 2004 ‘The Year of Obesity’. That year the World Health Organization’s Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health was released and the [US] Centers for Disease Control predicted that a poor diet and lack of exercise would soon claim more lives than tobacco-related disease in the United States. (4) The American Heart Association recommends eating no more than 1500mg of salt per day (Hamzelou 11) but salt consumption in the USA averages more than twice this quantity, at 3500mg per day (Bernstein and Willett 1178). In the UK, a sustained campaign and public health-driven engagement with food manufacturers by CASH—Consensus Action on Salt and Health—resulted in a reduction of between 30 and 40 percent of added salt in processed foods between 2001 and 2011, with a knock-on 15 percent decline in the UK population’s salt intake overall. This is the largest reduction achieved by any developed nation (Brinsden et al.). “According to the [UK’s] National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), this will have reduced [UK] stroke and heart attack deaths by a minimum of 9,000 per year, with a saving in health care costs of at least £1.5bn a year” (MacGregor and Pombo). Whereas there has been some success over the past decade in reducing the amount of salt consumed, in the Western world the consumption of sugar continues to rise, as a graph cited in the New Scientist indicates (O’Callaghan). Regular warnings that sugar is associated with a range of health threats and delivers empty calories devoid of nutrition have failed to halt the increase in sugar consumption. Further, although some sugar is a natural product, processed foods tend to use a form invented in 1957: high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). “HFCS is a gloopy solution of glucose and fructose” writes O’Callaghan, adding that it is “as sweet as table sugar but has typically been about 30% cheaper”. She cites Serge Ahmed, a French neuroscientist, as arguing that in a world of food sufficiency people do not need to consume more, so they need to be enticed to overeat by making food more pleasurable. Ahmed was part of a team that ran an experiment with cocaine-addicted rats, offering them a mutually exclusive choice between highly-sweetened water and cocaine: Our findings clearly indicate that intense sweetness can surpass cocaine reward, even in drug-sensitized and -addicted individuals. We speculate that the addictive potential of intense sweetness results from an inborn hypersensitivity to sweet tastants. In most mammals, including rats and humans, sweet receptors evolved in ancestral environments poor in sugars and are thus not adapted to high concentrations of sweet tastants. The supranormal stimulation of these receptors by sugar-rich diets, such as those now widely available in modern societies, would generate a supranormal reward signal in the brain, with the potential to override self-control mechanisms and thus lead to addiction. (Lenoir et al.) The Tongue and the Brain One of the implications of this research about the mammalian desire for sugar is that our taste for food is about more than how these foods actually taste in the mouth on our tongues. It is also about the neural response to the food we eat. The taste of French fries thus also includes that “snap, mouth-feel, and hardness” and the “colloidal fat crystal network” (Rogers, “Novel Structuring” 747). While there is no taste receptor for fats, these nutrients have important effects upon the brain. Wang et al. offered rats a highly fatty, but palatable, diet and allowed them to eat freely. 33 percent of the calories in the food were delivered via fat, compared with 21 percent in a normal diet. The animals almost doubled their usual calorific intake, both because the food had a 37 percent increased calorific content and also because the rats ate 47 percent more than was standard (2786). The research team discovered that in as little as three days the rats “had already lost almost all of their ability to respond to leptin” (Martindale 27). Leptin is a hormone that acts on the brain to communicate feelings of fullness, and is thus important in assisting animals to maintain a healthy body weight. The rats had also become insulin resistant. “Severe resistance to the metabolic effects of both leptin and insulin ensued after just 3 days of overfeeding” (Wang et al. 2786). Fast food restaurants typically offer highly palatable, high fat, high sugar, high salt, calorific foods which can deliver 130 percent of a day’s recommended fat intake, and almost a day’s worth of an adult man’s calories, in one meal. The impacts of maintaining such a diet over a comparatively short time-frame have been recorded in documentaries such as Super Size Me (Spurlock). The after effects of what we widely call “junk food” are also evident in rat studies. Neuroscientist Paul Kenny, who like Ahmed was investigating possible similarities between food- and cocaine-addicted rats, allowed his animals unlimited access to both rat ‘junk food’ and healthy food for rats. He then changed their diets. “The rats with unlimited access to junk food essentially went on a hunger strike. ‘It was as if they had become averse to healthy food’, says Kenny. It took two weeks before the animals began eating as much [healthy food] as those in the control group” (quoted, Trivedi 40). Developing a taste for certain food is consequently about much more than how they taste in the mouth; it constitutes an individual’s response to a mixture of taste, hormonal reactions and physiological changes. Choosing Health Glanz et al. conclude their study by commenting that “campaigns attempting to change people’s perception of the importance of nutrition will be interpreted in terms of existing values and beliefs. A more promising strategy might be to stress the good taste of healthful foods” (1126). Interestingly, this is the strategy already adopted by some health-focused cookbooks. I have 66 cookery books in my kitchen. None of ten books sampled from the five spaces in which these books are kept had ‘taste’ as an index entry, but three books had ‘taste’ in their titles: The Higher Taste, Taste of Life, and The Taste of Health. All three books seek to promote healthy eating, and they all date from the mid-1980s. It might be that taste is not mentioned in cookbook indexes because it is a sine qua non: a focus upon taste is so necessary and fundamental to a cookbook that it goes without saying. Yet, as the physiological evidence makes clear, what we find palatable is highly mutable, varying between people, and capable of changing significantly in comparatively short periods of time. The good news from the research studies is that the changes wrought by high salt, high sugar, high fat diets need not be permanent. Luciano Rossetti, one of the authors on Wang et al’s paper, told Martindale that the physiological changes are reversible, but added a note of caution: “the fatter a person becomes the more resistant they will be to the effects of leptin and the harder it is to reverse those effects” (27). Morgan Spurlock’s experience also indicates this. In his case it took the actor/director 14 months to lose the 11.1 kg (13 percent of his body mass) that he gained in the 30 days of his fast-food-only experiment. Trivedi was more fortunate, stating that, “After two weeks of going cold turkey, I can report I have successfully kicked my ice cream habit” (41). A reader’s letter in response to Trivedi’s article echoes this observation. She writes that “the best way to stop the craving was to switch to a diet of vegetables, seeds, nuts and fruits with a small amount of fish”, adding that “cravings stopped in just a week or two, and the diet was so effective that I no longer crave junk food even when it is in front of me” (Mackeown). Popular culture indicates a range of alternative ways to resist food manufacturers. In the West, there is a growing emphasis on organic farming methods and produce (Guthman), on sl called Urban Agriculture in the inner cities (Mason and Knowd), on farmers’ markets, where consumers can meet the producers of the food they eat (Guthrie et al.), and on the work of advocates of ‘real’ food, such as Jamie Oliver (Warrin). Food and wine festivals promote gourmet tourism along with an emphasis upon the quality of the food consumed, and consumption as a peak experience (Hall and Sharples), while environmental perspectives prompt awareness of ‘food miles’ (Weber and Matthews), fair trade (Getz and Shreck) and of land degradation, animal suffering, and the inequitable use of resources in the creation of the everyday Western diet (Dare, Costello and Green). The burgeoning of these different approaches has helped to stimulate a commensurate growth in relevant disciplinary fields such as Food Studies (Wessell and Brien). One thing that all these new ways of looking at food and taste have in common is that they are options for people who feel they have the right to choose what and when to eat; and to consume the tastes they prefer. This is not true of all groups of people in all countries. Hiding behind the public health campaigns that encourage people to exercise and eat fresh fruit and vegetables are the hidden “social determinants of health: The conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, including the health system” (WHO 45). As the definitions explain, it is the “social determinants of health [that] are mostly responsible for health iniquities” with evidence from all countries around the world demonstrating that “in general, the lower an individual’s socioeconomic position, the worse his or her health” (WHO 45). For the comparatively disadvantaged, it may not be the taste of fast food that attracts them but the combination of price and convenience. If there is no ready access to cooking facilities, or safe food storage, or if a caregiver is simply too time-poor to plan and prepare meals for a family, junk food becomes a sensible choice and its palatability an added bonus. For those with the education, desire, and opportunity to break free of the taste for salty and sugary fats, however, there are a range of strategies to achieve this. There is a persuasive array of evidence that embracing a plant-based diet confers a multitude of health benefits for the individual, for the planet and for the animals whose lives and welfare would otherwise be sacrificed to feed us (Green, Costello and Dare). Such a choice does involve losing the taste for foods which make up the lion’s share of the Western diet, but any sense of deprivation only lasts for a short time. The fact is that our sense of taste responds to the stimuli offered. It may be that, notwithstanding the desires of Jamie Oliver and the like, a particular child never will never get to like broccoli, but it is also the case that broccoli tastes differently to me, seven years after becoming a vegan, than it ever did in the years in which I was omnivorous. When people tell me that they would love to adopt a plant-based diet but could not possibly give up cheese, it is difficult to reassure them that the pleasure they get now from that specific cocktail of salty fats will be more than compensated for by the sheer exhilaration of eating crisp, fresh fruits and vegetables in the future. Conclusion For decades, the mass market food industry has tweaked their products to make them hyper-palatable and difficult to resist. They do this through marketing experiments and consumer behaviour research, schooling taste buds and brains to anticipate and relish specific cocktails of sweet fats (cakes, biscuits, chocolate, ice cream) and salty fats (chips, hamburgers, cheese, salted nuts). They add ingredients to make these products stimulate taste buds more effectively, while also producing cheaper items with longer life on the shelves, reducing spoilage and the complexity of storage for retailers. Consumers are trained to like the tastes of these foods. Bitter, sour, and umami receptors are comparatively under-stimulated, with sweet, salty, and fat-based tastes favoured in their place. Western societies pay the price for this learned preference in high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and obesity. Public health advocate Bruce Neal and colleagues, working to reduce added salt in processed foods, note that the food and manufacturing industries can now provide most of the calories that the world needs to survive. “The challenge now”, they argue, “is to have these same industries provide foods that support long and healthy adult lives. And in this regard there remains a very considerable way to go”. If the public were to believe that their sense of taste is mutable and has been distorted for corporate and industrial gain, and if they were to demand greater access to natural foods in their unprocessed state, then that journey towards a healthier future might be far less protracted than these and many other researchers seem to believe. References Bernstein, Adam, and Walter Willett. “Trends in 24-Hr Sodium Excretion in the United States, 1957–2003: A Systematic Review.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 92 (2010): 1172–1180. Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. The Higher Taste: A Guide to Gourmet Vegetarian Cooking and a Karma-Free Diet, over 60 Famous Hare Krishna Recipes. Botany, NSW: Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1987. Brinsden, Hannah C., Feng J. He, Katharine H. Jenner, & Graham A. MacGregor. “Surveys of the Salt Content in UK Bread: Progress Made and Further Reductions Possible.” British Medical Journal Open 3.6 (2013). 2 Feb. 2014 ‹http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/3/6/e002936.full›. Coughlan, Andy. “In Good Taste.” New Scientist 2223 (2000): 11. Dare, Julie, Leesa Costello, and Lelia Green. “Nutritional Narratives: Examining Perspectives on Plant Based Diets in the Context of Dominant Western Discourse”. Proceedings of the 2013 Australian and New Zealand Communication Association Conference. Ed. In Terence Lee, Kathryn Trees, and Renae Desai. Fremantle, Western Australia, 3-5 Jul. 2013. 2 Feb. 2014 ‹http://www.anzca.net/conferences/past-conferences/159.html›. Getz, Christy, and Aimee Shreck. “What Organic and Fair Trade Labels Do Not Tell Us: Towards a Place‐Based Understanding of Certification.” International Journal of Consumer Studies 30.5 (2006): 490–501. Glanz, Karen, Michael Basil, Edward Maibach, Jeanne Goldberg, & Dan Snyder. “Why Americans Eat What They Do: Taste, Nutrition, Cost, Convenience, and Weight Control Concerns as Influences on Food Consumption.” Journal of the American Dietetic Association 98.10 (1988): 1118–1126. Green, Lelia, Leesa Costello, and Julie Dare. “Veganism, Health Expectancy, and the Communication of Sustainability.” Australian Journal of Communication 37.3 (2010): 87–102 Guthman, Julie. Agrarian Dreams: the Paradox of Organic Farming in California. Berkley and Los Angeles, CA: U of California P, 2004 Guthrie, John, Anna Guthrie, Rob Lawson, & Alan Cameron. “Farmers’ Markets: The Small Business Counter-Revolution in Food Production and Retailing.” British Food Journal 108.7 (2006): 560–573. Hall, Colin Michael, and Liz Sharples. Eds. Food and Wine Festivals and Events Around the World: Development, Management and Markets. Oxford, UK: Routledge, 2008. Hamzelou, Jessica. “Taste Bud Trickery Needed to Cut Salt Intake.” New Scientist 2799 (2011): 11. Japan Patent Office. History of Industrial Property Rights, Ten Japanese Great Inventors: Kikunae Ikeda: Sodium Glutamate. Tokyo: Japan Patent Office, 2002. L’Abbé, Mary R., S. Stender, C. M. Skeaff, Ghafoorunissa, & M. Tavella. “Approaches to Removing Trans Fats from the Food Supply in Industrialized and Developing Countries.” European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 63 (2009): S50–S67. Lenoir, Magalie, Fuschia Serre, Lauriane Cantin, & Serge H. Ahmed. “Intense Sweetness Surpasses Cocaine Reward.” PLOS One (2007). 2 Feb. 2014 ‹http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0000698›. Lupton, Deborah. Fat. Oxford, UK: Routledge, 2013. MacGregor, Graham, and Sonia Pombo. “The Amount of Hidden Sugar in Your Diet Might Shock You.” The Conversation 9 January (2014). 2 Feb. 2014 ‹http://theconversation.com/the-amount-of-hidden-sugar-in-your-diet-might-shock-you-21867›. Mackeown, Elizabeth. “Cold Turkey?” [Letter]. New Scientist 2787 (2010): 31. Martindale, Diane. “Burgers on the Brain.” New Scientist 2380 (2003): 26–29. Mason, David, and Ian Knowd. “The Emergence of Urban Agriculture: Sydney, Australia.” The International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability 8.1–2 (2010): 62–71. Neal, Bruce, Jacqui Webster, and Sebastien Czernichow. “Sanguine About Salt Reduction.” European Journal of Preventative Cardiology 19.6 (2011): 1324–1325. Nelson, Greg, Jayaram Chandrashekar, Mark A. Hoon, Luxin Feng, Grace Zhao, Nicholas J. P. Ryba, & Charles S. Zuker. “An Amino-Acid Taste Receptor.” Nature 416 (2002): 199–202. O’Callaghan, Tiffany. “Sugar on Trial: What You Really Need to Know.” New Scientist 2954 (2011): 34–39. Rogers, Jenny. Ed. The Taste of Health: The BBC Guide to Healthy Cooking. London, UK: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1985. Rogers, Michael A. “Novel Structuring Strategies for Unsaturated Fats—Meeting the Zero-Trans, Zero-Saturated Fat Challenge: A Review.” Food Research International 42.7 August (2009): 747–753. Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation. London, UK: Penguin, 2002. Super Size Me. Dir. Morgan Spurlock. Samuel Goldwyn Films, 2004. Stafford, Julie. Taste of Life. Richmond, Vic: Greenhouse Publications Ltd, 1983. Stark, Jill. “Australia Now World’s Fattest Nation.” The Age 20 June (2008). 2 Feb. 2014 ‹http://www.theage.com.au/news/health/australia-worlds-fattest-nation/2008/06/19/1213770886872.html›. Trivedi, Bijal. “Junkie Food: Tastes That Your Brain Cannot Resist.” New Scientist 2776 (2010): 38–41. Wang, Jiali, Silvana Obici, Kimyata Morgan, Nir Barzilai, Zhaohui Feng, & Luciano Rossetti. “Overfeeding Rapidly Increases Leptin and Insulin Resistance.” Diabetes 50.12 (2001): 2786–2791. Warin, Megan. “Foucault’s Progeny: Jamie Oliver and the Art of Governing Obesity.” Social Theory & Health 9.1 (2011): 24–40. Weber, Christopher L., and H. Scott Matthews. “Food-miles and the Relative Climate Impacts of Food Choices in the United States.” Environmental Science & Technology 42.10 (2008): 3508–3513. Wessell, Adele, and Donna Lee Brien. Eds. Rewriting the Menu: the Cultural Dynamics of Contemporary Food Choices. Special Issue 9, TEXT: Journal of Writing and Writing Programs October 2010. World Health Organisation. Closing the Gap: Policy into Practice on Social Determinants of Health [Discussion Paper]. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: World Conference on Social Determinants of Health, World Health Organisation, 19–21 October 2011.

I have only ever owned one pig. It didn’t have a name, due as it was for the table. Just pu‘aka. But I liked feeding it; nothing from the household was wasted. I planned not to become attached. We were having a feast and a pig was the one essential requirement. The piglet came to us as a small creature with a curly tail. It would not even live an adult life, as the fully-grown local pig is a fatty beast with little meat. Pigs are mostly killed when partly grown, when the meat/fat ratio is at its optimum. The pig was one of the few animals to accompany Polynesians as they made the slow journey across the islands and oceans from Asia: pigs and chickens and dogs. The DNA of island pigs reveals details about the route taken that were previously hidden (Larsen et al.). Of these three animals, pigs assumed the most ceremonial importance. In Tonga, pigs often live an exalted life. They roam freely, finding food where they can. They wallow. Wherever there is a pool of mud, often alongside a road, there is a pig wallowing. Huge beasts emerge from their pools with dark mud lining their bellies as they waddle off, teats swinging, to another pleasure. Pig snouts are extraordinarily strong; with the strength of a pig behind them, they can dig holes, uproot crops, and generally wreak havoc. How many times have I chased them from my garden, despairing at the loss of precious vegetables I could get no other way? But they must forage. They are fed scraps, and coconut for protein, but often must fend for themselves. Despite the fact that many meet an early death, their lives seem so much more interesting than those lived by the anonymous residents of intensive piggeries in Australia, my homeland. When the time came for the pig to be sacrificed to the demands of the feast, two young Tongan men did the honours. They also cooked the pig on an open fire after skewering it on a pole. Their reward was the roasted sweetmeats. The ‘umu was filled with taro and cassava, yam and sweet potato, along with lū pulu and lū ika: tinned beef and fish cooked in taro leaves and coconut cream. In the first sitting, all those of high status—church ministers, college teachers, important villagers and pālangi like me—had the first pick of the food. Students from the college and lowly locals had the second. The few young men who remained knew it was their task to finish off all of the food. They set about this activity with intense dedication, paying particular attention to the carcass of the pig. By the end of the night, what was left of our little pig was a pile of bones, the skeleton taken apart at every joint. Not a scrap of anything edible remained. In the early 1980s, I went to live on a small island in the Kingdom of Tonga, where my partner was the Principal of an agricultural college, in the main training young men for working small hereditary mixed farms. Memories of that time and a recent visit inform this reflection on the contemporary Tongan diet and problems associated with it. The role of food in a culture is never a neutral issue. Neither is body size, and Tongans have traditionally favoured the large body as an indication of status (Pollock 58). Similarly the capacity to eat has been seen as positive. Many Tongans are larger than is healthy, with 84% of men and 93% of women “considered overweight or obese” (Kirk et al. 36). The rate of diabetes, 80% of it undiagnosed, has doubled since the 1970s to 15% of the adult population (Colagiuri et al. 1378). In the Tongan diaspora there are also high rates of so-called “metabolic syndrome,” leading to this tendency to diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In Auckland, for instance, Pacific Islanders are 2.5 times more likely to suffer from this condition (Gentles et al.). Its chief cause is not, however, genetic, but comes from “differences in obesity,” leading to a much higher incidence of cardiovascular disease and diabetes (Gentles et al.). Deaths from diabetes in Tonga are common. When a minister’s wife in the neighbouring village to mine died, everyone of status on the island attended the putu. Though her gangrenous foot could have been amputated, the family decided against this, and she soon died from the complications of her diabetes. On arrival at the putu, as well as offering gifts such as mats and tapa, participants lined up to pay very personal respects to the dead woman. This took the form of a kiss on her face. I had never touched a dead person before, let alone someone who had died of gangrene, but life in another culture requires many firsts. I bent down and kissed the dry, cold face of a woman who had suffered much before dying. Young men of the family pushed sand over the grave with their own hands as the rest of us stood around, waiting for the funeral food: pigs, yes, but also sweets made from flour and refined sugar. Diet and eating practices are informed by culture, but so are understandings of illness and its management. In a study conducted in New Zealand, sharp differences were seen between the Tongan diaspora and European patients with diabetes. Tongans were more likely “to perceive their diabetes as acute and cyclical in nature, uncontrollable, and caused by factors such as God’s will, pollution in the environment, and poor medical care in the past”, and this was associated “with poorer adherence to diet and medication taking” (Barnes et al. 1). This suggests that as well as being more likely to suffer from illnesses associated with diet and body size, Tongans may also be less likely to manage them, causing these diseases to be even more debilitating. When James Cook visited the Tongan group and naively named them the Friendly Islands, he was given the customary hospitality shown to one of obviously high status. He and his officers were fed regularly by their hosts, even though this must have put enormous pressure on the local food systems, in which later supply was often guaranteed by the imposition of tapu in order to preserve crops and animals. Further pressure was added by exchanges of hogs for nails (Beaglehole). Of course, while they were feeding him royally and entertaining his crew with wrestling matches and dances, the local chiefs of Ha‘apai were arguing about exactly when they were going to kill him. If it were by night, it would be hard to take the two ships. By day, it might be too obvious. They never could agree, and so he sailed off to meet his fate elsewhere (Martin 279-80). As a visitor of status, he was regularly fed pork, unlike most of the locals. Even now, in contemporary Tonga, pigs are killed to mark a special event, and are not eaten as everyday food by most people. That is one of the few things about the Tongan diet that has not changed since the Cook visits. Pigs are usually eaten on formal feasting occasions, such as after church on the Sabbath (which is rigorously kept by law), at weddings, funerals, state occasions or church conferences. During such conferences, village congregations compete with each other to provide the most lavish spreads, with feasting occurring three times a day for a week or more. Though each pola is spread with a range of local root crops, fish and seafood, and possibly beef or even horse, the pola is not complete unless there is at least one pig on it. Pigs are not commercially farmed in Tonga, so these pigs have been hand- and self-raised in and around villages, and are in short supply after these events. And, although feasts are a visible sign of tradition, they are the exception. Tongans are not suffering from metabolic syndrome because they consume too much pork; they are suffering because in everyday life traditional foods have been supplanted by imports. While a range of traditional foods is still eaten, they are not always the first choice. Some imported foods have become delicacies. Mutton flap is a case in point. Known as sipi (sheep), it is mostly fat and bone, and even when barbequed it retains most of its fat. It is even found on outer islands without refrigeration, because it can be transported frozen and eaten when it arrives, thawed. I remember once the local shopkeeper said she had something I might like. A leg of lamb was produced from under the counter, mistakenly packed in the flap box. The cut was so unfamiliar that nobody else had much use for it. The question of why it is possible to get sipi in Tonga and very difficult to get any other kind of fresh meat other than one’s own pigs or chickens raises the question of how Tonga’s big neighbours think of Pacific islands. Such islands are the recipients of Australian and New Zealand aid; they are also the recipients of their waste. It’s not uncommon to find out of date medications, banned agricultural chemicals, and food that is really unsuitable for human consumption. Often the only fresh and affordable meat is turkey tails, chicken backs, and mutton flap. From July 2006 to July 2007, New Zealand exported $73 million worth of sheep off-cuts to the Pacific (Edwardes & Frizelle). Australia and the US account for the supply of turkey tails. Not only are these products some of the few fresh meat sources available, they are also relatively inexpensive (Rosen et al.). These foods are so detrimental to the health of locals that importing them has been banned in Fiji and independent Samoa (Edwardes & Frizelle). The big nations around the Pacific have found a market for the meat by-products their own citizens will not eat. Local food sources have also been supplanted as a result of the high value placed on other foods, like rice, flour and sugar, which from the nineteenth century became associated with “civilisation and progress” (Pollock 233). To counter this, education programs have been undertaken in Tonga and elsewhere in the Pacific in order to promote traditional local foods. These have also sought to address the impact of high food imports on the trade balance (Pollock 232). Food choices are not just determined by preference, but also by cost and availability. Similarly, the Tonga Healthy Weight Loss Program ran during the late 1990s, but it was found that a lack of “availability of healthy low-cost food was a problem” to its success (Englberger et al. 147). In a recent study of Tongan food preferences, it was found that “in general, Tongans prefer healthier traditional, indigenously produced, foods”, but that they are not always available (Evans et al. 170). In the absence of a consistent supply of local protein sources, the often inferior but available imported sources become the default ingredient. Fish in particular are in short supply. Though many Tongans can still be seen harvesting the reef for seafood at low tide, there is no extensive fishing industry capable of providing for the population at large. Intensive farming of pigs has been considered—there was a model piggery on the college where I lived, complete with facilities for methane collection—but it has not been undertaken. Given the strongly ceremonial function of the pig, it would take a large shift in thinking for it to be considered an everyday food. The first cooked pig I encountered arrived at my house in a woven coconut leaf basket, surrounded by baked taro and yam. It was a small pig, given by a family too poor to hold the feast usually provided after church when it was their turn. Instead, they gave the food portion owed directly to the preacher. There’s a faded photo of me squatting on a cracked linoleum floor, examining the contents of the basket, and wondering what on earth I’m going to do with them. I soon learnt the first lesson of island life: food must be shared. With no refrigeration, no family of strapping youths, and no plans to eat the pig myself, it had to be given away to neighbours. It was that simple. Even watermelon went off within the day. In terms of eating, that small pig would have been better kept until a later day, when it reached optimum size, but each family’s obligation came around regularly, and had to be fulfilled. Feasting, and providing for feasting, was a duty, even a fatongia mamafa: a “heavy duty” among many duties, in which the pig was an object deeply “entangled” in all social relations (Thomas). A small pig was big enough to carry the weight of such obligations, even if it could not feed a crowd. Growing numbers of tourists to Tonga, often ignored benignly by their hosts, are keen to snap photos of grazing pigs. It is unusual enough for westerners to see pigs freely wandering, but what is more striking about some pigs on Tongatapu and ‘Eua is that they venture onto the reefs and mudflats at low tide, going after the rich marine pickings, just as their human counterparts do. The silhouette of a pig in the water as the tropical sun sinks behind, caught in a digital frame, it is a striking memory of a holiday in a place that remains largely uninterested in its tourist potential. While an influx of guests is seen by development consultants as the path to the nation’s economic future, Tongans bemusedly refuse to take this possibility seriously (Menzies). Despite a negative trade balance, partly caused by the importation of foreign food, Tonga survives on a combination of subsistence farming and remittances from Tongans living overseas; the tourist potential is largely unrealised. Dirk Spennemann’s work took a strange turn when, as an archaeologist working in Tonga, it became necessary for him to investigate whether these reef-grazing pigs were disturbing midden contents on Tongatapu. In order to establish this, he collected bags of both wet and dry “pig excreta” (107). Spenemann’s methodology involved soaking the contents of these bags for 48 hours, stirring them frequently; “they dissolved, producing considerable smell” (107). Spennemann concluded that pigs do appear to have been eating fish and shellfish, along with grass and “the occasional bit of paper” (107). They also feed on “seaweed and seagrass” (108). I wonder if these food groups have any noticeable impact on the taste of their flesh? Creatures fed particular diets in order to create a certain distinct taste are part of the culinary traditions of the world. The deli around the corner from where I live sells such gourmet items as part of its lunch fare: Saltbush lamb baguettes are one of their favourites. In the Orkneys, the rare and ancient North Ronaldsay Sheep are kept from inland foraging for most of the year by a high stone fence in order to conserve the grass for lambing time. This forces them to eat seaweed on the beach, producing a distinct marine taste, one that is highly valued in certain Parisian restaurants. As an economy largely cut out of the world economic loop, Tonga is unlikely to find select menus on which its reef pigs might appear. While living on ‘Eua, I regularly took a three hour ferry trip to Tongatapu in order to buy food I could not get on my home island. One of these items was wholemeal flour, from which I baked bread in a mud oven we had built outside. Bread was available on ‘Eua, but it was white, light and transported loose in the back of truck. I chose to make my own. The ferry trip usually involved a very rough crossing, though on calmer days, roof passengers would cook sipi on the diesel chimney, added flavour guaranteed. It usually only took about thirty minutes on the way out from Nafanua Harbour before the big waves struck. I could endure them for a while, but soon the waves, combined with a heavy smell of diesel, would have me heading for the rail. On one journey, I tried to hold off seasickness by focussing on an island off shore from Tongatapu. I went onto the front deck of the ferry and faced the full blast of the wind. With waves and wind, it was difficult to stand. I diligently stared at the island, which only occasionally disappeared beneath the swell, but I soon knew that this trip would be like the others; I’d be leaning over the rail as the ocean came up to meet me, not really caring if I went over. I could not bear to share the experience, so in many ways being alone on the foredeck was ideal for me, if I had to be on the boat at all. At least I thought I was alone, but I soon heard a grunt, and looked across to see an enormous sow, trotters tied front and back, lying across the opposite side of the boat. And like me, she too was succumbing to her nausea. Despite the almost complete self-absorption seasickness brings, we looked at each other. I may have imagined an acknowledgement, but I think not. While the status of pigs in Tongan life remains important, in many respects the imposition of European institutions and the availability of imported foods have had an enormous impact on the rest of the Tongan diet, with devastating effects on the health of Tongans. Instead of the customary two slow-cooked meals, one before noon and one in the evening (Pollock 56), consisting mostly of roots crops, plantains and breadfruit, with a relish of meat or fish, most Tongans eat three meals a day in order to fit in with school and work schedules. In current Tongan life, there is no time for an ‘umu every day; instead, quick and often cheaper imported foods are consumed, though local foods can also be cooked relatively quickly. While some still start the day by grabbing a piece of left over cassava, many more would sit down to the ubiquitous Pacific breakfast food: crackers, topped with a slab of butter. Food is a neo-colonial issue. If larger nations stopped dumping unwanted and nutritionally poor food products, health outcomes might improve. Similarly, the Tongan government could tip the food choice balance by actively supporting a local and traditional food supply in order to make it as cheap and accessible as the imported foods that are doing such harm to the health of Tongans References Barnes, Lucy, Rona Moss-Morris, and Mele Kaufusi. “Illness Beliefs and Adherence in Diabetes Mellitus: A Comparison between Tongan and European Patients.” The New Zealand Medical Journal 117.1188 (2004): 1-9. Beaglehole, J.C. Ed. The Journals of Captain James Cook on his Voyages of Discovery: The Voyage of the Resolution and Discovery 1776-1780. Parts I & II. Cambridge: Hakluyt Society, 1967. ­­­____. Ed. 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Cockbain, and James Beasley. “Obesity in Tonga: A cross-sectional comparative study of perceptions of body size and beliefs about obesity in lay people and nurses.” Obesity Research & Clinical Practice 2.1 (2008): 35-41. Larsen, Gregor, et al. “Phylogeny and Ancient DNA of Sus Provides New Insights into Neolithic Expansion in Island Southeast Asia and Oceania.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 104.12 (2007): 4834-39. Martin, John. Tonga Islands: William Mariner’s Account, 1817. Neiafu, Tonga: Vava‘u, 1981. Menzies, Isa. “Cultural Tourism and International Development in Tonga: Notes from the Field”. Unpublished paper. Oceanic Passages Conference. Hobart, June 2010. Pollock, Nancy J. These Roots Remain: Food Habits in Islands of the Central and Eastern Pacific since Western Contact. Honolulu: Institute for Polynesian Studies, 1992. Rosen, Rochelle K., Judith DePue, and Stephen T. McGarvey. “Overweight and Diabetes in American Samoa: The Cultural Translation of Research into Health Care Practice.” Medicine and Health/ Rhode Island 91.12 (2008): 372-78. Spennemann, Dirk H.R. “On the Diet of Pigs Foraging on the Mud Flats of Tongatapu: An Investigation in Taphonomy.” Archaeology in New Zealand 37.2 (1994): 104-10. Thomas, Nicholas. Entangled Objects: Exchange, Material Objects and Colonialism in the Pacific. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard UP, 1991.