A simple test to check whether patients are eating their recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables a day could be introduced in Britain within five years.

Scientists have developed a prototype test which tells them what people have been eating over the past week. They believe it will be an invaluable weapon in the battle against obesity and in aiding research into cancer, heart attacks and diabetes.

The test, developed by researchers at the universities of Aberystwyth and Newcastle with Food Standards Agency funding, relies on the identification of the chemical fingerprints of substances found in urine that have been created by different foods as they pass through the body. Chemical signatures for raspberries, broccoli, orange juice and salmon have already been successfully profiled. The team is confident that, in time, virtually every food ingredient will be identifiable.

I wonder what the jail sentence will be only eating four portions of fruit/vegs a day?

yeah iff'n ya dont eat yer Broccoli there'll be hell to pay !!

Ahh SF now I see a conspiracy theory. Is this why our govt. wants to pass the new food regulations. It would be easy to put markers in food stuffs if they were controlled at the source. Easy then to find us chocolate lovers who do not eat our greens & tax offending foodstuffs to pay for medical problems believed to be caused by unhealthy food. The mind boggles !!!

I hate broccoli...can I leave it on my plate for you Ocker?

No SF the food police will hold your nose & make you swallow !!!

Aw no, When we were at a health camp as wee ones,,, we had to stay at the table till we ate the lumpy porridge,

we also had to have a desertspoon of castor oil,,, and were told to pinch our nose to swallow it...

Then they bought in cod liver oil capsules , they were easy to hide under your tongue for later dispensing

Must say loved the place but with not being alowed to see parents and siblings was sure nice to get back and see them all again..

Do love fruit and veg now ,so will share the broc with Ocker Silverfern


Cheers Kai

I listened to a fascinating radio programme the other night - an Australian agricultural journalist speaking at Auckland Museum.
He was discussing the possible impacts of the coming food, finance, fertiliser, fuel, water and climate change crises on the way we all live our lives, possible changes we could make, the risks we'll need to manage.
His was an Australian perspective, but, even so, some of what he was saying was applicable to us in New Zealand.
It requires more fertiliser, fuel and water to produce animal food products than it does to produce vegetables and the consumption of more meat and dairy and less fruit and veg increases downstream health costs. - Further, many of us can grow our own fruit and veg using less costly/wasteful methods of doing so than we can provide ourselves with meat and dairy.

PS: it is very easy to tie this thread to the other one about US/China involvement in the Pacific, about China and US interest in our farms, trade and food production laws, and so on to the coming peak resource crisis.

Kia ora koutou.

Silverfern, #1
I love broccoli, and all veges.
At least here on the Island, we are probably least likely or not at all, to get a visit from food police.
And we are more likely be able to save our seeds each year.
We won't rule out contamination from other crops. Can still happen, being carried by the wind or droppings from my little feathered friends, the manu.
But overall, I am confident that we will be quite safe in our time anyway. For future generations here , I hope so too for them.

The so called rulers and so called makers and all are Grrrrrready ####
have got te Ao into this situation, as we all know so well.

Gabby one. #3 {the mind boggles}
True. They got us by the short and curlies as the saying goes.

Kai. #6 They gave us all that at primary school too. We were quite healthy, as children. In our whanau household anyway, and mum use to always give us Malt. Which I loved.

Lets hope all plans for food crash around Grrrreadies

And we will live as was planned from the beginning, without all these stoooopid rules.
Especially in Aotearoa the land of plenty is still available, natural means wise.

Enjoy your day katoa.

Kakite.

I think I will be gaoled as I am not an avid green or any other coloured vege eater apart from potatoes, peas, corn and the odd baby beans. I come from a long line of hunter gatherers evidently. I love all fruits that I am able to buy though. Will that keep me out of gaol ????????????

Joybel, I don't think you need worry. The food police, at the moment at least, are rather more interested in whether you are producing food to give or sell to other people, or seeds to share with your friends and family, or doing anything at all that might reduce the profits of the big supermarkets and chemical companies who have such a huge investment in mass production of foodstuffs.

Other groups, like health care providers and so on, would like you to eat healthily and not wreck your health and cost them money, but the others who flog heart and allergy and cancer medications, food supplements and fads, diets and gyms, would love you to eat processed rubbish and as much of it as you can possibly cram down your neck. Just saying....

"The food police, at the moment at least, are rather more interested in whether you are producing food to give or sell to other people, or seeds to share with your friends and family, or doing anything at all that might reduce the profits of the big supermarkets and chemical companies who have such a huge investment in mass production of foodstuffs."


Then,with all due respect (which is to say NONE) the 'food police' can sod off.
I will NOT be changing the habits of a lifetime so that greedy piglets can make far more profit than they'll ever need. I have every intention of continuing to grow & propagate fruit & veg,& giving away surplus, cuttings etc.
Either they change radically this ridiculous law or it will simply go underground.
Guerilla gardening,anyone?

Oh a reminder Manurere ,,,, We had the malt at home as well. Remember the line ups ,so no one missed out

Dont remember c.l.o at school but changed a few times ,,so maybe it was there!!


Loved that Malt,,, and asked DH ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and they had it as well..

Mustve passed our healthy genes on to the Whanau cos they seem to be thrving at the mo as well !!

A bit off the subject but met up with a friend 2 years ago,, hadnt seen for over 10 years,,,

They were bought up in an isolated place on the East Coast and always from childhood, had used sunlight soap on her hair and as a body soap .

We did too growing up,,,, but gave up the sunlight soap when we moved on our OE....

She still uses it and hasnt aged a day

We had a good old laugh about how parents etc didnt have access to those things ,,,or the petty cash at the time !! and didnt do us any harm !!

They also and still do ,,,,have a garden with all the goodies in ,,especially Rhubarb and silverbeet ....


Cheers Kai