SHOCKING NEWS

Secret Soy Sauce Ingredient: Human Hair!

This incident happened quite sometimes ago. I get to know this through TV News so i went online to check for more details on it.
I hope it won't scare you off :(

In late 2003, there was an alternatively produced soy sauce named "Hongshuai Soy Sauce" in China. The soy sauce was marketed as “blended using latest bioengineering technology” by a food seasoning manufacturer, suggesting that the soy sauce was not generated in a traditional way using soy and wheat. The Hongshuai Soy Sauce was sold at a relatively low price in Mainland China and became very popular among the public. The people found its taste to be similar to other brands. Because of its low price, many catering services in schools and colleges decided to use this new product.

The journalists then found the amino acid syrup manufacturer (a bioengineering company) in Hubei province. When asking how the amino acid syrup (or powder) was generated, the manufacturer replied that the powder was generated from human hair). Because the human hair was gathered from salon, barbershop and hospitals around the country, it was unhygienic and mixed with condom, used hospital cottons, used menstrual cycle pad, used syringe, etc. After filtered by the workers, the hair would then cut small for being processed into amino acid syrup. A quality monitoring staff also revealed that though the hair may not be toxic itself, it definitely consisted of bacteria and other micro-organisms.  

(Extracted From: Internet Journal of Toxicology)

 

SENSORY EVALUATION ACTIVITY

In this week practical lesson we had different types of sensory evaluation activities:

1) Activity 1:THE PEPSI CHALLENGE

I was ask to taste the 2 samples drinks and make a guess on which sample is coke.After sampling, i felt that both the samples taste equally the same. So how do I differentiate among the samples.... The answer is"gas." Haha....and I manage to get it right :)

2) Activity 2: I SMELL A RAT

In this experiment, we were ask to use of sense of smell to identify the 5 spices samples.This activity is too tough for me.... I had no ideas what the samples are even by looking at it:( Take a look at the pictures above will you e able to identify it????

3) Activity 3: "LET THEM EAT CAKE"

We were asked to eat the 2 different samples of cakes and identify which cake had a better overall qualities.

My guess would be the cake at the right. Am I correct?

4) Activity 4: There’s a Spy among us…

After tasting the coke, cheese and cakes.... I was asked to look out sugar solution that taste differently from the other 2 samples. I had tasted the sugar solution for twice and i still can't figure out is the odd one. Oh no.... I  guessed my taste buds is  becoming senseless.

5) Activity 5: Smell Checkpoint

Among all the activities, I loved this the most!!! We are supposed to identify what are the different food samples. Unlike the normal procedure... we need to clip on a nose clipper to see if our sense of smell will affects the detection of flavours. And its true it really affects our detection of flavours. I had no idea what food am I eating at all. Some of the food samples just taste weird to me...

6) Activity 5: Who Moved my Cheese?

My group is charge of setting up this experiment. In this experiment, our classmates are required to identify which cheese contain a higher fat content from the 2 samples given. At first, i thought to myself how are they going to identify the "fat content" by tasting? After much observation and testing, our group had figure out that cheese with a lower fat content are darker in colour and cheese with a higher fat content tends to have a milkier smell. From the photo,can you tell which cheese contains a higher fat content?

WELCOME TO NIE FOOD LAB!

Last Wednesday, was my first time stepping into NIE food lab.  The only word that I can describe about our food lab is "AMAZING." All the kitchen appliances and equipments are just simply fantastic. I wanted to show you all how exactly my food lab look like but sadly I had forgotten to take photo:(

Our class didn't get to cook or bake on our first lesson. So what did we do in class????

First up.....

Food Lab and Equipment 

We explored the food lab. We are supposed to list down the list of equipments and utensils that are found at our work station.

Handy Measures

Then, we proceed to the measuring work station. In this station we are to measure a specific weight for the ingredients provided accurately .

Lastly,

I learned how to cut vegetables using different types cutting techniques.

Cutting Technique

1) Julienne 

2) Shredding 

3) Dicing

4)  Chiffonade  

5) Chopping

 

6) Slicing

Websource Review

Websource Review 1

Health Promotion Board

http://www.hpb.gov.sg/default.aspx

This website is always one of my favorite when doing project during my poly days....

From this websites, you will be able to find different types of tools such as:

Calories Calculator, BMI Calculator,Food and energy composition of food etc.

My View:

This website provides provides easy access :) to information on different healthtopics,nutritional tools,disease and condition and digi tools. With all these online nutritional tools students/public will be able to plan meals for themselves or even their families. Apart from all these online tools there is a page under educational material that allows both students and teacher to have a good look at the past handout, guidelines and even research books for students like us to look for in-dept information when doing project.

Thumb up! I highly recommended you all to use it for your project/school work.

Websource Review2

Nutritional data - Know what u eat

http://nutritiondata.self.com/

My View:

This website is easy to access as well :) It is similar but somehow it is sightly more in depth as compared to hpb.com

In this websites you can find the nutrition information of a huge variety of foods I am totally impressed by it when i first used it for my assignment.Similar to hpb.com they also provide online nutritional tools and topics relate to different condition. I would strongly recommended students to used this websites for their research work relating health and nutrition.

Extra: 

Under my recipe,it also provide u with all the information that you need by just creating a perfect recipe in just 3 basic steps.Under the blogs column, they had several blogs that focus on topics related to  nutritional data, heart health , diabetes and diet weight loss blogs.They even include topics such as fatty acids and food additives which many of us had little knowledge on it.

.

Websource Review3

Meal Planner

http://www.mealsmatter.org/

T

My View:

I happened to found this websites when I was doing my reflection last week. They provide online tool to make planning healthy meals easier, such as nutrition articles, recipes, personalized cookbooks and shopping lists, as well as a meal planner to help plan your meals over time. I have notice that this website allow us to assess their calcium and food personality, high blood pressure online quiz. Isn't it great?This quiz allow individual to see whether we are at risk of getting high blood pressure or osteoporosis.

Under the nutritional and healthy,they have this site that tells us the different types functional food that are good for your health such as broccoli, carrots, etc.

This websites allows the students to have a better understanding on topics such as meal planning and adopting a positive healthy eating practice. 

Extra: 

Unlike other sites, they have a online recipes site for you to look out for new receipts. Not only this now you can share your favorite dish to others as well by uploading your recipes to this web-page.

PS: Try to take the online quiz and discover yourself  now!

Websource Review 4

http://www.ichef.com/

This website include online cooking games!!!!

"Meal or No Meal"

How to play :

Choose your serving tray carefully from the 26 different trays presented. Select six of the remaining 25 trays to reveal, one at a time. You will hear the Chef's dinner bell and he will make you a special offer. If you accept his offer the round is over, or you can refuse his offer and keep playing by selecting five more trays, etc. Simply choose "Meal" or "No Meal" to accept or reject the Chef's offer.

Click to play this game: http://www.ichef.com/meal%20or%20no%20meal.cfm

My View:

They provide tons.... of recipes. This websites is going very useful for food lovers and students prepaing their course. Recipes ranging from seafood to  desert dishes.

Extra: 

In this websites you will be able to find online games and online cooking videos by  TasteTV to bring you several great new cooking videos. I find this websites can become a very useful educational tools for the students.Through this websites, students can learn how to cook a dish with the online video guide and a variety of creative recipes for them to choose for their coursework. On the other hand, these recipes can useful for  teachers when planning their  practical lessons planning.

Websource Review 5

The World's Healthiest Foods


http://www.whfoods.com/

Do know what are the benefits of  cucumber for our body?

          

1.  Give u a radiant complexion

   

2. Lowered blood pressure

My View: 

This websites provides you more than 130 foods that can serve as the basis of your Healthiest Way of Eating.Links to the articles about these foods can be found on the sites which give u all the benefits of eating these healthy food.

All the Essential Nutrients information such as calcium and vitamins that are provided. With all these information you can plan and cook food rich in nutrients that u may need.

This websites is useful to students to identify different types of keys nutrients and benefits of these nutrients for our body.

Extra: 

Students might not be able to learn effectively through this websites as it is too lengthy and lacks of pictures.

What is Home Economics to Me?

HOME ECONOMICS ≠ COOKING + SEWING

Cutting vegetables.Sewing a skirt. Preparing a perfect dinner. These are familiar images of home economics, but do they tell us everything about this subject?

Home Economics is the study of homemaking and the relation of the home to the community. In the past trends, Home Economics teaches us solely on food and nutrition, sewing and household economics.

Now, moving towards the twenty centuries with the ongoing new educational concept, the syllabus is now further revised to incorporate new knowledge in Home Economic education. The new syllabus includes of food and nutrition, textile and clothing as well as consumer education that provides student with the knowledge and develops skills such as problem solving, creatively, decision making.
Home Economics is a subject that allows student to study beyond their textbook and allows them to apply it to day- to-day lives.