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The nasal epithelium represents the first line of defense against inhaled pathogens, allergens, and irritants and plays a key role in the pathogenesis of a spectrum of acute and chronic airways diseases. Despite age-dependent clinical phenotypes triggered by these noxious stimuli, little is known about how aging affects the structure and function of the airway epithelium that is crucial for lung homeostasis and host defense. The aim of this study was therefore to determine age-related differences in structural and functional properties of primary nasal epithelial cultures from healthy children and non-smoking elderly people. To achieve this goal, highly differentiated nasal epithelial cultures were established from nasal brushes at air-liquid interface and used to study epithelial cell type composition, mucin (MUC5AC and MUC5B) expression, and ion transport properties. Furthermore, we determined age-dependent molecular signatures using global proteomic analysis. We found lower numeric densities of ciliated cells and higher levels of MUC5AC expression in cultures from children vs. elderly people. Bioelectric studies showed no differences in basal ion transport properties, ENaC-mediated sodium absorption, or CFTR-mediated chloride transport, but detected decreased calcium-activated TMEM16A-mediated chloride secretory responses in cultures from children vs. elderly people. Proteome analysis identified distinct age-dependent molecular signatures associated with ciliation and mucin biosynthesis, as well as other pathways implicated in aging. Our data identified intrinsic, age-related differences in structure and function of the nasal epithelium and provide a basis for further studies on the role of these findings in age-dependent airways disease phenotypes observed with a spectrum of respiratory infections and other noxious stimuli.

Background and Objective: Long-term tooth retention is the ultimate goal of periodontal therapy. Aim of this study was to evaluate tooth loss (TL) during 10 years of supportive periodontal therapy (SPT) in periodontal compromised patients and to identify factors influencing TL on patient level. Material and Methods: Patients were re-examined 120 ± 12 months after active periodontal therapy. TL and risk factors [smoking, initial diagnosis, SPT adherence, interleukin-1 polymorphism, cardiovascular diseases, age at baseline, bleeding on probing (BOP), change of practitioner, insurance status, number of SPT, marital and educational status] influencing TL on patient level were assessed. Results: One-hundred patients (52 female, mean age 65.6 ± 11 years) lost 121 of 2428 teeth (1.21 teeth/patient; 0.12 teeth/patient/y) during 10 years of SPT. Forty-two of these were lost for periodontal reasons (0.42 teeth/patient; 0.04 teeth/patient/y). Significantly more teeth were lost due to other reasons (P < .001). Smoking, baseline severity of periodontitis, non-adherent SPT, positive interleukin-1 polymorphism, marital and educational status, private insurance, older age at baseline and BOP, small number of SPT were identified as patient-related risk factors for TL (P < .05). Conclusion: During 120 ± 12 months of SPT, only a small number of teeth was lost in periodontally compromised patients showing the positive effect of a well-established periodontal treatment concept. The remaining risk for TL should be considered using risk-adopted SPT allocation.

Alle für die Verarbeitung ökologischer Erzeugnisse bereits zugelassenen Zusatzstoffe wurden anhand der Kriterien der EU für die Zulassung von neuen Zusatzstoffen sowie der Erfahrungen der Verbände und Industrie geprüft und beurteilt. Als Ergebnis wurde eine Dossiersammlung erarbeitet. Jeder für die ökologische Verarbeitung zugelassene Zusatzstoff wird in einem eigenen Kapitel („Dossier“) vorgestellt.

Beim Verpacken von Lebensmitteln entstehen fast immer Zielkonflikte. Was beim einen Lebensmittel ideal ist, kann beim andern falsch sein. Um zur individuell optimalen Lösung zu kommen, zeigen die Best-Practise-Merkblätter Vor- und Nachteile von Verpackungen auf. Im bioaktuell ist exemplarisch die Tabelle für Joghurtbecher und -deckel abgedruckt – die anderen Merkblätter finden Sie auf der Bio Suisse Homepage.

Consumers buy organic food because they believe in the high quality of the product. Furthermore, the EU legal regulatory framework for organic food and farming defines high quality of the products as an important goal of production. A major challenge is the need to define food quality concepts andmethods for determination. A background is described which allows embedding of the quality definitions as well as evaluation methods into a conceptual framework connected to the vision and mission of organic agriculture and food production. Organic food quality is defined through specific aspects and criteria. For evaluation each criterion has to be described by indicators. The determination of indicators should be through parameters, where parameters are described by methods. Conversely, the conceptual framework is described according to underlying principles and starting definitions are given, but further work has do be done on the detailed scientific description of the indicators. Furthermore, parameters have to be defined for the evaluation of suitability of these indicators for organic food production. (c) 2012 Society of Chemical Industry

Dank verbesserter Analytik werden immer häufiger chemische Stoffe, die aus der Verpackung stammen, im Lebensmittel nachgewiesen. Ein Positionspapier, erarbeitet von Bio Suisse, FiBL und Fachleuten aus Handel und Industrie, zeigt nun auf, wie die Biobranche das Thema Rückstände durch Verpackungen von Lebensmitteln ganz grundsätzlich angehen muss.

Commercial as well as home-made baby food purée processed out of organic carrots have to warrant dietary adequacy, a high nutritive value, excellent food safety and sensory quality. The quality of baby food deeply depends on many factors within the production chain i. e. the quality of organic raw material, the pre-processing and storage treatments as well as the processing conditions.

Verbraucher verbinden mit Bio-Produkten hohe Erwartungen. Das schließt eine ökologische Verpackung mit ein. Der Leitfaden "Nachhaltige Verpackung von Bio-Lebensmitteln" liefert Unternehmen der Biobranche in kompakter Form die wichtigsten Informationen zur ökologischen und schadstofffreien Verpackung von Bio-Lebensmitteln: Er beschreibt detailliert die vielfältigen Anforderungen, denen Verpackungen gerecht werden müssen und stellt die gängigen Verpackungmaterialien mit ihren typischen Anwendungsbereichen sowie Aspekten der Qualität und Sicherheit, Ökologie und Ökonomie vor. Beispiele aus der unternehmerischen Praxis zeigen gelungenen Verpackungslösungen aus verschiedenen Bereichen. Eine Checkliste hilft den Unternehmen bei der individuellen Bewertung von Verpackungslösungen. Ergänzt wird der Leitfaden durch eine "Materialsammlung" auf der Homepage des BÖLW unter www.boelw.de > Themen > Verpackung. Dort finden sich nicht nur der Leitfaden und die Checkliste zum Herunterladen, sondern auch die Anforderungsprofile (Richtlinien, Grenzwerte etc.) von Verpackungsmaterialien, Positivlisten der Bio-Verbände zu Packstoffen sowie eine ausführliche Linksammlung zum Thema. Der Verpackungsleitfaden kann im FiBL-Shop als Printpublikation bestellt (Bestellnummer 1545) oder kostenlos herunter geladen werden.

Technology improvements as packing material with nano coating, compostable bioplastics or special preparation processes of recycled materials increase the variety of packaging possibilities for organic products. As practical experiences show, packaging experts and therefore important know-how are mostly lacking, due to companies´ size in the organic food industry. The project `Sustainable Organic Food Packaging´: A manual for enterprises Project Title (Nr. 08OE060) discusses packaging from the perspective of organic food producers and supports them in finding the suitable packaging. The manual enables organic enterprises to judge packaging concerning technological, economical, ecological, security-relevant and marketing-relevant characteristics. Based on this, they can choose the right packaging. Evaluating the knowledge about existing and new packaging material and assessing their suitability for organic products will provide the basis for the manual. It also contains a comment on the regulatory framework, recommendable practical examples and a discussion on the prospects of sustainable packaging concepts.

Udgivelsesdato: January Feeding experiments comparing organically and conventionally produced food are performed to assess the overall impact on the animals' health as a model for the effects experienced by the human consumers. These experiments are based on systems research and characterized by their focus on production methods, whole food testing and procedures in accordance with the terms of organic farming. A short review of such experiments shows that the majority of these tests revealed effects of the organically produced feed on health parameters such as reproductive performance and immune responses. Systems research is not just about simple cause-effect chains, but rather about the pluralism of interactions in biological networks; therefore, the interpretation of the outcome of whole food experiments is difficult. Furthermore, the test diets of organic and conventional origin can be constituted in different ways, compensating for or maintaining existing differences in nutrient and energy contents. The science-based results suggest positive influences from organic feeds, but there is still a need for confirmation in animals and, finally, in humans. For this purpose animal feeding trials with feed from different production systems should be conducted, with the aims to define health indicators and to establish biomarkers as a basis for future dietary intervention studies in humans. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry

Rückstände von Antibiotika bilden ein Risiko für die Umwelt und auch für die Gesundheit von Mensch und Tier. Wie steht die Schweizer Biomilchproduktion in der Antibiotikafrage da? Bio Suisse wollte es wissen und hat eine Analyse auf Knospe-Höfen durchführen lassen.

In order to test the effect of organic vs. conventional diets on fertility traits, we conducted an on-farm study with female rabbits. Eight groups of seven to eight female rabbits kept in systems with litter were fed ad libitum with either organic or conventional pellets. Offspring was weaned with approx. 28 days. In the first series analysed, the conception rate was higher in the conventional groups. Diet type had no significant influence on that trait. Nevertheless, a significant influence of diet on litter size was found: organically fed female rabbits produced more offspring per litter. The organic groups also showed higher rates of weaned animals, despite of a slightly higher mortality of offspring in these groups, but differences for both traits were not significant compared to conventional animals. Inconsistency of findings in the first series of this study concerning the effect of different diets on fertility traits were also found in literature. Data from the currently running second series will show whether the slightly positive effect of organic diet will become more evident.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the quality influencing processing steps based on the processes of carrot baby food. Once the processing conditions were identified, the possibilities for alternative processing techniques will be explored to improve the overall product and process quality. Next to the food safety (hazard) in the food processing the quality aspect is getting more and more important and an analyse system to optimise the process needs to be established (QualityAnalysisCriticalControlPoint). Organic carrots (Daucus carota, Maestro variety) were processed in a pilot plant trail according a carrot puree process typical in baby food industry. The samples differed regarding the treatment of the raw material prior the sterilization process. Different factors affecting the process like processing time and temperature were documented. It can be concluded that the treatment of the raw material prior the sterilization process can be a critical point according to the process quality. Also great variations in inside temperature are possible among the samples going through the sterilization process. Since the process time is adjusted by the coldest sample, it is important to follow the factors affecting the heat transfer.

A consumer as well as a processor survey has been carried out in order to identify awareness, expectations and demands on the quality of organic processed vegetable baby food. In this paper we present the preliminary results for German and Italian consumers when purchasing vegetable baby purees. In contrast to vegetable baby puree in general, organic vegetable baby puree is considered additionally under aspects of its processing, safety, health benefits and sustainability. Ideas about the processing of baby purees turn out to be rather fuzzy. The processor survey showed no differences between organic and conventional processing. Nevertheless there are possibilities to optimise the process quality and differentiate the organic processing from ordinary methods.

Based on a study of consumers and processors within the EU project Core Organic QACCP the discussion addresses what kind of product range and quality is required for organic baby food.

The processor survey shows the general principles and understanding of quality for the processing of organic food from the processors’ point of view. In addition, possible problem areas regarding the question of product quality such as raw material, processing techniques, storage etc. are worked out. The results of the survey support the identification and definition of critical and essential control points as well as product quality parameters. This survey can therefore conclude three points of actions to improve the process quality. - Handling of raw material: transportation, storage, pre-processing - Nutritional, safety and sensory QCCP - Cooking: time and temperature - Nutritional and sensory QCCP - Preserving/ sterilizations - Nutritional and safety QCCP Besides these QCCPs, organic baby food should break away from the baby food market and constitute a nutritional rich, environmentally friendly and safe product of high quality.

So sinnvoll sind Verpackungen: Sie schützen das Produkt vor schädlichen Einflüssen, gewährleisten die Hygiene, erhöhen die Haltbarkeit und transportieren die wichtigsten Informationen an die «Verkaufsfront». Wie viel Material aber soll für Bioprodukte aufgewendet werden? Und welche Materialien, welche Verpackungssysteme sind ökologisch vertretbar? Bio Suisse will ihre Richtlinien überdenken und hat das FiBL beauftragt, Aspekte der Ökologie und der Sicherheit von Verpackungen zu beurteilen.

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