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what is alcohol? - In chemistry, alcohol is an organic compound that binds to the hydroxyl functional group (-OH) to a carbon atom, usually associated with other carbon atoms or hydrogen.

An important class of simple acyclic alcohols, the general formula CnH2n 1 OH. Of these, ethanol (C₂H₅OH) is a type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages and a common language the term refers to alcohol, particularly ethanol.

Other alcohols are usually described with a clarifying adjective, as in isopropyl alcohol (propane-2-ol) or wood alcohol (methyl alcohol or methanol). The suffix-ol is shown in the IUPAC name of all substances which the hydroxyl group is the functional group with the highest priority drug, where a group of highest priority is displayed at this prefix hydroxy IUPAC name. The suffix-ol in non-systematic names (such as paracetamol or cholesterol) also typically indicate that the compound contains a hydroxyl function, and can therefore be considered an alcoholic. However, many substances (such as citric acid, lactic acid, and sucrose) contains one or more hydroxyl functions without using the extension.

From: Wikipedia

rubber price news this week, global agribusiness agriculture - Rubber futures were also inflated this week, as the market took its cues from the local spot market. The spot market was left with little arrivals last week and the onset of monsoons has also been contributing towards tightness in the market.

However, the expectations of higher produce in the coming days might be a solace for the market and might result in prices stepping back in the days to unfold. According to the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANPRC), the production is estimated to have increased 5.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2011.

The production is also estimated to rise by another 7.2 percent in the second quarter of the year, added ANRPC. Rubber futures for the most active June contract climbed above Rs.230 per Kg briefly during the final trading day of the week, and closed at Rs.227.97 per Kg on Friday, up 6.13 percent as compared to the previous week’s closing.

Cluster-based economic development, including agro industry cluster has received increasing attention from researchers and many organizations, including OECD, European Commission, the U.S. National Governors Association, and USAID. Also a large number of regions and nations have launched initiatives to develop or strengthen clusters.

The cluster concept is mainly motivated by the research work of Michael Porter. Porter (1990), clusters are groups of companies and institutions co-located in a specific geographic region and linked by interdependencies in providing a related group of products or services. "Because of the proximity, both in terms of geography and activities between them, voters take clustered economic benefits of various types of externalities of location.

Clusters arise because they increase productivity by allowing companies to compete. Development and improvement of the cluster is an important agenda for governments, businesses and other institutions. Cluster development initiatives are important new direction in economic policy, based on past actions and macroeconomic stabilization, privatization, open markets and reduce costs of doing business.

The government made some efforts to promote investment, but the bureaucratic process is arbitrary and restrictive. Although some foreign entities have invested in Tajikistan, the political and economic instability have discouraged a significant amount of foreign direct investment. Corruption and lack of democratic reform, deters investors from making investments and the slow pace of privatization, particularly for medium and large enterprises, must be kept low in the investment business. Other factors that prevent investors access to finance and weak public administration.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that residents and non-residents may hold foreign exchange accounts, though residents can not keep them abroad without the approval of the central bank. Restrictions on payments and transfers include quantitative limits on foreign workers' wages and conditions for repatriation. Many movements of capital required central bank approval.

Tajikistan banking system is weak and is formed by the central bank and 16 commercial banks. Commercial banks have focused on the supply of credit by the central bank for state enterprises in the agricultural and industrial sectors. The state controls most of the assets of the financial system. The banking system is largely ineffective and more people conduct business, including financial activities in the economy. bureaucratic corruption is the main obstacle to investment. The procedure for starting a business is both tedious and slow. Corruption, excessive regulation and absurd tax policies have frustrated the development of the private sector.

Tajikistan has the lowest average annual foreign direct investment since 1993, all members of the CIS. The civil war and unstable political situation was the main reason is the very low level of foreign direct investment. FDI stock in 1993, at the end of 2001 was U.S. $ 127 million, and gross FDI inflows in 2003 and 2004 were U.S. $ 31,600,000 and $ 22,400,000, respectively. Most foreign investment is concentrated in the textile agro-industries, and industries in which small-scale investments. The largest amount of FDI is concentrated in the textile sector with 44.6 per cent and the mining sector, where 42.1 percent of the total cumulative investment during 1993-2001.

Kyrgyz Republic has implemented policies to transition the most liberal and democratic in Central Asia to achieve economic stabilization and restructuring. The country has a market-friendly trade regime, and no exchange controls. They joined the WTO in 1998. Government of Kyrgyzstan is actively working to improve the investment climate in the country. The last five years, investment arrays have been developed and implemented to increase private investment and promote economic growth. In addition, policies to limit inflation, reducing the budget deficit, and maintaining the stability of the real exchange rate has helped to improve the investment climate.

In recent years, inflation was running below 5 percent and som / dollar has remained stable, with some appreciation of the som against U.S. dollar in 2002 and 2003. The budget and current account deficits have improved since 2000. However, macroeconomic fundamentals remain an issue with important implications for the sustainability of future growth and capacity to reduce poverty Kyrgyzstan. These problems are caused by high levels of public spending and public debt, slow important elements of the program of economic reform in the banking sector and poor governance structure. There are also chronic problems of corruption, employment, and inefficiency in the public sector.

The inflow of FDI is important for Kyrgyzstan to achieve sustainable economic growth and improve their export potential. Although domestic savings rose 12 percent to 13 percent of GDP in 2002-2003, the amounts are not yet sufficient for the country. The country also has to limit the growth of external public debt by reducing the scale of the loans financed by the Public Investment Program and grants from international development organizations. And to attract more foreign direct investment necessary financial resources, technology, management, and linkages to export markets.

While the cumulative FDI to Kyrgyzstan were U.S. 453 million U.S. dollars from 1993 to 2001, FDI in 2003 and U.S. $ 2004 147 million and U.S. $ 175 600 000, respectively. With a new investment policy of the government of Kyrgyzstan, inward foreign direct investment shows trend. However, agriculture, processing industries, especially agricultural products still requires stable FDI inflows. While the domestic market for processed foods is low, Kyrgyzstan faces a more difficult competition for agricultural products and foodstuffs. Traditional export markets in the CIS countries are currently building new food import links with China and Europe. consumer expectations in these traditional markets have increased significantly since the 1980

Government of Mongolia has launched several efforts to get foreign investments and priorities in such areas as construction, information and information technology (IT), where agriculture is at the bottom of the priority list.

With the 2002 amendment to the Act on Direct Investment, Government of Mongolia is seeking to create a more favorable investment environment for investors. Investment and Foreign Trade Agency (TIFF), which was established in 1996, is primarily responsible for direct investments under the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. Law recognizes companies and foreign invested company, where foreigners account for 25 percent or more of the investment.

To attract more foreign investment, investment in social infrastructure such as roads, electricity, telecommunication facilities are 100 per cent tax-free within 10 years of profits and 50 percent for exempt next five years. For other sectors, where more than 50 percent of products exported, there will be tax exemption on profits for three years, and 50 percent for the exemption of the next three years.

Since early 1990, the inflow of FDI has increased steadily, and recently, the rate is increasing. China is the largest investor in Mongolia, in terms of amount of investment with 40 percent of total FDI, followed by Canada (14 percent), United States (10 percent), Korea (7 percent) Japan (5 percent) and Russia (3 percent). The mining sector has the most investment flows, while the sectors of food and beverages, and agriculture received 16 million and 10 million between 1990 and 2004, taking up only 2 percent of total investment.

With the exception of land, all companies can invest 100 percent foreign-owned and operated without a partner of Mongolia.

Indeed in 2005, the Government of Mongolia passed the Law for the Free Trade Zone and other relevant regulations to construct complex near the free economic zones bordering Russia and China, for example. Altanbulag, Zamyn-Uud and Tsagaan Nuur.

SMEs are expanding in Uzbekistan partly because of the support from the government. The number of active SMEs in 2004 was 237.5 thousand, which is much higher compared with 177.7 thousand in 2001. The SME's share of GDP was 35.6 percent of nominal GDP in 2004 and is projected to be 45 percent in 2007. This governmental supports to SMEs will facilitate the agro-industry development, and many entrepreneurs are by and large optimistic about the possibilities for business growth.

The speed of privatization is slow in Uzbekistan. According to the World Bank estimates, Uzbekistan agricultural reform to market-oriented economy is still a long way to go. In terms of privatization of agro-processing and input supply industry, spontaneous privatization and mass privatization are just in the early implementation stage.1 Rural banking systems and governmental and public institutional frameworks are also in the modest restructuring stages.

The Uzbekistan government has formally declared its pro-foreign investment policy. In 1993, the foreign investment comprises only 0.8 percent of total capital investment, but in 2003, it increased to over 20 percent. Foreign investors have had more interests in manufacturing sectors including oil and gas industries.

The largest share of foreign direct investment in 2002 comes from Russia (15.7 percent), Korea (9.8 percent), and the U.S. (8.7 percent). The data on the amount of foreign investment by sector are not easily available, but in view of the number of investment, manufacturing sector has received the largest portion of FDI with 58 percent, while the agricultural sector takes only 2.7 percent.

Source: Korea EXIM Bank, 2005

In 2005, the government of Uzbekistan declared a new unified tax system. Under the system, venture companies jointly invested by foreign investors are exempted from profit tax for seven years. Here, the foreign joint venture means the company with foreign capital of at least 150 thousand US$ or over 30 percent of its capital. The conditions get better in remote areas. Assets of foreign investors are protected through the “Laws on Property of Foreign Direct Investment”.

Those companies producing agricultural products are exempted from asset tax; for individual agricultural production unit, tax rate is decided based upon yield, geographical characteristics, accessibility to irrigated water, and so on.

It is problematic in terms of development of agricultural and agro-industry sectors that most joint ventures are in the manufacturing sector. And many SMEs, in spite of government’s efforts to stimulate domestic and foreign investment, are not active in reinvesting their earnings.

Internal turbulences, as envisaged in May 2005, have negatively affected the investment intention of both home and abroad. Slow privatization is also a major factor hindering the investment promotion.

Agribusiness is the human activities that use natural resources to fullfill their needs of their life. Agribusiness is a broad concept used to describe corporate agricultural enterprises individually and collectively. Agribusinesses are companies involved in one or more stages of the production of crops and livestock. In other words agribusiness is an economic perspective for agricultural activities.

In agriculture, agribusiness is a generic term for the various businesses involved in food production, including farming and contract farming, seed supply, agrichemicals, farm machinery, wholesale and distribution, processing, marketing, and retail sales. The term has two distinctly different connotations depending on context.

Within the agriculture industry, agribusiness is widely used simply as a convenient portmanteau of agriculture and business, referring to the range of activities and disciplines encompassed by modern food production. There are academic degrees in and departments of agribusiness, agribusiness trade associations, agribusiness publications, and so forth, worldwide. Here, the term is only descriptive, and is synonymous in the broadest sense with food industry. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, for example, operates a section devoted to Agribusiness Development, which seeks to promote food industry growth in the Third World.

Among critics of large-scale, industrialized, vertically integrated food production, the term agribusiness is used negatively, synonymous with corporate farming. As such, it is often contrasted with smaller family-owned farms. Negative connotations are also derived from the negative associations of "business" and "corporations" by critics of capitalism or corporate excess. As concern over global warming intensifies, biofuels derived from food crops quickly emerged as a practical answer to the energy crisis. Adding corn ethanol to gasoline or using palm oil for biodiesel makes the fuel burn more cleanly, stretches oil supplies, and perhaps most attractive to some politicians, provides a nice boost to big agribusiness. In Europe and in the US, increasing biofuels was mandated by law. Rising fuel costs are increasingly adding financial burdens on the day-to-day running of agricultural companies.

Providing food or fibers is the ultimate product of all agribusiness operations. As such, the economic impact of agribusiness is significant; agribusiness is almost two times as large as the sum of all manufacturing enterprises (measured in total assets); it represents 40 percent of all consumer spending; and it employs 37 percent of the labor force.

The term "agribusiness" was coined in the 1950s by John Herbert Davis and Ray A. Goldberg to reflect the two-way interdependence between businesspeople and farmers in the dual roles of suppliers and purchasers. Business firms that serve agriculture rely on farmers for their markets and for some of their supplies. By the same token, farms could not operate without businesses that manufacture farm supplies and those that store, process, and merchandise farm commodities.

ABSTRACT: Food traceability has become mandatory since 1st January 2005 in the European Union. Traceability of products and activities in the supply chain has become a new factor of competitiveness in agribusiness and is deemed to be an important criterion of perception of food product quality and safety for consumers.

This paper has three objectives: i) to get a deeper understanding of the role of the “ability-to-trace” in consumer decision-making process with respect to food, ii) to measure consumers’ acceptability for food traceability, iii) to check the differences of these matters across twelve European countries in order to highlight any specificity. The purpose is based on the analysis of the verbatim recorded within twenty four focus groups discussions carried-out in autumn 2005.

ABSTRACT: Biofilms from floor drains in food processing facilities with a recent history of no detectable Listeria monocytogenes were cultured for microorganisms producing antilisterial metabolites. A total of 413 microbial isolates obtained from 12 drain biofilm samples were assayed at 15°C and 37°C for antagonistic activity to L. monocytogenes by two agar plate detection methods. Twenty-one of 257 bacterial isolates and 3 of 156 yeast isolates had anti- listerial activity. All 24 microbial isolates, which produced metabolites inhibitory to L. monocytogenes, were assayed for anti- listerial activity in coinoculated broth cultures containing tryptic soy broth with 0.6% yeast extract (TSB-YE).

A 5-strain mixture of 103 L. monocytogenes/ml and 105 cfu of the candidate microorganism/ml were combined in TSB-YE and incubated at 37°C for 24 h, 15°C for  14 d, 8°C for 21 d and 4°C for 28 d. Substantial inhibition of L. monocytogenes growth (4 to 5 log cfu/ml) was observed for 9 isolates at 37°C, 2 at 15°C and 8°C, and 3 at 4°C. None of the 3 yeast isolates was even moderately inhibitory to L. monocytogenes (£ 1 log10 cfu/ml growth inhibition) at 37°C. The nine inhibitory bacterial isolates were identified as Enterococcus durans (6 isolates), Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis (2 isolates), and Lactobacillus plantarum (1 isolate). The anti-L. monocytogenes properties of these isolates were evaluated in biofilms of L. monocytogenes on stainless steel coupons at 37°, 15°, 8° and 4°C. Results revealed that all of nine isolates were highly inhibitory (>5 log10 L. monocytogenes cfu/cm2 growth inhibition to a undetectable level as determined by a direct plating method) at 37°C for 24 h when compared with a control biofilm of L. monocytogenes only. At 4° and 8ºC, three isolates, E. durans 141-1 and 152 and Lc. lactis subsp. lactis C-1-92, were highly inhibitory to L. monocytogenes through 35 days (>4 log10 L. monocytogenes/cm2 growth inhibition). These three bacterial isolates appear to be especially promising competitive inhibition candidates to control L. monocytogenes in biofilms at environmental temperatures of 4°, 8º and 37°C.

Keywords: Listeria monocytogenes, biofilm, competitive inhibition, lactic acid bacteria

ABSTRACT: India can become the food supplier of the world. It has the cultivable land, all the seasons for production of all varieties of fruits and vegetables, an agribusiness system that works although it needs to be vastly improved. The single most important problem facing the Indian agricultural industry is the highly inefficient supply chain. Because of lack of cold chain infrastructure and also a food processing industry about 20 per cent of all foods produced in India (Rs. 500 b) are wasted. 

By building an efficient and effective supply chain using state of the art techniques it is possible to serve the population with value added food while simultaneously ensuring remunerative prices to the farmers. The surplus of cereals, fruits, vegetables, milk, fish, meat and poultry can be processed as value added food products and marketed aggressively both locally and internationally. Investments in cold chain infrastructure, applied research in post harvest technologies, installation of food processing plants in various sectors and development of food retailing sector are mandatory for achieving gains in this sector. Strategic growth plans for achieving both national and international competitiveness of the food industry are essential.

ABSTRACT: Compression heating of selected fatty and model food materials during high-pressure processing was studied using a specially designed experimental system. Commercially available soybean oil, olive oil, beef fat, chicken fat, and salmon fish were studied at different pressures (150 to 600 MPa) and at different initial temperatures (25 to 70 °C). At an initial temperature of 25 °C, fats and oils showed higher compression heating values (up to 8.7 °C per 100 MPa) compared to 2 to 3 °C per 100 MPa for water. Though the compression heating of water depends on its initial temperature, oils have little or no effect of initial temperature.

Keywords: high-pressure processing, compression heating, fats, oils, thermal effects

ABSTRACT: It is generally believed that the food processing sector can exercise market power on raw material producers and final consumers. The objective of this study was to assess the degree of oligopoly and oligopsony power of the tea-processing sector. A partial equilibrium model was developed for the world market for tea, treating India, Kenya and Sri Lanka as raw tea producers and Canada, United Kingdom and the United States of America as tea consumers.

An imperfectly competitive tea-processing sector was incorporated in the model allowing conjectural variation elasticity to represent the degree of market power. The model was econometrically estimated using the two-stage least square estimation procedure. Results of the econometric estimation show that all the market power estimates are statistically significant. The conjectural elasticity values in the input market are 0.0516, 0.0015 and 0.1657 for India, Kenya and Sri Lanka respectively. The conjectural variation elasticity in the output market is 0.1273. The elasticity of supply with respect to own prices are 0.0791, 0.2268 and 0.2060 for India, Kenya and Sri Lanka respectively. The elasticity of demand with respect to own prices are –0.4720, –0.1556 and –0.1237 for Canada, United Kingdom and the United States respectively. The resulting Learner Index for Sri Lanka is very small indicating that Sri Lankan tea producers are not significantly exploited by tea processors.

ABSTRACT: Consumer awareness and choice of healthy foods is an important factor for food scientists and industries to determine how to strategically and effectively develop functional food products which can be transferred to industrial applications. Research on the development of functional foods based on commodities commonly bought by the consumers currently becomes important.

Stability and functionality of health related compounds depends on various factors such as (i) the species and the amount of bioactive compounds, (ii) the linkage of the compounds and its synergistic/antagonistic interaction with other food compounds; (iii) food structure and matrix and (iv) the genetic, nutrition status and other host factor related to human. However, the choice of food ingredients and processing technologies for food design cannot be separated in the development of functional foods. Food processing and preservation is necessary to obtain stable and safe products. Therefore, different strategies how to develop functional foods using intelligent choice of food preparation/processing and food ingredients will be discussed in this presentation as a strategy to design and develop functional foods which are closed to the consumer!s expectation and familiarity. The bioaccessibility of membrane bound health related compounds can be significantly increased by modifying food matrix and structure during food preparation and processing.

Higher bioaccessibility implies more nutrients available and accessible before absorption in the human body. At the same time, the stability and the profile of vitamin derivatives are also affected by food preparation and conventional food processing such as mixing, heating etc. Stability of bioactive compounds in fruit and vegetables is mostly affected by chemical and enzymatic reactions. Hereto, the kinetics and the mechanism of these reactions in food materials during food processing either using conventional or novel (such as high hydrostatic pressure) technologies should be well understood in order to enhance the production of healthy compounds while inactivating microorganisms related to food safety and maintaining overall desired food quality such as texture and flavour. Case studies related to industrial application for example on polyphenols enriched cheese and commercial coffee preparation will also be discussed. In case of antioxidant rich cheese, ripening affected the amount of total phenols. Changes in the amount of polyphenols extracted and the antioxidant profile were observed for different commercial coffee preparations. This study showed that different serving sizes used by coffee retailers also gave significant effects on the amount of total phenols consumed.

ABSTRACT: Two types of structured lipids (SLs) for formulating trans-free margarines were synthesized by (1) lipase-catalyzed acidolysis of canola oil (CO) with stearic acid (SA) and (2) lipase-catalyzed interesterification of CO with palm stearin (PS) and palm kernel oil (PKO), respectively. CO/SA-based SLs were further blended with palm mid-fraction (PMF) and were treated with emulsifiers, such as sucrose stearate (S-170), distilled monoglycerides (DMG), and sorbitan tristearate (STS). We determined the atherogenicity and physical properties of SLs and the textural properties of margarines made with the SLs. Among a series of blends of CO/SA-based SLs and PMF, the SLs prepared from the 40% blend (SA/CO, w/w%) and PMF blend in the weight ratio of 70:30 (SLs:PMF, w/w) had predominantly β′ polymorphs and had the most desirable solid fat content for margarine formulation. However, the addition of S-170, STS, and DMG to the blend did not further improve its polymorphic properties. Among a series of CO/PS/PKO-based SLs, the SLs prepared from 50:30:20 and 60:25:15 blends (CO:PS:PKO, w/w/w) had lower and similar atherogenic index than the commercial trans (CTMF) and trans-free margarine fats (CTFMF), respectively and had more β′ than β polymorphs. The margarines made with them had similar textural properties to margarines made with CTMF and CTFMF, respectively. Therefore, CO/SA-based SLs:PMF blends and CO/PS/PKO-based SLs were suitable for formulating trans-free margarines with desirable textural properties or low atherogenicity.

ABSTRACT: Peeling is one of the first operations in the manufacture of whole peeled and diced tomatoes, and the peelability of processing tomatoes is significantly affected by the presence of various tomato defects, in particular yellow eye and blossom-end rot. Tomato maturity also impacts both the percentage of peeled fruit and yield. Immature fruits are typically undercolored and small in size. Sunburned regions on the tomato surface are difficult to peel as well. In this study, we determined the impact of 24 selected tomato defects on tomato peelability and yield of whole peeled tomatoes. There are potential advantages to sorting to remove selected tomato defects early in the process.

The Collaborative Programme on the Biodiversity of Andean Roots and Tubers was implemented from 1993 to 2003 under the Consortium for the Sustainable Development of the Andean Ecoregion (CONDESAN), with financial backing from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The purpose of this programme was to enhance the quality of life of Andean rural families by making the production of roots and tubers competitive through the efficient use and conservation of biodiversity. The first stage of the programme led to the selection of a number of promising items. One priority product was arracacha (Arracacia xanthorriza). Despite its high nutritional value, this Andean root, also known as Peruvian carrot, is an underutilized, endangered product. The root is highly versatile in terms of culinary and industrial handling, and in the Andean region it is eaten as a substitute for potatoes. For these reasons, and in response to market signals, the project Promotion of Andean Crops: Development of Agro-industries and Markets for Arracacha was implemented from 1999 to 2002, with financial backing from the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC).