Borlaug Fellowship Program at USDA promotes United States cooperation with developing countries

Bourlag biography from Nobel website

USDA programme, titled in honor of Nobel Prize Laureate Norman Borlaug, promotes food security and economic growth by providing training and collaborative research opportunities to fellows from developing and middle-income countries.

Norman Borlaug won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. He was granted the prize for the primary role played during the so called Green Revolution.
He worked in Mexico, India and Pakistan to promote the introduction of more productive varieties of crops developed in years of research and testing.

The Green Revolution refers to the capacity to use technology to modify the environment so as to create more optimal conditions for crops and livestock than nature alone can offer (i.e. if it is dry, irrigate; if soil fertility is low, fertilize; if pests and weeds invade crops, spray or dust; if livestock are threatened by disease, vaccinate and medicate; or if more energy is needed to till the land, mechanize and use fossil fuels). Improved varieties of rice and wheat could benefit from the use of external inputs (including water) that provided good growing conditions for realizing the genetic potential of the new varieties. The creation of socio-economic enabling environments that opened up for the use of these inputs and created markets for the sale of the produce was an integral part of this change. (FAO, 1996) 

Borlaug fellows are generally scientists, researchers, or policymakers who are in the early or middle stages of their careers. Each fellow works one-on-one with a mentor at a U.S. university, research center or government agency, usually for 8-12 weeks. The U.S. mentor will later visit the fellow’s home institution to continue collaboration. Fellows may also attend professional conferences and events within their field, such as the annual World Food Prize Symposium.

The programme encourages the fellowships of practitioners focused on specific research indicated in the Priorities by target countries. Additionally, the programme pursuits a number of Special Programs

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Which concerns raise the growing use of palm oil in the food industry?

Why did it become so popular in the food industry?

The use of palm oil in the food industry has grown exponentially. Palm oil’s technical utility comes from its high melting point. Since palm oil is semi-solid at room temperature, it has a variety of uses from baking products and spreads to frying and though animal fats also have this quality, they are far more expensive to produce. The commodity’s cheap production cost stems from the fact that the palm plant essentially offers a two-for-one deal. 

www.citymarket.coop

Similar to a plum, both the fleshy outer part and inner stone provide usable oil (the latter referred to as palm kernel oil). The components can then be separated for different uses. “Between the [flesh and the stone] the palm plant is about 10 times as productive as a plant like a soya bean or a rapeseed,” Berger says. “In a world that is short of food, having a plant that is as productive as that is a significant benefit.” A perennial crop that takes up just 5% of the farmland used for vegetable oil production, palm oil makes up 38% of the global supply. 

It can be used not only in food but also any soap or cosmetic products that have a fatty component, for example lipstick and shampoo. In these cases, palm oil helps increase the viscosity of the product or acts as an occlusive agent, helping skin to retain its moisture. Although animal fats are still used in some cosmetics, the cost of production is simply too high for widespread use (extract from article on the Guardina "Why does palm oil still dominate the supermarket shelves?" written by Rosie Spinks in 2014).

Major concerns with the spread use of this product are about its environmental sustainability and health issues.

Environmental problems

Palm is a tropical plant and ideal growing conditions are found only on the equator or 10 degrees of latitude north / south. At the same time, these regions house vast areas of tropical rainforest rich in biodiversity on the continents of Asia, Africa and South America. Demand for edible vegetable oils, has grown steady in recent decades and palm oil plantations have expanded rapidly in number and size to meet the global demand causing heavy deforestation.

Indonesia and Malaysia count for 83% of the market share (GreenPalm.org), and for the high demand, expansion of plantations and production is forecast to continue menacing other portions of rainforest ecosystems.

Indonesia is planning to increase productivity by 40% by 2020 allocating other 5 millions of hectares to the production of this vegetable oil

Industry landscape, regulatory and financial overview, www.pwc.com

Despite the implementation of projects to establish environmental sustainable plantations,  the danger to devastate additional hectares of native rainforest is still very high.

Health risks

The image below summarises the palm oil processing stages. The deodorisation of virgin oil, which is part of the refining process at high temperatures, forms the contaminants that are considered toxic.

image source: "Occurrence of 3-monochloropropanediol esters and glycidyl esters in commercial infant formulas in the United States" written by Jessica Leigh & Shaun MacMahon

The European Food Safety Authority, after publishing scientific articles presenting the results of experiments based on lab rats testing, has also recently released the Chemicals in food 2016 report.
One section of the report is centred on the analysis the components resulting from the processing of palm oil described above.
According to the research undertaken by the Authority, current studies have registered low health concerns on the assumption of these components through ingestion of food using this type of vegetable oil.

However, in order to keep to the minimum the risks for health,  the Authority has suggested to the competent commission the importance to establish at regulatory level a maximum level of glycidyl esters of 1.0 mg/kg to be applicable as from September 2017. EU authorities and producers will then discuss the level of contaminants allowed in the food.
This maximum level proposed by EFSA study should be in line with the commitment made by the EU Oil and Protein meal Industry. The commitment was very much welcomed by the Committee and it was acknowledged that it is a strong commitment requiring substantial efforts from the industry.
(source: https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/consultation-fatty-acid-esters.pdf)

New WHO report outlines strategies driving recent reforms and definition of primary objectives to effectively meet its mandate

"TEN YEARS OF TRANSFORMATION: Making WHO fit for purpose in the 21st century"is a new report published by the WHO outlining the major reforms made by the Organisation to better fulfil its mandate. WHO was one of the first organisations in the UN system to adopt a results-based management approach for the definition of the programme budget for the biennium 2000-2001.

Three fundamental challenges were articulated as the drivers of change. 

First, WHO was overcommitted and overextended. It needed selective and strategically focused priorities that would best reflect the Organization’s comparative advantage in the changing global health landscape and lay the foundation for WHO’s leadership in the coming decades. 

Second, WHO’s role in global health governance and relation to other actors in international health required clarity. 

Third, when faced with new challenges and a rapidly changing environment, WHO needed to develop the capacity and culture to be able to respond with sufficient speed and agility. 

Ultimately, optimizing WHO’s governance, management and programmatic focus would enable the Organization to more effectively fulfil its constitutional mandate as the “directing and coordinating authority on international health work” and, most importantly, better serve Member States and communities in improving health. 

To make these changes a reality, WHO’s governing bodies defined three objectives: 

1. Improved health outcomes, with WHO meeting the expectations of its Member States and partners in addressing agreed global health priorities, focused on the actions and areas where the Organization has a unique function or comparative advantage and financed in a way that facilitates this focus. 

2. Greater coherence in global health, with WHO playing a leading role in enabling the many different actors to play an active and effective role in contributing to the health of all peoples. 

3. An Organization that pursues excellence, one that is effective, efficient, responsive, objective, transparent and accountable.