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Is canola oil good or bad for you? Is it the same as rapeseed oil? It's one of the cheapest oils you can buy, and is being used more and more in processed food. It is probably genetically engineered, and if you heat it to a high temperature, it can form products harmful to your health, e.g. aldehydes. In its refined form that you buy in the supermarket, the nutrients would not be significant. Read this comprehensive article about canola oil. Any oil that has to go through a lot of processing before the oil is extracted is likely to be less beneficial for you. Canola oil is a case in point: it has to go through so many long chemical processes, as the article above outlines. Ideally, any oil you buy would be less refined, fresh and organic, and you would not heat it very much if at all. Oils for cooking Oils we suggest for cooking are coconut oil, ghee, avocado oil or, to a low temperature, butter or olive oil. Oils for eating raw Oils we suggest for eating raw are flaxseed, hempseed, extra virgin olive, walnut. It is better to minimise your cooking with oils, and avoid using polyunsaturated oils such as 'vegetable oil'. What about rice bran oil? Rice bran oil does seem to have the advantage of a higher smoking point, 232C, compared to other oils, and it has an even balance of polyunsaturated, monosaturated and saturated. However the proviso remains that the higher you heat the oil to, the more likely that harmful compounds could be formed, especially from the polyunsaturated components. I would recommend saturated oils over rice bran. What temperature is too high? Aldehydes are lower in canola oil than coconut oil at 180C (optimum deep frying temperature), however another chemical acrolein is higher in canola oil, and this has the potential to cause indoor pollution problems. One conclusion I would draw from this is that the higher the temperature, the worse it gets, and this is especially true for polyunsaturated oils. What is a healthier alternative to frying? If you have the luxury of having an air fryer at home, this does seem to be a good solution for the dilemma of 1) using too much oil and 2) using an oil which is harmful for your health. Written by Alison White, Safe Food Campaign NZ June 2020

What are the alternatives and what can be recycled? Plastics are not only breaking down into microplastics, causing environmental damage for generations, but right now, in contact with your food, they may be leaching chemicals, causing health problems. Look for the numbers 1-7 in a recycling triangle at the bottom of a plastic container to identify what plastics can be recycled. Particularly avoid numbers 3, 6 and 7. Worldwide about 70% of plastics end up in the sea, microplastics end up in food. Number one thing you can do immediately is cut down on single use plastics. Most plastics are made from petrochemicals therefore linked to climate change. Plastics are especially volatile if exposed to heat; dishwashers, sun and microwaves. Be aware that in the future, using starch from plant materials and seaweed may not be a good use of land or natural resources, we need to limit our use of packaging and find inventive ways to conserve. Keeping food fresh Use glass wherever you can for food storage, go to op shops for recycling. Cover with a damp tea towel or a plate in the fridge; buy or make beeswax covers (health effects of silicone covers is undetermined and not usually recycled). Take a reusable box to buy sushi and at meat counters in supermarkets. For parties, plates and cutlery and glassware, buy cheaply second-hand at op shops. Genuine cellophane is compostable, made from plants. Blogging gives your site a voice, so let your business’ personality shine through. Choose a great image to feature in your post or add a video for extra engagement. Are you ready to get started? Simply create a new post now. Never ever burn plastic Unfortunately this is all too common a practice Cardboard and other plant based biodegradable packaging can be buried in the garden or weighed down under trees and shrubs to decompose, use as mulch reducing need for water. Collect small papers in a cardboard box and mulch the whole thing, worms soon come along and eat the contents. What can be recycled in New Zealand? No.1 can be recycled. PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate - most 2 litre or less drink bottles), RPET is made and recycled in NZ, a low risk of leaching. No.2 can be recycled. HDPE (High Density Polyethylene -milk bottles), low leaching into food and environment. No. 3 AVOID, PVC, very difficult to recycle (some plastic bottles, food wrappers and take away containers, children’s toys, wall paint, pipes, vinyl flooring,) PVC (polyvinyl chloride or just vinyl) is a known human carcinogen and very damaging to the environment. When chlorine in PVC is produced, used or burned, the process creates dioxin, one of the most toxic hazards known to man. Phthalates are often added to PVC to make it pliable, in children’s toys for example. They are unbound to the plastic so can leach out readily. Like dioxin, phthalates are a suspected endocrine or hormone disruptor. No.4, can sometimes be recycled LDPE (Low Density Polyethylene – bread bags, some cling wraps) No.5, can sometimes be recycled PP (polypropylene – containers) No. 6 AVOID polystyrene cannot be recycled (PS - cups, Styrofoam products) Landfill only, toxic in contact with food. Polystyrene is a suspect carcinogen, and contains p-nonylphenol, an endocrine disruptor. Sometimes used by takeaways to keep food warm, it can take thousands of years to break down. No. 7 AVOID, cannot be recycled, can include polycarbonate, with highly toxic BPA’s .eg fillings Depending on your location within New Zealand, the local council by-law does allow for foil to be recycled, as long as it has been cleaned of food/grease. Unfortunately many “paper” food wrappings, including most teabags and coffee cups, contain a mix of paper and plastic and can’t be recycled and end up in the landfill. A UK Government paper on biodegradable packaging examines whether the standard required for all such “alternative plastics should be that they could be home composted. Reduction is far more important than recycling, and a fundamental shift away from all single-use packaging, plastic or otherwise, is now necessary,” the report said. For further info 1. Excellent NZ site: https://therubbishtrip.co.nz/ 2. https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/standards-for-biodegradable-compostable-and-bio-based-plastics-call-for-evidence 3. https://www.consumer.org.nz/articles/plastic-packaging 4. https://www.consumer.org.nz/articles/what-you-can-and-can-t-recycle 5. https://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/recycling-by-the-numbers.html Jacky Pearson November 2019, Safe Food Campaign NZ

Sign our parliamentary petition to get rid of the insecticide chlorpyrifos! What is chlorpyrifos? It is a controversial pesticide found in our food and persistent in the environment. It is a type of insecticide or organophosphate, long known to cause brain damage, especially in the unborn child, even at very low levels of exposure. NZ study What motivated us to do this petition now was an NZ study that came out in May 2022. This study for the first time ever looked at urine samples from 501 children in different areas of NZ. Pesticides were found in more than 80% of the samples, including various organophosphates, pyrethroids and 2,4-D. The most alarming finding was that the levels of chlorpyrifos (and chlorpyrifos-methyl, a chemical cousin) were 2.2 to 7.3 times higher than in other countries, such as the US, Spain and Thailand. What is it in? The last Total Diet Study (2016) found chlorpyrifos in frozen mixed berries, sultanas/raisins, bread or food with wheat, and peanut butter. Other government surveys with more sampling have found it in baby food, grapes, tomatoes, avocados, various green vegetables and other fruit, namely, apricots, peaches, pears, mandarins. Worldwide action There is much research about the bad effects of chlorpyrifos on our bodies and the environment, too much to quote here. Suffice to say that more than 39 countries have now banned it, including the EU, Canada, and even the US. It is classified as a Persistent Organic Pollutant under the Stockholm Convention, in other words, it is past time for NZ to get rid of it!