The Straits Times (Singapore) September 10, 2012 Monday Jury still out on whether organic food is more

nutritious SECTION: FORUM LETTERS; Online Story LENGTH: 271 words MR RICHARD Seah's letter ("Organic food 'no more nutritious'? Focus should be on plant nutrients"; last Saturday) left me wondering about the points raised. What clinical evidence is there to show that phytonutrients are found in greater quantities in organic food' Some studies have indeed shown differences between the nutritional content of organic food and that of conventional food. For example, one study compared the nutritional content in 43 crops in 1950, when many modern agricultural methods were not widely used, and 1999. It found slight decreases in various nutrients in 1999, but the study compared different varieties of plants that have different abilities to absorb nutrients from the soil. Another study stated that there is currently inadequate evidence "to allow for valid conclusions". Also, comparing appearances should not be enough to conclude that organic food contains more nutrients than conventional food. Shouldn't we look more closely at the health benefits brought about by organic food' Again, studies attempting to do this have been largely inconclusive due to a large number of complicating factors. Lastly, what exactly causes the loss of nutrients? If there are factors outside of the farming techniques that lead to this possible difference in nutritional content, clearly, conventional food and organic food can have the same nutritional benefits. The evidence so far suggests that we do not know for sure if organic food is better than conventional food. Is it being a bit premature to say, without a doubt, that organic food is more nutritious than conventional food' Chow Hsiao Hsin (Ms)

The Straits Times (Singapore) September 8, 2012 Saturday Organic food 'no more nutritious'? Focus should be on plant nutrients SECTION: FORUM LETTERS LENGTH: 209 words SCIENTISTS tell us that organic food is "no more nutritious" than conventional food, but I disagree ("Organic food may not be better: Study"; Wednesday) The team of Stanford University researchers looked at vitamins and minerals, when most of the excitement in nutritional science in recent decades has centred on phytonutrients or "plant nutrients". Phytonutrients play important roles in protecting us against cancer, heart disease and various other degenerative diseases. It is well known that phytonutrients occur mainly as plant pigments. It means we can see - at a glance, without having to do any laboratory analyses - which foods contain more phytonutrients. These are the foods with richer, more intense colours. The differences are obvious. For example, organic celery is dark green, while chemical-grown celery is pale green. Even with light-coloured vegetables, the difference can be seen. Organic cauliflower is creamy yellow, while non-organic cauliflower is white. Beyond seeing, we can often taste the difference - organic foods have richer and more intense flavours. If you cut a carrot, you can even feel and hear the difference. The organic version is more solid and your knife makes a harder sound as it hits the cutting board.

The Straits Times (Singapore) July 1, 2012 Sunday Fresh green eats; Vegetarians have a wider range to choose from, with more vegetarian eateries popping up BYLINE: Annabeth Leow SECTION: LIFESTYLE; Taste LENGTH: 1514 words Although he is not vegetarian, Mr Aaron Ong is looking forward to trying out four-month-old vegetarian restaurant Beets in Dempsey Road. The 20-year-old, who is in national service, had a good meal at two-year-old VeganBurg in Eunos and is eager to try the new vegetarian restaurants that have sprung up recently. He says: 'I think a lot of people associate vegetarian restaurants with just salads, salads and more salads. But with these new restaurants, the menu doesn't seem so dominated by veggies. I don't feel like I'm just paying to eat grass.' Indeed, dining options for vegetarians here have expanded. At least six restaurants have opened in the last nine months, with a variety of international cuisines offered. Diners can choose from Japanese to Middle Eastern, an ample spread for picky vegans and casual flexitarians alike. Starworth, the company behind Brazilian churrascaria chain Carnivore, introduced Beets as its veg-friendly counterpart. Items on the menu go far beyond the usual gluten mock meats, with unusual pairings such as the 'cheong fun roulade', comprising steamed rice flour rolls with vegetables, black truffle and shiitake mushrooms. Another new entrant is World Peace Cafe, which opened in Neil Road four months ago on the ground floor of the Kadampa Meditation Centre. The cafe, which sells light packed lunches such as paninis and falafel wraps to office-workers in the area, is run by a Chinese-Australian nun in her 30s. She says: 'It's so hard to find just a sandwich or a salad in Singapore. Traditional Chinese vegetarian food tends to use a lot of gluten, which is not really very healthy.' Even the usual suspects on the vegetarian menu, such as Chinese and Indian food, have been updated in quirky ways.

Jelina Vegetarian Garden in Upper Bukit Timah serves Chinese cuisine with an organic vegan twist. Its signature dish is Nonya curry made with a base of soya bean paste, while Tulasi Vegetarian Restaurant in Race Course Road serves mock meat versions of Chinese and Malay chicken dishes like lemon chicken and ayam masak merah alongside traditional Indian fare. Both eateries opened in September last year. Speaking in Mandarin, Jelina's director, Ms Jessie Yee, 56, says the idea for the cafe was inspired by her experience eating organic vegetables when she was in Taiwan three years ago. 'In Singapore, food has so much MSG and salt that you need to drink a lot of water when you get home,' she laments. Food in her cafe is made without white sugar, refined salt or palm oil. Instead, she serves what she calls 'detox' food, such as a juice blend with beetroot, apple, lemon and cabbage. Seven-month-old Japanese eatery Bamboo House in Hougang Avenue 1 is another vegan restaurant which emphasises organic food and clean eating. About 30 per cent of the items on its menu are organic, according to owner Wong Kee Yew, 35. With all this talk of plant-based diets and their purported health benefits, it is no wonder that restaurant operators attribute the uptick in the number of vegetarian eateries to rising interest in vegetarianism as a healthy lifestyle choice. A spokesman for seven-year-old 7 Sensations in Madras Street tells SundayLife! that it has seen an influx of customers because the local vegetarian dining scene has evolved to the point where 'it has become the in thing'. At New Bridge Road's Honzen Cafe, which opened in March last year, customers are mostly young office-workers who have adopted a vegetarian lifestyle to be healthy, says its operations manager Rudy Teo, 29. Mr Ho Cheng Siong, 47, who runs one-year-old lacto-vegetarian restaurant Herbivore in Fortune Centre, says: 'Singapore vegetarians are a diverse lot. Some eat eggs, some don't, some drink milk, some don't.' He adds that this allows greater room for different players to cater to different segments of the market. Business has been good enough that he plans to apply for a Spring Singapore grant to start Herbivore franchises around the Asia-Pacific region. Eight-month-old Marina Bay Sands eatery Pita Pan's owner, Mr Kunal Pushkarna, 30, is also optimistic about expansion. This month, he will introduce a delivery service for his Middle Eastern menu, as well as new dessert items such as cinnamon rice pudding.

And fans of VeganBurg can look forward to two new outlets opening later this year, bringing the total number in the vegan fast food chain to four. Vegetarians, who have long joked that to go veg in Singapore is to die hungry, are all glad for the new dining choices these days. Dance student Ajmal Khan, 22, became a vegan six months ago because he had concerns about the ethics of eating meat. He welcomes the internationalisation of the vegetarian dining scene. 'Vegetarianism can be found in any culture and the type of food should not be a barrier,' he says. 'Most vegetarian restaurants here are Indian or Chinese, so these international restaurants may be a little late to the game, but I'd definitely give them a shot.' Student Jayashri Venketasubramanian, 18, a vegetarian who usually dines out in Little India, agrees. 'I think it's great that people are recognising there are many vegetarian diners in Singapore and I'm quite excited to try these new options once in a while.' And it is not only younger diners who are curious about these new eats. Madam Veronica Lim, 58, a sales representative, enjoys the occasional visit to Lotus Vegetarian Restaurant at Quality Hotel in Balestier Road. The Buddhist has been a vegetarian for 15 years. She says: 'Quite a lot of older vegetarian restaurants may be closing down, so it's good that there are all these new international restaurants, though the problem is that they can be very expensive.'

Source: The Straits Times (Singapore) Is organic food better?; It costs two or three times more than conventionally grown produce on supermarket shelves. Converts say it tastes a lot better and has health benefits, but authorities here disagree. July 24, 2005 Sunday by Wong Sher Maine

Organic supermarket Super Nature, located at Park House in Orchard Boulevard, sells over 1,000 organic products, including soya ice-cream and a wide range of snacks and cake mixes. Bunalun also has a range of ready-made food that people can simply heat up and eat. Also on the menu - organic chocolate cake, barley drink and soya bean milk. About half its customers are Singaporeans. They all seem undeterred by the fact that organic food costs on average 30 per cent more than the non-organic equivalent, sometimes up to three times more. Sometimes, the more 'natural' it is, the more it can cost the farmer. For instance, organic feed for animals can cost up to three times more than conventional feed, says Dr Liew Oi Wah, a lecturer at Singapore Polytechnic's Technology Centre for Life Sciences,.
Madam Ooi Phaik Cheng, 61, a retiree who has included organic food in her and her husband's diet for the past five years, says eating healthily has made a difference. 'People tell my husband that he is looking very well,' she said. The Australian-published McGuire Guide to organic food, entitled Clean Food Organic, sums up the benefits of organic food: Not only does it contain more nutrients, like higher levels of vitamin C and cancer-preventing antioxidants, organic foods are virtually free of pesticide residues. 'Many of the most commonly used pesticides today have been classified as either hormonedisrupting or cancer-causing,' the book says. On top of that, it states that organic food is better for children, as they are more susceptible to the effects of toxins which can come from pesticides and food additives. That is why Ms C.S. Chen, manager of organic food store-restaurant Real Food Daily, feeds her 10-month-old child only organic food. The bulk of those snapping up organic food in Singapore are expatriates who ate organic food before coming to Singapore, and a growing number of Singaporeans. Ms Chen, who says three out of 10 of her customers are Singaporean, adds: 'People here used to eat organic food for medical reasons, but Singaporeans who have travelled abroad and are exposed to it are also starting to eat organic.'

Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) April 22, 2008 Tuesday First Edition BYLINE: Leesha McKenny SECTION: GOOD LIVING; Pg. 4 LENGTH: 476 words

"Markets in the region will look at what's successful in Singapore and look at using that as a benchmark," she says. "So, if our organic products are successful in Singapore, it's not just about 4 million people there, we're talking about the extended regional market." It spurred her to begin an organic food and sauces business, although she would never have started had she known the difficulties ahead. "It was really hard to get ingredients, prices were fairly high, we spent a lot of time teaching consumers," she says.
Source: The Straits Times (Singapore) October 25, 2006 Wednesday Organic marts hit town; Eating organic is no longer just a fad in Singapore. Shefali Srinivas surveys two new retailers that cater to the growing interest in eating right SECTION: MIND YOUR BODY - LIVING WELL LENGTH: 774 words Singapore's organic scene, largely dominated by small, neighbourhood grocery stores, has just got bigger with the entry of organic supermarkets and minimarts. Naturally Marketplace - the island's first organic supermarket - opened at VivoCity last week with nearly 1,000 organic product lines, from milk to wines to cleaning aids. It is also the biggest organic kid on the block here. Three months ago, the Four Seasons Market - an organic minimart - opened at Great World City. And FairPrice, Singapore's largest supermarket chain, has dedicated shelves to organic food at its outlets, including Bukit Timah Plaza, Bishan Junction 8 and Tampines Mall since August. With the arrival of these big players, the organic scene here mirrors trends elsewhere, like in Britain and the United States, where organic food has moved from small farmers' markets to large supermarket chains like Waitrose and Whole Foods Market. Wal-Mart recently announced its decision to double the amount of organic food in its stores. Ms Trudy Fawcett, senior manager at Cold Storage, which owns the Marketplace brand, said the idea for an organic supermarket in Singapore was born last year. 'We have been shopping around the world and growing our range ever since,' she said. Ms Fawcett, a marathon runner who loves her food, has sampled almost all the product lines in the store. She agrees that sustainably grown organic food can be expensive, but points

out that at Naturally Marketplace, a family of four could shop for an organic meal for under $65. The store also has a free-standing, Internet-enabled computer where customers can look up recipes, print them out at no charge, and use the list to shop for the ingredients. A walk down the supermarket's aisles reveals Waitrose's organic range of Cook's Ingredients featuring Sicilian lemon juice and porcini mushrooms, the Wild Oats Organics range from the United States, cereals and breads from Australia and niche products from small farms. 'We also carry a range of gluten-free, lactose-free and wheat-free products for people with allergies,' Ms Fawcett said. GETTING BIGGER Organic food refers to crops raised without the use of conventional pesticides as well as artificial fertilisers. Included under this umbrella is food that has not been subjected to radiation or been genetically modified and animals reared without routine use of antibiotics and synthetic growth hormones. Which, many believers say, spell healthier living for consumers and a kinder treatment of Mother Earth. Many detractors, however, say organic food is meant only for those with deep pockets. Ms Fawcett said her aim is to bring in organic brands that are not out-of-reach. So, it is possible at Naturally Marketplace to buy organic noodles costing $3 onwards and organic dry pastas from $6 onwards. Its range of organic ice creams are priced from $8 onwards and organic wines are available for between $24 and $35. Non-organic noodles range from $0.95 to $2 and non-organic branded ice creams can cost $10 upwards. Non-organic wines retail for above $20. Growth in this market looks ready to boom. A report in the Life! section of The Straits Times (Oct 1) shows that organic outlets have mushroomed over the last few years. There are at least 40 organic stores, cafes and warehouses today, compared to only three some 15 years ago. The organic food market here is estimated to be worth between $6 million and $10 million, according to organic food distributor Peter Lim, 63. Elsewhere in Asia (not including Australia), the market is worth at least $400US million ($630S million) today, says Britain's Organic Monitor, an organisation that tracks global organic trends. Ms Tuyet Nguyen, who 11/2 years ago started the island's first organic farmer's market at Dempsey Road - a weekly market of fresh organic produce - says eating organic is now more than just a fad in Singapore.

'Everything starts as a trend. But then, people begin to ask questions about why organic food is good for them and why it's healthy, and awareness grows,' she said. Four Seasons Market at Great World City was started by a group of retirees, who shared a passion for organic food and fresh ingredients. Its store manager Terence Fun said the market brings in a range of Japanese organic products and cleaning aids. The store also takes requests from customers for specific products. 'We try to source it and import for them,' Mr Fun said. All said, the organic food players are hoping for a bigger pool of customers. Ms Fawcett said: 'We will bring in new and affordable organic brands so that more people can enjoy the benefits of organic food.'