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September 14, 2016

Food For Thought: Lecture on the Adulteration of Table Olives at the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum

OTTAWA, September 14, 2016 — The Canada Agriculture and Food Museum hosts “Adulteration of Table Olives”, its seventh Food For Thought lecture, on Saturday, September 17, from 10:30 a.m. to noon, in the Museum’s Learning Centre (Three Sisters Hall).

Olives (Olea europaea) can be served as table olives, or used to make oil. Freshly picked olives are by nature very bitter and must be cured (e.g. by fermentation) to make them palatable. Artificial fermentation and the addition of colour compounds foreign to the natural pigmentation of table olive is common in the adulteration process.

To prevent fraudulent practices, known as “food fraud,” governments continue to improve food regulations, especially on products such as imported olives and olive oil. Additionally, increasing public awareness through educational organizations and the media will help consumers to better understand what they get from their food. Are they eating naturally ripened black olives, or olives that have been oxidized or blackened with dye?

Farah Hosseinian, Associate Professor of Food Science and Nutrition at Carleton University will be delivering the lecture. Her research program focuses on the investigation of novel bioactive compounds from agri-food by-products and waste (e.g. flaxseed and soybean meal, legume hulls, berry pulp and skin) with potential antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and prebiotic/probiotic activity.

The lecture is free with Museum admission.

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Contact:

Caroline Boutin
Media Relations Officer
Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation
cboutin@techno-science.ca
613-410-5943

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About the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum

Canada’s unique agricultural heritage and future are celebrated at the Museum. Explore the sights and sounds of farm life through the animal barns, exhibitions, treasures from the collection, hands-on activities, and food demonstrations. The Museum is located on the Central Experimental Farm, a 425-hectare crop research station and National Historic Site, just minutes from Parliament Hill by car, and steps from the Rideau Canal, Ornamental Gardens, and Dominion Arboretum.

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