Here is a new pick of the month! Enjoy! Food From the Heart   North by northeast of Manila lay the heart of it all. As far back as memory permits, where celebrated kusineros touched silver and tounge with savory magic, there lived at once an historian, an innovator, a selfless mother, and, most memorable at all, an unsurpassed cook. She was called Mama Sita. There is no mystery to be revealed, though Mama Sita could have been a magic. Her dishes, arriving from a distinguished lineage of cooks, had to be the best, for their name spread like only legends do. Mama Sita chose to cook fom the heart making her dishes the most delectable. She chose only the finest ingredients, like unang tulo ng patis or the tastier native peanuts, and proceeded with the most refined of recipes. In her hands came to life dishes steeped in two centuries of tradition. In the Filipino palate, her adobo, her palabok, her tocino was closer to heaven. Some might differ, but Mama Sita never had a halo above her head. She was in fact considered all-too-fun-loving — while on trips, she would always stash cruets of sawsawan with her in case she happens upon a snack. Indeed she had plenty of laughter, as only hearty dinners would have, and a giving knack for invention. Her creativity had tried all sorts fo stovetop as with the home — after all she was “Mama Sita” to 400 relatives and 11 of her own. Her relatives know her very words — some penned in her most imaginative journal — as a tribute to the timeless diversity of Filipino cuisine. Often, her words belie her hope that her art never lose its romance with the Filipino home — a hope she had passed on to all that she came upon. The heart of it all has come to pass: Mama Sita is no longer with us, leaving on our lips a hundred secrets and a thousand savory sensations. Clay pots brimming with kare-kare, there is sinigang and lumpia... can you remember her without seeing her smile and springing to ask “is that chicken barbeque in the air?” Check out some recipes. E-Mail Mama Sita's: info@msita.com Web Site: www.msita.com Naghain na si Mama Sita!

Great Food is Something More Special

Even if the menu was prepared by the best five-star chef there is, it’s not great food unless it is something safe for human consumption. At a time when the foods we eat are prone to harmful contamination and unsanitary handling procedures, great food has been redefined as something, which does not cause infection and/or poisoning.

For this reason, the Philippines’ Department of Agriculture launched the food security program to implement the concept of food safety among its major objectives. Sec. Edgardo Angara recently recognized Marigold Commodities Corporation, the manufacturer of Mama Sita brand of premium flavor mixes and sauces, for its all-out support to the government program.

An aflatoxin scare broke out in the world, creating widespread fear in the consumption of peanut-based products such as peanut butter. It started when health authorities declared moldy peanut butter. It started when health authorities declared moldy peanut butter as unsafe to eat. The molds involved are scientifically known as aflatoxins, which are among the most carcinogenic and hepatotoxic products ever known.

A flatoxin is a type of toxin belonging to a group of substances from molds. This toxin-producing fungus grows on certain crops including peanuts, corns and legumes. The toxins are not removed by washing nor are they destroyed by cooking. They can appear in processed food products in two ways: as aflatoxin-contaminated raw materials and as dairy products of animals that consume aflatoxin-contaminated feeds.

When consumed in low levels, aflatoxins cause aflatoxicosis, causing slow growth rate and impaired food conversion. If human beings consume more than 20 parts per billion, they can cause acute diseases such as hemorrhage, acute liver damage, edema, alteration in digestion, absorption and/or metabolism of nutrients, and possibly death.

With its corporate mission to produce food products complying with world safety standards, Marigold participated in the research and development project to make peanut-based products aflatoxin-free, the only manufacturer in the Philippines to do so.

Ms. Oteyza Peñero of Marigold collaborated with Dr. Alicia Lustre of the Food Development Center, Dr. Flor Galvez of the University of the Philippines, Dr. Manjeet Chinnan and Dr. Anna V.A. Resurrection of the University of Georgia, and the Visayas State Agricultural College to Discover a zero-aflatoxin manufacturing process.

Using the previous research on aflatoxin by the University Georgia as a takeoff point, the team conducted experiments and summarized its findings in a research paper entitled “Control of Aflatoxin in Peanut Products Through Peanut Products Through Proper Sorting of Raw Materials.” The process developed by the team involves the prevention of aflatoxin formation in peanuts through post-harvest rapid drying, proper storage, mold-growth prevention, and high-quality raw materials usage.

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