403

Don SUddaby-Croda Unlve .... 1chemll' who portrays him .. " In LOtWnzo's 011

Lorenzo'sOil

The Odones decided they had tolearn as much about ALD as theycould. Their home was rive minutesfrom the National Medical Library inBethesda. Maryland, and within a fewdays they had copies of all availablemedical journal articles on ALD.Through these, they eventually tried toreach William Rizzo, a physician andmedical researcher at the Medical Col-lege of Virginia, who happened 10 be

conducting experiments involvingtreatment of skin cell cultures

with oleic acid. with somepromising results. TheOdones asked for someoleic acid oil to feed theirson. But Rizzo did nothave any oleic oil suitablefor human consumption.

Mrs. Odone obtain-ed the names of U.S. oilmanufacturing firmsfrom a business direc-tory and began callingthem. From that listof 45 10 50 compa-nies, on the first runthrough, "only onewould talk to me,"she said in a Britishtelevision docu-mentary (firstbroadcast in1991). "So Ibegan calling thecompanies that

Fats and oils researchers don'toften end up playing themselvesin successful Hollywood movies.

Meet Don Suddaby. You mayalready have seen him. He plays him-self-a chemist for Croda Universal atHull, England-in Lorenzo's Oil, aninternationally released film about thequest of Augusto and Michaela Odoneto aid their son, Lorenzo, after he wasstricken in 1984 with ALD(adrcnoleukodystrophy).

When Lorenzo Odone wasdiagnosed with the diseaseat age 7, his parents weretold ALD involved anaccumulation of verylong-chain saturated fattyacids (VLCSFA) thatsomehow destroyed themyelin sheath protect-ing nerve tissue, result-ing in loss of motorfunction and thendeath within 18months to two years.that there was noknown cure for ALDand no way to haltthe deterioration inits victims. Whathappened next isthe plot for Loren-to's Oil; Suddabygets involvedabout midwaythrough.

had not returned my (first) call."And a very kind researcher in

Ohio, a Dr, Russell Mcintyre, said 'Ihave a pint of purely organic oleicacid on my shelf. Would you like it?"

Russ Mcintyre. an AOCS membersince 1961, at the time was pan of theCapital City Products Co. researchstaff in Columbus. Ohio. He remem-bers the call. bUI says he cannotremember why Capital City had sucha pure oleic oil available.

"It was an ester we had made froma commercial source of fatty acids,from food-grade material," Mcintyresaid.

The research for which the pureoleic oil had been prepared was fin-ished, and so Mcintyre offered it tothe Odones. AOCS colleagues whoknow Mcintyre won 't see much of hispersonality in the movie, The charac-ter created for the part is not portrayedvery favorably. An article in TheColumbus (Ohio) Dispatch reponedthat Mrs. Odone said she was "notpleased with the composite characterof Mcintyre, whom she describes asan 'intelligent scientist and a greathumanitarian, '"

The oil from Mclnryre's lab wassent to the John F. Kennedy Institutein Baltimore. to Hugo Moser, a physi-cian--described in the television doc-umentary as the world's leadingauthority on ALD- who was treatingLorenzo.

INFORM. Vol. 4. no. 4 (Apr111993)

L! -=N~~~__~.. ~ __~_IThe Odones wanted 10 begin feed-

ing trials immediately. Mrs. Odone'ssister. Deidrc. is a carrier of the ALDgene who had elevated levels of verylong chain fauy acids. but who hasnever shown any symptoms of ALD.She had a blood lest before begin-ning a diet of foods prepared byAugusto Odone. characterized by hiswife in the documentary as a "veryaccomplished chef:' The post-feed-ing blood test showed a dramaticdrop in VLCSFA levels. Preparing

Lorenzo's foods in the pure oleic oilworked; his VLCSFA levelsdropped, eventually by 60%.

Augusto Odone knew that some-thing more had 10 be done. The VLCS·FA levels in Lorenzo had been reduced.but had nOI returned to normal.

"Then one April (1985) night. 1had an idea," he said 10 the producersof the British documcntary.

He reasoned that somehow theoleic oil in Lorenzo's diet had inter-fered with the body's ability to pro-

Hollywood'. IDol til/till tIIId oilsPow ... ...- _tile _ t.m.nzo~ 011: AI_left,__ poobilJlnll_ro Odonotrytngto_...._ ~ ....;__ Ieft,IIck_(.Augo_OdonoI 'IfIlc_ ..tIIe_...... LIbIwy In a.th.... Dh t1lndi the third............... poobawtng. __I'I...... ~ • ....-n... _mente wIItt the 0cI0nM;_ right, Len ....... __ try to puzzle through _Ie.... h __ I .. -.

duce very long saturated chain fanyacids, that it had interrupted the elon-gntion process. Perhaps, Odone rea-soned. if longer chain unsaturatedfatty acids were used, it might furtherinterrupt, or even block, the body'sproduction of very long chain saturat-ed fatty acids.

U.S. fats and oils firms producingedible oils. however, work with rawmaterials such as soybean. cotton-sced and sunflower oils, made upprimarily of the Ct6 to Cts ranyacids.

And here is where Don Suddabyenters the picture. literally and figura-tively. Augusto learned that the onlylong chain edible oil. erucic oil. wasstill consumed, primarily in Europe.Odone talked with the organizationthat was then a manufacturer's repre-sentative on the U.S. East Coast forCroda.

Suddaby's boss, Keith Coupland.an AOCS member since 1979 .remembers receiving a telex (in late1985 or early 1986) in Hull fromCroda's U.S. representative with thespecifications-an oil with no satu-rated Fatty acids, consisting virtuallyentirely of C20:1 and C22:! fatty

INFORM. Vol. 4. no. 4 (April 19Q3)

acids-asking whether Crcda Uni-versal could produce such an oil.

"We had no idea what it was to beused for, other than for a research pro-ject. ,. Coupland said. "We thoughtabout it and answered back 'Yes.'

"We could do it for two primaryreasons. First. Croda is one of theworld's largest processors of erucicacid. Second. our plants had the tech-nology to produce DHA. EPA at 80%purity and higher-and that's the tech-nology that was needed to produce anoil 10 Odone 's specifications."

Coupland explained the specifica-tions 10 Suddaby. who was 10 becomea key figure in the project.

"We were all intrigued by the firstcomplex Czo:dCZ2:I containing lipids.but it was only when we started to digtrue the disease/biochemistry thai webecame fascinated. particularly Don:'Coupland said.

Suddaby worked long hours intothe night seeking ways to obtain thehigh-purity oil that would meeting thespecifications. Coupland notes thatSuddaby seems to like working atnight. Sixteen-hour days for Suddaby.now 70. became routine.

Starting materials were erucic acid

and a process stream rich ineicosenoic acid, Coupland said.

"After the acids were purified 10better than 95% by fractional distilla-lion and crystallization. traces of verylong chain saturated fatty acids wereremoved by urea clathration of thecorresponding methyl esters. Trunses-terification with glycerol gave therequired triglycerides esters which.after chromatographic refining. gavethe final product," Coupland said.

He estimates that the first kilo ofLorenzo's oil. which took approxi-mately six months to produce, proba-bly cost "a few thousand dollars."Once the Crodn researchers learnedwhat the oil was being used for andsome other parameters, they deviseda more practical production systembased on erucic acid. This wasderived from HEAR (high-erucicacid rapeseed) oil using essenuatlythe same tcchnology to remove allunwanted fatty acids. Polar coruami-nants are recovered by cbrematogra-phy (super-refining). The product issold under the trade name Crossen-tial GTE. Lorenzo's oil now sellsabout $200 a kilo. Coupland said.CrOOa produces the glycerol trierucic

(GTE) component; Karlshamns'facility in Janesville. Wisconsin. pro-duces the glycerol trioleate compo-nent, which is blended with Croda'sGTE at Ka rlsha mns Columbus,Ohio, site. The blended oil is thenpackaged in Columbus shipped 10Scientific Hospital Supply inGaithersburg. Maryland. which pro-vides the oil to end users. Karl-shamns acquired Capital City in1988.

Croda has secured patents inEurope and Canada: paten Is arebeing pursued elsewhere. includingin the United States. Parents of ALDchildren around the world are grate-ful to the Odones and the Crodaresearchers. There now is an interna-tional organization thai is spurringresearch into how 10 reverse ALD.now the focus of the Oldones'efforts.

There's a brief scene in the moviein which the actors portraying Coup-land and another manager (BarryHatton) discuss whether Suddaby isworking too hard and too long. thathe may bum himself out. The scripthas Coupland noting that if they dotell Suddaby to ease off. they may

40S

INfORM. Vol.4. no. 4 (April 1(93)

406

British Navy during World War II.From 1949 until 1973. he worked for

drug to fight tuberculosis. 4-caJciumbenzamidosalicylic acid pentahy-dnue. that was used worldwide. In1957 he was named a Fellow of theRoyal Institute of Chemistry. Hebecame a director of S&N ResearchLtd. in 1960 and was named manag-ing director in 1967. After takingearly retirement 10 pursue a fanninglifestyle. Suddaby re-entered thechemistry lab in 1973 accepting aposition at Croda as an analyticalchemist. After an accident thatresulted in a broken hip. he beganworking full-time in research anddevelopment. initially on determin-ing concentration levels of EPA andDHA in fish oils. His work in thatarea had just been completed whenCroda received Augusto Odonesrequest

incur the wrath of Mrs. Odone. Theydecide to let him keep working,

Suddaby portrays himself in themovie. Those scenes were shot dur-ing 1992 in a set constructed atCanary Wharf in London. The gen-uine Croda facilities were toocramped for movie Filming. thoughthey do appear in the British televi-sion documentary. Coupland's secre-tary, Rita Chapman, who accompa-nied Suddaby on the trip from Hullto London, even appears briefly as awalk-on in one scene of the movie.Coupland has seen the movie and heliked it. even with the changes fromreality that were done to enhance themovie's entertainment value.

Suddaby has been with Crodasince 1973. He had obtained a degreein chemistry after serving in the

K. Coupland

pharmaceutical firms. Among hisaccomplishments was synthesis of a

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INFORM. Vol. 4. no. 4 (April 1993)

408

When that first kilo of oil wasshipped to the Odones during the lar-ter half of 1986 and put into Lorenzo'sdiet. the results were dramatic. The

progression of the disease was halted.The Odones believe they have seensome improvement in their son's con-dition.

The movie Lorenzo's Oil wasreleased in New York City and LosAngeles in mid-December 1992because the producers wanted SusanSurandon's performance as Mrs.Odone to be eligible for this year'sAcademy Award presentations: itbegan showing a month later at the-arcrs around the United Slates. A spe-cial London premier sponsored byCroda was scheduled during Februaryas a fund-raiser for a myelin researchproject with Suddaby as the guest ofhonor.

For the U.S. opening. Couplandwas flown 10 New York from Hull inearly January on a publicity blitz.During a one-week visit he appearedon several television/radio talk showsand was interviewed by numerousprint media journalists.

The knowledge gained from thedevelopment of Lorenzo's oil hasimplications for other diseases,including edrenomyeloneuropathy(AMN). Coupland said. He particular-ly cited a research team atthe Univer-sity in Stirfing , headed by JohnSergeant with Robert Wilson as thekey investigator in studies regardingthe phospholipid content of the whitemauer of human brain. Two papersresulting from that work were pub-lished in the January 1993 issue ofLipids, virtually coinciding with thenntionwide release of Lorenzo's Oil inthe United States.

Don Suddaby liked the clips hesaw of the movie-caner all, the per-son portraying him was very realis-tic. He was scheduled to see the fullmovie for the first time at the Lon-don premier. Tile Slit/day Times ofFeb. 7,1993. published an article onSuddaby. Declining health and eye-sight have restricted the 70-year-old's activities, but not his modesty.The newspaper article noted thatSuddaby's neighbors were amazedwhen they discovered the role he hadplayed in developing Lorenzo's oiland that he was portraying himself inthe movie.

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INFORM. Vol. 4. no . .4 (April 1993)

409

Spilled sunflower seed at rail loading sue attracts pigeons to lIepa)a facility.

Oilseeds in Latvia-what lies ahead?In January 1992 I new out of a sunnyDallas. Texas, to land many hourslater at a fog-enshrouded Riga, Latvia,to work as free Latvia's first SeniorFulbright Scholar.

Although' went on this congres-sionally funded program planning towork primarily as a lecturer/scholar, Iquickly found myself becominginvolved in other aspects of thisfledgling country's young life. This

broad-based experience was especial-ly meaningful to me since my parentshad ned Latvia in 1944, and I had theopportunity of growing up in the Unit-ed States and yet getting 10 hear aboutpre-World War LILatvia from my par-ents, who had made sure that as I wasgrowing up that I became fluent in theLatvian language. I was particularlyinterested in seeing how my percep-tions of the country, based on my par-

ems' descriptions, matched the realityafter 50 years of Communism.

Initially, my lectures were hostedby physicians, medical students andhealth educators; however, I was alsoinvited to speak \0 students and facul-ty at the Latvia Agricultural Universi-ty in Jelguva. Latvia. Students andfaculty asked many questions aboutpossible U.S. interests in the "agricul-ture business" development of Latvia.When these questions started focusingon oilseed processing, I felt fortunateto have brought along a copy of PeterWan's book on fats and oils process-ing (Introduction 10 Fars ana OilsTechnology. AQes, Champaign, l11i-nois, 1990) which I proceeded to cir-culate widely. As people read thebook, the number of their questionsincreased. Subsequently I was invitedto tour Latvia's only oilseed process-ing plant-in Liepaja.

This oilseed processing plant. theonly one on the eastern shore of theBaltic Sea, was built in the 1880s by aDanish firm. Liepaja was chosen as

This article and 1M accompanying photographswtW provided to INFORM by George Liepa, anJNPORM auocitJle editor for protein and co-prod-ucts and a professor aI Texas Woman's Universiryin Denton, Texas. who WQS in lArviajrom Januarythrough Mtlj 1992. as a Fulbrighl Scholar. Dr./.Mpa is ojLatvIon descent: the lArviIm word"liepd' trtJnSlaIes as linden tree. Dr. Liepa'sfamilyis notfrom 1M area around "Liepaja." the munici-pality mnrtioned in this article.

INFORM. Vol. 4. no. 4 (April 1(93)

411

the plant '5 location because of itsdirect rail contacts into both Russiaand the Ukraine. and the fact that theharbor does not freeze during the win-ter months. Also, it did not hun thatLiepaja was a very beautiful city backin those early limes and was well situ-ated in Latvia withrespect to thenation's agricuilur-al wealth. BeforeWorld War II,Latvia economical-ly was competitivewith Denmark andwas knownthroughout Europefor agriculturalproducts. especiallyits butter. Unfortu-nately, Liepaja isno longer as attrac-tive as it was backthen. Its harbor isshaped like a ..y"in which one armof the "Y" is con-siderably deeperthan the other. Thedeeper arm is stillbeing used by Rus-sian navy forcesthat were supposedto withdraw fromLatvia over a yearago; however, theyhave not withdrawnand now are addinginjury to insult byalso destroying theenvironment. Onecan see ships sinking in the port andgarbage being dumped both on landand in the water. Although the shorterbranch of the harbor is shallower. itdoes not contain an active Russiannaval force and seems to be in benershape environmentally. It is along thisbranch of the harbor that the oilseedprocessing plant is situated.

The plant is brick and sits onapproximately 15 acres of land.Presently, half of this land is unusedand is available for the construction ofnew buildings. Thirty-year-old oilseedpressing and extracting equipment isin the lOO·year·old structure. Plantcapacity is 150 Ions per day. or 50.000tons per year. Latvia's present agricul-

tural secretary hopes to double pro-duction over the next few years.Unfortunately. the plant is operatingsignificantly below capacity becauseof the difficulty in obtaining extrac-tion solvents. The staff consists ofapproximately 200 older employees

Sweden from every hectare of landplanted. This new seed has been plant-ed on about 3,000 hectares; it isexpected that the harvest will be about1.5 tons per hectare. In Sweden, yieldsare 2.5 Ions per hectare; however.growing and harvesting technology in

Latvia is sub-standard andthis results inlower yields.Fanners are notas excitedabout thisnational pushinto rapeseed asone mightexpect. becausethey were

-asked to plantrapeseed abouteight years agowith disastrousconsequences(about half ofthe crop rottedin the fields).The presentcrop, however.should be suc-cessful sincethe countrydesperatelyneeds the oiland Kristinarapeseed con-tains only 0.1 %erucic acid.

Although8,000 hectaresof flax were

planted recently in Latvia, linseed pro-cessing is almost at a standstillbecause the linen fiber produced is ofrelatively poor quality (a problemwith the processing, not the flax itself)and does not sell well on westernEuropean markets. Presently, the lat-viuns cannot afford to buy their ownlinens since most of their income isneeded to buy food.

Latvia does have a progressive lin-seed association that is activelyinvolved in purchasing high-grade lin-seed from Canadian sources and inseeing that this seed is planted aroundLatvia. Canadians not only are work-ing actively with Latvians on flax pro-duction. but are also providing lines or

BalticSea

(mostly women) who work Ior whatwould be considered very low wagesin western economies.

Historically. the plant has pro-cessed all types of oil-bearing materi-als including: coconut. linseed. sun-flowerseed, rapeseed, sesame seed andeven groundnut and coffee.

During the past year. 50 tons ofrapeseed and 150 tons of linseed wereprocessed in the plant. Latvia hopes toincrease its production of both ofthese oilseeds and their by-products.To accomplish this. the countryrecently acquired 1.000 tons of sum-mer rapeseed (Kristina variety) fromSweden on a "payback basis"-oneton of rapeseed will be returned to

INFORM. Vol. 4. no. 4 (AprIl 1993)

412

credit to enable Latvia to buy soy-beans that can be processed in theLiepaja plant.

Additionally. when Latvia process-es seeds. most of the products are notused effectively by the Latvians: bothoil and meal by-products are exportedfor further processing in other coun-tries. Seed by-products also are usedas animal feed. whereas they shouldbe used for the local production ofvitally needed products.

The long-term role for the port ofLiepaja in Latvia's agricultural futureis very bright. Unfortunately. the lillieoilseed facility is presently just "hang-ing on." During the spring 1992 sea-son. the plan! was working on a day-to-day basis and did nor seem 10 haveany real business plan or marketingprogram. Clearly. the old system hadfailed. bUI the staff members did notseem to know which way to move toimprove for the future. Today. Latviais in desperate need of vegetable oilfor production of margnrine. paint.perfume. confections. etc. It alsocould make use of oilseed by-productsfor the manufacture of infant formu-las, etc.

There are still memories held bymany Latvians of what once was 50years ago. before Communism. Thesememories. combined with Latvia's

Russian warships stili use part 01 LIePlila harbor.

highly educated population and fertileland, as well as its central geographiclocation, should work well to pushLatvia into a successful 21st century.Western technology and training in thefield of business, however, are badlyneeded by this struggling democracyif it is to become self-sufficient and acontributing member of our globaleconomy.

(A meeting for all persons interested inthe oilsecds and fats and oils industriesin Russia, the Baltic states and neigh-boring countries will be held from 5--6p.m, on Tuesday. April 27, in theRedondo Room of the Anaheim HiltonHotel as part of the AGCS AnnualMeeting and Exposition held joimlylI'ith lOCS in Anaheim. California.)

Our client is a leading US. merchant trading company, spedallztng in the conceptual selling of plastic bottleequipment to foreign markets.

Processors of edible cooking oil around the world are recognizing the advantages of in-house plastic bottlemanufacturing. To better exploit this rapidly growing trend, the company seeks to further expand its distributornetwork in Larin America, Asia. the Middle East and Africa.

Foreign Distributors WantedPET Plastic Bottle Machinery for Edible Cooking Oil

We are looking for an entreprenerurial salesman/service technician team with a sound knowledge of oitseedsprocessing machinery and II well-established customer base in the industry.

Ageneral understanding of plastics processing is a plus but not a necessity; in-depth training in PET (polyethyleneterephthalate) I11T./32 fl. oz. bottJe technology will be provided. It is more important that applicants have an intuititveskill for system engineering and enjoy the marketing of value-added support equipment.

Distributors will act in part astutors toediblecookingoil processorsnew to PETbottIetechnoklgy. They will promotethe concepts and features of PET ancillary equipment covering process water chilling systems, plastic moulddehumidification, resin conveying systems. resin dehwnidifying dryers, high-pressure oil-free air compressors.pre<OOSUI1lCI' recycling. and laboratory testing apparatuses. In addition, they will advise ccscroes on the overalleconomic benefits of tum-key PET bottle manufacturing.Company/personal profiles should be addressed to Mr. Stanley Rogers, Technology at Tr~e, Inc, 1559 Northl.aSa1le Street, Suite 1800, Chicago, 11linois,6061O, USA Fax 312.943.1634; Tel: 312.266.7414. Fot informotlon ckc" 1206

INFORM. Vol. 4. no. 4 (AprIl 1993)

413- -

---~

Hydrogenated productsunder tire in New YorkThe New York Slate Consumer Pro-tection Board has urged the U.S. Foodand Drug Administration (FDA) tobar the use of the terms "natural" and"all natural" for products containinghydrogenated oil, according to areport in the Jan. 7. 1993, issue ofFood Chemical News.

In a letter to FDA CommissionerDavid Kessler, the board said it wasreviewing whether snack food manu-facturers were labeling products as allnatural "when in actuality an ingredi-ent has been subject to the chemicalprocess of hydrogenation." which theboard said was a process that does nOIoccur naturally. Details: Food Chemi-cal News, Jan. 7.1993, pp. 25-26.

Best Foods opensnew technical centerBest Foods, a division of epc lnterna-nonat, has opened a new technical cen-ter in Franklin Township, New Jersey.

Best Foods employees moved froma Union, New Jersey, facility to thecenter during the last week of January.The new facility now houses BestFoods' research and development,engineering services. packagingdevelopment and quality assuranceoperations, which employ approxi-mately 200 persons.

Fred Kurasiewicz is director of thenew 133,000 square-foot facility,which includes a two-story adminis-tration wing, one-story sensory evalu-ation wing, two-story lab wing andone-story high-bay process laboratoryand pilot plant.

Best Foods buill the new centerbecause it had outgrown the Unionfacility. The old center, which isowned by CPC, is for sale.

Fat-free potato chipsnow on the marketA Louisville, Kentucky, finn is sellingLouise's Fat-Free Potato Chips inAtlanta, Georgia. with plans for

margarine plants in Malaysia and inGermany.

The Malaysian plant will be builtin Pasir Gudang for the MalaysianFederal Land Development Authori-ty (FELDA). Tetra Laval will beresponsible for delivery of equip-ment and commissioning of theplant. Estimated value of the contractwas given as 2,5 million ringgits(approximately $1 million).

The German facility will be builtat Dresdner Margarinwerk in Dres-den, Germany, The Dresden firmrecently was purchased by Vander-rnoortelc. a Belgian-based fats andoils international concern. TetraLaval will be responsible for plan-ning, delivery of equipment, con-struction and commissioning of theplant. Estimated value of the contractwas given as 3 million deutschmarks(approximately $1.9 million),

national distribution, according toSupermarket News.

Conventional potato chips containapproximately 35-40% oil, but theIat-Iree chips contain less than Igram of fat per J-ounce serving,company officials reported. To makethe product, sliced potatoes are driedand then cooked in microwaveovens. Flavoring and seasoning thenare added.

The article noted that the firm'sname, Argrbt. is an acronym for"Almost Too Good To Be True:'

Tetra Laval announcestwo margarine plantsTetra Laval Fats and Oils AB ofTumba, Sweden, has announced ithas received contracts 10 supply new

For inlormafionclrc~ 1161

INFORM, Vol. 4. no. 4 (April 1993)

414

Tetra Lavalto broaden serviceEffective Jan. 1. 1993. Alfa-LavalFats & Oils systems. formerly a divi-sion within Swedish-based Alfa-Laval AB. changed its name 10 TetraLaval Fats & Oils.

The move follows a major mergerbetween Tetra Pak. the liquid pack-aging group. and Alta-Laval. a foodprocessing and industrial company.

Tetra Laval Fats and Oils hasbeen organized under Tetra LavalFood. one of four newly formedindustrial groups.

The new orgunizarion "willencourage a rnorc intensive focus onnew product development andexpanded business opportunities forcustomers in the fatty oils industry.The ambition is 10 combine Alfa-Laval's years of experience in pro-cessing technology with the packag-ing know-how of Tetra Pak.' a newsrelease from Tetra Laval said.

Cargill acquiresFrench oil bottlerCargill France has acquired Frenchvegetable oil refiner and boutcr Hui-lerie Felix Marchand S.A. with plansto add a new state-of-the-art refinery.

The Felix Marchand relining andbottling plant is located in ChateauGonrier, approximately 150 kilome-ters north of Saint-Naznire in west-ern France. It refines or bottles70,000 metric tons of sunttowerseed.rapeseed, soybean. peanut and other(grape. com. palm) oils annually forthe French bottled cooking and saladoil market.

The bottled oil is marketed inFrance under the Amphora brand andunder retailers' private labels.

"Huilerie Marchand is a logicaladdition to our French oilseed crush-ing operations in Saint-Nazaire andrefining activities in Europe. TheFelix Marchand facility. 10 which wewill add a state-of-the-art refinery.will enable us to serve the Frenchbottled oil retail market as an exten-sion of our traditional oilseed crush-

ing activities;' according to FrancoisLoury. president-director. general ofCargill France.

Spain to controlsunflower acreageThe Spanish government has movedto discourage farmers from plantingsurplus acreage 10 sunflowers, withno intention of harvesting them. inorder to collect subsidies under thenew European Community's farmplan.

That plan bases support paymentssolely on acreage planted: Spanishfarmers reportedly were plantingmarginal cropland in sunflower \0collect the support payments, thennot tending the crop.

The new rules will prohibit plant-ing of crops on land traditionally leftfallow during regular crop rotationplans. Such lands account for about3 million hectares (approximately7.5 million acres) annually, thereport said.

As a result, U.S. Department ofAgriculture observers in Spain havereduced their estimate of 1993 Span-ish sunflower acreage to 2 millionhectares from the previous estimateof 2.5 million hectares. The officialSpanish government estimate is 1.7million hectares.

New technologyfor EPA, DHATwo Japanese firms have combined todevelop a new technology for recover-ing (0-3 fatty acids such as eicosapen-racnoic acid (EPA) and docosabex-anoic acids (DHA).

Asahi Denkka Kogyo Co. andNino Electric Co. developed the tech-nology. The new system involvesenzyme treatment. solvent extractionand membrane separation to recoverthe materials as glycerides. The pro-cess is being studied for potentialcommercialization.

Japanese food firmscutting product linesThree Japanese food firms haveannounced plans to reduce the numberof products they manufacture inresponse to a downturn in theJapanese economy.

Kikkoman Co., which was market-ing about 5.()(X) different products inmid·I99I. has announced plans to cutback to 1.500 products during 1993.Most reductions are expected 10 be inKikkornan's line of wines as well asfoods for institutional use.

Q.P. Corporation has said it willreduce its product offerings by 20% to3,500 during the next two years. Threeyears ago the firm offered approxi-matcly 9,600 different items.

Mortnnga Confectionery Co. said ithas cut the number of different icecream products it offers to 80 from100 and intends to review its productline every six months.

Vietnam studiedfor oil palm growthMalaysian palm oil specialists havebeen surveying potential sites of oilpatm culttvcuon in Vietnam, accord-ing 10 a repon from U.S. Departmentof Agriculture observers in Malaysia.

Per capita annual oil consumptionin Vietnam is about 4 kilograms, the

tNFORM.Vol. 4. no. 4 (April1993)

Japanese announceimproved soybeanA new Japanese soybean variety.Kyushu No. Ill, has been developedwithout a lipoxygenase enzymebelieved responsible for beany Flavorin soy products.

Kyushu Agricultural Laboratoryof the Ministry of Agriculture.Forestry and Feeds reponedly devel-oped the variety in the fourth genera-tion of crossbreeding two soybeanvarieties with reduced Hpoxygenase.

report said, and thus the nation isviewed as a major potential market forpalm oil. Golden Hope Plantations ofMalaysia, which has a joint venture torefine palm oil in Vietnam. has beenapproached to cultivate 10.000hectares (about 25,000 acres) with oilpalm.

A team from the Palm OilResearch Institute of Malaysia. whichhas been conducting the survey ofpotential plantation sites, also hasbeen looking for opportunities forjoint ventures in Vietnam.

Phosphatidylcholineprocess announcedQ,P. Corporation of Japan hasannounced development of an indus-

trial technology that can separatephospharidylcholine. at nearly 100%purity, from egg yolk.

The technology involves use ofHPLC (high-performance liquid chro-matography) separation and is said toyield a product with good oxidativestability. The product is expected to beused in foods. drugs and cosmetics.

Pfizer renames unit,adds low-fat productPfizer Specialty Chemicals Group, afood ingredients supplier, has beenrenamed the Pfizer Food ScienceGroup.

The business unit, one of five oper-ating units of Pfizer Inc., has intro-duced a fat-reducing agent. The prod-

uct is a natural protein component ofmilk developed in collaboration withAult Foods Ltd. of Canada for use inice cream and frozen dairy desserts. Itwill be sold under the name Dairy-Lo.

Under an agreement with Ault,Pfizer will market Dairy-Lo outsideCanada, where Autr's low-fat icecream has captured 4% of the frozendessert market since its launch a yearago.

Also. group president Donald F.Farley said Pfizer's central researchgroup and the Food Science Group'scommercial development team areworking with tablespread and mar-garine manufacturers on vegetable oilthickeners. Farley said commercialprototypes are being test-marketed asa prelude to product launch later thisyear.

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FOf Information circle #207

Names in the News

Calvin K. Shields has retired after 34years with Central Soya Co. Inc. Hemost recently served as director ofstrategic development for the firm.

AOCS member Edward A. Sedor hasjoined SpecialtyChem Products Cor-poration in Marinette, Wisconsin, asvice-president for process develop-ment. He previously was director oftotal quality and associate R&D direc-tor with Sherex Co. in Dublin, Ohio.Sedor has more than 25 years experi-ence in the chemical industry.

C. Lockwood Marine has relocatedthe offices of his consulting firm,Marine Associates, to 4646 W. Jef-ferson Blvd., Suite 175, Fort Wayne,IN 46804 (phone: 219-4364180; fax:219436-4057).

Gerald F. Smith of Valley Productshas been elected chairperson of theNational Renderers Association'sboard of directors for 1992-1993,

INFORM. Vol. 4. no. 4 (April 1993)

William W.Riley Jr. hasbeen namedresearch coordi-nator for theCanol a Councilof Canada. Rileyjoined the srarfFeb. I. succeed-

W.W. RIley, Jr. ing Kelley Fttz-patrick who accept-

ed a position during 1992 with a seedcompany in Canada.

Business briefsKrupp Mascbmentechnik GmbH ofHamburg, Germany, has announcedthe first sale of four full-size industrialhigh-pressure membrane presses, forfiltration pressures of up to 50 bar, toa Singapore firm for processing palmoil stearin into cocoa butter substi-tutes, cocoa butter replacers and,through blending with other fats.cocoa butter equivalents.

Hills America Inc. of Piscataway. NewJersey, has announced the appointmentof Peter Purwien as executive vice-president. responsible for corporatedevelopment and strategy.

Praxatr Inc, has elected two newmembers to its board of directors:Dale F. Frey, vice-president at Gener-al Electric. and Alejandro Achaval,vice-chairperson and chief executiveofficer of IPAKO Industrias Petro-quimicas Argentinas S.A.

Renata Picco has been named chair-man and chief executive officer ofEridania Beghin-Say succeedingJean-Marc vernes. Vernes, who wasnamed honorary chairman of the com-pany. will remain on the board ofdirectors. Also. Jean-Martin Foil, hasbeen reconfirmed as managing direc-tor. Eridania Beghin-Say heads theFerruzzi Group's food and agro-industrial activities.

Warner-Lambert Co, has purchasedthe remaining shares of its confec-tionery products joint venture with

Societa Meridionale finanziaraS.p.A. of Italy.

ObituaryD. P.Smilh

Donald Paul Smith. founder and chair-man of Enersyst Development CenterInc. in Dallas. Texas, died Dec. 27,

1992, at the ageof74.

Mr. Smithreceived his bach-elor's degree inagriculturalchemistry. with asupplement inchemical engi-neering, in 1940from Purdue Uni-versity. He later

did graduate work at washington Uni-versity and Ohio State University. Mr.Smith was a food scientist, inventorand entrepreneur who held more than40 patents.

Before founding Enersyst in 1968.Mr. Smith had worked for LittonIndustries Inc., SI. Regis Paper Co ..Barker Equipment Co.. Milprim lnc..and Ralston Purina. During WorldWar II he served as a research associ-ate at Northwestern University and atthe Massachusetts Institute of Tech-nology where he worked on protectivematerials in chemical. bacteriologicaland radiological warfare.

Enersyst Inc. specializes in devel-opment, design and building of spe-cialized food service. baking. coolingand other food processing equipment.

In 1987. Mr. Smith was named theTexas Outstanding Inventor by theTexas Bar Association's IntellectualProperty Section.

Survivors include his wife. Esther.three daughters. his father. two sis-ters, two brothers and seven grand-children. •

D.P. SMtTl-l

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