Putting some sexy sizzle into food sales- Monday, May 16, 2005
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation editorial by David Walker, May 16, 2005
It seems that back in the days when Canada was a major wheat supplier to Britain, you gave us more than the stuff to make our daily bread you also provided us with selenium.
Of course, we didn’t know that at the time and most people still haven’t heard about selenium. It’s a trace mineral that when incorporated into protein becomes an antioxidant. Antioxidants prevent cellular damage and are believed to be a factor in reducing heart disease and cancer, as well as helping keep skin youthful.
It is the latter benefit, of course, that has marketing types thinking that selenium-rich milk would be an excellent way to boost flagging dairy sales this side of the Atlantic.
Canadian prairie soils have high levels of selenium, but soils in Europe don’t. This is key as you can’t just pop a selenium pill. The mineral itself is poisonous, but plants convert it into selenoproteins which is how it becomes good for us. One would suppose that dairy farmers will use fertilizers which contain some selenium which will in turn show up in grass as selenoproteins, which will be harvested by the cows and passed on in their milk.
Then the promoters take over.
But dairy industry almost certainly does not have a monopoly on this one. Any food derived from livestock or plants grown on land rich in selenium would likely fit the bill. Milk has, however, a health image that most other foods have yet to develop. It has an advantage to build on.
It’s hard to imagine the Canadian Wheat Board successfully persuading customers to buy its wheat on the basis it’ll keep their skin youthful and smooth. That sounds more like a job for the cosmetic industry.
But having been victims of one diet fashion, the low-carb fad, Canadian wheat growers might want to keep an eye on this one to see if they could cash in on something like it.
For CBC commentary, I'm David Walker, an agricultural economist, at Lodge Farm Postwick in Broadland Norfolk, England.
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