Sports Calendar

However, many strange ingredients have already made it into products available on the supermarket shelves. Some low-fat mayonnaise, for example, contains fruit pulp, which adds texture without bumping up the fat.

The committee is now considering a range of other applications for foods that could soon find their way into your shopping basket.

Whether you’ll know what’s in them or not is another matter.

Fungus in fruit juice

The amino-acid glucosamine is meant to keep cartilage healthy, and lubricate creaky joints. Most of the glucosamine on the market at the moment is derived from shellfish. However, an American food company (it cannot be named for legal reasons) wants to obtain glucosamine from fungus and include it in fruit juice. The manufacturers say this will make glucosamine available to vegetarians and those with shellfish allergies. If this application goes through, expect a wave of fruit juices, smoothies, yoghurts and fromage frais claiming to keep your joints and bones healthy.

Volcanic vitamins

Fancy an ash tablet with your breakfast? One company has applied to sell a vitamin supplement made from a mineral derived from the compression of volcanic ash in lakes and seas millions of years ago. The manufacturers claim that the mineral, called clinoptilolite, which they plan to mine in Queensland, Australia, will boost the immune system and neutralise toxic heavy metals in the body such as lead, mercury and nickel.

However, at the moment the ACNFP wants more safety data on the mineral before the application goes any further.

Radical radicchio

The Dutch may soon be sending some GM salad greens our way. A food company in Holland has applied to release genetically modified radicchio and chicory on to the UK market. However, British scientists have concerns over the healthiness of these salad ingredients and so have asked for more information from the company concerned. Watch this space.

Tomato source

Lycopene gives tomatoes their red colour and there is evidence that it has cancer-busting properties (especially for prostate cancer). It may also helps reduce the rate of cardiovascular disease. However, one Italian company has plans to extract lycopene from the fungus Blakeslea trispora, to use as a dietary supplement.

Mushroom pills

Shiitake mushrooms are rich in a substance called lentinan, which may lower your cholesterol and may have some cancer-fighting effects. One Danish company has asked for the right to extract lentinan from fermented mushrooms, and sell this in capsule, liquid, powder, and gel forms.

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