Nestle to use pulp bi product as sweetener C hocolate lovers this is welcome news to your ears, lips and waistline as Nestle SA has found a way to create chocolate without adding any sugar, using the leftover material from cocoa plants for sweetening for those consumers looking for natural and healthier fare. Nestle is using a patented technique to turn the white pulp that covers cocoa beans into a powder that naturally contains sugar. This fall in Japan, Nestle will start selling KitKat bars with 70% dark chocolate under the new recipe, which doesn’t include any added sugar. Until now, the pulp has never been used as a sweetener for chocolate, and usually it’s mostly thrown out. Nestle’s move may bolster its position as a leader in the industry, and it comes three years after finding a way to alter the structure of sugar to boost its sweetening power. The world’s largest food company plans to use the pulp technique for other confectionery brands in additional countries next year. •
Health experts ask federal leaders for pharmacare now M ore than 1,200 Canadian health care and public policy experts have signed an open letter to all federal party leaders calling on each of them to commit to implementing a national pharmacare system in Canada. They say comprehensive public medication programs have improved access and reduced costs everywhere they've been implemented and want to keep national pharmacare in Canada from becoming a partisan issue. The group of experts from across Canada includes professors of medicine, pharmacy, nursing, economics, political science and law—many of them recognized as leaders in their fields. They note that, since the 1960s, five separate national commissions have concluded that universal pharmacare would be the fairest and most affordable way to ensure universal access to necessary medicines in Canada. They are endorsing themodel proposedby anexpert panel that recently studied the issue and delivered recommendations to the Trudeau government for a phased-in rollout of a national drug plan that they believe would result in savings of approximately $5 billion annually, which would be an average of $350 a year for each family.
Insulin costs have Americans crossing the border M any Canadians cross the border to the U.S. in search of cheap cigarettes, booze and outlet shopping deals, but it seems Americans are crossing into Canada in search of deals north of the border on their life-saving medication. Those American diabetics crossing the border seeking more affordable medication has prompted a call to action on the federal government to protect insulin supplies for Canadian diabetics. Given the cost of insulin In the United States, with a vial of insulin costing roughly $340.00 USD, that same vial of insulin is only $23.00 USD here in Canada, which as you can image has prompted some Americans to travel across the border to buy their life- saving medication. Given the growing list of drug shortages in Canada right now, of medications like EpiPens and some antibiotics, blood pressure pills and anti-depressants, health officials do not want to see insulin added to the growing list.
National Cannabis Survey says N ew data from the National Cannabis Survey today shows 16 per cent of Canadians over 15 years old report using pot in April, May and June, which is down slightly from 17.5 per cent in the first three months of the year. Almost five million Canadians consumed cannabis in some form during the three-month period of the survey with 25 percent of men, and 16 percent of women, reported they plan to consume it in the next three months. The survey suggests men are more likely to use cannabis daily or weekly than women and are also more likely to use it for non-medicinal or recreational purposes. Smoking the drug remains the most common way of consuming it, with 68 percent of men and 62 per cent of women consumers choosing this method. However, in saying that, 14 percent of women surveyed were close to three times more likely than men (5 percent) to have consumed cannabis as edible or in some other form.
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2019
83 SEPTEMBER 2019 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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