Biotech in the home – fun facts

• The natural yellow colour of butter comes mainly from beta-carotene found in the grass the cows graze on.
• In vitro breeding techniques have been used to create blue orchids and roses that smell like chocolate.
• How much seaweed do you eat? Seaweed extracts can be found as an ingredient in many foods, including fish fingers, ice-cream and beer.
• Antifreeze proteins found in the blood of many fish are often added to icecream to prevent the formation of large ice crystals.
• Keratin, a protein extracted from sheep wool, is used in cosmetics and health products to strengthen hair and nails.
• New Zealanders dispose of enough rubbish to fill a rugby field thirty stories high each month, 65% of this could be recycled or composted.
• Genetically modified microorganisms are used to produce vitamins, additives, and processing agents for the food industry.
• Over two thousands years ago the workers building the Great Wall of China were fed with fermented cabbage.
• Pickling in salt brine encourages fermentation of 'good' bacteria, which reduces food spoilage caused by 'bad' bacteria.
• Yoghurt is produced by bacterial fermentation of milk, which turns milk sugars into lactic acid.
• Meat can be tenderized with papaya as this fruit contains an enzyme, called papain, which digests the connective proteins in meat.
• In compost heaps microorganisms break down organic matter and produce carbon dioxide, water, heat, and humus, a stable organic end product.
• Man learnt to preserve food using lactic acid fermentation before he could tame fire.
• Bread rises because fermenting yeast gives off carbon dioxide gas that is trapped in the bread dough.
• In the right conditions, earthworms can eat their own weight in food every day. For example, 1kg of earthworms can eat 1kg of food daily.
• The energy that reaches the earth from sunlight in one hour is more than that used by all human activity in one year.
• Making paper from recycled content rather than new trees creates 74% less air pollution and 35% less water pollution.
• 800 million plastic bags go to landfill every year in New Zealand.
• About 93% of today's paper comes from trees, and paper is responsible for about a fifth of the total wood harvest worldwide.
• Rubbish is one of the biggest threats to our natural areas. It can injure wildlife and human visitors.
• Approximately 282,000 tonnes of hazardous waste is sent to landfill each year.
• A disposable nappy will take over 75 years to break down.
• Contradictory to our green eco image New Zealand is one of the highest rubbish producers next to the USA, UK and Australia.
• Producing one ton of paper requires 2-3 times its weight in trees.
• A sheet of writing paper might contain fibres from hundreds of different trees that have collectively traveled thousands of kilometres.
• The white rind on cheeses like camenbert and brie is a type of fungus.
• The water inside a popcorn kernel needs to reach up to 200°C for it to pop. When the popcorn explodes it turns inside out.
• Kiwifruit has almost the same amount of vitamin C as two oranges or five lemons.
• An ice cream headache is caused by nerves in the roof of the mouth that are sensitive to cold and make blood vessels in your forehead tighten up.
• Remains of cheese have been found in Egyptian tombs over 4,000 years old.
• Fortune cookies are not Chinese, they were invented in Los Angeles around 1920.
• 750 tonnes of Marmite, equivalent to the weight of 500 cars, is produced at the Sanitarium factory in Christchurch every year.
• Eggs explode in the microwave. Because of their size and shape eggs heat in the middle, steam builds up, and the pressure breaks the shell.
• Eggs will age more in one day at room temperature than in one week in the refrigerator.
• Eggplants are actually fruits, and classified botanically as berries!
• According to The Code of Hammurabi of ancient Babylonia (c. 1750 BC) a merchant could be put to death for diluting beer.
• Heavy Cream or Heavy Whipping Cream is between 36 and 40% butterfat.
• New Zealanders eat 312 million Weet-Bix every year; laid end to end they would stretch from Kaitaia to Bluff and then back to Wellington.
• It takes 100 litres of milk to make 15 litres of cottage cheese.
• The coffee filter was invented in 1908 by German housewife Melitta Benz when she used blotter paper to filter out the coffee grinds.

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