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Have you ever heard the chant that Manchester United (MANU) fans used to sing when Park Ji-Sung played for MANU in England?
One of the lines went, “Wherever you may be, you eat dogs in your country.” Although MANU fans sang it to support Park Ji-sung, it repeatedly tarnished South Korea’s image. A well-known French actress also criticized Korea’s dog meat culture. While the practice of eating dog meat has largely disappeared, it persists in some parts of the country. Now that K-pop, K-food, and K-dramas are sweeping the world, the image of Korea as a country that consumes dog meat remains. To address this, Korea’s National Assembly passed a special law in January banning the breeding, slaughter, and sale of dogs for consumption. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs began accepting declarations from dog meat business owners. The implementation plan for phasing out dog meat must be submitted to the sanitation departments of public health centers by Aug. 5. Failure to report by the deadline will result in exclusion from the transition and closure support program and fines. However, some dog meat sellers have been pushing back. South Korea is now home to 15 million pets. Changing the country’s image and improving public perception of animal welfare is crucial. The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
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The History Of Japanese Whisky4/27/2024 Whisky is perhaps Scotland’s finest export. However, in the Far East, whisky of the Japanese variety has been making a name for itself. At first these whiskies were murmuring in the background, then the ripples gradually became larger and now today, Japanese whiskies are highly sought after and revered worldwide. The history of Japanese whisky is one of fascination and charm, beginning in 1854. Commodore Matthew Perry was sent to Japan by command of US President Millard Fillmore. The aim of Perry’s mission was to reverse Japan’s 220-Year-old policy of national isolation under the Tokugawa shogunate and to secure new trading routes. After concluding the Japan-U.S. Treaty of Peace and Amity, Commodore Perry held a banquet on the deck of his flagship, USS Powhatan. Many of those in attendance were invited Japanese guests and this is where these guests first tasted the water of life. Other trade agreements consequently followed, and Japan officially opened for business, at least to the West. Imports flowed into Japan including beer, wine and spirits. Whisky inspired the Japanese people, but imports were expensive and in short supply. Domestic producers began creating products to try and capitalise on demand by mixing alcohol with sugar, spice and other flavourings, but these were a long, long way from authentic whisky! The Settsu Sake Company saw a gap in the market for authentic whisky so, in 1918, they sent chemistry student Masataka Taketsuru to Scotland to learn whisky distilling first hand. Taketsuru enrolled on a chemistry course at Glasgow University, then headed to Elgin to find the author of The Manufacture Of Spirit: As Conducted in The Distilleries Of The United Kingdom, J.A. Nettleton. Taketsuru translated the book into Japanese and when he located Nettleton, he asked for around £15 per month for training and accommodation. £15 per month might not sound like a lot of money, but it was a stretch beyond Taketsuru’s budget.This might have been the end of the story however a determined Taketsuru went on a quest with a map of Speyside’s distilleries to find an apprenticeship. The second distillery that he called at, Longmorn, took him for a short while and Taketsuru recorded every single minute detail in his journal before heading back to Glasgow to continue his studies. During his first year of study Taketsuru befriended medical student Ella Cowan and was soon invited to her family home where he then became their lodger. Taketsuru went on to form a strong relationship with Ella’s older sister Rita based on a shared passion for music and literature – just over a year later the happy couple got married in Glasgow. However, it wasn’t plain sailing at first as both sets of parents disapproved. Unphased, they started their married life in Campbeltown, around 100 miles west of Glasgow, beyond the Isle of Arran. The newlyweds eventually moved West over the Atlantic Ocean via steamship and across the United States, ultimately arriving in Taketsuru’s homeland. By this time The Settsu Brewery Co. was facing adversity due to a destabilised economy, inflation, and the recession that took place after World War I. Taketsuru continued to work but was left in a difficult place as Settsu considered it too much of a risk to act on Taketsuru’s knowledge. Taketsuru consequently parted ways with the company and went to work as a chemistry teacher at a high school. Meanwhile Shinjiro Torii had founded Torii Shoten (now Suntory). They were fairly successful with port wine being their staple product. They were also manufacturing cheap imitation whiskies due to the popularity of US and Scotch imports. Torii saw the gap in the market and knew that there needed to be an authentic whisky distilled in Japan. He approached Taketsuru to set up the country’s first whisky distillery – Yamazaki. Five years later, in 1929, The Yamazaki Distillery's first real malt whisky, Shirofuda 'White Label' went on sale. White Label didn’t sell well – its speculated that the smoky flavour wasn’t to the taste of the Japanese, who simply weren’t used to that sort of drink. In order to ensure his firm would be a success Torii wanted to create an expression more to the taste of the Japanese consumer. Taketsuru was against this idea and wanted to stay true to his passion – creating whisky the ways he had learned during his time in Scotland. At the end of Taketsuru’s 10 year contract his partnership with Torii dissolved. As a result, Taketsuru began a new chapter by forming Nikka. Staying true to his cause, Taketsuru chose the small town of Yoichi as the perfect spot for a distillery on Japanese soil, with the climate and crisp air of the region about as close to the climate of Scotland as he was going to get. Taketsuru started distillation in 1936 using the first pot still he designed, and in 1940 Nikka's first expression Nikka Whisky Rare Old was released. This was the beginning of the great Japanese whisky rivalry between Nikka and Suntory, a rivalry still going today. Moving forward, Japanese whisky became much more than an imitation of its Scottish cousin. There are so many elements that make Japanese whisky a completely different dram: some things that might explain the differences are the clear mineral-rich water of Japan; the Japanese climate and distinct seasons, which are thought to help the aging process due to much quicker maturation; and even the distinct flavours of Japanese oak– mizunara, with Japanese whiskies often matured in bourbon or sherry casks and then moved to mizunara casks to develop the flavour further. As Japanese whiskies grew in popularity more and more were awarded prestigious accolades, such as the Yamazaki Sherry Cask 2013 being awarded World’s Best Whisky in Jim Murray's Whisky Bible 2015, whisky connoisseurs and investors bought up stock, and push up the value. With a finite amount of aged whiskies in circulation, Japanese distillers needed to innovate with what they had and go beyond age statement single malt and single grain whiskies. Due to this some of the most exquisite blended whiskies came out of Japan. The rapid spike in popularity of Japanese whiskies has meant that some varieties are being discontinued as there simply isn’t enough liquid to meet demand. Suntory announced in 2018 that it would halt selling Hibiki 17 Year Old and Hakushu 12 Year Old for this reason. Traditional Japanese culture, attention to detail and ‘Kaizen’ – the philosophy of continuous, incremental improvement – can all be linked to the art of whisky making in Japan. This would go some way as to explain the subtle and delicate yet powerful characteristics of many Japanese whiskies. With more and more Japanese whiskies receiving international awards we expect their popularity to continue to grow. This is likely to send valuations up even further as supply tries to meet the global demand. Now certainly seems like the perfect time to either taste or invest in Japanese whisky.
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Particles of bird flu have been found in samples of consumer milk in the US, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in a report on Tuesday, revealing the extent of the outbreak of the H5N1 strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).
The virus has previously been detected in raw milk, the agency wrote, adding that while “pasteurization is likely to inactivate the virus,” the process is not expected to fully remove the presence of viral particles. The FDA national survey further discovered traces of bird flu in “milk from affected animals, in the processing system, and on the shelves.” “To date, we have seen nothing that would change our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe,” the agency claimed, insisting that if the testing process finds “genetic material” from the virus, this “does not mean that the sample contains an intact, infectious pathogen.” While the FDA insists there is no real concern about the safety of pasteurized dairy products, other agencies said the produce from sick cows shouldn’t be on the shelves. “Only milk from healthy animals is authorized for distribution into interstate commerce for human consumption,” the National Milk Producers Federation wrote on its website. Meanwhile, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has revealed that bird flu has been found in 33 herds of dairy cows in eight states as of Monday. Although Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza has been going around for more than 20 years, its spread to bovine livestock is of substantial concern, the Washington Post wrote on Tuesday. The concern “is that it’s showing up in a lot more samples, meaning the infection is more widespread in dairy herds than we thought,” a US public health official told the paper on the condition of anonymity. Both the USDA and the FDA have urged consumers to avoid drinking raw milk as the situation evolves. Further results are expected in the coming days and weeks, authorities said. The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
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A group of institutional investors in the Netherlands, led by Peter Savelberg of Peter Savelberg en Partners, have joined forces to present the Netherlands plus parts of Belgium and Germany as a single city network named Tristate City.
By treating the Netherlands as an urbanised delta with 17 million inhabitants, the project’s supporters say that are creating a very strong player in this ‘battle of the titans.’ ‘Our city marketing is too fragmented and inefficient,’ the project website says. ‘In practice, the Dutch cities compete with each other abroad.’ Amsterdam Metropool, Brainport Eindhoven, Twentestad, Ede Food Valley, Regio Groningen Assen and Dairy Delta are just some of the names Dutch regions use when marketing themselves abroad. The Netherlands must present itself as one of the ‘most powerful and sustainable city networks in the world,’ the project’s backers say. ‘It is about how Dutch companies present themselves to companies such as Apple or big Chinese firms,’ Prologis Benelux director Bram Verhoeven told the Financieele Dagblad. Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague are also part of another project known as the Holland Metropole in which the big four cities present themselves as single urban area with four centres each with their own speciality.
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