Heidi Woolf

Brazil Researchers Solve Bread Mold Problem–Bread Can Now Be Kept at Room Temperature for Two Weeks Without Growing Mold, and Using Natural, Chemical-Free Preservatives

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Researchers in Brazil have found a way to preserve bread kept at room temperature for up to 15 days without growing mold, and they have done it using natural preservatives rather than chemicals.

Their report, “Edible Films from Methylcellulose and Nanoemulsions of Clove Bud (Syzygium aromaticum) and Oregano (Origanum vulgare) Essential Oils as Shelf Life Extenders for Sliced Bread,” was completed by Caio G. Otoni, Silvania F. O. Pontes, Eber A. A. Medeiros, and Nilda de F. F. Soares of the Laboratory of Food Packaging, Department of Food Technology, Federal University of Viçosa, in Brazil, and was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

natural bread preservativesThe University of Viscosa team found two ways of preserving bread, using plant-based essential oils and using natural preservatives.

Natural preservatives, such as oregano and clove–which have natural antimicrobial properties–were added to the packaging of bread to keep airborne microbes, fungi and yeast from developing into green mold on the surface of bread.

In another test, essential oils were mixed with water and a plant-based thickener and applied to the bread as an “edible film.” The bread was then placed inside a plastic bag for storage.

Both tests had similar results. Bread kept at room temperature could store bread mold free for over two weeks–rather than the usual few days.

This natural method is being proposed by the Brazilian team as an alternative to the chemicals that are usually added to fresh bread to preserve it from mold.

The team also suggested that the technique could be used on a larger scale, and are currently experimenting with using the edible films to fruits, mean products and dairy.

By Heidi Woolf

Ten-Year-Old CG Girl “Sweetie” Used to Collect Identities of 1,000 Online Sex Predators From Chatrooms

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Amsterdam-based advertising agency Lemz created a CG 10-year old to enter chatrooms and collect 1,000 identities of participants in a form of child sex tourism called webcam child sex tourism. The advertising team spent 10 weeks of 10-hour days hunting for predators. This week, the children’s charity Terre des Hommes, which was partly responsible for the Sweetie campaign, won the Cannes Lemz teamLions Festival of Creativity for the project.

Sweetie is a computer model who looks and moves like a real girl, according to Lemz. Sweetie is animated by capturing the movements of a real person with a camera and motion sensors and applying them to the model. Every movement the Ten-Year-Old CG Girl Used to Collect Identities of 1,000 Online Sex Predators From Chatrooms (11)real person makes–down to blinking–is replicated in Sweetie. “Men think she’s sitting in front of a webcam in the Philippines, but she’s actually operated by Terre des Hommes from a warehouse in the capital of the Netherlands, Amsterdam. While Sweetie is chatting we track down the men.”

child sex tourism“As a marketer, the model I used to understand this problem was one of supply and demand,” said Lemz’s Mark Woerde. “It was clear to me that the demand-side needed to be stopped in order to stop growth of the ‘supply’ of child victims.”

Lemz began researching online predators before they conceived of Sweetie. The team went online after reading an article about webcam child sex tourism. The team entered a random chatroom and claimed to be an adult male from Holland.

An 8-year-old Filipino boy contacted them and “almost immediately offered to take off his clothes if [Woerde] sent him some money.” Woerde immediately closed his laptop and cried, he later said.

After days thinking about the Filipino boy she had encountered, Woerde decided to imitate that child to catch predators in the act and convince them to identify themselves. “We would turn the vulnerability of these children into a weapon against their abusers,” stated Woerde.

Ten-Year-Old CG Girl Used to Collect Identities of 1,000 Online Sex Predators From Chatrooms (4)Lemz’s art directors worked with artists and animators at Motek Entertainment and Brekel 3D to create Sweetie. Four Lemz staff members then spent 10 weeks of 10-hour days in chatrooms as Sweetie, collecting names, locations and webcam footage until 1,000 such predators were netted.

The predators netted by Sweetie resided in 71 countries and all but 1 were male.

Lemz then delivered their research to Interpol as evidence. Lemz also began a global PR campaign.

Woerde said that she hoped the “campaign has also shown people in all creative industries, including advertising, that the world needs their skills and gifts to solve real global problems.”

Ten-Year-Old CG Girl Used to Collect Identities of 1,000 Online Sex Predators From Chatrooms (6)“If catching them is so easy webcam child sex tourism can be stopped,” claimed Lemz in their promotional video. “What we need now is pro-active policing… If we can trace 1,000 men in two months, police forces can trace more than 100,000 in a year.”

Stop webcam child sex tourism! Lemz PR Campaign to Catch Online Webcam Child Sex Predators

By Heidi Woolf