Bees and flour and power

How about that: honeybees on the terrace of a Vancouver hotel? Why not?

I was a little surprised to read this directive from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, as it had not crossed my mind that the government was so committed to nutritionism. The directive reiterates the Canadian law which requires that white flour sold in this country must be enriched, at a minimum, with thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid and iron; the optional enrichment items include vitamin B6, pantothenic acid, magnesium and calcium:

The Food and Drug Regulations (FDR) require that all white flour and all foods sold in Canada that contain white flour, such as bread, cookies, and pastries, be made from enriched white flour. The sale of unenriched white flour or foods containing unenriched white flour is not permitted in Canada.

Basically the law's purpose as I read it is that if you refine flour to the point where its colour and texture are what we're now used to, you have to replace by chemical means all the nutritional value you took out through the refinement process. Whatever keeps the wheels of commerce moving...

And finally, thanks to Pamela for passing it on, check out this site to see an annoying mechanical rodent robot that you can power with a string of fruit or vegetables.