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The purpose of this paper is to report on the tribological properties of beef tallow grease and improvements therein through modification with special processing, polymeric compounds and additives.

Pure original beef tallow grease was used as a biological lubricating grease reference material for the tribological research. Beef tallow was modified and synthesized by adding special biological anti-oxidant additives, LZ anti-wear additives, waste polyethylene terephthalate (PET) polymer compounds and thermally processed graphite.

Rheometric measurements indicate that the beef tallow grease modification technology used in this study enables control of the synthesis process to produce lubricants with the required microstructure. Investigation results of the tribological properties of differently modified greases show that beef tallow synthesized with polymer additives efficiently operates together with anti-wear additives to reduce friction and wear. The grease compound with thermally processed graphite has good tribological properties at 300 N load levels. The critical load level of lubricating greases could be significantly increased through the use of anti-wear additives and thermally processed graphite.

Investigation results of the tribological properties of differently modified beef tallow greases show that beef tallow synthesized with polymer additives efficiently operates together with anti-wear additives to reduce friction and wear. The critical load level of lubricating beef tallow greases could be significantly increased using anti-wear additives and thermally processed graphite.

In the first article in this series, the author dealt with general classification and composition of oils, fats and waxes, and this went on to discuss the properties of drying and non‐drying vegetable oils. In this second part, the properties of animal and fish oils, fats and waxes will be considered.

Outlines the scientific evidence surrounding the occurrences of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and Creutzfeldt‐Jakob Disease (CJD) in the UK. Examines the background to and development of the recent outbreaks and their possible causes. Looks in detail at the role of prions, the encephalopathy infective agent, the origins of the disease and its transmission in cattle and the controls which have been introduced to minimize the impact of the disease. Examines the evidence as to whether BSE can be transmitted to humans in the form of V‐CJD (variant Creutzfeldt‐Jakob Disease), in the light of the UK government announcement of 20 March 1996 that eating infected beef products was the most likely cause. Briefly discusses which parts of BSE‐infected cattle carry the infective agent, measures taken which affect the food chain and research which is being undertaken in the field. Concludes that muscle meat, milk and milk products and tallow from British beef are safe within the normal meaning of the term.

The BSE crisis was triggered on 20 March 1996 by the statement from the Secretary of State for Health concerning the possible link between BSE and new variant CJD. Begins by discussing the state of the UK beef industry and British beef market prior to the announcement. Then looks in detail at the catastrophic effects that the crisis had on the industry in the following six months to October 1996. Clearly the beef crisis is not over but the industry has now entered a period of recovery. The way ahead for the industry will involve fundamental re‐engineering and rationalization accompanied by intensive marketing activity, as it tries to rebuild the domestic market and eventually to re‐ establish export markets. The domestic market for beef has been much more resilient than any dared hope but the industry faces a major challenge in restoring the high consumer confidence that beef once had. This reconstruction is now under way. Systems of traceability, monitoring, quality control and assurance are being set up to bring the competitive advantage needed to win back lost export markets and enable the industry to face the rigours of the world marketplace.

A number of oleochemicals have found application in the formulation of metal processing lubricants. Calcium palmitate can act as a gelling inhibitor for lubricants for non‐chip metal forming, and diglyceryl oleate and sodium oleyl sulphate have been employed in chipless forming and machining lubricants. Glyceryl monooleate has been used together with paraffin wax and xylene for forming aluminium sheets, and isopropyl oleate has been blended into lubricants for cold forming of metal. Lubrication in cold forming of steel and aluminium alloys has been promoted by the use of sodium stearate and phosphating processes. Stearic acid has also been utlized in metal forming. Butyl butanamine stearamide is applicable in lubricants for non‐ferrous metal working, and coatings that can prevent galling when titanium is cold worked can be formed on the metal by the use of 0.5 grams of hydrofluoric acid, with 10 grams stearic acid in 100 ml. of a solvent, the process being accelerated by the inclusion of phosphoric acid at 0.85 grams. Calcium stearate has also been used in solvent‐based metalworking Iubricants, in acrylic electrophoretic lubricant coatings on metal, and in bentonite‐containing metalworking oils. Mixtures of cetyl alcohol and tricresyl phosphate have been cast into slabs and used on metalworking tools.

The necessity of standards of purity for certain kinds of agricultural produce being now recognised by the new Adulteration Act—4, (1)—no apology is needed for attempting to bring the application of the principle into actual practice. Some few standards have already been generally adopted, and the legalization of limits relating to many of those substances with which the Adulteration Acts deal would undoubtedly be welcomed.

Edible oils and fats may be of vegetable, animal or fish origin. In the majority of cases the origin, or method of production, transport, and storage give the products totally unacceptable flavours, odours, and colours. In a few cases, however, careful husbandry of the raw material, coupled with suitable processing techniques, produce oils which are prized for their unique flavours.

The institution of food and cookery exhibitions and the dissemination of practical knowledge with respect to cookery by means of lectures and demonstrations are excellent things in their way. But while it is important that better and more scientific attention should be generally given to the preparation of food for the table, it must be admitted to be at least equally important to insure that the food before it comes into the hands of the expert cook shall be free from adulteration, and as far as possible from impurity,—that it should be, in fact, of the quality expected. Protection up to a certain point and in certain directions is afforded to the consumer by penal enactments, and hitherto the general public have been disposed to believe that those enactments are in their nature and in their application such as to guarantee a fairly general supply of articles of tolerable quality. The adulteration laws, however, while absolutely necessary for the purpose of holding many forms of fraud in check, and particularly for keeping them within certain bounds, cannot afford any guarantees of superior, or even of good, quality. Except in rare instances, even those who control the supply of articles of food to large public and private establishments fail to take steps to assure themselves that the nature and quality of the goods supplied to them are what they are represented to be. The sophisticator and adulterator are always with us. The temptations to undersell and to misrepresent seem to be so strong that firms and individuals from whom far better things might reasonably be expected fall away from the right path with deplorable facility, and seek to save themselves, should they by chance be brought to book, by forms of quibbling and wriggling which are in themselves sufficient to show the moral rottenness which can be brought about by an insatiable lust for gain. There is, unfortunately, cheating to be met with at every turn, and it behoves at least those who control the purchase and the cooking of food on the large scale to do what they can to insure the supply to them of articles which have not been tampered with, and which are in all respects of proper quality, both by insisting on being furnished with sufficiently authoritative guarantees by the vendors, and by themselves causing the application of reasonably frequent scientific checks upon the quality of the goods.

In a Northern city, which claims to have more than 12,000 Commonwealth immigrants, mostly of Asian origin—Pakistanis and Indians, an increasing number of whom have been joined by their wives and families, there was instituted in 1965 a routine examination of their children before school entry, later extended to children of immigrant origin already in the schools. This examination extended to haemoglobin estimation, tuberculin‐testing and, equally important, examination of the stools for pathogens and parasitic ova. 419 entrants were examined in the first half of 1965 and 898 pupils. Parental co‐operation must have been excellent, as parents all agreed, without exception, to the special examination, although to some extent, there might have been considered legal authority in the current School Health Service (Medical Inspection) Regulations made under the Education Act, 1944. We are not aware of any report of intestinal pathogens, but helminth infestations were reported (Archer D. M., Bamford F. N., and Lees E., Helminth Infestations in Immigrant Children, 1965, Brit. Med. J., 2, 1517), from which it appears 18·6% carried five types of worm, of which the commonest was hookworm. It would be fair to assume that helminth infestation, indicating as it does, exposure to food infections, water‐borne disease and environment generally, is an index of gastro‐intestinal infection and the presence of pathogens, including the carrier state.

This paper seeks to report historical research into McDonald's public communication strategies as the corporation responded to the rising tide of “political consumerism” that accompanied its global market expansion (1960‐2005).

Reviewing the brand's public relations strategies, through a content analysis of news coverage, the paper analyzes the way communication strategists took account of the anxieties about youth labour practices, community relations, globalization, environment and obesity which forced the brand to acknowledge the lifestyle risks associated with children and youth.

The case study portrays McDonald's as a figurehead of US entrepreneurial multinational capitalism. It reveals how addressing public opposition through the courts can backfire on a brand strategy so keen on defending its honour. The case study also finds that listening and engaging with critics is as effective as suing them for McDonald's.

The paper contributes to the historical recognition of the role that corporate communications professionals play – particularly marketing and public relations specialists – in transforming corporate practices by acknowledging consumers' growing anxieties about industrialization.