Headlines 06.22.2012
BPA the Saga Continues
David Schardt
Nutrition Action Healthletter
June 2012
The FDA announced early this spring that it would not ban BPA from food containers. FDA officials did stress that they would continue to assess the safety of BPA and expect to issue another update later this year. BPA is used to make some hard plastic containers and the linings of food and drink cans. It’s also found in a slew of consumer products. Nearly everyone in the US has traces of it in their body. What’s wrong with that? BPA is an estrogen “mimic” that may disrupt the normal hormonal control of tissues by activating the same receptors on cells that naturally occurring estrogen activates. Traditional toxicity tests typically find no harm from BPA. However the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a part of the National Institutes of Health, continues to have “some concern” about BPA’s “effects on the brain, behavior, and prostate gland in fetuses, infants and children.” Researchers are now finding that the higher the levels of BPA in the urine of pregnant Cincinnati mothers, the more their daughters were anxious, depressed and hyperactive and the poorer their emotional control when they were three years old. Mean and women in the US who had higher levels of BPA in their urine were more likely to have coronary heart disease or type 2 diabetes. Among men seeking fertility treatment, higher urinary levels of BPA were linked to lower sperm concentration and motility. To minimize your exposure avoid polycarbonate. Polycarbonate is a plastic that contains BPA and the compound can leach into food that comes into contact with the plastic. Heat accelerates the leaching of BPA so do not put hot or boiling liquids in plastic containers made with BPA. Don’t microwave polycarbonate food containers or run them through the dishwasher. Minimize canned foods and drinks. Eat fresh or frozen foods. Or try bottled or dried food or food in shelf-stable packaging.
NOLA’s Times-Pic Invites Brett Anderson to Return
Amy McKeever
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/15/brett-anderson-new-orleans-times-picayune-fired-rehired_n_1600474.html?utm_hp_ref=food
Brett Anderson, Fired New Orleans Times-Picayune Critic, Invited Back Following Mass Layoffs
Rachel Tepper
www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/15/brett-anderson-new-orleans-times-picayune-fired-rehired_n_1600474.html?utm_hp_ref=food
June 15, 2012
Apparently the Times-Picayne didn’t actually want to lay off its restaurant critic Brett Anderson earlier this week. Editor Jim Amoss blogged this morning that Brett would have a job when the Nieman Foundation fellowship ends. The blog post does not say whether Anderson has accepted the offer or not. Amoss also told the New York Times that his paper would continue to “have substantial coverage” of the New Orleans restaurant world, including restaurant review and two full-time writers—one of whom Eater NOLA reports will be the paper’s fashion editor Susan Langenhennig who is transitioning to become a full-time news and features writer, a role she’s been playing part-time since April.
Mexican Hass Avocado Industry Sees Huge Growth in American Market
Carey Polis
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/18/americans-avocado-consumption_n_1593594.html?utm_hp_ref=food
June 18, 2012
As of 2011, avocados from Mexico make up 61% of the US market share—the total volume of avocados from Mexico sold in the US in 2011 has more than doubled in six years. In addition to avocado evangelists, the avocado industries in the US have spent about $40 million to educate American consumers. That means health education, recipe guides and more. One noticeable growth area for avocados has been seen in the fast food sector. Before the late 1990s, the main supplier for Hass avocados was California, which had a growing season. As more and more areas of Mexico have been certified to supply the US, there are now enough avocados for chains to keep the product on the menu year-round. While the avocado industry targets certain consumers—housewives, sports enthusiasts, households with income above $50,000—there has been a general consumption increase across all demographics. The avocado industry predicts that the growth is not temporary.
Pizza Vending Machine: Europe’s ‘Let’s Pizza’ Plans US Launch, Targets Florida Theme Park
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/13/pizza-vending-machine-lets-pizza_n_1593115.html?utm_hp_ref=food
June 13, 2012
Pizza Vending Machines Coming to USA
http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2012/06/video-pizza-vending-machines-coming-to-usa.html?utm_source=Serious+Eats+Newsletters&utm_campaign=3c5dccad46-25_Quick_Dinners_Doritos_Science_6_18_2012&utm_medium=email#.T9-ObTY02Wg.email
June 18, 2012
Thanks to Italian inventor Caludio Torghel, for the past three years Europe has enjoyed vending machine pizza made from scratch in two-and-a-half minutes flat. The pizza cooks at such a fast rate because of the infrared oven. Due to its huge success in Europe and Italy in particular, “Let’s Pizza” is setting up the first US pizza vending machine HQ in Atlanta. The real selling point seems to be the emphasis of sanitation. These pizzas are about total hygiene with a tagline, “Pizza made in a human-free environment.” Let’s Pizza will likely be installed in malls, airports, supermarkets, colleges, gas and bus stations and hospitals.
Good News
Michael F. Jacobson, Ph.D., Executive Director, Center for Science in the Public Interest
Nutrition Action Healthletter
June 2012
Sweet progress. After half a century of increasing soft drink consumption, it’s heartening to see a 24% decline since 1998. That puts us back to where we were in about 1980. Another victory: regular soda has largely disappeared from schools. Full-calorie soft drinks in high schools, for example, plummeted from 12-1/2 ounces per student per week in 2004 to just half an ounce in 2009. Obesity rates soared to record levels in the 1980s and 1990s, but have begun leveling off in both children and adults. That may be due in part to fewer sugary drinks. But, excess weight remains a huge threat. Trans fat in foods has declined by about two-thirds since 2000, thanks to trans’ appearance on Nutrition Facts labels, local and state laws banning partially hydrogenated oil from restaurants, and lawsuits against food companies and restaurants. Progress has now stalled and probably won’t resume until the FDA bans partially hydrogenated oil. Companies from Bumble Bee to Walmart have cut the sodium in some of their foods. But they have to lower sodium much more to prevent high blood pressure and resulting strokes and heart attacks. The decline in artificial trans fat, the use of drugs to lower cholesterol and blood pressure, and fewer people smoking help explain why heart attack death rates fell by 28% from 1997 to 2007. But obesity rates since 1980 may slow or even reverse that progress. The bottom line: Americans have made exciting progress in achieving better health. Now it’s time to start doing something about those “buts.”
Chefs with Issues: Buying Food Is a Political Act
Jay Pierce, Chef, Lucky32 Southern Kitchen, Greensboro and Cary, NC
http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2012/06/04/chefs-with-issues-buying-food-is-a-political-act/
June 4, 2012
As this year’s political season wends its way to Election Day, we voters will be implored to act, decide, stand up for what we believe in. No matter how disaffected or energized you are by rhetorical jousting about healthcare, debt ceilings or foreign aid, there is one topic that hits close to everyone’s home: buying and eating food. A person espouses their morals by the very act of purchasing food to eat. Was it grown or “manufactured,” does the food producer employ fair labor practices, and is land water or air potentially harmed to provide this food? In purchasing our food, are we keeping money in our own communities or sending it across this continent or either ocean? If you’ve ever been to a farm owned and operated by a family without a paid staff, then you can understand the difference that one sale can make at the farmer’s market on Saturday. Our restaurants buys their produce and those folks actually dine in our restaurant, completing the circle. Another way in which we vote for what we believe in is by buying heirloom produce. “Eat it to save it,” is a call to action. If you want to preserve the taste of heirloom produce varieties, you must buy them and eat them. Otherwise the tastes will be lost, the flavors hybridized out of existence in an effort to prolong shelflife and increase shipability from distant corners of the globe. Our tastes will be homogenized. The easiest way to be an activist is to spend your hard-earned dollars with someone you know, who holds dear the same values as you.
The 5 Most Dangerous Vegetables
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/15/most-dangerous-vegetables_n_1600773.html?utm_hp_ref=food&ir=Food#s=1102147
June 15, 2012
A UK study has ranked the most dangerous vegetables by how many injuries they cause in the kitchen. The study found that 88% of people injure themselves in the kitchen, and that 39% of those cases were because of a difficult-to-cut vegetable.
5. Jerusalem Artichoke, AKA Sunchoke, are best peeled with a vegetable peeler.
4. Turnips, also easily peeled with a vegetable peeler can be tricky to slice and dice because they are round. Taking a sliver-thin slice off one side will help it lay flat, to keep your fingers out of the way.
Butternut squash’s thick skin and odd shape can throw even the most seasoned cooks for a loop. We like to separate them into two pieces: the round bulb and the cylindrical part toward the stem for easier handling.
The rutabaga, also called a “swede” or “yellow turnip,” is actually a cross between a turnip and a cabbage. You can deal with these the same way you deal with their turnip cousins.
And our number one, most dangerous vegetable is the pumpkin. Pumpkins are great for so many things other than Jack-O-Lanterns and pumpkin pie. Their tough skin and hearty flesh bend knives the world over.
Farm Bill Passes Senate
Jim Abrams
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/21/farm-bill-senate-vote-food-stamps_n_1616307.html?utm_hp_ref=food&ir=Food
June 21, 2012
The Senate on Thursday completed a five-year, half-trillion-dollar farm bill that cuts farm subsidies and land conservation spending by about $2 billion a year but largely protects sugar growers and some 46 million food stamp beneficiaries. The 64-35 vote for passage defied political odds. Many inside and outside of Congress had predicted that legislation so expensive and so complicated would have little chance of advancing in an election year. The bipartisanship seen in the Senate may be less evident in the House, where conservatives are certain to resist the bill’s costs, particularly for food stamps. The biggest change comes from eliminating direct payments to farmers whether they plant crops or not. That subsidy, and a separate one where the government sets target prices and pays farmers when prices go below that level, will be replaced. There will be greater reliance on crop insurance and a new program that covers smaller losses on planted crops before crop insurance kicks in. The bill also prevents farm “managers,” often wealthy people who may not live or work on a farm, from receiving subsidy payments and gives greater help to fruit and vegetable producers and healthy food programs. While transforming the subsidy system, the Senate left intact the sugar program that for some 80 years has protected beet and sugarcane growers and sugar refiners by controlling prices and limiting imports. The House must deal with a North-South divide on the bill that the Senate chose to leave for future negotiations.
Dairy In the Human Diet: North Africans May Have Eaten Yogurt 7,000 Years Ago
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/22/dairy-human-diet-north-africa_n_1617620.html?utm_hp_ref=food
June 22, 2012
Humans didn’t always have the ability to digest milk products. For thousands of years, lactose intolerance was the norm. New research suggests that in North Africa, dairy first showed up in diets around 7,000 years ago. Pottery shards, which date from 5200 to 3000 BC, were found in southwestern Libya’s Acacus mountains at a site known as the Takarkori rock shelter. An analysis showed that the shards were covered with traces of fat from a fermented dairy product. The site itself is covered in colorful drawings of cattle, some depicted with full udders and a few being milked. Unlike the dairy remains, the drawings are difficult to precisely date. The discovery does not determine the earliest point at which dairy was introduced into the adult human diet, but it predates the spread of the gene variants that ultimately enabled people to digest milk products in adulthood. Prior to that point, humans generally lost the ability to process milk after the age of five.
Coke Takes First US Dairy Steps with ‘Next Generation’ Beverage Brand
Ben Bouckley
http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Market/Coke-takes-first-US-dairy-steps-with-next-generation-beverage-brand/?utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=GIN_FNUd&c=vlyaQkNPK93CpodWYV0VGDqh5NM5WN8Y
June 21, 2012
The Coca-Cola Company has confirmed to BeverageDaily.com that it has signed a deal to distribute dairy-based sports recovery beverage Core Power as it targets early stage growth in an ‘exciting’ category. Core Power is marketed as a post-exercise recovery shake. Using a patented filtration process to remove lactose it contains 26g per 11.5oz (340mil) bottle of concentrated whey and casein proteins. Coca-Cola will start delivering it in July to stores across Arizona, Illinois and Indiana. By staking out new sports performance territory, and moving beyond juice, waters and soda to US dairy involvement for the first time, speculation will rise that Coke is looking to rival PepsiCo’s market leading Gatorade brand.
Cakemix, Duff Goldman’s Cake Decorating Shop in LA
Katie Sweeney
http://eater.com/archives/2012/06/21/duff-goldmans-first-cake-decorating-shop-cakemix-opening-this-week.php
June 21, 2012
At Duff Goldman’s new Los Angeles cake decorating mecca, Cakemix, the Ace of Cakes star is inviting the masses to come in and frost some cakes. For $18 (4 cupcakes) or $36 (a whole cake), cake fans can select from an assortment of already baked cakes and then go to town with the decorating. From buttercream frosting to fondant to sprinkles, Goldman’s stocked the place with it all, including the sure to be popular edible spray booth. Goldman told the AP, “For the cost of movie tickets and popcorn and a soda you can hang out and do a cake with your kids.” Goldman plans to roll the concept out across the nation, opening about two dozen stores over the next two years.
Rhode Island Bans Gestation Crates for Pigs
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/21/rhode-island-bans-gestation-crates_n_1616635.html?utm_hp_ref=food
June 21, 2012
Rhode Island lawmakers have enacted legislation making illegal the extreme confinement of breeding pigs and veal calves in small crates—in other words, gestation crates. Rhode Island’s NPR station notes that, “no farmer in Rhode Island uses such crates to raise pigs or veal,” which suggests the measure is more of a statement than an action with real consequences. Supporters of the bill believe, however, that it will prevent factory farms from ever adopting the practice.
Slippery Politics Put the Squeeze on Olive Oil
Nancy Harmon Jenkins
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zester-daily/slipper-politics-olive-oil_b_1617161.html?utm_hp_ref=food
June 22, 2012
There’s a problem with Spanish olive oil, and it’s not just in Spain. In recent days, international media have been full of news about over-supply, dropping prices and an economic squeeze. The problem begins with the European Union (EU) and its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The complex piece of legislation has been revised and reformed several times over the years, and it’s in dire need of new reform. CAP’s major goal, according to its website, is to move European agriculture from intensive farming to more sustainable methods. But in the olive oil sector the policy has had the reverse effect. Thanks to fat subsidies paid to the largest olive oil producers and concomitantly very little paid to smaller, more sustainable farmers. The result? Generous subsidies lead to over-production on a massive scale. More and more land has been brought into cultivation with intensive orchard systems called “super high-density.” These systems, developed in Spain, have been exported to California, Chile, Australia and other countries in recent years. Overproduction can mean lesser quality olive oil. Think of the bottles stacked on your local supermarket shelves that often bear what looks like an Italian name on the label. Many are produced by Spanish multinationals and filled with cheap undated oil from huge plantations. This is olive oil as a commodity; produced in quantity, priced cheaply, supported by government subsidies and intended for a global market as competition to canola and other vegetable oils. This is olive oil as kitchen grease, pure and simple.
Kosher: The Hottest Word on Food Labels
Ted Burnham and April Fulton
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/06/15/155100877/kosher-the-hottest-word-on-food-labels?ft=1&f=1053
June 21, 2012
No, there hasn’t been a massive boom in the Jewish population, but demand for products made under strict rabbinical supervision—i.e. kosher products—is exploding, according to data from market research firm Mintel. The kosher market is no longer limited to orthodox Jews. It’s Muslims and Seventh-Day Adventists, who have similar rules about how meats should be handled to keep them pure. It’s vegetarians and Buddhists. And increasingly, it’s all kinds of people looking for a little reassurance. Kosher products are not necessarily any safer or better for you, but the sentiment prevails. So much so that since 2007, more than a quarter of all new foods released each year have claimed to be produced in accordance with Jewish dietary laws. Something similar is happening with claims about gluten. Claims that a food is free of or low in gluten or other allergens are among the fastest growing types of claims made on new food products in recent years. Even people without gluten sensitivity are opting for gluten-free products on the theory that it must be healthy. Label claims say a lot about consumer demands. When the craze over the Atkins diet took hold, there were hardly any foods marketed as “low carb.” As the diet’s popularity peaked in 2004, low-carb claims were emblazoned on 13% of new products. Now that number has dropped to a trickle. Other trends develop more slowly as consumers’ values change. Today’s focus is on what is called “inherent goodness”. There is a slow but steady growth of label claims about genetically modified ingredients, or ethical farm practices, reflecting ongoing changes in American’s attitudes about those issues.