The FDA’s new sodium guidelines have no teeth

Reports were everywhere today saying the Food and Drug Administration was recommending major cuts in the amount of sodium in packaged and restaurant foods. FDA calls for sharp reduction in salt added to foods, was the Reuters headline. New FDA guidelines crack down on salt was on TheVerge.com.

Salt can lead to stomach cancer, one more reason to get it out of your diet. — Mountains of salt will remain in processed ad restaurant foods for years to come.

First of all, the guidelines are voluntary, not mandatory, so they don’t crack down on or call for anything, they merely suggest guidelines, which is exactly what the food industry, which has been fighting mandatory limits on sodium, wanted. Continue reading “The FDA’s new sodium guidelines have no teeth” →

June 1, 2016 0

More fuel to the GMO debate

A new report that some might have hoped would dampen the debate on genetically modified foods (GMOs) gave each side something to be happy about and so likely doesn’t change the contentious nature of GMOs, according to media reports this week.

Here's what food labels could look like in Vermont-- noting GMOs-- unless Congress moves to stop it. — Here’s what food labels could look like in Vermont– noting GMOs.

The report Tuesday from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, said GMOs are safe to eat, something critics don’t believe, but it also said using them isn’t helping U.S. crop yields all that much because weeds and pests are adapting to them, as is nature’s way. Continue reading “More fuel to the GMO debate” →

May 19, 2016 0

Healthy and natural are in the news again; what do they mean?

The Food and Drug Administration recently backed down in a fight with Kind bars about the bar maker using the term healthy on its products. In the process, the agency decided to re-evaluate the guidelines it uses that allow a food manufacturer to use the term healthy.

My low-salt, low-fat, low-sugar pantry. Are these healthy? For me, they are.

“Just because a food contains certain ingredients that are considered good for you, such as fruit or nuts, it does not mean that the food can bear a ‘healthy’ nutrient content claim,’ the FDA said, reported the Chicago Tribune.

Kind bars have 13 grams of sugar each, is that healthy? How about the 3.5 grams of saturated fat? Continue reading “Healthy and natural are in the news again; what do they mean?” →

May 11, 2016 1

Farm-to-table claims — again it’s buyer beware

I recently wrote about how people need to be careful when buying anything labeled grass-fed beef, given that the USDA says it can;t police who uses that when for their products any longer. And now I’ve come across this story from Tampa warning that the rash of new restaurants popping up these days calling themselves farm-to-table may not be what they claim either.

Mondelez has to compete with fruit for the healthy snack trade, can it? — Always check claims of farm-to-table freshness at restaurants.

The food critic for the Tampa Bay Times checked into claims by some farm-to-table places in that area and was not happy with the results.

“This is a story we are all being fed. A story about overalls, rich soil and John Deere tractors scattering broods of busy chickens. A story about healthy animals living happy lives, heirloom tomatoes hanging heavy and earnest artisans rolling wheels of cheese into aging caves nearby,” writes Times food critic Laura Reiley of the so-called farm-to-table restaurant craze. Continue reading “Farm-to-table claims — again it’s buyer beware” →

April 20, 2016 0

General Mills joins Campbells, will label GMO ingredients

The battle over labeling food products that contain GMO ingredients has been brewing in Washington, as I wrote earlier this year. But today, food giant General Mills announced it will join Campbell’s and start labeling which of its products contain genetically modified ingredients.

This has to be seen as a victory, hopefully, for the people who have been campaigning mightily to get companies to disclose what’s in their processed foods. Continue reading “General Mills joins Campbells, will label GMO ingredients” →

March 18, 2016 1

The GMO food labeling battle is reaching fever pitch

The food industry continues to fight efforts to label foods that have genetically modified ingredients (GMOs) even as people across the country continue to push for such labeling. The battle is moving to Washington, D.C., these days as the industry tries to get Congress to do something to prevent a GMO labeling law from going into effect in Vermont.

The latest is detailed in this Associated Press story I read earlier this week. Basically, food companies have to start saying on product labels whether they include GMOs starting in July under the Vermont law. The industry is lobbying Congress to pre-empt state laws on this issue, knowing that a Republican-controlled Congress would likely side with it, just as Republican generally did in coming out against new school lunch nutrition standards.

The U.S. secretary of agriculture has yet to take a position and has been trying to broker a compromise, so it’s not clear how the president would react to a Congressional move to essentially negate the Vermont law. Continue reading “The GMO food labeling battle is reaching fever pitch” →

February 10, 2016 2

The winning recipe for Battle Eggplant at the Frank house

We had a fun cooking challenge at our house this Christmas that we dubbed Battle Eggplant in honor of the original Japanese version of Iron Chef. I gave each of my adult children and their partners an eggplant and challenged them to come up with original dishes in one hour, using any ingredients they could find in our kitchen. I wrote recently about the recipe my son and his wife created, Jerusalem Eggplant Surprise.

Jenny and Daniel creating their winning eggplant dip recipe.

This spot gives you the recipe for my daughter and her friend Daniel’s winning recipe, an eggplant dip.

Here is her description and the recipe, as best she remembers it. Ingredients were flying out of our spice cabinet fast and furious during that hour, so you may have to experiment a bit to find the exact recipe ingredient amounts. Continue reading “The winning recipe for Battle Eggplant at the Frank house” →

January 13, 2016 0

New nutritional guidelines not tough enough on salt, target sugar instead

Anticipated U.S. Department of Agriculture dietary guidelines came out Thursday and, as I wrote last February, they let up a bit on salt concerns to focus on sugar as the worst of the evil three of salt, fat and sugar that we all eat too much of in the typical American diet.

“The average person eats 3,400 milligrams of sodium a day, and the guidelines say everyone should lower that to 2,300, or about a teaspoon,” notes the New York Times report on the guidelines, which are issued every five years.

Salt gets off easy in the new dietary guidelines, too easy, I think.,

“Lowering sodium intake was the major push of the 2010 guidelines, and that document recommended that those most at risk of heart disease, or about half the population, lower their intake to 1,500 mg. The new guidelines delete that lower amount as part of the top recommendations. Later on, though, the report says those with high blood pressure and prehypertension could benefit from a steeper reduction,” the Times reports. Continue reading “New nutritional guidelines not tough enough on salt, target sugar instead” →

January 7, 2016 0

Salt or sugar — pick your poison

Sugar has come in for a lot of criticism of late when it comes to health, being blamed for a range of issues. But now Canadian researchers are saying salt is the most demon of the demon trio of salt, fat and sugar.

Congress wants to keep American School children addicted to salt. Shame, shame shame on them. — Americans eat too much salt, period.

“[Sugar is] not of the same impact as salt and not associated with as many diseases. Salt is worse than sugar,” Dr. Norm Campbell with the University of Calgary’s Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta said in a recent CBC News item. “About one-third of hypertension around the world is caused by excess dietary salt, so about 300 million people in the world have hypertension due to excess salt and over two million in Canada,” Dr.Campbell said.

In addition to hypertension, salt also impacts:

Rheumatoid arthritis and MS
Migraines
Gastric Cancer
Obesity

Continue reading “Salt or sugar — pick your poison” →

December 17, 2015 1

Major chicken recall underway — check your chicken

A major recall of chicken is underway, if you bought chicken recently at a host of retailers, check it immediately.

Grilling chicken breasts on my new grill pan. — Check your chicken, there’s a major recall underway.

The brands involved include:
– Acclaim
– Antioch Farms
– Buckley Farms
– Centrella Signature
– Chestnut Farms
– Family Favorites
– Home Dining Selections
– Kirkwood
– Koch Foods
– Market Day
– Oven Cravers
– Rose
– Rosebud Farm
– Roundy’s
– Safeway Kitchens
– Schwan’s
– Shaner’s
– Spartan
– Sysco

The recall of 561,000 pounds of chicken from Chicago-based Aspen Foods is an expansion of an earlier Aspen recall of 2 million pounds of chicken in September. Continue reading “Major chicken recall underway — check your chicken” →

October 6, 2015 0

Category: food labels