I’m late in seeing this but the World Bank published this report linking food systems to obesity last year.
It’s got lots of charts and tables and ends with actions that can be taken in food production systems to improve food quality. It’s wonky, but useful.
Andrew N. Case. The Organic Profit: Rodale and the Making of Marketplace Environmentalism. University of Washington Press, 2018.
I did a blurb for this one:
Organic Profit is a great read for anyone interested in knowing how the Rodales and Prevention Magazine helped bring organic foods from cult to mainstream and from pesticide-free produce to environmentally conscious lifestyles. This is biography, social history, and contemporary politics, all viewed through the lens of the fastest growing segment of the U.S. food system.
Here are a few brief excerpts from the last couple of chapters:
- The surge of public interest and engagement with environmental issues in the 1980s provided the Rodale Press with an opportunity to make a renewed case for reforming the food system. As a privately held firm that did not need to meet the quarterly demands of shareholders, the company enjoyed the freedom to pursue projects that did not create immediate returns. To address the farm crisis, the company relied on the tools of the marketplace…to generate public support for reforming how food was grown, distributed, and consumed in the 1980s.
- Yet the impact of these efforts was limited at best….Rodale’s story does not resolve the tension between prophecy and profits, but it does illustrate the complexities of green consumerism and the many unresolved questions about the choices we face in an era of unprecedented environmental change….
- The crowded marketplaces of consumer societies have succeeded in providing an array of choices at the exact same time that consumer societies have failed to tackle global climate change and many other issues of health, equity, and sustainability.
FoodNavigator.com collects its recent articles about sports and fitness into a Special Edition: Sports & fitness: From niche to mainstream:
Devices enabling us to track our diet, sleep, food intake and exercise regime – coupled with a new breed of personalized nutrition apps – are giving regular consumers access to tools and data that have historically remained the preserve of elite athletes and fitness freaks.
But is this creating new opportunities for food and beverage companies? Has the audience for sports nutrition products (bars, powders, beverages, gels, shots and supplements) evolved? And as ordinary mortals and weekend warriors start to engage with the category, are their needs the same as those of the hardcore sports nutrition audience?
- Competition heats up in large and still growing sports drink category: Hoping to cash in on the steady growth of the already sizeable sports and energy drink category, manufacturers at Natural Products Expo West in March will showcase a variety of functional beverages featuring an ever-expanding variety of plant-based proteins, natural sweeteners designed to help cut calories and sugar and other endurance-boosting ingredients… Display
- NOOMA finds white space in the sports drink category: ‘People want something that will rehydrate them without the added sugar and ingredients they can’t pronounce’: Would a professional athlete drink this? The founders of NOOMA – one of a new wave of sports drinks boasting cleaner labels and less sugar – can reliably answer in the affirmative, as both Jarred and Brandon Smith played hockey for a living, and formulated their own drink, because they were not happy with the sugary, lurid-hued electrolyte beverages they were chugging down to stay hydrated… Read
- Athletes and fitness community increasingly embracing personalization: The link between personalization and athletes of all levels will become stronger as scientific advances “cut through the noise and show results that are objective”, says the CEO of InsideTracker… Read
- Protes unveils protein popcorn: ‘We’re the first ones to bring function to the category’: The ready-to-eat popcorn category has been pretty lively in recent years, but all the innovation has all been driven by branding and flavor, rather than functionality, claims Brooklyn-based brand Protes, which is looking to bring incremental growth to the category with the launch of popcorn with 10g protein/serving… Read
- ‘Sarcopenia is the new osteoporosis’: Abbott continues to explore solutions to counter muscle loss: Awareness and concern around age-related muscle loss is rapidly increasing, but many older consumers are in need of better education around what their protein needs are, and how best to get there, says Abbott… Read
- Lenny & Larry’s: We didn’t set out to create a category, but that’s what happened: With its distinctive brand and commitment to high protein, Lenny & Larry’s has carved out a loyal following and success across multiple retail channels, so what’s next for the company?.. Read
- Adaptogens, CBD and nootropics rise as consumers consider their emotional & mental well-being: More products boasting the energy-managing, cognitive-enhancing and mood-moderating effects of adaptogens, CBD and nootropics will break out in 2018 as consumers continue to seek holistic and preventive ways to manage their mental health, according to trend spotters with SPINS… Read
Nutrition labels may seem self-evident but it takes volumes of Federal Register notices to explain how every word works. When it comes to food labels, the devil is in those details.
Take “Added Sugars,” coming soon to a food label near you.
How does the term apply to honey and maple syrup or, for that matter, sugar itself. These are sugars ready to add.
Pure honey and maple syrup producers are worried that when you see grams of Added Sugars on their labels, you will think that these natural products have been adulterated with—gasp—High Fructose Corn Syrup.
The producers of sugar-sweetened cranberry products are also concerned. They worry that the added sugars will discourage you from buying cranberries.
Here is how the FDA suggests dealing with these “problems,” in quotes because they are problems for producers, not you and me—we know what “added” means.
The purpose of this draft guidance is to advise food manufacturers of our intent to exercise enforcement discretion related to the use in the Nutrition Facts label of a symbol “†” immediately after the added sugars percent Daily Value information on single ingredient packages and/or containers of pure honey or pure maple syrup and on certain dried cranberry and cranberry juice products that are sweetened with added sugars and that contain total sugars at levels no greater than comparable products with endogenous (inherent) sugars, but no added sugars.
Got that?
Pure honey and maple syrup get a “†” indicating that they have no more sugar than any other comparable sugar.
Cranberries are more complicated:
With respect to the labeling of certain cranberry products, cranberries are a naturally tart fruit, and certain dried cranberries and cranberry juice products have added sugars added to them to bring the total sugars per serving up to levels comparable to the levels of non-cranberry competitor products that contain equivalent amounts of total sugars, but whose labels list zero “added sugars” because their fruit products are inherently sweet.
Did you get that?
If I read this FDA-speak correctly, the FDA is making an exception for cranberries. It agrees that the Added Sugars in cranberries also deserve a “†”.
Why is FDA allowing this? The Draft Guidance explains:
We received comments from the cranberry industry to the final rule and subsequent correspondence that the added sugars declaration would be detrimental to the cranberry industry by implying that cranberry products are less nutritious than competitive products that have similar amounts of total sugars and nutrients.
These comments were similar to those we received which noted that grape juice contains 36 grams of total sugar with no added sugars while cranberry cocktail, with sugars added for palatability because cranberries are naturally tart, generally contains 28 grams of total sugars including 25 grams of added sugars and has 30 fewer calories per serving than 100% grape juice.
Likewise, comments explained that sweetened dried cranberries contain 29 grams of total sugars including 25 grams of added sugars per serving while raisins contain 29 grams of total sugars with no added sugars per serving. Both sweetened dried cranberries and raisins have the same number of calories per serving and a similar nutrient profile.
In translation, you are not supposed to be concerned about the Added Sugars in cranberries.
But couldn’t you could buy real cranberries and add a whole lot less sugar than that?
Chalk this as a win for cranberry lobbyists.
Is it just me or does it seem like there are an unusually large number of pet food recalls this year.
The American Veterinary Medical Association keeps track of them and I am astonished at how many are on the 2018 list—already.
As I look at the list, the 2018 recalls are due to three causes: Listeria, Salmonella, and Pentobarbital.
Dry pet food is not sterile and easily contaminated by pathogens (these can make pets or owners sick). Pet food manufacturers know this and are supposed to take precautions.
Food Safety News often writes about Salmonella problems in pet foods; it obtains inspection records that nearly always reveal sloppy production practices.
Pentobarbital is another matter entirely. This is a euthanasia drug. Euthanized animals are not supposed to be included in rendered meals used in pet foods. If pentobarbital is present, the manufacturer is not paying attention to the quality of its ingredients (and whoever is doing the rendering is not excluding euthanized animals).
I have a special interest in pet foods, having written two books about it.
Pet foods are a profitable business and lots of companies make them. It’s a good idea to keep track of the recalls and avoid recalled products. Stores do not always remove recalled products immediately.
Caveat emptor.
I am indebted to BakeryandSnacks.com for this insight into food of the future: jellyfish snacks.
Westerner that I am, I think of jellyfish as exquisite creatures pumping away in the Monterey Bay Aquarium or as horrible stinging aggressors on the beaches of Florida. Until now, I never thought of eating one.
But now a recent paper extols the potential of jellyfish as chips.
As an example, we have studied jellyfish – a food material mostly uncommon to the Western palate, but a delicacy in traditional Asian cuisine having a gastronomic history of more than a thousand years. It is eaten mainly for its interesting crunchy mouthfeel resulting from a month-long salt preservation using sodium chloride and alum. This preservation drastically changes the texture of the jellyfish from being gel-like to resembling that of pickled cucumbers.
We have used state-of-the-art two-photon microscopy and super-resolution STED microscopy to visualize the rearrangements in the filamentous network constituting the jellyfish mesoglea gel during the transformation from a soft gel to a crunchy texture. We further interpret our data in light of polyelectrolyte theory and a modified Flory-Higgins theory that describes ionic gel collapse in poor solvent to suggest an alternative preservation method. Using ethanol, we thus have created what can be classified as jellyfish chips that has a crispy texture and could be of potential gastronomic interest.
As BakeryandSnacks.com explains:
Jellyfish are widely eaten in Asia, by typically marinating the bell (or body) in salt and potassium alum for several weeks to produce a pickle-like texture. However, the Western palate is unaccustomed to this food source and the jellyfish is often described as “slimy” and “tasteless”.
But now, “Scientists from the University of Southern Denmark have developed a technique to turn jellyfish into a crunchy chip, potentially creating a market for aquatic snacks….”
As for nutrition, jellyfish are mostly water and sea water at that; their nutritional composition is like that of sea water, high in sodium but not much else.
Can’t wait to taste one.
Yum?
Food and Water Watch has a new report that is a must-read:
The report documents how water—a public good that comes free and clean from the tap—has become a high-cost commodity.
But the problems with bottled water go way beyond cost.
Advocate! Take back the tap!
Last week I discussed my skepticism about the Trump Administration’s plan to replace some SNAP benefits with boxes of 100% American-grown commodities.
NPR’s The Salt is skeptical for a different reason: the experience of Native Americans with the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR).
Since 1977, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has bought nonperishable foods to distribute on Indian reservations and nearby rural areas as part of the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations. The program was designed as an alternative to SNAP for low-income Native Americans living in remote areas without easy access to grocery stores. The food boxes delivered were filled with canned, shelf-stable foods like peanut butter, canned meats and vegetables, powdered eggs and milk.
It’s consequences? A high prevalence of overweight and type-2 diabetes on Indian researvations. As The Salt quotes:
“There’s even a name for it – it’s called ‘commod bod.’ That’s what we call it because it makes you look a certain way when you eat these foods.”
As it happens, I was in Albuquerque last week speaking at the Native American Healthy Beverage Summit sponsored by the Notah Begay III Foundation (I got to meet Notah Begay III when he introduced my talk).
I asked everyone I could about experiences with FDPIR. Those who grew up in households participating in the program cited several issues:
Justin Huenemann, the CEO of the Foundation, took me to an FDPIR distribution center on a reservation near Bernalillo.
This was a big surprise. It was clean, well stocked with fresh produce, frozen meats and fish (bison, salmon), and canned and packaged foods, all of them reasonably healthy. Ordered items are delivered by truck to people who cannot come into the center.
The USDA has worked hard to improve the program (see fact sheets and evaluations). Participants can choose from a long list of eligible foods.
But: the program serves only about 90,000 participants at a cost of $151 million in 2017. Scaling it up to 40 million SNAP participants—and nearly $70 billion in benefits, seems unlikely. Even scaling it up to the 16.7 million households promised by USDA seems iffy.
In any case FDPIR is NOT the prototype for the Harvest Box.
The prototype is the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) for low-income elderly. This program, serving 600,000 seniors with a $236 million budget in 2017, offers a more limited selection of food options, none fresh. It distributes the boxes through food banks and other nonprofits who then do the actual deliveries. CSFP raises many if not all of the issues mentioned by my informants.
I still think this is a smokescreen to distract attention from budget cuts to SNAP but I was grateful for the opportunity to see the FDPIR in action. The quality of the foods looked pretty good to me—an oasis in a area where healthy foods are not readily available.
