Food for Thought (June 3 – June 9)

Food and Health

People who restrict their caloric intake in an effort to live longer have hearts that function more like those in people who are 20 years younger.  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/246285.php

Seventy leading chefs, authors, food policy experts, nutritionists, CEOs, and environment and health organizations sent an open letter to Members of Congress today urging lawmakers to reinvest federal farm and crop insurance subsidy dollars into programs that feed the hungry, protect the environment and promote the consumption of local, organic and healthy food.  http://www.ewg.org/release/food-and-health-luminaries-public-interest-groups-demand-healthy-food-and-farm-bill

Food allergies are more common among kids living in cities than among children in less populated areas, a new study finds.  Researchers found that the share of children with any type of food allergy was 9.8 percent in cities, 7.2 percent in suburban areas, and 6.2 percent in rural areas. http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/07/12111055-food-allergies-more-common-in-city-kids?lite

Disney's new ban on junk-food advertising during children's programming has been hailed as an important public health step. But what about the company's new initiative to brand "health food" with a Mickey Mouse label?  http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Family/Modern-Parenthood/2012/0607/Disney-bans-junk-food-Mickey-Mouse-brands-health.-Hmmm

Food Safety

Fourteen people in six states are sickened with E coli 0145; the same strain killed a New Orleans toddler last week. While no one source has been pinpointed, state officials are working with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to solve the case and epidemiologists suspect food may be the culprit.  http://foodpoisoningbulletin.com/2012/fourteen-people-in-six-states-are-sickened-with-e-coli-0145/

Under a new policy that gave school districts the choice, only three states opted to buy ground beef containing the controversial Lean Finely Textured Beef (LFTB), according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/06/nearly-every-state-opts-out-of-pink-slime-for-school-lunch/

An Illinois-based firm is recalling approximately 96,408 pounds of meat lasagna products because they contain undeclared allergens.  Windsor Quality Food Co. of Toluca, IL issued a voluntary recall of two types of meat lasagna Wednesday because they contain egg and soy, both known allergens, but these ingredients are not named on product labels. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/06/meat-lasagna-sold-nationwide-recalled-for-undeclared-allergens/

Food Assistance

An Indianapolis food bank is giving away thousands of portions of organic baby food thanks to a generous donor.People lined up early Friday morning outside the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry in the 3000 block of East 30th Street. St. Vincent de Paul is one of four food banks in the U.S. that each received 25,000 pouches of the baby food this week.  http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/news/local/marion_county/food-pantry-gets-generous-baby-food-donation

Buying lunch at school next year will cost an extra dime for many Flagler students. The Flagler County School Board voted unanimously during a regular meeting Tuesday to increase lunch prices to $1.60 for elementary students, $1.85 for middle school students and $2.10 for high school students. Those prices will increase by a dime each year for the next three years. The changes won't affect about 64 percent of the district's students because they qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. The price increases are in response to the federal Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which requires some districts to ask families who pay for full-prices lunches to pay a greater share of the tab.  http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/flagler/2012/06/06/flagler-school-lunch-price-to-increase-10-cents-for-some-students.html

Early Friday morning, a local kitchen was bustling with prep work for the impending lunch rush -- avocados mashed for guacamole, bundles of lettuce being shredded for salads, and fresh summer squash and eggplant roasting for vegetarian wraps. The kitchen wasn't at a downtown restaurant -- it was at Monument Mountain Regional High School. The day's meals were part of a student-led initiative to host an all-locally sourced lunch. Before the lunch periods ended, all 180 veggie wraps were sold, while healthy chip alternatives and dips were quickly gobbled up.  http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ci_20818607/fresh-take-school-lunch-at-monument-mountain

Parents will pay more for school lunches next year, as federal rules expand while budgets shrink.
The Lafourche Parish School Board voted this week to raise the price of each breakfast and lunch by 10 cents. In Terrebonne Parish, the cost of breakfast will stay the same, but the cost of lunch will increase by 15 percent.  http://www.wwl.com/pages/13390899.php?contentType=4&contentId=10805926