Friday, July 13, 2012

Food for Thought (July 8 – July 14)


Food and Health

Cutting up food into smaller pieces may help people control their weight more easily because they are more satisfying to eat than one large piece with the same number of calories, according to a new study presented at a conference this week.  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/247693.php

Artificial sweeteners, also known as non-nutritive sweeteners, may help people reach their body weight goal, and also maintain a healthy body weight, researchers reported in two journals, Circulation and Diabetes Care. However, users have to make sure they do not "compensate" by eating high-calorie foods. An example of "compensating" might be ordering a diet coke and also a large slice of chocolate cake.  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/247662.php
 
Is a calorie really just a calorie? Do calories from a soda have the same effect on your waistline as an equivalent number from an apple or a piece of chicken? For decades the question has percolated among researchers — not to mention dieters. It gained new momentum with a study published last month in The Journal of the American Medical Association suggesting that after losing weight, people on a high-fat, high-protein diet burned more calories than those eating more carbohydrates. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/10/health/nutrition/q-and-a-are-high-protein-low-carb-diets-effective.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=health

Food Safety

A small company is trying to bring to market a genetically engineered apple that does not turn brown when sliced or bruised. But it has much of the rest of the apple industry seeing red…the U.S. Apple Association, which represents the American apple industry, opposes introduction of the product, as do some other industry organizations. They say that, while they do not believe that the genetic engineering is dangerous, it could undermine the fruit’s image as a healthy and natural food, the one that keeps the doctor away and is as American as, well, apple pie.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/13/business/growers-fret-over-a-new-apple-that-wont-turn-brown.html?ref=health 

The three types of bacteria - Salmonella Infantis, Salmonella Newport and Salmonella Lille - have been traced to baby poultry from the Mt. Healthy Hatchery in Ohio, which sells chicks and ducklings through mail orders, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of people sickened in each state is as follows: Alabama (4), Arizona (1), Delaware (1), Georgia (5), Illinois (1), Indiana (3), Kansas (1), Kentucky (5), Louisiana (1), Maine (4), Maryland (1), Massachusetts (2), Michigan (2), Nebraska (1), New Jersey (1), New York (16), North Carolina (14), Ohio (37), Pennsylvania (11), Rhode Island (1), South Carolina (1), Tennessee (11), Texas (2), Vermont (1), Virginia (10) and West Virginia (7). http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/07/more-victims-in-live-poultry-salmonella-outbreak/

Food Assistance

As expected, the House version of the 2012 Farm Bill contains deep cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly called food stamps). With its $16 billion proposed cut in this critical safety net, the House leadership is about three times as cruel as the Senate, which already approved a $4.5 billion reduction over 10 years. If the House gets its way, 2 to 3 million Americans could go hungry. In addition, 280,000 kids could get kicked off the school meal program because their families' eligibility is tied to SNAP. And speaking of kids, almost half of all SNAP participants are children.  http://www.appetiteforprofit.com/2012/07/09/3-steps-to-protecting-food-stamps/

Nearly one in five Alabama residents is getting food stamps, and the number is growing again after declining for a few months. Experts say it's too early to tell if the one-month increase is merely a bump on the road to economic recovery or a trend.  http://www.thestreet.com/story/11611338/1/number-of-alabamians-on-food-stamps-growing-again.html

Senate Budget Committee ranking member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) slammed the Department of Agriculture (USDA) Thursday for reportedly conducting an aggressive outreach campaign to increase the number of people on food stamps, and said news of this campaign means Congress needs to look more closely at federal food aid programs.  http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/237649-sen-sessions-slams-usdas-radio-spots-pushing-food-stamps

Congress’s election-year calendar and conflicts over food stamps may make this week’s House Agriculture Committee consideration of a farm-aid and nutrition bill the measure’s last advance before current law expires at the end of September.  House leaders would rather sidestep divisions over food-stamp spending and delay the bill until after the November election, analysts and lobbyists say. Appropriations legislation and possible votes on repealing President Barack Obama’s health-care plan will compete for time. Given the political thorniness of the agriculture bill, a series of short-term extensions is possible, said Harwood Schaffer, an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-10/food-stamps-fight-elections-combine-to-slow-farm-law.html

This week, more than 400 of America's culinary leaders were on Capitol Hill to ask Congress to protect funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps). Today, nearly half of the 46 million Americans relying on SNAP are children.  Chefs and restaurateurs such as Hugh Acheson, Daniel Boulud, Sean Brock, Floyd Cardoz, Jennifer Carroll, Tom Colicchio, Alexandra Guarnaschelli, Stephanie Izard, Food Network President Brooke Johnson, Sandra Lee, Danny Meyer, Mary Sue Milliken, Michael Mina, Marc Murphy, Pat & Gina Neely, Charlie Palmer, Rachael Ray, Marcus Samuelsson and Bryan Voltaggio joined the national anti-hunger nonprofit Share Our Strength in urging lawmakers to protect funding for this nutrition program that helps feed America's children. http://www.fastcasual.com/article/197277/Share-Our-Strength-restaurateurs-ask-Congress-to-protect-food-stamp-program


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