Food for Thought (Apr. 15 – Apr. 21)

Food and Health

…the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition (BCFN) is releasing a book, Eating Planet, highlighting the challenges facing today's food and agricultural system, as well as the myriad of benefits that reform could bring. As Earth Day approaches, it is important to appreciate the links between technology, culture, and agriculture, and how they can help alleviate hunger and poverty. Eating Planet will be downloadable for free on Earth Day, April 22, 2012 from the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition's website (http://www.barillacfn.com). http://www.sacbee.com/2012/04/20/4429888/the-barilla-center-for-food-nutrition.html

A new paper which reviews the evidence from sleep restriction studies reveals that inadequate sleep is linked to obesity. The research, published in a special issue of the The American Journal of Human Biology, explores how lack of sleep can impact appetite regulation, impair glucose metabolism and increase blood pressure.  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120417080350.htm

Food Safety

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin has less than two weeks to either stand with the 90 percent of his constituents who support a mandatory labeling bill for genetically engineered foods -- or cave in to Monsanto's threat to sue the state if legislators pass H.722.  http://www.naturalnews.com/035635_Vermont_Monsanto_GMO_labeling.html

The bottom line is — if you eat fresh lettuce, you're taking a small risk. An additional washing won't change the risk much, one way or the other.  http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/04/20/151034145/rewash-that-pre-washed-bag-of-lettuce-dont-bother-probably#more

Food Assistance

Forty-five million people in the United States received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits - more commonly known as food stamps, a 70 percent increase from 2007. The Congressional Budget Office declared this week that the number of people receiving the benefits would continue growing until 2014.  http://www.catholic.org/politics/story.php?id=45831

Despite its proven success, SNAP remains a consistent target at budget-cutting time. This latest assault by the House committee means two million people would be cut off from food stamps completely and millions more would have reduced benefits. Hundreds of thousands of children would lose free school meals on top of their SNAP benefits. These additional changes on top of already enacted cuts will increase child and family hunger.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marian-wright-edelman/snap-cutting-what-works_b_1441829.html

Food for Thought (Apr. 8 – Apr. 14)

Food and Health

Spring is here! It’s the time when farmers markets, green grocers and our local supermarkets experience an influx of spring fruits and vegetables.  Eating “seasonally” will allow you to diversify your diet; you may discover some fruits and vegetables that you love and didn’t even know existed! As well as offering some great flavors, spring vegetables are true nutritional stars.  http://www.supermarketguru.com/index.cfm/go/sg.viewArticle/articleId/2974

New study results indicate that where a child lives, including factors such as the neighborhood's walkability, proximity to higher quality parks, and access to healthy food, has an important effect on obesity rates. Researchers found that children living in neighborhoods with favorable neighborhood environment attributes had 59 percent lower odds of being obese.  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120410163539.htm

Food Safety

Yellowfin tuna product is the likely source of the Salmonella Bareilly outbreak that has sickened 116 across 21 states and has been linked to sushi, health officials announced Friday evening. Cupertino, CA based Moon Marine USA Corporation is voluntarily recalling 58,828 pounds of its "Nakaochi Scrape" - tuna backmeat scraped off the bones of the fish and sold in a frozen, ground state - after investigators pinpointed the product as a common food source among outbreak victims. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/04/yellowfin-tuna-product-implicated-in-salmonella-outbreak/

Cold food will have to be kept colder. Restaurant employees who have certain symptoms won’t be allowed to work. And cooks won’t touch ready-to-eat food with bare hands, but only with gloves, deli paper or tongs. These are just a few of the changes that will accompany North Carolina’s expected adoption of federal Food and Drug Administration guidelines that will replace a much-amended set of regulations dating from 1976, state and local officials said.  http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/04/08/1987616/north-carolina-food-safety-regulations.html

Food Assistance

“Hunger Hits Home,” a documentary that takes a first-hand look at the crisis of childhood hunger in America through the eyes of the parents, children, anti-hunger activists, educators and politicians on the frontlines of the battle, will air on the Food Network on Saturday, April 14, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern/7:00 p.m. Central.  http://www.schoolnutrition.org/Blog.aspx?id=17072&blogid=622

Despite a slew of news reports about the improved economy, Mark Esterbrook knows that's still not the reality for many county residents.  So the CEO of Community Action Program of Lancaster County wasn't surprised to learn that the number of households here receiving food stamps jumped 12.4 percent, from 22,398 in January 2011 to 25,185 in January 2012.  http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/620862_Food-stamp--food-bank-use-rocket-here.html

Yesterday, over 200 lunchroom workers gathered outside the Chicago Board of Education chanting, “We want to cook! We want to cook!” The rally was held to release our new report on frozen food in Chicago's schools. At the end, a delegation of workers attempted to deliver 1500 "Let's Cook!" petition signatures to Chicago school officials.  http://www.realfoodrealjobs.org/2012/04/chicago-lunch-workers-hit-the-streets-airwaves-for-real-food/

Clifton Park Garden Plot 2012

Well Spring has Sprung and it’s Thyme for gardening. I am beyond excited. After waiting 2 years, I have finally gotten a garden plot with Baltimore City Farms. The City Farms program began in 1978. Today there are seven City Farms providing 640 plots for urban gardeners. Each plot offers 150 square feet of gardening space and rents for $30 per year. All City Farms gardens have city water and hoses. Wood chips and leaf compost are also provided.

I will make frequent postings about the progress of my garden this year. I have been on a waiting list for a plot for the past two years. The park closest to my house has a seven year waiting list. Seven years, that is a long time! I am very persistent and I call every year and this year a plot opened up in Clifton Park. This is a 10 minute drive from my house, but it will be well worth it.

The farming story begins. I visit my plot and to say there is a lot of work needed is an understatement. There are weeds everywhere. But then I remember, I come from a family of sharecroppers and farmers. So armed with a rake, shovel, and hoe, I get to work. Now, this kind of work isn’t for the faint at heart. This is real work. These are the times I miss my dad the most. He would have enjoyed working in the garden with me. After 2 days, my garden begins to look really good. I am proud that I decided to put in sweat equity. I was tempted for a second to call Jim’s tilling service. But I resisted.

As always I have big plans. I plan to grow a little of everything. I have been very successful in my container garden in my backyard over the past 4 years. This is definitely an upgrade, land.  Although it is a small plot, I think I can grow just about anything in my 10 X 15 plot of earth.

I am posting pictures of the before and after of the weed removal and will post again shortly.  Notice the Spinach, there are 8 plants left over from the farmer from last year.  Now that is a bonus!  Just enough for a big spinach salad.  More to come…. Stay posted!

Before

After Day 1

After Day 2

Food for Thought (Apr. 1 – Apr. 7)

Food and Health

A new review of human brain imaging studies published by Cell Press in the journal Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism suggests that a major reason for the dramatic increase in obesity may be a heightened sensitivity to heavily advertised and easily accessible high-calorie foods. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120405131421.htm

Whilst pointing out that certain groups of the population have deficiencies, the CDC announced in a press release today, that in all, the US population has good levels of the main essential vitamins and minerals. Vitamin A & D as well as Folate and Iron got the green light in a report entitled "Second National Report on Biochemical Indicators of Diet and Nutrition". http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/243649.php

There are 8 foods saltier than potato chips: cereal, condiments, coffee drinks, tomato sauce, bread, canned vegetables, soups, and pretzels. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/04/salt-in-food_n_1398150.html?ref=food&ir=Food#s835519&title=Cereal

The best way for parents to reduce the amount of soft drinks their young children drink is to not serve it with meals, a new study suggests. The findings from researchers in Belgium showed that children from higher-income families drank less than half — about 42 percent — as much soda as children from lower-income families. However, the vast majority of the difference between the income groups could be explained by three parenting practices: not offering soda at mealtimes, not letting kids drink soda whenever they want, and not keeping soda in the house, according to the study. http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/05/11042419-3-ways-parents-can-reduce-kids-soda-intake?lite

Food Safety

Odwalla issued a nationwide allergy alert in the US and is recalling dairy-based chocolate beverages. The company warned that the beverage could cause ‘serious or life-threatening’ reactions in nut allergic consumers. http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Market/Severe-allergic-reactions-to-Odwalla-dairy-based-beverage-spark-mass-US-recall

Reusable grocery totes are a popular, eco-friendly choice to transport groceries, but only 15 percent of Americans regularly wash their bags. Most users are inadvertently creating a breeding zone for harmful bacteria, according to a new survey by the Home Food Safety program, a collaboration between the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (formerly the American Dietetic Association) and ConAgra Foods. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120403135957.htm

One hundred cases of Salmonella Bareilly poisoning have been reported from 19 states and the District of Columbia while investigators still have "not conclusively identified a food source," the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday. The CDC's earlier report, as well as an internal email circulated at the Food and Drug Administration, implicated sushi, sashimi or a raw dish such as ceviche as possible sources of the outbreak. The FDA email said spicy tuna roll sushi is highly suspect. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/04/100-ill-in-sushi-suspected-salmonella-outbreak/

In a long-awaited decision, last week the Food and Drug Administration disappointed health advocates once again by allowing Bisphenol A or BPA, a known endocrine disruptor, to remain approved as a chemical additive in food containers such as plastic bottles and metal cans.While the agency says it's still studying the matter, a number of groups say the science is clear enough. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/04/bpa-is-fdas-latest-gift-to-food-industry/

Food Assistance

Students get in more trouble toward the end of the month than at the beginning. New research suggests that’s especially true for students from families on food stamps, perhaps because life at home gets more stressful as benefits run out. Modifying the food-stamp program so that benefits are paid out twice, rather than once, a month could help eliminate these cycles. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-03/end-of-month-hunger-hurts-students-on-food-stamps.html

Over the past five years, the number of Larimer County households receiving food stamps through the Colorado Food Assistance Program more than doubled. In 2006, there were 57,105 households on food stamps, compared with 115,047 households in 2011. http://www.reporterherald.com/news/loveland-local-news/ci_20345488/economic-woes-prompt-surge-use-larimer-county-loveland

Schools don’t serve breakfast and lunch on days they’re closed, so most of the elementary-age children in Southside’s spring break program this week eat bag lunches prepared by the city of Lansing, MI. In all, the city and its volunteers prepared and distributed 5,000 meals to neighborhood and community centers and public housing complexes across the city. And just like the school meals, these are free. http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20120405/NEWS01/304050035/Let-s-do-lunch-week-kids-eat-free-city-sites?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7C%7Cp

Philabundance provides a reliable source of food to 9 counties in the Delaware Valley, PA. They will receive $120,000 out of a $4.4M grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts to help Philadelphia’s elderly. http://www.philabundance.org/2012/04/04/pew-to-grant-4-4m-to-help-phila-s-elderly/

Food for Thought (Mar. 11 – Mar. 17)

Food and Health

Scientists say they have identified five eating patterns for U.S. adults that are strongly influenced by age, race, region, gender, income and education.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120313190052.htm

When it comes to managing children's obesity, cutting portion sizes and cutting carbohydrates can work equally well -- though carb control is tough for many kids, a new clinical trial finds. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46735629/ns/health-childrens_health/

Physicians who have more healthy habits are more likely than doctors without such habits to recommend five important lifestyle modifications to patients, including eating healthy, limiting sodium, maintaining a healthy weight, limiting alcohol and being more physically active. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/242923.php

Prof. Marion Nestle, a leading nutrition expert and public health advocate, criticized PepsiCo’s decision to invest about $500M on marketing its’ “megabrands.” She described the brands as unhealthy and said the company’s decision was a “a crass commercial decision.” http://www.beveragedaily.com/Markets/PepsiCo-draws-fire-for-alleged-crass-commercial-choice-of-profit-over-public-health

Food Safety

Information on food recalls and alerts, keeping food safe, food poisoning, and recent news and features can be found at http://www.foodsafety.gov/index.html.

Foodborne illness outbreaks linked to imported food appeared to rise between 2009 and 2010, according to a new analysis released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wednesday. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/cdc-outbreaks-linked-to-imported-foods-increasing-2/

In response to nationwide concern among parents and school service providers about 'pink slime' being purchased by the national school lunch program, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Thursday that next year it will give school districts the ability to choose whether they will serve the ammoniated beef product. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/usda-to-offer-school-districts-choice-on-pink-slime/

The continued growth of the certified-organic products sector truly is revolutionizing the modern food system in many positive ways, and changing the way people view food and health. But along with this positive growth has come the not-so-positive growth of a highly-deceptive, unregulated "natural" products sector which churns out food and personal care products that are oftentimes loaded with toxic chemicals, genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), and many other distinctly conventional additives that health-conscious individuals are seeking to avoid.
http://www.naturalnews.com/035238_natural_foods_GMOs_organic.html

Food Assistance

The proposal to devolve social programs to the states may draw more attention as the presidential contest arrives in Mississippi and Alabama, two of the nation’s least-affluent states. In Mississippi, 22 percent of the 3 million residents received food stamps in December 2011, the highest percentage in the nation, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-12/mississippi-whites-not-used-to-help-back-republican-aid-cutters.html

A new program to keep thousands of Delaware kids fed when they are out of school during the summer represents the latest effort to provide proper nutrition to a population that is widely dependent on a network of feeding initiatives.State agencies are teaming up with the U.S. Department of Agriculture this summer to feed 5,000 children who currently receive free or reduced-price meals at school and who may be at risk of going hungry when school is not in session. http://www.delawarefirst.org/24090-delaware-childrens-food-safety-net

In the last three years, demand at the town's food pantry has tripled, Senior Services Director Joyce Becker said, and the facility needs more space. Bethlehem is an affluent suburb, with the median household income around $80,000 and median house value at $272,663, according to city-data.com, but unemployed couples, seniors and single-parent households are increasingly relying on the town's modest pantry. http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Food-pantry-lacks-room-3411022.php

Food for Thought (Mar. 4 – Mar. 10)

Food and Health

Happy Nutrition Month! That's right, the American Dietetic Association has declared March "National Nutrition Month" and to celebrate This Week in Food News is rolling out a special edition that looks at apples, fats, milk, subsidies, and strawberries. http://www2.tricities.com/blogs/eat-smarter-tri-cities/2011/mar/04/week-food-news-happy-nutrition-month-ar-883786/

Vitamin D may be associated with a lower risk of developing stress fractures in preadolescent and adolescent girls, especially among those very active in high-impact activities, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120305173453.htm

For the first time consumers will get more information to help them decide if cutting down on meat is right for them. As of March 1st, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is requiring that nutrition information be posted on 40 of the most popular cuts of raw meat including chicken breasts, ground beef, pork chops and steak. Nutrition labels will offer a wide variety of information like calories, serving size, cholesterol and saturated fat content. In addition, meat labels will be required to show both the lean content and fat percentage (a cut marked “90% lean”, for example, will now also say “10% fat”). http://www.meatlessmonday.com/usda-to-require-nutrition-labels-on-meat/

Food Safety

Our process of framing and regulating produce food safety is upside down and backwards. Human pathogens constantly flow from urban environments and animal production into farm environments, contaminating water and soil, and finding a home in wildlife. Then we ask farmers to deliver pathogen-free fruits and vegetables. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/produce-farming-on-the-brink/

"Pink slime" has been oozing back into headlines in recent weeks after McDonalds, followed by other fast food chains, announced it had stopped using beef trimmings to fill out its hamburgers. A product the industry calls "lean, finely textured meat" has been a fixture in the ground beef served in the free school lunch program and fast food hamburgers for years. But after Chef Jamie Oliver demonstrated how "pink slime" is made on his TV show last year, and media reports suggested it may not be as safe as the government claims, alarm among consumers began surging. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/03/09/148298678/is-it-safe-to-eat-pink-slime

Although it maintains that the bisphenol A (BPA) in its cans is safe, the Campbell Soup Company says it has already switched to alternatives in some packaging as it ends the use of the controversial chemical. The decision was hailed by the Breast Cancer Fund (BCF) as a victory for consumers. But the group called on Campbell's to disclose its timeline for the phase-out and reveal the alternatives it will use. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/campbell-soup-will-phase-out-bpa-use/

Food Assistance

Food stamps are saving many of the nation's poorest children. The food stamp program -- now officially called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP --reduced the number of extremely poor children by nearly 50 percent in 2011, according to a recently released study by the National Poverty Center. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/09/food-stamps-poor-children_n_1335298.html?ref=business

As rising costs and a tough economy squeeze the family pocketbook, school meal programs have witnessed an increase in the number of children who arrive in the school cafeteria without their lunch money. Currently, there is no federal policy for how schools respond to requests for “unpaid meals,” nor is there policy on managing those expenses when incurred. http://www.schoolnutrition.org/Blog.aspx?id=16875&blogid=564

Students and staff at Prince George's County Public Schools are celebrating National School Breakfast Week March 5 to 9 in partnership with Kellogg's cereal company, to increase nutrition awareness and help a local Feeding America food bank. For each school breakfast purchased by students during the week, Kellogg's will donate a bowl of cereal to a local food bank through its "Eat, Share, Prosper" program. http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-03-08/explore/ph-ll-edbriefs-breakfast-20120308_1_local-food-bank-kellogg-middle-schools

Breakfast has increasingly become a focus for school nutritionists, both as a means to provide one more meal to low-income students whose families may not have adequate food in the house and to ensure that all students, regardless of family income, don’t start the day hungry. Gov. John Hickenlooper of Colorado and Denver wide receiver Eric Decker – accompanied by some Denver Broncos cheerleaders and DPS Chief Operating Officer David Suppes delivered breakfast to students rolling breakfast carts, to kick off this week’s National School Breakfast Week and Fuel Up to Play 60, a National Dairy Council program that stresses healthy eating and physical activity for students. http://www.ednewscolorado.org/2012/03/04/34134-breakfast-more-common-in-colorado-classrooms

Food for Thought (Feb. 26 – Mar. 3)

Food and Health

A new report from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) shows 16% of total daily caloric intake of children and adolescents coming from added sugar in foods and drinks. The recommended amount is no more than 15%, but includes fat, as well as sugar. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/242328.php

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System survey of adolescents, only 21% of our children eat the recommended 5 or more fruits and vegetables per day. So not very many children are asking their parents to "pass the peas," and parents are resorting to other methods to get their children to eat their vegetables. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120301180910.htm

In recent studies, University of Georgia foods and nutrition researchers uncovered the unequal distribution of food stores in one Southeast community. The first study covered access to stores for people using food stamps, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, while the second study looked at what healthy foods were available at supermarkets, grocery and convenience stores. Both studies found access to healthy food is most problematic in low-income, predominately black neighborhoods. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/242149.php

On a warm, sunny Thursday morning in Frankfort, school bus drivers and monitors are chatting in their cafeteria-style lounge when Madonna Mikaitis enters the room to make an announcement. "Who's walking today?" Mikaitis booms. "Let's go!" With that, about 15 employees of American School Bus Co. pile into one of their buses and head to Lincoln Mall in nearby Matteson for the group's morning walk through the shopping center's hallways. En route, the drivers pass around a sign-in sheet with the header "Live Well — Live Long!"
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/ct-x-0229-bus-driver-obesity-20120229,0,706019,full.story

Food Safety

In a move that could help shoppers make more informed choices, the nutrition fact labels seen on most processed foods must now also be on all packages of raw ground beef, turkey and chicken. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/new-labels-required-on-ground-meat-poultry-packages/

Food Safety News pulled the lobbyist reports filed in January 2012 for the fourth quarter of 2011. The top 10 are ranked in descending order based on their reported quarterly spending: Tyson Foods Inc. - $464,837.24; McDonald's Corporation - $430,000; Cargill Inc. - $360,000; Smithfield Foods - $265,000; Hormel Foods Corporation - $123,076; Starbucks - $120,000; The Kroger Co. - $90,000; Wegmans Foods - $90,000; Kraft Foods Global Inc. - $50,000. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/slicing-into-the-food-industrys-40-million-worth-of-lobbying/

Pasou Foods of Syracuse, IN is recalling about 147 pounds of frozen, fully cooked, ready-to-eat pizza sticks because a meat ingredient may have been produced without federal inspection, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced Friday. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/frozen-pizza-sticks-recalled-in-indiana/

Food Assistance

…nearly three-quarters of a century ago almost the only thing you could buy — with or without regulation — was real food. Since then Big Food has moved our diet in the wrong direction, and now we have a surplus of empty calories. The argument for limiting the use of food stamps to actual food is consistent with established policy. They’re already disallowed for tobacco, alcohol,vitamins, pet foods, household supplies and (with some exceptions) food meant to be eaten on premises. Payments have been based on the cost of a “nutritionally adequate diet.” http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/regulating-our-sugar-habit/

Families are feeling the pinch more and more these days, and no where is that more evident than at food banks across the nation. According to a new survey by the food research and action center, 20% of Indiana households needed food assistance at some point last year. http://www.14news.com/story/17068689/food-banks-seeing-increase-in-hungry-families