Food Labels for Thought

Do you believe that the Cinnamon Toast Crunch you gluttonously shovel down every morning, faithfully sticking to the Smart Choice label is one of the healthiest cereals out there? Or deep down do you think it’s just clever marketing because your jeans don’t fit anymore for a reason? So does the FDA.

In a move to finally set straight the endless health claims on food labels, starting next year, FDA officials are looking to set standards for food label claims. Under the new rules, food manufacturers still have the option of putting claims on their products. If they choose to do so, they have to comply with FDA regulations to highlight a food’s good and bad attributes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/21/business/21food.html

This is a HUGE step forward in the FDA’s well overdue path to righteousness and proper regulation of the food industry. Until now, food label claims have contributed to consumer confusion about how healthy a product is instead of helping make their decision easier.

For the record, cereal companies can’t make a claim such as “35% of your daily fiber” without actually formulating each serving to contain said fiber content. What these new regulations will do is require them to also mention the 45 grams of sugar per serving they dumped in to hide the cardboard taste of the fiber.

Think of this as the mandatory calorie disclosure you see now at McDonald’s. You know the pitfalls of that super-sized Big Mac value meal, the government is simply going to remind you of them to help consumers make healthy food choices.

And why shouldn’t they? If a parent is reminded at the supermarket that the sugary cereal they’re picking up for their overweight 9-year-old has half of their daily Vitamin A requirements as well as half of their daily recommended intake of refined sugar, the parent might opt for the healthier and similarly priced whole grain, fiber-rich cereal instead. I’m sure the child will get over the lack of a cartoon character on the box sooner than Type 2 diabetes.

P.S. The clever photo above is courtesy of TheAtlantic.com.

Public Hygiene Grading Policy for Restaurants.. Why Doesn’t NYC Have this Yet?

As the #1 market in the country for.. well, everything, the leader in banishing smoking and trans-fats from our restaurants (my lungs and thighs thank you, Mr. Mayor and CSPI), it only makes sense that the NYC Department of Health step up their game and catch up to a transparency policy in Los Angeles County. The ordinance requires a public posting of restaurant hygiene grades (A, B, or C) based on the LA County Department of Heath Services inspections. The grades—starting from 100—deduct points for improper practice in a range of specific practices such as food temperatures, serving and kitchen area handling and preparation, equipment cleaning, employee sanitary practices, and surveillance of vermin. Then it’s back to the old-school grading system: cumulative points are deducted from a starting score of 100. So a score in the 90’s is an A, in the 80’s is a B, in the 70’s is a C, and for a score below 70 they call your parents and demand an immediate change of practices, which, depending on the severity, could include suspension of the owner’s health permit and closing the restaurant.

Best of all, the ordinance requires every restaurant to proudly—or not so proudly—display their test scores on the proverbial refrigerator: the front door. So when I enter the hair sandwich deli or the pee-pee potato gourmet cafe, at least I know what I’m getting myself into.

Plus, a down economy is the perfect time for such an ordinance to make its way into the City of 10,000 Delis to weed out the bad and allow the best to stay afloat when they truly deserve to, at least in terms of hygiene.

And now with a change in administration, hopefully the FDA will get more power so that they could, I don’t know, have the ability to actually do something about the disgraceful food safety practices some US of A companies have displayed. Therefore, Mr. Mayor, I will consider re-electing you for that coveted and unprecedented third term if you keep firm to your health-conscious platform and lower my taxes. Well, at least keep the fur out of my food.

Philippe?! Really?!

If you think the fancy schmancy “have to be hospital sanitary” restaurants are nothing to worry about, then feel free to type in your favorite spot at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Restaurant Inspection Info link:

http://167.153.150.32/RI/web/index.do?method=goldenAppleList

I couldn’t believe it.. my favorite over-priced-but-sooo-good pan-Asian splurge, Philippe, barely passed their inspections. Before, just thinking about their chicken satay would make my mouth water; now I imagine it a scene out of Seinfeld, where Jerry goes to his girlfriend’s father’s restaurant and can’t bare to eat the food after witnessing the father, Poppy, casually leave the bathroom without washing his hands.

I can understand some hole-in-the-wall restaurant in the middle of nowhere, Square State, USA having little incentive to prevent a poor hygiene problem, but it’s unacceptable for a restaurant that hosts celebrity events and is featured on The Real Housewives of New York City (yes, I watch too much reality TV, it’s a guilty pleasure), let alone for the Big Apple in general. I doubt I’m the only one to have the recession special hair sandwich everywhere I go and am definitely not the last to fall victim to it.

Although, while on the subject of Philippe, I do have one quib about their bartenders. My last visit, about a month ago, while waiting for the rest of my party to arrive, I made a bee-line for the bar to order my “only when I’m feeling fabulous” drink: a cucumber martini. The bartender, as to not degrade herself by looking me straight in the eye, glances in my general direction and barks, “Sorry, doesn’t exist!” and quickly turned away to take someone else’s order. She must not have gotten the memo because when I ordered the same drink a mere few days earlier at Union Prime, the bartender was having a 15 minute conversation with me about how I prefer it made and such. I don’t overpay for a drink at Philippe for the bartender to belittle me. To avoid a conflict, I ordered a Ketel and Soda instead. I’m glad she knew how to make that with her middle school education.

Lyric Diner Hair Wrap

So, not to my surprise, the hair sandwich trend translated quite nicely into a hair wrap this weekend when I went to the popular (it was on MTV’s The City so I can backup that statement) Lyric Diner on 22nd and 3rd for a quiet Sunday lunch. After several admittedly enormous bites, I look down on my plate to find a squiggly black hair. My boyfriend was unfazed and continued to devour his chicken sandwich but I lost my appetite. Feeling it was my duty as a paying customer to let the manager know of my discovery, his response was a painfully indifferent and remorseless, “I’m sorry. Yes, they do wear hair nets,” in an I-don’t-know-what-else-to-tell-you tone. He comped my meal but I left feeling dissatisfied, not to mention hungry. At least the Pick-A-Bagel next door sufficed. A sad continuation of the hair wrap trend from my formerly beloved Moonstruck Diner on 38th and Madison. Maybe hair nets should be replaced.. I vote on plastic bags with very uber-tight elastic bands.

Lenny’s Hair Sandwich

The Lenny’s hair sandwich.. once an enigma to all who place New York City restaurants on a pedestal (including myself), has now unfortunately become a pitiful norm of hair in sandwiches everywhere with no end in sight. The last two times I visited the 23rd Street Lenny’s, I ordered my usual—turkey, cheddar, lettuce, tomato, onions, spicy mustard on a whole wheat wrap—and got a bonus short, dark hair free of charge. I appreciate their generosity but would prefer to just get what I paid for. Sure, I could have avoided the second follicle encounter by learning my lesson the first time, but a NYC institution like Lenny’s deserves a second chance. Fool me twice, shame on both you and me.

Food Safety Laws Looking to Leave Stone Age Regulations – Might Actually Enter the 21st Century

The FDA’s traditional food safety awareness method of wait-for-mini-epidemic-of-deadly-(insert desired food product here)-contamination for them to warn the public might soon be a thing of the past. Complete overhaul could be in the future if the Senate passes the Food Safety Modernization Act, thanks to a push from the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

In a nutshell (peanut recall pun intended), a recent CSPI report lists the following as the Top 10 most dangerous foods (safety wise):

Leafy Greens, Eggs, Tuna, Oysters, Potatoes, Cheese, Ice Cream, Tomatoes, Sprouts, and Berries.

Since every one of us can find at least 6 of these foods presently in our refrigerators, updated safety guidelines and practices set by the FDA are a must.

Frequent contamination and recalls have been begging the FDA to revamp their ancient order of industry self-regulation. That means that the FDA lets food giants do the inspections themselves and trusts that they will be honest. Because we’re supposed to trust the food we feed our families, our loved ones, and ourselves everyday to multi-billion dollar corporations that have historically prided themselves on safe products for consumers over their bottom dollar.

A private organization’s interests lie with its board members and shareholders. A public organization’s interests lie with the American people. The purpose of a federal organization in charge of regulating produce, seafood, egg and dairy products, as well as typical packaged foods such as cookie dough and peanut butter, is to do the dirty work themselves.

E.Coli—It’s What’s For Dinner

The game of food safety is a risky balance of luck and knowledge. Unfortunately, it takes many years of large-scale contaminations and tragic deaths/illnesses to get the proper regulation ball rolling.

Prohibition of the sale of E.coli tainted meat started after 4 children died in 1994 from contaminated burgers from Jack in the Box. I couldn’t even conjure up a creative idea as to why tainted meat was approved for sale before then.

An article in the NY Times chronicles a 22-year-old dancer teacher’s E.coli contamination from a backyard BBQ hamburger patty, causing seizures, a coma, and ultimately paralysis from the waist down, and ties it into the government’s lax beef inspection policies.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/health/04meat.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=e.%20coli&st=cse

The most common food you can catch E.coli from: ground beef. And it’s not just a cut of meat from one cow run through a grinder. That savory beef patty is actually made up of different grades of meat, different parts of the cow, even different slaughterhouses and up to 30% fat trimmings, according to USDA standards.

Combining different sources into a clump—surprise, surprise—saves money. In fact, Cargill, the food giant responsible for the contaminated hamburger patty that poisoned the woman above, cut costs by 25% with this practice.

The lower grade cuts of meat are more likely to have been in contact with feces, a popular hangout spot for E.coli. Most meat companies rely on the slaughterhouses to test the meat and only test it themselves after the beef is ground up together.

The USDA, using a healthy dose of logic, prefers meat companies test the separate meats first before combining, so that any contaminated meat can be targeted more efficiently. But apparently handshake agreements with some meat companies allow slaughterhouses to sell various cuts of meat only if the grinder agrees not to test it for E.coli.

Since waiting around for social responsibility on the parts of the slaughterhouses and the meat companies could take longer than the 2^nd Ave Subway construction, the best way to ensure you kill off any possible lingering bacteria, whether already present in the product or contaminated after purchase, is to cook the ground beef until the center temperature is 160F. And a brown center doesn’t mean the temperature reached 160F so use a thermometer to be sure.

Now you know! And knowing is half the battle.

One, Two, Three Year’s A Charm

Seems 3 is the magic number for the FDA. That’s how many years it took the FDA to read noted from their federal advisers, taking a cue from a 2006 report from the Institute of Medicine (note: 2009 – 2006 = 3 years ago), told the FDA that they have been doing an awful job of letting the public know about potentially dangerous foods and drugs.



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33093771/ns/health-more_health_news/

Sarcasm aside, complete overhauls do take time and reforming the public’s communication with an organization as critical to our daily health and well-being as the FDA is a positive step. For the most part, we have seen the FDA step up this year with notifying the public about contaminated food products and penalizing the companies for their carelessness.

Another plus is the boost in videos and web-based materials that educate the public on safe food practices. After all of my criticisms, I have to give the FDA a gold star for this.