What’s in a Grade? Reporting on Report Cards

KitchenBitch salutes Mayor Bloomberg for finally implementing the long overdue restaurant grading system but, while the FDA and USDA continue to rule with a snap bracelet (the first step toward a big stick is the Food Modernization Act which still remains stalwart in the Senate—they must all be Jewish and observing the high holidays), questions surrounding the simplicity of reporting over precision remain a hot topic.

The proverbial A-F grading system classically demonstrates achievement or failure in shades of grey in a way everyone can relate to. But is this enough? Regardless of how health conscious New Yorkers may claim to be, many are too busy (read: lazy) to scour the NYCDHMH’s website for restaurant inspection results and decipher the consumer unfriendly yet more descriptive points system (health and safety violations earn a restaurant points so less is better).

The New York City chapter of the New York State Restaurant Association believes a restaurant can be deemed safe enough solely based upon a pass/fail system.

“We feel a restaurant is either sanitary enough to serve the public, or it is not, and if it is not, action should be taken,” says Andrew Rigie, director of operations for the New York City chapter of the New York State Restaurant Association.

What if we put educating our nation’s children on the same scale? Where’s the incentive to strive for an “A”? Is the safety of the food we eat not as important to be graded on a higher level? Mr. Rigie must have never read Kitchen Confidential, one of many books, articles and documentaries chronicling the disdainful practices of some of our coveted eateries.

The current points system, which is used to derive the letter grades, should be plastered on the front door of every restaurant over its much simpler and sometimes misleading alphabetic counterpart. This gives knowledgeable power to the consumer to know what’s up and make an educated choice.

KitchenBitch is on a mission: to garner the same fervor for food safety among New Yorkers as is generated Yelping around for the latest hip, delicious restaurant where a drugged up celebutante was spotted “eating” at last Thursday.

Bloomberg Doesn’t Practice What He Preaches, Breaks Mold of Typical Politician/Billionaire Arrogance

Our salt crusading mayor is never one to disappoint for a great demonstration of hypocrisy, seen here devouring a neatly packed bundle of nitrates with a Brit.

Click here for video.

Bloomberg Must Be a Fan of Kitchen Bitch

Restaurants take note: your report card will be plastered on the proverbial refrigerator for all to see. When I started this blog over a year ago, one of my first posts discussed LA’s restaurant grading system and how, after many hair sandwiches, I couldn’t believe NYC had nothing more than some inspection info buried deep within the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s website. No more. Hopefully the salt wizard will back this one too.

“Restaurants will be graded on food safety starting at the end of July, city officials said Tuesday. The NYC Health Department announced it has drawn up plans to begin assigning grades of A, B or C to the city’s over 24,000 restaurants.

Restaurants with 0 to 13 “violation points” will receive an A. Scores of 14 to 27 points are a B, and 28 or more results in a C.

…According to the NYC Department of Health, Los Angeles’ implementation of letter grades resulted in twice as many restaurants receiving the highest food safety standards: 40 to 80 percent.”

A pseudo-fast food, surprisingly popular Indian restaurant around the corner from my apartment, Curry in a Hurry, closed down for 1 week last month because they failed their food safety inspection. Had there been a “C” grade posted on the front door, the cheap prices would not be enough to keep grossed out customers from deciphering where violation points were accumulated (was it the curry or the hurry?)

Finally, a way for New Yorkers to gain some control over the food we eat and a lot more accountability for restaurant owners. No more blaming poor regulation for rat infestations in Taco Bell or the painfully indifferent “my workers wear hair nets” response I once received from the manager at Lyric Diner after finding and clearly displaying to him a short, curly dark hair in my chicken wrap. Sorry Mr. Rude Dude, they clearly don’t.

For those of you who will continue to frequent restaurants where the food and environment reminds you of a gym sock, enjoy the pleasure of building up immunity to various food-borne bacteria. For the rest of us, let’s embrace the power of choice.

One Politician on a Mission

Although I might disagree with using his money to buy and re-write the NYC lawbooks, Mayor Bloomberg is quite the pioneer of the salt crusade. Anything Governor Patterson touches died of dysentery back in Albany (like the soda tax did last year, let’s hope it doesn’t suffer the same fate in 2010), but Bloomberg is fulfilling his healthcare platform manifest destiny and actually gaining some ground.

“Sixteen food companies plan to cut the amount of salt in bacon, flavored rice, and dozens of other products as part of a national effort to reduce Americans’ sodium consumption by 20 percent.

Mars Foods said it would cut the salt in its Uncle Ben’s rices by 25 percent over five years.

Lanette Kovachi, corporate dietitian for Subway, said the sandwich chain has cut sodium by 30 percent in its European outlets and is working on reducing salt in its US restaurants..

Heinz had announced it would reduce sodium by 15 percent in all the ketchup it sells in the United States, starting May 1. Heinz said the move is part of an ongoing commitment to sodium reduction. Heinz has cut sodium in Bagel Bites snacks 20 percent, for example.”

Salt for Thought: Diets high in sodium increase blood pressure that, in turn, increases the risks for a stroke or heart attack. This classic preservative, essential electrolyte, and craving tamer, surprisingly, occurs enough in foods naturally that any added salt, whether it’s by a food manufacturer or at the kitchen table, is superfluous.

Mayor Bloomberg: One Uber-Powerful Politician to Rule Them All

Command and you shall receive, Mayor Bloomberg. Just like you demanded (and paid for) the third and unprecedented term as mayor of our great city, your tenacity in the salt lowering crusade has convinced the FDA to plan unprecedented measures to slowly reduce sodium and eventually implement the first legal limits to the amount of salt allowed in foods.

“The government intends to work with the food industry and health experts to reduce sodium gradually over a period of years to adjust the American palate to a less salty diet, according to FDA sources..

‘This is a 10-year program,’ one source said. ‘This is not rolling off a log. We’re talking about a comprehensive phase-down of a widely used ingredient. We’re talking about embedded tastes in a whole generation of people.’

Currently, manufacturers can use as much salt as they like in products because under federal standards, it falls into the category deemed ‘generally recognized as safe.’ Foodmakers are merely required to report the amount on nutrition labels.”

GRAS seems to be the allspice of terminology for the FDA because almost every additive is listed as such including caffeine, high fructose corn syrup, tons of chemical additives and, ironically, allspice.

In other news, Reuters feels the top hit for news related to this story should be “Majority of American’s distrust the government” (see picture above). Have yee of little faith in the FDA, Reuters? Let’s hope the government can prove them wrong, never too late to start.

Healthcare Reform and Food: A Surprising Love Story

There are plenty of opinions, doubts, and champions for the recently passed healthcare reform bill. Whether you’re for or vehemently against it (and for the sake of not coming off like I’m a champion of the bill, I personally have very mixed feelings on the new laws), the expected reforms to the food and restaurant industry will catapult the nation to adhere to many of the standards our fine city already upholds. Get ready to see calorie counts everywhere.

“As soon as 2011 it will be impossible to chomp down on a Big Mac without knowing that it contains over 500 calories, more than a quarter of the Agriculture Department’s 2,000-calorie daily guideline.

The legislation also requires labels on food items in vending machines, meaning that anybody tempted by a king-size Snickers bar will know up front that it packs 440 calories…

Under the new legislation, restaurants will be required to display calorie information for standard menu items as well as calories for each serving of food at a salad bar or a buffet line. The chains will not have to post calorie information for daily specials and limited-time items.”

There was little public discussion about approving this measure because, surprisingly, restaurant chains are supporting it! Because Mayor Bloomberg rules the world and has the ability (power, greed, and money) to re-write laws for his own personal endeavors.. and because restaurants realized that, after years of disputes, they were slowly losing the battle.

Truth is, if you’re craving two different-parts-of-the-cow-ground-up-into beef patties, special cholesterol sauce, lettuce, heart attack cheese, pickles, onions on a buttered sesame seed bun, displaying the calorie counts doesn’t take away your right to have one, it just pops up that voice in your head of your yenta mother asking, “Are you sure you want to eat that?”

Parents Are Paying Attention

The parents have spoken. Well, at least their dollar allocation at a fast food restaurant is doing plenty of talking. A new study published in the online issue of Pediatrics shows that nutritional information increases the chances that a parent will choose a lower calorie options for their children.

“Findings revealed that parents who received menus containing calorie information selected items containing an average of 102 less calories for their children when compared to food choices made by parents whose menus did not list calorie content. Parents whose menus did include nutritional information chose meals containing approximately 570 calories, while those having menus that did not list calorie information chose meals containing about 670 calories. Unfortunately, the results of the analysis showed no difference in the calorie content of the food choices made by the two groups of parents when selecting meals for themselves.”

Hey, at least we’re starting to do it for the kids.. Parents always put themselves second.

In other child obesity news, the Massachusetts state House of Representatives is planning to pass a bill that directs the state Department of Public Health to set regulations that would ultimately push schools to sell healthy snacks in vending machines instead of junk food.

Let’s give it up to January as the unofficial prevent early onset of diabetes in children month.

Shake It Like a Hypertension Causing Salt Shaker

Even though he doesn’t practice the healthy lifestyle he preaches (according to the NYTimes, his favorite snack is Cheez-its, he dumps salt on saltines, and houses PB&B—peanut butter and bacon—sandwiches), Michael Bloomberg has inadvertently been increasing New Yorkers’ life expectancy and health conscientiousness. It started with the ban on smoking in restaurants and bars, went on to the trans-fat battle, continued with calorie disclosure, and has now arrived at salt—and for good reason.

“Many processed foods contain too much salt, and sauces, spreads, and processed meats are the top offenders, new research shows..

Sauces and spreads, at 1,283 mg per 100 g, and processed meats, at 846 mg per 100 g, were the categories with the highest average sodium content.

Sodium content was lowest for cereals (206 mg per 100 g) and fruits and vegetables (211 mg per 100 g). Nearly two-thirds of the 33 food categories had average sodium concentrations that were higher than the maximum standards set by the UK Food Standards Agency, while breads, processed meats, sauces and canned vegetables included many subcategories above these targets.”

For your reference, a food is considered high in sodium if it contains more than 500mg per 100g.

Salt reduction programs can help Americans slow the onset of or even avoid chronic diseases such as high blood pressure at a fraction of the cost of hypertension drug therapies.

Salt, among its laundry list of attributes, is most notably a great preservative and taste enhancer. Sure, the food manufacturers might not be too pleased that they now have to change around formulas, but the drug manufacturers might be the most resistant to potential sodium regulations. Without chronic illnesses like high blood pressure constantly turning around profits, the drug companies won’t make as much money on hypertension medication.

World domination might have to wait until tomorrow night, Pinky. Hopefully they’ll keep those ridiculous commercials around for satirical value.

Bloomberg Continues Commitment to Health Crusade, Remains Hypocrite

Salt, the age-old preservative and all-purpose taste enhancer, is getting the shaft. Your blood pressure, and your belly, will soon have the great city of New York and it’s unprecedented thrice term mayor, Michael Bloomberg to thank for being so trim. New York City announced it’s national campaign to convince restaurants and food manufacturers to reduce the amount of salt they put in their food products.

“The plan, for which the city claims support from health agencies in other cities and states, sets a goal of reducing the amount of salt in packaged and restaurant food by 25 percent over the next five years.

Public health experts say that would reduce the incidence of high blood pressure and should help prevent some of the strokes and heart attacks associated with that condition. The plan is voluntary for food companies and involves no legislation. It allows companies to cut salt gradually over five years so the change is not so noticeable to consumers.”

Hopefully restaurants and food manufacturers won’t just laugh in Bloomberg’s face given his very famous salt (and sweet) tooth despite a “healthy” lifestyle has been the mayor’s major platform since he first took office what seems like decades ago.

The recommended daily allowance for sodium only encompasses the natural salts found in foods. Anything added to that, even from the saltshaker on the table, is more than your body needs. Canned and dehydrated soups have 630-1300mg per cup, soy sauce has 1350 per Tbsp., and a slice of pizza can top out at almost 1500 mg per slice.

The CSPI has been actively working on this campaign as well, fully supporting the New York City’s crusade against sodium chloride and is even so bold as to call salt the most dangerous food ingredient in food supply.