Growers and Grocers

Back in 1962, the kiwifruit (then known as the Chinese gooseberry) was a virtual unknown to American consumers, but thanks to the grit, creativity and resourcefulness of produce distributor Frieda Caplan, the brown, furry fruit was renamed, promoted directly to consumers and eventually became a staple of fruit salads and bowls […]

Whole Foods Market has recently announced that they will be introducing a line of meat that will carry the label “animal compassionate,” telling consumers that the animals were raised in a humane manner until they were slaughtered.
Grocery stores nationwide are starting to use more sensitive labelling in their meat and other products, […]

The purple tomato being developed by Oregon State University doesn’t sound like a Frankenfruit. It actually sounds like a great idea. According to the AP, the purple tomato hybrid was not created entirely in a lab, but gets its roots from a wild species found in South America. Scientists took seeds from […]

First spinach, then green lettuce, now it’s egg salad.
Ballard’s Farm Sausage Inc., a West-Virginia-based company is recalling its egg salad in 17 states because of possible contamination. Tests done over the weekend revealed mixed results for Listeria monocytogenes, a bacterium that can cause serious or fatal infections in young children or elderly people, and […]

With the recent outbreaks of the virulent strains of E-coli that have caused everything from tragic death to widespread illness, we can be assured that the E-coli contamination scare is not only not over, it’s only just begun.
Where do we turn? What does the consumer do to ensure the safety of food given to […]

You might have noticed high prices for tomatoes recently. We are certainly seeing them here in Northern California. Mike Marks, the produce expert for the Sacramento Bee, discusses the causes for the jump in prices in this week’s food section. As usual, the high prices are directly related to low supply and high demand. […]

The AFP reports that “Japan has accepted a major slash in its international quota for prized southern bluefin tuna as punishment for overfishing.” The conclusion that Japan was overfishing was reached by the international Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna, which ruled that Japan’s annual quota would be reduced from 6,065 tons […]

The latest in the recent spate of food recalls is the voluntary recall of pork by an Ohio packing company. According to the Ohio Farm bureau, the Herman Falter Packing Co. of Columbus, Ohio, has recalled 1,178 pounds of pork packaged there because it might contain Listeria monocytogenes.
Specifically this is what is affected by the […]

It’s a sad, sad world when even chocolate becomes the subject of food label confusion. The Hartford Courant recently took on the task of decoding current chocolate labeling practices. Currently, American chocolate companies are highlighting the amount of cacao in the chocolate.
Cacao is defined as “that blend of cocoa solids and cocoa […]

If you’re from New York and regularly drop by McDonald’s for your usual lunch of fries and burger, then this may be good news for you.
New York health officials are seriously considering banning the use of artificial trans fats in restaurants. Artificial trans fatty acids or trans fats increase the risks of coronary […]