VIDEO: for Food Additives, Corporations Decide What’s Safe to Eat

7 Best Foods to Eat Before an Important Meeting

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Planning what you’ll eat before an important meeting may prove to be just as valuable. While grabbing a muffin or a sandwich on your way in may be an easy option, it may also leave you feeling fatigued and unfocused, keeping you from effectively conveying important information to your team on how to move your company to the next level.

Instead, try eating nutritious foods, which may go a long way towards helping you feel energized, focused and calm. Consider ordering in one of these options as a meal or keep them on hand for a quick, convenient snack to help make every meeting an opportunity for greater success.

Cashews: Cashews are a good source of L-tryptophan, the amino acid that is necessary for healthy serotonin production, making them a perfect go-to snack to help you feel calm and in control. A handful 30 minutes before your meeting should do the trick.

Salmon: Loaded in Omega-3 essential fats that help with focus and concentration, a piece of grilled salmon would be a perfect lunch option to prime you for an afternoon meeting.

Eggs (with yolks!): Egg yolks contain lecithin, which boost acetylcholine production, which in turn helps you focus better, gain greater concentration, and improve memory recall. Ideally, have them soft boiled or hard boiled rather than scrambled to prevent oxidation and degradation of vital nutrients contained in the yolk. Perfect nutrition before an important morning meeting.

Avocado: The monounsaturated fats in avocado will help nourish your brain and improve circulation. Particularly good if you’re feeling anxious or stressed about your meeting. Have some with eggs for breakfast or on a salad for lunch to help you feel calm and in control.

Blueberries: Blueberries are nutritional powerhouses containing antioxidants that can protect your brain from cognitive decline, helping you stay focused and mentally energized over the long haul. Have a cup of fresh blueberries as a snack before your meeting. For best results, pair them with your handful of cashews for a one-two punch.

Dark chocolate with almond butter: Chocolate is a great source of antioxidants and it also contains caffeine, which can give you a boost without the hyper-caffeinating effects of a cup of coffee. The almond butter provides quality fats that can calm a stressed brain. The combination can offer up a laser sharp but calm mind. Think: instant, healthy Reese’s!

Green drink: These are becoming as popular as custom-made coffee and are much healthier! Green drinks, made with a combination of vegetables and fruit are loaded in antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals that can help support optimal brain function. Additionally, green drinks are very alkylanizing, which can also offset feelings of stress before an important meeting.

States w/the most fast food per capita = highest obesity 

America has been informally dubbed a “Fast Food Nation.” It is the land of shoe string fries and ancient, everlasting burgers. It’s a utopia where the ketchup flows like wine.

If you’re driving cross-country, you’ll be able to find a fast food establishment of some kind in every single state, but you might have an easier time in the locations that aren’t surrounded by sea. Yes, it is middle America that has the most fast food restaurants per capita, with Kentucky taking the lead (fried chicken, anyone?). It may come as no surprise, then, that Kentucky is among the most obese states in America.

Check out the map in the article to discover how your home state stacks up to the rest of the county…


The most and least obese US States

To be perfectly honest, even our best states (ranging from 20-25% of population defined obese) is not very good.  That said, it’s easy to recognize the direct correlation of the volume of fast food with obesity rates – nearly doubling in states with the highest volume of fast food restaurants.

The states with the LOWEST obesity rates:

1. Montana
2. Colorado
3. Nevada
4. Minnesota
5. Massachusetts
      – The obesity rate in Massachusetts in 2013 was 22.2 percent.
6. Connecticut
      – The obesity rate in Connecticut in 2013 was 23.2 percent.
7. New Mexico
8. California
9. Hawaii
10. New York
      – The obesity rate in New York in 2013 was 24 percent.

The states with the HIGHEST obesity rates:

1. Mississippi
      – 35.4 percent of residents obese in 2013.
2. West Virginia
      – The obesity rate in West Virginia in 2013 was 34.4 percent.
3. Delaware
      – The obesity rate in Delaware in 2013 was 34.3 percent.
4. Louisiana
5. Arkansas
6. South Carolina
7. Tennessee
8. Ohio
9. Kentucky
10. Oklahoma

more…

101 stories of hope, innovation & success bettering our food system

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Food Tank is highlighting stories of hope, innovation, and success in creating a better food system. From women’s land access in Chad and urban green spaces in Australia to chefs in the United Kingdom and the United States implementing local, sustainable food sourcing—there are thousands of innovations giving us hope about the future of food.

Food Tank is featuring 101 bright spots in the food system that we hope will inspire eaters, businesses, researchers, scientists, funders, donors, and policy makers to create—and support—a more sustainable food system.

1. Founder and Director of Leaf for Life David Kennedy highlights how eaters and consumers can take responsibility for their health and incorporate more leafy greens into kitchen gardens in his book Eat Your Greens.

2. According to Solar Cookers International, solar ovens help reduce toxic emissions and reduce greenhouse gases, improving both human and environmental health. Solar Cooker at CantinaWest provides resources to find solar cooking classes in eighteen states in the U.S.

3. Chef Dan Barber, co-owner of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns, wrote The Third Plate to radically change America’s cuisine by moving past farm-to-table. In the book he proposes a new definition for ethical and delicious eating.

4. Chef José Andres’ Think Food Group is bringing together healthy food advocates from around the globe. The World Central Kitchen empowers people to focus on smart solutions to hunger and poverty.

5. Chef Barton Seaver and nutritional scientist P.K. Newby produced National Geographic Food for Health for everyday healthy eating for both people and the planet. It features 148 foods that have high nutritional value and little impact on the environment.

more…

Here’s Which Produce Has the Most Pesticides

FOOD REPUBLIC: more than just Music & Tech at SXSW 2015 – YUM

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SXSW Expands Food Programming For 2015

Here are some of the top pick from Food Republic:

The annual music, film and technology conference in Austin, Texas, has pulled out all the stops for food-related events this year.

For badge holders, the programming for the 2015 edition of SouthBites is unprecedented. What started in 2013 as a makeshift outdoor food court featuring Top Chef winner Paul Qui’s selection of local food trucks transformed into a proper conference last year with panels from notable chefs, food journalists and podcasters. This year, the expanded program has grown to feature a whopping 30 panels featuring the likes of David Chang (Momofuku), Jonathan Gold (Los Angeles Times), and Food Republic’s very own Richard Martin (hi boss!). Topics will include advances in coffee technology, the logistics of food festivals, craft-beer subculture and how to build 3 Michelin star restaurants.

SouthBites will take place at the Driskill Hotel from Saturday, March 14 through Monday, March 16. A few of our picks:

For non-badge holders, the trailer park is open to the general public and features some of Austin’s most progressive and delicious small bites, juice and coffee. A few non-local trucks will join the fun this year, such as The Modular from Houston, and Washington, D.C.’s beloved Toki Underground ramen shop will make a two-day-only pop-up appearance on the 17th and 18th, showcasing their Taiwanese-style ramen made with local Texas produce. The food park will be open from March 13-21 from 11 a.m. to midnight.

And for the Francophiles out there, the French pop-up restaurant from chef Rémi Fournier will return to the French Legation from March 15-20, but this year he’s bringing Michelin-starred chef Gérard Bossé with him to create an Austin version of his Angers restaurant Une Île. Natural wines and “forgotten” cocktails will accompany the lunch and dinner menus, which cost from $110 to $200.

Two new clues to why processed food makes us fat (ill)!

Food Waste is a Serious Economic and Environmental Issue

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With millions of households across the country struggling to have enough to eat, and millions of tons of food being tossed in the garbage, food waste is increasingly being seen as a serious environmental and economic issue.

A report released Wednesday shows that about 60 million metric tons of food is wasted a year in the United States, with an estimated value of $162 billion. About 32 million metric tons of it end up in municipal landfills, at a cost of about $1.5 billion a year to local governments.

The problem is not limited to the United States.

The report estimates that a third of all the food produced in the world is never consumed, and the total cost of that food waste could be as high as $400 billion a year. Reducing food waste from 20 to 50 percent globally could save $120 billion to $300 billion a year by 2030, the report found.

“Food waste is a global issue, and tackling it is a priority,” said Richard Swannell, director of sustainable food systems at the Waste and Resources Action Program, or Wrap, an antiwaste organization in Britain that compiled the new report. “The difficulty is often in knowing where to start and how to make the biggest economic and environmental savings.”

The food discarded by retailers and consumers in the most developed countries would be more than enough to feed all of the world’s 870 million hungry people, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

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But it is not just those countries that have problems with food waste. The report showed that it is also an issue in African countries like South Africa.

The problem is expected to grow worse as the world’s population increases, the report found. By 2030, when the global middle class expands, consumer food waste will cost $600 billion a year, unless actions are taken to reduce the waste, according to the report.

Food waste is not only a social cost, but it contributes to growing environmental problems like climate change, experts say, with the production of food consuming vast quantities of water, fertilizer and land. The fuel that is burned to process, refrigerate and transport it also adds to the environmental cost.

Most food waste is thrown away in landfills, where it decomposes and emits methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Globally, it creates 3.3 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases annually, about 7 percent of the total emissions, according to the report.

The United Nations agency points out that methane gas from the world’s landfills are surpassed in emissions by only China and the United States.

“Seven percent is not the largest contributor of greenhouse gasses, but it’s not an insignificant amount,” said Helen Mountford, the director of economics at the World Resources Institute. “But this is one area — reducing food waste — where we can make a difference.”

Over the last several years, some cities and counties in the United States, including New York City, have started programs to tackle the issue. Hennepin County, Minn., the state’s most populous county, provides grants from $10,000 to $50,000 to local business and nonprofits to help recycle food products or turn them into compost.

“There is still a lot in the waste stream,” said Paul Kroening, supervising environmentalist at Hennepin County Environmental Services. “We are just scratching the surface.”

A coalition of food industry trade groups, the Food Waste Reduction Alliance, has also increased effort to combat food waste. Meghan Stasz, the director of sustainability for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, a member of the alliance, said the group was working with supermarket chains to reduce waste by clarifying expiration dates and selling smaller portions of food.

Ms. Stasz said the group was also getting its members to donate more food and make changes in manufacturing processes to reduce the amount of wasted food. One member, the giant food company ConAgra, changed the way it placed dough in shell for its pot pies and saved 235 tons of dough in a year.

Mr. Swannell, of the antiwaste group Wrap, applauded those efforts, but said more still needed to be done.

“Awareness of food waste has risen, but we need to do more to tie that awareness to actions on the ground,” he said. “We need to find better ways to deal with food waste, but we need to prevent it in the first place.”

In the war over GMO labeling, Big Food loses the PR battle

GRAZE: Demand alters landscape for Domestic Grassfed Beef

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Recent developments in the U.S. grassfed beef sector will have a major and lasting impact on the industry and alter the way business is conducted.

Over the past several weeks, two of the “Big 4” beef packers in the U.S. launched efforts to initiate domestic grassfed beef programs. Also, a major fast food company has launched a line of “All Natural Grass Fed Beef” hamburgers at selected locations.

Carl’s Jr., a chain with 1,150 restaurants, announced that it will offer an “All Natural Burger” featuring an “all-natural, grass-fed, free-range beef patty” with no added hormones or antibiotics. The burger was scheduled to be available at participating Carl’s Jr. locations starting December 17, 2014.

A “single” burger will cost $4.69, with a “double” selling at $6.99. Customers can substitute the grassfed patty for any burger on the menu for an additional charge. Carl’s Jr. claims it will be the first “major fast food chain” or quick service restaurant (QSR) to offer an all-natural, grassfed beef hamburger. Some in the media are calling this the first “clean” burger in fast food.  

The grassfed beef is imported from Australia. Carl’s Jr. has stated in the media that this is because of a lack of available domestic supply. Price point is a major factor for a QSR like Carl’s Jr., so most likely there is not enough domestic supply available within an appropriate price range to satisfy the restaurant chain.  

Meanwhile, National Beef and JBS, two of the Big 4 packers, have established grassfed beef divisions in their respective companies and hope to launch grassfed offerings in 2015. Both programs will seek grass-finished cattle that meet or exceed both USDA Grass Fed Standards and the American Grassfed Association (AGA) production protocol.

They desire grass-finished cattle that grade USDA High Select and USDA Choice, and will likely develop a formula-based payment program that rewards grassfed beef finishers for the better-grading cattle and those that achieve higher dressed-weight yields. The cattle would be harvested at select plants within each company’s system, so animals finished within a reasonable proximity to these plants would be favored. Both companies hope to begin with several loads (each 40 head) of cattle harvested weekly, and ramp up to more than 1,000 head per week.  

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Cargill, another member of the Big 4, has been active in the grassfed beef sector for several years. The company owns one of the largest beef packers in Australia, and from there has been harvesting grassfed beef and exporting it to the U.S. and other countries. With National and JBS establishing domestic grassfed beef programs, Cargill may elect to follow suit. That leaves Tyson, the final member of the Big 4, watching and waiting.  

What does all of this mean for the grassfed beef sector in the U.S., and how will it affect existing grassfed beef producers and marketers?

First, the introduction of programs by members of the Big 4 and a major fast food chain immediately legitimizes grassfed beef as a true “player” in the protein sector. Those in the conventional industry who poked fun at grassfed beef or deemed it a fad can no longer do so.

As happened years ago with All Natural Grain Fed beef, entry by the major packers immediately makes grassfed a viable alternative for the consumer. Awareness of grassfed beef among the broader consumer population will skyrocket. Demand for domestically produced grassfed cattle will ramp up significantly.  

If consumers respond favorably to the grassfed beef burgers offered at Carl’s Jr., we can expect to see expansion into Hardee’s, which is owned by the same company. Other chains will also feel compelled to follow with their own offerings. For several years, McDonald’s, Arby’s, Burger King, Subway and Quiznos have looked at grassfed beef options, but have yet to pull the trigger. The launch by Carl’s Jr. will surely stir the pot within those companies, and talks will be renewed.  

All of this will ratchet up demand for grass-finished cattle, and therefore the need for significantly greater grass-finishing capacity. Since National and JBS have indicated they will be seeking cattle that grade USDA High Select and Choice, we will see expanded demand for cattle that are a genetic fit for grass-based production. These will need to be cattle that finish well at well below 30 months of age on a forage-based diet that fits the USDA and AGA grassfed standards.

To accomplish this will require highly skilled forage finishers who can finish cattle to a high degree on a year-round basis and within a 20- to 24-month age range at harvest. To avoid cattle “aging out” at the processing plants, JBS and National will seek cattle that are source and age-verified.  

These developments are sure to cause gnashing of  teeth for some in the grassfed beef business. Others will see potential opportunity. As news of these developments spreads further among the grassfed community, it will be interesting to see and read the many varied reactions.

They will range from “the sky is falling” to “this will grow the entire grassfed beef sector.“ While it should not be the case, some will be completely surprised by the Big 4 entering the grassfed beef market. With annual growth rates between 25-30% over the past 15 years, and with grassfed now accounting for 3-6% of the total beef market share in major metro markets, entry by bigger players was inevitable. Long-established branded meat programs (Strauss Brands, Meyer Natural, Maverick Ranch, Nolan Ryan All Natural, Allen Brothers) had entered the grassfed market, so it was obvious that the Big 4 were eventually coming. What may surprise many is that it happened so quickly.  

It is quite evident that the development of the grassfed beef sector has closely mirrored that of the All Natural Grain Fed Beef sector. In the early days of that movement, we saw pioneers and entrepreneurs take the initial risks, challenges and slings and arrows. They were derided and accused of being enemies of the beef industry. They were told that what they were doing was simply a fad that would quickly die.

Instead, these pioneers slowly but surely built a strong and loyal customer base, gradually altering the landscape of the industry. As they gained market share, larger programs began to buy and consolidate the early efforts. Then the big packers joined the fray and started their own All Natural programs. Today, almost every major beef program has their own All Natural beef label. However, several of the original programs found ways to survive and thrive through all the challenges presented over the past three decades. The pioneers in the grassfed beef sector will have to do the same.

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These changes will not be a major challenge to direct marketers. If you have established a solid business, you will not see any major changes in demand. Your customers will remain loyal and will continue to buy from you. They are looking to buy direct from the farmer or rancher, and are not likely to switch to a more anonymous Big 4 supplier.  

The challenges for existing grassfed branded programs are much more real. The Big 4 have far more resources and capital to throw at the sector, and distributors and retailers are commonly more loyal to price points than to particular branded programs.

Make no mistake, the entry of JBS and National into the grassfed beef sector will create heartburn for many of the existing branded programs, and they will have to examine how best to compete in the marketplace. JBS and National will increase the competition for an already record-low pool of feeder cattle.

On the other end, they will create competition in wholesale pricing with their greater economies of scale and cheaper processing. Existing grassfed branded programs need to examine the older, well-established branded beef programs, and learn from them how to be successful in an ever-competitive market.


What will all of this do for grassfed cattle pricing? We could see some initial bidding wars due to a sharp increase in demand at a time of short feeder cattle supplies. But the packers push a sharp pencil and will not overpay for long, especially in light of the current historic price highs. The packers’ formula-based systems will offer higher prices for quality, while discounting poorly finished cattle.

This is a great opportunity for producers to establish themselves as providers of grassfed beef. There will be many more programs searching for providers, and getting yourself known in that circle will be important. There will also be opportunity for people to come on line as professional forage finishers, although they will need to be capable of finishing at least several hundred head annually, and do so most of the year.

While there may be some attempt to establish forage feedlots, these will be a minority. The grassfed beef sector has done a great job of educating the consumer to expect pasture finishing. The AGA will be watching closely, and will speak out rather loudly if the big packers attempt to make this a feedlot production system.


So sit back, take a deep breath, and don’t get overly excited one way or the other. As a smart businessperson, pay close attention to what your competitors are doing, and learn from them. Determine how you can best differentiate your program to the consumer and/or how you can work with other programs to grow market share as a whole. Always remember — where there are challenges, there are opportunities.  

by:  Allen R. Williams, Ph.D.