Food News
Schwan’s Sold to South Korean Company
KSAL | Posted on November 17, 2018Schwan’s Company, a leading U.S. food business, announced Thursday it has reached an agreement to sell a majority stake of the company to CJ CheilJedang (CJCJ), of Seoul, South Korea.Schwan’s Company began in 1952 as a one-man-and-a-truck home-delivery business operating in rural Minnesota. Today, Schwan’s is a leading U.S. food manufacturer and marketer with approximately 12,000 employees and trusted brands like Schwan’s® fine foods, Red Baron®, Freschetta® and Tony’s® pizza, Edwards® and Mrs. Smith’s® desserts, Pagoda® Asian-style foods and Schwan’s® Home Delivery.
Cost of Thanksgiving Day dinner drops by 75 cents
Bismarck Tribune | Posted on November 17, 2018American Farm Bureau Federation’s 32nd annual price survey of classic items found on the Thanksgiving Day dinner table indicates the average cost of this year’s feast for 10 is $49.12, a 75-cent decrease from last year’s average of $49.87.
Sucking your baby's pacifier to clean it may prevent allergies
Science Daily | Posted on November 17, 2018New research suggests a link between parental sucking on a pacifier and a lower allergic response among young children.
Dietary fat is good? Dietary fat is bad? Coming to consensus
Science Daily | Posted on November 17, 2018Which is better, a low-fat/high-carbohydrate diet or a high-fat/low-carbohydrate diet -- or is it the type of fat that matters? In a new paper, researchers with diverse expertise and perspectives on the issues laid out the case for each position and came to a consensus and a future research agenda.The researchers agreed that no specific fat to carbohydrate ratio is best for everyone, and that an overall high-quality diet that is low in sugar and refined grains will help most people maintain a healthy weight and low chronic disease risk. They agreed that by focusing on diet quality -- replacing saturated or trans fats with unsaturated fats and replacing refined carbohydrates with whole grains and nonstarchy vegetables -- most people can maintain good health within a broad range of fat-to-carbohydrate ratios.
Gene-edited food is coming, but will shoppers buy?
WTOL | Posted on November 15, 2018The next generation of biotech food is headed for the grocery aisles, and first up may be salad dressings or granola bars made with soybean oil genetically tweaked to be good for your heart.By early next year, the first foods from plants or animals that had their DNA "edited" are expected to begin selling. It's a different technology than today's controversial "genetically modified" foods, more like faster breeding that promises to boost nutrition, spur crop growth, and make farm animals hardier and fruits and vegetables last longer.The U.S. National Academy of Sciences has declared gene editing one of the breakthroughs needed to improve food production so the world can feed billions more people amid a changing climate. Yet governments are wrestling with how to regulate this powerful new tool. And after years of confusion and rancor, will shoppers accept gene-edited foods or view them as GMOs in disguise?"If the consumer sees the benefit, I think they'll embrace the products and worry less about the technology," said Dan Voytas, a University of Minnesota professor and chief science office
FDA Says Leafy Green Industry Must Improve Safety
Growing Produce | Posted on November 15, 2018In his wrap up letter following the 2018 Yuma-AZ-linked Shiga-toxin producing E. coli(STEC) outbreak, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. is calling for improved safety measures for growing leafy greens. “We recognize and appreciate the efforts that the leafy greens industry has taken to date. But we know more must be done on all fronts to help prevent future foodborne illness outbreaks,” he says.FDA is calling for specific improvements, ssure that all agricultural water (water that directly contacts the harvestable portion of the crop) used by growers is safe and adequate for its intended use (including agricultural water used for application of crop protection chemicals).Assess and mitigate risks related to land uses near or adjacent to growing fields that may contaminate agricultural water or leafy greens crops directly (e.g., nearby cattle operations or dairy farms, manure, or composting facilities).Verify that food safety procedures, policies, and practices, including supplier controls for fresh-cut processors, are developed and consistently implemented on farms (both domestic and foreign) and in fresh-cut produce manufacturing/processing food facilities to minimize the potential for contamination and/or spread of human pathogens.When a foodborne pathogen is identified in the growing or processing environment, in agricultural inputs (e.g., agricultural water), in raw agricultural commodities or in fresh-cut ready-to-eat produce, a root cause analysis should be performed to determine the likely source of the contamination, if prevention measures have failed, and whether additional measures are needed to prevent a reoccurrence.
Massachusetts raw milk dairy suspends production for antibiotic traces
Food Safety News | Posted on November 15, 2018Nick Hoffman and family practice Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) at Hoffman Farm in Franklin, MA, offer fresh vegetables, eggs and raw milk to shareholders who pay $615 every week.But earlier this month, Hoffman Farm ran into a snag in its bucolic business plan. Raw milk sold by Hoffman tested positive for traces of antibiotics.The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) does not tolerate any amount of antibiotics in milk, not even a smidgen. The trace amount found in Hoffman’s milk was likely because the farmer treated an infected cow with medication.Hoffman is an experienced farmer. He started in 2003, farming for a decade in New Braintree, MA, where he grew hay and vegetables and milked 40 goats. He sold fresh produce to local restaurants.Today, Hoffman holds a Certificate of Registration from MDAR that permits the farm to sell raw or unpasteurized milk legally. MDAR has not received any reports of anyone becoming ill or experiencing an adverse incident.However, Hoffman Farm has recalled its raw milk for antibiotic contamination and suspended production.
How we fell out of love with milk
The Guardian | Posted on November 14, 2018Soya, almond, oat... Whether for health issues, animal welfare or the future of the planet, ‘alt-milks’ have never been more popular. Are we approaching dairy’s final days?But the surge in popularity for alt-milks has many different sources. There are those who are concerned about animal welfare or our perilous environmental situation: recent research found that a quarter of us now consider ourselves “meat reducers”. In October, a major study on our food system published in the journal Nature advised that prosperous countries such as Britain and the US should cut their milk consumption by 60% (and beef intake by 90%).
Pets or People, Big Food Faces the Same Supermarket Battle
Wall Street Journal | Posted on November 14, 2018Food makers betting on pets to make up for falling sales to people are facing some familiar problems. Pet foods with fancier ingredients are eating away at market share for mainstream brands. Snacks for dogs and cats are selling faster than meals. And a flood of new products is putting pressure on prices.
New report details sources of foodborne illnesses
Meating Place (free registration required) | Posted on November 14, 2018The most common sources of foodborne pathogens causing illness are widely varied and, for most pathogens, not meat, according to a new report from the Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration (IFSAC). The report, titled “Foodborne illness source attribution estimates for 2016 for Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157, Listeria monocytogenes, and Campylobacter using multi-year outbreak surveillance data, United States,” is the result of collaboration among the Centers for Disease Control, the Food & Drug Administration and USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.The authors used outbreak data to produce new estimates for foods responsible for foodborne illnesses caused by four pathogens in 2016. The CDC estimates that, together, these four pathogens cause 1.9 million foodborne illnesses in the United States each year. The 2016 report shows that:Salmonella illnesses came from a wide variety of foods.E. coli O157 illnesses were most often linked to vegetable row crops (such as leafy greens) and beef. Listeria monocytogenes illnesses were most often linked to dairy products and fruits. Dairy and fruits remain the top two categories with the highest estimated attribution percentages, but the difference between the two categories is not statistically signifcant.There was an increase in the estimated attribution of Listeria illnesses to vegetable row crops from 3.4 percent in 2013 to 12.5 percent in 2016 due to the impact of a large multi-state outbreak in 2015 linked to prepackaged lettuce.Campylobacter illnesses were most often linked to chicken after removing dairy outbreaks from the estimates.Most foodborne Campylobacter outbreaks were associated with unpasteurized milk, which is not widely consumed, and those outbreaks likely over-represent dairy as a source of Campylobacter illness. For 2016, chicken had a significantly higher estimated attribution percentage than the other non-dairy food categories. The adjusted chicken percentage increased from 9.5 percent to 30.3 percent after removing dairy.