I don’t really don’t get the point, but this mean we will be seeing Interstellar Cheddar on the supermarket shelves?

Since all the good nutrients come from nutrients in the ground, your foood can only be as good as the soil you grow it in. Turns out that Michelle Obama’s organic garden is not very organic.  Seems the Clinton used sewer sludge to fertlize the grounds in the 90’s which has high levels of lead.  Not the end of the world, but the Obamas are definitely going to have to reconstitute their soil before growing anything else.

My CSA really hasn’t been the experience I was hoping for, but one thing I have to give them credit for — they seem to have a never ending supply of kale. I’ve been chopping, bagging and freezing greens for winter soups, but, still more keeps coming. Today, I made another batch of one of my favorites - kale chips. They are light and airy, can be eaten by the handful, and I love to sprinkle them on salads as well. They’re completely simple to make:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Take leaves of washed, dried kale, and use a knife to cut out the stem (one tip someone gave me, fold the leaf in half, then cut along the stem, and when you open it again the stem is gone). Cut the kale into bite sized pieces, about the same size as tortilla chips. Lay them flat in a single layer on a pre-sprayed baking sheet, then spray your leaves (I use Crisco Olive Oil spray). Sprinkle a little kosher salt on, then bake for 10 minutes.

That’s it. Enjoy!

The Food Safety Enhancement Act has failed to gain passage in the House this afternoon.  Needing a two-thirds vote, the tally came in 6 votes short, 280-150. Most opposition was Republican, but there was a few key Democrats that voted nay:

Arcuri
Bean
Blumenauer
Childers
Griffith
Heinrich
Hinchey
Kagen
Kind
Luján
Markey (CO)
Marshall
Massa
Minnick
Perriello
Pingree (ME)
Salazar
Shuler
Taylor
Teague
Welch
Woolsey

This is a really odd collection of reps here.  On one side, there is conservative dems like Huler and Bean, on the otherhand there are some of the most progressive members mixed in such as Blumenauer and Welch. The bill will now go back to committe for a new round of revisions in order to pull in the needed 6 votes.

Looks like Rep. Peterson stripped out the provisions to cover farms under the new regulations of the Food Safety Enhancement Act.  While it is troubling that we’re not going to have any safety “enhancements” on our nation’s farms, there is a positive to this.  There was a concern that the new changes would be unfairly burdensome to small farmers, so this should take that issue off the table for now.  However, this bill will do nothing to provide new and badly needed standards for the mega factory farms.

On the bright side, the bill does increase inspections and fines for violation for food processing facilities.  This would be a huge step forward and address some the contamination issues we’ve seen in the past year such as the multiple ground beef recalls and the peanut butter contamination.

The fines actually look like they have real teeth, from CQ:

The bill imposes both criminal and civil penalties for individuals and companies that violate food safety laws. For individuals who knowingly violate food safety laws, the measure allows for a prison term of up to 10 years.

• For unintentional violations involving individuals, the measure imposes a fine of $20,000 per violation, not to exceed $50,000 in a single proceeding.
• For unintentional violations involving companies, the bill imposes a fine of $250,000 per violation, not to exceed $1 million in a single proceeding.
• For intentional violations with respect to individuals the fine would be $50,000 per violation, not to exceed $100,000 in a single proceeding.
• For intentional violations involving companies, the fine would be $500,000 per violation, not to exceed $7.5 million in a single proceeding.

Update: meat and poultry are exempt. Sigh. OK this bill is not so good.

Fun food site of the moment: Scanwiches.com

The Dagwood via Scanwiches.com

From Congressional Quarterly, the House is scheduled to vote today on this (no link, subscription required):

Food Safety — HR 2749, Food Safety Enhancement Act, is scheduled for House consideration today under suspension of the rules. The bill overhauls food safety regulations for farms and food processing facilities, requiring more frequent inspections at food facilities and giving the FDA authority to impose criminal and civil penalties. The measure generally exempts farms from registration requirements and fees, although the bill does establish new regulations for the farming practices for fresh produce. The FDA would have authority to impose mandatory quarantines on geographic areas which are concluded to be the source of contaminated food posing a serious threat to humans or animals. The House will take up a version of the bill that has been modified as a result of talks between leaders of the Energy and Commerce and Agriculture committees to address concerns of agricultural interests about the role of the FDA in regulating farm activities. The compromise bill was released this morning.

The UK’s Food Standards Agency is claiming that organics are not healthier than conventional produce:

Among the 55 of 162 studies that were included in the final analysis, there were a small number of differences in nutrition between organic and conventionally produced food but not large enough to be of any public health relevance, said study leader Dr Alan Dangour.

Overall the report, which is published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found no differences in most nutrients in organically or conventionally grown crops, including in vitamin C, calcium, and iron.

The Soil Association promptly fired back:

Peter Melchett, policy director at the Soil Association said they were disappointed with the conclusions.

“The review rejected almost all of the existing studies of comparisons between organic and non-organic nutritional differences.

“Although the researchers say that the differences between organic and non-organic food are not ‘important’, due to the relatively few studies, they report in their analysis that there are higher levels of beneficial nutrients in organic compared to non-organic foods.

“Without large-scale, longitudinal research it is difficult to come to far-reaching clear conclusions on this, which was acknowledged by the authors of the FSA review.

“Also, there is not sufficient research on the long-term effects of pesticides on human health,” he added.

Few people eat organic becuase they think that organic oranges are going to have more vitamin C than conventional.  However there are suggestions that organic produce has significantly more micro-nutrients, which it doesn’t look like this study bothered exploring.  Furthermore, a big reason to each organic is to avoid pesticides, something this study does not address.

Counting down the minutes til the Big Food lobbyists start waving this study around wildly at anyone who will listen.

This piece was cross-posted at Change.org’s Sustainable Food Blog.  I’m helping Natasha keep the lights on while she’s off honeymooning.

Yesterday there was the startling report that 10% of all healthcare costs are due to obesity. That totals up to more than $147 billion a year. Considering that the current healthcare bills that are winding their way through Congress are wearing price tags in the $1 - $1.5 trillion range, it is clear that obesity is playing a large role in the spiraling costs.

While so many politicians wax poetic about keeping down costs, a sugar tax has been roundly panned as a non-starter. This is not surprising. As with tobacco, often public sentiment lags behind actual data. America still has a culture that believes that if you’re fat, well it’s your own damn fault:

Being poor in 21-st century America doesn’t mean not having enough to eat, but often it means being part of a culture where fattening, processed foods are not only relatively cheap and convenient, but socially acceptable. It also means having the kind of job that often isn’t all that rewarding, and you really just need to unwind after work instead of stopping at Whole Foods and whipping yourself up a nice tofu stir-fry.

This, perhaps, is what Bingaman really wants the USCO-OP ( United States Council on Overweight and Obesity Prevention) to change. Because let’s be honest: poor people know that green chile cheeseburgers will make them fatter than steamed salmon will, and they know that doing an hour of exercise will make them fitter than watching an hour of television. They know these things, but often they’ve had a long, hard day at work and they’re tired and hungry and just want to be left alone with their remote control and their burger and their Dr. Pepper.

This attitude is what is going to hold us back from really doing something obesity. Yes, people should exercise, but that’s not the whole story. We also live in a society where children drink more soda than milk and soda is one third the price of milk. Until the cost of food reflects the ill side-effects, people will still reach for the green chile cheeseburger, which btw costs one fourth the price of the steamed salmon. And elitists who don’t realize that should really shut their traps and not tell poor people how to eat.

So we have an attitude problem. Which is going to be a huge hurdle to clear. One the other side though, is greener pastures. Turns out that countries like Great Britain are already experimenting with sugar taxes. While we won’t know for years what are the potential health affects, we do know it has the potential to raise some serious dough:

And here’s the payoff: Conservatively estimated, a 10% tax levied on foods that would be defined as “less healthy” by a national standard adopted recently in Great Britain could yield $240 billion in its first five years and $522 billion over 10 years of implementation — if it were to begin in October 2010. If lawmakers instituted a program of tax subsidies to encourage the purchase of fresh and processed fruits and vegetables, the added revenue would still be $356 billion over 10 years.

She’s evil. And wields a deadly weapon.

In general, weird ingredients that you can’t identify or pronounce or can pronounce but have nothing to do with food, like yellow #3, are things to be avoided in food when you can.  Turns out this is not the case when you have a major spinal injury:

When nerve cells in the brain or spine are damaged, they often release a spurt of chemicals that causes nearby cells to die. No one is sure why, and stopping this process is key to preventing the damage that continues to build after a stroke or spinal cord injury.

One of the chemicals is ATP. Nedergaard’s team looked for something that would interfere with this and found the blue dye, which they called BBG, would do this via the P2X7R receptor or doorway.

“We found that IV administration of the P2X7R inhibitor BBG significantly reduced the severity of spinal cord damage without any evident toxicity,” they wrote.

“Remarkably, BBG is a derivative of the widely used food additive FD&C Blue number 1. Currently, more than 1 million pounds of FD&C blue dye No. 1 are consumed yearly in the United States, corresponding to a daily intake of 16 mg per person.”

Just because Americans are consuming large quantities of the stuff doesn’t mean that its necessarily healthy, but in this case, the chance to prevent someone from being paralyzed out weighs any risk.

And has more calories than a Big Mac?  Is that even possible? Good thing I gave up that Starbucks habit.

Frappuccinos make people fat and fat people are more likely to get cancer, warns the World Cancer Research Fund. A Starbuck’s Venti Dark Berry Mocha Frappuccino Blended Coffee with Whipped Cream is the worst culprit. With even more calories (561) than syllables in its name (13), it packs a heftier wallop than even a Big Mac (492).

The Seattle Department of Transportation recently relaxed gardening ordiances, making the city just a little more friendly to its urban gardeners.  It used to be that planting anything but grass on the green strips (parking strips) between the sidewalk and the street would set a person back $225 for a permit. Now the permits are free and residents are welcome to grow vegetables in the green space.

Of course there are nay-sayers and you can check out their arguments in the comments of the article.  The two prevailing critiques are 1) vegetables will encourage the local rat population, and 2) that exhaust fumes will poison the plants.

As for the rat argument, in my own city experience, poor trash storage is a much bigger problem than vegetable plants.  In any case, the adoption of a few outdoor cats on my block has done wonders for tamping down on the rodents.  As for the exhaust fumes, many argue that the chemicals used on most conventional farm land is much worse for the plants than the presence of car exhaust, but either way, if that is a concern for you, no one is going to force feed anyone parking strip veggies.

Parking Strip Squash courtesy of www.fiftybucksaweek.com

Late last week, Center for Science in the Public Interest announced they were filing a lawsuit against Denny’s on behalf of a New Jersey man. The suit alleges that Denny’s endangered its customers by not disclosing the astronomically high amount of sodium in their food:

The suit contends that many of the meals at Denny’s contain more in the one meal than is recommended for an entire day. An example is Denny’s double cheeseburger which contains 3,880 milligrams. The lawsuit is asking the court to order to order Denny’s to list the sodium content of its food on the menu.

Another meal heavy in sodium is the Meat Lover’s Scramble which contains 5,690 milligrams. This meal includes eggs scrambled with cheese,, bacon, diced ham and sausage that comes with more meat on the side plus hash browns and pancakes.

The recommended daily allowance of sodium is 2300 milligrams. For those at risk of heart disease and hypertension, the acceptable level drops to 1500 milligrams. The Meat Lover’s Scramble has 2 and 1/2 days worth of sodium in one sitting. Of course, Denny’s is taking one out of the McDonald’s playbook, calling the suit ridiculous and frivolous. McDonald’s has been sued more than once going back as far as 10 years for causing health problems in their diners, and so far McDonald’s has managed to win in the courts:

NEW YORK (CNN) - A lawsuit alleging food from McDonald’s restaurants is responsible for making people obese got thrown out by a federal judge Wednesday.

The landmark legal action was the first of its kind against a fast-food chain to make its way into a U.S. courtroom.

McDonald’s spokesman Walt Riker said that common sense had prevailed in the suit. “We said from the beginning that this was a frivolous lawsuit. Today’s ruling confirms that fact.”

The Denny’s lawsuit will be a very hard case to make. However, as the Obama campaign has shown, its important to take a long ball strategy to public perception. The long history of tobacco litigation is instructive here.

The first tobacco lawsuits were filed in the 1950s, but almost always failed. The tobacco companies argued that the harmful effects of smoking had been recognized for decades; people choose to smoke and so are personally responsible if they suffer ill effects. Slate: A Tobacco Lawsuit Primer (April 25, 2000)

In the late 1990s, plaintiffs began introducing scientific documentation of the chemical dependency generated by smoking—and proof that the tobacco companies were well aware of its addictive properties. Slate: A Tobacco Lawsuit Primer (April 25, 2000) The first successful tobacco lawsuit was awarded in February 2000, when a California jury ordered Philip Morris to pay $51.5 million to a California smoker with inoperable lung cancer. Slate: A Tobacco Lawsuit Primer (April 25, 2000)

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The days of the backyard bomb bunker, stockpiling food rations, and fears of nuclear innolation may have receded with the end of the cold war, but apparently you can stock up your basement if you still think the apocalypse is coming.  Mountain House is selling cans of macoroni and cheese that will last 25 yrs.  Of course its not cheap - $28 for 8 1-cup servings. Or you could just stock up on twinkies, your call.

Odor pollution can be a serious problem.  It can make neighbors nauseus, cause migraines, and even make near by residences uninhabitable, destroying property value.  This is a problem commonly associated with  CAFOs and in particular, factory hog farming.

The citizens of Marston, Maryland have a stinky problem on their hands, and they deserve our sympathy for what must be an incredibly uncomfortable situation. However, just because the company in question has the word organic in their name does not make them an organic farm.  In fact, Enviro-Organic Technologies is much closer to a fertilizer plant than a farm.  The company takes waste products from agricultural and food processing entities, then transforms the waste into an alternative fertilizer.

The fact that no crops or livestock is grown on the land doesn’t stop some to try and use the issue for their own agenda.  Since Enviro-Organic Technologies has the word organic and resides next to farmland, is it really a surprise that a website called Right Wing News would use it to take pot shots at organic farming?

Nevermind, silly question.  But it never ceases to amaze me that there are people out there who irrationally HATE organics.