ColumnAdvertising tricks from the food world.

In this edition of Fit to Eat, we’re focusing on advertising and marketing: the good, the bad, the ugly and some gray areas in between. The very bad form award goes to one well-known seafood chain using the prospect of ocean species extinction as a marketing campaign to sell menu items; Chipotle, the burrito chain, enlists Willie Nelson to cover a Coldplay hit to highlight the company’s commitment to supporting small scale farmers; Yum! Brands, the grease factory that brings us Kentucky Fried Chicken and Taco Bell, is working state by state to make it possible for food stamp recipients to use their Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) dollars on fast food (I can see the billboards now); Con Agra is being sued in a class action for advertising its genetically modified corn oil as “100% natural”; and Dean Foods touts that its chocolate milk is made from…milk! Imagine that, real milk, coming soon to a school lunch tray near you.

“Save the Salmon” says Legal Sea Food, but not because salmon are an important part of the food chain, or because they are a sacred food to Native Americans, or because they are amazing creatures. Nope. Save them so that Legal Sea Food can sauté them with lemon butter sauce. Same goes for trout and crab. Yeah, it’s supposed to be funny, but environmentalists aren’t laughing.

Chipotle, the only national fast food chain that sources hormone and antibiotic free meats, produced this animated video of farmers going back to the old ways of doing things with Willie Nelson covering the haunting Coldplay song “The Scientist” in the background. Cynical marketing campaign or sheer brilliance?

Ever looking for new markets, Yum! Brands is applying for inclusion in the food stamp programs in several states. On one hand, it looks like a giant government subsidy for fast food, but the company says fast food is one of the few food options available to homeless food stamp recipients and others without kitchens or the ability to prepare meals.

Some clever lawyers turned the GMO industry’s own language against it, suing Con Agra for its use of the verbiage “100% Natural” on cooking oil that is likely to be made from genetically modified plants. Zeroing in on this definition of GMOs from Monsanto, “Plants or animals that have had their genetic makeup altered to exhibit traits that are not naturally theirs,” the lawsuit contends that consumers are being misled by labels that convey that the product is a natural, wholesome product.

Aiming its new high fructose corn syrup-free chocolate milk squarely at school lunch programs nationwide, Dean Foods unleashes a marketing blitz to tout the attributes of its TruMoo chocolate milk product, among which is the selling point that it’s actually milk! Nutritionists are split on whether or not chocolate milk should be allowed in schools. What’s your take?

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate,  on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

The post Fit to Eat: News from the Food World – Marketing and Advertising Edition appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnWhile the latest food safety stories are shocking, there are solutions.

Once a month, The Green Plate harvests the most interesting, biggest, weirdest, and puzzling recent news stories on food politics, the food industry, eating trends, and edible discoveries from around the web, and shares them with you.

This month, intentionally mismarked Chinese honey contaminated with heavy metals and illegal antibiotics is being shipped to the U.S. through India, preventing the U.S. from collecting tariffs and endangering your health, yet the FDA doesn’t want to inspect the honey entering the country. What gives? The country’s latest food poisoning outbreak has killed one person and sickened many others, resulting in the slow-speed recall of 36 million pounds of turkey due to its contamination by antibiotic resistant salmonella. The worst spin on this, and what’s perhaps most distributing, is turkey contaminated with salmonella isn’t even illegal. Find out how the current resurgence in co-op grocery stores is helping more Americans take charge of what they eat.

Stir a little lead into your tea

The best argument I’ve ever read for buying honey from a local, trusted producer (no matter the cost) is this incredibly well-researched piece in Food Safety News. The report revealed, among other things, that millions of pounds of honey that has been officially banned by the 27 countries of the European Union has entered the United States to be packed by large packers and sold to unsuspected consumers under familiar brand names. Much of this honey is contaminated and much more of it is so adulterated, it’s not even honey anymore. The FDA checks few of the thousands of shipments arriving through 22 American ports each year, because then they’d have to actually test the honey for antibiotics, heavy metals and adulteration, something they, according to an anonymous FDA source, do not want to do.  Since a lot of the honey purchased by large packers is used in processed food and food service applications, check the ingredients of anything you buy. Some very common food items that you might think of as healthy could very likely contain tainted honey.

Lettuce? Tomato? Biohazard?

Last week’s recall of ground turkey proved that, even in the convoluted world of food politics, there’s still room for surprise. The USDA has the power to promote the safety of the nation’s meat supply through testing. However, USDA rules allow 49.9 percent of tested samples of ground turkey to be contaminated with salmonella. When the contamination rate is high enough to warrant action, however, the USDA lacks the power to do anything about it. This is because the agency in charge of mandatory recalls of the sort issued last week is the FDA, not the USDA.  This may partially explain why it took until last week to issue a recall, even though illnesses linked to the turkey were reported starting in March. Apparently, it’s not even illegal to distribute turkey contaminated with salmonella because its presence is so common in food. Consumers Union is calling for the government to classify salmonella as an adulterant and to give the USDA recall power.

Power to the People

Consumers are increasingly taking the responsibility for ensuring the safety of their food into their own hands. Member owned co-ops are on the rise, with roughly 10-12 new stores opening each year and around 250 currently in development. Besides food safety, other drivers include a desire to support local farmers, a desire to shop in bulk to save money and packaging, and a craving for community.

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate,  on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

Image: Altemark, JoelK75, muffet

The post Fit to Eat: (Shocking) News from the Food World appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnThe Meat Eaters’ Guide to Climate Change, score one for the chickens, GM food labeling, and an unlikely prison hunger strike.

Once a month, The Green Plate harvests the most interesting, biggest, weirdest, and puzzling recent news stories on food politics, the food industry, eating trends, and edible discoveries from around the web, and shares them with you. This month, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) wants you to eat less meat for both the planet and your health. Learn about their just released Meat Eaters’ Guide to Climate Change.

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) announced they are working with industry group United Egg Producers to ask Congress to legislate laying hen practices nationwide. What do they propose?

The U.S. recently dropped its opposition to labeling GM foods. What does it mean? And the prison hunger strike that started at California’s Pelican Bay Prison shows no signs of abating. What do prisoners really eat?

Eat less meat but don’t forget to lobby your elected representatives

The Environmental Working Group did lifecycle assessments of 20 types of meat, fish, diary, and vegetable proteins to assess the foods’ greenhouse gas emissions. They used the assesments combined with information from health studies, to create a snappy, consumer-friendly Meat Eaters Guide to Climate Change. The guide is filled with usable information on the environmental and health impacts of eating meat—including charts, graphs, and eye-opening statistics like this one: “If your four-person family skips steak once a week, it’s like taking your car off the road for 3 months.”

This is one of the most comprehensive and useful consumer eating guides that I’ve seen. It’s colorful, engaging, and easy to understand, but it doesn’t oversimplify or dumb down the information. It acknowledges that not all meat production is the same (pasture based operations are better for both human and animal health and the planet), while making the point that they measured the lifecycle of meats from factory farms because that’s what most Americans eat. The guide is also clear on the fact that individual dietary choices can only go so far, recommending that consumers take action to convince elected officials to enact more climate friendly energy policies.

Chickens come first

After California passed Prop 2, which regulated the size of cages for egg laying hens, it looked as if more wide-reaching efforts were going to have to be enacted state by state. With the involvement of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), a similar measure was passed in Michigan. Measures were being considered in both Oregon and Washington until a surprising agreement was announced between HSUS and the industry group, United Egg Producers, to join together to ask Congress to pass Federal legislation regulating the practices for egg laying hens. The proposed legislation would require conventional cages to be replaced with new, enriched housing systems; mandate labeling on all egg cartons nationwide to inform consumers of the method used to produce the eggs, such as “eggs from caged hens,” “eggs from hens in enriched cages,” “eggs from cage-free hens,” and “eggs from free-range hens”; prohibit a number of practices that are used to artificially extend laying cycles; and prohibit the sale of eggs and egg products nationwide that don’t meet these requirements. This agreement indicates that society is shifting toward caring more about how farm animals are treated and, because of this, the industry is willing to give a little to avoid fighting regulations state-by-state, and create a level playing field for all producers. I see this as a win for both farm animals and information-seeking consumers, though not all agree. Some say the “enrichments” don’t go far enough.

Two steps forward on GM food

In a dramatic turnaround, the U.S. delegation to the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the world body made up of various food safety regulatory agencies that regulates global food trade, dropped its opposition to labeling GM Foods. This means that any country wishing to adopt GM food labeling will no longer face the threat of a legal challenge from the World Trade Organization (WTO), and consumers (who overwhelmingly support labeling) will have the information they need to make purchasing decisions. In other GM food news, members of the Senate sent a letter to the FDA late last week stating that they’re moving forward with legislation to prohibit the FDA from spending funds to approve the highly controversial GM salmon. The house passed a similar amendment last month. The Senate stated in the letter that, “Given the strong and growing Congressional opposition to the approval of GE fish in both chambers, spending time on further review of genetically engineered fish would be a waste of taxpayer dollars.”

Prison hunger strike continues 

A hunger strike that began July 1st at California’s Pelican Bay Prison – and had spread to 12 other prisons and at times included 6,600 prisoners – continues and is even garnering support outside the prison system. Prisoners are protesting a variety of issues including medical care, confinement practices, and lack of proper nutrition. What do prisoners eat in the United States? This widely circulated Good Magazine Infographic compares prison food with school food and, in this article,  a Chicago Magazine food reviewer tries Nutraloaf, a substance used in prison, not for food, but for punishment, and finds it so “intrinsically disagreeable” that his “throat nearly closed up reflexively.” Sounds cruel and unusual to me. In fact, some states have banned the loaf and many prisoners have sued over it.

Image: Animal Freedom via Flickr

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate, on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

The post Fit to Eat: News from the Food World appeared first on EcoSalon.