2010 Good Time to Become Vegetarian

Even without saying it in so many words, some leading US economists are predicting 2010 to be a good time to become a vegetarian.  What they're actually saying is that the pace of food inflation will double next year and go even higher for protein-based commodities such as beef, chicken, and pork.  Milk and dairy prices are expected to soar, too.

What's driving this trend is the rapidly rising cost of livestock feed in the past few years.  Producers have culled their herds to minimize their expenditures on feed.  There are simply fewer food animals being taken to market these days, with no expectation of improvement in the coming year.  This reduction in supply is expected to continue for at least the next several years.

Swinging in the opposite economic direction is demand for these commodities by consumers in the US and abroad.  Many experts believe the prolonged economic recession is bottoming out and consumer confidence is returning.  Once-worried consumers are filling their shopping carts higher at the supermarket and many of them plan to buy more meats and dairy products than they've felt comfortable buying lately.

Mike Swanson, a senior economist for Wells Fargo & Company, predicts food prices jumping by as much as 6% in the coming year, a prediction that tops that of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), which predicts an increase of 3% to 4%.  Swanson says demand for corn, a primary livestock feed, is skyrocketing, thanks to its value in ethanol production.  The demands of both industries - ethanol and livestock feed - have raised corn values higher than livestock values.

At the Goldman Sachs Group Inc., economists predict cattle futures for next year will increase more than they've done since 1978; hog futures will be their highest in six years.  Goldman's Jeffrey Currie warns that "economic recovery suggests rising meat demand amid tighter supplies."

Bill Lapp, of Advanced Economic Solutions LLC, a commodities research firm based in Omaha, Nebraska, predicts a 20% rise in diary prices in coming months, topping the inflationary rate for all other food commodities.  Decreased livestock production and increased costs of feed, compounded with higher fuel costs, will undoubtedly affect the American consumer.  Lapp predicts restaurants and food manufacturers will be hit hardest by this inflationary trend.

I predict it will be the consumer who will actually be hit hardest of all.  Go vegetarian.

Fast Food Meats Higher Quality Than School Lunches

For so many American kids, a substantial number of their meals come from fast-food restaurant chains and the school lunchroom.  We've become indoctrinated to the questionable quality of fast food meats and other dishes but most people assume school lunches meet more rigorous standards.  According to a recently released study, they don't.  In fact, some fast food chains required higher quality meats than what is served in school.

Meat donations stock the larders at school pantries across the nation, thanks to the National School Lunch Program and meat donated by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).  USDA regulations call for school meat to pass higher quality standards than retail meats sold directly to consumers and that it meet or exceed standards applied to commercial-grade meats.  Investigative reporters for USA Today find this isn't exactly the case.

The USDA requires beef served in schools to be tested for bacteria and other potentially dangerous microbes at least once during a typical day of production.  Retailers such as CostCo, Burger King, and McDonald's test their meat products five to ten times a day.

Raw meat without bacterial presence is an impossibility but the meat can still be safely consumed if these bacteria are kept in check.  Those checks vary significantly, however, between the school standards and fast food retailers.  Jack in the Box, for one, sets their safety level for bacterial presence 10 times higher, meaning 10 times fewer germs, than the USDA does for school lunches.

School kids eat the meat of spent hens, those old birds past their prime egg-laying years.  Spent hens that don't make it onto the plates of our school children end up in pet food and compost.  Colonel Sanders won't have them; KFC never buys spent hens and Campbell Soup says they quit using them ten years ago because of quality considerations.  Even without relying on these old, tough chickens our school kids eat, Campbell's third-quarter profits were higher than expected.  That bigger bottom line was attributed to lower costs for raw products - but not these old chickens - and higher prices at the supermarket.

Parents alarmed by this news of lax standards in school lunches can take heart.  A recent poll of family meal habits shows 60% of all American families enjoying dinner together at home five out of seven evenings and most of these family meals are cooked at home, where parents are free to set levels of quality themselves.  We can't always know what we might confront out there in the world but we can know that the better we take care of ourselves in the home, the better we'll be able to fend off any ill effects of the great unknown.

World Food Reports

World food reports - U2UFVGZJB3GP

Two Chinese Executives Executed Over Tainted Milk Scandal

Milk and milk-based baby food formulas all around the world were recalled last year when it became obvious Chinese suppliers of the milk were contaminating it with a toxic industrial chemical to artificially boost the protein content of the products.  Many babies died.  Hundreds of thousands more suffered kidney stones and kidney failure.  Today, Chinese court officials say two executives have been executed over their role in the tainted milk scandal.

Thus far, nineteen individuals have earned prison terms for their participation in the scandal and Geng Jinping and Zhang Yujun have now been executed.  Geng was manager of a milk production facility that sold milk tainted with melamine to the now-bankrupt Sanlu Group.  Zhang was charged with endangering public safety by dangerous means for his role in selling more than 862 US tons of tainted milk powder.

Nitrogen-rich melamine is a chemical used to make fertilizer, flame retardants, wood adhesives, ceiling tiles, and a wide array plastic products.  It causes kidney damage when ingested.  When melamine-tainted substances are tested for protein content, the protein content appears higher than it actually is, thanks to the melamine.  The rationale behind the melamine-laced protein "boost" is dilution.  Chinese milk producers routinely diluted liquid milk to increase volume.  By water-logging the milk this way, its natural protein content was diluted, too.

Sanlu sold more than 1,000 US tons of the tainted milk, knowing it was contaminated with the toxic chemical.  Tian Wenhua, Sanlu's general manager at the time of the poisonings, pled guilty last January and received a sentence of life in prison.  Another Sanlu executive, Wang Yuliang, attempted, but failed, to commit suicide by jumping from a tall building; he received a 15-year prison sentence.

In her defense, Tian says it was not the milk producers' fault the tainted milk poisoned so many babies.  She said, instead, that it was the lax system of regulations and standards within the Chinese government that caused the problem.

Last December, the Chinese government ordered 22 companies to pay fines totaling $161 million US to the families of the babies sickened by these toxic products.  Hundreds of those families have appealed that decision, saying the intended monetary compensation is far too low to justify the damage done to their families.

Readers, what are your thoughts?  Who's the guilty party here - the milk producers or the Chinese government?

Deer Hunter Donations Stock Food Pantries

Deer hunting season is in full swing and hunters across the country are bagging more trophies than they can eat.  Many other hunters are in it for sport only, with the food value of their kill holding no value to themselves.  Nevertheless, venison is a very delicious, highly nutritious meat and, each year, hungry families everywhere welcome the donations America's hunters have been making to stock food pantries across the nation.

Deer hunting is not an inexpensive way to put food on the table.  Guns, bullets, licenses, hunting lands and leases, among many other things, all add up quickly.  And processing an individual deer into edible portions costs a national average of about $70.  These costs add up and are hitting even the most generous hunter with a special wallop this year, thanks to the lingering recession we've faced over the last couple of deer-hunting seasons.

To help offset the price of deer meat donations to food pantries, several organizations, including Feeding America, Second Harvest Foodbanks, Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry, and Safari Club International are awarding grant money and matching grants from other associations for processing this donated meat.

For example, the Ohio Division of Wildlife has awarded a grant of $100,000 for processing game meats donated by Ohio hunters; Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry and the Second Harvest Foodbanks of Ohio matched that amount.  Last year's deer donations doubled those of the year before.  In 2008, the 1,000-plus deers donated to Ohio food pantries provided 220,000 meals.  The need for food donations in Ohio alone grew by 37% from the previous year.  The Ohio wildlife agency is hoping assistance with processing fees will entice more hunters to donate more meat to accommodate the growing need.

People aren't the only critters that benefit from these food donations, according to Ohio deer biologist Mike Tonkovich.  Tonkovich says hunting helps control deer populations, which, in turn, helps keep down disease among the herds, minimizes the driving hazards deer pose to themselves and motorists, reduces the incidents of deer damage to crops and lawns, and keeps an overpopulated herd of deer from depleting food supplies for themselves and other wildlife.  The Ohio deer population is estimated at 650,000 but the state's wildlife management division would like to see that population closer to 500,000 for optimum management.

Venison may have a stronger flavor than commercially-raised meats, a factor that turns many people away from it, but it's far superior nutritionally.  The protein content of game meats is higher than other livestock, even that of farm-raised venison, while the fat content is lower.  Game meats, including venison, are never given antibiotics, growth-stimulating hormones, pesticides, and other chemicals and synthetic substances that bring higher prices but less food value to the industrial livestock industry.  Ground venison meat, prepared as stew or chili, is an excellent way to become familiar with this delicious meat.

Venison is one of my very favorite foods.  For recipe ideas, just email me;  I'll let you know how to get five venison recipes for just $1.00.

If Campbell's Costs Go Down, Why Soup Prices Going Up?

Earlier today, the Campbell Soup Company reported quarterly profits at higher-than-expected levels.  They cite two reasons for this unexpected boom to their bottom line - the cost of raw ingredients has gone down and the prices their customers pay for their finished products has gone up.  I ask, why, if Campbell's raw costs go down, why are our soup prices going up?

Oh, yeah.  It's that bulging bottom line.  Silly me.

Enjoy a Healthy Movie

The current economic meltdown has many families opting out of a trip to Disneyland and in to the nearest movie theater where the Disney thrill can be enjoyed in relatively inexpensive, two-hour local jaunts.  Dismal headlines may make such a family outing seem like a fiscally healthy thing to do but health comes in many flavors.  A recent study seems to say movie-goers need to beware for nutritional health, too.

According to the study, conducted by the non-profit consumer awareness group Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), popcorn doesn't deserve the healthy reputation it often carries, especially when it's popcorn bought at the movie theater's food kiosk.  True, popcorn is a healthy snack, loaded with all the desirable nutritional value of whole grain corn, but that's the stuff made straight from the dried kernels you pop at home in your air-popper, not the sticky, gooey, bright yellow stuff you find at most movie-house food counters.

The CSPI study ran laboratory analyses of popcorn samples taken from the nation's three largest movie theater chains - Regal, AMC, and Cinemark.  Samples were purchased at movie theaters in Illinois, Maryland, Texas, and Washington, DC.

What did they find?

You would have to eat three Quarter Pounder hamburgers from McDonald's, along with 12 pats of butter (that's 3/4 of a stick), to get the same number of calories as you'd get from eating a medium popcorn and soda at the movies.  Or three sticks of butter.  At Regal, where the popcorn packs the most calories, that's 1,610 calories and 60 grams of saturated fat.  The average adult American only needs about 2,000 calories each day so that leaves just 400 calories to dine on the remaining 22 hours of the day to avoid excess caloric intake.  Those 60 grams of saturated fat equal about three days worth of optimum fat supply for a healthy diet.

The CSPI study also suggests being leery of the calorie counts posted at your local movie theater, too.  Regal says its medium popcorn, before adding any buttery topping, contains 720 calories, or only about 44% the number of calories revealed in the CSPI lab analyses.

And that soda?  If you must have one, make it sugar-free.  The average medium fountain drink from these movie theaters supplied between 300 and 400 calories each.  That's enough, along with the medium popcorn, to satisfy the entire 2,000 calories per day needed by an adult.  Chugging Regal's largest container of soda is the same as sucking down about 33 teaspoons of sugar (500 calories).  That's almost 3/4 a cup of sugar in every large sugar-sweetened beverage.

Nutritional health isn't the only health that suffers here.  The CSPI study says you pay a whopping $12 for that medium popcorn-and-soda combo whereas it takes only a handful of pennies to purchase the raw ingredients that go into making it.

How do you enjoy that movie without risking fiscal and nutritional disaster?  Enjoy a delicious, nutritious family lunch or dinner BEFORE buying those movie tickets.  Then sit back and enjoy the show!

Twisted Case of You Are What You Eat

Grandma might have reminded us that "you are what you eat" when we tried to bargain for popsicles instead of peas but a trio of homeless men in Russia recently took Grandma's admonishment to horrendous extremes - the truly twisted trio dined on a comrade and tried to sell leftovers to a kebab kiosk.

This memorable meal took place in the city of Perm, which is about 720 miles east of Moscow.  It was there local officials became understandably suspicious when human body parts were found near a bus stop at the edge of town.

Further investigation revealed three men, all homeless, had taken after a 25-year-old rival, using a hammer and knives to kill him.  After that dirty deed was done, the butchery began.  The hungry troika then filled their bellies with select cuts of their former foe before taking the remaining prime cuts to a kebab-and-pies kiosk.

In a statement on the case issued last Friday, a spokesman for the Prosecutor-General's office of Perm's investigative unit, said the three men had been arrested.  It was unclear at that time, however, how much, if any, of the exotic meat had been unwittingly sold from the kiosk to its customers.

New Twist for Scotch on the Rocks

When Sir Ernest Shackleton set out on his 1909 expedition to Antarctica in search of the South Pole, he did what many a British explorer would do.  He took along a couple of crates of scotch whisky.  Shackleton's Happy Hour libations weren't drunk as planned and those two crates of scotch remain where he left them - under the floorboards of a hut his Nimrod Expedition called home.

In the hundred years since Shackleton stowed his whisky, McKinlay and Company, distillers of Shackleton's whisky, has gone belly up and that super-chilled cache of scotch has become firmly and, for the most part, permanently embedded in the Antarctic ice.  But all may not be lost after all.

McKinlay and Company was purchased by Whyte & Mackay, who no longer produce scotch under the McKinlay brand.  But they'd like to revive it.  And they'd like to make it just the way it was when Sir Ernest carted it off to the South Pole.  They've commissioned their own expedition to Antarctica with the expectation of drilling through the ice to retrieve a couple of bottles of the 100-year-old scotch.  From there, Whyte & Mackay's master blender will be given the task of recreating it exactly as it was originally made. The distiller hopes that putting this new twist on Shackleton's ancient scotch will draw enough interest to re-launch the now-defunct McKinlay brand.

Explorers representing the Antarctic Heritage Trust, headquartered in New Zealand, will strike off in January to retrieve a couple of bottles of this scotch permanently embedded on the rocks.  Most of the buried cache will remain behind, however, as artifacts protected under Antarctic Heritage conservation guidelines.  The trust is the result of a 12-nation treaty devoted to preserving Antarctic history.

Tuna Catch Going Down, Prices (Probably) Going Up

In a news release from Brussels today, the European Union (EU) announced the united decision of 45 nations to lower the catch quota of Atlantic bluefin tuna, a delicacy threatened with extinction if sustainable measures aren't implemented.  The decision was made this weekend in Brazil at a meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, a multinational organization charged with setting fishing limits throughout the world in the hope of preventing extinction of fish instrumental in the human food supply.

In addition to EU nations, the United States and Japan have agreed to reduce the catch quota for 2010 to 13,500 tons, down from 22,000 for 2009.  The 2008 quota was 28,500 tons.  In spite of ever-diminishing quotas, scientists have expressed concern that even the 2010 quota established by the commission is about 7,000 tons more than is advised to prevent dangerous overfishing.

Bluefin tuna is enjoyed the world over for its excellent flavor and its high content of healthful omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.  It is a much sought-after menu item in sushi bars the world over.

With a diminished supply of the Atlantic bluefin tunas, the result of the catch going down in tonnage, there is little doubt the prices for these fish is most probably going up in response.  While higher prices will not deter many diners, there is a growing movement of people shunning fish threatened with extinction while favoring instead those that are in abundant supply.

Late Wet Harvest Jeopardizes US Corn, Soybean Crops

Farmers in the midwestern United States are working round the clock this week to harvest as much of their corn and soybean crops as fast as they can.  Rain, usually a farmer's delight, poured down so pervasively throughout the summer that this year's crops are some of the largest on record but they're also some of the wettest.  That excess moisture invites mold and rapid decay, two elements that can quickly destroy a full year's hard work.

The US produces about 40 percent of all the corn consumed around the world.  About 35% of the global soybean supply comes from the US, too, and both are grown aggressively in the US Midwestern states.

In a more typical year, harvest of these two important food crops would be almost complete by now but the extremely moist condition of the plants and fields is slowing harvest to an alarming crawl, according to reports from Reuters.  Only about half the soybeans were successfully harvested by November 1 and barely a quarter of the corn has been harvested.

Concerns over this lagging harvest are amplified by the fact that this year's soybean crop is estimated to be the largest ever and the corn crop is thought to be the second largest ever.  This abundance of product countered by the dangerously wet conditions is leaving many farmers describing this year a harvest from hell.

These grains cannot be stored damp.  Some farmers are paying as much as $100 to $150 an acre to have their crops dried at grain elevators, a price that often exceeds the per-acre rental fees the farmers pay for their farmland.  These two expenses gouge a good bit of the profit margin the farmers rely on for planting next year's crops and seeing their families through from one year to the next.

In addition to the expense of mechanically drying their crops before storage, the wet plants are taking a toll on the expensive machinery farmers rely on to get their crops harvested.  Some farmers are working round the clock, too, to harvest as fast as possible, another factor that taxes machinery.

Tractor supply vendors in the Midwest are enjoying a booming business for tractor parts but there are no replacement parts for the farmers and farm workers scrambling to save as much of the harvest as they can before winter rains and snows set in.

Reports from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) suggest these harvest-time struggles will not adversely affect coming food costs in the US but the end-users, the livestock producers and food-processing companies, should expect higher costs than average to purchase these grains.  In spite of USDA's suggestion that consumer prices shouldn't be affected, it's almost impossible to believe those food-producing conglomerates won't pass along their increased production costs directly to the American consumer.

UN Summit Seeks End to World Hunger

By some estimates, more than one billion people every day do not get enough food to eat.  Many of these hungry people are also facing the distress of poverty, war and violence, and lack of a secure food supply.  It's these issues the World Summit on Food Security will tackle while meeting in Rome November 16 through 18.

On the agenda are new strategies for fighting the constant hunger that affects one in six people around the world include innovations in agriculture, developing ways to force nations to honor commitments made to ending global hunger, and coping with the current worldwide economic crisis and its effect on the global food supply and its distribution.

The United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization says $44 billion is needed each year in coming decades in order to meet the UN deadline of 2025 for completely eradicating global hunger.

At least 60 leaders from countries around the world will attend the summit, including Pope Benedict XVI.

Family Dinners Alive and Pretty OK in America

Between November 5 and 9, pollsters from GfK Roper Public Affairs and Media polled 1,006 American adults, asking about their household's eating habits during the previous week.  The poll was initiated by Associated Press and iVillage Food.  Polls were conducted via cell phone and landline interviews.  Their findings come with a 3.1% margin of error.

So, how are we eating these days?

More than 60% of surveyed adults said their families sat down for dinner together at least five times during the week of the survey.  Most families ate home-cooked meals but take-out meals, deliveries,and dinners away from home were also consumed.

For the most part, those home-cooked meals were the result of recipes handed down from a family member (86%).  Less often served were foods made from recipes that came from other sources, such as the TV (51%), internet (54%), and newspapers or magazines (68%).

More than half these meals were accompanied by television viewing at the table.  Telephone calls were allowed to interrupt dining during about half the meals in question.

Almost 40% of the families had the radio or stereo playing during some, but not all, the meals.

Half the families took or made telephone calls during a family meal.  Cell phone texting or emailing occurs on a regular basis for 5% of the families polled but as many as 15% said such activities are a less than rare occurrence.

Sadly, 10% of the respondents said they'd not had dinner with their family at all during the week of survey.  Work obligations was the main reason given.

Twenty percent enjoyed a  family meal at a sit-down restaurant during the survey week and 27% at a fast-food establishment.

Women out-cooked men, with 71% of the women saying they cook meals at least sometimes while only 51% of the men are doing the same.

Politics is relatively bipartisan at the family dinner table.  Sixty-five percent of the Republican households surveyed claimed to enjoy dinner as a family meal five or more times during the survey week, as did 61% of the Democrats and 60% of the independents.

In American cities, 56% of the survey respondents said they had family meals at least five nights during the survey week, compared to 63% of families in the suburbs, and 64% of families in rural America.

Tyson Foods Violates Safety, Sanitation Laws

Commercial food production is really dangerous work.  I know.  I've done it.  And most of us were raised under the old "cleanliness is next to godliness" adage.  But in commercial food production, cleanliness can make the difference between life and death.

Apparently, Tyson Foods just doesn't get it.

The US Labor Department announced today that a jury in Alabama ruled against Tyson Foods, charging the company with violating federal labor laws pertaining to worker safety and sanitation and for not accurately keeping company records.  The federal investigation began in 2000, after worker complaints that Tyson Foods would not pay production workers in its Blountsville, Alabama, facility for the time it took them to put on and take off the specialized gear they needed to work under the safest and most sanitary conditions.  Conditions required by federal law.

In a prepared statement, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said the department is pleased with the jury's outcome, which "vindicated our position that employers must pay their workers for the time that they are required to work."  Duh.

Fewer Sales, Higher Profits Tasty Treatment for Sara Lee

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) says the Sara Lee Corporation is enjoying higher than expected profits from the first quarter of 2009 even though sales dropped.  Bet your local farmers wish they could get away with that trick.

Seems Sara Lee's sales dropped by 7.4% even as earnings soared to a whopping 45%.  The WSJ article says "lower input costs" are responsible for the jump in earnings, which is just a nice way of saying they're using cheaper ingredients than they've used in the past.

Recessionary food trends show more consumers are eating at home instead of dining out so they're buying more groceries.  And, theoretically, more Sara Lee products, which include everything with Sara Lee's name on it but it includes Jimmy Dean sausages, Ball Park hot dogs, and Hillshire Farm deli products as well.  One would think larger grocery bills would mean more sales for food-processing companies such as Sara Lee but their sales revenue fell nevertheless.

Fewer sales.  Higher profits.  A tasty treatment indeed.

Rotten Tomatoes for Price-Fixing Tomato Processor

The tomatoes in my garden never survived the summer drought so I don't have any left around rotting right now.  Wish I did.  I'd certainly like to throw a few at Alan Scott Huey.  And his cronies.

Huey was senior vice president at SK Foods in Monterey, California, from 2004 to 2008.  Today he's looking at five years in prison and $250,000 in fines if he's convicted of the price-fixing conspiracy charges he's facing.  Seems Huey conspired to sell poor quality tomatoes, including moldy ones, to processing giants that include B&G Foods, Inc., Frito-Lay, Inc., and Kraft Foods, Inc., among others.  And he sold these rotten tomatoes at premium prices.

Some of Huey's co-conspirators are already behind bars for their part in a scheme that involved bribing purchasing agents from some of the largest tomato-processing food companies into paying top dollar for lousy produce.  The food-processing companies weren't the only ones paying the inflated prices for these rotten tomatoes, though.  People like you and me paid the ultimate price for those nasty things.

Huey's attorney claims her client is a "good man, who made a mistake."  The mistake was apparently big enough that he's pleading guilty and helping federal prosecutors weed out more of the bad seed.

I'm afraid I make mistakes, too. My concern over this story is that my current mistake would be faulty aim with those rotten tomatoes I wish I had at hand.

Do You Want to Get Medical Advice from Coca-Cola?

Harvard University's Dr. Walter Willet, an expert on nutrition, says drinking soft drinks makes the consumer more likely to develop cavities, diabetes, gout, heart attacks, and obesity.  Doesn't sound like much fun.  Nevertheless, in a move that is prompting public outcry and causing many doctors to drop association with the American Academy of Family Physicians, the academy recently announced it is turning to the Coca-Cola Company to bring medical advice to a website near you.

Dr. Douglas Henley announced today that the six-figure partnership, dollar details undisclosed, means Coke will provide the academy's website with "educational" data focused on issues of consumer health and the promotion of wellness.  The soft-drink giant is said to be providing educational data on the health benefits of sugar-free sodas and the link between obesity and sugar-laden beverages.

Skeptics are numerous.  Some even liken the alliance to that of doctors in the recent past who claimed mild cigarette smoking is a safe practice.  Since the the alliance was first announced last month, more than 20 doctors from just one medical practice near San Francisco have dropped their memberships with the academy, in spite of the soft drink company's assurance that nothing but "sound science" will be posted to the academy's website.  Coca-Cola's presence on that website should begin in January.