Today is Pancake Day, another made up holiday created to increase our consumption of pancakes. While in and of themselves, pancakes are not necessarily an unhealthy food, it’s the huge servings and added “dressings” that have turned pancakes into unhealthy calorie bombs.

So if you are celebrating today, or any day – take it easy with the butter and maple syrup. If you can, go for whole wheat to get some fiber.

Here’s a recipe for Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes:

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 very ripe banana
1 tbsp sugar
3 tsp  baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 cups low fat milk
2 tablespoons oil

Instructions:

lightly oil a griddle and heat it up over a medium flame. Mix all the dry ingredients. Mash the banana. Mix the eggs, milk, oil and mashed banana. Add the dry mix. It’s OK if there is a bit of lumping, the lumps will disappear when heated. Once the griddle is hot enough pour a test-pancake on, wait for it to bubble and flip it over. The first pancake usually comes out a bit funky and goes to the dog, but after that you’re all set. If your griddle is large enough you can make several pancakes at the same time. A 2-3 inch diameter will allow you to eat several pancakes without overdoing the portion size.

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The FDA is not pleased with Kellogg’s waffle manufacturing plant in Georgia. The federal authority sent the company a warning letter. Kellogg’s is reprimanded for the poor sanitary conditions at the factory, and requested to clean up its act. From Food Navigator:

The list of breaches included leaving uncovered rubbish just inches from raw materials, allowing potentially tainted water to drip onto food lines, and a number of unsatisfactory cleaning methods by employees. read more…

These conditions led to the discovery of Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes), a pathogenic bacterium. It can cause  mild illness (called listerial gastroenteritis) or a severe, sometimes life-threatening, illness called invasive listeriosis. Listeriosis is a major public health concern because of the severity of the disease, a high case-fatality rate, a long incubation and a predilection for individuals with underlying conditions.

What you need to know:

Life is all about trade offs. Food from factories means that every once a while there may be a safety issue. That factory can be a peanut processing plant, a CAFO (where thousands of cows are grown into steaks), or a waffle plant. While churning peanuts into butter is not something most people can do, nor raise a cow in their backyard, waffles are rather easy to prepare from scratch. And yet, Kellogg’s has an entire factory devoted to Eggo waffles.

Here’s what goes into a pre-frozen Eggo Homestyle Waffle:

Were you to make the waffles at home by yourself, you wouldn’t add artificial colors Yellow #5 and Yellow # 6 to make the waffles look better (these colors are not good for you). You wouldn’t use palm kernel oil with TBHQ and citric acid. You’d use real butter, or perhaps canola oil. And you wouldn’t fortify your waffle with vitamins and minerals in order to make it appear more healthy than it really is. And you probably wouldn’t find any surprise bacteria waiting to make your kids ill.

Hot fresh waffles are a such great treat on a weekend morning. So why settle for a pre-frozen product? It tastes so poorly compared to a fresh homemade batch. AND it contains unwanted ingredients, sometime with additional surprises…

What to do at the supermarket:

Buy some eggs, flour, and milk. Make sure your pantry is stocked with sugar, salt, baking powder, and vanilla extract. Now turn to one of many recipe websites and make your own waffles in 10 minutes. Bon apetit.

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[Update: see Ocean Spray's response in the comments below.]

More Cranberry news today.

Here’s a dilemma for you. Let’s say you are the CEO of a successful food company that sells products both to consumers and to other food processors. And let’s assume you are being squeezed by your big corporate clients to lower the price of your product. What do you do? Do you stand by the quality of your product and take a hit on the bottom line? Or do you get the food scientists to whip up a cheaper, inferior version?

This is the story of sweetened dried cranberries (SDC), manufactured by Ocean Spray. The consumer product, Craisins, contains dried cranberries, sugar (lots), and sometimes a bit of oil. That’s the package we buy at the supermarket. However, when we buy products with cranberry, such as Nature Valley Fruit Bars and Pepperidge Farm Chewy Granola Cookies, the cranberries inside are different. They come from a new product by Ocean Spray, called “Choice”.

What you need to know:

The “Choice” product has 50% less cranberry (the expensive ingredient) and more of other stuff: sugar, edelberry juice, citric acid. Some say, it barely has any cranberry left.

Here’s what The National Consumers League (NCL), a watchdog organization, wrote to the FDA:

…the cranberry content is so small that Ocean Spray must add color in the form of elderberry juice concentrate and acidity in the form of citric acid to simulate the color and acidity of cranberries. These findings are consistent with Ocean Spray’s own claims that it uses 50 percent fewer cranberries to make “Choice” than the regular product. Ocean Spray’s marketing materials tout “Choice” as a low-cost SDC with the same taste, texture, appearance, and health benefits as other SDCs.

NCL argues that such products should not be called cranberries, because they barely contain any of the original fruit. After sending the “Choice” product to a lab, they also ask that the ingredient label (on bulk packages, we assume) be corrected to state sugar as the first ingredient, not cranberries.

If you’re wondering why some products are full of all strange sounding names and chemicals, this story exemplifies one of the many reasons – manufacturer cost reduction.

Two other well known examples are the use of high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar in soft drinks (HFCS is half the price of table sugar) and the invention of margarine as a low cost alternative to butter (at the behest of France’s Napoleon two hundred years ago).

What to do at the supermarket:

Go for products with ingredient lists that have real, understandable names. Not always the healthiest (i.e too much butter), but at least you know what you are putting in your mouth.

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Popcorn, the quintessential snack of the movies, is a long standing tradition.

The Good: it’s a healthy, low calories snack – very filling due to its fiber content, and less than 100 calories per 3 cups of air popped popcorn.

The Bad: Problems start when pop corn is bathed in oils and butters and serving sizes balloon to double, triple, and higher of the the 3 cup portion size.

The VERY BAD: Popcorn served in movie theaters, in conjunction with soda pop. The Center for Science in the Public Interest just published a report on this matter, and some of the finding were outrageous – Regal theaters largest size popcorn and soda are the caloric equivalent of three McDonald’s Quarter Pounders PLUS 12 pats of butter. The 1600 calories are almost a whole day’s worth, while the 60 grams of saturated fat are supposed to get you by a long weekend (that’s 3 days!). It’s got 20 cups of popcorn, or almost 7 times the recommended portion size.

“Regal and AMC are our nominees for Best Supporting Actor in the Obesity Epidemic,” said CSPI senior nutritionist Jayne Hurley

Oh well, at least that combo is quite expensive, $12.00. That should give some people pause, if not the nutritional atrocity.

Compare to the innocent serving sizes of the 1950’s drive-ins in the clip above.

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1. Annatto is a natural spice used as a food additive.

2. It is used both as a red food coloring and adds a sweet peppery taste.

3. Annatto comes from the pulp surrounding the seeds of the achiote tree of tropical Latin America.

4. It is found as a colorant in cheeses, butter, margarine, rice dishes, and prepared foods.

5. You can buy annatto seeds at ethnic markets and prepare a red dye by mixing the seeds in hot water.

6. Originally annatto was used as an insect repellant or body paint. Other uses over the centuries include sunscreen and treatment of heartburn.

8. It is also known as Achiote and E160b.

9. Although it is a natural food coloring, annatto has been associated with allergic reactions.

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As if we don’t have enough to worry about with respect to nutrition, a set of new studies has shown that children are receiving way below their required amount of vitamin D.

What is vitamin D? Why is it important? Why aren’t kids getting enough? And what are its best food sources?

Read more…

Sara Lee is the number one fresh bread manufacturer in the US, so there’s a good chance you’ll find some of their loaves in your local supermarket. We wanted to take a look at a product that caught our eye due to it’s somewhat oxymoronous name – how could a white bread be whole grain? Isn’t whole grain bread supposed to be, well, not white?

Ah the wonders of food science and marketing.

The company boasts, on the package, albeit in small print: Made with whole grain. 30% whole grain (This product provides 10 g of whole grain in a 2 slice serving. USDA recommends consuming 48 g of whole grain every day.).

What’s really inside?… Read more…

Cow’s milk is an amazing liquid with many compounds that can be processed into endless products such as butter, yogurt, and cheese. But how does milk become cheese? What is processed cheese? And what exactly do we get when we eat the very popular Kraft Singles?

Read our three part miniseries to learn more.

part 1 – Thirteen Cheese Facts [you are here]
part 2 – What is Processed Cheese?
part 3 – Inside the Label – Kraft Singles

Read more…

Starting this Sunday, Meijer is offering health conscious consumers a new line of store brand products called “Meijer Naturals”.

In a press release, Meijer detailed its gameplan:

[Meijer Naturals] was created to provide a healthy and tasty alternative for customers who seek wholesome foods that are minimally processed and contain nothing artificial.

“Meijer Naturals is a natural fit for us, and a great fit for those who lead a smart and active lifestyle where healthy living and eating are paramount,” said Ralph Fischer, group vice president-foods at Meijer.  “This is an exciting brand that we feel today’s shopper will embrace given that it’s delicious, wholesome and a great value.”

Read the entire press release [Reuters]…

There will be 75 products in the lineup, from snacks and sauces to desserts and beverages, priced 10-15% lower than comparable national brands.

According to Meijer, the products will NOT contain:
- Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO)
- high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)
- artificial sweeteners
- added hydrogenated oils or trans fats
- artificial food colorings or flavorings
- artificial preservatives

What you need to know:

Meijer is a regional chain with 185 stores in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky.

Two years ago the retailer launched an organic line, and this is dubbed the sister line. At a time where organic may be too expensive, this seems like a smart marketing move by Meijer.

Since there is no definition for what “Natural” means (at least not by the FDA), Meijer took the liberty of defining it themselves.

Keep in mind that natural does not necessarily means healthy. Potato chips are all natural. Sugar, butter, and salt are all natural, but best consumed sparingly. Cyanide is also natural…you get the drift.

What to do at the supermarket:

As always, don’t trust health claims on boxes and don’t get blinded by shiny packages. Take a look at the ingredient list and nutrition panel before deciding if a product is truly healthy for you or not.

If any of our loyal readers in the Michigan area can get their hands on some new products and email us pictures including the nutrition panel, we’ll be happy to help you analyze the data and see just how healthy the natural line really is.

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Here’s a math puzzle. How can an 8oz (about 230gr) container of canola oil carry ZERO calories, and ZERO fat? Read more…