With a fair share of travel in the past week to the annual Food and Nutrition Conference in Denver, we had an opportunity to examine airport fare. Unfortunately, most of the offerings are not much better than an average food court in a suburban shopping malls.

That’s a double downer – the food is both untasty AND unhealthy.

Not to mention the meals served on the flight itself (if at all served).

But every airport must have some hidden jewel, right?

Please share your favorite airport spot for decent food when traveling. If we get enough responses we’ll repost a list of top airport culinary destinations.

Of course, there’s always the option of bringing your own food from home. We didn’t see too many brown baggers at the terminal though.

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Consumer Reports

The February 2009 issue of Consumer Reports on Health has a good writeup entitled Grocery-aisle gotchas. The erstwhile consumer information powerhouse has

put together a guide (see links, below) to some of the most confusing label claims. We’ve also looked at new labeling rules and trends that can make it easier for you to choose among products. And because food labeling still has a long way to go, we offer our take on what should be on a label—but sometimes isn’t.

While the list of gotchas is not comprehensive, it certainly illustrates how in every aisle of the supermarket good marketing helps consumers feel like they are eating healthfully when in fact they may be buying junk food in disguise. Here are the links to various topics discussed in the article:

Organic

Natural

Whole grains, cage-free

Health ratings

Made with, serving size

Health claims, nutritional claims

What should be on a label

What to do at the supermarket:

Ignore the health claims and go straight for the ingredient list and nutrition label. Even then, be suspicious of serving sizes that are too small, and ingredient lists longer than a Stephen King novel. By keeping to the supermarket perimeter and buying mostly unprocessed foods, you wont even need to read nutrition labels (fruits, vegetables..)

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Image: Campbell Soup Company

Last week, Campbell Soup Company reintroduced 12 of its popular canned soups for children, reformulated to be considered healthy by FDA standards:

…12 Campbell’s® Kids soups, reformulated to contain 480 milligrams of sodium per serving.

Now popular favorites [...] meet the government criteria for “healthy” foods – controlled for fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium and being a good source of a positive nutrient like vitamin A.

The newly-reformulated soups are the latest to come to market as part of Campbell’s ongoing commitment to wellness, for a total of 78 soups in the portfolio at the healthy levels for sodium. By leveraging a combination of unique, lower sodium natural sea salt and expertise in flavor design, Campbell has been able to deliver lower sodium options without sacrificing taste.

Read the Press Release…

What you need to know:

For years, using salt was a cheap and easy way for manufacturers to mask the canned flavor of commercial soups. However, due to high levels of consumption, salt is now recognized as a serious threat to public health. Americans consume almost twice the recommended daily allowance of 2400mg (a teaspoon) a day. This leads to high blood pressure and related ailments.

Reducing salt is a good move by Campbell’s, in line with its strategy to refurbish a tarnished image of canned soup as a mega warehouse for MSG and sodium.

Taking for example, the Disney Princess Pasta Shapes soup, Campbell’s has reduced sodium from 580mg to 480mg per serving, and eliminated monosodium glutamate completely.

However, the bit about unique, lower sodium natural sea salt is marketing hype. There is no nutritional difference between sea salt and regular salt (derived from rock salt mineral deposits). True, the flavor may slightly differ when shaken on to food, due to tiny amounts of additional minerals found in sea salt. But the amount of sodium is the same.

Also in the reformulation, the calorie count actually went up from 70 to 80 calories per serving, but this is negligible.

What to do at the supermarket:

Thinking about making your own soup but afraid to try? Soup is actually one of the easiest foods to prepare because it is very tolerant to mistakes by beginners. Scoot on over to the produce section and get some carrots, celery, pumpkin, zucchini, and onions. At home, wash, peel, dice, and throw into a pot of boiling water. Let cook for a few hours, add pepper and salt, and your soup is ready. Much tastier than canned soup, and guaranteed to contain less sodium.

OK, this week you don’t have time. In this case, look for soups with a reduced sodium level, preferably 480mg or less per serving.

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