Posts Tagged “feature”
by Jon Reidel, University of Vermont
One of the first studies to measure food consumption in schools before and after the implementation of a controversial mandate by the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirms what school lunch officials initially feared and subsequently witnessed: students putting fruits and vegetables into the trash instead of their mouths.
The study, published online in Public Health Reports on Aug. 25, shows that although students selected more fruits and vegetables under the new mandate requiring them to take either a fruit or vegetable, they actually consumed slightly less of each. Through the use of digital imaging to capture students’ lunch trays before and after they exited the lunch line, researchers also found an increase in waste of approximately 56 percent.
“The basic question we wanted to explore was if under these 2012 USDA guidelines, does requiring a child to select a fruit or vegetable correspond with consumption,” says Sarah Amin, a researcher in Nutrition and Food Sciences at the University of Vermont and lead author of the study. “It was heartbreaking to see so many students toss fruits like apples into the trash right after exiting the lunch line.”
Grocery chains and the supercenters promote locally grown produce, exactly what do they mean? Retailers are aggressively expanding their locally grown offerings, but there are concerns regarding what consumers are getting when they buy “local.”
The popularity of locally grown foods are exploding. Overall, local foods generated $11.7 billion in sales in 2014, and will climb to $20.2 billion by 2019, according to Packaged Facts, a market research firm.
Not only has there been huge growth in the number of farm-to-table restaurants and farmers’ markets, but grocery chains and big box retailers, including Wal-Mart, are elbowing their way in, aggressively expanding and marketing their locally grown offerings for sale.
Wal-Mart sells $749.6 million of “locally grown” produce annually, while Supervalu, owner of the Jewel-Osco, Albertsons, and Lucky chains, buys between 25 and 40% of its produce locally.
“We’ve reached a tipping point for local foods,” Packaged Facts research director David Sprinkle said in a release, noting sales of local foods could eclipse organic food sales.
But in the midst of this boom, questions are being raised about what exactly “local” means. Just as controversy has dogged the labels, “all natural” and organic, there are real concerns that consumers may not be getting what they think when they “buy local” at the local supermarket. The label “local” is too often part marketing hype.
In fact, the Packaged Facts report notes, nearly half of people surveyed said they are willing to pay up to 10% more for locally grown or produced foods, and almost one in three said they are willing to pay up to 25% more. “Local has become a shorthand descriptor that makes food sound high quality, fresher, more authentic, trustworthy, environmentally friendly, and supportive of the local community,” the report notes.
But is it? Not exactly. There’s no agreed upon definition of “locally-grown,” meaning no consensus on the distance from farm to shelf or whether local means it necessarily comes from small farms — and not a big ag farm. Sometimes there’s clear stretching of the spirit of the term, or even outright fraud (as when a few California restaurants were found to be have falsely claiming to use locally produced food.)
For example, what about “locally grown in California” if in this huge state product is shipped hundreds of miles from the El Centro in the southern part of the state to cities in Northern California? Would product grown in Nevada, which is much closer, be considered locally grown?
Wintertime any year can pose it own set of problems relating to shipping volume, gaps, and quality for California produce shipments. But this year is becoming even more unpredictable with the California El Niño storm season underway, which can translate into weeks of frequent rain, resulting in harvest delays or damage to strawberries, citrus and vegetables.
Rain is predicted through the end of January, which can affect late March and early April produce shipments after the seasonal transition from the California and Arizona deserts.
The Yuma, AZ shipping area has already been experiencing much lighter shipments of cauliflower, broccoli and celery.
Central California plantings (San Joaquin Valley), including the Huron district, is already a concern to many produce growers who hope to plant on the schedule. Huron often prevents or lessens a shipping gap between the desert and Salinas for items such as lettuce.
Concerning citrus shipments, California packinghouses have been stepping up harvest in anticipation of coming rains. Thus far, shipping gaps have pretty much been avoided.
Citrus is more resistant than vegetables to rain damage, so growers work to increase picking and packing during storm breaks.
Luckily for strawberry shipments in the months ahead, the Watsonville and Salinas districts completed planting before any storms. However, drops in strawberry shipping volume is expected from Ventura and Orange counties.
Over 2016 California strawberry shipments are expected to have decreased volumes.
Above average rainfall is forecast through March in California, Texas and Florida by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Based on NASA satellite imagery, climatologists say the warming trend in the Pacific Ocean equals that of the same months in 1998, when heavy rains and flooding rolled through the regions. It was one of the two strongest El Niño’s on record.
The Salinas Valley had extensive flooding in 1998.
BOTTOM LINE….There’s a pretty good chance lighter than normal western vegetable shipments will be with us for a while.
California and Arizona desert vegetable shipments, grossing about $3800 to Chicago.
As a new year begins, it’s time to look at the trends that dietitians believe consumers will be following. So-called “clean” eating appears to be the biggest food trend for 2016.
“Clean” Eating
“Clean” eating r refers to a diet that is primarily made up of fresh fruit and vegetables. It avoids processed food, and is seen as being among 2016’s biggest food trends, according to Today’s Dietitian and Pollock Communications.
Seeds
Likewise, seeds should be a bigger part of consumers’ diets in 2016 with 55 percent of registered dietitians believing seeds have superfood nutrition, displacing kale as a trendy food source. Avocados are expected to be nearly as popular, along with ancient grains.
“Free” of…
Consumers will continue to express a strong preference for “free” of certain things, like genetically modified organisms (GMO), gluten, and antibiotics.
Spiralizing
Vgetable spiralizers are trending up while pasta sales decline (6 percent in the U.S., a whopping 25 percent in Italy).
“Ancient Foods”
The move toward ancient foods such as grains and superfoods can now become personalized with DNA testing. The foods are also easier to source because ethnic foods and seasonings are becoming very popular, especially those from Africa and the Middle East.
Alternet.com also published a list of 7 food trends to watch for 2016, featuring more plant eating, a rejection of GMOs, eating ugly foods and locavorism, which is the practice of eating locally produced foods.
Florida sweet corn and watermelon shipments are showing an increase, although moderate, while we take a look at onions shipments out of the Northwest.Florida Vegetable Shipments
Sweet corn shipments and other vegetables from Florida continue to be light due to the lingering effects of seven days of heavy rains the second week of December. Sweet corn loadings are expected to return to normal the week of January 18th, barring other adverse weather events. Only Florida and Mexico have sweet corn shipments during the winter months….South Florida watermelon loadings are underway, although volume is light.
Central and South Florida vegetables, tomatoes, watermelons and strawberries – grossing about $2800 to New York City.
Northwest Onion Shipments
The National Onion Association is reporting estimated nationwide production levels dropped by nearly 7.6 million bags so far this season from a year ago, a 7.7 percent decrease. Much of that decrease is attributed to Eastern Oregon and Malhuer County, Idaho, as well as Washington state, where production cumulatively fell by approximately 5 million bags.
While many onions that were harvested and placed into storage looking great. The product began to show flaws three to five weeks later. This is resulting in quality problems being higher than normal. It also could result in a number of northwest onion shippers finishing up in March instead of late May.
Oregon/Idaho onion shipments – grossing about $4600 San Antonio.
Columbia Basin potatoes and onions – grossing about $4100 to Chicago.
From Peruvian imported mangoes, to Oregon pears and Washington apples, here’s an update on opportunities to haul produce.
Peru plans to export 10.5 million boxes to the U.S. this season, up from 7.8 million boxes last season. An early start in Peru and continued big imports from Ecuador pushed mango volumes up in December, and fruit arrivals should remain in good volume through January.
Ecuadorian mango volumes peaked through the week of Dec. 21 before sliding and by mid-January Peru should account for most of the volume.
About 65 percent of the late December arrivals were slated for the East Coast, 35 percent for the West Coast, because of faster delivery times to the East Coast.
Oregon Pear Shipments
Jackson County, Oregon where Medford is located, is one of the state’s big pear-growing regions. The rest of the state’s commercial pear trees are mostly in the Hood River area. Together, those two regions account for about 25 percent of pear shipments in the U.S.
Washington Apple Shipments
Washington apple and fruit shipments were hit last season due to the 2015 drought. The Washington State Department of Agriculture reports drought caused 85 percent of the state to be in “extreme drought” status at the drought’s peak in late August. The result of the heat and lack of rain caused Washington apples to suffer a 5 percent drop in loadings and a 7 percent decline in blueberry shipments.
Early harvested varieties were most affected by low water availability and high temperatures in the Yakima basin. However, growing regions in the north were not hurt as badly by the drought. The 2015 Washington apple crop was first estimated at near 125 million cartons, but that estimate was reduced by 5 percent to 118 million cartons by the end of the summer. Shipments for the harvested crop should continue through most of the summer.
Washington state apple and pear shipments – grossing about $5500 to Atlanta.
by National Fruit & Vegetable Alliance
Hockessin, Del. – A new report card evaluates critical policies and programs impacting our food choices and their contributions to our nation’s health over the past 10 years.
Overall, the positive impact has been minimal despite proven scientific data continuously showing that a diet high in fruits and vegetables helps maintain a healthy weight and reduces the risk of several serious, chronic diseases that are the leading causes of death. In 2005, the National Fruit & Vegetable Alliance (NFVA) – led by the Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – developed a National Action Plan, providing a new and comprehensive approach for improved public health through increased fruit and vegetable consumption.
10 years later, the Alliance has released a second Report Card to evaluate progress made by schools, restaurants, supermarkets, and federal and state governments in its 2015 National Action Plan (NAP). Similar to the first Report Card released in 2010, the 2015 NAP Report Card utilizing survey data finds that the average American’s fruit and vegetable consumption remains far below recommended levels, with a 5 percent decline during the past five years.
The decline is largely driven by a decrease in 100 percent juice consumption, especially at breakfast, and a decline in the dinner side dish for vegetables. There were differences in consumption by age, with positive increases in fruit consumption among all children and vegetable consumption among teens.
In contrast, consumers over age 45, who typically eat the most fruits and vegetables, are trending downward in their consumption of both over time. Overall, only 4percent of individuals achieve their recommended target for vegetables and only 8 percent achieve their recommended target for fruit in an average day.
The Report Card assigned an ‘A’ grade to schools, given the doubling of fruits and vegetables in school meals as a result of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. An ‘A’ grade was also offered to the Healthy Incentive Pilot program that demonstrated strong positive results at increasing fruit and vegetable consumption among SNAP households, which helped justify the new USDA Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive (FINI) Program to test other methods of incentivizing SNAP participants to purchase fruits and vegetables.
An ‘A’ grade was also offered, once again, to the WIC Fruit and Vegetable Vouchers program, which was introduced in 2009 as part of a special supplemental program for Women, Infants and Children. Restaurants and cafeterias received a ‘B-‘ for providing greater availability and variety in fruit and vegetable choices on menus. Supermarkets and fruit and vegetable suppliers received a ‘C’ grade for some progress over the past five years at making fruits and vegetables more accessible and convenient.
A ‘D’ grade was given on the alignment of agricultural policy and research with nutrition policy. Last, a failing grade was once again assigned to the food marketing category given its continued low level of fruit and vegetable marketing (<1%) relative to all food marketing.
By Larry Oscar
The New Year is here, and, being an election year, you can count on a lot of laughs as the political clowns running for office get cranked up.
Over the past eight years we have seen a rapid decline in the United States economy and the standard of living for Americans. The average income for US households has fallen from $57k per year to $53k per year, a 7% decline.
We are still the leading country in average income per household, but if this trend continues future generations of Americans can expect to see their hopes for a better life than their parents evaporate. Not many people thought our country would decline so rapidly. However, it was President Ronald Reagan who said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. “
The poor leadership this country has suffered through for the past eight years has not only led to an economic decline, but our country is now in decline when it comes to worldwide leadership and influence with other nations. When our politicians started buying votes with promises of government handouts our fate was sealed. It was Thomas Jefferson who said “Democracy will cease to exist when people realize they can vote themselves more money“.
Tom was obviously right about that one. It is my belief that our politicians don’t realize the extent of the damage to our society that their behavior has caused. Our president is supposed to be the president of ALL Americans; not just the poor, or middle class, but all of us. That includes the poor, middle class, and yes even the rich.
Instead we have seen these politicians proclaim that they “ want to be for the middle class”, or “I am a champion of the poor and the downtrodden.” Then they proceed to make promises of big government handouts and entitlements in return for votes. It is illegal to offer money for votes, and it is immoral to offer government handouts for votes when they are funded with other people’s earnings.
These same politicians preach about immorality and fairness, and then the hypocrites turn around in the next breath and try to buy your vote with promises of monetary government handouts. Unfortunately, I don’t think Americans are smart enough to see through this and realize the damage it is doing to the fabric of this country.
The people who vote for these bozos are indeed selfish and unpatriotic. They are cutting off the opportunity for their children and grandchildren to have a prosperous and productive life. The future Star Trek movies will no longer have the Vulcan phrase “Live long and prosper”. It will be “Live long so you can pay for your grandfathers’ debt.”
Our founding fathers and ancestors would be appalled at what we have become.
Larry Oscar is a graduate from the University of Tulsa and holds a degree in electrical engineering. He is retired and lives with his wife on a lake in Oklahoma where he brews his own beer, sails, and is a member of numerous clubs and organizations.
Here’s an update on light to moderate Florida produce loading opportunities.
Florida strawberry shipments this season will come from product off of 11,000 acres in the Plant City area. Those plantings are expected to yield about 42 million flats of eight 1-pound clamshells, up from last season’s 38 million to 40 million flats.
Although a few farmers harvest through mid-April, most grower-shippers finish packing by mid- to late March.
More normal supplies and shipments of Florida strawberries are expected anytime now. In mid- and late December, shipments were only about two-thirds of normal due to warmer than normal weather.
Strawberry shipments are hitting about 200 truckloads per week now, but this number should increase significantly in the days ahead.
Florida Vegetable Shipments
Meanwhile, tomato shipments easily lead the pack when looking a vegetable loadings. About 400 truckloads of tomatoes are being shipped per week from central and southern Florida locations.
There are a number other vegetables in Florida being shipped in light volume ranging from bell peppers to radishes and eggplant, among others. However, Florida certainly isn’t a panacea for finding produce loads this time of the year. But loadings overall in the Eastern time zone of the U.S. this time of year, prompts us to give you as much information as possible. At best, Florida loadings most likely will involve multiple pick ups and drops.
Florida produce – grossing about $2600 to New York City.
Capsaicin, the compound responsible for chilis’ heat, is used in creams sold to relieve pain, and recent research shows that in high doses, it kills prostate cancer cells. Now researchers are finding clues that help explain how the substance works. Their conclusions suggest that one day it could come in a new, therapeutic form. Their study appears in ACS’ The Journal of Physical Chemistry B.
About 10 years ago, researchers reported that capsaicin can kill prostate cancer cells in mice while leaving healthy cells unharmed. But translating that dose to humans would require them to eat a huge number of chili peppers per day.
Figuring out how capsaicin works could help researchers transform it into an effective drug in the form of an injection or pill. Researchers have figured out that the molecule binds to a cell’s surface and affects the membrane, which surrounds and protects the cell. That finding prompted Ashok Kumar Mishra and Jitendriya Swain to try to gain a deeper understanding of capsaicin’s effects so it might be harnessed in the future for new medicines.
The scientists were able to detect how the compound interacts with cell membranes by monitoring its natural fluorescence. The study showed that capsaicin lodges in the membranes near the surface. Add enough of it, and the capsaicin essentially causes the membranes to come apart. With additional research, this insight could help lead to novel tools against cancer or other conditions.