Trimming the Fat…
It was 12 years ago that McDonald’s gave beef tallow the boot, touting the nutritional benefits of cutting saturated fat. Now, the fast food chain is slicing trans fatty acids (TFAs).
An order of fries will still have the same number of calories, the company says, but nearly half the TFAs and about 16 percent less saturated fat. And polyunsaturated fat levels – the “good” kind – will soar, by 167 percent.
Since tallow was dropped, the chain has used corn and soy oils and shortening. The new oil will be a corn/soy combo, the result of collaboration between McDonald’s and Cargill Foods.
European McDonald’s already use an oil that greatly reduces TFAs. The U.S. move, an official McDonald’s USA news release said, is “a major step toward eliminating TFAs from its cooking oil.”
Note: The National Academy of Sciences recently released a report on the health hazards of TFAs. That report also noted that polyunsaturated fats could help ward off heart disease. Good sources: milk, nuts, olives, soybeans, and corn oils.
Sometime next year, the Food and Drug Administration is expected to come out with labeling regs for TFAs.
…Piling the Fat On
Speaking of fat, it seems that Americans are getting fatter, if not downright obese. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has discovered that nearly two-thirds of us are packing extra pounds – with nearly one out of three considered obese. Comparing today’s weights with those of the 1960s and 1970s, for example, shows that there are twice as many obese people now than there was back then.
Note: According to the Washington Post, a 272-pound man recently sued McDonald’s and other fast food companies for causing his obesity. (Talk about passing the buck!)
American Made
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) new country-of-origin labeling regs are in place – voluntary for now, but by September 30, 2004, some form of them is supposed to become mandatory. Meanwhile, to get a U.S. label, fresh or frozen meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, or peanuts must be 100 percent American.
For beef, veal, pork, and lamb, that means that the animals must be born, raised, and slaughtered in the states. Farm-raised fish and shellfish must have been hatched, harvested from U.S. waters or by a U.S. flagged vessel, and processed in the United States or aboard a U.S. flagged ship. Note that poultry is not covered by the labeling requirements.
Some U.S. cattlemen worry how the labeling will play out – whether it will help or hurt their business. Could labeling drive up prices or hurt demand for U.S. beef, or would it spur more sales? Ground beef, for example, made with meat from several countries, would have to list all those countries.
Going Organic
Another labeling program USDA has recently put in force: “organic.” To be certified as organic, a food must have been produced without pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, irradiation, or genetic engineering. In addition, producers must follow good environmental practices as well as treat animals humanely.
How this translates, for example, for chickens: They must have been “under continuous organic management beginning no later than the second day of life” – that is, had no growth promotants, no drugs unless sick, no mammalian or poultry by-products in the feed, no big doses of supplements or additives, and no “bioengineered” grain. In addition, the birds must have had “access to the outdoors, shade, shelter, exercise areas, fresh air, and direct sunlight suitable to the species, its stage of production, the climate, and the environment.”
Checkoff Gets Chucked
First the beef checkoff program and now the pork! The courts haven’t looked kindly upon mandatory fees levied on producers to support research and promotion efforts.
An earlier federal court decision to abolish the beef program has been put on hold as the decision wends its way through the appeals process. The National Pork Producers Council, together with USDA and the Justice department, are expected to appeal the decision on pork checkoffs.
In the latest ruling, the Michigan district judge agreed with a group of hog farmers who complained that the assessments offered them no benefits, while actually promoting the interests of their bigger, corporate competitors. The judge wrote: “The government has been made tyrannical by forcing men and women to pay for messages they detest. Such a system is at the bottom unconstitutional and rotten.”
Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said she was “disappointed” with the judge’s ruling, saying that the pork checkoff has helped to spur demand. She also cited “widespread support” of the checkoff by pork producers.
Note: This was as of early November. Things are bound to change between then and when this issue finally arrives in mailboxes.
In Brief
• McDonald’s, which buys a billion pounds of American beef each year, has been testing leaner New Zealand and Australian beef in some U.S. restaurants. A group of Texas cattlemen meeting with company officials suggested a way of beating foreign beef – a Lone Star burger. A company spokesman nixed the idea, saying that “we would not be able to segregate the beef to create a product that is made from only Texas beef.”
But Texans don’t give up easily. Texas Farm Bureau’s Gene Hall had this to say: “We still have hopes of it happening.”
• An administrative law judge has ruled that the state of Maryland cannot hold poultry processing plants responsible for helping producers dispose of wastes. But the Maryland Attorney General, on behalf of the state’s Department of Environment, is disputing that judgment. Stay tuned.
• Will “First Strike Rations” be the 21st century’s version of Spam? Army scientists are at work on prepackaged sandwiches that can last with no refrigeration for three years at temperatures up to 80 degrees Fahrenheit, or for six months if the thermometer hits 100 degrees. Soldiers in New York have been munching on two samples: barbeque chicken and pepperoni.
Makes vending machine fare seem fresh from Grandma’s kitchen!
• New cafeteria item for school kids in Washington, DC: “catfish chicken nuggets.” One can only wonder what kind of fish/fowl hybrid!
• Know anyone allergic to money? Well, it seems that the new European Union currency called the Euro is sparking allergic reactions. Research has shown that sweaty palms can cause the coins to release high nickel levels – many times more than permitted under current regulations.
• Per the latest farm bill, school children may be eating irradiated meat. Heretofore, such meats were barred from school lunch programs.
• Since President Kennedy’s administration, it has taken increasingly longer to get political appointments on board, says a study by the Brookings Institution. The number of positions to fill has increased as well as background and ethics checks have become more extensive. Also, when the Senate is controlled by the opposite party from the president, confirmation of nominees just takes longer.
“It now takes as long, on average, to get an appointee into office as it does to have a child,” said Paul C. Light, a Brookings spokesman. His organization’s study showed that as 2002 was drawing to a close, some spots were as yet unfilled, nearly two years after President George W. Bush took office.
December 2002 Render