As it is lunchtime, I figured I would share a few food related items I’ve seen in the news of late:
- Food that Repels. Different cultures have different foods they like. Sometimes this can create economic advantages: Freakonomics had an interesting podcast on recycling, where they noted how Tyson discovered they could make money recycling chicken feet by selling them in Asia. What caught my eye this week was an article in the WSJ on foods in different cultures that might be repellant to our typical Western tastes. For example, the article notes that the West loves cheese, but what we are really eating is the rotted bodily fluid of an ungulate. Other cultures has similar things we think are disgusting. Examples include nattō, kimchee, gravlax, hákarl, chicha, and casu marzu (maggot cheese). Interesting read.
- Mmmm. Pink Slime. According to the Huffington Post, McDonalds has agreed to stop treating hamburger meat with pink slime (ammonium hydroxide). Basically, the “slime” was a ground beef additive that consists of spare beef trimmings that have been treated with ammonium hydroxide to make them safe and at least semi-palatable. The USDA considers it safe; in fact, in 2007, when it mandated increased testing for most ground beef, it specifically exempted “pink slime,” even though the ammoniated beef comes from the parts of the cow most likely to harbor pathogens. The USDA argued that the beef’s ammonia treatment would kill any bacteria lingering in the beef.
- Is Sugar Safe? Speaking of what the USDA considers as safe, a group at UCSF wants the USDA to remove sugar from the “generally regarded as safe” list, meaning it can no longer be used in unlimited quantities in food. The notion would be to mandate reducing the amount of sugar is most foods, and forcibly changing the American taste palette to something less sweet. As would be expected, the American Beverage Association thinks it is wrong to compare sugar to alcohol and tobacco as an addictive substance. (…munches on candy bar…) I’m sure we’d all agree, sugar isn’t addictive.
Music: Milneberg Joys (The Frisco Syncopaters): Georgia Bo-Bo
