At last month’s Fancy Food Show in NYC, we stumbled upon a booth that is a mixologist’s dream come true. (Before I tell you about it, first let me ask: When did bartenders stop being called bartenders and morph into mixologists? What is the proper etiquette in terms of whether you call someone a bartender or a mixologist? If anyone can educate me, I’d be truly grateful).

Now, back to our discoveries. It was a small booth that was humming with activity. Okay, so it could have been the neat little bar, complete with an accomplished mixologist, that really kept the joint jumping, but after sampling their wares, I understood.

The booth was Tillen Farms. Their products ranged from pickled veggies like dilly beans, crispy carrots and asparagus, both spicy and regular; all absolutely delish and perfect on an antipasti platter or as natural and edible stirrers in your favorite bar drink!

But the item that really caught my eye was a jar of all-natural maraschino cherries, aptly named Merry Maraschino Cherries. They really took me back. As a kid, I loved the few times that we got to eat out at a local restaurant, usually lunch since money was tight, and I always, always, always ordered a Shirley Temple. As an adult, I learned how commercial maraschino cherries were made and that was the end of my love affair with them… that is, until now. MORE…

It’s a perennial problem faced by the food industry: There is always too much of a good thing.

The latest case involves inulin, an ingredient that’s answered the prayers of manufacturers looking to add fiber to their products. As a result, American consumers looking to boost their fiber intake have been finding more products on the shelves labeled as a “Good Source of Fiber” in large part thanks to inulin, which is extracted from the chicory root.

The choice of inulin as an ingredient has been helped immensely by its properties. It can be chemically manipulated to mimic tastes and textures that appeal to consumers. “It’s like a food manufacturer’s nirvana,” Joanne Slavin, a registered dietitian in the department of food science and nutrition at the University of Minnesota at St. Paul, told Reuters.

Slavin and some colleagues conducted research to find out how this increase in inulin consumption was affecting a person’s health. The group studied just over two dozen healthy individuals between the ages of 18 to 60. The group that was fed 5- or 10-gram doses of inulin reported a number of unpleasant gastrointestinal symptoms. MORE…

New stats are showing that fast beat out casual when it came to the performance of the fast casual dining segment last year. Figures compiled by Technomic indicate that fast casual is tops among the big restaurant sectors.

The Chicago-based foodservice industry consultant determined that 2009 sales for the top 100 fast-casual chains in the United States reached $17.5 billion, a 4.5% increase over the prior year; units grew by 4.3% to 14,777 locations. The performance is impressive given the tail-end effects of the recession on dining out, but entirely understandable, since the growth is based on a trade-down from table service restaurants.

In other words, the desire to eat out didn’t diminish, only the destination changed.

What is “fast casual”? Think Panera Bread — which Technomic says remained the leader of the fast casual pack, with 2009 sales of nearly $2.8 billion, up 7.1% from the prior year. Unit also grew (4.3%) to 1,304 stores. Chipotle Mexican Grill came in second, with sales growth of 13.9% to $1.5 billion, and unit growth of 14.2%, to 955 locations.

Many of these restaurants have a health and wellness or sustainability component to them, but there’s new competition all the time, and one of the newbies will be pretty hard to beat. A chain called Otarian is making a name for itself (two stores are open in New York’s Manhattan and two are planned for London) by building its entire operation and menu around carbon reduction.

Otarian is “the first ever low-carbon restaurant chain, using a cradle-to-grave analysis in the carbon footprinting of every menu item,” states the website. Indeed, each menu item (including containers and packaging) has been analyzed for carbon content, with an eye on using ingredients and processes that creates minimal carbon emissions.

So, the Tex Mex burger (spicy vegetarian patty, barbeque sauce, guacamole, salsa, cheese and lettuce on a white or brown bun) creates 1.72 kilograms of carbon, compared to 2.55 kilograms for a comparable meat-based product — a savings of nearly one kg.

Technomic’s 2010 Top 100 Fast-Casual Chain Restaurant Report notes that, besides burgers (up 16.7%), the fastest-growing menu categories reflect our desire for international flavors: Asian/noodle (up 6.4%) and Mexican (up 6.3%). It seems that Otarian — with its global conservation goals, pan-Atlantic locations and sustainable menu items — might be onto something.

(Photo credit: Otarian/Oswal Projects)

Ever since it became exempt from pre-market approval by the Food and Drug Administration in 1994, the supplement industry has reassured consumers and retailers that it can regulate itself. The ensuing years have cast some doubt on that assertion, and now there’s a report from the Government Accountability Office that makes it look like the Wild West out there in the aisles.

“Deceptive”, “questionable”, “dangerous”. These are words the GAO used to describe practices employed by sellers and manufacturers it recently investigated. Representatives scoped out brick-and-mortar and mail-order retailers, posing as elderly customers seeking relief for diabetes, memory loss, cancer and other ailments. One herbal supplement seller told investigators that ginseng could cure cancer. Another recommended taking gingko biloba along with asprin to enhance memory — a combination that studies have shown may increase the risk of internal bleeding.

The GAO also found evidence of metals such as lead and mercury, as well as pesticides, in all but three of the 40 herbal supplements it tested. None of the metal levels violated federal regulations, though 16 of the 40 appear to exceed the acceptable threshold for pesticides.

The Council for Responsible Nutrition, a trade group that represents the supplement industry, claims that the 22 retailers who were investigated are “outliers” that don’t accurately represent the whole. That’s hard to believe when you consider that sellers were picked at random. The GAO didn’t just happen to light on the several worst practitioners out there. MORE…

It’s been more than a year since stevia-based sweeteners hit the market in all sorts of beverages. As we head into the summer of ’10, let there be no doubt that Americans are really liking the stuff.

There are several companies leading the charge, including Cargill (TruVia), PureVia (Whole Earth Sweetener Co.) and Sweetleaf (Wisdom Natural Brands). If the latest numbers (supplied by stevia makers) are to be believed, then this plant is really roughing up the status quo.

For instance, we received an update this week from Cargill, makers of TruVia. For the last 16 weeks, it was listed as the No. 3 sugar substitute, surpassing Equal — an older sweetener made with aspartame — with a 7.6% dollar market share. The numbers are courtesy of the Nielsen Company, ending 3/20/10 in Food/Drug/Mass and Wal-Mart.

Perhaps a better picture emerges from this statistic: stevia sales have caused market share of the nation’s reigning sugar substitute, Splenda (sucralose), to drop below 50% during the same period. That’s a first. MORE…

If celiac disease and wheat intolerance wasn’t high on your radar before, think about your current product mix and whether you’re offering enough options to satisfy demand. May is both Food Allergy Awareness Month and Celiac Disease Awareness Month.

In one of our recent MamboTrack surveys we discovered 1 in 3 natural and organic consumers shopped for allergy-free foods. Can you guess what was at the top of the list? Gluten-free items. In our study, 25% of respondents looked for gluten-free foods. Other common allergens trailed far behind with only 9% avoiding dairy, 6% avoiding soy, and 4% peanuts.

Unfortunately, avoiding gluten is tricky. Some gluten products are easy to spot. Items like bread, pasta, and croutons are obvious products. But foods such as sauces, marinades, processed meats, imitation seafood and broth often contain gluten, too.

People with celiac disease, for whom gluten avoidance is imperative, have to get good at reading labels. They stay away from wheat, rye, barley, kamut, einkorn, spelt, and triticale. MORE…

We thought the story with food allergies was clear-cut — they’re widespread and growing. But a couple reports from this week point to some serious confusion in the field. One, an extensive government-funded review, concludes that the prevalence of food allergies is vastly overstated. Another, meanwhile, sounds the alarm by saying the number of children with peanut allergies has more than tripled.

The stakes are high for the food industry. The fervor over food allergies in the past decade or so has led to product reformulations, dedicated line extensions, more transparent labeling, and the added diplomacy of dealing with (understandably) nervous consumers. The investment has been significant, and founded on what seemed to be good science.

So what are we to believe? Studies are a dime a dozen these days, and their limited funding and scope means they can contradict one another. But the one that says food allergy fears have been overplayed was itself a review of thousands of studies dating back ten years. That meta factor makes it hard to ignore. It asserts that misdiagnoses, shoddy studies and nebulous criteria has led to 30% of the population thinking they have a food allergy, when the real percentage is only a third of that.

Food allergies do exist, the authors make sure to state. But they’re often misdiagnosed or confused with food intolerance, which is temperamental and not an actual immunological response. Perhaps that’s the weakness with the second study mentioned above — it was based on a telephone survey of just over 5,000 households. The considerable attention that’s been paid to peanut and other allergies in recent years could mean respondents were overstating the problem. MORE…

Hearing the demands coming from regulators and consumers, more and more manufacturers are cutting back on sodium in the foods they make. Just last week General Mills announced it will cut sodium by 20% in most of its products, and companies like Kraft, ConAgra and others have started marketing around their lower sodium counts.

But according to a report released today by the Institute of Medicine, this isn’t enough. What’s really needed, the authors state, is national regulation that will gradually bring sodium consumption more in line with recommended guidelines. Currently, Americans consume 50% more sodium each day than they should, increasing their risk for hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

“What is needed is a coordinated effort to reduce sodium in foods across the board by manufacturers and restaurants — that is, create a level playing field for the food industry,” according to the briefing.

Since sodium is such an ingrained taste — you don’t always know when it’s there, but you certainly know when it’s not — the IOM recommends gradually stepping down amounts rather than cut out a bunch of it all at once. Ideally, consumers wouldn’t notice much of a difference.

A story in today’s Washington Post reported, via anonymous sources within the Food and Drug Administration, that the FDA has already begun taking the steps outlined by the IOM report. This afternoon, the FDA issued a statement saying that, in fact, it is not currently working on regulations and hasn’t made any plans in that direction. MORE…

Here’s one thing we know: The weight-loss products industry is booming.

Here’s one thing we don’t know: How to actually lose weight. According the latest industry snapshot from CPG research firm Packaged Facts, Americans spent $26 billion on weight-loss and weight management products last year — yet the prevalence of obesity in this country over the past ten years increased 48% amongst adults, and 72% amongst children. It’s projected that by the year 2018 obesity-related medical expenses will more than triple from their current rate.

You can’t blame people for not trying. The report states that 39% of adults are working to lose or maintain weight. Nearly three fourths of sales go to diet foods and drinks, while 18% goes to weight loss programs and services like Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem. The bottom 10% belongs to over-the-counter drugs, therapies and (shudder) surgical intervention.

So who’s to blame here, the products or the consumer? Perhaps both. People want their diets to be quick and easy, and companies help them maintain that illusion. There was the carb craze, for one, and now there’s something called the “cookie diet”. Ask any dietitian or nutritionist worth her salt, and she’ll tell you losing weight is hard work, requiring a combination of exercise, planning, and smaller, more wholesome portions.

Nevertheless, we soldier on. The latest trend nowadays, according to the Packaged Facts report, is with food and drinks promoting satiety. These items are supposed to give consumers a feeling of fullness, keeping them from the cravings that cause them to raid the pantry. MORE…

There have been culinary horror stories about ships plying the Mediterranean, stopping at ports in Spain, Italy and Turkey, and filling their vast holds with olive and other oils that are then indiscriminately mixed, yet sold as pure in U.S. food stores. Unscrupulous producers bottle inferior grades of oil and slap on a premium label. Sometimes the product is cut with inferior oils like sunflower or hazelnut, though it’s still marketed as “100% pure olive.”

American consumers love olive oil, but they’re in dire need of some education — and some reassurance that the oil they’re purchasing is authentic. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has proposed new standards, but has yet to finalize grading and issue new regulations. As a result, we keep using the four grades of olive oil established by the agency in 1948.

The rules are based on four basic elements: acidity, absence of defects, odor and flavor. There’s nothing about purity or authenticity, and this is the loophole that’s been blatantly exploited by less reputable producers. When consumers see terms like “pure extra virgin” on a label, that actually means nothing in the eyes of the USDA, because that’s a definition used by the International Olive Council, located in Spain. The United States isn’t a member of the IOC, and so, such wording is not officially recognized stateside. MORE…