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In July 2008, New York became the first large city in the country to require restaurants to post calorie information in conspicuous locations. It could be on the menu or, in the case of fast-food eateries, near the menu board. The goal was to get consumers thinking about the healthfulness of their food choices by making calories and related nutrition information more transparent.

Indeed, when the law first took effect, the city’s media outlets reported a host of hidden surprises, mostly from seemingly innocent, healthful entrees that in reality, packed a caloric wallop strong enough to make you grab your chest and feel phantom heart attacks.

Fifteen months, later, researchers from New York University have found that publicizing nutrition information in foodservice venues has had little impact on the choices people make — particularly low-income consumers, the group this study focused on.

The preliminary findings were published in the online version of Health Affairs, a public policy journal, and reported in today’s New York Times. For the study, the researchers collected food receipts and survey responses from 1,156 adults at fast-food restaurants in low-income, minority New York communities. These were compared to a sample in Newark, N.J., a city that had not introduced menu labeling. more…

Even with the bumps in the road (the economy, prices, and the like), organic continues to grow. No surprise there. The NPD Group, a leading market research company, forecasts that “better for you” foods, such as organic and light or low-calorie foods and beverages, will be among the fastest-growing food trends over the next decade. NPD is predicting a 41% growth in organics alone.

The back story here is that consumers are shifting their priorities. They’re interested in not only what’s good for their health, but also what’s good for the health of the planet.

A recent MamboTrack study found that the majority of natural/organic consumers were not willing to give up eating healthy, despite the economy. Respondents said they would continue to buy healthy foods and many indicated that the “cost” of not doing so was too high — with costs to their health and the planet.

Organic food is better for the environment because it reduces our chemical exposure, with less contamination in the soil and the air (not to mention what we eat).

Moreover, organics are typically grown in a sustainable manner that not only treats the environment well but provides the workforce with a fair living and safe working conditions.

Economically speaking, a fair living for one benefits all. Plus, organic agriculture reduces our dependence on fossil fuels used to create chemical fertilizers.

And coinciding with the surge in organics is a distinct interest in eating local. Farmers markets are growing and often feature local organic farms. This too ties into quality-of-life for the agricultural workforce, increasing the number of self-employed farmers and entrepreneurs and further balancing wage disparities.

This trend toward organics will have a lasting impact. Young families are committing to natural and organic living, raising a new generation of children who will see these earth-friendly habits as a regular way of life.

Don’t count high fructose corn syrup out just yet. Stevia is not going to take over the sweetener world, as many have been predicting. In fact, the Center for Consumer Freedom launched a new ad campaign this week that stresses the similarities between HFCS and sugar.

“The myth that high fructose corn syrup is somehow a greater contributor to obesity than cane sugar, beet sugar, or honey has been soundly debunked by nutritional experts, but HFCS is still widely misunderstood by the public,” said Sarah Longwell, the spokesperson for the campaign.

Print ads appeared this week, and television spots will soon follow (shown at right). In these, actors dressed as an ear of corn, a sugar cube and a honey bear standing in a police line-up play up the “wrongly accused” theme, as the “victim” in the commercial is unable to identify the sweetener responsible for making him gain weight because all three sugars are nutritionally the same.

The television commercial will air on MSNBC, Fox News, CNN and CNBC and will run for three weeks, according to CCF officials. more…

I wish I could take credit for the phrase used in the headline, but it came from a story I spotted in the Philadelphia Inquirer this week about a burgeoning eco-kosher movement that seems to have its roots in the City of Brotherly Love.

Eco-kosher! Now, what the heck does that mean? Kosher food is already popular with non-Jews who like the sanitary and processing standards that govern the ancient law of Kashrut. Food prepared under kosher supervision is said to be cleaner, and therefore, more healthful.

Such beliefs have propelled sales of all kosher foods in the United States to new highs. According to Packaged Facts, sales of certified kosher foods in the supermarket channel topped $200 billion in 2008, up from $150 billion in 2003. Countless numbers of supermarkets serving large Orthodox populations have set up kosher delis, meat departments and bakeries – including Wakefern/ShopRite, Supervalu’s Jewel-Osco banner, Whole Foods (pictured) and Safeway-owned Genuardi’s, to name a few.

Kosher covers the processing and preparation of food, but it does not yet include the fairly new concepts of sustainable agriculture, worker welfare and all the other intangibles that increasingly make up the whole health movement.

“The emphasis now is on what it really means for a particular food to be fit to eat,” Mark Kaplan, a Reform Jew who has helped start community-supported agriculture programs with synagogues, told the Inquirer. more…

It only took about two hours walking the exhibition floor at last week’s Natural Products Expo East show in Boston before we began noticing some common threads running among the exhibitors. Here are some of the more interesting ones we’re going to follow up on in our next print issue of SN Whole Health, coming out in late November:

- Licorice. I can’t tell what’s healthful about this candy item, though the products we’re seeing are a far cry from the childhood Twizzlers sticks. These are adult products, with grown-up flavors and ingredients that include (in the case of one company) a distinctly satisfying herbal variety. One exhibtor told me there are cough-supressant proerties associated with licorice.

- Green Tea Powder. This is probably the tea category’s answer to all the powdered drink mixes and powdered functional sports beverages that have hit the market in the past 18 months, something we’ve written about here, as well as the print publication. The tea powder is sort of like Japanese matcha, that strong-grassy flavored powder that’s great hot or cold. Some brands come in single-serving pouches and are flavored additionally with ingredients like lemon or ginger.

- Rice Cake Machines. Talk about an action station. Long a fixture in Asian food stores, these small-footprint devices make a distinct “Pop” sound each time they spit out a crisp, fresh rice cake. One manufacturer told us they are already in talks with retailers like Kroger and Safeway, so could these machines do for Asian enthusiasts what the in-store tortilleria has done for Mexican food lovers?

(Photo credit: Peyri Leigh)

We were on here about a month ago talking up Smart Choices, the new manufacturer-led labeling initiative that awards green checkmarks to foods meeting consensus guidelines for fat, cholesterol, sugar, sodium, and so on. Kellogg’s, Unilever and other large food companies were on board — but so were respected health and nutrition organizations like the American Dietetic Association and the American Diabetes Association. Also, the guidelines follow the government’s own Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and were informed by extensive consumer research.

So what could be wrong? Plenty, according to a growing number of critics, who say the program primarily serves the interests of the manufacturers, not the public. As evidence, they point to some of the dubiously healthy products that have received a Smart Choices check: Froot Loops, Frosted Flakes, Hellman’s Mayonaise, Fruit Roll-Ups.

The New York Times ran a story on the issue, as did Forbes, under the headline “Smart Choices: Dumb As They Look?” ABC’s Nightline had a recent segment with food writer and chef Mark Bittman, who walked the aisles of a Stop & Shop lamenting the inclusion of products like Froot Loops. The website change.org, meanwhile, has mounted a campaign asking various health organizations to rescind their support for Smart Choices.

In their defense, Smart Choices members point out that products have to meet strict criteria to be included. Indeed, a number of items, like Froot Loops, have been reformulated to meet the healthier standards. There are also a lot of items in the program that everyone can agree deserve to be included. more…

There’s been plenty of skepticism surrounding Stevia in the past, but the all-natural, no-calorie sweetener cleared all its regulatory hurdles and has enjoyed a promising early run in the marketplace. And its potential going forward is huge.

How huge? Well, market research firm Mintel calls Stevia the “holy grail” of sweeteners in its latest report — capable of becoming a $2-billion-a-year industry by 2011 (sales currently sit at just under $100 million).

That seems like a pretty generous assessment for a Paraguayan shrub. But if you look at all the factors surrounding the market right now, things start to make more sense.

First and foremost, there’s PureVia and Truvia. These are the two new Stevia sweetener products hitting the market, and they’ve addressed what’s been missing from the original formulation: taste. The secret, apparently, is in enhancing rebaudioside A, the sweetest component of the plant. The major companies behind these products, including PepsiCo, which co-owns PureVia, and Cargill, which sells Reb A, as it’s known in the industry, have poured considerable resources into research and product expansion. So not only will PureVia and Truvia get a considerable mainstream push, but the industry will likely evolve to become even more palatable. more…

We’re in the season when consumers see time as even more of a barrier. Fall is beginning of a new round of activities. Groups that suspended meetings over the summer start filling in the calendar with dates. And we are only at the gate for the coming season of holidays!

It’s a good time for the food and nutrition experts in the supermarket to help customers take control. Here are some thoughts to consider:

• It’s a time- and dollar-crunched economy and cooking at home saves money. This theme, and the nutrition control you can put into home-cooked meals, are major messages to convey to consumers. Safe use of a crock pot, grilling indoors (or how to use the broiler) are cooking options that are often overlooked, but they add versatility and variety.

• Comparing the cost of scratch and speed-scratch to the standard restaurant or fast food menu is always good. But factor in the time and gas costs and the nutrition differences. And for small families, buying the amount they need from a salad or prepared food bar at the supermarket may be a bargain compared to restaurant prices.

• Emphasize meal ideas that minimize time and dollars, but meet the “Under 30” minute guideline. Chicken breast halves with an orange juice glaze with instant brown rice, microwaved green beans and a salad go on the table fast.

• Put emphasis on quality, along with the time factor. The return on investment comes from starting with quality ingredients.

• Remember that taste and nutrition are reasons we eat! Organically grown and preservative-free foods are part of that ROI to factor into food decisions.

• Plan for grab-and-go foods. When it comes to good food habits, sitting down to eat meal is an important point. However, there are those times when it’s just not an option. Yet, consumers can keep cost and nutrition under control by planning ahead and crafting their own “takeout.” Wraps, smoothies, soups and travelling salads can be a healthy compromise, and best of all, the variables of time, money and nutrition are controlled as we drive by the drive-thrus!

Under the Obama administration, federal agencies have started taking progressive steps away from their former selves. We’ve written about this happening with the Food and Drug Administration, and it appears the U.S. Department of Agriculture is doing the same.

So what are we talking about here — an overhaul of organic? The end of large-scale farming? Noooo. Like its big brother the FDA, the USDA has come under leadership that’s forward-thinking, yet still willing to extend an olive branch of diplomacy to the food industry. They’re working to make modest-yet-meaningful changes within the agency’s current mandate.

Two examples:

Earlier this week, the USDA announced an initiative called “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” aimed at increasing funding and awareness for local food systems. With a price tag of $65 million, the program is ambitious, and it’s addressing an issue of great interest to supermarkets, who have been stepping up their selection of local products but perhaps haven’t quite perfected the process. more…

One more story about nutrition labeling programs in supermarkets and we’re going to have to change the name of this blog. It seems we can’t keep up with reporting the new efforts as they roll out from manufacturers, health groups and retailers themselves.

Oh, well. No complaints, mind you. I think it’s great that there’s an ever-growing variety of reference tools available to consumers. The important thing with any of these programs is that it captures the attention of shoppers at the point of sale, whether it’s a shelf strip on on-pack label. It gets them to stop a moment and think about reading labels. And that’s exactly what we need to have happen.

Spartan Stores, the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based wholesaler/retailer, is pursuing the shelf tag strategy. The Nutrition Guide program, covering 16,000 products, is being introduced this week in Spartan’s D&W Fresh Markets and Family Fare Supermarkets. There, customers will find color-coded labels that identify six categories whose nutrition facts meet health federal health requirements: more…