When it comes to pesticides, potatoes are heavy hitters. They can receive up to 19 sprays in a single growing season. Farmers often spray on a weekly basis, or even more frequently to try to prevent blight. They also spray herbicides to kill the tops of the plants at the end of the growing season to make the underground tubers easier to harvest.
That’s why it’s so difficult to find organic potatoes, because the things are really tough to grow. It’s a high-value, but vulnerable, crop.
Every once in a while we hear from the Wisconsin Eco-Potato partnership, which was established in 1996 by the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) and the University of Wisconsin. The goal has been to develop ways to minimize chemical use and promote sustainable farming. The effort has produced advances in integrated pest management, water conservation, soil protection and yields without the use of genetic modification.
In 2001, the group introduced the Healthy Grown label. In order to get it, farmers and their products are certified by Protected Harvest, an independent oversight organization created to monitor the overall effort. Healthy Grown has compiled an eight-year database tracing IPM and pesticide use, which is shared with the university and other organizations like the International Crane Foundation, the Defenders of Wildlife and the World Wildlife Fund.
“One of Healthy Grown’s greatest strengths is the collaboration between researchers, conservationists and growers,” notes A.J. Bussan, associate professor in the Department of Horticulture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Healthy Grown emerged from a targeted set of specific sustainability standards, but all of us continue to challenge those standards.” more…
In this Brave New World of bioterrorism, retailers who truly value their own in-house brands are presenting vendors with a Yellow Pages-size stack of forms to fill in for food safety purposes. All I can say is “Bring it on - it’s about time!”
The question I ask myself is why it took a terrorist attack to finally focus attention to the products pouring into our food supply.
One of the perks of my job is traveling the world to visit factories that manufacture food products. That said, one can only imagine what I’ve witnessed over the years — a veritable Clint Eastwood feast of “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”!
I am not sure that I can always consider this aspect of my job a perk. When you are living out of a suitcase for weeks on end, washing undergarments in the hotel sink, exhausted from too much travel, too much food, too much stimulation and far too little sleep, you finally arrive home only to have folks ask about your vacation!
A vacation for me means that I can set aside worrying about quality issues for a few short days, knowing that I’ve done my part. more…
A lot is being made of New York City’s move to limit sodium in foods sold in the five boroughs. This latest initiative — the city has already banned trans fats and requires restaurants to post calorie counts — seeks to prod manufacturers and restaurant kitchens to cut back on the salt.
The official goal is to reduce the amount of sodium in packaged food and foodservice by an average of 25% over the next five years. This is only a suggestion. There’s no law or regulation taking effect here. In effect, the city is asking companies to join in a voluntary campaign to reduce the amount of sodium city consumers are taking in.
That’s all good stuff, but published reports point out that the big packaged food companies have been quietly removing sodium from products like soup and prepared foods for some time now. Perhaps the most progressive company on this front has been Campbell Soup Co. ConAgra is also working on it, as is Progresso, Unilever, Sara Lee and other big brand-name food makers.
Have you ever tried a low-sodium version of a product? Did you buy it again? I recall trying a low-salt version of a vegetable juice I really liked, and I thought I was drinking liquid cardboard. What I ended up doing was cutting the regular version with water in the belief that I was at least diluting the sodium content. more…
In the four years I’ve lived in New York, I’ve gotten used to buying only what I can carry home from the grocery store. Doing this is nice because its quick, because it’s good exercise, and because we waste less food. But man, sometimes I can’t help but remember fondly those days (college) when I’d load down the car with everything I needed — and didn’t need — for the week, and just drive home.
The automobile, that symbol of American independence, offers many of the conveniences and efficiencies we enjoy. And yet its excessive in so many ways as well, for ourselves and for the environment. In the down economy, Americans scrapped 14 million cars and only purchased 10 million, according to a new study by the Earth Policy Institute, leading to a 2% decline in the country’s auto fleet. That’s the first decline since World War 2.
Much of this is due to people taking advantage of the federal “Cash for Clunkers” program, and generally unburdening themselves of the financial weight that comes with owning a car. But the EPI says there’s also evidence that, particularly amongst younger consumers, people want to skip the car to help reduce emissions. It’s possible that by 2020, the institute says, we could own 10% less than the current fleet. more…
I first saw health kits during a store tour of Ukrop’s Super Markets in Richmond, Va. Bobby Ukrop, the CEO, told me the chain was going to start offering five genetic testing kits, which would indicate a person’s predisposition to heart disease, diabetes and similar conditions.
That was 5 years ago — a lifetime in the field of medical technology (and the supermarket business, too. Ukrop’s has been sold to Ahold’s Giant-Carlisle). I don’t know if they’re still offering the kits, but plenty of retailers have implemented such services through their pharmacies and wellness centers. These exams, for a fee that averages around $100, are sent off to independent labs for processing, and the results are meant to be discussed with a physician or someone versed in wellness, like a pharmacist.
The key to these tests is that they are not a diagnosis or even a prediction. “But they are results that can be modified through diet or lifestyle changes,” is what Bobby Ukrop told me back then. The same is true today.
These kinds of test kits will likely get a big leg up in the coming year as NBC’s hit series, “The Biggest Loser”, prepares to use a new health risk assessment tool that identifies the contestant’s disease risk, as well as their “internal age,” life expectancy and estimated preventable medical expenses. more…
Terms like vegetarian, vegan and locavore may not refer to mainstream movements, but they say a lot about our culture and the way we eat. Very few people, for instance, are able to consume only food grown within a hundred mile radius — yet the influence of “local” can be seen in every mainstream supermarket these days.
And so it goes with the latest term to be added to the health and wellness lexicon: flexitarian.
So what’s a flexitarian? It’s someone who tries to incorporate meatless meals into her diet but isn’t a strict vegetarian. It sounds a bit hard to pin down, but there’s no doubt it’s fully established and making inroads. Compass Group, the world’s largest food distributor, just announced its “Be A Flexitarian” initiative, which will expand the company’s meat-free offerings and promote flexitarian living.
“It doesn’t take an all-or-nothing approach to make a major impact, and giving customers more meat-free meal choices will improve health, reduce the impact of global warming and help animals,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society, in a release praising the new program.
Compass reaches millions of students, office workers and sports fans at cafeterias and food stops around the country, so it’s not hard to imagine the impact this will have. Even the most vegetable-resistant, hot-dog-scarfing consumers will be exposed to the possibility that such foods can be tasty and healthy. That kind of exposure will no doubt trickle down to the retail level in some form. more…
A report published just this week in the medical journal Pediatrics concludes that special diets are not effective in treating digestive problems in children with autism.
Try telling that to all the parents and caretakers who swear that modifying the diet of an autistic child can reduce or even eliminate behavior outbursts that many believe are caused by painful digestive upsets.
Among the top suspects on the list is gluten. According to Packaged Facts, supermarkets have quickly become one of the biggest channels for moving gluten-free products. Sales are expected to grow by double digits and hit $2.6 billion by 2012. At the trade shows I attend, there’s an ever-expanding list of gluten-free foods ready for market (prompting some to ask whether there’s a gluten-free “bubble” about to burst), and some retailers are highlighting gluten-free foods to differentiate themselves from competitors.
“This is really a growing, large population, and they’re a tight-knit group,” is how one dietitian we spoke with characterized gluten-free shoppers.
According to an Associated Press report, one in 5 autistic kids is currently on a special diet in which gluten and casein (a dairy protein) are eliminated. Another statistic: an estimated one in 110 children in the United States is classified as autistic. more…
By now your New Year’s marketing plans are well established, and I expect many retailers will be highlighting produce and wellness products early this month, capturing attention from all those folks who resolved—once again—to eat better this year.
But good intentions don’t have to end in January. Extend the New Year’s season into February and March with an ongoing ‘Remember Your Resolutions’ campaign.
Set up sampling tables by the carrots and broccoli—highlighting healthy salad dressings. Or, feature simple recipes (like Asian coleslaw or glazed carrots) that use pre-cut veggie packs.
Make the campaign educational with side-by-side taste tests of different citrus fruits available this time of year. You could also help customers get a little adventurous with demonstrations on how to seed a pomegranate or eat a star fruit.
For another promotion, demonstrate what five servings of fruits and vegetables looks like lumped together. Pull in products from the fresh, frozen, canned and beverage aisles to show the multitude of options that meet those servings goals. (Visit the CDC’s new fruit and veggie site for updated serving guidelines and ideas.)
In our Mambo Sprouts 2010 MamboTrack outlook survey, 53% of consumers said that they would place a priority on purchasing organic children’s food products in 2010. So to really pack a powerful punch, market these tasting/educational weekends as kid-friendly events. Give kids a punch card to mark off every healthy item they try and offer prizes for children who meet certain tasting goals.
After all, healthy eating is a family affair.
(Photo credit: ProBuild Garden Center, Santa Cruz, Calif.)
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack paid a visit to Hy-Vee in Des Moines, Iowa this week to talk a bit about healthy eating and that topic that seems to be on everyone’s mind these days — nutrition labeling.
The point of reference here was the NuVal system Hy-Vee uses, which ranks food on a 100-point scale, with higher numbers indicating more nutritious choices. It’s definitely one of the easier-to-understand programs out there, and Vilsack, having strolled the aisles with Hy-Vee CEO Ric Jurgens checking out products (Frosted Mini Wheats, Mr. Secretary?), seems to agree. He praised NuVal and seemed — maybe? — to hint at the need for further label reform.
“If you take a look at a label — unless you’re a dietician or a chemist or a doctor — it’s really hard to determine between two products which is the best product for you and your family,” Vilsack said during a news conference at the store.
Amen to that. But if the secretary and the industry hopes to send a message about the need for clarity in nutrition labeling, they should be aware of what critics say about industry-led programs. According to them, the proliferation of different systems, each operating under different criteria, has only created further confusion. NuVal is different from Supervalu’s Nutrition IQ is different from Hannaford’s Guiding Stars, and so on. In one store you’ve got numbers, the other you’re reading the stars. more…
‘Twas two days before Christmas,
and all through the stores,
an acquisition was brewing,
that the principals promised
will open new doors….
OK, I’m not Clement Clarke Moore, but it seems an appropriate way to announce the news this morning that Kehe Food Distributors has acquired Tree of Life from Royal Wessanen nv.
The agreement, worth $190 million cash, includes Tree of Life U.S., based in St. Augustine, Fla., and Tree of Life Canada, which operates out of Calgary, Alberta. An early 2010 closing date is expected.
The development itself isn’t a total surprise. Earlier this year, Wessanen officials said they were going to start shopping their North American holdings in order to realign their portfolio and return to a Euro-centric business model. Wessanen, headquartered in the Netherlands, purchased Tree of Life in December of 1985 when it launched a push into the natural/organics business.
Tree of Life currently operates 10 distribution centers in the United States and three in Canada. Kehe, based in Romeoville, Ill., is a leading distributor of specialty, gourmet and ethnic products to retail grocery stores of all sizes in all 50 states, as well as Mexico and the Caribbean. more…
Every once in a while we hear from the Wisconsin Eco-Potato partnership, which was established in 1996 by the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) and the University of Wisconsin. The goal has been to develop ways to minimize chemical use and promote sustainable farming. The effort has produced advances in integrated pest management, water conservation, soil protection and yields without the use of genetic modification.
