One reason and the only reason I can think – its cheap!!!  High Fructose Corn Syrup aka HFCS simply put is a cheap form of sweetener.  You can read online about how its made and stuff.  You see HFCS in pretty much most food products sold at your local grocery store.  There are ongoing studies – independent researchers and “industry sponsored” researchers figuring out the good and bad stuff about it.  Some studies link HFCS to obesity, reproductive problems. Other studies say it is TOTALLY safe.  You figure out if you want to sign up to be a ’subject’ for a lab study while the research continues.  Washington Post reports that nearly half the tested samples of HFCS contained Mercury.  So next time you are feeding your kids the cereal or pouring that chocolate milk, you will likely notice HFCS on the ingredients list. Always read the fine print, ask questions.  Most corporations dont care about you or your kids.  Its all about profits and quarterly earnings.  Here are a few eye-opening links:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-fructose-corn-syrup/AN01588

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/26/AR2009012601831.html

Beach plum jams and jellies are known the world over – and always associated with Cape Cod. Experiments are now in progress which may elevate the purple-hued beach plum to the commercial status of the Cape Cod cranberry.

This postcard appears to be from the 1960’s. It is now close to fifty years later and the beach plum’s struggle is apparently still on – people want to make it a commercially viable fruit, and it seems to still be refusing to cooperate.

In 2007, with the help of the USDA, several universities, and some cooperative extensions, a bumper crop of 800 pounds was gathered by this group. Of course, it wasn’t Cape Cod so maybe that was the problem. The card claims that beach plums are always associated with Cape Cod.

The beach plum has a most romantic sound to it. Both beachy and plummy it floats along, unattainable to the common person unlucky enough to not be foraging along the beach at the right time and right place . . . and the recipes which beach plums are now going into also have the right stuff to maintain this romance!

A Recipe For Romance
1 part romantic fruit (beach plum, pomegranate, quince, persimmon)
1 part goat cheese
1 part bacon
1 part greens

It’s a bit odd how the beach plum seems to be refusing the promise of ‘becoming elevated to the status of the cranberry’. In 1948 a Beach Plum Grower’s Association was started, but after ten years it mysteriously disbanded, with no word as to ‘why’.

Maybe the beach plum wants to stay small. Maybe it doesn’t really care if the foodies in other places feel the need to know it. Could it be that (as Wallace Stevens wrote) ‘the plum survives its poems’. (?)

I often think of highly processed food as “plastic food”, mostly because it comes so heavily packaged in plastic and because of the fact that compared to fresh whole foods it tastes so artificial.  Processed cheese slices are probably the best example of what I think of as plastic food.  They just look like shiny, bright orange plastic squares with almost no real dairy content whatsoever and they taste absolutely nothing like the read cheddar cheese that they supposedly mimic.  We’ve all been approached by a child playing house in one of those Fisher Price kitchens with the pretend food and when they ask us to taste their home cooked meal we laugh and say “num num num num” as we pretend to eat it.  But of course we’d never take a real bite out of it.  It’s plastic!  It would taste aweful and be terrible for our health.  Hmmm, exactly.

We all know that processed food is bad for our health.  Even if you’ve never read any of the studies, it’s just common sense that feeding your body artificial flavours, chemical additives and preservatives is just not a great idea.  But I thought I’d attempt to shed a little light on just where exactly all these unhealthy food additives come from.  Essentially it all boils down to two words; corn and soy!

Before looking into it, I had no idea that such a wide variety of food products could be derived from such a small number of inputs, but a diagram I found on ADM’s website (see link below) shows just how few common denominators there are in a long list of hard to pronounce processed food ingredients.  Corn and soy beans represent an enormous percentage of all crops grown in the American mid west, otherwise known as the “corn belt”.  But that’s not because Americans love to eat corn on the cob.  No no no, it’s because corn is cheap to grow and it’s easy to process into hundreds of other things ranging literally from things like high fructose corn syrup (sweetener) to the multi talented dextrin, a carbohydrate produced by the hydrolysis of corn starch.  Dextrin has dozens of useful applications not only in food processing plants to enhance the crispiness of food batters, coatings and glazes, but also in the textile industry to increase the weight and stiffness of fabrics, and even in the stationery industry as a binding agent for the glue on envelopes and waxy paper coatings.

So there you have it folks, American farmers don’t grow corn because the world likes to eat corn, they grow it because the world likes to dip cardboard boxes in it, swallow their pills with it, burn it in their vehicles, and even wear it in their shirts.

But the list of uses for giant surpluses of corn and soy brought on by excessive government subsidization doesn’t end with corn syrup and dextrin.  There are dozens of even more bizarrely named food additives and preservatives like isoflavones, lecithin, sorbitol, lysine, astaxanthin, and yes even polymers.  Polymers as in “plastics”?  Yep, one of the myriad byproducts of heavily processed corn is, quite literally, “plastic food” or more accurately, “food plastic”.  ADM’s website boasts of their achievement of creating “polyhydroxy alkanoates (or PHAs) that are made from corn sugar and can be used in everyday products like cosmetic packaging, cell phones, office supplies and shopping bags.”   Fantastic!  This means we can stop pumping oil out of the ground to make plastic, right?  Wrong.

Guess where all the energy comes from not only to turn corn into plastic for making cell phones, but also to make corn into ketchup, chicken nuggets and soda?  Well, the milling, crushing, grinding, hydrogenation, enzymatic interesterification, saccharification, extraction and deodorization are all energy intensive processes that require burning vast quantities of natural gas or oil.  So when you look at the system as a whole, we’re now growing food and turning it into plastic by using oil, instead of just making oil directly into plastic.  Have we really solved an environmental problem or just created a new one by using up hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land to grow cheap corn?

Now, if you’re thinking that I’m just an extremist wingnut screaming about the evils of food corporations, then rest assured, this is not a conspiracy theory or extremist evangelism.  I’m not saying that the companies that process corn and soy are wrong to do so.  There are some incredible benefits of using grains that can be grown, stored and transported efficiently for the wide variety of purposes that science has discovered.  I’m also not saying that people who eat heavily processed foods necessarily need to repent and switch to any other particular diet.  I’m just saying we should be taking a deeper look at what we put in our bodies and where it comes from.  You can start by visiting http://www.FarmOn.com and by checking out ADM’s site for yourself.

References:
http://www.adm.com/_layouts/admprocess/processpop.aspx
http://www.adm.com/en-us/products/industrial/polymers/Pages/default.aspx

I was sitting over my breakfast in the cafeteria the other day when I spotted this article in the Star Tribune. Apparently, there is a “nationwide shortage” of Eggo frozen waffles due to “interruptions in production at two of the four plants that make them.” Bloggers and news sources alike have been following the story in hordes, some in seriousness, as does the Star Tribune, and others with just a hint of sarcasm, as Stephen Colbert does in this clip.

Believe it or not, these “vintage waffles” have already hit the virtual shelves of Ebay, selling for $49.99 for two boxes. It’s true: A nationwide emergency is on hand! What do people EAT for breakfast if not Eggo waffles???

Actually, there are quite a few other options. But Eggos are just one of the many processed breakfast foods that many people — especially kids — eat on a daily basis. Even if they were generally healthy for you — see the not-so-nutritious facts here — Eggos would still perpetuate the industrial agricultural model that dominates the food system by using processed and enriched grain products.

To combat these issues, try eating fresh, local fruit for breakfast, if it’s in season. Or you could even make your own waffles, using as many local or organic ingredients as you can find. If you’re concerned about the time it takes to cook in the morning, make a big batch on the weekend and then freeze them for the week. It’s like eating frozen Eggos — except more delicious.

But there’s a problem here: the cost. Eggos usually cost somewhere around $2 for a box. If you want to buy fresh fruit or fresh ingredients for waffles, you have to spend more money. This brings up one of the major issues with the local and organic food movements: How are people supposed to support the movement if they can’t afford it? Eating well shouldn’t be a class issue, as a comment on my last post noted. It’s easy to understand why less-privileged consumers wouldn’t want to spend money on expensive local food if they are struggling to eat.

Luckily, there are many organizations already trying to remedy this problem. Here’s a video — produced in part by a fellow Ole, Jensen Power — from Growing Gardens, an organization in Portland, Oregon. This organization plants urban gardens for low-income households to promote food security as well as healthy, local eating.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about Eggos, breakfast, or the cost of food.

There’s something really spooky about this ‘keepsake’ postcard of a turkey farm. Even the name of the place seems to have subtle overtones of the otherworldly. I mean really – “Fry Brothers”? And then the idea of a turkey ‘ranch’ (?) (what happened to farms for birds?) with the ‘dining rooms’ right next to it?

I’m no scaredy-cat or prissy missy when it comes to the fact that yes, we do have to kill our food before we eat it (unless we decide to eat it raw and wriggling) but really. There’s something either tactless or insinuatingly Twilight Zone-ish about this whole thing.

The photo itself looks as if aliens have come to take over the planet, and the fact that the back of the card bought as momento (momento? why?) of this place is blank, totally blank, seems to smack of some strange occurrence happening here. As a matter of fact, the back wouldn’t even take a clear photo. All fuzzy and strangely lit, every single time I tried.

I have to wonder if they made it out alive.

Nevertheless, Fry Bros. Turkey Ranch and Dining Rooms is in fact a real place still in operation, and it gets surprisingly good reviews. Just look at this one

I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone I also stayed for a few nights at the turkey ranch. The whole atmosphere is out of this world and would come back again

“Out of this world???” (What did I tell you . . .!)

And then there is this one

If you go, get something that is turkey. Why go to a place called the Turkey Ranch and order anything else. We were just passing thru on the way to New York, but they were a great place to stop. If I take that route again, I would go here again.

What is this, code? “Get something that is turkey,” (?) But there is much philosophy in the end of the note. “If I take that route again . . .”

I have to ask myself – “What Would Robert Frost Do?”

You see, your supermarket’s shelves are packed with overhyped health claims. And while many of these claims may be factual, they may also be giving you the wrong impression about just how healthful a product really is. That’s because marketers highlight what they want you to notice. “Even if a food is fat free, it could be loaded with sugar,” says study author Clare Hasler, Ph.D. “Or a product that’s ‘made with whole grains’ may also contain a high amount of refined flour.” Your best strategy: Use this guide to learn the science behind the sales pitch. Call it the Eat This, Not That crib sheet for helping you to beat Big Food at its own game—and eat healthier for life.

 The product: Franken Berry

The claim: “With Whole Grain”

What you should know: If it’s really “100% whole grain,” it’ll say so on the package. Even in a “whole grain” product, some of the flour can come from refined grains—and probably does. Check the ingredient list: Any flour that doesn’t start with the word “whole” isn’t. And remember, ingredients are listed in descending order of the amount used by weight. Another example: Reese’s Puffs touts “with whole grain” on the label. Of course, the label doesn’t boast that a three-quarter cup serving of the cereal also contains 3 teaspoons of sugar.

Bonus tip: For even more examples of how you’re being tricked by the food industry, check out 30 “healthy” foods that aren’t.

The product: Kellogg’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pop-Tarts

The claim: “Good source of 7 vitamins and minerals“

What you should know: Federal regulations require that enriched flour—the first ingredient in this product and the same stuff white bread is made from—contain five of the seven vitamins and minerals the package so proudly touts. That’s right: Load a product with refined flour, and you can distract consumers from the fact that it’s not made with whole grains by simply bragging that it contains all kinds of vitamins and minerals.

The product: Cheetos Puffs

The claim: “0 Grams Trans Fat”

What you should know: To claim “0 grams of trans fat” a product must contain less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving—so it’s not necessarily trans fat free. The dead giveaway? The words “partially hydrogenated” on the ingredient list. Granted, half a gram is a tiny amount, but don’t assume the product is healthy even it doesn’t contain any trans fat. After all, it could still be packed with an overload of sugar, fat, sodium or additives. Remember, marketers are masters of misdirection.

Bonus tip: If you dare, find out the truth about your food—it could be the most important health story you read this year.

The product: Welch’s 100% Grape Juice

The claims:

• “No sugar added—ever!”
• “Helps support a healthy heart, mind & immune system.”

What you should know: While an 8-ounce serving of this beverage is loaded with healthful antioxidants, it also contains more sugar than a 12-ounce soda. That’s something to keep in mind, since research shows that high-sugar drinks don’t seem to reduce your hunger compared to solid food. As a result, the calories they provide can become excess calories if you’re not careful.

The product: Twizzlers Strawberry Twists

The claim: “As always: a low-fat candy.”

What you should know: Of course Twizzlers are low in fat—more than 90 percent of their calories come from sugar and processed carbs. What’s more, you’ll find “fat free” claims on the labels of such sugar-packed products as Swedish Fish, Mike and Ike, and Good & Plenty. It seems that food manufacturers think you’re stupid. In fact, their marketing strategies rely on that belief. For instance, the makers of the aforementioned candies may be hoping you’ll equate “fat free” with “healthy” or “nonfattening,” so you’ll forget about all the sugar their products contain.

Bonus tip: Losing weight isn’t the only secret to looking younger; find more in this excerpt from Your Best Body at 40-Plus.

The product: Quaker Instant Oatmeal Maple & Brown Sugar

The claim: An American Heart Association logo displayed on the product’s box, with fine print below the logo that reads that the food meets the AHA’s “food criteria for saturated fat and cholesterol.”

What you should know: It contains more sugar than a bowl of Froot Loops. Fact is, it could contain a pound of sugar and still meet the AHA’s qualifications. But guess what? Froot Loops meets the AHA’s criteria, too, only no logo is displayed. That’s because companies must pay to be an American Heart Association–certified food. That’s why the AHA checkmark might appear on one product but not on another, even when both meet the guidelines. 

The product: Nabisco Honey Teddy Grahams

The claim: “A good source of: calcium, iron, zinc”

What you should know: For a food to be considered a good source of a specific vitamin or mineral, a serving must contain 10 percent of the recommended daily value for that nutrient. In this case, you’d have to eat 10 servings of Teddy Grahams—more than the entire box—to hit the amount of calcium you need for the day. Now think about it: Is that really a good source?

The product: SnackWell’s Devil’s Food Cookie Cakes

The claim: “Sensible snacking: fat-free, no cholesterol, low sodium“

What you should know: The first four ingredients are sugar, enriched flour, high-fructose corn syrup and corn syrup. Is that really sensible snacking? Of course not. Follow these seven snack-smart strategies  instead.

The product: Kellogg’s Corn Flakes

The claim: There’s a “Diabetes Friendly” logo on the box’s side panel.

What you need to know: Australian researchers have shown that corn flakes raise blood glucose faster and to a greater extent than straight table sugar. (High blood glucose is the primary indicator of diabetes.) Below the logo, the cereal maker does provide a link to its Web site, where general nutrition recommendations are provided for people with diabetes. But these recommendations are authored by Kellogg’s nutritionists—and simply “based on” the guidelines of the American Dietetic Association and the American Diabetes Association.

The product: Kellogg’s Smart Start Strong Heart Toasted Oat

The claim: That its content of whole grain oats, antioxidants and potassium, along with the fact that it’s low in sodium, can help lower your cholesterol and reduce your risk of high blood pressure and heart disease.

What you need to know: Yes, this cereal has plenty of healthful ingredients. However, one serving contains more sugar—17 grams—than a serving of Froot Loops (12 grams). Hey, Froot Loops is an easy target! So before you think you’ve found the ultimate cereal—”It’s healthy and it tastes like candy!”—consider all the nutrition facts, not just the ones they tout on the front of the box.

Bonus tip: See the full list of the 24 Best and Worst Cereals here.

Testimony in the ongoing trial in Oklahoma’s lawsuit against Tyson, Cargill and other major poultry producers has exposed that the industry knew for years that the practice of overuse of litter for fertilizer could wreak havoc on area waterways but failed to take steps recommended by its own experts.

The former President of the poultry company George’s Inc. testified that the industry knew since the late 1990’s that over application of litter could cause runoff problems. But he acknowledged that nothing was done until his 2005 memo advising company growers to truck litter out of areas where birds are raised. He claimed the litter problem is now “well on the way to a solution,” despite the already massive pollution from years of neglect.

In similar testimony, a Cargill executive admitted that the company’s 2002 pilot program to haul waste away from sensitive areas was abandoned after two years because it wasn’t turning a profit. He also acknowledged that the company never followed up to insure that growers were heeding warnings in a company handbook about manure management.

Praising the state’s lawsuit against Big Chicken earlier this year, environmental lawyer and Waterkeeper Alliance founder Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated that poultry companies are “making themselves billionaires by poisoning the rest of us.” Speaking in Oklahoma, he noted the companies profit by “dumping their crap into the Illinois River and the other rivers of the state.” One expert in the trial testified that since poultry pollution has escalated, 30,000 fewer people are recreating in Oklahoma’s Illinois River waterways.

I saw an article the other day in the Star Tribune that featured the Thousand Hills Cattle Co., which sells its locally grown, grass-fed beef to my school’s cafeteria. Naturally, I was interested. But the story wasn’t quite what I expected. Apparently, along with selling grass-fed beef to humans, Thousand Hills has started producing and selling dog food.

Are we spoiling our pets?

Yes, dog food. The product is a blend of grass-fed raw beef and sprouted grains, plus vitamins and minerals. This concoction is supposedly healthier for your dog — since raw meat is what they evolved to eat — and is supposed to keep down veterinary bills in the long term. But at $5 a pound in some stores, this dog food isn’t exactly cheap when compared to standard Purina brand dog food, which costs between $1 and $2 per pound.

Now I want to make it clear: I love dogs. I love most animals, for that matter. And I greatly admire the Thousand Hills Cattle Co. for their amazing efforts to produce beef in a sustainable fashion. But I question whether such a specialized farm should be spending time, effort, and money on creating pet food.

From 1994 to 2004, the amount of money Americans spent on pet food rose from $17 billion to $34.2 billion, according to 2006 article from CNN. (Also check out this website for “Pet Bistro”: They specialize in organic, gourmet “pet cuisine.”) Instead of spending that money on pet food, consumers could have supported local and organic food markets for humans. But consumers chose to buy massive quantities of pet food while supporting cheap, processed food for themselves — inevitably unhealthier for them and the planet, as journalist Michael Pollan has argued — leaving the harmful practices of industrial agriculture to continue at will.

I don’t think that we should let our pets starve. And I think that we have the right to worry about what we put in our pets’ bodies. But I do believe that maybe we should think twice about spending our money on pricey pet food, and what it is actually benefiting — especially now that companies like the Thousand Hills Cattle Co. have entered the game, throwing a whole new loop in the justice of the food market. Just think: How many human mouths could that extra money feed?

Let me know what you think. Should Americans be lavishing their pets with such luxuries? What is your pet worth?

Announced earlier this year as a breakthrough in food labeling for healthier eating, the food industry’s “Smart Choices” labeling program was recently shelved, after massive controversy over labels that graced the front packaging of several fatty, sugary, and nutrient-devoid foods that were, surprise, made by the companies who funded the labeling program. Fruit Loops, Fudgsicles, margarine, mayonnaise, and frozen meals and packaged foods containing up to a quarter of a day’s dose of salt were among the food makers’ idea of “healthy” food choices.

Looking at the list of industry’s “smart” choices, the chair of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health told the New York Times, “These are horrible choices.”

Other recent food marketing claims have also fared poorly. For example:

• The FDA found “serious violations” of federal law in General Mills marketing claims on Cheerios boxes which the regulator says suggests Cheerios are equivalent to a cholesterol-lowering drug.
• Dannon and General Mills have been sued for suggesting that their yogurt is a digestive aid.
• Snapple was charged with consumer fraud for advertising its artificially flavored drinks as “all natural” (somehow evading the fact that something with artificial flavors, by definition, cannot also be “all natural”).
• The FTC found Kellogg’s violated federal law by falsely claiming that its Frosted Mini Wheats cereal could boost children’s attentiveness by 20%. FTC Chair Jon Leibowitz stated, “We tell consumers that they should deal with trusted national brands, so it’s especially important that America’s leading companies are more ‘attentive’ to the truthfulness of their ads….”

Food industry marketing campaigns using dubious health claims and straining scientific credibility is nothing new. But even John Harvey Kellogg, promoter of corn-flake enemas, likely never imagined his breakfast foods would be marketed to protect children against a potentially deadly virus. But this month, as swine flu fears raged, Kellogg’s was pressured to drop a giant banner on its Rice Krispies cereal boxes that boasted the sugary rice pops could “support your child’s immunity.” The company caved after the San Francisco City Attorney formally challenged the marketing in a letter to Kellogg’s stating that the claim could “mislead parents into believing that serving this sugary cereal will actually boost their child’s immunity, leaving parents less likely to take more productive steps to protect their children’s health.”

Recent studies have shown that food advertising to children is ubiquitous, and that the least nutritious foods are the most heavily marketed to kids. A Yale University study found that “The average preschooler sees 642 cereal ads per year on television alone, almost all for cereals with the worst nutrition rankings.” The study also found that only 8% of cereals marketed to children meet the required sugar limits for inclusion in the USDA’s Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, and not one meets the nutrition standards required to advertise to children in the United Kingdom.

While food industry’s duplicitous labeling is inexcusable, even some well-intended food ratings systems seem unable to provide consistently sensible advice. The otherwise useful and well researched Good Guide uses a flawed, nutrient-centered approach for its food ratings, resulting in many odd “healthy” choices. For example, in its baby foods category, conventionally-grown (ie, pesticide sprayed) carrot baby food rates higher than organic banana baby food, presumably due to the high vitamin levels in carrots. Similarly, a fried, sugar-sweetened sweet potato chip merits a top “healthy” choice rating of 10, despite the added sugar (aren’t sweet potatoes sweet enough?) and having more than half its calories come from fat.

The food chain Cheesecake Factory agreed to pay $345,000 to settle federal sexual harassment charges this week. The Equal Opportunity and Employment Commission (EEOC) complaint against the company alleged that management at some company restaurants knew about and tolerated sexual assault and harassment of male employees by other men on staff.

An EEOC attorney on the case called the chain “a horribly dysfunctional workplace where male workers lived in fear.” Men who worked at an Arizona location of the chain reported being assaulted by groups of other male employees and observing such assaults. The abused men were repeatedly pinned down by groups of other men, partially stripped and sexually groped in simulated rapes. The men charge that management knew about the assaults and did nothing to stop them. One manager stated that he tried to fire several workers he observed assaulting another employee, but says a district manager allowed the violent workers to return to their jobs.

While sexual assault and harassment remains predominately by men against women, the EEOC has reported that its data showed “a steady increase” in reports by male victims. Cheesecake Factory is just the latest major company to be hit with charges by male victims: earlier this year the department store chain Dillards paid $110,000 to settle charges of “verbal and physical sexual harassment,” and the EEOC previously sued Kraft Foods on charges that men were touched, grabbed, and sexually assaulted by a male supervisor.

As two leading writers and anti-violence advocates have written, sexual assault is perpetuated by social norms that discourage men from challenging other men’s sexual violence. Founders of Men Stopping Rape, one of the country’s first male led anti-rape organizations, they note, “although everyday millions of males in our society practice various forms of assault on the remainder of the population, and particularly against women, there is only the tiniest visible agitation against it by other males.”

Sexual violence isn’t the only abuse workers faced at the Cheesecake Factory. In 2005, the chain paid $4.5 million to settle a lawsuit with workers who alleged the chain forced staff to work unpaid hours and engaged in illegal pay practices. The wait staff workers charged that they were required to buy their own order pads, pens, corkscrews, logo t-shirts and other required equipment and materials. They also reported being forced to work “off the clock” hours and charged that company policy was “early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable.”

The pitch goes like this: Toss back a two-ounce shot of caffeine and vitamins and you’ll be alert for the rest of the day.

Hoping that consumers will ditch coffee and traditional energy drinks for miniature power shots, more than a dozen beverage makers pushed this message at the 12th annual Americas Food & Beverage Show, being held at the Miami Beach Convention Center this week.

The show features more than 6,000 buyers, 250 exhibitors, international dishes and intense chef battles. But with brightly colored booths and scantily clad models handing out free power drinks, energy shots were one of the most visible new products…[Read the Full Article Here]

In April, two Wisconsin men sued Pepsi for allegedly stealing their water purification and bottling trade secrets and using them to make billions on their bottled Aquafina brand water. When Pepsi failed to appear at a September 30 hearing, the court awarded the men a $1.26 billion judgment against the company.

Pepsi’s corporate lawyers never heard about the case until the judgment was ordered, even though lawyers for two Pepsi bottling companies did appear at hearings in June and July. Explaining that oversight, PepsiCo spokesman Joe Jacuzzi (yes, the spokesperson for PepsiCo in this water dispute really is named Jacuzzi) stated, “It’s just another unfortunate thing that didn’t come together.”

Controversy over its bottled water is nothing new for Pepsi, although its previous issues have not been so costly or embarrassing. In 2007, Reuters reported that PepsiCo would identify on labels that its bottled water came from tap water sources, in response to criticism of marketing claims about the superiority of Aquafina. Despite the change, a recent report by the Environmental Working Group found that Pepsi and other bottled water makers make less information about their products available than public water suppliers do. EWG found that most bottled water companies do not fully disclose the source of their water, the methods of treatment used, or the amounts of types of pollutants found in their water testing. As the EWG report notes, “(T)ap water suppliers are required to disclose water quality testing results to their consumers, (but) the FDA only requires that bottlers maintain testing records….” In the EWG report card accompanying the report, PepsiCo’s Aquifina earned a “D” grade.

Pumpkin Pie Flavored Fortune Cookies. Chocolate dipped, too! I really want one – http://bit.ly/PumpkinPieFor…

In a historic day in the march for male sexual equality, the Lawry’s restaurant chain agreed earlier this week to settle a sex discrimination case brought by a male employee who charged he was barred from seeking employment with the firm’s lucrative wait staff division. Lawry servers can earn upwards of $50,000 annually, although women wait staff must still wear 1930’s period waitress outfits.

Although men at Lowry’s could work in the prestigious “carver” role, slicing masses of meat on chrome-domed carts, they have since 1938 been ineligible to work at Lowry’s as waiters. Lowry’s states it changed its policy in 2004, after the 2003 discrimination complaint was filed.

Despite the progress for downtrodden men, other restaurants have found legal loopholes to preserve their discriminatory practices. The Hooters chain recently settled a similar case, but that settlement is confidential and has not changed the company’s women-dominated waitressing culture. Hooters claims its waitresses provide “entertainment” and thus are exempted from equal employment laws.

This week, federal prosecutors announced that Alan Huey, a former top executive from SK Foods, will plead guilty to conspiracy related to the company sales of “adulterated and misbranded” tomato paste sold to major food makers and retailers. For at least four years, California tomato processor SK Foods was supplying tomato paste in violation of federal food quality and/or safety standards to leading food companies, including Kraft and Frito-Lay, whose buyers accepted bribes for sales that artificially inflated prices to consumers.

According to U.S. Attorney Lawrence Brown, SK Foods and their food company buyers engaged in the conspiracy “to provide lower quality processed tomato products at inflated prices.” Investigators had previously referred to SK Foods as a “a “racketeering enterprise” that engaged with its food industry partners (in addition to Kraft and Frito-Lay, FBI agents say buyers at Safeway, B&G Foods, ConAgra and Agusa Foods accepted bribes) in a scheme to fix prices, mislabel products, and gouge consumers.

Huey was a Senior Vice President at SK Foods during the scandal and is to date the most senior executive from the firm to be charged. However, Huey says he acted on the “instruction and direction of a senior leader of SK Foods,” and reports have indicated that the scheme was conducted with the knowledge of company CEO Scott Salyer. Another SK employee who pled guilty earlier this year stated that the illegal practices were routine and were directed by “senior leaders and directors of SK Foods.”  The U.S. Attorney notes that their investigation of the company is ongoing.

When confronted about the products earlier this year, a lawyer for SK Foods stated that the tomato products “were all appropriately labeled and of excellent quality.” But Brown rebuked that claim, stating “To describe the adulterated tomatoes as being of ‘excellent quality’ is its own form of mislabeling. The fact of the matter is that the products … contained illegal levels of mold.”

But Brown’s office has stated that the adulterated tomatoes carried no health risk, though no information was given on the mold levels or how it was determined that there was no safety threat. Mold on food can cause allergic reactions and respiratory problems, and can produce “mycotoxins” that can be severe poisons, and in some cases, can cause cancer. According to the USDA, mycotoxins can be produced from molds growing on produce.

Earlier this year, SK Foods was charged in a class-action suit with hiring undocumented workers in an illegal attempt to depress wages at its tomato processing plant. The Salyer family business, with annual sales in excess of $100 million, has been plagued by internal strife. A 2006 lawsuit by CEO Scott Salyer against his sister, father and three company officers was dismissed, but a court record of the case includes a litany of allegations from both sides, including use of company computers for surfing pornographic websites, use of company funds for Lake Tahoe and Vegas gambling trips and a “romantic tryst,” paying exorbitant executive salaries and “golden parachutes,” as well as destroying financial records and engaging in conspiracy, fraud and unfair business practices. The company filed for bankruptcy in May and in June was purchased by Singapore-based Olam International.

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I ran across a story that finally hit the Internet news only this morning though it was first published 2 months ago (at least as far as I can find.)  The gist of it is that  70% of the nation’s young people 17-24 are ineligible to enlist in the armed forces because of inadequate education, criminal records or being physically unfit – ie obese.  While issues of early childhood education and poverty obviously matter, what struck me about this as well as the debate on health care is the lack of discussion about the food industry and agribusinesses’ role in destroying the nation’s health – purely out of greed. Then last night I watched Frontline’s documentary on the Medicated Child. It’ll make you cry to see little kids on as many as 8 behavior-controlling drugs, with devastating long-term impacts on their lives and health.

We live in a money-driven society.  The role of corporate greed in climate change, war, and ill health comes ever more into focus.  Follow the money. Where are the profits?  They’re in the arms industry, the food industry, the drug industry, the insurance industry.  Until the collective we faces up to and deals with this elephant in the living room, we’re putting a death wish on this country, and most likely on our species.

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