Jasele Oita's Blog A weblog about everything

Food that are organic, free of antibiotics, gluten free, and meat and dairy that is not genetically modified are rising in sales.  Look at the Melville, New Jersey based Hain Celestial Group that provides such food items to Whole Foods Market.  Just before Thanksgiving, it announced that its antibiotic-free turkeys are sold out.  Borrowing a page from Whole Foods Market, retail giants Wal-Mart and Costco have stocked few of their shelves with natural food products.

The fans No. 1 natural food supplier in the U.S. is Annie’s.  However, Hain Celestial Group started natural food offerings some two decades ago.  They carry natural seasonings and teas, Greek yogurts, meat free frozen meals, veggie snacks, raw juices and soups.  Its sales are increasing more than 20 percent a year.  Its stock price has tripled within the last three years rewarding stockholders handsomely.  Now other players such as WhiteWave Foods, Dean Foods, Danone, General Mills and PepsiCo are also entering the natural foods market.  Kroger and Safeway, traditional super market chains have dedicated five percent of their shelf space to natural foods in order to compete with the ever increasing demand for natural foods.  Stay tuned for a war among natural food suppliers.

Not only can you enjoy gourmet cheese but you can also purchase them as gifts for loved ones at special occasions or just as a token of your appreciation as well. However, if there are no cheese specialty stores around the place you live, you can always find them over the internet where your purchases can be shipped to you regardless of where you live.

Here are five websites at which one can find gourmet cheese according to their tastes and preferences:

1. igourmet
2. Murray’s Cheese Shop
3. Ideal Cheese Shop
4. Artisanal Cheese Center
5. Gourmet Food Store

Now for those who do have specialty cheese shop in the vicinity, here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Always ensure that the staff at the specialty shop know what they are talking about, while also offering to let you taste the cheese as well as increase your knowledge about gourmet cheese as well.
2. Find a cheesemonger and he’ll know what you are looking for.
3. Always try different cheese every time you visit a store.
4. Try cheese that are prepared on goat, sheep and cow milk (prepared in different countries) while also experimenting with different textures.
5. Try the cheese that you buy with food and wine, and once you find a match, it could work as a lovely and tasteful gift.
6. Ask staff at the store for books on cheese that might help you gain more knowledge on the subject.
7. Finally, try and find the person’s preferences before you select gourmet cheese as a gift for someone else.

The need for safer and hygienic food packaging has never been more evident ever since the increased sale of a wide range of beverages and foods at supermarkets and fast food restaurants. However, packaging dates back as far as the second century B.C with paper used as the packaging material for both foods and fruits as well. Apart from paper packaging, a variety of other packaging material is used these days such as boxes, cans and cartons among several others.

However, with a greater emphasis on hygiene and safety standards to meet the needs of consumers today and the growing concern of eliminating waste (stemming from packaging products) that are not necessarily eco-friendly such as plastic bags, recent developments such as wax packaging paper are showing promise in meeting these requirements.

However, since packaging has become a way of life, improvements have been made by means of introducing wax packaging that has met all packaging standards for safe and hygienic consumption.

Since these developments are at the manufacturing level, it is important that people pay a bit more attention to packaging when it comes to daily use. One should watch the kind of packaging paper they pick as there are different types of paper that cater to a particular type of food that range from red meat to bread products as well. As these are manufactured, they also come in varying quality, so it is imperative that one should only select the highest quality of packaging paper in order to keep the food healthy.

Consuming food contaminated with bacteria or toxins can lead to food poisoning. In most cases, people are not aware that the food consumed is contaminated that could lead to serious health problems. It depends on the type of food poisoning you have or if you have compromised your immune system. Some of the types of food poisoning are Shigella, Botulism, Salmonella, E.coli and Listeria.
Let us look at a few of them:

Shigella – This type of bacterium can cause severe diarrhea. Transmitted through fecal matter and bad hygiene, Shigella is quite similar to Salmonella poisoning. Symptoms such as nausea, fever, cramps and diarrhea, sometimes bloody indicate Shigella poisoning. You can prevent contracting Shigella if you are very particular about personal hygiene and ensure that you always wash your hands thoroughly and that your bathroom and kitchen surfaces are clean and free of fecal matter.

Botulism – Botulism bacteria attacks in three different ways: wound, infant botulism and food-borne. The first type of infection occurs when bacteria infects a wound. Bacteria living inside the intestines of a baby cause infant botulism sometimes caused by raw honey. Food-borne botulism occurs due to improperly canned and processed foods. If you have blurry vision, slurred speech, muscle weakness, dry mouth and have difficulty swallowing – then you might have botulism. If it gets severe, it can even cause paralysis and respiratory failure. One can avoid Botulism by following hygienic practices when cooking and preparing food and taking the time to cook meats fully.

Salmonella – Humans get this infection from wild and domestic animals, through their meat, eggs or milk. Eating undercooked meat, unpasteurized milk, and raw eggs can all give you salmonella poisoning. Common symptoms include diarrhea, nausea, abdominal pain, fever and vomiting and can last from five days up to a week. Avoid dehydration at all costs. Young children, elderly people or people suffering from a chronic illness are in more danger from salmonella poisoning. Keep cooking surfaces clean, especially if it has been in contact with unpasteurized milk, raw eggs or raw meat.

One of the many arguments regarding different types of milk is the one of organic milk versus regular milk. The healthier of the two is debated widely while most ponder on the reason behind the price difference.

Milk from cows that have not been fed grain that contain pesticides is what is referred to as organic milk. These cows have also not been given any bovine growth hormones or antibiotics. In case antibiotics have been given, those cows are separated from the rest of the herd.

Regular milk is derived from cows that have been given bovine growth hormones – to accentuate milk production. Their food – hay and grain – has probably been treated with insecticides. Antibiotics are used to treat injured or sick cows.

What is important to take into consideration is that even though these cows are given antibiotics and hormones, standards set by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) state that traces of antibiotics cannot be found in the milk produced. Dairy farm milk tanks are checked regularly to ensure that standards are upheld.

The cost of organic milk and regular milk differs. Organic milk will cost you around $5 per gallon while regular milk is $3.50. Organic milk is more expensive as the resources needed to grow organic feed and hay for the cows is much more. Care given to cows producing organic milk is high, as the use of antibiotics is not an option.

In terms of health benefits, organic milk is the healthier option as it contains no chemicals, pesticides or preservatives. Bovine growth hormones have been linked to many adverse health conditions – thus making the extra $1.50 spent on organic milk a worthwhile expenditure.

Quite a number of people have adopted cabbage soup diet as a weight loss programme. The question is: does it really work? For those who are unaware of it – it is a diet that you adopt for seven days and can apparently help you lose up to 10 pounds. It is quite popular as it helps people lose that extra weight fast and does not require much commitment.

Critics state that most of the weight loss is really a loss of water weight and not actual fat loss. Experts back this up saying that losing that much fat in so short a time period is impossible.

However, most people swear it is effective, but they also admit that once the programme is over, you tend to gain most of the weight lost during the cabbage soup diet period. This is due to the fact that the seven-day diet period means you ate less calories and when you switch back to normal, the weight tends to pile back on.

Connie Diekman, MEd, RD, president-elect of the American Dietetic Association says, “It is a monotonous, short-term fix, severely lacking in nutrients, which will result in a weight loss that is primarily water and not the essential fat loss that is so important to improving health.”
She also said that people who go on a cabbage soup diet were bound to get discouraged as they gain the weight they lost during the dietary period, making them feel that diet does not really work. She said that diets should be balanced, varied, and should include regular physical activity.

There is constant debate about whether food in the freezer is actually safe. The long-drawn confusion lies in the fact that few people understand the concept and how it does actually protect food.

What Can You Freeze?
Almost any kind of food can be frozen. Exceptions to this are canned food or eggs in shells. However, you can freeze the canned goods once it is out of the can. Keep in mind that food like mayonnaise, cream sauce and lettuce don’t freeze very well, while raw meat and poultry maintain their quality for a longer time than cooked.

Is Frozen Food Safe?
If food is stored constantly at 0°F, then it will always be safe. The quality of frozen food suffers with lengthy freeze storage. Freezing keeps food safe because it prevents the growth of micro organisms that cause spoilage and food borne illnesses.

Freshness & Quality
Food if frozen at peak quality, are better tasting than foods frozen closer to expiry dates. Make sure that food is stored at 0°F or lower to retain vitamin content, colour, flavour and texture.

Nutrient Retention
Freezing food doesn’t destroy nutrients. Meat and poultry products, once frozen, show little change in nutrient value.

Packaging
Ensure food is properly packaged to maintain quality and ‘freezer burn’. Use air-tight wrapping such as heavy duty foil, plastic wrap or paper or even airtight freezer containers.

Freeze Rapidly
To maintain quality, freeze food as fast as possible. Slow freezing creates ice crystals, and then the thawing process damages the cells and causes meat products to lose its juiciness.

As one of the more well-known varieties of edible mushrooms, the shiitake has become an important addition to the cuisine of several types of Asian cuisine, including Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Thai.  They have a unique aroma and a mild flavor–this along with their meaty texture makes them a distinctive addition to stocks, soups, and stir fry.  They are a common addition to miso soup in Japan and are often served in Thailand having been fried or steamed.

Shiitake mushrooms are native to East Asia, meaning that they were originally found in other areas of the world having been dried for preservation.  However, there are now farms growing shiitake around the globe, meaning that it is far easier to find them available fresh in your native country.  Surprisingly, the dried variety remains quite popular even in areas where this mushroom is readily available.  Many people feel that the sun-drying process actually does a lot to improve the flavor of the shiitake.