The Zipper

This week, a look at what keeps it all together, the zipper.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Invenium viam aut faciam – I shall find a way, or make one." - Robert Edwin Peary (American explorer who claimed to have been the first person to reach the geographic North Pole, 1856 -1920)

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Zipper

Food Labeling Guide Chapter 5 - Nutrition Labeling

Grocery shopping and reading labels are a delight for some and a real headache for others. Regardless of how you feel about them, they provide good information to help a consumer determine if a particular food product meet his or her nutritional needs. In addition to listing the amounts of macronutrients (fat, protein and carbohydrate including fiber), a nutrition facts panel may also indicate vitamin and mineral content of the product.

This week, we look at Part 5 of 5 (!) of a Food Labeling Guide.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world, remains and is immortal." - Albert Pine (19th-century English author)

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Food Labeling Guide Chapter 5 - Nutrition Labeling

Citrus

During winter’s onslaught of coughs and sneezes, we are often drawn to the vitamin-rich juices of citrus fruits, but there’s a lot more to citrus than a carton on the breakfast table.

There’s a wealth of culinary applications: from the obvious sweet-tooth contenders, such as marmalade’s and drizzle cakes, to the more savory sensations of citrus salads and a multitude of marinades.

This week, a look at citrus.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone." - Harriet Beecher Stowe (American abolitionist and novelist, best known for Uncle Tom's Cabin, 1811 –1896)

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Citrus

Kosher

When a food item is kosher, it means it was prepared according to the strict kosher dietary laws, some of which include not mixing meat food items with dairy food items (when something is "Pareve" it contains neither dairy nor meat), not eating products of non-kosher animals or animals that were not ritually slaughtered, and not eating any shellfish.

Not only does the food need to be kosher in order to conform to dietary laws, but the vessels and utensils used in preparing them need to be kosher as well.

This week, a very brief look at Kosher.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "The question that sometimes drives me hazy: Am I, or the others crazy?" - Albert Einstein (German-born theoretical physicist, 1879 – 1955)

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Kosher

Food Labeling Guide Chapter 4 - Ingredient List

Calvin Klein can call their sweaters whatever they like. Smuckers, however, has long had to be very specific about what they call "preserves." That's because since shortly after the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act was passed in 1938, preserves, along with some other foods people commonly prepared at home in those days such as butter, mayonnaise and orange juice, were exempted from the law's requirement that food manufacturers list their products' ingredients on the food label. Instead, the new act provided for "standards of identity" or prescribed recipes for these foods, which the manufacturers had to follow.

Fast forward to the 1990's, where homemade butter and jelly mostly exist in Grandma's memories. Most people would not have the faintest idea what is in those standardized foods. The law was updated to require, among other things, ingredients for all standardized foods must listed on the label, the same as for all other foods.

This week, we look at Part 4 of 5 (!) of a Food Labeling Guide.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Nothing is so common as the wish to be remarkable." - William Shakespeare (English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language, 1564 – 1616)

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Food Labeling Guide Chapter 4 - Ingredient List

Save Energy At Home

The typical U.S. family spends $1,300 a year on home energy bills, and, no surprise, some of that energy is wasted. Heating, ventilating and air conditioning units are inefficient, windows leak conditioned air, and appliances devour energy.

This is money out of your pocket, and it's bad news for the environment - electricity generated by fossil fuels for a single home puts more carbon dioxide into the air than two average cars.

This week, a look at things you can do in your home to save energy.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "The irrationality of a thing is not an argument of its existence, rather, a condition of it." - Friedrich Nietzsche (19th century German philosopher, 1844 – 1900)

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Save Energy at Home

Food Labeling Guide Chapter 3 - Net Quantity of Contents

The Fair Packaging and Labeling Act was passed in 1966 and requires all consumer products to have labels that are true and informative. It requires the label to state the identity of the product, the name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor, and the net quantity of contents.

No surprise, the FDA enforces these provisions on foods, drugs, cosmetics and medical devices. The Feds basically tell manufacturers how, where and in what units of measure to declare the net contents of a package.

This week, we look at Part 3 of 5 (!) of a Food Labeling Guide.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "When a good man is hurt, all who would be called good must suffer with him." - Euripides (Ancient Greek tragedians, ca. 480 BC – 406 BC)

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Food Labeling Guide Chapter 3 - Net Quantity of Contents Sta