The Color of Food

Color additives give the red tint to your fruit punch and the green hue to your mint-flavored toothpaste. They are dyes, pigments, or other substances that can impart color when added or applied to a food, drug, cosmetic, or the human body. They can be found in a range of consumer products - from cough syrup and eyeliner to contact lenses and cereal.

This week, a look at the color of food.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Birds sing after a storm. Why shouldn't people feel as free to delight in whatever sunlight remains to them?" - Rose Kennedy (Writer, activist, fundraiser, and matriarch of the Kennedy family, 1890 –1995)

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The Color of Food

Food Labeling Guide Chapter 2 - Name of Food

"What's in a name?" asks Juliet in Shakespeare's lyrical tale Romeo and Juliet. Juliet tells Romeo that a name is an artificial and meaningless convention, and that she loves the person who is called "Montague", not the Montague name and not the Montague family.

A lot of good it did her, we all know it turned out less that wonderful for both of them.

The FDA asks the same question about the name of food, and fortunately the outcome for food manufacturers is less severe than that of our star crossed lovers. This week, we look at Part 2 of 5 (!) of a Food Labeling Guide.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble." - Samuel Johnson (one of England's best known literary figures, 1709 – 1784)

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Food Labeling Guide Chapter 2 - Name of Food

Umami

Psychophysicists (those who study a subdiscipline of psychology dealing with the relationship between physical stimuli and their subjective correlates, or percepts) have long suggested the existence of four taste "primaries", referred to as the basic tastes: sweetness, sourness, bitterness, and saltiness. The basic tastes are those commonly recognized types of taste sensed by humans. Humans receive tastes through sensory organs called taste buds or gustatory calyculi, concentrated on the upper surface of the tongue.

Umami, or savoriness, has been suggested as a fifth basic taste, exemplified by the non-salty sensations evoked by monosodium glutamate (MSG). This week, we look at umami.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself." - William Faulkner (American novelist, 1897 – 1962)

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Umami

Food Labeling Guide Chapter 1 - General Food Labeling

The Food and Drug Administration, as it responds to Congress and writes regulations for food labels, has to balance two separate interests: inform consumers while not forcing food manufacturers to sacrifice their trade secrets.

The more inclusive a label, the better position a consumer is in to make choices. But the FDA also recognizes while ingredients are necessary to disclose, their proportions are not. The regulations represent a middle ground, a balance between these two interests. The philosophy behind food labeling-laws, as the FDA’s literature itself states, is to regulate without over-regulating.

That's the theory, anyway. In practice, it's not always quite that clear or simple. I used a several hundred page long reference book when I was checking labels, so I speak from experience.

This week, we look at Part 1 of 5 (!) of a Food Labeling Guide.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." - Albert Einstein (German-born theoretical physicist, 1879 – 1955)

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Food Labeling Guide Chapter 1 - General Food Labeling Requir

Super Bowl Food Safety

I'm a fair-weather football fan and only watch the Super Bowl when one of the teams is the Washington Redskins. When the Skins weren't playing, I'd watch it for the commercials. Super Bowl XVIII in 1984 was bittersweet: in the middle of the Los Angeles Raiders crushing the Redskins, Apple Computer's famous "1984" commercial, which introduced the Macintosh, aired.

Now the commercials are on the Internet almost as soon as they air in TV, so I can prune the roses and not worry about missing anything.

Super Bowl Sunday has become the most-watched US television broadcast of the year, and has become likened to a de facto US national holiday. It's also the second-largest U.S. food consumption day, following Thanksgiving. This week, we look at Super Bowl Food Safety. Thanks to Julie for finding this.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche (19th century German philosopher, 1844 – 1900)

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Super Bowl Party Food Safety

Olive Oil

There are approximately seven hundred olive varieties, or cultivars, whose distinctive tastes and aromas are evident in oils that are made properly, just as different grape varietals are expressed in fine wines. The best olive oils are made using a simple hydraulic press or centrifuge -- they are more like fresh-squeezed fruit juices than like industrial fats. The olives are harvested at the moment they begin to turn from green to black; ideally they are picked by hand and milled within hours, to minimize oxidation and enzymatic reactions, which leave unpleasant tastes and odors in the oil.

This week, a look at olive oil.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you will see." - Winston Churchill (British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II, 1874 – 1965)

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Olive Oil

FDA History, Part 2

This week, we look at more of the history of the FDA, specifically about the 1938 Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Ever tried? Ever failed? No Matter, try again, fail again, Fail better." - Samuel Beckett (Irish author, dramatist, & novelist, 1906 - 1989)

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FDA Part 2