THIS SECTION IS FOR NEWS AND INTERESTING STORIES RELATED TO FOOD, NUTRITION AND FOOD PROCESSING. THEY ARE NOT NECESSARILY RELATED TO KOSHER BUT MAY BE OF INTEREST TO THE KOSHER CONSUMER, MANUFACTURER OR MASHGIACH.
June 13, 2019 - from Yeshiva World:
"Israelis are facing a price hike as the cost of dairy products increased on Thursday, June 13, 2019. The approval for the price hike was signed by Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon two weeks ago."
"This is an increase of 3.5% on dairy products under government price control. For example, Tnuva’s milk in liter bags will increase by 17 agorot. On the face of it, this is a minor increase, but in the simple calculation that a large family consumes two liters of milk daily, it is more than NIS 10 a month, only for milk."
"Like milk, the price of the remainder of regulated products will increase as well. Milk in cartons rose by 20 agorot. Eshel, Gil, and butter increased between 10 and 20 agorot, and apparently dairy products that are not under government supervision will increase by a larger percentage."
"In a broader perspective, this is an expense that will be felt by the Israeli consumer that the basket of dairy products is a component of about 20%. In addition to this, the Israeli consumer has recently experienced an increase in fruit and vegetables, as well as the large bakeries, which petitioned the High Court of Justice last month to allow them to raise the price of bread under government price control."
June 13, 2019 - from EU Observer:
"European shops ought to label Israeli settler exports so that consumers can boycott them for "ethical" reasons the same way they did South African ones under apartheid, a senior EU jurist has said. "
"'"EU law requires for a product originating in a territory occupied by Israel since 1967, the indication ... that the product comes from an Israeli settlement if that is the case,' Gerard Hogan, an advocate general at the EU court in Luxembourg said on Thursday (13 June)."
"EU judges are currently weighing a complaint brought by the Organisation Juive Europeenne, an NGO in France, and Psagot, an Israeli winery which has vineyards on occupied land. "
"They urged French courts to block the French government from issuing a notice that retailers ought to put the term "Israeli settlement" or equivalent on such products."
"The French courts then asked the EU judges for their guidance on the subject."
"The EU verdict might not follow Hogan's non-binding opinion, but judges do follow advocates general in most cases. "
June 12, 2019 from the IFT:
"Canada will ban many single-use plastic items by 2021, including bags, straws, cutlery, and stirring sticks, to cut harmful waste damaging the country’s ecosystems. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the measures on June 10."
"The news comes on the heels of a similar ban the European Parliament passed in late March, with a target to recycle 90% of plastic beverage bottles by 2029. In May, the United Kingdom followed suit with a plastic ban by 2020. Officials estimated 4.7 billion plastic straws and 316 million plastic stirrers are used in England every year."
June 4, 2019 from the TheTakeOut:
"One vegetarian ate two before realizing he wasn’t eating the popular fake meat, which won’t hit NYC outposts until later this year."
"A Brooklyn location of the fast food chain Burger King has been advertising that it sells the meat-free Impossible Whopper on Seamless — but instead sends customers regular old beef Whoppers without telling them. At least one vegetarian customer didn’t realize until after he’d already eaten two Whoppers, simply believing the ads boasting the two burgers taste the same."
"For at least the last few weeks, the 736 Broadway franchise of the burger chain featured the Impossible Whopper — “100% WHOPPER, 0% Beef” — on its menu, at one point listing it as its most popular item. But serving the burger here is actually impossible, since it’s only available in select cities. A 35-year-old Williamsburg resident, who asked to go unnamed to shield his eating habits, says he only found out when he went into the actual store at a later point to order the burger and was told they don’t sell it."
"A manager at the Burger King tells Eater that when a customer orders it, they’ve been sending a classic beef Whopper in its place, asking the driver to inform people of the swap. But drivers have not told multiple customers who ordered the Impossible Whopper that it actually contained real meat, the customers tell Eater. The receipt on the bag also says “Impossible Whopper,” which led the Williamsburg man to believe it truly did contain the trendy plant product."
June 4, 2019 from the JPost:
"Yehonatan Vadai, who owns Bab al-Yemen, argues in his petition, that a restaurant like his is no different than a hotel where people pay before and are still able to receive kosher food."
"A Yemenite restaurant petitioned the Chief Rabbinate, the Jerusalem Religious Council and the Chief Rabbis of Jerusalem on Monday to be certified as kosher and open on Shabbat."
"Bab al-Yemen – the “Gate to Yemen” – is part of a new Jerusalem trend where you can eat in a restaurant atmosphere on Shabbat, but all of the food and drinks are prepared according to Shabbat laws. Furthermore, the customer does not have to pay on Shabbat and can either prepay or pay after."
"The restaurateur argues that a restaurant like his is no different than a hotel, where people pay beforehand and are still able to receive kosher food prepared according to Jewish law with no issue."
"he petition refers to the same model Chabad uses worldwide to help Jewish travelers receive kosher meals."
June 5, 2019 - from FoodDive and The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition:
May 26, 2019 from Bloomberg:
"Crowdfunding investment platform OurCrowd is joining forces with agri-food technology investor Finistere Ventures and two food-and-beverage companies to invest as much as $100 million in Israeli startups, aiming to help local companies collaborate with global leaders in the industry."
"The other partners in the consortium are Tnuva Food Industries Ltd. -- owned by China’s Bright Food Group Co. -- and Tempo Beverages Ltd., partly owned by Heineken NV."
"Israel has 250 foodtech companies and 500 in agritech, with investors pouring $759 million in venture capital investments into the agri-food tech sector over the past five years, according to Start-Up Nation Central, an Israeli technology industry promoter."
"The partnership was created following the government’s establishment of a foodtech innovation incubator in Kiryat Shemona in northern Israel. The consortium will bid to operate the incubator."
"Earlier this month, Jerusalem Venture Partners announced that global packaged-food giant Mars Inc. had signed a research and development agreement to support Israeli startups and academic institutions to promote foodtech innovations."
May 23, 2019 - from CPSC :
Fabulous Home Pineapple Corer & Slicers have been recalled because the metal blade of the slicer can detach, posing a laceration hazard to the consumer.
This recall involves Pineapple Corer & Slicers sold under Fabulous Home brand. The corer & slicer is white with a black top and made mostly from plastic with a metal blade. It works much like a cork screw to core and slice pineapples.
Sold At: Coborn’s and Bashas grocery stores in Minnesota, South Dakota, Arizona and New Mexico from February 2019 through April 2019 for about $4.
Consumer Contact: Far East Brokers & Consultants at 800-619-0487 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET or email at customerservice@fareastbrokers.com or online at https://fareastbrokers.com and click on “Product Recalls” and then “Pineapple Corer & Slicer” for more information.
May 23, 2019 - from FDA:
Between the food industry and consumers, Americans are throwing out about a third of our food — approximately 133 billion pounds or $161 billion in food each year — according to estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Part of the problem is that date labeling on packaged foods isn’t user-friendly. It has been estimated that confusion over the multitude of different date labeling terms on food products accounts for about 20 percent of food waste in the home. “Use before,” “sell by” and “expires on” are just some of the terms used.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) believes that food waste is due, in part, to fears that consumers have about food safety. These concerns may often be caused by a misunderstanding of the meaning of the terms on product date labels.
To help reduce this confusion, the FDA issued a letter today to the food industry supporting the industry’s efforts to standardize voluntary date labeling if the date is simply used for quality — not safety. Standardizing date labeling can provide consumers with consistent information that is easy to understand and is recognizable.
The FDA strongly supports manufacturers’ use of the introductory phrase “Best If Used By” when they choose to apply a quality date label. Consumer research has shown that this phrasing helps consumers understand that the date label is about quality, not safety, and that products do not have to be discarded after the date if they are stored properly.
May 22, 2019 from the Times of Israel:
"Using yeast that lay dormant for thousands of years, a team of Israeli biologists, archaeologists and beer makers has successfully brewed the beer that Goliath of Gath may have quaffed as he set out to meet a young shepherd named David. And assuming seed funding is secured, soon the brew will hit supermarket shelves, too. "
"In a multi-layered, interdisciplinary long-term experiment, scientists isolated six yeast strains from 21 sherds of beer or wine vessels excavated from four ancient Holy Land sites. Once populated by Philistines, Canaanites, Egyptians, or Judeans, the sites include biblical Tell es-Safi/Gath (ca. 850 BCE), Bronze Age En-Besor in the Negev and an Egyptian brewery found in Tel Aviv’s Ha-Masger Street (both ca. 3100 BCE), and Jerusalem’s Ramat Rachel (ca. 8th to 4th century BCE). "
"Using yeast that lay dormant for thousands of years, a team of Israeli biologists, archaeologists and beer makers has successfully brewed the beer that Goliath of Gath may have quaffed as he set out to meet a young shepherd named David. And assuming seed funding is secured, soon the brew will hit supermarket shelves, too."
"In a multi-layered, interdisciplinary long-term experiment, scientists isolated six yeast strains from 21 sherds of beer or wine vessels excavated from four ancient Holy Land sites. Once populated by Philistines, Canaanites, Egyptians, or Judeans, the sites include biblical Tell es-Safi/Gath (ca. 850 BCE), Bronze Age En-Besor in the Negev and an Egyptian brewery found in Tel Aviv’s Ha-Masger Street (both ca. 3100 BCE), and Jerusalem’s Ramat Rachel (ca. 8th to 4th century BCE)."
"After DNA sequencing and other high-tech medical imaging and identification methods, the six isolated strains of viable yeast were successfully revitalized and used to brew potable “ancient beers.” Each brew had a different aromas depending upon the yeast strain, according to the recent peer-reviewed mBio journal paper .”
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