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.
December 8, 2022 - from Green Queen
"The Zurich Administrative Court has sided with Swiss plant-based protein manufacturer Planted Foods and its use of terminology including “chicken” and “BBQ.”
"'The use of animal names on the packaging of plant-based foods made from pea protein is not deceptive in view of the specific product presentation,” the court said in its decision, supporting the Swiss-based Planted Foods, which produces a range of vegan meat products.
"‘The public recognizes the products as a vegetable substitute for meat’
"Further, the court said a consumer survey clearly indicated that 'the public recognizes the products as a vegetable substitute for meat. By stating the name of an animal, the intended use of the food as a meat substitute product can be explained to the public in the interest of providing sufficient information required by food law.' planted chicken.
"'The decision comes as labeling on plant-based food faces increasing challenges as the industry expands. Neighboring country France enacted a ban on mean names on plant-based foods earlier this year in an attempt to avoid 'consumer confusion.' That decision was ultimately overturned by the country’s highest court, but the attempted ban highlighted unfair scrutiny directed at the plant-based category."
December 16, 2022 - from the Graub Street:
"The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets has issued an order that supports the sale of foie gras in New York City, potentially ending the city’s efforts over the past three years to impose a ban.
"The 2019 New York City law prohibiting the sale of foie gras was scheduled to take effect last month, but a Manhattan judge issued a restraining order delaying its implementation. That law has now been found to violate a state law that prevents municipalities from enacting laws that “unreasonably restrict farming operations in certified agricultural districts,” according to the Catskill Foie Gras Collective.
"La Belle Farm is one of two major foie gras producers, along with Hudson Valley Foie Gras, that make up the Catskill Foie Gras Collective."
October 31, 2019 - from the Specialty Food News and Graub Street:
"The New York City Council has passed legislation banning the sale of foie gras in the five boroughs, part of an animal welfare bill package. The law banning “force-fed poultry products” goes into effect in 2022, so it won’t have an immediate impact on the roughly 1,000 New York City restaurants serving foie gras on their menus or the upstate farmers supplying them, who say they could eventually lose up to 400 workers as a result of the legislation. New York follows California in banning foie gras, which went into effect in 2012. When the New York bill goes into effect, violations will be punishable by a $2,000 fine. That is, if the foie gras is produced by forced feeding, which not all of it is."
August 30, 2019 - from the New York Times:
"As a proposed ban of foie gras makes its way through the City Council, duck farmers and animal rights activists are scrambling to make their respective cases."
"About 1,000 New York City restaurants serve foie gras, a calling card of fine dining and proof of a chef’s classical training."
"But foie gras, which can be made from geese as well, has also been at the center of a debate over whether the process of producing the delicacy is humane or, as animal rights activists suggest, torture."
"The New York City Council is leaning toward torture: It is now considering proposed legislation that would effectively ban foie gras from being sold in New York, one of the country’s largest markets for the product."
"The bill could come up for a vote in the fall; more than half of the Council has signed on as co-sponsors, and Mayor Bill de Blasio said he supports the intent of the proposal."
December 14, 2022 - from Food Safety Magazine. More information from the FDA is found here
"A sampling and testing assignment conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found 10 percent of imported honey samples to be adulterated.
"FDA collected and tested honey imported to the U.S. in 2021 and 2022 for economically motivated adulteration (EMA), which is also known as “food fraud” when relevant to food products. FDA defines EMA in relation to food as “intentionally leaving out, taking out, or substituting a valuable ingredient or part of a food… or adding a substance to a food to make it appear better or of greater value.”
"The specific aim of the FDA sampling and testing assignment was to identify products that contained undeclared added sweeteners (when the product is labeled solely as “honey” rather than a “blend”) and prevent them from being distributed in the U.S. market. Some honey producers engage in food fraud to lower production costs by adding undeclared, inexpensive sweeteners to the product, such as syrups derived from cane, corn, rice, or sugar beets.
"FDA cites studies suggesting that EMA of honey is somewhat prevalent, with a rate of 13 percent in Canada and 14 percent in the EU in recent years. Additionally, more than 70 percent of the honey consumed in the U.S. is imported. Therefore, FDA conducted the present assignment to better understand the extent of EMA among imported honey, and to identify fraudulent products and prevent them from being distributed in the U.S. market.
"The honey evaluated for the assignment was imported from 32 countries. About 40 percent of the samples originated in India and Vietnam, which have been the top two sources of honey imported by the U.S. in four of the last five years. FDA collected all the samples in import status, which refers to products collected at ports of entry or other locations where they are held prior to being released into the U.S. market.
"he agency cautions against making inferences or comparisons based on the data on nations of origin for noncompliant honey, due to the small sample sizes and the fact that FDA did not design the assignment for such purposes. However, the majority of adulterated honey was imported from Yemen (4 of 4 samples), followed by Vietnam (3 of 28 samples), the Dominican Republic (2 of 2 samples), Thailand (1 of 1 samples), Lebanon (1 of 1 samples), Greece (1 of 4 samples), Italy (1 of 4 samples), and India (1 of 29 samples).
December 8, 2020 - from Hamodia. Similar advise at RWJ Barnababas Health and Chabad.org:
"In an effort to bring public awareness to the dangers inherent in Chanukah, United Hatzalah has released a list of safety tips and warnings aimed at helping parents avoid the dangers and prevent the injuries from occurring."
Use a special location and apparatus to light the candles.
Don’t leave menoros unsupervised, especially with young children in the house.
Kitchen safety:
December 13, 2022 - from Matzav.com:
"More than 100 people gathered in Dubai last night as the United Arab Emirates’ Jewish community opened the first-ever kosher supermarket in the Gulf.
"The supermarket, named “Rimon,” will meet growing demand for kosher products due to the significant increase in the number of Jews traveling and relocating to the UAE in the wake of the 2020 Abraham Accords.
"The agreements, brokered by the Trump administration, normalized relations between Israel and several Arab countries, including the UAE.
"The store will also feature a Jewish food market every weekend for those looking for hot kosher meals for Shabbos."
December 8, 2022 - from Food Quality and Safety:
"U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) has introduced legislation that would require animal agriculture 'corporations and industrial operators' to be 'more humane' during any depopulation measures under a disease disaster.
"Called the 'Industrial Agriculture Accountability Act,' the bill would place the liability for responsible disaster mitigation on these entities by requiring them to register with USDA, submit disaster preparedness plans, and also pay a fee for a new fund focused on disaster events. The new fund, known as the High-Risk AFO Disaster Mitigation Fund, would then be used to enforce disaster mitigation plans and ensure that the most humane practices are used if depopulation is necessary.
"Additionally, Booker’s legislation aims to ensure that no inhumane methods in other aspects of the food system are being employed by industrial operators, which he says would be accomplished by halting line-speed increases and meatpacker self-inspection programs for animal slaughter, closing regulatory loopholes to prohibit the slaughter of all downed animals, and requiring more humane treatment of livestock transported for long periods.
"The bill also aims to invest resources for higher-welfare slaughter technology in meat and poultry processing facilities and looks to establish a pilot program to train and employ more part-time inspectors for small processing plants."
December 13, 2022 - from FoodDive:
December 2, 2022 - from Matzav.com:
"Agudath Israel of America is welcoming the new webpage set up by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Kosher Foods in TEFAP.
"TEFAP – The Emergency Food Assistance Program — is utilized by food pantries and food banks to provide surplus food to the needy. The development of the webpage comes on the heels of the agency’s recent outreach to the Jewish community regarding volume and nutritional deficiencies in the kosher food available under TEFAP and the subsequent expansion of the numbers and types of kosher-certified foods in the program.
"One particular discussion point included in the webpage emphasized the importance of working with community leaders and kosher food experts in making determinations as to certified and non-certified foods and the acceptability of particular items when questions would arise."
December 1, 2022 from the CPSC in conjunction with Healthy Canadians.
Cuisinart Compact Blender & Juice Extractor Combos Model CBJ-450 has been recalled because the nut holding the blender blade assembly can loosen and detach from the base when in use, posing a laceration hazard if a consumer comes in contact with a loose blade.
Consumer Contact: Cuisinart toll-free at 877-339-2534 from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, email at customerservice@cuisinart.com, online at www.cuisinart.com/recall/CBJ-450 or at www.Cuisinart.com and click on Safety Recalls at bottom of page for more information.
Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled blender part of the compact blender and juice extractor combos and contact Conair for a free replacement blade assembly. Consumers will receive instructions on how to install the replacement blade assembly after discarding the existing blade assembly, and after verifying disposal of the existing blade assembly. No tools are needed, and the new assembly can be inserted into the unit in the identical manner that the original assembly was in accordance with the operating instructions that the consumer received when the product was purchased. The juice extractor is unaffected and may continue to be used.
Sold At: Crate & Barrel and other department, gourmet and specialty stores nationwide and online at Amazon.com, Macys.com, Kohls.com and other online retailers from November 2021 through August 2022 for about $80.
November 28, 2022 - from Times of IsraelYnet.com:
"Bird flu was discovered Monday at a turkey farm in central Israel, the second incidence of the disease being found in Israel in eight days.
"The flu was identified in one of seven coops in Moshav Beit Herut and a quarantine was imposed on all poultry within a 10-kilometer (six-mile) radius."
November 22, 2022 - from Times of Israel:
"Turkeys infected with avian flu were found in a slaughterhouse in northern Israel, the Agriculture Ministry said Tuesday, raising fears of a new outbreak of the virus that ravaged domestic and wild fowl in the country a year ago.
"The virus was discovered in turkeys from Kibbutz Shluhot, located near Beit She’an.
"Tests revealed that the fowl were infected with the same strain of bird flu, H5N1, which ravaged coops across northern Israel and led to the culling of hundreds of thousands of birds last winter.
"Poultry from the affected slaughterhouse was not sold to distributors and both it and poultry sheds within a 6-mile (10-kilometer) radius of Shluhot were quarantined, the Agricultural Ministry said.
"The ministry also called for the immediate transfer of all organic, free-range and other outdoor chickens to closed facilities."
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