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.
January 31, 2023 - from YNetNews:
"An Israeli religious man filed a class action suit against Burger King Israel after he mistakenly ate an unkosher meal at the branch inside the Azrieli Hod HaSharon Mall.
"The man claimed that there was a sign inside the mall indicating the branch was kosher.
"He ate a cheeseburger he said he thought was made of vegan cheese and even asked the staff how they were able to create a taste so similar to ordinary cheese, but was then told that it was ordinary cheese.
"The religious man was shocked and was informed that the branch used to be Kosher but that it was no longer so.
"In response, Burger King Israel claimed that in 2021 it decided to turn the branch in question from a kosher to a non-kosher branch. The fast food company turned to the mall and asked to remove all signs stating the branch was kosher, including the sign hanging on the wall of the mall.
"According to the chain, the mall managers informed them that the signs were removed however after the class action suit was filed last May, Burger King Israel found out the Azrieli mall management left some of the misleading signs in place."
January 127, 2023 - from Chef's Pencil:
"It’s January 2023 and the first month of the year is also the busiest month of the year for diet-seekers. So we turned, yet again, to Google Adwords and Google Trends for insights on the latest dieting patterns and trends.
"Last year alone, Americans made over 600 million diet-related searches on Google (including searches on supplements and vitamins), according to data from Google Adwords, with January being the busiest month of the year.
"Clearly, if you’ve ever thought about starting a new diet at the beginning of the year, you’re not alone. Much of the world sees New Year’s Day as a time to make lifestyle changes or commit to new habits, and the proportion of Google searches dedicated to diet and nutrition on New Year’s Day can be nearly double that during the last week of the preceding year.
"Overall, interest in dieting steadily drops as each year progresses, until the next New Year’s Day comes around.
"Our research is based on Google Trends data for the year 2022. We also got a glance of diet searches for the first few days of January 2023, and they largely confirm the 2022 trends.
"Searches related to a diet are grouped by Google into topics (i.e. Ketogenic Diet, Veganism, MIND Diet), which include all keywords related to that particular topic. For example, for the ketogenic diet topic, Google will report its popularity score by looking at all keto-related keywords such as keto recipes, keto meal plan, keto for beginners, etc.
"Since 2018, keto has been America’s most popular diet, holding the crown for four consecutive years, according to Google Trends data. But that has come to an end as veganism came to outrank keto, and it’s now the most popular diet in the United States.
"However, the most popular local diet depends on where you live. Veganism is most popular in coastal states and the District of Columbia. Oregon tops the state-specific veganism popularity chart, followed by Hawaii, New York, New Jersey, and California.
"In states such as Utah, Arizona, North Carolina, and New Hampshire, veganism is just slightly more popular than keto. But in Mississippi, West Virginia, the Dakotas, Alabama, and Wyoming, keto is the top diet by a wide margin."
The article lists the following order of diets people searched for on Google:
January 27, 2023 - from The Washington Post:
"Meat grown in a lab from cells is challenging religious leaders to ponder the nuances of dietary laws
"Is lab-grown meat truly meat?
"The question is increasingly being asked as consumers prepare for the proliferation of cultivated meat, which is grown from animal cells in a lab, no slaughter involved. But whether it qualifies as meat is being debated not just by vegetarians and vegans. Faith leaders are grappling with how to treat it under religious dietary guidelines.
"Last week, the leader of Israel’s Chief Rabbinate — a bellwether rabbinic council for religious certifications in Judaism — declared that an Israeli company’s lab-grown steak is “pareve.” That means, in his view, it is not milk or meat and that therefore the eating of the two together by those who follow a kosher diet is not forbidden.
"But the declaration was greeted with surprise by Rabbi Menachem Genack, the chief executive of the Orthodox Union Kosher Division in New York. Orthodox Union Kosher is an influential federation of Orthodox synagogues in the United States and Canada. Genack, in an interview with The Washington Post, suggested that his organization may take a different view.
"This debate is the latest example of how this novel form of meat, which is about to arrive on the U.S. market, is shaking up norms and raising vexing questions. Cultivated meat is being hailed as a humane and climate-friendly solution to traditional animal agriculture, which has increasingly come under fire for its contribution to the warming of the planet.
"As of now, Singapore is the only country in which these products are legally sold to consumers. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concluded late last year that cultivated chicken from a California company is safe to eat, likely to open the floodgates for lab-grown meat to be available for sale in the United States in the coming months.
"Many religions — including Islam, Hinduism, Seventh-day Adventism and Judaism — have practitioners who adhere to faith-based dietary restrictions.
"The spiritual question, at its most basic, is: If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, tastes like a duck, but you’re not supposed to eat a duck, does God consider this “cheating”? Some faith leaders suggest that if technology enables humans to eat foods that are more environmentally sustainable, reduce animal suffering and potentially improve human health, surely any divinity would applaud this development. Others focus more on faithfulness to original intent.
"Genack, of the Orthodox Union Kosher Division, said on the evening of the Chief Rabbinate’s decision, “The Orthodox Union is taking a different position. One opinion is it’s considered meat; they took the position that it’s completely pareve [and thus not meat]
"Fresh off a flight from Israel, Genack said of Israeli Chief Rabbi David Baruch Lau, “I have a high regard for him. He wrote four or five pages discussing his position. we are going to have to review his responses. Applying ancient law to brand new technology is fascinating.”
"At issue for Genack: Anything derived from something not kosher is also not kosher. Kosher certification confirms that a food product has been properly vetted and monitored for rigorous compliance with traditional Jewish dietary law. These are rules about which foods are allowed or forbidden, but also about how permitted foods must be produced, processed and prepared for eating.
"Kosher approval could mean a windfall to the Israeli cultivated-beef producer Aleph Farms. The size of the global kosher beef market is expected to attain a value of more than $100 billion by 2030. The growing preference for kosher beef in key countries such as the United States, France and Israel, which together account for more than 86 percent of the global Jewish population, is driving the market. About 10 percent of the United States’ 5.5 million Jews consider themselves Orthodox."
January 19, 2023 - from Olive Oil Times:
"The European Union recently allowed Acheta Domesticus, better known as the house cricket, to show up on European Union consumers’ tables. The newly approved regulation will allow food producers to introduce the partially defatted powder of Acheta Domesticus to the E.U. food market.
"The E.U. Commission passed the application presented in 2019 by the Cricket One Company. Now, food producers can use the powder in the production of several foods, including pizza and pasta-based products, nuts and oilseeds, snacks and sauces, meat preparations and soups, multigrain bread and rolls, crackers and breadsticks, cereal bars, dry pre-mixes for baked products, biscuits, processed potato products, legume- and vegetable-based dishes, whey powder, maize flour-based snacks, beer-like beverages and chocolate confectionery.
"The go-ahead came on the heels of the scientific opinion expressed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which verified and approved the safety of the new powder.
"EFSA also approved the powder production process, which includes a 24-hours fasting period for the insects before they are frozen, washed, thermally processed, have their oil extracted and, finally, transformed into dried-up powder.
"The march of house crickets into European kitchens will not be completed alone. On January 6th, the E.U. Commission also approved the introduction of the frozen, paste, dried and powdered forms of Alphitobius diaperinus larvae, also known as the lesser mealworm, to the consumer food market.
"Lesser mealworm larvae have also been found safe by the EFSA and, in the approved forms, are now allowed as ingredients in several food products destined for the general population. The powder of the mealworm larvae will also be used as a food supplement.
"Food containing the insect products will require appropriate labels. Some researchers believe that these food items could cause reactions in consumers allergic to crustaceans, mollusks and dust mites.
"The two insect preparations will join the list of E.U.-approved insect foods, including dried Tenebrio Molitor mealworm and the dried powder of the migratory locust.
"esides such approvals, eight other applications for insect foods have been presented to the European Union and are currently under evaluation.
"The new Acheta and Aplhitobius regulations will take effect at the end of the month."
Ed. note a link to the regulation is here
January 24, 2023 - from FDA:
"U.S. Food and Drug Administration is announcing draft guidance for industry on action levels for lead in processed foods that are intended for babies and children under two years of age, to help reduce potential health effects in this vulnerable population from dietary exposure to lead. The proposed action levels would result in significant reductions in exposures to lead from food while ensuring availability of nutritious foods. Today’s action is part of Closer to Zero, which sets forth the FDA’s science-based approach to continually reducing exposure to lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury to the lowest levels possible in foods eaten by babies and young children.
Foods covered by the draft guidance, Action Levels for Lead in Food Intended for Babies and Young Children, are those processed foods, such as food packaged in jars, pouches, tubs and boxes and intended for babies and young children less than two years old. The draft guidance contains the following action levels:
The FDA considers these action levels to be achievable when measures are taken to minimize the presence of lead and expects that industry will strive for continual reduction of this contaminant. The baby foods have differing action levels, to account for variances in consumption levels of different food products and due to some foods taking up higher amounts of lead from the environment.
Just as fruits, vegetables and grain crops readily absorb vital nutrients from the environment, these foods also take up contaminants, like lead, that can be harmful to health. The presence of a contaminant, however, does not mean the food is unsafe to eat. The FDA evaluates the level of the contaminant in the food and exposure based on consumption to determine if the food is a potential health risk. Although it is not possible to remove these elements entirely from the food supply, we expect that the recommended action levels will cause manufacturers to implement agricultural and processing measures to lower lead levels in their food products below the proposed action levels, thus reducing the potential harmful effects associated with dietary lead exposures. Although not binding, the FDA would consider these action levels, in addition to other factors, when considering whether to bring enforcement action in a particular case.
Moving forward, the agency will continue to gather data and collaborate with federal partners to establish the scientific basis for establishing Interim Reference Levels for arsenic, cadmium and mercury
January 16, 2023 - from the ProVeg:
"Proposals by the UK to ban dairy descriptor names for plant-based products have been branded “ludicrous” by an MP speaking in the House of Commons this month.
"MP Kerry McCarthy (Labour, Bristol East) was referring to draft guidance that the Department of Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) is currently considering that would effectively ban the use of words such as “alternative to X” or play on words such as “mylk” and “not milk”.
"The MP rightly points out that the EU has already rejected a proposal, known as Amendment 171, to ban terms that evoked reference to dairy products. The UK guidance, should Defra approve it, would be more strict than the rules currently in place on the continent.
"The UK guidance, which was not subject to public consultation, was drafted by a group called the Food Standards and Information Focus Group (FSIFG) and will direct Trading Standards officers’ enforcement activity. The plant based sector was not consulted despite the existence of the Plant-based Food Alliance UK."
January 23, 2023 - from the Jewish Press:
"New Yorkers can no longer expect a plastic spoon or fork with which to consume their takeout meals: now, one must specifically ask for those utensils in order to receive them, thanks to the latest regulation passed by the city council.
"Last week the city council approved a bill banning restaurants from including plastic utensils, condiment packets, napkins or extra food containers unless specifically requested by the customer.
"Known as the “Skip the Stuff” bill, Intro559-A was sponsored by Bronx Democratic council member Marjorie Velázquez.
"It is the latest attempt by New York to regulate the use of disposable plastic in hopes of reducing damage to the environment.'
January 19, 2023 - from the CTech:
"In a new halachic ruling published on Wednesday, the Chief Rabbi of Israel, David Lau, announced that the cultivated meat produced by Aleph Farms is kosher pareve, as in doesn't include substances that contain dairy or meat ingredients. This, to the extent that the product - produced from stem cells - will be marked differently from animal meat produced by slaughter, to avoid an appearance that will create confusion among the public.
"Lau made the decision after examining the production methods in the company's laboratory and speaking with experts in the field.
"Aleph Farms is a veteran company in the development of cultivated meat. To date, the company has raised $120 million, and has developed steak slices cultivated from animal stem cells, which have not undergone genetic engineering. Last year, Aleph Farms announced the launch of a pilot production facility in Rehovot at an investment of $12 million.
"The company's first product (Minute Steak) is currently being examined by the Israeli Ministry of Health and the American regulator. When the company receives marketing approval, it will be able to enter the market with its products for the first time. The company hopes to launch its products in Israel this year. After that, it plans to enter the Singapore and U.S. markets by the second half of next year.
"Aleph Farms is the first company in Israel to receive such a ruling from a senior halachic authority, so that in the future it can offer its products to the public as pareve products. According to the halachic examination carried out by Rabbi Lau, as long as the cultivated meat is defined and marketed as "the closest vegetable product to meat", it can be labelled as kosher pareve. Rabbi Lau noted that if the product will be marketed as meat or meat products, and "in particular, if it will be similar to meat in taste and smell" it will still be defined as kosher but should not be mixed or consumed with dairy products in any way.
"The reason Aleph Farms' products were approved as pareve is due to the company's production method. Aleph Farms produces stem cells from a fertilized egg in a laboratory, without requiring animals or slaughter. The current method extracts the stem cells from a fertilized egg even before it is attached to the animal's body, therefore Rabbi Lau believes that the fertilized egg in itself is not forbidden to eat. Therefore, the product is not considered meat, and there is no need to wait before consuming milk."
A copy of Rabbi Lau's psack in Hebrew is here.
January 22, 2023 - from the Food Safety News:
"A multi-million dollar Washington D.C.-based nonprofit, the Animal Welfare Institute, has filed the second petition this year seeking a policy change with USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.
"The Animal Welfare Institute petition has been assigned to the FSIS Office of Policy and Program Development for review and assigned petition number 23-02.
"The petition asks FSIS to amend the oversight of review processes for the Custom Exempt slaughter establishments.
"Custom slaughtering and preparation activities are exempt from Federal inspection under the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) and the Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA). Custom Exempt slaughtering or preparation is for an owner’s animal exclusively “for use in the household of such owner, by him and members of his household and his nonpaying guests and employees” and is exempt from (continual) federal inspection.
"Petition 23-02 seeks changes in the Custom Exempt directive to require that periodic or annual inspections be carried out on dates and time when the slaughter is occurring. Further changes called for include: that voluntary animal welfare practices be made mandatory; that inspectors follow instructions; that the Custom-Exempt “loophole” be eliminated; and that neglect and abuse be reported under state animal cruelty laws.
"The animal activists also want Custom Exempt Slaughter establishments to lose their grants of inspections over humane violations.
"The first petition submitted to FSIS in 2023 for a policy change seeks to lift the ban on livestock lungs as human food.
January 19, 2023 from the CPSC in conjunction with Heathy Canadians:
Hot Chocolate Pots have been recalled because the hot chocolate pots are mislabeled as microwave safe. If microwaved, the metallic paint on the pots can spark, posing a fire hazard.
Description: This recall involves hot chocolate pots with SKU/UGS number 9292417. The SKU/UGS number is located on the bottom of the box. The Hot Chocolate Pot is white with a red lid. The ceramic pot features a reindeer on the front side. The Hot Chocolate Pot includes a battery-operated frothing wand. The date code 5/22 is displayed on the bottom of the pot.
Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled pots and contact Williams-Sonoma for instructions on how to return the product for a full refund plus a $20 gift card.
Sold At: Williams-Sonoma stores nationwide, online at www.williams-sonoma.com and through Williams-Sonoma catalogs from September 2022 through November 2022 for about $100.
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