Kraft and Nabisco Label for Special DietsWritten by Laura Bankston
For those of you on special diets, you know value of great ingredient labeling! I did hear on radio that all food companies will be required to list things like gluten, but those regulations will not be totally in effect until 2008!!! Now, how could it possibly take three years to change a label? I don't know, but in meantime, I've been making a lot of phone calls to manufacturers.Anyway, I can't have yeast, so I've been using Baking Powder. And, when I was reviewing my list of no-no's, I read that baking powder can have wheat in it! Yikes - another set of my no-no's: wheat and gluten. So, I placed a call to Kraft to make sure there was no gluten. I must say, they were very helpful. All Kraft and Nabisco products have accurate labeling. If there is a questionable ingredient, they break it down in parenthesis afterward so that you don't have to worry about "hidden ingredients". And, they informed me that all ingredients listed as natural flavors, food starch, and modified food starch are only from corn, rice, or tapioca. So, maybe you "seasoned" - pardon pun :-) - gluten-free individuals already know this, but hopefully it will be helpful to those newbies like myself. And, hey, even if you don't have special dietary requirements, it's nice to know that Kraft and Nabisco products are so accurate in labeling.
| | Increasing Risk of Food PoisoningWritten by Loring A. Windblad
Copyright 2004 by http://www.organicgreens.us and Loring Windblad. This article may be freely copied and used on other web sites only if it is copied complete with all links and text intact and unchanged except for minor improvements such as misspellings and typos. A couple of friends of mine went out for dinner recently to a local, well-known restaurant (nameless because it had to have been an isolated incident and accidental), for dinner. One chose to have tomato juice with meal and on taking his first taste exclaimed “It’s rancid!” and did not drink any more, spitting out little he had supped. Within 15 minutes he was violently ill and vomiting, and 24 hours later remained sick in bed as I write this article. Public health authorities around world are worried about spread of foodborne disease and emergence of new microbial strains entering our food supply. Contaminated food can cause diarrhea and dehydration, or more serious illnesses such as kidney failure or brain damage. Food poisoning can arise from bacterial toxins -- such as those produced by Staphylococci or Clostridium Botulinum (which causes rare but deadly botulism, mostly from canned or bottled vegetables and meats) -- or from bacteria that multiply in body (such as Salmonelli or E. coli). Unlike food contaminated by mold or fungi, which looks and smells "bad" or rotten, food harbouring bacteria or their toxins may look fine, appear wholesome and smell normal, even though it is carrying deadly microbes. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates that there are "millions of needless deaths" from foodborne illness around globe each year. In developing areas, contaminated rivers, formula diluted with bacteria-laden water and poor sanitation compound problem. More and more foods contaminated Surveys show that Salmonella, Listeria, Clostridium and other bacteria are contaminating ever more and different foods. For example, up to 80 per cent of chickens and other poultry are contaminated with Salmonella or Campylobacter by mechanized de-feathering and evisceration processes in which infected feces splatter skin of birds. Listeria bacteria are found in up to 15 per cent of soft-ripened cheeses; Yersinia bacteria are detectable in 20 per cent of raw (unpasteurized) milk products, Clostridium perfringens -- sometimes called "cafeteria bug" -- is a frequent cause of food poisoning in re-warmed meats, casseroles, stews, pies and gravies; and Campylobacter jejuni bacteria, a recently discovered source of food poisoning, are now chief contaminators of poultry, shellfish and unpasteurized milk. Chicken, turkey and other poultry should be well cooked and leftovers refrigerated, as left at room temperature any lingering bacteria multiply fast and next day's turkey sandwich or casserole could make people ill. The problem is by no means confined to poultry, meat or dairy products. Food poisoning outbreaks in industrialized countries have been traced to such items as Belgian chocolates, bottled mushrooms, rice pudding, onion rings, bean sprouts, melon, specialty breads, orange juice and even frozen strawberries. The alerting signs of food poisoning: * diarrhea, vomiting; * stomach cramps; * nausea, appetite loss; * possibly chills, fever. The discomfort may begin within a few minutes to a few hours of consuming contaminated food -- or may only appear several days later when it's no longer clearly linked to any particular food and might be self-diagnosed as 24-hour stomach flu. Foodborne illness often causes just a stomach ache and transient diarrhea, but it can be severe, even fatal -- especially in elderly, infants, pregnant women, diabetics, alcoholics and immune-deficient. Varied reasons for rise in food poisoning Experts blame many causes for increasing incidence of food poisoning. The roots of problem go back to end of World War II and rising popularity of meat -- a favourite breeding ground for many microbes. With demand for meat came a search for cheap animal fodder from tropical countries, where infection is rampant and bacteria spread into food supply from contaminated animals. As noted by World Health Organization (WHO), "Enormous quantities of animal feed were imported [into West] and animals fed contaminated feeds have in turn contaminated food supply." Millions of bacteria-carrying animals across world, housed in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions, contribute to spread of foodborne disease. Data from United Nations Environment Program show that 45 per cent of world's rivers, from which animals drink, are contaminated with fecal bacteria such as E. coli.
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