It seems that buying organically produced food does’t provide all of the solutions that we are looking for.

Researchers at Stanford University help shed some light on this debate.

In this interview the most common questions are asked and answered to help you understand what you’re paying for and what you’re getting when you choose organic.

So if you ask people, they say that the two main reasons they eat organic food are because it’s nutritious, and because it’s good for the environment. But she also finds there are a whole bunch of emotional values that are tied up with eating organic food. So people who eat organic food tend to value altruism. They tend to value benevolence. They tend to value spirituality. And organic food has gotten wrapped up in all of these values that don’t necessarily have to do with the very specific things that science studies.

The last big holiday celebration of the summer season doesn’t need to end with high calorie overindulging, end of summer sun burn or food spoilage, for that matter.

A few a few last minute health reminders will insure that you and your guests say good bye to summer in style.

Keep Your Food Safe from Contamination:

Keep raw meat away from fruits, vegetables, or any other dishes that may be served cold to prevent cross contamination with microbes that can grow in raw meats.

Keep a meat thermometer handy to ensure all proteins are cooked thoroughly (aim for 145-160 degrees Fahrenheit depending on the type of protein and how well done you prefer it).

Perishable foods should not be left out for more than 2 hours. If it is above 90 degrees outside, no more than 1 hour.

This is a small victory for consumers who, finally aware of the dangers of high fructose corn syrup, will continue to be able to identify it in the products they buy.

Michael M. Landa, director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the F.D.A., denied the petition, saying that the term “sugar” is used only for food “that is solid, dried and crystallized.”

“HFCS is an aqueous solution sweetener derived from corn after enzymatic hydrolysis of cornstarch, followed by enzymatic conversion of glucose (dextrose) to fructose,” the letter stated. “Thus, the use of the term ‘sugar’ to describe HFCS, a product that is a syrup, would not accurately identify or describe the basic nature of the food or its characterizing properties.”

The Corn Refiners Association is afraid that consumers will avoid the product, which has received a bad reputation, under the pretext of “false information”, namely that corn syrup is natural and is the same as sugar.

The fact is that it is NOT natural , it is manufactured in a lab and can harm to people who can not properly metabolize the ingredient.

And further, to argue that HFCS is the same as sugar only calls into question the efficacy of sugar in the human diet.

There are many who would postulate that there already exists an overabundance of sugar which is causing obesity and Type 2 diabetes in epidemic proportions.

With summertime quickly approaching, picnics and barbecue’s offer prime opportunities for food-borne illnesses to surface.

Preventing outbreaks will be a huge shift from past strategies which offer response tactics.

Consumers can choose meats last and keep the packages away from other foods.

Avoid putting your hands in your mouth or rubbing your eyes before thoroughly washing your hands.

It is also recommended to carrying an alcohol-based gel or wipes containing a small amount of bleach to clean yourself up after handling a package.

The new direction, which focuses on prevention and faster response times, is a huge improvement over past USDA practices, says Philip M. Tierno Jr., PhD, director of clinical microbiology at NYU Langone Medical Center and clinical professor at the NYU School of Medicine.

“We will likely see a reduction in unnecessary illnesses and possibly the prevention of a [death] or two,” says Tierno, author of The Secret Life of Germs.

Washington, D.C.-based consumer advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest also supports the USDA’s shift in priorities.

The debate roils; wash or don’t wash pre-washed lettuce?

You know the stuff; pre-washed, pre-cut, bagged up and ready to use.

Is it necessary to wash it yet again for safe eating?

Indeed, many (though not all) food safety specialists advise against washing bagged lettuce or spinach. Why? First, because there’s a good chance that if bacteria managed to survive commercial-scale washing with chlorinated water in the processing plant, a lot of them will survive your home washing, too.

Disease-causing E. coli O157:H7 can get trapped just below the surface of a lettuce leaf, and they’re tough to dislodge or kill. Second, there’s a real risk that you’ll end up adding bacteria to greens that were perfectly clean to start with: Your sink or cutting board may be dirtier than the lettuce.

It looks like the only way to truly insure that you are eating the safest lettuce possible would be to cook it!

Tenderized beef is at the center of recall.

Is it now necessary to label meat which has been through the tenderizing process?

Because of an increased risk of bacterial contamination, some say the meat should be labeled.

E. Coli contamination was at the center of the recall which included more than a ton of beef.

Connecticut Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro said that the Wednesday recall involving some 2,057 pounds of ground and texturized beef from Town & Country Foods Inc. of Greene, Maine, underscores why consumers should be told when meat has been mechanically pierced with needles or blades.

The “pink slime” as it’s being called has caused quite the furor on the internet.

Parents and activists are alarmed to find out that this combination of meat by-products and ammonia hydroxide is being served to children in school lunches because the U.S Department of Agriculture continues to purchase it.

This “high risk product” has not passed food inspection findings, however, the U.S.D.A. commissioned a separate study to assess the safety of BPI’s “Lean Beef Trimmings” to make it appear safe.

Custer said he first encountered the product — which gained fame recently as “pink slime” in part due to the efforts of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver — back in the late 1990s. Despite voicing his concerns to other officials at the food inspection service, however, the USDA ruled that Lean Beef Trimmings were safe. “The word in the office was that undersecretary JoAnn Smith pushed it through, and that was that,” Custer said.

Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1989, Smith had deep ties with the beef industry, serving as president of both the Florida Cattlemen’s Association and the of the National Cattlemen’s Association.

“Scientists in D.C. were pressured to approve this stuff with minimal safety approval,” Zirnstein said.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Theodore Katz ordered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin proceedings to withdraw approval of non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in livestock unless makers of the drugs can produce evidence that their use is safe.

The FDA had started such proceedings in 1977, prompted by its concerns the widespread use in livestock feed of certain antibiotics – particularly tetracyclines and penicillin, the most common. But the proceedings were never completed and the approval remained in place.
“In the intervening years, the scientific evidence of the risks to human health from the widespread use of antibiotics in livestock has grown, and there is no evidence that the FDA has changed its position that such uses are not shown to be safe,” Katz wrote.

The facts are hard to ignore.

Using common antibiotics in livestock feed has contributed to the rapid growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in both animals and humans and contributes to $20 billion in health care costs annually.

Resist the urge to eat raw cookie dough.

While most concerns are over raw eggs in the mixture the real danger may lie in the flour.

Flour doesn’t go through the kind of special processing to kill off pathogens that ingredients like pasteurized eggs, molasses, sugar, baking soda, and margarine do.

When the researchers visited manufacturing plants where the cookie batter was being made their suspicions were confirmed: they found E coli in the samples they collected at the plants, according to the report which was published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

The higher incidence of baking during the holiday season can increase the risk of contamination.

Use safe cooking, preparation and clean-up methods for healthy celebrations.

Genetically modified food may look like the answer to food shortages but the dangers might just outweigh the benefits.

But now the concern that these genetically manipulated foodstuffs are harming human health is growing. Inserting a gene into a plant’s genome is a random and haphazard process that allows no control over where the gene actually ends up in the plant’s otherwise carefully constructed DNA. Insertions can show up inside other genes, can delete natural genes or permanently turn them on or off, and can cause significant mutations near the insertion site. For instance, one study found that a gene known to be a corn allergen was turned on in GM corn, though it was turned off in its conventional parent.

“It’s genetic roulette,” says Smith. “You can create carcinogens, anti-nutrients, toxins. We don’t understand the language of DNA enough to predict what might happen. It’s an infant technology, and we’re making changes that are permanent in the gene pool of species.”