September 21st, 2010 - Barbara Feiner
For decades, American cooks relegated sprigs of parsley to throwaway garnishes on the sides of sad-looking dinner plates.
More recently, herb-savvy cooks have recognized parsley’s clean, fresh flavor—an essential ingredient in dishes like Gremolata-Crusted Fish Fillets, Orange-Parsley Hummus and Braised Mushrooms with Herbs.
 Cilantro, often called Chinese parsley, adds a distinctive flavor to Thai and Latin American cuisine, and I encourage you to experiment with easy recipes like Tequila-Lime Corn & Bean Salad, Thai Roasted Squash Soup (right) and Garlic Snow Peas with Cilantro.
Read More: Green Showdown: Parsley vs. Cilantro
Tags: cilantro, Health, herbs, Organic Food, parsley, recipes
Posted in Health, Organic Food, Organic Food Recipes | 1 Comment »
September 18th, 2010 - Barbara Feiner
While restaurant dish cloths appear to be the latest catalyst for food poisoning, there’s some good news on the home front: More of us are washing our hands—but we still have a long way to go.
Roughly 77% of us always clean our hands before handling or eating food (83% of women vs. 71% of men), according to a new study sponsored by the American Society for Microbiology and the American Cleaning Institute.
Read More: Handwashing Stats Improve, But Some of Us Are Still Pretty Gross…
Tags: food poisoning, food safety, foodborne illness, handwashing, Health
Posted in Health | Comments Off
September 17th, 2010 - Barbara Feiner
If you’re planning to dine out, this story is about to ruin your day.
British researchers have found that more than half of the cleaning cloths used in restaurants and takeout kitchens contained alarming levels of bacteria—sure signs of poor hygiene and cross-contamination.
These cloths must be frequently changed or disinfected to halt bacterial growth that could cause food poisoning, according to the research team at the United Kingdom’s Health Protection Agency. Failure to do so means bacteria can spread from the cloths to foodservice workers’ hands, as well as work surfaces and equipment.
Read More: Dirty Restaurant Dish Cloths May Sicken Us
Tags: E. coli, food safety, foodborne illness, Health, Listeria
Posted in Health | Comments Off
September 13th, 2010 - Barbara Feiner
Katherine Schwarzenegger felt something was terribly wrong last summer, when she overheard her young cousins chatting about their bodies.
“They’re 8 years old and were talking about how they don’t want to be fat and how they want to be ‘sexy,’” says the 20-year-old daughter of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and journalist Maria Shriver.
It wasn’t the first time Katherine had heard the girls and other young friends discuss body-image issues. She, herself, had struggled to maintain her self-esteem under media and public scrutiny.
Now a junior at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, Katherine eventually tackled her body-image issues and developed self-confidence—and she shares her hard-earned wisdom in a new book, Rock What You’ve Got: Secrets to Loving Your Inner and Outer Beauty from Someone Who’s Been There and Back.
Read More: Katherine Schwarzenegger Talks About Body Image in New Book
Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, body image, books, eating disorders, Health, Katherine Schwarzenegger, Parenting, teens
Posted in Health, Parenting | 1 Comment »
September 10th, 2010 - Barbara Feiner
Menands, NY-based Midland Farms is voluntarily recalling certain milk products because they may have been improperly pasteurized.
Pasteurization heats milk to eliminate pathogenic bacteria like listeria and salmonella.
The recalled products are sold in plastic containers and are marketed under the brand names Midland Farms, Corrado’s Market, Jersey Dairy Farms and Trade Fair Premium. Each has the plant code 36-1661 and a date code near the top of the container.
Read More: Milk Recalled on East Coast
Tags: food safety, Health, milk, New York, recalls
Posted in Health | Comments Off
September 8th, 2010 - Barbara Feiner
School days usher in that familiar school daze.
Reduce anxiety and improve performance with a quality breakfast that includes protein and whole-grain carbohydrates, advises registered dietitian Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis.
A bowl of oatmeal with milk “can give you some energy to the brain,” she says. “That milk begins to work on brain chemicals.”
Read More: Good Breakfast Calms Back-to-School Jitters
Tags: back to school, breakfast, Health, Organic Food, Parenting
Posted in Health, Organic Food | Comments Off
September 3rd, 2010 - Barbara Feiner
Mushrooms are known for their nutritional value and culinary versatility. Now, there’s a new reason to buy these fabulous fungi: They may help prevent breast cancer.
Shiuan Chen, PhD, a professor of tumor cell biology at the City of Hope in Duarte, Calif., was among the first scientists to study how white button mushrooms offer protective benefits.
“Diet is a key consideration for prevention because it is something that everyone can control,” he says. “Our research shows that women may benefit from a balanced diet that includes about 3.5 ounces of mushrooms per day.”
Read More: Mushrooms May Help Prevent Breast Cancer
Tags: breast cancer, cancer protection, Health, mushrooms, Organic Food, vegetarian, weight-loss
Posted in Health, Organic Food | 2 Comments »
September 2nd, 2010 - Barbara Feiner
Mountain View, MO-based Morningland Dairy is recalling 68,957 pounds of raw-milk cheese (made with cows’ milk and goats’ milk) because it may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) and/or Staphylococcus aureus.
The company’s products are sold in the lower 48 states via retail stores, mail order, crop-sharing associations and direct delivery. Cheeses are sold in vacuum-sealed plastic packages based on product weight.
The following cheese varieties are affected:
Read More: Morningland Dairy Recalls Raw-Milk Cheese Sold in 48 States
Tags: cheese, FDA, food safety, foodborne illness, Health, Listeria, raw cheese, recalls, Staphylococcus
Posted in Health, Organic Food | 6 Comments »
August 31st, 2010 - Barbara Feiner
Iowa-based Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms—the two producers responsible for the recall of 500,000 eggs potentially contaminated with salmonella—should be put out of business.
FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, MD, last week said these companies were “not operating with the standards of practice that we consider responsible,” according to the New York Times.
Now we know some of the specifics: These factory farms, whose eggs have sickened roughly 1,500 consumers, were overrun with rodents, maggots and flies, and chicken manure heaps. Henhouses were filthy and broken down, with rusted holes, structural damage, unsanitary employees and seeping manure.
Read More: Egg Recall: Disgusting Conditions Confirm Dangers of Factory Farms
Tags: eggs, factory farms, FDA, Health, recalls, salmonella
Posted in Health, Organic Food | 1 Comment »
August 29th, 2010 - Barbara Feiner
Cover enough salmonella or E. coli outbreaks, and you become intimately familiar with the “T” word: traceback.
The term refers to the process federal inspectors use to determine exactly where contamination occurred in the food supply chain.
Recent recalls highlight the critical need for an effective product tracing system, according to the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), a Chicago-based organization that represents food scientists and related professionals.
Read More: Product Tracing Needed to Protect Us from Foodborne Illnesses
Tags: E. coli, eggs, food safety, foodborne illness, Ground beef, Health, recalls, salmonella
Posted in Health | Comments Off
|
|
|
