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A new reason to worry about food poisoning
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Most of us have experienced food poisoning only as a short, unpleasant, bout of diarrhea or abdominal pain. But according to researchers a small group of people have or will develop long-term health problems from food poisoning. And researchers say their ranks are growing. What is also alarming is that it can sometimes take years for an ailment related to food poisoning to show up, the experts said. Arthritis. Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Kidney disorders. This list is just the beginning of the many health problems some researchers are now linking to food-borne infections. Read the article
These are more good reasons to be more vigilant about avoiding food poisoning. Do you know how to keep your food safer at home? Any ideas about eating safer at restaurants?
RELATED: CDC’s Foodborne illness page | Food-safety news and links
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What does it take to reinvent a restaurant?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I ate lunch recently at Joel, a north Atlanta restaurant that’s in the process of reinventing itself.
Chef and part-owner Joel Antunes left earlier this year for New York’s famed Plaza Hotel, to head the revamped hotel’s Oak Room. Cyrille Holata, Joel’s chef de cuisine, took over the reins in Atlanta. He has worked with Antunes for 14 years, including a stint at the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead.
He knows the restaurant’s customers well enough to leave favorites like the gazpacho with tomato sorbet and mango pavlova on the menu, but is also introducing his own dishes.
The most recent change — and the restaurant has seen many since its opening seven years ago, from a cozied-up dining room to a now-defunct lunch takeout shop and spa menu — is a bistro lunch menu, a 30-minutes or less selection all at $10 or less.
Choices include French comfort foods like croque monsieur, a grilled ham and Swiss cheese sandwich served with bechamel sauce, along with a salmon and cucumber pasta, and other salads, pastas and sandwiches. You can still order from a more traditional lunch menu, too, where the gazpacho, pavlova and more labor-intensive entrees are offered.
Holata is focusing on foods sourced from local farmers when possible, although it’s not something customers will notice on reading the menu. At other restaurants that focus on local food, menus often identify the farm, perhaps converting diners into customers for those farmers when they see their meat or produce at local markets.
Do you notice the names of farms on restaurant menus? If so, does it influence whether you buy from that farm, or your opinion of the restaurant? If you’ve eaten at Joel recently, what do you think of the changes?
Take care, and eat smart.
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Would you buy irradiated spinach or lettuce?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Spinach and iceberg lettuce can be irradiated to kill harmful bacteria, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Friday. Read the latest news story
What does that mean?
Irradiation is ionizing radiation, applied to food as gamma rays from radioisotopes, or electron beams or X-rays from machines. It penetrates into food to kill germs, and also kills insects on the surface of foods. Irradiation extends a product’s shelf life.
The Grocery Manufacturers Association of America asked the FDA to approve irradiation of leafy greens several years ago. Many consumer groups opposed it, instead pressing the FDA to impose more stringent farm-to-table safety standards.
The FDA approval only includes iceberg lettuce and spinach; other leafy greens, like romaine lettuce, may be added later. And the FDA continues to advise consumers to wash all leafy greens, including irradiated ones, before eating them.
Food that is irradiated must be labeled, a requirement that industry is trying to change. Industry petitions call for a more generic label like “pasteurized.” Irradiation can affect the flavor and texture of food, depending on the dose level; those promoting irradiating leafy greens say consumers won’t notice any changes at the levels used.
The approval comes at an interesting time. The FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continue to investigate a Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak that’s been tied to tomatoes and serrano peppers, one that’s still making Americans ill, albeit at a much slower rate than at its peak. Both agencies have been criticized for their handling of the investigation, with much of that criticism falling on the FDA.
At the same time, the produce industry is facing hundreds of million in losses from unsold tomatoes, jalapenos and serranos, the latest in a string of outbreak-related losses. In 2006, an e. coli 0157:H7 outbreak tied to spinach caused 205 confirmed illnesses and three deaths, and the spinach industry took a big hit. Sales suffered months after the outbreak had ended, with some shoppers continuing to avoid the food.
Consumers are the wild card in this situation. Will Americans embrace irradiation of iceberg lettuce, which has little to offer but its crunch, if irradiation affects that texture? Will those who seek out spinach for its healthfulness buy it if it’s been irradiated? Will people who avoid fresh salads now because they’re at higher risk for foodborne illness be able to eat and enjoy them again because they’ve been treated to reduce bacteria?
In the past, shoppers have had a mixed reaction. Irradiated foods such as beef have been a tough sell, but tropical fruit from Hawaii and spices haven’t faced the same level of resistance.
You can read the arguments for irradiation here and against irradiation, here.
Would you buy irradiated fresh spinach or iceberg lettuce? Why or why not?
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What are your favorite specialty food/cooking stores?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Evening Edge is putting together a list of specialty food markets and gourmet cookware stores around Atlanta that are great resources for cooks.
I’ve got favorite places to buy hard-to-find items, or meats raised without antibiotics or hormones, or frozen cheese straw dough that’s as good as what I make from scratch. There are gourmet stores packed with equipment for serious cooks, such as Cook’s Warehouse and Sur la Table at Perimeter Mall, and ones that focus more on fun entertaining accessories, such as Swoozie’s.
If I wanted a wider range of Asian ingredients than I’d find at a mainstream grocer, I’d head to one of Super H Mart’s four metro locations. For British food or specialties from Australia, I’d go to Taste of Britain in Norcross. A co-worker is especially fond of El Valu, with stores in Smyrna and on Buford Highway, for a deep selection of Hispanic items, from Mexico to Argentina.
What are some of your favorite specialty markets that you’d like to share with other Atlanta cooks? Let us know about them here and we’ll try to work them into our directory.
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Is it worth the money to cut up raw chicken yourself?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One of the surest ways to save money on food is to buy a whole chicken and cut it up yourself. There’s just one problem with this strategy for many people: They hate touching raw chicken.
How much do cooks dislike handling poultry? Enough so that a few years ago, one turkey producer introduced a bird that roasts in its original packaging, so that cooks need never touch raw poultry. There are good reasons to be careful when handling uncooked meat, such as spreading bacteria around the kitchen if you’re not careful. But if you wash hands and clean your cutting board and knife with warm, soapy water , there’s little to fear except the ick factor, which I think is probably what bothers most people who avoid cutting their own chicken.
I usually buy a whole chicken and roast it, mostly out of laziness. Just rub it with a little butter or olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, stick in the oven at 350 degrees for an hour or so, and it’s done.
If I’m going to fry the chicken, I’ll cut it up into eight or 10 pieces. And if I happen to buy the chicken at the DeKalb Farmer’s Market, I’ll get one of the butchers to cut it up for free. Buying the whole bird saves anywhere from $3.50 to $9 a pound, depending on where you shop — I saw organic boneless, skinless breasts selling for $11.49 a pound at one major supermarket chain recently. So I’m willing to put in the time and knife work to save the bucks.
A couple of YouTube videos at the bottom of this post will show you how to do it: The first one focuses on the basics, just eight bone-in pieces; the second one details how to carve off boneless breasts and chicken tenders when you’re trimming the whole bird. A tip, though: Chicken cooked with the bone in is more flavorful.
Do you buy whole chickens to save money? Or would you rather pay extra to avoid touching raw poultry?
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I love their iced coffees! I am wondering if I can find out the calorie content, however? They taste fattening.... read the full comment by Dianne | Comment on Will McDonald's replace Starbucks as the coffeehouse king? Read Will McDonald's replace Starbucks as the coffeehouse king?
Don’t care where the food comes from as long as its fresh not frozen or canned. A well known, respected, food place known for it’s spinach dip (the best in town) has people claiming the salsa on the side is amazing! One of the servers told... read the full comment by FCM | Comment on What does it take to reinvent a restaurant? Read What does it take to reinvent a restaurant?
NO! This is inexcusably dangerous and is being done because industry won’t take the necessary steps to clean up its production process.... read the full comment by Jane | Comment on Would you buy irradiated spinach or lettuce? Read Would you buy irradiated spinach or lettuce?
No, I would NOT ever purchase irradiated food. There is an energetic component that most people don’t understand that is being destroyed. All food carries a life force, the more you mutilated and alter the original structure of the food we eat the... read the full comment by amber | Comment on Would you buy irradiated spinach or lettuce? Read Would you buy irradiated spinach or lettuce?