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June 2008
Is Southern food killing us?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Nearly 8 percent of Americans have diabetes, a percentage that holds true in metro Atlanta, too.
That works out to 24 million people nationally, an increase of three million in just the last two years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Another 57 million Americans may have prediabetes, elevated blood glucose levels that aren’t high enough yet to net a diabetes diagnosis, but signal the insulin resistance that’s a hallmark of the disease.
When I looked at a U.S. map of diabetes cases on the CDC web site, I saw what I expected: Highest rates in the Southeast, which typically has the country’s highest rates of obesity too. Metro Atlantans are actually less likely to suffer from diabetes than those living elsewhere in the state. In some parts of east and southwest Georgia, between 11.2 and 15 percent of adults suffer from diabetes, a disease that can cause heart disease, blindness, kidney problems, limb amputation, and many other complications. Staying fit and losing weight can help prevent or delay Type II diabetes. You can learn more about preventing diabetes from the CDC.
Yet, judging by the CDC statistics, many Southerners aren’t adopting healthy lifestyles. We love our biscuits and fried chicken, sweet tea and layer cakes. We’re still seasoning greens with pork fat. And we’re getting less exercise than folks in other regions, too, according to national health surveys.
If you have a family history of diabetes, have you made changes in your diet? Are there favorite Southern foods you’ve given up to eat more healthfully?
Permalink | Comments (36) | Post your comment | Categories: Healthy eating
Tomatoes are back. Are you biting?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tomatoes are back in many grocery stores and restaurants, often with signs saying that they’re from safe growing areas.
Many states and countries have been cleared, including Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and North Florida, which supply many of the tomatoes in supermarkets around Atlanta this time of year. I’ve bought big slicing tomatoes and served them over the past week or so. And I’ve missed the cut-up tomatoes on the salad bar at work, which is now stocked with grape tomatoes.
Still, it requires confidence in every step of the food chain to buy and eat a product that has been linked to a Salmonella outbreak that has sickened 552 people, nine of them in metro Atlanta, even when you’re assured it’s from a safe area. With supermarkets and restaurants on notice about what growing regions have been cleared — about four dozen at last count and listed on the FDA web site — many tomato lovers are paying attention to where the vegetable is grown before buying.
Demand is starting to pick back up in regions like North Florida, but probably won’t be back to normal levels until federal authorities decide the outbreak has ended, says Mike Stuart, president of the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association. That may come too late for his growers, who will probably wrap up their season after the first week of July. He hasn’t totaled the losses yet, but they’re expected to be extensive, affecting not just farmers, but packing houses, those who transport tomatoes, farm workers and others. Georgia farmers are also seeing more of a demand after an initial slump in orders, according to Charles Hall of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association.
The produce industry wants things to get back to normal. Stuart says he was encouraged to see the big quick-service restaurants come back to tomatoes quickly — McDonald’s, Burger King and Yum Brand nameplates like Taco Bell are serving them again. He’s hoping consumers take a cue from that and feel comfortable ordering and eating tomatoes again.
But as the number of cases keeps rising, that may not happen so easily. Federal investigators are tracing the path of tomatoes between a cluster of illnesses in Chicago and farms in Mexico and Florida, starting this weekend. They’ll be looking at distribution centers, packing sheds and farms, searching for signs of what might have caused the illnesses. It’s conceivable that the source of contamination could still be out there, says David Acheson, the FDA’s association commissioner for food.
So is it safe to eat tomatoes? Cherry and grape tomatoes, and those sold on the vine, have not been implicated in the outbreak and are OK to eat from any growing region, the FDA says. And round red tomatoes, Roma and plum tomatoes from cleared regions are also OK, according to the FDA. (You can read more advice about choosing tomatoes and handling them properly on web sites from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FDA.)
Federal authorities consider the outbreak to be ongoing. Cases have turned up as recently as June 10, several days after a nationwide warning against eating round red tomatoes, Roma and plum tomatoes from suspect growing regions. There’s about a two-week lag in matching illnesses to the outbreak strain of Salmonella Saintpaul. The CDC has heard of illnesses that started after June 10, but are still waiting on lab matches to see if they’re part of this outbreak.
Tomatoes are especially difficult to trace, because when they’re picked and packed, they’re frequently mingled with produce from other farms, to match sizes and stages of ripeness in boxes. They may go through many hands before reaching a home or restaurant kitchen. Investigators have to trace every step of that journey in looking for possible contamination.
Did you stop buying tomatoes after the FDA warning? Have you started ordering them again at restaurants, or using them at home? If you are buying them, do you look to see where they were grown?
Permalink | Comments (13) | Post your comment | Categories: Food Safety
At bakery outlets, fresh bread and hot deals
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I love bargains. While 99 percent of Americans toss out coupon circulars, I clip away. (Only for products I’d buy anyway.) If there’s a stock-up sale, I’ll buy and store.
Still, it seems like my family of four spends a lot of money on food. With gas prices rising, we’ve been pulling out grocery receipts, cable bills, Netflix subscriptions and other things we’ve taken for granted, and looking for ways to make up for the extra $60 a week that’s going into the gas tank.
So a few weeks ago, I stopped at a shop I’ve driven past many times: The Discount Bakery Store. Most people just call it the day-old bread store. Flowers Industries, which operates several of these in metro Atlanta, makes familiar labels like Cobblestone, Nature’s Own, Roman Meal and Captain John Derst. The shelves are stocked with sandwich bread, burger and hot dog buns, English muffins and bagels. And deals.
Day-old bread once meant slightly stale, good for bread crumbs, croutons and thickening soups, but not for eating. That’s still the case with artisan breads made without preservatives.
But for the bread most of us eat, the sandwich loaves that come with a two-week date on the bag, being a day old is no big deal. Neither is being a week out of the oven, for that matter. And that’s what I usually find at the discount store. The bread may have four or five days left before it reaches the sell-by date printed on the bag, and with four of us packing lunches, there’s no question we’ll finish the loaf before then.
The bread can be eaten until four days past the sell-by date, says Mary Krier, a spokeswoman for Flowers.
A loaf of Nature’s Own 100 percent whole wheat costs $1.19 at the discount store. It costs as much as $2.69 at the grocery store. At a warehouse store, the cost works out to about $2.15 a loaf (you’ve got to buy two loaves at most warehouse clubs).
If you’re having a cookout, the savings really add up. Sometimes shoppers pick up as many as 500 hot dog buns — make sure to call ahead to check supply.
Flowers is reluctant to talk about their outlets, and wouldn’t tell me how many they have in metro Atlanta for competitive reasons, Krier says. But it’s simple enough to look them up in the phone book, where they’re listed under Flowers Bakery Outlets, Flowers Baking Co. and Flowers Bakery Thrift Stores. If you’re not sure whether it’s a distribution center or an outlet, call and ask. Sometimes they’re both in the same place.
Marietta, as it turns out, is a hot spot for bakery outlets. A few blocks from the Flowers store at 136 Powers Ferry Road S.E. is the Entenmann’s bakery outlet at 1611 Roswell Road N.E. It’s the only one listed in metro Atlanta on the George Weston Bakeries web site.
Weston also makes familiar brands, including Thomas English muffins and bagels, Arnold breads and Entenmann’s pastries. At the outlet, all are half-off or more.
I picked up a Boboli full-size pizza crust, originally priced at $4.39, for $1.95, four days before the sell-by date on the package. Full-size Entenmann’s crumb cakes were $2, down from $5.50. A loaf of Arnold 100 Percent Whole Wheat was $1.60, and a week before its sell-by date. There were also party packs of eight mini-Boboli crusts, with pizza sauce, perfect for a make-your-own birthday celebration for children.
Have you found a great place to save money on food? Or a place that offers good markdowns on breads or perishables before closing? For more tips on saving money on groceries, check out these tips elsewhere on Evening Edge
Permalink | Comments (16) | Post your comment | Categories: Groceries
Meet the blogger
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Elizabeth Lee covers nutrition, eating trends, local farming, grocery shopping and food safety issues for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She has been nominated for two James Beard Foundation Awards for articles examining unhealthy choices in school cafeterias and the legacy of Carolina Gold rice, a heritage food. She also writes a weekly column for AJC’s Food & Drink section on new cookbooks, kitchen tools and edibles.
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