NPR reports on how the US is a little bit late to overhaul school lunches yesterday, and provides an awesome slideshow of who’s got what & where. (London’s makeover is extremely impressive)
NPR
This One’s Just Right
The supertasters wanted salt to the max, up to the point where most people find foods not only very salty but irritating to the mouth. “For them, more is better,” Hayes says, “and Goldilocks was wrong.
Richard Knox on NPR’s For Supertasters, A Desire for Salt is Genetic.
I love the drama in “AND GOLDILOCKS WAS WRONG!” Puts the salt on my pretzel, it do.
(Thanks to D.Beene for the tip)
NPR: FDA Faulted for Gaps in Food Safety
In a June 8th blog, NPR goes for the FDA’s gullet by citing a recent report:
The Food and Drug Administration lacks a plan to assess risks posed by certain foods, doesn’t prioritize surveillance and research, and is putting the public’s trust on the line, according to a report released by the Institute of Medicine this morning.
Basically, the FDA doesn’t have enough money or power to get the job safely done. And it is the only agency/authority over food safety; there are no alternatives. Sometimes I think this is some serious whining, but the stats remind me:
The cost to consumers when the unsafe stuff hits the grocery store shelves? About $150 billion a year, plus 300,000 hospitalizations, and about 5,000 deaths.
So what’s the clear solution? Competing agencies and the subsequent lobbyists, then the pick of the litter?
Ingredientism on the Rise
It is the tyranny of the ingredient. No longer is a successful dish on the American menu about a successful sum of its parts; it is about the parts themselves. Each ingredient is held up and examined like a precisely cut diamond.