Have you ever stop to think, how can McDonald’s can serve chicken nuggets so cheap? It’s chicken, isn’t it? Well, yes it is chicken and according to David Zinczenko & Matt Goulding, from Men’s Health, it also has 27 other ingredients. David and Matt’s research has shown that “The “meat” in the McNugget alone contains seven ingredients, some of which are made up of yet more ingredients. (Nope, it’s not just chicken. It’s also such non-chicken-related stuff as water, wheat starch, dextrose, safflower oil, and sodium phosphates.) The “meat” also contains something called “autolyzed yeast extract.” Then add another 20 ingredients that make up the breading, and you have the industrial chemical—we mean, fast-food meal—called the McNugget. Still, McDonald’s is practically all-natural compared to Wendy’s Chicken Nuggets, with 30 ingredients, and Burger King Chicken Fries, with a whopping 35 ingredients.”

Wow… Would you like to get a milkshake with that? Wendy’s Frosty only has 14 ingredients, mostly a barrage of thickening agents that includes guar gum, cellulose gum, and carrageenan.

At least some companies are trying to move in the right direction. A Princeton study gives high fructose corn syrup the scientific bombshell they’ve been looking for. The study shows actual evidence that eating lots of high fructose corn syrup is going to make you fatter and unhealthier than simply eating lots of sugar. The university reports that rats that ate high fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those that ate table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same. As a result PepsiCo is removing the high fructose corn syrup in Gatorade. Just like Con Agra is taking it out of Hunt’s Ketchup. Kraft is banishing high fructose corn syrup from Wheat Thins, and you will no longer find it in Snapple drinks. This is a start. As a suggestion to parents, make fast foods and franchises something you do every so often not everyday.

The facts are simple… Foods need salt to help bring out the flavor. Ask any baker or chef to make you something without salt and it taste as if it was lacking something crucial.  Some things being baked won’t work without salt. If you add salt after preparation to foods it isn’t mixed throughout, again not tasting great. The bill however doesn’t talk about any of the foods produced with excess amounts of salt such as; cured meats or anything pickled. What about potato chips? Why? As Daniel Maurer noted in an article on the matter, “Our bodies don’t need excessive salt — any more than they need too much fiber, vitamin C, healthy fats or water. In fact, you can die if you over-drink water. Why? Because your sodium level has dropped too low.”

Below is the imposed bill. Read it yourself. Then the tell government to focus on more important things and let society make there own decisions.

I N A S S E M B L Y

March 5, 2010

Introduced by M. of A. ORTIZ, MARKEY — Multi-Sponsored by — M. of A. PERRY — read once and referred to the Committee on Health

AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to prohibiting the use of salt in the preparation of food by restaurants

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

Section 1. The general business law is amended by adding a new section 399-bbb to read as follows:

S 399-BBB. PROHIBITION ON SALT; RESTAURANTS. 1. NO OWNER OR OPERATOR
OF A RESTAURANT IN THIS STATE SHALL USE SALT IN ANY FORM IN THE PREPARATION OF ANY FOOD FOR CONSUMPTION BY CUSTOMERS OF SUCH RESTAURANT, INCLUDING FOOD PREPARED TO BE CONSUMED ON THE PREMISES OF SUCH RESTAURANT OR OFF OF SUCH PREMISES.

2. WHENEVER THERE SHALL BE A VIOLATION OF THIS SECTION AN APPLICATION MAY BE MADE BY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL IN THE NAME OF THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK TO A COURT OR JUSTICE HAVING JURISDICTION BY A SPECIAL PROCEEDING TO ISSUE AN INJUNCTION, AND UPON NOTICE TO THE DEFENDANT OF NOT LESS THAN FIVE DAYS, TO ENJOIN AND RESTRAIN THE CONTINUANCE OF SUCH VIOLATIONS; AND IF IT SHALL APPEAR TO THE SATISFACTION OF THE COURT OR JUSTICE THAT THE DEFENDANT HAS, IN FACT, VIOLATED THIS SECTION, AN INJUNCTION MAY BE ISSUED BY THE COURT OR JUSTICE, ENJOINING AND RESTRAINING ANY FURTHER VIOLATIONS, WITHOUT REQUIRING PROOF THAT ANY PERSON HAS, IN FACT, BEEN INJURED OR DAMAGED THEREBY. IN ANY SUCH PROCEEDING, THE COURT MAY MAKE ALLOWANCES TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL AS PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH SIX OF SUBDIVISION (A) OF SECTION EIGHTY-THREE HUNDRED THREE OF THE CIVIL PRACTICE LAW AND RULES, AND DIRECT RESTITUTION. WHENEVER THE COURT SHALL DETERMINE THAT A VIOLATION OF THIS SECTION HAS OCCURRED, THE COURT MAY IMPOSE A CIVIL PENALTY OF NOT MORE THAN ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR EACH VIOLATION. EACH USE OF SALT IN VIOLATION OF THIS SECTION SHALL CONSTITUTE A SEPARATE VIOLATION. IN CONNECTION WITH ANY SUCH PROPOSED APPLICATION, THE ATTORNEY GENERAL IS AUTHORIZED TO TAKE PROOF AND MAKE A DETERMINATION OF THE RELEVANT FACTS AND TO ISSUE SUBPOENAS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CIVIL PRACTICE LAW AND RULES.

S 2. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have become a law.

EXPLANATION–Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted.

What does this mean…

In a global economy, a disaster in one area means far-reaching effects for everyone, Food shortages, poor quality, and price hikes. But what happens if more than one area has a disaster?  For instance, the cold and rain in Florida right now is expected to cause a temporary price increase and shortage of tomatoes. Growers lost about 70 percent of their crop in January where temperatures hit record lows, according to the Florida Tomato Grower’s Exchange. Florida normally ships 25 million pounds of tomatoes a week, but currently they are shipping less that a quarter of that. Prices of produce around the world are going to be hitting record highs. For how long… no one knows.

The only thing we can say is Thank You Mother Nature for making what was an already difficult economy even worse.

There are more than 5 billion humans that live on the earth today. Humans believe that the environment is here for them to use. Let me let you in on a little secret…Man is not alone, we share this earth with 80 million other species and the relationship between these species and man is a complex web of interaction.

From the earliest times, frogs have been used as food.  Have you ever eaten frog legs?  I have, not bad. In fact,Yum!  However there is a problem with this delicious creature. Through the years man has tried to raise frogs for market, but most frogs eaten today are taken from their natural habitats and this is the problem. How much can the human species indulge on these creatures? Studies have shown that there are up to 1 billion frogs eaten each year.  According to studies done by a global team of researchers that 1 billion frogs is the equivalent to about 11,000 tons of frog meat. The largest user of frog meat is France with the United States being a close second. Why? Haven’t humans learned from their mistakes? Can’t they take a lesson from what happened with the world’s marine fisheries? We are making frogs endangered just like some of or most prized fish.Today at least 30 percent of amphibians are threatened with extinction and frogs are coming close to being on that list. 

Why should we care? 

Frogs are important for many reasons.  They control bugs not only in swamps but in woods, farms and gardens.Several species have been introduced to different parts of the world just for this purpose. Frogs help keep the ecosystem in balance. Frogs are also an indicator species. This means that if the air, water, or food source in a frog’s environment is polluted, the frogs will have symptoms, including being prone to diseases and abnormalities in offspring that let people know that something is wrong.  Not to mention frogs and toads are also important to research laboratories because their skeletal, muscular, digestive, nervous, and other systems are much like those of higher animals. 

I don’t know about you, but I believe we need to take a stand. We need to learn self restraint as an entire race. Enjoy good food, but do it in an educated way. Find out how much we can actually afford to eat before we do any more damage to this world.

I had the privilege of spending last weekend at the Cayman Cookout in the Grand Cayman. A culinary event held by Eric Ripert.  It was a fantastic event, the warm sun, great food, a lot of Rum and informative demonstrations from some of the best chefs in the country. With all that was said, the best thing that I took away from this event was friendship. I met a few wonderful people, Gary, Lizy, Sally, Jody, and Argenis, all people whom I now consider friends. However, the person, the friend, who left the biggest impression on me was Ingrid Hoffmann (see my photo with Ingrid above). Having 2 world class cooking shows, one on the Food Network ( Simply Delicioso ) and the other on Gala vision ( Delicioso ), Ingrid is one of the most down to earth people I have had the pleasure to meet. She was outgoing to everyone who approached her. She was funny, generous and simply a delight to spend time with. I would just like to hope that all people, especially celebrities,  learn from her example. No matter how popular, how wealthy, or how famous a person gets, you never forget who you are. 

~ Ciao