In the e-newsletter this week, issued by Food Engineering, there were some very interesting news bits in food manufacturing. It sounds so industrial doesn’t it? But it’s interesting so read on….
Nestle Changes It’s Flour:
Remember when the Nestle Toll House cookie dough was recalled last year (June 2009)? It was contaminated with E.coli. Flour was the suspect in the investigation because it is a raw commodity which carries more risk. As a result of new Quality procedures, the Nestle facility has converted to a heat-treated flour to improve safety and minimize contamination risks. The products utilizing the heat-treated flour will be on the shelves in March. Go Nestle!
New York City Is Concerned About Our Salt Intake:
“Salt is the single most dangerous ingredient in food supply”. That statement has been made by the Center for Science in the Public Interest which gave NYC health officials a HUGE pat on the back for pressuring food companies to reduce salt levels in packaged foods and restaurant meals by 25% over the next 5 years.
75% of the population, due to their susceptibility levels, should not consume more than 1500 mg of sodium per day. Now hold on to your seats because the following is going to absolutely blow you away:
1. Red Lobster’s Admiral’s Feast: Creamy lobster topped mashed potato, Caesar salad with dressing, cheddar bay biscuit and lemonade topped out at 7,106 mg of salt. That’s 5 days worth of sodium!
Red Lobster does offer light choices and offers nutritional information so you are able to make healthy meal decisions and enjoy every bite.
2. Chili’s Buffalo Chicken Fajitas and Honey – Chipotle ribs with mashed potatoes, gravy and seasonal veggies provided between 6,916 mg and 6,440 mg of sodium.
Chili’s also offers terrific options for healthier choices.
| Chili’s Menu and Nutrition Information: Download Vegetarian Menu(77.64 KB pdf)  Download Nutrition Information(58.79 KB pdf) Download Allergy Information(219.93 KB pdf) |
Great places to eat but be careful which meal you chose to enjoy. Wowza!
Speaking of healthy, Nicole of PreventionRD has a great giveaway. Do you like LARABARS? Check it out!
Joanne
I finally learned how to put my little picture next to my comments!! Go to gravatar.com and it allows you to link pictures to your e-mail address.
Super cool!
Now I’ll leave a relevant comment to this post:
It amazes me how much sodium is in restaurant food. All of those saucy foods seem to be full of salt and sugar. However, it leads me to wonder how much sodium is in my home made meals. It would be cool to get some of my signature dishes lab tested just to see.
I read this news about the salt, just perfect, there’s an abuse of sodium, more in fast foods.
This phenomenon is worldwide, indeed…not only in US.
Happy weekend!
Gera
Pam: There is some great down loads out there for calculating nutrition in your food. CalorieKing is a super diet and fitness counter. I have DietMaster 2010 on my home computer but I don’t like it as much. Also, if you didn’t want to pay for the download, join SparkPeople.com where you input your recipe and it will give you the nutrition values. I think sodium content is included.
Gera: I agree. I think salt is used many times to cover up lack of taste in possibly not so fresh foods.
I do worry abut how much salt is in the foods I am eating! I try to eat mostly whole foods, but do have crackers and cereal, which are sadly, loaded with it 🙁