Balance of Food

Give FDA, USDA, HHS power to enact food safety reform

We hear the term "government" as if they are nameless, faceless entities, bureaucratic robots stamping papers. But when you travel to Washington, DC – the nation's capital, you see that the government – the people who work in these offices regardless of who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue – are made up of real people.

You see all these government buildings. You see the people commuting in Metro subway cars. You see them smoking outside their offices, away from the doors.

USDA. HHS. FDA. We do throw these initials around when referring to the efficiency and inefficiency of food-related issues. Why doesn't the FDA do more? Why does the USDA has the conflicting positions of promotion and inspection of our meat supply?

Within the walls of these government buildings, there are people who would love to do more to ensure we have better food safety. Okay, we don't know this for sure since we wouldn't be able to get it and ask. And even if we did get in, they wouldn't go on the record.

But you have to imagine that there are hard-working men and women in those buildings who wish they could do more. They don't like the glacial pace of change, the current malaise that passes for progress in government.

One major political party feels like government shouldn't be involved in these matters, that private companies should police themselves. And when bad things happen, such as a wave of salmonella affecting hundreds of millions of eggs, an apology from the head of the company should be sufficient.

But the irony is that the people who really make the government work – the people in the trenches – would love to have the power to do what they really need to do to help make the American food supply safer. And yet, those that control the purse strings and guide what the agencies can and can't do – they want the status quo where very little is done, from a government standpoint.

So understand that when we attack the government for not doing enough to ensure food safety, we aren't attacking specific people in government buildings on streets named for alphabet letters. We are attacking the true source of power, wanting them to do their job and regulate our food supply to make sure it is as safe as it can be. Right now, "safe" describes the inaction of the government, not the result.

Fresh food great on vacation, but only if you can hold on to it

In the past few trips, we have talked about the joys of bringing fresh food along for the ride. Eating on vacation doesn't always offer great possibilities to eat fruits and vegetables. But carrying around fresh fruit and vegetables, especially from a farmers market, can make a vacation more satisfying, more healthy, and more delicious.

Unless you have your food taken away by mean security guards.

Okay, the security guards weren't really mean, but the policies involved were severely harsh. Of course, if I had known that the U.S. Capitol was so extreme about the rules, I would have come in virtually naked.

Usually, if a place doesn't want you to consume outside food – a very understandable position – you can keep food as long as you don't eat it. The Capitol won't let you keep any bottles or any kind, even if they are empty. They won't let you bring in any kind of food for any reason.

Telling them that you have medical issues won't help. If there was any compassion, there was no outward sign.

The guards point out that you can buy a bottle of water on the inside and drink that. The guards also tell you there is a cafeteria for food.

Everything I saw looked underwhelming and severely over-priced. Settled for a salad on the heavy plates, which factored into the weight, bringing a medium-sized salad to more than $9.

Now if you have a car in DC, not a great option since driving is apparently really horrible, you could put things in your car. But when you are on foot, you lose that option – and your food as well.

And the guards are very thorough. I had to go through twice since they don't tell you that to see the House and Senate, you have to get passes from your Congressman's office. The second time, they found food I had forgotten was in the bottom of the bag. I had a female officer pat my front pants pocket because she thought I had food in the pocket – and this was after I had emptied my pockets.

I had to toss the whole bag of grapes, and my water bottle. I did make one smart move, only bringing one of the pickling cucumbers. A snack that normally took a while to eat, I stood outside the Capitol and wolfed the pickle down to make sure I ate it all before re-entering the building.

Extra diligence at the U.S. Capitol building is completely understandable in our current political times. But the food and drink bans don't seem linked to safety but more about raising money for the Capitol cafeteria. Somehow, asking the validity of these bans seems futile, given the environment of guns and X-ray machines.

In most environments, you will be able to hang on to your food. But if you are entering a place where security seems important, there is a chance you could lose your freshly grown food and your ability to hydrate yourself. So learn from this story and don't make the same mistake. Check in advance whenever possible, and try to hang onto your food.

Fresh food can improve your health, but only if you get a chance to eat it.

Behind the jokes, Stephen Colbert shines light on plight of farm workers

There are many in the establishment that still don't "get" Stephen Colbert.

Stephen Colbert freaked out the establishment when he stepped up as the entertainment for the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2006. And the "Colbert Report" has been on the air since 2005.

For those who still didn't get Colbert, his testimony on Friday before a House committee on farm workers probably confused them even further.

Colbert told the truth that night in 2006 and spoke the truth on Friday. The difference was there were a few jokes included.

"He just told a bunch of jokes" — they probably said to themselves. "Congress is serious business."

Leaving aside the validity of the second part of that theoretical remark, these establishment people missed the precious content that Colbert provided in his testimony.

The rest of us who get Colbert's sense of humor understand why he did what he did that led him to be invited to speak before the House committee.

The United Farm Workers (UFW) invited American citizens to take on these farm worker jobs. 7 of them are ongoing. Stephen Colbert and/or his staff saw what the UFW was doing, Colbert interviewed Arturo Rodriguez, UFW president, on the "Colbert Report." Colbert offered to be a farm worker and ran two segments on his farm work last week on his show.

If this was just about a comedy bit, there are plenty of targets that could have taken less time and effort, and been more funny.

Stephen Colbert has been a champion at critiquing the food supply. So his critique of how farm workers are treated is consistent with his previous behavior — consistency that most politicians lack.

But the politicians seem confused. Would Colbert testify in character? Would he make a mockery of the proceedings?

Yes, Stephen Colbert made a few jokes: most of them were funny. But within the jokes, they was a lot of enlightenment. Colbert had a lot to say within his Congressional testimony and in the follow-up questions. And Colbert brought a lot of attention to a group often ignored.

Farm workers are a valuable element of the American food chain, and there have been reports of crops that aren't picked due to a lack of available farm workers.

The UFW initiative to get Americans to do farm work was designed to draw attention to this issue. Colbert stepped up by putting Rodriguez on the air, and by putting in a day as a farm worker.

Just as some in Congress stepped up and tried to live off a week of food stamps, maybe some in Congress should spend a day in a farm worker's shoes. Say what you will about Colbert, but at least he did it.

And those in the establishment — hopefully an ever shrinking minority — who still are confused, they should have drawn from Colbert's response to Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA), a statement delivered out of character:

"I like talking about people who don't have any power. And this seemed like one of the least powerful people in the United States are migrant workers who come and do our work but don't have any rights as a result. And yet we still invite them to come here and at the same time ask them to leave. That's an interesting contradiction to me. And whatever you do for the least of my brothers — and these seem like the least of our brothers right now. A lot of people are least brothers right now because the economy is so hard. And I don't want to take anyone's hardship away from them or diminish anything like that. But migrant workers suffer and have no rights."

Attention, establishment: this is why Stephen Colbert gets it, and you don't.

Podcast: 'Mike & Molly' and the portrayal of fat people on television

This week's podcast deals with Mike & Molly and the portrayal of fat people on television.

To access the podcasts, check them out in the podcast library.

Podcast 092410

Small produce-dominated food stores could be solution for 'food deserts'

With food deserts being a reality in major urban cities, and with a disconnect between rural places and urban settings on this subject, my trip to Toronto made me wonder about its role in the food desert issue.

Toronto is like most major cities in North America: in certain neighborhoods, finding fresh fruit and vegetables is pretty easy. In other neighborhoods, that task is much tougher.

But having spent time in a number of major cities in the U.S. and Canada, in the core of Toronto, there appear to be a lot more places to get fresh fruit and vegetables in Canada's largest city.

I noticed as I rode the streetcars and walked the streets of the core of Toronto — lots of little storefronts featuring fresh fruits and vegetables. Stores open 7 days a week and open late.

I live in a major city (Chicago) and I didn't see as many produce storefronts here per area as much as I saw in Toronto. This doesn't mean that this trend has spread throughout Toronto.

But seeing these storefronts of fruit spilling onto the sidewalk did make me think that this might be a better solution.

Many poor neighborhoods suffer because they are waiting for major grocery chains to build huge stores where they live. And those large grocery chains haven't come through in the food desert neighborhoods. They have their reasons, reality-based or otherwise.

But maybe the solution lies in smaller places, where the majority of what they carry is fresh produce. Stores that don't require huge tracts of land or major companies to get involved. Having a smaller store — where fresh produce dominates the landscape — would seem to be a better solution, especially when the alternative is the status quo.

For now, you won't be handcuffed for getting a medium-rare burger

It was nice to be on vacation in a place where I didn't have to worry about my eggs, but as long as I'm in North America, I still have to worry about my meat.

I ended up eating a few hamburgers in Toronto, trying gourmet places. The results were a bit mixed.

I tried one place and tried to get a gourmet burger medium-rare. This seemed like a simple request: the meat was better grown and handled. Certainly medium-rare wasn't a huge issue.

In one fancy burger place, the waitress told me that Ontario had a bylaw that prohibited anything short of medium. I'm fairly familiar with food law, even in Canada, and that didn't register quite right. I imagined a OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) officer arresting the cook if a burger came out with some color in it.

I researched to try this bylaw that she spoke of, but couldn't find it.

This was also a place that served buffalo; imagining that cooked medium was enough to not order that. Reluctantly, I stayed and order a beef burger.

In a burger place, the fries shouldn't be the best thing. In this place, they were. And having fries in Toronto is great because all the ketchup is HFCS-free and they serve vinegar, both white and malt.

Later in the visit, I tried a different place. I didn't figure to mention any particular law, but asked the guy if I could get the burger medium-rare. He gave me a "of course" look.

That burger, cooked medium-rare, was so good that I wanted to order a second burger. Then eat that second burger and order a third burger to take to the other place and show them how a burger should be cooked.

Some places freak out over the prospects of cooking a burger medium-rare, so it's no surprise that an employee would tell me something that wasn't true. Yes, there are standards that places are supposed to cook a burger. And those standards seem to prohibit color in a hamburger.

But the food police — or any other police — aren't going to handcuff you and the cook for running a conspiracy to have a medium-rare hamburger.

That day may come soon in Canada and the United States — and it may apply to eggs, too. Wish the enthusiasm for such a law would have the same level of enthusiasm that would go into protecting our food.

Businesses have the right to not cook food at a certain level. Some fancy restaurants won't cook steaks past a certain level — no medium-well or well. U.S. and Canada both believe in free enterprise, etc., which leaves things in your hands, the ones of the consumers.

With our hands, we pay for the food, we can cook the food to our preferred levels. The government's role should only be to make sure the food we buy is safe. The government's opinion on how well that food should be cooked should be just that: an opinion.

Senator/doctor effectively kills food safety reform bill

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) is also a doctor. Congress has had medical personnel in its ranks, from heart surgeon (Bill Frist, R-TN) to dentist (Charlie Norwood, R-GA).

Coburn's specialty is gynecology, but for the purpose of this discussion, the most important thing is that Coburn can legitimately call himself MD.

So you would think that the last person in the Senate, regardless of party. to hold up a food safety bill would be a medical doctor.

Welcome to the world of politics.

Senators can put a hold on a bill. They can even do so anonymously. But in this instance, we know Sen. Coburn is the one who put a hold on the food safety reform bill.

Now we could be sympathetic if the senator/doctor was upset that the bill didn't go far enough, and a stronger bill was needed to fight this problem.

Sen. Coburn's issue with the bill is not medical, and he is more concerned about giving power to the FDA. Coburn is also claiming issues of adding to the deficit, which isn't in itself a bad thing, except the senator from Oklahoma has let many bills go by in the past that added more significantly to the deficit, but for things that he wanted.

Democrats have pointed out that the legislation won't immediately add to the deficit, and that the money would come from annual spending bills. So even if Congress passed food safety legislation, it could starve the actions by not providing a sufficient amount of money.

The FDA is pretty toothless right now — can't order a recall, such as the egg/salmonella crisis, and the agency rarely even visits facilities and farms for inspection. The legislation would give the agency more power for recalls, require more food processing facility inspections, and require stricter standards for keeping food safe.

The food safety reform bill impasse is the subject of bad timing for a number of reasons. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says the bill now won't be able to get done before the elections, which means it won't pass in 2010. The bill would have to start all over, possibly with a Congress that will be less interested in getting a bill passed, good or bad.

Even if the Dems retain both houses of Congress, the margins will presumably be slimmer, decreasing the chances of passing any kind of bill. And of course, Coburn or another senator can still block the bill.

Not to play favorites, but Democratic politicians have been more favorable to improving food safety than Republican politicians. Of course, neither side has been effective in coming up with a strong food safety reform bill. This was the closest, even though it could have been stronger.

Even if the bill got passed, there is still a very good chance of another major food safety crisis. Without a bill, you can just about guarantee it will happen again.

Podcast: Changing the names of foods yet they stay the same

This week's podcast deals with changing the names of foods yet they stay the same.

To access the podcasts, check them out in the podcast library.

Podcast 091710

Looking for vegetables to literally eat on the run

In traveling, you can always get some fresh fruit to munch on in your adventures. But finding fresh vegetables to grab and munch is its own adventure.

Sure, you can find a regular grocery store and get cut-up carrot and celery sticks, often with a high-fat dip alongside. And you can get a regular vegetable and cut it up into strips, but getting a knife in your luggage isn't easy.

In my latest trip to Toronto, I found a great choice: pickling cucumbers. Long, thin, very easy to store, and tasty. Okay, so they were a little bland and not terribly exciting. But they had a nice crunch and made for a nice snack in my running around Canada's largest city.

Regular readers know I have been searching for good fresh vegetable options to eat on the go. I am not one of these "sit by the pool" people. And since I don't often know where I am eating, and don't always get choices with vegetables, having a backup plan makes each day healthier.

Yes, cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, and similarly sized tomatoes do fit the bill, and carrots — even without a peeler — are easy fits. But I find in general and especially when I travel, sweeter vegetables, such as carrots and tomatoes, don't work well for me. The pickling cucumber is not sweet, which is exactly what I need.

I discovered this batch of pickling cucumbers at a small farmers market in a parking lot in an urban neighborhood, while waiting for a movie to start. I also got some wild blueberries, something I can't get at home. Wild blueberries are less sweet than their traditional counterparts.

Once I've had a good serving of fresh, locally grown fruit and vegetables, I convinced myself I could eat stuff that wasn't as healthy. And I enjoy those treats guilt-free since I already had nutritious food.

On vacation, we don't eat as healthy as we should. And for the most part, we can't do too much about the "bad." But we can add more good, which can allow you to have a little fun. Oh, and walk it off seeing the sights.

Appreciate and enjoy even the smallest of farmers markets

Celebrating large farmers markets is something we tend to get behind. Huge varieties of produce, many fellow-minded people (and dogs) all around you. We tend to like to do things in large groups as a way of proving that we aren't the only ones.

And in this trip to Toronto, I certainly visited the shrine known as St. Lawrence Market. I also went on Saturday, so I saw the North market as well. Tons of incredible locally grown food as far as your eye wanted to wander.

But I also gained joy and satisfaction from a tiny farmers market I stumbled upon at Bloor and Borden. Torontonians know Bloor Street, a major east-west street north of the downtown core that runs along the underground Green subway line. Few might know Borden as a side street.

On Wednesdays, there is a farmers market in a parking lot. It's pretty small, not that many booths. And a Wednesday late afternoon market isn't in the most popular time.

But if you take a chance, you would be surprised. Fresh fruit and vegetables, plenty to choose from, cheeses, baked goods, and a cart that sold its well-grown beef either raw to take home and cook or they will cook it for you.

I walked away with pickling cucumbers, wild blueberries, and an all-beef hot dog grown locally. Imagine what I would have had if I weren't on vacation.

At home, we have a Wednesday late afternoon market, so I have a bond with that time slot. Ours is a block long, not all that visible from many arteries in that area. But the market always has a lot of people checking it out.

Farmers markets don't have to be huge to have an impact on a community. The tiniest market can make a difference, especially if you notice them and appreciate what they do. They won't always have the fanciest wares, but they will make your life happier.

And if you walk to these local markets, you leave an even lighter carbon footprint than taking public transportation.