I don’t think we need a lot of scientific research to determine why people drink soy milk, almond milk and coconut milk. I’ll save some time and list them, not in any particular order: They are lactose-intolerant They are living a vegan lifestyle They prefer the taste to cow’s milk They prefer the nutritional profile … Continue Reading
Our former colleague and still good friend Ken Odza was in our offices last week; I was in a meeting and just had the chance to say hello. By pure coincidence, one of Ken’s favorite topics was in the news this week. Ken had written two big pieces on raw milk for this blog, which … Continue Reading
Cheesemakers have endured a string of bad publicity recently over food safety. Cheesemakers, especially raw milk cheesemakers, are in the cross hairs of the FDA, the media, retailers and plaintiffs’ lawyers such as Bill Marler. I was interviewed last week on FDA seizure issues by the Pacific Northwest Cheese Project. Click here for the PowerPoint … Continue Reading
The recent tuna recall in New England was quite simple compared to the complexities presented by the Plainview Milk Products Cooperative recall of nonfat dry milk, fruit stabilizers, whey protein and gum products distributed over the past two years. Such a recall, particularly where it involves stable food products that are placed in such items as emergency food kits and MREs for the military, presents grave problems. Even the government's current initiatives to help with traceability may not be able to solve these problems in future recalls. And the recall may not even have identified the actual source of salmonella that was found in a USDA test.… Continue Reading
An important ruling was issued last week dismissing claims that milk produced by an organically certified dairy and labeled as organic was not really organic. Plaintiffs in the action asserted violations of various states’ laws because they claimed that they paid more for the milk because it was labeled as "organic.” A federal judge in … Continue Reading
Ivar Haglund was a Seattle legend. In these parts, he was known only by his first name, the way you can refer to "Michael" when you’re discussing basketball and people know you mean Michael Jordan. His food is at Sea-Tac Airport, Safeco Field and Qwest Field. From 1964 until it was discontinued for this year, he sponsored … Continue Reading
At a recent presentation, Dr. Alan Melnick, a public health officer in both Oregon and Washington, provided a useful list of alternative causes of symptoms to consider when someone claims a food-borne illness. Other causes of symptoms that might be confused for food-borne illness include (but may not be limited to): Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) … Continue Reading
Recently discussed on this site was how the raw milk debate is in many ways ground zero for the debate between consumer protection and consumer choice. The Seattle Post Intelligencer ran an interesting piece today focusing on just that debate. I found comments attributed in the article to Kansas State professor Doug Powell most salient: … Continue Reading
