What the earthquake in Japan means for food prices, food safety and US based food companies, a new program that rewards people for eating healthy that has proven success & new ways to look at recipes for the week of March 21, 2011.
In today’s Economy & Spending report we take a look at The consumer impact of the earthquake in Japan. The recent tragedy will affect the global food supply-and might just be the event that triggers the reverse of our dependence on Asia for cheap foods, Americans might complain about the increase in food prices, but will pay for the safety of their food supply. In a current quick poll on
supermarketguru.com – 82% of those who have already taken the survey report that since the earthquake/tsunami in Japan, they are concerned about the safety of foods coming from this part of the world. Three in four people surveyed are concerned about radioactivity and 65% are concerned about general food safety issues. Over half the respondents say that as a result of the earthquake foods imported from Asia will be more expensive; but only one out of four say there will be stricter standards for safety and more testing. On our SupermarketGuru Fan Page on Facebook, Kerry Stessel says “We need new toxicity labels on all imported food products.” This past Monday, the government ordered Fu-ku-shima prefecture – the site of the troubled nuclear power plant—as well as several neighboring prefectures to suspend shipments of spinach and rapeseed after radiation exceeding regulated safety limits was detected in some produce. The government also banned sales of raw milk produced in this region. On our end, the FDA is monitoring Japanese food for radiation contamination which “may include increased and targeted product sampling,” Seafood, snack foods and processed produce from Japan represents less than 4 percent of all food imported into the U.S. and products already in the country are safe because they shipped prior to the incident.
But this story may have much more impact than that. Over the past few years food from China have been a concern to retailers and consumers alike and we can expect that food from Japan may also join the list. However, there's no doubt that the seafood supply will be directly affected. The length and degree of seafood supply disruptions from Japan and China to the U.S. will clearly take time to determine, however, Asian seafood exports won't likely be available in the U.S. for a significant period.
Reports from Bloomberg news and other health officials say that exposing food to radiation doesn’t always make it harmful to human health. Fruit and vegetables are often irradiated to increase their shelf life; but foods that contain radioactive nuclei: subatomic particles that emit gamma rays, can be toxic and may cause cancer.
There is insufficient data available to say how far the effects of the radiation will linger. What we do know is that radioactive elements are heavy and don’t remain airborne very long, therefore soil may be contaminated within a 10-mile radius, posing a danger for human occupation for at least three decades. Food production from an area 10 miles to 20 miles away may be unsafe.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Americans consume more than 16 pounds of seafood per capita, and the 2010 Dietary Guidelines recommended that we increase our consumption for health reasons.
Canada's Agri-Food Trade Service reports that China alone, the world's top producer and consumer of fish and seafood products, exported more than $11.5 billion in fish and seafood products in 2009 - 20% of it to the U.S. Japanese combined exports of fisheries, farm and forestry products rose 13.1% to $2.38 billion - 35% of it to the U.S.
Shoppers will see more “produced or made in America” signage as supermarkets start to promote domestically produced replacement foods - like Gulf shrimp instead of shrimp from China., or U.S. farm raised tilapia. END If supplies remain short, prices should remain higher longer, and the focus on the integrity of fish sourcing will only intensify.
In Health & Wellness circles, the following question is being constantly debated – Just how can we increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables among the populations that need them the most? Michel Nischan, CE0, President & Founder of Wholesome Wave has the answer. Michel is a James Beard Award winning chef and author and now has created this non profit who’s mission is to empower historically excluded urban and rural communities to make better food choices. How? By increasing access to and affordability of fresh, locally grown food. I spoke to Michel via Skype last week.
Find out more about wholesome wave, by visiting
wholesomewave.org. And be sure to tune in next week for more with Michel Nichan on why increasing taxes is NOT the answer and other ideas to add more money to the SNAP/food stamp program.
One of Marshall McLuhan’s most infamous quotes from 1964 is, "The medium is the message." And in Consumer Trends today nothing could be truer. It is how we communicate that makes the difference.
Well the website
Good.is has the same instincts and came up with a contest to “redesign the recipe” to inspire better cooking, and empower cooks into the kitchen.
The “objective” of the project was to inspire a new generation of cooks and non-cooks with clear, simple, easy-to-understand graphic recipes. The “assignment” was to redesign a recipe. Either hand-drawn or hand-printed, photographic or typographic, wordy or wordless, vegetarian, pescatarian, or omnivorous. The redesign the recipe project wanted original, interesting, and appealing recipe redesigns.
The winner will be selected by GOOD's staff, and announced on April 2.
Here are a few of my favorites which are designed to make us think about our foods and how to prepare them in ways that go well beyond the typical word laden recipe found on magazine or web pages.
•Egg curry and eggplant rougail
•And here are a few from Kate Sutton including “go faster pancakes” “banana and walnut loaf” and “pasta alla norma”
•This one for Lasagne is particularly colorful and appealing.
•This representation of several ways to cook a simple egg, from eat a duck I must .com
By the way, Eat a Duck I Must is an English phrase for the Japan-o-phile trying to remember how to pronounce It-a-dak-i-ma-su!, which loosely translates to “Let’s eat!”