Food News Today transcripts for October 12th, 2011

A food fryer with no oil, the questions about buying local and how to get the sunshine vitamin in the winter for today October 12th, 2011, this is Food News Today.

 Good Morning. We are now streaming both on our supermarketguru Facebook fan page and on food news today -dot- com. Immediately following today's broadcast we will have a live chat to discuss what is on your food mind.  Food News Today is sponsored by ConAgra Foods, who shares with me the desire to provide the most current, interesting and unbiased food news.  

Lets start today's show with some useless food history fun facts. Today in food history marks the celebration of the first Oktoberfest, it's also the day Jean Nidetch the founder of Weight Watchers was born and in 1963 'Sugar Shack' by Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs, hits number 1 on the charts.  Any other interesting food fact you know?  Type away in the chat… and for those of you not watching this love - shoot me an e-mail Phil@SG.com.

>The colder months are here and winter is just around the corner… , so it’s time to talk Vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin but during fall and winter - less sun! So how are we supposed to obtain this essential  vitamin?  Well, here's how.

There are certain foods that naturally contain vitamin D: Salmon, tuna, sardines (with bones), mackerel, shrimp and fish liver oils are the best sources - now you can even buy portabello mushroom powder - with 1 tsp proviing 150% of your daily vitamin D needs as well as many products that are fortified with D. The Food and Drug Administration recommends at least 400 IU of vitamin D daily and up to about 2,000 IU is considered safe.

Vitamin D plays a role in almost every aspect of human metabolism. Research suggests that vitamin D may aid in the reduction and protection from adverse cardiovascular events, hypertension, cancer, asthma, the insulin response, and several autoimmune diseases. Vitamin D’s most well known role in the body is to aid in the absorption and regulation of calcium.

Also, the next time you visit your physician, make sure you get your vitamin D levels checked as many of us (even those lucky enough to live in sunny warm weather year round) do not have adequate vitamin D. Also a study just published in the October 4th issue of Cancer Causes and Control where researchers found vitamin D levels lowest in fair-skinned folks.

>Next up we have Kevin Keener, a Purdue University food scientist and professor interested in novel food processing technologies.  He co created a radiant fryer, a fryer that can fry food without oil.  He appeared on the Food Network show “Crave” in the episode titled "Fried Chicken: Deep Fried Love in a Bucket" demonstrating his invention. I was able to interview Kevin earlier this week about his novel fryer.

INTERVIEW

Thanks Kevin, that is amazing!

 >Local is definitely a trend these days and for many reasons I hope it sticks. The California legislature has even passed a resolution naming Sundays, "Eat Local Day.” In an exclusive SupermarketGuru.com quick poll we wanted to know if consumers actually were seeking out locally grown foods and when they purchase them. 

Sixty eight percent of consumers say they buy locally grown foods whenever they are available.  Most often consumers sighted supporting local farmers and helping the local economy as the two main reasons they are motivated to buy locally grown foods – followed by “better taste” and “higher quality”.  Overall the main reason to support local farmers.

There are many places consumers can shop for local foods, but consumers say they most often purchase local foods at the farmers market, followed by the supermarket and roadside stand. 

Looks like local foods are important to most shoppers, and the benefits are numerous.  Lighter carbon footprint, often less packaging waste, fresher seasonal foods which in turn means better nutrition, getting to know where and who your foods are coming from, supporting the local community and more! 

As mentioned earlier, Sundays in California are “Eat Local Day” and so we asked the panel if their state or community celebrated an Eat Local Day once a week, "Would they participate?".  51% said sometimes, if products were easily available, while 30% said Yes always.  Only 19% said they might but they wouldn’t commit to it. 

Which statistic do you fall under?  Would you or wouldn't you go to an Eat local day?  Why or why not?  Let me know right now as we start our chat. 

For Food News Today, I’m Phil Lempert, thanks for joining us. If you have a colleague in retailing, the media or a blogger who would like to also receive our advance email - please send them to foodnewstoday.com to sign up. Next week’s stories will be in your Tuesday's e-mail.