Lambert & Ewers Smoked Meats

Cartoon characters attract kids to junk food, study finds. No Kidding?

Lambert & Ewers Blog — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 22:05:42 +0000

From the “Hello Mr. Obvious’ files: Children prefer the taste of foods branded with images of popular cartoon characters and choose those foods more often than unbranded ones, according to research from Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity.

Natural B12 occurs only in animal products including meat

Lambert & Ewers Blog — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 18:06:44 +0000

B-vitamins may lead to happier seniors: Study

By Stephen Daniells, 09-Jun-2010

Increased intakes of vitamins B6 and B12 may reduce the risk of seniors developing depressive symptoms, says a new study with 3,500 Chicagoans.

For every 10 milligram increase in the intake of vitamin B6 and for every 10 microgram increase in vitamin B12 the risk of developing symptoms of depression were decreased by 2 per cent per year, according to findings published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The study adds to previous reports linking B vitamin intakes and a lower risk of depression. The World Health Organization (WHO) forecasts that within 20 years more people will be affected by depression than any other health problem; it ranks depression as the leading cause of disability worldwide, with around 120 million people affected.

Here is the link to ‘Ask Karen’ for all your Summertime foods safety questions

Lambert & Ewers Blog — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:34:01 +0000

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Food_Safety_Education/Ask_Karen/index.asp?src_location=IWT&src_page=Home

The ‘new’ Atkins Diet Q&A

Lambert & Ewers Blog — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 13:31:51 +0000

The low-carbohydrate Atkins diet has had a makeover in the New York Times bestseller “The New Atkins for a New You” by Dr. Eric C. Westman, Dr. Stephen D. Phinney and Dr. Jeff S. Volek.

Meatingplace caught up with Dr. Westman to discuss meat’s role in the new Atkins diet. Dr. Westman is an associate professor of medicine at Duke University Health System. As director of the Duke Lifestyle Medicine Clinic, he studies treatments for conditions such as obesity and diabetes.

In a nutshell, how is the new Atkins diet different from the old Atkins diet?

It’s much more flexible. There is more emphasis on whole foods with a recommendation of 12 to 15 net carbs in the form of vegetables, more emphasis on good fats such as olive oil, and protein can be lean if preferred. There is room for much greater personalization—for example you are taught how to eat at fast-food restaurants, and there is no need to check urine ketones.

What is the approach to protein in the new Atkins diet? Has that changed?

The title of Chapter 4 in the book is “The Power of Protein.” The protein intake pretty much takes care of itself because the appetite regulation works so well. We teach that you can have all kinds of protein as long as you have healthy fats to keep fat level up. We do give guidelines for the target level of protein intake: about 4 to 6 ounces per meal and contrary to popular belief, protein is not unlimited. There is no need to eat meat and bacon if you don’t want to—even vegetarian sources of protein are fine.

Has the role of meat in the Atkins diet changed? If so, how?

The role of meat on Atkins really hasn’t changed. High quality protein is encouraged, which of course is simplest to obtain from animal sources. Contrary to the popular belief that Atkins is just beef and bacon, you can do Atkins with fish and poultry, or even as a vegetarian. But there is nothing wrong with beef and bacon.

Is there a difference between the roles of red meat and poultry in the new Atkins diet?

No, not really. Animal sources of protein play an important role in providing a complete supply of amino acids.

Is there any change in recommendations on processed meats (hams, sausage, hot dogs) versus fresh meats?

Processed and fresh meats can provide high quality protein, and are acceptable. Processed meats with nitrates are discouraged for long-term use.
Your book recommends adding additional fat, such as butter or oil, if meat is trimmed or skin is removed from poultry. Why?

We have a chapter in the book entitled: “Meet Your New Friend: Fat.” We explain that is important to eat fat because it helps to keep you in the fat burning mode, and it supplies your body’s energy. It is fine to eat lean protein sources, but added fats would be necessary if lean is preferred.

The Presidents Report on Child Obesity released.

Lambert & Ewers Blog — Tue, 11 May 2010 17:33:02 +0000

Are you sure it’s the grilled pork loin for supper or the PopTarts and Cheetos they have before that’s the problem?

Childhood Obesity Task Force outlines areas for action

By Caroline Scott-Thomas, 11-May-2010

Related topics: The obesity problem, Financial & Industry

Cutting kids’ consumption of added sugars and decreasing the portion of unhealthy foods advertised to children are among measures recommended in the long-awaited report from the President’s Task Force on Childhood Obesity.

The Task Force on Childhood Obesity was set up by President Obama in February and appointed Michelle Obama to lead the program. She launched the Let’s Move campaign with the goal of ending childhood obesity within a generation.

In a press conference presenting the taskforce’s conclusions, Mrs. Obama said the initiative would start by using the currently available federal tools, but that the key is that “for the first time we are setting really clear goals…not just talking about making a difference but actually doing it.”

Many of those goals are familiar, such as increasing access to healthy foods, eliminated food deserts, and promoting physical activity. However, Obama was clear that initiatives to tackle obesity are not to be handed down from government.

She said: “No one gets off the hook on this one, from governments to schools, to non-profits… all the way down to families around the dinner table.”

Among about 70 recommendations, the report said there should be an effort to decrease the amount of added sugar that children get “from a whole range of products,” and that the portion of healthy food and beverage ads targeted at children should be increased, so that a third of foods advertised to children are for healthy foods within three years.

The report said that the program could claim success if the United States were to return to rates of childhood obesity of five percent by 2030, as opposed to the nearly 20 percent of children who are currently obese.

“Children today consume a substantial amount of added sugars through a whole range of products. Using existing data sources, CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics can determine how much added sugar children are currently consuming. Targets for reducing added sugar will then need to be established that track the overall goal of driving obesity rates down to 5% by 2030,” the report said.

Childhood obesity is at record levels, with 32 percent of US children and adolescents overweight or obese, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This falls far short of an earlier government pledge to shrink the number of overweight children to five percent by 2010.

Many of the report’s recommendations have already been discussed with industry over the past three months as Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign has taken shape, including the suggestion that federal agencies should work with industry to create a standard front-of-pack nutrition label – an initiative that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is already considering.

You laugh when I say ‘meat science’?

Lambert & Ewers Blog — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 01:16:22 +0000

I get some pretty funny looks whenever I mention the mention the words ‘Meat Science’. I am not sure why since 85 percent of the chemistry majors graduating from college today are hired by the food industry. Read this introductory information on what happens during the smoking process. Also imagining creating, testing, measuring, etc. Sure it’s not rocket science but is a little more involved than baking soda volcanoes.

When natural smoke is generated from wood, hundreds of chemical compounds are produced. The most important part of smoke for food products are the gases in which close to 100 different chemical compounds have been identified. Smoke also includes many particulate components that make smoke visible in the air when the smoke is formed, but which are not needed, or may even be undesirable, for application to meat products.

The gaseous compounds in smoke are the source of the color, flavor and preservative effects of smoke. These compounds include several carbonyls, phenols, organic acids and alcohols. It’s important to understand that the generation of these compounds from wood sources is dependent on the temperature at which the smoke is being formed. Smoldering sawdust or wood chips can vary from about 300 degrees F to over 800 degrees F, depending on moisture content and air flow. The most desirable mix of gaseous compounds is produced in the lower temperature range of about 300 degrees F to 450 degrees F.

Determining the best smoke-gas mixture is important because different compounds in the gas mix each produce a characteristic effect on the smoked product. Color, for example, is the result of carbonyls, while flavor is the result of both carbonyls and phenols. The phenols are also particularly effective as antioxidants and help to preserve flavor, another advantage of smoke application. Organic acids in wood smoke are good antimicrobial agents and will reduce bacterial numbers. The acidity of the acids from smoke will also denature the surface proteins on the product to form a surface “skin,” a process important to products such as frankfurters. Alcohols in wood smoke are also potential antimicrobial agents and contribute to the preservative effect of smoke.

When the best smoke generation conditions for natural smoke have been determined, the next consideration is how to achieve the best deposition of the smoke gases on the product surface. Here, several factors come into play. It almost goes without saying that the density of the smoke generated will affect the amount of smoke contact with the product, so a heavy smoke, highly concentrated with the desirable gas components, will be more effective. However, air flow within the smoke chamber will also be a factor. Moderate air flow increases the smoke-to-product contact by pushing the gases onto the product, but increased air flow will reduce smoke density and may reduce smoke deposition. The best combination of smoke density and simultaneous air flow within the application chamber will need to be determined.

The major determinant of natural smoke deposition on product surfaces, however, is the product surface moisture content at the time of smoke application. Of course, the casing used must be a type that is highly permeable to smoke, but given that, a wet surface will absorb more smoke than a dry surface and will result in darker surface color. Excessive surface moisture is likely to result in dull brown or even black color tones.

Virtually all smokehouse processing sequences use a drying step prior to smoke application to prepare and equilibrate the product surface for smoke. Smoke color can be adjusted by the pre-smoking step, with a dryer surface resulting in lighter smoke color. A general rule of thumb is that the product surface should be somewhat sticky just prior to smoking. Likewise, the relative humidity in the chamber during application of smoke will affect product surface moisture and, consequently, smoke deposition.

The primary advantage to traditional natural smoke is the authentic flavor. Disadvantages of natural smoke include air-emission issues from smoke exhaust and the presence of polycyclic hydrocarbons. Some of the polycyclic hydrocarbons, particularly benzopyrene and dibenzanthracene, are mutagens and/or carcinogens. These compounds can be reduced in natural smoke by restricting smoke generator temperature to the lower end of the smoke generation temperature range, about 500 degrees F or less.

Already have been doing this for 24 years!

Lambert & Ewers Blog — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 01:24:29 +0000

By Lyndsey Layton

Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 20, 2010

The Food and Drug Administration is planning an unprecedented effort to gradually reduce the salt consumed each day by Americans, saying that less sodium in everything from soup to nuts would prevent thousands of deaths from hypertension and heart disease. The initiative, to be launched this year, would eventually lead to the first legal limits on the amount of salt allowed in food products. The government intends to work with the food industry and health experts to reduce sodium gradually over a period of years to adjust the American palate to a less salty diet, according to FDA sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the initiative had not been formally announced.

Officials have not determined the salt limits. In a complicated undertaking, the FDA would analyze the salt in spaghetti sauces, breads and thousands of other products that make up the $600 billion food and beverage market, sources said. Working with food manufacturers, the government would set limits for salt in these categories, designed to gradually ratchet down sodium consumption. The changes would be calibrated so that consumers barely notice the modification.

The legal limits would be open to public comment, but administration officials do not think they need additional authority from Congress.

“This is a 10-year program,” one source said. “This is not rolling off a log. We’re talking about a comprehensive phase-down of a widely used ingredient. We’re talking about embedded tastes in a whole generation of people.”

The FDA, which regulates most processed foods, would be joined in the effort by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees meat and poultry.

Currently, manufacturers can use as much salt as they like in products because under federal standards, it falls into the category deemed “generally recognized as safe.” Foodmakers are merely required to report the amount on nutrition labels.

But for the past 30 years, health officials have grown increasingly alarmed as salt intake has increased with the explosion in processed foods and restaurant meals. Most adults consume about twice the government’s daily recommended limit, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Until now, the government has pushed the food industry to voluntarily reduce salt and tried to educate consumers about the dangers of excessive sodium. But in a study to be released Wednesday, an expert panel convened by the Institute of Medicine concludes that those measures have failed. The panel will recommend that the government take action, according to sources familiar with the findings.

Morton Satin, director for technical and regulatory affairs at the Salt Institute, which represents salt producers, said regulation “would be a disaster for the public.” He said that the science regarding sodium is unclear and that consumption does not necessarily lead to health problems

Another meat free city! Aaaaargh

Lambert & Ewers Blog — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 19:58:56 +0000

It was a lot easier only having to boycott Ghent, Belgium!

Another city supports meat-free initiative

By Ann Bagel Storck

San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted to designate every Monday as “Veg Day” to “encourage restaurants, grocery stores and schools to offer a greater variety of plant-based options to improve the health of San Francisco residents and visitors, and to increase the awareness of the impact a green diet would be on our planet,” according to a resolution approved by the board.

San Francisco’s action follows similar efforts in Cincinnati, Takoma Park, Md. and Ghent, Belgium.

According to the San Francisco resolution, a plant-based diet “reduces the serious ecological problems involved in livestock production” and is “good preventive medicine and could help reduce medical costs to individuals and the health care system.”

Check out this awesome fundraiser for Character Counts!

Lambert & Ewers Blog — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 22:15:04 +0000

An all-star evening

Hy-Vee is proud to present An All Star Evening to benefit Character Counts In Iowa on Friday, April 16, 2010 at the Hy-Vee Conference Center in West Des Moines. Download an All Star invitation & view ticket prices.

We’re proud to announce that the Ray Pillar of Character Award will be presented to Iowa
native and Super Bowl Champion, Dallas Clark.

“Dallas has been an extraordinary model of good character. He has been an outstanding representative of our state throughout his football career.” said Character Counts In Iowa Chairman, former Gov. Robert D. Ray. Past award recipients include Dr. Norman Borlaug, Hayden Fry, Shawn Johnson and former Governor Robert D. Ray, for whom the award was named.

In addition to the Ray Award presentation, the evening will also feature a live and silent
auction.

Event Chairpersons: Randy & Dawn Edeker and Suku & Mary Radia

Reception Chairpersons: Gary & Ginger Palmer

All Stars expected to attend:

Ed Banach, Olympic Gold Medalist

Lisa Brinkmeyer, Fmr Women’s Basketball Asst Coach, Drake University

Jared Clauss, Fmr Tennessee Titan

Larry Coyer, Defensive Coordinator, Indianapolis Colts

Chris Creighton, Head Football Coach, Drake University

Lane Danielson, Fmr Iowa State Cyclone (football)

Troy Dannen, Athletic Director, University of Northern Iowa

Bob Elliot, Secondary Coach, Football, Iowa State University

Kirk Ferentz, Head Football Coach, University of Iowa

Jim Hallihan, Fmr Men’s Basketball Asst Coach, Iowa State University

David Harris, Senior Associate Athletic Director, Iowa State University

Chuck Hartlieb, Fmr University of Iowa Hawkeye (football)

Sandy Hatfield Clubb, Athletic Director, Drake University

Scott Helverson, NFL Referee

Shawn Johnson, Olympic Gold Medalist

Al Lorenzen, Fmr University of Iowa Hawkeye (basketball)

Tom Moore, Senior Offensive Coordinator, Indianapolis Colts

Sage Rosenfels, Quarterback, Minnesota Vikings

Casey Shelton, Fmr Iowa State University Cyclone (football)

Kent Stephenson, Fmr Offensive Line Coach, Pittsburg Steelers

Matt Whitaker, Fmr University of Iowa Hawkeye (football)

Charlie Wittmack, First Iowan to climb Mt. Everest

As of March 18, 2010; subject to change. This is not an autograph event. Items will not be allowed to be brought in for signatures.

Livestock gas responible for ozone depletion? Maybe some.

Lambert & Ewers Blog — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 21:58:42 +0000

Meat and dairy intakes not linked to climate change

The food system has been highlighted as a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, with food supply thought to account for some 19 per cent of the UK’s emissions, for example. Meat and dairy are thought to account for 40 per cent of food related emissions.

A report late last year by a current and a former environmental expert at the World Bank, Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang, argued that the greenhouse gases produced in the lifecycle and supply chain of livestock could actually account for as much as 51 per cent of total emissions. This is far more than the 18 per cent suggested by the Food and Agriculture Organization, or the 24 per cent estimation of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre.

The notion has now become deeply rooted in global warming campaigns, with campaigns such as “Meatless Mondays” in the US (a non-profit initiative in association with the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health) and “Less Meat = Less Heat” in Europe.

However, such links are not valid, says Frank Mitloehner, PhD, an Associate Professor in the department of animal science at the University of California, Davis. Speaking at the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Mitloehner said that the impact of cutting back on consumption of meat and dairy products would be minimal.

Mitloehner identified a passage from a 2006 United Nations report, “Livestock’s Long Shadow”, as the source of the link between meat and dairy on climate change. The section states: “The livestock sector is a major player, responsible for 18 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions measured in CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalents). This is a higher share than transport.”

While Mitloehner does not challenge the production of methane from livestock, he does question how the UN report calculated its emissions. The UC Davis scientist the livestock emissions were calculated from all sources – from the gases produced by growing animal feed to the processing of meat and milk into foods, and all steps in between – the transportation analysis only factored in emissions from fossil fuels burned while driving and not all the other factors associated with transport.

“This lopsided analysis is a classical apples-and-oranges analogy that truly confused the issue,” said Mitloehner.

Smarter farming and not less farming is the answer, he said. “We certainly can reduce our greenhouse-gas production, but not by consuming less meat and milk,” said Mitloehner. “Producing less meat and milk will only mean more hunger in poor countries.”