General Mills – Sheryl Kirby

Remember when the theme at McDonald’s was “you deserve a break today, eat your food and go away”? So what’s up with the fancy new decor and now, in California, TV and a whole McDonald’s channel? Now they want us to linger? [Toronto Star]

Does “ethnic food” exist? [Wall Street Journal]

Cara (owners of Harvey’s, Swiss Chalet and Milestones) are set to buy Prime Restaurants, which include Casey’s, East Side Mario’s and Bier Markt). [Financial Post]

I’m not sure whether to be pleased or horrified – the Girl Scouts of America have come up with a “locavore” badge. [LA Weekly]

Rob Rossi’s Bestellen will not be a German restaurant. Just so you know. [Toronto Life: The Dish]

Continue reading “Lucky Dip – Tuesday, October 18th, 2011”

It’s no secret that I am adamantly against processed food products that make health claims. And my post about added pro-biotics in yogurt still gets numerous hits each day, which makes me think that this is an issue that confuses the average consumer.

Health and nutrition are hot topics, and large food processors have figured out that anything with an aura of health around it sells better. This phenomenon is actually called the “health halo” or “health aura”, and stems from the fact that people will eat (and by extension, purchase) more of a product that they believe to be healthful. This leads to additional health problems as consumers end up taking in greater numbers of calories, fat, sugar and salt, defeating any impression of healthfulness the food might have had.

Currently, labelling laws in Canada prohibit a great number of these products from being fortified with unnecessary vitamins, and also prohibit those same companies from making health claims. Manufacturers, hoping to target a health-oriented society by fortifying products that are essentially junk food, are pushing Health Canada to speed up the decision-making process that would see these fortified products, emblazoned with health claims, on supermarket shelves.

Continue reading “Fortified”