Kristin Pederson's blog

by Sonia Angell, Director, Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Control Program, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

Concerned about high salt levels in packaged and restaurant food? If so, you’re not alone. Americans now take in about twice the recommended upper limit each day -- and most of the salt we consume is added to our food before we buy it. On April 26, Mayor Bloomberg announced that 16 food companies are joining a national effort to dial back. The National Salt Reduction Initiative (NSRI) is a public-private partnership aimed at reducing people’s salt intake by 20 percent by 2014. The goal is important because high salt intake raises blood pressure, the leading risk factor for heart attacks and stroke. The NSRI has the potential to save tens of thousands of lives -- and billions of dollars in health care costs -- if the food industry buys in.

Companies that have agreed to meet NSRI targets in at least some product categories include Au Bon Pain, Boar’s Head, Goya, Hain Celestial, Heinz, Kraft, LiDestri, Mars Food, McCain Foods, Red Gold, Starbucks, Subway, Unilever, and Uno Chicago Grill. White Rose, a local New York food distributor, and FreshDirect have also signed on. In addition to New York City, the NSRI partnership includes 28 cities, states and related organizations -- and 18 national health organizations, such as the American Heart Association and American Medical Association. For more information, visit nyc.gov/health/salt.

This post by Elizabeth McVay Greene, from Civil Eats and Provenance, describes her experience at last Saturday's busy and inspiring Bronx Food Summit.

The FDA has announced the appointment of Michael R. Taylor as Deputy Commissioner for Foods.

His post was created along with a new FDA Office of Foods last year.

Looking for a way to concisely explain the link between food and climate change to your friends who didn't make it to Just Food, BP Stringer and NYU's Food and Climate Summit?  Check out this article by Jacquie Berger and Nadia Johnson of Just Food for five simple tips on reducing your own foodprint.

Friday, December 18, 2009

From The Lighthearted Locavore by Lexi Van de Walle

If you've been following New York City food politics, you know that food advocates have been working hard to legalize beekeeping in the five boroughs and dreaming about honey flavors such as Central Park, Hell's Kitchen, and Flatbush Avenue.

Yesterday, the health department took a step towards overturning code that claims honey bees are wild animals (along with tigers and ferrets) by agreeing, preliminarily, to permit hives on rooftops and in backyard and community gardens. A second vote will be needed in March 2010 (which should include some kind of licensing requirement).  for more

In this posting from the blog of the Food Bank for NYC, recent Princeton graduate Paul Hernandez looks back at the past incarnation of food stamps, and promotes The Food Bank’s Food Stamp Outreach Program, which makes the more efficient modern process even easier. 

from Change.org's Sustainable
Food Blog by Katherine Gustafson

When you're standing at the fish counter in the grocery store, it seems like the major choice you face is what type of fresh fish to buy. Do you go with farmed or free-range? Conventional or organic? Which of these is better for the planet?

It turns out that you may be asking the wrong questions. The better choice, believe it or not, is frozen fish. A New York Times op-ed by Astrid Scholz, a food systems researcher, and Ulf Sonesson and Peter Tyedmers, two ecological economists, makes the claim that any consumer buying fish a long distance from where it was caught will be making a much more ecological choice by shopping from the freezer section.

The authors did a study on the life cycle of salmon, which found that most other criteria for ecological soundness were overwhelmed by the difference in impact between transporting fresh fish versus frozen fish.

"When it comes to salmon, the questions of organic versus conventional and wild versus farmed matter less than whether the fish is frozen or fresh. In many cases, fresh salmon has about twice the environmental impact as frozen salmon," the authors write in the op-ed.

Shane Crary-Ross shares what she learned in this post on the Green Fork.  In particular:

From the Green Fork Blog:

Recently, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) released draft permits that would require two of National Grid’s power plants to reduce the number of fish they kill each year. The public is asked to comment on these draft permits, with a deadline of late September for one plant and early October for the other.  In the upcoming months, the DEC will release permits for the other three plants.

School Lunch Talk presents Senator Gillibrand and NYC Council Speaker Quinn's plan for improving child nutrition here.

In this article on Grist, Tom Laskawy discusses the new NYC ad campaign. 

 In this post from her blog Food Politics, Marion Nestle discusses the NYC Health Department's inovative new anti-obesity campaign.
by Marion Nestle

Aug 31 2009

NYC Health Department’s new campaign: Pour off the Pounds!

According to the irresistible fleet of bicycles by the Greenhorns, "Greenpoint Food Market is inspired by all foods fresh and local, artisanal and homemade. It is a response to a burgeoning culinary food scene billowing through Brooklyn and functions as a support system for food makers in search of an audience to present and share their home-craft goods."  Read more here if you are interested, or interested in participating: http://thegreenhorns.wordpress.com/2009/08/28/call-for-vendors-greenpoint-food-market/ 

Slow Food Intern Regina Fitzsimmons describes her experience at a panel of New Jersey and upstate New York farmers moderated by peach farmer and author David Mas Masumoto in this post to the Slow Food USA blog. 

This article in Change.org's Sustainable Food Blog by Natasha Char highlights the good work being done by NYS's own Senator Gillibrand to improve school food, including demanding the removal of trans-fats:  http://food.change.org/blog/view/school_lunch_momentum_of_sorts.