by Tracy Hunter via Flickr

One might not know how hard it is to get something like this right, but all you have to do is think about making something as simple as cornbread and mixing together two boxes of ingredients at once instead of just one. You might initially believe that if you’re going to do this that all you have to do is double everything. However, you find that when you bake the cornbread, it’s not coming out quite as you thought it might. Maybe the middle doesn’t cook all that well or the outside gets burned, or maybe it doesn’t spread the way you expected it to in the pan.

In that small experiment, you realize that you have to change many things, from how long you bake to what temperature to even how much of the other ingredients you should put into your cornbread mix. Do you put more or less milk in? What about the eggs?

If things can go wrong with something that simple, imagine what it’s like when you’re looking to make thousands, if not millions, of a product at one time in a factory. The chemistry alone can be daunting. It’s not just ingredients or temperature at a certain point. It’s the type of oven or vat you’re cooking in, how you’re putting your product into its packaging, how long it should cook or cool, the order of ingredients, the power of spices… so many things. Many times the corrections are minor, but it could take weeks of testing to figure it out. Other times the corrections are major and costly; there are a lot of great products that never make it to market because it would cost too much to create them.

This is one reason why homemade products, or products made locally, cost so much more than products from large companies. Local products are made in smaller quantities to retain their quality, while larger companies might end up cutting some corners to get out what they do. Don’t take my word for it; make some rice krispie treats, then go out and buy a box of them, and taste them yourself. I believe you’ll understand where I’m coming from.

Answer: YES and NO-Depending on the Manufacturer/Brand name because of the ‘live’ GOOD bacteria that promotes gut/colon health. Also yogurt has less fat and sugars than ice cream. Please read the Ingredients list to make sure what is in it.

Main reason is yogurt has lactic acid bacteria for intestinal health and immune system in general. Another reason is the amount of FAT in ice cream compared to Frozen Yogurt. Yogurt is made from low fat or regular fat milk (3.5% fat). Ice cream is usually 10 % to 16% fat.

Question – Since white bread is made from wheat why is it bad for you?

Answer: White bread is made from part of the wheat without bran, complex carbohydrates, fiber, germ and all good things. It is just starch and also is lower in protein than Whole Wheat bread.

Answer to this Yes & NO. Read on…….

Answer: Food Poisoning is mainly TWO kinds:

A. Microbiological,
B. Chemical.

A. MICROBIOLOGICAL has three sub categories (a) Contamination during manufacturing or preparation and (b) Under processing (Equipment malfunction) & (c) Post Process Contamination (the processed food in the container-can, carton, pouch, etc) get contaminated/infected after it is properly processed to make it safe for storage and consumption much, much later..

     (a) Contamination: This is mainly due to Unsanitary practices, i.e., not washing the prep area/utensils (knives, cutting boards, etc), properly, fruits and vegetables coming from the field, cross-contamination, i.e., same area used to prepare meats such as poultry, fish, pork, beef and other meats and fresh vegetables served as salads and garnishes prepared on the same area using same knives and other utensils. Getting sick from fruits and vegetables and contaminated foods depends on the contaminant (E.Coli, Fast Food places and other Food Establishments are most common for this kind of food poisoning. Pathogenic type, Salmonella, (certain Viruses, etc) that are very VIRULENT, i.e. their MID (Minimum Infection Dose) is very small. For Children, infants and older adults it could be fatal (because of the smaller body mass and/or debilitated immune system).

How quickly you get SICK after eating this type of contaminated food depends on ‘how much contaminated food was eaten’. These pathogens have to multiply in your system and trigger response by your defenses(fever, vomiting, head ach, etc).

     (b) Under processing (Equipment malfunction): Canned Foods get microbiological (Bacteria, Yeast, Mold, Virus, etc.) sterilization processing. Botulinum Toxin is produced by surviving spores of Clostridium Botulinum bacteria.

This is one of the deadliest of BACTERIAL toxins. However, this toxin is easily destroyed by cooking (boiling the canned food). YES: This is the TOXIN that is destroyed by cooking the contaminated food.

     (c) Another type of Food Poisoning is by eating the food in which toxin is already produced by the bacterial growth. The bacteria are destroyed by their own toxin (e.g.: endotoxin by Staphylococcus Aureus).

NO: This toxin CAN NOT be destroyed by COOKING any length of time or even pressure cooking.

It is very difficult to detect this problem by looks of the food-flavor, color, smell, etc. The common foods are cooked: meats, fish, vegetables, etc., those that are NOT acidic (pH above 5.0) and stored un-hygienically. At Room temperature these bacteria can grow overnight and produce toxin. In refrigerator they still can grow, but slower. When hot food is put in a container and put in refrigerator while it is still hot they grow. Best thing to do is let the food cool before transferring in to a clean container for storing in refrigerator. As a rule of thumb any food stored in refrigerator for more than 3 days should be discarded.

Typical symptoms after eating these types of food are stomach-cramps, headache, some times vomiting and diarrhea.

How soon you get sick: couple of hours, depending on how much you ate!!!

B. Chemical Food Poisoning: There are several sources starting from the field: insecticides, disinfectants in washing water, accidental contamination, etc. These are rare in US produced foods. Not so in some imports (Example: melamine in infant formulas from China!!!).

Food Poisoning is mainly of three kinds:

1. MICROBIOLOGICAL: Spoiled food due to microbiological growth of “BAD” – Bacteria, Yeast, Molds and also contaminated with infectious viruses.

2. CHEMICAL: Presence of chemicals – accidentally added or intentionally added (to make the food look good)

3. TOXIC SUBSTANCES: The ‘Toxins’ are produced by certain bacterial growth and the bacteria are self destroyed by their own toxins (e.g. Staphylococcus-generally called Staph, Botulin by Clostridium). The bacteria may be absent because they self destroyed after producing the toxins.

People eating the food tainted/contaminated as above usually show these symptoms – fever, vomiting, nausea, headache, etc., from a few minutes (due to toxins) to several hours. Sometimes depending on the contamination type, it could be overnight (E.Coli, Endotoxins, Salmonella, Yeasts, etc).

Bacterial toxins – Botulin (a deadly toxin. It is easily destroyed by cooking while Endotoxin from Staph.. bacteria is NOT destroyed by heat). These are very potent and deadly toxins and are NOT obvious by bad smell or color of the contaminated food. Best solution is SANITATION by food preparers (the only solution to prevent these problems).

Chemicals also are not destroyed by heat.

Food Laws and Regulations are there for these reasons to prevent these problems. Even then these problems surface and make news (Contaminated Peanut Butter, Ground Beef, etc., in recent times).

Viruses are easily destroyed by heat (cooking the ‘contaminated’ food).

Question – I have a problem with triglycerides and my doctor said I needed to stop drinking, even though I don’t drink that much. What’s the relationship between triglycerides and drinking and are these some alcoholic beverages worse than others?

Alcohol is metabolized like sugar because it is a product of sugar fermentation. It has to do with physical activity (of the consumer!!); I mean the calories generated must be used for energy. If not, it is on its way to storage deposits pathway, which are TRI-GLYCERIDES.

Question – I love hot dogs and I only buy the ones that say “pure beef”. Are those legitimate and is there such a thing as a healthy hot dog?

There is NO such thing as Healthy Hot Dog. Hot dogs taste good because of its spice blend loaded with salt. Hot dogs are made from parts not fit for retail sale as prime cuts, ground beef, steak etc. Hope I am not making it sound graphically GROSS!?

Question – Are veggie burgers really a healthy alternative to eating meat, or are the health benefits overrated?

YES & NO. It depends on the ingredients used. Read the ingredient list all ready to eat foods (manufactured foods). Thanks to NLEA (The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990).

Fat is the one that gives mouth feel and flavor impact to the foods we eat. What we like to eat is controlled by the ‘sensory properties of the food’. Salt, sweet, sour and bitter are the FOUR basic tastes on the tongue. Umami is the fifth taste. We are unconsciously programmed from the day of birth to develop like and dislike of foods we eat which continues in our life. We eat food with our eyes (appearance), touch (texture), nose (smell), tongue (texture one more time) and lastly for our BODY (health). This is the main reason that the food industry scientists are trying to mimic so called ‘healthy foods’ to behave like traditional foods that are ‘perceived’ to be ‘less’ healthy’!

Question – I’ve always fried foods with butter or margarine and now I’m hearing of people frying things like eggs with olive oil. Is that better, does it change the taste, and are there other oils that will work just as well?

Yes. It is better. Olive oil has its own ‘signature’ flavor profile due to its ‘antioxidant‘ compounds. Few smart consumers pay attention to flavor changes in their traditional food items. Canola oil is next better than margarine. Butter is not bad as long as it is not rancid and used moderately.

Question – I used to love KFC chicken, but since they switched to cooking without trans fats I think the look and the taste is different. Yet I’ve been told that I shouldn’t notice a change in taste. Am I imagining that, or are there some people who really can taste the difference?

We are used to the foods fried using ‘hydrogenated oils’. Regular oils (corn, soy bean, peanut, etc) are liquid at room temperature because they are ‘un-saturated’, and turn rancid (picks up OXYGEN in the air) depending on the time and temperature. So they are ‘hydrogenated’ (becomes ‘trans-fat’) to prevent/slow rancidity. Many food chains are using ‘un-hydrogenated’ fats/oils which are from different sources (palm, canola, etc) These have slightly different flavor profile, only ‘few’ (attentive/smart) consumers notice flavor change. Maybe you are ‘that smart few’.

The insulin in your blood is looking for the sugar (glucose) to maintain a safe level to cater to your energy need. You can try eating ‘slow burning carbs’, i.e., releasing glucose at a steady rate so you have continuous but a ‘much’ slower’ rate (NO glucose peak in about 2 hours and then reach 70s and 80s probably when you feel sugar craving!) of glucose in your blood stream. These are whole grain granola bar, good quality pasta, Uncle Ben’s rice (par-boiled). Also recommend including a good amount of ‘greens’ in your diet.

I can discuss some novel approaches to alleviate this issue!!

Personally, I don’t recommend or approve them, because long term effects on consuming the radiated foods is not conclusively demonstrated. The radiation process destroys all living and non-living components at the nuclear level. How these components in our meal affect/interfere our system (reached this stage due to evolution-”survival of the fittest”) is not well established. It is a good business decision by the “lobbyist controlled lawmakers” to approve radiation preservation of foods we eat. Personally I prefer not to eat radiated foods.

Traditionally, cattle are grass fed (their system is designed to convert grass-mostly CELLULOSE) and it is converted very slowly through several metabolic stages to muscle. This takes longer to bring the beef to the market. The meat industry during fifties found that feeding corn (which was in surplus due to hybrid-corn production) is digested faster and converts to muscle and fat. In addition higher fat in the meat makes it juicier and tastier. This also probably is linked to obesity since high fat and easily digestible meat helps this phenomenon.

A good book to read: Omnivores Dilemma by Michael Pollan.