Ukraine not to ban imports of EU vegetables over E. coli outbreak

Ukraine will not impose a ban on imports of EU vegetables because the country is taking measures to prevent contamination of E. coli bacteria, the head of the State Veterinary and Phytosanitary Service said on Monday.

"Today we cope with the situation, so a complete ban on imports of agricultural products of animal and plant origin for our state is premature and inappropriate," Anatoly Ponomarenko told a press conference.

Earlier Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said Ukraine will strengthen border control on the imports of vegetables from the European Union.

Europeans began to abandon the mass consumption of vegetables in June following the E. coli outbreak, which has so far killed 38 people, mostly in Germany, and sickened over 3,000 others.

Scientists believed the possible source of contamination were tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce. Later it turned out that the deadly outbreak was triggered by vegetable sprouts grown in northern Germany.

Cases of E. coli infection, which causes bloody stools and serious kidney damage, were reported in 14 European countries, the United States and Canada. Virtually all the victims either live in Germany or traveled there recently.

Source: Xinhua

 

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7 Golden Rules of Healthy ways of eating!

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Healthy ways of eating: Variety is the spice of life

There are five food groups; Grains, Vegetables, Milk, Fruits, Meat & Beans. If you include food from each of these five groups, not only will you get all the required proteins and vitamins, your plate will automatically contain a wide variety of foods and colors. This makes eating a healthy diet a pleasurable experience.

Food portion sizes: Include good Fats

There are fats and then there are good fats. Good fats are called non-saturated fats and include oil from vegetable sources. Fats are required because it dissolves and transports vitamins A, D, E and K throughout the body. Fat not only cushions and protects internal organs, fatty acids are good for your heart, metabolism your body?s immune system. Finally, over 70% of your brain is made up of fat.

Healthy ways of eating: Spicy does not mean salty

Without doubt salt is required for our body. However, your average intake of salt from all sources should not exceed quarter teaspoon. Excess of salt intake will lead to abnormal blood pressures and other related medical complications. Junk foods are prime sources of salt so severely limit your intake of junk food and reduce the amount of salt used in seasoning your healthy eating tips.

Weight loss programs: Sweets are good but once in a blue moon

Confectionery manufacturers combine sugars with saturated fats to create stick sweets, such as candy, bonbons and pralines, etc. These are not only harmful for our teeth but are also our body because sweets contain calories without the nutrients. But because we all love sweets, an occasional sweet won?t cause much damage. By occasional we mean once-a-month. Chocolate made from real coco is better than hard boiled or gummy sweets but only just. So limit your chocolates to no more than twice a month. If you feel the urge, you might find that dried fruits are a good substitute.

Healthy eating food: Select whole grain products

Anything made from whole grain has more fiber, minerals and vitamins all of which are good for your healthy eating guide. Whole grain is essentially unpolished grain. Polishing removes the outer layer of the grain and unfortunately with it goes the nutrients because in grains, the nutrients are located in the outer layers.

Healthy dressing recipes: Go green and fruity

Fruit and vegetables are loaded with healthy carbohydrates and not only supply more than half of our energy requirement it also supplies half of our fiber, minerals, and vitamins requirement.

Here?s the secret of why we keep stressing on fruits and vegetables: Fruits and healthy vegetarian recipes have a high water and fiber content which means they provide more nutrients per calorie than any other food you can think of.

Weight management program: Vary your protein source

In most American homes, our proteins come mainly from eggs, beef, pork and cheese. We need to introduce other protein sources into our healthy eating worksheets. Other good sources of protein include fish, milk, chicken, Soy, Tofu, Legumes, whole grains and yes, fruits.

Check out more for Healthy eating facts and Portion control plates

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Italian veggie cooking the old-fashioned way

Italians seldom stray from their tradition of growing and consuming fresh vegetables seasonally.

So it is with great excitement among proponents of consuming locally grown produce that a cookbook which first surfaced in 1950 in Italy has been resurrected for a new generation of home cooks.

Vegetables From An Italian Garden was first published by that country’s famed Silver Spoon Kitchen.

“The original book was so popular that every bride was given a copy by her mother,” says Emilia Terragni, editorial director for the New York-based Phaidon Press, a subsidiary of Phaidon Press Ltd., London.

The native of northern Italy is now based in London and arranged for Phaidon to purchase the entire archives of the Silver Spoon in Italy.

The English version was published in 2005, and has since sold more than 1.5 million copies throughout the world.

“We are constantly updating from the original and keep adding new recipes from all over Italy,” said Terragni in a recent telephone interview from London.

She says that Italian meals traditionally use a variety of vegetables throughout the entire meal.

“So you can have an antipasta, a pasta, a main course and a side all containing vegetables,” Terragni explains.

“And the recipes in the book are very simple to prepare.” This is particularly important for today’s time-pressed cooks who prefer to cook delicious and locally seasonally grown produce.

Terragni boasts that she never eats out of season.

“Mainly because the vegetables taste so much better,” she says.

The book is organized with recipes containing vegetables from spring, summer, fall and winter. Within those chapters are tips on selecting, growing and buying each season’s vegetables.

As far as growing your own, Terragni says “it is very easy, even if you don’t have a large garden or any garden.

“You can grow a lot of things in pots on small terraces and we suggest the best time to start so you get the idea of the growing cycles of the various vegetables.”

Asparagus is now in season and whether you have grown your own or buy this wonderful vegetable at your local market, here is an Italian recipe from the book.

Asparagus Parmesan

Makes 4 servings

2 lb (900 g) asparagus, spears trimmed

1 cup (250 mL) grated Parmesan cheese

30 mL (2 tbsp) butter

Salt

Cook asparagus in salted boiling water for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain and gently pat dry. Arrange on a warm serving dish with the tips pointing inwards. Sprinkle with the Parmesan. Melt butter, season with a little salt and pour over asparagus. Serve immediately.

Approximate nutrition per serving: 240 calories, 16 g fat, 13 g protein, 9 g carbohydrates, 5 g fibre

The Canadian Press

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Vegetables are culinary stars in Aspen

By Carolyn O'Neil

For the AJC

What happened to the foie gras and caviar?

It appears top chefs are excited about vegetables. Three days of cooking seminars and wine tastings at the 29th annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen -- one of the world’s most exclusive and star chef-studded culinary events in the world --? embraced the beauty and benefits of Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, zucchini and kale.

Jose Andres, chef, cookbook author and owner of celebrated restaurants in Washington, including Jaleo and Zaytinya, put his passion for cooking produce right up front with a seminar titled “Sexy Vegetables.” Andres, known for his love of Spanish cuisine, addressed a packed ballroom of food fans at the St. Regis Hotel in the Colorado resort town and expertly prepared eight vegetable dishes in less than an hour, including a radish and grapefruit salad with shrimp, watermelon and tomato skewers with a sherry vinaigrette, cucumber and tomato gazpacho with Spanish sherry, and Brussels sprouts tapas with green apples and grapes.

“Most people cook Brussels sprouts too long for 20 to 30 minutes,” Andres said. “Are we nuts? It should be two to three to four minutes! Don’t over cook them; it releases the sulfur smell and that is not sexy!”

Sustainability expert and Connecticut chef Michel Nischan, who is a culinary consultant to Atlanta’s Terrace Restaurant in the Ellis Hotel, presented four risotto recipes -- one for each season’s harvest of vegetables -- featuring ancient grains called faro and spelt. Nischan, whose? restaurant Dressing Room is known for local and organic menu items,?centered his seminar on the health and taste advantages of eating with the seasons. He shared his definition of sustainability, by saying, “It means you give as much back to the earth as you take. For instance, composting leftover vegetable peelings creates more soil to plant more vegetables.”

Andres, who was named this year's James Beard Award Outstanding?Chef, knows about quality but he credits his recent 25-pound weight loss to focusing on quantity. “It’s really about the calories, learning how much you personally should be eating,” he said. Filling half a plate with vegetables and fruit is the latest diet advice from nutrition experts as illustrated by the USDA’s new My Plate icon. Filling a glass works, too. Andres said this about his gazpacho recipe, “You don’t eat the salad, you drink the salad!”

Aspen’s summertime vibe is lively with folks headed out hiking, biking, river rafting and fly fishing. The beauty of the wild flowers and Aspen trees spills over into the local cuisine. At The Little Nell Hotel, an epicenter for those devoted to dining, Montagna’s menu features great steaks and fabulous fresh fish but vegetables seem to rank just as high in the kitchen. A salad of greens, sliced radishes, fava beans and thin asparagus was so fresh it nearly leapt off the plate.

Wine with Vegetables

“Times they are a changing,” remarked registered dietitian Ashley Koff, who noted that one of?Food & Wine Magazine’s Best New Chefs, Joshua Skenes of Saison in San Francisco, chose to feature a vegetarian dish of cauliflower and sea lettuce. “It was clear that the days of all animal all day are a thing of the past. As for what wines go best with your veggies, wine writer Mark Oldman helped me choose a delicious Spanish Rueda -- the new ‘it' wine he said."

More than 5,000 food and wine lovers converge to sample the best vintages and victuals each June in Aspen. It’s a weekend where the majestic scenery of the Colorado Rockies is closely matched by culinary icon sightings: Jacques Pepin, having lunch at Ajax Tavern with Richard Blais, Atlanta chef and recent Bravo Top Chef winner; and The French Laundry’s chef, Thomas Keller, having dinner at Aspen’s chic Cache Cache restaurant with chef Daniel Boulud of New York.

My favorite food memory of the weekend: enjoying a grilled vegetable salad of marinated artichokes, butternut squash, Portobello mushrooms with arugula and chards of Parmesan cheese at Campo de Fiori with Atlanta friends, including winemaker Rob Mondavi and his wife, Lydia, of 29 Cosmetics. It was taste, health, beauty and good fun; all that and plenty of vegetables getting served and eaten in Aspen this summer.

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Eat Your Vegetables for June 23, 2011

Most of us never outgrow our love for corn on the cob. Fresh sweet corn with plump and milky kernels smeared with butter brings out the kid in all of us.

Try to use fresh corn as soon as you buy it. The sugars in the kernels start turning to starch after it’s picked, so the sooner it’s cooked the better it will taste. This recipe is a twist on the usual boiled corn. After the corn is cooked and buttered, it’s sprinkled with a spicy mix of salt, garlic powder, pepper, basil, thyme and oregano.

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Drink your vegetables

To cure a hangover, nutritionist Sarah Lockenmeyer suggests having a shot. But the drink she recommends isn't made from alcohol. It?s made from wheat grass juice, a superfood typically sold as a one-ounce ?shot? because of its strong taste.

?Wheat grass is packed with B-12 vitamins, which help the body recover after a night of drinking,? says Lockenmeyer, who works at Basin Bar, a juice bar in Asbury Park.

Basin Bar owner Regine Flimlin says customers call her establishment ?the day-after bar? because they rely on the vitamin-rich wheat grass shots and other organic vegetable and fruit juices to revitalize their systems after overindulging in alcohol.

You don?t have to suffer from a hangover to reap the benefits of juiced fruits and vegetables. The nutritious beverages can be made at home using a juicer or purchased at places such as Basin Bar, Bodhi in Somerset, Tico?s Eatery & Juice Bar in Princeton, Asana House Juice Bar and Lounge in Montclair, The Health Shoppe in Morristown, Namaste Cafe Organic Juice Bar in New Brunswick and Dean's Natural Food Market in Ocean and Shrewsbury. They can be a healthful everyday addition to the diet, according to Tina Marinaccio, a registered dietitian.

Turning fruits and vegetables into a juice instead of eating them whole makes it easier to reach the recommended five-to-nine daily servings of produce, says Marinaccio, who owns Health Dynamic, a nutrition counseling center in Morristown.

?Juicing is not any healthier than eating fruits and vegetables raw, but it can be very healthful for people who aren?t getting enough fruits and veggies in their diet,? Marinaccio says.

A lack of produce in his diet is what drove John Leary of Metuchen to try juicing.

?There is no way I would be willing to eat five whole carrots and two apples in one serving, but all of that is in my juice,? says Leary, who makes his own carrot-apple juice at home as well as purchases juices at Namaste Cafe Organic Juice Bar. ?I try to have juice once a day.?

Marinaccio says juicing is also beneficial for people who aren?t getting enough variety in their diet. Kim Shah, of Piscataway, began making her own juice so she could include more beets, which are high in iron, and ginger, a natural antioxidant, into her daily diet. She combines the two with carrots and apples to make a juice. ?It tastes really yummy,? says Shah, who works as a health coach. ?I wouldn't eat ginger on a daily basis, but if I put it in a juice I eat it every day.?'

Juicing vegetables also makes it easier to consume their most beneficial parts, Lockenmeyer says. Many people only eat the leafy portion of vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower and kale, leaving the stems, which often contain the most vitamins, behind. At Basin Bar, the entire vegetable, stems and roots included, goes into the beverage, she says.

While there are many benefits to drinking fresh vegetable and fruit juices, there are also issues to consider before adding large amounts of it to the diet, Marinaccio says.

Juices made at home or at a juice bar usually have not been pasteurized, which means they have been heated to a certain temperature and then cooled. This process slows bacteria growth, so juice made at home or purchased at a juice bar should be consumed right away, before bacteria has a chance to grow, according to Marinaccio.

?Only make as much as you can drink at once,?' she says.

When produce is juiced instead of eaten whole, most of the fiber is removed. That is why it is important to use juice as a supplement to whole fruits and vegetables and not as a replacement, Marinaccio says. Fruit juices can be high in sugar, so they should be consumed in moderation, especially by people with diabetes. When consuming a product from a juice bar, Marinaccio recommends asking to see calorie information.

?Try and keep it to under 300 per drink,? she says. People trying to maintain their weight should stick to vegetable-based juices instead of fruit, Marinaccio adds.

Many people are skeptical of vegetable juices at first, but most learn to love them over time, according to Flimlin.

?Most people start out with a mix of fruits and vegetable, and then as their body starts to heal ? they amp it up and try just veggie juices,?? Flimlin says. ?Your taste buds start to change, and you start craving healthier foods.??

Carrot juice is a good start for those looking to drink more vegtable juice, says Leary, president of the board at George Street Food Co-op in New Brunswick. ?Carrot is the bridge between the vegetable world and the fruit world,?? he says. ?Start with that and then start branching out from there.?

Those new to juice shouldn?t be afraid to step outside of their comfort zone. Leary says juice bars are a great place to expand the palate.

?That's the real joy about going to a juice bar; they combine flavors you would never think to combine at home,? says Leary, who always hated beets until he tried them mixed into a juice.

Drinking juices may change more than just what vegetables and fruits are consumed. Lockenmeyer says regular juice drinking can change the taste buds entirely.

?You put a plate of fries in front of someone after they have started juicing and they don't want it. They notice the salt, the grease ? your taste is almost heightened,? she says. ?When you are healthier, you are less likely to put bad things into your body.??

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Got squash? Donate your extra vegetables

United Way Pantry Partners is working to increase access to fresh vegetables to area families in need and encourages local gardeners to consider donating homegrown produce to the following four nonprofit agencies.

First Seventh-Day Adventist Church of Montclair Pantry, 15 Elmwood Ave.: second and fourth Sundays of the month, 10 a.m. to noon, in the church basement.

Human Needs Food Pantry, 9 Label St.: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8:30 to 10 a.m.

The Salvation Army, 13 Trinity Place: Monday through Wednesday, 9 a.m. to noon. Use the side entrance adjacent to the parking lot.

Toni's Kitchen, St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 73 South Fullerton Ave.: Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Beginning July 6, Toni's Kitchen will pick up produce from your front door in Montclair only on Wednesdays from 9 to 10 a.m. Bags must be labeled for Toni's Kitchen. Contact Toni's Kitchen at soup@toniskitchen.org or 973-932-0768 to schedule a pickup.

For more information, email eileen.sweeny@unitedwaynnj.org or call 973-746-4040, ext. 204.

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Dole Fresh Vegetables Announces Precautionary Recall of Limited Number of Italian Blend Salads

Press Release Source: Dole Fresh Vegetables On Wednesday June 22, 2011, 7:45 pm EDT

MONTEREY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Dole Fresh Vegetables is voluntarily recalling 2,880 cases of DOLER Italian Blend salad with Use-by Date of June 19, 2011, UPC code 7143000819 and Product Codes 0049A157201A, 0049A157201B, 0049A157202A, 0049A157202B, 0686A157202A, 0686A157202B and 442 cases of Kroger Fresh Selections Italian Style Blend salad with Use-by-Date of June 19, 2011, UPC code 1111091045 and Product Codes A157201A & A157201B, due to a possible health risk from Listeria monocytogenes. Dole Fresh Vegetables is coordinating closely with regulatory officials. No illnesses have been reported in association with the recall.

The Product Code and Use-by Date are in the upper right-hand corner of the package; the UPC code is on the back of the package, below the barcode. The salads were distributed in twelve U.S. states (Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin) and three Canadian provinces (New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec).

No illnesses have been reported in association with the recall. This precautionary recall notification is being issued due to an isolated instance in which one package of Dole Italian Blend salad yielded a positive result for Listeria monocytogenes in a random sample test collected and conducted by the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

No other Dole or Kroger salads are included in the recall. Only the specific Product Codes, UPC codes and June 19, 2011 Use-by-Date of Italian Blend salads identified above are included in the recall. Consumers who have any remaining product with these Product Codes should not consume it, but rather discard it. Retailers and consumers with questions may call the Dole Food Company Consumer Response Center at (800) 356-3111, which is open 8:00 am to 3:00 pm (PDT) Monday - Friday.

Retailers should check their inventories and store shelves to confirm that none of the product is mistakenly present or available for purchase by consumers or in warehouse inventories. Dole Fresh Vegetables customer service representatives are already contacting retailers and are in the process of confirming that the recalled product is not in the stream of commerce.

Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterium that can cause foodborne illness in a person who eats a food item contaminated with it. Symptoms of infection may include fever, muscle aches, gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea or diarrhea. If it spreads to the nervous system symptoms may include headache, stiff neck or confusion. The illness primarily impacts pregnant women and adults with weakened immune systems. Most healthy adults and children rarely become seriously ill.

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Russia lifts ban on EU vegetables

Russia signed an agreement with the European Union on Wednesday to resume the import of?EU vegetables, possibly by the end of this week.

Russia blocked imports of fresh European vegetables after they were blamed for a deadly E.coli outbreak which struck Germany last month.

"Following today's agreement, I now expect a swift resumption of the EU's exports to Russia," EU Health Commissioner John Dalli said in a statement.

"Both sides have shown good will to make sure that this incident is now behind us," he added.

The European Commission announced that a deal to end the ban had been signed in Moscow during a visit by a high-level Brussels delegation.? The agreement does, however, include a number of stipulations.

Safety provisions

For a limited time, all European vegetables exported to Russia must be accompanied by certificates stating the origin of the product and an assurance that it doesn't carry the E.coli bacteria strain.

Bildunterschrift: Grosansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: ?Earlier this month, President Medvedev promised to lift the ban if his demands were met Brussels must also provide Moscow with a list of official bodies and laboratories authorized to issue the food safety certificates.

"Everything depends on them," Gennady Onishchenko, head of Russia's state consumer protection watchdog, told Reuters.

It was agreed, however, that these conditions would be lifted once ten days had passsed without any new reports of human cases linked to the E.coli strain.

The Netherlands, Poland and Belgium already have these systems in place and are expected to resume exports by the end of the week.

Trading accusations

The source of the E.coli outbreak, which claimed the lives of more than three dozen people, initially puzzled German authorities.

The uncertainty prompted Moscow to issue a blanket ban on all vegetables.??This angered the EU which accused Russia of taking too long to resume imports, arguing that such a ban was not scientifically justifiable.

In return, Moscow criticized the EU for failing to locate the source of the infection.

The outbreak has since been traced to contaminated German bean sprouts from an organic farm in Lower Saxony.

Last year, the EU exported about 600 million euros ($862

million) worth of vegetables to Russia.

Author: Charlotte Chelsom-Pill (Reuters, dpa)

Editor: Susan Houlton

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Avondale's community garden grows vegetables, friendship

by David Madrid - Jun. 20, 2011 07:12 AM
The Arizona Republic

Avondale's community garden grows vegetables and friendship.

Avondale City Councilwoman Stephanie Karlin planted the seeds of the idea at a City Council meeting in November 2009.

Avondale community garden

Her vision was that a garden could be used to make an empty lot greener, that it would provide healthful food and that residents would be drawn to the spot and would become friends through their shared love of gardening.

Mission accomplished.

Today, the Garden Patch grows on a third of a 2-acre lot, and about 30 people have joined to either garden communally or they have their own plots. Add to those members their family and friends and the volunteers who come to the garden to work, and Karlin, 57, said the garden has grown to exceed her dreams.

"Nobody knew each other beforehand," Karlin said. "And sometimes they (members) bring their neighbors, and the neighbors say, 'Oh, we want to be a part of this.' So, it's just gotten bigger and bigger. At first, I have to say, it was a struggle, because we've been working on this for a while. . . . We weren't getting a lot of responses. Then, all of a sudden, it just went boom, boom, boom with people (joining)."

Among the gardeners are developmentally-disabled students, children, adults and people who don't live in Avondale.

The garden is northeast of the Avondale Civic Center Library, 11350 W. Civic Center Drive. The plants, most of which are in full bloom or heavy with vegetables, are part of the first of three phases of Garden Patch membership.

There is a membership fee to join the Garden Patch. It is $60 a year to share in the communal garden and $90 a year to garden your own plot of ground. Each plot is 10 feet by 20 feet.

Membership, both individual and communal, entitles each person in the member's household or group to participate as a gardener, to use gardening tools owned by the Garden Patch, and to use the composting facilities.

The annual membership fee covers the plot, insurance and water to irrigate. Each garden plot has its own water spigot.

The garden was planted March 26. An executive board of seven runs the Garden Patch, which is working to have its non-profit status approved.

The garden grows a wide assortment of vegetables and flowers, including peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, okra, eggplant, mint, sunflowers, squash, watermelon and cantaloupe.

Michelle Buvala, 46, is secretary of the executive board and coordinates many of the details necessary to running a community garden. She is a communal member.

"We (communal gardeners) get together. We decide what we want. We plant it. We make the decisions together. We pool our finances to buy what we need. We work it together," Buvala said of the communal plot. "We have a schedule: who comes out when and who does watering, picking the weeds and whatnot. And then we harvest together."

When a communal member comes out on watering day and a vegetable is ripe for the picking, the member picks it, she said. On Saturday mornings, most of the communal gardeners come out and each walks away with a basket full of vegetables, Buvala said.

Rusty Van Leuven, 42, treasurer of the board, has an individual garden plot. Among his crops are corn, zucchini, watermelon, cantaloupe, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes and okra.

There are an amazing variety of plants packed into each garden plot.

"I've never had anything to do with gardening," Van Lueven said. "That's one reason why I did it. I wanted to learn how to do it."

And learn Van Lueven has. He said there is a vast reservoir of gardening knowledge among the gardeners. Everybody shares what they know.

"The first day, I picked and took zucchini home; we had a party," he said. "It's really satisfying when you pick what you've grown."

And one of the better aspects of the community garden for Van Lueven is that he didn't know any of the gardeners, but now, he is friends with his fellow gardeners.

Esmie Avila, Avondale's water conservation specialist, is a master gardener and she also has her own plot.

Despite her expertise, she said she learns things from other gardeners.

"You never stop learning," Avila said.

Although the Garden Patch is planting loofahs and ornamental gourds to raise money, it accepts donations. It could also use a shed to hold its gardening implements and some canopies.

For more information on the Garden Patch, go to www.avondalegardenpatch.com or e-mail garden.patch@yahoo.com.

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L.A. Times Test Kitchen Tips: The art of blanching

L.A. Times Test Kitchen Tips: The art of blanching - latimes.com body {background-color:#ffffff !important;}ul#root li.navLink a {padding-top:17px; padding-right:4px; padding-bottom:16px; padding-left: 5px;} Subscribe/Manage Account Place Ad LAT Store Jobs Cars Real Estate Rentals Classifieds Custom Publishing  Food HOME LOCAL L.A. Now Politics Crime Education O.C. Westside Neighborhoods Environment Obituaries Findlocal U.S. Politics Now Top of the Ticket Science & Environment Obituaries Religion WORLD Afghanistan & Pakistan Africa Asia Europe Iran Iraq Latin America Mexico Under Siege Middle East Business Money & Co. Technology Personal Finance Small Business Company Town Jobs Real Estate Autos SPORTS Lakers Clippers Dodgers Angels NFL Ducks/Kings USC UCLA Soccer High Schools Scores/Stats ENTERTAINMENT Movies Television Music Celebrity Arts & Culture Company Town Calendar The Envelope Findlocal Health Booster Shots Fitness & Nutrition Medicine Behavior Healthcare Reform Hospitals Living Home Food Image Books Findlocal Brand X Magazine Your Scene Cars Travel California Hawaii Mexico Las Vegas Europe Travel & Deal Blog Destinations Opinion Editorials Op-Ed Letters Opinion L.A. Deals Save: Deals Go: Travel Eat: Food Wear: Apparel Live: Everyday Needs Play: Electronics Drive More Mobile Site Subscribe / Manage Account Print Ads Place an Ad LAT Store Jobs Cars Real Estate Rentals More Classifieds Weekly Ad#inTheNews {min-height:20px;} Advanced Search Advanced Search X include all of these words: include any of these words: include this exact phrase: exclude: Select a date range this week past 30 days past 3 months past year Create a custom date range From: To: Daily DishThe inside scoop on food in Los Angeles? Previous Post |Daily Dish Home| Next Post ?

L.A. Times Test Kitchen Tips: The art of blanchingComments (0) June 22, 2011?|? 6:00am

In the kitchen, blanching -- submerging meats, vegetables or fruits briefly in boiling water -- is used for many reasons. Blanching can bring out the vivid colors in vegetables, taking a dull green or lackluster orange and bringing out a vibrant shade. It can help loosen the skins of tomatoes and peaches so they're easier to peel. And a quick dunk in boiling water can cook delicate meats and fish.

When blanching, use a large pot of water so the temperature doesn't drop dramatically when the food is added. Too small a pot (or too little water) and the added ingredients can reduce the temperature of the water below a boil.

Also be sure to have an ice bath (a large bowl or pot of water with plenty of ice) handy to "shock" the ingredients after they are blanched, lowering their temperature quickly so blanched ingredients do not continue to cook. (One last tip: When shocking an ingredient in an ice bath, be sure to remove it as soon as it is cool -- leaving an item in an ice bath for too long can cause it to become waterlogged.)

If you have any kitchen tips or questions you'd like me to explore, leave a comment below or shoot me an email at noelle.carter@latimes.com.

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-- Noelle Carter
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Photo: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles

EU, Russia settle fight over vegetables exports

On Wednesday June 22, 2011, 7:14 am EDT

BRUSSELS (AP) -- The European Union will be able to resume vegetable exports to Russia after the two sides settled their dispute over the handling of the deadly E. coli outbreak in Germany.

Russia banned imports of EU vegetables early this month to try to stop the outbreak spreading east, a move the EU called disproportionate and unnecessary.

Wednesday's decision will allow EU member states to immediately resume exports if they can show their produce is free from the deadly bacteria that caused a major health scare in Germany.

Ten days after no new cases are reported in EU member states, full exports can resume without special certification.

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New “dirty dozen” produce list

The annual “dirty dozen” list of fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide residues is out from the Environmental Working Group, a Washington D.C.-based non-profit organization that protects the public health and environment.

What tops the list this year? Apples. They were number four last year on the group’s list.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat apples. But it means you need to be weary of them if they are conventionally grown using pesticides. The group ranks produce based on food contamination data compiled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

?The rest of the dirty dozen (in order): celery, strawberries, peaches, spinach, nectarines (imported), grapes (imported), sweet bell peppers, potatoes, blueberries (domestic), lettuce and kale/collard greens. Cherries dropped off the list this year and lettuce came on.

?This is added incentive to buy these fruits and vegetables at local farmer’s markets or from local farmers, so you can ask about pesticide use. Many use organic practices, which involve growing without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers.

?But many conventional farmers use pesticides to protect against insects, bacteria and rodents. Washing and peeling the produce lowers pesticide residues, but not completely.

?The environmental group’s “clean fifteen” list includes the fruits and veggies with the lowest levels of pesticides. It says there’s less need to buy organic versions of these products.

?The clean list, in order, includes: Onions, sweet corn, pineapples, avocado, asparagus, sweet peas, mangos, eggplants, cantaloupe (domestic), kiwi, cabbage, watermelon, sweet potatoes, grapefruit and mushrooms.

?The environmental group says if consumers choose their daily recommended five servings of vegetables and fruit from the least contaminated list, rather than the dirty dozen list, they could reduce the amount of pesticides ingested by 92 percent. But I’d have a hard time giving up blueberries, sweet peppers, grapes, lettuce and strawberries. Time to buy local or wash produce well.

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EU says Russia signs deal to end vegetable trade ban

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'Dirty Dozen' produce debate continues

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says, "Make half your plate fruits and vegetables," in its latest dietary guidelines, but a just-published list of the 12 most pesticide-laden produce could confuse those deciding what is both healthful and safe to eat.

Topping the "Dirty Dozen" for 2011 are apples, celery and strawberries. Data for the list came from produce sampled between 2000 and 2009 from both domestic and imported sources and from around the country. Though the amounts of pesticides are well below established limits, analysts with the Environmental Working Group, who compiled the list, say they're too high.

"It only means the pesticide levels are within legal limits. It does not mean they are safe," Sara Sciammacco, of the Environmental Working Group, said, citing recent studies linking childhood pesticide exposure to problems with brain development, lower IQ and increasing incidence of ADHD.

But Holly Herrington, a registered dietitian at Northwestern University, urges caution in interpreting the studies, and said, "So far, there is not a lot of research to support these findings."

A study published earlier this year in the peer-reviewed Journal of Toxicology, using the same USDA data from 2004 to 2008, said scientists found the levels of pesticides in 90 percent of cases from the 2010 Dirty Dozen were at least 1,000 times lower than the chronic reference dose — the concentration of a chemical a person could be exposed to on a daily basis throughout life before risking harm.

A person would need to eat "so much (of the produce on the Dirty Dozen) you can't even imagine," said Dr. Marion Nestle, author and professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University.

Still, for those trying to limit their exposure to pesticides, the Environmental Working Group recommends choosing organic produce whenever possible.

But Herrington points out that organic does not necessarily mean pesticide-free. The USDA allows pesticide use on organic crops, though "the pesticides in organic agriculture are mostly natural, meaning they are found in nature and less toxic," Nestle said.

Here are some questions and answers from experts on pesticide exposure:

Q: Will washing remove pesticides?

A: The Dirty Dozen list came from produce that was washed for 10 seconds under cold water. "The USDA always recommends people wash their fruits and vegetables," said spokesman Michael T. Jarvis. Herrington said washing produce can remove "some but not all of the pesticides."

Q: Should produce be peeled to eliminate pesticides? Will this reduce the nutritional value?

A: "If the amount of pesticide is so small that it can barely be measured, it really doesn't matter much," said Nestle. "If people are concerned, they should scrub the apple or peel it."

Herrington said no nutrition is lost in peeling an apple. "The inner part of the apple is still very healthy for you," she said. "You can throw away the outer leaves of a leafy vegetable and wash it."

Q: Should families give up the worst produce?

A: "No.?The amounts of pesticides are usually small and people who eat fruits and vegetables, with or without pesticides, are healthier than those who do not," Nestle said.

"If the choice is between a bag of potato chips and a conventional apple, we advise consumers to go with the apple every time. The health benefits of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables outweigh the risks of pesticide exposure," said Sciammacco.

Herrington said: "Americans are just not getting enough fruits and vegetables. Eating four to five servings of conventional produce with pesticides is still better than not (eating any) at all."

xcxkapril@tribune.com

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How to strive for five (vegetables)

SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 20 (UPI) -- One way to strive for five daily servings of vegetables is to have one serving of a vegetable at each meal and maybe add a snack, a U.S. food expert suggests.

Phil Lempert -- a food industry analyst, trend watcher and creator of the Web site supermarketguru.com -- says produce is fresher and more nutritious when eaten in season, especially if grown locally, because transportation time is less and the sooner vegetables are eaten after being picked, the more nutritious they are.

Depending on where people live, most people in the United States should be able to find seasonally fresh asparagus, spinach, beets, broccoli, peas, turnips, lettuce, mushrooms, collards, kale and radishes, Lempert says.

Better yet, plant a garden of some vegetables, or buy already planted containers with tomatoes or greens that can be picked minutes from dinner being served, Lempert says.

However, that degree of freshness is not possible for many who are home-bound or have difficulty shopping often for produce. Lempert says using canned vegetables and beans is a good alternative and using canned veggies in casseroles, soups and stews saves preparation and cooking time, as well as energy, while providing important nutrients.

Salt is added to some vegetables and beans because it acts as a preservative, but is also advised to rinse canned foods thoroughly, to get rid of excess sodium from the canning liquids, Lempert says.

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EU and Russia reach agreement to resume trade of vegetables

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Fewer Canadians eating fruit and veg: StatsCan

Updated: Tue Jun. 21 2011 09:46:55

CTV.ca News Staff

Statistics Canada says Canadians are eating fewer fruits and vegetables for the first time in a decade, according to its latest analysis of the country's state of health.

In its latest Canadian Community Health Survey, Statistics Canada reports that just 43 per cent of Canadians aged 12 and older ate fruit or vegetables more than five times a day in 2010. That's down from 46 per cent the year before.

Broken down by gender, the survey found that half of all women reached for fruit and vegetables five or more times daily compared with just 36 per cent of men.

The data is based on an ongoing survey of 65,000 Canadians on a gamut of more than 30 health indicators.

Other highlights from the latest edition of the annual snapshot include:

Six in 10 Canadians reported their own state of health as very good or excellent. Canadians nevertheless reported a slight increase in their daily stress levels, with 24 per cent describing most days are either extremely or quite stressful. That was up two percentage points from 2008. The number of Canadians whose height and weight categorizes them as obese under Health Canada guidelines was virtually unchanged from the year before, at approximately 4.5 million or 18 per cent of the overall population. For the first time, Statistics Canada found the same number of women as men reporting they had been diagnosed with hypertension. Overall, nearly 1 in 6 Canadians said they had high blood pressure. One-in-eight of the 15 per cent of Canadians who said they had no regular medical doctor, reported easy access to alternative medical care such as a walk-in clinic. Among the 21 per cent, or 6 million Canadians who said they were either daily or occasional smokers, more men (24 per cent) lit up in 2010 than in the year before. The number of women smokers fell two percentage points, however, to 17 per cent in 2010.

In its bulletin announcing the results online Tuesday, Statistics Canada suggested the trend among women may continue, and indeed spread to men in the coming years as well.

"Since people typically begin smoking during their teenage years, the percentage who had not started smoking by age 20 is an indicator of future smoking rates," StatsCan wrote, noting that 57 per cent of women between the ages of 20 and 24 said they had never smoked.

That's up from 41 per cent in 2003.

And the same holds for young men too, 45 per cent of whom reported no prior experience with tobacco.

That also represents "a considerable increase" from the 37 per cent of young men who said the same in 2003.

Although the survey captures data from Canadians in every province and territory, Residents of Indian reserves, health care institutions, some remote areas and full-time members of the Canadian Forces are not included.

Comments are now closed for this story

Two things have happened.
First, we paved over farmland to build houses and big box stores and now we have to import all our food. When we put local farmers out of business and decide to rely on foreign food supplies, we doom ourselves to live with the vagaries of the open market and now people simply cannot afford to eat sensibly. I point to the Pickering Airport boondoggle as a prime example; paving over 7200 hectares of prime farmland to build an airport we don't need. The second thing that happened is that we allowed family run companies like Loblaws and Sobeys to put a stranglehold on the supply of food into this country. Both of these privately owned companies make record profits every quarter and collect a kings ransom off of charging a nickel plus HST for a grocery bag. Where are the protests over this? Why isn't the federal Conservative party investigating the monopoly on food in this country? All it will take is a war or natural disaster in one of the countries we buy our food from and we're screwed. Any nation that cannot grow it's own food is doomed. We're doomed. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Just like our telecommunications sector, the resource sector, the electricity market, etc., the government has allowed one or two companies to establish virtual monopolies and put the shaft to Canadians by gouging them to death.

scott nova scotia
I live in an area where I see many people on welfare when I walk to work. Some how they cannot afford to feed the children fruit and veggies but they sure can afford their cigarettes and booze. I do not make much money at all but my family always has fruit and vegetables. It is all about priorities.

FoundationalIssue
I think people need to stop with the whole "I can't afford fruits and veggies", maybe take a look at the foundational issue and find a job that works. Find a second income, or find something that can make you some residual income. Open your eyes there are lots of opportunities out there. Your ability to feed your family and yourself lays within your own hands. Stop blaming others and take responsibility for your actions. You buying that huge 60" plasma screen T.V. isn't making your family healthier. Sell the XBox, cut down on spending, get outside be active! Stop the blame game, enough is enough.

Samantha
I think the excuse that F&V are "too expensive" doesnt have much merit - most of the F&V I buy from both the grocery store and the market are by far cheaper than the other items I buy when I do groceries. It really comes down to what you buy and when, and what your motivations are. Unfortunately, fruit doesnt taste as good as something pumped full of artificial flavours and sodium, so people arent likely to choose it if theyre given a choice. I really do believe that if more people invested themselves in growing their own (even in limited space, you can grow some things!) and supporting their local growers, we would be a lot healthier.

Go to your local market, get to know your local farmers, it will benefit your body AND mind!

KK Calgary
6 months ago my husband & I made a lifestyle change...before we have a major illness. In this time we have found that we actually spend LESS on groceries than before. We are buying fruits vegatebles, meat ect but we are not buying pre-package suppers, junk food, cheeses. juices and pop. We have learned to make time to make our own soups, stews, pies ect and freeze then for the nights we are on the go. With a little organization you can make your meals ahead of time and they are healthier as you are not adding obscene amounts of sugar or salt. You know what goes into your food when you make it yourself. When grocery shopping stick to your list and do not impulse buy. It is hard and yes we do buy an occassional treat, just not all the time.

Doug ^^^ BC
Whoa!! Good one "PhDMED"It's sad,but true that in a free country,many people make bad choices.Buying unprocessed fod means you have to prepare it.Then,when you think about how cheaply you can eat some processed garbage,to man people make the wrong choice. Apparently a lot of people prefer to skimp on the things they NEED,so they can spend more on the things that they WANT.Then they come up with a litany of excuses for why they haven't made better choices. And yes,I'm often guilty of making the wrong choice too.But I do give myself decent marks for being able to "fess up" when someone calls me out.It's MY choice.It's MY decision.And ONLY I am responsible for how that works out.I have no reason to blame farmers,super markets,my neighbours,or my government.Maybe personal responsibility is a price we pay for what we all call "freedom".

Jason
Yeah, maybe if 3 days of fruit and vegetables didn't cost me the same amount as a month supply of regular grocieries, I might be more inclined to eat it.There may be some other fundamental problems with this statistic if Health Canada bothered doing an investigation as to WHY.When I'm visiting in the states or B.C., I eat a SIGNIFICANTLY larger amount of fruits and vegetables because the pricing is almost half, or even more than half price in some cases.

Andre
Health Canada pontifications are getting on my nerves. The snobs at Health Canada need to get their arse in a grocery store and see prices for veg/fruit are ridiculously high and organic is going the way of gold pricing. Please soapbox clowns stop yapping and do something about lowering prices if you expect us to swallow your constant B.S.!

Margot
The poverty population cannot afford to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables at today's current prices for each member to have 5 different types of fruit and veg. They are lucky if they can afford two for each person, one fruit and one veg. As a senior on government limited pensions I cannot afford more that three fresh fruits for a week, i apple, 1 pear, 1 banana, the rest is frozen veg and forget salads. I have always been overweight even when I was fed all frest fruit and veg as a child, frozen was unknown as was a freezer and tinned was unacceptable. Fresh or go without. That also meant to imported foods from other countries. So, no chance of poison from pesticides and fertilizers. That slam-dunks the fresh food helps the obese. It is genetics. Age and health prevent me from growing my own veg in the garden. This winter I will try growing my own veg in pots in the house.

Kim from Ottawa
If you're worried about pesticides, considered participating in a farm share program. I have bought into an organic one for the past 3 years and not only is the produce amazing but it ensures that I am getting the recommended daily veggies. It is also relatively inexpensive and you are supporting your local farmers.

SuperSizeMe
A KFC Double Death sandwhich or a Little Mac, as long as they have more than a daily recommended sodium and fat intake I'm happy. Poutine is good too, oh my god I love Poutine.

Tracy from Winnipeg
There appears to be some items that either weren't reported on or weren't included in the original study - the reasons WHY people are eating fewer fruits and veggies. Cost is a big one - unless something is in season locally, it can be prohibitively expensive to purchase fruit. The other reason that I don't see included is the horrible choices. Once summer rolls around, and we have the option to buy locally grown produce, there's a nice choice. But buying tomatoes, lettuce oranges, etc in the dead of winter? Thanks to being picked when they're not ripe, and spending a lot of time in the back of a truck and in the dark, a lot of available produce in the winter tastes like cardboard. Why would you pay the exorbitant prices the stores are charging, to eat something that doesn't really have flavor?

Original Canadien
To cut costs, I've cut back on veggies in my diet and somehow lost 26 lbs(I do not eat any fruit, don't like the taste as I'd rather eat raw meat and have been doing dso for over 40 years - never sick) but I still make sure I have frozen veggies in my meals at all times - frozen being better than canned and so called "fresh" since vitamins are locked in within hours as opposed to sitting in transport and on shelves for days.BTW celery uses up more calories to digest than you take in so it is good for you beyond just the fiber.

tsousav
As a strong supporter of F&V consumption I believe that the best way to change this is from the bottom up. We need to teach the benefits of healthy eating with school aged children and to do that we need to support from provicial and federal health ministers. There are sites like freggietales.ca that helps educate kids on what the benefits are to eating F&V and there are also school programs like freggie fridays that has now started to roll out as a program but is being done on a school by school basis as the government really hasn't latched on to the opportunity. The pros of consuming F&V far outweigh the cons. F&V is clourful and tastes great. You might hate broccoli but love apples. There is nothing wrong with that. The produce industry works very hard to get the product toothe store shelves with the quality that you have come to expect. Use this report as a call to education for ourselves and our future generations.

The Village Idiot
Pretend all you want that fruits/vegetables are delicious but unless you put something on them they taste blah! You can only eat so much of this crap before it gets stale in the diet and you are pining for a cheese burger. I mean seriously you go on one of these veggie diets and it's fine for a week until you start turning a shade of deathly pale, feeling weak and getting grouchy because you want some meat! Unless you slather the broccoli in a fabulous cheese sauce that stuff is pretty hard to swallow without gagging. All this fruit and veggie talk is making me hungry...yeah...for a big bag of greasy movie popcorn slathered in coconut oil. I'm going to enjoy it and I don't feel the least bit guilty! You only live once and the Grim Reaper is comin' for all of us anyway. You can't beat death!

Ella-Max
So if Canadians are healthier because they eat healthier foods then our taxes going towards supporting our "health care system" should go down? I can only assume that health board of directors and all their staff could be down-sized since being healthy means we have less need for that bureaucracy and high salaries that come with it via our tax dollars. And the amount of studies being paid for by the government via our tax dollars should also decrease if we are healthier because of eating habits too. And wait times in hospital emergency rooms should be a thing of the past since we will all be healthier. Maybe with all the money we save Quebec will be able to score more than the "60%" in federal equalization transfer payments that they've been getting annually for years to pay for $7 daycare and Free IVF treatments costing between $10,000.00 - $30,000.00 per case. After all with all the money healthier eating will save the nation there will definitely be a boondoggle somewhere and we all know that "that" usually means French Disney Land gets the icing on the cake!

Jarrett, Ottawa
Lorne, if there are more pesticides and herbicides on your fruit and vegetables there are also going to be contaminants in everything else. Do you think they dont use pesticides on the wheat used to make the pizza dough of that frozen pizza, growth hormones in your beef and pork, heavy metals in your fish? Trickle down effect, you have to eat though. Just because the media tells you there are contaminants on your fresh fruit and vegetables you must be pretty naive to think it is not is the rest of the food. Might as well eat the fresh stuff.

MCW
In an "ideal" world designed by limousine liberals we could all be aware and afford arugula salad with bean sprouts night after night but the grocery stores aren't making "healthy" cheap. Go to Loblaws and check out the $9.99 watermelons.

Jennifer
How the hell can Canadians afford fruits and vegetables when the prices are so high? Go to a grocery store and look! People's salaries/wages are at 1980 levels while CEOs keep getting richer and outsourcing jobs to "Made in China" - forcing Canadians into lower salary/have-a$s jobs/no benefits/no nothing and many struggling and using the easy-squeezy credit card (backed by communist China) with high interests leading to bankruptcy. And "we" are supposed to eat better and by "organic" (even more expensive) because healthy Canadians are less a burden on the "wonderful" (sarcasm intended) health care system we're so heavily taxed to pay for. Yes some of Canada's armchair elites sure are good at telling us what to do because with their Harvard University degree they have 6/7 figure salary jobs and can well afford to spout off at the mouth about what we mere mortal Canadians should be doing. Get out in the real world you champagne socialists and see how the real Canadians making beer wages live and struggle. It's not pretty!

URU
Thats because food is sooo expensive and the Gov't isn't doing much to help the poor.

Doug ^^^ BC
Personally,I eat a lot more fruit and vegetables during the local growing season,and a lot less the rest of the year. I don't find these products overly expensive when I compare them to processed food in the same category. BUT,and maybe I'm to particular,but I find the quality of a lot of these imported fruits and vegetables to be less than desiberable.I canot speak for every region of Canada,but my taste buds tell me that local produce,no matter what it is I am eating,actually tastes good.Fruit from the Okanogan Valley is a prime example.I find the apples imported from the southern hemisphere have no taste,when compared to an apple grown in the valley.The same thing applies when I buy strawberries.The season here is short,but local strawberries taste like strawberries.I buy those big,red things from California,and it seems like I'm eating styrafoam. So,as another posterf askes,"why would we be inclined to eat some of this stuff".The residue from pesticides is an issue for some.The taste is an issue for some(or,at least me),and shelf life is an issue too.By the time you get a lot of imported produce home,it's not all that fresh any more. And finally.People do need to know that our parents and grandparents thrived of preserved fruit and produce for a long,long time.They had the same short growing seasons as we did,and they had no infrastructure to get imported food to local markets.

Sandusky
This is completely unacceptable people! The results of this survey should have been that 100% of Canadians consume five or more servings of fruits per day, not 43%. There is no excuse for this. Fruits and vegatables are cheaper than most other items at the grocery store, and the only natural source of the vitamins and nutrients that we need to keep our bodies healthy. If you don't maintain your health as Priority #1, then you will be incapable fo even formulating a Priority #2 or #3. Our health care costs are going through the roof and a simple way to control these costs is to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I'm concerned that my tax dollars are being used to support unhealthy lifestyles nationally.

Canucks Fan
Anne, celery is a great fibre and good for the body. Too bad about the pesticides. I guess there has to be a fine balance. Wash well, and even after the fruit is cut, wash wash wash.Fruits and veggies are only part of the obese issue. Having a good sleep, exercise, turning off the TV might help too. Just a thought.

SAM
It's pricey....but, I'm buying more organic. I admit that when I focus on eating much more fruit and veggies that I feel better. However, I too am concerned about all the pest/fungicides in our produce. Cancer doesn't appeal to me any more than diabetes or heart disease. It's been reported that some of the newer East Indian fruit growers in BC's Okanagan don't follow package directions when treating their fruits with sprays. This is frightening.

PhDMED
The problem is that so many people are cheap with food, opting out for less expensive foods (canned, frozen, junk food,etc). Yet they dont see how eating badly may cost you your life in the long run.

Anne
Fruits and veggies 5 servings a day. Nice in theory, expensive in practice? I make sure the kids have the fruit, I'll do without if the fruitbowl is looking lean. Veggies is easier for dinner, since canned ones are not expensive. Carrots in the kids lunch. Celery too, but not sure how much nutrition there is in celery. Fewer taxes and more money in my take home pay would help with more fruits and fresh veggies.

Lorne
A study was just released a few weeks ago that outlined the amount of pesticides being used on fruit and vegetables.I would suspect that people will continue to eat less and less fruit and vegetables. The majority of Canadians are either in very good or excellent health. Why eat something that will only harm your health?Health Canada has still not issued their own report on the question of pesticides and what they do to your health.Why take a chance on killing yourself or ruining your health?

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Russia to lift EU vegetables ban: European Commission

(BRUSSELS) - The European Union executive Wednesday insisted Russia will immediately lift a costly ban slapped on EU vegetables due to a deadly E.cola outbreak, brushing aside counter-claims in Moscow.

"I can confirm exports will resume from tomorrow from Belgium, the Netherlands and Poland," European Commission spokesman Frederic Vincent told AFP.

The EU spokesman spoke after the head of Russia's consumer protection watchdog said an EU announcement of an imminent end to the ban, which affects 25 percent of Europe's total vegetable exports, was "exaggerated".

"As far as the claim that it will happen immediately, these rumours are exaggerated," Rospotrebnadzor chief Gennady Onishchenko told the Interfax news agency after a Moscow round of negotiations aimed at ending the ban.

Russia introduced its embargo on June 2 after the E. coli outbreak in Germany. Amid outrage from Europe's fruit and vegetable farmers, the two sides agreed at a June 10 summit to move toward a certification system, paving the wave to a resumption of trade.

About a fifth of Russia's vegetable imports come from the 27-nation bloc.

Europe's vegetable exports to Russia bring in 600 million euros a year, mainly from Poland, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Belgium.

Vincent earlier said an agreement had been signed during the morning between the EU and Russia.

"We are heading towards an immediate resumption of exports of European vegetables," he said.

"Exports will be able to resume this week, maybe tomorrow," he added.

The EU would supply Russian authorities "temporarily" with laboratory "surveillance and verification" certificates detailing that the products were safe and were not carriers of the deadly bacteria.

Belgium, the Netherlands and Poland have already put E.coli 104 monitoring systems in place with certificates ready for their vegetables.

Text and Picture Copyright 2011 AFP. All other Copyright 2011 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.

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Book offers garden-to-plate guide to Italian vegetables

"Vegetables From an Italian Garden"

By Phaidon editors

Phaidon; 432 pages; $40

If you've dreamed of eating what you grow, but your green thumbs have proved clumsy (or are simply unproven), may we direct you to fagiolini -- aka the humble green bean.

Green beans are one of the easiest vegetables for the novice gardener -- sow in the spring, and two months later they're ripe for the picking -- and to dress up into sophisticated summer cuisine by tossing with pesto, topping with smoked provolone or mixing with red currants in a frisee salad.

The new, gorgeously photographed "Vegetables From an Italian Garden" celebrates the garden-to-plate journey of green beans and 40 other vegetables traditionally used in Italian cooking, famous for simple preparations that allow fresh, seasonal ingredients to command center stage.

The cookbook, featuring more than 400 traditional Italian recipes, is organized by season, and dedicates a page to each vegetable with descriptions of how to choose it, use it and grow it.

So you might welcome spring with an artichoke lasagnette, celebrate summer with a cold cucumber cream soup, mark fall with pumpkin gnocchi with orange butter, and toast winter with a radicchio and pink grapefruit risotto.

A chart showing when to sow and harvest the vegetables can help guide ambitious gardeners. But it is not a gardening manual, so if you don't know what a tomato cage is this book won't enlighten you.

For those without the time or space to cultivate a vegetable garden, the book shines with unfussy, eminently doable recipes and tips on how to pick the best produce at the markets.

Buon appetito. Viva fagiolini!

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Vegetables guard turf

ResizeGardening at AltitudeCarol O'Meara For the CameraPosted:?06/21/2011 08:51:16 AM MDT

On the outskirts of Minneapolis, in a town called Eden Prairie, a vegetable patch is growing. This is not an average kitchen garden; the corn, beans, melons and tomatoes have a mission greater than feeding their gardener. Instead of filling plates with salad and side dishes, the plants here serve as canaries in a coal mine, providing early warning for problems cropping up on nearby grass.

Known as indicator plants, the vegetables are part of a holistic approach to turfgrass management on the professional practice fields of the Minnesota Vikings football team.

"The public thinks we practice at the Metrodome (in Minneapolis); they don't know we have fields," says Grant Davisson, Head Sports Turf Manager for the Vikings, who play in an indoor stadium. "But we have a lot of activity all year on this turf, from the end of March through the end of the season."

With higher humidity and rainfall -- they receive 30 inches per year -- disease poses a challenge for managing the 210,000 square feet of turfgrass the Vikings practice on. Leaf spot, pythium, pink snow mold and Brown Patch are chronic problems.

Many high-use sports fields rely on a combination of play rotation and pesticides, but this facility is next to a riparian area protected by law. Because all of the runoff dumps into the wetland, Davisson is conservative in his turf treatments and prefers alternative means to controlling problems. "We don't want any runoff, and we want as few applications as possible."

That's where the vegetables come in. In a 10-foot wide swath, watermelons, corn, tomatoes and soybeans act as sentinels for conditions that spur disease, succumbing to sickness a few days before the problems show up on the turf.

Rooted in the knowledge that disease outbreaks require the right environmental conditions to thrive, Davisson watches his vegetables for signs of oncoming turf problems. "Watermelons get hit by pythium, and though it's not the same pythium that affects turf, they both need the exact same conditions," he said, speaking of the disease that sends chills through turf managers' spines due to its rapid destruction.

"It'll hit the watermelons on the third hot, humid day and they'll get killed, often by July 1. But once it shows up on the watermelons, I have a day or two lead time to spray the turf." That's all the time he needs to target his controls, knocking the dread fungus back behind scrimmage lines to keep it in check.

"Then we get cloudy days and the tomatoes get leaf spot. I've tracked it -- three to four days later the turf gets leaf spot." Affecting crown, rhizomes and roots in addition to leaves, in the heat of summer it kills the turf, leaving bare spots. "I hate leaf spot. It's a bigger problem on rye than bluegrass."

Replicating his plots in full sun and part shade, Davisson mimics the variable conditions on his fields, which receive differing amounts of sunlight. Applications of fertilizer are made at the same time to keep turf and vegetables even.

In addition to watermelon and tomatoes to watch for pythium and leaf spot, Davisson has corn and soybeans for rust. The peppers and peas are "because I like to eat them." Harvested produce goes to coaches and staff.

Following a set schedule for fungicides calls for applications to be made every 90 days, and on fields this size, every application cost $35,000 to $40,000. But through this vegetable sentinel system, Davisson has been able to stretch out applications to 142 days between applications, saving money and lowering the impact on the environment. "It's easily the most successful means to gauge disease," he said, "and I save two applications per year. That's a lot of money."

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THE FAMILY TABLE: Vegetables from grill tasty, eye-catching

Here are some tips to grill vegetables with a minimum of fuss for maximum flavor:

1.Remember different vegetables have different cooking times. Sliced eggplant will cook faster than sliced potatoes. Personal preference also influences cooking time — I like my vegetables tender, but still slightly crisp. Whatever time you cook, keep a close watch on vegetables. The caramelizing of sugars can lead to burning. You want to rescue the vegetable before it’s too burned. Most vegetables cook under 10 minutes.

2. Cut vegetables into uniform sizes. If one edge is thinner than the other, or if a few vegetables on the skewer are chunkier than others, you will get uneven results.

3. Cut vegetables to expose the largest surface area if you’re cooking straight on the grill. For example, instead of sliced zucchini into circles, slice them lengthwise. Cut bell peppers in wide long strips.

4. Marinating vegetables adds flavor and keeps them from sticking to the grill. You can use store bought marinades or salad dressing or make your own. Marinate for about an hour so that flavors infuse the vegetables.

5. If you don’t marinate, brush the vegetables with heart-healthy olive oil and season with some salt and pepper. Try different herbs and spice mixes for extra flavor.

SAN ANGELO, Texas — One of my favorite pastimes of the summer is cooking on the grill. I bet most of you are already thinking of your favorite kind of meat to grill, but me, I'm thinking of vegetables. Don't get me wrong, I do grill meat (from lamb chops to sausages), but it's the vegetables I look forward to. Summer offers a rainbow of vibrant and delicious vegetables. I can pick tomatoes, bell peppers and eggplant from my garden, or buy some wonderful onions and squash from the Concho Valley Farmer's Market. Grilling adds a smoky depth to the vegetables, and brings out their inner sweetness.

Some people like to use special grill baskets or pans, which hold all the vegetables, but you don't have to. My mother-in-law often throws together a foil packet of seasoned sliced potatoes, onions and peppers and cooks them on the grill alongside the steaks.

I like to cook vegetables right on the grill where the fire can leave scorch marks and you can breathe in the mouthwatering aromas. You can thread vegetables on to a skewer to make a kebab, which is convenient and pretty. You can also place a wire cooling rack over the grill and lay your vegetables on that. Or you can simply cut the vegetables large enough so they don't fall through the grate or even grill them whole (this works wonderfully for peppers).

Whatever equipment you choose to use or don't, grilled vegetables are a colorful, flavorful and healthy addition to your summer meals. I always make extra so I can have leftovers. Chop them up and add them to your pasta sauce, soups and salads, or as a filling for your tortilla wrap.

So next time you grill burgers, add a few bell peppers or poblanos to the grill. Happy eating!

Rashda Khan is a San Angelo-based food enthusiast, writer and culinary instructor. She can be reached at rashda@rashdakhan.com or 325-656-2824. Or follow her @SpiceBites on Twitter for more kitchen adventures, cooking tips, and local food happenings. Her blog, Hot Curries & Cold Beer, is at: http://hotcurriesandcoldbeer.blogspot.com/

Spiced Grilled Corn

Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS

? stick unsalted butter, softened

1? teaspoons of your favorite seasoning (Cajun, curry powder, Italian blend, chili powder)

? teaspoon garlic powder

? teaspoon salt (some spice mixes are very high in salt, so check your seasoning before you add the salt)

4 ears of corn, cleaned (you may leave the stalks on to use as handles)

— Lemon, cut into quarters and served with the cooked corn.

Directions

1 Preheat grill to medium heat.

2 In a small bowl, combine the butter and spices (seasoning to salt) until well blended.

3 Brush about 1 tablespoon of the seasoned butter all over each ear of corn.

4 Grill over direct medium heat, turning occasionally, until tender and browned in spots. About 10 minutes.

5 Slather with remaining butter and serve warm. Let each diner squeeze lemon juice on their corn before eating.

Potato-Onion Foil Packets

Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS

4 large red potatoes, sliced

1 sweet Vidalia onion, sliced

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)

— Fresh rosemary or thyme (optional, for extra flavor)

2 tablespoons butter (or you can drizzle with olive oil)

Directions

1 Preheat grill to medium heat.

2 Cut enough heavy-duty foil to create two packets.

3 Spray some cooking oil on cooking side of the foil.

4 Layer half the potatoes and onions in the center of one foil sections, sprinkle with half the spices and seasoning (and herbs if using), and dot with butter.

5 Wrap into a flat square package and seal the edges. Make the second package the same way.

6 Place over indirect heat, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, turning the packages over at the mid point.

7 Careful when opening as there will be steam. You may want to use a sharp knife to cut slits in the foil to release heat. Serve warm.

Grilled Bell Pepper and Mushroom Salad

Serves: 4 to 6

INGREDIENTS

Marinade:

? cup extra virgin olive oil

4 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon dried thyme

— Salt and pepper to taste

Salad:

4 portobello mushrooms, 4 to 5 inches across

2 medium red bell peppers

2 yellow bell peppers

? cup chopped fresh Italian Parsley or basil

Directions

1 Preheat grill to medium heat.

2 In a small bowl, whisk together the marinade and set aside.

3 Remove and discard mushrooms stalk. Brush the mushrooms on both sides with a generous amount of marinade (reserve the rest). Let the mushrooms sit for about 30 minutes.

4 Place whole mushrooms and whole bell peppers over grill rack over direct heat. Cook 15 to 20 minutes (turning as needed), until mushrooms are tender and bell peppers have blackened and blistered skin.

5 Transfer the mushrooms to a plate. Place the peppers in a Ziplock plastic bag and set aside for 10 minutes.

6 Peel the skin from the peppers, discarding the stems and seeds, and cut them into 1-inch pieces.

7 Cut the mushrooms similarly.

8 In a medium bowl, toss together bell peppers, mushroom, reserved marinade and parsley. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 30 minutes to an hour at room temperature.

9 Optional you may serve this on a bed of mixed greens for a more leafy salad.

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Apples Receive Top Honors on 'Dirty Dozen' List

By Deirdre Imus

Published June 22, 2011

| FoxNews.com

The Environmental Working Group (EWG), a non-profit consumer advocacy group, recently released their annual “Dirty Dozen” list of pesticide-laden fruits and vegetables.?

This year, for the first time, apples ascend to the top of the list as the most chemically-contaminated produce.

Everyone understands that a healthy diet is one that includes plenty of fruits and vegetables. But some produce contains more pesticide residue than others and limiting that exposure is vitally important.

Using government data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the EWG tested more than 700 apples and found pesticides on 98 percent of those sampled. Even after washing, 92 percent of the apples tested had two or more pesticide residues detected. You can’t wash away pesticides in the fruit. The fruit’s structure has been compromised, so even if you peel an apple or wash it, the pesticides are in the cellular structure because they have been grown in a poison environment.

“We think what’s happening to apples is more pesticides and fungicides are being applied after the harvest so the fruit can have a longer shelf life,” Sonya Lunder, EWG senior analyst told USA Today.

In their 2011 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce, the EWG evaluated 53 fruits and vegetables and ranked them based on their pesticide residue. These are the fruits and vegetables you must buy organic because of their high levels of poison.

The Dirty Dozen
1. Apples
2. Celery
3. Strawberries
4. Peaches
5. Spinach
6. Nectarines (imported)
7. Grapes (imported)
8. Sweet bell peppers
9. Potatoes
10. Blueberries (domestic)
11. Lettuce
12. Kale/collard greens

(A complete list of all 53 fruits and vegetables tested is available at www.ewg.org/foodnews/list/ )
If you are routinely buying your family these conventionally-grown produce then you are probably putting a lot of pesticides on their plate.

For years there has been growing concerns about repeated exposures and the cumulative effect of poisonous pesticides – even in small amounts – and their impact on human health, especially the health of young children. Studies have suggested a possible association between pesticide exposure and numerous serious conditions including cancer, neurological problems and endocrine system disruption. A recent study published in the journal Pediatrics, researchers found even modest exposure to certain pesticides during pregnancy can influence an infant’s size and birth weight.

These are all good reasons for switching to organic fruits and vegetables.

Too often I hear people complain that organics are more expensive than conventionally-grown produce. Ok, how expensive is that supersized chemically flavored, genetically modified, popcorn and soda served up with the latest blockbuster? It is affordable, but you need to prioritize; make a grocery list and make sure fruits and vegetables are at the top of the list. Buy that organic apple versus a bag of chips.

We need to make our children’s health a priority. Parents who are concerned about protecting their children from potential health risks associated with harmful and unnecessary pesticide exposure should buy only organic produce and make it part of their daily diet.

Deirdre Imus is the Founder and President of The Deirdre Imus Environmental Health CenterTM at Hackensack University Medical Center and Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Imus Cattle Ranch for Kids with Cancer. Deirdre is the author of four books, including three national bestsellers. She is a frequent speaker on green living and children’s health issues, and is a contributor to FoxNewsHealth.com. For more information go to www.dienviro.com

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Fruit and vegetable consumption declines

Canadians ate fruits and vegetables fewer times last year for the first time since 2001, Statistics Canada said.

About 43 per cent of respondents aged 12 and older reported they consumed fruit and vegetables five or more times each day in 2010, down from 46 per cent in 2009, the agency reported Tuesday.

"It's the first time we've seen a dip since we've been collecting the data," said analyst Ed Rama.

The data didn't address why.

"As an aside, what we do know is that the Canadian Price Index, their price for the fruit and vegetable basket has increased two per cent from January 2010 to January 2011," said Rama.

"I can't say there's any causality there, any link, but it's an interesting fact that they seem to be moving in the opposite directions."

Women generally consumed fruits and vegetables more often than men, according to the report.

About half of women last year consumed produce five or more times a day compared with 36 per cent in men.

Young males aged 12 to 19 were an exception. Almost 48 per cent in that age group ate fruits and vegetables, while after age 20, men ate considerably less, said Rama.

"That could have an effect of basically young men still eating at home, as opposed to moving out on their own and having the [instant pasta] diet," he speculated.

The 2010 Canadian Community Health Survey also surveyed about 65,000 people across the country on more than 30 indicators, including obesity, blood pressure, stress, smoking and access to a family doctor.

Last year, the survey results suggested that the first time, more than half of the population was classified as overweight or obese based on the body mass index or BMI that uses height and weight calculations.

Since 2003, the trend towards higher weights has been rising for men and women but the trajectory is not skyrocketing, Rama said.

Self-reports of heights and weights tend to be underestimates.

For blood pressure or hypertension, Statistics Canada said 17 per cent of respondents aged 12 and over said they have been diagnosed with high blood pressure.

"For the first time since these data have been collected by the survey, men and women reported the same rate of hypertension," the report said.

"Prior to 2010, women were more likely than men to report that they had been diagnosed with high blood pressure."

In 2010, nearly one-quarter (24 per cent) of Canadians aged 15 or older reported that most days were extremely or quite stressful, up from 22 per cent in 2008.

Women were more likely to report stress, particularly in younger age groups. Overall, one-quarter of women reported that most days were quite or extremely stressful, compared with 22 per cent of males.

Daily stress rates were highest in the core working ages 35 to 54 with about 30 per cent reporting stress.

Last year, 6.0 million people, or 21 per cent of the population aged 12 or older said they smoked daily or occasionally.

Since people typically begin smoking during their teenage years, the percentage who had not started smoking by age 20 is an indicator of future smoking rates, the report said.

In 2010, 57 per cent of women aged 20 to 24 had never smoked, a considerable increase from 41 per cent in 2003. Among men in the same age group, 45 per cent had never smoked, also a considerable increase from 37 per cent in 2003.

About 4.4 million people, or 15 per cent of the population aged 12 and older, reported that they did not have a regular medical doctor in 2010.

Of the 4.4 million Canadians without a regular medical doctor last year, 82 per cent said they had a usual place to go when they needed medical care or health advice. Most of these, 62 per cent, reported using a walk-in clinic, while another 13 per cent visited a hospital emergency room.

Residents of Indian reserves, health care institutions, some remote areas and full-time members of the Canadian Forces were excluded from the survey.

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