We all have different criteria for what we consider risky. However, numerous studies have suggested that we tend to perceive familiar products and activities as being less risky and hazardous than unfamiliar ones. If something is familiar, the thinking goes, it is comfortable and safe. But how do we know if something is familiar? We often rely on a simple shortcut: If it is easy to perceive, remember or pronounce, we have probably seen it before. If so, will a product’s name and how easy it is to pronounce, affect …

DEAR DR. BLONZ: Please explain why roasted whole peanuts and peanut butter are being recalled. I had thought that these would be safe and that only raw peanut products were dangerous. — I.D., Piscataway, N.J.
DEAR I.D.: Assuming it is done correctly, any salmonella contamination of a peanut should be completely eliminated during the roasting process, whether it s an oil roast or a dry roast. Oil roasting and dry (oven) roasting take place at temperatures well above the temperature needed to destroy this organism. It has to be done right, …

Until this week, I had never eaten my fill of whitefish salad. At a deli or bagel shop you get a little dish or tub with, what? maybe half or three-quarters of a cup of the stuff? Even if I don’t have to split that with anybody, by the time it’s gone, I’m just getting warmed up.
Costco (450 10th St) to the rescue: the other day, I spotted this two-pound tub of Blue Hill Bay whitefish salad ($7.99). The Parve stamp and Brooklyn address seemed promising, as did the ingredient …

Sorbic acid is a natural, organic preservative frequently used to maintain the freshness of a variety of human foods, drugs, and cosmetic products. Potassium sorbate and sorbic acid possess antifungal, and to a lesser extent antibacterial, properties.
Sorbic acid reacts with other chemical compounds to make what are known as derivatives. Such derivatives include calcium sorbate, potassium sorbate, and sodium sorbate.
Sorbic acid was first made by the hydrolysis of oil distilled from unripe mountain-ash berries in 1859. In 1900, the first synthesis or sorbic acid was performed by Doebner. Sorbic acid …

All of those people who you have likely called “health nut” because of their organic activism actually do have valid arguments. Organic food is better for you and it is not just a gimmick or ploy by the farmers and retail food chains to siphon more money out of your grocery budget. A number of studies have been conducted that claim there is no nutritional difference between organic food and non-organic food but they do not necessarily take into account how the food is harvested or whether pesticides or food …

SEOUL, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) — South Korean government said on Tuesday that it found melamine in food additive made in Spain and ordered to ban sales of 12 snacks and drinks.
According to the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA), 8.4-21.9 parts per million of the chemical melamine was found in an iron-fortifying product made in Spain by a German company.
It said 5,400 kg of the additive made by Chemische Fabrik Budenheim KG was imported by a local importer and sold …

BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) — Chinese health chiefs pledged Tuesday to harshly punish those caught in the production, sale and use of illegal additives in food in a nationwide campaign, which has already led to the arrests of four people.
At a video conference briefing on the initial stage of the four-month campaign, Vice Health Minister Chen Xiaohong said, “Some lawless people are still using high technologies to develop food counterfeiting techniques to challenge the supervision capability of law enforcement departments.”
Underground …

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese dairy products, flour, meat and other foods remain dangerously tainted with illegal additives despite a crackdown, the country’s health ministry said Tuesday.
Vice Minister of Health, Chen Xiaohong, told a video conference for officials some food and liquor makers continued to use banned additives, and high-tech lawbreakers were “challenging the oversight and administration capacities of law enforcement agencies,” the Xinhua news agency reported.
“Some food businesses still lack a grasp of the harmfulness and severity of illegal additives,” Chen said. “Their commitment to correcting this is not high.”
China’s …

A reported 70 people became ill in China after consuming pork products tainted with an illegal animal feed additive.
They were treated for stomach ache and diarrhoea in Guangdong province, while three people remain in hospital, reports have stated.
The tainted pig organs was found to have the steroid clenbuterol, which is used to prevent animals from gaining fat.
Contaminated pigs
According to officials in the southern province of China, three people have been held due to suspicion of involvement in raising and selling the contaminated pigs.
Banned additive
The steroid Clenbuterol is banned as a …

Scientists have produced acrylamide for decades — but the compound has only attracted widespread attention in the last decade.
To the vast majority of Canadians, acrylamide meant nothing, until Swedish researchers found in 2002 that certain foods contained the compound, which has been shown to cause cancer in animals.
Acrylamide was first synthesized in 1949 and used as a chemical intermediate in the manufacture of some plastics — including some food packaging.
Small amounts of acrylamide are also used in the synthesis of dyes, ore processing, adhesives, paper and textile coatings, permanent press …