PESCADERO — Veggie stir-fry, Caesar salad, and homemade tuna casserole sound more like restaurant fare than the daily lunch selection for students at one of the most under-resourced school districts in San Mateo County.
Getting homemade fresh, organic, locally sourced food onto the plates of students in the La Honda-Pescadero Unified School District despite budget constraints — and getting kids to like it — was the challenge faced by nutrition expert Kathy Webster, who has revamped the entire lunch menu in two years at no cost to the school district. The …

PORTLAND, Ore. — ConAgra Foods Inc. reports earnings for its fiscal first quarter on Tuesday before the market opens. The following is a summary of key developments and analyst opinion related to the period.
OVERVIEW: ConAgra Foods ( CAG – news – people ), like many food companies, has seen the benefit of consumers eating at home more often and lower commodity prices for food ingredients.
Omaha, Neb.-based ConAgra, which produces brands like Banquet, Chef Boyardee and Hebrew National, has seen its consumer food business hold strong during the recession because of …

Canadians consider obesity to be a serious health threat but many middle- and lower-income families are limited when it comes to providing healthy meals for their children, according to Bensimon Byrne’s latest “Consumerology Report,” released yesterday.
The national survey, conducted by Gandalf Group on behalf of the Toronto-based agency, revealed that high food costs are preventing Canadians from eating healthily.
According to the report, 55% of Canadian families cite cost as the largest barrier to healthy eating, followed by insufficient willpower, availability of healthy foods, lack of time and inconvenience.
“Consumerology this quarter …

GENEVA — Aldermen have given tentative approval to a break in fees and property taxes for a food research and development facility to locate in the business park on the far east side.
The City Council, acting as a Committee of the Whole, this week approved the incentive for Roquette America Inc., a U.S. unit of Roquette Freres, headquartered in Lestrem, France. The company develops food additives.
The incentive will include a 50 percent rebate of the city’s building and fire review fees and a 10-year abatement of the city’s portion of …

LONDON –
As living standards improve and lifestyle paces quicken, our eating habits and preferences shift markedly toward time-saving products. The resultant high demand for prepared foodstuffs and convenience foods requiring better protection from oxidation bolsters the use of antioxidants. Nevertheless, growing industry costs continue to bog down the antioxidants market in Europe.
(Logo: www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081117/FSLOGO)
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (www.food.frost.com), EU Food and Feed Shelf-life Extension Antioxidants Market, finds that the market earned revenues of over $257.6 million in 2008 and estimates this to reach $348.6 million in 2015. The study …

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the 2001 filing notice for a food-additive petition filed by the National Fisheries Institute, to provide for the safe use of ionizing radiation for control of foodborne pathogens in crustaceans and processed crustaceans.
FDA received a letter from the National Fisheries Institute on July 16, 2009, asking it to modify the scope of the petition so that breading and batter are not included. FDA determined that this action does not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment; therefore, …

Smart is the new cool thing. There’s a smart car, cities now tout smart growth, and you can buy a smart refrigerator. Now comes another breakthrough: Even your breakfast cereal has gotten smart.
At least that’s what we consumers are being told by a group of major food corporations that are hoping to cash-in on the growing public concern about nutrition. Your concern is their concern, they say, so these eager-to-serve marketers have launched a snappy food labeling campaign to guide your nutritional choices. They’ve designated hundreds of their food products …

One of America’s favorite foods has gone probiotic and may actually help your gut rather than give you heartburn. Move over yogurt, probiotic pizza has already made its debut and could be widely available in the near future alongside other functional foods.
Functional foods are those that contain ingredients that aid specific bodily functions, in addition to being nutritious. The functional food and beverage market has been growing in recent years as consumers become more concerned about their health. According to the market research publisher Packaged Facts in its new report, …

16, Ta Kung Pao, according to Xinhua News Agency reporter learned from the Shanghai Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau was informed that so far, 34 countries prohibit the entry from the Chinese moon cakes, delivery concerns and some other countries of the delivery concerns cakes increasingly stringent entry requirements.
 
 34 countries ban Chinese moon cakes
 
 Prohibition of entry into moon cakes from China delivery concerns 34 countries are: India, Indonesia, Germany, Denmark, France, Brazil, Qatar, Hungary, Spain, Belgium, Russia, Congo, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay, Czech Republic, the Philippines, Estonia, Singapore, Switzerland , Myanmar, …

Soft drinks and other beverages loaded with sugar should be taxed as a public health hazard, much as cigarettes are, a group of prominent medical researchers says.
Since extensive evidence ties sugary drinks to an epidemic of obesity and related health problems, such as heart disease and diabetes, they should be taxed to curb consumption and help pay for increasing healthcare costs, said David S. Ludwig, MD, PhD, of Children’s Hospital Boston.
Ludwig is one of the authors of the sugar tax proposal, published online today in the New England Journal of …