Today’s post is on Halal and Haram food. If you are unfamiliar with the terms, Halal translates to “permissible” or “lawful” from Arabic and is used by Muslims to denote items and practices, particularly food, that are allowed. Haram is the opposite and denotes items, practices or food that are prohibited or unlawful to Muslims. You…
Hello and Happy New Year! I took a short hiatus from writing posts towards the end of last year due to my schedule, but I’m back for 2020. I’ll be posting monthly in an effort to provide thoughtful and thoroughly researched information. If you have requests, send em my way! Now, onto today’s topic. You…
Today’s post is on palm oil. I decided on the topic while I was snacking on a bag of plantain chips (pictured below) at my desk. I flipped it over to read the ingredients and was surprised to find palm oil on the list. I’ve definitely heard about it in regards to the environment and…
I’ve written posts on alcohol labels, wine grapes, and sparkling wine. Now it’s time for another beverage, craft beer. I’m guessing you’ve heard the term, considering the number of breweries in the U.S. has skyrocketed to 7,450 last year from 1,574 just a decade ago. But, wait. What’s the difference between regular beer and craft…
A few weeks ago, industry professionals gathered together in LA for the Western Foodservice & Hospitality Expo, Healthy Food Expo West, and Coffee Fest. I was lucky enough to attend and see some of the exciting new things at play in the food and beverage industry. Technology was definitely a big theme. When isn’t it?…
I came up with the topic of this post after looking at this picture from a bag of food. It’s proudly proclaiming to be a local business owned and operated out of California. Any guesses where it’s from? That’s right…McDonald’s. Yes, I indulge every once in a while, even though I write about food and…
I wrote a basic post about milk a few months ago. Today I’d like to expand on the category and write about Organic milk. I’ll go into its regulations, labeling, and nutrition. Like most other Organic products sold in the United States, Organic milk is regulated by the USDA. Because milk comes from livestock, it’s…
Today I’d like to go over some common label claims and dive into what they mean (or don’t mean). All of these I’ve seen on products while grocery shopping. There are so many claims, and they are ever-changing, so this will not be the last post on the topic. If you have questions about something…
This post is another introduction into regulations. As you probably know, the USDA has many departments and functions. What I’ll be covering today is the arm known as the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) and their task of developing, maintaining, implementing, and verifying grade standards. Why do these exist? Primarily because industrial and large-volume buyers use…
This week is another fun post covering sparkling wine and bubbles. If you drink alcohol, I’m sure you’ve had some type of sparkling wine to celebrate a wedding, birthday, New Year, or other special occasion. You may have noticed that the bubbles have a different texture in different wines. This post will be a little…