Archives - November 2008
CHINA'S food supply appears to be awash in the industrial chemical melamine. Dangerous levels have been detected not only in milk and eggs, but also in chicken feed and wheat gluten, meaning that melamine is almost impossible to avoid
in processed foods. Melamine in baby formula has killed at least four infants in China and sickened tens of thousands more.
(Full Article) Posted: 11-28-08
The University of New Hampshire has launched a EcoGastronomy program that takes students to the field, the kitchen, the lab and Italy to study the complexities of sustainable food systems.
The EcoGastronomy dual major is the first such program at any U.S. university, a learning experience that links the fields of sustainable agriculture, hospitality and nutrition.
(Full Article) Posted: 11-19-08
GE is asking for federal approval to use, in the U.S., a type of refrigerant that has low global warming potential and is widely used in Europe and Asia.
The company has filed a petition with the Environmental Protection Agency to allow it to use isobutane, a hydrocarbon, in household refrigerators. Hydrocarbons like propane and butane have been used in fridges elsewhere in the world for
years as replacements for HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons) and HCFCs (hydrochlorofluorocarbons).
(Full Article) Posted: 11-18-08
Manitowoc Foodservice is developing a new carbon dioxide (CO2) based beverage system with the Multiplex brand.
CO2-based Multiplex beverage systems will offer beverage dispensing and energy savings performance comparable to existing units with the added benefit of using no HFC-based (hydrofluorocarbon) refrigerants. By replacing HFC-based
refrigerants with naturally occurring carbon dioxide, the units reduce the environmental impact of the beverage systems by using a natural refrigerant that has zero direct global warming potential and zero ozone depletion potential. It also
eliminates the need for special handling and capture of ozone-depleting or global-warming refrigerants.
(Full Article) Posted: 11-18-08
Nearly every night at Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio, four 30-gallon bins brimming with pre-consumer, vegetarian food waste, such as melon rinds and vegetable trimmings, bypass the dumpster and head instead to two
local hog farms where they become meals for hungry pigs.
(Full Article) Posted: 11-13-08
A new concept is entering the consumer lexicon: the carbon footprint.
First came organic. Then came fair trade. Now makers of everything from milk to jackets to cars are starting to tally up the carbon footprints of their products. That's the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that
get coughed into the air when the goods are made, shipped and stored, and then used by consumers.
(Full Article) Posted: 11-4-08
Ask any designer about the top "trends" in foodservice design and the words "sustainability" and "green" almost always come up today. For the purpose of this feature article we asked a group of five industry designers to go
beyond the standard green rhetoric when discussing emerging design trends and received some refreshingly new ideas taking shape in the last year.
(Full Article) Posted: 11-4-08