Biology

3 Foods That Exist Because of Yeast and Mold

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Yeast and mold get a bad rap, which is understandable in most cases. If yeast and mold appear in foods where they don’t belong, it can be a sign of a problem in the manufacturing process, or it could simply mean that you left your strawberries in the fridge for too long. No matter the case, there are some food and beverage items that we would not have without the aid of yeasts and molds.

These groups of organisms deserve our thanks for providing us with the following three foods: Continue Reading

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Chemistry

5 Fun Facts About Veterinary Drugs #FridayFunFacts

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The use of veterinary drugs in the food industry is a hot topic with both consumers and regulatory agencies. The public is becoming increasingly concerned with the routine use of antibiotics, hormones, beta agonists and many more compounds in food production due to the potential effects on human health. Foods that are most commonly affected by these drugs are foods that most of us eat on a weekly basis and include: meat, milk and eggs. Check out our “fun” facts below to learn more about veterinary drugs and the food industry. Continue Reading

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Food Safety

3 Food Safety Tips for the Holiday Season

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The holidays bring a month full of family, friends, gifts and food. While you’re making wonderful memories this year, remember that food safety plays a critical role in the holiday fun. Keep your loved ones healthy by implementing safe food handling at your celebration. Reduce the occurrence of inadvertent foodborne illness with these three easy-to-follow food safety tips: Continue Reading

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Nutrition

New to the Nutrition Label: What Are Added Sugars?

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How sweet is it? Beginning July 26, 2018, the true nature of your products’ sugar content will be on display with the new mandatory Added Sugars line on the Nutrition Facts Label. But how do you know what is considered an added sugar? To answer that question, we need to delve into the new Food and Drug Administration (FDA) nutrition labeling requirements.

On July 26, 2016, the FDA released new nutrition labeling regulations, which includes an overhaul of the required Nutrition Facts Label. The new regulations go into effect in July 2018 for large food manufacturers, and July 2019 for food manufacturers with less that $10 million in annual food sales. One of the most notable differences on the new label is the Added Sugars line. This new addition will be located directly beneath the Total Sugars line, which will replace the Sugars line on the old label. Continue Reading

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GMOs

A Beginner’s Guide to GMOs

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Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) claims are being spotted more frequently on food labels as the debate over the health of GMO ingredients heats up. Many food manufacturers are trying to get ahead of the regulations by either disclosing the use of GMOs in their products or getting products certified as “Non-GMO.”

Many consumers don’t realize how long GMO foods have been on the market. The first commercially available GMO food made available on the market was a tomato in the 1990s! The rise of GMO foods brought a parallel demand for disclosure on food labels. Continue Reading

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GMOs

Are You Up-To-Date on Glyphosate?

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In case you haven’t noticed, consumer demand for transparency in food production has been the at the center of the news in the past few months. Most recently, you may have been hearing a lot about the herbicide glyphosate due to its presence in a number of oat and honey products.

According to the National Pesticide Information Center, glyphosate has been in use since 1974 and is now one of the most widely used herbicides in the United States. It kills weeds by destroying proteins essential to their growth.  Continue Reading

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