Thursday, October 13, 2011

Mislabeling saga is not over yet

Chickpeas in ajvar filmjölk sauce with roasted parsnips and carrots
Food Diary (October 13, 2011)
Breakfast: Rolled oats with coconut, raisins, sunflower seeds and flax seeds
Lunch: Chickpeas in ajvar filmjölk sauce with roasted parsnips and carrots
Dinner: Chicken on skewers, crostini’s etc, muesli
Baking/sweets:

Ajvar and filmjölk (cultured milk) worked really well together. This reminded me of some Indian dishes that combine yogurt, tomato puree and spices. I need to remember this combination since its too delicious to forget. Other than chickpeas it would work really well with chicken, fish and certain vegetables.

Today's Favourite Photo
Rhubarb Swirl Brunch Cake



Today’s Favourite Blog
Source: Huffington Post
On Tuesday I summarized an article on the alleged mislabeling of pork by Walmart in China. I mentioned that there could be other issues and interestingly enough Huffington Post has an article today titled “Walmart China Closures May Be Motivated More By Politics Than 'Green Pork’”. Maybe the truth will start to come out, or maybe it won’t. I think we have enough information to draw our own conclusions.

Even more interesting, Huffington has two more articles on food mislabeling, and these incidents of mislabeling are actual. In one instance almost a half-ton of turkey filets were mislabeled as "Bacon-Wrapped Steak". Turkey filets would look quite different from bacon wrapped steak but I guess manufacturers are not willing to accept liability if a customer does not notice the difference and buys it anyway.

In another case, Kroger is recalling ice cream because it may contain peanuts not mentioned on the label. I’ve seen many labels that say ‘may contain traces of nuts’ even though the product may not be related to nuts. Manufacturers write this just to be on the safe side. I also saw a bag of peanuts which was labeled ‘may contain traces of nuts’. Hopefully it contained more than just traces. 

So the first issue of Walmart allegedly mislabeling could be a political issue. We will probably never know whether pork was actually mislabeled or not. The other two cases are actual and these occurred in the US. These are reported cases, many go unnoticed. Perhaps for customers a solution is to have an open mind when it comes to eating!

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12 comments:

  1. Oh your lunch of Chickpeas in ajvar filmjölk sauce with roasted parsnips and carrots looks yummy. Ha ha I have seen peanut products with the peanut warning too.

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  2. That's disturbing about the mislabeling. Yeesh.

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  3. Now that's a good lunch. Was the ajvar homemade (inspired by some crazy kl blogger) ?
    Haha! Peanuts labeling ... you'll never know these days. So many fake foods around. Take the Chinese vegetarian restaurants ... they make fake pork, fake fish, fake all kinds of non vegetarian foods out of gluten and what-else-I-know-not. And the good ones really taste like the real things. (I think they have missed the whole concept of being a vegetarian entirely). Those peanuts could have been fake too!
    Those mislabelings must be a nightmare to people with serious allergies.

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  4. Filmjölk is pretty much the best word ever. I may have to call my second born child that, if I ever have children.

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  5. Cheap Ethnic Eatz: thank you, it was yummy!

    Yummychunklet: it is, hopefully this is not a regular occurrence

    ping: unfortunately the ajvar wasn’t homemade – the jar of factory made ajvar is almost over. Will make it this weekend I hope. I always wondered about vegetarian restaurants making their food look like fish/meat and also using the word fish or meat to describe the dish. If someone wanted to eat fish/meat they would eat the real thing rather than something that looks and sounds like it! And vegetarians probably don’t want to eat something that looks and sounds like meat.

    Hannah: and if you ever have more than one.

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  6. The ice-cream case reminds me of the completely stupid law which forces plastic bags' producers to put a warning saying children can choke on the bag or something like that...
    Your ajvar and cultured milk combination must taste great: it reminds me of my staple, e.i. a mixture of gochujang (Korean chili paste) and sour milk. It's a pure delight!

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  7. Look at that sauce with those chickpeas! WOw! I can only imagine how flavorful that is. I need to try it as we are now obsessed with chickpeas in this house

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  8. I'm trying to figure out what I want to eat for breakfast today and the rolled oats you had sound fabulous!

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  9. It's hillarious that you found a bag of peanuts labeling "may contain traces of nuts". The bottom line we can't trust anything, but at the same time we can't buy anything if we start doubting.... I haven't seen Rhubarb recipe for a while after it was in season. It looks delicious.

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  10. Love roasted carrots and parsnip and have recently become adcted to chickpeas in tomato sauce. Ajvar sounds great too!

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  11. Sissi: and some children are too young to read, while parent should know the warning already:) Gochujang and sour milk sounds good, its sort of similar to ajvar/filmjölk. It is certainly pure delight

    Kitchen Belleicious: I am sure you will love it

    Joanne: it is fab, one of my favourite combinations

    Sook: it does!

    Nami: exactly, so we should accept some risks and expect to eat things we did not expect

    Martyna: seems chickpeas are getting more and more popoular

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