A new audit conducted by City Comptroller John Liu reports New York City schools overspent more than $400,000 in food last year. Most of the overspending was traced back to markups as high as 890 percent for food items that include parsley, radishes, and scallions. The audit found that in one out of every five items purchased, the Department of Education overpaid by at least 50 percent of the item's wholesa ...

One strange facet of discussion of this summer's unprecedented series of E. coli outbreaks has concerned the U.S. government's byzantine web of regulations of the bacteria. The bottom line seemed to be that only one strain of E. coli, out of six that regularly sicken humans, is illegal. The area is so fraught that, in early July, the FDA provoked a minor media outburst when it seemed to be indicating that i ...

This summer's rash of E. coli outbreaks have not come at an opportune time for prevention. Mandatory future cuts in federal spending threaten to slash the budget for food safety inspection, leaving the food system vulnerable to more infection. With this in mind, some have called for more irradiation as a way to fend off E. Coli without spending as much on the USDA and FDA. But irradiation is generally unpop ...

Tupperware (plastic container with airtight lid) was invented by Earl Silas Tupper (1908-1983). Tupper was a New Hampshire tree surgeon and plastics innovator, who began experimenting with polyethylene, a new material used primarily for insulation, radar, and radio equipment. He patented the Tupperware seal in 1947. Tupper used "Tupperware Parties" to market the product, a unique way of marketing directly t ...

Brown-bagging has long been considered the quintessential method for school lunch since the days most parents roamed the halls themselves, but according to a new study published in the Journal of Pediatrics, how you go about packing it could make your child sick. According to the University of Texas, a whopping 99% of the 700 box lunches belonging to preschoolers contained foods that were kept at unsafe tem ...

It was a little embarrassing for food truckdom when Jack in the Box opened its own food truck this March. But at least the JATB truck tried to mask its corporate origins with a relatively gnarly Lisa Frank-inspired mural painted on its side. That truck, overall, had the effect of making Jack in the Box seem cooler, without much damaging the overall idea of food trucks. The same cannot, alas, be said of the ...

Toasting bread began as a method of prolonging the life of bread. It was very common activity in Roman times, 'tostum' is the latin word for scorching or burning. The first electric toaster was invented in 1893 in Great Britain by Crompton and Co (UK) and re-invented in 1909 in the United States. It only toasted one side of the bread at a time and it required a person to stand by and turn it off manually wh ...

Soft drinks can trace their history back to the mineral water found in natural springs. Bathing in natural springs has long been considered a healthy thing to do; and mineral water was said to have curative powers. Scientists soon discovered that gas carbonium or carbon dioxide was behind the bubbles in natural mineral water. The first marketed soft drinks (non-carbonated) appeared in the 17th century. They ...

The obesity epidemic is being fueled still further by a growing trend among kids to eat out and bring takeout food home, University of North Carolina researchers say. Such foods are high in sugar and calories, and their increasing popularity means youngsters are getting more calories than they need, the researchers noted. Since 1994, this trend has been growing rapidly and reflects the availability of fast ...

Never has there been a bucket of fried chicken, a slice of greasy pizza, or a juicy double cheeseburger that I wasn't happy to have appear on my plate. I love to eat, and I'm not shy about indulging my enthusiasm for food. As a first-time candidate for public office, I've quickly realized that just as so many other daily routines take on a life of their own in the context of trying to get elected, chowing d ...