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PREVIEW: SPECIAL FEATURE: MARKETWATCH: Winter Fancy Food Show Seafood Hot Sauces SEE PAGE 17 SEE PAGE 26 SEE PAGE 28 & 29 GOURMET NEWS ® T H E B U S I N E S S VOLUME 79, NUMBER 1 JANUARY 2014 n $7.00 GENERAL NEWS n Technomic Predicts Top Food Trends for 2014 PAGE 4 TRADE SHOW BUZZ n First Winter Edition of NY NOW Debuts in February PAGE 10 SUPPLIER BUSINESS n Gordy's Pickle Jar Packs the Flavors of the Season into Every Jar PAGE 13 RETAILER NEWS n Foodies Losing Themselves and Loving It at Cincinnati's Jungle Jim's International Market PAGE 14 SPECIALTY DISTRIBUTORS & BROKERS n US Foods Launches New Mobile App to Keep Kitchens Cooking Anytime, Anyplace PAGE 16 News..............................................4 Ad Index .......................................30 Smorgasbord................................30 www.gourmetnews.com N E W S P A P E R F O R T H E G O U R M E T I N D U S T R Y Food Industry Reacts as FDA Proposes Banning Celebrate Taste and Terroir with Trans Fats in Foods Made and Sold in U.S. BY LUCAS WITMAN On November 8, the Food and Drug Administration issued a Federal Register notice announcing that it has tentatively determined that partially hydrogenated oils or trans fats are not generally recognized as safe for use in any food. If this determination is finalized, U.S. food companies will no longer be allowed to manufacture or sell in the United States any foods that contain PHOs. The FDA is currently soliciting comments from the food industry and the general public in order to learn more about how this action may deleteriously impact food companies and how the transition to ban PHOs can be most smoothly achieved. PHOs are a category of artificially created fats that are commonly found in many processed foods, including donuts, cookies, microwave popcorn, frozen pizzas, coffee creamers and refrigerated dough products. Although a common food ingredient for decades, recent studies link PHOs to elevated LDL (commonly referred to as "bad") cholesterol levels and a corresponding increased risk of heart disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control, eliminating PHOs from the U.S. food supply could potentially prevent 20,000 heart attacks per year and 7,000 deaths from heart disease. This is not the first time that the FDA has stepped in to regulate PHOs in foods produced and sold in the United States. The agency first proposed in 1999 that food companies be required to label the amount of trans fats in their products. This requirement officially went into effect in 2006. The move to declare these substances not GRAS represents a major evolution in the FDA's approach to PHOs, however, as it would require all food On November 5, voters in Washington narrowly rejected initiative 522, a bill that that would have required all food containing genetically modified organisms to be labeled as such. Nearly 55 percent of voters came out against the bill, after a contentious, highly charged buildup to Election Day. In fact, the initiative was the most expensive one in Washington state his- tory. The "No on 522" campaign raised $22 million in donations, almost entirely from out-of-state interests. If initiative 522 had passed, Washington would have become the first state in the country to require food companies to label all GMOs present in their products. Washington was not the first state to consider, but ultimately fail to pass a GMO labeling bill. In 2012, voters in California were BY LORRIE BAUMANN subjected to a similarly contentious battle over the issue, ultimately deciding by a razor thin 51.4 to 48.6 percent margin against Proposition 37. Like Washington's initiative 522, if Prop 37 had passed, it would have required food companies to label GMO ingredients in all foods sold in the state. In June 2013, a similar bill While cable television has been working hard for years to convince consumers that all the really great meals come from culinary school-trained chefs, many purveyors of top-quality meats say that what might help the home cook most is finding a trustworthy market with a meat department manager who knows his or her business and respects the products in the meat case. "You need to find a brand of beef that you like," says Bill Reed, the CEO of Estancia Beef, which produces beef in Uruguay and imports it into the U.S. market "Find a butcher who sells you quality beef." Clint Smithlin, the Meat Manager/Buyer at the Berkeley Bowl Marketplace in Berkeley, Calif. sells a ton of grass-fed beef, including Estancia Beef, and about 1,800 pounds of grain-fed beef each week at his company's two stores. He says that the influence of Michael Pollan's writing about food and the information available to consumers on the Internet in addition to current high prices for meats are collectively fueling consumer interest in grass-fed beef. "There's a huge amount of Continued on PAGE 8 Continued on PAGE 10 Continued on PAGE 8 Washington Voters Reject GMO Labeling Bill; Other States Mull Similar Legislation BY LUCAS WITMAN Grass-Fed Beef USDA Announces 10-Point Action Strategy for Tackling Salmonella According to the Centers for Disease Control, each year 48 million Americans are sickened by food poisoning. Approximately 1.3 million of these illnesses are related to salmonella, a pathogenic bacteria that causes diarrhea, fever, vomiting and intestinal cramps. The U.S. Department of Agriculture wants to lower the incidence of salmonella poisoning in the United States, and it recently released its 10-point Salmonella Action Plan, detailing how it intends to do so. "Far too many Americans are sickened by salmonella every year. The aggressive and comprehensive steps detailed in the Sal- monella Action Plan will protect consumers by making meat and poultry products safer." said Under Secretary for Food Safety Elisabeth Hagen in a press release announcing the plan. The top priority outlined in the USDA plan is the modernization of the outdated current inspection system for poultry slaughtering facilities. The department believes that by better equipping food safety inspectors to focus on food safety, at least 5,000 cases of salmonella could be avoided each year. The USDA also plans to enhance salmonella sampling and testing programs and to promote the sci- entific study of emerging trends in foodborne illness. The department will focus on improving industry outreach, educating those within the meat and poultry business about what they can do to reduce their risk of spreading salmonella. The USDA's Salmonella Action Plan represents a significant step in the department's ongoing efforts to reduce salmonella infections in the United States. In 2011, the department announced its intention to increase the standards it imposes on the poultry industry, in an effort to reduce incidences of salmonella infection by 20,000 per year. The department estimates that the salmonella rate among young chickens has dropped by 75 percent since 2006. Still, despite its efforts to tackle the nation's salmonella problems, some critics argue that the department is simply not doing enough to end the proliferation of the bacteria. Concern is growing in particular about the increase in antibiotic-resistant salmonella, the result of poultry farmers using drugs to curb the incidence of the bacteria within their flocks. Critics argue that the USDA's current plan to end salmonella poisonings does nothing to address this specific concern.

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