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Gourmet News April 2014

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BY LORRIE BAUMANN Food allergy is a growing public health concern in the United States. Food allergies are respon- sible for 100 to 200 deaths a year in the United States, and many studies have found that the prevalence of food allergies is on the rise for both children and adults over the past 10 to 20 years, although the reasons for this are not clear. Food allergies affect 15 million Americans, including 1 in 13 children, roughly two in every classroom. Nearly 40 percent of children with food allergies have experienced a severe or life- threatening reaction, such as ana- On January 29, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a Farm Bill that had been under consid- eration for the past two years. The Senate quickly followed suit and passed the bill itself on Feb- ruary 4. The newly passed Agri- cultural Act of 2014 is a five-year bill designed to reform agricul- tural policy, reduce the deficit and grow the economy. "The work of the Agriculture Committee, including reautho- rizing the Farm Bill, affects every American, ensuring that our farmers and ranchers have the tools they need to produce an abundant and affordable food Consumers Wait to See How Farm Bill Will Change the Way They Eat Continued on PAGE 6 UPDATE: Spring Cheese Review SEE PAGE 15 SPECIAL FEATURE: Summer Entertaining SEE PAGE 18 HOT PRODUCTS: SEE PAGE 24 Continued on PAGE 8 Continued on PAGE 4 and fiber supply is as important to our country as national de- fense," stated Rep. Frank Lucas, Chairman of the House Commit- tee on Agriculture. In addition to its myriad im- pacts on U.S. agriculture, ex- perts predict that the Farm Bill could significantly affect the way many American consumers shop for food. Perhaps the most hotly de- bated impact of the Farm Bill on American consumers is that which will be felt by those who are part of the federal govern- ment's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The bill in- cludes an $8.6 billion cut to food stamps over the next decade. Hunger awareness advocates argue that the bill is likely to have a negative impact on 1.7 million people in 850,000 house- holds who could get as much as $90 less each week in benefits. Not everything about the Farm Bill spells doom for U.S. con- sumers, however, as the bill pro- vides important subsidies to those who grow corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton and rice. These subsidies help keep farmers' costs down, and thus keep prices low for U.S. consumers. In fact, not only are prices for things like soybean oil and bread kept low by subsidies, but meat prices are kept in check as well, as the cost of the corn fed to livestock is also subsidized. In addition, those who shop at farmer's markets also have a rea- son to look kindly on the new Farm Bill, as it creates a new na- tional program enabling con- sumers to double their SNAP benefits when shopping at these markets. For those who have been critical of the SNAP program for making it easy for low income people to eat unhealthy diets, this program will potentially help thousands of consumers stock up on healthier ingredients. Americans Travel to the U.K. One Cheese at a Time Specialty Food Companies Step up to the Plate as Food Allergies on the Rise among U.S. Consumers phylaxis, which is a severe, poten- tially fatal allergic reaction. Many Americans really do not understand that food allergies are a serious, life-threatening issue for many people, especially chil- dren. This is according to Debbi Beauvais, a registered dietician and the District Supervisor of School Nutrition for schools in Rochester, N.Y. Beauvais spends a great deal of her time training the foodservice workers in her school district on how to prevent allergic reactions among students and how to recognize and respond to them if they occur. "When I talk to people about allergies in gen- eral, there's a misperception of the definition of an allergy," she says. "There are allergies, intolerances and people who say they have an allergy when they mean they don't like the food." "A lot of people don't realize that a food allergy can cause a se- vere medical event," Beauvais con- tinues. "It's not as simple as that they just don't like that food." According to Food Allergy Re- search and Education, a nonprofit organization that works on behalf of the 15 million Americans with food allergies, a food allergy is a reaction of the body's immune system to a protein in a food. BY LORRIE BAUMANN Debra Bloom's Safe Snack Guide is an important resource that schools and parents around the country use to screen the snack foods brought into their class- rooms and offered to their chil- dren. Specialty foods company Enjoy Life is one of the manufac- turers with products on Bloom's list of safe snacks. "One of the things we look for at Enjoy Life is how we can bring Enjoy Life Foods Serves Diverse Customer Base with Allergy-Friendly, Gluten-Free Products the celebration back into every- one's life," says Joel Warady, Enjoy Life's Chief Sales and Mar- keting Officer. "The way we do that is that all our products, everything we produce, in addi- tion to being gluten-free, is free of the top eight allergens: eggs, dairy, wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish. That covers about 90 percent of all food allergies in children today." Enjoy Life was started 12 years ago by Scott Mandrell, who is still its CEO today, as a manufacturer of gluten-free products. "He started thinking about how to make the gluten-free products even more unique, and that's when the idea of making allergy- friendly foods came about," Warady says. Today, Enjoy Life has eight different product lines, all BY LUCAS WITMAN From the royal wedding to the London Olympics and from Harry Potter to Downton Abbey, British culture has never been more popular in the United States than it is today. Americans seem positively poised to pounce on any book, movie, television show or event emblazoned with the Union Jack or featuring iconic Briticisms. Once much maligned on this side of the Atlantic, British foods have not escaped the U.K. invasion, including what has perhaps become the most sought after British food staple in the United States: cheese. Today, shoppers at any artisan cheese shop in the United States or even any grocery store specialty cheese case can choose among a wide variety of British offerings. When it comes to bringing British cheeses to the U.S. market, companies in the United Kingdom must navigate several particular challenges. Perhaps the biggest technical challenge British cheese producers face in exporting their products to this country specifi- cally concerns those who produce organic cheeses. The U.S. and U.K. governments have different regu- lations in place concerning the use VOLUME 79, NUMBER 4 APRIL 2014 n $7.00 TRADE SHOW BUZZ n Native Food Sovereignty Summit Brings Communities Together in Pursuit of a Common Goal PAGE 4 GIFTWARE n Galleria Gourmet Dips and Seasonings PAGE 9 SUPPLIER BUSINESS n Coach Farm Building a Legacy of Outstanding Handcrafted American Goat Milk Products PAGE 11 RETAILER NEWS n Benz's Gourmet: Adding Flavor to Tradition PAGE 12 SPECIALTY DISTRIBUTORS & BROKERS n KeHE's Summer Selling and Product Innovation Show Reveals What to Expect This Summer PAGE 14 News ..............................................2 Ad Index .......................................27 Smorgasbord ................................27 www.gourmetnews.com G OURMET N EWS T H E B U S I N E S S 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 ®

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