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Yesterday, I attended the first-ever Atlantic Food Summit, a series of panel discussions convened by the Atlantic magazine and hosted by the Newseum in D.C. Those of you who follow me on Twitter already heard some tidbits, but here’s a more complete summary.

There were three main themes, each with its own set of panelists: Food safety, food security/hunger, and “the way we eat” (consumer behavior; nutrition and obesity issues). That’s too much for one blog post, obviously, so I’ll take one at a time.

Everyone who touches food has a stake in its safety. Image courtesy Flickr user saschaaa

As I’ve written before, food safety is a complicated issue, but not necessarily a controversial one—everyone wants it. Consumers don’t want pathogens in their food; and neither do the farmers, corporations, retailers and restaurants that grow and sell that food. Yet there are some 76 million cases of food-related illness in the United States each year, racking up, according to one recent study, an estimated $152 billion in health-care costs, and killing at least 5,000 people. Outbreaks of food poisoning hit the headlines so often that in our online poll last October, nearly 90 percent of you said you worry about food safety.

Is there any good news?

Well, according to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, “big change is possible” right now, as consumers and industry have begun to agree on reforms, and the Obama administration has made the issue a priority. She hopes to soon see the first significant update to the country’s food safety laws since the 1930s. The Food Safety Enhancement Act was passed by the House last summer, and a similar bill is now on the Senate’s plate, though it seems to have been pushed aside by the health care reform debate.

Among other things, this legislation would give the FDA the power to order mandatory recalls of contaminated products—a power that many people assume the agency already has, when in fact the agency can only request that companies issue such recalls voluntarily.

And then, of course, there’s the issue of funding. Monitoring and enforcing safety has become increasingly expensive as the food system has grown more globalized, and government inspectors can’t afford to be everywhere at once. Hamburg was blunt about this, ending her optimistic speech with a caveat: “In order to do this, we will need adequate resources. And it’s a sad truth that over the years, we have not had those.”

The money problem could be eased in part by a provision in the new legislation allowing the FDA to charge a $500 annual registration fee to each food facility under its purview. As the Atlantic’s Sara Rubin noted in her own summary of the event, that pill isn’t too difficult to swallow for most corporations, but it could cause very small businesses to choke.

Hamburg also emphasized the idea of a “farm to table” approach to preventing food-related illness, holding everyone from the grower to the consumer accountable: “Everyone who touches food shares responsibility for its safety,” she said.

As if on cue, this morning’s newspaper added another loud note to the chorus of evidence that this problem is not going away on its own: salmonella in a ubiquitous flavor-enhancing product prompted what is expected to be one of the biggest food recalls in the nation’s history.

Nutrition label, courtesy of Flickr user teamperks

If you’re like one of my college roommates, who would probably eat tar if it was labeled “low-carb,” you might want to think again before you grab a product based on what it says on the box.

Today, as the Washington Post reported, the Food and Drug Administration sent letters to 17 food producers because the companies were touting health benefits on their products that were misleading, contrary to FDA guidelines, or simply not true.

The FDA gave companies 15 days to come up with a plan to correct the labels or face possible consequences, such as suspension of their product.

Some products on the list include:

• Diamond Food, Inc.’s Diamond of California Shelled Walnuts, whose label claims the Omega-3 fatty acids found in walnuts can fight mental illnesses, lower cholesterol and protect against some heart diseases and cancers; and Pom Inc.’s POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice, which claims to lower hypertension and reduce or prevent certain kinds of cancers and diseases. The FDA says such health claims are reserved for drugs.

• Nestle’s Juicy Juice Brain Development Fruit Juice Beverage (Apple), which claims it “helps support brain development in children under two years old”—another statement the FDA says only drug companies can make.

• Nestle’s Juicy Juice All-Natural 100% Juice Orange Tangerine, and Juicy Juice All-Natural 100% Juice Grape, whose labels imply the products are 100% real juice, the FDA says, when neither pure orange tangerine nor pure grape juice are the products’ main ingredients.

• Ken’s Foods Inc. for their “Healthy Options” salad dressings, which the FDA says must be “low fat” (3 grams of fat for 50 grams of food) in order to have a “healthy” label. The Healthy Options Parmesan & Peppercorn dressing, which has 6 g of fat per 30 grams of food; the Sweet Vidalia Onion Vinaigrette, which has 4 grams of fat per 30 grams of food; and the
  Raspberry Walnut Dressing, which contains 3 grams of fat per 30 g of food, all violate this rule.

• Gorton’s Fish Fillets and Mrs. Smith’s Coconut Custard pie are both labeled as “0 trans fat” but do not disclose that there are high amounts of regular and saturated fat, as the FDA requires.

Some companies have plans to change the labels, but POM Inc. plans to challenge the FDA, according to the Post.

The recent campaign is one of the largest by the FDA in at least a decade, according to the Center for Science in Public Interest (CSPI), though last May the FDA also targeted General Mills for its labeling of Cheerios, which were claimed to lower cholesterol and heart disease.

Just a few months before the FDA’s campaign, CSPI released its own report on food labeling and sent it to the FDA. The report targeted health claims, which were the focus of the new FDA campaign, but CSPI has also asked the FDA to increase its requirements for food labeling (pdf). This would include adding the label “high” and highlighting in red ink certain ingredients—added sugars, trans fat, saturated fat, cholesterol or sodium—if they accounted for 20 percent or more of the recommended daily allowance. The CSPI also urged the FDA to require companies to disclose what percentage of a products’ grains are whole grains and how much caffeine is in the product, as well as other changes that they claim would make food labels easier to read (and understand).

There are probably plenty more food makers out there who aren’t being completely honest about their products. Until the FDA can get all of them to clean up their labeling, I think I’ll follow advice my great-grandmother once gave me (about food and life) when grocery shopping: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Trinidad Vineyards in Chile, courtesy of Flickr user Dear Garou

On Saturday, one of the strongest earthquakes in recorded history struck Chile, killing more than 700 people and destroying the homes and livelihoods of many more. In addition to donating to relief organizations, another way to help some are suggesting is to buy Chilean products, including wine, one of its biggest exports.

Chile is the world’s fifth-largest exporter of wine (after France, Italy, Spain and Australia), and its wine industry has been badly affected by the 8.8 quake. Damage is still being assessed, and it’s too early to know what the extent of the long-term impact on the wine industry will be. But James Molesworth, an editor for Wine Spectator magazine, has been tweeting reports from wineries in the quake zone, and early indications are that many have lost inventory, buildings, or both (but, thankfully, so far, no loss of life among employees has been reported). One witness described the smell of wine along the roads in front of wineries.

Power outages, road closures and general upheaval will further complicate this season’s harvest, which, since it is late summer in the southern hemisphere, was scheduled to begin soon. As Eric Asimov writes on the New York Times wine blog The Pour, even if the grapes can be harvested, wineries that have sustained damage may not have the necessary resources to produce wine.

Even before the earthquake, Chilean winemakers were having a bad year. As the Los Angeles Times reported just two weeks ago, the wine industry there has been suffering the effects of the global economic crisis. Although foreigners have been drinking more Chilean wine than ever, they have been shifting to cheaper wines just as Chilean producers were trying to make inroads into the fine wine category.

Chile, which has a topography and climate similar to California’s in many ways, has been producing wine for more than 500 years. Only since the end of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in the late 1980s, though, has Chile become a force in the international wine trade, establishing a reputation for good-quality, affordable wines.

Of course, climate and topography are not the only similarities between Chile and California—both are prone to earthquakes. Although the famous wine regions of Napa and Sonoma counties mostly escaped damage from the 7.1 Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989, the lesser-known wineries in the Santa Cruz mountains, close to the epicenter, were not so fortunate; many buildings and inventories were lost. Silver Mountain Winery was completely destroyed, but within five years had rebuilt and was back on its feet.

Here’s hoping that the Chilean wineries, and the country as a whole, are able to do the same.

March can be an ugly month in the northeast, all mud and slush and wind—some compare it to a lion, but I think of it more like cranky old Mr. Wilson in Dennis the Menace. Like him, it conceals a current of sweetness beneath its bluster.

Grading samples of maple syrup, courtesy Flickr user Glass_House

It’s hard to predict exact dates for maple sugaring season because, as this farmer explains, it all depends on the weather. March usually casts the strongest spell, a combination of warm spring days and still-freezing nights that wakes up the sap in sugar maples while keeping their buds in bed.

Weather also influences the sugar content of the sap, which affects the amount and color of the final product. Syrup is classified by letter grades—A, B, and C, with several subcategories in between—from lightest to darkest. The lightest, “grade A fancy,” tends to fetch the highest prices, but they’re all good.

So good, in fact, that although I set out to write only a “five ways to eat” post, I’ve decided to give you an entire alphabet of maple recipe ideas! (Humor me. I’m from Vermont; maple madness is endemic.)

A: Asparagus with maple-tahini dressing.

B: Braised Brussels sprouts in maple-mustard glaze.

C:  Caramel corn, maple-style. Or cupcakes frosted with maple-cream cheese.

D. Maple-roasted duck, with cherry compote.

E. Even eggnog tastes better with maple.

F. Fish, as in maple-glazed salmon or pan-seared maple trout.

G. Ginger-maple cocktail. (Or ginger-maple anything, really.)

H. Hot wings with maple-chipotle sauce. Sweet plus spicy = mmm.

I.  If you can’t get sugar on snow (see “S”), maple ice cream is the next best thing. (Which is kind of like saying you should “settle” for a date with Hugh Jackman if George Clooney is unavailable.)

J. Jicama salad with chicory, pecans and maple dressing.

K. Kabocha squash and celery root soup with maple syrup and brown butter.

L. Legumes. Baked beans get all the glory, but lentils also work well with maple.

M. Maple mashes. As in mashed squash, rutabaga, or sweet potatoes and bourbon.

N. Nuts, candy-coated.

O. Oatmeal with maple syrup and cream was my favorite pre-skiing breakfast as a kid. Oats and maple also pair nicely in scones, cookies or even beer.

P. Pomegranate pancakes! Or pork. Maple-dijon glazed ham, maple-marinated pork roulade, maple pork chops—go whole hog, and top it off with a maple-bacon cupcake.

Q. Quince, poached and then baked with maple syrup, cloves and anise.

R. Rhubarb desserts, like apple-rhubarb crumble or maple rhubarb pie.

S. Sugar on Snow. I’ve already raved about the fabulous candy that forms when heat-thickened maple syrup meets a cold dish of snow (or crushed ice, if you’re nervous about eating snow).

T. Turnips, roasted with maple and cardamom.

U. Upside-down cake with pears and maple syrup.

V. Maple vinaigrette tossed with baby spinach, candied pecans and blue cheese crumbles makes an easy, yet elegant salad.

W. Well, waffles with syrup, obviously. Runner-up: Maple wine.

X. Um…. Xanthan gum in gluten-free pancakes, maybe?

Y. Yams with maple syrup and pecans.

Z. Zucchini, sauteed with a splash of syrup, or baked into maple zucchini bread.

Coconut shrimp, courtesy of Flickr user allikazoo

The coconut has long been a staple of cuisine in tropical places. As the trend toward Eastern flavors picks up here in the States, coconut has shown up in many flavor forecast lists for 2010.

The coconut is one of the most useful plants in the world. Some cultures use almost every part of the tree from the leaves to the water inside of the coconut fruit. In fact, the water is sterile, and was used as a intravenous solution in a pinch during World War II. The flesh of the coconut fruit, the fluid inside the coconut, coconut milk (made of liquid squeezed from the coconut flesh) and even the root of the palm, known as hearts of palm, are all eaten. Here are a few ways to enjoy the different parts of the coconut:

1. Batter: Think coconut-breaded shrimp. Use flakes of coconut flesh to coat shrimp and bake or fry. You can also coat other seafood, like tilapia, or try chicken with dried coconut flakes.

2. Salad: Hearts of palm are harvested from the root of a palm tree. Doing this kills the entire tree, so a salad made with the root was once called a “millionaire’s salad.” Today, rather than using coconut palms or other varities, most heart of palm comes from the peach palm—the only palm varietal not to die after its root has been harvested. Hearts of palm have a subtle flavor similar to asparagus or artichoke. Paula Deen has a recipe for a salad with spinach, strawberry and hearts of palm that I can’t wait to try.

3. Curry: Coconut milk is the base for many Thai curries. I make a creamy red curry using red curry paste, a can of coconut milk, chicken and sweet potato. For more information, and some actual recipes, Serious Eats as a nice breakdown of curry type with recipes.

4. Substitute for dairy: While I don’t keep kosher, recipes using coconut milk instead of dairy milk to follow kosher laws are intriguing. Take this Sweet Potato Coconut Crumble from Gourmet Kosher Cooking or these coconut milk scalloped potatoes. Coconut milk can also serve as the base of non-dairy ice creams for those lactose intolerant ice cream lovers. Grist recently reviewed non-dairy ice cream options, and the coconut milk varieties won.

5. Piña Colada: Some snow from the great snow storm of 2010 is still lingering on the ground here in D.C., but it’s already March and spring will be here soon. When it starts to warm up, fix yourself a piña colada and pretend you’re on a tropical beach somewhere. This popular cocktail is made from rum, pineapple juice and cream of coconut, which is derived from coconut milk.