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All stories relating to food safety

TIFF food trends, best Ontario wine ever, cupcakes are still trendy

The cupcake reign: when will it end? (Photo by Lara)

• Unlike this year, summer 2007 was one of Ontario’s sunniest in recent memory. Vintners are calling it the province’s best-ever grape growing season and heralding 2007 wines as a marquee vintage. Bottles hit LCBO stores this week. [Globe and Mail]

• Cupcake sales in the U.K. have increased by 50 per cent in the last year, spawning an entire industry of “5-to-9ers”: eager entrepreneurs who arrive home from their day jobs and bake all night, selling their lucrative sweets to bakeries in the morning. Good for them, bad for the nation’s dental reputation. [The Independent]

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July 23, 2009 | 11:30 am

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Camel’s milk chocolate, listeriosis verdict, ranking street food

Land of milk and money: ?? is hoping to sell well throughout the world using camel's milk in its chocolate (Photo by Sara Yeomans)

Land of milk and money: Al Nassma Chocolate aims to seduce the world with camel's milk products (Photo by Sara Yeomans)

• A Dubai company is about to take its brand of high-end camel’s milk chocolates international. Al Nassma Chocolate, which owns a farm with 3,000 head of camel, is aiming to be “the Godiva of the Middle East” according to company spokesperson Martin Van Almsick. It will soon be peddling its wares in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Camel’s milk contains less fat, less lactose, and more vitamin C than cow’s milk. [Reuters]

• The federal government’s report on last year’s deadly listeriosis outbreak has been released. It paints a scary picture of the bureaucratic incompetence that led to the outbreak and reveals how Canada’s food safety system is “on the upper end of being mediocre.” Maple Leaf Foods, which, in a brilliant PR move, offered an apology in the aftermath of the outbreak, comes off looking somewhat respectable. [Toronto Star]

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June 22, 2009 | 1:08 pm

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Warning: See Food Inc. on an empty stomach

The most disturbing thing in Food, Inc.—director Robert Kenner’s caustic documentary about North America’s industrial food industry—is a chicken. But not any chicken. Obese, overfed and pumped full of antibiotics, the bird in question waddles through an overcrowded, feces-strewn coop. Its tiny bones can’t support its unnatural girth, so its legs buckle and crumple every few steps. Eventually, it collapses, plopping into the excrement and dust of the coop, its beak gaping. This chicken is effective shorthand for everything Kenner finds wrong with the unnatural system of industrial-scale food production the world has come to rely on.

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April 23, 2009 | 7:00 am

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Best budget boozes, recession diets on the rise, gluttony leads to greenhouse gas

And the winner is...

• Fuzion’s shiraz-malbec from Argentina and Portugal’s Flor de Crastro won the title of best New World and Old World wine under $10 in a taste test held at Grano restaurant last week. [Globe and Mail]

• While food safety dominated last year’s food trends, this year we will see an increase in artificial sweeteners, “customized” foods and (surprise!) “recession diets.” [Vancouver Sun]

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April 15, 2009 | 7:06 am

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Toronto is Canada’s “party town,” Country Style is sold, wedding catering nightmares

Sold! Ontario's second-largest doughnut chain gets a new owner (Photo by Kevin Steele)

• Montreal’s King of the Food Court, Stanley Ma (the owner of Yogen Früz and Sushi Shop), buys Ontario’s second-largest coffee chain, Country Style. Who’s up for some fusion doughnuts? [Toronto Star]

• Britain’s Telegraph offers a Londoner’s guide to Toronto, “Canada’s party town.” Among the culinary picks are Delux, Rodney’s Oyster House and, wait for it, Second Cup. For homesick Brits, the article recommends the gastro-pub Crush. [Telegraph]

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April 3, 2009 | 9:13 am

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Food snob quiz, rats in the market, locavore setback

Food snobbery: what's the score? (Photo by Hobvias Sudoneighm)

• Ever wonder what the criteria are to be categorized as a food snob? Time Out’s Holier Than Chow on-line quiz asks 30 questions before labelling participants as Easy Macs, Discerning Diners or Bona Fide Foodie Elitists. [Time Out]

• Save the best wine for sipping, not cooking, say many Toronto chefs. Some Food Network types suggest that top-shelf vino is best in the kitchen, but most high-end restaurants use lesser stuff. And money saved is not the only benefit of subbing in cheaper hooch: fine wine’s richer flavour can overpower—instead of enhance—foods. [Toronto Star]

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April 2, 2009 | 10:15 am

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Restaurant sales on the rise, the slow death of charcuterie, the legalities of supper clubs

The fad fades (Photo by Renee Suen)

• Are charcuterie’s days numbered? A few Toronto chefs think so. Fad skepticism aside, the city’s favorite appetizer could be on the decline due to safety rules that make it difficult to produce. [Globe and Mail]

• Restaurant industry statistics are in for the month of January. Despite a never-ending stream of grim news, restaurant and bar sales actually went up in the first 31 days of 2009. We hope this signifies an end in sight. [Forextv]

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March 17, 2009 | 1:01 pm

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Wolfgang Puck in Toronto, Terroni defends its rules, rising alcohol prices

The Puck stops here (Photo by Sean Dockery)

• Chef-tycoon Wolfgang Puck has taken a break from feeding the rich and famous to pay a promotional visit to Toronto. He calls T.O. “a great food city” and promises to play a large role in his next Hogtown venture, which just might be a Spago in the Four Seasons Hotel. [Toronto Star]

• From mad cow to sad cow: as food safety anxiety continues to climb, all American meat will now require country of origin labels (COOL) declaring its provenance, a policy that some say will have repercussions for Canadian cattle. [CBC]

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February 18, 2009 | 8:08 am

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Gordon Ramsay’s unfavourable reviews, eating on $50 a week, coffee addictions justified

Eating cheap doesn't have to mean Kraft Dinner (Photo by Sharla Sava)

• Perhaps we shouldn’t be so anxious for Gordon Ramsay to open his new Toronto spot: the critics are bashing the foul-mouthed chef’s new Parisian venture, calling it boring, pompous and a producer of “Xerox food.” [Guardian]

• Trimming the weekly grocery bill doesn’t have to mean dining on Kraft Dinner. Some of Canada’s top chefs tell Chris Johns how to eat well at home for $50 a week. [Maclean’s]

• Ladies, stop feeling guilty about frequenting Toronto’s slew of new cafés. Spanish and American researchers have found that coffee drinking can lower a woman’s risk of stroke. Sorry, boys. [eCanada Now]

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February 11, 2009 | 3:14 pm

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Toronto’s clandestine supper clubs, celebrity chef survival rates, Susur Lee’s PR ploy

Rats are back in the news (Photo by Socar Myles)

• The recent rat fiasco at Loblaws’ Dupont location raised awareness across the city about food safety issues. Here, CTV’s detailed (read: gross) look at what can go wrong when rodents invade. [CTV]

• Underground supper clubs are more common in Toronto than we would have guessed. Apparently, the lawless establishments aren’t just for the rebellious; tight patron regulations ensure that they’re for the discerning foodie, too. [BlogTO]

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February 4, 2009 | 11:07 am

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Pangaea honoured, grown-up kids’ food, Ontario’s mushroom recall

The delicious, salty kebab (Photo by Smeerch)

• The Ontario Hostelry Institute has announced that the owners of Yorkville’s Pangaea are the 2009 Gold Honourees in the category of Independent Restaurateurs. The award will be given at a Four Seasons Hotel black-tie gala in April. [Newswire]

• A recent survey by food standards officers has found that the average kebab contains 98 per cent of a person’s daily recommended salt intake and almost 150 per cent of the daily recommended intake of saturated fat. No wonder they’re so popular. [Reuters]

• Listeria strikes again—maybe. Fresh Obsession brand enoki mushrooms possibly contaminated with the bacteria are being recalled from Metro stores across Ontario as a preventive measure. [Montreal Gazette]

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