Industrial Food Producers Under COVID Impact

"The bottom fell right out of the hospitality business just as everyone was building for a busy summer."

"We're carrying a lot of overhead and capacity to supply the market and all of a sudden we have no sales to offset that. It's a huge lost opportunity."

"Now we have 20,000 kilograms of product sitting in storage. Once the product is broken, it's all in the pipes and pumps [destroyed once the one-year shelf life expires]."

MikeVanderpol, president, Egg-Solutions, Abbotsford, British Columbia

"Like everyone else, we've seen the restaurant business disappear, maybe even more so for the eggs sector, because a lot of people are doing takeout or curbside pickup, but it's not breakfast, it's not egg-centric meals."

"We are vulnerable to having a surplus of eggs particularly on the processing side. On the grading side, demand has been high, because people are at home and they want their big breakfast."

Margo Ladouceur, egg sector director, Canadian Poultry and Egg Processors Council

Egg prices are up as consumer habits change during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

The massive slump in restaurant sales and service, the tourism industry, hotel accommodation, cruise vacations have all had a disastrous impact from the lockdown imposed by the need to practice social distancing as a result of the widespread infection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing COVID-19 disease worldwide. The response to the massive inroads on the health of unprotected populations has been the imposition by government decree of closures of business, manufacturing, schools, sports, social and exercise clubs and government offices.

Workers ordinarily busy in office cubicles, those who work in construction, and those in the hospitality industries have been either instructed to work from home when feasible, or just to remain home, socially isolated from all that is familiar from the ordinary workday to after-hours social interaction. Massive unemployment has resulted. Businesses, both family-owned and corporate, are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, while others have simply shuttered not only for the duration of the lockdown, but going entirely out of business.

Restaurants are among the worst hit, and when they no longer have a need to procure food products then that industry becomes impacted and its longevity too is questioned. In 2019, Canadian egg farmers produced 740 million dozen eggs and of that number approximately 70 percent were graded large or extra-large size, supplied to grocers and sold as "table eggs". The balance, 222 million dozen graded as smaller or with a lower shell quality are destined for egg processors, to be broken and manufactured into other products.

With travel restrictions in place and hospitality industry lockdowns the usual markets for processed egg products have shrunk disastrously, leaving processors with product that has become unsaleable. Canadians themselves are buying more eggs under the lockdown regime, to prepare themselves, at home. Small eggs traditionally meant for processing are now being redirected to grocery stores.

The Vanderpol processor in British Columbia supplied over ten percent of Canada's processed egg market, some two million dozen eggs monthly, half of them turned into liquid eggs and the rest dried, then used at industrial bakeries or as ingredients in cake mixes and other products. While the dried egg factory in Abbotsford is managing, the liquid egg operation representing the major portion of the business through the company's operation in Ontario, has been deleteriously impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vanderpol's contract supplying processed eggs to an Alaska cruise line, to restock the ships anchored in Vancouver and Seattle ports has now fallen through; the delivery of several trucks'-worth of processed eggs to the ships weekly has been disrupted by the collapse of the hospitality industry. The situation is not unique to Canada needless to say, but is reflected world-wide as major adjustments to various interlocked industries have taken place in response to the global pandemic.

Egg prices on rollercoaster due to coronavirus pandemic  Photo: ©ZLIKOVEC - STOCK.ADOBE.COM

Lifetime Brand Enthusiasts

"The numbers are shocking. These are not your grandmother's commercials. Food and beverage manufacturers have neuro-psychologists working with them. They use MRIs. It's hard to defend yourself against ads."
"We have seen a huge proliferation of ads online. Entertainment is blended with marketing. It's hard for children to understand that they're being marketed to."
"Children 11, 12 and 13 years old are doing the work of a marketing firm when they're forwarding [ads for their favourite products] things to their friends. To identify with a brand helps to define who you are. Kids love these brands."
"Children's exposure to food and beverage advertising has actually increased. People who work in marketing are extremely creative."
Monique Potvin Kent, assistant professor, University of Ottawa School of Epidemiology and Public Health

"There is no silver bullet, but this will help [Bill S-228 before Parliament]."
"The advertisers know it works [ads designed to capture children's attention, imagination and loyalty]. If you create a customer by the age of ten, you have a dedicated customer for life."
Nancy Greene Raine, retired Conservative senator, former Olympian

A single glass of apple juice contains the same amount of sugar as four or five apples do, without any of the fibre

Getty Images/iStockphoto

Dr. Potvin Kent led a new study by University of Ottawa researchers, the result of which concluded that 72 percent of children and youth, fixated on social media, get somewhat more than exposure to all the things that grasp the attention of the young focused on media stars, performing celebrities and the latest trends in fashion, when they are consistently and closely bombarded with advertisements by food and beverage manufacturers who pay the online freight for their 'free' access to those social media sites.

Within a ten-minute session on line the number of ads directed at children has appalled the researchers, for their prevalence and in-your-face boldness. For the backbone of their project, the researchers recruited just over a hundred children and teens living in Ottawa between the ages of seven and 15 from four community centres. Instructed to make use of their own smartphone or tablet in accessing favourite social media sites for two periods lasting five minutes each, the study began.

Wearing special eyeglasses to capture what the recruits viewed on line -- later reviewed by the researchers -- each of the participants saw 2.1 ads within each ten-minute snapshot. Young social media users, it was calculated from that base figure, would be exposed to over a dozen food and beverage offerings each hour online. The researchers identified fully 90 percent of the products the ads promoted fell heavily into an unhealthy category. As for example:

• A 'unicorn frappuccino' cake made by Rosanna Pansino on a Starbucks theme on YouTube;
• A 'memory test' on YouTube revolving around the brand logos of corporations like Burger King and Snickers;
• The YTV actress Torri Webster's Instagram account promoting points collections at Cineplex Theatres to exchange for concession snacks;
• An Instagram ad for McDonald's inviting users to list which friend they would share french fries with: "The #holidays are for sharing and so are our fries."

Video bloggers posting items on YouTube, points out Dr. Potvin Kent, become media personalities with those collecting large followings signing sponsorship deals to feature branded products "embedded" in their content like competitive eater Matt Stonie's celebrity status garnering profit via "food challenges".

A report from the Heart and Stroke foundation recommends curtailing advertising of unhealthy food to children. Photo: Jaclyn McRae-Sadik.

Children, studies confirm, through such exposure by age two can appreciate and identify brands. It takes an growing awareness by the age of six for children to understand that advertising represents a sales pitch, but it takes until age 11 or 12 before they begin critically evaluating what they see. Until then they follow their favourite products on social media, encouraging their friends to do so as well.

At the present time, food and beverage marketing to children remains self-regulated through the voluntary Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative. Through purely voluntary adherence to the regulatory guidelines companies pledge exclusive advertising of "healthier" products to children under age twelve. Yet through what is seen as lenient nutrition criteria and high audience thresholds of 35 percent children in the audience, the pledge is honoured more in the breach than reality.

The very day that Bill S-228 seeking to amend the Food and Drugs Act to prohibit food and beverage marketing directed at children thirteen and under, was being debated in Parliament, was the day the new study on children and advertising for food and beverages was released. Should the bill become law, Health Canada would be tasked with creating regulations to fit the bill.

The fact that childhood obesity has doubled since the 1970s in Canada and overweight and obese children become at risk of chronic conditions such as sleep apnea, joint problems, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease represents a spur that prompted Nancy Greene Raine, Canadian skier who won World Cup and Olympic gold in giant slalom in 1968, to sponsor the bill.

In Quebec, the provincial Consumer Protection Act prohibits commercial advertising targeting children under age 13. Chile announced tough marketing restrictions last February, inclusive of removing cartoon characters from cereal boxes and banning candy sales such as Kinder Surprise using trinkets to snare children's attention.

A McDonald’s cheeseburger Happy Meal with the new apple slices option is shown     (Keith Srakocic/AP)

Misinterpreting Cautionary Food Labelling on Freshness

"It is the responsibility of the regulated party to determine if the product has a durable life of 90 days or less and the specific durable life information for the products they sell. The durable life of products or categories is not prescribed in regulation."
"Any changes made to the durable life information that result in false or misleading information on the label are prohibited by Section 5.(1) of the Food and Drugs Act."
"Note: All foods sold in Canada must be safe for consumption [4.(1), Food and Drugs Act]. A durable life date is not an indicator of food safety, neither before nor after the date. It applies to unopened products only; once opened, the shelf life of a food may change. Products may be found for sale after the "best before" date has passed as the date is based on freshness and quality rather than safety. When this date has passed, the food may lose some of its freshness and flavour, or its texture may have changed. Some of its nutritional value, such as vitamin C content, may also be lost."
Canadian Food Inspection Agency web page

A study undertaken in the United Kingdom by The Waste and Resources Action Programme conjectures that when best before dates are extended by the consumer by a single day past the recommended 'best before' printed on a food product labelled to inform consumers, as regulated by national food agencies, household food waste would be reduced by up to 5 percent. In Canada an estimated $31 billion-worth of food is discarded in landfills or becomes composted annually.

That figure breaks down to an estimated 170 kilograms of food that the average consumer discards yearly. As consumers, we regard 'best before' dates as a food manufacturer's warning that past the recommended date the food in question is no longer safe to eat. Nothing could be further from the truth. The food involved, on the other hand, may not be at the absolute peak of its freshness, and that's another thing altogether. The average consumer's invariable reaction to the date, however, is to discard the food immediately that date has been reached, although the food is likely still edible, as sensory tests can inform (smell and taste).

A study published in the journal Waste Management revealed that research has discovered 80 percent of Ontario residents interpret 'best before' dates as signals whether food should be discarded. The other 20 percent pay little attention to the dates and simply consume the food, past-due or not. They may know that the 'best before' date is a notional one and even if the date is meant to caution that the food is past its prime, it does not necessarily follow that this is the actual case. It is food producers' way of ensuring that what they manufacture is eaten at the peak of its freshness and taste. Aside from which the quicker the food is eaten -- or some of it discarded -- the sooner it will be replaced.

The truth of the matter is, when food deemed to be past their 'best before' date is discarded, it is rarely in a spoiled state. Aside from which the 'best before' designation does not mean 'expired'. It is a stamp whose dates are not meant to indicate food safety, but the time by which the producer feels the food will have begun to lose its optimum taste, and perhaps full nutritional value as well. When the food manufacturer decides on a number of days before what they produce is no longer optimum, that date is dialled back by 20 percent in a spirit of caution.



As it is, only foods that remain in a fresh state for under 90 days are required by law to state 'best before' dates. Packaged cereals, beans, dried pastas, soft drinks all are deemed to have a stable shelf life, and as such are exempt from being required to present a 'best before' stamp. Despite which, manufacturers stamp them regardless. Very few foodstuffs are actually required to be presented with expiration dates as opposed to 'best before' dates. According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, "As it is not illegal to sell a product that is past its best-before date, a consumer can use this information to consider how the food may have changed in terms of freshness, flavour, texture and/or nutritional value before purchasing."

"Expiration date" means the date after which the manufacturer does not recommend that the product be consumed, and up to which it maintains its microbiological and physical stability and nutrient content declared on the label.
Expiration dates are not required on all foods, but only on foods for special dietary use. A food for special dietary use means food that has been specially processed or formulated to meet the particular requirements of a person [B.24.001 FDR].
The FDR requires that expiration dates must be used on the following products [B.24.001 and B.25.001 FDR]:

• formulated liquid diets (a nutritionally complete diet for persons using oral or tube feeding methods)
• foods represented for use in a very low-energy diet (foods sold only by a pharmacist and only with a written order from a physician)
• meal replacements (a formulated food that, by itself, can replace one or more daily meals)
• nutritional supplements (a food sold or represented as a supplement to a diet that may be inadequate in energy and essential nutrients)
• human milk substitutes (infant formula)

These foods should not be eaten if the expiration date has passed as they have strict compositional and nutritional specifications which might not be met after the date.
Generally, the expiration date may be shown on any label panel, except the bottom. However, in the case of formulated liquid diets, infant formula, and foods represented as containing infant formula, this information can be shown on any panel including the bottom panel provided there is a clear indication of the location of the date elsewhere on the label [B.01.005(4), FDR]. There are no prescribed expressions for "expiration date", however, the term "Exp." is often used.
Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Only a handful of products in Canada require expiration dates, which are much different than best before dates. (CBC)

The Move To Transform Processed Foods

"We call on food producers in our sector to take prompt action and we stand ready to support effective measures to work toward the elimination of industrially produced trans fats and ensure a level playing field in this area."
Rocco Rinaldi, secretary-general, International Food and Beverage Alliance

"This initiative is meant to lead countries in establishing legislation to eliminate the trans fats." 
"There are countries where the risk is particularly high. In South Asian countries, they have very, very high risk of heart disease and high intakes of trans fats."
"There are some Latin American countries, but they're already taking action. Mexico was a country where the intake was very high. South Africa was having problems, but then they established legislation. It is happening in more countries in the Middle East, but the information we have is limited."
Dr. Francesco Branca, director, Department of Nutrition for Health and Development, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland

"Non-communicable diseases [also known as chronic diseases, tend to result from a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental and behavioral factors, such as diet; cardiovascular diseases, associated with consuming a diet high in artificial trans fats, are an example of a non-communicable disease] are the world's leading cause of death."

"WHO is committed to supporting countries to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases."

Dr. Tedros Adhanom, Director-General, WHO (World Health Organization)

 

"What we found in New York City was that industry wasn't really willing to fight us on this. Artificial trans fats are 'easily replaceable'."

"You don't need to change the taste or cost or availability for great food. Only your heart will know the difference -- and that's why the call of the initiative to become trans-fat-free by 2023 is so very important."

Dr. Tom Frieden, former director, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

"Really, I think it takes legislation to make a big change like that in terms of overall population health, along with policy and nutrition education."

"In many developing countries, they're trying to Westernize their diets [and in the United States], We have been a leader of -- when we talk about the Westernized diet -- preparing processed foods. Hopefully, we're going to be a leader again towards eating more whole foods, such as the healthful Mediterranean diet [focus high on plant-based meals of vegetables, fruit, beans and cereals. Including plenty of fish and some poultry]." 

Lynn James, registered dietitian, senior extension educator, Pennsylvania State University 

Artificial trans fats are unhealthy substances that are created when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil to make it solid, like in the creation of margarine or shortening. Health experts say they can be replaced with canola oil or other products. (Darron Cummings/Associated Press)

Our 'convenient' way of life has led us to accept the consumption of convenience food, as a time-saver. Pre-prepared and processed foods have long become a mainstay in peoples' diets everywhere across the Globe. Where the use of trans fats became the industry standard to keep processed foods shelf-ready and good tasting with a long shelf life, until the reputation of trans fats suffered a reputation setback when science revealed that it was leading to the onset of chronic diseases in those for whom a steady diet included far too many products using trans fats.

Whole food consumption decreased in popularity since it couldn't compete with the allure of processed foods that didn't require home preparation. Haul it off the supermarket shelves, take it home, eat it and gloat at the convenience of it all. Until the connection was made between trans fats and unhealthy outcomes reflecting its consumption. Despite which the popularity of processed and pre-prepared foods failed to decline, consumers were just too dependent on its convenience. So the next step was public education.

Campaigns led by government agencies and NGOs were mounted to inform people of the inherent dangers in relying so heavily on foods owing much of their appeal to the trans fats used in producing them. And while a certain percentage of the consuming public took note and amended their diets, by and far the largest proportion had no intention of doing so; it was just too inconvenient. And ill health was a long way into the future for those not suffering ill effects while the accumulated exposure built itself toward the future.

A deep-fried, potato-based snack.

Image: Chmee2/Wikimedia

Some jurisdictions -- notably New York City -- legislated against the use of trans fats by food producers and food preparers, as a dramatic last resort in the hope that doing so would result in fewer residents of the city falling victim to chronic illnesses. Now, the World Health Organization which has traditionally focused on eradicating infectious diseases has turned its attention to a new direction, the imperative to attempt to solve a remediable problem worldwide impacting populations everywhere as the North American staple diet of processed foods presents in developing countries as a desirable change placing them alongside developed countries, modernizing food consumption.

The WHO's ambitious plan is to erase the foremost consumable hazard linked to the onset of chronic illness. Trans fats used in baked and processed foods, leads to the deaths of over a half million people every year from heart disease, according to the WHO. "It's a crisis level, and it's a major front in our fight now", stated WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in Geneva. An aspirational date of five years has been contemplated as the probable date by which food manufacturers can complete their switch over to a replacement ingredient in food processing.

Fifteen years earlier Denmark made the switch. Now, the United States and over 40 other high income countries have set their sights on seeing that additives known to be heart-cloggers are no longer used in food supplies. The WHO's focus now is primarily on middle- and lower-income countries, to begin the process of legislating cessation of trans fats in food products, unhealthy substances created when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil, making it solid (think margarine or shortening). 

No more than one percent of a person's calories should come from trans fats, according to the WHO recommendation. 

Photo: Scott Ableman    Trans fats is often found in deep-fried foods

 

 

"Le Veggie Burger"

"It is important to fight against false claims."
"Our products must be designated correctly; the terms of #cheese or #steak will be reserved for products of animal origin."
Jean-Baptiste Moreau, MP for La Republique en Marche, cattle farmer

"[No food products containing a] significant part of vegetable-based matter [can be presented as meat]."
"Meat and vegetable-based products, like soya, which is very profitable for the producer compared to a pure meat beef steak, can be marketed in a way that gives the consumer the impression he is consuming meat only."
"[The] totally paradoxical [practise of presenting vegan products as having a] bacon taste [or being a] sausage substitute [is abhorrent]."
Partial text of a new French food bill

"It is just patronizing to suggest a cauliflower is a satisfactory substitute for a steak."
"Let's face it, a white broccoli covered in salt and pepper and griddled [sic] to within an inch of its life, hasn't got a patch on a medium rare rump with a side of pepperoni sauce, has it?"
British blogger

"A principle of equivalence between pure pork sausage and substitute of vegetarian sausage vegetarian is imposed on consumer," amendment reads

Outrageous, to be sure. Purveyors of vegetable products daring to present them as equal to, or superior in taste and food value to their animal-derived counterparts. This unwholesome trend to demonize meat and in the process convince hungry people that their cravings can be satisfied by substituting vegetable-based products dressed up to emulate their animal-based distant -- very, very distant -- cousins is obviously enraging to the meat industry.

Imagine, parading vegetables as equal in robust taste and hunger-satiation to meat! They won't have it, they simply will not have it. So accusing the vegetarian industry of trying to hoodwink the public into believing that their pseudo-meat products can still their cravings for meat, the meat industry and its formidable lobby has convinced the French parliament that a law is overdue to subdue the false claims confusing poor French consumers who evidently cannot tell the difference between either.

To save them from themselves, it takes a stern law forbidding the very labelling of vegetables in any shape, form or combination of spiced-up presentations to trade on the risible fiction that it's as nutritiously delicious as any meat product. Mind, as a member of the European Union, it might be said that the pioneering work on this vital file has already been done.

For a year ago, the European Court of Justice -- no less -- issued a ruling that dairy-related terms such as "milk", "cream", "chantilly" and "cheese" will only be permitted use on products that have been manufactured with real, authentic animal milk. This decree was evidently spurred by a Marks & Spencer store in the United Kingdom selling "cauliflower steak" aka a slice of grilled cauliflower with herbs labelled "steak" pricing it at $3.50.

Those who watch their pence know that the price is outrageous given how inexpensive a whole cauliflower is, let alone masquerading it as a meat product. So, the purveyors of vegetables-as-meat have got their comeuppance. Not from a public that must surely be capable of differentiating vegetables from meat, but from the meat industry ticked off that upstart vegetable purveyors are muscling in on their meat territory.

Henceforth, it becomes illegal for vegetarian food producers to use nomenclature clearly linked to meat products, such as "steak", "merguez", "bacon", or "sausage" when referring to food not partially or wholly comprised of meat. Oh yes, even innocuous terms such as "bacon taste" will not be permitted, for inherent in that descriptive is an absolute falsehood.

As for French Parliamentarian and cattle rancher, Jean-Baptiste Moreau, he only has the consumer's peace of mind at heart, nothing more, nothing less. Current labelling,  he argues, tends to confuse consumers who may be led to believe they are consuming pure, high-quality meat rather than a meat-and-soy combination or a completely vegetarian product. Sad, that people can be so easily led astray, right?

Only meat-based products will be permitted to use the word "sausage" under new French legislation

Sacre Bleu! Divine Cheese? It Is To Despair!

"What nature takes three weeks, three months or three years to do, we can do in two to three days using a process that is far faster and less costly."
Romain Jeantet, cheese expert, National Institute for Agricultural Research, Paris

"With the same material, we can thus make a cream cheese on Monday, a Camembert on Tuesday and a hard cheese on Wednesday."
Gilles Garric, National Institute for Agricultural Research, Paris

"This isn't cheese at all, it's totally synthetic."
"Industrial dairy groups have long dreamed of making cheese with as little milk as possible in as little time as possible so it costs as little as possible, with a consensual taste to appeal to the masses."
"INRA [National Institute for Agricultural Research] has made their dream come true. Next they'll be adding banana or raspberry aroma."
"This is yet another step towards creating dead food rather than letting nature run its course. Cheese is alive and needs to be ripened and matured over a long period, preferably with live raw milk."
"You cannot create this natural complexity in the laboratory. Humans are made to eat live food with diverse bacteria, not dead food, which causes all sorts of problems, such as allergies."
Veronique Richez-Lerouge, head, Association Fromages de Terroirs

Lovers of traditional Camembert say that cheese is alive and needs to be ripened and matured over a long period

French cheese-makers who pride themselves on their world-renowned classical cheeses will revolt. And what is truly revolting without doubt to their tender sensibilities, is that this betrayal of the art of cheese-making for which France is admired internationally, does not come courtesy of some barbarians in a chemistry laboratory in some godforsaken, uncivilized country set on making mischief, but -- unbelievably -- from French researchers in a French laboratory operated by a French government branch.

It is too, too much to believe; surely this is an evil prank, a nightmare from which French cheese makers will soon awaken and find to their relief that nothing of the kind has occurred at all. Unfortunately, it has, and the end result will be all of what Madam Richez-Lerouge decried; a minimum of constituents speedily and inexpensively providing the consumer market with a range of delightful cheeses one doesn't have to break the family piggy bank to acquire and enjoy in whichever cheese type they prefer.

INRA researchers say they can make cheese in record time but purists say the idea stinks Credit: © Marie-Louise Avery / Alamy

While French research set out to invent a "revolutionary" laboratory process in the creation of a full range of cheese types whose appearance and aroma cannot be differentiated from the originals of which cheese makers are so proud, that they have done so in "days rather than months" is the new reality that has given said traditional cheese makers wicked heart palpitations of vivid outrage. This revelation and all the new production method implies could very well herald, purists warn darkly, "the death of true cheese".

Sackcloth and ashes. The researchers must have felt they were owed plaudits for their success in accelerating the process of ripening in cheese creation, and achieving in their new process the treasured and absolutely required texture and fragrance. How now will they hold their heads up with pride, having been condemned by the experts in cheese making? Science and nature on a collision course, how unfortunate.

Normally Brie and Camembert require a month's maturation, and it can take up to three years for a mature Comte to come to market. Yet clever and attentive minds have brought the reality of From'Innov to the table, as it were, through innovatively splitting the production of cheese and its aroma in the laboratory, mixing them at a later time. Researchers add helpfully that probiotics; live bacteria and yeasts can be added for additional nutrition. What more could any cheese lover want?!

Scientists say brie (above) can also be made much quicker, with the same taste and texture

Entomophagy: The Evolution of Food

"When you read books by [European] travellers in the 1700s or 1800s, if they went to Africa or somewhere like Mexico where they saw people eating insects, it would be like, 'Their hunger's so great, their access to meat so scarce that they resorted, horrifically, to eating insects'."
Julie Lesnik, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Wayne State University, Detroit

"That wasn't the case whatsoever. They were doing it because it was healthy and good for their environment."
"It's delicious, it's nutritious and it's sustainable."
"This opportunity with Loblaw is massive validation for the category [insect eating], for our industry. We're excited to see what comes out of it in that respect. Hopefully it's just that first step toward further acceptance and normalization."
Jarrod Goldin, Entomo Farms, Norwood, Ontario

Roasted crickets are shown at the Entomo Farms cricket processing facility in Norwood Ont., in this April 2016 photo. (Fred Thornhill/Canadian Press)

"It's one thing for us to be educating people and telling them, 'You can get these products from this website'. It's another thing for them to see it on their grocery shelf."
"That legitimizes it so much more. It gives the consumer the trust and confidence to try that product because their trusted grocer is carrying it." 
"There is a variety of different applications and, as the industry has grown -- even in the last two years -- the diversity of applications has grown. So we've seen more and more ways that these start-up companies are looking at using the insects in their products and ingredients.
"...Their value statement is: every jar of [insect protein] pasta sauce saves 18 bathtubs [1,900 litres] of water compared to the beef. To be able to put that impact into perspective for consumers after they do a blind taste test and can't even tell -- that's really powerful."
"It's an incredibly wholesome food source that should be available to anybody who wants to utilize it. We don't need everybody to eat it, because not everybody eats shrimp, not everybody eats pork and not everybody eats broccoli -- but those are thriving industries. We only need to have a very small percentage of the consumer base actually add this into their diet to create a very robust and thriving industry. And to be able to show some very outsized environmental impacts."
Robert Nathan Allen, president, Little Herds 

"We're actually looking for a supplier that would help make those [nutritional bars], and then of course Entomo would supply the raw material."
"The [cricket] powder made more sense because people could incorporate it into food ... It's helping bridge people that have a bit of the 'ick' factor. You see the powder and it looks quite benign, and looks like something you could add into anything you're cooking."
Kathlyne Ross, VP, product development and innovation, Loblaw Companies Ltd. grocers

Plates of fried crickets. Roughly 80 per cent of the global population is known to eat a range of bugs. Hoang Dinh Nam/AFP/Getty Images

It's been rumoured, talked about, wondered at, tried out for many years. The 'ick' factor is certainly there, but so is a good number of people with the will and the curious interest to give them a try, to be persuaded that eating insects of various types in intriguing presentations is of value in feeding the world of humans with protein to build strong bodies. In particular this source should be of interest to vegans and vegetarians since animal products identify as the prime source of B12. And then the case can be made that insects are part of the animal kingdom.

"It's hard to wrap my mind around because, if you're using cricket, you're not a vegan or vegetarian anyway", stated Amanda Li, a registered dietitian. "In my opinion, if you're going to be eating fish, chicken, or turkey ... you probably don't need to add more protein on top of that unless you're trying to be more sustainable"; her perception that seems to question the need for yet another animal source of protein. She is likely in the minority, however; the prospect of opening up new food markets to a source that is the most abundant of all life on Earth appeals to many more involved in the food industry.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has been forthrightly praising and attempting to further a consumer dietary market comprised of insects, identifying them as a hugely sustainable high quality protein source. Which just incidentally needs six times less feed to produce the equivalent amount of protein than does cattle. People living in northern global regions where cold winters limit the presence of insects to seasons tend not to consider bugs as food, unlike those in Mexico, Central and South America whose plentiful natural resources include insects and where eating them is culturally established.

An estimated two billion people globally consume insects, regarding them to represent a normal proportion of their daily diet. The worldwide market for insects for the dinner plate was valued in 2015 at close to $43-M and it is anticipated that this is due to gain momentum, up to 40 percent growth by 2023. As many as two thousand edible insect species flourish around the world; ants, grasshoppers, beetles and caterpillars and countless others in a world where consuming bugs has now crept into the Western world.

Now that Loblaw grocers has added cricket to their shelves, it can be considered that the eating of insects is finally on stream to become accepted as part of the North American diet. Entomo's cricket powder is sold at all Loblaw grocery stores throughout Canada, having been added to the PC Insiders Collection. Protein powder produced from crickets is readily available at the local supermarket. Research published by the journal Global Food Security in 2017 concluded that insects and plant-based meats "have the highest land use efficiency". 

If people exchanged half of the traditional animal products they consume, such as beef, or lamb for bugs "the land required to produce the world's food would be slashed by a third", according to The Guardian in the U.K. And Loblaw promotes cricket powder as a food source with strong sustainability, nutritional properties, diverse applications and palatability. A boon for the mass market. The very concept of entomophagy in the West; insect-enriched pancake mixes, cookies, crackers are promoted as added protein nutrients.

The rule of thumb for their use in savoury or sweet baking is ten percent substitution of total flour with cricket powder. Protein powder is becoming a popular choice among athletes, along with those people involved in weight management. It is viewed as convenient, either used as a meal in itself, or to balance and fortify a meal or snack otherwise not containing protein. Cricket powder, a whole food, makes a perfect addition. The insects are harvested at the conclusion of their natural life cycle; rinsed, roasted and ground.

Because of economies of scale, in comparison to other products on the grocery shelves, insect protein is not cheap. A 113-gram (quarter pound) bag of PC-brand cricket powder sells for $13.99, while a 573-mL (16 fl.oz) jar of cricket Bolognese is priced at $9.99. Once insect eating becomes mainstream and production rises full-scale, the costs of the products at the retail level will moderate, as it does with the introduction of any new products.

Cricket powder contains calcium iron and 100 percent of the daily values for vitamin B2 as well as being high in protein, with 13 g per 2-1/2-tbsp/19 -serving.

Loblaw Companies Ltd. says it is adding cricket powder to its lineup of President's Choice products. (Jessica Doria-Brown/CBC)

"From a nutrition standpoint, it is really interesting because, not only are crickets a source of protein, but they also have other vitamins and minerals in there."
"Because cricket powders are still holding the full cricket, you're getting the iron, vitamin B2 and the calcium that's in the cricket itself, whereas you might not be getting that with a protein powder."
Vincci Tsui, registered dietition

We Are What We Eat

"One factor is the consistent decline of the consumption of canned soup -- in Canada, it has declined 30 percent in the last ten years."
"That decline is happening in both Canada and the United States. We had to make the difficult decision to consolidate. The Toronto plant was the oldest and the smallest. We produce more soup than we can actually sell."
"Consumers' preferences have definitely changed, and our job and our commitment is to change with them and adapt to where they are going."
"Consumers are snacking more, less often having three square meals a day, and they are looking for healthy foods, better-for-you foods and, obviously, the taste profile of the foods is evolving."
Ana Dominguez, president, Campbell Canada

"[As for the decline in confectionery manufacturing sales], That's due to a combination of plant closures -- cereals declined dramatically due to the closure of the Kellogg plant in 2013 -- and the overall business shrinking, in response to industry trends."
"Demand [for processed food] is not what it used to be. The centre of the grocery store [where packaged goods tend to be placed] is getting smaller, and that is probably going to continue."
Kevin Grier, food industry analyst, Guelph, Ontario

Snack foods like chips are notorious for having a high salt content. But the categories of processed foods assessed by Health Canada that are not making any progress in cutting salt include bakery products, salted butter and margarine, and, not surprisingly, sauces, dips, gravies and condiments. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

"We offer ready-to-eat, ready-to-heat meals in all of our stores."
"Certain stores have a more expanded offer. It's a growing business for us that we are putting more focus on. The quality for us is improving. We think we can get more share of stomach than we have currently."
Eric La Fleche, chief executive Metro Inc.

"Most national brands are slaves to their past branding strategies. They are just trying to make sure that the products are moving."
"Metro, Sobeys and Loblaws are all trying to increase the size of the periphery [of the supermarket shelving]."
"[Fresh baked goods, deli foods, meats, dairy products and ready-to-eat meals are featured on the peripheries of the stores.]  They are taking more and more space."
Sylvain Charlebois, dean of management, Dalhousie University, Halifax

According to Dr. Charlebois, a "bloodbath" is taking place among foreign owned mass food producers in Canada. The announced closing of Campbell's Toronto plant, the planned closure of the Dr. Oetker frozen pizza factory in Grand Falls, New Brunswick, represent prime examples of large corporations fleeing falling sales and attempting to fall in line with the consuming public finally taking to heart health advice -- linked to the quality of foods being consumed -- by public health agencies, dietitians and the medical community.

The growing phenomenon among populations world-wide -- and most distressingly hitting young children -- of obesity linked to fast food, convenience foods, unhealthy food products, leading to the onset of diseases like Type 2 diabetes, in turn triggering heart and stroke conditions and early deaths has led to a tardy, but welcome wake-up call to the general public. To an extent, in any event, the message that consumption of fresh whole foods beats processed, high-fat, high-salt, high-sugar foods is resonating.

No one wants to deliberately hasten their mortality. And though bad eating habits are hard to break, it can be done, and since consumers' emerging choices and pocketbook decisions are impacting on the huge food producers who have traditionally marketed processed foods for their convenience, taste and affordability are seeing their products languishing on supermarket shelves, they recognize that their traditional market is shrinking. They have no wish to be left behind, so they're developing coping strategies, hoping to be in the lead in offering consumers what they seem to want.

The decline in national brands that produce boxed, canned and jarred goods boasting labels like Nabisco, Kellogg and Chef Boyardee have read the writing on the wall. The ingredients they depend on which have come under fire from dietitians badly require strict editing. The goods that fail to move off supermarket shelves are being pried off them now by resorting to price markdowns, persuading those still trusting in their food value to get them while they yet can.

Companies' food portfolios are of necessity now diversifying. The testing and developing of new products has  been hastened. The new focus on healthy which spurs consumers to spurn the old standbys represents ample warning that food processors would do well to rethink, reconfigure and recant. Sales of breakfast cereals in Canada fell to $488-million in 2016 from $1.57-billion in 2012, a fairly swift transition.

Eating the kinds of food products once considered convenient and good tasting such as Tang drink crystals, margarine, crackers, soda pop and the majority of dry breakfast cereals has dwindled as the message by dietitians encouraging fresh food and home-cooked meals with the use of whole grains and raw ingredients has entered public consciousness. Soup sales in Canada declined to $699.9 million in 2017 from $709.4-million in 2012. Chilled fresh soup sales has been growing at a rate of six percent annually in the past five years.

Dr. Alfred Aziz, chief of Health Canada's nutrition regulation and standards division, says the results of the evaluation are disappointing. (Health Canada)

A concerted move to consume more fresh foods and to reduce dietary intakes of salt, trans fats and sugar means that packaged goods manufacturers have received a hearty thumping of disapproval evidenced by slowing sales and best-before dates sitting stale on supermarket shelves. Unfortunately the ongoing trend toward eating fewer meals at home in favour of increasingly enjoying meals taken in restaurants puts a bit of a crimp in the new awareness of whole foods and fresh foods.

Still, the fast-food corporations, grocery stores and branded outlets are diversifying even while manufacturing jobs are melting away as the production of traditionally produced processed foods has lost its market. But convenience still reigns supreme. The large and popular specialty fresh food markets that capitalize on drawing people to shop at their establishments, featuring fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy products and choice meat cuts are now setting aside wide aisles to feature whole-food convenience meals, pre-prepared and ready to serve.

Healthier Eating

"This is a paper that is technologically quite important. It demonstrates a way that you can improve the welfare of animals at the same [time] as also improving the product from those animals -- the meat."
"I very much doubt that this particular pig will ever be imported into the USA -- one thing -- and secondly, whether it would ever be allowed to enter the food chain."
R. Michael Roberts, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences peer-review professor

The genetically modified low-fat piglets   Photo: Jianguo Zhao

"This is a big issue for the pig industry. It's pretty exciting."
"They [the genetically engineered piglets] could maintain their body temperature much better, which means that they could survive better in the cold weather."
"Since the pig breed we used in this study is famous for the meat quality, we assumed that the genetic modifications will not affect the taste of the meat."
"People like to eat the pork with less fat but higher lean meat."
Jianguo Zhao of the Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, lead scientist in the study

Chinese scientists conducted a new gene-editing technique, CRISPR-Cas9, to produce pigs capable of self regulating their body temperature in a more biologically efficient way, by burning fat. The breed of pig used in the research was one valued for the quality of the meat it produces, leaving the lead researcher in this project confident that despite the genetic modification undertaken in his research group's efforts to produce a leaner animal, the flavour of the pork would not be affected.

And as long as the consuming public, preferring to know much less about where their meat comes from, doesn't view the photographs of the cute little piglets that resulted from the CRISPR experiment, the meat product itself would be appreciated for its leaner qualities. Imagine a CRISPR pig? Now that's a bit of serendipitous terminology although CRISPR doesn't stand for crisper, but rather it is the contraction of Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat, a fairly new, advanced genetic engineering technique.

And while Professor Roberts who edited the paper -- produced by the Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences -- is enthusiastic about the science behind this genetically modified animal, he also observes that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration would most likely not be prepared to approve a genetically modified animal product meant for human consumption in the United States. Not, at any rate, at the present time.

Still, another professional biologist in the U.S., Chris Davies, associate professor at the school of veterinary medicine at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, feels that: "The population of our planet is predicted to reach about 10 billion by 2050, and we need to use modern genetic approaches to help us increase the food supply to feed that growing population." Eventually, due to dire necessity, it may become necessary to acknowledge that genetic modification will go far to help feeding this planet.

Pork, and bacon in particular, is extremely high in saturated fat and in sodium. Four slices of bacon represents 40 percent of recommended daily values of both saturated fat and sodium. A leaner animal producing a less-fatty bacon would obviously be a healthier alternative for health-conscious consumers. And the CRISPR method that produced a dozen healthy, low-fat pigs is a broad step in that direction. 

In Canada, however, there is less reluctance to permit genetically modified foods to reach the consuming public. According to Eat Right Ontario, since 1994, some 85 GM foods were made available in the Canadian marketplace. GM salmon, as an example, was approved in 2015 for sale in Canada, no identifying labelling required. Despite that Canadian consumers "still want more transparency", according to Global News reporting on a 2017 Angus Reid Survey. 

In the meanwhile, those concerned with eating well, with a view to maintaining good health might observe the following guidelines:

• Eat more vegetables and fruits, fresh or frozen; the brighter the colour the greater content of minerals and vitamins;
• Eat more grains and legumes;
• Eat leaner cuts of meat and poultry;
• Eat more fish;
• Eat vegetarian meals at least several times weekly;
• Eat fewer processed foods where salt, sugar and fat are present in quantities you wouldn't add in your own kitchen
• Use limited but sufficient amounts of butter or oil; 
• Cook your own meals more frequently; eat out less often;
• Exercise more frequently. 

Symmetrical Perfection

"We can't sell our misshapen cucumbers even though they taste exactly the same and are just as nutritious as what you'd call a 'grade 1' cucumber."
"No one wants to buy an ugly cucumber so we usually just end up composting them, or occasionally selling them for half price if we can find a buyer."
Organic farmer, Brent Preston

A shopper is seen in a Loblaws produce section in Montreal. Ugly food can mean a pretty profit. At least, that's the bet Loblaw is making with a nearly national expansion of its ugly duckling produce line that's been appealing to shoppers looking to save money on sky-rocketing fresh food prices.

Ryan Remiorz/THE CANADIAN PRESS

'Cosmetically challenged' produce has a rough time of it. Which is to say market gardeners and farmers who grow produce for the fresh market have a headache when the crops they bring in are not uniformly shaped, coloured just right and all-around pleasant to look at. Bearing in mind that many fruits and vegetables represent mono-crops that have been bred to produce fruits and vegetables that have staying power, that don't ripen too quickly or go bad during shipment.

In breeding produce for enhanced appearance other attributes often suffer; for example, taste.

Heritage seeds that grow vegetable and fruit types no longer popular often tasted better but didn't stay fresh as long, and when ripe didn't have that kind of perfect look consumers now expect in the produce they buy. Taste, texture and flavourful aroma may have been lost in the process of teaching produce to be on their best visual behavior, but this is what consumers have been led to believe is the clue to their freshness and good taste, belying reality.

If it looks good, it must be good. If it looks bent out of whack it can't possibly be good.

On the outskirts of Etobicoke, Ontario (which is part of greater Metro Toronto) Canada's largest wholesale fruit and produce terminal, The Food Terminal, represents the conduit from farm to retail. Daily, 5.5 million pounds of produce brought to the market becomes distributed throughout Eastern Canada and the Northern United States. At three in the morning sharp, produce begins arriving at the terminal.

Unsightly scars on the outside of fruit might reflect higher nutrition within.

Daniela White Images/Getty Images

And then begins the sorting hierarchy where good-looking vegetables are approved for "grade 1" labelling and their contorted counterparts are given a lower ranking as "grade 2". Perfect-in-appearance apples, for example, are graded "Fancy" and "Extra Fancy". Cantaloupes appearing lopsided rather than perfectly spherical with just-right appearing skin doesn't even make the grade as saleable.

Produce of equal dimensions and attractive colouration is carefully loaded into crates for shipment to supermarkets across the country, and in contrast the "cosmetically challenged" may be sold at discount prices to be processed into canned goods, given away to food banks or simply tossed out as nuisance products no one wants. They don't make the grade of presentation and are rated to have no place on store shelves.

There is a generally shared legend that whatever looks appreciably attractive has all the nutritious and taste elements down pat; all others need not apply. If the best looking fruits and vegetables are those that consumers gravitate toward, it stands to reason that the produce that appears misshapen and off colour represents dregs no one would buy to put on their dining table. But then, there's always the reliability of smelling a fresh-food item to determine whether it has the requisite taste and freshness.

And while at one time in the dim paste, sniffing a piece of fruit might convey that assurance, it no longer will, since the fragrance appears to have been bred out of the produce, cooled and refrigerated to the point where longer shelf life is assured but the identifying smell is gone. We're left with a food supply that has been homogenized to assure shoppers that they're getting the most visually perfect produce; a metric now used universally to assess quality.

Over thirty percent of edible fruits and vegetables grown and marketed in North America are tossed even before they can appear on a supermarket shelf; these are the produce that haven't made the initial cut in pleasing appearance, and as a result given short shrift. The appearance of "ugly produce" campaigns leading some grocers to sell unsightly produce at discounted prices appears to have failed to address the stigma associated with blemished fruits and vegetables.

"Misfits"/wpmedia.nationalpost.com