Other happenings

Good news for all of us. Most major food companies have announced a reduction in the sodium — the part of salt we're concerned with — in their processed foods. And that's because, "Americans are becoming much more aware of their sodium intake -- and you can see it in the way food and beverage companies are targeting consumers," says Joan Holleran, Director of Research for Mintel, a market research firm. "The number of new products being launched with sodium claims of some type, including low-, no-, or reduced-sodium, are way up -- more than 115% from 2005 through 2008. What's really interesting is how sodium is being positioned." On [...]

For almost 30 years, I've been complaining about the sugars in General Mills cereals aimed at kids. I've gone as far as suggesting they sell their sugary breakfast offerings in the candy — not cereal — aisle. Well I must say, "Hallelujah!" as somebody must have been listening. General Mills — the maker of Lucky Charms, Cocoa Puffs, Reese's Puffs, Cookie Crisp and other sugary cereals — announced that they are further reducing the sugar in their cereals advertised to children under 12 to single digit grams of sugar per serving. According to company spokesperson Heidi Geller, in 2007 they committed to reduce the sugar in those cereals to 12 [...]

General Mills just launched a website (http://liveglutenfreely.com/) to attempt to assist consumer who are looking for gluten-free foods and recipes. I say attempt, as you'll only learn only about the company's gluten-free products and using those products in recipes — you won't learn a thing about living without gluten. The site contains a list of all General Mills gluten-free products and how to identify those product using the ingredient label, plus a mere ten kitchen-tested recipes based on those products. There's also a newsletter offer, which I'll bet will only provide you with more info about the company's gluten-free products and how to use them. Live Gluten Freely is helpful only [...]

Food companies aim to sell their products by incorporating or removing the latest "hot buttons" into or from them. Nabisco has done just that for their Wheat Thins. First, they've doubled the whole grains for Original, Reduced-Fat, “Big” and Hint of Salt Wheat Thins from 5 grams to 11 grams per serving. The government currently recommends three (18-gram) daily servings of whole grains. And Nabisco's removed the high fructose corn syrup, which they say they " know is important to many Wheat Thins lovers." Stay tuned for the next food hot buttons! - bonnie

Just one month remains to enter recipes into the CorningWare SimplyLite National Recipe Contest. The contest kicked off in August,  inviting any/all home cooks (18 years and older, sorry child prodigies) to submit original recipes for baked goods, either savory or sweet. The twist of it is that the baked goods need to be "lite". The recipe has to make a good faith effort to use ingredients that are low in fat and calories. The best part is, the grand prize recipe wins $5,000! The contest runs through December 31, with a bake-off planned for early January at the Institute of Culinary Education (New York) to help choose the grand [...]

What a great idea for our Thanksgiving NewsBite, we thought when the publicist for Trudeau’s Silicone Rack & Lift ($19.99) reached out to the Bite of the Best team. The red, silicone roast rack allows you to lift up and remove a turkey (or any roast, for that matter) from the cooking pan. Since it can hold up to a 30-pound bird, I thought it ideal for turkey day. That is until I tried it. Don't get me wrong. The nonstick holder didn't get hot in the oven (like all silicone),  the side handles snapped together to make it easy to lift and, since it's so flexible, it didn't take [...]

I am a sandwich lover... A food lover most importantly, but a sandwich lover most definitely. Most meals are not a meal for me without bread anyway, so why not just wrap it around my food and pick the whole thing up I say? Though we cover a lot of food products and food news at Bite of the Best, we certainly don't give sandwiches the level of attention of some other food sites. As I do love to share all bits of interesting food info, I wanted to let you know about a great blog I recently came across, Insanewiches.com. It was a picture of an intricately put together [...]

Oh.. I wish I were an Oscar Mayer weiner.. that is what I truly wish to be.. cause if I were an Oscar Mayer weiner, everyone would be in love with me... C'mon.. You all know the lyrics. I know you're humming along to yourself right now. If you're not, click on this link and you'll likely be soon. Classic Americana... I recently got invited for a ride on the weinermobile..  It was heart-breaking, but I couldn't make it on this fantastic voyage. I only share this thought to bring a smile, thinking about riding around in a huge hot dog car that continuously plays the Oscar Mayer Weiner song [...]

Just in case you missed the news, Condé Nast announced that it will close Gourmet, a magazine that's been published since December 1940. The November issues will be its last. (It also announced that it will close Cookie, Modern Bride and Elegant Bride.) Conde Nast had hired McKinsey consultants to review the companies portfolio. According to today's New York Times, "The cuts come at the conclusion of a three-month study by McKinsey & Company, which conducted analysis of Condé Nast’s costs... These are the first closings announced ... since the McKinsey study." This move — according to Ad Age — suggests that Conde Nast doesn't see the upside for magazines [...]