Food Week October 11 saw workers quitting their jobs, particularly in the foodservice sector. When they aren’t quitting (or maybe while) they are eating too much salt, too much processed foods and ingredients that may or may not .be safe. But mushrooms will likely save us. Enjoy!
MACRO
- Global food prices up 32% in 2021.
- 3 million workers quit their jobs in a month.
- While there is considerable buzz around clean labels, the trend is in the opposite direction. Americans are eating more ultra-processed foods.
RETAIL AND CONSUMER
- In another step in transforming breakfast into dessert. Hershey’s gets into breakfast cereal and Reese’s breakfast bars.
- The next thing: text shopping. WalMart beta testing.
- GRAS (Generally Regarded as Safe) is operating under a regime developed in 1950s in which companies pay experts to test food products to make the determination. This should make you uncomfortable….
- FDA is trying to slowly wean Americans off salt. This could be a challenge to certain plant based alt-proteins.
RESTAURANTS AND FOODSERVICE
- A $50,000 restaurant bill in London.
- Rating and ranking the fast food chicken sandwiches: big surprise, Popeyes number one.
- 892,000 quit restaurant, bar and hotel jobs in August alone. The reasons are pay and conditions. Restaurants and food service operators who are waiting for their old work force to return are delusional.
- Relatedly, how bad is the labor shortage? How bad is the pay that $300 per kid is enough for you to forego?
- Starbucks to close 2 locations that are trying to unionize.
- Everyone knows a one block walk to the parking garage is enough to sober you up. But a Chicago alderman has proposed banning valet parking for bars
FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN
- Climate and labor issues lead to a 40% reduction in Idaho’s onion crop.
- USDA report shows not only did meat plant workers suffer from OCVID they helped spread it.
- Half of Brazilian slaughtering capacity is idle. Problems with China but also dwindling domestic demand
- I am more than willing to eat insects. However I think that, in addition to ‘ick’ factor, vegan rejection of insects will considerably constrain growth.
- Speaking of things that elicit some icks, huitlacoche is corn mold that makes a delicious taco.
FOOD WEEK LAGNIAPPE
- What is quercetin? Something that might help you live longer. An anti-inflammatory found in berries, cherries, apples and onions
- Darnel is wheat’s evil twin and has been intoxicating (poisoning) humans for centuries.
- Early research about mushrooms and potential to treat depression. It is difficult to say how/why/where this is particularly effective or which varieties…
- An article that misses a key point: When many people talk about eating healthy they are talking about losing weight. And they want to lose it right now. Keto causes you to lose weight short term.
- And to finish Food Week October 11, a McKinsey Report on the changes in food delivery and what’s next:
