LEWISTON — This week is harvest lunch week, when schools across the state serve fresh food grown in Maine — summer squash, zucchini, butternut squash, carrots, corn and potatoes. At Lewiston schools, there’s some local produce, but potatoes are most often made from dried flakes. Carrots are frozen. Corn comes out of a can. “It […]
nutrition
FDA to ban trans fats
WASHINGTON — Heart-clogging trans fats have been slowly disappearing from grocery aisles and restaurant menus in the last decade. Now, the Food and Drug Administration is finishing the job. The FDA planned to announce Thursday it will require the food industry to gradually phase out all trans fats, saying they are a threat to people’s […]
Nutritional ratings appear to influence your grocery choices
PORTLAND — A nutritional rating system using gold stars affixed to price labels on grocery store shelves appears to have shifted buying habits, potentially providing another tool to educate consumers on how to eat healthier, according to a new study. The independent study examining a proprietary gold star system used in Maine-based Hannaford Supermarkets suggested […]
Maine students adjust to healthier menus
As students at Portland’s Longfellow Elementary School ate lunch, Levi Franck described his school meal in a way you might not expect from a fifth-grader. “I like how every time I eat something there’s a vegetable to eat,” said the 10-year-old, finishing up the day’s meal of chicken, corn and beans with a choice of […]
Calories on menus coming in 2011
For some Maine restaurants, this was the last New Year’s Eve patrons could chow down blissfully unaware of how many calories they eat. Coming in 2011: A new law mandates that restaurant chains with 20 or more outlets post calories on menus as plain as the price. That will let consumers know if that six-piece […]