Lynn A. KuntzThe Hot Pot RSS

The Hot Pot is a goulash of news, opinions and advice about designing food products and other issues affecting our industry. Its moderator and sometimes contributor is Lynn A. Kuntz, editor of Food Product Design. A lifetime of food-industry experience, first in the trenches and currently via the written word, has shaped her knowledge base and her opinions―and she's not afraid to use either of them.

08/12/2009

In Defense of Food Science

What is it with the demonizing of food science anyway? And why is our industry paying for it? ...
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07/30/2009

Essential Food Safety Facts

Interest in reining in foodborne illnesses is at an all time high, particularly with the reoccurring, high-profile cases seen in the last several years. It’s receiving attention at the highest level and legislation (HR 2749) is pending.
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07/27/2009

CSPI and Sodium: If the Suit Fits

You have to give the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) credit for doing their part in this unsettled economy: trying to keep the lawyers in business by suing Denny’s restaurants for excess sodium in their menu items.
07/21/2009

Blueprint for a Changing Marketplace

As the old Bob Dylan song succinctly puts it, "The times they are a-changin'." The convergence of a number of economic as well as social trends is reshaping our business and how we approach food product design.
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07/13/2009

"Food Inc": Food Industry on Film

By the time you read this, the theatrical release of the latest food-industry hit job, “Food, Inc.,” will be history. The film’s website describes it thus: “Corn is the vegetable-as-villain in ‘Food, Inc.,’ which builds on the work of nutritionists, journalists and activists Eric Schlosser (“Fast Food Nation”) and Michael Pollan (“The Omnivore's Dilemma”) to show how multinationals have taken over the production of food.
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07/08/2009

Do You Speak Food Marketing?

I just read an article interviewing Irene Rosenfeld, CEO of Kraft Foods, (Ahh, so that explains the current price of Blue Box Mac-N-Cheese!) that mentioned the terms “usage occasion” and “share of stomach,” and it reminded me of how interesting food-industry Marketese can be. Sure food scientists toss around such esoteric terms as “organoleptic” and “slurry,” but at least you can find them in the ...
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06/30/2009

Food Ingredients: Poison or Panacea?

I’m always struck by the irony inherent in studies that challenge our collective wisdom on foods or ingredients that are considered “bad.” Today’s example: nitrates and nitrites. A couple of recent articles in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,“Nitrate in foods: harmful or healthy?”  and “Food sources of nitrates and nitrites: the physiologic context for potential health benefits,” swam ...
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