THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 28, 1994 TAG: 9407260059
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F3 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
WITH ALL THE hoopla about the new food labels, here are a few things I'd rather not see again. But probably will.
American Process Cheese Food - If it's cheese, it's food. So why did they put ``food'' in the description? Unless it's not cheese. Then, what is it?
Imitation crab - It's not crab, it's fish. Why don't they just call it fish?
Artificial flavors and added colors - If it tastes like vanilla, then it's vanilla flavor. So what's artificial? And what's an artificial color, anyway? Red is red, no matter where it comes from.
Artificial sweeteners - Most are sweeter than sugar. What's so artificial about that?
Flavor enhancers - If it had flavor to begin with, why does it need to be enhanced? Why didn't they just use more of the ingredient that tastes good?
Turkey ham - What is this mutant poultry? It's turkey processed to look and taste like ham. But it doesn't.
Whipped topping - What's this, a topping that misbehaved? Or something too tired to stand up on a cake?
Nondairy creamer a k a coffee whitener - If it's creamer, why didn't it come from a cow? And if it's whitener, why is my coffee still brown?
100 percent real cheese, no fats or fillers added. If it's 100 percent cheese, then there can't be anything else in there. And do they think we'd be stupid enough to buy 100 percent fake cheese?
On second thought, they are getting away with that American processed cheese food. No fat or fun
Last week the Food and Drug Administration cleared the way for RJR Nabisco and its partner, Pfizer Inc., to sell the new fat substitute Salatrim, while awaiting final approval, according to an Associated Press article.
Just think: If Nabisco combined Salatrim with aspartame and carob, they could have a no fat, no sugar, no chocolate Oreo. Award-winning
Congratulations to Rowena Fullinwider, founder and president of Rowena's in Norfolk.
She recently received the Blue Chip Enterprise Award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The award honors 200 small firms that overcame threats to their survival.
In Rowena's case, the threat came from the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990.
The act, which requires new nutritional labels on food packaging, could have caused the layoffs of thousands of employees nationwide as small gourmet producers struggled with the costs of nutritional analysis and new labels.
Thanks in part to Fullinwider's testimony, Congress provided an exception for small businesses. ILLUSTRATION: Rowena Fullinwider owns Rowena's in Norfolk.
by CNB