Researchers have been looking at the food safety implications of different hen housing methods, but research is underway in the United States. Researcher Dr. Deana Jones is studying the potential for food safety issues based on hens in different housing systems, and Dr. Jeroen Dewulf, a researcher in Europe, pointed out the vast differences in European egg production compared with United States egg production, and that the European research should be used cautiously to predict food safety in eggs in the U.S.  
 
The 2010 Salmonella outbreak in eggs is a distant memory for many, but food safety is always top of mind for Best Food Facts. To follow up on our earlier posts about housing systems, we wanted to know if the type of housing (cage-free, enriched or caged) played a part in food safety.
We interviewed Dr. Deana Jones, USDA Agricultural Research Service, and Dr. Jeroen Dewulf, Ghent University, Belgium, about the safety of eggs from different housing systems.
 
Are eggs from free-range and cage-free hens safer than from caged hens?
Dr. Jones: “At this time, there is no clear-cut scientific evidence to support either side. That is an area of research that we are working on now. We are doing research on the microbiology of…

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Seeing colorful, fresh and just plain beautiful fruits and veggies, like those in this ad for butter, tempts us to run to the market and stock up for our healthy eating endeavors - but what do you do when that produce nears its expiration date? 
 
Lurpak - Lightest from Blink on Vimeo.
 
We recently came across a great resource - www.LoveFoodHateWaste.com - and were hooked with the creative pictures, the excellent recipes for using leftovers and overall guidance on getting the most out of the food you buy, so it doesn't go to waste. As mentioned on the site, in the United Kingdom, 7.2 million tonnes of food are wasted every year.

From the Love Food Hate Waste website:
"Every year in the UK we throw away around £12 billion worth of food which could have been eaten. Wasted food is a waste of money and a major contributor to climate change. If we all stopped wasting food that could have been eaten, it would have the same environmental impact as taking 1 in 5 cars off UK roads. The Love Food Hate Waste programme from WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) has lots of tasty leftover recipes, a portion calculator, top tips and date label advice to help us make the most of the food we buy."

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Sioux Falls’ Top Lunch Lady on Providing Healthier Options for Students
 
When seeking to understand some of the issues with today's school lunches, we thought we'd go straight to a top U.S. "lunch lady." Joni Davis, Child Nutrition Supervisor for the Sioux Falls, South Dakota School District accepted a Bronze Award in the USDA’s Healthier U.S. School Challenge as she attended a White House reception hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama to recognize the accomplishment. Best Food Facts spoke with Joni to get her thoughts on the importance of providing healthful diets for our school children.
 
Best Food Facts: You were awarded the bronze award from the USDA’s Healthier U.S. School Challenge and attended a White House reception with Michelle Obama in recognition of improvement in the quality of your school district’s meals. What kinds of things did you implement to earn this distinction?
Davis: The USDA’s Healthier U.S. School Challenge provided us the opportunity to document some of the things we’ve been doing over the last few years. We’ve been working to improve not only the nutrition but the physical activity of our school environment. We’ve reduced fat in our…

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When it comes to sodium, Best Food Facts experts agree: we need to pay attention to sodium levels in the foods we eat. To decrease sodium consumption, experts encourage choosing foods closest to their natural state and checking labels for foods with less sodium.
 
We’ve heard it for a while now: Americans are eating too much salt. Because of the risks of high sodium consumption, there have been efforts to reduce salt consumption by consuming less processed foods and considering government regulation. But just how much salt is too much? We reached out to experts Dr. Lawrence Appel, Director of the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research, Johns Hopkins University, and Dr. Ethan Bergman, Registered Dietitian and Professor of Food Science and Nutrition, Associate Dean, College of Education and Professional Studies, Central Washington University, to get their thoughts on salt in the diet.
 
What is sodium and are there different levels of it in different kinds of salt such as table salt, sea salt, kosher salt, etc.?
Dr. Appel: “The term salt that we use commonly is actually a compound called sodium chloride. We typically use the terms sodium and salt interchangeably because about 90 percent of our sodium comes…

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