Tag: transparency

Top Ten Food Trends for 2025…as predicted by The Food Channel

The lemonade flight from The Original Lemonade House Grille in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. We’ve been keeping our eye on the food industry for decades, so why stop now? There’s a lot of attention turning to food manufacturers and the behind-the-scenes …

The lemonade flight from The Original Lemonade House Grille in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.

We’ve been keeping our eye on the food industry for decades, so why stop now?

There’s a lot of attention turning to food manufacturers and the behind-the-scenes of food. There’s also interest in food as a travel incentive, particularly as the number of retiree’s grows, and—according to a Forrester report, travel is reportedly back to pre-pandemic levels.

In addition, while we’ve called out recalls before, the instances appear to be growing.

So, let’s explore what we see ahead. Here are the first five; the remainder will follow shortly.

  1. Recalls Upon Recalls. Is it just us, or are the recalls coming faster these days? You can check it out at the United States Food & Drug Administration’s site. Hamburger meat, carrots, and eggs have been a few of the products singled out recently. Some of this is a matter of statistics, and there is a thoughtful article on the subject found at Food Safety News. Given the increased reporting (for whatever reason), it’s worth digging into this for 2025 so we understand what’s happening in food safety.
  2. Transparent Ingredients. As the call goes out for healthier ingredients, even those manufacturers who haven’t gotten on the band wagon before will now be ready to innovate. This means several things, including increased openness with the public about ingredients, and possibly a new discourse about how to achieve health goals as a nation. Some of this is a response to the industry awareness of government health policy, of course, but some of this has been evolving over recent years and is coming to a head. To read more, we recommend this impact article from Bakery and Snacks.
  3. Kitchen Warehousing. A few years ago, there was a trend where people offered their garages and extra space as “warehouses” – sort of the Airbnb of storage, you might say. That has transitioned into people filling their own space and calling it “kitchen warehousing.” This new warehousing is in your own home, and it’s not for really for food but for decorating. Picture yourself pulling from your shelves like a tablescape designer. After all, the idea of storage now goes beyond your Rubbermaid or old Tupperware containers, and into shelving and moveable racks. Have a closet that used to be crammed full of unused coats? Donate them and use the space for appliances that aren’t in daily use. Your stand mixer, air fryer, blender, dehydrator, seasonal decorations, all qualify for self-warehousing. After all, simplifying your life comes down to living with the things you love, and clearing out the rest, right?
  4. Beverage Playground. You know mocktails have hit mainstream when a hotel happy hour offers them, like our recent experience at an Embassy Suites in Chicago. But even more interesting is the types of flavor combinations. Wine Enthusiast is calling out tropical flavors, while we’re watching soda companies experiment with seasonal and limited time offerings featuring unique taste combos, like Coke Spiced (we liked it, but they’ve already pulled it in favor of a new idea). The KerryDigest sees sensory pairing with flavor, as do we. And, Mintel says it well when it writes, “…the industry will need to encourage consumers to welcome and trust the new origins, ingredients and flavours that will emerge locally and globally.” So, watch for the unusual and try it before they change it again!

  1. Culinary Travel. You are going to think The Food Channel has a thing about this, because we’ve talked often about the influence of food on travel planning. Sur la Table must agree because they’ve come out with Culinary Journeys and they sound amazing. Right now, they are focusing on France, so if Bordeaux or Normandy are on your list, you might want to check them out. We already knew people booked travel around certain restaurants—look at the demand for Tracy’s King Crab Shack in Juneau, Alaska, or The Pancake Bakery in Amsterdam—but it’s now rising to a new level of commitment to the food and restaurants, not just this historic sites and museums. Hint: if you go on your own, make advance reservations!

That’s the top five, so go here for the remaining five of our Top Ten Food Trends for 2025!

Food trends by The Food Channel are not sponsored and any mention of restaurants, products or companies is meant to provide appropriate credit to them for part of our research. They do not pay for the mention.

 

 

 

 

 

Transparency will be key if the college football season is to survive

If the season is to run its course schools must be accountable and transparent especially when it comes to sharing COVID-19 testing results.

After five months of uncertainty and varying degrees of doubt toward the probability of a college football season this fall, the 2020 season officially started last Saturday with an FCS matchup between Central Arkansas and Austin Peay.

The Bears beat the Governors 24-17, and despite concerns about the game being a vector for the novel coronavirus, 82 Central Arkansas players, coaches and staff were tested the following week with none returning positive results.

UAB opened the FBS season against the Bears on Thursday night, and no one from either team tested positive ahead of the matchup.

This is a welcome good sign after months of bad ones. Of course, it’s still a small sample size, and we still don’t know how feasible a college football season will be once it’s in its full swing, but at the very least, the preliminary result seems to have been a good one.

However, if the season is to run its course, schools must be accountable and transparent, especially when it comes to testing results. And unfortunately, the early returns from the Power Five are mixed, to say the least.

In an ESPN survey of the 65 Power Five programs, nearly half of them refused to disclose information about the number of athletes that have tested positive for COVID-19. Further, a third also withheld information about testing protocols for players.

Of these schools, 21 are from the SEC, Big 12 and ACC, which are planning to participate in the fall season. Ten are from the SEC, eight are from the ACC (including Florida State and Miami) and the remaining three are from the Big 12.

Florida is one of just four SEC schools to respond to the survey with data on both the number of players who tested positive and the number who received tests overall.

Throughout the entire Gators athletic department, 569 athletes have been tested with only 35, or 6.2 percent, returning positive results.

Natalie Dean, a biostatistician and assistant professor at the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions, told ESPN that openness about athlete testing results is critical to the viability of the sport.

“These teams are interacting closely. You can’t do socially distanced football. It’s a different set of risks than kids coming back to their classrooms and taking their classes,” she said. “It also informs decisions about whether schools should be playing against each other, because there’s interaction that way. It’s just a different set of considerations.”

Only 10 schools responded to all survey questions, and of those, just four — Clemson, Iowa State, Missouri and Oklahoma — are planning on playing football in the fall.

Greg McGarity, the athletics director at Georgia (which is among the schools to withhold both testing numbers and positive results from ESPN) gave a justification for the school’s actions.

“We’ve just followed our university protocols when we do have positive tests, whether they be staff, student-athletes or what have you,” said Greg McGarity, athletics director at Georgia, one of the schools that declined to answer any of the nine survey questions. “They’re reported through the university channels, and everything is done by the book.”

Though I would certainly like to take McGarity at his word that “everything is done by the book,” without proper accountability, it’s hard to.

Especially when you consider attempts made by public universities to cover up outbreaks within the general student body.

Often, universities cite federal privacy laws such as HIPPA and FERPA to avoid revealing testing information. However, legal experts say this is a misinterpretation of these laws, and it is permissible to disclose positive test results as long as general privacy standards are adhered to.

Essentially, universities are worried about the bad PR that would come from revealing outbreaks, within or without the athletic department. They want to avoid becoming scapegoats.

And this instinct is understandable. But Dean explains here succinctly why it’s harmful.

“Places worry that they’re going to be on the front page of the news. That discourages them from being transparent,” Dean said. “But that’s putting those patrons and employees and athletes at an elevated risk.”

Admittedly, the college football season happening this fall for more than a week or two feels much more likely than it did a month ago, when the Big Ten and Pac-12 canceled their fall seasons.

But a lack of accountability threatens that. And if you want to see players suit up for the fall season, you should demand openness from these institutions.

[lawrence-related id=21158,20552,20046,17763,17447]

Gators News: August 14, 2020

College football—and collegiate athletics—tries to find its footing heading into fall while the novel coronavirus pandemic rages on. 

[jwplayer X4xbMYwa]

We are finally nearing the end of a tumultuous week, to say the least, as college football — and collegiate athletics as a whole — tries to find its footing heading into fall while the novel coronavirus pandemic rages on.

Presumably, the biggest issue currently being worked out is the health and safety of athletics participants, as well as the university student bodies as a whole. Josh Kendall over at The Athletic scolds the Southeastern Conference for the silence of its medical advisors while USA TODAY Sports’ Dan Wolken suggests that college football programs need to get comfortable with transparency or risk losing credibility. The long-story-short version is that there is a credibility problem that is not just going to go away.

Speaking of silence, prestigious academic schools Duke and Notre Dame have been conspicuously quiet thus far in the process as football presses on. And at fell ACC school Florida State, there appears to be some trouble brewing below the surface as well.

On Thursday, the NCAA Division I Council announced that all fall sports championships have been postponed due to COVID-19. Make note that this does not affect football postseason play, as those are conducted under the supervision of a different governing body. Additionally, the council also recommended eligibility relief for athletes who lose seasons due to COVID-19 pandemic, which “the Council members are working to create additional flexibility for college athletes whose seasons have been negatively impacted by the pandemic,” said Council chair M. Grace Calhoun, athletic director at the University of Pennsylvania.

Finally, Paul Myerberg wonders as spring college football becomes the focus for some conferences if it can possibly work. It is one of many pressing questions facing the sports world as we enter the middle of August.

Around the Swamp

It’s great to be a Florida Gator!

[lawrence-related id=20486,20386,20305,20122]