Porca Food

Janet Woodcock, the acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs, and Susan T. Mayne, director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) Thursday announced Closer to Zero, a new action plan for reducing exposure to toxic elements in foods commonly eaten by babies and young children to the lowest possible levels.

Their comments associated with the announcement included the following:

“Although the FDA’s testing shows that children are not at an immediate health risk from exposure to toxic elements at the levels found in foods, we are starting the plan’s work immediately, with both short- and long-term goals for achieving continued improvements in reducing levels of toxic elements in these foods over time.

“We recognize that Americans want zero toxic elements in the foods eaten by their babies and young children. In reality, because these elements occur in our air, water, and soil, there are limits to how … Read more

Because drinking what you like shouldn’t be hard

On any given night in the pre-pandemic days, there was a four-top at a restaurant with a small-share-plates-so-order-several-items-and-I’ll-course-it-out-for-you type of menu, and, inevitably, someone in the group would want the sommelier to recommend a wine to pair.

Many times that sommelier was (or is) me, and often in that moment, I’ve hesitated. You want to know what I, a stranger, think you should have with your meal, with no clue what you actually like? Sometimes I just want to look you in the eye and say, “This is your dinner; it’s not about me.”

There is a long history of the all-knowing wine guru telling you that you absolutely must have X with Y. Sommelier courses like the Wine and Spirit Education Trust train and test students on traditional, tried-and-true pairings, maximizing the enjoyment of food and wine. This skill … Read more

There isn’t anything quite as refreshing as this Homemade Lemonade recipe, it’s the BEST!  Summer is going to be so cool, with a glass of this by your side.

Anything with lemons in it is just fresh and energizing, it adds so much zing and flavor. Here are more lemon loving favorites, like these Scallops, Chicken Piccata and Brownies.

Easy Homemade Lemonade

Just thinking about this recipe makes my mouth water. Imagine a hot day and you are parched. Now reach into the fridge and pull out this pitcher of ice cold lemonade. It’s perfectly balanced between the sweet and the tart. You take a gulp and the world is all better. Seriously, it’s that good! And the reason it’s so good is because it’s so easy! You may never buy lemonade from the store again. Make a double batch, I promise it will not go to waste!

Nothing artificial, … Read more

Business owners can opt into feature, while the app promises to monitor for racist harassment

Yelp users can now search for restaurants and other businesses that are Asian owned, thanks to a tool that the reviews platform announced today. According to the company, Yelp searches for Asian-owned businesses in the U.S. increased by 130 percent in February 2021 compared to the same time last year, suggesting that consumers are actively and increasingly looking to frequent those kinds of businesses.

Similar to how women, Black, and Latinx business owners can add those attributes on their Yelp listings, Asian business owners now have the option of self identifying if they log into their accounts and follow a few steps. In its announcement of the feature, Yelp notes that the company will seek to protect businesses who mark themselves as Asian owned by “proactively monitoring business pages for hate speech … Read more