Tag Archives: food

From Other Blogs: American Food Dollars, Stroke Risk Factors for Women, Prepare Your Health for Hurricane Season

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A collection of health and environmental posts from other governmental blogs.

Where Do Americans’ Food Dollars Go?

In 2017, consumers in the United States spent $1.2 trillion on U.S.-produced food. Nearly all food starts out on a farm, but did you ever wonder how the value added from processing, packaging, transporting, and marketing agricultural food products factors into the costs? – From U.S. Department of Agriculture’s blog

 

Risk factors for stroke every woman should know

More women die from stroke than breast cancer every year. Shocked? It’s true. In fact, stroke is the third leading cause of death in women, while it is the fifth for men, and women are more likely to have another stroke within five years of their first stroke. So what is it that makes strokes affect women differently than men? Anil Yallapragada, MD, Palmetto Health-USC Neurology, explained. – From Flourish, Prisma Health’s blog

 

Prepare Your Health for Hurricane Season

In all, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), of which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a member, has a list of 21 names that they will use this year to identify hurricanes during the Atlantic hurricane season.  What’s in a name? A major hurricane by any name is hazardous to public health and safety, potentially life threatening, and important to prepare for.

– From Public Health Matters, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Blog

Food Recall Alert: Ben & Jerry’s Coconut Seven Layer Bar Bulk and Chunky Monkey Pint due to Undeclared Tree Nut

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Unilever voluntarily recalled a limited quantity of Ben & Jerry’s Coconut Seven Layer Bar bulk and Chunky Monkey pints on April 17 due to tree nuts, including almonds, Brazil nuts, and hazelnuts.  Tree nuts are not declared on the ingredient list or allergy information list.  If you are allergic to tree nuts and consume these products, you may run the risk of a serious or life-threatening reaction.

No reports of illness yet.

For more information, including the UPC codes of the products, click HERE.

This Earth Day, Let’s Tackle Food Waste Together

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By: Bureau of Environmental Health Services

When people think about Earth Day, some of the things that come to mind are recycling, planting trees, and reducing pollution.  Consider food safety and the reduction of food waste in this conversation. With 40% of all food in the United States being wasted every year, it is easy to see that this is a serious problem that needs to be addressed.  These food habits lead to massive amounts of money wasted and environmental degradation – even though in South Carolina alone, 1 in 7 people, including 1 in 5 children, struggle with hunger according to Feeding America.  Fortunately, this is a challenge that can be addressed both individually and systemically.

You Can End Food Waste! It Starts at Home 

A couple of strategies for individual food waste management:

1).  Purchase only what you know you’re going to eat. When our refrigerators become overpacked, air is unable to properly circulate, and proper temperatures of less than 40 degrees Fahrenheit cannot be maintained. This results in food going bad and needing to be thrown out and energy being wasted through a constantly running refrigerator.  In case you need a good visual of the journey of bringing food to our tables, watch “The Extraordinary Life and Times of a Strawberry” put on by the Save the Food campaign and Ad Council.

2).  Regularly monitoring refrigerator temperature is an effective way to ensure your food isn’t going bad.

3).  Learn about date labels. Date labels, such as “best by” and “use by,” most often refer to quality. Even though a date label has been exceeded, a food product is not necessarily unsafe.

To find tips and tricks for storing and preparing your food visit:  https://savethefood.com/storage and https://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/index.html.

4).  Practice portion control and keep your leftovers.  By doing this, you can end up reducing your “waist” with both your body and food.  Whether you are eating out at a restaurant or have over prepared a meal at home, have a storage container on hand to have a tasty snack later in the day or week.

5).  Donate! Food banks and local food drives are always looking for more items. Since roughly 25% of all food and beverages purchased by families in the United States end up in the trash, there is an abundance of food being wasted that could be used to feed those in need. To learn more about where to donate food, you can visit: https://feedingthecarolinas.org/.

For additional tips on how to reduce your food waste at home, DHEC’s Guide for Reducing Food Waste at Home is an amazing resource!

Addressing the Systemic Causes of Food Waste

As a community, the most effective way to make sure food waste stops before it starts is to support local and national food waste reduction initiatives. There are no national regulations directing consistent food date labeling.  With 17% of restaurant meals going uneaten and 55% of leftovers not even being taken home, oversized portions are serious contributors to food waste and any comprehensive food waste program should take this into consideration. If your household or business is interested in addressing the issue of food waste, consider becoming a Don’t Waste Food SC Food Ambassador. DHEC has created a toolkit to get you started.

Do Your Part This Earth Day

Failure to manage food waste can lead to increased pollution.  Food waste ends up in landfills and food decomposition adds to the pollution generated at those sites.  Municipal solid waste landfills are the third largest source of methane emissions in the United States according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  You can help decrease those emissions by turning wasted food into compost or donating it to local food banks, food rescue organizations, and other non-profits.  This Earth Day do your part to reduce your personal food waste and spread the word about this increasingly important issue. Not only will you help protect the Earth that all of us share, you will save some money while you do it! For more information on how you can help tackle the problem of food waste, you can visit Don’t Waste Food SC!

 

From Other Blogs: Stopping type 2 diabetes, understanding gynecologic cancers, ending health disparities & more

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A collection of health and environmental posts from other governmental blogs.

Putting a stop to type 2 diabetes

Did you know that diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States? It is estimated that by the year 2020, 50 percent of Americans will either have diabetes or be pre-diabetic, but there is a way to prevent this.  — From Flourish, Palmetto Health’s blog

Let’s Help Women Understand: What We Need to Know About Gynecologic Cancers

Once upon a time, women were told to get a Pap test every year. And most of us did, even though it wasn’t always clear why we were being tested. We just did what we were told and thought it was a surefire way to stay healthy. But times and recommendations have changed about what test to have, how often to have it, and the reason to have it. — From the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) The Topic Is Cancer blog

Mission Possible: A Year in Review

As a long-time scientist and physician, I’ve treated patients in a range of environments – from U.S. cities and military bases, to sub-Saharan Africa and Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in 2010. Throughout those experiences, I saw firsthand the impact that health disparities could have on health outcomes. That’s why – even when treating single patients – it was important to always consider the social determinants of that individual’s health.

The inequity in health that we see across the world today remains one of the greatest social injustices of our time. Access to healthcare and behaviors is greatly influenced by social factors and environment, including housing, transportation, and education. As the nation’s leading public health agency, CDC plays a crucial role in promoting the practice of health equity, and I’m committed to seeing that CDC puts science into action to confront the gaps in health and the social determinants behind those inequities. — From the CDC’s Conversations in Equity blog

New HRSA Program Will Help Clinicians and Patients in the Fight Against Opioid Addiction

On December 27, 2018 HRSA launched a program that is critical to HHS’ response to the opioid crisis. This National Health Service Corps Substance Use Disorder Workforce Loan Repayment Progam will support the HHS Five-Point Opioid Strategy by increasing patient access to high-quality substance use disorder preventive, treatment, and recovery services. — From the US Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) blog

Superfood of the Month: Cauliflower

Cauliflower is considered one of the healthiest foods on Earth and with good reason. It has a rich supply of health-promoting phytochemicals, a high level of anti-inflammatory compounds, and the ability to ward off cancer, heart disease, brain disease and weight gain. There isn’t much cauliflower can’t do. — From Lexington Medical Center’s official blog

The 12 Days of Reducing, Reusing and Recycling

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Although Christmas is a wonderful time of the year it is also a time when people generate tons of waste. While reducing, reusing, and recycling should be practiced year-round, it is even more important during the holidays when our waste is plenteous.

We at DHEC urge you to put these 12 recycling and waste reduction tips to use this holiday season:

1. Keep a waste-free kitchen: Before going shopping, look around to determine what you already have on hand and make a list of things you need before heading to the store. Compost or donate your unwanted food and recycle your cooking oil. Find other helpful tips at www.scdhec.gov/dont-waste-food-sc.

2. Have hard-to-recycle items? Consider only buying materials packaged in what can be recycled in your area. Find where and what you can recycle at www.scdhec.gov/HomeAndEnvironment/Recycling.

3. Give waste-less gifts like your time to clean someone’s house, piano or guitar lessons, gym memberships or certificates for pampering.

4. Most wrapping paper cannot be recycled, BUT you can reuse something to wrap with instead, such as paper bags, newspaper, maps or use reusable grocery bags, scarves or flower pots. Also reuse greeting cards to make gift tags.

5. Stop the unwanted mail! Check out ecocycle.org/junkmail for six easy steps. Make sure to recycle mail with your paper as well.

6. Prevent food waste this holiday by providing reusable containers or asking your guests to bring their own for leftovers.ledlights

7. Use LED lights, which last 10 times longer and use 80 percent less energy. Recycle your old strings of lights. Find more information on hard-to-recycle items at www.scdhec.gov/recycling-waste-reduction/recycling-hard-manage-items.

8. Go with an eco-deco theme by decorating with natural materials like greenery, gourds, fresh fruit and pine cones — all which can be composted after the holidays.

9. Set up a collection corner at your party by providing an area where guests can bring unwanted items to swap or donate.

10. Always let your guests know what can be recycled and composted. Clearly mark your bins and let guests know where they’re located.

11. Provide a green dining experience by using dishes and silverware instead of disposables.christmastree

12. Grind those greens. If you decorated a real tree and are ready for it to go, remember to find out where your county will be accepting them for grinding.

Visit the DHEC website for more tips and information on recycling and waste reduction.