That's right. If you live in the great state of Mississippi and you have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more, you may be denied service at restaurants soon.

There is a bill working its way through the Mississippi House of Representatives now that would require restaurants to refuse to serve patrons who are obese. The bill would require eateries to keep track of customers BMI's and have scales at the doors. The states Department of Health would be responsible for enforcing compliance, and would revoke business permits for those dining establishments that violated the legislation.

This bill was introduced by Representative W.T. Mayhall, JR. Though he doesn't think his legislation will actually pass, he is very serious about it. He is concerned about the "serious problem of obesity and what it is costing the Medicare system." You can read the full text of the bill at this link.

I'm all for the government trying to protect its citizens and curbing its spending but I'm not sure this is the way to go about it. I think that prevention programs would be much more useful. I also believe that it's not the role of government to lead in the persecution of some of its citizens. Sorry Mr. Mayhall, that's not a good way to get reelected.

[Via coldmud]

The Indian state of Kerala, along with several other states, implemented a ban on Coca Cola and Pepsi colas after the companies refused to reveal their recipes to the government. On Friday, the High Court ruled that the ban was illegal and immediately reversed it, saying "state government had no jurisdiction to impose a ban on the manufacture and sale of [those] products. Only the federal government can ban food products."

Coke, Pepsi and fans of the two brands lauded the decision, but the top elected official in the state said he would attempt to get the ruling overturned.

The New Delhi research group, the Center for Science and Environment, was the original driving force behind the ban and wanted it reinstated, though a spokesperson did say that, since a significant number of food products produced in India contain pesticides, that alone was not the reason they targeted the cola companies. It was "because they account for nearly 80 percent of India's $2 billion soft drink market."

At this time, it seems unlikely that the court's decision will be reversed.

The Department of Agriculture has proposed some changes to the standards currently in place for grass fed beef. At the moment, there really are no specific guidelines, and farmers who produce at least 99% grass fed beef want labels that indicate that their beef is exactly what it sounds like: from cows that live in pastures and eat only grass. The proposal has no provisions that state that the cows must be kept in pastures and it defines "grass" to include "leftovers from harvested crops," including corn and silage, which feedlot finished cows are already fed. It means that some conventional beef, feedlot beef, could be labeled "grass fed."

Understandably, the farmers who have pasture-raised cattle don't like the proposal because it devalues the "grass fed" label, barely separating it from conventional beef as far as consumers are concerned. They propose a more specific definition of "grass" and a minimum amount of time that the cows must spend grazing in pasture each day. The Agriculture Department says those rules are too strict and that their standards put less strain on ranchers, particularly in years of bad weather or drought when pastures may suffer.

Under the Agriculture Department's standards, more beef labeled "grass fed" will reach the market. But will consumers want it, or be willing to pay a premium for it, if it has no distinction from conventional?

The Indian state of Kerala has initiated a plan to ban Pepsi and Coke for having levels of pesticides above the permissible amount. The whole thing seems to be a campaign against the products, both of which are produced locally using the local water supply. Even Indian commentators are taking note and observing that perhaps the money that the Indian Center for Science and Environment (CSE) intends to spend fighting the cola companies would be better spent running "a campaign for clean water" and reducing the levels of pesticides in all instances.

According to the same source, the CSE's "conclusions were that Diet Pepsi contained 0.36 amounts of pesticide per parts per billion (ppb), as tested by the Central Food Laboratory in Kolkata, that Pepsi contained 0.09 and that this was below the limit prescribed for packaged water by the Ministry of Health."

Other sources verify that the levels found in the soft drinks were lower than the levels of pesticide found in tea and other food products, including eggs, apples, rice and milk. So why target Pepsi and Coke? The CSE says that they cannot compare apples - which are reported to have 30200 times the prescribed limit of pesticides, versus 28,040 times the limit in tea and only 24 times the limit for Pepsi - to sodas. But the companies make convenient scapegoats in a country that seems to have pollution issues in areas other than their sodas.

A few years ago, Ben & Jerry's ice cream was sold to Unilever and the company dropped some of its social activist policies and programs. The spirit remained, but with the founders out of the game, very little non-ice cream action was undertaken. Recently, at the request of the company's new top executive, the "ageing hippie" founders have returned to work with the ice cream company and are leading a campaign that is spearheaded by their newest flavor, American Pie.

The ice cream is browns sugar and cinnamon flavored, witch chunks of apples and pie crust in it, capturing the spirit of an all-American dessert. On the carton, there are ways to get involved in the American Pie campaign, which is detailed at the Ben& Jerry's website. Their goal is to convince consumers to convince the government to change their spending priorities on issues such as education and insurance coverage.

The flavor sounds like it is one that will appeal to most ice cream (and pie) fans, but the question now is whether a love of ice cream will change anyone's political opinions - or if a difference in political opinion, or simply a desire not to have politics on ice cream packaging, will keep anyone from buying it.

Yesterday, we found out that a lot of people don't know what they're looking for when they read a nutrition label. The Food and Drug Administration, which sets the basic nutritional standards and defines what should be on the label, has a website that is set up to help shoppers understand and use the information on the label more effectively. Their guide to reading a nutrition label covers serving size, calorie content and nutrients, as you can see outlined above in an image from the site. They do a comprehensive job, covering the recommended daily minimums and maximums for foods, fats, calories and vitamins, as well as just about any other question that you could have about the nutritional facts.

Of course, it's also helpful to read the ingredients list to learn what exactly the food consists of, but it's important for a health-conscious shopper to know how to take advantage of the nutritional summary on the packaging. Check out the whole guide - you never know when you might learn something new!

The US Army celebrated its 231st birthday with cake. A very, very big cake. The ingredient list included 540 eggs, 100 pounds of flour, 30 pounds of butter, 30 gallons of milk and 30 pounds of sugar and it took 17 chefs about 1 week to create. How did it work? It was constructed from layered individual sheet cakes - 50 of them, to be precise. 35 gallons of icing were used to cover and decorate the cake. The finished product was 8.5 feet long by 3 feet wide and weighed more than 250 pounds. It was served at the Pentagon June 14th to approximately 1,500 people.

Elsewhere in the country, individual divisions had their own celebrations with even more cakes.

Granted, this cake - which is still very impressive - doesn't come close to rivaling the world's largest birthday cake, which was built last year in Las Vegas and used 30,000 half-sheet cakes and 40,000 pounds of frosting. The end result was a cake which weighed in at 65 tons.

There is one more cake close-up after the jump, as well as a picture of the world's largest birthday cake.

 

Scotch whisky is enjoying unprecedented popularity around the world, especially in Asian countries. The annual foreign market is more than £2 billion. Understandably, the distillers would like to hold on to as much of this market as they can, but there are some who are none too happy about the current market.

In India, sales of whisky have enjoyed a fifty percent increase in the last year and a Scotish Whisky Association (SWA) representative said that "India is the industry's number one trade priority." That is where the trouble starts. The SWA is protesting the 212-525% taxes and tariffs on their imports, which the Indian government and distillers say is necessary to protect local products. Indian distillers, in turn, are protesting the fact that the EU does not permit them to sell their own brew as "whisky" in Europe because it is molasses-based, not cereal-based. The Indian distillers, like magnate Vijay Mallya, say that having to call their beverage an "Indian spirit" hurts sales and the EU's labling requirements amount to protectionism, especially since they are not asking to call their products "scotch," and are willing to use the label "Indian whisky."

Efforts towards a settlement have failed thus far, but the EU is apparently conducting negotiations to see if a resolution can be reached.

The Guardian reports that Cadbury Trebor Bassett and Mars, rivals in the world of chocolate confectionery sales, are joining together to support a campaign that places warning labels on chocolates in the UK. The "Be treatwise" campaign was conceived by the Biscuit, Cake, Chocolate and Confectionery Association. It takes a cue from the warning labels on cigarette packaging and encourages placing labels on products that will echo the government’s messages about maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Labels will feature a variety of different messages, such as "Be active for 30 minutes" and "Being Active doesn't have to mean sweating at the gym". The labels will also include standard nutritional information, including fat and calorie content.

According to the Heath Status Calorie Calculator, a 150lb person would have to jog for 30 minutes to burn off the number of calories in a Mars bar.