"launch" news and stories

In an effort to help you eat more cereal eat more healthily, the Kellogg Company is joining the USDA's MyPyramid Corporate Challenge.

The breakfast cereal giant will be promoting (healthy) "eating and physical fitness for families," as well as putting the MyPyramid icon on cereal boxes. They'll also be launching L.A.U.N.C.H. (learning and understanding nutrition choices & health) next fall in elementary and middle schools.

What all this means is hard to say. I couldn't find out what L.A.U.N.C.H. will actually do, or how Kellogg's will actually encourage healthy eating. But the cereal maker did get its start as a maker of (what it considered) health food, and the company does still claim a strong theme of health and wellness in its products. So what do you think: will Kellogg's really do anything or is this a marketing gimmick?

[Via Baking Business]

We already know that probiotics are one of the hottest health buzzwords of the year, so it's no surprise to hear that Dannon, which was one of the first companies to actively promote probiotics in their products in the US with the launch of Activia, has some new products to add to their line. First up is Activia Light, a fat free version of the original yogurt. It has less sugar than the original and about 30% fewer calories per serving, but still comes in four fruity flavors: strawberry, raspberry, peach and vanilla.

There are also two other new items in Dannon's lineup. DanActive, a "probiotic dairy drink" which was released nationwide this month that is supposed to help strengthen the body's immune system. Danimals, a kids yogurt drink, is also being re-released with a new formulation that includes "he world's most researched probiotic culture for children, Lactobacillus GG (LGG)," which has been clinically shown to improve gastrointestinal and immune functions and contribute to good oral health.

I recently came across a Popular Science article about candy rockets, model rockets that use sugary foods like Pixy Stix and Oreo filling as their fuel. By adding an oxidizer like potassium nitrate or potassium perchlorate to the sweet stuff, you can get it to burn with the speed and intensity needed for things like launching a small rocket. The Popular Science article features a link to a page of "Candy Propellant Experiments," with descriptions, photos and video of rockets fueled by Snickers, Oreo creme and Pixy Stix. There's also a link to another group that's in the process of trying to launch a sugar-powered rocket into space.

This week marked the launch of Epicurious's new blog, Epi-Log, penned by the site's editor Tanya Wenman Steel (right). In the opening post, Tanya goes over what the blog won't be: it won't be a self-involved daily letter from the editor and it won't be food celebrity gossip. The blog will focus on happenings in the food and restaurant industry as well as highlights of other Epicurious features. Upon first looking at Epi-Log's list of links, I got all excited when I saw what I thought was our own Sarah Gim's The Delicious Life. As it turns out, there's a Houston-based food site of the same name.