Oats are a great source of soluble fiber, and as the specific fiber contained in whole oats, beta-glucan soluble fiber, has been shown to help control cholesterol, some oat products are allowed to claim that they reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. These products include oat bran, rolled oats or whole oat flour, and they also must meet the FDA's standard for "low fat" foods. The Quaker Oat company has requested - and temporarily received (pdf) - an exemption to the "low fat" standard for some of their other oat products, like instant oatmeal. The exemption allows qualifying products to make the claim that they coronary heart disease right on the packaging by allowing them to increase their oat content to acceptable levels, even if by doing so they surpass the federal maximum for low fat products. Not all oat products will be eligible, but Quaker's reduced sugar instant oatmeal products would qualify under the new plan.

I'm beginning to get the impression that writing about Trader Joe's is some sort of fall-back for food writers who don't have any other good ideas. On the surface, this seems like a good idea. There are plenty of good things to say about it and they come out with new things frequently, most of which are worth a mention. Unfortunately, the new things - products, store locations, etc - aren't what seem to attract the press. They seem to enjoy writing about how they are or are not impressed with the store and why it is popular.

Here is yet another article from an east coast paper where the author wondered why Trader Joe's was so popular, tried it and decided that it was a store worth visiting, at least from time to time. The problem with the piece is that the Washington DC area already has several Trader Joe's locations, so the chance that this revelation is actually news to residents, or to anyone else who has shopped at Trader Joe's, is slight.

At least, in Colorado. And that's if you happen to be stealing from it a dumpster behind a produce market.

Two men, Giles Charle and David Siller, took 5 cucumbers, 4 apricots, 2 bundles of asparagus spears and a handful of cherries from a garbage dumpster behind the Sweet Pea Produce Market in Steamboat Springs, Colorado on their way to the city's annual family gathering. Tey will be spending six months in jail.

So much for Mom's lectures about eating all your fruits and veggies!

July is National Hot Dog month and summer is certainly an appropriate choice, as Americans eat 7 billion hot dogs during the summer (from Memorial Day to Labor Day), cooking up two thirds of them in the backyard or at home, and a total of 20 billion every year. On the 4th of July alone, 150 million hot dogs will be eaten in the US and most will be grilled, since 60% of Americans say that they prefer to eat them that way.

Want to test your hot dog trivia knowledge? Take the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council's online quiz and see if you have the goods on one of America's favorite foods. I have to admit that I only got 7 out of 10. What are you waiting for? Test the test and let us know how you scored in the comments!

More hot dog stories:

• How do you dress your dog? 
• Peanut butter hot dogs 
• Slashfood Ate (8): Best Hot Dogs 
• How hot dogs got their name 
• Microwaveable hot dogs... with buns? 
• Heinz makes the best ketchup 

Recognizing that television is not the sole media source that children are exposed to, British ministers are wondering whether a proposal that bans junk food ads on television will be effective. As a result, they are now considering whether to add restrictions to the ad content of websites, computer games, cinemas and packaging, as well as corporate school sponsorships. Such measures "could be voluntary or compulsory depending on the response of the food industry." Strict measures like these are being supported by the Labour Party and various parent groups.

The Food Standards Agency, backing the ban, has devised a "nutrient profiling system" to identify "junk foods" according to their nutritional information. It could be used to determine whether or not a food product could be advertised if a ban becomes legislation.

Ofcom, a television regular, thinks that measures like this seem too strict. A pre-9pm television ban alone would cost networks and advertisers at least £141 million, but there is not telling what the cost of essentially prohibiting "junk food" ads would be.

The 2006 All Candy Expo is on right now in Chicago. It started yesterday and goes though tomorrow and it is the biggest confectionary show in the country. There are tons of vendors, both well-established companies and upstarts with innovative new products, that are sampling their product lines at the show, as well as lots of people interested in buying the candy for retail at stores and other venues. The show is closed to anyone who isn't in the candy trade or the press, but luckily, there is already some information spilling out about what we can expect to see in stores in the coming year.

The Chicago Sun Times gives us a heads-up to watch out for candies that are fortified, which look to be one of the hot new trends in the market this year. There will be gum with Vitamin C and chocolates with calcium and omega-3s.

On another healthy note, the Chicago Tribune mentions that portion and calorie controlled candies are a huge hit, too, despite the fact that a huge number of snacks (like Hershey's Kisses) have been available in small sizes for years. Perhaps people just need to be told about portion control.

Candyblog blogger, Cybele, is at the show and is blogging from the floor. You can read all about her experiences here and there is no doubt that she will have lots of great reviews coming up in the next week or so.

Among the products launching are dark chocolate M&Ms (non limited edition), Snickers with Almonds Dark, Starburst Berries and Cream flavors and Tung-Toos.

It's important to drink responsibly, so those who have been using diet sodas as mixers to cut calories in drinks might be interested to know the results of a new study. Australian scientists compared the rate of absorption for sugar-sweetened alcoholic drinks to artificially-sweetened drinks (like vodka and coke versus vodka and diet coke, for example). They found that artificial sweeteners led to a higher rate of alcohol absorption by the body, meaning that drinkers felt the effects of the alcohol more quickly and more strongly than those who used sugar-sweetened mixers. Drinkers who had "diet" mixers had a greater concentration  of alcohol in their bloodstream and would feel more drink, even if they had consumed the same amount of alcohol with a sweetened mixer.

Scientists worry about people's health because of this finding. When the mixers used to make drinks are "diet," people tend to drink more because they know that the calorie count is lower. When drinking, it is better to try to keep track of how you're feeling than simply the number of drinks you've had. And if you want to watch calories, try following every drink with a large glass of water. It's calorie free and will probably have you feeling much better in the morning.

A McCain potato-processing factory in England had to be evacuated when workers discovered a grenade amongst the potatoes as they were washing the spuds. The factory, which is the largest in Europe, imports many of its potatoes from other countries. It is not uncommon for debris from the first and second world wars to turn up amongst the spuds from Belgium and France, but in the past week the workers not only discovered the grenade, but a shell tip, as well. Following both discoveries, workers vacated the plant while the bomb squad came in and detonated the devices.

Worker safety is of paramount importance, and a company spokesman said that they would have to speak with their suppliers about checking the shipments more thoroughly, as "it is obviously not an efficient use of [the] staff's time if we have to keep evacuating the premises."

A city councilman in Philidelphia, Jack Kelly, has developed a plan that would block the sale of foie gras. Modeled after the Chicago ban, which prevents foie gras from being sold by retailers and at restaurants, Kelly suggests implementing similar measures. Predictably, there is resistance from some in the restaurant community. Retailers like Assouline & Ting, which supplies foie gras to eateries, also oppose the ban, saying that they would have to lay of some employees if that sector of their business was curtailed.

There is obviously at least some support for the proposal, as there is a petition online with over 1,300 signatures in favor of a city-wide ban.

The editor of Epicurious, Tanya Wenman, has been busily blogging away at the Epi-log for some time now. As of this week, the editors at Bon Appetit have launched their very own blog, as well. It's called the BA blog. Though there are only a handful of entries up at the moment - and none as immediately engrossing as the ones that SF Chronicle Editor Michael Bauer started out his blog with - it sounds as though they'll be blogging about "where they ate last night, what they cooked, what they drank, where they're traveling. In other words, all the stuff that really matters in [their] world." Sounds promising to me!

My only complaint is that when you leave a comment, you can't leave a link back to your own e-mail or blog, just the name you're registered with at Epicurious. How are they ever going to expand their blogroll that way?

Taking sips from both the sincere and the silly, the LA Times took a tour of several wine blogs this week. The coverage was far more interesting than their coverage of food blogs because instead of simply judging the medium of the Internet, the article considers that it could be a legitimate source of information. The columnist, Patrick Comiskey, even weighs in on how to determine what type of site might appeal to you. The sites looked at range from search engines and forums, like wine-searcher.com and winezap.com, to personal sites, like JoeDresner.com. Professional wine critics, such as Jancis Robinson, maintain some of the sites while others are merely from those who love the stuff, like Red Wine Haiku and Vinography. Whether you’re looking for recommendations, tasting notes, trivia, history or a pricing guide, you’re guaranteed to find at least one source that will fit your needs.

For a great resource to the many wine blogs, check out Wine Blog Watch.