The Juicy Bits
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Restaurants
QR Codes Continue To Replace Physical Restaurant Menus
As contactless transactions become highly desirable in the time of COVID-19, QR code menus are replacing more and more traditional restaurant menus. Codes are being placed on tables, hostess stands, walls and doorways, allowing customers to capture the code with their phone cameras and peruse the menu on their own screens. In some cases, QR codes offer both a digital menu and an online payment method. “It’s so easy. Literally you just open your camera and you take a picture and it pops up,” said Julie Zucker, CMO of Branded Strategic Hospitality. Nearly one third of consumers say disposable and single-use menus would make them feel safer, according to Technomic. The QR code technology can also facilitate and simplify customer satisfaction surveys, loyalty programs, and the option to easily split the check at very low cost, allowing restaurants to engage more fully with customers at low cost. Not everyone is catching on, however. “Some people just look at you kind of weird like you’re talking a foreign language” when they’re given the option to view the menu on their phone, says Danielle Baerwald, owner of Erv’s Mug in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Restaurants with younger clientele have embraced the technology, while those with older customers have been more reluctant to make the switch.
McDonald’s, Dunkin’ And Starbucks Permanently Close 1,400 Combined U.S. Locations
McDonald’s revenue dropped 30% in the second quarter of 2020 and is permanently closing 200 of its 14,000 locations in the U.S., including all restaurants in Walmart stores. The company said Tuesday that the move has been planned for more than a year, but low sales due to the pandemic have accelerated the company’s plans. Dunkin’ saw a 20% drop in second-quarter revenues this year and is closing 800 of its retail locations by the end of 2020, including 450 Speedway outposts as a result of terminating its relationship with the gas company. Starbucks saw a 38% drop in net sales in the second quarter this year and is closing 400 locations by the end of 2021 while simultaneously investing in pandemic-proof solutions such as mobile pick-up and drive-thru ordering. Several restaurants have shifted to takeout and delivery models to survive the pandemic, according to a study by Harvard Business School. Statistics from search giant Yelp show that 26,160 U.S. restaurants have closed during the pandemic, the largest number of closures among small businesses registered on the platform.
Beverages
More Than 1 Million Gallons Of Unsold French Wine Turned Into Hand Sanitizer
The Alsace wine industry has suffered considerable losses this year due to restaurant closures, reduced wine consumption, and a 25% tax on French wines imposed in ongoing the U.S.-European Union trade war. For Jérôme Mader, a 38-year-old winemaker who usually sends his top-rated Rieslings and Gewürztraminers to high-end restaurants and shops around the world, sales have dropped by 50% since December. Without space to stock his unsold wine, Mader is sending away 15% of his inventory to be distilled into ethyl alcohol to make hand sanitizer, a product that is selling briskly during the pandemic. The same is true for Marion Borès’s family business, Domaine Borès, which is sending 30% of its production (19,000 liters) away to a distillery to be converted into flavorless alcohol. In the Alsace region alone, over six million liters (1.5 million gallons) of perfectly delicious yet unsold wine will be distilled down to ethyl alcohol. Francis Backert, head of the Independent Winemakers Association of Alsace, reports that wholesale wine traders are seeing losses of 70% across the industry. In response, the French government is subsidizing the transfer of wine to distilleries for roughly 5,000 French winemakers in an aid effort dubbed “Crisis Distillation.” The last time the French government stepped in with a Crisis Distillation response was during the global economic collapse of 2009.
Scientists Map Genetic Code Of Grapevine Pest, A Breakthrough For Winemakers
After a decade, scientists have identified the genome of phylloxera, an insect that can wipe out vineyards and winemaker profits. The research team’s findings, published in BMC Biology, identified almost 3,000 genes that allow phylloxera, a type of lice, to colonize and live off grape vines. Paul Nabity, assistant professor of plant-insect ecology at the University of California Riverside, explains that “In effect, phylloxera creates its own refrigerator on the plant that it can feed from whenever it wants.” The structures it creates also protect the insect from attacks by other parasites. Known as galls, these bumpy structures ruin a grapevine’s ability to feed itself, wound the roots, and increase the vine’s vulnerability to pathogens and fungi. Eventually, it stunts the growth of grapevines and can even kill them. Phylloxera was accidentally brought to Europe from the New World in the 1860s and almost ended French viticulture. Native North American grapevines co-evolved with phylloxera, making them resistant to its harmful effects. However, most of grapes grown for food and drink are European varieties. To sell the most marketable wines, North America growers must graft North American roots onto European grapevines to build the vines’ tolerance to phylloxera. The new genome map may simplify things, helping growers prevent phylloxera infestations and reduce pesticide use in both North American and European vineyards.
Filtering And Finishing Technology Modernizes The Spirits Industry
Next Century Spirits, a liquor technology start up, has introduced augmentations to traditional distilling techniques with a unique filtering and finishing method. “We use automation and predictive analytics to reduce the chaos, control flavor profiles, and scale precision quality control in the finishing process,” said Nick Scarff, Master Blender and vice president of business development. The company uses sensors, gas chromatography, and materials such as copper to detect chemical profiles, reduce risk, and more precisely determine flavor outcomes. “We can remove impurities or compounds like isopropanol, methanol, butyric acid, and certain sulfur-based chemicals using highly specialized, patented filtering, targeting even microscopic amounts,” said Scarff. “Even just a few parts per million of naturally occurring chemicals will completely change the aroma and flavor of the distillate.” The technology reduces the filtration process of distilling from days to hours, and it can maximize desirable flavor components such as vanillin, syringaldehyde, cinnemaldehyde, and whiskey lactones to create flavors such as vanilla, toasted oak, cinnamon, or coconut in the distilled spirit.
Russia Considers Built-In Breathalyzers To Curb Drunk Driving
Russia is considering implementing breathalyzers in vehicles and encouraging manufacturers to install them before cars can hit the market. The industry ministry hopes to establish a plan by the end of 2020 to put an end to drunk driving, according to Kommersant newspaper. In the past decade, about 40,000 Russian drivers have died on the road as a result of drunk driving, a number high enough to prompt officials to push for alcohol interlocks. The interlocks require drivers to pass a breathalyzer test in order to start the ignition, but the added cost of installing them could be opposed by car manufacturers as the pandemic strains the industry.
12,000 Bottles Of Templeton Rye Spill Onto Missouri Highway
Templeton Rye has developed a reputation as a smooth mixing whiskey, employed by bartenders around the world in countless cocktails. Alas, a truck carrying 12,000 bottles of Templeton 4-Year Rye rolled over last week, causing an estimated loss of $325,000 worth of whiskey. Kevin Boersma, Templeton Rye’s processing manager, says the truckload of whiskey belonged to a distributor and was bound for Fort Smith, Arkansas. But it never made it. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the accident. “It’s definitely the strangest thing I’ve ever had happen with a truckload or shipment,” Boersma said. “You could see on the (news) video that maybe some cases might have made it, but I haven’t heard anything official.” As of now, the truck, trailer, and cargo are considered a total loss. Get the full storyhere at USA Today or here at VinePair.
Cooking
New Carbon Footprint Label Appears On Food Packaging
Quorn, a major producer of plant-based products since 1985, has launched a new label on its food packaging to indicate the food’s carbon footprint. Quorn employs environmental scientists to calculate each product’s carbon footprint, and calculations are verified by the Carbon Trust, a third-party nonprofit certifying organization that has administered carbon footprint labels since 2007. Other food companies featuring carbon footprint labels include Quaker oats and Pompeian olive oil. Restaurant chain Just Salad also just announced that as of September 21 all its menu items will include a carbon footprint label.
A recent Tulane University study found that food production accounts for roughly 25% of greenhouse gas emissions, and 66% of Americans say they want to help reduce their carbon footprint to mitigate climate change, according to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. To help consumers achieve their goals, an increasing number of food manufacturers are including carbon footprint labels on their products. Even multinational food giant Unilever, which owns brands such as Hellmann’s, Knorr, Lipton, and Ben & Jerry’s, has committed to reduce the carbon footprint of its products by 50% by 2030.
How To Build An Outdoor Brick Pizza Oven For $50
Most outdoor brick ovens costs thousands of dollars to buy or hundreds to make. But you can easily build a simple pizza oven with store bought bricks. A combination of small and large bricks creates a fairly sealed firebox and separate cooking area for cooking pizza directly on the brick. You can even cook other foods in, say, a cast-iron pan. Building the oven requires 47 small red bricks and 2 large square bricks. Leveling your oven area is the important first step. You can even use a cup of water to eyeball level ground. Once you create a square foundation with the first layer of bricks, continue laying bricks four levels up, then lay on one of the large square bricks as the deck of the pizza oven. Add another three bricks in height, leaving a one-brick vent at the back for airflow, then lay down the second large brick over the top as the ceiling of the oven. With balanced construction and an air vent, the bricks will retain heat and move the heat over the pizza to cook both the top and bottom of the pie. You can adjust the amount of wood burned in the firebox to maintain a cooking temperature of about 750ºF. This homemade brick oven saves time and money and can even be disassembled and taken with you to reassemble elsewhere. Watch a video here and get full instructions here at Chef Steps.
Agriculture
Vertical Farms Expand Operations Worldwide
Farming and supply chain challenges brought on by the pandemic have forced growers to invest more heavily in vertical farms. These indoor growing facilities have been popping up for decades but have recently become more vital to the world’s food supply, particularly in large cities where 60% of the global population lives. In vertical indoor farms, efficient hydroponic and aeroponic methods controlled by artificial intelligence provide optimal nutrients and LED lighting tailored to each crop. With their high-tech equipment, vertical farms can produce massive amounts of food such as potatoes, radishes, carrots, celery, green beans, tomatoes, peppers, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries, especially in cities with “food deserts” whose residents lack access to farm fresh produce.
One of the largest vertical farm companies, AeroFarms of Newark, New Jersey, began in a defunct paintball arena in 2004. AeroFarms has since expanded operations to include 70,000 square feet in Newark, 150,000 square feet in Danville, Virginia, and 90,000 square feet in Abu Dhabi, including lucrative contracts with local restaurants, supermarkets, and school lunch programs. Infarm, founded in Israel in 2013 and now based in Berlin, employs more than 400 people in 40 countries and sells its farm produce directly to European supermarket chains and some U.S. chains such as Kroger. Experts predict that vertical farms will expand in the U.S. over the next year, as more employers allow employees to work from home and office buildings become vacant. According to market research firm Gartner, Inc., 82% of companies said that current work-at-home arrangements will become permanent. Office vacancy is predicted to expand by nearly 20% in 82 of the country’s largest urban centers by the end of 2020, and then continue rising the following year, according to Moody’s Analytics Real Estate Information Services Network, a potential boon to the vertical farm industry.
Ocean Agriculture Grows Beyond Fish and Seaweed
As of now, 11% of the world’s land area is used for crop production, but land only accounts for 3% of the globe’s surface area. With the expansion of ocean agriculture, another 70% of the world’s surface is being used to grow an increasing number of crops. The seaweed industry has seen tremendous growth with expanded use in food products as well as food supplements, fertilizers, medications, and eco-friendly packaging as an alternative to plastics. Farmers off the coast of Florida have also expanded marine crops such as Salicornia, a.k.a sea beans or sea asparagus, noted for their beneficial trace minerals from the seawater. A recent trial in Florida found that 1 kilogram of sea beans can grow in just 10 weeks. Ocean Reef Group, an Italian ocean diving company, has undertaken more extensive ocean agriculture. Since 2012, its Nemo Garden Project has been growing strawberries, orchids, basil, and lettuce in contained pods on the ocean floor. Another startup company, Canada’s Agrisea, is now growing rice in the ocean. Sea-grown rice holds the promise of supplying much-needed calories to countries that depend on the crop while solving water shortage issues that plague rice crops grown on land.
Regulations
New Laws Regulate Food Delivery Services In Philadelphia
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney signed a City Council bill restricting the practices and procedures of food delivery services such as DoorDash, Grubhub, and Postmates. Delivery has become a lifeline for independent restaurants struggling during the pandemic but high delivery fees have made many third-party services unaffordable. “Ultimately, I hope restaurants get to keep more money from deliveries, and in turn, that money goes to the restaurants’ employees,” said Council member Cherelle L. Parker, who introduced the bill. For the duration of the pandemic, delivery services are now limited to a 15% overall cut on all orders, including a max of 10% of food costs and 5% for other services such as drivers. Delivery services are also restricted from reducing a delivery driver’s compensation to offset any losses from the 15% maximum. Additionally, the law mandates that delivery services reveal to customers the fees charged to the restaurant for the service.
Food Processing
Workers Union Sues USDA Over Faster Chicken Plant Line Speeds
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and local unions that represent 10 chicken plants in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Missouri teamed up with the nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen to file a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C. Back in 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture permitted line speed waivers when the National Chicken Council petitioned to accelerate speeds. Last week, the union sued the Agriculture Department, claiming its line speed policy not only puts workers at risk but also makes it harder to safely prevent the spread of COVID-19, as increased line speeds make social distancing among workers practically impossible. The lawsuit asserts that the USDA allowed 53 of 124 chicken processing plants to process as much as 175 birds per minute instead of limiting production to 140 birds, as detailed in the existing 2014 regulations.
Health
JBS Foods Recalls More Than 38,000 Pounds Of Ground Beef
About 38,400 pounds of ground beef has been recalled due to its failure to be presented for U.S. import re-inspection. The Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced JBS Food Canada ULC is recalling the “raw, frozen, boneless beef head meat items” imported on July 13 and “further processed by another company into ground beef products.” The recalled meat came in 80-pound boxes with eight 10-pound chubs of “Balter Meat Company 73/27 ground beef” with “Use by/Freeze by” dates of Aug. 9 or Aug. 10. Pack dates read “072020, 072120 or 072220.” The recall has been classified as a “Class 1” recall by the USDA, defined as a “health hazard situation where there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.”
Science
World’s First Crispr Calf Is Born For The Beef Industry
Nearly five years of research, at least half a million dollars, and multiple failed pregnancies have gone into production of a line of Crispr’d cattle to fulfill the beef industry’s needs. According to Alison Van Eenennaam, an animal geneticist at the University of California at Davis, male cattle are about 15% more efficient than females at turning feed into weight gain and muscle, better known as beef. Producing more males also has the potential to be more environmentally friendly, as fewer cattle are necessary to yield the same amount of beef.
To create the Crispr line of cattle, Van Eenennaam and her team of scientists inserted the gene that initiates male development (called the SRY gene) into a bovine embryo. It finally worked, and the success marked the first demonstration of a targeted gene insertion for large DNA sequences by way of embryo-mediated genome editing in cattle. The bull calf was named Cosmo, and in a year he will become sexually mature. At that point, the research will continue to determine if inheriting the SRY gene is enough to spur the male developmental pathway in XX embryos and produce male offspring. While Cosmo’s birth holds promise for the beef industry, he and his offspring will not enter the food supply due to the Food and Drug Administration’s current regulations on gene-editing of food animals. .
The Physics Of Ice Cream
Sugar is grainy, and cream becomes a solid block of ice when frozen. So how do grains of sugar and crystals of ice transform into the smooth, creamy, cold treat we love on a hot summer day? Temperature is key. Ice cream is essentially a frozen foam, consisting of water (in the milk) and fat (in the cream) all held together by frozen liquefied sugar. When ice cream remains frozen, the foam remains cohesive and smooth. Warm temperatures cause the foam to collapse and the individual ingredients to separate.
On a microscopic level, the milk and cream in ice cream consist of protein molecules that coat clusters of tiny fat globules. The fat globules then surround bubbles of air that get incorporated into the foam during mixing. Hard ice cream has very little air incorporated during mixing, while soft ice cream often consists of 50% air. The more air that gets incorporated and the smaller those bubbles remain, the softer the ice cream feels. The extra air is also why soft ice cream melts faster than hard ice cream.
As an ice cream mixture is freezing, constant stirring breaks up the water, encouraging small ice crystals to form instead of large ones. If the ice crystals get bigger than a few thousandths of an inch in diameter, the ice cream develops a grainy, coarse texture. Stirring and rapid freezing are essential to creating a smooth and cohesive foam of ice, fat, air, and liquefied sugar. The sugar itself lowers the freezing point of the mixture, which also helps maintain the creamy texture of ice cream. Once the mixture is frozen, keeping it frozen is equally important. If you’ve ever tried to re-freeze melted ice cream, you know that it can taste gritty and “icy.” That’s because the water has melted and separated from the foam then formed larger ice crystals during re-freezing. Hard ice cream is usually frozen to 3ºF to maintain the optimal texture until the ice cream reaches the consumer.