Camel’s milk chocolate, listeriosis verdict, ranking street food
• A Dubai company is about to take its brand of high-end camel’s milk chocolates international. Al Nassma Chocolate, which owns a farm with 3,000 head of camel, is aiming to be “the Godiva of the Middle East” according to company spokesperson Martin Van Almsick. It will soon be peddling its wares in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Camel’s milk contains less fat, less lactose, and more vitamin C than cow’s milk. [Reuters]
• The federal government’s report on last year’s deadly listeriosis outbreak has been released. It paints a scary picture of the bureaucratic incompetence that led to the outbreak and reveals how Canada’s food safety system is “on the upper end of being mediocre.” Maple Leaf Foods, which, in a brilliant PR move, offered an apology in the aftermath of the outbreak, comes off looking somewhat respectable. [Toronto Star]
• Forbes steps away from the five-star scene to release a ranking of the best American street food. Despite Toronto’s nascent A La Cart program, it doesn’t look like we have anything that can compare to New York’s yogurt-marinated lamb and chicken pita or Alaska’s reindeer sausage. [National Post]
• David Suzuki reports on plans by agri-giants Monsanto and Dole to engineer uniformly spotless, flawless and perfectly shaped produce. They say they’ll do it the old-fashioned way, by selective breeding rather than genetic engineering, but it still seems creepy to us. [Canada.com]
• According to the Globe and Mail, once-“déclassé” hot dogs “have gone haute.” They cite New York’s DBGB Tavern as the prime example, where diners chow down on emulsified all-beef wieners topped with sautéed onions in a beer-batter bun. Translation? Get ready to pay ten bucks for a dog. [Globe and Mail]
