Everyone has a favourite pizza. My nephew loves one that we call Pasta Pizza – a plain pizza topped with Spaghetti Bolognaise, and we bury vegtables underneath so he doesn’t know they are there!!!!!!

I had one at a brilliant local pizza place last year that had only garlic, chilli and pureed parsley on a homemade tomato sauce, and it was just divine.

Then there is the ongoing question of thick or thin crust????

The world’s larggest pizza was made in South Africa in 1990 and weighed over 12 tonnes, it had a diameter of around 40 metres.

This week The Daily Meal has a story about huge pizzas that are available at pizza places across the US and the contests that are often associated with them. You can have a look at these feats of human achievement at http://www.thedailymeal.com/americas-largest-pizzas-slideshow

The challenges are to get these huge amounts of food consumed in a set period of time to win the prize. However, in this age of obesity and increasing poor body image, should food business owners be doing this.

The public are obviously calling for these type of challenges, as the product is selling and there are more of them daily, but on the other hand they are also calling for something to be done about reducing obesity!!!!

Any thoughts? If so, go to The Green Food Safety Coach on Facebook and let us all know what you’re thinking about this.

Friday’s Green Tip – Only purchase what you need is one way of helping to reduce waste, especially food waste.

Remember, every little bit helps!!!!!

A “sanga” or “sarnie” is a key part of nearly everyone’s diet. A lot of people have them for lunch at work or school – they are a staple in our lives.

The humble sandwich can be as simple as two pieces of white bread with a filling like cheese or ham or peanut butter, with or without butter / margaine/ or other spreads. They can also go up to, what many might even call, gourmet works of art (often with prices to mathch!!!).

They can be made with a variety of breads (including rolls, subs and wraps) and be fresh or toasted. It is probably the single most variable food product in the world. Whether it actually was invented for , or by, the Earl of Sandwich is now beside the point.

Just for interest, according to the Guiness Book of World Records the following are the biggest or longest sandwiches so far;

Biggest – 3178kg in Mexico in March 2006

Longest – 2.667km in Dubai in October 2010

There may have been a longer one in Iran, but the onlookers started to eat it before the final measurements were done!!!!

I recently cames across an article at The Daily Meal talking about some new sandwiches in the US, including the following;

• The Roasted Cauliflower Sub – with french dressing, spring onions, raisins and crisps.
• The Grilled Cheese Doughnut
• The Noble Pig – pork, pork, bacon, pork and then some more pork with cheese
• The Irish Breakfast – Bacon, grilled egg and tomato, Black Pudding, Irish Sausage, White Pudding and cheese

Do you have a favourite or unusual sandwich – let us all know on Facbook at The Green Food Safety Coach.

Friday’s Green Tip – Little steps – little wins – the saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day” is very true. Sustainability is about the long term.

Remember every little bit helps!!!!

Was reading a really interesting article in www.dailymeal.com about the popularity of bacon.

Apparently in the US these are just some of the  ways that people and businesses have used the bacon flavour; salt, flavoured vodka, envelopes, dental floss, flavoured / smelling wristbands, soap, mints, gumballs, jelly eans, and lollipops.

It was the other unusual, non food related bacon flavoured or smelling products that made me wonder if bacon is not the number one flavour or food smell, including; torchs, underwear, bras, t-shirts, wallets, a bacon picture on your website or blog, air fresheners and even a bacon print tuxedo. The bacon action figure was probably the highlight for me.

Is bacon one of your favourite foods and smells? Let us all know at The Green Food Safety Coach page on Facebook

Friday Green Tip – Start with something small and work your way up to the big stuff – have little wins to get people involved.

Remember every little bit helps!!!!

The Cancer Council have developed a brilliant little site that will help parents work out what amount of junk food advertising is on each show on TV.

It is very user friendly and fun – even giving a Nutritional Panel for each show, including the total amount of kilojoules and fat!!!!

You can find it at http://www.fatfreetv.com.au/

So do you want some Nacho cheese or bacon flavoured breath mints, or maybe roast beef flavoured bubble gum? What about some Diet Chocolate Fudge Soda to go with your order of Pickle flavoured Popsicles?

These are just some of the most unusual packaged foods around. Others include; Alligator or rattle snake or peanut butter and jelly sandwices in a can, a whole chicken in a can (with chicken broth), pork rinds that can be microwaved, and a cheeseburger in a can.

Being a vegetarian, one of my personal favourites is the Jerquee – a vegetarian version of beef jerky.

Foods are packaged to protect it, to extend shelf-life and to make life easier for us. It really is now a question of just what we want to put in a can?

Have you seen any unusual packaged foods? Let us all know on my Facebook page – The Green Food Safety Coach.

Friday’s Green Tip – Set clear goals which are SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely

Remember every little bit helps!!!!

Have just been interviewed by ABC Radio Victoria about whether it is safe to just cut off the mould and then eat the food. So thought that I’d do an article about it.

You can find out whether it is safe to eat food you have cut mould off, at www.howsafeisyourfood.com.au/articles.html

Friday’s Green Tip – sometimes to get people to change behaviours you have to use the stick and other times you need to use the carrot. The stick will only take you so far though. Competitions, prizes and fun will probably have the biggest long term effect.

Remember that every little bit helps!!!!

The 24 January is National Peanut Butter Day in the USA.

This food is an absolute institution in that country and this day is a way of recognising this. Apparently an average American child will eat something like 1500 peanut butter and jelly (or Jam, as Australians would call it) sandwiches by the time they go to high school!!!

A few other Peanut Butter facts;

• Americans will each eat about 1.35kg of peanut butter on average in their lifetime.
• There are two types of peanut butter – smooth and crunchy.
• It takes about 540 peanuts to make one 400g jar of peanut butter.
• The first peanut butter making machine was patented in 1903.
• Peanuts are not actually nuts – they are a legume and grow under ground.
• Peanuts are high in Vitamin E, Thiamine and Vitamin K
• Has a high fibre content and low Glycemic Index (GI)
• Has about 26 percent protein – which is higher than eggs and dairy foods.

Friday’s Green Tip – think global and act local.

Remember every little bit helps!!!!!

Last night I ran my four hour Food Safety Workshop sitting around a dining room table in a country town in South East Queensland.

It just goes to show that you do not need all the fancy equipment or programs to train people. There was no Powerpoint or projectors or whiteboards, just a group of people sitting around listening and talking.

They seemed to have fun and we discussed a few of their food safety related problems, and came up with some practical and simple solutions.

Training does not need to be complicated, it should be targeted to the trainees and ideally, fun. It can also be done anywhere, even sitting at a dining room table, if the trainer is prepared to work at it.

Can your food safety, or in fact any, trainer just do the training without all the bells and whistles?

The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) has recently released a report showing that around half of our red meat, dairy and sugar industries are foreign owned.

The report was commissioned by the Australian Government’s Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) and states that “Foreign investment in agribusiness has typically been made by companies involved in the same or similar business in other countries seeking to expand their activities at an opportunistic time. However, Kirin (a brewing company) and Wilmar (active in a number of commodities not including sugar) each branched out into new sectors when they invested in Australia’s dairy and sugar sectors, respectively.”

The report shows that foreign investment in the meat industry has hit an all time high of 42 percent. One company alone held a 24 percent share in 2006 – 07.

Only 47 percent of dairy businesses are still Australian owned. Foreign investment into this industry has found, during the research, to have been beneficial due to the tight pricing of dairy products and therefore lack of readily available funds domestically.

Three foreign companies own 60 percent of the Australian sugar industry and the report shows that this investment has greatly assisted profitability and efficiency of the industry.

Australians are well known as being very strongly  in favour of supporting Australian owned businesses. This significant foreign ownership of large parts of our food inductry may be seen as a major concern by many in this country.

The question really is this – is having such a large part of our food industry owned by foreign companies really sustainable for the industry and Australia in the long term?

Friday’s Green Tip – being sustainable will mean making hard choices so good research, discussion and communication are the key.

Remember every little bit helps!!!

It is controversial but there is a strong push both in Australia and the USA to place a tax onto all soft drinks to, hopefully, reduce consumption and our increasing obesity rate.

Recently researchers from University of California, San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center and Columbia University have estimated that about 26 000 deaths would be prevented in the USA with the introduction of a soft drink tax.

They also predict that nearly 100,000 cases of heart disease, 8,000 strokes, and 240,000 cases of diabetes per year in the U.S would also be eliminated.

A similar study has not yet been completed in Australia but it is believed by many that there would be comparable results.

Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, The University of California’s associate professor of biostatistics and medicine, said;“Consumption of beverages high in calories but poor in nutritional value is the number one source of added sugar and excess calories in the American diet. Sugar-sweetened drinks are linked to type 2 diabetes and weight gain.”

The Australian Government introduced a tax onto what are commonly called “Alcopops” to reduce consumption of these drinks by young drinkers and it has had an impact. The fundamental principle is that by increasing the price, it will reduce consumption. The same belief is at the heart of this current push to  have a tax on soft drinks.

So should there be a tax on soft drinks? Let us all know by adding your comments to my Facebook Page The Green Food Safety Coach or GreenFoodSafety on Twitter.

Friday’s Green Tip – No everyone sees the advantages of sustainability the same way, to some it is about being “green’, to others it is about saving money and then others believe it is about being seen to be doing the right thing. You need to target the messgae to the group.

Remember, every little bit helps!!!