Sampler Platter: promo Whopper has 7 patties, sparkling wine vs. champagne, urban chickening

Urban chickens and urban food critics lead this end-of-the-week roundup of food news.

--Burger King's Windows 7 Whopper has 7 patties, 2,120 calories. Japanator
--The Atlantic explores six Australian foods worth trying and the role of food critics in the Internet age.
--Carpinteria hot dog vendor relishes his sales-tax victory. Los Angeles Times
--Sparkling wine is just as good as champagne (when it's well made). Consumerist
--The perils of urban chickening. New York Times
--David Lazarus asks: Is Smart Choices misleading? Los Angeles Times

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: Bill Connell, 55, stands in front of his Surf Dog stand in Carpinteria. Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

Lawsuits target chicken and a veggie substitute

Chicken, fake and real, looks to be a target of several consumer and nutrition groups.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is acting as co-counsel on a lawsuit filed today by an Arizona woman accusing Quorn Foods Inc. of not disclosing on labels the fact that some people have serious allergic reactions to the main ingredient in its Quorn line of meat substitutes.

The lawsuit seeks to have Quorn disclose that information on its package labels.

Quorn is derived from a protein-rich fungus, which the company grows in large vats. The fungus, Fusarium venenatum, was discovered growing in a field in Buckinghamshire, England, in the late 1960s and developed as a food product.

Meanwhile, the vegan-oriented Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine says it is readying a lawsuit against the giant KFC fast-food chain under California law for failing to warn consumers that the chain’s new grilled chicken product contains a dangerous carcinogen.

Click here to read more.

-- Jerry Hirsch

Sampler Platter: Pot brownies were culprit in case of sickened teachers; Tavern on the Green bankruptcy; more seating at Joan's on Third

Some people get poisoned by shellfish, some people get poisoned by brownies in today's roundup of food news.

--Tavern on the Green files for bankruptcy. Bloomberg
--Why we're storing billions of seeds. TED
--The hoki, an unlikely star among seafood, causes a row. New York Times
--Smart Choices, a food industry-backed labeling campaign, deems Froot Loops, Fudgsicles and mayonnaise "smart choices." FOX
--Food poisoning at Heston Blumenthal's Fat Duck restaurant probably caused by norovirus from shellfish. Guardian
--Rogue sidewalk vendor sells pot brownies to unsuspecting L.A. teachers.
--Joan's on Third expands outdoor seating; D’Amore’s reopens. Blackburn + Sweetzer

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Nutrition labels at independent L.A. restaurants

 

Raul Morales, owner of Taqueria Vista Hermosa, shows off his new menu board, which lists calories for every menu item.

Seven independent restaurants -- including the popular Chichen Itza -- are letting customers know the nutritional content of their standard menu items in a project aimed at curbing obesity in South Los Angeles.

The restaurant owners, along with some politicians and health officials, celebrated that effort Thursday at Mercado La Palmona near downtown. It's called the "smart menu" program,

The menu labeling project was organized by South Los Angeles Healthy Eating, Active Communities, part of a statewide initiative sponsored by the California Endowment to prevent obesity in young people. HEAC provided the recipe analysis and menu signs.

The other restaurants taking part in the labeling program are Burger Plaza Grill, La Maison de la Creme, Mo Chica, Oaxacalifornia, Taqueria Vista Hermosa and Thai Corner. They're all housed at Mercado La Palmoma.

Sampler Platter: Curry summit, National Beer Day, Cat Cora and the MIT chocolate lab

A big, fat, juicy dose of food news...

• Inside MIT's Laboratory for Chocolate Science. Yes, that is a real place. Boston Globe
• Iron Chef Cat Cora's partner, Jennifer, gives birth to the couple's third child. Cora is expecting the couple's fourth child in June. Huffington Post
• Chefs at British "curry summit" call for national college dedicated to Indian cookery. Guardian
• Opening of Dean & Deluca in Fashion Island in Newport Beach delayed until 2010. Stick A Fork In It
• LA Mill in Silver Lake sits on top of microquake epicenter. LAist
• Brewers and politicians join forces to call for National Beer Day in the U.K. The Herald
• Obesity kills more Americans than terrorism. Consumerist
• Do healthful eating options on a menu actually make people eat less healthfully? New York Times
• Legislators consider banning trans-fats in … Texas?! Business Week
• West Virginia kills a bill requiring restaurants to post nutritional info. Forbes
• The bakers from "Ace of Cakes" build a Hubble-themed dessert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Goddard Space Flight Center. Fox News

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: Jungle curry with pork at Jitlada Thai restaurant in Hollywood. (Credit: Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times).

How sinful is that breadstick? Olive Garden, Red Lobster put nutritional info online

Is it better to eat through life knowing how (or how not) fattening your dinner is? Now's the chance to find out. The Orlando Sentinel reports that Orlando-based Darden Restaurants, which owns Olive Garden and Red Lobster, among others, now lists its restaurant menus'  nutritional information online.

While Kim Hays at the Sentinel seems to be happy that Darden has outed itself, I can't help feeling like the Muppet Grover in the children's tale "The Monster at the End of This Book" -- I know this stuff is bad for me, but do I want to know how bad? And I know I'm going to have to look eventually.

Hays did spoil a bit of the surprise, stating "an Olive Garden breadstick and a Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuit are 150 calories each."

What about you? If you've got the nerve to look, are these calories more or less what you expected? Do you wish more restaurants would post nutritional information on their websites or on their menus in the restaurants?

-- Whitney Friedlander

Photo: Olive Garden's Tuscan garlic chicken, which has 1,020 calories. PR News Foto / Olive Garden

Consumers get information on origins of meat and produce

Supermarket shoppers may have noticed labels in the last few months showing that their apples came from New Zealand, or the fish fillet was farm-raised. Those are part of a new labeling law to let consumers know where their food comes from.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's country-of-origin labeling program -- known as COOL -- was set out in the 2002 and 2008 farm bills, and the interim law took effect in September. The final law takes effect today.

The law covers muscle cuts and ground beef, lamb, chicken, goat and pork; wild and farm-raised fish and shellfish; specifically fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables; macadamia nuts; pecans; ginseng and peanuts.

Consumers will also get to know whether fish and shellfish are wild or farm-raised. Commodities are excluded if they are ingredients in processed food -- tomato sauce, for example.

"I strongly support country of origin labeling -- it's a critical step toward providing consumers with additional information about the origin of their food," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.

The law provides for penalties of up to $1,000 per violation for both retailers and suppliers not complying with the law.

-- Mary MacVean

Photos: USDA