It’s $25 per chef to register as one of 20 cooks in the cook-off, and the chance to win a $500 Best in Show prize. Contestants must make between three and five gallons of chili and provide a means to keep it hot as it is sold. To register, call Randy Thomas at 735-9088.

As for chili gourmets, admission is two cans of non-perishable food, to be donated to the Mandarin Food Bank. Chili samples are 50 cents each; bowls are $3 each; all-you-can-eat is $7 for adults and $4 for children under 12. Hot dogs and soda will also be for sale.

Event proceeds help the Mandarin Food Bank, Junior Achievement and the Wounded Warrior Project.

 Written by Staff reports    

Until recently, small corner grocery stores were seen by public health officials as part of the obesity problem.

The stores, predominantly family-owned, offered convenience, but the accent was on snack chips, canned goods and sugary drinks. Now, because they are often the sole source of groceries in areas with no full-size supermarket, the stores are becoming linchpins in public health campaigns.

“If you are educating people to make good choices, but those choices aren’t available nearby and they don’t have a car to drive out to the suburbs to the supermarket, or an hour to ride two buses to get there,” said Kai Siedenburg, of the Community Food Security Coalition, a group based in Portland, Ore., that promotes access to healthy food, “then it’s really hard for them to make good choices.”

Store owners in Cleveland, New York, Louisville and elsewhere are being approached by public health organizations and economic development agencies with offers of new equipment, marketing expertise or neighborhood promotions to encourage them to stock more fresh produce, whole wheat bread and other healthy offerings.

Newark’s program combines community health concerns with targeted grants to reinvigorate stores and neighborhoods.

The 1,990-page bill outlines general nutrient-labeling requirements for restaurants and retail establishments that are part of a chain with 20 or more outlets.

Those restaurants affected would be required to prominently post calorie counts for standard items on menus and menu boards as well as calories per serving for each item on a buffet, salad bar, cafeteria line or self-service display.

Standard menu items are defined as those offered for at least 60 days per calendar year and would not include daily specials, custom orders and test market items on the menu for less than 90 days.

Restaurateurs also would be required to post a brief statement regarding daily caloric intake “designed to enable the public to understand, in the context of a total daily diet, the significance of the nutrition information that is provided.”

In addition, operators would be required to advise customers that additional nutrition information is available upon request.

Restaurant association officials have voiced support for a similar Senate bill, maintaining that the industry needs a uniform national nutrition labeling standard to avoid a patchwork of state and local regulations.

“We’re very pleased that the nutrition information provision continues to garner bipartisan support, and we’re pleased that the agreement is now moving forward in the House of Representatives,” said Mike Donohue, vice president of media relations for the National Restaurant Association.

However, a coalition of chain executives insist that the measure does not go far enough and argue that the rules should apply to a greater number of foodservice operators.

The Pelosi bill also would require calorie disclosure in vending machines.

Although a recent independent study found that calorie count labeling had no effect on consumer eating habits, the New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has just released initial findings of a recent analysis on the impact of the city’s menu-labeling laws. Results indicate that consumers have become more selective in choosing food with fewer calories. In fact, people purchased lower calorie meals at 9 of 13 fast-food restaurant and coffee chains that were included in the study. The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Obesity Society in Washington.

Climbing rates of childhood obesity in the US have placed the food industry in the spotlight in recent years, with the nutritional content of products and companies’ marketing practices being increasingly scrutinized. A number of initiatives have been set up in an effort to ensure responsible advertising to children, such as the Council of Better Business Bureau’s Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, which was established in 2006 as a voluntary self-regulation program for the industry.

AAFP said that its partnership with Coca-Cola was the first it had formed as part of its Consumer Alliance, which allows corporate partners to work with the organization “to educate consumers about the role their products can play in a healthy, active lifestyle”.

However, the choice of the Coca-Cola Company in particular has caused concern among many academics and nutritionists who are worried that the AAFP could lose its independence and integrity.