It's all those pies!

How topical ... I've just spent a week in a school canteen covering for the woman who runs it whilst she is on holiday. *Of course, different schools have different menus and prices but this has been my experience. *

The price of items is definitely a consideration. *Bread and bread rolls are surprising expensive to buy and fill. *I would make chicken salad rolls overflowing with fresh roast chicken and salad items and these would sell for $3.50. *Cheaper sliced loaves of bread can be used for toasted sandwiches, but there is really no demand for sandwiches at all. *Pies are $2.50, pizza slices $2.00, sausage rolls $1.50. *Other foodstuffs include a wide range of products covered in breadcrumbs, cake, donuts, cookies, potato chips, cereal bars etc. *The kids love hot chips and these are, at the moment, kept for the odd occasion or end of term. *In this canteen, there are at least two specials each day like sweet 'n sour chicken or nachos. * *

I have tried to cook the foodstuffs as healthily as possible - in the oven rather than the deep fat fryer or electric frying pan. *The kids seemed happy with this. * However, the last thing they want is what their mum would put in a lunchbox. *Some of them are overweight, others equally look as if they could eat a horse and still need more. * Many kids wait until almost everything has been sold before begging for the remainder at half price, or for helping with the rubbish etc. *I would really say that every child is different and some seem to need a really good meal a couple of times at school. *

I would like to know what alternatives are proposed for school canteens. *Some parents and teachers were hoping I would introduce some healthier foods but I did not have the courage to 'rock the boat' - who wants to be unpopular? * It may be that government persuasion is probably the only way to get the menus changed. *Obviously in time the kids would get used to new foods but there will be those who will prefer to go without, or those near town centres who would just walk to their nearest chippie during lunch. *

It's true that the schools, although most try to promote healty eating, are often full of junk food - especially true when it comes to 'fund raisers'.

Unless the govt. orders the closure of every McDonalds, Burger King, KFC etc, then I doubt schools would have much impact on the problem really. Parents also need educating in what they shovel down their kids neck!

Then, of course, theres the other issue that anything remotely healthy is usually expensive, so most families simply can't afford to keep up with it.

McDonald's new ads: Would you like some facts with that?
Thursday September 28, 2006
By Martha McKenzie-Minifie

McDonald's is rolling out the next phase of its myth-busting Take a Closer Look campaign with new packaging from the middle of next month. The Big Mac packaging, which will feature a map of New Zealand and nutritional information, aims to show the company's commitment to local ingredients.

It's a departure from the red and yellow packaging seen around the globe. It will have labelling showing how much of the ideal daily intake of energy, protein, saturated fat, carbohydrates, sugar and sodium the product contains.

Public scepticism forced McDonald's to launch a $3.5 million advertising campaign last month to tackle myths about its food. Among the stories it aims to dispel through TV commercials, a new website and question-and-answer sessions is the rumour it puts pig fat in its shakes. It also is spreading the message that the company's hamburger patties are made from 100 per cent beef and many of its ingredients are brands commonly available in supermarkets.

McDonald's spent around $20 million in the year to June on advertising, according to Nielsen Media, making it one of the country's top 20 advertisers. Auckland University of Technology senior advertising lecturer Dave Bibby said the campaign "lacks the sparkle" of the company's past advertising and was "overtly defensive".

One of the rules of advertising was to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative - but the Take a Closer Look scheme seemed to dwell on the negative. He said the launch of its salads menu with ads featuring Sarah Ulmer was a better strategy than "trying to convince the doubters, who are probably not going to be convinced anyway".

Obesity Action Coalition executive director Celia Murphy, a former dietitian, said the advertising campaign did nothing to change the problem of people who ate too much of the company's products.

"So what if their meat is 100 per cent beef - they are still using advertising tactics that we don't approve of," she said. "What they are aiming to do, of course, is reassure people that this is a marvellous place for them to eat. It doesn't change anything about McDonald's."

McDonald's Restaurants NZ managing director Grainne Troute said the ads aimed to correct damaging and "ludicrous" myths by presenting facts. "If people don't trust your brand, then you have barriers around visiting you," she said. "What we are trying to do is remove those barriers where they have no basis, so that people feel more comfortable about coming to McDonald's - and coming to McDonald's more often."

She said the rumours were due to an "anti-sentiment" about the company - and added that McDonald's shakes did not contain pig fat and never had. "It's not true. Sometimes I will facetiously answer that question by saying 'why would we take out perfectly good dairy fat and put in pig fat?'

"It's one of those ludicrous things that you wonder how it gets such traction."

McDonald's will invite the public into its kitchens for a behind the scenes look later this year.

Pies may get meatier
1.00pm Thursday October 5, 2006
By Kent Atkinson

The rules on what goes in a meat pie could be set to become stricter under a plan being considered by food regulators.

Current regulations on both sides of the Tasman require a meat pie to contain at least 25 per cent meat. The formal definition of "meat" is wide enough to include any part of the animal carcass, or even a bird foetus .

But Aussie pie maker Bakewell Foods, trading as Mrs Mac's, wants the definition changed to content of at least 25 per cent "meat flesh": muscle tissue and any connected rind, fat, blood, nerves, connective tissue, and skin.

Mrs Mac's said in its application to the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), lodged in 2003, that the words "meat flesh" should be substituted for "meat" to overcome any consumer doubts about just what was going into pies.

"The current definition of 'meat' has been perceived by some consumers as meaning that meat pies do contain other animal parts," the FSANZ said today.

The consequence had been some dissatisfaction, by some consumers - even though manufacturers said they used only meat flesh. If this was true, setting the requirement in law should not cost manufacturers money, it said.

FSANZ said today that it had no public health and safety concerns about the proposal, and would seek comment from the food industry and consumers.

New Zealand's Food Safety Authority told the standards body it supported identifying the meat species, but saw no benefit in specifying "meat flesh" rather than "meat" and suggested not including offal in the definition could create problems for steak and kidney pie manufacturers.

It also said the existing requirement for 25 per cent meat should be clarified to consumers as the weight when added to the pie, before cooking. FSANZ proposes to make the change to "meat flesh", to exclude eggs and fish from the definition, and to not apply the meat pie definition to pies containing significant quantities of other foods, such as a steak and vegetable pie.

Later this month, FSANZ plans to start laying down standards for meat products, and reconsider terms such as meat, meat flesh and offal. "New Zealand regulatory agencies will also need to consider the issues raised," it said in the draft assessment released today.

The application by Mrs Mac's is separate to New Zealand's Commerce Commission singling out the Mrs Mac's brand earlier this year because its pies had less meat than indicated on labels.

The commission discovered in tests that Mrs Mac's Choice Steak pies averaged 27 per cent meat content compared with the 31 per cent claimed on the packaging, and said the shortfall might be a breach of New Zealand's Fair Trading Act. The commission's test on a Big Ben steak pie found an average meat content of 24 per cent, close to the 25 per cent written on the wrapper.

Mrs Mac's managing director Iain Macgregor said at the time that independent laboratory testing of steak products in Australia had revealed they complied with the label claim.

- NZPA

I do wonder how these pie manufacturers sleep at nights.

I believe, if we knew half of what goes into the food we consume on a daily basis, we'd never sleep at night. ? ?

I think sausages have to be the worst ones, especially the pork sausages which are only actually 'pork flavoured'. I've seen 2 kinds of these, pork flavoured beef sausages (work that one out) and pork flavoured 'meat' sausages, which really dont bear thinking about if they only just admit to the content being 'meat'!!

I dont know who lets these companies get away with it. The typical scenario of the difference between 'safe to eat' and 'morally correct'.

Eeeekkk!!! Am now wishing I'd not read that thread - enough to make me avoid meat altogether... or maybe it'll be my boyfriend who'll be wishing I hadn't read it when there's only veggies on our plates for dinner tonight... lol!!!!!

I used to be a vegetarian as didn't like all the unknowns in things like sausages... finally managed to get around it by trying to not think about the content as I do like sausages... doesn't always work though and just wish you could buy 'real' sausages... even if you have to pay more!!!!

.....just wish you could buy 'real' sausages... even if you have to pay more!!!!

You could always try making your own if you could find an outlet to supply the skins. At least you'd know what's going into them then. ;)

Good Point!!!! But think I'm still too squeemish when it comes to meat - am better just seeing it when it's all prepared and cooked already and less obviously 'meat' - if that makes sense!!!! Oh well... no pies or sausages or meat for me for a few weeks til the thought goes out my head again!!! Probably a good thing!!! ::)