Why you can't trust food labels

This Trader Joe's label lulls you into a false sense of security.

Editor's note: Food labels can be deceiving, even at Trader Joe's. Today, I also discuss  food from Costco Wholesale, and seeking healthy dishes when dining out on Mexican and dining in on Chinese.

For years, I've been relying on Trader Joe's markets in Paramus and elsewhere for naturally raised bacon and hot dogs for family members who eat meat.

Both bacon and hot dogs are free of such harmful preservatives as nitrates and nitrites, which have been linked to cancer.

But the package of Trader Joe's Jumbo Uncured Beef Franks I bought there recently says nothing about how the beef was raised (see photo).

In my freezer, I have a package of W-brand bacon I bought at Trader Joe's that carries the words "pork raised without antibiotics." 

No similar phrase appears on the jumbo franks package, and now, I'm not sure the regular Trader Joe's franks are made with antibiotic-free beef, either.

This ambiguity is why Consumers Union -- the political and action arm of Consumer Reports magazine -- is calling on the California-based Trader Joe's to sell only meat and poultry free of animal antibiotics.

Ancient Grains granola and fruit make a great breakfast.

Highly rated marinara

A couple of days after I read an evaluation of pasta sauces in Consumer Reports' August 2012 issue, I found Victoria Marinara Sauce at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

The sauce is rated "Excellent," just below the top-rated sauce from Giada De Laurentiis (Target).

The Victoria sauce has fewer calories and less sugar than the one from De Laurentiis, and the 40-ounce jar sold at Costco for $4.25 works out to about 12 cents per ounce.

There is more than enough sauce for a full pound of pasta, and you can boost its already good flavor with a can of anchovies and their oil, red pepper flakes and dried Italian herbs.

My teenage son raved about the Trader Joe's Organic Whole Wheat Penne I served him with the enhanced Victoria Marinara. 

I had penne with Victoria Marinara Sauce for breakfast today.

'Ancient' breakfast

When is the last time you ate spelt, khorasan wheat and amaranth?

Those are some of ingredients in Nature's Path Organic Ancient Grains Granola with Almonds from Costco's Kirkland Signature ($6.99 for a pair of 17.6-ounce bags).

I filled a bowl with the granola, added blueberries and strawberries, and poured on lactose-free milk for a filling breakfast.

The blueberries are from Michigan, and they're sweet. They were $6.49 for a 2-pound package. A pint of blueberries weighs 12 ounces.

A 2-pound package of California strawberries was $3.49 at Costco.

I made a salad from Costco fruit, added mint from the garden and lime juice, and served it with Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese from Italy, also from Costco.

I added banana to the fruit salad this morning, using skin as a cutting board.

Snack time

I bought a 3-pound package of California raw almonds at Costco for $10.99 and roasted them at 275 degrees for 1 hour for a salt-free snack I have several times a day. 

My son prefers Kirkland Signature Trail Mix: peanuts, M&M's Candies, raisins, almonds and cashews (a 4-pound package is $12.59).

Whole fried fish at Las Maravillas de Tulcingo in Englewood.

Can you find the fresh pineapple in these tacos al pastor?

Dining out on Mexican

Last weekend, I took my son out for dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant in Englewood, and it seems to have slipped just a bit in food preparation (84 W. Palisade Ave., Englewood; 201-568-1980).

For him, I ordered tacos al pastor -- marinated pork with fresh pineapple, cilantro and onion ($7).

For me, I ordered the whole tilapia, which was deep fried and served with yellow rice, beans and corn tortillas ($13).

I also ordered a large Tulcingo Salad -- fresh cactus, cheese, avocado, radish and cilantro -- with a spicy green salsa as a dressing ($7).

Tulcingo Salad comes in small and large sizes.

Fresh carrot juice is served with a wedge of lime.

Ordering the large salad was a waste, because my son refused to try any of it. I took the leftovers home and ate them the next day.

He liked his tacos al pastor, but I thought they should have had more fresh pineapple.

My whole fish was smaller than the last time I ordered it, and tasted as if it had been fried in the same oil used for chicken.

I've been eating a lot of fried fish and calamari lately, and plan to ask restaurants with those items on the menu if they can prepare the seafood on a grill or under the broiler. 

Dining in on Chinese

Last night, we ordered takeout delivered from Zen Kitchen in Teaneck (201-837-7322 and myzenkitchen.com).

My son's plate: General Tso's Chicken, House Fried Rice and Shrimp.

My second plate of Jumbo Shrimp with Mixed Vegetables over brown rice.

When I called, I asked the woman taking the order if the cook could put less sugar in my son's General Tso's Chicken, but was told the sauce was pre-mixed ($10.50).

I was able to get my Jumbo Shrimp with Mixed Vegetables prepared in fresh garlic, instead of the ubiquitous brown sauce ($14.75).

Related posts

• Putting Trader Joe's on the spot
• Animal antibiotics blamed in 'health crisis'

Food was our only comfort in the storm

Image by Anthony Quintano via Flickr

Afternoon sky over Hackensack.

We lost power in the early afternoon Saturday. No lights. No heat. No hot water. 


And the beginning of the end for all the food we had in our refrigerator-freezer, and two smaller refrigerators.


A storm hit with unexpected fury on Saturday, and the heavy, wet snow brought down trees, branches and electric wires all over my neighborhood in Hackensack, across the rest of the county and beyond.


My desktop computer was dead and my wife's laptop couldn't connect to the Internet. Our house phones also were useless.


I couldn't get through to the utility for guidelines on how long it takes for food to spoil. And the advice I remembered -- to keep refrigerator doors closed -- was impractical, if we wanted to use what food we had before it spoiled.


My wife drove to the mall before the power failed -- a good thing. By the time she returned, we couldn't use the electric garage-door opener, trapping my car inside.


We have lived in Hackensack's Fairmount section for more than four years, and have weathered many furious rain and snowstorms, but this is the first time we lost power. 


I watched two families in neighboring houses pack up their cars and leave -- maybe to a hotel, maybe to a relative's house, I'm not sure.


We stayed put, as the temperature inside settled in the low 60s or high 50s. At the back of our house, a sun room stayed 6 degrees or 7 degrees warmer, even when night fell.


On Saturday afternoon, before we lost the light, I prepared dinner: a pound of Barilla whole-grain linguine in marinara sauce spiked with a can of anchovies and its oil, Italian seasoning and red-pepper flakes. 


I also had two small heads of red-leaf lettuce and hothouse cucumbers and tomatoes for a big salad. I drank wine.


I went to bed early, not long after 6 in the evening, but was up at 9 and famished.


I went downstairs, lit our stove's gas burner with a match and rustled up an egg-white omelet stuffed with smoked wild salmon, reduce-fat cheese and a homemade mint-and-basil pesto. I shared the omelet with my wife, and she shared her portion with her mother. I heated water on the stove for tea.


The next morning, I heated up more water on the stove for instant black coffee, and then we went out in search of breakfast, and a place to charge our cell phones.


We drove from Hackensack to Teaneck and then to Englewood, and traffic lights at many major intersections were out, streets were blocked by wood horses and most drivers were patient and on their best behavior.


I never saw a police officer directing traffic or a utility crew repairing downed wires on Sunday.


Many restaurants in Hackensack and Teaneck were closed, so we ended up at Las Maravillas de Tulcingo, a new Mexican place on Englewood's Palisade Avenue, where the menu offered desayunos or breakfasts.


My 14-year-old son and his friend, who stayed with us Friday and Saturday nights, had Puebla-style ham-and-egg sandwiches with hot peppers ($4.50 each). My wife had eggs with Mexican sausage ($6), and all three ordered large fruit smoothies ($4 to $5.50).


I ordered eggs a la Mexicana and was delighted when the waitress brought over a platter that also had yellow rice, a puddle of red beans and two pieces of white cheese. 


I grabbed a warm corn tortilla, added eggs, rice, beans, cheese and a teaspoon of a spicy green salsa, rolled it up and finished it in a couple of bites. 


A restaurant-made pink salsa was even spicier, and my son put some inside or outside his sandwich.


I had two big cups of strong coffee ($2), but they were lukewarm. And with one cook and one waitress, service was painfully slow.


We drove down Palisade and crossed the tracks to the wealthier side of Englewood, and saw that Wild Nigiri, the former Wild Ginger, has closed and is being replaced by a Mexican restaurant. 


A note from owner Charles Hamade said he will reopen later this month in Cliffside Park under the name Bushido, the Japanese word for the samurai code of honor.


For dinner, we rummaged in the freezer and found a whole Readington Farms chicken, which my wife cut up and cooked in Jamaican jerk and barbecue sauces. She also prepared white rice on the stove top.


Meanwhile, I heated up two frozen containers of wonderful Alaskan King Crab and Sweet Corn Chowder from Legal Sea Foods via Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.


Even though it was more than 24 hours since we lost power, a bunch of fresh collard greens in the refrigerator still felt cold to the touch, so I chopped them up, washed them and blanched them in boiling water, before adding them to a pan with hot olive oil, seasoning and a little salt.


My dinner was two bowls of soup, collard greens, and fruit and cheese for dessert.


On Monday morning, we had another great breakfast at Galapagos Restaurant on Main Street in Hackensack, where the chunky salsa is made with onions and cilantro.


My wife had a cheese omelet with french fries and a side order of sweet plantains, and my son dug into a big mound of rice and eggs, topped with thin slices of beef. They both drank big cups of hot chocolate.


My scrambled eggs and hominy -- large, tender kernels of corn -- came with savory red beans. I drank black coffee. Our breakfasts were $6 or $7. 


On Monday night, we searched for an open restaurant. 


Washington Avenue in Bergenfield was dark and Amici Family Restaurant was closed. We turned right on Clinton, and drove to downtown Tenafly, which also was dark. Simply Vietnamese also was closed.


So, we returned to Hackensack and drove over to Lotus Cafe, our favorite Chinese restaurant, where we had to wait about 10 minutes for a table. I had a bottle of smooth chianti I opened at home to drink at the BYO.


Lotus Cafe has some of the freshest-tasting seafood around, so we ordered shrimp in X.O. sauce and filet of sole with ginger and scallion, plus curry chicken and fried string beans.


My son and mother-in-law had wonton soup, but me and my wife shared tofu-and-spinach soup in a rich broth. We had bowls of brown or white rice with the entrees.


Our terrific meal worked out to $20 a person, including tip and tax.


We went to bed around 9, with gas fireplaces warming a family room and the master bedroom. Our handy man came over Sunday night to turn them on for us. The rest of the house was freezing.


I tossed and turn until 11, when I heard beeping from our alarm-system panel in the too-warm bedroom. The power was back -- 57 hours after it went out. I could hear a neighbor on the other side of our rear fence turning off his noisy generator.


I awoke and turned off the fireplaces and lights that were on here and there, checked the thermostats and worked on the computer for a little more than an hour as the house warmed up.


This morning, I threw away milk, whole eggs, organic fruit yogurt and Greek yogurt. I ate a slice of reduced-fat Swiss cheese, which tasted fine.


I have three unopened half-gallons of Tropicana orange juice, frozen slices of Costco pizza, an unopened half-pound package of smoked wild salmon, olives, homemade pesto in the freezer and refrigerator, and lots of other food.


I don't have the heart to throw them away, but I'm worried about eating them, too.


Las Maravillas de Tulcingo, 84 W. Palisade Ave., 
Englewood; 201-568-1980.


Galapagos Restaurant, 222 Main St., Hackensack;
201-342-9222; credit card minimum.


Lotus Cafe, 450 Hackensack Ave., Hackensack,
in the Home Depot Shopping Center; 201-488-7070. BYO.