PHOENIX – The state budget crisis threatens a program that helps Arizona farmers prevent contamination in lettuce, spinach and other leafy greens, advocates say.

The Arizona Leafy Green Products Shipper Marketing Agreement, also known as Arizona Leafy Greens, is administered by the Arizona Department of Agriculture. It started in September 2007 after California experienced two E. coli outbreaks traced to lettuce and spinach.

“We take food safety very seriously as an industry,” said C.R. Waters, a Yuma farmer who serves as the program’s chairman.

Funded by voluntary assessments to member growers and shippers, the program, which took in about $78,000 this year, sets safety standards for growing leafy greens and brings inspectors from California to assess how farms are meeting those standards.

Waters said members of Arizona Leafy Greens look with worry at fund sweeps lawmakers have made to address the state’s budget deficit. Those sweeps already have cut money from the Agriculture Department’s Iceberg Lettuce Research Council, Grain Research and Promotion Council and Arizona Citrus Research Council, which also are funded by growers.

“The fund sweeps for the 2010 and future budgets are the biggest threat to the viability of the program,” Waters said. “People will be hesitant to put money into a fund if it’s going to be used for something other than its intended purpose.”

Arizona growers provide 75 percent of the leafy green produce consumed in the United States and Canada from November through March. The $1 billion industry employs about 20,000 workers.

Arizona Leafy Greens helps ensure quality and safety by making sure animals don’t get into or feed too close to fields and by monitoring water and soil.

Waters said that in addition to protecting the public, Arizona Leafy Greens helps maintain confidence in the food supply and protects the agriculture industry.

“If there’s an outbreak, people will just quit buying that product,” Waters said.

Kurt Nolte, director of the Yuma County Cooperative Extension, operated by the University of Arizona, said safety standards set by Arizona Leafy Greens protect consumers. He said that sweeping the funds would be unfortunate because the program gets its money from the agriculture industry.

“This is not taxpayer money that might get swept,” Nolte said.

Will Rousseau, chairman of Arizona Leafy Greens Communications Committee, said a fund sweep would be nothing more than an indirect tax increase.

“If the funds were swept away, the industry would be forced to replenish the funds with the risk they would be swept away again,” he said.

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Arizona Leafy Greens

• Full Name: Arizona Leafy Green Products Shipper Marketing Agreement

• Focus: Industry program striving for safety in production of lettuce, spinach and other leafy greens.

• Components: Sets standards for safe productions, ensured through audits by government-certified inspectors.

• Launched in September 2007 after two E. coli outbreaks traced to leafy greens grown in California.

• Administered By: Arizona Department of Agriculture

• Funding: Assessments to member growers and shippers – about $78,000 this year.

———

On the Web

Arizona Leafy Greens:

www.azlgma.gov

PHOENIX — A voter-approved measure that has Arizona’s minimum wage above the federal requirement is forcing some restaurant owners to lay off and reduce health benefits for employees, industry leaders told state lawmakers Tuesday.

“Local restaurants support our communities, and right now we’re in trouble,” said Matt McMahon, owner of 19 Outback Steakhouse locations in Arizona. “The economy is not the problem; bad laws are the problem.”

The Arizona Minimum Wage Act, approved in 2006, requires the minimum wage to adjust each January based on the U.S. Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index. Arizona’s minimum wage rose to $7.25 per hour this year from $6.90 in 2008.

The federal minimum wage stands at $6.55 but will rise to $7.25 in July.

Members of the Arizona Restaurant and Hospitality Association told the Senate Commerce and Economic Development Committee that the state requirement is hurting their industry.

McMahon and three other restaurant owners told lawmakers that it isn’t realistic to base Arizona’s minimum wage on the constantly changing CPI. They said that having to pay progressively higher wages has strained their revenues, making layoffs inevitable.

Stephen Johnson, owner and president of Macayo’s Mexican Kitchen, said that having to pay the increased minimum wage forced him to lay off employees even before the economic crisis.

“I was paying 95 percent of my employees’ health insurance; I had to cut it to 65 percent to make up the loss of revenue,” Johnson said. “That has harmed my employees more than they benefited from the raise.”

Another restaurant owner asked lawmakers to look at a provision of the act calling for employees who regularly receive tips to be paid $3 less than minimum wage.

Mike Head, vice chairman of the Arizona Restaurant Association and operating partner of a Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar in Scottsdale, said that his employees who get tips now make considerably more than cooks and servers assistants who work without tips.

“I appreciate the contribution of everyone on my team; however, now the hardest-working people are not the highest-paid people,” Head said.

Because voters approved the change, it would take a three-quarters vote of both houses of the Legislature to overturn it.

Dana Kennedy, communications director of the Arizona AFL-CIO, said in an interview that the act is necessary to protect Arizona’s lowest-income employees. She said she doesn’t believe the minimum wage act could affect Arizona businesses this dramatically.

“I think they’re looking to point fingers in this economic downturn,” Kennedy said.

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Arizona Minimum Wage Act

— Approved: 2006

— Key Provision: Adjusts the minimum wage each January based on the federal Consumer Price Index.

— State Minimum Wage: $7.25 per hour as of January.

— Federal Minimum Wage: $6.55 per hour, rising to $7.25 in July.

Pima recipients up 20% in last year, in line with rising joblessness

Arizona has added 123,000 food-stamp recipients since the recession began in December 2007.

The growing number of individuals on the food stamp roster gives the state one of the nation’s fastest-growing caseloads of food stamp recipients.

In October 2007, more than 500,000 individuals received food stamp assistance statewide, Liz Barker Alvarez, spokeswoman for the state Department of Economic Security, said Friday. The department administers the program.

By last October, that number had grown by 22 percent, to 706,577 statewide.

Tens of thousands more Arizonans are eligible for food assistance, federal officials estimate.

In Pima County, the number of food stamp recipients grew from 98,211 in October 2007 to 116,297 last October, an increase of 20 percent.

In Pima County, the average allotment to a family receiving food stamps is $255.37 monthly, Alvarez said.

As the recession deepens with no end in sight, officials across Arizona and the nation are likely to see increasing requests for help in obtaining food, the most basic of needs.

The millions of additional people turning now to food stamps are putting a further strain on taxpayers.

Marco Liu, who heads the food-stamp program for DES, said many of Arizona’s new recipients have lost work or had their hours cut, pushing them to seek help.

“It really is a combination of things,” he said, adding that many of the state’s recipients work but still meet federal income criteria to qualify.

This year, a person making less than $14,000 or a family of four earning less than about $29,000 can qualify for food stamps.

Arizona’s caseload spike parallels its steep job losses.

The state ranks third in the country in the number of jobs lost since 2007. In that year, when the nation’s food-stamp list shrank nearly 1 percent, Arizona’s caseload grew nearly 1 percent. In 2008, the nation’s rolls grew 7.3 percent while Arizona’s grew 15.2 percent, records show.

The price of the program also has shot up rapidly. Last year, Arizonans received more than $63 million in food-stamp aid, compared with less than $20 million in 2001. The increase, which far outpaced the state’s population growth, stemmed from a rise in both federal funding and number of applicants.

Like many states, Arizona has sought to enroll more recipients. Liu said that’s partly because the state pays only some administrative costs and, unlike with some federal programs, everyone who is eligible is entitled to receive aid.

Cynthia Zwick, executive director of the Arizona Community Action Association, said the state has fallen far short in its efforts to reach everyone who is eligible. Two years ago, the Legislature trimmed $50,000 in funds for outreach by her organization, Zwick said. With the loss of federal matching funds, she estimated, her budget for food-stamp outreach dropped to $57,000 from $157,000.

“It’s wholly inadequate to do a good job,” Zwick said. “What it means, practically, is that many families that are eligible for the benefit aren’t finding out about it. It has been underenrolled in Arizona for years.”

Liu said Arizona would like to emulate Oregon’s outreach efforts, but U.S. Department of Agriculture records suggest the states are far apart in what they are willing to spend. Arizona set aside $28,500 in 2008 for outreach, compared with Oregon’s $433,000. The federal government matches the funds.

Federal reports show 39 percent of eligible Arizonans did not participate in the program in 2006, the latest period studied by the USDA. By comparison, 15 percent of eligible Oregonians didn’t participate. Nationally, 33 percent of those eligible do not participate, the USDA reports.

The program is limited to Americans and some legal immigrants and is based on the number of people requiring assistance in each family. Those receiving assistance earn less than 130 percent of the federal poverty line. They can buy food but not other items such as cigarettes or alcohol, using a debit card issued to them.

$3.40 in aid per day

Despite the program’s rising costs, those who receive the aid find it doesn’t go far.

For years, the program’s aid covered enough to ensure that recipients could afford the “Thrifty Food Plan,” a low-cost, minimally acceptable diet established by the USDA. But since 1996, assistance has fallen increasingly short of covering what is needed to follow the diet, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington-based organization that advocates for the poor.

In 2008, the average monthly benefit per person was about $102, USDA figures show. That amounts to less than $3.40 in aid per day. Liu said other initiatives help meet the area’s needs, such as welfare plans, food banks and subsidized lunches for students.

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Do I qualify?

The state provides a Web tool to help Arizonans find out if they might qualify for more than two dozen government programs, from food stamps to emergency cash assistance. Go to

www.arizonaselfhelp.org

By The Arizona Republic, Sheryl Kornman

PHOENIX — Shamrock Foods has issued a voluntary recall of its Nutty Sundae Cones.

The sundae cones are garnished with chopped peanuts from the Peanut Corp. of America, which is being blamed for a national salmonella outbreak.

Phoenix-based Shamrock Foods says it does not manufacture the sundae cones, and is taking a “precautionary step” amid the outbreak.

The Nutty Sundae Cone is a 4.5-ounce novelty ice cream sold to convenience stores, drug stores and food service establishments.

The sundae cone has not been linked to any illness.

Shamrock Foods spokeswoman Sandy Kelly says the company is committed to ensuring the health and safety of its customers.

Snacks now focus of salmonella probe

The scope of a nationwide salmonella investigation mushroomed Tuesday as manufacturers recalled dozens of snack products popular with children and young adults.

More than 470 people in 43 states, including 10 here in Arizona, have fallen ill in recent months.

The Food and Drug Administration believes they all consumed peanut butter or peanut-based products that were made at a Georgia plant owned by Peanut Corp. of America.

Six of those who fell ill in Arizona were under the age of 20, the state Department of Health Services said.

“I think if you look at the products, that really explains why our cases are so young,” said Rebecca Sunenshine, deputy state epidemiologist. “Snack crackers, obviously, are very popular with children.”

Health officials are asking residents to avoid all snacks that contain peanut butter and to throw out any recalled products.

So far, that includes Famous Amos Peanut Butter Cookies, Private Selection Peanut Butter Passion Ice Cream, sold at Fry’s Food Stores; several varieties of Keebler peanut butter sandwich crackers and a host of nutritional bars manufactured by Clif Bar and Co.

Safeway Inc. also is pulling some fruit and vegetable snacks with peanut butter, and PetSmart has recalled one of its brands of dog biscuits.

The salmonella outbreak is a bit unique in that it is not being linked definitively to one or two types of food.

That was the case last summer, when 1,470 people around the country were sickened by bacteria linked to tainted tomatoes and jalapenos.

In this case, Peanut Corp. of America distributed its product in bulk to food service companies, which in turn, used it in dozens of snack items.

“There are so many products – that’s why this is so challenging,” Sunenshine said. “It is also why we are telling folks to postpone eating peanut-butter-based products for the time being.”

Jarred peanut butter sold at grocery stores is not included in the outbreak investigation, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Girl Scouts of the USA also said that its peanut-butter-based cookies are safe.

Salmonellosis, an infection with salmonella bacteria, can cause diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps. Symptoms usually last between four and seven days and begin between 12 and 72 hours after eating contaminated food.

Most of the reported illnesses occurred between October and January, although the outbreak is ongoing.

The illness may have contributed to the deaths of six individuals elsewhere in the country, the CDC said.

Manufacturers, including Clif Bar and Co., and Kellogg Co., have set up consumer phone lines for individuals wanting more information or a refund for a product.

The FDA has also created a searchable list of recalled items at www.fda.gov.

———

RECALLED PRODUCTS

Among the dozens of snack items being pulled from store shelves because of the salmonella outbreak:

• Austin and Keebler brand peanut butter sandwich crackers.

• Clif Bar, Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch.

• Clif Bar, Crunchy Peanut Butter.

• Clif Bar, Peanut Toffee Buzz.

• Eating Right Kids Apples with Peanut Butter.

• Eating Right Kids Celery with Peanut Butter.

• Famous Amos Peanut Butter Cookies.

• Keebler Soft Batch Homestyle Peanut Butter Cookies.

• Little Debbie Peanut Butter Toasty Sandwich Crackers.

• Little Debbie Peanut Butter Cheese Sandwich Crackers.

• Luna Bar, Nutz Over Chocolate.

• Luna Bar, Peanut Butter Cookie.

• Nature’s Path Optimum Energy Bar, Peanut Butter.

• NutriPals Bar, Peanut Butter Chocolate.

• PetSmart Grreat Choice Dog Biscuits

• Private Selection Peanut Butter Passion Ice Cream.

• Walmart Bakery Peanut Butter Cookies.

• Walmart Bakery Harvest Peanut Butter Fudge No-Bake Cookies.

• ZonePerfect, Chocolate Peanut Butter bars.

• ZonePerfect, Peanut Toffee bars.

Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Republic research

ON THE WEB

For a complete list and regular updates visit www.fda.gov

Kiem Allison, an accounting specialist with the Gilbert School District, shows off her vegetable and fruit sculptures she makes for special district events in Gilbert. Allison learned her hobby while working in her family's many restaurants in France.

MESA – Kiem Allison was a Vietnamese refugee who escaped the war-torn country with her family. She ended up in France, where she lived for 20 years, working in family restaurants.

Now, the 52-year-old is an accounting specialist for the Gilbert Unified School District, where she often displays a special skill she learned during her years in France: artistic vegetable and fruit creations.

She turns pears into baby birds with carrot noses and whole black peppercorns as eyes. A watermelon becomes a canvas for intricately, detailed fish art. Radishes, large Japanese horseradishes, and chili and bell peppers are turned into blooming, colorful flowers.

“It’s fun. It’s something like art,” said Allison, who left Vietnam in 1975 with her father, stepmother and two siblings. Her dad was an Air Force colonel and it wasn’t safe to stay in the country.

Allison learned her hobby while working in her family’s many restaurants in France. The chefs would create little decorations to beautify the dishes and make it look even more appetizing, and Allison picked up the craft.

She worked as a cook and a server in the restaurants, which over the years changed from Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Indian and finally, a Tex-Mex restaurant. Yes, a Tex-Mex restaurant in France.

While cooking steaks, spare ribs and enchiladas in the French Riviera, she met her husband of 14 years, Robert. He’s a computer programmer at American Express.

“He jokes that he met his Vietnamese wife in the south of France at a Tex-Mex restaurant,” Allison laughs.

The two married and moved to Gilbert in 1994. They have three children, including, Kimberly, a freshman at Mesquite High School.

Allison started in the Gilbert district part time as a cafeteria worker in 1997. She began making her veggie and fruit sculptures as a way to decorate at district special events, such as retirement and holiday parties, open houses and welcoming teachers back to school.

“I like it because every time we have events, it’s a way to make people happy,” Allison said. “It’s really cool. It’s a gift.”

Despite moving to the district’s accounting department, Allison still makes her fruit and vegetable animals for dozens of district ceremonies and events. She isn’t paid extra for the service.

“I get lots of compliments from teachers,” Allison said. “It makes me feel really, really good.”

She lets her imagination run wild with her creations, and has carved fishes out of cantaloupes, made palm trees out of pineapples and turned watermelons into peacocks.

Yvonne Rojas, an administrative assistant to the food services director, said Allison “just has a creative imagination.”

“She can envision a fruit and know exactly what she’s going to do with it,” Rojas said. “She likes to do it. That’s her way of relaxing … She’s just an incredible woman.”

Allison spends hours preparing and carving her edible artwork at home, using little sharp knives and paring knives. She loves collecting knives in her travels.

“I tell people when you don’t cut your finger anymore you will be a professional,” Allison said.

Allison said she’d eventually love to learn how to make even more intricate creations through specialty classes in California.

Her dream is to have a social, cooking club where everyone gets together, eats and makes their own veggie and fruit carvings.

When she’s not carving out one of her creations, Allison also crochets hats and blankets for children in local hospitals.

Marcella Tulley (right) helps education curator Char Kruger make blue corn mush during a demonstration at the Navajo Nation Museum on Saturday in Window Rock. Kruger recently gave a presentation on how to make blue corn mush, a traditional Navajo food, at the Navajo Nation Museum as part of activities to encourage cultural teachings.

WINDOW ROCK – As Char Kruger slowly adds corn meal to the blue corn mush on the stove, stirring it clockwise, people begin asking questions. Should they roast corn meal before making the blue corn mush? Do they add sugar? How long should it cook?

Kruger recently gave a presentation on how to make blue corn mush, a traditional Navajo food, at the Navajo Nation Museum as part of activities to encourage cultural teachings. She said this is the perfect time to teach how to make it because it is a healing food.

Ella Silversmith of Tohlakai never learned how to make blue corn mush when she was growing up, so she came to the museum learn how. She prefers to eat blue corn mush with a little sugar added, she said as she sampled the mush Kruger handed out after the demonstration.

But Joe Silversmith said he prefers his with a little bit of salt.

“Try it both ways. See which one you like,” he said.

He used to know how to make it from watching his grandmother but he forgot over the years. The demonstration refreshed his memory.

“I knew the ingredients. It’s just putting it together,” he said.

Diana DeChilly of Fort Defiance had made blue corn mush before and learned some tips as she watched.

“Mine came out lumpy because I didn’t use cold water,” she said.

DeChilly said she came to the demonstration because she was given a lot of corn meal when her nephew got married. She was planning on going home and trying her hand at the mush and possibly some blue corn pancakes one day.

Corn meal and cedar ash are the two main ingredients in the traditional food.

“This is a very important ingredient to the mush,” Kruger said of the cedar ash.

One audience member said that if the cedar ash is not used, the mush will taste bitter.

Kruger first showed the audience some of the traditional items that were used in making blue corn mush, such as a grinding stone and a brush made out of plants. Now, corn meal can be bought at the store already ground and cedar ash can be purchased at the flea market.

After talking about the traditional process, she took the audience into the kitchen and went through the steps she learned from her grandmother.

“We always say we’re from different parts of the reservation. What I’m sharing with you today is what my grandma taught me,” she said.

It all begins with a pot of boiling water.

Fill another bowl with cold water and a spoonful of cedar ash and mix it with a stirring stick. Then stir in corn meal a small handful at a time. It is a good idea to roast the corn meal first.

Slowly add the mixture of corn meal and cedar ash to the boiling water. More corn meal is added by the handful depending on the desired consistency. The mush is stirred constantly as it cooks for 10 to 15 minutes.

Kruger, museum education curator, said she plans to do another demonstration on how to make blue corn bread in the future. As the new education curator, she’s trying to hold cultural activities every month.

MINNEAPOLIS — Three deaths associated with a national salmonella outbreak occurred in Virginia and Minnesota, health officials confirmed Tuesday.

Two adults in Virginia had salmonella when they died, though it’s not clear that the illness is what killed them, said Michelle Peregoy, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Health. She did not release details about the two people.

Earlier, Minnesota health officials said an elderly woman in that state had the illness at the time of her death.

Health officials are urging nursing homes, hospitals, schools, universities and restaurants to toss out specific containers of peanut butter linked to a salmonella outbreak in 43 states and possibly to the deaths of three people.

The recalled peanut butter — distributed by King Nut Companies of Solon, Ohio — was supplied only through food service providers and was not sold directly to consumers. King Nut challenged the finding, saying it could not be the source of the nationwide outbreak since it distributes to only seven states.

The outbreak has sickened more than 400 people and Minnesota health officials announced Monday they had found a match between samples from a King Nut container and the strains of salmonella bacteria making people sick across the country.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the outbreak may have contributed to the three deaths.

Minnesota health officials, who are coordinating their investigation with the CDC, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other states, said one of the three was a nursing home resident in her 70s who died after contracting the illness. But an epidemiologist with the state Health Department, Stephanie Meyer, said it wasn’t clear whether the illness or underlying health problems caused the woman’s death.

Minnesota health and agriculture officials said last week they had found salmonella bacteria in a 5-pound package of King Nut peanut butter at a different nursing facility. Officials tested the bacteria over the weekend and found a genetic match with the bacterial strain that has led to 30 illnesses in Minnesota and others across the country.

King Nut Companies on Sunday asked its customers to stop using peanut butter under its King Nut and Parnell’s Pride brands with a lot code that begins with the numeral “8.”

However, company president and chief executive Martin Kanan argued that King Nut could not be the source of the nationwide salmonella outbreak because the company distributes only to Ohio, Minnesota, Michigan, North Dakota, Arizona, Idaho and New Hampshire. No other King Nut products have been voluntarily recalled.

The peanut butter King Nut distributed was manufactured by Peanut Corporation of America, a Virginia company. In an e-mail earlier Monday, President Stewart Parnell said the company was working with federal authorities.

The peanut butter was distributed to establishments such as care facilities, hospitals, schools, universities and restaurants. King Nut says it was not distributed for retail sale to consumers.

The CDC on Monday raised the number of confirmed cases to 410, from 399 as of Friday, and Mississippi became the 43rd state to report a case. All the illnesses began between Sept. 15 and Jan. 7, but most of the people became sick after Oct. 1.

Kanan held out the possibility that the contamination came from another source, since the salmonella was found in an open container.

“That means there’s a possibility of cross-contamination, somebody could have been cutting a piece of chicken and then stuck the knife into the peanut butter for a peanut butter sandwich,” he said. “There have been no tests that have come back positive on a closed container.”

The peanut butter contamination comes almost two years after ConAgra recalled its Peter Pan brand peanut butter, which was eventually linked to at least 625 salmonella cases in 47 states.

CDC officials say the bacteria in the current outbreak has been genetically fingerprinted as the Typhimurium type, which is among the most common sources of salmonella food poisoning.

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ON THE WEB

King Nut Companies:

www.kingnut.com

CDC:

www.cdc.gov/salmonella

Peanut Corporation:

www.peanutcorp.com

The price of milk in Arizona fell 22 percent in the past three months.

Arizona food prices dropped sharply in the fourth quarter as falling commodity prices and increased competition finally smiled on consumers.

Leading the way was a whopping 88-cent-per-gallon, or 22 percent, drop in milk.

The fourth-quarter decline capped two years of price increases that saw the cost of a basket of 16 food staples jump 23 percent to $57.46 at the end of September.

The $2.71, or 5 percent, fourth quarter drop was one of the most dramatic ever recorded by the Arizona Farm Bureau, which tracks state grocery prices through its quarterly Marketbasket Survey. The unscientific survey attempts to find the best in-store price excluding promotional coupons and special deals.

“We expected a decline, but not one of this magnitude,” said Farm Bureau spokesman Julie Murphree.

The 5 percent decline in Arizona prices reported Thursday was substantially more than the 1 percent nationwide drop reported by the American Farm Bureau.

But at $54.75, the cost the 16 food items in Arizona still remains significantly above the national price of $48.19. Murphree said that Arizona prices rose faster than the national average and have taken longer to come down.

Downtown Phoenix resident Mike Butler has noticed the falling prices. He was in Safeway Thursday picking up milk, on sale for $1.58 per gallon.

“They seem to be having a lot more sales lately,” said Butler, who added that he is eating out less as a result of the declining economy.

Besides passing along the lower commodity prices, grocers are feeling increased pressure from consumers and competitors to reduce prices across the board.

“Our customers have become much more price-conscious,” said Kristie Nied, a spokeswoman for Chandler-based supermarket chain Bashas’ Inc. She said that coupon use has increased significantly over the past few months as consumers search for “deals.”

Bashas’ recently cut the price on many of its private label products and has been repackaging deli and bakery products in more economical sizes. The company also has been working on cutting is own costs to help keep retail prices down.

“We’ve switched to diesel in many our trucks and have been working to lower energy cost at our stores,” Nied said.

Of the 16 items racked by the Farm Bureau, 11 dropped in price, three increased and two remained the same.

The items experiencing the biggest drops were generally non-processed items that have few components or ingredients.

While prices are down, volume is up at many supermarkets, indicating that people are shopping more frequently and increasingly eating food prepared at home.

Nied declined to name any store traffic figures for Bashas’ but said all of the company’s market research shows that people are conserving by eating out less.

———

More local food news:

EAT Tucson blog

Maricopa County jail inmates will start paying for their own meals beginning in January under a policy Sheriff Joe Arpaio revealed Thursday afternoon.

The move could save taxpayers more than $900,000 each year in food costs, if the Sheriff’s Office’s early estimates are accurate.

The policy would charge inmates $1.25 per day for their meals. It would apply only to those inmates who have money in personal accounts or “on their books.” Arpaio estimated that about 2,000 of the nearly 10,000 inmates in the system will end up paying for food each day.

Those who can’t afford to pay will still receive food, but Arpaio said prison officials will track their free meals.

Inmates can accrue money in their accounts in two ways. If they’re carrying cash when they are arrested, it goes into an account. Later, friends and relatives can send them money.

Prisoners with funds in their accounts will be charged for those meals. Inmates who can’t pay will have an open tab, so they would face those charges if arrested again and return to one of the county facilities.

Other county sheriffs have similar efforts under way, including Brevard County, Fla.

“If (family members) send money in to buy chocolate bars, it’s going to go to food first instead of chocolate bars,” Arpaio said as he led a tour of the sheriff’s sprawling food-preparation facility on Lower Buckeye Road.

But inmates use the funds in those accounts for more than treats from the commissary, said Debbie Hill, an attorney working on behalf of inmates in a civil lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Office and the county about conditions in the jails.

Inmates also use that money to pay for services, she said, including medical care, for which Arpaio still charges.

“To suggest that the only reason they have money on their books is to pay for commissary is totally incorrect. That money goes to pay for medical care, and I’m very concerned that what will happen is that people will no longer be able to pay for other services they need because this will be subtracted,” she said. “It’s certainly going to discourage family members from putting money on their books.”

Inmates working on the food-preparation line weren’t pleased when told they’d have to pay for eating jail food.

“Are you serious? We come to work at 5 a.m. and don’t get back to the tents until 3:30 in the afternoon,” said Steven Sexton, 26, who was preparing to scoop food onto trays. “It’s ridiculous, man. We’re working.”

Arpaio said inmates aren’t paid for their labor.

Sexton and other inmates working Thursday afternoon complained of being served rotten or expired food and moldy bread, an assertion U.S. District Judge Neil Wake supported in a court ruling this year that found the jails offered an unconstitutional level of care.

A policy charging inmates for food was authorized by the Legislature in the late 1990s, but Arpaio said he stopped requiring them to pay when he started charging for visits to medical professionals.

But the economic downturn, and a countywide edict for departments to slash 20 percent off their budgets, has forced sheriff’s officials to consider a variety of cost-cutting measures.

Arpaio said he also wants to ask legislators to allow him to charge inmates for their beds, but the food move was previously authorized and immediately available.

If Arpaio’s predictions hold up, the maneuver could trim about 5 percent of the office’s annual meal expenditures.

This year, county supervisors approved a meal budget of more than $16.5 million to feed inmates nearly 15 million meals, according to county budget documents.

Arpaio frequently touts his no-frills food-service policies as producing “30 cent meals,” but the actual cost per meal is about $1.11 when food preparation and service is added into the equation. Inmates are fed twice a day, which brings the daily cost of meals in the jails to more than $2.

Arpaio said he is authorized to charge that much for each inmate.

“I think $1.25 is reasonable,” he said.

The move comes as county officials and representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union are hashing out an agreement to meet Wake’s order that requires the Sheriff’s Office to provide inmates with a constitutionally mandated minimum of care.

Part of Wake’s ruling instructed jail officials to offer a menu that meets U.S. Department of Agriculture dietary guidelines.

An attorney for the Sheriff’s Office told Wake in court last week that jail officials had already made changes to the menu to comply with that order.

Arpaio said Thursday that Wake’s order wouldn’t significantly increase food costs and that the inmate-meal decision was made without Wake’s order in mind.

Seemab Zaman (left) watches as Chantal Pascale, a longtime member of the Arizona Mushroom Club, holds up some chanterelle mushrooms in the Mogollon Rim. Several times a year, members of the Arizona Mushroom Club get together for forays, where they comb the woods for those mysterious mycological marvels they hold so dear.

PHOENIX – Mushroom hunters always get the same two questions: “Aren’t you afraid of being poisoned?” and “Do you look for those (wink, wink) special mushrooms?”

They’ve heard all the jokes about a “fungus among us” and a “fun guy.”

But that doesn’t deter members of the Arizona Mushroom Club. Several times a year they get together for forays, when they comb the woods for those mysterious mycological marvels they hold so dear.

“It’s an addiction,” said Chantal Pascale, a retired Realtor who splits her time between Scottsdale and Pine. “It’s the excitement you have when you find your first one. When we have friends over or we go to a party, I make a little chanterelle croissant and . . . people are so happy. So that’s the joy of it.”

For some, mushrooming is all about the thrill of the hunt. For others, it’s more about the culinary pleasure of eating an unusual and tasty ingredient that they’ve gathered themselves.

There are other attractions.

“It’s probably as much a social club as a mushroom club,” said the organization’s foray chairman, Terry Beckman, of Phoenix. “You get out, have a nice hike in the woods. It’s good people, fun picnics, and you go to fun places.”

The club has about 250 members, according to president Chester Leathers, a professor emeritus of microbiology at Arizona State University, where he taught for nearly three decades.

His wife, Rose Mary, a retired biology teacher, said the couple’s interest in mushrooms was purely scientific at first. Then a club member sauteed some Boletus edulis and served it to them.

“We were hooked,” Rose Mary said.

The club’s most recent outing was to the Mogollon Rim. Before the foray started, Chester Leathers distributed releases and reminded people to keep their bearings.

“You’re walking around with your head down, looking for mushrooms. It’s awfully easy, even on a clear day, to get lost,” he said. “That’s one of the advantages of going out with a partner. If you do get lost, at least you won’t have to sleep by yourself.”

Pascale, a club member for about 13 years, learned about the joys of mushrooming while growing up in France.

Jason Sartor, a goldsmith who lives in Tempe, was exposed to mushrooming when he lived in Russia.

“People would go out on a regular basis and pick and bring their mushrooms to market,” he said. “When I got back from Russia, I decided to just start poking around. I learned that there are all sorts of edible mushrooms that grow in Arizona.”

Club members uniformly recommend staying away from “LBMs” – little brown mushrooms – because there are so many kinds and they’re so hard to identify.

Although some in the club are intensely interested in the science of mycology, most just want to know how to identify edible mushrooms.

The best way to get started, Beckman said, is to go out with experienced people. Books are helpful, but beginning mushroomers have to realize that there are regional differences in mushrooms and that the same mushroom can have different appearances at various times of the year or at different stages of its life cycle.

Beckman has been gathering and eating wild mushrooms for two decades. Not once has he been sickened by one.

“It’s like anything else – you just have to be cautious,” he said.

After 30 or 45 minutes of poking through the woods, club members gathered in the parking area for a combination show-and-tell, lecture and Q&A session, presided over by Leathers.

Then it was time to move on to another site.

Beckman mingled among the newbies, offering advice. He recommended that beginners not try to take on too much at a time. Go out, he said, and really learn just one or two types of mushrooms, along with their look-alikes, then add another mushroom or two every year.

“I enjoy eating (mushrooms) as much as I enjoy looking for them,” Beckman said. “Having the mushrooms you couldn’t get elsewhere is kind of a thrill. There are only a couple you can find in stores, and they’re kind of expensive.

“But I guess if you add up the gas and the travel time, the ones we get are expensive, too. But it’s fun.”

Natalie McGee, owner of the Arizona Cactus Ranch near Green Valley, talks about making products from prickly pear cactuses. Prickly pear is used to make candy and food products, and researchers are discovering more health benefits from the cactus.

GREEN VALLEY – The acres of prickly pear at the Arizona Cactus Ranch produce nectar and fruit spreads that owner Natalie McGee sells over the Internet and through markets around Arizona.

Those products offer only a narrow look at the prickly pear’s potential, she said.

Consumers are drawn increasingly to the promise of the prickly pear’s health and medicinal benefits, and McGee said more Arizonans will discover that prickly pears gracing countless landscapes around Arizona are more than just pretty.

“We often take for granted that we have this plant in our own yard that is not only decorative but could improve the quality of life in medicine and even food,” McGee said.

The deep red, pear-shaped fruit, which usually is harvested in August and September, also lends its sweetness to candy, syrup, health drinks and even exotic margaritas.

Its pads, removed of their spines, provide meat that goes in burritos, soups and other recipes.

McGee, a former social worker, started harvesting prickly pear on her ranch in 1991.

She said that she has learned over the years that the prickly pear is more than just a dramatic plant.

“It is not an accident that it is growing everywhere from someone’s front yard to the middle of nowhere desert,” she said. “It’s unique and a part of Arizona. It belongs here.”

The prickly pear can reach 6 to 8 feet tall and thrives in warm, dry climates.

Its many varieties are found predominantly in the Southwest, but it also grows in Mexico, parts of South America and even in southern Europe.

Scott McMahon, curator of cacti at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, said the prickly pear could have greater potential as a niche crop for Arizona.

The idea, he said hasn’t received much consideration.

“There haven’t been a lot of studies done because research tends to only be done on plants that have some economic value,” McMahon said. “Although the prickly pear might to some degree, it has not been investigated enough; not enough is known.”

Prickly pear have traditionally been harvested as part of Hispanic and American Indian diets.

The plant is promoted in those cultures as offering health benefits, including helping those with diabetes and lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

A University of Arizona study suggested that prickly pear pectin could help with one type of cholesterol.

Fred Wolf, a UA professor emeritus of nutritional science, said there hasn’t been enough research to prove such health benefits.

“There have been many testimonials that have said it has helped them or someone they know, and I do not want to take away from that,” Wolf said. “But without some more research, the claims may be premature and could be a disservice to the public.”

Jesus Garcia, an educational specialist in evolutionary biology at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum near Tucson, said that research could follow as consumers become more aware of the stated health benefits of the prickly pear.

“Little by little, the movement of people wanting to change their health is becoming louder,” Garcia said.

“When they hear maybe a plant they have in their backyard could help them, the demand for the product and more research will go up.”

Meanwhile, companies such as Amelio Casciado’s Phoenix-based Cactus Candy Co., which also makes cactus jelly, are capitalizing on the prickly pear’s niche appeal.

“It is a specialty of the Southwest for tourists, even residents, who buy the candy, jelly and leaves to use,” Casciado said. “It helps not only our company but companies in Arizona to have a novelty item you can only get here.”

McGee said Arizona Cactus Ranch’s experience shows that the prickly pear has even more potential. The plant “doesn’t ask for much, but what it can give in return, the nectar and pads, could be the savior for us in either health or with the production of products,” she said.

Juice from the fruit of the prickly pear cactus is stored at the Arizona Cactus Ranch.

Arizona Cactus Ranch near Green Valley makes a variety of products from the prickly pear cactus, including these spreads and sauces from its fruit.

Prickly pear in bloom

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On the Web

Arizona Cactus Ranch:

www.arizonacactusranch.com

Cactus Candy Co.:

www.cactuscandy.com

Low fat, high fiber and antioxidants lauded

YUMA – What if you could fight cancer with cabbage?

Some local cooking classes teach that you definitely can, stressing that preventing or fighting cancer begins long before the doctor’s office. It starts right in your kitchen.

These classes, offered through The Cancer Project, stress the importance of putting more plants on your plate.

“The ways of eating that have been shown to prevent cancer are low in fat, high in fiber and loaded with antioxidants,” said Jean Myers, who teaches The Cancer Project’s cooking classes in Yuma. “In Asia people who eat traditional Asian foods have very low rates of cancer. What are they eating? It’s rice, noodles and vegetables, with meat as a condiment and flavoring. It’s a plant-based way of eating.”

Experts say 30-60 percent of cancers are related to diet.

“People don’t realize that cancer is a slow-growing thing. By the time you find out, it’s been there for years,” Myers said. “So there is a lot of time in your life for prevention. I think that’s a good thing. The earlier you start, the better.”

The Cancer Project’s classes encouraged people to incorporate as many fruits and veggies into their diet as possible or make the leap to a plant-based diet altogether. Myers said people often don’t know where to start when trying to cook healthier and often don’t know where to find certain products, both issues addressed by the classes.

“People really seem to enjoy the classes because they learn a lot and get to see the food being made. Then they get to taste everything, which I think is the real clincher. People learn how healthy cooking tastes great and it can be done right at home. I think people are empowered by the classes.”

The classes are popular, too. There has often been a waiting list to participate.

The Cancer Project is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works to educate people about the link between nutrition and cancer. These hands-on cooking classes are a definite hallmark of the project’s work.

“This is not just reading a book or hearing about a health study,” Myers said. “This is about people making real changes in their lives.”

Myers, who began offering her six-week cooking classes in 2006, says most participants report making positive changes in their diets, all at the degree and speed that’s best suited for them. Not everyone ends up totally vegetarian and that’s OK.

“Some people jump into the class and make lots of changes right away. Some say they lost 10 pounds or their arthritis got better or they just felt healthier.

“There’s always a few people in a class that make a big transformation. Then most people say they’re just enjoying more fruits and vegetables and eating less unhealthy food. It’s all about where people are and when they’re ready.”

Myers is preparing to begin a new round of classes, which are offered on a donation basis, in just a few weeks. After those classes, the next round is scheduled to begin in January.

Each session includes a video presentation about nutrition and a cooking demonstration. Participants are given workbooks from The Cancer Project that are loaded with nutritional information and more than 100 recipes.

“It’s a wealth of information that people can take home and continue their exploration,” Myers said. “What’s great, too, is that everything presented is science based, from peer review journals, for example. This is far from studies being pulled out of the air here and there.”

About half of participants are cancer survivors, while the rest are interested in preventing cancer or just disease in general. Myers added that a plant-based diet also offers a powerful key to healthy weight loss.

The classes use the terminology of “plant-based diet” because the word “vegetarian” can involve so many slightly different eating styles.

But just as the classes are pro fruits and vegetables, Myers said, they are certainly not biased against meat consumption.

“I don’t think the classes are ‘anti’ anything. We are for health. People come to the classes with all different styles of eating. We’re just here to help them eat healthier than what they’re doing.”

MESA – Natural food entrees are now on the menu at three Scottsdale elementary schools.

The pilot program that debuted Sept. 15 in the Scottsdale Unified School District offers new twists on old classics, such as macaroni and cheese and lasagna, at double the cost of the traditional cafeteria menu items.

But school officials say parents don’t seem to mind plunking down the extra cash for the freshly prepared, preservative-free $5 natural meals.

In the first two weeks of the school year, the district reported that some 500 natural entrees were ordered by parents for their children.

“We have parents who feel strictly about serving their children food without preservatives. They’ve become mindful of pesticides and preservatives found in some foods,” said Sue Bettenhausen, the Scottsdale district’s director of nutrition services.

Bettenhausen, the former director of food services at America West Airlines, said she was approached in April by Kiva Elementary School PTO co-president Pam Kirby, who said a number of parents were asking for natural, preservative-free offerings on the lunch menu.

The natural options menu, Bettenhausen said, is freshly prepared from scratch on site at Kiva’s kitchen, using a bevy of ingredients including all-natural meats, organic bread and triple-washed produce that meet Arizona nutrition standards. Meals, she said, need to be pre-ordered online on the district Web site in order to ensure that there are enough meals prepared on a given day.

Bettenhausen is quick to point out that the $2.25 traditional cafeteria fare also boasts nutritious offerings, but differs in that it is pre-processed and not 100 percent preservative-free.

Kevin Berk, who has three children ages 7 to 11 attending Kiva, said having natural options is a welcome addition.

Before this school year, Berk said, his children, who eat an organic diet at home, had to brown-bag their lunch.

“It’s nice that a public school is taking the time, effort and money on something that’s important to parents,” he said.

Some parents say they’ve seen their children become more willing to try new foods after seeing the meals presented on the festive red and white cart in the cafeteria.

“My daughter told me she likes the Caesar salad and the whole-wheat lasagna,” Kirby said of daughter Madison, a Kiva third-grader who rarely cared for whole-wheat foods or salads at home.

Bettenhausen said some foods turned out to be instant crowd-pleasers among the finicky grade schoolers.

“Who knew salmon would be a hit?” she asked, adding that hummus and edamame in the shells have become popular snack picks.

Kiva parent Justine Hurry said her two young children like the fruit on a stick and hummus and chips from the natural options menu. But she said the overall menu, which is still evolving in this test phase, could use a little fine-tuning.

“My son didn’t like broccoli mixed in the mac and cheese,” Hurry said. She would like to see traditional favorites added to the natural options menu, such as grilled cheese made with natural cheese on whole-wheat bread.

Fans know Arizona’s Mad Coyote Joe as author of “The Sonoran Grill”, which spun off a Phoenix TV show he hosted, “A Gringo’s Guide to Authentic Mexican Cooking” and other Southwestern theme cookbooks.

You can catch him in two cooking demonstrations at Taste of Cave Creek, 6-10 p.m. Sept. 25 at the new Stagecoach Village, 7100 E. Cave Creek Road, north of Phoenix.

More than a dozen Cave Creek eateries will offer samplings, including Binkley’s, Cartwright’s and Tonto Bar & Grill, plus Arizona classics Hideaway, Horny Toad and Satisfied Frog. There also will be wine tasting at the new Brix Wine Spot, plus live music and art from the annual Cave Creek Film & Arts Festival.

Tickets are $25. For more information, call 480-437-1110 or go to cavecreekchamber.org.