NYC Magazine » Food

Monsanto Food Company is Monopolizing the Business

Igor Derysh — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:00:58 +0000

If you are an American and you eat, odds are that most of the food that you eat comes from seeds that are engineered by Monsanto, a company that has been trying to monopolize the market with questionable tactics.

If you think this doesn’t matter, just consider the fact that just about everything that we eat contains a soybean or corn product. Well, 95% of all soybeans and 80% of all corn grown in the United States come from seeds that use Monsanto’s patented genes.

If you still think it doesn’t matter, just wait till you see what you food is going to cost a few years from now.

For one, Monsanto prohibits anyone who grows crops using Monsanto’s patented genes from using any other types of genes in plants. And they do enforce this.

Secondly, owning 90% of all seed genetics operations in the United States, Monsanto has begun to raise the prices of their seeds and has planned even greater price increases in the next two years. With no real competition, Americans won’t have much choice in buying higher priced products that contain corn and soybean products (which is the overwhelming majority of them).

After increasing corn seed prices by 25 percent last year, Monsanto is planning to raise prices another seven percent next year.

At the same time, Monsanto increased the price of their soybean seeds even more last year and might raise the price another six percent next year.

With nearly a full monopoly on the seed business, the single most important staple of the food business, Monsanto is now being investigated by the Justice Department about their marketing practices that include exclusive contracts and seeds that kill the soil for any non-Monsanto grown products if a farmer wanted to stop growing Monsanto’s seeds.

Pinkberry: Lawyers Now Rats Going After Them

WendyLee — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 12:10:16 +0000

The frozen yogurt craze creater, Pinkberry, has more than just lawyers to worry about (they are being suedÂ for false product description in California). Now, rats have been seen running around the stores. Take a look at this news clip before you step into another Pinkberry. Personally, I do not go to Pinkberry anymore…the quality of their product is not what it used to be; the “yogurt” is watery now and the toppings (i.e. fruit) are no longer fresh like they used to be.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VPE5HBahDk

Pinkberry – Not Yogurt?

nyc — Tue, 15 May 2007 02:11:54 +0000

I was recently in Los Angeles, where the Pinkberry craze is still running full throttle. There are lines out the stores, which translates to 15-20 min waits. However, there is currently a lawsuit filed by Byran Williams, a Los Angeles resident and consumer, against Pinkberry on the grounds of false advertisement. According to the lawsuit, Pinkberry’s frozen yogurt is not actually yogurt since it contains no bacteria cultures. In addition, California Law also states that frozen yogurt sold in retail establishments must be obtained from a licensed manufacturer and fermented after pasteurization, with its ingredients prominently displayed to consumers. Williams is not suing Pinkberry for money, he just wants them to change their logo and remove yogurt from their website and stores. If the lawsuit goes through, Pinkberry will also have to reveal their secret ingredients to the public, which means their competitors could potentially sell the same product at a lower cost. The frozen yogurt craze in Los Angeles has turned up numerous Pinkberry copycats throughout town. However, consumers still flock to Pinkberry because of its unique taste that the copycats cannot yet produce. There has been news that Pinkberry is actually a copycat of a popular Korean yogurt franchise called Red Mango. It is interesting that Pinkberry’s website no longer has the word yogurt anywhere. Currently, there are three Pinkberry shops in New York City:

Upper East Side: 1577 2nd Avenue, New York, NY 10028 (212) 861-0574
K-Town/Hearld Square: 7W 32nd Street, New York, NY 10001 (212) 695-9631
Chelsea: 170 8th Avenue, New York, NY 10011 (212) 488-2510
SoHo: 80 Spring Street, New York, NY 10012 (212) 965-1414

Luxury Pizza

WendyLee — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 12:10:49 +0000

Only in New York City can a pizza cost $1,000. This so-called luxury pizza is being offered by Ninoâ€™s Bellissima Pizza (890 Second Avenue, New York NY 10017 (at 47th Street)), a upscale pizzeria. The high cost is due to the non-traditional ingredents used: crÃ¨me fraÃ®che, six kinds of caviar, slices of fresh lobster, and fresh Japanese wasabi. This maybe just one publicity stunt, but the owner says that two people have already brought the pizza. This is not the first luxury food item offered in New York City, there is the $1,000 omelete offered at Norma’s in the Le Parker Meridien hotel and the $1,000 sundae (with edible gold leaf sugar flowers) at Serendipity’s.

Pinkberry Store Opening

nyc — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 02:22:15 +0000

Pinkberry is a popular chain yogurt store which made its debut in Los Angeles and has been doing quite well in there. The first Pinkberry store opened in NYC’s K-town last year and subsequently 3 more stores have appeared, the lastest on Spring Street. Pinkberry only offers two flavors, plain and green tea; I find that the green tea is a little bit too tart for my taste. According to Pinkberry’s website their yogurt is fat-free. It is actually the toppings that give this yogurt an additonal ‘pop.’ Toppings range from nuts, candy, to fresh fruits, in the Los Angeles’ chains I noticed that the most popular topping is mochi (i.e. rice cake). The interior decoration is very unique and offers Alessi kitchen items for sale. Pinkberry is so popular in Los Angeles that a whole bunch of copycats have sprung up with similar names, Chill Berry, Snow Berry, etc…. There are rumors that Pinkberry is actually a copycat of a popular yogurt chain from South Korea (Red Mango), but I cannot confirm this. Unlike the Los Angeles popularity, I do not see long lines out the doors of the NYC chains, maybe it is because New Yorker’s are accostumed to their Tasti-D-Lite.