Let's hope 2013 is a better year for the mango--and mango lovers.  You may recall that in the late summer of 2012, mangoes were responsible for two outbreaks of food poisoning in the U.S. linked to two different types of salmonella. Then, in late October, the FDA declared the mango a "high risk" fruit.  So you may be wondering whether you should cross mangoes off your grocery list forever. Does "high risk" mean don't eat?  Read on, and then draw your own conclusions.

I just received an email about a bee cause.  Why?  Because. as you've probably heard, bees have been disappearing and dying off worldwide at an alarming rate.  Why should that interest a food site?  Because, the advocacy group CREDO Action explains, bees pollinate one-third of our food crops and provide billions of dollars in economic benefit. But, since 2006, bees have been dying off worldwide.  According to CNN, "Over the last five years roughly 30% of captive honeybees, which pollinate much of the food we eat, wind up dead at the end of each winter." Some fly off and don't return to the hive; many are found dead or dying by their (dare I say?) beemused beekeepers. 

Food scandals have been in the news lately in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the U.S. In Europe and Asia, what's labeled beef has sometimes turned out to be horse meat. In South African burgers, fraudulent "beef" has turned out to be donkey, water buffalo, or goat.  What about the U.S.?  In this country, there's almost no risk of human consumption of horse meat. However, it's common for fish not to be the species the label says it is.  A cheaper fish could be replacing a more expensive one.  Let's delve a bit further into all these deceptions.

"Read the labels," we're often advised.  Of course, it's a good idea to check the sugar, salt, and fat content of foods you're thinking of buying, and, if you want to eat only or mostly organic, the USDA organic label is also important to you.  However, food labels can be deceptively reassuring, as a recent article in Consumer Report on Health points out. The article discusses problems with these words and phrases: "natural," "no hormones," "no nitrates," and "no antibiotic residues." Another publication--the University of California, Berkeley Wellness Letter--gives us this surprising labeling news: the calorie count supplied in labels of packaged nuts are often wrong.  You'll find out why toward the end of this article.