The Business of Food with Steve Alexander

If you’re a parent or grandparent, you may consider those plastic pouches of food your toddler sucks on contentedly while you drive down the road as the best invention ever. But Lincoln Park mom and baby food company founder Erica Bethe Levin is alarmed by a Greenpeace study finding as much as 11,000 microplastics in each pouch. As she tells WGN’s Steve Alexander in the audio clip above, her concern is that we don’t know what means in the long term for tiny bodies that are developing.

Her solution? Glass containers. Her baby food brand, GloBowl, founded six years ago in her kitchen when she despaired at the lack of variety and flavors in traditional baby food, has always been “canned” in jars. And, to be sure, she has a vested interest in promoting glass as she competes with the big food companies. But she says she is more concerned that our children’s health may be being sacrificed for cost and convenience.

The big food companies called out by the Greenpeace study, Nestle and Danone, claim otherwise. Danone emailed this response:

“Danone is aware of the report released by Greenpeace regarding the alleged presence of microplastics in certain baby food product pouches. We are united in our belief that babies deserve safe and nutritious food, and that more research is needed to help close key gaps around the impact of microplastics on our health. Happy Baby pouches are produced with strict quality and food safety standards and methods, in line with all FDA food safety guidelines and regulations. All Happy Baby pouch food products are safe.”

Nestle provided this response:

“We understand the concerns raised in this report and take them seriously. We want to reassure all consumers that our products are safe to consume. We apply strict controls across our manufacturing, including the rigorous selection and management of packaging materials. We understand and share concerns about microplastics.Microplastics are widely present in the environment and we understand and take these concerns seriously. Eliminating microplastics is a universal, global challenge. At Nestlé, we continuously monitor emerging science and regulatory guidelines, including on microplastics, to ensure our products meet all applicable food safety standards and regulatory requirements. Plastic food-grade packaging plays an essential role in protecting food and beverages, ensuring the food safety and quality of the product, and helping to prevent food waste. We take care when selecting our packaging materials based on our rigorous quality and safety standards and all applicable regulatory requirements.”

The Food and Drug Administration, on its website, points out that the responsibility of producing safe food belongs to the manufacturers. The FDA doesn’t seem to have taken a position on microscopic plastic particles in food, other than to state that current scientific evidence does not demonstrate that they adversely affect human health.  But, it says, if that changes, it can take regulatory action.  

Our gardening guru Mr. Fizz, Jim Fizzell, talks about how to keep those “wascally wabbits” out of your garden without resorting to the way Elmer Fudd tried to deal with bugs. Jim also says it’s not to late too plant, even from seed, and talks about the proper amounts of water to put on your garden and lawn.

If you like your Italian Beef “dragged through the garden,” you can thank Vincent Formusa. More than a hundred years ago, he started packing chopped veggies in the tradition of his native Sicily–in olive oil. Not only did other Italian immigrants love it, popularity spread, and the V. Formusa Company is still in business with a fourth generation now continuing great-grandpa’s legacy. In the audio clip above, Jeff Johnson, president of V. Formusa Co., tells WGN Radio’s Steve Alexander the company churns out close to two million pounds of giardiniera each year under the Marconi brand. And it isn’t just a Chicago thing: Marconi products can be found all over North America.

Johnson says his great-grandfather came from a family of jewelers and watchmakers and when he came to this country as a young man he set up a small jewelry shop on Grand Avenue in Chicago. He also worked helping other immigrants move from Italy to Chicago, and many of them asked if he could help import some of their favorite foods from the old country such as pasta, oil, cheese and tomatoes. With the aid of family contacts in Italy, Vincent was able to set up an import business in 1898. He became so busy doing that, he closed the jewelry shop and went full time into the food business. Vincent also brought his wife from Italy, and they grew their family in Chicago, including sons Peter and Joseph, who worked with their father in the family business.   

During World War I, when many commodities were scarce and expensive, Vincent began blending imported olive oil with other vegetable oils to make the olive oil go further. He was a pioneer in oil blending and Marconi Salad Oil was found all over the Chicago area. Using imported olive oil to pack veggies led to giardiniera, which loosely translates to “from the garden,” and today, Marconi Giardiniera Relish is on retail shelves nationwide, and is served at nearly every Italian Beef stand, including Portillo’s.

The company has been making and selling a variety of peppers and Italian food specialties, not just giardiniera, under the Marconi label for 75 years, and for the majority of its history was located on Grand Avenue, where Grand, Halstead, and Milwaukee merge. In 2014, it moved to Des Plaines, and while Jeff and his sister, Joey Schramm, run the company now, their mother and father, Robert Johnson and Sue (Formusa) Johnson still pitch in occasionally after more than 50 years in the business.  

For those of us who love to raise food and flowers and anything else that we can grow, this is a difficult time of year. We’re itching to get out in the garden and plant, but the soil temperature isn’t quite warm enough. Even in the middle of May, Chicago-area weather can be unpredictable. In the audio clip above, Jim Fizzell, longtime horticulturalist and WGN contributor, tells WGN’s Steve Alexander there’s still a chance of frost until the end of May, albeit a slim chance. As for soil temperature, he suggests using a thermometer and sticking the tip in the dirt a couple of inches to see whether it’s 50 degrees yet.

And, Jim has some suggestions for what you can plant right now, as well as ideas for gardeners who don’t have a lot of space–an affliction many Chicagoans share.

Forgetting to eat is a real thing for people taking the GLP-1 magic weight loss drugs. But before we get to that, let’s talk about TV dinners. In the 1950s, televisions were a new thing and rapidly became prominent in American homes, so people decided that rather than sitting around the dinner table, why not sit in front of the TV while eating meals? Swanson jumped on the idea and presented three- and four-course frozen meals in tin trays. Just stick them in the oven–this was pre-microwave–and, presto! Dinner was served. If you’re of a certain age, you’ll remember they were often barely edible. There was usually a gravy-covered meat of some sort in the largest compartment of the tray, with a veggie in another, a starch–usually of a glob of something resembling mashed potatoes–in another, and a dessert. Healthy? Who knows? This was long before fat, salt, and sugar contents were listed on labels.

Today, any PTSD that Baby Boomers may have from those ’50s meals, is gone. The frozen food aisles are full of high-protein, high-fiber meals, many of them tagged with “GLP-friendly” labels as more and more Americans–about 12%–are taking the magic weight loss injections. And more will join, as pills are entering the market for those who have stayed away because of needles.

But for those using Ozempic, Mounjaro, and others, it’s important to remember to eat. In the audio clip above, Bethany Doerfler, senior clinical research dietician at the Digestive Health Institute, Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, tells WGN’s Steve Alexander that the GLP-1s quiet the “food noise”–those voices that tell you to avoid the salad and go for the cake, or to keep eating even if you’re full. “Which means, we eat less,” she says, “and when we are eating a lot less, in order to maintain your muscle mass, protein and produce become the most important.”

And because the drugs result in a lack of desire to eat, she says, “What we eat needs to be much more nutritionally dense than when we weren’t on the medicines.” And she tells her patients to be sure to eat–two or three meals a day. “People have to remind themselves to eat. It isn’t uncommon for calorie intake to go down by 50 percent. As a dietician, I’m focusing on keeping people on that eating schedule. I want you to be eating two times a day or three times a day, and I really want people thinking about protein first, so whether that is a yogurt, or a protein shake, some scrambled eggs, or baked chicken, those are some of the first foods I want you to integrate. And then, I really want fruit and vegetables in there. We need the fruit because constipation is a common side effect of these drugs.”

And bad news for cake and snack lovers (and the companies that make those foods) in the GLP-1 world: “There isn’t a lot of room for starchy foods, or engineered foods, or alcohol.”

While many of us still avoid foods labeled as “diet” in any form, many of the big food makers are pushing ahead with GLP-1-friendly products, and Nestlé says its Vital Pursuit line, developed for GLP-1 users, is bringing new customers into frozen foods whether they’re on a weight-loss drug or not. Some retailers are reported to be considering entire aisles devoted to GLP-1 users. “It’s great that they’ve wasted no time finding products people can include that are smaller amounts, but also importantly, that have been enriched or enhanced with additional protein,” says Doerfler.

Guacamole, the Cinco de Mayo (and Super Bowl, and general party of any kind) staple, wasn’t as common, nor available year-round, prior to 1997. That’s the year a ban on avocados from Mexico was lifted, thanks in large part to the North American Free Trade Agreement approved during the Clinton administration. Now, we have avocados–and guac–every day of the year.

In the audio clip above, Pedro Somarriba, president of Avoworks, one of the big exporters of avocados to the U.S., tells WGN’s Steve Alexander that before NAFTA, we Americans got our avocados from California and Florida. Now, more than 80% of the avocados consumed in the U.S. come from Mexico. His company partners with growers in Michoacán, the Mexican state that grows more avocados than any other area on the planet. The trees grow on lush mountainsides in rich, volcanic soil, allowing the trees to be grown at different elevations, which means they yield fruit at different times year-round. The Michoacán region is blessed with good rainfall that coupled with the warm days and cool nights in the high elevations, make the area an ideal place to grow avocados.

Somarriba says the vast majority of avocado growers in Mexico are small, family farmers; thousands of them with orchards of less than 10 acres, and all avocados are picked by hand. Unlike Midwest corn and soybean farmers, avocado farmers don’t have to replant their crops every year. He says trees begin producing fruit after about five years, and continue producing for many decades, bearing more fruit as they age. “We have trees that have been around 60 years that are still producing. So you can see why the economics make a lot of sense. It’s a gift that keeps on giving.”

Driving U.S. demand for Mexican avocados is geography. He says avocados can be harvested in Michoacán and be at the U.S. border in less than 48 hours, trucked about 12 hours from farms to warehouses in McAllen, Texas. In comparison, he says avocados from South America spend at least a week on a ship before arriving in the U.S.

Avocado love is spreading. He says Canada is developing as a big market for Avoworks. Helping, is the fact that import requirements are generally less stringent than the U.S. because there is no domestic industry to protect. Outside North America, consumers in Europe and Asia are rapidly developing a taste for avocados.

Another reason U.S. demand is up, is the Hispanic population. Hispanics consume about 70 percent more avocados than the rest of the U.S. population. And younger consumers of all ethnicities, both Gen Z and Millennials, incorporate avocados in many meals and were the driving force behind avocado toast.

The demand is also being driven by the fact that avocados are good for us. Somarriba points out the prominent placement of avocados in the most recent food pyramid from the federal government.

Says Somarriba: “It’s a marriage made in heaven between the benefits of avocado and the U.S. consumer’s concerns with health. And interestingly, even the people taking GLP-1 injections are looking for smaller portions and healthier options which puts avocado in a very sweet spot.”

Pedro Somarriba’s favorite way to consume avocados? A smoothie. “I like to put in a little banana, some berries, half an avocado, milk, and some cashews. Put it in a blender and it’s one of the best things you’ve ever had.”

Synthetic fertilizer is arguably the most important life-saving innovation of all time, credited with preventing 2.7 billion premature deaths. In the audio clip above, Susan Stroud, the founder of No Bull Agriculture, tells WGN’s Steve Alexander we have a couple of Germans to thank for that. In the early 1900s, Fritz Haber, a German chemist, figured out how to pull nitrogen from the air. Carl Bosch took it from the lab to commercial scale. That combination — discovery plus scale — is what made modern-day crop production possible. Before that, agriculture was limited by what nature could provide — manure, rotations, and mined nitrogen.

The Haber-Bosch process removed that constraint and tied crop yields directly to energy because natural gas is used to make nitrogen-based fertilizers like urea and annhydrous ammonia.

And that’s where the Strait of Hormuz and the Iran war come in. Stroud says farmers in other parts of the world are more directly and immediately affected, and most U.S. farmers had already locked in their fertilizer buys before the war began, but they are looking at much higher prices going forward. The University of Illinois estimates that urea is up about 41 percent from the week before the war began, and anhydrous ammonia has increased by more than 29 percent. Ag economists at the U of I say that has added roughly $30 to $55 per acre to the cost of this year’s corn crop, which sends farmers deeper into the red. The U of I estimates corn farmers were already facing losses of $40 to $80 per acre losses for this year’s crop.

Stroud also discusses soybean oil’s current rally, which is also influenced by the war. Soybean oil futures are up 44% YTD and Soybean crush futures are up 130% YTD.

Stroud has two levels of subscription to her newsletters, and her subscribers include producers, grain processors, the bio-fuels industry, and investors who are trying to keep track of what’s happening in agriculture, particularly row crops.   

Whether you pronounce it “NUT-tella” or “NEW-tella” doesn’t matter. “We are very accepting of both pronunciations,” says Seth Gonzales, Senior Director of Marketing for Nutella in the Ferrero candy group. In the audio clip above, he tells WGN’s Steve Alexander the origins of Nutella go back to post-World War II Italy, where poverty was rampant, chocolate was scarce, and baker Pietro Ferrero came up with a way to make chocolate go further by mixing cocoa with hazelnuts, of which there were plenty in that region. The initial result was something called “Gianduja,” which became Nutella in 1964.

And for the first time, right here in Chicago (well, actually, Franklin Park), there is a new flavor of Nutella being made: Nutella Peanut. The ribbon cutting for a new production facility on Friday, April 23rd officially kicks off not only the new flavor, but the first time Nutella has been produced in the United States. Until now, the standard Nutella on American store shelves has come from a factory in Canada.

Perhaps sweetest of all, “This investment creates 50 new local jobs, joining the hundreds of workers who’ve been making Butterfinger and Baby Ruth at this same factory since the 1960s,” says Gonzales. He says the rollout began April first, so it may be a while before your favorite store has Nutella Peanut on the shelf.

And, in case you’re wondering about the Nutella Cafe on Michigan Avenue in Chicago’s Loop, he says the remodeling project is continuing with an expected re-opening in the summer of 2026.

When Danielle Marshall’s doctor told her she was on the verge of pre-diabetes, it got her attention. Her parents were diabetic and she had seen the difficulties they endured. She took her doctor’s advice to lose weight to heart, began exercising regularly and juicing — as in grinding veggies and fruit into juices that were part of her daily routine.

In the audio clip above, Danielle told WGN Radio’s Steve Alexander that co-workers and friends noticed what she was doing and wanted some of her juice. She started selling it to them, word of mouth grew, and that was the beginning of Danie’s Natural Juice Blends.

Today, not only has Danielle lost weight, her juice business is booming! She opened a brick and mortar in south suburban Park Forest. Her juices are on sale in many Chicago-area Mariano’s stores, it’s the juice of choice at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place Hotel Market, and is available for travelers at several locations inside Midway Airport.

Her cold-pressed juices and juice shots cover a variety of wellness focuses, including daily greens, cleanses, immunity, and energy and focus. Her original drink, the one that got her started, is a mix of pineapple, cucumber, lemon, and lime, and is called “The Bomb.” At first, she named it “Slim and Sassy,” because that’s how she felt as she was dropping pounds, but there was a problem: “Certain people” wouldn’t buy it. Men. The name was too feminine. So she changed the name, and she says men love “The Bomb.”

Juice has truly changed Danielle’s life. She says while running a small business isn’t easy, “Overall, I am grateful for the product and what it has done for me, and the benefits that others receive from it. I’m proud that it’s a product others find value in and contributes to the communities I serve.”

One more thing from Danielle: If you are juicing at home, don’t throw out the pulp! She says it can be composted for your garden, or donated to the community compost pile, and it can be used for baking. She uses it to bake bread, muffins and cookies, even chips and dog food!

When an email from Northwestern University landed in my inbox, I thought I was reading a very early April Fools joke, or maybe something from The Onion.

“I thought it was a joke, too,” says Dr. Fred Turek, a professor in the Departments of Neurobiology and Neurology, and director of the Center on Sleep and Circadian Rhythms.

But it’s no joke.

The Federal Communications Commission is considering whether to grant a license to Reflect Orbital, a Hawthorne, California, company that wants to launch thousands of satellites with giant mirrors that would reflect sunlight back to Earth during the night. Northwestern says while the proposal aims to illuminate solar farms, it potentially could flood entire cities with light that reaches daylight-level intensity. The initial concern of Dr. Turek and his colleagues at Northwestern is what 24/7 daylight would do to humans.

Martha Hotz Vitaterna, research professor of neurobiology at Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and co-director of CSCB: “Earth was turning on its axis — causing night and day — when life began. All life forms are adapted to these cycles. Disruption by light at night threatens the well-being of not only humans but the plants and animals with which we share the planet.”

Kristen Knutson, associate professor of neurology (sleep medicine) and preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine: “Circadian rhythms are present in all types of organisms, ranging from bacteria to plants to animals, including humans. These rhythms synchronize physiological function to the natural light-dark cycle, which is important for overall well-being. Light at night will disrupt these rhythms, which can impair health and well-being.”

But, because I do a daily feature called The Business of Food, I was more concerned about the potential impact on agriculture.

Dr. Turek says it could be bad.

In the audio clip above, he tells me “We could have total crop failures for many of the crops that feed billions of people.” He says rice, soybeans and sorghum, for example, “need short days in order to reproduce. So if you had constant light, you essentially would wipe out” those crops, causing mass starvation. And for livestock, “Cows, pigs, all animals, depend upon seasonal changes and the daylight to regulate their reproductive cycle, and if you had constant light, you would have no more reproductive cycles,” he said. Poultry, with far shorter gestation periods, could also be impacted. Wild birds, too. “For example, in the 1930s, people observed that London’s streetlights affected birds’ seasonal reproduction. Light pollution at night disrupts vital seasonal rhythms, such as migration, growth or reproduction.”

Professor Turek said ” That the FCC is even considering it is bewildering to him. “I have no idea how any sane decision makers would even think about creating constant light on the planet Earth.” “I’m sort of shocked that it would get to the point where the FCC would even be considering it, but, OK, they are.”

The New York Times reported that the FCC’s stance is that activities in space — which, by definition, are not on Earth — are not subject to environmental review. If the F.C.C. approves, a test satellite could get a ride into orbit as soon as this summer. “We’re trying to build something that could replace fossil fuels and really power everything,” Ben Nowack, Reflect Orbital’s chief executive, told the Times in an interview. The company has raised more than $28 million from investors.

Reflect Orbital’s website promotes that its satellites — as many as 5,000 in orbit by 2030 –would deliver sunlight on-demand reflected from huge mirrors that unfold from its satellites, could be a tool to reduce the burning of fossil fuels and thus slow climate change, and contrary to Dr. Turek’s concerns, it touts that its sunlight on demand will be able to tailor growth cycles, extend seasons, and boost yields.

Dr. Turek and his colleagues are skeptical. Professor Vitaterna said if animals were to get confused by the extra light, they might breed at the wrong time, when food is scarce. Hibernating insects and migrating birds might also become confused. Light at the wrong times of day could also lead to flowers blooming when pollinators are not active. The implications for wildlife, for all life, are enormous,” she said.

Dr. Turek said Reflect Orbital’s proposal reminds him of a Star Trek episode. “How the planet totally destroyed itself by having light 24 hours a day,” he said.

There’s an additional threat to our nighttime darkness. The FCC is also considering an application from SpaceX, which wants approval for an orbital data center system that could include up to one million satellites in orbit. The Northwestern experts say large numbers of satellites can scatter sunlight, increasing overall sky brightness.