By David Zinczenko, with Matt Goulding

Imagine you’ve just been given a choice: You have to drink from one of two containers. One container is a cup from your own kitchen, and it contains a product that has passed strict state, federal and local guidelines for cleanliness and quality. Oh, and it’s free. The second container comes from a manufacturing plant somewhere, and its contents—while seemingly identical to your first choice—have not been subjected to the same strict national and local standards. It costs approximately four times more than gasoline. These products both look and taste nearly identical.

Which do you choose?

If you chose beverage A, congratulations: You just saved yourself a whole lot of money, and, perhaps, even contaminants, too. But if you picked beverage B, then you’ll be spending hundreds of unnecessary dollars on bottled water this year. Sure, bottled water is convenient, trendy, and may well be just as pure as what comes out of your tap. But it’s hardly a smart investment for your pocketbook, your body or our planet. Eat This, Not That! decided to take a closer look at what’s behind the pristine images and elegant-sounding names printed on those bottles.

You may actually be drinking tap water.
Case in point: Dasani, a Coca-Cola product. Despite its exotic-sounding name, Dasani is simply purified tap water that’s had minerals added back in. For example, if your Dasani water was bottled at the Coca-Cola Bottling Company in Philadelphia, you’re drinking Philly tap water. But it’s not the only brand of water that relies on city pipes to provide its product. About 25 percent of all bottled water is taken from municipal water sources, including Pepsi’s Aquafina.

Bottled water isn’t always pure.
Scan the labels of the leading brands and you see variations on the words “pure” and “natural” and “pristine” over and over again. And when a Cornell University marketing class studied consumer perceptions of bottled water, they found that people thought it was cleaner, with less bacteria. But that may not actually be true. For example, in a 4-year review that included the testing of 1,000 bottles of water, the Natural Resources Defense Council—one the country’s most ardent environmental crusaders—found that “about 22 percent of the brands we tested contained, in at least one sample, chemical contaminants at levels above strict state health limits.”

It’s not clear where the plastic container ends and the drink begins.
Turns out, when certain plastics are heated at a high temperature, chemicals from the plastics may leach into container’s contents. So there’s been a flurry of speculation recently as to whether the amounts of these chemicals are actually harmful, and whether this is even a concern when it comes to water bottles—which aren’t likely to be placed in boiling water or even a microwave. While the jury is still out on realistic health ramifications, it seems that, yes, small amounts of chemicals from PET water bottles such as antimony—a semi-metal that’s thought to be toxic in large doses—can accumulate the longer bottled water is stored in a hot environment. Which, of course, is probably a good reason to avoid storing bottled water in your garage for six months—or better yet, to just reach for tap instead.

Our country’s high demand for oil isn’t just due to long commutes.
Most water bottles are composed of a plastic called polyethylene terepthalate (PET). Now, to make PET, you need crude oil. Specifically, 17 million barrels of oil are used in the production of PET water bottles ever year, estimate University of Louisville scientists. No wonder the per ounce cost of bottled water rivals that of gasoline. What’s more, 86 percent of 30 billion PET water bottles sold annually are tossed in the trash, instead of being recycled, according to data from the Container Recycling Institute. That’s a lot of waste—waste that will outlive you, your children, and your children’s children. You see, PET bottles take 400 to 1000 years to degrade. Which begs the question: If our current rate of consumption continues, where will we put all of this discarded plastic?

Try stainless steel bottles instead.

By EMILY FREDRIX, AP Food Industry Writer

Look for A Perfect Pear’s Susan Knapp on Shark Tank, a new reality show coming to ABC this fall.  Shark Tank will premier on Sunday, August 9th at 9:00 pm.  After August 25th Shark Tank will move to their regular time slot on Tuesdays at 8:00 pm.  We don’t know which episode she’ll be on, so keep watching!

PLACE YOUR ORDERS NOW TO ENSURE THAT YOUR STORES ARE FULLY STOCKED FOR THE PREMIER.  Commercials will begin airing in July and they anticipate a significant increase in demand following the prime-time exposure.  Stores should be fully stocked by July 31st in order to take advantage of this national marketing.   Stores carrying 6 or more sku’s will be featured on the “Where To Buy” page on APP’s NEW website.

Don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity!

Can you swim with the sharks?

Shark Tank is a new reality show where entrepreneurs must try to convince five multi-millionaire business tycoons to part with their own hard-earned cash and give them the funding they need to jumpstart their business’s. Each week, ambitious entrepreneurs from across the country will present their breakthrough business concepts, products, properties and services to the panel of ruthless investors. Their goal is to convince these merciless moguls to invest their own dollars in the concept.  Airs Sunday, August 9th at 9 pm.

Just in time for a proper introduction at Summer Fancy Food Show, Honey Ridge Farms is delighted to offer retailers a sleek new look for its award-winning Balsamic Honey Vinegar.

Designed with bold black and gold tones to accentuate Honey Ridge Farms’ brand beehive logo that mark honey crème and honey lines, it now has a familial look while complementing the vinegar’s rich,camber color. The glass bottle is a sleek rounded ring neck style. For added security, cap is safety shrink-wrapped and notes 2008 Sofi Silver Award for Outstanding Vinegar. Nutritional information is new to the labeling as is toll-free number and stated commitment to support apiculture research with a portion of profits. A classic honey-mustard vinaigrette dressing is provided for immediate product use.

“We’re very pleased with our vinegar’s new, sophisticated look. It now bears an unmistakable resemblance to the Honey Ridge Farms family line and the slender rounded style should make it a stand-out on the shelf,” said Leeanne Goetz, President.

Visit Honey Ridge Farms at Booth 3256 where Molly Fowler, The Dining Diva, will feature these artisanal honey products in cooking demonstrations. Sampling for soon to be introduced glaze and grilling sauces should be on hand, too.

For sales information or to order, visit www.honeyridgefarms.com or contact: Leeanne Goetz,   Honey Ridge Farms…877.256.0086 – info@honeyridgefarms.com.

NEW YORK - NPD’s Consumer Reports on Eating Share Trends, which tracks consumer use of restaurants, reported that consumer spending grew by 2 percent during the same period to $390 billion.

“Despite this past year’s extremely weak economic conditions, the restaurant industry as a whole managed to keep its head above water for most of the year,” said Harry Balzer, NPD’s chief food industry analyst.

“Strong promotional activity on the part of chains and growth in breakfast and lunch visits to quick-service restaurants contributed to the slight gains the industry experienced this past year,” he said.

NPD said promotion-related visits supported restaurant traffic gains, as deal visits increased 6 percent and non-deal visits slipped 1 percent.

For the annual period ended November 2008, 23 percent of all restaurant traffic involved some type of consumer-recognized deal. Over 90 percent of the increase in deal visits came from quick-service, or fast-food, restaurants.

Traffic growth for fast-food restaurants, which have 77 percent market share, slowed in 2008. Still, the segment fared better than full-service restaurants.

The 1 percent rise in traffic to fast-food restaurants like McDonald’s Corp offset a 2 percent decline in traffic to mid-scale eateries such as Denny’s and DineEquity Inc’s IHOP and Golden Corral.

Casual-dining traffic was flat, but trends weakened in the back half of the year with a 2 percent decline in traffic from September through November. Casual-dining chains include operators like the Cheesecake Factory Inc.

Lunch traffic was up from 2007, dinner visits continued to slow and breakfast and snack-related visits rose at a slower pace than in 2007.

“I don’t believe consumers, no matter the state of the economy, will abandon restaurants entirely, they will just use them differently — more cost-consciously,” said Balzer, who added that within the industry there will be winners and losers.

“The restaurants that deliver value and make it easy to get food cheaper, in new and compelling ways, will win,” he said.

Consumers are shifting their dining options from restaurants to their own dining rooms.  Sales at local grocery and gourmet stores are on the rise as a result.  A great source for buying gourmet and specialty foods is The Sell Gourmet Network, a gourmet food web portal that connects the gourmet food industry together and stands as a resource for all gourmet related businesses to find products and services for their business.