City Restaurants Research Articles

Cholesterol Control Beyond the Clinic: New York City's Trans Fat Restriction

Decades after key modifiable risk factors were identified, cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of preventable death, and only one quarter of persons with high cholesterol levels have attained recommended levels of control. Cholesterol control efforts have focused on consumer education and medical treatment. A powerful, complementary approach is to change the makeup of food, a route the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene took when it restricted artificial trans fat--a contributor to coronary heart disease--in restaurants. The Department first undertook a voluntary campaign, but this effort did not decrease the proportion of restaurants that used artificial trans fat. In December 2006, the Board of Health required that artificial trans fat be phased out of restaurant food. To support implementation, the Department provided technical assistance to restaurants. By November 2008, the restriction was in full effect in all New York City restaurants and estimated restaurant use of artificial trans fat for frying, baking, or cooking or in spreads had decreased from 50% to less than 2%. Preliminary analyses suggest that replacement of artificial trans fat has resulted in products with more healthful fatty acid profiles. For example, in major restaurant chains, total saturated fat plus trans fat in French fries decreased by more than 50%. At 2 years, dozens of national chains had removed artificial trans fat, and 13 jurisdictions, including California, had adopted similar laws. Public health efforts that change food content to make default choices healthier enable consumers to more successfully meet dietary recommendations and reduce their cardiovascular risk.

Food and Otherness. Chinese Restaurants in West European Cities in the 20th Century

The essay tracks down the history of Chinese restaurants and their reception in west European cities, in London, Rotterdam and Hamburg in particular. I argue that the significant success of Chinese food in post-war consumer societies was based on conceptions of the Chinese as “exotic others”. Chinese restaurateurs adapted “Chinese” food to western tastes and fuelled the imagination of the European urban population by choosing an interior decoration that was meant to create a Chinese ambience. However, significant national and local differences can be detected in relation to the spread of Chinese restaurants. In the Netherlands, for example, Chinese and Indonesian food were conflated as the backdrop of the colonial traditions. In Hamburg, Chinese restaurants represented an international atmosphere and hence were backed by local government officials. In general, Chinese food became hugely popular because it was considered as exotic and modern at the same time as the dynamic growth of Chinese catering in the 1960s demonstrates.

The prevalence of antimicrobial resistance and carriage of virulence genes in Staphylococcus aureus isolated from food handlers in Kuwait City restaurants

BackgroundStaphylococcus aureus is a major cause of food poisoning due to their ability to produce enterotoxins which if ingested in sufficient amounts results in sickness. Food handlers carrying enterotoxin-producing S. aureus in their noses or hands can contaminate food leading to food poisoning. We characterized 200 S. aureus obtained from food handlers in different restaurants for antibacterial resistance and the carriage of virulence genes.FindingsSusceptibility to antibacterial agents was determined by disk diffusion and Etest. PCR was used to detect genes for accessory gene regulator (agr); capsular polysaccharide (cap) 5 and 8, staphylococcal enterotoxins (SE), toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 (TSST-1) and Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL). Isolates were typed using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. In total 185 (92.5%) of the 200 isolates expressed resistance to antibacterial agents. They were resistant to penicillin G (82.0%), tetracycline (19.0%), erythromycin (2.5%), clindamycin (2.0%), trimethoprim (7.5%), kanamycin (2.5%), streptomycin (1.5%), ciprofloxacin (1.5%), fusidic acid (1.0%) and cadmium acetate (68.0%). Seventy-six (38.0%) and 114 (57.0%) isolates had type 5 and type 8 capsular polysaccharides respectively. The agr types I, II and III alleles were detected in 50.5%, 20.0% and 23.5% of the isolates respectively. They contained genes for SEI (38.5%), SEG (24.0%), SEC (23.0%), SEB (12.5%), SEH (21.5%), SEA (11.0), SED (1.5%), SEE (1.5%), TSST-1 (4.0%) and PVL (9.0%).ConclusionThis study revealed a high prevalence of antibacterial resistance and virulence determinants in S. aureus from food handlers in Kuwait restaurants justifying the screening of food handlers to detect and treat carriers and protect restaurant customers from staphylococcal food poisoning.

Antibacterial Resistance and Virulence Determinants in Staphylococcus aureus Obtained from Food Handlers in Kuwait City

Introduction: Food handlers are important sources of bacteria causing food poisoning. Consequently, it is important to identify and treat carriers to prevent food poisoning. The purpose of this study was to determine the antibacterial susceptibility patterns and the carriage of virulence genes in S. aureus obtained from food handlers in Kuwait City restaurants. Methods: Two hundred S. aureus isolates were obtained from stool, nasal and hand swabs of food handlers in different restaurants in Kuwait City. Susceptibility to antibacterial agents was done by disk diffusion and Etest. PCR was used to detect genes for accessory gene regulator (agr); capsular polysaccharide serotypes (cap) 5 and 8, staphylococcal enterotoxins (SE), toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 (TSST-1) and Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL). Results: A total of 188 (94.0%) isolates were resistant to at least one antibacterial agent and 138 (69.0%) were resistant to two or more antibacterial agents. Majority (78.5%) of them were resistant to penicillin, 63.5% were resistant to cadmium; 19.0%, 9.5% and 2.5% were resistant to tetracycline, trimethoprim and kanamycin and streptomycin respectively. Fifty-seven and 38.0 percent of them belonged to cap8 and cap5 respectively. Fifty, 20 and 23.5 percent of them belonged to agr types I, II and III respectively. Genes for SE, TSST-1 and PVL were detected in 70.5, 4.0 and 9.0 percent respectively. Genes for SEI, SEG, SEC, SEH, SEB, SEA, SED and SEE were present in 36.5, 27.0, 24.5, 23.0, 12.5, 12.0, 1.5 and 1.5 percent respectively. Most (45.5%) of them contained genes for two to four SEs. Genes for PVL were detected in isolates from different sources, and different genetic background but none carried gene for TSST-1. Conclusions: The study demonstrated a wide variation in susceptibility to antibacterial agents and the distribution of virulence determinants, including PVL and justifies the need for regular screening of food handlers to detect and treat carriers and protect restaurant customers from food poisoning.

Getting rid of trans fats in the US diet: Policies, incentives and progress

Artificial trans fats in foods increase chronic disease risk in the US population. Federal nutrition label regulation enacted in 2003 requires mandatory disclosure of trans fat content on packaged foods. This action created incentives for the food industry to reduce trans fats both in response to consumer demand and through competition to maintain product reputation. Subsequent public actions include a ban on trans fat use in New York city restaurants and lawsuits against food companies, which created further incentives to remove trans fats, especially in the food service industry. Industry has reformulated packaged foods and found substitutes for restaurant fry oils and trans fats are disappearing from the US food supply. Market response extends throughout the supply chain, and has spurred research to alter oilseed crop characteristics. The widespread and relatively rapid industry response likely has improved the quality of US diets, and demonstrates the potential for policy actions to spur such improvements.

New York to Trans Fats: You're Out!

Beginning July 1, most foods prepared in New York City restaurants will no longer be permitted to contain more than half a gram of artificial trans fats per serving. Dr. Susan Okie reports. Dr. Thomas Frieden, New York City commissioner of health, discusses the logic behind a ban on trans fats in the city's restaurants, the logistics of enforcing it, and efforts to inform consumers about the caloric content of prepared foods.

Advertising Spending and Quality for Services: The Role of Capacity

In this paper we explore the relations among advertising spending, capacity and quality for services. Data from a sample of New York City restaurants show that mid-quality restaurants spend more on advertising than either high quality or low quality ones, contradicting the usual Nelson-type prediction that advertising spending increases with quality. Also, controlling for quality, restaurants with larger capacities advertise more. We present a model of services to explain these observations. The key features of the model are: (1) capacity constraints, (2) uncertain demand, (3) the presence of both informed and uninformed consumers, and (4) a technological link between capacity and quality. We argue that for services, advertising not only informs consumers, but it also can improve capacity utilization. Given this dual role, advertising is more valuable to firms with larger capacities and higher price-cost margins. The variation of these two elements with quality determines the advertising-quality relation.

New York City Restaurants: Vernaculars of Global Designing

This paper explores some of the unique characteristics that define globalization and global cities through an investigation of recent design trends in New York City restaurants, specifically gentrification, new users of global cities, casualization, and the processes of contestation and absorption of the dominant as well as nondominant cultures and classes in the city as they are played out in the physical, social, and economic morphology of the city over the past fifteen years. I will argue that these features define place in very specific and complex ways. Although locally oriented, restaurants reflect deeper and broader social and economic global forces that help to create the meaning of that space. The importation and exportation of specific restaurants to other existing and emerging global cities is already in progress. As such, restaurants offer a basis for analyzing emerging cities—those that, although not global, have an important relationship to global cities. The findings offered here are part of a larger five-year study of restaurants and come from personal interviews, questionnaires, onsite observations, and sources internal to the restaurant industry as well as other relevant sources.

A Taste of the Global Economy: New York City Restaurants

This paper will explore the unique characteristics that define globalization and global cities through an investigation of recent trends in New York City restaurants. Of special interest are: 1) casualization and the role played by the informal economy in this industry; 2) the dispersal and agglomeration of command centers; and 3) the processes of contestation and absorption of the dominant as well as non-dominant cultures and classes in the city as they impact the geographic, social and economic morphology of the city. The data used here comes from personal interviews, questionnaires, on-site observations, sources internal to the restaurant industry as well as relevant sources over the course of five years.

Compliance with the New York City Smoke-Free Air Act.

This study's objective was to determine the level of compliance with the New York City Smoke-Free Air Act. Three data sources were used: (1) a population-based telephone survey of 251 New York City restaurant owners/managers; (2) independent inspections of the 251 surveyed restaurants; and (3) complaint records from the New York City Department of Health from April 1995 to March 1997. Ninety percent of restaurant owners/managers reported their indoor dining area was smoke-free in compliance with the law. Most New York City restaurants were able to comply with the smoke-free law with relative ease and little expense.

Volatile Organic Compounds: Distribution in Offices and Restaurants in the Cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo (Brazil)

Indoor and outdoor air containing volatile organic compounds were sampled in 6 restaurants and 6 offices in the cities of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Campinas, south-eastern Brazil. Sites were selected to include different venti lation conditions in offices (sealed/unsealed) and cooking fuels in restaurants (LPG/electricity, charcoal/wood). Samples were collected on activated char coal cartridges, and recovery was by solvent extraction with diethyl ether. Analyses were performed by both high-resolution gas chromatography (HRGC) using 3 columns with different stationary phases and computerized HRGC mass spectrometry.

Salt Lake City—restaurants and clubs to enjoy

Salt Lake City—restaurants and clubs to enjoy

Eating in San Francisco: A Brief Glimpse of the City's Restaurants

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News Notes

An article by T.D. Allman in the December 1978 issue of Harper's describes how the "urban crisis," which so recently threatened to destroy our American cities, appears to have suddenly been replaced by an "urban renaissance," Businesses are investing heavily in the center cities. Center city restaurants, shops and entertainments are thriving. Upper class professionals are renovating and moving into what was recently "slum housing." The city is once again becoming a desirable place to live as well as work. In addition, the urban unemployment rate has dropped significantly over the last two years. And though industry continues to move out of the cities, rapidly multiplying service industries are more than making up for the loss.

Preservation for profit: Restorations come alive

Businessmen are turning old, rundown areas into immensely profitable centers of office buildings, shops and restaurants in cities throughout the country; major examples are San Francisco and Denver.