What I'm pondering now:

The number of hungry people in the world rose to 1.02 billion this year, reports the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in The New York Times, and that’s despite a 12-year effort to cut that number.

In a recent report the United Nations said starvation was acute even before the global financial crisis. And while the technical expertise and resources exist to increase the world’s food production by 50 percent in the next 20 years, the food probably can’t be grown in the developing world where the hungry can actually get it.

Such a conundrum pretty much nullifies the parental admonition to
“finish your dinner because children are starving in Africa.” Even if your kids clean their plates every night of the week, it won’t help the world’s starving one iota.

So what will? A summit meeting of world leaders in Rome on Nov. 16 will try to tackle this very dilemma. I wish them luck.

Nutrition claims to get an overhaul

Have you ever wondered why a box of Froot Loops can stake so many claims to being healthy? By early next year cereal boxes – and most other packaging – may be a lot more honest. The Food and Drug Administration announced last week that it will propose standards that companies must follow in creating nutrition claims that go on the front of food packaging.

The idea is to offset claims made under the Smart Choices program, a nutrition labeling program that started this past summer. Smart Choices lets manufacturers highlight healthy ingredients like vitamins and fiber while ignoring no-nos like added sugar and fats.

All of this information – both good and bad – can now be found in the Nutrition Facts box on the side or back of the package. But this new push applies to the front of the package, where most consumers are likely to read it.

Saving money on food:

How thrifty are supermarket shoppers these days? Hard to tell from reading the supermarket earnings reports last week in The Wall Street Journal. Supervalu, one of the country’s largest grocery companies, plans to double the size of it’s discount chain over the next five years to 2,400 stores. This is a firm bet that consumer thriftiness will be around a while.

Meanwhile over at the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co., the CEO has been forced to step down because of the company’s underperformance. Seems A&P’s discount chain Pathmark – targeted at the customer trying to save -- isn’t doing so well.

So where do you tend to do most of your grocery shopping – the discount chains or the full-service boutique? And now that the economy is doing a bit better, are you still trying to save as much on food? How is it going for you?