All hell is breaking loose in the peanut butter world due to a recall and Salmonella outbreak. Kellogg's has recalled Austin, Keebler and Famous Amos Peanut Butter products; and Little Debbie Peanut Butter Crackers have also been pulled, but Reese's Peanut Butter fans - you are safe.

Kellogg's is also raising prices on Cereals and Pop Tarts, effective January 18, 2008. Hope you stocked up!

Pizza Hut has switched to all natural ingredients. Wish the headline had read Pizza Hut now has 100 less calories per slice - but that's just me.

The maker of Equal sweetener (the blue pack), filed for bankruptcy, but will go ahead with partnership with Pepsi to make Stevia derived sweetener, PureVia. I think Splenda pretty much killed Equal - and NutraSweet. Does anyone still use that?

Food Trends galore. Datamonitor's 10 Trends to Watch in Packaged Goods in 2009, 10 Food and Nutrition Trends for 2009 and Top 10 Claims for New Foods and Beverages Launched in 2008. My friend who is a big time cynic (and conspiracy theorist), says these lists should be renamed Top 10 ways in which food companies exploited increased consumer interest in health. Some of the commenters seem to agree.

Jenna from EatLiveRun and Andrea and Erin from CartoEat shared with us their favorite food picks from 2008. Some are already on my faves list - Sabra Spicy Hummus *yum* - and I have new things I want to try, like Bora Bora bars.

Coca Cola got sued for unsubstantiated claims on VitaminWater. They fired back with a press release calling the lawsuit, "ridiculous and ludicrous." They say CSPI is basically a media-whore. I love a good food war.

Food companies and supermarkets are now producing their own nutrition labels for foods. I think this is unnecessary and I hope this increased spending is not contributing to food prices going up.

I'm on a Sodium Attack this year. Join me and learn how much sodium you're really getting from foods - and then reduce it.

Finally, I started sharing what I hope will be a regular feature, New Product Notes. New health & diet related foods & beverages that are coming to the market soon.