It isn’t the world’s busiest airport, but Baltimore Washington International Airport is up for the best airport food. You can vouch for the award.

The dining experience is up against the larger Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, JFK in New York, Newark Liberty International and Los Angeles International, among others, in the USA Today Readers’ Digest 10Best.

BWI features Maryland seafood microbrews, such as DuClaw Brewing Company.

The airport also has a wine bar and diner, among other options.

Sorry, no North Carolina airports are in the running.

Food safety

As a new administration moves into the White House, a hiring freeze and an order from President Donald Trump that temporarily puts new regulations on hold are having varying consequences for food safety efforts.

Officials at the Food and Drug Administration said the president’s pause button for regulations won’t have much, if any, impact on provisions of the Food Safety Modernization Act that have staggered compliance dates depending on the size of businesses.

At the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the other federal agency primarily involved in food safety efforts, the federal hiring freeze imposed by the new administration is having an impact on the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS).

In an internal message sent to FSIS employees on Jan. 18 and obtained by Food Safety News warned that delays in lab tests are expected through at least March 3.

The FSIS is responsible for ensuring the safety of meat, poultry, processed egg products and catfish.

Bob Evans

Bob Evans has sold its restaurants to concentrate on its line of packaged Bob Evans foods. The group that bought the restaurants also owns Red Lobster and California Pizza Kitchen.

Casual dining chains and family-dining restaurants are suffering from a drop in customers. December 2016 was a particularly bad month.

Bob Evans Foods is buying a former supplier to its line, Pineland Farms, which make potato products.

Bad news for brown

British food scientists are warning consumers not to let their toast get too brown.

Golden is the color of choice, and the same goes for starchy potatoes.

The browned toast contains a chemical called acrylamide, which has been has been classified as a neurotoxin and a carcinogen.

The World Health Organization tends to agree that acrylamide is probably carcinogenic in humans and animals.

Acrylamide is formed when the sugars and amino acids inside some starchy foods are exposed to temperatures above 248 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a report on  Smithsonian.com.

According to the FDA, the longer foods like potatoes or bread cook, the more acrylamides they accumulate. It can also be found in roasted coffee beans.

Though frying seems to cause the most accumulation, baking and roasting do, too.

Don’t confuse acrylamide with the chemicals produced when meat is charred — high consumption of well-done or fried meats has been linked to cancer in humans, though it’s not clear that it actually causes cancer and no current consumption guidelines have been put in place.

Bread is bad for you nowadays, anyway, so now you have even more reason to put that toast down permanently.

— Deirdre Parker Smith