Food Apocalypse

China's melamine scare extended to more dairy products

2008-09-20T03:56:00.001-07:00

Liquid cow's milk has been pulled from shelves around the country of china after 10% of it tested positive for the industrial chemical melamine, used in this case, as well as last year's pet food crisis, to artificially boost nitrate levels and give the appearance of higher protein levels. Apparently whoever thought this was a great idea forgot, as illustrated in the large amounts of dying pets that the results are, oh I don't know, poisonous? Maybe they didn't talk about it on the government-run news programs there. So brilliant food producers decided that it would be a good idea to start doing the same thing to milk intended for human consumption. This has now led to a fourth baby dying of kidney failure, with 6,000 plus still sick with kidney stones. The melamine has now been found in liquid milk, as well as yogurt and some other products. This incident is just one in a long line of screw ups in China's poorly run and poorly supervised food industry. In 2004, twelve babies died and 200 were sick after drinking fake formula that contained no nutrients.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

China wants to poison your baby.

2008-09-17T17:13:00.001-07:00

China: known for the big pet food scare of '07, where pets around the nation died after melamine plastic was added to pet foods. Guess what, they are at it again! As if poisoning pets wasn't bad enough, now they are going after the children. Melamine-tainted baby formula has killed three babies and sickened 6,000 plus. The FDA states that the formulas are probably not on US shelves, but that they are investigating further.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

this just in: crappy pet food is crappy.

2008-09-17T17:05:00.001-07:00

If any of my readers actually buy the following brands of pet food, shame on you. Not only have they all been recalled for a salmonella contamination, they have always had disgusting ingredients in them that I wouldn't dare feed the dog of my worst enemy. So if you have them in your house, please immediately dispose of them, and buy some real pet food for your animals.

Country Acres Cat Food 40#	16603 02181	Retriever Bites & Bones Dog Food 8#	79818 96757
Country Acres Ration Dog Food 40#	16603 02333	Retriever Bites & Bones Dog Food 20#	79818 96634
Country Acres 18% Dog Food 40#	16603 02331	Retriever Bites & Bones Dog Food 50#	49394 05666
Country Acres Hi Pro Dog Food 50#	16603 02021	Retriever Gravy Blend Dog Food 50#	49394 05665
Doggy Bag Dog Food 40#	73893 40000	Retriever Gravy Blend Dog Food 8#	79818 96756
Members Mark Complete Nutrition Premium Cat Food 20#	81131 89881	Retriever Hi Protein Dog Food 8#	79818 96755
Members Mark Complete Nutrition Premium Dog Food 50#	05388 67055	Retriever Hi Protein Dog Food 25#	49394 00002
Members Mark Crunchy Bites & Savory Bones Adult Dog Food 50#	05388 67309	Retriever Hi Protein Dog Food 50#	49394 00003
Members Mark High Performance Premium Dog Food 50#	81131 75479	Retriever Mini Chunk Dog Food 8#	79818 96754
Natural Cat Food (Sam's Club) 15#	81131 89883	Retriever Mini Chunk Dog Food 25#	49394 00006
Natural Dog Food (Sam's Club) 25#	81131 89884	Retriever Mini Chunk Dog Food 50#	49395 00005
Ol' Roy Complete Nutrition 4.4#	81131 69377	Retriever Puppy Blend Dog Food 6#	49394 56221
Ol' Roy Complete Nutrition 8#	05388 67144	Retriever Puppy Blend Dog Food 8#	79818 96758
Ol' Roy Complete Nutrition 22#	05388 60342	Retriever Puppy Blend Dog Food 20#	49394 00004
Ol' Roy Complete Nutrition 50#	78742 01022	Retriever Puppy Blend Dog Food 40#	79818 96706
Ol' Roy High Performance Nutrition Dog Food 20#	05388 60345	Special Kitty Gourmet 3.5#	81131 17546
Ol' Roy High Performance Nutrition Dog Food 50#	78742 05815	Special Kitty Gourmet 4#	78742 53199
Ol' Roy Meaty Chunks 'n Gravy Dog Food 8#	81131 69629	Special Kitty Gourmet 7#	81131 17547
Ol' Roy Meaty Chunks 'n Gravy Dog Food 22#	81131 69630	Special Kitty Gourmet 8#	78742 53200
Ol' Roy Meaty Chunks 'n Gravy Dog Food 50#	81131 69631	Special Kitty Gourmet 18#	81131 15748
Ol' Roy Puppy Complete 4#	81131 79078	Special Kitty Gourmet 20#	78742 53201
Ol' Roy Puppy Complete 8#	81131 79079	Special Kitty Gourmet 25#	78742 54314
Ol' Roy Puppy Complete 20#	81131 79080	Special Kitty Kitten 3.5#	81131 17553
Paws & Claws Delicious Mix Cat Food 8#	79818 96632	Special Kitty Kitten 4#	78742 53198
Paws & Claws Delicious Mix Cat Food 20#	49394 05746	Special Kitty Kitten 7#	81131 17554
Paws & Claws Delicious Mix Cat Food 40#	79818 96676	Special Kitty Kitten 8#	81131 24739
Paws & Claws Premium Choice Cat Food 8#	79818 96633	Special Kitty Original 3.5#	81131 17557
Paws & Claws Premium Choice Cat Food 20#	49394 00008	Special Kitty Original 4#	78742 04930
Paws & Claws Premium Choice Cat Food 40#	49394 05747	Special Kitty Original 7#	81131 17562
Pedigree Large Breed Adult Nutrition 20#	23100 29158	Special Kitty Original 8#	78742 05744
Pedigree Large Breed Adult Nutrition 30.1#	23100 31484	Special Kitty Original 18#	81131 17559
Pedigree Large Breed Adult Nutrition 36.4#	23100 31479	Special Kitty Original 20#	78742 05794
Pedigree Large Breed Adult Nutrition 40#	23100 29154	Special Kitty Original 25#	81131 68869
Pedigree Small Crunchy Bites Adult Nutrition 4.4#	23100 05104	Wegman's Bruiser Complete Nutrition Dog Food 4.4#	77890 33654
Pedigree Small Crunchy Bites Adult Nutrition 8.8#	23100 05103	Wegman's Bruiser Complete Nutrition Dog Food 20#	77890 32988
Pedigree Small Crunchy Bites Adult Nutrition 20#	23100 14719	Wegman's Bruiser Complete Nutrition Dog Food 37.5#	77890 32994
Pedigree Small Crunchy Bites Adult Nutrition 32#	23100 31483	Wegman's Bruiser Puppy Dog Food 4.4#	77890 33621
Pedigree Small Crunchy Bites Adult Nutrition 40#	23100 31478	Wegman's Bruiser Puppy Dog Food 17.6#	77890 32991
Pedigree Small Crunchy Bites Adult Nutrition 44#	23100 05100	Wegman's Bruiser Small Crunchy Bites Dog Food 4.4#	77890 33618
Pedigree Small Crunchy Bites Adult Nutrition 52#	23100 05110	Wegman's Bruiser Small Crunchy Bites Dog Food 20#	77890 32982
Pet Pride Indoor Cat 3.5#	11110 74584	Wegman's Buju & Ziggie Complete Cat Food 3.5#	77890 10005
Pet Pride Indoor Cat 18#	11110 74585	Wegman's Buju & Ziggie Complete Cat Food 18#	77890 10004
Pet Pride Weight Management Dog Food 17.6#	11110 74578	Wegman's Buju & Ziggie Indoor Cat Food 3.5#	77890 12038
PMI Nutrition Bites & Bones Dog Food 50#	42869 00174	Wegman's Buju & Ziggie Indoor Cat Food 18#	77890 12039
PMI Nutrition Canine Advantage 50#	42869 00172	Wegman's Buju & Ziggie Kitten 3.5#	77890 12036
PMI Nutrition Feline Medley 20#	42869 00171	Wegman's Buju & Ziggie Original Medley Cat Food 3.5#	77890 10006
PMI Nutrition Gravy Crunches Dog Food 40#	42869 00033	Wegman's Buju & Ziggie Original Medley Cat Food 18#	77890 10003
Red Flannel Active Formula Dog Food 40#	42869 00063
Red Flannel Adult Formula Dog Food 20#	42869 00055
Red Flannel Adult Formula Dog Food 40#	42869 00054
Red Flannel Canine Select Dog Food 20#	42869 00068
Red Flannel Canine Select Dog Food 40#	42869 00067
Red Flannel Cat 10#	42869 00059
Red Flannel Cat 20#	42869 00058
Red Flannel Hi Pro Formula Dog Food 50#	42869 00065
Red Flannel Prime Dog Food 25#	42869 00052
Red Flannel Prime Dog Food 50#	42869 00053
Red Flannel Puppy 40#	42869 00056

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Bagel Recall

2008-09-11T03:30:00.001-07:00

Wegmans Food Market has recalled every type of bagel and "bialys" (sounds like dialysis, but I guess it's a flat bagel with toppings on it) due to some unplanned seasoning: small metal springs. Delicious!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Meat Slicers Cause of Canadian Listeriosis Outbreak

2008-09-06T13:56:00.001-07:00

Maple Leaf foods stated that the Listeria bacteria that has been the cause of 38 confirmed cases of Listeriosis and 13 deaths has come from from deep inside the machinery that slices meat, even though the machinery is cleaned regularly. The food plant is still shut down until the machinery is either cleaned more thoroughly or replaced. All 220 products made by the corporation have been recalled.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Court Rules Beef Producers not Allowed to Test for Mad Cow

2008-09-03T13:18:00.001-07:00

Why? Well, because then all the other beef producers would be jealous. The USDA tests a measly ONE PERCENT of all beef produced in the states for mad cow. ONE. A meat packer in Kansas called Creekstone Farms Premium Beef wanted to start testing 100% of their beef. Great, right? Wrong, apparently. Evidently, that wouldn't be fair to all the other ~~children~~ meat packers because their beef would appear to be not as safe, and they would lose money.

Yeah.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Hot Pockets Being Recalled

2008-08-26T11:36:00.001-07:00

Be careful when you bite into that Hot Pocket, those might not be pepperoni, but rather small, red pieces of hard plastic. Nestle recalled 215,660 pounds of Pepperoni Pizza flavored Hot Pockets recently because of this. Check to see if the side of your box has “8157544614D,” “EST 7721A,” and “BEST BEFORE JAN2010.” stamped on it.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Half of All Food Produced is Thrown Away.

2008-08-26T02:14:00.001-07:00

Think back to when you were a child, and you sat there at the kitchen table, your slimy, sickly-green brussel sprouts getting cold on your plate as your mother yelled, "finish your food! think of the starving children in Africa!" Well, she might have been onto something. The Stockholm International Water Institute issued a report last week stating that half of all food produced is wasted, either during processing, transport, in stores and kitchens, and finally by the consumer. This of course is a tragedy in and of itsself, considering the number of people living in poverty without enough to eat. It's also, the Institute states, the source of 40 trillion liters of water flushed down the drain each year.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Maple Leaf confirmed as source of listeria, expands recall

2008-08-25T01:01:00.001-07:00

8/26/08 *UPDATE* a possible twelve people have now died from consuming tainted meat.
Four people have now died of listeriosis caused by eating tainted meat from Maple Leaf Foods, Canada's largest food processor. Maple Leaf was confirmed to be the source of the meat yesterday, and expanded its recall to include all products made from January 2008 on. The complete list can be viewed here.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

FDA OKs Use of Radiation to Kill Germs in some Veggies

2008-08-21T16:00:00.001-07:00

On Friday the FDA is expected to issue new regulations regarding the use of radiation on lettuce and spinach to kill microorganisms such as e-coli, salmonella, and listeria. Irradiation of food, also controversially known as "cold pasteurization", has been in use since the 1960's as a way to control germs, as well as insects in food. The process was first invented in 1905. From 1953 to 1980, the government sponsored the National Food Irradiation Program, which did many research projects on the use of irradiation in food. Critics of the procedure say that the longest study of people eating irradiated food was 15 weeks, and no long term studies have been performed on the effects this may have in humans. They also say that irradiating food is an easy way to cover up sloppiness in the harvest and production of foods that create situations where contamination can occur in the first place. Another worry is that important vitamins and nutrients are destroyed in the process. Furthermore, critics worry about food becoming radioactive itsself. The FDA maintains that the food does not retain any actual radiation after the procedure. However, a statement on food irradiation on the Environental Protection Agency's website said the following:

Can irradiation make food radioactive?

No. Food does not come in contact with radioactive material during food irradiation, and cannot be contaminated this way. Radiation that is too energetic, however, can disrupt the energy balance in the nuclei of food atoms, making them unstable (radioactive). This is known as induced radioactivity.

Electron and x-ray beams can be energetic enough to induce radioactivity. To prevent induced radioactivity, FDA limits the energy of the radiation from these sources to less than 4 mega-electron volts. Radiation from cobalt-60 sources is not energetic enough to induce radioactivity.

Food that is treated with irradiation is required to be labeled with the international symbol of irradiated food, the "Radura" pictured above. It is also required to have the words "Treated with Radiation" or "Treated with Irradiation".

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Canadian Deli Meat Plant Closes After Listeria Outbreak.

2008-08-20T18:37:00.001-07:00

*8/23/08 Update* Four deaths have now been confirmed.

Seventeen people have contracted listeriosis after eating tainted deli meat from Maple Leaf Foods, based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. One of the affected people has died. Maple Leaf has temporarily shut down production until the source of the contamination is found. A list of recalled products is below:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

26365	Sliced Cooked Turkey Breast	470 g	SE 30
02106	Schneiders Bavarian Smokies	1 kg	OC 28
02126	Schneiders Cheddar Smokies	1 kg	OC 28
21333	Sure Slice Roast Beef	1 kg	SE 30
21388	Sure Slice Combo Pack	1 kg	SE 30
60243	Deli Gourmet Roast Beef slices	1 kg	SE 30
02356	Seasoned Cooked Roast Beef	500 g	OC 07
42706	Roast Beef, Seasoned and Cooked	500 g	OC 07
21334	Sure Slice Turkey Breast Roast	1 kg	OC 14
21444	Sure Slice Corned Beef	1 kg	OC 14
44938	Montreal Style Corned Beef	500 g	OC 14
21440	Sure Slice Black Forest Style Ham	1 kg	OC 21
21447	Sure Slice Salami	1 kg	OC 21
21331	Sure Slice Smoked Ham	1 kg	OC 21
48019	Schneiders Deli Shaved Corned Beef	200 g	OC 21
48020	Schneiders Deli Shaved Smoked Meat	200 g	OC 21
48016	Schneiders Deli Shaved Smoked Ham	200 g	OC 21
48018	Schneiders Deli Shaved Smoked Turkey Breast	150 g	OC 21
48017	Schneiders Deli Shaved Fully Cooked Smoked Honey Ham	200 g	OC 21
21360	Burns Bites Pepperoni	500 g	09 JA 01
99158	Turkey Breast Roast	1 kg	SE 30
71330	Roast Beef Cooked, Seasoned	2.5 kg	SE 30
71331	Corned Beef, Smoked Meat	2.5 kg	SE 30

Blogged with the Flock Browser

FDA knew about problem peppers months before outbreak.

2008-08-20T10:44:00.001-07:00

The FDA insists that they were as surprised as anyone that the salmonella outbreak that sickened 1,423 people this year turned out to be from jalapeno and serrano chili peppers from Mexico. Were they really? An AP investigation of FDA records showed that Mexican peppers had a long history of contamination. FDA Border inspectors apparently turned away contaminated chilis 88 times. This year. That's 491,200 metric tons of rejected peppers.Ten percent of those batches had salmonella. The rest were either filthy, used illegal pesticides, or in one case, were simply poisoned. The USDA reports that 84 percent of all fresh peppers consumed by the United States come from Mexico.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

No room for your own dairy farm? Think again.

2008-08-18T20:56:00.001-07:00

Meet the Dexter Cow, an irish breed of cattle created in the 1800s. The Dexter, once considered a very rare bovine, has increased in popularity lately. Why? because these cows are about the size of a large dog. Priced at a reasonable ~$400 - $4000, these mini-heifers produce about 2 gallons of milk per day, more than enough for any household.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Pedigree Recalls Salmonella Tainted Pet Food

2008-08-15T13:34:00.001-07:00

Pedigree pet foods has recalled 100 bags of "Pedigree Complete Nutrition Small Crunchy Bites" because they contain a component which tested positive for Salmonella. The bags were mistakenly shipped to Albertsons stores in Southern California, and Costco stores in Northern California.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

USDA Allegedly Sponsored Movement to Defeat Farm Animal Rights Bill

2008-08-15T13:10:00.001-07:00

Sponsors of California's Proposition 2- the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, are sueing the USDA and the American Egg Board right now because of $3,000,000 that was allegedly set aside to defeat the bill. Californians for Humane Farms says that the board is not allowed to use government money for political campaigns. Proposition 2, if passed, would require farm animals to be in enclosures big enough for them to turn around in.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Oops...

2008-08-14T10:19:00.001-07:00

Oh hey, no big deal or anything, but Nebraska Beef forgot some beef when they made last week's e-coli recall announcement. Only about 160,000 lbs. Oh, and, you might not be able to tell if you have the meat or not. You see, these boxes of cow with "EST. 19336" on them were sent to companies to be processed even further. Apparently you are supposed to just "check" with your retailer. I'm sorry, but somehow I don't really feel comfortable putting my life in the hands of the pimple-faced kid who bags my groceries. No offense. Think I'll stick to chicken for a while.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tuna Recall

2008-08-13T16:29:00.001-07:00

Pre-made Tuna salad from Home Made Brand Foods has been recalled due to a possible contamination by Listeria Monocytogenes. According to wikipedia, this organism is rare but dangerous. It has a case death rate of 25%. In comparison, Salmonella has a case death rate of 1%. It is especially dangerous for children, the elderly, those with weakened immune systems, and can infect fetuses in the womb, usually causing miscarriages. The products being recalled are as follows:

99/ 5 lbs. units of "Home Made Brand Foods Tuna Salad" dated 8/19/08 expiration
412/10 lb. units of "Stop and Shop Tuna Salad" dated 8/19/08 expiration
366/12 oz. units of "Stop and Shop Tuna Salad" dated 8/19/08 expiration

No illnesses have been reported.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

What???

2008-08-10T12:46:00.001-07:00

Erm, just in case any of my readers here like to dine on COW HEAD, I'm here to inform you that there has been a recall of 38,000 of these bovine noggins. Why? because apparently their tonsils have not been completely removed. Yes, while every other part of the head is apparently ok to eat, cow tonsils are required to be removed because they can contain prions, the evidently theoretical infectious agent thought to cause Mad Cow Disease. Why don't you just have a nice steak?

Blogged with the Flock Browser

E-coli Outbreak from S & S Foods Spreads

2008-08-10T04:22:00.001-07:00

A Virginia Boy Scout camp was shut down this week when 72 people fell ill after eating tainted beef processed at S &S Foods. Earlier this week we reported that 11 people had become ill in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Asuza, California-based S & S Foods is now recalling 153,630 lbs of beef after this latest incident.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Supermarket Chains to Stop Selling Certain Types of Fish

2008-08-09T12:32:00.001-07:00

Supermarket chains Giant Food as well as Stop and Shop have decided to discontinue sales of certain types of fish that appeared on a report recently released by Greenpeace on overfishing. Orange Roughy, Shark, and Chilean Sea Bass were all removed from seafood counters until their ocean populations stabilize.

Look here for more ways you can help curb overfishing, including form letters to send to other chains of grocery stores, and a number you can text to find out the status of certain types of fish.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Beef recall again- this time from Whole Foods!

2008-08-09T03:38:00.001-07:00

Didn't we just do this?

Company: Whole Foods
Location: Beef was processed at same Nebraska Beef plant that caused e-coli outbreak earlier this summer.
Market: Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, Massachusetts, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington D. C., Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Canada.
What Happened: 7 people have fallen ill.
Product Details: Any ground beef bought at Whole Foods between June 2 to August 6.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tyson recalls 51,000 pounds of chicken because it might contain soy.

2008-08-07T13:15:00.001-07:00

Wait, what? how does a raw chicken breast contain soy? I want my chicken to contain chicken. period. until I add some seasoning to it.

Anyway, Tyson is worried that people allergic to soy will have a reaction to their product. The chicken being recalled was frozen raw chicken breasts packed at a plant in Vicksburg, Miss between July 23 and Aug. 1. I don't know if you will be able to tell any of that by reading the package, so if you have Tyson chicken in your kitchen and you are allergic to soy, toss it and don't buy any for a while. Or how about don't buy any more at all, and start buying some chicken that is actually chicken. Preferably organic, humanely raised, and local. ::steps off soapbox::

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Once again, a company recalls beef due to E-Coli.

2008-08-07T12:21:00.001-07:00

::sigh:: I think I should just have a template for these articles.

Company: S & S Foods, LLC
Location: California
Market: Beef was shipped to Milwaukee, Wisconson and Allentown, Pennsylvania.
What Happened: 11 people have fallen ill.
Product Details: 30-lb boxes of "742798 MFST, 100% GROUND BEEF BULK, 80/20, 1LB. BRICK."
Check Label For: "EST. 20375" inside the USDA mark of inspection and a case code beginning "06238" ink-jet printed on the side of the box"

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Company that manufactures bovine hormones is quitting the business.

2008-08-07T03:22:00.001-07:00

new format testing, folks, bear with me.

Monsanto Co. is the company responsible for creating rBGH, or recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone, sold under the brand name POSILAC. This is the hormone commonly given to cows to produce up to 10 more gallons of milk per day than normal. On Wednesday Monsanto Co. made the announcement that they would be selling off this portion of their business.

"While POSILAC is a strong product for the business, we believe repositioning the business with a strategic owner will allow Monsanto to focus on the growth of its core seeds and traits business while ensuring that loyal dairy farmers continue to receive the value of POSILAC in their operations," said Carl Casale, executive vice president of strategy and operations, in a statement.

Could this decision be led by the recent uprising against the drug? Many stores and distributers, including Walmart and Starbucks, now refuse to carry milk with rBGH. There has been speculation that the hormone can cause early puberty in children, among other problems. The hormone is also considered by many to be cruel to the cattle it is used on. Hopefully Wednesday's announcement signals the beginning of the end for rGBH.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Yale: Too Many People, Too Much Consumption

2008-08-06T02:49:00.001-07:00

http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2041

Over some 60 million years, Homo sapiens has evolved into the dominant animal on the planet, acquiring binocular vision, upright posture, large brains, and — most importantly — language with syntax and that complex store of non-genetic information we call culture. However, in the last several centuries we’ve increasingly been using our relatively newly acquired power, especially our culturally evolved technologies, to deplete the natural capital of Earth — in particular its deep, rich agricultural soils, its groundwater stored during ice ages, and its biodiversity — as if there were no tomorrow.

The point, all too often ignored, is that this trend is being driven in large part by a combination of population growth and increasing per capita consumption, and it cannot be long continued without risking a collapse of our now-global civilization. Too many people — and especially too many politicians and business executives — are under the delusion that such a disastrous end to the modern human enterprise can be avoided by technological fixes that will allow the population and the economy to grow forever. But if we fail to bring population growth and over-consumption under control — the number of people on Earth is expected to grow from 6.5 billion today to 9 billion by the second half of the 21st century — then we will inhabit a planet where life becomes increasingly untenable because of two looming crises: global heating, and the degradation of the natural systems on which we all depend.

If we fail to bring population growth and overconsumption under control, then we will inhabit a planet where life becomes increasingly untenable.”Our species’ negative impact on our own life-support systems can be approximated by the equation I=PAT. In that equation, the size of the population (P) is multiplied by the average affluence or consumption per individual (A), and that in turn is multiplied by some measure of the technology (T) that services and drives the consumption. Thus commuting in automobiles powered by subsidized fossil fuels on proliferating freeways creates a much greater T factor than commuting on bikes using simple paths or working at home on a computer network. The product of P, A, and T is Impact (I), a rough estimate of how much humanity is degrading the ecosystem services it depends upon.

The equation is not rocket science. Two billion people, all else being equal, put more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than one billion people. Two billion rich people disrupt the climate more than two billion poor people. Three hundred million Americans consume more petroleum than 1.3 billion Chinese. And driving an SUV is using a far more environmentally malign transportation technology than riding mass transit.

The technological dimensions of our predicament — such as the need for alternatives to fossil fuel energy — are frequently discussed if too little acted upon. Judging from media reports and the statements of politicians, environmental problems, to the degree they are recognized, can be solved by minor changes in technologies and recycling (T). Switching to ultra-light, fuel-efficient cars will obviously give some short-term advantage, but as population and consumption grow, they will pour still more carbon dioxide (and vaporized rubber) into the atmosphere and require more natural areas to be buried under concrete. More recycling will help, but many of our society’s potentially most dangerous effluents (such as hormone-mimicking chemicals) cannot practically be recycled. There is no technological change we can make that will permit growth in either human numbers or material affluence to continue to expand. In the face of this, the neglect of the intertwined issues of population and consumption is stunning.

Many past human societies have collapsed under the weight of overpopulation and environmental neglect, but today the civilization in peril is global. The population factor in what appears to be a looming catastrophe is even greater than most people suppose. Each person added today to the population on average causes more damage to humanity’s critical life-support systems than did the previous addition — everything else being equal. The reason is simple: Homo sapiens became the dominant animal by being smart. Farmers didn’t settle first on poor soils where water was scarce, but rather in rich river valleys. That’s where most cities developed, where rich soils are now being paved over for roads and suburbs, and where water supplies are being polluted or overexploited.

As a result, to support additional people it is necessary to move to ever poorer lands, drill wells deeper, or tap increasingly remote sources to obtain water — and then spend more energy to transport that water ever greater distances to farm fields, homes, and factories. Our distant ancestors could pick up nearly pure copper on Earth’s surface when they started to use metals; now people must use vast amounts of energy to mine and smelt gigantic amounts of copper ore of ever poorer quality, some in concentrations of less than one percent. The same can be said for other important metals. And petroleum can no longer be found easily on or near the surface, but must be gleaned from wells drilled a mile or more deep, often in inaccessible localities, such as under continental shelves beneath the sea. All of the paving, drilling, fertilizer manufacturing, pumping, smelting, and transporting needed to provide for the consumption of burgeoning numbers of people produces greenhouse gases and thus tightens the connection between population and climate disruption.

So why is the topic of overpopulation so generally ignored? There are some obvious reasons. Attempts by governments to limit their nation’s population growth are anathema to those on the right who believe the only role for governments in the bedroom is to force women to take unwanted babies to term. Those on the left fear, with some legitimacy, that population control could turn racist or discriminatory in other ways — for example, attempting to reduce the numbers of minorities or the poor. Many fear the specter of more of “them” compared to “us,” and all of us fear loss of liberty and economic decline (since population growth is often claimed necessary for economic health). And there are religious leaders who still try to promote over-reproduction by their flocks, though in much of the world their efforts are largely futile (Catholic countries in Europe tend to be low-birthrate leaders, for example).

But much of the responsibility must go to ignorance, which leads mainstream media, even newspapers like The New York Times, to maintain a pro-natalist stance. For example, the Times had an article on June 29 about a “baby bust” in industrialized countries in which the United States (still growing) was noted as a “sparkling exception.” Beyond the media, great foundations have turned their “population programs” away from encouraging low fertility rates and toward topics like “changing sexual mores” — avoiding discussion of the contribution demographics is making to a possible collapse of civilization.

Some leading economists are starting to tackle
the issue of overconsumption, but the problems and its cures are tough to analyze.”Silence on the overconsumption (Affluence) factor in the I=PAT equation is more readily explained. Consumption is still viewed as an unalloyed good by many economists, along with business leaders and politicians, who tend to see jacking up consumption as a cure-all for economic ills. Too much unemployment? Encourage people to buy an SUV or a new refrigerator. Perpetual growth is the creed of the cancer cell, but third-rate economists can’t think of anything else. Some leading economists are starting to tackle the issue of overconsumption, but the problem and its cures are tough to analyze. Scientists have yet to develop consumption condoms or morning-after-shopping-spree pills.

And, of course, there are the vexing problems of consumption of people in poor countries. On one hand, a billion or more people have problems of underconsumption. Unless their basic needs are met, they are unlikely to be able to make important contributions to attaining sustainability. On the other hand, there is also the issue of the “new consumers” in developing economies such as China and India, where the wealth of a sizable minority is permitting them to acquire the consumption habits (e.g., eating a lot of meat and driving automobiles) of the rich nations. Consumption regulation is a lot more complex than population regulation, and it is much more difficult to find humane and equitable solutions to the problem.

The dominant animal is wasting its brilliance and its wonderful achievements; civilization’s fate is being determined by decision makers who determinedly look the other way in favor of immediate comfort and profit. Thousands of scientists recently participated in a Millennium Ecosystem Assessment that outlined our current environmental dilemma, but the report’s dire message made very little impact. Absent attention to that message, the fates of Easter Island, the Classic Maya civilization, and Nineveh — all of which collapsed following environmental degradation — await us all.

We believe it is possible to avoid that global denouement. Such mobilization means developing some consensus on goals — perhaps through a global dialogue in which people discuss the human predicament and decide whether they would like to see a maximum number of people living at a minimum standard of living, or perhaps a much lower population size that gives individuals a broad choice of lifestyles. We have suggested a forum for such a dialogue, modeled partly on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, but with more “bottom up” participation. It is clear that only widespread changes in norms can give humanity a chance of attaining a sustainable and reasonably conflict-free society.

How to achieve such change — involving everything from demographic policies and transformation of planet-wide energy, industrial, and agricultural systems, to North-South and interfaith relationships and military postures — is a gigantic challenge to everyone. Politicians, industrialists, ecologists, social scientists, everyday citizens, and the media must join this debate. Whether it is possible remains to be seen; societies have managed to make major transitions in the recent past, as the civil rights revolution in the United States and the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union clearly demonstrate.

We’ll continue to hope and work for a cultural transformation in how we treat each other and the natural systems we depend upon. We can create a peaceful and sustainable global civilization, but it will require realistic thinking about the problems we face and a new mobilization of political will.

Pizza Hut To Offer Healthier Pizza

2008-08-06T02:36:00.000-07:00

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/08/pizza-hut-offers-healthier-pizza.php

Beginning in Tampa, FL and Dallas, TX Pizza Hut chains, the popular pie company will soon offer a pizza made with a multigrain crust, organic tomato sauce and preservative-free toppings.

While this is not the Jared-diet, the pizza--dubbed "The Natural"--does allow customers to blend healthier options into their pizza. The crust is made from a blend of honey, olive oil and five different whole grains. The sauce blends organic tomatoes and natural (made without preservatives, artificial colors or flavors) cheese. The pizza comes in two versions - The Natural and the Natural Rustica, which contains sausage, tomatoes and red peppers.

The Natural pizza will also be packed in a box made from 75% recycled materials. No word on whether all pizzas will be using this better packaging or just The Natural. The pizza will be available nationwide later this year.

Indian Ocean tuna catch drops, experts differ on why

2008-08-04T12:53:00.001-07:00

http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSL462932520080804?sp=true

VICTORIA, the Seychelles (Reuters) - Tuna catches across the Indian Ocean have fallen sharply in the last two years but experts are split over what is threatening the region's $6 billion industry.

Conservationists blame years of unchecked exploitation while processors say climatic conditions may be driving the fish deeper away from their nets.

Tuna catches in the Indian Ocean, which accounts for roughly a quarter of the global haul, dropped by about a third last year to their lowest level for more than a decade.

Early indicators for this year show catches to be markedly below recent averages, Alejandro Anganuzzi, head of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, told Reuters.

"We cannot rule out the possibility that overfishing has occurred," he said.

Other forces such as changes in wind patterns, currents or the impact of predators might also play a part, he said.

Similar falls in catches are seen in the Pacific, where environmental groups say decades of overfishing has slashed some stocks by as much as 85 percent. European fishing firms now chase tuna in the Pacific after numbers fell in the Atlantic.

RICH REWARDS

Last month, EU fisheries regulators banned trawling for bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean to stop overfishing of a species that was approaching complete collapse.

Rewards for fishermen remain high.

Market prices for the delicacy have roughly tripled since last year. In Japan, where there is huge demand for tuna to make sushi, top quality fish can sell for up to $100,000 each.

In the Seychelles, tuna canning is worth $180 million a year and accounts for more than 90 percent of export earnings.

One of the biggest canners in the region, Indian Ocean Tuna (IOT) Ltd, says its volumes have dwindled by about 18 percent to 70,000 tonnes processed annually for the last two years.

IOT's general manager, Alain Olivieri, said the Indian Ocean had seen a "terrible" fall in catches, which he blamed on higher water temperatures pushing fish deeper out of reach of nets.

Experts are divided over whether these warmer warmers are the result of climate change or of cyclical ocean conditions.

Olivieri said most of the fish had descended from their normal level of around 250 meters below the surface, where they could be caught, to depths of 400 meters, where they were safe.

"I believe the fish are there and they will not stay permanently down, so when the temperatures improve they will move higher up where fishermen can catch them," he said.

David Ardill, a Mauritius-based expert, said tuna fishing in the southwest Indian Ocean was worth up to $6 billion a year, with Mauritius alone earning nearly $400 million annually.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Consumers are raising cane over corn sweetener

2008-08-04T03:36:00.001-07:00

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-soda2-2008aug02,0,3762938.story?page=1&track=rss

You can spot Dawn Wynne at the grocery store. She's one of those conscientious label readers busy studying cans, bottles and jars in aisle after aisle.

But it's not calories, sodium or preservatives she is looking for. She is on patrol for high fructose corn syrup; it's an unadvertised part of sauces, cereal, candy and especially soda, and she wants none of it.

The Redondo Beach resident looks for foods sweetened with "pure cane sugar, honey or fruit juice." Wynne believes "they are healthier and break down in the body more easily."

Consumers -- at the grocery store and restaurants -- are increasingly demanding sodas and other products sweetened with sugar, not corn syrup.

The trend is so strong that the Corn Refiners Assn. has launched a major marketing campaign and Internet site, www.sweetsurprise.com, to defend the sweetener. They are battling signs like the one saying, "Get Real! . . . No High Fructose Corn Syrup" that faced the parking lot at the Jamba Juice shop in Seal Beach on Thursday.

High fructose corn syrup has become a favorite target of the health-conscious as an alleged cause of America's obesity boom. A typical 2-liter bottle of soda contains 15 ounces of corn syrup, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Whether it's really at fault is open to debate.

The Corn Refiners Assn. contends that high fructose corn syrup is just as natural as table sugar and honey. Others say it's not natural at all, because it is manufactured through a chemical process and does not occur in nature by itself. The Center for Science in the Public Interest called the corn refiners' campaign "deceptive."

Most medical research says it is the calories, rather than the sweetener, that make a difference to a person's health. And sugar and high fructose corn syrup have identical calorie counts.

"Our message is that people should cut down on both," said CSPI Director Michael Jacobson. Likewise, the American Dental Assn. says sugar is equally bad for teeth regardless of whether it comes from corn or cane.

The Corn Refiners Assn. is reacting to a steady slide in sales of high fructose corn sweetener.

"We have been very concerned about the misunderstanding of our product in the marketplace and want to provide the facts so that consumers can make their choices based on science rather than urban myth. HFCS and sugar are treated by the body the same, they contain the same calories, and nutritionally are no different," said Audrae Erickson, president of the Corn Refiners Assn.

Even so, so many consumers have become wary of corn sweeteners that smaller drink makers such as Hansen, Jones and Thomas Kemper have reformulated their sodas to use cane sugar.

Taco Bell and other fast-food chains have added sugar-sweetened beverages as alternatives to their corn sweetener-laden soft drink menu.

Meanwhile, U.S. sales of Coca-Cola Classic made with corn sweetener fell 5.5% last year, according to the Beverage Industry 2008 Soft Drink Report. Sprite dropped 9.2%, Pepsi-Cola was down 8.9% and Mountain Dew declined 3.1%

The growing popularity of bottled water and other drinks is one reason for the decline of sweet carbonated drinks. But shoppers say drinks made with sugar cane just taste better.

"It has a crisper flavor, not as cloying. I think it is a better-flavored drink," said Charlie Howell, who periodically finds cane-sugar-sweetened Coca-Cola imported from Mexico at the Costco in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles.

The shift in consumer taste and uncertainty about high fructose corn sweetener is apparent to John Nese, owner of the Galco's Soda Pop Shop, a 10,000-square-foot soft drink emporium in Highland Park. "Our sales are up 20%."

"There's just a lot more awareness about high fructose corn syrup among the public, and once people taste a soda flavored with cane sugar they like it better," he said.

Nese sells 500 different soft drinks, including cane-sugar Coca-Cola, Dad's root beer and Nesbitt's orange soda, an 80-year-old Los Angeles brand.

His Coke comes from Mexico through a third-party supplier. Mexican bottlers still use cane sugar because the crop is plentiful in Latin America. They also do not have to contend with U.S. trade barriers that drive up the price of cane sugar imports.

Soda makers are also reacting to the trend. Hansen abandoned corn syrup last year, when a third of the calls to its customer service center were from consumers objecting to the sweetener, said Gregg Arends, vice president of marketing for Corona-based Hansen Natural Corp. Natural foods retailers had complained about the same issue for years, and some threatened "to kick Hansen's out," Arends said.

It took the beverage company the better part of a year to make the switch because of the difficulty in reformulating the drinks to maintain the same flavor profiles. It's only been in the last few months that the cane sugar soda has been widely distributed.

Most research about the nation's collective fatness blames calorie intake and couch potato sloth, rather than any sweetener.

Some scientific research points to adverse health effects from fructose, a type of sugar that makes up 55% of the sweetener in soft drinks with corn syrup. Although chemically different, cane sugar is half-fructose.

Whether that extra shot of fructose is any worse than identically caloric soda pop made with cane sugar isn't clear, said Dr. Peter Havel, a UC Davis nutrition expert who is launching a National Institutes of Health study that will look at the effects of fructose.

"This is really an area that needs further study," Havel said.

Still, angst over high fructose corn syrup has taken a toll on the business.

Annual per-capita consumption of the sweetener in the United States peaked at 63.7 pounds in 1999. But it has dropped steadily since then and stood at 56.3 pounds in 2007, 12% off its peak. That's the lowest consumption level since 1994.

Cane sugar consumption also has dropped during the period, but by a smaller 6% and now is at 62.1 pounds.

Beverage makers started the switch to high fructose corn syrup in the 1980s because it's less expensive than sugar, decays less quickly, and is easier to transport and mix into formulas. Even with the recent increase in corn prices, it is still less expensive to use corn syrup than sugar.

The big beverage makers aren't likely to spend money on retooling to go back to sugar, said beverage consultant Tom Pirko.

Some shoppers say they don't want to consume the sweetener but don't have time to worry about it.

"I'm aware that edibles would be healthier -- and probably taste more natural -- without the addition of corn syrup or that high fructose junk," said Michele Mooney of Van Nuys.

"But I don't look for that ingredient when I purchase foods mostly because the labels are too long, the ingredients too numerous, the print too small and the chemicals too frightening."

jerry.hirsch@latimes.com

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Settlement will reduce carcinogens in potato chips

2008-08-03T00:41:00.001-07:00

http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/food/1087869,chips080208.article#

LOS ANGELES---- Snack lovers, rejoice: Munching on potato chips just got a little healthier.

Four food manufacturers agreed to reduce levels of a cancer-causing chemical in their potato chips and french fries under a settlement announced Friday by the state attorney general's office.

The companies avoided trial by agreeing to pay a combined $3 million in fines and reduce the levels of acrylamide in their products over three years, officials said.

''Other companies should follow this lead,'' Attorney General Jerry Brown said, calling the settlement ''a victory for public health.''

Acrylamide forms naturally when starchy foods are baked or fried. Studies have shown the chemical, which also has industrial uses, causes cancer in lab animals and nerve damage to workers who are exposed to high levels. The Food and Drug Administration is researching whether acrylamide in food poses a health risk.

''Everybody's trying to figure out how to lower levels (of acrylamide) without significantly, adversely affecting taste,'' said Michele Corish, an attorney for Lance, which produces Cape Cod chips.

Corish said the modified snacks will be available nationwide. Messages left with the other three companies were not immediately returned Friday night.

The attorney general's office said the levels of acrylamide in most Cape Cod chips are already near the compliance level as defined by the settlement. However, Brown said Cape Cod Robust Russets contain 25 times the acceptable amount.

Corish said ''Robust Russets'' chips are no longer being sold.

According to the terms of the settlement, Frito-Lay, which is owned by PepsiCo Inc. and produces most of the chips sold in California, will pay $1.5 million and chip-maker Kettle Foods will pay $350,000 in penalties. Heinz, which produces frozen fries and tater tots, agreed to pay $600,000. Lance will pay $95,000.

The state also sued McDonald's Corp.; Wendy's International Inc.; Burger King Corp.; KFC, a subsidiary of Yum Brands Inc.; and Procter & Gamble Co. over acrylamide levels in 2005. Those lawsuits were settled after the companies agreed to either properly label their products or lower levels of the chemical.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

U.S. probe into salmonella outbreak criticized

2008-08-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/01/MN55123I43.DTL&tsp=1

Two days of congressional hearings this week into the nation's largest salmonella outbreak in a decade revealed a Keystone Kops government investigation that spanned more than two months and stretched from a false alarm about U.S. tomatoes to suspicions about peppers from Mexico.

State health officials and growers slammed federal officials for refusing to ask for help or use common sense.

Growers in California and Florida, reeling from losses for a contamination they had nothing to do with, want an investigation of the investigation. Testy federal officials claimed mom-and-pop operations left messy paper trails that slowed their work. The Centers for Disease Control refused to exonerate tomatoes, one of the most common foods in the U.S. diet, but the Food and Drug Administration said tomatoes now are safe to eat.

One thing is clear: The sprawling U.S. food chain, now delivering a billion meals a day every day, is no stronger than its weakest link. And there are plenty of weak links.

"The one great certainty," said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research at the University of Minnesota, "is that there will be a next time, and it could be as soon as tomorrow."

The exact source of the outbreak is still unclear. The rare Saintpaul strain of salmonella has sickened 1,304 people, although many more probably were affected. More than 250 were hospitalized, and two, an elderly man and a cancer patient, died. The outbreak has slowed, but the investigation continues, focusing now on serrano and jalapeno peppers from two widely separated farms in Mexico.

Federal officials said they do not know where the contamination occurred, although they are warning consumers to avoid Mexican-grown jalapeno and serrano peppers.

The peppers that traveled from Mexico to 43 states and Canada, picking up salmonella somewhere along the way, are the latest in a string of produce-related outbreaks, including a rare and lethal E. coli pathogen that devastated California's spinach industry two years ago.

Imports of fresh fruits and vegetables are soaring as consumers demand fresh produce year round. Much of those imports come from poorer countries where not all farms meet high sanitation standards.

15% of food imported
Food imports have risen 40 percent in the last decade, now making up 15 percent of the U.S. food supply, including 60 percent of fruits and vegetables and 80 percent of seafood, according to industry statistics. California is the nation's biggest producer of fresh produce.

William Hubbard, a former associate FDA commissioner, testified that the agency's investigative staff has fallen even as the number of food-borne illness outbreaks has doubled. Outbreaks now average 350 a year, he said, up from 100 in the early 1990s. The FDA can inspect the 120,000 U.S. food-processing facilities only once a decade, he said, and the 200,000 foreign facilities exporting food to the United States "are almost never inspected by the FDA."

A typical American meal, said Tennessee's top epidemiologist, Timothy Jones, includes foods from six countries. "Fresh produce travels a mean of 1,500 miles to get to our plates," Jones said. "Feedlots can hold 300,000 head of cattle. Outbreaks involving several hundred victims no longer shock us."

Fruits and vegetables are essential to a healthy diet yet are vulnerable to contamination by pathogens common in soil, carried in water and harbored in the fecal matter of birds, reptiles and mammals, including humans. Many produce items are picked by hand and transferred many times before reaching their final destination. Often that is the home kitchen, where studies have found the average dish sponge has more germs than a toilet.

Patchwork of agencies
Government regulators are sprawled across dozens of federal, state and local agencies. The top U.S. regulator, the Food and Drug Administration, according to testimony, could be the least capable. The Department of Agriculture is responsible for 20 percent of the food supply, mainly meat and poultry, but has many more investigators than the FDA, which oversees 80 percent of the food supply.

The FDA relies mainly on border inspections to prevent contaminated imports but inspects just 1 percent of imports and conducts analyses on just 0.2 percent, according to congressional testimony.

Food-borne contaminations go far beyond high-profile outbreaks. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 76 million Americans get sick every year from food contamination, 325,000 are hospitalized, and 5,000 die. Most do not know they have food poisoning; outbreaks are noticed only when a patient seeks medical attention and the doctor orders the right diagnostic tests.

State health officials and growers faulted both agencies in the salmonella investigation for such things as blaming Florida tomatoes when only three of 18 million Floridians got sick and most of the illnesses were in Texas and New Mexico. They also said federal investigators at the two agencies failed to tap a wealth of state and industry information, and did not share what they knew with those who might have helped them, prolonging the investigation and the collateral damage.

States' help not sought
"Unfortunately, if FDA chooses to limit the information they share with states, we are likewise limited in how useful our assistance will be to them," said Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson. "FDA failed to ask states to provide them with information we now know they needed, and we had no way of knowing what kind of data that was without them telling us."

The FDA associate commissioner for foods, Dr. David Acheson, faulted poor industry record keeping, especially at mom-and-pop operations, for slowing the agency's ability to trace back the source of the contamination.

Ed Beckman, president of California Tomato Farmers, said a random test for congressional investigators at a Sacramento Jack in the Box found the source of its tomatoes in 35 minutes. Another random test hatched over lunch at a Subway sandwich shop on Capitol Hill tracked tomatoes to Virginia's Eastern Shore in less than four hours.

Florida and California have so-called trace-back systems in place to allow quick identification of produce.

FDA's Acheson said the investigation process "is what it is. It worked. It was just slow."

Farmers seek recompense
Tomato growers are demanding compensation from Congress, with estimates above $100 million. Asked to exonerate tomatoes, Acheson said with some pique that the FDA has all but done so, but cannot overturn findings from the Centers for Disease Control, whose surveys of consumers pointed to tomatoes. The Centers' King responded, "We respectfully disagree that tomatoes weren't involved."

Minnesota health officials finally pinpointed the peppers in their own investigation, which took less than two weeks.

Mexican farm pegged as source of U.S. salmonella cases

2008-07-30T22:53:00.000-07:00

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/health/stories/2008/07/30/salmonella_mexican_peppers.html

Washington — The outbreak of salmonella poisoning that sickened more than 1,300 people across the country and cost American tomato growers more than $300 million has been traced to irrigation water and peppers grown on a farm in Mexico, federal officials said Wednesday. But they refused to completely clear tomatoes as carriers of the bacteria.

"Now we have a smoking gun, it appears," said Lonnie King, who directs investigations of food-borne illnesses at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

House members scolded the CDC and FDA for taking so long to find the salmonella source and for hurting U.S. growers.

David Acheson, the head of food safety at the Food and Drug Administration, said the strain of salmonella Saintpaul that caused the nationwide outbreak has been found in irrigation water and serrano peppers on a Mexican farm. Earlier, a single contaminated jalapeno pepper had been traced to the Mexican grower.

Consumers should not eat jalapeno and serrano peppers imported from Mexico, Acheson told the Horticulture and Organic Agriculture Subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee.

Members questioned Acheson and King sharply about why it has taken since May to track down the source of the food poisoning and whether they were mistaken all along in associating the illness with tomatoes.

The warning from the federal agencies led to a mass removal of tomatoes from grocery market bins and restaurant menus and cost the industry more than $300 million, said subcommittee chairman Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.). He asked Acheson if a single contaminated tomato was ever found.

"No," Acheson said.

But he would not clear tomatoes, saying the fruit, as well as jalapeno and serrano peppers, were grown on the Mexican farm in the state of Tamaulipas with contaminated irrigation water. In addition, he said, tomatoes were processed through the same packing center in Nuevo Leon, Mexico, so it is "plausible" that some of the illnesses were caused by contaminated tomatoes.

King said the CDC's first series of interviews "indicated raw tomatoes were the most commonly consumed food item — reported by 84 percent of ill persons — leading to the hypothesis that they were a possible source of the illnesses."

On July 21, however, a genetic match with the salmonella Saintpaul was found in a jalapeno pepper. And now another type of pepper has been implicated. But the officials still wouldn't admit that their agencies had been wrong on tomatoes.

"It appears likely that more than one food vehicle is involved," said King. "The outbreak appears to be ongoing, but with fewer new illnesses each day."

Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-Fla.) told the officials that tomato growers in Florida had lost $47 million because of the federal warning.

"You understand that crop insurance doesn't cover this," he said pointedly.

The CDC and FDA were criticized by members from both political parties.

"This incident demonstrated that our governing food safety authorities are outdated and must be reformed," said Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla.). He said the agencies are not protecting consumers and hurting growers with their blanket warnings and slow "tracebacks."

"Despite the fact that nearly all spinach was harmless in 2006, and the vast majority of jalapenos are probably safe now, and the distinct possibility that not a single tomato was ever contaminated, growers and distributors suffered catastrophic losses," said Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.).

The fact that it took more than two months and more than 1,300 illnesses to trace the cause of the outbreak "is extremely troubling," especially considering the attention and funds focused on the process under the Bioterrorism Act, said Cardoza, the subcommittee chairman.

"Clearly serious flaws continue to exist in the methodology used by some states to collect primary epidemiological data," he said. "Furthermore, the process used by the CDC to verify and refine the collected data calls into serious question the effectiveness of communications between the states, CDC and FDA."

King said some states do get data to the CDC faster than others. In half these cases, he said, it took more than 16 days from the time the person fell ill to the time the DNA footprint of their salmonella was added to the PulseNet database used by the CDC and states.

And in this case, the suspected foods are often eaten together — tomatoes and peppers are both part of many salsa and guacamole recipes, he noted.

When fresh produce is suspected as the source, he said, there is none left around to test for contamination, as there would be for frozen or processed foods.

He said this has been the nation's largest food-borne outbreak of salmonella investigation in a decade and was "especially complex, difficult and prolonged."

FDA warns against eating lobster liver

2008-07-30T09:40:00.001-07:00

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jJCB3jCj46AXmkHWoyW95rQqObnQD9273AL84

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government warned consumers Monday not to eat the soft, green substance found in the body cavity of lobsters, saying it may be contaminated with a toxin.

It's still OK to eat the white lobster meat found in the claws and tails of the undersea delicacy, but the green stuff that most diners already avoid should definitely be discarded this year, said the Food and Drug Administration. Known also as tomalley, the substance acts as the liver and pancreas of the lobster.

A red tide — or algae bloom — ranging from Northern New England to Canada this year has contaminated fishing grounds with high levels of toxins that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning. The federal warning follows similar advisories from public health authorities in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Canada.

The warning applies to American lobster, also known as Maine lobster, which is harvested in Atlantic waters from Canada to South Carolina.

Cooking does not eliminate the toxins, but studies have shown that even when high levels are present in the tomalley, lobster meat is usually not affected, the FDA said.

Symptoms of paralytic shell fish poisoning usually appear within two hours of exposure. They include tingling and numbness of the mouth, face or neck, muscle weakness, headache and nausea. Anyone who suffers such symptoms should see a doctor, the FDA said. In rare cases, people who consume a large amount of toxin can suffer respiratory failure and death.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Putting the squeeze on produce to kill germs

2008-07-29T03:58:00.000-07:00

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jxbyOeE1GGcs6O7cNNPk8eTgKM5QD92702SG0

WASHINGTON (AP) — Could food producers literally squeeze the salmonella out of a jalapeno? Or zap the E. coli from lettuce without it going limp?

Headline-grabbing food poisonings from raw foods are prompting new interest in technology — from super-high pressure to irradiation — to get rid of some of the bugs. It won't be a panacea: Far better to prevent contamination on the farm than to try to get rid of it later.

"This is never an excuse for a dirty product," warns University of Minnesota infectious disease specialist Michael Osterholm.

But it's impossible to prevent all contamination in open fields. And increasingly popular ready-to-eat foods — salads already washed and bagged, fruit peeled and sliced — allow another processing step where a single slip-up can introduce pathogens.

Washing, even with chlorine or other chemicals, only gets rid of surface contaminants, not germs that sneak inside the fruit or vegetable. Enter high-tech options.

At a Virginia Tech laboratory this summer, food scientists subjected small grape tomatoes to what's called "high pressure processing" to see if they could squeeze salmonella to death.

It's been known for decades that massive pressure — the equivalent of two African elephants standing on a dime is how Tech microbiologist Robert Williams puts it — can destroy certain pathogens. The question is how to kill the bugs without smushing the food they're in.

Key is to choose a water-packed food with few air pockets. Put it in a container of water and apply pressure evenly to all sides. Air pockets will collapse but waterlogged tissue is more resistant.

Grape tomatoes emerged fine, says Tech food scientist George Flick.

But bigger beefsteak-style tomatoes cracked under the pressure. There's more air inside the regular tomatoes than their tiny cousins.

Foods treated by high-pressure processing, or HPP, already are on the market — particularly raw oysters treated to kill the vibrio germs that proliferate in warmer waters, and processed meats treated to kill dangerous listeria.

For more delicate raw produce, sliced fruits and vegetables seem to be HPP's main niche, says Errol Raghubeer of Avure Technologies, the Kent, Wash.-based company that makes high-pressure food processing equipment sold under the trade name "Fresher Under Pressure."

First on the market: Sliced avocadoes and guacamole, when companies realized that HPP treatment killed spoilage germs that rapidly turned cut avocadoes brown, thus extending the products' shelf life.

Whole large tomatoes don't fare well but diced ones can if they're processed in certain ways, Raghubeer says — and a number of HPP-treated salsas are hitting the market.

Also arriving are ready-to-assemble fajita meal kits with little bags of HPP-treated fresh, sliced jalapenos. Raw jalapenos have become the prime suspect in the nationwide salmonella outbreak that sickened more than 1,200 people this summer.

A whole jalapeno goes limp when HPP treated because of its hollow center, but diced jalapenos emerge just as crisp, says Raghubeer.

Simple physics is behind high-pressure processing. A different approach under consideration by the Food and Drug Administration is irradiation, zapping fruits and vegetables with enough electron beams or other radiation to kill germs.

Irradiated meat has been around for years; it's considered particularly useful in the ground beef that is a favorite hiding spot for E. coli. And while irradiated foods initially caused some consumer concern, government scientists make clear that the food itself harbors no radiation.

But early on, irradiation left lettuce and spinach limp and made tomatoes mushy. That's changed, says Minnesota's Osterholm: "It's like talking about the TV sets of the 1970s versus flat screens of today," he says of improved irradiation delivery.

In studies of bagged salads, tailored irradiation doses killed E. coli on nine different types of lettuces without harming the texture, or affecting the taste of accompanying ingredients like tomatoes and cucumbers, says Jeffrey Barach, director of the Grocery Manufacturers Association's food laboratory. Killing salmonella takes a little more energy, so producers would customize the beam to the need.

Barach's trade association has petitioned the FDA to allow the irradiation levels, somewhat lower than meat requires, for produce pathogen and other ready-to-eat foods, and hopes for approval by year's end.

Both high-tech options add to foods' cost, meaning they'd always be something of a niche product. But parts of the population are particularly vulnerable to food poisoning because of age or health conditions, a natural market.

Enough to make you sick: Most imports not inspected

2008-07-27T02:40:00.000-07:00

http://www.reporternews.com/news/2008/jul/26/enough-to-make-you-sick-most-imports-not/

From spinach to tomatoes, every few years a new food-related health concern sends government officials and private individuals scurrying for solutions.

A 2007 poll by consumer group Trust For America's Health found that 67 percent of Americans are worried about food safety -- ranked higher than concerns about pandemic flu, biological or chemical terrorism, and natural disasters.

And there is cause for concern. About 76 million Americans -- one in four -- are sickened by food-borne illnesses every year, according to the organization.

Much attention in investigations such as the recent salmonella outbreak is given to the quality and standards of imported foods, which make up 15 percent of food consumed in the United States.

Each year the average American eats about 260 pounds of imported foods, The Associated Press reported in 2007.

But only about 1 percent of imported foods the Food and Drug Administration oversees -- including fruits and vegetables -- is inspected, according to Trust for America's Health.

An estimated 85 percent of known food-borne illness outbreaks are associated with FDA-regulated food products, compared with 15 percent of such outbreaks being associated with meat, poultry and eggs -- items regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service.

"We need to recognize that Americans are getting 13 to 15 percent of their diet from imported food products," said Sarah Klein, staff attorney with the Center for Science in the Public Interest's food safety program.

"When you think about how much that is, and how little the FDA is inspecting, it is somewhat alarming."

The FDA regulates $417 billion worth of domestic food and $49 billion worth of imported food each year, according to its Web site. Questions sent to the FDA were not immediately answered.

The organization has been systematically stripped of the funding it needs to adequately oversee food safety, Klein said.

The FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition has lost 20 percent of its science staff and about 600 inspectors in the past three years, according to TFAH's April 2008 report, "Fixing Food Safety: Protecting America's Food Supply From Farm-to-Fork."

The organization has 1,700 field inspectors, versus 7,600 for the USDA, and the FDA's budget for fiscal year 2007 was $563 million, versus the USDA's $1.02 billion.

Patty Lovera, assistant director for consumer group Food & Water Watch, said that while for years her group has focused on the USDA, the FDA is responsible for much more of the U.S. food supply, both imported and exported.

"We have a split system, and many people are shocked when they realize how much the FDA doesn't do," she said. "Many more people are familiar with the concept that the USDA is in there. That's their legal mandate -- to be in the plants."

The FDA relies solely on point-of-entry inspections of imported food. The USDA, on the other hand, works with the importing establishments' governments to verify that other countries' regulatory systems for meat, poultry and egg products are equivalent to that of the U.S. and that products entering the U.S. are safe.

The FDA's inspection requirements are company-specific, meaning companies must register with the FDA before importing food products.

The USDA is in many ways "doing a much better job than the FDA," but the organization also imports fewer products and has more resources, Klein said.

The United States Department of Agriculture inspected about 16 percent of imported foods in fiscal 2006, The Associated Press reported last year.

Inherent difficulties

There are inherent difficulties in dealing with any agricultural products from other nations, Lovera said.

"If you're talking about things like salmonella in produce, chances are you're talking about something that was spread through contaminated water," she said. "That's an example of a challenge in other countries."

Items such as fish have an enormous number of challenges, including being kept at the proper temperature.

"There are logistical issues in just moving some of this stuff around the planet and keeping it at the temperature it needs to be," she said.

"There are so many things that can go wrong."

The FDA import model is one of voluntary guidance, she said.

"They tell the industry, 'Here are our suggestions for how to do things safely,'" Lovera said. "When it comes to the inspection resources they have and the size of the industry they're supposed to be regulating, they're just really outgunned."

But according to a 2007 U.S. Government Accountability Office report, federal oversight of food is in general fragmented, with 15 agencies collectively administrating at least 30 laws related to food safety.

"None of those agencies has ultimate authority or responsibility, so accountability for the total system is limited," according to TFAH's April report. "No one person in the federal government has the oversight and accountability for carrying out comprehensive, preventive strategies for reducing food-borne illness," the report says.

America's food safety system includes the government, which ideally serves as a regulatory agency, and the food industry, which produces, processes, distributes and sells food, according to the report, which said that most producers take safety seriously. Historically, innovations in food safety come from within the industry.

The FDA does not have the authority, in this country or elsewhere, to take an overly active role, Klein said. The FDA has had problems with tainted imports including pet foods, seafood and produce in recent years, she said.

"One of the things we saw during the pet food outbreak last year was that the FDA had to basically make a request to China to go inspect facilities that had been importing tainted wheat glutens," Klein said. "We'd like to see the FDA go over and certify these systems before they accept product from them."

While much attention is paid to potential overseas problems, domestic outbreaks can be just as deadly and hard to track, Lovera said.

Two years ago, a domestic E. coli outbreak in spinach made people in "almost the entire country sick" from something that happened in one county in California, she said.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest wants a comprehensive traceability system, similar to tracking systems used by shipping businesses such as UPS, Klein said.

"When you mail a package, you're given a bar code that allows you to go online and track your package," Klein said.

"It will show you that your package went from the UPS center where you dropped it off to the distribution center where it was sorted to an airplane, where it was sent to another distribution center and sorted again."

In CSPI's vision, a farmer would affix a label to an item of produce, similar to stickers already seen on foods at some supermarkets.

"We're just saying, why don't we do a standardized number?" she said. "On that sticker would be a number that stays with that commodity whether it was repacked, what kind of packing house or distribution it went through, so that in the event of an outbreak like the one we're experiencing now, the FDA would be able to track it right back to its source."

Jaydee Hanson, policy analyst at the Center for Food Safety, said some have proposed other solutions such as laser-inscribed tattoos on the skins of fruits.

But determining who should run such a tracking program is difficult, Lovera said.

"We think it should not be an industry-run system," she said. "We need more than what we have now, I think we're living through an example of that. But right now, I don't think that just a traceability system is all we need to do. That's a system for dealing with a problem, and we would also like to put as much energy into preventing problems."

Ideally, government agencies should implement farm-to-fork tracking to prevent drawn-out searches for the source of tainted goods when it happens, while trying to create better practices to ensure safety before the food reaches them, Klein said.

In 2004 the FDA came up with what Hanson called a good food safety strategy but didn't ask Congress for the money to implement it.

"The FDA has come up with some good designs, but it hasn't asked Congress for the resources to build the house," he said.

The Bush Administration released its Import Safety Action Plan in November. The Plan is integrated with the FDA's Food Protection Plan, also released in November, according to the TFAH report.

"The Food Protection Plan discusses the need to build safety into the entire food supply chain -- including imported foods," according to the report.

The plan directs the FDA to "work with foreign governments, which have a greater ability to oversee manufacturers within their borders to ensure compliance with safety standards."

Hanson said the FDA has announced intentions to open offices this year in Latin America, India and China, which he called a good step.

It is essential to stress that the United States wants food that meets its higher standards, he said.

"If China, India and Mexico want to export to us, then let them pay to meet our standards," Hanson said.

Young people cultivate a community through food

2008-07-26T02:27:00.000-07:00

http://www.mercurynews.com/lifeandstyleheadlines/ci_9998306

Mark Anthony Medeiros was looking for a little patch of earth to grow a few vegetables to freshen up his college-student diet.

When he couldn't snag a plot in a local community garden, Madeiros put up some fliers in the Naglee Park neighborhood just east of San Jose State University, offering to create and tend gardens for homeowners in return for a share of the bounty.

The response was so enthusiastic — he heard from more than a dozen people offering space on their properties — that he recruited other San Jose State students to join the "Veggielution Urban Farming Project." Within a year, the volunteer group had four gardens in production.

This spring, they scaled back to just two so they could concentrate their efforts on an even more ambitious undertaking: a one-third acre farm at Emma Prusch Farm Park in East San Jose.

"We're educating ourselves about growing, but also are building a community around food," says Medeiros, 23. "There are few outlets for people our age to have this kind of activity. It's not part of most young people's experience to grow their own food."

Along the way, Medeiros and his tribe are sowing the seeds of a new sort of community devoted to empowering youth, promoting sustainability and eating and distributing locally-grown food.

These young people are at the vanguard of the locavore movement that is taking hold across the country — and which has its roots in the Bay Area.
Locavores advocate eating fresh foods produced close to home.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs, where subscribers receive weekly deliveries of fresh fruits and vegetables direct from growers, are becoming increasingly popular. Community garden plots have long waiting lists — even San Jose's newest, which won't open until this fall at Guadalupe Gardens, is already oversubscribed.

San Francisco is encouraging residents to plant edibles in postage-stamp city gardens as part of Victory Gardens 2008+. So-called "guerrilla gardeners" are digging plots in vacant lots, public and private, in cities all around the bay. An organic garden will be built near San Francisco City Hall as a part of the Slow Food Nation event in September.

A business called MyFarm in San Francisco can be hired to come install and maintain a garden, including a compost bin on site.

Even Sunset magazine has turned a big chunk of its expansive Menlo Park campus into a food-producing test garden and is featuring its "One Block Feast" — where everything on the menu was grown or produced on the property — in its August issue.

Amie Frisch, a recent San Jose State grad who is the project director for Veggielution, calls it a "perfect storm."

"People are afraid of their food," says Frisch, 25, citing food safety issues fueled by tainted spinach and suspect tomatoes in the nation's food supply.

Health-conscious consumers are increasingly wary of commercially grown produce and weary of paying high prices for foods that are grown far away and trucked to market in gas-guzzling semi trucks. And the country's obesity epidemic is causing people to be more conscious of eating fresh, healthy foods.

For Frisch and Medeiros, the Veggielution project is about more than just the joy of harvesting fresh produce to consume and share with others.

"A few of us are committed and we're confident there will be others," Medeiros says of the organic nature in which Veggielution has evolved. "Things just started happening, and the resources have come to us."

Work began in earnest at Prusch in April, when a dogged team of volunteers began the labor-intensive double-digging of the plot of land provided by the Prusch Farm Park Foundation. The city donated a small mountain of compost to amend the beds.

The group got some help planning and troubleshooting the irrigation system from Curtis Horticulture, a San Jose company.

The warm-season crops were planted in April. The Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County donated hundreds of tomato seedlings left over from its big Spring Garden Market. Payless Nursery provided pepper seedlings. Other veggies and fruits — including zucchini, corn, beans and watermelons — were started from seed.

The volunteers also have been given the gift of advice from experienced gardeners, including Walt Davis, who runs the Cornucopia Community Garden, one of two such gardens at Prusch, and various Master Gardeners. Guidance also has come from the staff and volunteers at Full Circle Farm in Sunnyvale, a new 11-acre organic, educational farm in Sunnyvale that is producing fresh food for Santa Clara Unified School District cafeterias. Frisch works at the farm as its volunteer coordinator on an AmeriCorps stipend.

Most of the Prusch harvest so far this summer — cucumbers, peppers and a boatload of zucchinis — has been donated to Martha's Kitchen, a San Jose food pantry that serves low-income residents; some has been sold to Good Karma Vegan House, a downtown restaurant.

On a recent sweltering Sunday, Ryan Smith, 25, was helping corral some of the 230 tomato plants by stringing twine between pieces of angle iron that mark the four-foot rows. It was his first time volunteering in the garden, although he had visited previously with the young teens he supervises in the Summer of Service program offered through the Children's Discovery Museum.

"The kids come out here every other week, and it's one of their favorite sites to visit," Smith says. "I like the idea of growing organic, sustainable food. And it's fun being around people with similar interests."

Judy Nguyen, 22, works two jobs — in a dental office and at a pasta restaurant — but makes time to get her hands dirty in the garden. "I'm learning so much," she says.

It's a pretty place to work, once you get past the constant drone of noise from the nearby freeways. There's an umbrella-topped picnic table laden with fresh fruit and water that beckons the volunteers to take a break from the heat.

Sunflowers and vining plants surround the perimeter of the plot and soften the chain-link fence that was built to keep out the park's voracious chickens and guinea hens. Sometimes, Frisch says, truck drivers will honk out greetings as they pass overhead on the 101-to-680 connector ramp.

Medeiros, who will be a senior at San Jose State this fall studying sociology "with an emphasis on community change," says the group is "finding a lot of support for what we're doing."

Besides continuing a good relationship with the foundation at Prusch, Medeiros, Frisch and others are looking into grants and talking about partnerships with the university.

Sharon McCray, president of the Prusch Farm Park Foundation, says the board is "thrilled" with the Veggielution project.

"These young people have inspired these old people," McCray says with a smile. "They are learning a lot. We are learning a lot. It has been a pleasure to mentor them through this, but they have been incredibly resourceful with grants. We have not babysat them at all."

And Medeiros, who has joined the Prusch foundation board, is thinking big.

"A 10- to 15-acre farm is not impossible," he says.

FDA: Avoid jalapenos from Mexico, not US

2008-07-26T02:12:00.001-07:00

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jFyDyMJjsAW0XxBNGpIldKhhToOgD9253CA00

By LAURAN NEERGAARD

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government is narrowing its warning to hot pepper lovers, saying only Mexican-grown jalapenos now are linked to the nationwide salmonella outbreak — clearing the U.S. crop.

Food and Drug Administration inspectors are on a large Mexican farm that grew a pepper discovered in a Texas warehouse that was tainted with the same strain of the bacteria. They're trying to determine where that farm distributed its peppers, to see if it harvested enough to be responsible for an outbreak that has sickened nearly 1,300 people and counting.

Tomatoes were an initial suspect and health officials still haven't exonerated them from causing illnesses when the outbreak first began in April. But those on the market now are safe to eat.

EPA Acts To Reduce Toxic Pesticide -- Carbofuran -- Residue In Food

2008-07-25T12:19:00.000-07:00

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080725080827.htm

ScienceDaily (July 25, 2008) — Due to considerable risks associated with the pesticide carbofuran in food and drinking water, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is revoking the regulations that allow carbofuran residues in food.

Carbofuran is used to control insects in a wide variety of crops, including soybeans, potatoes and corn. It is a systemic insecticide, which means that the plant absorbs it through the roots, distributing it primarily to vessels, stems and leaves.

Even though carbofuran is used on a small percentage of the U.S. food supply and therefore the likelihood of exposure through food is low, EPA has identified risks that do not meet the EPA food safety standards.

Carbofuran is also known to be highly toxic to birds. EPA is proceeding on the path toward cancellation of the pesticide registration, which will address the risks to pesticide applicators and birds in treated fields.

As part of this effort, EPA is also releasing its response to the peer review conducted by the independent Scientific Advisory Panel and the agency's response to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's comments on the effect of the cancellation of carbofuran on the agricultural economy.

Food industry bitten by its lobbying success

2008-07-25T12:16:00.000-07:00

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iVHt-zqI9SBYX7gUbzPTug-Ns3ewD924VCTG0

WASHINGTON (AP) — One of the worst outbreaks of foodborne illness in the U.S. is teaching the food industry the truth of the adage, "Be careful what you wish for because you might get it."

The industry pressured the Bush administration years ago to limit the paperwork companies would have to keep to help U.S. health investigators quickly trace produce that sickens consumers, according to interviews and government reports reviewed by The Associated Press.

The White House also killed a plan to require the industry to maintain electronic tracking records that could be reviewed easily during a crisis to search for an outbreak's source. Companies complained the proposals were too burdensome and costly, and warned they could disrupt the availability of consumers' favorite foods.

The apparent but unintended consequences of the lobbying success: a paper record-keeping system that has slowed investigators, with estimated business losses of $250 million. So far, nearly 1,300 people in 43 states, the District of Columbia and Canada have been sickened by salmonella since April.

Investigators initially focused on tomatoes as a culprit. Now they are turning attention to jalapeno peppers.

A former member of Bush's Cabinet and three former senior officials in the Food and Drug Administration told the AP that government food safety experts did not get the strong record-keeping and trace-back system originally proposed under a bioterrorism law to cope with a major foodborne illness.

"In retrospect, yes, if they (the regulations) had been broader and a bit more far-reaching, it could have helped with this," said Robert Brackett, senior vice president of the Grocery Manufacturers Association. "It wouldn't have hurt, for sure." Brackett formerly was a top safety official at the FDA.

Under pressure in 2003 and 2004, the White House agreed to dilute record-keeping proposals by FDA safety experts.

"If the FDA had been given the resources and authority years ago that it asked for to solve these kinds of problems, I think we would have solved this already," said William Hubbard, a former FDA associate commissioner.

Tommy Thompson, who was health secretary during the industry's lobbying campaign, acknowledged that a more robust food-tracking system — opposed by business groups as too expensive — could have helped stem the current illnesses and business losses.

"We went in with the larger package but knew we had to compromise," Thompson told the AP. "I was satisfied with this being the first step. It's always better to be a Monday morning quarterback. We could have ended up with nothing. If we had more, would it help the situation now? Yes."

According to government records reviewed by the AP, business groups met at least 10 times with the White House between March 2003 and March 2004, as the FDA regulations were under debate. Food industry lobbyists successfully blunted proposals using arguments familiar in other regulatory debates: The government's plans would saddle business with unnecessary and costly regulations.

"The FDA's strong proposed bioterrorism rules were significantly watered down before they became final," said Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director at the Washington-based Center for Science in the Public Interest. The private advocacy group obtained the White House meeting records under the Freedom of Information Act and provided them to the AP.

Participants in the meetings included companies and trade groups up and down the food chain, including Altria Group Inc. and Kraft Foods Inc., when Altria was Kraft's parent; The Kroger Co.; Safeway Inc.; ConAgra Foods Inc.; The Procter & Gamble Co.; the American Forest and Paper Association; the Polystyrene Packaging Council; the Glass Packaging Institute; the Cocoa Merchants' Association of America; the World Shipping Council; and the Food Marketing Institute.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association spent $2.6 million on lobbing in 2003 and 2004, the period when the FDA rules were under consideration, according to federal lobbying records. The Food Marketing Institute spent $1.7 million during the period. The figures were for all lobbying by the trade groups and on their behalf.

The grocery group complained during the comment period that the FDA was overstepping authority that Congress had granted under the new bioterrorism law. It said the FDA wanted a "cradle-to-grave record-keeping system" to track every morsel of food delivered to every retail grocery shelf and said more tracking information does not always produce a better result.

The marketing institute said a proposed tracking system as envisioned by the FDA "would be exorbitantly costly."

The food industry now says it will agree to a better tracing system operated by the government, as long as the industry can advise how to design it.

"We support the government requiring industry to have traceability systems that are effective and work," said Jill Hollingsworth, group vice president for food safety programs at the marketing institute. "But industry has to come up with a system that follows products throughout the food chain."

The FDA official in charge of the current salmonella investigation, David Acheson, said the agency slowly is reviewing paper records to help trace tainted produce. But Acheson disputed arguments that an electronic records system would necessarily have helped investigators.

"We still haven't managed to figure out this outbreak," he said in an interview days before the case's biggest break — discovery of a tainted Mexican-grown jalapeno in a southern Texas warehouse.

The White House Office of Management and Budget defended its meetings with food industry groups in 2003 and 2004, saying it regularly meets with companies and individuals with a stake in proposed government rules.

"Our door is open for anyone — from non-profits, industry representatives to individual citizens — who request meetings on regulations," OMB spokeswoman Jane Lee said. "These are listening sessions in conjunction with personnel from the regulating agency and we publicly post these meetings online."
On the Net:

* Food and Drug Administration: http://www.fda.gov
* OMB link to meetings: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/oira/0910/meetings.html

Food Safety Advocate William Marler Calls for Public Meat Inspection Records

2008-07-25T12:13:00.000-07:00

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/food-safety-advocate-william-marler/story.aspx?guid={B22E4426-CC83-49C5-94CF-78786B4EBFBC}&dist=hppr

SEATTLE, Jul 25, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Food safety advocate and attorney William Marler is calling on the Meat Industry and the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) to make the inspection reports from meat processing facilities visible and easily available to the public so that consumers -- including grocery stores and restaurants -- can make informed choices on which products they want to purchase.
"During the last decade, the number of city and state health departments that post restaurant inspection results online has increased significantly," said Marler from his office in Seattle. "Moreover, in places like Los Angeles County, all restaurants regularly receive either a letter-grade or inspection-score, and these must be prominently posted near the entrance to the restaurant. The primary goal of these efforts is to motivate restaurants to improve sanitation and food-handling practices so that fewer people get sick. When faced with a choice between dining at a restaurant that received a C-grade versus an A-grade, it is pretty much a no-brainer that people are going to be more inclined to spend money at a restaurant with a higher grade!
"But if making this kind of information easily available is such a no-brainer, why then does the FSIS make it so difficult for the public to find out the results of thousands of inspections it performs everyday in meat plants across the country? In 2005, FSIS employed over 7,600 inspection program personnel in about 6,000 federally inspected establishments nationwide with an annual cost of $815.1 million. That is a lot of money to spend on inspections given that the public does not currently have any way by which to gain easy and timely access.
"Right now, for all meat products made in a USDA-inspected plant, the plant's establishment number must appear on the label with the mark of inspection. But if a consumer trying to decide what brand of frozen hamburgers to buy wants to compare one plant's inspection records with another, the only way copies of the inspection reports (called Noncompliance Records, or NR's) can be obtained is by making a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). These FOIA requests can, however, take years to be processed. And so usually it is only after there has been a big outbreak and recall -- like the recent ones involving Topps or Nebraska Beef -- that the public learns about how many times a plant has failed an inspection, or been found to be in violation of safety regulations."
"Consumers should know the record of the company responsible for any meat they purchase," sums up Marler. "We've paid for the inspections -- we're owed that much, at least."
BACKGROUND: An accomplished personal injury lawyer and national expert in foodborne illness litigation, William Marler has been a major force in food safety policy in the United States and abroad. He and his partners at Marler Clark have represented thousands of individuals in claims against food companies whose contaminated products have caused serious injury and death. His advocacy for better food regulation has led to invitations to address local, national, and international gatherings on food safety, including recent testimony to the US Congress Committee on Energy and Commerce. Marler Clark is considered the nation's foremost law firm representing victims of foodborne illness and other serious personal injuries. Contact Mary Siceloff at msiceloff@marlerclark.com or (206) 719-4705. For further information visit www.marlerclark.com and www.marlerblog.com.
SOURCE: Marler Clark

Marler Clark

California's Prop 2- good for animals, good for food safety

2008-07-24T15:01:00.000-07:00

http://www.hsus.org/press_and_publications/press_releases/ucdavisstudyprop2072308.html

A study produced by UC Davis researchers and released yesterday provides further evidence that Proposition 2 is good for California consumers. The study, which was reportedly funded by the American Egg Board, evaluated the economic impact of Prop 2, the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, which will appear on the statewide ballot in November.

According to the study's authors, "little, if any cost increase and no substantial impact on prices to California consumers" will occur when voters approve Prop 2. The measure would prevent the cruel and inhumane confinement of calves raised for veal, breeding pigs, and egg-laying hens kept in crates and cages so small they cannot lie down, turn around, or extend their limbs. Prop 2 is endorsed by leading organizations including the Center for Food Safety, the Consumer Federation of America, The Humane Society of the United States, and the California Veterinary Medical Association.

This latest study also affirms the previous estimate by a California-based poultry economist, who has written that raising egg-laying hens in "cage-free" facilities costs less than a penny per egg more than cramming them into tiny cages. The UC researchers estimate that the cost differential is even less than this previous claim.

"Even though the researchers are aligned with and funded by opponents of Prop 2, their work confirms that consumers won't pay higher prices as a result of the measure," said Jennifer Fearing, campaign manager for the Yes on 2 campaign. "The latest Field Poll shows nearly two-thirds of California voters support Prop 2—a wider margin of support than any other initiative on November's ballot."

In addition, at least one of the study's authors has been instrumental in bringing to light the cruelty of the current extreme confinement systems. UC Davis professor Joy Mench has published and co-authored a number of peer-reviewed articles and books describing the poor welfare of battery-caged egg-laying hens. Among Dr. Mench's previous writings published with esteemed co-authors:

* "…conventional battery cages must restrict freedom of movement... No other poultry production system is so restrictive of movement as battery cages."
* "…60-80 square inches per hen [provides] barely enough [room] for the hen to turn around and not enough for her to perform normal comfort behaviors; however, many hens are allowed less than even that meager amount."
* "…conventional cages for laying hens have pervasive problems for welfare."
* "Battery cages provide an inadequate environment for nesting…"

"Prop 2 is good for animals and good for California," added Fearing. "That's why it is supported by consumer advocates, veterinarians, family farmers, and businesses. All animals deserve humane treatment, including animals raised for food. It's just the right thing to do."

For more information about the Yes on Prop 2 campaign and to see a complete list of endorsers, please visit YESonProp2.com.

Chain Grocers Put a Face on Food

2008-07-24T14:31:00.001-07:00

http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/economy/2008/07/24/chain-grocers-put-a-face-on-food.html

Locally grown produce is in vogue as even the biggest grocers try to appeal to shoppers and save on fuel costs. Among the big names selling homegrown food are Whole Foods Market, Safeway, Tesco, and Wal-Mart. As gas prices remain high and the popularity of local food grows—the number of local farmers markets has more than doubled in the past decade, the Department of Agriculture says—grocers are reviving the old practice of buying from smaller regional farms.

Wal-Mart's former produce plan involved an international network of large farms with which shoppers had little or no contact. For the most part, customers didn't even know where their foods were coming from. The company, now the nation's largest buyer of locally grown produce, labels all its produce—every peach and potato—by its state of origin. And it doesn't stop at the store. On the company's website, customers can look up farms to see pictures of their owners and read their stories, and view an interactive map.

When shopping for produce, customers have higher expectations than for other goods, says Kelly O'Keefe, professor and executive education director in Virginia Commonwealth University's advertising program, Brandcenter. They "don't want the bottom-of-the-barrel product," O'Keefe says. Chain grocers and big box stores are catering to that mentality, he says, by revamping their produce sections to reflect the region in which the goods are sold, while also continuing to import produce from abroad.

Celia Gould, director of Idaho's Department of Agriculture, says she has heard from many shoppers who say "they love buying produce that came from right here in Idaho."

Some Wal-Mart competitors are also putting a face on food. Safeway has partnered with several states to sell regionally grown food, using labels like "Colorado Proud" on produce. At Tesco, shoppers can recommend farmers they like to buy from. Whole Foods features farmers by region and facilitates "local producer loans" at interest rates of 5 to 9 percent to fund farming projects that could ultimately result in local produce being sold at a Whole Foods store. Each project is displayed online with photos and project details.

One family's struggle for food in Africa

2008-07-22T00:28:00.001-07:00

FDA may ease rule on China seafood

2008-07-22T00:02:00.000-07:00

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2008-07-20-seafood-china-fda_N.htm

By Julie Schmit, USA TODAY
The Food and Drug Administration may loosen restrictions imposed last year on Chinese seafood processors following recent inspections of some firms in that country, a senior FDA official says.
The FDA restricted imports of five types of Chinese-raised fish in June 2007, saying many contained chemicals the U.S. doesn't allow for health reasons, such as long-term cancer risks.

Since then, China's government and seafood producers have stepped up testing and safety controls, and the percentage of shipments testing positive for the drugs has dropped from about 25% to less than 6%, says Don Kraemer, deputy director of the FDA's Office of Food Safety.

FDA inspectors in China this month audited 13 seafood processors, including some of China's biggest. They checked for good food-safety controls and the quality of inspections done by the Chinese government. Within weeks, the FDA expects to decide whether to free any of the plants from the import restrictions.

The restrictions affected Chinese firms shipping farm-raised shrimp, catfish, eel, basa, which is similar to catfish, and dace, a relative of carp. To pass into the U.S., the FDA required they test free of certain antibiotics and anti-fungals that Chinese farmers use to battle fish diseases.

Only one Chinese firm has been exempted from the testing because it proved to the FDA that it shipped clean fish. The 13 recently audited plants were selected by the Chinese government for FDA review.

If the FDA accepts the quality of Chinese inspection of the plants, it'll rely more on Chinese inspections in granting future exemptions, Kraemer says. The seafood restrictions affected 500 Chinese companies, far more than the FDA can inspect, Kraemer says.

Exempting more companies would speed shipments and cut import costs from China, historically a major supplier of the USA's shrimp and catfish.

Importers say China's government has clamped down on shoddy producers.

Last winter, Beaver Street Fisheries in Florida had a third of its shrimp imports from China test positive for the drugs. "I haven't had a positive test in months," says Beaver's import buyer Carlos Sanchez.

China's regulators have become very stringent, agrees Norbert Sporns, CEO of HQ Sustainable Maritime Industries in Seattle. It produces tilapia in China. Before, he says they "turned a blind eye" to some lax producers.

Source of Salmonella Saintpaul finally discovered

2008-07-21T23:44:00.000-07:00

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SALMONELLA_TOMATOES?SITE=SCAND&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

By LAURAN NEERGAARD
AP Medical Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Government inspectors finally have a big clue in the nationwide salmonella outbreak: They found the same bacteria strain on a single Mexican-grown jalapeno pepper handled in Texas - and issued a stronger warning for consumers to avoid fresh jalapenos.

But Monday's discovery, the equivalent of a fingerprint, doesn't solve the mystery: Authorities still don't know where the pepper became tainted - on the farm, or in the McAllen, Texas, plant, or at some stop in between, such as a packing house.

Nor are they saying the tainted pepper exonerates tomatoes sold earlier in the spring that consumers until last week had been told were the prime suspect.

Still, "this genetic match is a very important break in the case," said Dr. David Acheson, the Food and Drug Administration's food safety chief.

For now, the government is strengthening its earlier precaution against hot peppers to a full-blown warning that no one should eat fresh jalapenos - or products such as fresh salsa made from them - until it can better pinpoint where tainted ones may have sold.

Tomatoes currently on the market, in contrast, now are considered safe to eat.

The Texas plant, Agricola Zaragoza, has suspended sales of fresh jalapenos and recalled those shipped since June 30 - shipments it said were made to Georgia and Texas.

FDA said no other produce currently in the plant has tested positive for salmonella, and was continuing to probe where the produce came from and went.

But a sign over Agricola Zaragoza's spot inside a huge produce warehouse on Monday displayed pictures of tomatoes, onions and tomatillos alongside jalapenos - suggesting the small vendor might have handled both major suspects in the outbreak that has sickened 1,251 people.

McAllen, Texas, near the Mexican border, is in a region deemed a major hub for both Texas-grown and imported produce. Although Agricola Zaragoza is a small operation, it's unclear whether inspectors have yet visited the company's neighboring vendors inside the huge warehouse filled with tractor-trailers loading and unloading fruits and vegetables.

"I recognize there is a need to narrow this as soon as possible," Acheson added - as parts of the country are entering prime hot pepper season.

A person who answered the phone at Agricola Zaragoza declined comment.

The pepper industry was bracing for an economic hit and urged FDA to quickly clear jalapenos grown in certain areas, like it earlier did with tomatoes.

"That is a very broad brush to tar the industry with," said John McClung, president of the Texas Produce Association.

Tomato producers have insisted their summertime staple couldn't be to blame, and are estimating that industry losses may reach $250 million.

But health officials maintain they had good evidence linking certain raw tomatoes to the outbreak's early weeks in April and May, and that the jalapeno connection appeared only in June.

"There may be more than one vehicle here," Dr. Robert Tauxe of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday.

"The tomato cases are not exonerated," Acheson added.

The tainted pepper "is an important clue but the investigation is far from complete," said Caroline Smith DeWaal of the consumer advocacy Center for Science in the Public Interest, who described a maze of channels the FDA now must follow to determine where the contamination occurred.

Among top questions: Did the farm, packing house and distributors all use clean water? What fertilizer was used, and when? Given this distributor's small size, who else distributed contaminated supply - or could there have been cross contamination with other products?

While health officials were cautiously excited at finally finding a firm clue, lawmakers decried the probe's slow pace.

"The fact that it has taken over 14 weeks to identify the source of the contamination is simply unacceptable," said Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., who is pushing for stronger requirements to help trace tainted produce. "Much like (the) tomato industry, the result is a blanket warning that will decimate the entire industry and further depress consumer confidence when only a tiny fraction of peppers may be contaminated."

The outbreak isn't over yet, said Tauxe said. But the CDC said last week that it appeared to be slowing, and indeed has confirmed just 14 additional cases since then. The latest that someone fell ill was July 4.

---

Associated Press Writer Christopher Sherman in McAllen, Texas, contributed to this report.

S.F. Food Bank struggles to keep up with crush

2008-07-20T13:12:00.001-07:00

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/19/MN2H11MB85.DTL&tsp=1

They begin lining up two hours in advance, armed with empty cloth bags, suitcases and metal dollies waiting to be filled. At exactly 10:30 a.m., a volunteer stands at the entryway, her arm outstretched to prevent a mad rush.

They crane their necks past her to see their target: long wooden tables stacked with ears of corn, onions, potatoes, cans of diced tomatoes, cabbage, plums, rice, cartons of orange juice, and plastic bags filled with bread, hot dog buns and bagels.

Desperation has become a Thursday morning staple at the Ingleside Community Center, which hosts a weekly food pantry run by the San Francisco Food Bank. Last year, 120 people used the pantry, a number that has recently climbed to 154 and continues to rise.

Monique Martin, executive director of the center, has had to ask a police officer to stop by regularly because food fights - and not the fun kind found in elementary school cafeterias - have occasionally broken out as people push past each other to grab the goods.

"There's a lot of anxiety in people - a lot of fear," she said.

More people are relying on the Bay Area's food pantries, soup kitchens and free meal delivery services as the price of stocking their refrigerators with grocery store goods spirals out of reach.

Pei Zhen Zan, 40, visited the Ingleside food pantry for the first time on a recent Thursday. Her husband works in construction while she stays at home with their 2-year-old daughter, Tammy.

"We don't have money to buy food right now," she said, looking down at her haul, about the size of a full grocery bag. "This will help a little."

The San Francisco Food Bank served 118,000 people in 2007 and now serves 124,000 - the biggest jump in years. And most clients are not down-and-out homeless people. Sixty percent of households that use the food bank have at least one working adult.

"No longer is it an issue of employment. It's becoming an issue of working hard, but not having enough to meet the basics," said Marguerite Nowak, advocacy and education manager for the food bank.

She added that when money is tight, food is often the first to go. You can skip breakfast and have a skimpy dinner, but you can't pay half your rent or utility bills if you want a place to live.

"Food is the one place where there's wiggle room," she said.

But there's little wiggle room in the food bank's operations. It is getting less food from the federal government's commodities program because its money isn't stretching as far, and corporate food donations are also down in this struggling economy.

So the food bank is trying to get creative: driving to the Central Valley to collect discarded produce that's perfectly fine but not pretty enough for grocery store shelves; accepting the tops of carrots that are normally thrown away when bagged "baby carrots" are made; buying seven truckloads - 280,000 pounds - of rice at a discount; buying a 2,000-pound bag of beans and assigning volunteers to divide it among the 188 food pantries around the city.
All backgrounds

At Valencia Gardens, a public housing development in the Mission District that also includes affordable and market-rate housing, people of all socioeconomic backgrounds have begun lining up at the facility's Wednesday afternoon food pantry.

Gloria Santa Maria, 71, lives with her 73-year-old sister in a Valencia Gardens apartment and gets a bag of groceries at the food bank every week.

Her Social Security check doesn't go as far as it used to at the grocery store.

"Everything is so expensive now," she said. "The meat, you know? And the milk. Eggs. Vegetables, too. And the fruit. Everything. I like steak, but I can only buy chicken now."

Michael Love, 40, volunteers at the food bank each week and gets to take home leftovers. But first he has the unpleasant job of fending off people desperate for more food than he's allowed to give them.

"They want three or four bags of bread, but you just get one," he said. "They say, 'It's hard times,' but I have to say, 'Talk to my boss.' "

Food squeeze

The food bank isn't the only organization dealing with more mouths to feed.

-- San Francisco's Human Services Agency is handling 660 more food stamp caseloads than last year, bringing it to a total of 15,363.

-- Nationally, Meals on Wheels, which delivers food to homebound seniors, has lost volunteers who can't afford the gasoline. The San Francisco chapter doesn't rely on volunteers but uses vans to deliver 805,000 meals to 1,450 seniors. The agency is struggling to cover rising fuel costs while also meeting a 10 percent increase in demand, said Ashley McCumber, executive director.

-- Glide, the only San Francisco organization that serves three meals a day, has seen demand rise 13 percent this year. Bruce McKinney, the free meals program manager, said he can rarely serve salad and sometimes cuts vegetables and rice. "It's getting scary right now," he said. "The back half of the year is going to get real ugly."

-- Project Open Hand, which delivers meals to chronically ill people and runs a grocery center where people can pick up bags of food, has cut bananas and margarine because of costs. Director Tom Nolan has eliminated five positions and all staff raises this year.

E-mail Heather Knight at hknight@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

New Leaf opens doors in Half Moon Bay

2008-07-18T10:20:00.000-07:00

Premium foods store works to cultivate community ties

http://www.hmbreview.com/articles/2008/06/18/news/doc485976ca4e51c813715543.txt

The movers and shakers of Half Moon Bay came out in full force on Monday for an evening of decadent food and wine. Today, it’s your turn.

In the premium-food chain’s first expansion outside of Santa Cruz County, New Leaf Community Markets opens the doors of its Half Moon Bay supermarket this morning, potentially changing the dynamics of the grocery business for the Coastside.

Occupying the former Albertsons building at the corner of highways 1 and 92, the 23,200-square-foot store concentrates its business on environmentally sound specialty foods with a special emphasis on items produced locally.

Those attending Monday’s kickoff party got a taste of those specialties. Four sommeliers stood ready to top off a glass, or regale an eager listener on the intricate points of a sangiovese, a syrah or a cabernet. Heading over to the hors d’oeuvres, one could sample goat cheese, and perhaps rub elbows with a local politician or the director of a local charity.

New Leaf managers acknowledge that such products could cost more than food offered by the competition, but they say their higher quality outweighs the added expense.

“We have much better products,” co-owner Scott Roseman said. “We’re going to have beautiful organic products bought locally.”

Among other local products, the new store will feature produce from local growers including Jacob, Daylight and Pastorino farms. Produce Director Mark Mulcahy says that finding more local produce for the store will be an ongoing project.

“We’ll be bringing in all kinds of different people,” Mulcahy said. “Our focus is organic and local, so we’re always looking out to develop local relationships, ’cause that’s what we’re about.”

The store has already cultivated a relationship with one local icon: Bev Cunha Ashcraft. The former owner of the downtown Cunha’s Country Grocery will be working as a customer service representative at the new store.

“Bev met with us and was excited to join the New Leaf team,” Roseman said. “We’ve hired a number of former Cunha’s employees.”

Even before its opening, the new grocery store has gained a number of supporters in the community, including Erin Tormey, who organizes the Coastside Farmer’s Market. Tormey says the grocery chain didn’t treat the farmers market as competition. Quite the opposite, New Leaf cultivated a cooperative relationship with the farmers market over recent months by sponsoring the weekly event, according to Tormey.

“I see New Leaf as a huge complement and a vital resource,” Tormey said. “I think they’re going to be wonderful community partners.”

The New Leaf chain is committed to helping the community, Roseman said, noting his company’s tradition of donating 10 percent of its profits to local charities. Roseman says he plans to continue that company program on the Coastside, although he admits he hasn’t settled on any specific charities yet.

New Leaf directors say they have no doubt their new store will quickly find a competitive niche against Safeway, the only other large supermarket in Half Moon Bay.

With more than 1,750 stores across the nation, Safeway Inc. is at the top of the supermarket food chain. But the grocery giant has been in a difficult dilemma in recent years, facing increased competition from low-cost competitors such as Wal-Mart and Costco, while specialty chains including Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and New Leaf gobble away its premium-food shoppers.

“I think all the old-line supermarket chains that used to inhabit the middle are justifiably frightened and are trying to figure out what their place is going to be.” said David Gwynn, founder of the supermarket-industry blog, Groceteria. “Safeway seems to be trying to move more upscale, thinking it will be easier to compete with high-end stores than with Wal-Mart.”

But Safeway has been remarkably agile and able to turn impressive profits despite its tough situation, says Pete Bucklin, professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business.

“Safeway, with all their faults, has been aggressive about modernizing their store and updating to provide their foods less expensively,” Bucklin said.

For New Leaf, facing a supermarket giant that has an expansive distribution system could be a challenge, he said. But that might be a best-case scenario, Bucklin said, because if the two stores develop a fierce competition, then the consumer ultimately wins as the stores work harder to draw more business.

Bucklin notes that one area where New Leaf is definitely ahead of the curve is its effort to stock local food products. Even big chains like Safeway and Wal-Mart are taking a second look at local foods, he says.

“In part, this is because of the fuel costs,” he said. “If you look at the logistics of moving tomatoes to the East Coast, there’s a lot of transportation in that.

“Local produce is a better deal than organic produce, I think it might grow to be a major selling point,” he said.

FDA Lifts Salmonella Warning On Tomatoes

2008-07-17T17:50:00.001-07:00

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92643266&ft=1&f=1001

It's OK to eat all kinds of tomatoes again, the U.S. government declared Thursday — lifting its salmonella warning on the summer favorites amid signs that the record outbreak, while not over, may finally be slowing.

Hot peppers still get a caution: The people most at risk of salmonella — including the elderly and people with weak immune systems — should avoid fresh jalapenos and serranos, and any dishes that may contain them such as fresh salsa, federal health officials advised.

Investigators still don't know what caused the salmonella outbreak, which now has sickened 1,220 people in 42 states — the earliest falling ill on April 10 and the latest so far on July 4.

But Thursday's move, coming as the tomato industry estimates its losses at more than $100 million, doesn't mean that tomatoes harvested in the spring are cleared. It just means that the tomatoes in fields and stores today are safe to eat, said Dr. David Acheson, the Food and Drug Administration's food safety chief.

"This is not saying that anybody was absolved," Acheson said. But, "as of today, FDA officials believe that consumers may now enjoy all types of fresh tomatoes available without concern of becoming infected with salmonella Saintpaul," the outbreak strain.

— From The Associated Press.

USDA to disclose which markets sold tainted meat

2008-07-17T13:31:00.000-07:00

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/safety/2008/07/usda-recalls.html

It should be a little easier for consumers across the country to figure out if they have recalled meat in their freezers under a new system being implemented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Beginning next month, the USDA will start listing on its Web site retail stores that received meat or poultry products involved in Class I recalls—those of the most serious concern to public health. The USDA says it will post the retail outlet listings within 10 business days of issuing the recall release.

As Jean Halloran, the Director of Food Policy Initiatives at Consumers Union told Scientific American, the new USDA rules are helpful, but need to go further. Specifically, Halloran says the retail outlet disclosures should cover all meat recalls, not just Class I level recalls.

For example, the recent recall of 143 million pounds of beef from the Hallmark/Westland facility in California, which was prompted by video showing cows too sick to stand being illegally forced into the slaughterhouse, was a Class II recall. "All meat recalls that could affect health should be disclosed to the consumer including the information on the names and locations of stores involved," says Halloran.

Consumers Union is also concerned that the USDA has chosen not to list institutions such as schools and nursing homes that have been shipped recalled products. "People want to know if their children or elderly parents might be getting a potentially dangerous food product and can help bring attention to the need for action on a recall at these institutions," says Halloran. "We hope USDA can add such disclosure to its rules in the future."

Shoppers should note that not all meat products come under USDA jurisdiction. Some are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and those are not covered in the new measure. For example, if there's a sausage recall the USDA list would not include stores that sold the sausage as a closed-face sausage-and-egg sandwich (FDA jurisdiction), but would include stores that sold open-face sausage-and-egg sandwiches (USDA jurisdiction). It can be confusing but a chart on the FDA's Web site explains which agency is responsible for oversight of which foods.

Despite the drawbacks, Halloran says, "We're pleased that USDA will no longer keep consumers in the dark about recalled meat."

USDA AWARDS $4.1 MILLION TO STUDY COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER

2008-07-17T13:29:00.000-07:00

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=true&contentid=2008/07/0188.xml

WASHINGTON, July 17, 2008 – Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer announced today that more than $4 million will be awarded to the University of Georgia to study the causes of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and other diseases affecting bee populations, whose pollination is valued at $15 billion annually to U.S. agriculture.

"Bees are an extremely valuable contributor to the overall productivity of American agriculture, but invasive pests, diseases and environmental stresses are putting U.S. bees at serious risk," Schafer said. "This research will help beekeepers meet the pollination demand for the nation's food supply."

The Protection of Managed Bees Coordinated Agricultural Project (CAP), funded through a 4-year grant from USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES), aims to improve the health of managed bee populations in agricultural systems. The research will address genomics, breeding, pathology, immunology and applied ecology to explain the causes behind dwindling bee populations. Researchers will work closely with the extension community and other stakeholders to develop and implement mitigation strategies for CCD and other significant problems.

CCD became a matter of concern in the winter of 2006-2007 when an estimated 25 percent of the beekeepers in the United States reported major losses of adult bees from their hives.

CAP projects combine significant funding over time and across institutions to support discovery and applications, and promote communication leading to innovative science-based solutions to critical and emerging national priorities and needs. These integrated projects focus not only on research to solve critical issues, but also feature education and extension components that bring knowledge gained through research to citizens at the local level. The project will complement and/or link with existing programs and projects at the national level.

CSREES committed $1.7 million to honeybees and pollinator research in Fiscal Year 2007. National program leaders at USDA's Agricultural Research Service and CSREES developed an action plan for CCD, which is a long-term plan for research, extension and educational activities that are recommended to address this important problem. Background information about CCD and the action plan is available at www.ars.usda.gov/is/br/ccd .

CSREES funded this CAP project under the National Research Initiative. Dr. Mary Purcell-Miramontes, national program leader for arthropod and nematode biology, developed this new CAP project and will be coordinating this new funding opportunity.

Through federal funding and leadership for research, education and extension programs, CSREES focuses on investing in science and solving critical issues impacting people's daily lives and the nation's future. For more information, visit www.csrees.usda.gov .

Chocolate may be headed toward extinction

2008-07-16T13:24:00.000-07:00

http://www.slashfood.com/2008/07/09/chocolate-may-be-headed-toward-delicacy-status/

Some people are worried that in the not too distant future, chocolate could become much more rare and expensive... and it's not because of global warming (at least not for the most part). In fact, John Mason, of the Nature Conservation Research Council (based in Ghana), says that "in 20 years chocolate will be like caviar."

This terrible fate is possible mostly because of poor farming practices in Western Africa, where most of the world's chocolate is grown. According to this article from CNN online, farmers clear cut sections of rain forest and work that land to death. The problem with that method of farming is that it is not sustainable: cacao trees (from which chocolate is ultimately produced) on the clear cut land live about 30 years, compared to 75-100 years in the regular rain forest. The farmers would have to then clear another section of rain forest to grow trees on.

There may be hope, though. A handful of different groups have come together to try and solve this problem, including farmers, environmental groups and Cadbury, the British chocolate maker. The interests of each group intersect, and so they've created a scientific research unit to study ways to farm cacao trees sustainably. There may be hope for humanity (and chocolate) yet.

Nestle recalls Lean Pockets sandwiches

2008-07-16T13:05:00.000-07:00

Nestle is recalling almost 200,000 pounds of Lean Pockets frozen stuffed chicken sandwiches because they may contain pieces of plastic.

There have been at least two unspecified injuries.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the recall involved nine-ounce boxes of Lean Pockets Spinach Artichoke Chicken.

The affected packages have a best before date of November 2009. The package code is 8144-544-616 with an establishment number of p-7721-a.

help the honey bees campaign video

2008-07-16T05:15:00.001-07:00

Veggie Mobile delivers produce to 'food deserts'

2008-07-15T12:54:00.000-07:00

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/07/15/food.deserts.ap/

ALBANY, New York (AP) -- For years, Mel Williams rarely ate fruit and vegetables -- unless it came out of a can.
A customer leaves the Veggie Mobile, a truck that delivers healthy foods to underserved areas.

A customer leaves the Veggie Mobile, a truck that delivers healthy foods to underserved areas.

Fresh produce was too expensive or too far away until the state-funded "Veggie Mobile" started bringing the fruits and vegetables to him at a lower price.

"I'm a diabetic and I have problems with my heart," the 66-year-old said. "The canned stuff has so much sodium in it. So now with the fresh fruit, it's less sugar and carbohydrates and stuff."

Williams is one of millions of Americans living in a "food desert," urban or rural areas unserved by a big grocery chain that can serve up fresh foods at lower costs. He's in Troy, a former industrial city about 10 miles from New York's capital.

With the rapidly climbing cost of food and fuel, states and nonprofit groups are finding ways to get healthy food to these underserved areas.

In New York, the health department gave $500,000 to the Veggie Mobile, operated by the Capital District Community Gardens and delivering fresh, locally grown produce to people in Albany, Troy and nearby Schenectady who otherwise might never buy a fresh apple or tomato.

"It makes it possible for families to include these foods in their diet because it's about half the price of what it is in the market," said Amy Klein, executive director of the nonprofit.
Don't Miss

* Get more flavor, nutrition from produce with right prep
* Your backyard could feed the hungry

When compared to New York Supermarket -- a small grocery in the poor Arbor Hill neighborhood of Albany -- the Veggie Mobile offered dramatic savings, more selection and fresher options. Bananas sold for $0.99 a pound at the supermarket, but went for $0.59 a pound from the Veggie Mobile. Iceberg lettuce was $1 each at the mobile grocery, and $1.99 at the New York Supermarket. Cucumbers sold for $0.89 each at the neighborhood market, but were 3 for $1 from the Veggie Mobile.

The difference means that poor families cannot only afford and access fresh produce, but can buy more than if they relied on the neighborhood options.

Instead of going to a big chain grocery store each week, where volume sales and competition mean lower prices, families in urban food deserts and rural communities tend to rely on gas station convenience stores, or corner stores where milk, bread and other staples cost more.

"As more and more national chains have a greater share of the food market, it can impact areas that don't have either the space or the demand for a full line grocery store," said Ephraim Leibtag, an economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "The majority of the country is predicated on driving somewhere (for groceries), so 'close to home' may be defined differently if you don't have a car."

Many rural areas are using consumer supported agriculture, like Iowa's Farm to Folk program, to tackle the problem. Customers within 30 miles of the Ames, Iowa-based organization can order 20 weeks' worth of food off the Internet -- either a weekly share of whatever local farmers produce, or an a la carte selection, coordinator Marilyn Andersen said.

Farm to Folk sells products from 10 farmers to about 130 consumers at prices from $95 for a small fruit share, to $430 for a share of whatever the farmers produce that would serve a family of four. Each week the customers pick up their food from a church.

Neighborhood stores in urban areas across the country have been closing as chains invest in building bigger, new stores in suburbs, a 'disinvestment' forced by urban crime, high employee turnover and the lack of space for large stores. But some grocery stores are responding to the need and earning potential of food deserts.

St. Louis-based Schnuck Markets, Inc., announced plans earlier this year to open a two-story, urban market in a parking garage in the city's downtown. It will be the downtown neighborhood's only full-scale grocery store and pharmacy when it opens in 2009.

British grocery giant Tesco PLC has opened 61 Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market stores in California, Nevada and Arizona. The small grocery stores are found in upscale markets, but have also filled gaps in underserved areas -- including a recently opened store in Compton, California, south of Los Angeles.

Pennsylvania's Fresh Food Financing Initiative was created in 2004 to commit millions in public funds to leverage additional public and private funds. The money is used to create loans for supermarket development across the state. It provides incentives for stores to open and gets more coolers into small corner stores so they can offer healthier options.

That effort was driven by The Food Trust, a nonprofit which has also helped New Orleans come up with a proposal for dealing with food deserts.

In Chicago, the city created a program to make it easier for grocery stores to do business, attracting new stores to long-underserved neighborhoods.

And in Connecticut, the nonprofit Hartford Food System has signed up 40 smaller retailers for its Healthy Food Retailer Initiative, which since 2006 has provided healthier options to customers in underserved areas. Smaller stores that agree to shift a portion of their shelf space from junk food to healthier options get promotional assistance as an incentive.

In rural communities, the problems can be different. The family store on Main Street has likely closed, and rural communities often don't offer a financial incentive to support grocery stores. Big chains are reluctant to build here, where the customer base is too small to support a mega-store.

While people living in these communities are used to driving long distances for groceries, rising gas costs and inflation make it difficult for some to pay for both transportation and food.

Whether families live on a farm in rural Iowa, or in a population dense inner-city, the need for healthy affordable food is the same. In many cases the solutions are being built around the communities they serve. There's plenty of untapped demand in the communities that need the most help.

"People were skeptical and thought they (low-income families) weren't going to come, and they're not going to spend their money on fresh produce," Klein said of the Veggie Mobile. "But they are, and they're buying it in large quantities ... They're not looking for a freebie, they're appreciative that it's there, that it's available and it's affordable."

Neb. cop, family win $40K over urine-tainted food

2008-07-15T12:44:00.000-07:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080714/ap_on_re_us/officer_s_food_tainted;_ylt=Av9.DwK6gblDpMg0YAluMCkEtbAF

OMAHA, Neb. - A police officer and his family have won $40,000 in their lawsuit against a restaurant that had served them food tainted by an employee's spit and urine.
ADVERTISEMENT

A jury on Friday ruled in favor of Sidney police Officer Keith Andrew, whose two sons, then 4 and 7, were sickened by the food they ate at a KFC/Taco Bell in October 2005. Sidney is a town of about 6,000 in western Nebraska.

The younger boy became violently ill with gastroenteritis and dehydration, vomited for hours and was forced to spend time in a hospital, the family's lawsuit said.

The lawsuit, filed last year in Cheyenne County District Court, named the restaurant's owner, North Platte-based Mid Plains Food and Lodging.

The jury found the restaurant negligent, said the family's attorney Andy Snyder. He said of the restaurant owner, "I'd advise them to get a better class of employees."

A KFC spokesman, Rick Maynard, said KFC is committed to the highest levels of food safety.

"Our franchisee does not agree with the court's verdict, and they are looking at their legal options," Maynard said Monday.

Workers who saw a fellow employee taint the family's food reported it to management, but the managers didn't inform the family, the lawsuit alleged.

The suit also alleged that Andrew, his wife and their children were victims of an employee scheme that targeted police officers.

"Employees maintained 'special servings' of food reserved for ... officers," the lawsuit said. "The 'special servings' had been urinated in or spit in by KFC/Taco Bell employees."

The employee accused of urinating and spitting in the Andrew family's food, Casey Diedrich, pleaded guilty last year to violating the Nebraska Pure Food Act and fined $100, according to court records. The prosecution was for the same incident described in the lawsuit.

A company spokesman said last year that Diedrich eventually was fired for missing work but not for any of the incidents the lawsuit cited.

There was no listing under Diedrich's name in Nebraska.

Country, the city version: Farms in the sky gain new interest

2008-07-15T02:30:00.000-07:00

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/15/healthscience/15farm.php?page=2

What if "eating local" in Shanghai or New York meant getting your fresh produce from five blocks away? And what if skyscrapers grew off the grid, as verdant, self-sustaining towers where city slickers cultivated their own food?

Dr. Dickson Despommier, a professor of public health at Columbia University, hopes to make these zucchini-in-the-sky visions a reality. Despommier's pet project is the "vertical farm," a concept he created in 1999 with graduate students in his class on medical ecology, the study of how the environment and human health interact.

The idea, which has captured the imagination of several architects in the United States and Europe in the past several years, just caught the eye of another big city dreamer: Scott Stringer, the Manhattan borough president in New York.

When Stringer heard about the concept in June, he said he immediately pictured a "food farm" addition to the New York City skyline. "Obviously we don't have vast amounts of vacant land," he said in a phone interview. "But the sky is the limit in Manhattan." Stringer's office is "sketching out what it would take to pilot a vertical farm," and plans to pitch a feasibility study to the mayor's office within the next couple of months, he said.

"I think we can really do this," he added. "We could get the funding."

Despommier estimates that it would cost $20 million to $30 million to make a prototype of a vertical farm, but hundreds of millions to build one of the 30-story towers that he suggests could feed 50,000 people. "I'm viewed as kind of an outlier because it's kind of a crazy idea," Despommier, 68, said with a chuckle. "You'd think these are mythological creatures."

Despommier, whose name in French means "of the apple trees," has been spreading the seeds of his radical idea in lectures and through his Web site. He says his ideas are supported by hydroponic vegetable research done by NASA and are made more feasible by the potential to use sun, wind and wastewater as energy sources. Several observers have said Despommier's sky-high dreams need to be brought down to earth.

"Why does it have to be 30 stories?" said Jerry Kaufman, professor emeritus of urban and regional planning at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. "Why can't it be six stories? There's some exciting potential in the concept, but I think he overstates what can be done."

Armando Carbonell, chairman of the department of planning and urban form at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge, Massachusetts, called the idea "very provocative." But it requires a rigorous economic analysis, he added. "Would a tomato in lower Manhattan be able to outbid an investment banker for space in a high-rise? My bet is that the investment banker will pay more."

Carbonell questions if a vertical farm could deliver the energy savings its supporters promise. "There's embodied energy in the concrete and steel and in construction," he said, adding that the price of land in the city would still outweigh any savings from not having to transport food from afar. "I believe that this general relationship is going to hold, even as transportation costs go up and carbon costs get incorporated into the economic system."

Some criticism is quite helpful. Stephen Colbert jokingly asserted that vertical farming was elitist when Despommier appeared in June on "The Colbert Report," a visit that led to a jump in hits to the project's Web site from an average of 400 daily to 400,000 the day after the show. Despommier agrees that more research is needed, and calls the energy calculations his students made for the farms, which would rely solely on alternative energy, "a little bit too optimistic." He added, "I'm a biologist swimming in very deep water right now."

"If I were to set myself as a certifier of vertical farms, I would begin with security," he said. "How do you keep insects and bacteria from invading your crops?" He says growing food in climate-controlled skyscrapers would also protect against hail and other weather-related hazards, ensuring a higher quality food supply for a city, without pesticides or chemical fertilizers.

Architects' renderings of vertical farms — hybrids of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and Biosphere 2 with SimCity appeal — seem to be stirring interest. "It also has to be stunning in terms of the architecture, because it needs to work in terms of social marketing," Despommier said. "You want people to say, 'I want that in my backyard.' "

Augustin Rosenstiehl, a French architect who worked with Despommier to design a template "living tower," said he thought that any vertical farm proposal needed to be adapted to a specific place. Rosenstiehl, principal architect for Atelier SOA in Paris, said: "We cannot do a project without knowing where and why and what we are going to cultivate. For example, in Paris, if you grow some wheat, it's stupid because we have big fields all around the city and lots of wheat and it's good wheat. There's no reason to build towers that are very expensive."

Despite its potential problems, the idea of bringing food closer to the city is gaining traction among pragmatists and dreamers alike. A smaller-scale design of a vertical farm for downtown Seattle won a regional green building contest in 2007 and has piqued the interest of officials in Portland, Oregon. The building, a Center for Urban Agriculture designed by architects at Mithun, would supply about a third of the food needed for the 400 people who would live there.

In June at P.S.1 Contemporary Arts Center in New York, a husband-wife architect team built a solar-powered outdoor farm out of stacked rows of cardboard tube planters — one that would not meet Despommier's security requirements — with chicken coops for egg collection and an array of fruits and vegetables.

For Despommier, the high-rise version is on the horizon. "It's very idealistic and ivory tower and all of that," he said. "But there's a real desire to make this happen."

Judge halts USDA's cattle-grazing plans on Conservation Reserve Program lands

2008-07-13T16:35:00.001-07:00

A federal judge in Seattle has put the brakes on an emergency federal program that would allow grazing and hay production on millions of acres of farmland nationwide that had been set aside for conservation.

The injunction ordered Tuesday by U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour could affect 24 million acres of conservation lands across the country, including fragile habitat in this state. And in Washington, it pits two struggling species against each other: independent cattle producers and sage grouse.

Coughenour ordered the temporary restraining order after a suit was filed by the National Wildlife Federation and six affiliates over the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) decision in May to allow grazing and hay production on land now protected under the federal Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).

The program, begun in 1985, pays farmers across the country not to plant fragile lands, and to return them to native grasses and vegetation.

The USDA initiative, called the Critical Feed Use program, was meant to help cattlemen suffering from high feed prices. It allows hay production and grazing on CRP land, to boost production of up to 18 million tons of cattle forage worth $1.2 billion, according to the department.

Meat producers are getting clobbered by hay costs that have shot up to as much as $200 a ton, up from $75 to $100 just three years ago. Hay is scarce because farmers are growing corn and wheat instead, to reap high prices.

There was also to be an added advantage for participants in the CRP: They could keep collecting CRP payments while they put their conservation lands into hay or grazing.

The National Wildlife Federation, and six state chapters, including the Washington Wildlife Federation, say in their suit that the government should have performed an environmental assessment before starting the program.

A full hearing is set for July 17 before Coughenour. His restraining order will keep the program on ice until he rules on the case.

"The CRP program was never intended to be a subsidized hay program, yet we see it contorted now in an effort to buy votes in farm communities," said Ben Deeble, sage-steppe project coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation in Missoula, Mont.

The fallow lands under the CRP program have been crucial to wildlife. In Washington, much of the remaining population of sage grouse, now under consideration for listing under the Endangered Species Act, lives on CRP land, said Don Larsen, of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

"Anything that affects sage grouse habitat we have a lot of concern about," Larsen said.

Washington is among the top 10 states for CRP participation, with more than 1.5 million acres in conservation, providing habitat for birds, curbing soil erosion and improving water quality. CRP is the country's largest conservation program on private land.

More than $80 million was paid out to Washington farmers last year under the program, in return for keeping land on some 4,000 farms in conservation — 17 percent of all the cropland in the state.

But some Washington cattlemen say they were counting on the new USDA initiative to get their herds through the coming winter.

Sam Ledgerwood, a cattleman in Asotin County, had just come from a meeting with his banker when he got the news.

"He's not one to loan money to buy $200-a-ton hay," Ledgerwood said. "No way is it going to work — it don't pencil."

"I would like to know this judge's background," he said. "Has he ever been off the asphalt? Does he still eat steak when he goes to his table? Or his restaurant? How can a program be thrown out the window by one judge?"

Kent Politsch, chief spokesman for the Farm Service Agency in Washington, D.C., which admi

"Victory Garden" planted on the grounds of Civic Center, S.F.

2008-07-13T16:09:00.001-07:00

The green thumbs were covered with brown dirt Saturday at San Francisco's Civic Center when 150 people who like to eat their vegetables planted an updated version of a World War II victory garden. The Slow Food Nation Victory Garden, whose organic veggies are a far cry from the stuff being sold at the fast food joints a few feet away on Market Street, aims to show the possibilities and benefits of urban food production. Mayor Gavin Newsom and renowned food guru Alice Waters planted tomatoes, cabbage, beans and other natural treats. Newsom even took off his sport coat to do his digging, although he did not wear gloves and got a lot of dirt under his fingernails. The garden will be the showpiece when Slow Food Nation, a celebration of nonprocessed food, comes to the city over Labor Day weekend. By then, the tomatoes and beans should be grown and ready for their close-ups. The fresh veggies in the garden are representative of the sustainable food movement, which encourages people to buy from small local farms. All produce grown in the garden will be distributed to the needy through local charities.

the Consumerist: 20 ways to save on groceries

2008-07-13T15:55:00.000-07:00

http://consumerist.com/tag/consumption/?i=5024694&t=20-ways-to-make-the-most-of-your-groceries-without-spending-an-extra-cent

Americans throw away a quarter of our food uneaten, which translates into serious wasted cash over time. The Guardian compiled an excellent list of ways to shop smarter so you end up buying what you need, and eating what you buy.

-Make A List! Shopping lists top every saving strategy we offer, and for good reason. Lists make for routinized, disciplined shopping.
-Don't Fear An Empty Fridge: Food grows mold, not interest. An empty fridge is a strong sign that your buying matches your consumption.
-Approach Deals Skeptically: Just because an item screams "Two for One!" doesn't mean that you need two. Make sure the item is something that you'll use, and something that won't expire quickly.
-Avoid Supermarkets For Perishables: Buy your vegetables, meats, and fish at local establishments. You'll spend less per visit, while honing your comparison shopping skills. In our neighborhood, the Korean vegetable stand is usually 30% cheaper than the supermarket around the corner.
-Buy Non-Perishables In Bulk: If you can store them, buy your pasta and rice in bulk. Just don't try to buy more than one bag at a time.
-Buy Quality Products: Somewhat counterintuitive for those who focus exclusively on the bottom line, but if you pay more for a high-quality ingredient, you're less likely to let it go to waste.
-Grow Your Own Herbs And Salad: Herbs and salad expire quickly in the fridge. If you have the space, grow your own and save.
-Buy Whole Vegetables: Bagged lettuce? Washed carrots? Like any vegetable, they start to decompose as soon as they're processed.
-Be Storage Savvy: Keep your food fresh with proper storage. If you're a fresh fruit lover, invest in an ethylene gas guardian to stave off spoilage.
-Plan Your Meals: Planning is a key part of list building, and one of the best ways to prevent abandoned foodstuffs from clogging up your fridge.
-Cook! Don't just follow recipes. Real cooks now how to whip that extra bit of coconut milk or leftover celery into a tasty meal.
-Cook In Bulk: Since you're already at the stove, double the recipe and save the leftovers.
-Use Your Freezer: Freezers are more efficient when they're full, so fill 'em up.
-Learn To Love Leftovers: Mmm, leftovers! But seriously, don't throw away perfectly good food.
-Watch Your Portions: The less you eat, the less you spend. If you have trouble eyeballing portions, consider buying a scale.
-Learn From Your Parents: Your pappy's pappy would smack you silly for your wasteful ways. Says Sheila Tremaine, 81, "We never threw anything away, because if you didn't use everything up you had nothing to eat. People just seem to have lost that skill."
-Rediscover Packed Lunches: Dust off that old He-Man lunch box and take your meals to work. Why waste $5.95 on a lunch special when you can eat from your own fridge?
-Equip Yourself: "Make your own bread. It's quick, easy and so much better tasting than shop-bought. It's also much cheaper. Make your own ice cream, it's a doddle.
Invest in a mincing machine as an attachment to a food processor, and turn the leftover roast lamb into a base for shepherd's pie. While you're at it, invest in a sausage stuffer and ask your butcher for some sausage skins when you buy the pork."
-Don't Trust Use-By Dates: If it isn't soft cheese, pate, seafood or processed meat, then it will last for a while. "Chicken, raw meats and fish will all look and smell unpleasant long before they're actively unsafe (as long as you cook it thoroughly, chicken, for example, is good for at least a week past its sell-by date). Apples last for months; potatoes are fine as long as you chop the green shoots off before cooking; tins and jars will last decades if not centuries; hard cheese is indestructible; and dry foods will last for years too."
-Become A Freegan: If all else fails, ditch your wasteful ways and become one with your urban landscape.

Salmonella Found in Basil Grown in Mexico, FDA Says

2008-07-12T00:16:00.000-07:00

July 11 (Bloomberg) -- A strain of salmonella, the bacteria that has sickened more than 1,000 Americans who ate tainted produce since April, has been found in Thai basil grown in Mexico.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration identified salmonella during random testing of basil imported by Lucky Green Trading Inc., a family-run company based in Garden Grove, California, the agency said today in a statement on its Web site. The product has been recalled from Southern California, Arizona and Nevada, where it was distributed directly and sold at retail stores.

FDA officials have boosted inspections of Mexican exports as they look for the origin of the salmonella Saintpaul outbreak that has spread to 42 states since mid-April. While the focus has been on certain types of tomatoes grown in Mexico and Florida, officials said this week that jalapenos caused some illnesses and that Serrano peppers and cilantro also are under investigation. The basil was found to have a different strain of salmonella than the salmonella Saintpaul traced to the current outbreak, said FDA spokesman Michael Herndon.

``Every importer from Mexico has to go through the inspection,'' said Tony Ton, whose family runs Lucky Green, in a phone interview today. ``That's a new thing. Every year, we used to have one or two occasions where FDA has to do a random inspection.''

No illnesses have been linked to Lucky Green's herbs. Their Thai basil comes from the town of Santa Rosa Tapachula in Nayarit, a state on the central-west coast of Mexico. The company doesn't sell any other products this time of the year, Ton said.

Three shipments of Thai basil from the same Mexican grower passed inspection last week, so Lucky Green is looking to see whether the latest batch may have been contaminated by another grower in the same area, Ton said.

Growing interest in food suppliers boosts agriculture consortiums

2008-07-11T03:59:00.000-07:00

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/2008/07/11/20080711biz-csafarms0711.html

Just off 16th Avenue in Phoenix, next to the roaring Interstate 17, sits a 40-acre parcel that helps feed thousands of people each week.

It's home to Crooked Sky Farms, one of a handful of community-supported agriculture programs, often called CSAs, offering metro Phoenix consumers a healthy - and oftentimes cheaper - alternative to grocery store produce.

The farms have grown in popularity during the past few years as more people seek organic products and become more discerning about where their food comes from and how it's processed, said Julie Murphree, spokeswoman for the Arizona Farm Bureau.

"It's a unique and very valuable way to access fresh and local produce," Murphree said.

Rising gas prices, which have hiked food processing and delivery costs, also may be contributing to the community-farming trend that is blossoming nationally. The trend probably won't go away, because the U.S. Department of Agriculture expects food prices to rise between 4.5 percent and 5.5 percent this year.

What's more, a recent survey by the National Gardening Association said that spending on vegetable plants jumped 21 percent and spending on herbs rose 45 percent as more consumers search for locally grown organic food.

"In the last couple of years, people are way more educated," said Kelly Saxer, owner of Desert Roots Farm in Queen Creek. "I think they're really becoming more involved and taking some ownership in what they eat."

Saxer, who started her community-supported program in 2003, said her membership doubled in the past three years. Her 25-acre farm now serves 225 families, and she recently leased additional land to help meet a growing demand for organic food.

"It's finally kind of caught on, and people are seeking us out," Saxer said. "People are definitely into supporting local agriculture and knowing where their money is going."

Frank Martin of Glendale, who has operated Crooked Sky Farms since 2002, said his members are also interested in supporting the local economy.

Also known as "Farmer Frank," Martin said his farm added 150 members since last summer. He serves about 800 members during the summer season, but will average closer to 1,200 during the fall and winter seasons, which produce a larger variety of crops, he said.

CSA members typically pay to become part of their farm communities at the start of each season. The farmer uses that money, usually between $20 and $25 a week from each member, to plant, grow and harvest the crops. Members then receive a share of the produce, which can be picked up or delivered, depending on the farm.

For some, the CSA experience goes beyond the benefits of eating healthy or saving money on food, said Shyrron Kolb, who started Whole Earth CSA in Waddell in 2006. Many of her members are residents new to the area looking for a sense of "community."

"The whole point of a CSA is to get the farmer and the people connected to one another," Kolb said. "People are moving from elsewhere where they had a connection with a farm, perhaps."

Kolb farms 2 acres of land and serves about 60 members. But she usually has more people wanting to join the CSA than she can feed, she said.

Still, farmers say CSAs aren't for everyone. The programs require understanding from members who receive the same type of produce weekly for 10 to 12 weeks.

"You really have to kind of commit to eating what's in season," Saxer said.

One of Saxer's members, Colleen Byron of Tempe, said it takes creativity to know what to do with so many radishes and eggplants each season. But she calls herself the CSA's biggest fan.

"If you allow your CSA to expand your horizons, the payoff is just huge," Byron said. "My life is so much better because Kelly is doing what she's doing."

Byron started her membership with Desert Roots Farm two years ago, and the produce makes up the bulk of the groceries used in her vegan diet.

Knowing her farmer well also brings peace of mind.

"I know she's not out there at midnight spraying pesticides on her crops to get a higher yield," Byron said. "I trust her completely."

Tainted food likely behind illness of 543 Galveston inmates

2008-07-10T17:56:00.001-07:00

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5881832.html

GALVESTON — At least 543 prisoners, about half the Galveston County Jail population, have been stricken with an illness, many of them vomiting and experiencing diarrhea, the Sheriff's Office said Thursday.

Prisoners began complaining of stomach cramps and other symptoms about 5 p.m. Wednesday and county health officials were called to test food for contamination and help identify the cause, the Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

Food test results are expected Friday.

At one point Thursday, the stricken prisoners were complaining of nearly identical symptoms. One inmate was taken to an emergency room for treatment late Wednesday but has since been returned to the jail.

Jail staff suspected that the illness may have been caused by an earlier meal and quarantined numerous food items.

As of 4 p.m. Thursday more than 400 prisoners were still experiencing symptoms.

Sheriff's spokesman Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo declined to say it was food poisoning, but said the illness was likely food related.

Medical staff at the jail were closely monitoring stricken prisoners.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

From the Consumerist: Sysco "chicken breasts"

2008-07-09T15:22:00.001-07:00

http://consumerist.com/tag/smartserve/?i=5023193&t=whole-chicken-breast-actually-chicken-part-composite

Why not try a SmartServe Chicken, brought to you by Sysco:

Our fully cooked Classic Brand SmartServe glazed chicken breast fillets have the appearance, taste and texture of a whole chicken breast at a much lower cost, plus they offer better portion control, consistent quality and easy preparation. Boneless, skinless, 100% chicken breast pieces shaped into natural breast fillets. Glazed flavoring. Unique 3-D technology gives you the look and texture of a solid muscle chicken breast, at a fraction of the cost.

Mmm...particle chicken! According to tipster Phil, it's a popular item among restaurants.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

E. coli Outbreak Leads to Massive Beef Recall

2008-07-08T04:06:00.001-07:00

http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_E_coli_Outbreak_Leads_to_Massive_Beef_Recall_19917.html

Nebraska Beef Ltd decided to expand its voluntary recall to 5.3 million pounds, representing all the meat the company produced between May 16 and June 26, a statement released by the company on Thursday read.

Originally, the company recalled the beef sent to Nebraska, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. On Thursday, it did not specify whether the beef now being recalled went to additional states.

The measure follows another major recall announced on June 25 by Kroger Co, the U.S. largest grocery chain, of ground beef sold in Michigan and central and northwestern Ohio.

The decision was taken after several cases of E. coli illnesses were reported in Ohio and Michigan. The supplier of the infected beef was Nebraska Beef.

According to the findings of an investigation led by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service at two processing plants which collaborated with Nebraska Beef, the E. coli outbreak happened because some production practices held under insanitary conditions. Apparently, the company’s efforts to ensure a properly clean production process were insufficient, at least against the E. coli bacteria, that can cause bloody diarrhea, dehydration, and in severe cases kidney failure.

Some 41 people from Ohio and Michigan were infected with E. coli bacteria. The infection is more dangerous for people with weak immune systems, such as infants and the elderly.

However, after recalling the ground beef thought to be linked to the E. coli outbreak, Kroger wanted to reassure its customers that ground beef currently for sale in its stores is from other suppliers. Therefore, none of the ground beef involved in the Nebraska Beef recall is available in Kroger’s stores. People should not longer fear that the beef they buy is infested.

For more safety, however, people should follow the USDA’s advice, according to which, harmful bacteria are destroyed and the ground beef is safe to consume when ground beef is thoroughly cooked to an internal temperature of at least 160 degrees.

Protests precede G8 summit

2008-07-05T12:32:00.000-07:00

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2008/07/2008755522967115.html

Protesters have gathered in the Japanese city of Sapporo to demonstrate against rising food prices, ahead of a summit of the Group of Eight (G8) rich nations.

Thousands of people, including many farmers, are taking part in Saturday's protest.

About 21,000 police officers have been deployed near Toyako, the northern Japanese lakeside resort where G8 leaders will meet on Monday.

The demonstrators are calling for the G8 to pay more attention to food producers.

"We should have a more balanced food supply in the world," Eiichi Hayashizaki, a rice farmer at the protest, said.

"Japan imports the majority of its food from overseas, so we don't starve ourselves, but the government should stop controlling rice production in the country," he said.

Food rights

Oxfam International has said that soaring food prices and climate change are having a negative impact on world poverty.

"This isn't the time for a holiday, this is the time for sorting out problems," Lucy Brinicombe, an Oxfam International spokesperson, said.

"They shouldn't be distracted from finding solutions for the food crisis and climate change."

Earlier this week, Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank, called for G8 leaders to address rising food prices at their summit.

The crisis, which is limiting many poor peoples' access to staple foodstuffs, is a "man-made catastrophe" which is overwhelming the bank's resources, he said.

Global food prices have nearly doubled in three years, according to the World Bank.

There have been a string of protests in parts of the developing world over the sharp price increases.

Leaders of the eight major industrial powers - Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States - are reportedly set to install a system of "food reserves" to help nations that have limited immediate access to food.

Activists said that Japanese immigration authorities barred the entry of more than two dozen South Koreans who planned to take part in Saturday's demonstration.

South Koreans have a reputation for being particularly impassioned on issues of global trade.

A farmer from South Korea stabbed himself to death in 2003 during a protest at global trade negotiations in Mexico.

Inspectors to halt import of some food from Mexico

2008-07-05T12:25:00.000-07:00

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/07/04/salmonella.outbreak/

Story Highlights
Starting Monday, authorities will intercept some food from Mexico at the border
Sources say salmonella inquiry expanding to cilantro, peppers and scallions
943 people in 40 states, the District of Columbia, Canada have become ill

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Starting Monday, health inspectors will halt the shipment of ingredients common to Mexican cuisine from Mexico to the United States, sources familiar with the salmonella poisoning investigation said.
Since April, more than 900 people have contracted the same strain of salmonella, but its source is unclear.

Since April, more than 900 people have contracted the same strain of salmonella, but its source is unclear.

The inquiry, which initially focused solely on tomatoes, has expanded to include cilantro, jalapeño peppers, Serrano peppers, scallions and bulb onions, said Tommy Thompson, former secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, who said he has been informed of the plan.

Thompson said the plan involves intercepting food samples at the border and sending them to laboratories to examine them for possible salmonella or E. coli.

A former director of the Food and Drug Administration's import operations said the expanded search raises a number of questions.

"Where's the contaminated product?" asked Carl Nielsen. "How would you know? And where along the supply chain did it happen? Was it at the retail level? Is somebody doing something to expose the product at the retailer? Is it at the wholesale? Is it at the grower? Is it at the processor? Is it in transport? Where is it? They don't know."

The source of the outbreak of Salmonella Saintpaul remains unknown, but it has already had far-reaching implications.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday that 943 people in 40 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada have become ill. Map: Which states are affected? »

The person in the Canadian case became ill in Ontario on the day he returned from the United States, the CDC said.
Health Library

The rare form of bacteria also has cut about $450 million of tomato growers' income, said Thompson.
advertisement

"You don't even take into consideration the thousands of people that have been sick, and how much it's cost in drugs, loss of time and mental anguish for people who are sick," Nielsen said.

Last year during the same period, U.S. health authorities identified three people infected with the same strain.

Food banks struggle to feed influx of newcomers

2008-07-05T12:23:00.001-07:00

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/connecticut/ny-bc-ct--foodbanks-economy0704jul04,0,6150151.story

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - Donations to food banks, soup kitchens and other agencies have dropped just as scores of new visitors are seeking help to feed their families, according to directors of several local organizations.

"Some days, we don't have enough," said Lucretia Sanabria, a volunteer at the Inglesia Pentecostal El Olivar Food Pantry in Bridgeport. "If people are late, sometimes they'll leave with a little bag of rice."

At that food pantry and others, organizers say lines have grown and donations of food and money have dwindled in the past year. The agencies also face higher energy bills, gas prices and other expenses.

Carla Weston, a Salvation Army social worker who runs its Bridgeport food pantry, said the regular visitors are now joined by many new faces. About 80 people came to the facility last month for food, she said.

"That's unheard of for one month," Weston said. "Everybody is really having tough times right now."

Other agencies throughout greater Bridgeport say they also are seeing an influx in new customers.

United Way 211, which provides information about area services, gave 804 referrals to food pantries in the region during the first six months of 2008. During that period last year, there were 586 referrals.

The tight economy has blurred the line between who is needy and who isn't, said Nancy Carrington, executive director of the Connecticut Food Bank in East Haven. The bank provides food to more than 650 soup kitchens, shelters, food pantries and other programs throughout the state.

Carrington said many people were just getting by before gas and utility prices went up. Now, they cannot make ends meet, may be dealing with job losses and seek help anywhere it is available.

Many are people who never expected to need charity programs for help, she said. In one case, she said, a woman recently began using a food program to which she used to donate.

Donations from food manufacturers also have decreased as the industry has become more vigilant about preventing excess production, Carrington said.

___

Information from: Connecticut Post, http://www.connpost.com

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Salmonella signs point to peppers

2008-07-04T04:36:00.001-07:00

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-te.salmonella04jul04,0,1339689.story

WASHINGTON - Investigators are seeing more signs that the salmonella outbreak blamed on tomatoes might have been caused by tainted jalapeno peppers and have begun collecting samples from restaurants and from the homes of those who have been sickened, according to health officials involved in the probe.

New interviews with those who became infected found that many had eaten jalapeno peppers, often in salsa served with Mexican food, according to two state health officials. So far, none of the jalapenos taken from restaurants and from the homes of those who became ill have tested positive for Salmonella saintpaul.

Echoing federal officials, who said this week that tomatoes remain the prime suspect, the health officials said that tomatoes cannot be ruled out as the cause of the outbreak. Investigators have been collecting samples of another possible suspect, cilantro, though the herb is less likely to be the source, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.

The outbreak, which began 12 weeks ago, is believed to be the largest of its kind, and new cases continue to emerge. It has sickened more than 920 people across the country, up from 756 one week ago, and sent more than 110 to the hospital. In Maryland, 29 people have been confirmed to have the illness, which can cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, and, in severe cases, death.

In late May, investigators began focusing on tomatoes as the probable source of the outbreak. But they expanded their investigation last week, asking 100 labs around the country to help, because the number of new infections kept growing despite the short shelf life of tomatoes and warnings to avoid certain varieties.

Delays in pinpointing the cause of the outbreak have frustrated consumers, angered the produce industry and prompted members of Congress to call for food safety reforms.

"How sad is that? We can't even really figure out what it is," said Rep. Diana DeGette, a Colorado Democrat who has proposed food tracking and mandatory recall measures. "We've had the same problem with other products in past years, which shows us the food safety system in this country is outdated and underfunded."

Chile peppers are largely grown in Mexico, Central America and warm weather U.S. states such as Florida. Food-safety specialists said jalapenos are not a common cause of bacterial outbreaks and counseled caution about rushing to judgment that the peppers are responsible for this one.

Contaminated green chile peppers in Colorado sickened 80 people in 1998 and 60 in 2001, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which tracks food-borne illnesses. Neither outbreak involved salmonella bacteria.

A likely source of jalepeno contamination is the water used to irrigate plants or wash peppers after they're picked, said Robert B. Gravani, a food science professor at Cornell University.

One health official involved in the investigation said "loose ends" are keeping tomatoes under suspicion, but the official said they could be accounted for easily. The official said evidence is "piling up" that indicates that jalapenos are to blame.

"There's certainly no shred of doubt in my mind," the official said.

Another health official was more cautious, saying that the evidence is pointing to peppers but that there is not yet enough information to rule out tomatoes. The official said the Food and Drug Administration is enlisting more labs in the investigation so it can test jalapenos, tomatoes and cilantro more quickly.

Both officials played down the likelihood that cilantro is to blame, saying the evidence for that is thin.

Health officials fear that an acknowledgment that the outbreak was not caused by tomatoes could undermine confidence in the public health system. Officials are especially worried that it could reduce support for using statistical analysis of interviews with infected people to justify warnings and recalls, despite many previous successes, because officials decided to issue the tomato warning without waiting to find one that was contaminated.

Tomato industry groups have criticized the use of statistical analysis and say that government health officials should wait until they find a contaminated product before taking serious actions such as recalls. But government officials say that delaying a warning could cause serious harm to public health, because more people could become sick without an early alert.

The tomato industry estimates that it has lost $100 million since the June 10 warning.

"What makes it so pathetic is there has been nothing found," said Bob Spencer, co-owner of West Coast Tomato, which was forced to stop harvesting its fields in Florida and let tomatoes rot in company warehouses.

Liberal interest groups, leading trade associations and congressional critics say the failure to find the outbreak's source, after seven weeks of trying, points up the need for better food tracking systems. They contend that better labeling could quickly lead investigators to a farm that harvested suspicious produce.

Some growers and suppliers have such tracking systems in place. Critics say the FDA should require the tracking systems, which provide detailed information about the source and distribution of produce.

"There is a lot of frustration that the FDA cannot tell us where the tomatoes are from or even whether tomatoes are the cause," said Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

jonathan.rockoff@baltsun.com

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Canada finds first case linked to U.S. salmonella outbreak in returning traveller

2008-07-04T01:54:00.001-07:00

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jg7z7p1ZgiyIkafZlp3rZ3cTIhjw

TORONTO — A Canadian who had recently travelled to the United States has tested positive for Salmonella Saintpaul, the strain of bacteria behind a massive food poisoning outbreak in the U.S., the Public Health Agency of Canada said Thursday.

The case is the first in this country linked to the U.S. outbreak, which has been ongoing since April.

As of Thursday, 922 cases have been confirmed in 40 states and the District of Columbia, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

Testing showed the Canadian, from Ontario, was sickened by a strain of the bacteria with the same genetic fingerprint as the one responsible for the U.S. outbreak, agency spokesperson Andrea Ellis said in an interview.

"From the information that we have right now it looks like this person acquired their infection when they were travelling in the U.S," said Ellis, an epidemiologist with the agency's centre for foodborne, environmental and zoonotic diseases.

"Given the number of cases in the U.S. and the number of (Canadian) travellers to the U.S., we certainly would expect to see some cases like that."

The time of onset of the person's illness points away from infection occurring in this country, she said. "Certainly there continues to be no evidence that we have this pathogen originating here in Canada."

Ellis wouldn't reveal possibly identifying information such as the person's gender, location - beyond Ontario - or where in the U.S. he or she was thought to have contracted the illness.

She did say the agency has shared the information with the CDC and has been asking public health officials in this country to be on the lookout for illnesses caused by the salmonella strain.

Earlier in the outbreak investigation it was thought the bacteria were in certain types of tomatoes, but recently the CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which share responsibility for the investigation, have admitted they have broadened their search.

While tomatoes haven't been ruled out, investigators are also looking at foods commonly eaten with tomatoes, and specifically the ingredients that go into fresh salsa.

Glen Nowak, the CDC's chief of media relations, said there have been about 30 clusters of cases involving people who got sick after eating at a restaurant. In many of the cases, the restaurants served Mexican food, and freshly prepared salsa came up repeatedly in interviews.

But there are a number of food items that go into salsa that can become contaminated with salmonella, further complicating the search for the source.

For now, the only food item U.S. authorities have urged people to forego are certain types of tomatoes.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

FDA must require tracking of produce: food groups

2008-07-03T15:40:00.001-07:00

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN034807620080703?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=10216

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As more Americans get sick while health officials look for the cause of a salmonella outbreak sweeping the country, consumer groups said on Thursday the Food and Drug Administration must put emergency rules in place to track the movement of produce.

Food safety and consumer groups said traceability would make it easier for officials to track through the supply chain the origin of fruits and vegetables and identify the source of outbreaks of foodborne toxins, such as salmonella or E. coli, preventing more people from getting sick.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest and the Consumer Federation of America told reporters an effective tracking plan must follow the produce from the farm to the table, and use a single system that can ensure proper record-keeping throughout the process.

"If (the FDA) had put a traceability plan in place two years ago, following the spinach outbreak, this current investigation may be moving more quickly," said Chris Waldrop, a director at the Consumer Federation of America.

"The latest outbreak clearly demonstrates the need for the federal government to be able to quickly and easily identify and trace an implicated food to its source," he added.

Currently, U.S. health officials are struggling to find the source of a salmonella outbreak that has sickened at least 869 people and hospitalized 107 in at least 36 states.

Tomatoes are the primary focus, but officials have expanded the investigation to include other produce eaten with tomatoes.

David Acheson, FDA's associate commissioner for food protection, said on Tuesday the process has been slow and admitted the agency needs to reexamine how it handles outbreaks.

This comes two years after an outbreak tied to tainted spinach. That E. coli outbreak killed three people and sickened more than 200. These incidents have prompted calls for change at the FDA.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest and the Consumer Federation said tracking technologies are already being used by produce companies, but the approach is voluntary and businesses are using different systems and approaches.

They also called on the FDA to require growers and others handling produce to have food safety plans for their businesses.

Bob Brackett, a senior vice president at the Grocery Manufacturers Association, said high-risk produce associated with illnesses -- such as leafy greens, tomatoes and melons -- should be targeted for traceability first, before moving to other fruits and vegetables.

"The idea is good, but it needs to be implemented where it is going to do the most for public health," said Brackett.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Does ethanol affect food prices?

2008-07-03T15:30:00.001-07:00

http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/07/does-ethanol-af.html

Depends on who you ask, considering the competing ag interests. And it looks like Texas A&M may have had trouble making up its mind on the issue as politics intervened. This is according to an interesting story by the Houston Chronicle.

The story referenced one study released by A&M this spring, which said the effect of corn going to ethanol has had minimal effect on retail prices. It said, in part:

A number of news stories have been written that cite recent increases in the farm level prices of corn, grain sorghum, wheat, soybeans, and rice as causing significant increases in retail food prices. ... It is clear that while some of the increase in retail food prices is due to farm level price increases, there are likely a number of causes ...
One element to rising food prices that tends to be overlooked is the impact of higher fuel prices (oil and natural gas) have on retail food prices.

The Chronicle suggested that A&M's position then evolved, as the governor raised his voice in opposition to federal ethanol production mandates:

Perry pressed for the waiver despite an April 10 Texas A&M study that showed a waiver of federal mandates on ethanol production would have little or no effect in driving down the price of feed corn for poultry and livestock. The A&M study blamed rising corn prices on the cost of oil, global demands for corn and commodities speculation.
At Perry's request, A&M did a second study that was released in June. It found that if corn crops were short because of Midwestern flooding, a waiver would significantly lower corn prices.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture earlier this week reported that the corn harvest would be smaller than last year but only because fewer acres were planted.

When the waiver request was filed, Perry's staff orchestrated a show of support from cattle raisers, pork producers and poultry interests.

Perry's staff coordinated preparation of the waiver request with Pilgrim's Pride lobbyist Gaylor Hughey of Tyler and Cliff Angelo with Public Strategies, the firm handling a public relations campaign against ethanol for Pilgrim's Pride and a coalition of meat producers.

Oh, yeah. The Chronicle asserted a link between the governor's position and a big contribution Bo Pilgrim made to the GOP governors' group.

Our editorial voice has given the governor a salute for his stand, saying:

Fortunately, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison are connecting the dots between Washington and the grocery and feed stores.

The dots, it seems, can be moving targets.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

a way to combat the rising cost of food: food coops.

2008-07-02T18:23:00.001-07:00

Motley Fool: Love Thy Neighbor, the Farmer

2008-07-02T18:00:00.001-07:00

http://www.fool.com/investing/value/2008/07/02/love-thy-neighbor-the-farmer.aspx

Some consumers have long seen the benefits of buying locally grown produce, only to suffer the humiliation of having their peers arbitrarily and unfairly brand them as hippies. Now, many large companies are seeing the wisdom of the idea. Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) is the latest retailer to think that maybe produce should be a little bit closer to home.

Go American
The press-release headline read, "Wal-Mart Commits to America's Farmers as Produce Aisles Go Local." Now, naturally, there's a profit motive here, before you think Wal-Mart has decided to don the tie-dye and head off to Woodstock. After all, it's easy to see how the cost of energy to ship produce all over the country -- or the world, for that matter -- makes it much more cost-efficient to seek local produce.

So the move fits in nicely with Wal-Mart's low-price vows. The company says the initiative will help it keep the retail prices of fruits and veggies down, in part by reducing what it calls "food miles," or "the distance food travels from farm to fork." Produce in the U.S. travels an average of 1,500 miles to get to consumers' kitchens, and the company says that through "better logistics planning, better packing of trucks, and local sourcing, Wal-Mart expects to save millions of food miles each year" with its commitment to local fruits and veggies. This is a good example of how Wal-Mart can move the needle in major ways, when it sets its mind to it.

Although Wal-Mart has faced some criticism about its emphasis on Chinese products in recent years (Wal-Mart's "Made in America" theme from days of yore seems like a long time ago), the press release also touted its support of U.S. agriculture. The megaretailer points out that over the past two years, it has increased partnerships with local farmers by 50%, and it says it purchases more than 70% of its produce from U.S.-based suppliers. That makes it the biggest customer of American agriculture.

Wal-Mart is smart to trumpet such initiatives, but it's not the only one to make a recent announcement of this nature. Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) (NYSE: CMG-B) has also recently announced that it will seek out more locally grown ingredients for its restaurants. That makes sense, given Chipotle's long-standing devotion to naturally raised meats -- not to mention its motto of "Food With Integrity."

Chipotle said it will purchase 25% of at least one type of produce from small- and mid-sized farms within 200 miles of its stores. An Associated Press article on the matter pointed out what's really interesting about the move: It's unheard of in the fast-food niche.

Mom, I'm not playing with my food! I'm contemplating it.
Proponents of food ethics, an idea that ties in with the organic movement, have long touted the benefits of buying from local farmers. Buying local produce reduces carbon footprints. It means eating food that's fresh and in season for one's own region. It's a very natural way of doing things. And, of course, there's a sense of accountability and community. If you can't grow a garden in your own backyard, it's good to support a close-by Farmer Jack or Old McDonald, as opposed to huge, faceless entities in agribusiness.

One company's been on the cutting edge of the philosophical elements of food, where it comes from, and what's in it. That's Whole Foods Market (Nasdaq: WFMI). Two years ago, the organic retailer publicly pledged to support small farms.

If Wal-Mart's now talking about two years of progress on its initiative, I'd venture to guess that it got the idea from somebody else. That's among the reasons I'm still a long-term optimist on Whole Foods Market, despite the stock's downward spiral. The company has historically been way ahead of the curve on many important and exciting shifts in food philosophy. I think it's a mistake to underestimate the foresight of John Mackey and other Whole Foods leaders, in terms of their ability to innovate in the future of food.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
Several years ago, the implications of decisions like these could easily be filed under "ethics" or "philosophy." Many people once pooh-poohed the idea of making conservationist, sustainable purchasing choices as just a bunch of granola-crunchy nonsense. Now, rising energy costs have redefined some of these issues as "getting back to basics" or "just plain common sense."

I recently wrote about the shifts in consumption of oil and water -- SUVs aren't so cool anymore, and many consumers are suddenly remembering that water comes from taps as well as bottles in the grocery store. The newfound mass appeal of local produce strikes me as a similar situation. The marketplace is in a correction mode, all right.

The playing field is shifting. Both consumers and corporations will have to innovate, reassess, and sometimes change their ways, and investors will have a lot to weigh in this transforming landscape. Such changes do yield opportunities for savvy investors, though. Bon appetit.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Company recalls beef linked to E. coli

2008-07-01T14:22:00.001-07:00

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080701/NEWS05/80701055/1007/NEWS

Nebraska Beef, Ltd., is recalling about 531,700 pounds of ground beef that may be contaminated with the E. coli suspected as the cause of at least 38 confirmed illnesses in Michigan and Ohio, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Legal counsel for the Omaha-based company and Kroger were not immediately available for comment today about the announcement, which was made late last night.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has labeled the Nebraska Beef recall a Class I Recall, which means the situation carries a high health risk.

The contaminated beef in Kroger stores in Michigan and Ohio had sell-by dates of May 21 to June 8. All the product on store shelves has been pulled by authorities are concerned about beef that may have been put in freezers. Anyone who has Kroger ground beef product with those sell-by dates should take it to their grocer for refund or at least dispose of the product immediately.

In addition to Michigan and Ohio, Nebraska Beef reported some of the contaminated products were distributed to Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania. Additional beef products were sent to Colorado and Texas for further processing. It was not immediately clear whether the beef with the suspected contamination was sold in other stores in these newly identified states.

More reported cases are expected to follow, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that for every reported E. coli incident, 20 go unreported.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Feds grant $5M to RTI to study protection of food supply

2008-07-01T14:15:00.001-07:00

http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2008/06/30/daily16.html

RTI International has been awarded a five-year contract that could be worth more than $5 million to examine how to better protect the food supply.

The award from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration comes after a number of public food scares, from the ongoing salmonella outbreak to fears over tainted lettuce, green onions and spinach. The FDA has come under fire for its handling of some of those situations - including the ongoing salmonella outbreak in tomatoes, in which the FDA is yet to pinpoint the specific source of the contamination.

Under terms of its deal with the FDA, RTI will develop models for ranking food-related threats to public health. It also will help prioritize research and determine the best ways to minimize the health risks of eating fresh produce and shellfish, a statement says.

"The models that RTI develops will provide FDA with a new set of tools with which to conduct these evaluations," RTI's Amir Mokhtari, lead modeler for the project, said in a statement.

Lee-Ann Jaykus, a food safety researcher at North Carolina State University, will join the RTI team as part of a one-year sabbatical from NCSU. Jaykus has almost 20 years of experience working on food safety, RTI says.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Slow Food Nation comes to San Francisco

2008-06-30T12:47:00.001-07:00

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/30/MNNE11GCLI.DTL

(06-29) 16:10 PDT -- Pick up your forks and knives, and let the revolution start now.

That's the rallying cry of the organizers of Slow Food Nation, an event designed to change the way people eat.

Fifty thousand people, including some of the world's leading food authorities, health care experts, farmers and policymakers, are expected to attend the four-day exhibition in San Francisco over Labor Day weekend - what's being called the largest celebration of American food in history.

Their message: Americans need to fix the food system or risk destroying their health and the planet.

"This impacts every single one us," said Mayor Gavin Newsom. "No matter where we live or how we've been raised, this is a profoundly important issue."

Workers will break ground Tuesday on a vegetable garden at San Francisco City Hall, where the public can take free tours and taste fresh produce. In addition, Slow Food Nation, held at both the Civic Center and Fort Mason, will include lectures, workshops, cooking demonstrations, tastings, films, concerts, hikes, a farmers' market and a "Slow on the Go" food court. Some of the programs are free; others require tickets that range in price from $5 to $65 (slowfoodnation.org) to help offset the $2 million cost.

One highlight will be the pavilions at Fort Mason, which will be divided by types of food - chocolate, cheese, bread, honey and the like - showcasing American varieties and artisan producers. At the Civic Center, speakers will include "Fast Food Nation" author Eric Schlosser; author, farmer and cultural critic Wendell Berry; and nutrition expert and "What to Eat" author Marion Nestle.

European influences

Slow Food Nation is the first such event to be held in the United States, although it's patterned after similar events in Europe.

Slow Food, a philosophy that food should be not only savored, but also produced with a social and environmental conscience, started as an Italian protest movement in 1986.

Furious that McDonald's had come to Rome, political activist Carlo Petrini organized a demonstration against the fast-food chain.

"Rather than take the French route - driving a tractor through the building - Petrini took a more Italian hedonistic tack," said Michael Pollan, a UC Berkeley professor and well-known food journalist and author who, like Petrini, is scheduled to speak on several panels. "Petrini set up trestle tables in front of the McDonald's, called upon Italy's grandmothers to make their favorite dishes and served them to passers-by."

Since then, Slow Food organizations have formed in 131 countries, working to preserve local cuisine and lobby for more sustainable and fair-wage farming practices.

Critics have denounced the movement, calling it elitist and accusing it of trying to stand in the way of farming and production methods that would make food cheaper. Proponents argue that eating local products grown and raised without chemicals, as opposed to nonorganic imported goods, will save the environment, lead to good health and save Americans money.

"Unless we squeeze the fossil fuel out of our dinner," Pollan said, we won't be able to maintain a viable food supply. "We no longer can catch salmon in Alaska, fillet it in China and serve it in New York."

Food as a language

Slow Food Nation founder Alice Waters, the Berkeley restaurateur who popularized the idea of serving food straight from local, organic farms to the table at her Chez Panisse restaurant, says the timing of the event, which kicks off on the eve of the presidential election, is no coincidence.

"We want people to vote with their forks," she said. "Food is our common language. The choices we make about what we eat not only affect our health, but affect our planet."

Pollan hopes the event will help galvanize the new administration to push for a better food agenda in this country.

"There's a real need for rethinking things," he said, adding that the world is in the midst of a food crisis, with people either starving or obese. There's something terribly wrong, says Pollan, when "it's cheaper to buy a double cheeseburger than a head of broccoli."

Countries like Haiti and the Philippines have become so reliant on imported rice that they've stopped growing their own, said Pollan, who blames globalization. Now their citizens are going hungry.

Back to basics

Newsom's worries are closer to home.

"In the Bayview, the only produce being sold is at a liquor store, and it's three days past its due date," he said. "Instead, I see a Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Taco Bell. Our fast-food culture is the primary contributor to the health care costs in this country."

Waters complains that people don't even know how to cook anymore.

"We used to know how," she said. "We just got disconnected from it. The globalization of food took us by surprise. People told us, 'It's too hard to cook. Let us do it for you.' "

She hopes that Slow Food Nation will motivate people to get back to the basics - "learn how to fry an egg or stir polenta." She's also optimistic that participants will be spurred to reject industrialized farming, persuaded to eat locally and inspired to fight for changes in food policy.

None of this is far-fetched, said Waters, who has seen a significant shift in the public's attitude in the last five years - especially in the 18-to-22-age group.

"All of a sudden, it's happening," she said. "There are all these people who want to live off the grid. They want to farm. I see young people with their kids buying food at the farmers' market."

She acknowledges that the Bay Area may be a bit ahead of the curve.

"Next year," she said, "we'll take it to Washington, D.C., then New Orleans, then the Midwest."

E-mail Stacy Finz at sfinz@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Bovine Tuberculosis Herds Found in California

2008-06-30T12:11:00.001-07:00

http://californiafarmer.com/index.aspx?ascxid=fpStory&fpsid=34556&fpstid=2

The California Department of Food and Agriculture and the USDA have confirmed the detection of bovine tuberculosis in two more dairy herds in Fresno County. A single cow in each of these two additional herds was confirmed positive, bringing the current total number of herds affected to three. USDA is beginning the process to officially downgrade California's bovine tuberculosis status from "Accredited Free" to "Modified Accredited Advanced."

CDFA and USDA personnel continue to spearhead the effort to eradicate bovine tuberculosis from California's cattle. CDFA and USDA veterinarians and animal health professionals from across the State and nation are helping with the effort. Since bovine tuberculosis was first detected in January 2008, more than 105 herds and over 150,000 cattle have been tested as part of the investigation.

The drop in status is required by the USDA's Code of Federal Regulations following the detection of two affected herds within 48 months. It will impose additional testing requirements on California's cattle industry when shipping animals out of state. CDFA animal disease control experts are working with USDA to evaluate dividing California so that part of the state could return to a "TB Free" status while intensive disease eradication efforts continue in the affected area of California.

California regained its Bovine Tuberculosis Accredited-Free status on April 15, 2005 two years after losing its status due to an outbreak in Kings and Tulare counties. Following the detection of bovine tuberculosis in 2003, over 876,000 cattle from 688 herds were tested in California to make sure the disease had not spread beyond the three detected dairy herds. New rules were also put in place requiring that dairy breeding cattle entering California be tested to help prevent reintroduction of the disease - this rule remains in effect.

Bovine tuberculosis does not threaten the quality and safety of milk and meat products produced in California. Almost all milk sold in California is pasteurized, which destroys organisms that could be harmful to humans, including tuberculosis organisms. The state's two raw milk dairies are regularly tested for tuberculosis. All cattle processed for meat are inspected for signs of tuberculosis infection and rejected for consumption if they show signs of the disease.

The best way for cattle producers to prevent bovine tuberculosis is to maintain a closed herd or isolate and test purchased additions and cattle re-entering the herd, maintain accurate records of animal identification and movements, prevent contact with cattle of unknown tuberculosis status, arrange professional diagnostic workup of sick animals, and establish a tuberculosis testing policy for employees.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

HSUS uncovers more downer cattle abuse

2008-06-29T18:23:00.001-07:00

Beef dispute confronts Rice on Korean visit

2008-06-29T01:30:00.000-07:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080629/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_skorea_beef

By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer Sat Jun 28, 10:53 PM ET

SEOUL, South Korea - Beef bested bombs.
ADVERTISEMENT

America's chief diplomat found herself vouching for the purity of U.S. cattle Saturday, wading into a bitter trade dispute that for South Koreans has eclipsed the long-running drama over North Korea's nuclear activity and threatened the government of President Lee Myung-bak.

Just one day after the communist North demolished the most visible symbol of its nuclear programs, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice faced a barrage of questions about the safety of American steaks, chops and burgers. She had told reporters she hoped this issue would not distract from other matters.

"I want to assure everyone that American beef is safe," she told a news conference with South Korea's foreign minister, Yu Myung-hwan. "We will continue to work with you to have consumer confidence in that matter. We want there to be consumer confidence in American beef."

But Yu said the beef issue probably would not go away quickly.

"It will take time for that risk to be erased from the minds of the Korean public," he said.

For many South Koreans, who have lived with threats from their neighbor for five decades, the nuclear issue is of less concern than is Seoul's agreement to lift a ban on American beef imports in April as a way to restore strained ties with Washington.

Activists have staged daily rallies on the streets of the capital to voice fears about possible health risks such as mad cow disease. As officials began inspecting U.S. beef on Friday before it can reach markets, hundreds of labor activists blocked customs storage facilities.

A small but loud and angry group of about 15 sign-carrying protesters gathered outside the South Korean Foreign Ministry, where Rice met with Yu.

"Rice go home," they chanted. Placards said, "Stop Rice and Mad Cow," and "We Don't Need U.S. Troops. We Don't Need Mad Cows."

Later Saturday, about 15,000 people staged another street rally in Seoul, clashing with riot police who stopped them from marching into the presidential Blue House, according to police. Protesters wielded steel pipes and threw stones at riot police who used water cannons and fire extinguishers to repel them, police said.

Police said they arrested more than 50 protesters on charges of beating riot police and illegally occupying streets. Hundreds of riot police and protesters were injured during the rally that continued until early Sunday morning, according to media reports.

U.S. beef was banned for most of the past 4 1/2 years, since the first case of mad cow disease in the U.S. was discovered in late 2003. In the wake of public outrage over plans to resume shipments of American beef, the South Korean Cabinet has offered to resign and the president has reshuffled top advisers.

Seoul agreed to resume U.S. beef imports only after American producers said they would limit shipments to meat from cattle younger than 30 months. These animals are believed less susceptible to mad cow disease. The restriction was considered a transitional step that will be lifted when conditions change in South Korea.

Traveling to Seoul after meetings in Japan, where North Korea dominated the agenda, Rice expressed hope that South Koreans would accept official assurances there are no health issues with American beef.

"We hope that in time the South Korean people will listen to that and will be willing to listen to what their government is saying and what we're saying," she told reporters on her plane. "The U.S. believes strongly in the safety of its product."

In Seoul, Rice did manage, briefly, to address the North Korea developments. She said Friday's destruction of the cooling tower at the North's main nuclear facility was significant, but that far more had to be done.

The demolition followed moves this past week by the U.S. to end penalties North Korea in response to the country's submission of a long-delayed declaration of its nuclear programs.

"I expect that the North will live up to the obligations that it's undertaken, to take those concerns seriously and to address them," Rice said. There are suspicions that information was left out of the declaration, such as Pyongyang's alleged uranium enrichment and nuclear proliferation.

"At the end of this, we have to have the abandonment of all programs, weapons and materials," she said.

After seeing Yu, Rice met with Lee and briefed him on recent progress on the nuclear issue. Lee told her that the two countries should work closely to get North Korea to give up all nuclear weapons and programs, a statement from the presidential Blue House said.

US extends search for tainted food

2008-06-28T02:51:00.001-07:00

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/06/28/us_extends_search_for_tainted_food/

WASHINGTON - The United States is examining whether something other than tomatoes may be the source of a salmonella outbreak that has now sickened 810 people.

While tomatoes remain the likely cause for the growing toll of illnesses reported, investigators can't rule out that another food is to blame, said Patricia Griffin, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

"We continue to look at other possible sources," Griffin said.

The number of people who have become ill during the salmonella outbreak is about four times the 205 cases reported after packaged fresh spinach was tainted by E. coli in 2006. The tally of reported illnesses described by the CDC increased 54 since Thursday alone.

Investigators can't rule out that tainted products are still on store shelves or that tomatoes are continuing to be contaminated in a packing house or some other point in the distribution chain, said David Acheson, the Food and Drug Administration's associate commissioner for foods.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Fresh off the Farm: Va. Program Connects Schools to Homegrown Food

2008-06-27T12:17:00.001-07:00

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/24/AR2008062401818.html

By Sandhya Somashekhar

Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 26, 2008; Page LZ03

State officials have launched a program designed to connect small Virginia farmers with schools in hopes of boosting the agricultural economy and encouraging children to eat organic, locally grown food.

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services announced June 18 the creation of a Web site devoted to the Farm-to-School program ( http://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/marketing/farm.shtml).

Officials plan to use the site to link local producers of milk, eggs, meat and produce with colleges, universities, and public and private grade schools that are interested in purchasing those goods, many of which are organic, to feed students.

"We are essentially offering a matchmaking service here," said Elaine Lidholm, a spokeswoman for the agriculture department. "If a farmer or a group of farmers says, 'Yes, we can provide apples and whatever for your school and deliver it right to your door,' we want to be able to connect them with a school that wants that service."

Virginia schools spend more than $6 million a year on fresh produce, Lidholm said. The aim is to encourage schools to turn to local producers for more of what cafeterias serve, such as apples in the fall or salad greens in the spring.

The department hopes to capitalize on the rising popularity of locally grown food, which is prized for its environmental benefits. Some consumers say it is healthier and tastes better, and farmers have noted that crops grown closer to markets are more economical as gas prices soar.

The program also could link schools with food from farms in places such as Loudoun County, the Shenandoah Valley or Southside Virginia.

Several states have adopted Farm-to-School programs, including Maryland and Pennsylvania, said Tegan Hagy, the mid-Atlantic coordinator for the national program.

In the past, federal regulations prohibited government agencies from giving preferential treatment to local businesses, but some of those barriers were lifted under farm legislation Congress passed this year, she said.

The programs not only have economic and nutritional benefits, but also educational ones, Hagy said.

"It's not just about getting the food into the child's mouth," she said. "While obviously that's important, we really want them to internalize and understand where their food comes from. People have gotten really disconnected from that."

Some schools in the state have been forging relationships with area farmers. Students in Rappahannock County, which "probably has one of the highest farmer-to-student ratios in the state," joked resident Amy Silver O'Leary, have been growing and cooking crops donated by local farmers as part of a program called Farm-to-Table.

The connection not only has enriched school lunches, but also has helped students understand the connection between the land and what they eat, said O'Leary, coordinator of grants and partnerships for Headwaters, the education group in charge of the program.

"One of the things our program does is raise children's awareness of where their food comes from and what it takes to produce food," she sai

Blogged with the Flock Browser

UN to press G8 on food crisis, climate change, poverty

2008-06-27T03:22:00.001-07:00

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iHr4_fkkQgnyv3Ukx0L8nJuJQDcw

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Thursday he would press Group of Eight (G8) leaders at their summit in Japan next month to tackle the world food crisis, climate change and the flagging fight against global poverty.

On the eve of his departure on a two-week, three-nation Asian tour, the secretary general said the July 7-9 summit in the northern Japanese resort town of Toyako must face the three inter-related crises which demand "our immediate action."

He said that before departing, he would write to each of the G8 leaders to lay out his concerns about the global food crisis, the need "to act now" on climate change if a deal to cut greenhouse gases is to be reached by the end of next year, and the emergency of development.

"If ever there were a time to act, together as one, it is now," he told a press conference.

Ban said he would appeal to world leaders in Toyako "to deliver on the measures agreed to in Rome earlier this month to end the current food crisis and prevent a recurrence".

These measures include a commitment by nations to remove export restrictions and levies on food commodities and cut agricultural subsidies, particularly in developed countries.

Ban said he would also propose tripling the proportion of Official Development Assistance (ODA) from wealthy nations to developing countries for farm production and rural development.

"To overcome this crisis, we need nothing less than a second, green revolution," he said.

And noting that the international community was falling behind in its goal of achieving the poverty-reduction Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, he said: "If we are to deliver on this promised future, we must take steps today."

On climate change, the UN chief urged stepped-up bargaining to reach a new, historic deal in Copenhagen next year.

The treaty due to be hammered out in the Danish capital in December 2009 is meant to provide an action plan after the Kyoto Protocol's obligations to cut greenhouse gas emissions expire at the end of 2012.

The United States, which snubbed Kyoto, and developing nations, which have no obligations under it, agreed at a conference in December in Bali, Indonesia, to negotiate to craft the next treaty.

Ban said he would press the G8 leaders to agree "short- and medium-term targets" for reducing greenhouse gases.

He added that a fully funded and operational adaptation fund to help the world's most vulnerable nations cope with global warming must be in place by the end of this year.

The UN chief also warned that the combined impact of climate change and of the global food crisis were slowing and in some cases reversing progress made towards achieving the MDGs.

"In Hokkaido (the G8 summit) we must deliver on our commitments," he said.

"I will also seek increased funding for specific programs relating to infant and maternal health, community health projects and disease control, HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and neglected tropical diseases."

The G8 is made up of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

Ban's Asian tour will first take him to Japan from Saturday to Tuesday for talks with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and Emperor Akihito.

It will be Ban's first visit to Japan since he took over as secretary general early last year.

The UN chief, a former South Korean foreign minister, is then to visit China and South Korea before attending the G8 summit in Hokkaido.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Honey bee crisis could lead to higher food prices

2008-06-26T22:58:00.001-07:00

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gV9ZkvaSg-PdW-F03XQvXCINgWqgD91I0HM00

WASHINGTON (AP) — Food prices could rise even more unless the mysterious decline in honey bees is solved, farmers and businessmen told lawmakers Thursday.

"No bees, no crops," North Carolina grower Robert D. Edwards told a House Agriculture subcommittee. Edwards said he had to cut his cucumber acreage in half because of the lack of bees available to rent.

About three-quarters of flowering plants rely on birds, bees and other pollinators to help them reproduce. Bee pollination is essential is responsible for $15 billion annually in crop value.

In 2006, beekeepers began reporting losing 30 percent to 90 percent of their hives. This phenomenon has become known as Colony Collapse Disorder. Scientists do not know how many bees have died; beekeepers have lost 36 percent of their managed colonies this year. It was 31 percent for 2007, said Edward B. Knipling, administrator of the Agriculture Department's Agricultural Research Service.

"If there are no bees, there is no way for our nation's farmers to continue to grow the high quality, nutritious foods our country relies on," said Democratic Rep. Dennis Cardoza of California, chairman of the horticulture and organic agriculture panel. "This is a crisis we cannot afford to ignore."

Food prices have gone up 83 percent in three years, according to the World Bank.

Edward R. Flanagan, who raises blueberries in Milbridge, Maine, said he could be forced to increase prices tenfold or go out of business without the beekeeping industry. "Every one of those berries owes its existence to the crazy, neurotic dancing of a honey bee from flower to flower," he said.

The cause behind the disorder remains unknown. Possible explanations include pesticides; a new parasite or pathogen; and the combination of immune-suppressing stresses such as poor nutrition, limited or contaminated water supplies and the need to move bees long distances for pollination.

Ice cream maker Haagen-Dazs and natural personal care products company Burt's Bees have pledged money for research and begun efforts to help save the bees.

The problem affects about 40 percent of Haagen-Dazs' 73 flavors, including banana split and chocolate peanut butter, because ingredients such as almonds, cherries and strawberries rely on honey bees for pollination.

Katty Pien, brand director for Haagen-Dazs, said those ingredients could become too scarce or expensive if bees keep dying. It could force the company to discontinue some of its most popular flavors, Pien said.

Haagen-Dazs has developed a new limited-time flavor, vanilla honey bee, and will use some of the proceeds for research on the disorder. Burt's Bees has introduced Colony Collapse Disorder Lip Balm to "soften your lips while saving honeybees."

The House Appropriations Committee approved $780,000 on Thursday for research on the disorder and $10 million for bee research. The money awaits approval by the full House and Senate.

On the Net:

Haagan-Dazs' Help the Honey Bees campaign: http://www.helpthehoneybees.com/
Burt's Bees: http://www.burtsbees.com
Pollinator Partnership: http://www.polinator.org/
House Committee on Agriculture: http://agriculture.house.gov/index.shtml

Blogged with the Flock Browser

CDC: 756 ill from salmonella-tainted tomatoes

2008-06-26T22:45:00.001-07:00

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gGU3mgxShkCMpPha2MrBUbWdKzdgD91I0PH00

WASHINGTON (AP) — The official toll from salmonella-tainted tomatoes continues to rise: The government counted 756 confirmed illnesses Thursday.

That's roughly 200 more illnesses than health officials had counted a week ago, in what has become the nation's largest-ever outbreak of salmonella from tomatoes.

The continuing rise in cases is due mostly to state laboratories finishing backlogs of tests, not lots of new infections, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The latest known illness occurred on June 13.

The outbreak's source remains a mystery. Food and Drug Administration investigators have spent the past week inspecting farms in parts of Florida and Mexico and the warehouses and other stops those farms' tomatoes made on the way to market.

The government continues to urge consumers nationwide to avoid raw red plum, red Roma or red round tomatoes unless they were grown in specific states or countries that FDA has cleared of suspicion. Check FDA's Web site — http://www.fda.gov — for an updated list. Also safe are grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and tomatoes sold with the vine still attached.

At least 95 people have been hospitalized, the CDC said. No deaths have been attributed to the outbreak, although it may have contributed to a death due to cancer.

Salmonella is a bacterial infection causing fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramps, often caused by eating foods contaminated with animal feces

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Kroger ground beef is recalled

2008-06-26T03:31:00.000-07:00

USDA: E. coli sickened at least 35 in Michigan, Ohio

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080626/NEWS05/806260340

Kroger is recalling all ground beef products with sell-by dates between May 21 and June 8 because they may contain E. coli bacteria that is believed to have stricken at least 35 people in Michigan and Ohio, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday.
Advertisement

No fatalities have been reported, though 14 people were hospitalized -- including one Michigander treated for kidney failure and later released.

The recall involves an undetermined amount of ground beef, including all varieties and weights of products sold in Michigan stores as well as stores in counties in the Toledo and Columbus areas in Ohio.

Kroger and health officials said none of the infected product remains in stores.

"The products are no longer available," said Amanda Eamich, spokeswoman for the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service. "We actually are encouraging people to look in their freezers."

Beef purchased between those dates and placed in freezers should be discarded or returned to the grocer for refunds, the agency said.

"If you have ground beef in the freezer that you are the least concerned about, please bring it back and we will refund your money," said Dale Hollandsworth, a spokesman for the Kroger Co., based in Cincinnati.

The Kroger ground beef has been linked genetically and through food case studies to recent E. coli 0157:H7 outbreaks in Michigan and Ohio, according to state health departments in the two states and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Michigan has reported 16 cases of related E. coli infections, and Ohio has reported 19.

At least 14 people have been hospitalized in the two states from the bacteria, the CDC said.

Hollandsworth said Kroger is confident current store supplies of ground beef are safe for sale because state health officials have tested supplies.

"The health department has done several testings and samplings to make sure that the ground beef is safe," Hollandsworth said of current product in the stores.

Hollandsworth said store employees placed notices of the contaminated products in stores Tuesday night and Wednesday, and that he did not think sales would be adversely affected.
Shoppers weigh in

Kroger shoppers were aware of the issue, but didn't seem overly concerned.

Ray Silme, 30, of Dearborn said he did not buy any meat Wednesday at the Kroger on Colson Street in Dearborn.

But that didn't mean he wouldn't.

"I would still buy it. I'd just cook the heck out of it," he said.

Gino Sabou, 32, of Northville, who shopped at the Colson Street Kroger, said the country needs to do more inspections to avoid a major outbreak.

"Obviously we need more inspectors and harsher rules," he said.

Kroger likely will not suffer any ill effects from the recall, agreed grocery industry analyst David Livingston, managing partner of DJL Research in Waukesha, Wis.

"Generally, the consumers forget about this pretty quick," said Livingston, noting recent recalls of tomatoes and spinach. "This has happened fast before. It will probably blow over."
Source of bad beef sought

Kroger is working in cooperation with state and federal investigators in trying to locate the source of the contaminated meat, the Michigan Department of Community Health said.

Hollandsworth said Kroger and health officials cannot yet identify the specific meat supplier or suppliers involved with the tainted ground beef. The grocery company uses several large suppliers.

"We're working with them by providing any and all records that we have relative to that," he said. "This is critical not just to Kroger, but to the food industry."

Health officials warn consumers to cook all ground beef to an internal temperature of at least 160 degrees Fahrenheit to kill any potential bacteria.

Eating rare and under-cooked meat can lead to bacterial infection of E. coli 0157:H7, which can cause stomach cramps, vomiting and diarrhea.

In extreme cases, it can lead to kidney failure and even death.

2008 Farm Bill Implementation audio

2008-06-26T03:24:00.001-07:00

mms://ocbmtcwmp.usda.gov/content/secy/secy062508.wma

Record corn prices mean more expensive meat, dairy

2008-06-22T15:13:00.000-07:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080622/ap_on_bi_ge/midwest_flooding_food_prices

By STEVENSON JACOBS, AP Business Writer
2 hours, 6 minutes ago

NEW YORK - Raging Midwest floodwaters that swallowed crops and sent corn and soybean prices soaring are about to give consumers more grief at the grocery store.

In the latest bout of food inflation, beef, pork, poultry and even eggs, cheese and milk are expected to get more expensive as livestock owners go out of business or are forced to slaughter more cattle, hogs, turkeys and chickens to cope with rocketing costs for corn-based animal feed.

The floods engulfed an estimated 2 million or more acres of corn and soybean fields in Iowa, Indiana, Illinois and other key growing states, sending world grain prices skyward on fears of a substantially smaller corn crop. The government will give a partial idea of how many corn acres were lost before the end of the month, but experts say the trickle-down effect could be more dramatic later this year, affecting everything from Thanksgiving turkeys to Christmas hams.

Rod Brenneman, president and chief executive of Seaboard Foods, a pork supplier in Sawnee Mission, Kan. that produces 4 million hogs a year, said high corn costs were already forcing producers in his industry to cut back on the number of animals they raise.

"There's definitely liquidation of livestock happening," and that will cause meat prices to rise later this year and into 2009, said Brenneman, who is also the vice chairman of the American Meat Institute.

Brenneman's cost for feeding a single hog has shot up $30 in the past year because of record-high prices for corn and soybeans, the main ingredients in animal feed. Passing that increase on to consumers would tack an extra 15 cents per pound onto a pork chop.

It's a similar story for U.S. beef producers, who now spend a whopping 60-70 percent of their production costs on animal feed and are seeing that number rise daily as corn prices hover near an unprecedented $8 a bushel, up from about $4 a year ago.

"This is not sustainable. The cattle industry is going to have to get smaller," said James Herring, president and CEO of Amarillo, Tex.-based Friona Industries, which buys 20 million bushels of corn each year to feed 550,000 cattle.

Corn's prices were already rising before the floods, driven up 80 percent over the past year as developing countries like China and India scramble for grains to feed people and livestock. U.S. production of ethanol, an alternative fuel that can be made with corn, has also pushed prices higher, prompting livestock owners to lobby Washington to roll back ethanol mandates.

Before the floods, corn farmers were enjoying record profits selling the grain to feed animals and for use in cereals and as a sweetener in soda and candy. But a sharply smaller corn crop could wipe out those gains.

In Iowa, the No. 1 U.S. corn grower, floods inundated about 9 percent of corn crops, representing about 1.2 million acres — almost 1.5 percent of the country's anticipated harvest.

In Indiana, another 9 percent of corn and soybean crops were flooded, potentially costing farmers up to $840 million in lost earnings, Indiana Agriculture Director Andy Miller said.

Floodwaters also tossed farm equipment, sprayed cornfields with debris and silt and sucked away large chunks of topsoil. For livestock owners and meat producers, the damage may be felt long after the corn grows back.

Even before the floods, Tyson Foods was complaining that high grain prices would drive up its costs by $600 million this year. The world's largest poultry company has already raised its prices over the past year, and expects to keep raising them, CEO Dick Bond told analysts at a conference in May.

Higher feed prices will eventually filter through to the cost of milk, cheese and yogurt, too, since 65 to 75 percent of a dairy farmers' production costs are for feed, said Chris Galen, a spokesman for the National Milk Producers Federation.

With the cost of animal feed only going higher, many poultry and dairy farmers are starting to look for cheaper alternatives.

Nebraska dairy farmer Dan Rice, who has 1,500 cows, said one alternative is to buy some of the byproducts of cereal or flour production, but they're not nearly as productive compared to corn.

"If we all feed less corn and get less production, then the price at the grocery stores are going to go up," said Rice, who supplies milk to grocery stores in Omaha and around Kansas City.

Without easy ways to cut costs, many livestock producers will have little choice but to slaughter more animals and send them to market.

"We're in survival mode now," said Paul Hill, chairman of West Liberty Foods, a turkey processor based in West Liberty, Iowa. He estimated U.S. turkey producers will reduce their flocks by 10 to 15 percent nationwide, a cutback that will send consumer prices dramatically higher.

"The cost of Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys will go up this year, and maybe even more next year," said Hill, who is also the chairman of the National Turkey Federation.

If corn were to rise to $10 a bushel, Richard Lobb, spokesman for the National Chicken Council, said recouping costs through higher retail prices may not be possible.

"Can you possibly charge enough for the chicken to recoup that investment?" he said. "That's a question no one can answer yet because it's never been done."

___

Beef, pet food, spinach: Recalling recent food scares

2008-06-22T03:18:00.000-07:00

http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1102391

Prior to the tomato-linked salmonella outbreak, food-related illness and recalls that have affected Bay Staters in recent years include:

Beef shipped across the country, including to 112 Massachusetts schools, was recalled in February after the U.S. Department of Agriculture learned employees of Hallmark/Westland Meat in California were videotaped using a fork lift and electronic prod to force sick cattle into the slaughterhouse. The recall of 143 million pounds of beef was the largest in U.S. history. No illnesses were reported.

In December, the state Department of Public Health identified milk containing listeria from Whittier Farms in West Sutton as responsible for three deaths. Two elderly men and an unborn child were killed by the bacteria, while a third man and the child’s mother were made ill. The dairy farm halted production.

In March 2007, tainted pet food forced massive recalls of chow sold under more than 80 brand names. At least 16 cats and dogs nationwide died.

Hundreds of people, including at least five in Massachusetts, fell violently ill after eating salmonella-tainted peanut butter that was pulled from supermarkets in February 2007.

Spinach was pulled from grocery store shelves and restaurant menus after an outbreak of E. coli was linked to bags of the leafy greens in September 2006. An elderly woman died and nearly 100 people were sickened.

Food Stamps Buy Less, and Families Are Hit Hard

2008-06-22T03:12:00.000-07:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/nyregion/22food.html?em&ex=1214280000&en=847d0f4dc7ed7a8a&ei=5087%0A

Making ends meet on food stamps has never been easy for Cassandra Johnson, but since food prices began their steep climb earlier this year, she has had to develop new survival strategies.
Skip to next paragraph
Enlarge This Image
Andrew Henderson/The New York Times

June Jacobs-Cuffee of Brooklyn now opts for canned goods because of the rising prices. “It does require very careful budgeting,” she said.

She hunts for items that are on the shelf beyond their expiration dates because their prices are often reduced, a practice she once avoided.

Ms. Johnson, 44, who works in customer service for a medical firm, knows that buying food this way is not healthy, but she sees no other choice if she wants to feed herself and her 1-year-old niece Ammni Harris and 2-year-old nephew Tramier Harris, who live with her.

“I live paycheck to paycheck,” said Ms. Johnson, as she walked out of a market near her home in Hackensack, N.J., pushing both Ammni and the week’s groceries in a shopping cart. “And we’re not coping.”

The sharp rise in food prices is being felt acutely by poor families on food stamps, the federal food assistance program.

In the past year, the cost of food for what the government considers a minimum nutritional diet has risen 7.2 percent nationwide. It is on track to become the largest increase since 1989, according to April data, the most recent numbers, from the United States Department of Agriculture. The prices of certain staples have risen even more. The cost of eggs, for example, has increased nearly 20 percent, and the price of milk and other dairy products has risen 10 percent.

But food stamp allocations, intended to cover only minimum needs, have not changed since last fall and will not rise again until October, when an increase linked to inflation will take effect. The percentage, equal to the annual rise in prices for the minimum nutritional food basket as measured each June, is usually announced by early August.

Some advocates and politicians say that this relief will not come soon enough and will probably not be adequate to keep pace with inflation.

Stacy Dean, the director of food assistance for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington social issues research and advocacy organization, estimates that the rising food prices have resulted in two fewer bags of groceries a month for the families most reliant on the program.

“We know food stamps are falling short $34 a month” of the monthly $576 that the government says it costs a family of four to eat nutritional meals, she said. “The sudden price increases on top of everything else like soaring fuel and health care have meant squeeze and strain that is unprecedented since the late 1970s.”

The declining buying power of food stamps has not gone unrecognized in Washington. In May, Congress passed a farm bill that would raise the minimum amount of food stamps that families receive, starting in October. The bill, which was passed over President Bush’s veto, will also raise for the first time since 1996 the amount of income that families of fewer than four can keep for costs like housing or fuel without having their benefits reduced.

This month, a coalition led by Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. called on Congress to immediately enact a temporary 20 percent increase in food stamps. Officials at the Agriculture Department, which administers the program, say there is no precedent for such an action. Families on food stamps have been hit hard across the nation, but perhaps not as hard as families in New York, where food costs are substantially higher than prices almost everywhere else, including other urban areas, according to the Food Research and Action Center, a research and advocacy group in Washington.

The more than one million New Yorkers on food stamps receive on average $107 a month in assistance, which is slightly higher than the average for the rest of the country. But it is not enough to close the gap in food costs, experts say.

Poor families interviewed in the New York area say that they are not going hungry — thanks in large part to the city’s strong network of 1,200 soup kitchens and food pantries — but that they have really felt the pinch. To cope, many say, they are doing without the basics.

June Jacobs-Cuffee of Brooklyn shares $120 a month in food stamps with her 19-year-old epileptic son. She says that even after her once-a-month trip to the food pantry at St. John’s Bread & Life in Brooklyn, she has had to give up red meat and is also cutting back on buying fresh fruits and sticking instead with canned goods and fruit cocktail.

“It is not a question of running out, yet,” she said. “But it does require very careful budgeting.”

The most recent census data showed that from 2003 to 2006 an average of 1.3 million New Yorkers identified themselves as “food insecure,” meaning that they were worried about being able to buy enough food to keep their families adequately fed. City officials are concerned that the food price increase has caused that number to increase significantly.

“I am much more worried about the state of hunger in New York City than I was 6 or 12 months ago,” said Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker. Ms. Quinn said that food pantries were increasingly complaining about being tapped out. She added, “What we are hearing from constituents is that they are having to make tougher and tougher decisions like to water down milk for kids or not purchase medication to keep money for food.”

Yessenia Villar, who lives in Washington Heights and works tutoring children in Spanish and English, knows about tough choices. She says it is getting harder to stretch her monthly $190 in food stamps to cover food for herself, her mother and her 5-year-old daughter. At the end of the month, she runs out of oil, rice and, most painful of all, plantains, which have gone from five for $1 to two for $1, she says.

She says she has stopped buying extras like summer sandals for herself, and has also given up treats like cookies and ice cream for her daughter. “I used to make all my groceries for $150 a month and then have a little extra,” she said. “Now it is, like, crazy.”

Nate Schweber contributed reporting.

Global Quandary: How to Feed a Growing Planet

2008-06-22T03:03:00.000-07:00

http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1444766/global_quandary_how_to_feed_a_growing_planet/

Posted on: Sunday, 22 June 2008, 03:00 CDT

In the lakeside capital of the central African country of Burundi, 40-year-old Lucie Nahimana on Thursday fed her family of six "black flour," a low-quality cassava root that many here have resorted to eating because they can't afford anything else.

Thousands of miles away, in the port city of Tianjin, China, physician Ning Aimin scanned the shelves of her supermarket for yogurt, a food that was practically unheard-of here a decade ago but has become a favorite of many of China's newly affluent.

On a chilly highway outside Gualeguaychu, Argentina, 10 trucks carrying enough rice to feed 3 million people in one day sat stranded on the side of the road, casualties of a 100-day-long farm strike that's paralyzed that country's giant grain industry.

These three episodes, all on Thursday, are interconnecting pieces of what's emerged as one of the biggest challenges facing the planet: how to feed humanity in this age of skyrocketing food and energy prices.

The problem is a global one, in which a breakdown anywhere in the food chain sets dire consequences in motion and in which the root causes range from rising consumption in Asia to growing biofuel production in the United States and Europe to dwindling supplies of water in the Middle East.

"The world is running now to keep up with demand," said Abdolreza Abbassian, a grain analyst with the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. "Any interruption in the global picture affects supplies."

Already, some 800 million people around the world suffer from chronic food shortages, and millions more could go hungry because of the widening food crisis.

Rising food prices hit the urban poor the hardest, those who throng the slums of sprawling capitals such as Lagos, Nigeria, Manila, the Philippines and Caracas, Venezuela.

From 2007 to 2008, world prices for soybeans increased by 29 percent, while prices for wheat grew by 40 percent and rice prices jumped by 53 percent, according to a World Bank study. Food prices had stayed largely stable from 1995 until the end of 2006, the study found.

The recent price spike was the result of problems such as unfavorable weather in grain-exporting countries such as Australia and dwindling food stocks in Europe, according to the U.N. food organization. The coming year's food stocks promise to be thin as well, with floods in the U.S. Midwest and political turmoil in Argentina cutting back grain production.

Yet the problem is long-term, as the world's food-production machine fails to keep up with rising demand. The U.N. organization estimates that the problem won't go away for five to 10 years, and that's only if farmers around the world come up with new technology to increase efficiencies and boost production to meet the rising needs.

"The hope is that these high prices will inspire more production around the world," Abbassian said. "During this transition, however, people in poor countries are going to be the most affected."

That means folks such as Nahimana, who said Thursday that her monthly food budget of about $100 bought only about two-thirds of what it used to, so the family's meals are smaller and incredibly basic.

They usually eat just once a day, like most families in Bujumbura these days. Nahimana hasn't bought vegetables for several days, because soaring gas prices have made cabbage and other greens, which must be trucked in from the countryside, far too expensive.

In Burundi, where nine in 10 people live on less than $1 a day, a day's serving of rice or beans now costs more than the average daily wage.

"I know the children are not eating well, and that they go to bed hungry," the petite mother of four said. "I am afraid for their health."

Perhaps the region hit the hardest is sub-Saharan Africa, where, despite great agricultural potential, the majority of countries import most of their food. The U.N. food organization reports that of the 37 worst-affected countries worldwide, 21 are in Africa.

The crisis has exacerbated troubles in strife-torn Zimbabwe and in southern Somalia, where even locally grown corn is up to four times more expensive than a year ago, the U.N. reports.

In a report last week, the Africa Progress Panel, a group of experts chaired by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, warned: "Unless some way can be found to halt and reverse the current trend in food prices, there will be a significant increase in hunger, malnutrition, and in infant and child mortality."

Despite the hopes of food experts, however, the world's farmers are facing an ever-tougher battle to produce more to feed families such as Nahimana's.

As panic has rippled through some corners of the global grain market, prices for grains have grown more volatile. That frightens farmers already dealing with soaring costs for fertilizer, herbicides and fuel. Some wonder whether they should plant again and risk a sudden drop in prices.

That was the dilemma of Argentine farmer Haroldo Dorn, who was manning a roadblock near Gualeguaychu in central Argentina to prevent trucks from transporting grains to markets and ports.

The farmers were protesting a recent export-tax increase targeting soybean growers, a tax hike that the government says will force farmers to share with the rest of the country their record revenue from rising grain prices.

Farmers such as Dorn, however. say that soaring expenses and uncertainty about future prices have offset those rising profits.

"The need of the world is food, but what this government wants is to keep all the money for themselves," Dorn said. "We are just barely keeping up with rising costs."

On Thursday, rain fell on Gualeguaychu for the first time since February, which usually would be a sign for farmers to start planting wheat. This time, however, there was little enthusiasm for the break in the weather, as farmers stuck to the strike.

As a result, growers estimate that Argentina's wheat production will drop by a third this year.

"Argentina is a top exporter of wheat, corn and soybeans, and the farmers' actions have been one of the big factors in high prices," said Abbassian, of the U.N. food organization.

A few years ago, such isolated problems wouldn't have caused much global turmoil, as the world's food machine had enough reserve capacity to handle occasional bumps in the road.

Those margins have shrunk to nearly nothing, however, and one of the top reasons is growing consumption in China, India and other emerging world powers.

China's meteoric growth, in particular, already has stressed world supplies of energy and raw materials. Now the country's 1.3 billion people are demanding more and better food.

Having increased the amount of meat they eat by more than one-third in a little more than a decade, China soon will be competing for grains on the international market with nations such as Egypt, Haiti, Cameroon and Indonesia, where food riots and protests erupted earlier this year.

China also is losing production capacity, with urban sprawl gobbling up farmland at a steady rate. China has been losing about 1 percent of its arable land each year this decade, and officials say that the 470,000 square miles of arable land now available are barely 7,000 square miles above the minimum needed for food security.

The effects of the Chinese consumption boom have rippled across Asia and hit hardest in countries such as Afghanistan and the Philippines, which could barely feed themselves even in the best of times.

"People eat half as much," said Paul Risley, a spokesman for World Food Programme operations in Asia.

The Philippines was once a model rice producer. But decades of neglect of agricultural policy and a population that's surged to 91 million have turned it into the world's biggest rice importer.

"They've doubled in population in 30 years," Risley said. "But they aren't even growing the amount of rice they were 30 years ago."

In booming China, Ning, the physician, was on the receiving end of the world's new food balance. Going about her once-a-week shopping trip, she presented the perfect picture of her country's new, cosmopolitan middle class.

She drove to her market of choice, Carrefour, a French chain that's China's largest foreign retailer, in her South Korean-built Kia sedan.

At the supermarket, she cruised aisles piled high with domestic and imported fruits and vegetables, including U.S.-grown lemons and Red Delicious apples, bananas from the Philippines, and oranges and durian _ a fruit with a powerful rancid smell but a sweet flavor _ from Thailand.

"Besides Carrefour and Wal-Mart, we also have Tesco and Vanguard supermarkets," Ning said, reeling off the names of the mega-store operators that now have a presence in nearly every major Chinese city.

Outside the New Century Square shopping center, 22-year-old Lin Hongwei prepared lamb skewers on a charcoal grill outside a noodle shop, where business was brisk, he said.

"Things are so much better now than when I was a kid," Lin said. "Salaries are higher. Food is better."

US marshalls seize allegedly contaminated pet food

2008-06-22T02:53:00.000-07:00

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/19/america/Petco-Lawsuit.php

CHICAGO: Federal marshals carrying a search warrant visited the Joliet distribution center of PETCO Animal Supplies Inc. on Thursday, seizing animal food products that were allegedly contaminated.

The seizure came one day after the government filed a lawsuit and obtained the warrant to seize products at the warehouse operated by the San Diego-based animal food and supply company.

There were no known public health risks posed by the pet food and no incidents of human or animal illness have been traced to the products, U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald and other officials said in a statement issued by his office.

Since the government's last inspection, PETCO has "acted aggressively to address each and every concern that was raised," said Kevin Whalen, PETCO vice president of corporate communications.

The company is "committed" to fully complying with recommendations from the Food and Drug Administration, and continues to discuss any ongoing concerns with them, Whalen said

The lawsuit alleges that food stored at the warehouse, unless kept in glass or metal containers, is subject to condemnation because it was stored under conditions that allegedly were unsanitary.

The FDA inspected the warehouse in April and found live and dead rodents and birds on or around the pet food containers, according to the lawsuit.

Rodent and bird droppings were found throughout the warehouse, the lawsuit said. Inspectors found holes in the walls of the warehouse that allowed birds and rodents to enter.

An inspection in May produced a similar finding, the government said.

The warehouse supplies pet food to stores in Illinois, Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin, the government said in a statement issued by Fitzgerald's office.

Food Apocalypse

China's melamine scare extended to more dairy products

China wants to poison your baby.

this just in: crappy pet food is crappy.

Bagel Recall

Meat Slicers Cause of Canadian Listeriosis Outbreak

Court Rules Beef Producers not Allowed to Test for Mad Cow

Hot Pockets Being Recalled

Half of All Food Produced is Thrown Away.

Maple Leaf confirmed as source of listeria, expands recall

FDA OKs Use of Radiation to Kill Germs in some Veggies

Can irradiation make food radioactive?

Canadian Deli Meat Plant Closes After Listeria Outbreak.

FDA knew about problem peppers months before outbreak.

No room for your own dairy farm? Think again.

Pedigree Recalls Salmonella Tainted Pet Food

USDA Allegedly Sponsored Movement to Defeat Farm Animal Rights Bill

Oops...

Tuna Recall

What???

E-coli Outbreak from S & S Foods Spreads

Supermarket Chains to Stop Selling Certain Types of Fish

Beef recall *again*- this time from Whole Foods!

Tyson recalls 51,000 pounds of chicken because it might contain soy.

Once again, a company recalls beef due to E-Coli.

Company that manufactures bovine hormones is quitting the business.

Yale: Too Many People, Too Much Consumption

Pizza Hut To Offer Healthier Pizza

Indian Ocean tuna catch drops, experts differ on why

Consumers are raising cane over corn sweetener

Settlement will reduce carcinogens in potato chips

U.S. probe into salmonella outbreak criticized

Mexican farm pegged as source of U.S. salmonella cases

FDA warns against eating lobster liver

Putting the squeeze on produce to kill germs

Enough to make you sick: Most imports not inspected

Young people cultivate a community through food

FDA: Avoid jalapenos from Mexico, not US

EPA Acts To Reduce Toxic Pesticide -- Carbofuran -- Residue In Food

Food industry bitten by its lobbying success

Food Safety Advocate William Marler Calls for Public Meat Inspection Records

California's Prop 2- good for animals, good for food safety

Chain Grocers Put a Face on Food

One family's struggle for food in Africa

FDA may ease rule on China seafood

Source of Salmonella Saintpaul finally discovered

S.F. Food Bank struggles to keep up with crush

New Leaf opens doors in Half Moon Bay

FDA Lifts Salmonella Warning On Tomatoes

USDA to disclose which markets sold tainted meat

USDA AWARDS $4.1 MILLION TO STUDY COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER

Chocolate may be headed toward extinction

Nestle recalls Lean Pockets sandwiches

help the honey bees campaign video

Veggie Mobile delivers produce to 'food deserts'

Neb. cop, family win $40K over urine-tainted food

Country, the city version: Farms in the sky gain new interest

Judge halts USDA's cattle-grazing plans on Conservation Reserve Program lands

"Victory Garden" planted on the grounds of Civic Center, S.F.

the Consumerist: 20 ways to save on groceries

Salmonella Found in Basil Grown in Mexico, FDA Says

Growing interest in food suppliers boosts agriculture consortiums

Tainted food likely behind illness of 543 Galveston inmates

From the Consumerist: Sysco "chicken breasts"

E. coli Outbreak Leads to Massive Beef Recall

Protests precede G8 summit

Inspectors to halt import of some food from Mexico

Food banks struggle to feed influx of newcomers

Salmonella signs point to peppers

Canada finds first case linked to U.S. salmonella outbreak in returning traveller

FDA must require tracking of produce: food groups

Does ethanol affect food prices?

a way to combat the rising cost of food: food coops.

Motley Fool: Love Thy Neighbor, the Farmer

Company recalls beef linked to E. coli

Feds grant $5M to RTI to study protection of food supply

Slow Food Nation comes to San Francisco

European influences

Food as a language

Back to basics

Beef recall again- this time from Whole Foods!