Consumer Protection: Food safety & quality |
Agricultural practices in pesticides and fertilizers that may compromise food safety; FDA regulation and non-regulation; genetically modified foods; product labeling; nutritional value of commercially marketed foods.
7/30/09
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Analysis & views: 7/30/09 1/5/09 Four months after promised investigation of meat inspections system failure which may have resulted in listeriosis outbreak in Canada, the probe still lacks a lead investigator on a report due in March. 12/28/08 Chinese milk producers trying to evade prosecution by making settlements to victims of tainted milk sales. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7800990.stm 9/19/08 Liquid joins powdered milk in the widening circle of sources of melamine contamination in Chinese baby milk. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7624498.stm 9/18/08 Shoddy "business ethics" blamed for much of the "bad baby milk" scare in China. Lack of food safety regulation by the government is cited as a major factor in the melamine-laced infant formula that has sickened and killed Chinese babies. A number of producers had been given "inspection-exemptions" in return for a promise of "internal" regulation, which exemption some have used to maximize profits by inserting chemicals into the formulas to boost their apparent "protein content" and therefore their profits. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0917/p01s03-woap.html 8/27/08 Canadian food retailers suffering fallout from meat recalls associated with outbreak of listeriosis in the country. http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=749529 6/22/08 South Koreans still mad about possibility of importing cow disease from U.S.:. Public protest demonstrations, though diminished in number, continue to threaten the stability of the government as a new trade pact that would limit imports to younger (and presumably less disease-prone) cattle does not entirely allay public fears. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/world/asia/22korea.html?th&emc=th 12/3/07 As Australian territories of Victoria and NWT vote to allow the sale by Monsanto of genetically-modified seeds, farmers in neighboring territories (as well as those within the territories that don't opt for GM seeds) are outraged at the prospect of having to adapt to a practice that they see as harmful to their productivity and their able to produce safe foods. http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/12/02/5558/ 9/6/07 British study shows a connection between school children's inattentiveness and their ingestion of additives in food. http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/food/story/0,,2163220,00.html 7/10/07 China carries out execution of former head of country's food and drug safety enforcement agency, on charges of corruption and responsibility for China's poor safety record with food and drugs. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6286698.stm 4/30/07 Melamine additive as a "filler" is an "open secret" widely known to those who produce animal feeds in China. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/business/worldbusiness/30food.html?th&emc=th 4/26/07 Sudanese government holding up U.S. food aid supply, claiming that it is genetically modified, a claim disputed by its producers. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6594947.stm 3/14/07 Genetically modified corn developed by Monsanto in France is under suspicion for elements of toxicity. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031307T.shtml 8/11/06 Coke and Pepsi bottlers in India continue to expose drinkers in India to higher levels of pesticide contamination than would be acceptable in U.S. or European markets. http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0810-31.htm 3/13/06 WTO treaty allowing nations to reject genetically modified foods held up by the U.S. and other GMO producing countries http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=reutersEdge&storyID=2006-03-13-GMO-TRADE.xml 3/13/06 Soda pop becoming produced in U.S. and Britain with high benzene contamination from sodium benzoate additive: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0312-24.htm 2/16/06 GMO food goes on trial: http://www.alternet.org/story/32317/ 2/10/06 More "Frankenfood" worldwide may follow in wake of WTO decision voiding European Union's ban on them: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0209-01.htm 2/8/06 WTO votes to overturn European ban on bio-tech production in international trading; U.S., Canadian and Argentine agri-business to gain: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/07/AR2006020701184.html?referrer=email 1/20/06 French court declares GMOs "unconstitutional": http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/011906HA.shtml
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Analysis & views: 6/4/09 Maryland residents warned not to eat, because of toxicity in coastal waters, the state fish of Maryland, the Atlantic striped bass. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.fish04jun04,0,5898182.story 4/20/09 FOOD SAFETY: IF THEY DO IT IN MINNESOTA, WHY CAN'T IT BE DONE IN AMERICA? New York Times article describes the chaotic system in the United States of public health officials in identifying outbreaks of food poisoning when they occur and of taking measures to contain their spread. With programs of food inspection and of epidemiological tracking of outbreaks operated on a state-by-state basis and with such programs often cut in current state budget crises, if you buy spinach and want to avoid salmonella, you had best live in Minnesota and not in Kentucky. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/20/health/policy/20food.html?th&emc=th 4/7/09 Food safety bills and the decline of small-scale farming: The hyperbole and the realism in the opposition.:: Alter Net writer tries to separate the realistic from the exaggerated threats of bills in Congress that ostensibly are meant to protect the public from the likes of salmonella outbreaks but which critics say would mostly protect agri-business from the "outbreak" of farmers' markets and backyard gardeners. 2/11/09 The peanut scare: It's not just from Georgia anymore. A month after a peanut processing plant was shut down in Georgia as a source of salmonella poisoning, another plant of the same company is closed in Texas. The delay has helped to prompt to "top-to-bottom" re-evaluation of the way in which the Food and Drug Administration operates on cases of suspected contamination. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/health/policy/11peanut.html?th&emc=th 2/10/09 Georgia peanut company admits to selling contaminated peanuts directly to retailers, whose supplies were not subject to recall. http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2009/02/09/georgia_peanut_retail.html 8/22/08 High school student investigators in New York City find many mis-identified fish on the menus of city restaurants. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/science/22fish.html?th&emc=th 4/14/08 Rise of the underground candy market:California, in its well-intentioned plan to combat obesity among its school children, bans the sale of "junk foods" in the school. Like other efforts at prohibition of "harmful" consumption practices, this one may flew in the face of the fact that would-be users of prohibited substance "find a way" to do so in the face of prohibitions. "Psst, kid, wanna buy a can of Pringles?" The author argues that a better approach might be to educate our children to make wise food choices. http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/81941/ 3/20/08 Monsanto's gain is small farmers' loss:. Contrary to industry cliams, genetically modifed food crops (mostly soy, corn, cotton and canola) are not conducive to prosperity by small farm producers. GMO seeds are expensive and the chemicals required to grow them are out of reach of most small-scale farm operators. http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/16928 2/18/08 Where's the beef? "The great majority (of it) has probably been consumed" says the Agriculture Department's food safety head as 143 million pounds of California beef is recalled after an expose of abusive treatment of cattle, a practice suspected of being linked to mad cow disease. Government agents minimize the risk of human consumption both because the disease involves mostly animal parts not consumed by humans; and, as noted, most of the allegedly contaminated beef may already have been eaten, much of it in the form of school lunches already served. So your kids may already have consumed the stuff, and just don't worry about your dog's Alpo rations. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/18/business/18recall.html?th&emc=th 1/15/08 FDA issues a long-awaited (and much-resisted) report saying that meat and milk from cloned animals is safe for human consumption. Market considerations and legal restrictions may delay indefinitely the actual prevalence of such products in world diets; and the FDA says it did not even consider "moral and ethical" questions about the cloning process or the factory farming context of the raising of cloned animals. 1/7/08 Corn is as high as an elephant's eye:. It needs to be, as ethanol-fuelled escalation in demand for corn and the plant's key role in junk foods and feeding of animals in the factory farms of agri-business have produced an exponential growth of corn consumption in the foods and pseudo-foods consumed by Americans. A recent movie, King Corn, is a Michael Moore-ish expose as two Yale graduates buy an acre of corn in Iowa and learn all about the corn business. http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3445/king_of_the_crop/ 11/6/07 Chefs as chemists: A new Twinkies defense? Hydrocolloids go from junk foods like Twinkies to the kitchens of world class chefs as they experiment with synthesized food that allows them to make foie gras that can be tied into knots. Will some "fine diner" of the future claim that he was driven to desperate acts by habitually eating meals at 5-star restaurants? http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/06/science/06food.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th 10/19/07 The regulatory panic that followed the E. coli outbreak: Is our food any safer today? After sophisticated DNA analysis traced the source of the outbreak to the fields of spinach growers, the FDA instituted a complex set of rules designed to prevent recurring contamination but in fact introducing new risk factors both for the natural environment and human health. Farmers were required to erect fences or make clear barriers between their fields and the wildlife in nearby fields that have destroyed natural habitat without measurable improvement in food quality. If the regulators have found a scapegoat, it's actually a feral scape-pig, whose eliminations on food-growing fields have been highlighted as contamination causes. http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/65067/?page=1 8/26/07 "Fine dining" in Boston is no guarantee that fine diners are going to avoid food poisoning, as food inspectors have issued numerous violations. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/08/26/high_end_fare_with_side_order_of_violations/ 5/2/07 Forget China! After the FDA issued "alerts" regarding the feeding of melamine-laced foods to pets in China, the agency now reports that millions of chickens in Indiana have been given feed similarly contaminated. For now, FDA says there is no "significant" risk for human comsumption of these chickens. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050102071.html?referrer=email 5/1/07 FDA issues "import alert" on food products from China. Citing the lack of food processing inspections in China (never mind in the U.S.), the agency raises concern that the melamine fillers found in Chinese pet foods may affect human consumption as well. http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/2007-04-30-chinese-imports-usat_N.htm 4/29/07 Concerns for safety of foreign food imports grow as FDA is mostly inspecting meat while consumers are increasingly demanding foreign-grown fruits and vegetables. www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.food29apr29,0,1773129.story?coll=bal-home-headlines 4/23/07 Overwhelmed FDA gives underwhelming response to food dangers. Washington Post obtains documents showing that the agency was aware long before the public was alerted to the dangers posed by contamination crises like those affecting lettuce and peanuts, but was unable because of its short staffing to issue timely warning of these dangers. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/22/AR2007042201551.html?referrer=email 4/17/07 Is our imported food fit for consumption? The FDA hasn't a clue, except for the 1.3% of such imports that it actually inspects. http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/16/546/ 3/11/07 Contamination from genetically engineered seeds is dogging U.S. rice industry. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/10/AR2007031001323.html?referrer=email 3/5/07 What's guidance #152? You may not want to know...but its the FDA's proposed "rule" that will allow injection of cows with an anti-biotic that medical experts and the World Health Organization say may introduce harmful elements into the human food chain. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/03/AR2007030301311.html? 2/17/07 Inspectors are examining a peanut butter factory in Georgia to try to discover the source of the salmonella found in Peter Pan brand earlier this week. 2/16/07 Congress is considering legislation that would have U.S. join European Union in banning feeding of anti-biotic substances to livestock to promote growth. http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/4330 12/11/06 Spinach, tomatoes, green onions: nice salad? Right, but they are among the foods recently targeted as E. coli sources and their distribution illustrates the "hole in the safety net" of U.S. food safety regulation. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/10/AR2006121000903.html?referrer=email 11/22/06 Bayer CropScience, which developed a strain of genetically modifed rice seeds that "escaped" from their laboratories and became the source of contamination of U.S. rice crop, answers a class action suit by blaming the farmers who planted the seed and an "act of God" which led to distribution of the seeds. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/21/AR2006112101265.html?referrer=email 8/17/06 Federal court rules against USDA's allowing pharmaceutical companies to grow crops in Hawaii from genetically modified seeds to produce medically-useful products; cites environmental and food safety violations. http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3536 8/10/06 Wisconsin extension agent notes that minority poor are more subject to contamination from fishing in mercury-polluted waters because they are unable to read the fish advisories issues by state agencies. http://www.madison.com/tct/news/index.php?ntid=94180&ntpid=3 5/4/06 Nutritionists urge that more be done after the "tough" ban on soft drinks in schools takes effect: http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/fitness/articles/2006/05/04/say_more_can_be_done 5/4/06 In deal with children's health advocates, soft drink companies, including Coke and Pepsi, announce they will remove sweetened drinks from schools. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/04/health/04soda.html?hp&exi=5094&partner=homepage 3/31/06 Kansas meat-packer sues U.S.D.A. for not allowing him to do mad cow disease tests on 100% of the cows whose beef he sells: http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/14170004.htm?fark 3/10/06 Food lobby pushing for bill in Congress that would prohibit states and localities from making their own rules about food safety and labelling, since Mendicino County's program in California: http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/030906HA.shtml 3/8/06 Congress overturns state laws requiring safety labelling of foods: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0309-06.htm 2/22/06 Spiking of packaged meat with carbon monoxide to simulate the appearance of freshness stirs FDA attention and public controversy: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/21/AR2006022101726.html?referrer=email 2/20/06 Consumer advocates for food safety using lawsuits and bad press to pressure food marketers: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0220-07.htm 2/8/06 On mercury contamination, EPA "caves in" to food distribution industry: http://counterpunch.org/montague02072006.html 2/3/06 Nutritional mineral levels in foods is falling: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0202-06.htm 1/9/06 Health risks for children in GMO foods: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0108-01.htm
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Analysis & views: 11/28/08 Concern grows for mercury contamination in Florida fresh water fish. http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/112808/met_360849892.shtml 2/13/07 When's a Florida grouper not a Florida grouper? When it's. for example, a catfish raised in Vietnam, as are many of the fish being served as grouper in Florida restaurants, raising issues about food safety as well as consumer fraud. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/12/AR2007021201451.html?referrer=email
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FLORIDA LOCALITIES
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Analysis and views: 2/6/08 Meat is pulled from menus of Tampa Bay area schools as concerns arise from conditions at a Caliornia slaughter-house supplier. http://www.sptimes.com/2008/02/06/State/Schools_pull_beef_fro.shtml
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