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Showing posts with label Food Industry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food Industry. Show all posts
11/18/13
Food: 11 Foods That Are Changing the World - by Eliana Dockterman
As far as food sources go, there are few better than insects: the average grasshopper, for example, is low-cost, low-calorie, exists in abundance, and contains 29% of your daily protein value.
That’s a main reason why they’re such a diet staple for some 2 billion people in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Yet in the Western world, insects are considered gross—meaning that in countries like America, livestock still reigns supreme (even though its production can do more damage to the environment than automobiles, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization).
But that’s starting to change, thanks food innovations like insect tacos—available at Antojeria La Popular, a popular restaurant in New York City, among others—which are making nontraditional protein seem more palatable. Meanwhile, Sushi Mazi in Portland has started serving grasshopper sushi. And Berlin’s Never Never Land restaurant serves gourmet insects on salads and even in chocolate sauce.
Read more: The Grasshopper Taco | 11 Foods That Are Changing the World | TIME.com
That’s a main reason why they’re such a diet staple for some 2 billion people in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Yet in the Western world, insects are considered gross—meaning that in countries like America, livestock still reigns supreme (even though its production can do more damage to the environment than automobiles, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization).
But that’s starting to change, thanks food innovations like insect tacos—available at Antojeria La Popular, a popular restaurant in New York City, among others—which are making nontraditional protein seem more palatable. Meanwhile, Sushi Mazi in Portland has started serving grasshopper sushi. And Berlin’s Never Never Land restaurant serves gourmet insects on salads and even in chocolate sauce.
Read more: The Grasshopper Taco | 11 Foods That Are Changing the World | TIME.com
11/7/13
Agriculture and Food Industry: More Food Doesn’t Guarantee Less Hunger
Every October, world leaders and corporate executives gather in Iowa to present the World Food Prize. Intended to celebrate those who make the largest contributions to increasing the world’s food supply, the recipients are announced each year by the U.S. Secretary of State.
On the same day that award is bestowed each year, so is another one. It’s less well-known but, in my view, far more important.
This alternative accolade is called the Food Sovereignty Prize. Like the World Food Prize, it deals with food and hunger, but in a very different way.
The corporations that fund the World Food Prize may not entirely drive its agenda, but they certainly influence it. By focusing on the sheer volume of food in the world, they aim to reduce global hunger to a simple matter of science. Then they sell us on the idea that we need their products to increase the amount of food farmers harvest from each acre.
But producing more food doesn’t always mean feeding more hungry mouths. The Food Sovereignty Prize recognizes that ending hunger is not a simple matter of growing more food. It involves social science as well as physical science.
When a farmer produces an extra ten bushels of crops from each acre of land, perhaps more people will eat — or maybe not. Americans don’t have to travel around the world to see this, we must only ask our grandparents. During the Great Depression, farmers grew a great surplus of food, and food prices crashed.
Both farmers and consumers suffered, as farmers went into bankruptcy while the urban poor starved.
Today, the US and EU grow more food than we need — and then throw 40 percent of it away. Meanwhile, many Americans can afford to eat enough calories but only by buying cheap junk food that will ultimately make them sick. And that’s just in America, a wealthy nation. What about poor countries?
Smallholder farmers from around the world came together in 2007 and dreamed of “a world where all peoples, nations and states are able to determine their own food producing systems and policies that provide every one of us with good quality, adequate, affordable, healthy, and culturally appropriate food.” They called this idea “food sovereignty.”
Read the complete report: More Food Doesn’t Guarantee Less Hunger
On the same day that award is bestowed each year, so is another one. It’s less well-known but, in my view, far more important.
This alternative accolade is called the Food Sovereignty Prize. Like the World Food Prize, it deals with food and hunger, but in a very different way.
The corporations that fund the World Food Prize may not entirely drive its agenda, but they certainly influence it. By focusing on the sheer volume of food in the world, they aim to reduce global hunger to a simple matter of science. Then they sell us on the idea that we need their products to increase the amount of food farmers harvest from each acre.
But producing more food doesn’t always mean feeding more hungry mouths. The Food Sovereignty Prize recognizes that ending hunger is not a simple matter of growing more food. It involves social science as well as physical science.
When a farmer produces an extra ten bushels of crops from each acre of land, perhaps more people will eat — or maybe not. Americans don’t have to travel around the world to see this, we must only ask our grandparents. During the Great Depression, farmers grew a great surplus of food, and food prices crashed.
Both farmers and consumers suffered, as farmers went into bankruptcy while the urban poor starved.
Today, the US and EU grow more food than we need — and then throw 40 percent of it away. Meanwhile, many Americans can afford to eat enough calories but only by buying cheap junk food that will ultimately make them sick. And that’s just in America, a wealthy nation. What about poor countries?
Smallholder farmers from around the world came together in 2007 and dreamed of “a world where all peoples, nations and states are able to determine their own food producing systems and policies that provide every one of us with good quality, adequate, affordable, healthy, and culturally appropriate food.” They called this idea “food sovereignty.”
Read the complete report: More Food Doesn’t Guarantee Less Hunger
5/11/13
Food Industry: Why Aren't We Biting The Corporate Hand That Feeds Us? - by Joe Leech
More and more people are getting sick and dying early of disease and cancer. We all know it — nothing new there.
Recent estimates suggest that deaths from non-communicable diseases (such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes) will increase 45% by 2030 – to 50 million deaths per year. Um, the rate is meant to be going the other way isn’t it?
A study from the University of Melbourne in Australia found there to be no evidence of effectiveness nor safety of involving multinational companies in public health promotion. “There is a fundamental conflict – their legitimate role is to make profit, our role is to protect health,” says study leader Professor Rob Moodie. “These companies shouldn’t be around the table when formulating national and international policy.”
The bottom line is there’s a glaring conflict of interest here that can no longer be swept under the rug. Food Industry involvement will always be misleading, and often unethical to some degree. After all, their employees are paid to do one thing – sell more products and maximise profits for shareholders, whatever it takes.
Moodie says, “Studies funded by food and drinks companies are four to eight times more likely to make conclusions favourable to the companies than those that were not sponsored by food or drinks companies.” Yep, that’s not just a happy coincidence.
In fact, what’s happening here is a dazzling re-enactment of regulating the tobacco industry. Once we finally had government regulations in place, smoking rates began to decline. The problem is it took more than 40 years from the discovery that tobacco is bad for your health, to actually regulating against it. Have you seen the movie Groundhog Day? Where Billy Crystal has to live one day of his life over and over again on a constant loop? This is the tobacco industry fiasco all over again- except this industry’s even bigger.
Let’s face it. The only way we’ll see change is to ditch partnerships with the food and drink multinationals and enforce government legislation, regulation, taxes, whatever it takes. NYCs Mayor Bloomberg gets it. And while his soda ban isn’t being enforced (yet), at least he’s giving it a shot.
And if regulations create a “nanny state,” so be it. Giving up a 32 oz soda at the football stadium is a small price to pay if it’ll help someone in need.
Ultimately, this an entirely preventable problem that will not be resolved by the corporate hand that feeds us.
Read more: Why Aren't We Biting The Corporate Hand That Feeds Us? | Care2 Causes
3/17/13
Food Industry: The Ethics of Big Food
Last month, Oxfam, the international aid organization, launched a campaign called “Behind the Brands.” The goal is to assess the transparency of the world’s ten biggest food and beverage companies concerning how their goods are produced, and to rate their performance on sensitive issues like the treatment of small-scale farmers, sustainable water and land use, climate change, and exploitation of women.
Consumers have an ethical responsibility to be aware of how their food is produced, and the big brands have a corresponding obligation to be more transparent about their suppliers, so that their customers can make informed choices about what they are eating. In many cases, the biggest food companies themselves do not know how they perform on these issues, betraying a profound lack of ethical responsibility on their part.
Nestlé scored highest on transparency, as they provide information on at least some of their commodity sources and audit systems. But even its rating is only “fair.” General Mills was at the bottom of the ranking.
In addition to this lack of transparency, Oxfam’s report identifies several deficiencies common to all of the Big 10 food companies. They are not providing small-scale farmers with an equal opportunity to sell into their supply chains, and when small-scale farmers do have the opportunity to sell to the big brands’ suppliers, they may not receive a fair price for their product.
The Big 10 are also not taking sufficient responsibility to ensure that their larger-scale farm suppliers pay a decent living wage to their workers. There are 450 million wage workers in agriculture worldwide, and in many countries they are often inadequately paid, with 60% living in poverty.
Some of the Big 10 are doing more than others to develop ethical policies in these areas. Unilever has committed itself to sourcing more raw materials from small-scale farmers, and has pledged 100% sustainable sourcing for all of its main commodities by 2020. This policy gave Unilever the highest score on openness to small farmers, with a rating of “fair.” Danone, General Mills, and Kellogg’s were at the bottom, with a rating of “very poor.”
Read more: The Ethics of Big Food | New Europe
Consumers have an ethical responsibility to be aware of how their food is produced, and the big brands have a corresponding obligation to be more transparent about their suppliers, so that their customers can make informed choices about what they are eating. In many cases, the biggest food companies themselves do not know how they perform on these issues, betraying a profound lack of ethical responsibility on their part.
Nestlé scored highest on transparency, as they provide information on at least some of their commodity sources and audit systems. But even its rating is only “fair.” General Mills was at the bottom of the ranking.
In addition to this lack of transparency, Oxfam’s report identifies several deficiencies common to all of the Big 10 food companies. They are not providing small-scale farmers with an equal opportunity to sell into their supply chains, and when small-scale farmers do have the opportunity to sell to the big brands’ suppliers, they may not receive a fair price for their product.
The Big 10 are also not taking sufficient responsibility to ensure that their larger-scale farm suppliers pay a decent living wage to their workers. There are 450 million wage workers in agriculture worldwide, and in many countries they are often inadequately paid, with 60% living in poverty.
Some of the Big 10 are doing more than others to develop ethical policies in these areas. Unilever has committed itself to sourcing more raw materials from small-scale farmers, and has pledged 100% sustainable sourcing for all of its main commodities by 2020. This policy gave Unilever the highest score on openness to small farmers, with a rating of “fair.” Danone, General Mills, and Kellogg’s were at the bottom, with a rating of “very poor.”
Read more: The Ethics of Big Food | New Europe
2/11/13
Food Industry: Horsemeat scandal grows in Europe
A maze of trading between meat wholesalers has made it increasingly difficult to trace the origins of food — enabling horse meat disguised as beef to be sold in frozen meals across Europe.
Finger-pointing has grown by the day, involving more countries and more companies. On Monday, Romanian officials scrambled to defend two plants implicated in the scandal, saying the meat was properly declared and any fraud was committed elsewhere.
France says Romanian butchers and Dutch and Cypriot traders were part of a supply chain that resulted in horsemeat being labelled as beef before it was included in frozen dinners including lasagna, moussaka and the French equivalent of Shepherd's Pie. The affair started earlier this year with worries about horsemeat in burgers in Ireland and Britain.
British grocery chain Tesco said Monday that tests showed some samples of its frozen spaghetti meal contained more than 60 percent horse DNA.
Read more: Horsemeat scandal grows in Europe - World - CBC News
Finger-pointing has grown by the day, involving more countries and more companies. On Monday, Romanian officials scrambled to defend two plants implicated in the scandal, saying the meat was properly declared and any fraud was committed elsewhere.
France says Romanian butchers and Dutch and Cypriot traders were part of a supply chain that resulted in horsemeat being labelled as beef before it was included in frozen dinners including lasagna, moussaka and the French equivalent of Shepherd's Pie. The affair started earlier this year with worries about horsemeat in burgers in Ireland and Britain.
British grocery chain Tesco said Monday that tests showed some samples of its frozen spaghetti meal contained more than 60 percent horse DNA.
Read more: Horsemeat scandal grows in Europe - World - CBC News
Food Industry: Telling the Truth About Food Ingredients Helps the Consumer, the Economy and the Environment - by Ellen Moyer, Ph.D.
Food ingredient labeling makes headline news these days. On January 22, 2013, ABC News reported that an estimated seven percent of the United States food supply contains fraudulent ingredients.
These are unlabeled ingredients that are used as cheap substitutes -- for example, industrial dyes masquerading as paprika. Proposition 37, the California ballot measure that would have required labeling of genetically modified (GM) foods, was narrowly defeated in the November 2012 elections; however, the battle rages on.
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to approve GM salmon soon after a 60-day public comment period ends on February 25, 2013. Under current rules, labeling of GM salmon would not be required. Recent polls indicate that over 90 percent of Americans think GM foods should be labeled. As of December 18, 2012, over one million people had asked the FDA to label GM foods.
The stakes are high, because food labels cause problems for food companies. For example, on January 30, 2013, Network news reported on a lawsuit against a food manufacturer for using partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (a trans fat) in frozen pizza, a fact that is disclosed on the pizza box.
Negative health effects have caused many countries to ban or limit the use of artificial trans fats, including Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and the Republic of South Africa. California and 13 cities and towns in the United States also restrict the use of trans fats in settings such as restaurants and schools.
"Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants," United States Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously wrote in 1913. It is time to shed more light on the substances we consume, not only by labeling GM foods and verifying food ingredients, but also by disclosing much more. Even if risks of some unlabeled ingredients are unclear, consumers should be allowed to make informed choices about what they eat.
Read more: Ellen Moyer, Ph.D.: Telling the Truth About Food Ingredients Helps the Consumer, the Economy and the Environment
These are unlabeled ingredients that are used as cheap substitutes -- for example, industrial dyes masquerading as paprika. Proposition 37, the California ballot measure that would have required labeling of genetically modified (GM) foods, was narrowly defeated in the November 2012 elections; however, the battle rages on.
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to approve GM salmon soon after a 60-day public comment period ends on February 25, 2013. Under current rules, labeling of GM salmon would not be required. Recent polls indicate that over 90 percent of Americans think GM foods should be labeled. As of December 18, 2012, over one million people had asked the FDA to label GM foods.
The stakes are high, because food labels cause problems for food companies. For example, on January 30, 2013, Network news reported on a lawsuit against a food manufacturer for using partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (a trans fat) in frozen pizza, a fact that is disclosed on the pizza box.
Negative health effects have caused many countries to ban or limit the use of artificial trans fats, including Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and the Republic of South Africa. California and 13 cities and towns in the United States also restrict the use of trans fats in settings such as restaurants and schools.
"Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants," United States Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously wrote in 1913. It is time to shed more light on the substances we consume, not only by labeling GM foods and verifying food ingredients, but also by disclosing much more. Even if risks of some unlabeled ingredients are unclear, consumers should be allowed to make informed choices about what they eat.
Read more: Ellen Moyer, Ph.D.: Telling the Truth About Food Ingredients Helps the Consumer, the Economy and the Environment
7/26/12
Food Industry: Beware: Fresh look of vegetables could be due to hazardous chemicals
Says Utpal Raychaudhuri, a senior scientist at the Department of Food Technology, Jadavpur University: “The consumption of raw fruits and vegetables has become a paradox. The rampant use of chemicals contravenes their nutritional benefits.”
Chemicals such as copper sulfate, rhodamine oxide, malachite green and the deadly carbide are the ones most commonly used to accentuate coloration and freshness.
“These are neurotoxic (affecting the brain) causing Alzheimer’s and dementia and are also carcinogenic. In addition, they speed up the ageing process,” Raychaudhuri said.
The vibrant green exterior of green peas and chilies are a result of the unscrupulous use of malachite green, a textile dye, a well-known carcinogen.
Other green vegetables such as lady’s finger, bitter gourd and the other gourd varieties are given a facelift by being washed in copper sulfate, commonly known as blue vitriol.
Read more: Beware: Fresh look of vegetables could be due to hazardous chemicals | Firstpost
6/12/12
Banking/supermarket chains: Pressure on new Tesco boss as bank struggles
Revenues have fallen at Edinburgh-headquartered Tesco Bank and sales at its UK supermarket arm declined again, heaping further pressure on group chief executive Philip Clarke, who is attempting to turn the business around.
Tesco blamed delays in moving customer accounts and increasing competition in the insurance market for a 3.7% fall in income at its banking arm for the 13 weeks to May 26, compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, UK like-for-like sales, excluding fuel and value added tax were down 1.5% year-on-year, a slight improvement on the 1.6% fall in the previous quarter.
Tesco Bank, which until 2008 was a joint venture with Royal Bank of Scotland, is headed by former RBS and Halifax Bank of Scotland executive Benny Higgins.
Tesco, the UK's biggest supermarket chain, shocked investors in January by issuing its first profit warning for two decades.
It parted company with UK chief executive Richard Brasher in March with Mr Clarke taking control. In April the group said it would spend £1 billion turning around its UK business, which accounts for 70% of total profits.
Read more: Pressure on new Tesco boss as bank struggles | Herald Scotland
Tesco blamed delays in moving customer accounts and increasing competition in the insurance market for a 3.7% fall in income at its banking arm for the 13 weeks to May 26, compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, UK like-for-like sales, excluding fuel and value added tax were down 1.5% year-on-year, a slight improvement on the 1.6% fall in the previous quarter.
Tesco Bank, which until 2008 was a joint venture with Royal Bank of Scotland, is headed by former RBS and Halifax Bank of Scotland executive Benny Higgins.
Tesco, the UK's biggest supermarket chain, shocked investors in January by issuing its first profit warning for two decades.
It parted company with UK chief executive Richard Brasher in March with Mr Clarke taking control. In April the group said it would spend £1 billion turning around its UK business, which accounts for 70% of total profits.
Read more: Pressure on new Tesco boss as bank struggles | Herald Scotland
11/29/11
EU tightens regulations on Chinese GM rice imports - by Mark Astley
European Union controls on Chinese rice product imports will be tightened in response to an increasing number of food alerts and border rejections of genetically modified (GM) contaminated products.
For more: EU tightens regulations on Chinese GM rice imports
For more: EU tightens regulations on Chinese GM rice imports
7/7/11
European lawmakers approve new "flawed" food labeling rules
European lawmakers gave the final nod on Wednesday to long-debated rules on food labeling aimed at giving consumers more and better information on the nutritional and energy content of products. The goal of the new regulation, which includes specific requirements for displaying information, is to make food labels more understandable and relevant to consumers and to help them make more informed buying decisions.
Some groups beg to differ, however. The consumer group Foodwatch, for instance, claims the food industry has successfully pushed through most of its demands – at the expense of consumers. "The labeling swindle continues," Foodwatch spokeswoman Christine Gross told Deutsche Welle.
Under the newly approved rules, country of origin, the energy content and amounts of fat, saturated fats, carbohydrates, sugar, protein and salt must be stated in a legible tabular form on the packaging, all together in the same field of vision. And the information must be expressed per 100 grams or 100 milliliters.
According to the World Health Organization, obesity has tripled in Europe since the 1980s, with rates still rising sharply, particularly among children. It is already responsible for 2 to 8 percent of health costs and 10 to 13 percent of deaths, depending on the region, according to the organization.
Unfortunately, say activists, the new EU regulation doesn't include the "traffic light" coloring scheme, already used by some UK retailers. Under the system, red, amber and green warning labels distinguish foods that are high in fat, saturated fats, sugar or salt. Green means "low" content, amber "medium" and red "high."
Corporate Europe Observatory, a Brussels-based transparency non-governmental organization, claims that European food and drink industries spent around 1 billion euros (US $1.4 billion) opposing the traffic-light system, believed to be one of the most expensive lobbying campaigns ever mounted in the EU.
For more: European lawmakers approve new food labeling rules | Business | Deutsche Welle | 07.07.2011
Some groups beg to differ, however. The consumer group Foodwatch, for instance, claims the food industry has successfully pushed through most of its demands – at the expense of consumers. "The labeling swindle continues," Foodwatch spokeswoman Christine Gross told Deutsche Welle.
Under the newly approved rules, country of origin, the energy content and amounts of fat, saturated fats, carbohydrates, sugar, protein and salt must be stated in a legible tabular form on the packaging, all together in the same field of vision. And the information must be expressed per 100 grams or 100 milliliters.
According to the World Health Organization, obesity has tripled in Europe since the 1980s, with rates still rising sharply, particularly among children. It is already responsible for 2 to 8 percent of health costs and 10 to 13 percent of deaths, depending on the region, according to the organization.
Unfortunately, say activists, the new EU regulation doesn't include the "traffic light" coloring scheme, already used by some UK retailers. Under the system, red, amber and green warning labels distinguish foods that are high in fat, saturated fats, sugar or salt. Green means "low" content, amber "medium" and red "high."
Corporate Europe Observatory, a Brussels-based transparency non-governmental organization, claims that European food and drink industries spent around 1 billion euros (US $1.4 billion) opposing the traffic-light system, believed to be one of the most expensive lobbying campaigns ever mounted in the EU.
For more: European lawmakers approve new food labeling rules | Business | Deutsche Welle | 07.07.2011
3/30/11
Genetic Engineering: E.U. Talks Fail on Food Imports From Clone Offspring - by James Kanter
Marathon talks in Bruxelles aimed at regulating imports into Europe of meat and dairy products from animals bred from clones collapsed Tuesday because of disagreements between governments and the European Parliament over how sweeping the rules should be.
The failure, while bemoaned by European consumer groups, is likely to be welcomed by farmers in the United States, Brazil, and other countries where cloning for food is gaining ground, as well as by food manufacturers, who will get an open-ended reprieve from any new and potentially costly labeling requirements. Negotiators for European governments accused the Parliament of “political grandstanding” in pushing for unworkable rules “that would have required drawing a family tree for each slice of cheese or salami.” The new rules, the negotiators added, risked setting off a trade war similar to the long-running battle between Europe and the United States over genetically modified crops.
But the Parliament’s negotiators, led in part by a left-wing Dutch lawmaker, Kartika Liotard, insisted on tougher rules for imports and said they were sticking to principles, citing surveys that show European public opinion is overwhelmingly against cloning for food. Ms. Liotard said at a news conference Tuesday that the Parliament’s negotiators already had softened their position from a complete ban on imports to accepting a labeling system. She referred to cloning as “pure animal abuse.”
The collapse of the talks highlights the growing ability of the European Parliament to influence decision-making in areas like trade and privacy, a rise in influence that has fueled tension with Washington over surveillance of bank transactions to track terrorism suspects.
Note EU-Digest: Regardless of the fact that a majority of the European population does not want genetically modified food, large numbers of lobbyists from the food industry swarming all over Bruxelles are trying to change parliamentarians minds in favor of this unhealthy food, with all the methods available to them and money certainly is no object to get their point across. Europe does not want genetically modified food on their dinner tables and are counting on its political representatives to stop this onslaught by the international industrial food industry.
For more: E.U. Talks Fail on Food Imports From Clone Offspring - NYTimes.com
2/2/11
The Inflation Intifada: Hunger And Revolution In The Third World - by Jerry Bowyer
When food prices rise, so does fear–and the likelihood of revolution. Egypt, the nation that invented bread 40 centuries ago, began to starve. Bread riots rocked the nation. "Today the riots in Egypt also have a lot to do with rising food prices"
We take corn, wheat, soy and sugar and instead of processing it into tortilla, bread, tofu or candy, we ferment it into ethanol and burn it in our gas tanks. The problem is that our gas tanks burn it in much larger quantities than our bodies do. If you fill up an SUV or minivan with 25 gallons of ethanol and use that to drive around for a week, your vehicle has consumed as many food calories in one week as the average human being consumes in a year. No wonder the food commodities that make up the ethanol complex have surged in price vastly higher than other food commodities. The U.S. now turns over 40% of corn production into biofuels. How could any sentient person be surprised about tortilla riots in Central and South America? ( or about the riots in Egypt)
So, how do we get the world back on track? Not with more fiddling. Obama’s bootprint on Mubarak’s backside will do no more good for the world than Carter’s slipper print did on the Shah’s. The way that America can get the world back on track is to get itself back on track. A stable dollar, free farming and energy policies, and a resumption of our historic growth path will do more to restore world order than all of the diplomats, retired diplomats turned pundits, and foreign aid checks combined.
If you want a free world, America, be free yourself.
For more: The Inflation Intifada: Hunger And Revolution In The Third World - Jerry Bowyer - The Great Relearning - Forbes
We take corn, wheat, soy and sugar and instead of processing it into tortilla, bread, tofu or candy, we ferment it into ethanol and burn it in our gas tanks. The problem is that our gas tanks burn it in much larger quantities than our bodies do. If you fill up an SUV or minivan with 25 gallons of ethanol and use that to drive around for a week, your vehicle has consumed as many food calories in one week as the average human being consumes in a year. No wonder the food commodities that make up the ethanol complex have surged in price vastly higher than other food commodities. The U.S. now turns over 40% of corn production into biofuels. How could any sentient person be surprised about tortilla riots in Central and South America? ( or about the riots in Egypt)
So, how do we get the world back on track? Not with more fiddling. Obama’s bootprint on Mubarak’s backside will do no more good for the world than Carter’s slipper print did on the Shah’s. The way that America can get the world back on track is to get itself back on track. A stable dollar, free farming and energy policies, and a resumption of our historic growth path will do more to restore world order than all of the diplomats, retired diplomats turned pundits, and foreign aid checks combined.
If you want a free world, America, be free yourself.
For more: The Inflation Intifada: Hunger And Revolution In The Third World - Jerry Bowyer - The Great Relearning - Forbes
8/6/10
The Manipulating Food Industry and your health - EU-Digest Special
The food you believe is safe to eat could be killing you....
Read all about it in today's (Friday August 6, 2010) EU-Digest special issue - a compilation of articles about and related to the food industry and you.
Background
from the Indy Media Organization
Food is big business. It’s more than a trillion euro a year industry and second only to pharmaceuticals in profitability. In the next paragraph some of the major players, their vast holdings, brands and other significant information are listed. An expanded report, covering more than 30 of the most important food companies, is available as a center column feature on the Indy Media website at www.nyc.indymedia.org (please note that when you click on this link there might be an indication by your browser that this site is unsafe. This is not true, but for obvious reasons might be programmed to give this indication.)
Bayer CropScience ($6.28 billion, 2001) Industries: pesticides and genetically modified (GM) seeds. Food for thought: Bayer CropScience is the world’s number two supplier of farm chemicals and seeds. The company made Multinational Monitor’s Ten Worst Corporations of 2000 when corn from its GM StarLink seed illegally found its way into Taco Bell brand taco shells, causing allergic reactions in 44 consumers. Cargill ($49.4 billion, 2001) Industries: grain, cotton, sugar, salt, animal feed, fertilizer, food processing, petroleum trading, financial trading, steel. Food for thought: As the U.S.’s largest privately-owned corporation, Cargill controls 45 percent of the global grain market, and is one of the world’s largest producers of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Farmers’ groups around the world claim they are being put out of business because such agribusiness conglomerates now control the markets for both farming essentials and products. Coca-Cola ($20.1 billion, 2001) Brands: Barq’s, Coke, Dasani water, Dr. Pepper, Fruitopia, Minute Maid, Powerade, Sprite. Food for thought: Coca-Cola commands about 50 percent of the global soft-drink market. The company made Multinational Monitor’s Ten Worst Corporations list twice in the past five years –- once in 1998 for its rabid marketing of sugary drinks to children, and again in 2001 for a 30-year record of human rights abuses in its overseas operations.
Most recently, Coke managers in Columbia hired right-wing paramilitaries to intimidate, torture and murder union leaders organizing for better wages and working conditions. ConAgra Foods ($27.19 billion, 2001) Industries: processed food, dairy, oils, feed ingredients, packaging, meat and poultry, agricultural products Brands: Butterball, Chef Boyardee, HealthyChoice, Hebrew National, Hunt’s Snack Pack, La Choy, Lightlife, Parkay, Reddi-wip, Slim Jims, SmartDogs.
Food for thought: ConAgra is the largest food supplier in North America, leading the way in meat packing, french fry production and distribution of agricultural chemicals. More than 30 of its brands top $100 million in sales. Twenty million pounds of beef were sold to American schools by a ConAgra subsidiary, which from 1997-98 was cited for 171 “critical” food safety violations. In 1995 ConAgra paid $13.6 million to settle a lawsuit involving price fixing in the catfish industry, and in 1989 was caught under-weighing over 45,000 truckloads of chicken. Dean Foods ($6.23 billion, 2001) Industries: Dairy, syrup, soy beverages, pickles, peppers Brands: Borden, Creamland, Land O’Lakes, Sun Soy, and Tucsan. Food for thought: Not only is Dean Foods the leading U.S. producer of fluid milk and dairy products, it has also recently become the largest soymilk manufacturer.
Dole Food ($4.49 billion, 2001) Industries: fresh fruit, vegetables, cut flowers, packaged foods.
Food for thought: The world’s largest producer of fresh fruit and vegetables with active interests in 90 countries. Dole agreed in mid-July to pay up to $24 million to 3,000 Honduran banana workers exposed to sterility- and cancer-causing pesticides used on company plantations over a 30-year period. Dow Chemical ($27.8 billion, 2001) Industries: pesticides, fertizlizers. Food for thought: The largest chemical company in America. A major spill of 47,000 gallons of concentrated Dursban insecticide in 1997 led to a major fish-kill and contamination of water supplies in four Alabama counties, causing nausea, diarrhea and dizziness among citizens. Dursban is the top selling pesticide in the world. Dow recently purchased Union Carbide, but is refusing to honor the company’s liabilities from the 1984 Bhopal disaster in which 8,000 Indians were killed after poison gas leaked from a pesticide factory. International Flavors & Fragrances ($1.84 billion, 2001) Industries: Chemical compounds used to flavor food and produce scents in bathroom, household and pharmaceutical products.
Food for thought: The world’s largest producer of fresh fruit and vegetables with active interests in 90 countries. Dole agreed in mid-July to pay up to $24 million to 3,000 Honduran banana workers exposed to sterility- and cancer-causing pesticides used on company plantations over a 30-year period. Dow Chemical ($27.8 billion, 2001) Industries: pesticides, fertizlizers. Food for thought: The largest chemical company in America. A major spill of 47,000 gallons of concentrated Dursban insecticide in 1997 led to a major fish-kill and contamination of water supplies in four Alabama counties, causing nausea, diarrhea and dizziness among citizens. Dursban is the top selling pesticide in the world. Dow recently purchased Union Carbide, but is refusing to honor the company’s liabilities from the 1984 Bhopal disaster in which 8,000 Indians were killed after poison gas leaked from a pesticide factory. International Flavors & Fragrances ($1.84 billion, 2001) Industries: Chemical compounds used to flavor food and produce scents in bathroom, household and pharmaceutical products.
Food for thought: The world’s largest flavor company, IFF flavors many brands and is not required to list ingredients. The line between artificial and natural flavor has grown increasingly thin as companies replicate the chemical structure of natural ingredients, calling chemical concoctions “natural flavoring.” Kraft Foods ($33.8 billion, 2001) Brands: Altoids, Jell-O, Kraft, Maxwell House, Minute Rice, Miracle Whip, Nabisco, Oreo, Oscar Meyer, Philadelphia cream cheese, Post, Ritz, Stove Top stuffing, Velveeta.
Food for thought: Kraft Foods owner Philip Morris didn’t need witchcraft to create a monster food company. It just needed to know which companies to gobble up and house under the Kraft umbrella. Kraft is the number one food company in North America, holding the top market share in 17 of its 20 top product categories. In March 2002 Kraft Foods was part of a $9 million settlement of a federal lawsuit regarding the use of Bayer’s genetically modified StarLink corn in its taco shells. Kroger ($50.1 billion, 2001) Brands: Fred Meyer supercenters, Kroger’s supermarkets, Kwik Stop and Quik Stop convenience stores, Ralph’s Grocery, Smith’s Food and Drug Centers, Winn-Dixie supermarkets. Food for thought: The leading U.S. grocer with 3,600 stores coast-to-coast, less than 15 percent of Kroger sales come from stores bearing the company name. Thanks to acquisitions, Kroger sells groceries under the banner of some two dozen different store names. Kroger also manufactures a wide variety of its own store brand foods. In a move designed to take advantage of the $7.8 billion market for organic foods, Kroger will add “natural foods” sections to its stores in 2003. Monsanto ($5.46 billion, 2001) Industries: herbicides, genetically modified seeds and food substitutes.
Food for thought: The world’s third largest agri-chemical company, Monsanto is developing a hammer-lock on farmers by leveraging its top-selling Roundup herbicide and Roundup Ready GM seeds. Farmers that purchase Monsanto’s seeds find they must also purchase the herbicide to protect them. Such practices have prompted farmers’ groups in India to burn Monsanto test fields in protest, and earned Monsanto’s chief executive officer a vegan tofu cream pie in the face. One Monsanto officer said, “Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech foods. Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the Federal Drug Administration’s job.” Monsanto also produces the sugar substitute marketed as NutraSweet and Equal. Nestle ($50.2 billion, 2001) Brands: Alpo, Coffee Mate, Dairy Farm ice cream, Friskies, Haagen-Dazs, L’Oreal, Lean Cuisine, Mighty Dog, Nescáfe, Nestle's Quik, Perrier, Poland Spring, Purina, Skillet Sensations, Stouffer’s. Food for thought: The Swiss-headquartered Nestle is the world’s largest food production company with 495 factories and 230,000 employees around the world. It has a mind-boggling array of over 8,000 brands in its global larder. One of its best-selling brands is Nescáfe instant coffee, 3,000 cups of which are consumed worldwide every second. Sara Lee ($17.7 billion, 2001) Brands: Ball Park Franks, Best Kosher, Bryan, Chock Full o’Nuts, Endust furniture polish, Hanes, Hillshire Farms, Jimmy Dean, Kiwi shoe polish, L’eggs, Pickwick teas, Playtex, Sunbeam, Wonderbra. Food for thought: Mention Sara Lee and everyone thinks cheesecake, but the corporation is all about packaged meat and underwear, serving up a full plate of sausage, hot dogs and lunch meats, bras, panties and pantyhose. In 2001, Sara Lee cut a deal with federal prosecutors as sweet as one of its famous cheesecakes: plea bargaining to two misdemeanors and a $200,000 fine in exchange for dropping all other charges to 21 deaths and 100 injuries caused by bacteria-contaminated Ball Park Franks hotdogs. Syngenta ($6.32 billion, 2001) Industries: agri-chemicals and genetically modified seeds.
Food for thought: Drug giants Novartis and AstraZeneca merged in 2001 to form the world’s largest agri-chemical and seed company. Syngenta now controls more than 40 percent of the world’s patents on genetically modified technologies, including what the company calls “Terminator Technology,” or the ability to render seeds sterile and force farmers to buy new stock each year. Worldwide, 1.4 billion people rely on saved seed to plant the next year’s crop. Tyson Foods ($10.79 billion, 2001) Industries: chicken, beef, pork processing, animal feeds, prepared foods. Companies owned: Iowa Beef Processors, Hudson Foods. Food for thought: Tyson’s recent acquisition of IBP makes it the largest meat processing company in the world, with more than a fifth of the U.S. market. Tyson’s recall of 35 million pounds of beef in 1997, the largest food recall in history, was hidden from the public for three weeks, allowing 25 million pounds to be consumed. Meat packing is now the most dangerous job in the nation, with an injury rate three times higher than a typical American factory. Tyson successfully lobbied the state of Missouri into halting welfare benefits for people who refused their jobs.
Food Industry: - New Zealand - Pesticide Residues In Food : Worst Ever
The Food Safety Authority's latest pesticide residue results are a nightmare: they are the worst results I have ever seen," said Dr Meriel Watts of Pesticide Action Network Aotearoa New Zealand.
"For a start, fully 94% of the samples of fruit and vegetables contained residues - including all of the oranges, grapes, bok choi, and nectarines. Then there are endosulfan residues in 11 out of 23 cucumber samples: either this is illegal use of a banned insecticide or the cucumbers have been imported from Australia. And 9 out of 24 bok and pak choi samples contained illegal levels of chlorothalonil."
Endosulfan is a highly toxic organochlorine insecticide that has been banned in at least 65 countries, the most recent being USA and Brazil.
For more: Pesticide Residues In Food : Worst Ever | Voxy.co.nz
"For a start, fully 94% of the samples of fruit and vegetables contained residues - including all of the oranges, grapes, bok choi, and nectarines. Then there are endosulfan residues in 11 out of 23 cucumber samples: either this is illegal use of a banned insecticide or the cucumbers have been imported from Australia. And 9 out of 24 bok and pak choi samples contained illegal levels of chlorothalonil."
Endosulfan is a highly toxic organochlorine insecticide that has been banned in at least 65 countries, the most recent being USA and Brazil.
For more: Pesticide Residues In Food : Worst Ever | Voxy.co.nz
Food Industry - Britain: Tesco's misleading claims about bread are just the tip of the iceberg - By Andrew Whitley
Fresh bread - you can’t beat it. House-sellers let its aroma do the talking. Supermarkets waft baking smells through their stores to whet appetites and loosen purse strings.
But a recent ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority suggests that what you smell is not necessarily what you get. Tesco’s claim in a full page Sunday paper advert that ‘every single loaf’ of ‘fresh bread, baked from scratch in our in-store bakery... is genuinely British’, has been judged to be misleading.
It turns out that in a majority of its stores the bread isn’t fresh at all - at least not in the sense of ‘just baked’ that most people would understand. It’s been cooked days or weeks before in a factory miles away and sent (often frozen) to be re-heated in an in-store ‘bakery’. And it doesn’t stop there. Our daily supermarket bread is full of hidden secrets.
For more: Tesco's misleading claims about bread are just the tip of the iceberg | Mail Online
But a recent ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority suggests that what you smell is not necessarily what you get. Tesco’s claim in a full page Sunday paper advert that ‘every single loaf’ of ‘fresh bread, baked from scratch in our in-store bakery... is genuinely British’, has been judged to be misleading.
It turns out that in a majority of its stores the bread isn’t fresh at all - at least not in the sense of ‘just baked’ that most people would understand. It’s been cooked days or weeks before in a factory miles away and sent (often frozen) to be re-heated in an in-store ‘bakery’. And it doesn’t stop there. Our daily supermarket bread is full of hidden secrets.
For more: Tesco's misleading claims about bread are just the tip of the iceberg | Mail Online
Food Industry: Chicken McNuggets Contain Disturbing Additives
Bloomberg recently reported McNuggets served in the U.S. also contain tertiary butylhydroquinone, a petroleum-based product, and dimethylpolysiloxane, an anti-foaming agent used in cosmetics and other goods.
FOR MORE: foodconsumer.org - Chicken McNuggets Contain Disturbing Additives
In response to reports that their ingredients may pose health risks, McDonald's China claims that additives in its chicken McNuggets are "harmless". They said that the use of tertiary butylhydroquinone meets Chinese food safety standards.
Note EU-Digest: well you heard it from McDonald, Chicken McNuggets are safe to eat. Sure, like they would say otherwise....
FOR MORE: foodconsumer.org - Chicken McNuggets Contain Disturbing Additives
Food Industry: Genetic Manipulation: Once again, the public are left in the dark over clone risks - by Sheena Hastings
Meat from the offspring of a cloned cow was eaten in the UK last year and this year, says the Food Standards Agency. Two bulls from the embryos of a cow cloned in the US were bought by a farmer in Scotland, and meat from one was sold on to consumers. Last night another similar bull was found to have also been illegally sold for meat in May. The farmer concerned says the animal had been authorized to enter the food chain. The FSA, the body empowered to sanction any so-called "novel" or new food before it can be produced and sold to consumers, says it has had no such request, nor given any authorization.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of cloning techniques, the current (rather blurred) state of regulation and its policing, and arguments around the economics of using a breeding technique which many say is inefficient, expensive and ethically questionable, who has actually asked the public if it wants to buy foodstuffs produced using such methods?
For more: Once again, the public are left in the dark over clone risks - Yorkshire Post
Whatever the rights and wrongs of cloning techniques, the current (rather blurred) state of regulation and its policing, and arguments around the economics of using a breeding technique which many say is inefficient, expensive and ethically questionable, who has actually asked the public if it wants to buy foodstuffs produced using such methods?
For more: Once again, the public are left in the dark over clone risks - Yorkshire Post
Food Industry: German discount food giant ALDI expanding in South Florida
German discount grocer ALDI is hosting a job fair on Aug. 21 to fill positions at three South Florida locations opening this fall.The job fair will be held at the Fort Lauderdale Marriott North at 6650 N. Andrews Ave., and will run from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
ALDI is a newcomer to South Florida, but already has more than 1,100 stores across 31 US states.
For more: ALDI to host job fair for positions at new South Florida grocery stories - Sun Sentinel
ALDI is a newcomer to South Florida, but already has more than 1,100 stores across 31 US states.
For more: ALDI to host job fair for positions at new South Florida grocery stories - Sun Sentinel
Food Industry: Are You Eating Your Feelings? - AhlanLive.com
With a whopping 70 per cent of women on a diet at any one time, it seems that most of us are unhappy with our bodies. And the reason, warn the experts, is the unhealthy associations we make between the food we eat and our emotions. Fatty foods are seen as indulgent treats, while denying ourselves food is seen as a good thing.
You only have to look at celeb yo-yo dieters to know that our relationship with food in inextricably linked to how we feel about ourselves. Take naturally curvy Jess Simpson, who shrank to a tiny size two in the wake of her split from ex-hubby Nick Lachey and who has fluctuated up and down the scales ever since. But, as she drifts from one failed relationship to the next – ballooning after she was unceremoniously dumped by Tony Romo – the same pattern emerges: Jess is locked in a bitter comfort bingeing/punishing starvation cycle. And, despite recent pictures that show a loved-up, curvy Jess happily munching pasta with her new man, Eric Johnson, it won’t be long before the reality TV star is punishing herself for the calorific Italian meals with another gruelling detox.
“Our belief system is then adapted so that we think we’re being good when we starve ourselves, but to reward ourselves we eat,” says psychologist Linda Papadopoulous. And the key, claims Linda, is to end this eternal love/hate relationship with food, and start to learn to see it in its most simplistic form: as a source of energy.
For more: Are You Eating Your Feelings? - AhlanLive.com
You only have to look at celeb yo-yo dieters to know that our relationship with food in inextricably linked to how we feel about ourselves. Take naturally curvy Jess Simpson, who shrank to a tiny size two in the wake of her split from ex-hubby Nick Lachey and who has fluctuated up and down the scales ever since. But, as she drifts from one failed relationship to the next – ballooning after she was unceremoniously dumped by Tony Romo – the same pattern emerges: Jess is locked in a bitter comfort bingeing/punishing starvation cycle. And, despite recent pictures that show a loved-up, curvy Jess happily munching pasta with her new man, Eric Johnson, it won’t be long before the reality TV star is punishing herself for the calorific Italian meals with another gruelling detox.
“Our belief system is then adapted so that we think we’re being good when we starve ourselves, but to reward ourselves we eat,” says psychologist Linda Papadopoulous. And the key, claims Linda, is to end this eternal love/hate relationship with food, and start to learn to see it in its most simplistic form: as a source of energy.
For more: Are You Eating Your Feelings? - AhlanLive.com
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