Really Big Organic: Whole Foods has just announced it’s buying competitor Wild Oats for $565 million. Shares of both companies, neither of whose workers are unionized, jumped on the news. CBS Marketwatch
Trays ambitious: John Birdsall has a terrific feature on Allison Negrin, who counts Chez Panisse on her cooking CV (who doesn’t?) and is now the chef at John Muir hospital in Walnut Creek, CA. No, she didn’t piss off Alice — she’s on a mission “to change the profile of hospital food from bland, starchy, and processed to something reasonably close to actual, healthy food. Oh, and to help save the world in the process.” East Bay Express
Cluster bomb of “safety” rules: New regulations designed to prevent further E. coli outbreaks in produce have small Bay Area farmers worried. “If you go feed your cow, are you going to have to take your shoes off when you go to your field?” asks Full Belly’s Judith Redmond asks. “People who have a sheep or cow or dog feel they can’t have their animals on the farm.” San Francisco Chronicle
Organic lawsuit: The Cornucopia Institute announced it intends to file a federal lawsuit against the USDA, accusing the agency of failing to enforce federal laws about the labeling of organic foods, and more specifically, failing to enforce the pasture component of the label that mega-dairies like Dean Foods, owner of Horizon milk, are ignoring in favor of feedlots. Small Business Times
What, organic isn’t the One True Way?!: In Salon’s How the World Works, Andrew Leonard looks at yesterday’s announced report from the Manchester School of Business about the environmental impacts of organic vs. conventional agriculture. Over at his newish blog Chews Wise, Sam Fromartz (author of “Organic Inc.”) provides more context for the report.
Go fish, mamas: A nuanced and well-researched analysis of the new study showing that pregnant women who eat a lot of seafood have smarter babies than moms who don’t. Slate
Slow food feature of the week: Kim Severson becomes a culinary detective in search of the Italian roots of her mother’s traditional tomato sauce. (New York Times) The Chronicle has a complementary story on the different slow-cooked sauces sometimes called ragu, sugo, or bolognese.
SYSCO power: A profile of the ginormous restaurant supplier SYSCO, and how some otherwise reputable establishments are willing to pass of its frozen goods as their own creations. Slate
That’s why they call it an ecosystem: Overfishing isn’t just bad for various aquatic species, it may threaten the overall health of an ecosystem by reducing the recycling of nutrients. Cornell Chronicle
Stop monking around: PETA has gone after an egg farm operated by Trappist monks at a monastery in South Carolina for forced molting and debeaking practices. New York Times
Fecal facts: Explaining how salmonella gets into things like peanut butter. Slate
UK’s chickens getting hungry: Prices for organic poultry feed are skyrocketing in the UK. Farming UK
If it’s broke but booming, don’t fix it: The chairman of the House Agriculture Committee thinks that high commodity grain prices will mean a 45% reduction in projected spending in the 2007 farm bill, but that the subsidy system will remain intact. Des Moines Register
Yes, we have GMO bananas: Uganda hopes to introduce a banana that has been genetically engineered to resist wilt disease. AllAfrica
Enough with the doo-doo voodoo: The WashPo jumps on the biodynamic wine bandwagon. Wasington Post
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