Digest: Citigroup plan to buy subsidies, Cargill’s “organic” sweetener, meet the czar, fish MPAs

NEWS & COMMENTARY

Silver lining in stopping subsidies: More on Citigroup's plan to give farmers and landowners the chance to sell their rights to some federal subsidies. The voluntary buyouts could save the budget $18.9 billion during the first 10 years, if half the recipients took the offer, and the savings could be shifted to conservation payments, biofuel development and other programs Congress is struggling to fund. (Des Moines Register)

Hoofbeats of the apocalypse: Big Ag horseman Cargill is getting into the organic ingredients game. Say Cargill reps about their new "organic" synthetic sweetener: "Zerose organic erythritol meets consumers' growing demand for no-calorie, natural, organic sugar-free products. It tastes 60 to 70 percent as sweet as sugar, so consumers can manage their sugar intake without sacrificing taste." The ingredient is derived from organically grown wheat and hydrolyzed with natural enzymes and supposedly allows mad food scientists developers "to manage viscosity, body, mouthfeel, freezing point, texture and sweetness." Our take: If ever "certified organic" processed food was not a laughable oxymoron, that time has passed. Stick a fork in it — it's done. (Nutra Ingredients)

Seeing czars: A short friendly profile of the FDA's new food safety leader, Dr. David Acheson. Although it leads with how he has to "fuel up" before conference calls with reporters, it neglects to mention on what. (Los Angeles Times)

"Freedom to fish" — until they're gone: Paul Greenberg, a Kellogg Foundation Food and Society Policy fellow, writes persuasively about the need for a system of marine protected areas (MPAs) throughout American waters. Currently the United States protects less than 1 percent of its underwater territory, compared with more than 10 percent of its land mass. Creating no-fishing zones in the ocean is about the only practical way managers have ever found to protect the big, old breeder fish that lay the most eggs and contribute the most to the endurance of a species. It would also bolster U.S. trade interests. (New York Times Magazine)

Bugs and drugs: A veterinarian writes that when it comes to animal health and welfare, there are worse things than antibiotics. Healthy meat would be possible even if organic rules allowed a rare, well-defined use for treatment for a life-threatening infection. (New Farm)

Spin class?: A transcript of the USDA/FDA news conference of May 10. No real news — fish that were fed melamine-contaminated feed are safe, so are pork and chicken, we're getting to the bottom of this in China, yada yada — but some tough questions for reporters that don't get good answers. No. 1 is from AP's Andrew Bridges: how, in the absence of studies of the effects of melamine and cyanuric acid operating together, such meat can be declared safe for human consumption? (USDA.gov)

Gray Lady says bolstering food stamps must be Congress’s top priority in this year’s farm bill (New York Times)

Congressmen propose replacing farm payment programs with insurance program (Brownfield)

China's national spirit, Maotai, endangered by river pollution (Reuters)

FEATURES

Get this Local Food Dude a TV show, now!: Meet Timothy Cipriano, the food service director for the Bloomfield school district and a committed activist for the Connecticut Farm-to-School program, which advocates serving students fresh, locally grown and sustainable food. (New York Times)

Amen to all that: Puget Sound growers and restauranteurs are fomenting a local food revolution. "I feel we are right in the throes of a food revolution," says one. "It feels almost like a religious revival. People are coming hungry for the gospel of good, local food. Interestingly, the reporter also interviews the CEO of CostCo, which only buys local if it happens to fit into the supply chain, but sends third-party inspectors to farms, packing sheds and manufacturers worldwide to ensure its direct suppliers adhere to minimum-age and wage laws and provide clean drinking water and bathrooms for workers. (Seattle Times)

Strange riverbedfellows: Some members of the Snake River dams’ natural constituency, like farmers, are talking to their downriver antagonists about a future that might not include the four lower Snake River dams, which some argue will endanger wild salmon that, even more than wheat, are the region’s natural bounty. (New York Times)

Towers of tubers: A craze for heritage potatoes is sweeping the UK, with farmers and eaters discovering long-lost varieties. (Financial Times)

Tightening the local corn belt: Illinois growers and activists are seeking new state legislation to nurture a burgeoning local foods movement. Demand for local food is increasing, but farmers either can't keep up or lack the land or resources to grow what could be sold. Around 90% of Illinois' food is imported from other states. (Chicago Tribune)

Colonial gifts: Today is the 400th anniversary of the landing at Jamestown, and NPR speaks with Charles C. Mann about how the arrival of the English colonists changed the American landscape dramatically. Two of the organisms that the colonial settlers brought with them that had long-lasting impact: the earthworm, and honey bees. (NPR) [Thanks Rajae!]

When Death Row exonerations get boring: The Sun-Times runs DNA tests on 14 plates of sushi described as red snapper or "Japanese red snapper." Most were tilapia. (Chicago Sun Times)

Getting creamed: The 106-year-old Crystal Cream & Butter Co. dairy cooperative in Sacramento County has been sold to a Massachusetts dairy products firm 12 times its size, typical of trend toward consolidation in the milk-bottling industry. (Sacramento Bee)

Avatar diets: Kraft Foods, Inc. has set up a supermarket in the online world of "Second Life." The story mentions Kraft's "Sensible Solution" label for "healthier food choices," but does not mention that Kraft decides which items are "sensible." Even virtual shoppers should beware. (Marketing Daily)

Sturgeon general: The shovelnose sturgeon, North America's smallest sturgeon, is plentiful in Illinois's Wabash River, but scientists worry that the decline of beluga sturgeon half a world away could mean trouble for the shovelnose. (York Daily Record via AP)

ON THE BLOGS, ETC.

They never taught us this in civics class: Dan Owens recaps Ag Chair Collin Peterson's insistence that the farm bill will be written only by agriculture committee members, and explains how the tactical split among the organizations lobbying to reform the farm bill, between those pursuing "committee strategy" and those going more for a "floor strategy." If Nancy Pelosi promised Peterson what he says she did, the latter group may be screwed. (Center for Rural Affairs)

Transparency special on aisle 7: Steve Balogh writes to his local grocery store to see how they intended to keep melamine- and cyanuric acid-tainted food off of store shelves. Wegmans features local products and had a organic food section prior to it becoming mainstream. Contrast their compete and detailed letter to Balogh with Whole Foods' stonewalling response to reporter/blogger David Gumpert's similar one. (GroovyGreen.com)

Superfoods rebuked: Can eating a few servings of "superfoods" such as goji berries and blueberries each day make up for an unbalanced diet? Some, including Michael Pollan, think not: "If you're concerned about your health, then you should probably avoid food products that make health claims...The problem with nutrient-by-nutrient science is that it takes the nutrient out of the context of food, the food out of the context of diet, and the diet out of the context of lifestyle." (The Observer)

No accounting for organic tastes: "Missionary of the Delicious" food maven Ed Levine asks, "Does an organically grown tomato taste any better than a conventionally grown one? My experience in trying to answer this question in general has not been kind to the organic movement." Some of his commenters point out that this is a tough test to do, but we'd go further: it's a fool's errand. Unless he can somehow sample two tomatoes of the same variety, originating from the same region's soil type, and picked on the same day, but one grown organically and one grown with synthetic pesticides and fertilizer, how could you compare? We doubt even then you'd taste any difference. And when it comes to yogurt, which is what sparked Levine's musing, we think he missed Hirschfield's meaning: that organic yogurt stood a chance in France as long as it didn't taste worse than the popular conventional kinds. What do you guys think? Where does the idea of taste superiority rank on your list of reasons for buying organic anything? (Serious Eats)

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