Tricks are for marketers: Eleven big food and beverage companies will no longer advertise certain foods to kids under the age of 12 (almost one billion dollars are spent each year advertising to children under 12). But look for the loopholes. A big one: ads will be allowed on "family" television programs like American Idol, which has several times more viewers of ages 6-11 than Spongebob. Another: the manufacturers will set the nutrition standards themselves, so Baked Cheetos are OK to pitch to kids. (New York Times)
A fresh deal: A deal in the House Agriculture committee could bring additional aid for organic farming research, farmers markets, and other programs related to specialty crops (fruits, vegetables, nuts). The plan is to spend $300 million per year on such programs–a pittance compared to the $12 billion to $25 billion per year lavished on commodity crops, but a move in the right direction. Ag Committee chair found the money by setting a per farm subsidy limit of $1 million, a very high number sure to attract criticism from reformers. (San Francisco Chronicle) More on the Ag Committee hearing from Reuters. And FarmPolicy.com is sure to have a thorough recap of the first day of markup.
Whole lotta’ trouble: John Mackey shuts down his blog and apologizes. The Whole Foods board of directors starts an investigation, as does the SEC. (Whole Foods)
Streamlining insanity: The FDA’s plan to close over half of its food testing laboratories was strongly criticized at a House hearing on Tuesday. The stated goal is to "streamline" the FDA, but critics see it as a hollowing out and an action that will cause a loss of skilled staff. (Scientific American (Reuters))
To the roots: If you want to look at the full analysis behind the spate of so many "Organic can feed the world" headlines, it’s available on-line. (University of Michigan)
Forget HFCS, plastic makes kids fat?: A new book, "The Toxic Origins of Disease," reveals that exposure to bisphenol A — a common chemical ingredient lining water and baby bottles and soup cans, and baby bottles — during embryonic development may be scrambling the signals that fat cells normally receive during prenatal and neonatal development so that they never work properly again. Scary stuff. (Salon)
Liquid legislation: Water is a hot topic in Michigan. The Ann Arbor City Council passed a resolution forbidding city vendors from selling bottled water at city events–reusable bottles will be sold instead to be filled with tap water. The city estimates that its solid waste division handles 126 empty water bottles per resident per year (over 14 million). State lawmakers have been introducing bills to increase water conservation in the state and reduce extraction of water from the Great Lakes. (Ann Arbor News)
Commerce against commodity subsidies: Heavyweights from the business world called for farm policy reform in a letter signed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, among others. One of their biggest concerns is that a failure to reduce agricultural subsidies in the Food and Farm Bill will scuttle international trade talks or lead to actions against the U.S. in the WTO. (Press release)
Three fishy pieces in Sunday’s New York Times that escaped my news filter (Thanks Jack!): Chicken of the Sea, a look at sushi, pregnancy, and food safety; Catfish With a Side of Scombroid, commentary about the difficulty of monitoring seafood imports; and Sushi for Two, a request that Americans go Ethicurean at sushi restaurants: give up our addiction to tuna (seriously overfished), ask the chef many questions about the food, and eat seasonal sushi.
Love of the land in the Heartland: A newspaper based in Iowa–a state which received over $14 billion in USDA subsidies between 1995 and 2005, nine percent of the total–calls for a "shift to stewardship" and suggests that Congress "craft payments, penalties to reward conservation." (Des Moines Register)
Biofuels create new security risks, especially in developing countries (Jane’s Intelligence Review, via Green Car Congress)
The annual School Nutrition Association’s convention convenes (WLS)
Dead zone predicted to increase in area this year (L.A. Times)
Another casualty of the biofuel binge: deep fried food in Indonesia (Reuters)
Food, Farming, & Food Politics events calendar
