NEWS
Hoofbeats of the apocalypse: Foot and mouth disease has been found in cattle on a British farm, and the government has banned all livestock traveling to prevent a repeat of the horrible, nightmarish 2001 outbreak in which one in eight of all farm animals were slaughtered. Supposedly, this should be contained much faster thanks to new animal-tracking measures. Meanwhile, Walter over at NoNais is suspicious of all the fuss, and says that FMD is not only curable, but can be vaccinated against — an assertion we’d like to read more about.
That we can detect now, anyway: Animals that have eaten genetically modified feed show no residual traces in their eggs or meat, the EU’s food safety agency says. (Reuters)
China blacklists more than 400 exporters for violating trade rules following product scares (Reuters)
UK chain Harvey Nichols to stop selling foie gras (BBC News)
NYC Burger King and Wendy’s fries still contained trans fats banned by Big Apple (Center for Science in the Public Interest)
No. 2 food retailer Kroger to sell only rbST hormone-free milk nationally by February (Star-Telegram.com)
COMMENTARY
Pass the petri dish: A great rumination on the future of lab-grown meat. "On the one hand, cultured meat heralds the end of … our apparent need to slaughter 40 billion animals a year. Civilized people must necessarily approve. On the other hand, cultured meat introduces another processed agri-food that severs humanity further from the natural world." (The Globe and Mail)
Pelosi pounding: Chiding Nancy Pelosi for turning her back on fellow Bay Areans and Farm Bill reformers Alice Waters and Michael Pollan an instead siding "with big agriculture - and her political instincts." (San Jose Mercury News)
Sweet deal for growers, not manufacturers: The president of Jelly Belly rails against the artificially inflated price of domestic sugar thanks to government manipulation. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Shockingly, we agree with Bush administration : A Times editorial lauds the White House for wanting to change foreign food-aid policy so that instead of shipping surplus U.S.-grown food abroad, $300 million would be shifted from farm subsidies to enable governments and relief groups to buy food in hungry countries locally. But Congress has dropped the provision from the Food and Farm Bill. (New York Times)
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August 5th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Shockingly, we agree with Bush administration
Every so often, that happens to me. When I realize it, I have to go shower.