Section » Labeling
Pasteurized salad?
If Slow Food Nation showcased produce at the peak of taste, texture and freshness, a new FDA proposal might just show us what things look like down at the other end of the spectrum. The FDA recently
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Digest – News: So Monsanto, going to take on Wal-Mart? Meanwhile, raw milk’s losing
It ain't over until the biotech giant screams: Wal-Mart says its private-label milk will be produced with no artificial growth hormones, aka Monsanto's rBST drug Posilac. (Globe and Mail) Related: Kroger
Digest – News: Scary wheat fungus spreading, food prices climbing, don’t blame the soda (right)
When it grains it pours: A dangerous new fungus with the ability to destroy entire wheat fields has been detected in Iran, says the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization. Up to 80% of all Asian and African wheat varieties are susceptible to the fungus, which can be transmitted across continents by wind.
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Be a “responsible masticator”: “Keep on Shoppin’ in a (Label) Free World”!
Eco-Farm n00bs Tom and I weren't sure what to expect from the January conference's talent show, but we knew we'd be entertained one way or another.
Digest – News: More Downergate fallout, Monsanto defeat likely in Kansas, moth myth busters
The full Digest is now back with a vengeance. Umbrellas up! And thanks to Jack for his help. Nothing but the worst for our kids: For years the USDA has had problems ensuring that beef supplied to the national school-lunch program meets food-safety
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Thinking about carbon “foodprints”
The February 25 issue of The New Yorker has an important article by staff writer Michael Specter about some of the economic, logistical, and moral issues related to our individual
Keepin’ it natural: Urgent action on meat labels
On a recent trip to the grocery store, a friend of mine living in the Midwest decided to put in a plug for grass-fed beef. They won't supply it if we don't ask for it, right? She approached the man behind the meat counter and asked if they carried it. With a completely straight face, he responded: "Grass-fed?
An open letter to Monsanto
Oh, Monsanto. Just look at you. You've got your knit cap pulled down tight over your crew cut, and your stomach is sticking out beneath your skull-and-crossbones T-shirt. Your face is riddled with acne, and your eyes are all hard and mean. You've been left back a few grades now — summer school doesn't
Kansas Legislature joins list of those who prefer consumers stay ignorant
Members of the Kansas Legislature have joined the esteemed lawmakers or regulators in Pennsylvania, Indiana
Welcome Washington Post readers!
Jane Black has a great article in the Washington Post's food section today, about how the recent tsunami of headlines on contaminated food from China, E. coli outbreaks, and cloned meat has
The spread of transgenic corn, soybeans and cotton
As a follow-up to Tom Philpott's post about genetically modified crops (also known as transgenic or genetically engineered crops), I thought I'd post some data on transgenic crop adoption in the United States. Because products made
Canadian government wants feedback on food safety
On December 17, 2007, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that the government will be implementing a new "Food and Consumer Safety Action Plan". Apparently, the federal health and agriculture departments want feedback from Canadians on how the government should carry out its proposed
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PA pulls the plug on rBGH-free label ban
According to Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility's Campaign for Safe Food and the Philadelphia Inquirer,
Digest – Blogs: Juicy distinctions, egg licensing, grassfed beef dissin’
Adding it all up: Marion Nestle weighs in on a new promotion for Minute Maid's specially enhanced fruit juices, and explains in an interesting aside what it means that the FDA regulates label claims but the FTC governs advertising. (Eating
Guest post: A Vermont hog farmer’s opinion of the proposed “Naturally Raised” label
The following is from Walter Jeffries, who raises hogs on pasture in Vermont at Sugar Mountain Farm. A while back I wrote that the USDA was stealing the term Naturally
