A round-up of the most important news & commentary regarding SOLE- and anti-SOLE food issues, farming, policy, etc. that we think Ethicurean readers will want to know about.

The Digest trawls the Web for tasty news, features, op-eds and blog posts — from Farm Bill updates to backyard chickens, transgenic foods, E. coli recalls, and sustainable fish. No extra charge for the puns.

The dedicated Digest team trawls the Web for tasty news, features, op-eds and blog posts — everything from Farm Bill updates to backyard chickens, transgenic foods, E. coli recalls, and sustainable fish. No extra charge for the puns.

NEWS
Organic, except when it’s too hard: The USDA followed the tried-and-true technique of releasing controversial news on a Friday afternoon with an interim approval to the rule allowing 38 non-organic ingredients to be used in products with the “USDA organic” label. Manufacturers must prove (whatever that means) that the organic equivalents can’t be found […]

NEWStk: The amount of organic farmland in the European Union has doubled since 1998. The EU has agreed to rules for an “EU organic label” for foods that have 95% or more of the ingredients produced using organic methods. One part of the rule is receiving some criticism: an allowance for 0.9% of genetically-modified content when it is “technically unavoidable.” (Houston Chronicle (AP))Ethanol projected to use 30% of U.S. corn crop in 2012 (Reuters)FEATURES & COMMENTARYReduced pesticide use in Britain helps river otter populations rebound.

On Monday the New York Times reported, as plenty have elsewhere, that the USDA is close to approving a list of non-organically certified ingredients that can be used in certified organic food.

Hungry world: The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization has released its June 2007 “Food and Food Outlook” forecast, showing that food expenditures worldwide will rise a record amount, mainly because of biofuels cutting into cheap feed costs. Developing countries will be affected most. To illustrate, the New York Times reports that soaring pork prices in China are as painful for Chinese as gas prices are for Americans.

NEWSFEATURES & COMMENTARYON THE BLOGS, ETC.Transparency special on aisle 7: Steve Balogh writes to his local grocery store - Wegmans - to see how they intended to keep melamine and cyanuric acid tainted food off of store shelves…. Contrast their compete and detailed response to Balogh’s inquiry with Whole Foods’ response to reporter/blogger David Gumpert’s similar one…. 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)The obesity epidemic hits avatars: 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 ch which items are “Sensible.”

NEWSFEATURES & COMMENTARYAmen to that: The USDA would be the wrong agency to consolidate all food safety functions, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, calling it “the nation’s booster club for American agricultural products.” Added CSPI food safety director Caroline Smith DeWaal, “During the last few years, the Secretary of Agriculture has spent far more time trying to convince Japan to buy U.S. beef then he has on ensuring that that beef is free of contamination.”

“Boosting” pet food: The FDA says that the melamine used in recalled pet food may have been intentionally included by Chinese manufacturers to boost the apparent protein content. And in other disturbing developments, only two pet-food manufacturers who used the contaminated rice protein have recalled their products; two others have not. Meanwhile, some of the […]

Organic is in da House: Sam Fromartz reports on the first-ever House of Representatives hearing on organic agriculture. Farmers and processors reported unanimously that demand for organic food is swamping supply, including for animal feed, and asked for help and funds to increase the number of organic growers. While we’re a little disturbed to […]

Good news! The plot to get us to pay more for organic food has been foiled by our friends at the Heartland Institute, the Big Food-funded spin factory masquerading as some sort of grassroots libertarian nonprofit. (I especially love the Smokers’ Lounge section.)
Today I read an edifying article from Heartland about a months-old study commissioned […]

“There is always a sleight of hand”?: We missed a big story Sunday — a Times investigation into U.K. farmers markets reveals that not only are some vendors selling produce they didn’t grow, having bought it from wholesalers and slapping on some soil to fool gullible urbanites, but others are selling experimental varieties of, […]

Man of La Muncha and I are currently “owned” by a small tortoiseshell cat, Ms. Teeth and Claws.  Ms. Claws is our third cat; previous cats included a pretty black and white girl and a large Maine coon cat.  We have loved all our cats, and have always fed them “good” pet foods, figuring that […]

Male sterility and beef steroids: A new study says men whose moms ate a lot of beef during their pregnancy have a sperm count at 25% below normal. Possible suspects? Anabolic steroids used to fatten cattle in the U.S., or pesticides and other contaminants. Although the study is a little shaky, relying on women’s recollections […]