Food & Drink

Egypt’s wheat problem: how Morsi jeopardized the bread supply

"Lack of money and a quixotic attempt at making Egypt self-sufficient spurred the decline, say officials familiar with the matter. Mursi dreamt of making Egypt grow all its own wheat and allowed imported stocks to fall to precariously low levels. It hurt both the country’s wheat stocks and Mursi’s government. With a quarter of Egypt’s 84 million people living below the poverty line of $1.65 a day, millions depend on subsidized bread that sells for less than 1 U.S. cent per loaf. That supply relies on foreign wheat. The country is the world’s largest wheat importer, bringing in about 10 million tonnes a year, around half its annual consumption." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEgypt’s wheat problem: how Morsi jeopardized the bread supply

Feds vs. Raisins: Small Farmers Stand Up to the USDA

"It's called an agriculture marketing order. Depression-era regulations meant to stabilize crop prices endanger the livelihoods of small farmers across the country, but the raisin marketing order is particularly egregious. An elected board of bureaucrats known as the Raisin Administrative Committee decides what the proper yield should be in any given year in order to meet a previously decided-upon price. Once they can estimate the size of the year's harvest, they force every farmer to surrender a percentage of their crop to raisin packers like Sun-Maid." Continue reading →

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Cheese shop owner on crusade to block FDA ban on mimolette

"The US fate of the bright-orange, mild-tasting French cheese has been in jeopardy for months and the Food and Drug Administration has blocked all further imports. Why? Because US regulators determined the cantaloupe-like rind of the cheese was covered with too many cheese mites, even though the tiny bugs give mimolette its unique flavor. 1.5 tonnes (3,300 pounds) of cheese were blocked from being imported. Benoit de Vitton of French import company Isigny says those 1.5 tonnes were eventually destroyed. Mmenus inform diners about the FDA decision, noting that mimolette has been 'the National Cheese of France since King Louis XIV.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCheese shop owner on crusade to block FDA ban on mimolette

Foodler bitcoin orders growing by 30 percent a month

"When US restaurant delivery network Foodler began accepting bitcoin paymentsin April, it formed a natural combination for programmers: code and steaming boxes of delivered food. So it makes perfect sense that Foodler co-founder Christian Dumontet set up the interface to make Foodler bitcoin-friendly during a few late nights of delivery-fueled coding. In that week, Boston-based Foodler transformed the art of dining on bitcoin from an adventure to a few swipes of a smartphone screen and an exercise in patiently waiting for the doorbell. Bitcoin users have been eating it up." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFoodler bitcoin orders growing by 30 percent a month

Man persecuted over raw milk resurrects olive oil from thousand-year-old olive trees

"Six months ago, California 'raw milk man' James Stewart was sitting in a jail cell in Los Angeles county, shivering from hypothermia, his body wrapped in chains from hands to ankles. He had been raided at gunpoint by the LA County Sheriff's office under orders from the FDA, then labeled a 'terrorist' and literally subjected to extreme torture in the L.A. jail system. His crime? He was distributing fresh, wholesome milk to moms and families. Over the last year, he has risen from the dirt that the state tried to pound his face into and now commands what may soon become one of the most celebrated specialty olive oil suppliers in North America: Oliflix." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMan persecuted over raw milk resurrects olive oil from thousand-year-old olive trees

Sysco facing thousands in fines for ‘runaway train’ of food storage violations

"Food distributor Sysco could be forced to pay thousands of dollars in fines after officials with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) found insects and rodent droppings at storage sheds the company used for perishable foods throughout northern California, KNTV-TV reported on Tuesday. The station reported that it secretly filmed employees using sheds in six cities to store and transport pork, bread, lettuce and cheese items. One employee, who did not wish to be identified, told KNTV in an interview that the practice had been going on for more than a decade, saying, 'Enough is enough. The public needs to know where their food is coming from.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSysco facing thousands in fines for ‘runaway train’ of food storage violations

Should You Be Able to Buy Food Directly From Farmers? Regulators Don’t Think So

"For the USDA and its sister food regulator, the FDA, there’s a problem: many of the farmers are distributing the food via private contracts like herd shares and leasing arrangements, which fall outside the regulatory system of state and local retail licenses and inspections that govern public food sales. In response, federal and state regulators are seeking legal sanctions against farmers in Maine, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and California, among others. These sanctions include injunctions, fines, and even prison sentences." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingShould You Be Able to Buy Food Directly From Farmers? Regulators Don’t Think So

Farm Bill: Are Republicans the “Stupid Party” or the “Big-Government Party”…or Both?

"It should go without saying that America’s agriculture policy has always been a terrible, stupid, counterproductive exercise in self-dealing cronyism. But when House Republicans severed the traditional connection, arbitrary but politically effective, between farm subsidies and food stamps, it briefly seemed like they were looking for an opportunity to put libertarian populist principle into practice, by separating both outlays in order to trim or reform both separately. But no — instead they were just making it easier for the party’s congressmen to vote for a bloated, awful big government program that benefits mostly-Republican states and interest groups." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFarm Bill: Are Republicans the “Stupid Party” or the “Big-Government Party”…or Both?

Gold Diverging From Fine Wine as Bullion Investors Lose Faith

"The Liv-ex Fine Wine 100 Index (LIVX100) tripled in the past 10 years and gold advanced fourfold. The wine gauge rose 5.9 percent this year as bullion slid 17 percent. The Wine Investment Fund, which manages about $50 million of assets, expects the Liv-ex gauge to rise by about another 7.6 percent by the end of December. Demand for gold, wine and other alternative assets gained in the past several years as equities retreated and bond yields tumbled to record lows as central banks printed money on an unprecedented scale. Gold held through exchange-traded products exceeded all but two of the world’s central-bank reserves." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGold Diverging From Fine Wine as Bullion Investors Lose Faith

Why are Brazilian coffee-growers striking and burning sacks of coffee?

"In Brazil, which produces a third of the world's coffee beans, farmers are striking over falling prices and burning sacks of coffee in protest. Why are coffee-growers feeling the strain? [..] Many Brazilian and Colombian farmers invested to boost production of arabica in response to the high prices of 2011, which has added to the oversupply and further depressed prices. And good weather in Brazil means that this year's crop has turned out to be unexpectedly large. That is why Brazil's farmers are striking, and are demanding more protection, in the form of fatter subsidies, from the state." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhy are Brazilian coffee-growers striking and burning sacks of coffee?