Food & Drink

5 GMO Myths Busted

"Every year, a greater and greater percentage of our food supply sources back to genetically modified ingredients. Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, DuPont and the other biotech giants have made GMOs into a multi-billion dollar industry and unsurprisingly have launched one of the largest pr campaigns in the history of the food industry to convince the public that their products are safe, healthy and beneficial. Let's examine five of the main claims of this PR campaign and see how they stack up to reality." Continue reading →

Continue Reading5 GMO Myths Busted

Candy maker Hershey pays $4 million for price-fixing

"US candy maker Hershey on Friday pleaded guilty to participating in a chocolate price-fixing scheme and paid a CAN$4 million (US$4.2 million) fine. The company entered the plea at the Ontario Superior Court and, according to the Competition Bureau of Canada, received lenient treatment in exchange for its cooperation in an antitrust investigation. Earlier this month, Canadian authorities also charged Nestle, Mars and a network of independent wholesale distributors in the case after a whistle-blower tipped authorities to the scheme. The alleged price-fixing involved popular brands such as Kit Kat, Coffee Crisp, Aero, Twix, Snickers, Bounty and M&Ms." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCandy maker Hershey pays $4 million for price-fixing

Belarus and Russia in a ‘chocolate war’ against Ukraine

"Belarus will not allow confectionery manufactured by Roshen to cross its territory. That’s after the Russian sanitary services banned the confectioners products after the toxic hydrocarbon benzopyrene was found in Roshen milk chocolate. Roshen could stand to lose $200mn from the ‘chocolate war’ with Russia according to Oleksandr Sokolov, director of analytics at Pro-Consulting talking to Ukrinform. Kazakhstan, the third party to the Customs Union with Russia and Belarus, has so far not found any signs of benzopyrene in Roshen products. On Saturday Tajikistan said it had found no impurity in Roshen confectionary products imported into the country." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBelarus and Russia in a ‘chocolate war’ against Ukraine

Manufacturing of Zeppelins temporarily shut down sausage makers in World War I

"According to a new documentary, the quantity of cow intestines used in manufacturing the airships was so enormous – and the military appetite for the dirigibles so strong – that the making of sausages was temporarily outlawed in Germany and allied or occupied parts of Austria, Poland and northern France. With the guts from more than 250,000 cows needed to produce the bags that held the hydrogen gas in each Zeppelin, the German war machine had to choose between long-range bombing and wurst. It chose the former." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingManufacturing of Zeppelins temporarily shut down sausage makers in World War I