Frankenfood

Subsidized Food Programs: 100 Million Americans

"You may have heard that 47 million Americans are on food stamps, or as they call it these days, SNAP: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. What about subsidized lunches for children? Add 32 million. What about school breakfast programs? What about WIC — Women, Infants, and Children? Don’t forget snacks at day care centers. Then there is the Special Milk Program for schools and a Summer Food Service Program. When schools close, the subsidies still flow. But the small farmer, in whose name the farm subsidy programs exist, disappeared after World War II. Only 2% of Americans live on farms. Then who wins? Agribusiness." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSubsidized Food Programs: 100 Million Americans

USDA skeptical of Monsanto sabotage claim in ‘zombie wheat’ probe

"The Department of Agriculture, which is conducting a secretive investigation into the renegade GM wheat outbreak, maintains the GM wheat remained confined to a single 125-acre field on a single farm in eastern Oregon. Officials said there was no evidence the contaminated wheat was in the marketplace. The stakes are high for America’s wheat exports, with Japan and South Korea cancelling shipments; for Monsanto, which faces lawsuits from farmers for falling wheat prices and a consumer backlash against GM products; and for the US government, which must shore up confidence in the safety and integrity of the food supply." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUSDA skeptical of Monsanto sabotage claim in ‘zombie wheat’ probe

Monsanto unapproved GMO wheat was in Colorado government storage facility until 2011

"Monsanto Co’s unapproved, experimental genetically engineered wheat, which is feared to have potentially contaminated U.S. wheat supplies after it was found growing in an Oregon field this spring, was kept in a U.S. government storage facility until at least late 2011, according to documents obtained by Reuters. The revelation that the seed for the controversial genetically engineered wheat was kept viable in a Colorado storage facility as recently as a year and a half ago comes as the U.S. government is investigating how the strain of experimental wheat wound up growing in an Oregon field this spring." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMonsanto unapproved GMO wheat was in Colorado government storage facility until 2011

Maine Gov. Says He Intends to Sign GMO Labeling Bill – But not Right Now

"Citing 'strong public support' yesterday in a letter to the bill's sponsors, LePage officially indicated that he intends - eventually - to sign LD 718. 'But he is proceeding with caution because the legal effort required to defend this law will be complex and very costly,' says his press secretary, Adrienne Bennett. LePage says he agrees that 'consumers should have the right to know what is in their food.' But he also alludes to concerns over the constitutionality of labeling requirements, and according to Bennet, the Governor expects that other states that pass labeling laws now will be on the front lines for legal attack." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMaine Gov. Says He Intends to Sign GMO Labeling Bill – But not Right Now

US, EU kick off Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership talks despite Snowden revelations

"The main goal is to agree on removing bureaucratic, regulatory and protectionist barriers to more open trade and investment to create what would be the world’s largest free-trade area, involving 820 million people. Key focuses of the talks ahead include agricultural trade, cross-border investment, intellectual property rights and regulatory harmonization. To avoid stalling the talks, separate US-EU discussions on the NSA activities were held quietly this week at the Department of Justice. Washington will push Europe to open up to US biotechnology products like genetically modified foods, which many European consumers consider dangerous." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUS, EU kick off Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership talks despite Snowden revelations

Refined carbohydrates can trigger food cravings, study says

"Refined carbohydrates such as corn syrup could trigger food cravings not unlike the cravings that drug addicts experience, new research suggests. The findings, published last week in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, imply that the quick spike and subsequent crash in blood sugar that comes after eating highly processed carbs activates reward and addiction centers in the brain. The findings could suggest that avoiding refined carbohydrates might be a good weight-loss strategy because people would avoid not only the calories but also the strong cravings that the carbs they induce." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRefined carbohydrates can trigger food cravings, study says

Coke cans toxic caramel coloring but Pepsi still packs 8 times the ‘safe’ amount

"Coke products no longer contain 4-methylimidazole (4-MEI), whereas Pepsi has only changed the products it sells in California. Research showed that 10 out of 10 Pepsi products purchased outside of California during the month of June 2013 still contain 4-MEI at levels 'four to eight times higher than the safety thresholds set by California.' Pepsi assured NPR reporter Allison Aubrey that there is nothing dangerous about their products. 'The FDA and other regulatory agencies around the world, including the European Food Safety Authority and Health Canada, consider our caramel coloring safe for use in foods and beverages,' a spokesperson insisted." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCoke cans toxic caramel coloring but Pepsi still packs 8 times the ‘safe’ amount

A Whole Mess From Krugman About Whole Milk and Beyond

"Are slowly climbing milk prices evidence that price inflation is not a threat? Far from it, it is another example of Krugman thinking only one or two steps deep. The fact of the matter is that milk consumption is crashing in America. This change in milk consumption patterns is having the effect that one would expect, falling milk sales. In 2011, total U.S. beverage milk sales were 53 billion pounds - about 6 billion gallons - the lowest level since 1984, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture. Whole milk beverage sales in 2011 were less than half their level from the early 1980s. Got that? Milk sales are crashing, and it is across all age groups." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA Whole Mess From Krugman About Whole Milk and Beyond

Organic growers lose decision in suit versus Monsanto over seeds

"Monsanto Co. on Monday won another round in a legal battle with U.S. organic growers as an appeals court threw out the growers’ efforts to stop the company from suing farmers if traces of its patented biotech genes are found in crops. Organic farmers and others have worried for years that they will be sued by Monsanto for patent infringement if their crops get contaminated with Monsanto biotech crops. In its ruling Monday, the appellate court said the organic growers must rely on Monsanto assurances on the company’s website that it will not sue them so long as the mix is very slight." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOrganic growers lose decision in suit versus Monsanto over seeds

Connecticut becomes first state to pass legislation requiring genetically modified (GM) food labeling

"The small US state of Connecticut became the first to pass legislation requiring food products with genetically modified ingredients to be labeled as such. The legislation was strongly supported in a 134-3 vote in the state House, making Connecticut the first of some two dozen states mulling GM foods labeling to pass a measure. The bill said that the labeling rules will only take effect when at least four other states, including at least one of them an immediate neighbor of Connecticut such as New York, enact similar legislation, and also only when states in the northeastern region of the country with a combined population of 20 million or more do the same." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingConnecticut becomes first state to pass legislation requiring genetically modified (GM) food labeling