Welcome to the Food and Nutrition Law and Policy Blog

Welcome to the Food and Nutrition Law and Policy Blog!

This blog provides timely and comprehensive information and analysis of cutting edge food and nutrition
law and policy issues.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Commercial beef starts on small farms

From National Public Radio,

Unlike Chicken And Pork, Beef Still Begins With Small Family Ranches
. . .the cattle industry is still populated by mom-and-pop operations, at least at the calf-raising level. . . .

 But that small size is true only at one end of the cattle industry. In simple terms, the business is bottle-shaped — large at the bottom and narrowing to the neck, where just four companies control the majority of the market. . . .
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Food Safety Standards for Canteloupe

From Food Safety News:

California cantaloupes will soon come with the assurance that they meet strict food safety standards, thanks to a mandatory statewide program that includes both announced and unannounced inspections and certification under government oversight.

The plan is for the program to begin this season, which lasts into the fall, but approval of an audit checklist by the U.S. Department of Agriculture is still forthcoming. The goal is to get that done as quickly as possible.

A historic move, this is the state's first mandatory food safety program implemented by a commodity board. . . .
 
read more

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Now Reading: Eat and Run, by vegan ultramarathoner, Scott Jurek

So far, Eat and Run is an engaging read.  The story moves along well and is interrupted occasionally by recipes that look easy enough.  Here's an excerpt from a recent interview on boston.com:
Q. When did you change to a vegan diet?
A.I was not raised vegan. I was raised hunting and fishing in Minnesota, and ate meat and potatoes. Corn, carrots, and peas were really the only vegetables I ate as a kid, and in college, working part time I ate junk food and fast food. Then, after reading Dr. Andrew Weil’s book "Spontaneous Healing, realized it’s really about a whole picture of nutrition and the maintenance of your body’s healing system.
And a trailer for the book:


FSN: Red Meat Allergy Caused by Ticks

Sometimes it's just a matter of asking the right question.  From Food Safety News:
Red Meat Allergy Likely Caused by Tick Bites
by Gretchen Goetz | Jun 26, 2012
A few years ago, doctors in the southern United States started noticing an odd phenomenon: people were becoming allergic to red meat, seemingly out of the blue. What in the environment was causing this response? The answer, surprisingly, turned out to be ticks.  
. . . 
Then, in August of 2009, the answer quite literally came to Platts-Mills when his own IgE to alpha-gal levels suddenly spiked days after he was bitten repeatedly by ticks while on a hike in the woods.  
Out of curiosity, the researchers began asking patients if they had been bitten by ticks before their meat allergy developed.  
"Once we opened up that line of questioning, it just blew up on us," Commins told Food Safety News.

Friday, June 8, 2012

USDA: Pesticide Levels are Safe; Eat your vegetables!

USDA recently released its 2010 annual summary of pesticide labels.  The conclusion is that pesticide levels are safe.

Statement from USDA:
“Age-old advice remains the same: eat more fruits and vegetables and wash them before you do
so.  Health and nutrition experts encourage the consumption of fruits and vegetables in every
meal as part of a healthy diet. This message is affirmed in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans
released last year, in USDA’s My Plate, as well as federal nutrition guidance that urges people to
make half their plate fruits and vegetables.”  
Since its inception, the program has tested 105 commodities including fresh and processed fruit
and vegetables, meat and poultry, grains, catfish, rice, specialty products, and water.  The data is
a valuable tool for consumers, food producers and processors, chemical manufacturers,
environmental interest groups, and food safety organizations. 
A commentary on Food Safety News notes that good news such as this gets little attention.  You can see the 2010 Summary here. The report itself is about 200 pages.  In addition to the summary, USDA publishes information for consumers regarding the pesticide summary on the Pesticide Data Program website.

Posted by Donna M. Byrne, William Mitchell College of Law

Food Safety Reform in Canada

From Food Safety News:  Harper Government Wants Tougher Food Safety Law for Canada


The federal government of Canada under Prime Minister Stephen Harper of the Conservative Party is pushing for a tough new food safety law with greater penalties for violators and more unified enforcement powers.

Harper's government Thursday introduced the Safe Foods for Canadians Act, Bill S-11, to overhaul Canada's food inspection system.
 . . .



 

Friday, June 1, 2012

Fire retardants in peanut butter?!

From Huff Post Green: "In a new study of popular products purchased from grocery stores in Dallas, Texas, researchers found that nearly half of the sampled peanut butter and cold cuts, as well as turkey, fish, beef and other fatty foods, contained traces of a flame retardant commonly used in the foam insulation of building walls."

This is not about an additive that happens to also be a flame retardant.  This article is about substances that get into food that have no business being there.  It is chilling.

Read more
Posted by Donna M. Byrne, William Mitchell College of Law