Oh honey, won’t you bee my Valentine??

Post by William Mitchell College of Law student, Katie Kelly



photo from shutterstock.com



As I was looking at the news online this week, I found an interesting BBC article about honey-bees.  Apparently, 20,000 of them simply dropped dead in their exhibit in a Canadian museum.  My first reaction was that it was probably related to the night custodian and some unfortunate hi-jinks. But no, all of the obvious causes were ruled out.  In the article, Colony Collapse Disorder was mentioned as a possible cause.  Although it also was quickly ruled out, it reminded me that, indeed, there was a phenomenon of disappearing bees in the last several years.  No one is sure what causes it; scientists seem fairly convinced that there are multiple causes. 

Whatever the reason, entire hives of bees suddenly leave the hive one day, never to return.   Don’t care?  Well, when you consider how much of our food is dependant upon pollination, you might want to think twice about our little striped friends. 

Thanks, Katie!

Salmonella Victims to Call for Criminal Charges Against Former Peanut Corp. CEO

Post by William Mitchell College of Law student, Abigail Tyson

Relatives of the Salmonella victims from the 2009 peanut outbreak are calling for criminal prosecution of Stewart Parnell.  After the outbreak occurred, emails surfaced in which then CEO of Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) admitted knowledge that his company shipped contaminated peanuts to distributers. At the hearing, Mr. Parnell refused to answer any questions, invoking his 5th Amendment rights.  Advocate Bill Marler, a representative of the victims, states that in all his years of “handling food safety cases, I’ve yet to see a circumstance that has so clearly warranted criminal prosecution as the corporate mishandling involved in the PCA outbreak.” Six family members of the victims spoke at a press conference urging for prosecution of Mr. Parnell.  The conference occurred concurrently with the Government Accountability Conference held at American University.

Thanks, Abigail!

THE ISSUE OF THE NOW-APPROVED GM ENOGEN CORN CROP

Post by William Mitchell College of Law student, Tony Larson

Just recently the USDA has approved GM corn that has a microbial gene which introduces the enzyme alpha amylase into the corn before harvesting.  This enzyme breaks down complex starch into simple sugars.  The purpose of this GM crop is to pre-start the ethanol processing.  Breaking down starch to sugars is the first step.

What is troubling, and which the NY Times correctly reveals, is that once a gene is introduced into the wild, its gene flow is relatively uncontrolled.  Major food companies should be extremely worried about this because such cross-pollination could start the breaking down of corn intended for human consumption.  We have seen how easily crops can cross-pollinate through the nuisance patent infringement of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready crops.  The Enogen growers claim that it will only be cultivated in areas only connected to other Enogen fields, but such a blanket statement seems unsatisfactory.

Thanks, Tony!

Botulism and recalls in Canada and the US

Food law seminar student Tracy Grundman-Reza came across a post on Neal Fortin's US Food Blog from September 2010 that raised a couple of interesting issues:

The first item I read on the US Food Blog was about a sauce that was recalled after it was found that it may have been contaminated with clostridium botulinum.  I found it interesting because normally when I hear about a recall it’s usually due to a salmonella or E. coli outbreak.  I went to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s website and read the original notice warning consumers not to eat the product and describing the recall.   

The recall process in Canada is a little different from the recall process in the US.  In Canada, all recalls are voluntary, but when a manufacturer does not recall a product that may pose a danger to the public, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food can, under the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act, order a manufacturer/company  to recall a product when it could be dangerous to the public’s health, animals, or plants.  

More information on clostridium botulinum is also available on the FDA’s website: http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/FoodborneIllness/FoodborneIllnessFoodbornePathogensNaturalToxins/BadBugBook/ucm070000.htm

Thanks, Tracy!

Are Working Mothers Making Children Obese? -- post by Rachel Dougherty

Another William Mitchell student, Rachel Dougherty, also has her own blog, Menu In Motion.  It may be time to start a blogroll!

Rachel has an interesting post on a study of childhood BMI and the number of hours the mom works outside the home:

A recent study published in the journal Child Development suggests that children of working mothers are more likely to gain weight than children with stay-at-home mothers.  Google News is filled with headlines suggesting that working mothers are to blame for obese children, but is this actually the case?

more

Thanks, Rachel!

Lactation Nation -- post by Will Crain

William Mitchell College of Law student Will Crain has posted a discussion of a recent study of childhood obesity and the timing of introduction of solid food.  Will has his own blog, Corrective Lenses, so I'm not reposting the whole post.  The post begins:

Every couple of weeks it seems there is another news article about how we in America are making our children obese. On alternate weeks, we get stories about the benefits of prolonged breast feeding. It was only a matter of time before a story came along that combined both. This blog post, by Jennifer LaRue Huget, from the Washington Post’s online site, reports on a new study that finds a correlation between childhood obesity and weaning babies before the recommended 6 months. more

Thanks, Will!

Food Law Seminar Posts

Spring semester is well under way, and the students in Food Law and Policy Seminar at William Mitchell College of Law are busily writing blog posts. So here we go!  Thank you in advance to everyone who participates.

Just for kicks, try a Google search for "blogging" and click on images.  There you will find many cartoons.  I would post one here, but that would probably violate someone's copyright.  Instead, here's the USDA food pyramid from Mypyramid.gov: