Personal Pleas For Food Safety, Will The Calls Be Heeded This Time?
It’s been 16 years since the Jack-In-The-Box E. coli in 1993, where hundreds were injured and four children died after eating undercooked hamburgers from the chain. Â Court documents later showed that the “fast-food chain knew about but disregarded Washington state laws that would have prevented the deadly 1993 outbreak of E. coli food poisoning” (link). [...]
October 12, 2009
Tags: change, FDA, food safety, Health, policy, USDA Posted in: Health, Politics 
2 Comments
Dairy Farms Contaminate Water And Get Away With It
According to the EPA, agricultural runoff is single largest polluter of the nation’s rivers and streams. However, thanks to years of paltry EPA authority and the lax legislation imposed during the Bush administration, their hands are pretty much tied when it comes to stopping it. There are laws in place that have big [...]
September 21, 2009
Tags: agriculture, Barack Obama, change, cows, farmers, green, Health, moms, policy, USDA Posted in: Health, Politics One Comment
Naturally? Naturally. — The USDA To Work On What ‘Natural’ Means
Costello: Look, if I throw the ball to first base, somebody’s gotta get it. Now who has it?
Abbott: Naturally.
Costello: Who?
Abbott: Naturally.
Costello: Naturally?
Abbott: Naturally.
Costello: So I pick up the ball and I throw it to Naturally.
Abbott: No you don’t, you throw the ball to Who.
Costello: Naturally.
Abbott: That’s different.
Costello: That’s what I said.
The confusion and nonsensical back [...]
September 16, 2009
Tags: agriculture, farmers, marketing, USDA Posted in: Politics, Science & Technology No Comments
A Relentless Focus On Prevention, Or Something
Food safety and child nutrition were topics at this year’s National Food Policy Conference. Â Bringing together the food industry, public health officials, consumer advocacy groups, and the government, the conference makes a concerted effort to demonstrate progressive action on key issues facing the nation and its food supply.
The Child Nutrition Act is due to be [...]
September 14, 2009
Tags: agriculture, change, education, farmers, FDA, food safety, Health, nutrition, policy, USDA Posted in: Politics No Comments
Come On Down To The…USDA!
Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan wants to be the “matchmaker” between the Obama administration and USDA program administrators. She recently sent out a memo, “Harnessing USDA rural development programs to support local and regional food systems,” (pdf) to her staff and interested third parties. It details how those programs can cash in on the [...]
August 31, 2009
Tags: agriculture, education, farmers, food event, policy, USDA Posted in: Health, Politics One Comment
Marion Nestle Talks Sugar And Ag Policy On The Colbert Report
According to the manufacturers of a huge amount of processed, sugar-laden foodstuffs, there is a sugar crisis in the United States. On August 5th, representatives of those companies wrote to the Secretary Vilsack at the USDA asking him to lift the stringent quotas on imported sugar. Marion Nestle, of course, has plenty to say [...]
August 26, 2009
Tags: agriculture, farmers, food event, policy, subsidies, sugar, USDA Posted in: Politics No Comments
State Of The Food Nation
Food Inc. is out in theaters and is scaring the “bejesus” out of people. Michelle Obama has harvested her garden and made stirring speeches encouraging change in the American diet. Healthcare reforms are being debated in Congress that will effect the way chronic, food-related diseases are treated. There are massive food recalls almost weekly. Our [...]
July 6, 2009
Tags: agriculture, Barack Obama, change, farmers, FDA, food, food safety, Health, nutrition, policy, USDA Posted in: Health, Politics, Science & Technology No Comments
Celebrate July 4th With Contaminated Cookies And Beef
The Cookies
From January to June 2009, at least 69 people from 29 states have gotten sick with E. coli O157:H7, which stemmed from eating Nestlé’s raw cookie dough.
On June 19, the FDA warned the public not to eat Nestlé’s raw cookie dough and Nestlé issued a voluntary recall.
Like most voluntary recalls, it does not stop [...]
July 3, 2009
Tags: FDA, food, food event, food safety, Health, policy, USDA Posted in: Health, Politics One Comment
A Big Food Safety Bill Could Hurt Small Farms
Safety inspections protocol has been trending toward ‘one-size-fits-all’, leaving many to wonder how much longer small farms will survive.
The farmers that do survive continually frustrate inspection officials. The Polyface farm, featured in the Omnivore’s Dilemma and more recently in Food Inc., demonstrates how of a lot the minutia aimed at large-scale processors is out of [...]
June 29, 2009
Tags: farmers, food safety, policy, USDA Posted in: Health, Politics, Science & Technology 4 Comments
Contaminated Pistachios Re-Enter Market After Recall
Just what does a company do with recalled food products? If you’re the irresponsible Orca Distribution West Inc. of Anaheim, California you simply repackage them for sale. FDA officials says that this company received and resold pistachios that had been recalled by Setton Pistachios of Terra Bella Inc. Those pistachios had been recalled because of [...]
June 26, 2009
Tags: agriculture, FDA, food safety, Health, policy, USDA Posted in: Health, Politics 3 Comments
