Dairy
Biotech milk hormone effort vetoed in Kansas
Kansas governor vetoes milk disclaimer labeling bill, citing overwhelming opposition by consumer groups, small producers, retailers who want to know which milk is from cows untreated with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBST). Kathleen Sibelius, Obama pick for HHS, also cites patchwork labeling requirements, state to state, that would cost too much.
By Beth Martino
Office of the Governor, Kansas 2009-04-23
Organic parameters:
After farm advocacy group files two complaints against Aurora Dairy and USDA threatens to revoke its organic certification, company agrees to remove organic label from some milk and to add pasture for cows.
By Andrew Martin
The New York Times (may require subscription) 2007-08-30
Opinion: Proud of rBST:
Despite activists' efforts to bamboozle public, price-conscious customers appear happy buying milk containing synthetic hormone, and squeezing more milk from cows via drugs saves natural resources, reduces corn prices, greenhouse gas emissions and manure production; in a more rational world, customers would choose milk so labeled.
By Henry I. Miller
The New York Times (may require subscription) 2007-06-29
Drinks
Mountain-top mining more damaging than urbanization on local water quality, stream composition, researchers learn
By Natasha Gilbert
Nature News 2010-08-09
Furor erupts over provision in energy bill requiring disclosure of chemicals used in fracking for natural gas; process currently is mostly exempt from Safe Drinking Water Act
CQ Politics 2010-07-28
California's patchwork regulatory efforts leave drinking water tainted by nitrates, the byproduct of nitrogen-based fertilizer, manure, wastewater treatment plants, septic tanks
By Julia Scott
San Francisco Chronicle 2010-05-17
"Potash, for all intents and purposes, is food."
Health & Physiology
Restaurant critic finds that cutting out junk food led to weight loss and helped him regain normal blood sugar levels despite alarming diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes
By Steve Cuozzo
New York Post 2010-09-02
Adding fuel to meat safety debate, public health officials link ground beef to illnesses from a rare strain of E. coli; likely source was Cargill, which recalled 8,500 pounds of hamburger
By William Neuman
The New York Times 2010-09-02
Opinion: Industrial meat, egg factories excel at manufacturing cheap food, but evidence shows model is economically viable only because it passes on health costs to public
By Nicholas D. Kristof
The New York Times 2010-09-02
Meats, Poultry & Seafood
Federal investigators find manure piles, live mice, pigeons, other birds inside Iowa hen houses at egg farms suspected in salmonella outbreak; farms had never been inspected
By Lyndsey Layton
The Washington Post 2010-08-31
Opinion: Biotech salmon is just starter protein in GM food revolution, but before using Frankenfish label, note that there are few aspects of food industry that remain "natural"
By Robin McKie
The Guardian (UK) 2010-08-27
FDA to begin what could be 18-month approval process for genetically modified salmon - first engineered animal destined for consumption by humans
By Barb Kiser
Nature.com 2010-08-26
Processed Foods
Serving of American McNuggets contains petroleum byproduc tertiary butylhydroquinone and dimethylpolysiloxane, also used in Silly Putty
By Sanjay Gupta, M.D.
CNN 2010-06-25
As processed food firms ratchet up lab-generated umami - savory experience of protein-heavy foods - natural tastes could pale for extreme flavor junkies
By Miriam Gottfried
The Wall Street Journal. (may require subscription) 2010-05-26
High-fructose corn syrup linked to significant weight gain, abnormal increases in body fat (especially in abdomen), triglycerides rise in rat study
By Hilary Parker
Princeton University 2010-03-22
Produce & Plants
Certification, soil-building pushes costs of organic produce past those of industrially grown foods, but toxic chemicals aren't used, so they don't pollute air, water, soil
By Marshall Brain
The Seattle Times 2010-09-01
Analysis: Evolution of potash, phosphate, nitrogen to hunted, strategic commodities illustrates growing links between globalization, demographics, agriculture, food security
By Javier Blas and Leslie Hook
Financial Times (London) (may require registration) 2010-08-27
Opinion: Brazil's agriculture system, underpinned by research, capital-intensive large farms, openness to trade, new techniques is worthy of study in face of slow-motion food crisis
The Economist 2010-08-26