US beef ban reinstated after S. Korea protests
June 3, 2008
A week ago, South Korea’s president said the country would resume full imports of American beef. Now, he says he won’t allow any beef from cattle more than 30 months old. The backpedaling came as tens of thousands took to the streets in public protest.
Chung Woon-chun told reporters at a press conference that until the two sides reach an understanding on the age limit of cattle, South Korea will not post the revised sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards that were agreed on April 18. The move effectively maintains the ban on U.S. beef that has been in place since early October. Read the rest of this entry »
Harvest of disgrace
May 30, 2008
If you measure the success of a pressure group by its ability to cram lousy policy through Congress, you might imagine that Big Oil or Wall Street would top the league: they are the lobbies most berated on the campaign trail. You would be wrong. If there were any doubt, the past few days should have confirmed that America’s farmers are the capital’s handout kings.
Consider their latest masterpiece, the 2007 farm bill that Congress this week delivered, several months late, to George Bush. Congress and the farmers have conspired to make an already unjust agricultural policy—a system that has subsidised the “farming” activities of such paupers as David Letterman and David Rockefeller—even worse. Through a complicated and overlapping system of government-sponsored insurance, counter-cyclical assistance, disaster aid and legacy payments tied to nothing, the five-year, $307 billion bill lavishes cash on wealthy farm households, the main restriction on collecting it being a means test that applies to couples making more than $1.5m a year. And even that can be avoided by employing a reasonably competent accountant. Read the rest of the article, and insightful comments, in The Economist
The Bush administration has slipped a controversial ingredient into the $770 million aid package it recently proposed to ease the world food crisis, adding language that would promote the use of genetically modified crops in food-deprived countries.
The value of genetically modified, or bio-engineered, food is an intensely disputed issue in the U.S. and in Europe, where many countries have banned foods made from genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.
Proponents say that GMO crops can result in higher yields from plants that are hardier in harsh climates, like those found in hungry African nations.
Opponents of GMO crops say they can cause unforeseen medical problems. They also contend that the administration’s plan is aimed at helping American agribusinesses.
President George Bush proposed the food package two weeks ago as aid groups and the UN World Food Program pressed Western governments to provide additional funds to bridge the gap caused by rising food prices. The aid must win congressional approval. Read the rest of this entry »
With food prices rising and economic troubles dominating the U.S. presidential race, White House candidates are focusing attention on the issue of poverty.
Republican John McCain spent last week touring “forgotten places in America” to highlight his commitment to helping the poor.
Sen. Hillary Clinton promised earlier this month to create a “poverty czar” as president while Illinois Sen. Barack Obama called last weekend for rich nations to increase their food aid dramatically.
There are an estimated 36.5 million poor people in the United States, one of the richest countries in the world. The Institute for Research on Poverty, citing census data from 2006, says that is 12.3 percent of the U.S. population. Read the rest of this entry »
Quote: Food democracy
April 23, 2008
“The right of corporations to force-feed citizens of the world with culturally inappropriate and hazardous foods has been made absolute [in the globalizing economy]. The right to food, the right to safety, the right to culture are all being treated as trade barriers that need to be dismantled…we have to reclaim our right to nutrition and food safety. We have to reclaim our right to protect the earth and her diverse species. We have to stop this corporate theft from the poor and from nature. Food democracy…is the new agenda for ecological sustainability and social justice.”—Vandana Shiva in “Stolen Harvest”
The use of bilateral free trade agreements to rig food safety standards in favor of a rapidly concentrating global food industry is cause for concern — all the more so during a deepening world food crisis. To most people, food safety should have something to do with health, as well as cultural prerogatives. That agenda, however, has been hijacked. As tariffs and quotas are torn down under the mantra of trade liberalization, food safety is becoming a major offensive tool for industrial titans like the United States or Europe to not only get market access for exports but to reduce competition from imports (in the absence of tariff and quotas). Read entire story at here.
White House sitting on Mad Cow rule
April 18, 2008
The Bush administration continues to delay a rule that could protect the public from being exposed to mad cow disease. The Food and Drug Administration rule would prohibit farms from using certain animal by-products as feed for cattle. (FDA rules already prohibit some similar kinds of feed. The current FDA proposal would strengthen existing regulations.)
Allowing cattle to feed on the rendered meat, bones, or blood of other cattle raises the risk of mad cow, also known as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). According to the agency, “FDA believes that the final rule would effectively remove about 90 percent of any remaining BSE infectivity from possible spread through the animal feed system. The U.S. economy may also benefit from increased exports to the extent that the rule persuades foreign governments to import U.S. beef products. While we are unable to quantify these benefits, they are potentially large…”
Even though FDA believes the benefits to be “potentially large,” the White House is likely more concerned about the potential costs to the agriculture industry. Read rest of story here
Consumers think they are buying wholesome dairy products when milk protein concentrates in reality are an illegal, untested, unregulated, dairy ingredient from foreign countries that is displacing American dairy farmers’ local, quality milk.
by Brenda Cochran
As a dairy farmer, I’m proud to provide nutritious and quality products for “nature’s most perfect food,” milk. But now, I’m gravely concerned American food sovereignty is in jeopardy because of the greed of a few corporations. Nowhere is this trend more apparent and rampant than in the dairy industry.
As companies look for and encourage the cheapest, lowest quality product, consumers have responded with newfound concern for knowing what is in their food and how it is being made.
Sadly, agribusiness is targeting right-to-know labels in two egregious cases regarding milk:
1. Banning “rBST-free” labels.
2. Redefining milk to allow “ultrafiltered milk” to be labeled as “milk” even though it lacks so many vital nutrients that come from the real thing. Read the rest of this entry »
Eat more, feed the beast
March 24, 2008
“Food is big business and highly competitive. The US food supply provides each person with 3800 kilocalories a day, nearly twice the average need. With such abundance, food companies have two choices: to induce people to choose their products over those of competitors, or to get everyone to eat more. The industry’s success in encouraging Americans to “eat more” is one reason for the obesity epidemic. It works like any business: food companies advertise, but they also use the political system to pressure government officials, scientists and health professionals that no “eat less” regulation or guideline is justified.”
-Excerpt from Not Good Enough to Eat by Marion Nestle
Meeting in Washington today on contaminated food, food safety
February 26, 2008
Executives from some of the nation’s largest food producers are scheduled to testify at a Capitol Hill hearing today on food safety.
ConAgra Foods, Butterball LLC and others food companies can expect intense questioning from The House Energy and Commerce Committee. All companies called before the committee have issued recalls on contaminated food over the past year.
“I look forward to asking them why the incidents involving their products occurred but also what our regulators were doing during these incidents,” said Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich.
The “Contaminated Food: Private Sector Accountability” hearing comes a little over a week after the largest U.S. beef recall in U.S. history. On Feb.17, Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. recalled 143 million pounds of tainted beef.
The plant’s chief executive, Steve Mendell, was invited to appear at the hearing, though congressional staffers could not confirm Monday whether he would.
Also scheduled to appear is a director from the Humane Society of the United States, which precipitated the recall when it released undercover video of the conditions at a Chino, Calif. plant.
Dingell and other house Democrats are working on legislation to strengthen oversight of food safety.
