Category: Issue 321
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Consumers Confused About “Natural” and “Organic” Food Labels
According to a recent Orlando Sentinel article, consumers do not understand the difference between food products labeled as “natural,” which, for the most part, is an unregulated term, and those labeled “organic,” which carries extensive government regulation and requires certification. Some food producers are apparently taking advantage of consumers’ mistaken belief that “natural” is a…
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Tara Parker-Pope, “Probiotics: Looking Underneath the Yogurt Label,” The New York Times, September 29, 2009
“Just as a doctor would prescribe different antibiotics for strep throat or tuberculosis, different probiotic species and strains confer different health benefits,” writes New York Times columnist Tara Parker-Pope in this article examining food-labeling claims that link Lactobacillus and other probiotic families to improved digestive health. According to Parker-Pope, some experts and scientific studies have suggested that…
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Rachel Maddow Takes Aim at Rick Berman and Center for Consumer Freedom
Noting that Washington, D.C.-based industry lobbyist Rick Berman will be on her MSNBC-TV program during the week of October 5, 2009, Rachel Maddow this week discussed the most recent campaign Berman’s Center for Consumer Freedom has undertaken on behalf of the producers of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Maddow showed viewers the clip of a new TV…
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Investigative Report Traces Pollutants from Sea to Sashimi
The Public Education Center’s (PEC’s) DC Bureau has published a two-part investigative report titled Fish and Paint Chips: The Science and Politics of Ocean Trash, which explores “how plastic and other debris in the world’s increasing pollutants could be channeling toxins straight onto our dinner plates through tainted seafood.” The first part considers research suggesting…
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CSPI Report Critical of Salt Content in Canadian Packaged Foods, Restaurants
The Centre for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI Canada) has issued a report claiming that excess sodium “likely kills more Canadians every year than any other chemical substance” added to food. Titled “Salty to a Fault: Varied Sodium Levels Show Lowering Salt in Processed Foods IS Feasible,” the report surveyed 318 foods and purportedly…
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Soft Drink Tax Could Generate $10 Billion Annually, Says CSPI
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has issued a paper claiming that a state tax on sugar-sweetened beverages “would yield billions of dollars in new revenue and counter the alarming risks of obesity, poor nutrition, and displacement of more healthful foods and beverages.” Echoing similar proposals published in the New England Journal of…
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Adam Burrows, “Palette of Our Palates: A Brief History of Food Coloring and Its Regulation,” Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science & Food Safety, Vol. 8, 2009
Starting from the premise that consumer enjoyment of food is linked directly to its color, this article discusses the types of substances that have been used over the centuries to change the appearance of food products and how various governments have tried to regulate their use. The earliest food coloring regulations in the United States…
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Workplace Exposure Claims Against Diacetyl Makers Dismissed
An Ohio appeals court has dismissed negligence, product liability, fraudulent concealment, and civil conspiracy claims filed against companies that supplied diacetyl to a flavoring company that employed two workers who allegedly contracted bronchiolitis obliterans, a debilitating lung disease, from exposure to the butter-flavoring chemical. Doane v. Givaudan Flavors Corp., No. C-080928 (Ohio Ct. App., decided…