Category: Issue 423
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Mobiledia Explores Food Traceability Technology
A January 18, 2012, Mobiledia article has highlighted the increasingly sophisticated technology used to trace food back to its source, exploring how QR codes and other tracking devices can help consumers, retailers and regulators follow products from farm to fork. According to Mobiledia contributor Janet Maragioglio, systems like IBM’s InfoSphere label products with unique bar…
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Biologist Criticizes Media “Paranoia” Sowed by Plant MicroRNA Study
A Slate.com science writer has penned a January 17, 2012, “Medical Examiner” blog post criticizing media coverage that used recent microRNA (miRNA) research to erroneously suggest a link between genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and human health. According to biologist Emily Willingham, Nanjing University scientists reportedly identified miRNA from rice and other plant foods in human…
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CDC, IOM and NIH Launch “Weight of the Nation” Campaign
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Institute of Medicine (IOM) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) have joined HBO, Kaiser Permanente and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation in launching a new national campaign to curb obesity rates. According to a January 13, 2012, IOM press release, “The Weight of the Nation” initiative…
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Foreign Companies Look to Expand Presence in China’s Dairy Industry
Switzerland-based Nestlé S.A. has announced plans to fund a dairy farming institute in Shuangcheng, China, to help the region’s suppliers expand their businesses and source “high quality milk sustainably.” According to a January 11, 2012, press release, the new institute “aims to be the country’s leading dairy training center, offering teaching courses from national and international…
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Animal Rights Activists Claim Responsibility for Arson Fire at California Feedlot
Animal rights activists have reportedly claimed responsibility for an arson fire that destroyed 14 cattle trucks and other equipment at Harris Ranch in California’s San Joaquin Valley. In an anonymous e-mail message to the media, activists said the January 8, 2012, fire was started to protest “the horrors and injustice of factory farming.” The message…
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BBB Advertising Division Recommends Changes to Toddler Food Ad Claims
The National Advertising Division (NAD®) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus has reportedly determined that while Gerber Products Co. can justify certain of its baby food advertising claims, others should be modified or discontinued. Competitor Beech-Nut apparently challenged claims pertaining to Gerber’s “Graduates” product line before the industry self-regulatory body. Among other matters, NAD® found…
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Margherita Poto, “Food and nano-food within the Chinese regulatory system: no need to have overregulation,” European Journal of Law & Technology, 2011
University of Turin Law Professor Margherita Poto explores the food safety laws in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong to set the stage for discussing how their regulatory systems may be sufficiently advanced to address the potential challenges posed by the use of nanotechnology in the food…
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Insurers Must Defend Four Loko Maker in One of Five Lawsuits
A federal court in Illinois has determined that insurers providing coverage to Phusion Projects, Inc., which makes Four Loko, an alcoholic beverage with large amounts of caffeine and other stimulants, do not have a duty to defend the company in lawsuits alleging injury from intoxication. Netherlands Ins. Co. v. Phusion Projects, Inc., No. 11-1253 (N.D. Ill.,…