Category: Other Developments
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Greenwashing Foes Tackle Food and Fitness Marketing with Health Claims
A marketing company that bills itself as a “champion of authentic green marketing” and crusades against product “greenwashing” claims has launched a new website on which the health-related claims of food and fitness products can be rated. EnviroMedia Social Marketing created the online tool to expose “exaggerated or misleading health claims through advertising, marketing or…
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U.S., Canada and EU Agree to End Beef Growth Hormone Rift
According to news sources, a 25-year-old trade dispute pitting European Union (EU) laws prohibiting the import of beef treated with growth hormones and U.S. and Canadian trade sanctions imposing hundreds of millions of dollars of duties on EU exports of Roquefort cheese, truffles, chocolates, and other comestibles has been resolved. The U.S. and Canadian tariffs…
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Consumer Interest Organization Questions Privatization of Poultry Inspections
Based on documents obtained from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) under the Freedom of Information Act, Food & Water Watch has urged the agency not to expand its pilot HACCP-based inspection project, contending that inspections conducted by poultry processing plant employees miss many defects. While USDA hopes to expand the program, claiming it will…
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Soft Drink Makers Change Caramel Coloring to Reduce 4-MEI
After the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) informed Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg that laboratory analyses of soft drinks revealed high levels of 4-methylimidazole (4-MEI) in certain caramel colored beverages, the major soft drink manufacturers reported that they were changing the way they manufacture the caramel coloring to address…
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Study Outlines Challenges for Nanotechnology Use in Foods and Agriculture
A recent Food Policy article titled “Implications of nanotechnology growth in food and agriculture in OECD countries” describes how nanomaterials and ingredients are currently being used in foods, food packaging and agriculture in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries and outlines potential challenges that could affect the industry’s growth, health and safety issues…
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White House Urged to Appeal WTO Ruling on COOL Regulations
Several consumer organizations have called on President Barack Obama (D) to appeal a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling that favored Canada and Mexico in a dispute over U.S. country-of-origin-labeling (COOL) requirements for beef and pork products. In their February 24, 2012, letter, Consumers Union, Food & Water Watch, Public Citizen, and the Consumer Federation of…
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Health Group Coalition Urges “Added Sugar” Labeling
The American Heart Association, Center for Science in the Public Interest and Environmental Working Group (EWG) have issued a February 23, 2012, letter to the Food and Drug Administration, requesting that the agency compel food labels to denote “added sugars” separately on ingredient lists. Signed by 11 additional organizations, the letter cites national survey data…
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Scientists Vie to Produce First Test-Tube Meat
Researchers presenting at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2012 Annual Meeting in Vancouver, B.C., have announced two new ways to produce synthetic meat, significantly upping the ante in what AAAS describes as a potentially lucrative industry. The first approach pioneered by Stanford University biochemist Patrick Brown reportedly uses plant material to…