Category: Other Developments
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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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Online Food Marketing a “Cynical” Ploy to Target Children, Claims New Report
A recent report issued by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and Children’s Food Campaign (CFC) has described online food marketing to children as “pervasive,” with more than 75 percent of websites targeting children with high fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) products “linked to a corresponding product or brand page on a social networking site” such…
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Rudd Center Report Claims “Advergames” Promote Unhealthy Food to Kids
Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity recently published a study claiming that “children are disproportionately targeted by food company Websites using branded computer games, known as advergames,” which allegedly promote “calorie-dense nutrient-poor foods.” Jennifer Harris, et al., “US Food Company Branded Advergames on the Internet: Children’s exposure and effects on snack consumption,”…
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New Book on Olive Oil Industry Presses for Change
According to a December 7, 2011, New York Times book review, a new tome by freelance writer Tom Mueller has claimed that 50 percent of the olive oil sold in America “is, to some degree, fraudulent.” Based on an August 13, 2007, New Yorker article, Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil apparently…
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Obese Child Placed in Foster Care Ordered into Uncle’s Custody
A Cleveland judge has reportedly decided that an obese third grader who was removed from his mother’s custody after she was apparently unable to control his weight can now be removed from foster care. County child welfare officials had convinced the court in October 2011 that the 218-pound child was in imminent danger; they had…
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Pew Report Questions Seafood Eco-Labels
A recent report funded by the Pew Environment Group has suggested that many seafood products bearing eco-labels are “not much better than conventional farmed seafood options when it comes to protecting the ocean environment.” Titled “How Green is Your Eco-label? A Comparison of the Environmental Benefits of Marine Aquaculture Standards,” the study evidently relied on…