The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is reportedly seeking comments on a proposal to include acrylamide on its hazardous chemicals list along with 14 additional “Substances of Very High Concern” (SVHC). Tendered by the European Environment Agency and several member states, the proposal would classify acrylamide, which forms in some foods during high-temperature cooking, as a category 2 carcinogen and a category 2 mutagen. If unanimously confirmed as an SVHC by ECHA’s Member State Committee, acrylamide would become eligible for the list of substances subject to authorization under EU’s REACH legislation. ECHA will accept comments focusing on the hazardous properties of acrylamide until October 15, 2009. See FoodProductionDaily. com and IHS News, September 2, 2009. In a related development, new consumer research has reportedly shown that a majority of U.S. consumers are unaware of acrylamide as a suspected carcinogen, even as governmental actions in North America have intensified to deal with…
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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced two public meetings to discuss the prevention of Salmonella enteritidis (SE) during the production, storage and transportation of shell eggs. Slated for September 30, 2009, in Chicago, Illinois, and November 5, 2009, in Atlanta, Georgia, the meetings will explain an FDA final rule that requires shell egg producers “to implement measures to prevent SE from contaminating eggs on the farm and from further growth during storage and transportation, and requires these producers to maintain records concerning their compliance.” The agency has anticipated that the rule will prevent 79,000 illnesses and 30 deaths attributed to SE, a leading bacterial cause of foodborne illness in the United States. See Federal Register, August 31, 2009.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reportedly declined to send an objection letter to Arizona-based Wisdom Natural Brands™ concerning its request for generally recognized as safe (GRAS) status for its stevia sweetener, SweetLeaf®. Considered the gold standard in GRAS rulings, the lack of an FDA objection has confirmed earlier determinations by two independent scientific panels that reviewed SweetLeaf’s® GRAS status in March 2008. The company first lodged a notification of GRAS status with FDA for a “general purpose sweetener in various food categories” in March 2009. See FoodNavigator-USA.com, September 2, 2009. In a related matter, a Los Angeles Times article titled “Sweet stuffed: We eat lots (and lots of kinds) of sweeteners. What’s in them?” offers a primer of common and not-so-common sweeteners such as sucrose, glucose, fructose, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, lactose, honey, and agave syrup. “America’s sweet tooth is growing,” writes Wendy Hansen. “Like many other…
The Cornucopia Institute, which represents the interests of small organic agricultural operations, has called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to investigate charges that Aurora Dairy’s High Plains facility is operating in violation of National Organic Program (NOP) standards. In its August 31, 2009, letter, the institute refers to a similar complaint it filed about Aurora Dairy in 2007. According to the letter, the agency assured the institute that the 2007 complaint “would be incorporated into the probation that Aurora Dairy was operating under, pursuant to a consent agreement signed with the Department. Based on freedom of information documents, obtained by The Cornucopia Institute, no scrutiny of this facility ever took place and the allegations we communicated in 2007 were never investigated.” The letter outlines how Aurora Dairy has allegedly fallen short of NOP requirements and specifically points to the planting of an annual forage crop in the animals’…
A recent study has reportedly suggested that multiple viruses are responsible for the increase of colony collapse disorder (CCD) among global honeybee populations. Reed M. Johnson, et al., “Changes in transcript abundance relating to colony collapse disorder in honey bees (Apis mellifera),” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, August 2009. According to researchers, “Microarray analysis revealed unusual ribosomal RNA [rRNA] fragments that were conspicuously more abundant in the guts of CCD bees,” which also carried more viruses and other pathogens than their healthy counterparts. The study posits that fragmented rRNA “may be a possible consequence of picorna-like viral infection, including deformed wing virus and Israeli acute paralysis virus.” These viruses are known to “hijack the ribosome” of bees to produce viral proteins instead of the ones needed for survival, explained lead study author May Berenbaum, who noted that the viral overload leaves CCD bees vulnerable to pesticides, disease and other…
According to researchers with the University of Pittsburgh and UCLA Schools of Medicine, brain scans of 94 elderly individuals showed that “obese subjects with a high BMI (BMI>30) showed atrophy of the frontal lobes [planning and memory functions], anterior cingulate gyrus [attention and executive functions], hippocampus [long-term memory], and thalamus [sensory information processing and relay] compared with individuals with a normal BMI (18.5-25).” Cyrus Raji, et al., “Brain Structure and Obesity,” Human Brain Mapping, August 6, 2009. They also apparently found that higher BMI was associated with lower brain volumes in overweight and obese elderly subjects. The scientists conclude, “Obesity is therefore associated with detectable brain volume deficits in cognitively normal elderly subjects.” Senior author Paul Thompson, UCLA professor of neurology, was quoted as saying, “That’s a big loss of tissue and it depletes your cognitive reserves, putting you at much greater risk of Alzheimer’s and other diseases that attack…
This article discusses a four-month Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel investigation into the initiatives allegedly undertaken by the plastics industry to forestall the proliferation of local, statewide and national restrictions on the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in food and beverage product packaging. According to the authors, “The industry has launched an unprecedented public relations blitz that uses many of the same tactics—and people—the tobacco industry used in its decades-long fight against regulation. This time, the industry’s arsenal includes state-of-the-art technology. Their modern-day Trojan horses: blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia and YouTube.” The reporters apparently relied on IRS reports, disclosure forms and e-mails exchanged by lobbyists and government officials, in addition to the industry’s public relations documents and materials. They contend, “The documents offer a rare glimpse of the hardball politics of chemical regulation, where judgments about safety are made not necessarily on the merits of science but because of the clout of lobbyists working…
Jointly sponsored by the Consumer Federation of America and the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the 32nd annual National Food Policy Conference will feature keynote addresses by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg. Scheduled for September 8-9, 2009, in Washington, D.C., the conference will convene speakers representing industry, government, academia, and consumer interest organizations to address food safety and child nutrition, “two issues that have become critical concerns in recent months both domestically and internationally.” Among the scheduled speakers are Margo Wootan, Director of Nutrition Policy for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and representatives of organic associations, Trust for America’s Health, the National Wildlife Federation, American Academy of Pediatrics, Consumers Union, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office, Food & Water Watch, American Council for Fitness & Nutrition, and The Pew Charitable Trusts. They will discuss pending federal legislation, improving children’s health with better nutrition,…
According to a researcher with a non-profit think tank that focuses on curbing “globalization,” the Codex Alimentarius Commission is controlled by corporate interests and thus poses a threat to consumer health and fair trade practices in the food market. According to Stephen Lendman of the Montreal-based Centre for Research on Globalization, genetically modified (GMO) foods and drugs will proliferate under the commission’s standards and guidelines, labeling will be banned and industry will determine “what will and won’t be sold.” The article explains how the commission is organized and operates and argues that World Trade Organization member nations are legally bound to adopt the commission’s standards to the detriment of consumer choice and health. Lendman contends that Codex standards will become “globally mandated” at the end of 2009 in the absence of any legal challenges. According to Lendman, this means that “[c]ommon foods, herbs, nutrients, amino acids, homeopathic and other natural remedies…
The American Heart Association (AHA) has issued guidelines on limiting the consumption of added sugars, claiming that most American women should consume no more than 100 calories (six teaspoons) of added sugars per day and men no more than 150 calories (nine teaspoons). Citing a report from the 2001-04 National Health and Nutrition Examination survey, AHA notes that the average intake of added sugars for all Americans was 22.2 teaspoons per day. The AHA guidelines provide information about “the relationship between excess sugar intake and metabolic abnormalities, adverse health conditions and shortfalls in essential nutrients.” “Sugar has no nutritional value other than to provide calories,” said lead author and nutrition professor Rachel Johnson in an AHA press release. “Consuming foods and beverages with excessive amounts of added sugars displaces more nutritious foods and beverages for many people.” Johnson purports that sugars added to foods during processing or preparation are linked…
