The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has issued a proposed rule and referendum procedures that would establish “a new U.S. honey producer funded research and promotion program” in accordance with a U.S. Honey Producer Research, Promotion and Consumer Information Order submitted May 24, 2007, by the American Honey Producers Association (AHPA). Representing more than 550 domestic operators, AHPA has called for the implementation of a U.S. Honey Producers Board to address industry issues “such as the drastic decline in the numbers of the honeybee due to (1) natural pests and diseases that kill or weaken the honeybee; (2) record droughts in the mid-west [sic] that have destroyed the plants and flowers honeybees use to gather pollen, and (3) the overall dramatic decrease in demand for U.S. honey.” To finance this initiative, AMS would require first handlers who produce more than 100,000 pounds of honey annually to collect…
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Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity has released the results of experimental studies examining the relationship between TV food advertising and consumption. Titled “Priming Effects of Television Food Advertising on Eating Behavior,” the article appears in the July edition of Health Psychology and concludes that “food advertising on television increases automatic snacking on available foods in children and adults.” Authors Jennifer Harris, John Bargh and Kelly Brownell observed elementary-school-aged children who received a snack while watching programs that featured either food advertising or advertising for other products. The authors also followed adults exposed to (i) “food advertising that promoted snacking and/or fun product benefits”; (ii) “food advertising that promoted nutrition benefits” or (iii) “no food advertising.” The adults then “tasted and evaluated a range of healthy to unhealthy snack foods.” According to the article, the children “consumed 45 percent more when exposed to food advertising,” while adults…
A recent study has reportedly claimed that mothers of premature babies “have, on average, up to three times the phthalate level in their urine compared to women who carry to term.” John Meeker, et al., “Urinary Phthalate Metabolites in Relation to Preterm Birth in Mexico City,” Environmental Health Perspectives, June 16, 2009. Collaborating with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico, researchers from the University of Michigan School of Public Health (UM SPH) analyzed urine samples taken during the third trimester, finding that 30 women who delivered before 37 weeks gestation had “significantly higher phthalate levels” than 30 women experiencing full-term pregnancies and women in a control group. “We looked at these commonly used compounds found in consumer products based on the growing amount of animal toxicity data and since the national human data show that a large proportion of…
“Industry critics compare the intent of fast-food companies to that of cigarette makers, who first came under attack for marketing to children decades ago,” writes BusinessWeek’s Douglas MacMillan in this article detailing the efforts of consumer advocacy groups to outlaw food advertising to children. According to MacMillan, “public criticism and mountains of data linking obesity, diabetes and other health problems to the regular consumption of fast food has [sic] caused the industry to rethink its entrenched practice of marketing to kids.” His overview cites the creation of the Children’s Food & Beverage Initiative under the auspices of the Council for Better Business Bureaus (CBBB), which requires signatories to limit their advertising to children and promote food considered healthy by the Food and Drug Administration. This initiative, however, has apparently failed to deter groups like Corporate Accountability International, which has taken up the banner against fast-food companies. “Both the tobacco and fast-food industries…
“Relaxation of the federal standards, and an explosion of consumer demand, have helped push the organics market into a $23 billion-a-year business, the fastest segment of the food industry,” claim Washington Post writers Kimberly Kindy and Lyndsey Layton in a July 3, 2009, investigative report alleging that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and its officials with the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) have diluted organic regulations in response to “corporate firepower.” The article states that since its inception in 2002, the list of synthetics permitted in organic products has grown to 245 substances from 77, while only one item has ever been removed from the list. “The argument is not whether the non-organics pose a health threat, but whether they weaken the integrity of the federal organic label,” according to the report, which notes that USDA’s Inspector General’s Office is investigating allegations of non-compliance and complaints about the program’s…
A Plainview, Minnesota, milk cooperative has reportedly recalled two years’ worth of food products, including instant non-fat dried milk, whey protein, and fruit stabilizers and gums for fear that they are contaminated with Salmonella. While no illnesses have apparently been linked to the products, which are sold to food manufacturers and distributors only, the recall has been further expanded to products containing these ingredients. Among the other recalled foods are instant oatmeal, hot chocolate mix, popcorn toppings and shake mixes. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reportedly detected Salmonella in a milkshake powder in June, and Food and Drug Administration investigators found the bacteria in the Plainview Milk Products Cooperative plant. See UPI.com, June 29, 2009; USA Today, July 6, 2009; FDA Press Release, July 8, 2009.
According to news sources, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspectors have found E. coli in a package of cookie dough at Nestlé USA’s plant in Danville, Virginia. The strain did not, however, match the DNA fingerprint of the strain purportedly linked to the illnesses of some 72 people in 30 states. FDA’s David Acheson, assistant commissioner for food safety, commenting on the continuing mystery as to how the E. coli contaminated the cookie dough, was quoted as saying, “This will be one of those situations where we won’t definitely know what went wrong.” The agency’s findings could affect the product liability lawsuits already pending in several states. Investigators reportedly performed more than 1,000 tests on environmental and other samples from the plant, but found no evidence of the potentially deadly bacteria inside the facility or on any equipment. The company has apparently begun a “controlled production startup” after discarding all stockpiled…
Researchers with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have reportedly identified a strain of Reston ebolavirus (REBOV) in pigs for the first time, raising questions about the ability of the virus to mutate and cause illness in humans. First reported in the July 3, 2009, issue of Science, the results apparently showed that various REBOV strains have been circulating in the pig population of the Philippines, suggesting that swine there could have harbored REBOV before 1989, when the disease was discovered in a monkey exported to Reston, Virginia. REBOV can be transmitted to humans, but does not cause them to contract illnesses such as the Ebola hemorrhagic fever often associated with this family of viruses. “REBOV infection in domestic swine raises concern about the potential for emerging disease in humans and a wider range of livestock,” stated the researchers in Science. “There is a concern that its passage through…
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has scheduled a conference for public policymakers, health leaders and others to consider “progress in the prevention and control of obesity through policy and environmental strategies.” The inaugural “Weight of the Nation Conference” will be held July 27-29, 2009, in Washington, D.C.; an interactive discussion format for speakers and participants has been planned. CDC will use information developed for and during the conference to produce its “National Road Map for Obesity Prevention and Control” guidelines. Among those who have been invited to speak are Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), and Representatives James Oberstar (D-Minn.) and Zack Wamp (R-Tenn.). Other speakers include Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Food Center for Policy and Obesity at Yale University, and Margo Wootan, director of Nutrition Policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. School nutrition, federal legislation, the…
Responding to questions referred to it by an Italian court, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has determined that (i) the term “Bavaria,” when used in conjunction with beer, is not a generic term, but rather is a protected geographical indication (PGI) recognized in valid proceedings by the European Commission in 2001; and (ii) beer makers outside the German region, using this designation for their products, may do so if they can prove their trademarks were registered in good faith before 2001 and will not likely confuse consumers as to product identity, “having regard to that mark’s reputation, renown and the length of time for which it has been used.” Bavaria NV v. Bayerischer Brauerbund eV, No. C-343/07 (decided July 2, 2009). German brewers have apparently been challenging Dutch brewer Bavaria NV in courts throughout the continent, including in Italy where the case has been returned for the Dutch brewer to prove that…
