Food News
Owner of Virginia seafood company charged with conspiracy
WBJ7 | Posted on January 17, 2018The owner of a Virginia seafood company has been charged with conspiracy to defraud the federal government by mixing foreign crab meat with Atlantic blue crab, then labeling the blended seafood and selling it to customers as a U.S. product. James Casey, owner, and president of Casey's Seafood was charged Friday in a criminal information with violating the Lacey Act, a law that prohibits trafficking in illegal wildlife.Casey is accused of conspiring to replace Atlantic blue crab with crab meat from Indonesia, China, Thailand, Vietnam and Central and South America.Court documents filed Friday allege that Casey and unnamed co-conspirators are accused of falsely labeling nearly 400,000 pounds of crab meat worth millions of dollars as a "product of the United States."
World Food Prize protesters get $50,000 payout after being shunted out of sight
Des Moines Register | Posted on January 17, 2018Iowa taxpayers will pay a $50,000 settlement to end a lawsuit filed by anti-GMO activists who claim state officials violated their First Amendment rights. The lawsuit was filed against the World Food Prize and state officials last year in light of limits Iowa placed upon demonstrators at an annual awards ceremony held at the Capitol.Frank Cordaro, a peace activist and founder of the Catholic Worker in Des Moines, and other protesters have for years been confined to a sidewalk area that is about 110 yards from the Capitol's west entrance at the foot of a steep hill — a location that makes them largely invisible to World Food Prize participants.
Raw pet food trend risks E.coli and Salmonella in owners - new study
The Telegraph | Posted on January 17, 2018he rising popularity of trendy raw meat diets for pets is putting owners at risk of serious diseases such as E.coli, experts have warned. A new investigation revealed 86 per cent of sampled products carried the potentially deadly pathogen, while Salmonella was detected on 20 per cent, as well as various parasites. Scientists say dogs and cats fed on raw meat-based diets (RMBD) can pass on the bugs by licking their human companions or simply by brushing up against them.
“Milk” Comes from Breasts/Udders
OFW Law | Posted on January 11, 2018The point is that each of these “milk” food names is legally established/recognized and refers to a lacteal secretion derived from mammals—not from plants. In contrast, “almond milk” (and “cashew milk” and “rice milk”) has no such legal/regulatory basis. So, contrary to being consistent with federal law, a “[plant-derived] milk” food name violates it. “Almond milk” reportedly is misunderstood by consumers to name almond-flavored milk (akin to “chocolate milk”). This certainly is false or misleading – not only for the explicit “milk” implication, but also because the labeling of plant-based alternatives as “milk” conveys a nutritional equivalency that is not accurate. See 21 C.F.R. § 101.3(e) (“imitation” labeling). Similarly violated by these food names is the Federal Trade Commission [“FTC”] Act. Section 5 of the FTC Act prohibits “unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce. 15 U.S.C. § 45(a)(1). Thus, false or misleading “[plant-derived] milk” food names, like “almond milk” (and “cashew milk” and “rice milk”), are unlawful in both food labeling and advertising.
More education about GMOs needed among public
Indiana Prairie Farmer | Posted on January 8, 2018It’s hard to escape the amount of GMO products out on today’s market, but being informed about what they are may help your buying habits. Almost one in five people in the U.S. haven’t read or heard anything about GMOs, according to Pew. Also, at a leading agricultural school, Purdue University, over one-third of participants in an informal campus survey said they had no opinion on GMOs.
NMPF Tells State, Federal Regulators: Enforcement Action Needed Against Doubly Deceptive Kite Hill “Almond Milk Yogurt”
NMPF | Posted on January 8, 2018The National Milk Producers Federation urged state and federal regulators today to take enforcement action against a plant-based food company whose imitation “yogurt” violates the federal definition for dairy foods and fails to provide the same nutrition as real yogurt. NMPF called out Hayward, California-based Kite Hill for illegally labeling its line of products and implying the nut-based foods are suitable substitutes for the real dairy foods it attempts to mimic.
Dairies Are Awash in Organic Milk as Consumers Jump to Alternatives
Wall Street Journal | Posted on January 2, 2018Organic milk sales have cooled as the very shoppers who drove demand for the specialty product not long ago move on to newer alternatives, leaving dairy sellers and producers grappling with oversupply. A yearslong surge in demand prompted food companies and dairy farmers to invest in organic production, which requires eschewing pesticides and antibiotics and allowing cows to graze freely. Now, organic-milk supplies have ballooned just as demand has stalled. Many shoppers have moved on to substitutes such as almond “milk,” which contain no dairy.Packaged-food companies that invested in producing organic milk are cutting capacity or looking to turn it into cheese or other products. Grocery stores that rushed to stock organic milk have eased purchases and allotted more dairy-case space to plant-based alternatives. Dairy cooperatives are slashing prices paid to farmers, setting quotas and even selling organic milk as conventional dairy.
Food Swamps Are the New Food Deserts
The Atlantic | Posted on January 2, 2018The term “food desert” conjures the image of a forlorn citizen, wandering through a barren landscape for miles and miles (or, by definition, for more than a mile) to reach the nearest fresh-food market. Populating food deserts with grocery stores is a favored cause among nutrition advocates, but the concept became controversial after some recent studies found the distance to the nearest grocery store doesn’t correlate with a region’s obesity rate.(Because it’s nutrition, other studies have shown the opposite. Either way, most people would agree it’s nice to be able to buy produce with relative ease, even if doing so doesn’t make you fit into your high-school jeans again.)Now, new research suggests food deserts might not be the culprit—or at least not the only one—for the high prevalence of obesity in certain areas. Instead, food swamps might be to blame.
The New War In Food Delivery Is In The Kitchen
Forbes | Posted on December 26, 2017Food-delivery startups from DoorDash to Uber Eats to Postmates are all now experimenting with different ways to maximize a restaurant’s kitchen — and in turn, generate more customers and more orders for partner restaurants. The delivery companies’ tactics range from deploying mini kitchen trailers to renting out extra space at fairgrounds to launching online-only companies. In a competitive market estimated to be worth $30 billion, each company is trying to play to its strengths to make sure it is the first app that a customer opens when they’re hungry.
Pennsylvania: Agriculture Department Offers Training to Help Farms Produce Food Safely, Prevent Foodborne Illness
NASDA | Posted on December 21, 2017Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding today announced that the department will sponsor a series of training programs across the state to help farmers grow produce safely, prevent foodborne illness, and comply with new federal standards. The series of one-day training sessions will be held between January and March at seven different locations throughout the state.