Is the FDA So Asleep it’s Dreaming all’s OK? Nano Versus GMO
By now, everyone's heard of GMOs, genetically modified food. You may think GMOs are the frankenfood of nightmares, potentially triggering bad reactions from allergies to immune and metabolic disorders. You may also know that the U.S. Congress, blessed by the President, has enacted the DARK Act as the law of the land, officially and legally known as the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act (right?).States must follow the federal law, however effective (or not) it may turn out to be in ...
Wake Up, Consumers. Is Nanotech the New GMO?
No question, consciousness around genetic modification of our food supply has skyrocketed in the last few years. It wasn't that long ago when advocate and teacher Marion Nestle virtually gave up trying to wake up consumers and now, in 2014, there has been a groundswell of consumer and activist interest in ensuring that we at least know about (if not stop) genetic manipulation of our food through unnatural means (food where “genetic material has been altered in a way that does not occur ...
Cheers for Cibaderm Cannabidiol: Watch Now
Top Five Natural Products 2013 -- This year at the Baltimore Natural Products Expo East, US Hemp Oil unveiled its Cibaderm line of products, along with CanChew Gum, Cibdex tinctures, and a very high strength "medical grade" hemp oil. The common thread? They all contain cannabidiol (CBD), derived from industrial hemp, that many may already know about from its use as a medicine dispensed at cannabis outlets, lawful in many states.For those of us who live in less forward-thinking...
Rib-Sticking Goodness: Just One More Reason to Go Veg
Mmm, Meat Glue - sounds yummy doesn't it? Well, according to a recent story, transglutaminase (aka "meat glue"), which is made from a blood-clotting agent from cows and pigs, is not only being used regularly to stick together bits of meat and make a nicely formed "filet," it's likely to make you sick.Apparently, TG (It's nick-name) is GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) by the FDA, but then again, that's what they said about all sorts of things, including food coloring in kids' ...
Why We love High-Fructose Corn Syrup…or, “Love that Top.”
We've heard that the High Fructose Corn people have been feeling a bit beleaguered. Even after Audrae Erickson, president of the the Corn Refiners Association, a trade group in Washington that represents the biggest makers of high-fructose corn syrup, put up a Web site, HFCSFacts.com, to blunt criticism of the sweetener (check out video of moms chatting about HFCS), it's not going well.The popular Facebook page attaching HFCS and some sometimes hilarious YouTube parodies (Love That ...
Good is Bad? Disinformation and Healthy Food
A news story today asserts that "Healthy Foods Carry Hidden Dangers," pointing out that foods like leafy greens can be dangerous, harboring E.Coli and other nastiness. Listing the top ten foods identified in a study by the Center for Science and the Public Interest, the story ratchets up the food hysteria a bit. One might think that for optimum health, we should just avoid these foods.Unfortunately, the problem is NOT the food... or even our food safety inspection system in the first ...
Change We Can Eat: Will Politi-locos Act to Stop the Drugging of our Food Supply?
It remains to be seen how the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Actwill fare. This legislation could help stem the insane approach to drugs that our food industry has convinced itself is normal and necessary. In a nutshell, the bill would help prevent the routine use of antibiotics in farm animals, which, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, accounts for an incredible 70+% of the antibiotic use in the United States. Most of the animals are not (yet) sick. ...
Who’s Your Daddy? Kellogg’s and Kids
Amidst the uproar regarding Michael Phelps alleged pot-smoking, let's not miss a larger point. See, since Kellogg's claims it is really looking out for kids, you know, that "role model" stuff, isn't it fair game to look at how Kellogg's itself looks after kids (and us adults for that matter)?This is the very company that pushed the FDA in the mid-80s into changing the way it regulates food, essentially allowing the company to manipulate its cereal health claims to imply that its products ...
Does Safe Food Mean Good Food?
Now that the peanut butter situation has brought attention (yet again) to the crater-size gap in our nation's food safety system, it also begs the question: Even if the government beefs up its food safety activities, shouldn't there be affirmative steps taken to create a food system that not only succeeds in preventing food-borne illnesses but that actually helps make us well?In practice, safe food and good food are two very different goals. Safe food in today's food supply system often ...
Influence Peddlers and What We Eat
The Washington Post, reporting all things politico, had a story today about our new Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack, formerly Iowa governor. Apparently, he's trying to reassure worried food policy activists, Michael Pollan among them, who think it's going to be agribusiness as usual. Certainly in these times, with accusations of sleeping regulators who allow (even effectively condone) fraud and influence peddlers running amok (isn't that their job?), it's a real worry.The fundamental problem here, ...
