http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/foodsafety/ en-us Sat, 29 Aug 2009 05:24:05 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2327243/posts Former Monsanto vice president Michael Taylor may be responsible for more food-related illness and death than anyone in history. Yet he has recently been appointed by Obama to be the U.S. food safety czar. It looks like we have yet another case of the fox guarding the hen house. The safety of GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) in the public food supply has been hotly debated in Europe. As a result, labeling laws have been enacted there to allow consumers choice in the matter. Yet in the U.S., the powerful agriculture lobby, which is dominated by Monsanto and a few other... Seattle Examiner http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2327243/posts#comment Sat, 29 Aug 2009 05:24:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2310221/posts Your right to eat healthy food and use supplements of your choice is rapidly vanishing, but every effort has been made to keep you in the dark about the coming nutricide. Codex Alimentarius is scheduled for full global implementation on December 31, 2009, and not a word has been spoken in main stream media about this threat to humanity. Yet, according to the projections based on figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a minimum of 3 billion people will die from the Codex mandated vitamin and mineral guideline alone. Former Nazi is... Natural News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2310221/posts#comment Fri, 7 Aug 2009 03:20:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2306275/posts Despite some really eloquent speeches to the contrary, our “for sale” House of Representatives passed the Food Fascism Act….euphemistically called a food safety act, by a margin of about 140 over the naysayer’s. True to form, Rosa DeLauro spoke about things she knows nothing about and couldn’t care less; Rosa just loves her some Monsanto! And that exclusion for farms??? Gone! And that includes you organic idiots who thought you had kissed enough behinds to have your industry excluded. The newly revised bill that appeared overnight after the original was defeated 29th of July, now includes all those farms we... Farm Wars http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2306275/posts#comment Sun, 2 Aug 2009 02:24:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2305068/posts The House has passed a far-reaching food safety bill requiring more government inspections and imposing new penalties on those who violate the law, reacting strongly to an outbreak of salmonella in peanuts that killed at least nine people. The legislation would require greater oversight of food manufacturers and give the Food and Drug Administration new authority to order recalls. It also would require the FDA to develop a system for better tracing food-borne illnesses. Food companies would be required to create detailed food safety plans. President Barack Obama praised the bill soon after it was passed, calling it "a major... AP via Breitbart http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2305068/posts#comment Fri, 31 Jul 2009 08:03:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2299045/posts HR 2749 is being rushed through Congress, and the house may look to suspend the rules and fast track the bill at Obama’s request. Just what can we expect from this legislation? A lot more of the following: Dick Peixoto planted hedges of fennel and flowering cilantro around his organic vegetable fields in the Pajaro Valley near Watsonville to harbor beneficial insects, an alternative to pesticides. He has since ripped out such plants in the name of food safety, because his big customers demand sterile buffers around his crops. No vegetation. No water. No wildlife of any kind. “I was... Farm Wars http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2299045/posts#comment Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:11:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2294306/posts WASHINGTON -- Legislation to overhaul the nation's food-safety system has spurred a backlash from livestock and grain farmers who don't want the Food and Drug Administration inspecting farms. The legislation, approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee last month, aims to give the FDA more money and authority to police food safety, and technically doesn't apply to foods the agency doesn't regulate: meat, poultry and some egg products, which are regulated by the Department of Agriculture. But livestock and grain farmers say the legislation isn't written clearly enough, and they gave lawmakers and regulators an earful Thursday at a... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2294306/posts#comment Thu, 16 Jul 2009 22:23:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2254766/posts The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Frito Lay Canada are warning the public not to consume Munchies brand Pistachios because the product may be contaminated with Salmonella. This product contains pistachios which have been recently recalled in the USA by Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc. due to Salmonella contamination. The affected product, Munchies brand Pistachios, is sold in 50 g packages, bearing UPC 0 60410 04595 4, and a date between 04AUG09 and 15DEC09. The date is located on the front of each package. This product has been distributed nationally. The Lake Superior News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2254766/posts#comment Wed, 20 May 2009 16:43:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2248035/posts California's pistachio producers could potentially boost research and promotion efforts and do more to combat disease, under Agriculture Department recommendations made public Tuesday. The proposed changes will expand how the Valley-based pistachio industry regulates itself. Growers from Arizona and New Mexico will be folded into an existing marketing order, a grower-run organization which will gain new powers under the proposal. "We're going to reduce the risk of a food safety crisis," said Bob Klein, manager of the Fresno-based Administrative Committee for Pistachios. The Merced Sun-Star http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2248035/posts#comment Sun, 10 May 2009 15:57:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2228465/posts From The Evil Empire: Government control of our food supply is the ultimate step in our enslavement. Barack Obama has moved swiftly...to seize authority over the very food we eat. The mechanism...is legislation that most Congressmen will vote for without reading, as usual, based on the synoptic introduction listing intended improvements.... H.R.875, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 S.425, the Food Safety and Tracking Improvement Act These bills have the legal potential to eliminate organic farming, destroy small family farms, outlaw natural seed banks, and criminalize even backyard vegetable gardens. Their overt intention, although nobody is noticing, is to... American Daughter http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2228465/posts#comment Tue, 14 Apr 2009 01:14:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2224893/posts Trade Versus Security by: Alanna Hultz, April 08, 2009 Measures to ensure national security and consumer safety by regulating imports often come at the cost of reduced trade. David Hummels of Purdue University said at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) recently that “economists believe free trade is welfare maximizing and mutually beneficial for both sides.” He also said that free trade could produce economic gains and national security losses. He then went on to describe food security and discussed problems with the supply chain within China. China has had contaminated baby food, toys and pet food and Hummels believes the... Campus Report http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2224893/posts#comment Wed, 8 Apr 2009 16:04:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2211216/posts While nominating Dr. Margaret Hamburg as head of the FDA and appointing Joshua Sharfstein as her deputy, President Obama showed a laudable passion as he addressed the nation regarding food safety. Unfortunately, his understanding of the situation is incorrect and his professed goal is counterproductive. President Obama showed he is blinded by the liberal conceit that the government is the most important factor in food safety: "There are certain things only a government can do. And one of those things is ensuring that the foods we eat are safe and don't cause us harm." This is nonsense. The government does... The Weekly Standard http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2211216/posts#comment Sat, 21 Mar 2009 01:39:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2206616/posts President Barack Obama has said the US food safety system is a "public health hazard" and in need of an overhaul. He sounded the warning during his weekly radio and video address, as he appointed a new head of the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA). New York Health Commissioner Margaret Hamburg has been named for the post. Mr Obama cited a string of recent food safety scandals including a salmonella outbreak in peanut products this year that has been linked to nine deaths. The president said recent underfunding and understaffing at the FDA had left the agency unable to... BBC http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2206616/posts#comment Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:38:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2206615/posts On many issues of public concern, from food safety to the financial crisis, legislators and commentators line up on one side or the other: Either these failures prove that the free market doesn't work and that more government regulation is required, or that our regulatory structure doesn't work and that more free enterprise is required. Both positions ignore a common thread -- the failure of "guardian structures" to do their jobs properly. The question is why. It may not be obvious what unites the shipping of salmonella-laced peanut products, the issuance of mortgages without property value adequate to back them... Star Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2206615/posts#comment Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:37:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2201870/posts (Blakely, Ga.) - ......Blakely is America's peanut capital, the seat of the biggest peanut-growing county in the United States and "peanut proud," as the motto goes. It's also home to the now-infamous Peanut Corp. of America plant that allegedly sold salmonella-laced products and launched a deadly food-safety scandal. Cafe owner Fred Large say it's unfair that a rogue corporate operator who bought much of his peanut stock from China and Argentina should have "drug this town through the mud." ......Indeed, PCA used few Georgia peanuts. In fact, one lab worker testified to Congress that the original contamination may have come... The Christian Science Monitor http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2201870/posts#comment Sun, 8 Mar 2009 13:52:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2201826/posts (BEIJING) - China said on Monday food security remains "grim" after a series of health scandals, the most recent being last year's tainted milk formula which killed at least six toddlers and made almost 300,000 sick. A new food-safety law, approved on Saturday in an accelerated process since the milk scandal came to light in September, attempts to fix a fragmentary regulatory system which officials blame for recurring problems. "At present, China's food-security situation remains grim with high risks and contradictions," the Ministry of Health said in documents handed to reporters on Monday. The food-safety law, which takes effect on... Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2201826/posts#comment Sun, 8 Mar 2009 11:46:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2171318/posts (BEIJING) -- China's food safety record took another hit, after a worker at a state-run steelmaker in Hebei suffered food poisoning caused by locally produced dumplings, which had been recalled following the outbreak of food poisoning in Japan and resold, sources close to the case said. The local authorities instructed state-run firms in Hebei to buy gyoza dumplings produced and later recalled by Tianyang Food Plant in order to bail out the firm, now in crisis following the food safety scandal. The Japanese government has asked the Chinese government for details about the incident, but Beijing has so far refused,... The Mainichi Daily News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2171318/posts#comment Sun, 25 Jan 2009 14:01:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2154707/posts ...A big chunk of the food Americans eat comes from overseas — more than 70 percent of seafood, 90 percent of lamb and mutton, nearly 30 percent of fresh fruit overall and nearly all bananas. But until recently there was no law requiring labels to tell consumers where the food was grown or raised. In 2005, new rules kicked in requiring grocery stores to post signs or labels saying where seafood comes from. And on Sept. 30 of this year, similar rules took effect for meat, produce and nuts. Much of the produce we see in the market has long... St. Louis Post-Dispatch http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2154707/posts#comment Sat, 27 Dec 2008 03:28:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2145317/posts "Made in China" label battered by product scandals By Ben Blanchard Mon Dec 8, 8:18 am ET BEIJING (Reuters) – Milk, toothpaste, cough syrup, pet food, eels, blood thinner, car parts, pork, eggs, honey, chicken, dumplings, cooking oil and rice -- if you can fake it or taint it, you can almost guarantee it's happened in China. A string of product safety scandals, including contaminated infant formula that is believed to have killed six babies and sickened thousands of others, have rocked the faith of shoppers, making them wary of buying products made in China despite the often cheaper price... Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2145317/posts#comment Tue, 9 Dec 2008 04:29:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2143839/posts LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- A New Mexico infant is dead and another is getting treatment at a hospital for a rare illness called enterobacter sakazakii. The New Mexico Department of Health said the illness is sometimes associated with baby formula. A baby boy in Otero County has died from the bloodstream and central nervous system infection. Now the state is advising safe ways to feed infants, including breastfeeding. “We're doing lab tests right now we're working with the Centers for Disease Control, and the Food and Drug Administration to look at every possible avenue. Right now it hasn't been linked... KFox TV.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2143839/posts#comment Sat, 6 Dec 2008 02:47:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2140911/posts 90 Percent of U.S. Infant Formula May Be Contaminated with Melamine; FDA Abruptly Declares Chemical Safe for Babies Saturday, November 29, 2008 by: Mike Adams, NaturalNews Editor Key concepts: Melamine, Infant formula and The FDA (NaturalNews) Up to 90 percent of the infant formula sold in the United States may be contaminated with trace amounts of melamine, the toxic chemical linked to kidney damage, according to recent tests. The FDA's test results, which the agency hid from the public and only released after the Associated Press filed a Freedom of Information Act request, showed that Nestle, Mead Johnson and Enfamil... NaturalNews.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2140911/posts#comment Mon, 1 Dec 2008 18:05:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2140066/posts <p>Two months ago, federal food regulators said they were unable to set a safety threshold for the industrial chemical melamine in baby formula. Now, however, they found a way to settle on a standard that allows for higher levels than those found in U.S.-made batches of the product. Food and Drug Administration officials on Friday set a threshold of 1 part per million of melamine in formula, provided a related chemical is not present. They insisted the formulas are safe.</p> San Luis Obispo Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2140066/posts#comment Sat, 29 Nov 2008 19:13:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2137193/posts One of the more astute observations on the role of government in farm policy ever uttered was offered by then-congressman, later (from 1991-93) secretary of agriculture, Ed Madigan. “The majority of farmers,” Madigan, a moderate Republican, told me in a September 1984 interview between campaigning around his central Illinois district, “just want to be left alone.” So, added the Ranking Member of the House ag committee, “I leave ’em alone.” Twenty-five years and hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars later, Madigan’s leave-’em-alone admonition remains as true as it is unheeded. A generation of expensive, expansive policy has delivered a corporate... The Land http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2137193/posts#comment Mon, 24 Nov 2008 01:32:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2132439/posts Firms in Guangzhou have been told to dispose of recalled milk contaminated with melamine in an appropriate manner or face severe punishment, a senior environment official said on Tuesday. Zheng Zhewen, director of the Guangzhou environmental protection bureau, said: "We will heavily punish people and organizations that dump or dispose of milk without due care." On Sunday, a waste disposal company in the Baiyun district of Guangzhou used a compactor to dispose of 18 tons of milk, 6 tons of which spilled into the local river, he said. People living nearby complained of a foul smell and were worried the... China Daily http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2132439/posts#comment Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:48:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2132283/posts Candy, snacks, bakery products, pet food and other Chinese products that contain milk will be detained at the border until tests prove that they are not contaminated, the federal government announced Thursday. The Food and Drug Administration said it issued the alert because of concern about such products being contaminated with the toxic chemical melamine. It was discovered in infant formula in September and has sickened more than 50,000 infants in China and killed at least four. NY Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2132283/posts#comment Fri, 14 Nov 2008 21:42:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2122218/posts The Chinese authorities, already battling a food safety scandal over melamine contamination of milk and eggs, have been accused of covering up an outbreak of maggots in oranges. Tens of thousands of tons of mandarin oranges have had to be destroyed in recent weeks, state media have revealed in the past few days. Yet persistent rumours of an infestation of fruit fly maggots, spread by text message, were denied or played down before the extent of the problem was confirmed. .....According to state media, a farm in Sichuan, in the south-west of the country, first reported its crop of mandarin... The Telegraph (U.K.) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2122218/posts#comment Sun, 2 Nov 2008 02:19:58 GMT