Tag Archives: FDA

Government Says Food Companies Don’t Have To Disclose GMOs

Leave a reply

Food companies would not have to disclose whether their products include genetically modified ingredients under legislation passed by the House Thursday.

The House bill is backed by the food industry, which has fought mandatory labeling efforts in several states around the country. The legislation, which passed 275-150, would prevent states from requiring package labels to indicate the presence of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.

via Government Says Food Companies Don’t Have To Disclose GMOs.

A Renegade Trawler, Hunted for 10,000 Miles by Vigilantes – The New York Times

Leave a reply

BOARD THE BOB BARKER, in the South Atlantic — As the Thunder, a trawler considered the world’s most notorious fish poacher, began sliding under the sea a couple of hundred miles south of Nigeria, three men scrambled aboard to gather evidence of its crimes.

In bumpy footage from their helmet cameras, they can be seen grabbing everything they can over the next 37 minutes — the captain’s logbooks, a laptop computer, charts and a slippery 200-pound fish. The video shows the fishing hold about a quarter full with catch and the Thunder’s engine room almost submerged in murky water. “There is no way to stop it sinking,” the men radioed back to the Bob Barker, which was waiting nearby. Soon after they climbed off, the Thunder vanished below.

 

It was an unexpected end to an extraordinary chase. For 110 days and more than 10,000 nautical miles across two seas and three oceans, the Bob Barker and a companion ship, both operated by the environmental organization Sea Shepherd, had trailed the trawler, with the three captains close enough to watch one another’s cigarette breaks and on-deck workout routines. In an epic game of cat-and-mouse, the ships maneuvered through an obstacle course of giant ice floes, endured a cyclone-like storm, faced clashes between opposing crews and nearly collided in what became the longest pursuit of an illegal fishing vessel in history.

via A Renegade Trawler, Hunted for 10,000 Miles by Vigilantes – The New York Times.

Is Jail Time the Solution to America’s Food Safety Problem? – Eater

Leave a reply

For the first time in history, individual decision-makers are facing criminal charges for contaminated food.

It’s been more than eight years since nine people died and more than 700 were sickened from peanut butter processed at Peanut Corporation of America (PCA). Yet the executives held responsible are just now hearing their punishment: In about two weeks, two brothers, former PCA owner Stewart Parnell and broker Michael Parnell, will stand before the court to receive their jail sentences. Legal experts believe they could face 30 years of jail time, which would essentially be a life sentence for the 60-year-old Stewart Parnell.

At the trial, prosecutors filed thousands of pages of court documents showing peanut butter contaminated with salmonella was knowingly shipped and laboratory documents were forged to conceal test results. Federal inspectors reported a leaky roof as well as rat and cockroach infestations in the plant. In court documents reported by the Wall Street Journal, Stewart Parnell wrote the following email: “Shit, just ship it. I cannot afford to loose [sic] another customer.” (His lawyers did not reply to our inquiry.)

For the first time in history, individual-decision makers responsible for selling food contaminated with foodborne bacteria are facing criminal charges that could lead to jail time, and corporations are paying out huge fines. In May 2015, ConAgra agreed to pay $11.2 million, the largest fine ever for a food safety case, after pleading guilty to shipping contaminated Peter Pan peanut butter in 2006 and 2007 that sickened at least 700 people in 47 states. The fines have raised eyebrows, and the threat of a long prison sentence for the Parnells sends a strong message.

via Is Jail Time the Solution to America’s Food Safety Problem? – Eater.

What the FDA’s Trans Fats ‘Phase Out’ Really Means – Eater

Leave a reply

e Food and Drug Administration announced its plan today to phase out trans fats from the American food industry. Two years ago, the FDA acknowledged that trans fats were probably unsafe for human consumption, but until now, there was no national policy on their use in the food industry. This new decision, designed to be implemented over the next three years, was motivated by nearly two decades of research showing major health risks associated with the food additive. In its announcement, the FDA noted that artificial trans fats “are not ‘generally recognized as safe’ (GRAS) for use in human food.” More bluntly, they’re very bad for you.

via What the FDA’s Trans Fats ‘Phase Out’ Really Means – Eater.

Why the FDA’s new ban on trans fats may be most important change in our food supply ever – The Washington Post

2 Replies

When all the talk tends to center around how the U.S. food system is failing people, it can be easy to forget its successes. But one of those instances has been brought to the forefront this morning.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that it will implement a new near-zero tolerance ban of partially hydrogenated oils, the main source of trans fats. Food companies will be given three years to phase the ingredient out of their offerings. The decision comes on the heels of a 2013 announcement that a ban was imminent.

And it is a very big deal.

“It’s probably the single m

via Why the FDA’s new ban on trans fats may be most important change in our food supply ever – The Washington Post.

Facing Consumer Pressure, Companies Start to Seek Safe Alternatives to BPA – The New York Times

Leave a reply

For consumers, figuring out which canned foods and plastics contain the controversial chemical known as BPA can be nearly impossible. But determining whether newer alternatives are any safer may be even more difficult.

Some food giants like General Mills and the Campbell Soup Company have shifted away from using bisphenol A, or BPA, a chemical commonly used in the coatings of canned goods to ward off botulism and spoilage. But in many instances, some health advocates say, companies do not disclose which products are now BPA-free.

More worrisome, these advocates and scientists say, is a lack of information about alternatives, and a growing body of evidence suggesting that some newer options may not be any safer.

“We do want to push companies away from it, because it is a known toxin,” said RenĂ©e Sharp, the director of research for the nonprofit Environmental Working Group. “At the same time, we are also definitely worried about the chemicals coming on the market and we don’t have a lot of good information about a number of them.”

Studies linking BPA to developmental and reproductive health problems go back decades, and researchers, health advocates and even the federal government have voiced concerns about the chemical for years. But an enormous body of conflicting evidence has slowed efforts to regulate BPA more tightly.

via Facing Consumer Pressure, Companies Start to Seek Safe Alternatives to BPA – The New York Times.

Jeni’s Ice Creams Shutters Shops Again Amid More Listeria Concerns – Eater

Leave a reply

I guess the silver lining here is that it seems like this company is doing the right thing to prevent people from getting hurt.

CEO John Lowe broke the news today in a blog post to the Jeni’s website, which reads in part:

We have found Listeria in our production facility again. We discovered the Listeria through routine swabbing as part of our monitoring program. We stopped production earlier this week and have been investigating where and how it may have re-entered the facility. … Since resuming production in our kitchen on May 13, 2015, we have been testing every batch of ice cream we have made and holding it until we learned that the testing did not detect any Listeria. So it is with complete confidence that I can say all of the ice cream that has been served in our shops since reopening on May 22 has been safe and is 100% Listeria-free.

via Jeni’s Ice Creams Shutters Shops Again Amid More Listeria Concerns – Eater.

 

Here’s How Much Mouse Poop The FDA Allows In Your Food

1 Reply

You’ve probably eaten mouse poop — and the federal government is just fine with that. It’s also fine with mold, rat hairs and insect legs.

The Food and Drug Administration, you see, has detailed guidelines on how much filth can be found in many of the foods sold in America. The FDA enumerates these guidelines in a document known as the “Defect Levels Handbook.” The introduction to the handbook explains that “it is economically impractical to grow, harvest, or process raw products that are totally free of non-hazardous, naturally occurring, unavoidable defects” — and that these so-called “defects” present no real risk to human health.

The FDA also says that many food companies take measures to ensure that their food actually contains far lower levels of these defects than their regulations require. If a food exceeds these levels, the FDA can label it “adulterated” and ask that it be taken off store shelves.

via Here’s How Much Mouse Poop The FDA Allows In Your Food.

 

A Secretive Trade Group Is Regulating What’s In Your Food

Leave a reply

Ingredients created by food companies flavor what Americans eat each day — everything from juice drinks and potato chips to ice cream and canned soups. They give Cheetos their addictive cheesy taste and help distinguish Jolly Ranchers from other fruit-flavored candies.

But the organization responsible for the safety of most “natural” and “artificial” flavors that end up in foods and beverages isn’t part of the U.S. government. Rather, the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association — a secretive food industry trade group that has no in-house employees, no office of its own and a minuscule budget — serves as the de-facto regulator of the nation’s flavor additives.

via A Secretive Trade Group Is Regulating What’s In Your Food.