food safety

Vote for your favorite Farmers’ Market, America!

/ Ren

No Farms No Food

The message is simple and couldn’t be more clear—America’s farms and ranches provide an unparalleled abundance of fresh, healthy and local food, but they are rapidly disappearing.

Eighty-six percent of America’s fruits and vegetables are grown near metro regions, where they are in the path of development. And every hour we lose 125 acres of farm and ranch land. That’s why supporting local food and farms is more important than ever!

Take action to support healthy farms, healthy farmland, and healthy communities

American Farmland Trust

Nestlé Unit Denied FDA Requests

/ Ren

(@marionnestle)

The Wall Street Journal reports that since 2006, Nestlé has consistently refused to allow FDA investigators to look at their safety records.  The company doesn’t have to.  All those pesky regulatory requirements are voluntary.

(The potential for) Death By Chocolate takes on a whole new meaning

Nestlé Unit Denied FDA Requests

By JANE ZHANG

The Nestlé USA plant at the center of a federal probe into an E. coli outbreak involving cookie dough refused to give inspectors access to pest-control records, environmental-testing programs and other information, according to newly released inspection reports covering the past five years.

In a September 2006 visit, for example, managers at the Danville, Va., plant refused to allow a Food and Drug Administration inspector to review consumer complaints or inspect its program designed to prevent food contamination. The inspector found dirty equipment and “three live ant-like insects” on a ledge but nothing severe enough to give the plant a failing grade.

A year earlier, officials at the Nestlé plant presented another FDA inspector with a list of things it wouldn’t do. “Among these are the refusal to review the firm’s consumer complaint file, refusal to permit photography, refusal to sign affidavits or receipts and refusal to provide specific information on interstate commerce,” the inspector wrote.

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Cookie-dough production at a Nestlé USA plant was suspended last week.

Less Than 20% Of Consumers Trust Food They Buy Is Safe and Healthy

/ Ren

Spotlights Consumer Attitudes on Food Products in Light of Outbreaks and Recalls

Armonk, NY — – 24 Jun 2009: A new IBM (NYSE: IBM) study reveals that less than 20 percent of consumers trust food companies to develop and sell food products that are safe and healthy for themselves and their families. The study also shows that 60 percent of consumers are concerned about the safety of food they purchase, and 63 percent are knowledgeable about the content of the food they buy.

The survey of 1,000 consumers in the 10 largest cities nationwide shows that consumers are increasingly wary of the safety of food purchased at grocery stores, and their confidence in – and trust of – food retailers, manufacturers and grocers is declining.

usda_sm“clean, safe, wholesome and truthfully labeled”

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The “People’s Department”

/ Ren

President Abraham Lincoln formed the Department of Agriculture in 1862.  Now known as the USDA, the agency is charged, in part, with

  • assuring food safety
  • protecting natural resources
  • fostering rural communities
  • ending hunger in the United States and abroad

The current administration is giving itself high marks – what do you think?

Are you optimistic that things are improving or is it big business as usual?  How much measurable progress has been made in the last 10, 20, 50 or 100 years?  Let us know in the comments..

http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/127078/markofwh1964%5B1%5D.avi

“clean, safe, wholesome and truthfully labeled”

usda_sm

Action Alert

/ Ren

Grist Magazine, June 10, 2009

“As the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill moves forward in the House, Big Ag interest groups are circling their plows and sharpening their pitchforks. Some of the largest corporations in the agribusiness sector-including the GMO-and-herbicide giant Monsanto-are pushing to control how agriculture would fit into the bill’s cap-and-trade scheme.

The main agent for their will is House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), who has launched a veritable jihad to make sure the historic climate legislation hews to the interests of “production” (i.e., industrial) agriculture. Via Farm Policy blog, here’s an MP3 clip of Peterson’s latest harumphing on Waxman-Markey, in an interview with a radio program called Agritalk, which is sponsored by Monsanto, Syngenta, and Archer Daniels Midland.”

Is this the change that you voted for?

Don’t Let Big Agribusiness Ruin Food Safety Reform

Take Action

June 16th, 2009

Dear Supporter,

Here’s the good news: after countless recalls, including the disastrous peanut butter-related Salmonella outbreak this winter, Congress is finally considering Congressman Waxman’s food safety bill — the bill goes to the House Energy and Commerce Committee this week.  The bad news?  You guessed it, big ag is pulling out all the stops to weaken the bill.  Can your tell your Member of Congress you want a strong food safety bill?

Big ag will always have more money to fight these battles than we do, but we have something they don’t — thousands of activists who will contact Congress.  Congress needs to hear from all of us if they are going to stand up to big ag.

Here’s what your Member of Congress needs to hear about the food safety bill:

1) The bill must include frequent inspections of food processing plants. The Peanut Corporation of America debacle showed that industry self-regulation just doesn’t cut it.

2) It must set strong standards for imports that are equal to the standards that apply to domestically produced food.

3) It must include sensible regulations that work for farmers of all sizes – that include flexibility, not one-size-fits-all rules geared toward the largest operations.

We won’t get many chances to fix our broken food safety system, so it’s critical that we stand up now and stop big ag from weakening Congressman Waxman’s food safety bill.  Can you contact your Member of Congress today?

http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/t/741/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1122

Thanks for taking action,

Alex, Sarah, Noelle and the Food Team
Food & Water Watch
goodfood(at)fwwatch.org