Food

Food that is lost before it reaches the consumer, and food that is wasted by consumers, has been estimated to account for as much as 40% of the total food produced in the United States (Buzby, Wells, and Hyman, 2014; Hall et al., 2009). This represents losses of important resources—including water, chemical inputs, and labor—as well as unused nutrients for consumers. Stakeholders along the supply chain are increasingly interested in developing improved approaches to measuring food waste, understanding its determinants, and devising strategies to ultimately reduce it. [node:read-more:link]

Australian consumer acceptance of a technology that offers an alternative to physical castration should give more pork producers the confidence to use it, says one of Australia’s leading pork suppliers. The technology, known as immunological castration or immunocastration, involves administering a protein compound that works like a vaccine to reduce the risk of boar taint, an unpleasant odor that can occur when cooking meat from sexually mature male pigs. [node:read-more:link]

Ashley Tyrner, founder and CEO of Farmbox Direct, is out to change how Americans eat. The service delivers fresh produce straight to your door, making healthy diets more accessible. "I had a really hard time having accessibility to fresh fruits and vegetablesthat were great, organic produce," Tyrner told TODAY's Jill Martin. [node:read-more:link]

The U.S. dairy industry — and the U.S. economy — could be hit with anywhere from $9.5 billion to $20-billion in revenue losses if the European Union is successful in expanding restrictions on the use of generic cheese terms like parmesan, asiago, feta and others, according to a new study conducted by Informa Agribusiness Consulting, commissioned by the Consortium for Common Food Names (CCFN) and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC). [node:read-more:link]

Food that is lost before it reaches the consumer, and food that is wasted by consumers, has been estimated to account for as much as 40% of the total food produced in the United States (Buzby, Wells, and Hyman, 2014; Hall et al., 2009). This represents losses of important resources—including water, chemical inputs, and labor—as well as unused nutrients for consumers. Stakeholders along the supply chain are increasingly interested in developing improved approaches to measuring food waste, understanding its determinants, and devising strategies to ultimately reduce it. [node:read-more:link]

Lawmakers voted Wednesday to prohibit sale of “almond milk” in Arizona for the reason that almonds do not lactate.Consumers could still buy that product. [node:read-more:link]

"I told you so" rings hollow when people stand to lose their jobs. But it’s worth noting that more than a few observers predicted in 2012, when Dallas-based Dean Foods shed its fast-growing organic and soy milk business, that turning the parent into largely a commodity player would hamper chances for growth. [node:read-more:link]

We eat mutations every day. All the vegetables, grains, fruits and meat humans consume as part of their diet is jam-packed with DNA speckled with mutations and beneficial variations.In 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed to regulate a specific subset of these variations as drugs: In particular, those introduced into animal genomes using modern molecular techniques like gene editing. [node:read-more:link]

Amazon is getting into the milk business through privately owned brand Happy Belly. The Happy Belly dairy items, spotted by brand tracker TJI, include various kinds of lactose-free milk (1%, 2%, whole, fat free), half and half, and whipping cream. “If you like Lactaid, we invite you to try Happy Belly,” reads a description on a product page, which also identifies Happy Belly as “an Amazon brand.”The prices compare favorably to Lactaid. A half gallon of Happy Belly 2% reduced fat milk, for example, is currently priced at $3.29. [node:read-more:link]

The investigation into a possible link between some ingredients in grain-free pet foods and atypical cases of canine dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), announced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in July 2018, has caused no small amount of concern for pet food companies, pet owners, veterinarians and retailers. One of the main reasons, and a continuing source of confusion and frustration, is that so little is still known about why these cases of DCM have occurred and what role, if any, the foods the dogs were eating played. [node:read-more:link]