Food

Is "fake milk" spoiling the dairy industry's image?  Dairy producers are calling for a crackdown on the almond, soy and rice "milks" they say are masquerading as the real thing and cloud the meaning of milk. A group that advocates for plant-based products, the Good Food Institute, countered this week by asking the Food and Drug Administration to say terms such as "milk" and "sausage" can be used as long as they're modified to make clear what's in them. [node:read-more:link]

Few topics in agriculture are as controversial in the public eye as GMOs. For more than two years, the labeling of GMO ingredients on food packaging has been a hot topic. As consumers continue to buy more non-GMO products, one major food company has become a champion of the need for labeling: Campbell Soup Company.   “We decided to embrace it,” says Kelly Johnston, the company’s vice president of government affairs, who spoke from the mainstage at the 2017 Top Producer Seminar. [node:read-more:link]

At the food pantry she founded in poor, rural Quitman County, Mississippi, Angie Crawford spends her days teaching food stamp recipients how to shop, cook and eat healthy on a tight budget. Then, at the grocery store, she sees people using food stamps to buy junk food, like big bags of potato chips in bulk. It troubles her. As a nutrition educator for the federal Food Stamp Program — Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP — Crawford is one of many public health officials across the country who say there should be more rules about how food stamp money is spent. [node:read-more:link]

A new study looking at dairy consumption and its relationship with metabolic health has delivered some promising results for the dairy industry. The study examined the impact of dairy foods on markers of fatness and metabolic health.   Cheese consumption was not associated with body fatness or LDL cholesterol. [node:read-more:link]

The head of Germany’s environmental agency has directed the department to serve only vegetarian dishes at official functions. Quoting an email from an environmental ministry official, the agency has a responsibility to combat the “negative effects of meat consumption” and must “set an example,” the media reports said. This, although the meat ban does not extend to the agency’s own cafeteria, which continues to offer meat options with every meal. [node:read-more:link]

Plans to grow genetically modified crops in Britain could result in the EU blocking imports of the produce after Brexit, according to a leaked report by European parliament officials. The internal paper, written to guide the parliament’s agriculture committee in its “scrutiny of Brexit”, says that British farmers seeking to sell produce to the remaining 27 member states could be hampered by multiple barriers on top of tariffs averaging 14 per cent.  The officials’ note reports that Britain is developing new rules to make GM crop cultivation easier after pulling out of the EU. [node:read-more:link]

The Canadian government said Wednesday it will permit the sale of fresh and frozen raw ground beef treated with irradiation.  [node:read-more:link]

Three bills introduced into the Illinois General Assembly loosen up cottage food sales and promote farmers markets, but apparently are not intended to alter the state’s new raw milk law. Illinois in 2016 aligned itself with the surrounding states of Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin by prohibiting any retail sales of milk without pasteurization. On-farm sales are permitted under new regulations. Raw milk cheese aged 60 days can be sold under a separate permit, but sales of other unpasteurized raw milk products are also prohibited. [node:read-more:link]

An improbable coalition is calling for dramatic changes to the state's dairy industry. Former agriculture secretary Roger Allbee has joined forces with three longtime environmental activists to argue that depressed milk prices, the need to reduce water pollution, and uncertainty about trade and migrant labor at the federal level present a unique opportunity to reinvigorate Vermont dairy farming. "A perfect storm is brewing," Allbee told the House Agriculture and Forestry Committee earlier this month. [node:read-more:link]

Canadian meat processor Maple Leaf Foods announced it has signed a definitive agreement with Brynwood Partners VI L.P. to acquire Lightlife Foods, a leading manufacturer and brand of refrigerated plant-based protein foods in the United States, for $140 million (U.S. dollars) and related costs. [node:read-more:link]