Food

FIGHT has erupted over the health claims behind the A2 protein in milk. The a2 Milk Company’s claim that its product is easier to digest because it contains only the A2 protein will be tested in court after it lodged a “misleading and deceptive” case against Lion Group in June for advertising on packaging that Pura and Dairy Farmers-branded milk “naturally contains A2 protein”. Lion launched a cross-claim last month alleging a2 had engaged in “misleading and deceptive conduct” and that its claims that consuming milk with only the A2 protein was beneficial “cannot be substantiated”. [node:read-more:link]

Is it really possible that New York State will ban school kids from eating sweet corn grown almost completely without insecticides and free from brain-damaging mycotoxins?  From time to time, elected boards of education and similar organizations have proposed some science-defying stances; resolutions against teaching evolution and accepting climate change stand out historically. Now, the New York State Parent Teacher Association (NY PTA) has earned an “F” in science 101 with proposals that would ban foods made using genetically engineering or that contain GE ingredients. [node:read-more:link]

Agency requests information on how to establish appropriate durations of use for therapeutic products The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is entering the next phase of its efforts to mitigate antimicrobial resistance by focusing for the first time on medically important antimicrobials (i.e., those important for treating human disease) used in animal feed or water that have at least one therapeutic indication without a defined duration of use. [node:read-more:link]

In reality, there is nothing “natural” as people imagine. Why do chickens and eggs have to be any different? Neither chickens, nor hens, corn, soybeans, the ground itself are as they were in the idyllic past.Groups and individuals are looking for natural foods, with no processing, no chemicals, no genetic modifications, cage-free eggs, slow growth chickens, organic chickens and a long etcetera.However, humans have always processed foods. Although made with "natural" products, jams, bread or a bowl of rice have all undergone a process. [node:read-more:link]

Dr. Peter Spring, of the Bern University of Applied Sciences, said striving for responsible antibiotic use may be a better strategy than going 100 percent antibiotic-free. [node:read-more:link]

It’s no secret that Millennials are changing the food and nutrition landscape, but Baby Boomers have their own set of unique ideas about what they want on their plate. [node:read-more:link]

Because I am a food industry attorney, my reputation is invariably tied to the successes and failures of the food industry as a whole.  And, as a result, I tend to care deeply how the industry is doing.  What I have learned over the last decade is that, whether we choose to accept it or not, there are a lot of food companies, every day, that are selling products that are making people sick.  Just look, for instance, at the growing list of recent examples which include Blue Bell, Dole, General Mills and CRF.  In each of these examples, the companies involved were selling foods that had becom [node:read-more:link]

The three main beef producing companies in Brazil -- JBS, Marfrig and Minerva – have received authorization to start exporting fresh beef to the United States this month, the first shipments since the North American market was formally opened to Brazilian exporters in August. Brazil is allowed to export up to 64,000 metric tons of fresh beef to the United States per year, competing in a quota with other Latin American countries. [node:read-more:link]

Critics who intentionally disregard the progress toward greater transparency only serve to discourage it by refusing to give credit where credit is due. So, I encourage food system critics to be transparent about genuine progress among food producers just as I encourage producers who haven’t yet embraced transparency to build on the positive momentum. There is no denying the ability of transparency to increase consumer trust. [node:read-more:link]

A new generation of genetically modified organisms will be genetically indistinguishable from non-GMOs.  There are many potentially useful genetic modifications that scientists can now make to crops and livestock that don’t involve adding foreign genes, however. An example of this kind of next-generation genetic engineering wasrecently published by the small, Minnesota-based biotechnology companyRecombinetics. Scientists at the company created hornless dairy cows by using genetic engineering to put a naturally occurring bovine mutation into a normally horned cattle breed. [node:read-more:link]