I have to agree with Arnie on his veto of the California bill requiring foods containing meat from cloned animals or their progeny to be labeled - “requiring” being the operative word. The basis of his veto was the bill is preempted by federal labeling guidelines and would have required tracking and labeling requirements that were unworkable, costly and unenforceable.

Very little of our food gets into supermarkets with traceability even to the point of origin. This bill would require traceability to the parentage of each animal harvested in order to be enforced. The industry is choking on just being able to identify the country of origin of most animal products (and that law has significant exemptions for manufacturers and food service).

In reality, there are few clones in existence, and they are used primarily to produce elite breeding stock, not meat. Read the rest of this entry »

We could significantly decrease our risk of food poisoning if only we would agree to the use of food irradiation. We could protect ourselves but it appears we don’t really want to. We are too afraid to. Maybe if we changed the word from “irradiation” to “cosmic processing” we would accept it more readily?

Some urge consumers just go organic—as if this is somehow the safest choice. But the idea that organic foods are always safe to eat is, unfortunately, not always true.

Steven Harper, a food scientist and director of research for an organic food company says, “There really isn’t any difference between organic and non-organic as far as risks for cyclospora or e-coli are concerned. Still we have doubts. Read the rest of this entry »

One of my customers told me she was relieved to be able to buy my pasture-raised, natural beef because she was concerned that feeding “hormone-laden grocery store beef” would cause early puberty in her daughter. Don’t get me wrong–I really like people to be enthusiastic about locally raised, quality agricultural products (especially mine!), but I hate to see other ag products shouldering disproportional blame.

The Breast Cancer Fund published an excellent report on the falling age of puberty in girls. Why should we should be concerned? For one thing, early onset of puberty is a risk factor for breast cancer as well as other physical and psycho-social problems. I believe it is also an indicator of other non-beneficial physical and emotional changes brought about by our rapidly changing lifestyles. Read the rest of this entry »