Food Policy - Still Afloat But Listing Dangerously

These days more people are concerned about what they eat and put on the table for their families as it affects their health, the ecosystem and the planet.

Me. I also have a three-meal-a-day habit, so I like to keep an eye on food policy issues.

A couple of months ago, concerned about the number of different countries we import our foods from, I wrote a blog post about imported seafood.

What was obvious to me, just because the FDA and the USDA has a certain regulation regarding food safety in this country, it doesn't mean other countries must or will follow suit. And, most often, we don't put sufficient pressure on foreign countries to comply with our often-stricter standards.

However, on September 30, 2009, the House-Senate Conference Committee on the FY 2010 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Appropriations reached an agreement on the importation of processed poultry from the People's Republic of China, provided that several conditions were met.

It comes down to this: USDA is bound to conduct reviews of the Chinese poultry inspection system, processing facilities, and laboratories to determine whether they meet U.S. food safety and inspection standards before any Chinese facilities are certified as eligible to ship poultry to this country.

Transparency and oversight usually works but what about a country's history of regulatory non-compliance, contemptible disregard for their own citizens, and the pitiful record of food handling they've already racked up. And, here's the big one, last year Chinese food poisoning cases escalated by 40 percent.

According to the Food and Water Watch, agriculture giants Smithfield, Tyson and Cargill lobbied Congress to lift the Chinese chicken ban because they want to process poultry in China due to lower costs, import the chicken here and sell it for a large profit. Do I hear corporate greed once again sneaking into our food system?

Me, I'm not eating Chinese chicken. I'm already upset enough by the fact that all my clothing is labeled, "Imported from China."

Sign the petition to keep the ban on Chinese chicken.

For more information on food safety issues be sure to sign up for USDA Recalls & Alerts.

Bottled Water: What's Safe and What's Not

This thing about bottled water is, frankly, getting out of hand. About six months ago, I developed a guilty conscience over buying and openly using those disposable plastic water bottles.

Then I felt guilty for using them once and tossing them out. So I started refilling the bottles and I felt uneasy about refilling the bottles. You know, the bad press about plastics and all.

On a shopping trip to Whole Foods, there was the answer to my guilt fest, a whole display of trendy looking SIGG aluminum, reusable water bottles. Now I could carry my water in a safe container, refill without guilt plus drop the gnawing feeling that every time I tossed a plastic water bottle out I had added to the landfill somewhere.

Things had worked out fine until I read an article on SIGG bottles, which were, as it turns out, lined with Bisphenol A (BPA). Bisphenol-A can alter the expression of several hundred genes with effects linked to a number of serious health issues that include prostate and breast cancer, obesity, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, brain damage, altered immune system, lowered sperm counts, and early puberty.

Originally produced for use as a synthetic hormone in 1936, today BPA is commonly used as the building block of polycarbonate plastic for products such as baby bottles and water bottles, epoxy resins (coatings that line food containers), and white dental sealants.

If you have a SIGG aluminum water bottle you need to get a flashlight to look inside the bottle. The bottle either has a gold lining or a black lining. SIGG admits that bottles manufactured prior to August 2008, were lined with a water-based epoxy liner, which contains tracer amounts of BPA.

If you have a bottle liner that looks like brass then you need to send the bottle back to SIGG and they'll replace it. If you have a milky-white liner you are good to go, as they're now using the new SIGG Eco-Care liner. If you have any trouble recognizing which color your liner is, visit Treehugger for the details.

SIGG is offering an exchange program that is in place until October 31, 2009. You send the old BPA lined water bottle to them and they send you a new water bottle without BPA. What a deal. All you need to know about the exchange program can be found on the SIGG website.

I sent my two water bottles off a couple of weeks ago, now waiting for the new ones to arrive all the while feeling a sense of being betrayed by a company once thought to be trustworthy. No one likes to be misled by a company that claims to be doing right by the environment and only later finding out that the company hadn't told the complete truth. Shame on them.

Playing Roulette with Our Food

In the market for some fish the other day, I approached the seafood counter at my local grocery store.

Looking for salmon, I read the little labels stuck into the crushed ice next to the fish and then it hit me. To my surprise, the last words on the label in small letters said my salmon was from Thailand.

On a mission, I perused the entire display case and found nearly 2/3 of the seafood had been imported from either an Asian country or India.

There are a few legislators that put food policies at the top of their priority list. One of them is Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat from Connecticut, who called for the US Department of Agriculture to reform the meat importing system. As the chair of the congressional committee that appropriates funds to the USDA, she noted the current arrangements ceded too much control to overseas authorities.

"I think we need to take a hard look" at overhauling the way the United States deems other nations' food safety rules equivalent to the U.S. system”’ she said. “When you grant equivalency, you lose most of the control of the process.”

She also challenged the wisdom of a USDA’s decision a few years ago to allow imports of poultry from China. She said that recent Chinese food scandals made her question US importers.

China’s chronic food safety blunders are international in scope. If we turn a wary eye, is it any wonder. Pesticide-laden pea pods, drug-laced catfish, filthy plums and crawfish contaminated with salmonella. Oh, and how about the thousands of dogs and cats who died of kidney failure blamed on eating pet food that contained gluten from China tainted with melamine, a chemical used in plastic, fertilizers and flame retardants. More recently, the melamine scare in China's milk supply and continued lax laws along with slipshod enforcement.

On June 1, 2009, China passed an updated food safety law. The safety of our food from foreign countries, do we want to bet on it?

Eco-Speak

It turns out, lots of us banter about eco-terms like green, eco-friendly, sustainable, certified, and recycled but are we on the same page in regard to the meaning of the words. Here's a quickie guide to demystify these sometimes ambiguous terms.

1. Eco-friendly: Ecology; ecological: ecosystem. A term used to refer to goods and services considered to inflict minimal or no harm on the environment.
2. Off-gassing: The emission of chemicals from materials like furniture, flooring, textiles, bedding, carpeting and other home related products. To avoid the affects of off gassing, look for natural products.
3. VOC: Volatile organic compounds. Like off gassing, these emissions occur from toxic chemicals found in or released by paints, stains, sealants and adhesives. Look for products with labels that include low, no or zero VOC's.
4. Recycled content: The amount of recycled or reused material in a product you purchase. And, there are all kinds of recycled products made with recycled materials, materials that would have otherwise been discarded. Got a bucket of paint you want to recycle? Earth911.com will tell you where to go.
   
5. Sustainable: A method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged or adversely affecting the environmental conditions like soil conditions, water quality, and climate. Green buildings are designed to reduce the impact of the built environment on human health and the natural environment.
6. Certified: Endorsed authoritatively as having met certain requirements as in certified wood. A product or a service can be certified. Interested in building or remodeling with green building methods? Search the National Association of Home Builders directory.
   
7. Energy Star: Rating system supported by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This includes home appliances and homes designed to reduce energy consumption and deliver smaller electric bills. Shopping for some energy efficient appliances? Check out the "rebate finder" at EPA.
   
8. Environmental Footprint: The effects left on the environment by products, practices and procedures of manufacturing. Companies and individuals are said to have an environmental footprint. Find out what size environmental footprint you wear at Myfootprint.
   

One Day a Week--Meatless

Most of us know by now that if we ate less meat our air quality would greatly improve, as would our health.

In 2006, the United Nations reported that cattle farming emit more harmful greenhouse gasses than cars, buses, trains and planes. Another factor to consider, a great deal of land is given over to livestock or about 30 percent of the earth's land surface.

Now the Belgian city of Ghent is doing something about it. The eco-conscious officials of this city are encouraging residents not to eat meat on Thursdays. With this move, they expect to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 18 percent, therein decreasing their environmental footprint.

Another added bonus, eating less meat will have a positive effect on obesity, and many 'life-style diseases' like heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes.

Educating the children figures into this city's plan, too. In September, schools in Ghent will start offering meat-free lunches.

Back home, we have our own version of a meatless day and have had since WWI. Meatless Monday, in association with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, advocates meatless Mondays. The goal is to help Americans reduce consumption of saturated fat by 15 percent by 2010.

Subscribe to Eater's Digest, the free weekly email newsletter. You'll get the latest health, nutrition and prevention news, recipes and healthy living tips.

Check out YouTube – Meatless Monday-Inspiring a Movement

 

 

 

 

The Great American Backyard Campout

Head outdoors and spend some time with Mother Nature on Saturday, June 27, 2009, for the Great American Backyard Campout sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation.

It's important to connect to nature. There's no limit to what you can discover.

Here's the good news. The more time kids and adults spend outside, the more likely they will want to protect nature and wildlife. And, that's always a good thing.

So hop on over to the National Wildlife Federation website and sign up. Discover campfire songs, camping tips, crafts and activities, games, recipes and register your campsite today.

Want dinner with that campout? Check out the Joy of Camping where you can get a 28-page camping cookbook for free. I'm sure there's at least one recipe for S'mores in the cookbook. Or just rely on your own campfire memories. Camping is full of memories old and new.

Go Orange for Animals

April is Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month

Across the country national landmarks such as Niagara Falls, the Wrigley Building, Graceland Mansion and the Empire State Building are going orange to draw attention to animal abuse. Festivals and benefit concerts will take place in various cities.

Austin, Texas will honor the animals with a festival on April 18th and a 'Wag-n-Walk' Dog Walk.

Los Angeles is kicking off their own festival at Venice Beach on April 25th with adoptable animals, live music, and a 'Wag-n-Walk' Dog Walk to benefit the ASPCA . Come out for the animals, stay for the fun.

Take the ASPCA pledge to fight animal cruelty. Check out 10 ways to create your own grassroots event for the animals. You could be a winner with prizes for the best event from bake sales, benefit concerts or volunteering at an animal shelter.