After farm advocacy group files two complaints against Aurora Dairy and USDA threatens to revoke its organic certification, company agrees to remove organic label from some milk and to add pasture for cows.
By Andrew Martin
The New York Times (may require subscription) 2007-08-30 (entry)
Despite activists' efforts to bamboozle public, price-conscious customers appear happy buying milk containing synthetic hormone, and squeezing more milk from cows via drugs saves natural resources, reduces corn prices, greenhouse gas emissions and manure production; in a more rational world, customers would choose milk so labeled.
By Henry I. Miller
The New York Times (may require subscription) 2007-06-29 (entry)
With no genetically modified organism labeling required, the questions are complicated and the science is heavy and we haven't dropped dead, but to steer clear from GMO unknowns, avoid corn, soy and canola in processed foods, says author of new book.
By Carol Ness
San Francisco Chronicle (entry)
Pathogens cling to iron oxide nanoparticles, purifying drinking water.
Grad student discovers cheap way to filter viruses and arsenic from drinking water, and tells the secret at American Chemical Society meeting. He uses glass fibers as a sturdy support for positively charged iron oxide nanoparticles, which attract pathogens with negative charge.
By Aaron Rowe
Wired 2008-04-12 (entry)
To save weight, advanced space missions won't pack sufficient water; instead, NASA plans to condense drinking water from perspiration, respiration and urine.
By Larry Greenemeier
Scientific American 2007-10-26 (entry)
Scrutinizing food ingredients is crucial, but because the water we drink is the same as the water in our toilets, we tolerate the presence of chemicals that would be banned as food additives; it's time to filter drinking water for all.
By Robert D. Morris
The New York Times 2007-10-03 (entry)
"And soon it was lunchtime/
Mom said I should ask about how poor kids could get fed/
So I got a book of tickets and a schedule and it read/
Monday - Hot Dog, Tuesday - Taco/
Wednesday - Hamburgers and Chocolate Milk/
Thursday - Sloppy Joes and doritos in a bag/
Friday was Pizza Day, the best day of the week/...
As time went on we figured out/
It was totally uncool/
To eat the welfare lunch/
Provided by the school/
So in poser-punker fashion/
We just mooched off all the kids/
And lived off eating candy bars/
And bags of nacho chips/
Monday - Hot Dog, Tuesday - Taco/
Wednesday - Hamburgers and Chocolate Milk/
Thursday - Sloppy Joes and doritos in a bag/
Friday was Pizza Day, the best day of the week/
It always came with salad and a side of cold green beans/
Hooray for Pizza Day/
Hooray for Pizza Day/
I miss Pizza Day./ "
— The Aquabats, "Pizza Day" lyrics
Easy availability of calories through cooking may have allowed diversion of energy from gut to brain in early humans, nurturing cognitive innovations including abstract thinking, creation of art and invention of tools, study suggests. And: Cooking pot responsible for dramatic change in human brain size, Harvard primatologist believes (click 'See also').
By Robin Nixon
LiveScience 2008-08-11 (entry)
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Fat build-up, triglyceride surge greater from fructose consumption than other sugars, small study reports. Researchers also note that fat was created from fructose by liver within four hours of consumption, which means that the next meal's fat is more likely to be stored. Fat synthesis may be revved up in overweight, obese patients.
By Stephen Daniells
nutraingredients.com 2008-07-25 (entry)
Smell, taste experts gather to share latest research, insights to these intimately connected senses that are perceived so differently among individuals. One new tool: the olfactometer. It dispenses puffs of scented air, then judges ability to name a smell; to distinguish one odor from a slightly different one; and to find the threshold of scent detection. And: Asthma drug restores sense of smell for some (click 'See also').
By Sabin Russell
San Francisco Chronicle 2008-07-25 (entry)
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Jellyfish unwelcome residents at beaches worldwide after severe overfishing removes their predators (tuna, sharks, swordfish) and food competitors, and pollution saps oxygen needed for other predators to thrive in coastal shallows. Their presence signals declining health of the world's oceans, scientists say. And: Jellyfish could take place of fish with chips (click 'See also').
By Elisabeth Rosenthal
The New York Times 2008-08-03 (entry)
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FDA orders farmers to stop dosing chickens, cows, pigs and eggs with drug used to treat skin infections, stomach infections and pneumonia in humans. Agency says that overuse will render cephalosporins ineffective in treating human disease.
Bloomberg News; Newsday 2008-07-03 (entry)
As New Zealand works toward carbon-neutral goal, its farmers seethe at proposal to make them the world's first forced to pay if they exceed government-imposed limits on greenhouse gases. Livestock-generated methane and more potent nitrous oxide make up about half the greenhouse gases that New Zealand adds to Earth's air.
By Paul Watson
Los Angeles Times 2008-06-07 (entry)
Potato chip producers agree to reduce carcinogen - acrylamide - in their chips over three years and pay penalties to settle California lawsuit. Accord means a 20 percent cut for Frito-Lay products, 87 percent cut for Kettle Chips, and warning label on Cape Cod Robust Russets. And: FDA tells home cooks to reduce chemical by not over-browning potatoes (click 'See also').
By Bob Egelko
San Francisco Chronicle 2008-08-02 (entry)
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Grocer group's team of forensic scientists specializes in fishing clues from fillets and prying confessions from tomato cans, and determining whether the 1,000 cases of foreign items in food each year are prank, error or sabotage. Lab is vestige of early 1900s, when canning was less reliable and botulism was more frequent.
By Annys Shin
The Washington Post 2008-05-20 (entry)
Weight and feel of product containers can affect some diners' opinion of contents, Michigan-Rutgers study shows. But others who have need to touch things - those who are haptically oriented - can discern when touch is actually related to product quality and are less likely to be misled by packaging. Research could influence shape, design of products, as well as packaging.
By Bernie DeGroat
University of Michigan 2008-03-18 (entry)
In challenge to genetic engineering and old customs, Cornell scientist doubles rice harvests by planting early, giving seedlings more room to grow and calling halt to flooding fields. Critics complain that method increases drudgery of farming and yields are exaggerated, yet agree to field trials for determination.
By William J. Broad
The New York Times 2008-06-17 (entry)
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The American chestnut tree once grew from Maine to Florida.
Hybrid disease-resistant chestnut touted as conservationist's dream: easily grown source of food, fuel and rot-resistant building material, says researcher. Chestnut flour predates wheat flour by a thousand years; it can be made into bread or pasta. Mario Batali, chef, says that pigs fed on chestnuts gives pork an intense, woodsy flavor. And: Breeding the blight out (click 'See also').
By Greta Cunningham
Minnesota Public Radio News 2008-06-07 (entry)
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Pests threaten rice in Philippines, China. With food surpluses of last decades, budgets for agricultural improvements were cut drastically as focus shifted to environment. Global network of 14 agriculture/food production research centers lost money for plant-breeding programs, pests and farmer education. For Norman Borlaug's view, click 'See also.'
By Keith Bradsher and Andrew Martin
The New York Times 2008-05-19 (entry)
See also
