Big Food is FOR Food Safety Regulations?

by: Jill Richardson

Thu May 28, 2009 at 04:00:00 AM PDT

To take stock of the fight we're going to have, I began digging around lobbying records. Who's for what, and how much money are they spending. Let's see here:

Company	Amount (Total Lobbying, Not Just Food Safety) First quarter 2009 only
Food Marketing Institute Kraft Foods Grocery Manufacturers Association Nestle Sodexo Miller/Coors National Restaurant Association 3M PepsiCo Safeway General Mills Consumers Union Center for Science in the Public Interest	$1,063,000 $770,000 $720,000 $616,843 $590,000 $550,000 $447,000 $400,000 $430,000 $350,000 $240,000 $80,000 $32,983

But wait! Before you get worried that industry is outspending consumer advocacy groups and the lobbyists are trying to kill this legislation - apparently Kraft, Kellogg, and General Mills are now FOR food safety reform! Even the Grocery Manufacturers sound open to it. My hunch? First of all, these guys see the changes coming down the pike no matter what. They want to sound agreeable so that they can make sure that whatever reform occurs is to their own liking.

And second of all, they lost a lot of money from the peanut butter incident. So in that sense, they really DO want safe food. But in the hearings thus far, they definitely sounded hesitant about how much regulation they were actually interested in. Kellogg sounded particularly uncomfortable with unannounced inspections, user fees paid to the FDA to cover the cost of inspections, and microbial testing for pathogens. Remember, their #1 priority isn't food safety, it's profit. They are only interested in food safety as a means to that end.

UPDATE: Here's what the Grocery Manufacturers has to say about the food safety bill:

The Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents the food industry, supports much of the legislation but objects to a $1,000 annual registration fee that would be required of all food facilities to help pay for the FDA's increased oversight. The association also objects to some of the tracing requirements, saying they would create a financial burden.

rbGH in the Media

by: Jill Richardson

Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 08:35:40 AM PST

Consumer Demand, Not Safety, Led General Mills to Ditch rbGH - This article does not make the claim that rbGH is actually safe - it just says that General Mills did not take sides on the safety of the product. Its decision was based on marketing.

The article's author has her own opinion:

Are artificial hormones actually unsafe? I won't pretend to be qualified to answer that question. There are studies and scientists supporting both sides of the issue (though when it comes to possible but unproven cancer links, my personal instinct is to err on the side of caution).

However, regardless of whether or not the artificial hormones are potentially risky for humans, there is a general agreement that they're bad for cows. Cows taking the hormones get more udder infections - and when cows get sick, farmers give them antibiotics, "the residues of which also may end up in milk and dairy products," as the Center for Food Safety explains.

These residues can cause allergic reactions in sensitive individuals and contribute to the growth of antibiotic resistant bacteria, further undermining the efficacy of some antibiotics in fighting human infections.

To me, the whole thing sounds like a pretty bad idea. But it also seems pretty unlikely that the FDA will change its rules on rBGH any time soon. Instead, I predict we'll see more even more companies deciding, like GM, to cater to the common consumer perception that injecting cows with artificial hormones is, at the very least, kind of creepy.

More below...

Congrats to Yoplait! Dannon, You're Next!

by: Jill Richardson

Mon Feb 09, 2009 at 10:26:21 AM PST

You see, rbGH increases a hormone called IGF-1 (a hormone linked to breast cancer in humans) in cows and in their milk. Yet Yoplait runs a major publicity campaign asking consumers to send in their pink Yoplait lids to increase Yoplait's donation to fight breast cancer. Congratulations Yoplait, you are now walking your talk - or at least, you will by this August.

Latecomer or not to the rbGH-free world, Yoplait wasted no time patting themselves on the back in typical corporate fashion:

In an e-mail announcement sent out Friday, Yoplait noted that it's the first leading yogurt brand to go "rbGH-free," which may come as a surprise to companies such as Stonyfield, Nancy's, Cascade Fresh, Brown Cow, and other organic industry leaders, all of which have been in the forefront of the movement to reject the synthetic hormone in milk products.

Nice job, Yoplait. Dannon, you listening?

UPDATE: Yoplait's press release is out! See it below.

No rBGH in Our Schools!

by: Jill Richardson

Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 06:00:00 AM PST

From the human health standpoint, IGF-1,a substance produced in our bodies by rBGH, may increase the risk of cancers of the breast, prostate, colon, lung and bone, according to Michael Hansen, senior scientist at Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports. From the animal welfare point of view, rBGH is terribly inhumane, causing swollen, painful udders and frequent infections, which, of course, mean more antibiotic treatment (and residues in dairy products). - Plenty Magazine

Does that sound like something we want to serve children in public schools? I say no. Calcium is great, but why subject children to future risk of cancers unnecessarily. So many large dairies are already rBGH-free that it should not be logistically complicated to keep milk from cows treated with rBGH out of schools. Please, email or snail mail your Representative and your Senators asking them to add a provision to the upcoming Child Nutrition Reauthorization to get the rBGH out of our schools.

Yoplait Campaign in Minneapolis Paper

by: Jill Richardson

Mon Oct 06, 2008 at 23:36:51 PM PDT

On her group's website, breastcanceraction.org, activist Brenner charges General Mills with "pinkwashing," or using a product that she says may be dangerous to women's health. Yoplait is made with dairy products from cows treated with bovine growth hormone (rBGH), which has been linked to several health concerns for humans, including breast cancer. Wal-Mart has stopped selling milk from rBGH-treated cows -- but not Yoplait yogurt. General Mills spokesman Tom Forsythe said that it's not possible to test for rBGH.

"The economic incentive for farmers to go rBGH-free is increasing, because cows don't last as long," Forsythe said. "Do we want to buy this? No. Is it a headache? Yes. But if there was a safety issue, the scientists would say so."

What a load of bull from General Mills. So many other major corporations have gone rBGH-free that it can't be that hard to do. And there's obviously a huge demand for it as well. Good to see this getting some play in the media, although the article seemed to accept the corporate spin from General Mills a little too readily for my taste.

ACTION: Call Out Yoplait For Hypocrisy

by: Jill Richardson

Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 08:00:00 AM PDT

So what's Yoplait doing for breast cancer this October? Getting rid of rBGH? Not a chance. They are putting pink lids on their containers and making $.10 donations for breast cancer for each one sent in.

To give 'em a piece of your mind, check out the Think Before You Pink Yoplait Campaign