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Poll: Food Preferences Republicans vs. Democrats

  • Spence Cooper
  • March 1, 2013

Since Democrats and Republicans continue finger pointing, and have failed to make a deal, the 2011 law requiring budget cuts goes into effect today. The House of Representatives has adjourned, and most members of the Senate have gone home. All that's left is for Obama to sign a directive ordering t... Read More »

Big Food Lobbies To Criminalize Whistleblowers

  • Spence Cooper
  • February 28, 2013

In a recent article by Washington, DC based journalist Will Potter, author of Green Is the New Red, which documents corporate attempts to silence activists, Potter discusses how Big Ag lobbyists are pushing for new state-level laws to prevent consumers from learning how food is produced. These AG-g... Read More »

Wal-Mart Pork Supplier Continues Use of Small Gestation Crates

  • Spence Cooper
  • February 26, 2013

Seaboard Foods, the No. 3 U.S. pork producer based in Kansas, and supplier to Walmart, was forced to drop its claim of using "The most humane practices throughout the animal's life" The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission mainly because of ... Read More »

USDA Threatens to Layoff All Meat Inspectors

  • Spence Cooper
  • February 25, 2013

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack has threatened to furlough all U.S. meat inspectors for two weeks because of automatic spending cuts scheduled for March 1. The federal agency has said it would give at least 30 days' notice to employees. And according to the USDA, if the budget cuts take effect, up to on... Read More »

Top 10 Most Ridiculous Alcohol Laws

  • Spence Cooper
  • February 12, 2013

Drinking alcohol in excess has impaired the judgment and decision making of many, but the following list of absurd drinking laws have presumably been legislated by solemn and sober lawmakers we assume are clear-thinking, responsible adults empowered to govern. 10) Happy Hour Prohibited In Massachu... Read More »

Do U.S. School Lunches Compare To Other Industrialized Countries?

  • Spence Cooper
  • February 7, 2013

In 2011, U.S. legislators blocked a proposal to improve the nutritional quality of the nation's school lunches. The proposed changes included more fruits and vegetables, and an end to the absurdity of permitting tomato paste on pizzas to be classified as a vegetable. But because of vested interes... Read More »

Leading Wine Company Dumps NRA

  • Spence Cooper
  • January 30, 2013

Yalumba, Australia's oldest family owned winery, has moved to cut ties from the National Rifle Association after it was disclosed that it was one of 20 Australian producers sold on the group's wine club. The Herald Sun reports the privately owned Barossa Valley company will begin to track how four ... Read More »

Ben & Jerry’s Co-Founder Fights to Get Money Out of Politics

  • Spence Cooper
  • January 9, 2013

Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, has created a guerrilla marketing campaign to spawn needed reform in campaign finance, and extract money out of politics. The Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, opened the door to super PACs and unlimited cor... Read More »

Overweight Brits Refusing To Exercise May Have Health Benefits Cut

  • Spence Cooper
  • January 7, 2013

Unlike the United States, Great Britain has utilized socialized healthcare for years. Supporters claim one of the main reasons for implementing UK's socialized healthcare was to battle rising healthcare costs. But as Americans are about to discover under similar circumstances with Obamacare, social... Read More »

Blue Corn Free of GMO Contamination

  • Spence Cooper
  • January 2, 2013

As AltHealth's Nick Meyer points out, virtually all of America's corn supply is GMO, and corn is present in many packaged foods -- even most bourbon is made with GM corn. According to the USDA, almost 90% of the corn planted in the US is genetically engineered. Since 2000, the North American grain ... Read More »

FDA Authorizes Next Step in Approving GM Salmon

  • Spence Cooper
  • December 26, 2012

The Food and Drug Administration released its Environmental Assessment (EA) report for genetically modified (GM) salmon developed by AquaBounty Technologies. This is one of the last steps for the first transgenic animal to be considered for federal approval, with an approval process that's been in ... Read More »

Bringing Down Monsanto: Reform Plant Patent Act

  • Spence Cooper
  • December 26, 2012

In a recent Slate article, Frederick Kaufman, author of "Bet the Farm: How Food Stopped Being Food," questions the efficacy of current strategies employed in opposing biotech companies like Monsanto. Kaufman suggests initiatives such as California's Proposition 37, which would have mandated labelin... Read More »

FDA Supressing Data on Farm Antibiotic Use

  • Spence Cooper
  • December 24, 2012

Maryn McKenna, journalist and the author of SUPERBUG and BEATING BACK THE DEVIL, reports on the deliberate actions by the FDA to suppress critical information on farm antibiotic use. The FDA refuses to compel companies to disclose data that would be in the public's interest related to legislation k... Read More »

Pay Gap Grows at McDonalds: $8/hr Worker vs. $8 Million CEO

  • Spence Cooper
  • December 18, 2012

Tyree Johnson is employed at not one but two Chicago area McDonald's. Johnson scrubs himself with a bar of soap in a McDonald's bathroom and puts on deodorant because hygiene and appearance are part of his annual compensation reviews. Bloomberg's Leslie Patton notes Johnson, 44, needs the two pay... Read More »

Gates Foundation Awards $10 Million Grant for GM Crops in Africa

  • Spence Cooper
  • December 11, 2012

Last July, Common Dreams reported that the Gates Foundation awarded a $10 million grant to develop genetically modified (GM) crops for use in sub-Saharan Africa. The grant is for the John Innes Centre, a research center involved in the biological and chemical sciences that receives strategic fundin... Read More »

Sarah Palin To Publish New Fitness and Well-Being Book

  • Spence Cooper
  • November 28, 2012

Sarah Palin recently told People Magazine she is working on a new fitness and wellbeing book with her family. "Our family is writing a book on fitness and self-discipline focusing on where we get our energy and balance as we still eat our beloved homemade comfort foods!" Palin says she will discus... Read More »

China’s Ongoing Food-Safety Nightmare

  • Spence Cooper
  • November 20, 2012

As we've previously chronicled, from fish imported from China raised on human waste, to plastic rice, China is endlessly plagued by horrendous food scandals. In a recent report regarding Chinese food exports to Europe in the Global Edition of the New York Times, Mark McDonald notes Cypriot inspecto... Read More »

Rome Cracks Down on Eating, Drinking at Historic Sites

  • Spence Cooper
  • November 9, 2012

When a couple of foreign tourists stopped at one of Rome's most famous landmarks, sat down and casually enjoyed sandwiches, two officers with Rome's municipal police force waved their hands. "Stefano, look! There's another eater,"one officer said to another before approaching the couple. The coupl... Read More »

Sandy’s Small Business Victims Need Support Not Loans

  • Spence Cooper
  • November 7, 2012

Last week, small business owners devastated by Sandy who attended a standing-room-only meeting in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, told New York City officials they weren't interested in loans. "Most of us are deeply overextended as it is," said Monica Byrne, the co-owner of local restaurant ... Read More »

France To Slam Brewers With 160% Rise in Beer Tax

  • Spence Cooper
  • November 5, 2012

The French president, François Hollande, who defeated the incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy in the spring of this year, is attempting to impose an increase of 160% in beer taxes to help fund social programs. France, along with Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal, and many other European countries, are scrambli... Read More »

Tom Colicchio’s New Recipe for Accountability: Food Scorecard

  • Spence Cooper
  • November 1, 2012

"Top Chef" judge Tom Colicchio, founding member of Food Policy Action, a coalition of food policy and environmental groups, announced a new initiative to grade lawmakers on their food votes with a Food Scorecard. Food Policy Action explains that the Scorecard is based on votes taken during the 112t... Read More »

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