Growers and Grocers

The USDA wants to redefine the grass-fed label, but for once they want to make it harder for large corporations to slap the eye-catching label onto their products. The government agency is considering a change that would require 99% of an animal’s energy to come from “grass or forage.” And they’re looking for comments on […]

Virginia legislators have a bill in front of them that might impact farmers who raise chickens outdoors. The bill targets outdoor markets of live poultry—none exist in the state—but the ambiguous wording could put small chicken farmers in the crosshairs.
The legislature claims that it wants to protect against avian flu, but small farmers suspect that […]

The prestigious French “Appellation d’origine contrôlée” label applies to food products as well as wine. On June 22nd, 2006, the national AOC institute (Institut National des Appellations d’Origine) recognized two new food products: the Nîmes olive and Corsican chestnut flour.
Two hundred Corsican farmers grow chestnuts for the sweet, delicate flour that Corsican cooks use […]

The American Medical Association wants to urge the government to impose warning labels on over-salted food, according to this item at the Organic Consumers Association. The doctors argue that America eats more than twice as much salt as it should, because salt contributes to high blood pressure and heart problems. They’ve even suggested some graphics: […]

“Mom, can I have some titanium dioxide on my mica-based pearlescent pigments?”
“You can now, honey!”
The FDA has approved a new coloring additive for food, effective July 5, 2006. I have no idea what mica-based pearlescent pigments look like, even without a coating of titanium dioxide. I envision shimmery, metallic Fruit Loops. For some reason it […]

Here at Growers & Grocers, we complain about the ever-weakening definition for “organic.” Did you know, for instance, that you can put “organic” on a milk carton even if the cows are stuffed into an environmentally destructive feedlot? And originally came from a conventional farm?
Here’s your chance to effect a change. The USDA has requested […]

The Los Angeles Times reports that a California Superior Court judge has ruled in favor of tuna canners who wanted to avoid warning customers about mercury levels (free registration or bugmenot required).
The California judge pointed to an existing federal decision, which declares that the mercury levels are too low for concern. Critics of the ruling […]

South Carolina’s legislature passed a bill that loosens the regulations on large-scale poultry factories, according to The State. Before the bill passed, counties could restrict the locations of notoriously toxic and rancid poultry farms. Counties could keep them away from schools and churches.
The legislature overturned that power, which has poultry producers crowing. Similar laws have […]

In preparation for the Farm Bill of 2007, the USDA has started to issue “theme papers” that will educate the public rather than suggest policy. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns announced that the Department of Agriculture will eventually release 41 of these documents, each focused on a particular area of concern. The first one focuses […]

The Blog for Rural America shares the news that a federal jury in South Dakota ruled that the three largest American meat packers violated the Packers and Stockyards Act when “their conduct during the period had the purpose or effect of injuring competition in the fed cattle market.”
Tyson, Cargill, and Swift neglected to tell beef […]