Food Safety

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Guns, Farms and Stealth: Armed Raids and Surveillance of Farms and Food Clubs

by Rebekah Wilce — November 8, 2011 - 7:00am
  • Topics: Food Safety, Agriculture, Secrecy

    • Michael Schmidt is a Canadian dairy farmer, and he's scared. Why?

    "Over the last 17 years I have made every effort to engage the authorities in a constructive dialogue about the issue of non-pasteurized milk in Ontario and Canada. In return my farm has been raided by armed officers, my family has been terrorized and I [have] been dragged through the courts -- first being acquitted and then being found guilty.

    News

    Wisconsin Judge Rules Against Food Rights

    by Rebekah Wilce — October 6, 2011 - 6:00am
  • Topics: Food Safety, Agriculture, Human Rights

    • This is the second in a series of articles about raw milk by the Center for Media and Democracy's Food Rights Network. For more about raids on raw milk farmers and eaters, see yesterday's article.

    Wisconsin dairy farmers are appealing a state judge's ruling that they do not have the right to own a dairy cow or drink the unprocessed milk from their own cows.

    Mark and Petra Zinniker, who sought to distribute raw milk to herd shareholders through their private farm store, received a judgment from state Circuit Court Judge Patrick Fiedler ruling against them on all counts in August.

    In response, the Zinnikers, their shareholders and their lawyers at the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF) filed a clarification motion, on which Judge Fiedler filed his decision and order on September 9th.

    Op-Ed

    Raw Milk Raids and Court Cases Enter New Territory

    by Rebekah Wilce — October 5, 2011 - 6:22am
  • Topics: Food Safety, Agriculture

    • This is the first in a series of articles about raw milk by the Center for Media and Democracy's Food Rights Network.

    The nationwide battle over the right to consume foods produced on local farms entered a new phase this summer.

    Rawesome Food Club and Healthy Family Farms

    In August, the Los Angeles Police Department arrested three individuals -- James Stewart, manager of the private Rawesome Food Club in Venice, Sharon Palmer, owner of Healthy Family Farms, LLC, and her associate Eugenie Bloch -- "on criminal conspiracy charges stemming from the alleged illegal production and sale of unpasteurized goat milk, goat cheese and other products" after "a year-long investigation" during which "investigators made undercover purchases of unpasteurized dairy products."

    News

    Thousands Ask Norman Lear’s Environmental Media Association To Cut Ties With Sewage Sludge Company

    by Jill Richardson — July 7, 2011 - 11:10am
  • Topics: Food Safety, Health

    • The Food Rights Network asked people to join in calling on the Environmental Media Association (EMA) to stop greenwashing sewage sludge, and Joan Dye Gussow, best-selling author of This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader, signed her name.

    News

    Why Is The Monterey Bay Aquarium Greenwashing Sewage Sludge?

    by Jill Richardson — May 20, 2011 - 12:04pm
  • Topics: Food Safety, Sludge, Environment

    • Today, the nation's major sustainable food writers and bloggers will converge on Monterey, California for an incredible, invitation-only sustainable food conference. The event, Monterey Bay Aquarium's Cooking for Solutions, which those who attend say is spectacular, has a new sponsor this year: Kellogg Garden Products. Yes, that Kellogg Garden Products. The very same company that has contaminated "organic" school gardens in Los Angeles with sewage sludge. The company's Chief Sustainability Officer, Kathy Kellogg Johnson, has a knack for befriending "green" organizations and using them to promote her toxic, misleadingly-labeled products to unsuspecting gardeners. In this case, she's listed as a "Silver Sponsor." How much did her company pay to give her such a nice platform, sitting on a panel with Grist's sustainable food writer, Tom Philpott, and telling an all-media audience about the sustainability of Kellogg Garden Products?

    News

    Boost Aquaculture, But at What Cost?

    by Anne Landman — April 13, 2011 - 3:52pm
  • Topics: Food Safety, Environment, U.S. Government

    • The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) oversees aquaculture, or fish farming, in the U.S., both in freshwater and marine environments. Since the U.S. imports 84 percent of its seafood, about half of which is farmed, there is need for growth in the domestic fish-farming industry. Thus the NOAA has proposed a set of policies to guide American aquaculture. But a group of about 30 organizations, including the Center for Media and Democracy, has sent comments to the NOAA (pdf) expressing dismay that the proposed aquaculture policies fall short, in part by failing to maintain a neutral view of aquaculture. The draft policies seem more aimed at boosting the aquaculture industry at any cost than rationally and scientifically evaluating the pros and cons of this type of development in any given circumstance, place and time.

    Whole Foods Market Caves to Monsanto

    by PRW Staff — January 28, 2011 - 3:09pm

    After 12 years of battling to stop Monsanto's genetically-engineered (GE) crops from contaminating the nation's organic farmland, the biggest retailers of "natural" and "organic" foods in the U.S., including Whole Foods Market (WFM), Organic Valley and Stonyfield Farm, have agreed to stop opposing mass commercialization of GE crops, like Monsanto's controversial Roundup Ready alfalfa.

    Main Source: 
    CounterPunch, January 28, 2011

    The Beef Against Taco Bell

    by Anne Landman — January 28, 2011 - 1:44pm

    Taco Bell is facing a class-action lawsuit that charges the fast food chain wrongly advertises that its products contain "beef." The suit claims Taco Bell uses too little beef and too many fillers, binders and extenders in the meat mixture they use in their tacos and burritos, and that the mixture fails to meet the requirements set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to be called "beef." Taco Bell denied the accusation and in response is running full-page print ads in big newspapers like USAToday, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and online in which the chain's president says "Plain ground beef tastes boring."

    Main Source: 
    USAToday, January 28, 2011

    Job Opening at CMD: Writer/reporter (environmental, food and agricultural issues)

    by Sari Williams — January 22, 2011 - 10:04am
  • Topics: Food Safety, Environment

    • The Center for Media and Democracy needs a talented writer/reporter/researcher to join our team, with a particular focus on cutting edge environmental, food, and agricultural issues.

    Taxpayers Fund Pro-Pesticide PR Campaign

    by Anne Landman — September 30, 2010 - 1:49pm

    A California group that represents large produce growers, marketers and the suppliers who sell them pesticides and fertilizer, is getting $180,000 in federal funds for a PR campaign to combat critics of the pesticide industry.

    Main Source: 
    Huffington Post, September 28, 2010
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