Yet Another Reason To Shun Burger King...

In a colorful, often clamorous pressure campaign that has relied on support from college campuses and church groups, a group of farmworkers has persuaded McDonald’s and Taco Bell to have their tomato suppliers pay their pickers more. But the workers’ efforts have recently collided with two big obstacles. Burger King has rejected the demands to have its tomato suppliers pay higher wages, and the main group of Florida tomato growers — calling the farmworkers’ tactics “un-American” — has threatened $100,000 fines against growers that cooperate with McDonald’s or Yum Brands, the parent of Taco Bell, to pay their pickers more. “The only way you can describe this industry is the way it was described 40 years ago: It’s a harvest of shame,” said Lucas Benitez, a co-founder of the farmworkers’ group. More here.

Georgia Job Opportunity

Position available January 2008

Assistant Organic Farm Manager position now available at Hampton Island Preserve, 30 miles south of Savannah, Georgia. Assist experienced biodynamic Farmer, Daron ’Farmer D’ Joffe in all aspects of managing a highly diversified organic/biodynamic farming operation, which consists of a 10-acre intensive organic garden, a small animal village and interpretive center, a 2-acre working rice field and a 30-acre new farm site that we are beginning to fence, pasture and plant Spring 2008.

For a full job description, email djoffe@hamptonisland.com.

This is a full-time salaried position with benefits and potential to grow.

For more information on Farmer D and Hampton Island, see www.farmerd.com and www.hamptonisland.com.

Please send a resume or contact Daron Joffe, Hampton Island’s Farm Manager, to apply for the position.

Daron Joffe

djoffe@hamptonisland.com

912.880.8838 (office)

912.210.2021 (cell)

China Cracks Down on Food Safety Violators...

...in its own gentle way. China said today that it had demolished the facilities of more than 2,800 rural food makers as part of its effort to crack down on shoddy, fake or substandard food, according to the official Xinhua news agency. Beijing has been moving aggressively in recent months to complete a six-month long campaign to root out fake and substandard food, drugs, toys and other consumer goods, after a year of scandals involving product safety. While the government has insisted through much of the year that the country’s products are safe, the government has acknowledged uncovering tens of thousands of problem or dangerous operations over the past six months. Yesterday, regulators said that this year more than 20,000 tons of substandard products were removed from shelves in rural markets and stores, and that they had closed more than 47,000 food factories that were operating illegally. More here.

Ending Famine, Simply by Ignoring the Experts

Malawi hovered for years at the brink of famine. After a disastrous corn harvest in 2005, almost five million of its 13 million people needed emergency food aid. But this year, a nation that has perennially extended a begging bowl to the world is instead feeding its hungry neighbors. It is selling more corn to the World Food Program of the United Nations than any other country in southern Africa and is exporting hundreds of thousands of tons of corn to Zimbabwe. Farmers explain Malawi’s extraordinary turnaround — one with broad implications for hunger-fighting methods across Africa — with one word: fertilizer. More here or click image above for a slideshow.

Is It Healthy? Food Rating Systems Battle It Out

At the grocery store, shoppers confront a dizzying array of labels promoting whole grains, reduced fat, antioxidants or vitamins. Many food companies have their own logos and criteria for better-for-you foods, including Kraft’s “Sensible Solutions,” Pepsico’s “Smart Spot” and Unilever’s “Choices.” Those that do not have such logos have nonetheless festooned their packages with labels advertising less salt, more fiber, more calcium and so on. The labels have gotten so out of hand that the nation’s top food manufacturers and grocers have been meeting regularly to come up with a uniform label for healthy food, something that is being tried in Europe with mixed results. The ratings systems under development all use government dietary guidance as a starting point. Then they consider various nutrients and give them scores to compute a single rating that is supposed to reflect the aggregate nutritional value of a food. The groups developing these systems claim they will be a simplification over the nutritional labels required by the government and the plethora of logos and slogans meant to signify good nutrition. Oftentimes the result is counterintuitive. For instance, a consumer may think that Hellman’s Light Mayonnaise is healthier than the company’s regular mayonnaise. In fact, it has less saturated fat than the regular mayonnaise but more sodium; over all, by Dr. Katz’s calculation, the regular mayonnaise is healthier. More here.
Flashback: November 6, 2006, our 100th post lauded the Hannaford Brothers' "Guiding Stars" system. Now it is being licensed to other grocery chains!