Side-stepping the food-or-fuel choice by cultivating cassava It seemed like a good idea at the time: Reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and start weaning the gasoline-dependent by phasing in (with a mix of subsidies and mandates) the use of ethanol as motor fuel. The...
Something Fishy from China
Kansas City Star uses Datamyne to trace origins of fish oil supplements Fish oil sales in the U.S. are on the rise, from $35 million in 1995 to $359 million in 2005, and just under $1 billion last year, the Kansas City Star reports. Sold in capsule form, fish oil is...
Kansas City Star Uses Datamyne to Trace Fish Oil
Sold in capsule form, fish oil is the No. 3 dietary supplement in the U.S. While the label on the bottle may tout the benefits of fish oil, it won’t tell you where the oil came from. With roughly 20% originating in China, that could be a problem. In its investigative...
America’s Top (Ag) Export
U.S. growers want to open more markets to soybeans It’s the time of year when U.S. soybean growers are asked to send in samples to provide a preview of new-crop soybean quality for international purchasers. Growers underwrite the cost of the annual quality survey with...
Food Supply Chains: Secure Enough?
The FDA mandates registration of imported food facilities By Peter Quinter, guest columnist On December 12, 2003, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) implemented the Bioterrorism Act of 2002. That Act basically required that companies shipping food to the U.S....
Balancing Act
Louisiana lobbies for monitoring and marketing its seafood Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) biologists are reported to be collecting thousands of specimens of crab, shrimp and finfish in the waters east of the Mississippi Delta for Food and Drug...
Ripple Effect
The oil spill continues to roil the Gulf ecosystem and economy The idea was to push the oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill back from coastal areas with torrents of fresh water by opening several Mississippi River diversions. Unfortunately, it appears that the...
Oyster Po’boys Are off the Menu
Prices rise as buyers stockpile Gulf seafood Expecting shortages as the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill continued to spread in the Gulf of Mexico, seafood purveyors rushed to stockpile and helped drive up the prices of shrimp and oysters. Now, as the Independent of...
Frankie & Johnny’s Sues BP
The slick spreads, fishing is banned, legal claims multiply The U.S. Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) yesterday extended the boundaries of the area closed to fishing in the Gulf of Mexico to include 45,728 square miles, or...
Fresh Outlook
U.S. imports will include more fresh veggies and, especially, fruit The U.S. Department of Agriculture current Long-Term Projection foresees U.S. agricultural import values rising to US$106 billion in fiscal year 2019, compared with US$79.3 billion in 2008. Strong...