It may come as no surprise to those who know me personally, but I am, by no means, a fan of Tesco.

Thanks largely to Andrew Simms’  dexterous portrayal of the tentacled, globalised troll in Tescopoly: How One Shop Came Out on Top and Why It Matters. I first read it last year and immediately ceased shopping there, but about a year later, I examine why I still occasionally find myself traipsing around a dreary, carbon copied, soul-destroying warehouse of convenience.
I recently read a post by Cardiff_Blogger which made me realise that I wasn’t alone with my concern for how deft and insidious these big supermarkets really are. The post highlighted something that has troubled me for a while: Food labelling.

It was a few years ago that I recall the Food Standards Agency’s traffic light system coming into ‘effect.’ However, it was only a guidance and not law, so behemoth retailers, Tesco, led the way in defying said guidance and subsequently came up with their own way of labelling.

A typical Tesco label

The label on the left highlights the values  in each pack, however, the labels are not always this simple. More often than not, Tesco will highlight that “one sixth of the pack,” “half the pack” or even “a 35g serving” will contain the following values… regardless of the weight of the overall product.

For example, say there is a product weighing 275g and the label states 16.3g of fat for every 100g. But you want to eat the whole pack. Why should anyone, as a consumer, have to grapple with these figures just to work out their calorie, sugar, fat and salt consumption.

Not everyone who is looking to eat this 275g phantom product would be aware, upon a glance, exactly how much fat the product contains. Approximately 44.8g, if you’re wondering, but that’s besides the point: When you’re shopping, these front-of-pack labels were designed to make it EASY for consumers to make their decisions on what to buy, not baffle them!

I, like many people, love a bargain. So what could I possibly not enjoy from a feeling of oneupmanship of buy one get one frees that litter Tesco aisles? If it was the case that Tesco suffered a dip in profits simply through my purchase of a buy one get one free, I would bankrupt myself in an attempt to put them out of business. But, in fact, Tesco loses nothing when it comes to these and other offers. Suppliers are the ones losing out. They are the ones who’s prices are driven right down, by Tesco, simply because they feel they have no choice. There are so many cases where suppliers have been forced to lower their prices to pander to Tesco’s needs, else they had been threatened with repealing contracts.

Notably, there’s the case of Tyrrell’s crisps. How a lowly, local, ethical company with a turnover of just £10m, managed to force the mammoth, insidious tour de force that is Tesco (with a turnover of £39.5bn!) to back down after they started stocking their crisps without Tyrrell’s consent. Read about it here, it’s heart-warming to know that some people can raise two fingers to Tesco.

Onto more fiscal matters.

It is improtant, now more than ever in the current economic climate, that we buy locally. Not only independently owned local shops, but locally sourced produce. This is what stimulates a LOCAL economy. It’s all well and good  having a Tesco Local, Tesco Metro, Tesco Express, Tesco Extra, Tesco Mammoth…. in your town or city, providing ample jobs, all of your grocery needs, endless agonising hours of annoying delivery drivers parking where they fancy, etc.,  but spending your money there does NOT help your local community. Instead, the money is sucked out of the community and is cirulated as corporate profit where their trading head office is based. That and the thousands of small businesses that end up going out of business because they simply can’t compete with such grotesco competition. That more than cancels out the number of shiny new jobs created by Tesco and they subsequently have to buy all of their shopping there because all of the butchers, fishmongers, green grocers and newsagents in the local area end up struggling and eventually closing.

So why am I still guilty of the occasional visit to a Tesco store?

• The convenience – Like it or not, when most other stores are long closed and I am desperate to get ingredients, a late night chocolate or bottle of water when out and about, you can always rely on there being a Tesco nearby and open.
• The price – Believe it or not, this is not a reason for me popping in occasionally. In fact, you can go to most ANY green grocer or market stall and pick up fruit and veg for a LOT less than you would pay in Tesco, so why do we fork out £2.99 for a punnet of strawberries, when Steve’s Fruit’n'Veg stall will sell you one for £1?
• More choice – Agreed, there is so much in the way of diverse choice at, primarily, the larger Tesco stores, but I remember being a child and going shopping with my mother and it was much more fun going lots of different shops; shops with character and friendly, interpersonal shopkeepers. You would always bump in to people you know from the town. It was a huge sense of community and interaction. And with Tesco? The same old frogmarch down aisle after aisle of this, that and the other. People frantically dashing about, forgeting something back at the other end, being lulled into what they think is a good offer of ‘buy one get one free’

• People WANT Tesco? I don’t believe this is the case. You need only look at the plethora of anti-Tesco web sites and news stories of protests to see that people don’t want Tesco: Recently, the people of Machynlleth fiercely opposed Tesco’s plans to invade conquer supply their town, despite local councillors backing their plans. So much for working in the best interests of the people that elected them!

And what with this story from *cough*The Sun*cough* stating that David Cameron “promised to run Britain like Tesco if he wins the general election,” I can only leave you with this:

Shucks!

SEMINAR TITLE: Sanitation in the Food Service (Applying HACCP Principles)

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Food service sanitation requires the absolute cleanliness in handling food; this pertains to the food service personnel’s personal hygiene, proper care in food preparation, use of sanitized utensils or equipments, correct food storage, cleanliness of production area and dining room. Discussion will focus on application of the principles of hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) management system, which would help identify specific hazards and measures for control to ensure the safety of food. 

KEY TOPICS:

• Fundamentals of Microbiology
• Kinds of Bacteria
• Potentially Hazardous Foods
• High Risk Methods of Preparation
• The use of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) as a Food Safety Management System
• Determining Risk Factors in the Flow of Food
• Food Flow Control Points
• Monitoring   

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This week the Food Standards Agency published data that shows many Organic foods are richer in nutrients, compared to conventional foods - and then it told us that the superior quality is ‘not important’!

Food campaigners hit back

Peter Kindersley at Sheepdrove Organic Farm said, “In considering the nutritional value of food, this report failed to examine the effect of pesticides. We know the government’s own research revealed a shocking level of contamination in conventional food. Does the FSA think that pesticides are also irrelevant to Public Health?”

“Resarch in the USA has revealed that babies in the womb are polluted with pesticides that we were supposed to be rid of by now, such as DDT which was banned decades ago, yet still haunts our health today.”

Joanna Blythman, in the Daily Mail, wrote: “The FSA was meant to be an organisation for improving our food. Now it is just getting in the way.”

“If it has any genuine interest in nutrition, the Food Standards Agency would be supporting a shift away from intensification, not pushing for more of it.” (Daily Mail 30 July 2009)

Read more… 

By SHAUN MILNE

A FILTHY restaurant which served food already gnawed at by mice was forced to shut down by health chiefs – only to re-open again in time for this year’s tourist season.

Inspectors visiting the Star Sea Restaurant in Edinburgh’s busy Lady Lawson Street described the infestation of rodents as “completely out of control”.

Walls were said to have been “coated in mould” while sinks were leaking and backed up with “foul smelling” water.

Most worryingly of all, food being used to prepare meals had “clearly been gnawed at”, according to officials.

City of Edinburgh Council was so concerned about the potential threat to public health that they issued an emergency prohibition notice to stop it trading.

It was enforced against the man named as food operator at the premises, Tony Dong, following the spot check last month.

At Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday, a sheriff said the council had acted appropriately in having the premises shut down on June 6.

But it emerged that the restaurant had since been allowed to re-open – on June 19 –  but was now being closely monitored by health officials.

A council statement issued yesterday said: “This inspection uncovered evidence of a mouse infestation which was completely out of control and food being used to prepare meals which had been clearly gnawed by the rodents.

“The hand washing facilities were inadequate, sinks were leaking and backing up with foul smelling water and several areas of wall were coated in mould.

“The Sheriff granted the application on behalf of Council Environmental Health Officers confirming that they had acted correctly in issuing a Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice, on the basis that the condition of the premises posed an imminent risk to health.

“A Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice has the effect of immediately closing a food business and is only served when there is an imminent risk to the health of people consuming food which has handled, prepared, processed or stored on the premises.“

It added: “The premises were subsequently allowed to reopen on 19 June, when it was determined that the risk to health no longer existed as conditions had improved.

“The premises continue to be subject to regular visits to ensure continued improvement to full compliance with food safety regulations.”

Speaking from his restaurant yesterday, Mr Dong said he accepted completely why the council had to act, blaming a lack of fans for the mould in the windowless kitchen and poor cleaning from staff at the time for a build up of mice droppings on the floor.

But he insisted said they had worked hard to put things right ever since.

He said: “Things are much better now. We spoke to all the staff about cleaning and it is done every day now, which also makes it much easier. It wasn’t done properly before, but we spoke to all the staff and it’s so much better now.

“We had a mice problem too, but the man from the pest control came and that has been sorted, and we are speaking to the council.

“The inspector is a really nice man, and he has been really helpful with advice which I follow. Business is good and we have no complaints from customers.”

Yesterday’s court action was to ensure that the council had acted properly and not subject to any legal claim for compensation for closing down the eaterie.

Councillor Robert Aldridge, Environment Leader, said it was important that restaurant bosses knew the council would act when necessary.

He said: “Residents and visitors to Edinburgh are entitled to expect the highest standards of food hygiene when they eat in the city and it’s important for them to have confidence that they can eat out safely.

“Thanks to the vigilance and hard work shown by our Community Safety staff in bringing about this emergency notice, we can send out a clear message to all food business operators that they must adhere to food hygiene requirements or face the consequences.”

“Officers will continue to work with the business to ensure good standards are maintained.”

The enforcement action comes as city councillors are involved in a bitter stand-off with bin collectors who are working to rule across the city, causing rubbish to pile up in the streets outside homes and businesses until outside contractors drafted in can clear the backlog.

.

The above picture is from a local Chipotle.  The poster reads:

“I hope all of our customers see this movie. The more they know about where their food comes from the more they’ll appreciate about what we do.”

If you go to the website, Chipotle urges you to see a free screening of Food, Inc.  I can’t wait to see  the movie, but does Chipotle really qualify as a fast food chain that that should get props from Michael Pollan or Eric Schlossler?  Or is this another example of a corporation greenwashing?

There is no doubt that Chipotle is way ahead of most fast food.  Check this blog out for more info about what the chain is doing right.

But all isn’t right.  I’m sure the workers who make the burritos are paid nowhere near a living wage.  More so,  Chipotle refuses to have labor standards for its tomato growers.  What kind of message is that? Does Chipotle really care that are pigs are cheated humanely but do not care  about the labor rights and civil rights  of the actual people who pick the tomatoes for their salsas?

McDonald’s hamburgers and Chipotle’s burritos earn about 45 cents for every 32-pound container of tomatoes they pick, a subpoverty wage that has remained stagnant for almost 30 years.

Here is a recent summary of the situation from the The Nation:

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers has made great organizing strides and has succeeded in convincing numerous commercial giants, including both Burger King and Taco Bell, to increase wages, benefits and observe a strict set of guidelines outlining workplace safety rules.

Chipotle, however, the country’s fastest-growing fast food chain, has resisted efforts by farm-workers demanding a lasting commitment to ending the brutal exploitation in Florida’s fields.

Washington Post reporter Kimberly Kindy in the article “House seeks more funding for food standards probe” writes that Congress wants to determine whether federal standards are being properly observed before farmers and food producers are allowed to use the certified organic label on food products.

Snacks, cereals and ready meals can trigger the brain in the same way as tobacco, according to the former head of America’s food standards watchdog.
Professor Kessler, claims that manufacturers have created combinations of fat, sugar and salt that are so tasty many people cannot stop eating…

Source:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/5673512/Why-junk-food-really-is-addictive.html

Snacks, cereals and ready meals can trigger the brain in the same way as tobacco, according to the former head of America’s food standards watchdog.
Professor Kessler, claims that manufacturers have created combinations of fat, sugar and salt that are so tasty many people cannot stop eating…

Source:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/5673512/Why-junk-food-really-is-addictive.html

Snacks, cereals and ready meals can trigger the brain in the same way as tobacco, according to the former head of America’s food standards watchdog.
Professor Kessler, claims that manufacturers have created combinations of fat, sugar and salt that are so tasty many people cannot stop eating…

Source:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/5673512/Why-junk-food-really-is-addictive.html

There is a saying in China, it is; food is heaven. However this can only be true if food standards are maintained at a consistently high level! Therefore food preparation and presentation standards play a vital role; after all the food we eat is critical to every person’s daily life.

Workplace catering is about providing food service that is both professional and of a consistently satisfactory standard. The catering industry has expanded over recent years and today is made up of countless catering companies and consultants offering a very wide and varied range of services.

The catering consultant is crucial because they offer valuable expertise and advice, providing catering solutions tailored to specific client requirements. They can steer a path through the catering minefield advising on appropriate catering equipment, kitchen and restaurant design giving valuable advice which ultimately saves their clients time. A catering consultancy should provide an unbiased and fair standard giving peace of mind to a client. They also help the catering contractor ensuring everybody gets the best possible service and best value from any investment made.

The catering company should have a strong enterprise culture built around a solid set of values. Culture values should include all of the following: Caring passionately about the service it provides: Being honest in delivering any promises made: Being innovative and effective: Performing the job properly and never compromising on quality in the interest of profit. And last of all but by no means least; having fun and enjoying the business!

All catering companies consist of two important elements: Good quality food and: Good quality people.

Food is of course the life force. Nutritious and delicious food is what every customer will want and expect. Good food when rich in flavour, aroma, texture and colour captures customer’s imagination exceeding expectation! This is why catering companies should be independently audited by catering consultants; consistent auditing of standards ensures best working practice which is the only way of producing the best quality of food.

Good people are crucial in a service industry. A happy, well-motivated and valued team is everything. It is the people who set the company apart from its competitors. Investing heavily in development the company should develop staff’s skills and creativity, acknowledge and reward success growing careers. Talented and motivated staff with impeccable service standards will attract the prestigious names and make each and every eating experience a memorable one.

Any business relationship is built on trust. When a catering company wins the hearts and minds of customers it is through offering a highly individual, tailored service. If people are treated with respect then they will be happy; happy customers will keep coming back for more.

Source
www.Cssolutionsltd.com

Esoteric Agenda

Kymatica

Activists Gather To Protest Bill C-6

Corporate Corruption, and the Hijacking of Our Food Supply

by Helke Ferrie

What is wrong with the world today? I’ll tell you what’s wrong – short-term thinking, which is the sign of a disease called arrogance. Those suffering from the disease, however, want us to believe that they are actually the world’s great protectors. The feverish rush for short-term gain is as old as history. The kings, emperors, and popes of antiquity, the dictators of the 20th century, along with big business and the governments they hijacked, all do as their ancestors did: disguise their message inside protestations of safety and offers of protection. But today we have the Internet, an educated distrusting public, and humanity has developed an attitude of disobedience. Besides, we are all getting very bored with this racket.

In Europe this infection with arrogance manifests as Directives from the European Parliament in Brussels, which 500 million people in 27 countries are supposed to obey according to some ideal of uniformity and economic solidarity. These Directives cover everything from food and supplements to drugs and chemicals. However European people, who haven’t agreed on anything much for a couple of thousand years, aren’t about to do as they are told by any government body, even if it calls itself the World Trade Organization. Europeans have experienced complex historical discord over millennia; and their ‘bullshit detectors’ are finely tuned. (I remember my parents, of French and Polish extraction, both born in Germany, talking about the injustices their families suffered at the hands of Louis XIV in the same breath as the social reforms of Bismarck and the starvation the French occupation caused during WWI.) 

In the U.S., the arrogance infection appears to be reaching a critical condition: in January 2009 the Government Accountability Office published a report urging that greater powers be given to the FDA to “improve oversight and consumer understanding of dietary supplements” based on obscure inaccurate data that only Big Pharma would swear to being the truth. In addition, the US Congress is poised to pass The Food Safety Modernization Act (H.R. 875), legislation so totalitarian it must have been written by the guys who designed Guantanamo Bay. This Act would criminalize organic farming, seed saving, and the use of manure instead of chemical fertilizer; require all food-producing animals to be treated with antibiotics and hormones; and give the government the power to “control every step in the food chain from production to home preparation” (see analysis at www.opednews.com/articles/a-solemn-walk-through-HR-875, March 16, 2009). 

In Canada, this arrogance disease struck on January 29 when the Harper government introduced Bill C-6. It is a new “Act respecting the safety of consumer products”.  In fact, C-6 is the new and more lethal version of last year’s Bill C-52. Its stated objective is “protecting the public” in the “increasingly global marketplace” by “addressing dangers to human health or safety that are posed by consumer products”. 

“For the first time in Canadian history”, lawyer Shawn Buckley explains, “Bill C-6 not only abolishes the law of trespass, but also allows warrants to be issued to search private homes without evidence of criminal wrongdoing … in violation of Section 8 of the Charter.” Bill C-6 also makes really sure you know who is boss – in all matters, “guilt is determined by the Minister”, not by the courts, as was the case for the past thousand years or so. 

Now all this would be really nice if the Minister were at least half as informed as Vitality readers and would, therefore, immediately ban most of the chemicals used in current vaccines and drugs because they actually “make the sick get sicker quicker” – to use Dr. Sherry Rogers’ famous phrase.  Such a Vitality magazine-informed Minister also would immediately stop all planting and consumption of cancer-promoting and soil destroying genetically modified foods; food-producing animals would no longer be stuffed with carcinogenic and endocrine-disruption hormones and antibiotics; the mining and use of asbestos would be stopped; and our rivers and lakes would cease to be sink holes for pharmaceuticals and environmental poisons. 

Instead, Bill C-6 merely increases government powers to the level of the absurd and lists a few toxic chemicals, potentially harmful baby products (strollers, soothers etc.), some hunting equipment and the like – all of which we already know about, don’t use, can’t get, or don’t want. What this proposed new Act is supposed to accomplish is a mystery.

GOVERNMENT REDEFINES ITSELF TO ESCAPE RESPONSIBILITY

Like the pronouncements of an alcoholic dead-beat father assuring his confused offspring that he has only their best interest at heart as he takes his paycheque to the next bar, the lofty paternalistic promise of Bill C-6 is followed immediately by a complete abdication of all true responsibility through the provision of a new definition of government that would have floored Sir John A. MacDonald and sent Pierre Trudeau into a holy rage. 

This definition of government is not what you might think, namely the sum total of federal and provincial governments because we elect their members. For Prime Minister Harper, “government” includes “a corporation” [e.g. Big Pharma, Big Agri, Big Mining, Big Weapons, Big Psychopath-With-Big-Bucks, as portrayed in Joel Bakan’s documentary film “The Corporation”].  Furthermore, the definition of the Canadian government now also includes “a government of a foreign state or of a subdivision of a foreign state”, and “an international organization of states”. To make sure this definition really sticks when it gets down to the practical stuff, under Section 36 (2) (a) “any regulation made under this Act may be incorporated by [not just us voters, but by] …  a person or body other than the [Canadian, elected MP] Minister, including by an organization established for the purpose of writing standards [how about Codex?] … an industrial or trade organization [on whose boards we don’t sit], or a government [which, if it isn’t Canadian, we didn’t elect and is not answerable to us]”.

ACTIVISTS JOINING TOGETHER IN APRIL

Is there a cure?  Oh yes!  And you and I can be part of the therapy. It is very unlikely that commonsense, science-based, spin-proof enlightenment will appear any time soon in Ottawa.  Never mind, we are fortunate to be able to turn to those who are not suffering from the feverish dreams of power, control, and “those corporate practices … described as ‘a race to the bottom’” which Gar Wood-worth observes is the “inevitable outcome of the single-minded pursuit of profits” that depletes everything – natural resources, human values, and the quality of our lives. (CCPA Monitor, February 2009).  

From April 17 to 19, Toronto’s Total Health show will feature Robert Bateman, the great artist and naturalist; Vandana Shiva, internationally renowned activist against genetically modified foods and leader in environmental justice campaigns; Dr. Shiv Chopra, the Health Canada whistleblower whose twenty-year work against bovine growth hormone stopped its use in Canada and the EU; Dr. Robert Verkerk, head of Europe’s Alliance for Natural Health and Codex warrior extraordinaire; health law and constitutional expert Shawn Buckley, the president of Canada’s Natural Health Products Protection Association; and Sally Fallon, the nutritionist with a deep historical view on food.

What all these people have in common is captured in the title of Bateman’s recent book: Thinking Like A Mountain. They experience themselves as part of a planet that is very old, very large, of priceless value and immense future duration regardless of our self-destructive behaviour. Mountains think in millions of years and their concerns include the bacteria in the soil and the clouds in the sky above them. The quick fix is antithetical to the way mountains think. All these activists have helped to build barricades against the diseased public policies in their own countries – policies that, in Canada, are embodied in the absurdities of Bill C-6. The cure to such diseased governments is an educated electorate that insists on the long-term, communal approach first – and always. 

“Creation is long and difficult; destruction is quick”, Robert Bateman wrote in a Globe and Mail article on December 13, 2003, in which he expressed his deep resentment for “neo-conservatives who are not conservatives at all. They are the opposite: radicals who are destroying cherished institutions and wreaking havoc on our human heritage as well as our natural heritage.”

Vandana Shiva, a winner of Sweden’s alternate Nobel prize, the Right Livelihood Award, obtained her PhD in physics from Waterloo University in the 70’s. In her native India she later emerged as a formidable force against the World Trade Organization’s attempt to patent India’s most important crops, including Basmati rice. “Globalization is, in effect, the globalization of energy-intensive, resource-wasteful, fossil fuel-driven industrialization of our production and consumption patterns,” she writes in her latest book, Soil not Oil. “The players are neither individual citizens nor individual countries. The players are global corporations who move production of goods around the globe to where they can obtain the highest profit margins by bearing the lowest costs…. I call this path eco-imperialism.”

“The age of oil has symbolized a rule of capital, of centralized control and coercive government, of pollution and non-sustainability, of injustice and inequity, of violence and war.  The age of soil symbolizes the age of Gaia, of the flowering of diversity and democracy, of justice, sustainability and peace.”

This is not just fine poetry, but the stuff of quantifiable science. In the October 9, 2008, issue of Nature, the importance of soil was estimated as providing “free services from soil biota equivalent to an estimated US $1.5 trillion annually.” Those biota consist of bacteria, worms, etc., so diverse that on average about 4,000 different bacterial genomes are represented in one gram of soil which, additionally, also stockpiles about 1,500 gigatonnes of carbon every year. Current (quick-fix, get rich quick) farming practices degrade soils everywhere through fertilizers, pesticides and mono-culture planting.  That degradation is then further accelerated by business practices which cause starvation because of the quick wealth promised by the highly inefficient biofuels causing a worldwide food shortage. Between 2005 and 2008 the price of wheat and maize tripled, rice went up five fold, and the number of chronically undernourished people increased by almost 100 million.

Dr. Robert Verkerk has been singularly successful in stopping (time and again) the juggernaut of the European Directives on foods, drugs, and dietary supplements through legal action in European and international courts. Last June, Ireland voted ‘No’ to the EU Constitution, primarily because its citizens objected to the harmonization of food and dietary supplements. Since then, 11 countries have voted against allowing any type of genetically engineered foods to be consumed by its citizens, and the EU Parliament is currently trying to deal with this unforeseen insurrection. Dr. Verkerk’s Alliance for Natural Health is not only vigorously supporting the Irish, but has started a Europe-wide campaign against GMOs and the EU’s attempt to enforce universal vaccination programs. Because of various international trade treaties, whatever happens in Europe will have an impact on policies in North America, and we must learn how best to assist the Europeans.  

VICTORIES FROM THE BATTLEFRONT

Some of the finest work that the Alliance for Natural Health has recently done involves exposing what Dr. Shiv Chopra used to call “tobacco science” – the industry-sponsored twisting of data and doctoring of medical trial results to favour their phony foods or toxic drugs over the real thing. When the mainstream press reports on some study that supposedly shows that folic acid increases cancer or vitamins shorten your life span, be sure to go to anh.org and find out the real story on the research.  Everything the crooks didn’t want you to know will be laid out there in verifiable detail.

The battle for truly safe food (uncontaminated by government policy) and for freedom of choice in health care is not only being won, bit by bit and in strange and unexpected ways all over the world, but recently has been supported in court decisions with vast implications. The Supreme Court of Canada extended liability decisively in favour of the injured party by ruling last November that even when a company obeys current government regulations, if its activities pollute the environment and create excessive annoyance, they may be sued successfully because they are liable for the damages created regardless of existing regulations (see Ecojustice.org). 

In early March, the US Supreme Court ruled that drug companies are liable for the harm their products may cause. Wyeth, on the brink of bankruptcy due to legal actions from victims of hormone replacement drugs and the anti-inflammatory Vioxx, attempted to obtain a shield against liability generally, and failed. This ruling will undoubtedly impact on the arrogance of all of Big Pharma as well as Big Agri.   

The ancient Chinese are credited with that famous curse, “May you live in interesting times!” They surely assumed that it would apply equally to everybody, the just and the unjust alike. So, let us make these times interesting to those who oppress us and nature. 

SOURCES & RESOURCES

• On Bill C-6:  www.NHPPA.org and www.shivchopra.com. Meet Robert Bateman, Vandana Shiva, Shawn Buckley, Dr. Robert Verkerk at the KOS Publishing booth at Total Health, April 17 – 19.
• M. Angell. Science on Trial.  Norton, 1997
• L. Armstrong et al. Cancer – 101 Solutions to a Preventable Epidemic, New Society Publisher, 2007
• S. Chopra. Corrupt to the Core – Memoirs of A Health Canada, Whistleblower, Kos, 2009.
• S. Fallon. Nourishing Traditions – The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats, New Trends Publishing, 1999
• H. Ferrie. What Part of No! Don’t They Understand? Rescuing Medicine and Food from Government Abuse, Kos 2008 (download for free from www.kospublishing.com – everything in this book about the 2008 bills C-51 and C-52 applies to the current bill C-6; the reasons for resisting such legislation have not changed)
• T. Healy ed. The Harper Record, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2008
• J. M. Smith. Genetic Roulette – The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods. Yes! Books, 2007
• V. Shiva. Soil Not Oil – Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis, South End Press, 2009
• V. Shiva. Stolen Harvest – The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply, South End Press, 2004
• G. Tansey & T.Rajotte. The Future Control of Food – A Guide to the International Negotiations and Rules on Intellectual Property, Biodiversity, and Food Security. Earthscan, 2009.

Highlights of Activist Presentations at Total Health Show

• Robert McLellan Bateman – Thinking like a Mountain. Workshop, Q&A and Book-signing. $15 or donation. Friday, 7:00 pm, Room 206

• Shawn Buckley 1) Panel Presentation: Our Health Products Still at Risk: Global & Local Updates Sunday, 12:00 – 2:00, Room 206 2) More Harm than Good! – The NHP Regulations are Not About Safety –  Saturday, 4:00 – 5:00, Room 205, Sunday, 3:00 – 4:00, Room 206

• Shiv Chopra 1) Panel Presentation: Our Health, Our Food & Our Planet – Saturday, 12:00 – 2:00, Room 206 2) Panel Presentation: Our Health Products Still at Risk: Global & Local Updates – Sunday, 12:00 – 2:00, Room 206 3) GMOs, Hormones and Toxins in Our Food Supply: Fighting for Food and Water Safety – Saturday, 2:00 – 3:00, Room 206

• Vandana Shiva  1) Panel Presentations Our Health, Our Food & Our Planet – Saturday, 12:00 – 2:00, Room 206 2) Our Health, Our Food, Our Future – Saturday, 3:00 – 4:00, Room 206; Saturday, 6:00 – 9:00, Room 206.  Workshop: $15 or donation 3) Solutions for a Sustainable Earth:  Democracy and Justice for All Sunday, 2:00 – 3:00, Room 206

House Resolution 875, or the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, was introduced by Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., in February. DeLauro’s husband, Stanley Greenburg, works for Monsanto – the world’s leading producer of herbicides and genetically engineered seed.

HR 875/SR425 is the bill that gives the government more control over our food and pesticides and appears to violate the 10th amendment at the same time.  The 10th is the one that specifies that “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. 

Ck out the legislation here at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c111:1:./temp/~c111UkEuSz:e5014:

Perhaps not intended, but maybe so- HR 875’s legislation is so vague that someone with a backyard garden could see a fine and potentially have their property seized by the governments newest proposed administration, “The Food Safety Administration.”  Currently, the Food and Drug Administration, {FDA} is an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, has regulatory jurisdiction over the safety and labeling of 80 percent of the American food supply, encompassing all foods except meat, poultry, and egg products, as well as drugs, medical devices, and biologics.  I wonder if Michelle Obama’s White House Garden is in compliance?

This is more than just an approach to stop disgusting, contaminated peanut butter factories and regulate the likes of super food producers like Tyson, Monsanto, ADM, and distributors like Cysco.  Had the FDA enforced the violations it found in the Georgia peanut factory in the first place, hundreds would not have been sickened or died. 

HR 875 will put organic foods and organic marketers at risk. What is the chance that they would be able to keep up with the broad demands this legislation entails including, the list of pesticides and fertilizers.  Forget the  the organic market out in the country, a street vendor selling home grown tomatoes, or a tomato from your own garden.  Reminds me of  the movie, “ The Godfather,” when every time there is an orange in the scene, someone dies.  What is dying with HR875, is the little guys effort to compete against large food growers, processors and distributors.   

In a further erosion of individual States rights, the bill would legally bind States agriculture to enforce federal guidelines and it seems to stretch all the way into wild game like deer, turkey.  Shouldn’t hunters be concerned? 

“Theres also a chance that as this bill moves through Congressman Waxman’s Energy and Commerce Committee, he could use it as a vehicle for attacking the Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act of 1994 which defends our access to dietary supplements,” writes the Rumor Mills at http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?noframes;read=142795.  What, no more Flintstone Vitamins?  No more Z-cam or C for colds? Certainly the big pharmaceutical companies would have a vested interests in the elimination of over the counter vitamins.  Pharma would rather see a prescription issued for one of their own manufactured pills.

Section 204 of the legislation, “Not later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall publish in the Federal Register a list of the contaminants in foods that have the greatest adverse impact on public health in terms of the number and severity of illnesses and number of deaths associated with foods regulated under this Act.”  Here come the food police and the hunt will be on.  I think we all, already know eating raw or undercooked shell fish can kill you. 

Currently in existence is CODEX ALIMENTARIUS, with 181 countries now participating .  The Codex Alimentarius Commission was created in 1963 by FAO and WHO to develop food standards, guidelines and related texts such as codes of practice under the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Program. The main purposes of this Program are protecting health of the consumers and ensuring fair trade practices in the food trade, and promoting coordination of all food standards work undertaken by international governmental and non-governmental organizations. http://www.codexalimentarius.net/web/index_en.jsp

Arguing against, ”Codex is one component in a much larger population control, and societal control agenda. Food Control (and Nutrient Control) = People Control, says http://www.nocodexgenocide.com/page/page/3113334.htm.

Under the guise of increased security, the has the FDA is working via the Trilateral Cooperation Charter http://www.fda.gov/oia/charter.html to harmonize the food and drug regulations between the US, Canada and Mexico.

WaPo reported that Obama will ask Congress for $1 billion in new funds to add inspectors and modernize laboratories.  $1 billion more of our tax dollars going to the government.   Ugggghhhh. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/14/AR2009031401600.html

HR 875/S425 may just be like the bailout, TARP and Recovery legislation, no one has read it.  I’d bet the legislation was written by lobbyists and industry experts who, in the long run don’t really care about keeping food safe, only profits and putting the little guy out of business.

http://magicalgodmother.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/monsanto-myths-and-misrepresentation/ offers a peek at some myths about HR 875.

Go ahead and comment, you know you want to.

Those of you who are familiar with QADEX will know that we provide a market leading solution for food supply chain assurance.

We are also advocates for food standards such as BRC and equivalent, or retailer specific standards as these go a long way to improving general standards within global supply chains.

Using solutions such as QADEX it is possible to filter suppliers and provide fast track pre-approval to suppliers who have invested in 3^rd party accreditation. In recent years the majority of food businesses using QADEX have adopted this practice. This results in substantial reductions in compliance costs for accredited suppliers.

So, why use self audit questionnaires / food safety questionnaires / supplier self audits, why not just collect 3^rd party accreditation certs from suppliers and be rid of all these self audits? I know it would reduce the volume of work for our team here at QADEX, but hey, it is a question worth asking.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on which way you look at it, the headline above answers the question.

Most people who are familiar with supply chain assurance will confirm that it only takes one supplier to mess up and for this to slip through the net to cause a substantial amount of disruption resulting in product withdrawals and threats to food safety.

In fact many of the large food safety incidents in recent years originated at a single source.

We all have our views on the various food standards. auditor quality, certification bodies, 3^rd party audits etc, but surely the fact that a qualified auditor has been on site on an annual basis is a stronger risk assessment than any amount of self audits, whether conducted by a solution such as QADEX or not.

It is not the 51% of sites which are BRC accredited that should be the focus of attention, it is the 49% who do not have accreditation whom we need to focus our efforts on.

Looks like our support team will be busy for a while longer.

At our company training session on miessence it was emphasized that our ONE group certified organic is to Food standards. Food standards are consistent across the different certifying bodies so it is a clear guarantee. Unfortunately certified organic standards for cosmetics is not as high and can really be made up by the certifying bodies without accountability. As a result a multitude of products are coming out in the market, especially in the UK, that are claiming their personal care items and cosmetics are certified organic…they are by definition of the standard however only to cosmetic standards over which there is no proper regulation, with synthetic chemicals being allowed into some of the formulations and often less than 95% of ingredients being certified organic (as is with food standards). Hence when it comes to food, the certified organic stamp is one you can trust but not with personal care/cosmetic items unless the certification aligns with food standards (ie Australia Certified Organic, USDA NOP, and any of the other organic certifying bodies).

contributor: myorganicfamily.com ‘organic beauty products’

The Food standards Agency has surprised itself in findings that show poor people consume a diet nowhere near as bad as had been assumed when compared to other socio-economic groups. That is not to say that people on low incomes are eating healthily at all but that all economic groups are eating a bad diet.

In the survey of 3,500 people on low incomes they found:

• 80% shopped at a large supermarket
• Most claimed to have good cooking and food storage facilities at home
• 91% of women and64% of men said they were able to cook from basic ingredients
• 62% of men and 63% of women were overweight or obese
• 35% of boys and 34% of girls were overweight or obese
• Higher levels of smoking and alcohol consumption
• Lower levels of activity
• Lower consumption of fruit and vegetables
• Higher consumption of surgery drinks

Another interesting factoid is that an average trolley of food from the supermarket now costs 7% less in real terms that it did in the year 2000 and 15% less than in 1900.

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Random Post

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has said that it cannot give a safe level consumption guide for a colourant used in some burgers and sausages. E128, also known as Red 2G is thought to be potentially cancer causing.

The dye is used primarily in the UK and the Irish Republic by some individual butchers and small meat firms involved at the cheaper end of the meat market.

It is used by some because red meat oxidises over time and turns to a brown colour and the dye is used to keep the meat looking fresh. Traders have argued not to ban the dye as they say there is no natural alternative. E128/Red 2G is currently banned in Norway, Sweden , Finland , Austria ,US , Canada , Japan , Switzerland and Australia.

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