China is fighting to get a better food reputation.

The government recently banned 17 food additives including lye, boric acid, formaldehyde and sodium thiocyanate. Lye is sometimes added to water for soaking seafood to make it appear fresher and plumper. Formaldehyde was also used for seafood. And boric acid—which is often used as an insecticide and flame retardant—gets added to noodles and dumplings to make them easier to work with.

China has been plagued with hazardous food issues in the past year. That includes a scandal involving milk contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine--a complicated issue even in our own country as we discussed in a recent article. The government appears to be finally reacting. Currently, the order to stop using these additives allows for food producers a little time to change direction. But soon, authorities say, they will conduct raids on producers and manufacturers who are deemed high risk users of these chemicals. The ministry says this is only the beginning, and that more additives could be added to the list in time.

Sources: MSNBC, ABC News, Voice of America

Earlier this year, Envirovore reported the good news that California was committed to taking an alternative approach in combatting the little brown apple moth (LBAM.) The EPA plans to ignore this initiative, however.

The highly destructive Australian moth was first discovered in orchards and vegetable farms in California in early 2007, and has been typically dealt with through aerial spraying of synthetic moth pheremones, under the brandname CheckMate. But aerial treatments of CheckMate in 2007 resulted in over 600 health-related complaints - from headaches to respiratory failure - by residents of Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.

As a result, the Gubernator banned the aerial spray in urban areas. Instead, the California Department of Agriculture released sterile hybrids of the moth to reduce populations.

But several more LBAMs were found last week in Sonoma County, and the EPA's plan is to spray CheckMate again. Environmental attorney Steven Volker, on behalf of a dozen plaintiffs affected by the 2007 sprayings, has filed a case with the U.S. District Court, suing the EPA to overturn its decision.

Via Sonoma News

Tributyltin, the main active ingredient in many pesticides, causes damage to the nervous, immune and reproductive systems of animals from water fleas to humans.

But that's not all. The chemical may interfere with cells, making people more prone to obesity.

So far, tributyltin has shown to cause the growth of excess fat tissue in mice exposed in utero. This study published recently in a BioScience article shows a parallel between the rise in obesity over the past 40 years, and the rise in use of industrial chemicals over the same time period. The correlation is under scientific scrutiny but shows a “plausible and provocative” association between the two.

Tributyltin is also found in anti-fouling paints for boats and as a wood and textile preservative.

Sources: Bio-Medicine and Natural News

South Korea has apparently used up all its affordable agricultural land. So now a private company, Daewoo Logistics, has bought a 99-year lease on 3.2 million acres in Madagascar. Daewoo plans to grow corn and palm oil on what amounts to half of all Madagascar's arable land.

The long-term lease the South Koreans hold in Madagascar could represent an emerging trend of wealthier nations outsourcing and securing their food and fuel streams by using land in other countries. The British company of Sun Biofuels already has biofuel plantations in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Tanzania.

But the countries leasing out their land at the cheapest rates are often the sames ones having the most trouble providing food for their own citizens. In Madagascar, 70% of the population lives in poverty, yet soon half of all the arable land in the country will be producing food for South Korean citizens. Daewoo's CEO, in response to questions about the ethics of the situation, responded that the company is providing a $6 billion infrastructure over 20 years that will provide jobs for Madagascar residents.

Via Times

Truffles - the rich, rare and earthy fungi that peasants and kings have delighted in for over two thousand years - are getting harder to find. Because of severe regional drought, the wild harvests of some of the most coveted truffles in Spain, Italy and France are down as much as 70% from last year.

The Northwestern U.S. remains moist as ever, however, and small-scale farmers there are just beginning to cash in on growing truffle orchards. Twenty farmers in Washington have planted hazelnut orchards and inoculated them with truffle spores.

Truffles are the velvety fruiting bodies (mushrooms) of the fungal genus Tuber. Tuber prefers to grow in alkaline soils among the roots of oaks and hazelnuts, and is the only group of fungi to produce mushrooms underground. (Hence all the pigs and dogs needed to sniff out the truffles.)

U.S. truffle producers have a solid opportunity to take over the market here, since the U.S. slapped a 100% tarriff on European truffles after the Europeans banned our hormone-ladden beef. 

Selling for one thousand dollars a pound, just one acre of an orchard producing truffles can add $24,000 to $35,000 a year to a farmer's bottom line. Large individual truffles have sold for more than $300,000. The catch? It takes at least a decade for a truffle orchard to mature.

Via Puget Sound Business Journal

The EPA has made its position on regulating factory farm emissions official. And its position is this: We're not going to do it.

The agency issued a new regulation on Friday that exempts factory farms from reporting hazardous air pollution to the federal government, calling such reporting "unnecessary" because "Federal, State or local response officials are unlikely to respond to notifications of air releases of hazardous substances from animal waste at farms" anyway.

That statement is a little...um...disheartening.

OK, well maybe EPA doesn't think it needs the data but communities and farm workers seeking recourse for health problems resulting from factory farm pollution need this record to hold the culprits accountable.

A quick review: gases released from animal waste include hydrogen sulfide and ammonia. Livestock operations generate about two-thirds of the ammonia emissions reported each year, and the concentration of these and other toxic gases leads to respiratory problems in farm workers and nearby residents, as cited in a recent lawsuit we told you about.

Two hopeful pieces remain, however:

1. Local authorities demanded they know about the sources of emissions that might cause respiratory problems or deaths. "Their views prevailed," reports the Washington Post. Judging by the rule, it looks like there is still some degree of local and state reporting of farm emissions.

2. This rule will almost certainly be revisited by the new administration and Congress. Senator Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who chairs the Agriculture Committee previously said that EPA "needed to formulate a common-sense answer" that recognizes difference between animal production and chemical factories. He now criticizes the Bush administration's new rule for being finalized before the completion of a two-year, $14 million study launched last year. The study is focusing on air pollution from farms.

Sources: Washington Post, EPA

This week, the Colorado Board of Education banned all soda from vending machines and cafeterias. Even diet sodas were routed by the Board. Milk and juice will be allowed in grade schools, and low-calorie sports drinks will be allowed in high schools.

Yes, both regular and diet sodas can cause tooth decay. It's also pretty obvious that cafeteria menus of limp cardboard pizza and greasy tater tots are hazardous to children's health, but we haven't heard about a ban on those yet. Even though Colorado is the "leanest" of the U.S. states, 29% of Colorado's children are overweight or at-risk.

It's unclear how much effect a soda ban at school will have on student consumption of soda - one study of 456 students over two years showed no difference in consumption of soda between students at schools that had banned soda and those at schools that hadn't.

Students appear unmoved by the soda ban, Rocky Mountain News writers reported, after interviews with students leaving a Denver high school. Most were headed to the 7-11 across the street.

Via UPI

FDA to women and children in 2004: Limit your intake of fish to avoid mercury.

FDA to women and children in 2008: Eat more fish, even if it contains mercury.

Huh. Now I thought mercury levels in our environment had risen over the years, and that mercury contamination led to neurological problems in children. Did I miss something?

If the EPA's reaction to this announcement is any indication, we should still be concerned. The agency's internal memos call the amended advisory "scientifically flawed and inadequate." And, while the 2004 advisory was jointly published by EPA, which regulates mercury in the environment, and FDA, charged with the regulation of mercury in seafood products, the agency says it didn't know about FDA's new advisory until the report was practically finished.

The Environmental Working Group obtained a copy of the new FDA document and reports that FDA is now encouraging women and children to eat more than 12 ounces of fish per week to acquire the most nutrients. This reverses the current recommended limit (which is 12 ounces) and raises questions about the science that led to this conclusion. What on earth made mercury consumption less risky? And just who is benefitting? I'm not convinced it's women and children.

Source: Washington Post