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Company Recalls Beverages Over Undeclared Dyes, Preservatives on Labels
A Connecticut-based beverage company is recalling several products due to undeclared preservatives and food dyes on the labels. Charles Boggini Company issued a voluntary recall for its “Yellow Lemonade,” “Yellow Lemonade X,” “Pink Lemonade” and its “Cola Flavoring Base,” according to separate enforcement reports posted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
However, the company told FOX Business that the labeling issue is in the midst of being corrected. Its “Pink Lemonade” contains undeclared FD&C Red No. 40 while the “Yellow Lemonade,” and “Yellow Lemonade X” contain undeclared FD&C Yellow No, 5, according to the notices.
Its “Cola Flavoring Base” has undeclared sulfites, which is a chemical used as a preservative. It can trigger asthma attacks and allergic reactions, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, Red dye 40 contains benzene, which is a known cancer-causing substance. FD&C Yellow No. 5, also identified by the name “tartrazine,” can cause itching and hives in some people, according to the FDA. It has also been linked to hyperactivity in children, according to a study published in the National Library of Medicine.
The FDA classified the “Pink Lemonade” and “Cola Flavoring Base” as Class II recalls. A Class II is when the use of, or exposure to the product “may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote,” according to the FDA.
Exclusive: Cows Infected With Bird Flu Have Died in Five U.S. States
Dairy cows infected with avian flu in five U.S. states have died or been slaughtered by farmers because they did not recover, state officials and academics told Reuters.
Reports of the deaths suggest the bird flu outbreak in cows could take a greater economic toll in the farm belt than initially thought. Farmers have long culled poultry infected by the virus, but cows cost much more to raise than chickens or turkeys.
A U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesperson said the agency knew of a few deaths but that the vast majority of cows recover well. Reuters was not able to determine the total number of cows with bird flu that died or were killed in South Dakota, Michigan, Texas, Ohio and Colorado.
Avian flu has infected dairy cows in more than 80 herds across 10 states since late March, according to the USDA.
Some of the animals died of secondary infections contracted after bird flu weakened their immune systems, said state veterinarians, agriculture officials, and academics assisting in state responses to bird flu. Other cows were killed by farmers because they failed to recover from the virus.
Common Low-Calorie Sweetener Linked to Heart Attack and Stroke, Study Finds
A low-calorie sweetener called xylitol used in many reduced-sugar foods and consumer products such as gum and toothpaste may be linked to nearly twice the risk of heart attacks, stroke and death in people who consume the highest levels of the sweetener, a new study found.
“We gave healthy volunteers a typical drink with xylitol to see how high the levels would get and they went up 1,000-fold,” said senior study author Dr. Stanley Hazen, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Diagnostics and Prevention at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute.
“When you eat sugar, your glucose level may go up 10% or 20% but it doesn’t go up a 1,000-fold,” said Hazen, who also directs the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Microbiome and Human Health. In 2023, the same researchers found similar results for another low-calorie sweetener called erythritol, which is used as a bulking sugar in stevia, monkfruit and keto reduced-sugar products.
Additional lab and animal research presented in both papers revealed erythritol and xylitol may cause blood platelets to clot more readily. Clots can break off and travel to the heart, triggering a heart attack, or to the brain, triggering a stroke.
The Man Who Warned Us About UPFs: Michael Pollan on His 25-Year Fight With the Food Industry
In the middle of Food, Inc 2 — the follow-up documentary to 2008’s Food, Inc, narrated by Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser — scientists share what they have recently discovered about ultra-processed foods(UPFs). They are not just bad for you in a trashy, empty-calories kind of way; they interfere with the brain and the body’s ability to process food; they mess with you on a cellular level.
Whole populations are seeing health deteriorate, profoundly, for no purpose beyond profit. It must be annoying, I suggest to Pollan, 69, to hear scientists deliver this as a discovery. He has been warning against processed food for decades.
Anyway, back to the question: does it irk him that science took so long to catch up with ultra-processing, grandmothers and so on? “We assume science always gets there first,” he says. “It has such authority. But sometimes the grandmas know things.” He is speaking over a video call from California, looking relaxed and urbane. “I remember being struck, when I was working on nutrition in 2008, by this study that came out saying that the lycopene in tomatoes [often claimed to be an antioxidant] can’t be absorbed by the body unless it comes in the form of fat. OK, so olive oil on tomatoes. There’s a wisdom in that and the grandmas got there first.”
The U.S. food industry is a story of overconsolidation, usually with four mega-companies dominating 80% or more of every sector, from meat and dairy to cereals and soft drinks. It gives them undue political influence — almost an immunity to legislation. “We keep exempting agriculture from all the laws we have around labor and animal welfare,” Pollan says.
Bird Flu Outbreak Reported in Minnesota Dairy Herd, the State’s First
The ongoing U.S. outbreak of avian flu in dairy cattle reached Minnesota on Thursday as the state announced its first infected herd.
More than 80 dairy herds have been infected with the virus across 11 states since late March, and three dairy workers have tested positive for the virus.
The Minnesota Board of Animal Health said the farmer of the affected herd reported more than 40 cows with signs of fever. The animals were tested on Monday and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories confirmed the positive test on Wednesday night.
Belgium Sued for Authorizing ‘Highly Toxic’ Pesticides, Against EU Regulations
Three environmental NGOs are taking Belgium to court, arguing that the State is illegally authorizing the use of “highly toxic” pesticides.
Nature & Progrès (Nature and Progress), PAN (Pesticide Action Network) Europe and Bond Beter Leefmilieu (Association for a Better Environment) have filed an appeal with the Council of State (Belgium’s supreme court for administrative matters) arguing that a decision by Belgium to authorize the use of certain pesticides should be annulled.
The case centers around the Belgian State’s re-authorization of three pesticides containing abamectin (namely the insecticides Acaramik, Safran and Vargas).
In a joint statement on Wednesday, the three NGOs said that the EU has put in place a rigorous framework for the authorization of pesticides and that Belgium’s authorization of the use of “highly toxic” abamectin pesticides goes “well beyond” the bloc’s regulatory framework.
