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Global Baby Formula Recall Traced Back to China: Reports
French dairy giant Lactalis has recalled batches of its Picot line of baby formula from 18 countries, including China, after tests found they were tainted with cereulide, a toxin that can cause vomiting and diarrhea in infants. The announcement, made on Wednesday, comes weeks after Nestlé initiated a global recall for the same toxin, with French authorities saying they had sourced the contaminated ingredient to a Chinese supplier.
Cereulide, a toxin produced by Bacillus cereus, can form in improperly stored starchy foods and poses greater risks to infants because the severe vomiting it causes can quickly lead to dehydration. The incident echoes past high‑profile food scandals linked to China that were caused by cost-cutting adulterants, prompting Beijing to step up regulatory oversight in recent years.
While initial analyses showed the affected Picot samples were in compliance with health standards, testing of the prepared bottles detected the toxin in the ARA oil, an omega-6 fatty acid used to enrich baby formula.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller Blasts Lab-Grown Meat Ruling: ‘Texas Will Not Back Down’
Texas Department of Agriculture reported:
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller today condemned a federal ruling that undermines the state’s recently enacted ban on lab-grown meat, calling it “an assault on Texas ranchers, a gift to Washington elites, and a slap in the face to state sovereignty.”
“This ruling is an assault on the livelihoods of Texas ranchers and impairs Texas’s ability to protect its people,” Miller said. “Texas banned lab-grown meat to protect family ranches, preserve honest food labeling, and keep our citizens safe from synthetic products with zero long-term health record.
This lawsuit should be thrown out immediately.” Miller didn’t hold back criticism of powerful industry interests driving the fight. “Let’s be clear: allowing leftist, Bill Gates–backed startups like Wildtype and UPSIDE Foods to bully a democratically passed Texas law in federal court isn’t innovation — it’s an attack on real producers and rural America,” Miller said. “It sends a loud message that Washington bureaucrats and billionaire tech investors matter more than the men and women who actually feed this country.”
The commissioner argued that lab-grown meat poses not only an economic threat but a fundamental danger to consumer trust. “Lab-grown meat isn’t progress—it’s a Trojan horse,” Miller warned. “It threatens rural livelihoods, compromises food safety, and erodes confidence in what Americans put on their plates. Texans don’t want meat grown in a petri dish and marketed by billionaires—they want real beef from real ranchers who raise livestock under time-tested standards.”
The Human Touch in Food Is What We’re Losing
Food, which generally originates with a farmer, gardener, or orchardist, is fast losing its hands-on persona and increasingly gaining a mechanical, chemical platform.
Over the past decade, the United States has lost about 28,000 farms annually. Although some of the loss is due to urbanization, most of the land remains farmland, either managed by other farmers or simply abandoned. Of the 1.3 million farmers older than 65, only 300,000 are 35 or younger.
In 2022, the average American farmer was 58 — years older than the average age in other vibrant economic sectors. The American business landscape is largely anti-people. The current rush to artificial intelligence reflects how eagerly most businesses seek to eliminate people. The farming sector illustrates this trend better than most. Between 1960 and 2019, the percentage of disposable personal income spent on food dropped to 9.5 percent from 17 percent. Meanwhile, health care spending has risen to 18 percent today from about 9 percent in 1980. Could the two possibly be related? One more data point: In the past 80 years, the farmgate share of the retail food dollar fell to just 15.9 percent in 2023 from about 40 percent.
Farming is out of sight and out of mind for most people. Food appears on grocery store shelves. It’s treated as a pit stop between life’s more important activities. Fortunately, the Make America Healthy Again movement is beginning to shine a spotlight on food, including through revised and more truthful dietary guidelines.
168 Chemicals Found in Food Linked to Gut Damage and Fertility Risks, Study Shows
Many everyday chemicals can impact your gut health and even male fertility, research shows. Proper food preparation, including washing and peeling fruits and vegetables, can protect from common pesticides. Researchers from the University of Cambridge tested common chemicals, including many without known health impacts, and found 168 that could cause significant damage to microbes that help digest food and maintain gut health.
They tested more than 1,000 chemicals in the lab, looking for interactions with 22 of the most common microbes necessary for a healthy digestive system. “We’ve found that many chemicals designed to act only on one type of target, say insects or fungi, also affect gut bacteria,” Study first author Indra Roux said in an article published on Cambridge’s website. “We were surprised that some of these chemicals had such strong effects.” Some of these, including chemicals used to put out fires and to create common plastics, were previously thought not to affect living organisms, they found.
“Fungicides and industrial chemicals showed the largest impact, with around 30% exhibiting anti-gut-bacterial properties,” their November article in Nature Microbiology states. In previous studies, all participants had detectable levels of pesticides, including permethrin, diethylphosphate, and glyphosate, in their urine. The Cambridge researchers then used their data to train a machine learning model to predict any effects new chemical compounds might have on intestinal health.
FDA Signals ‘Radical Transparency’ on Gluten — but Starts With Questions, Not Rules
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. framed the RFI as part of the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) strategy, calling for “radical transparency” in food labeling. The language is populist and forceful. The action, however, is procedural. An RFI gathers comments and data; it does not change labels, enforce disclosures, or penalize manufacturers.
The gap between rhetoric and near-term impact is notable.The FDA seeks evidence on adverse reactions linked to rye, barley, and oat cross-contact; how often these grains are present but undisclosed; and the severity of immunoglobulin E-mediated reactions. The agency openly acknowledges “serious data gaps,” especially limited U.S. data. That admission cuts both ways: it shows scientific restraint, but it also underscores years of regulatory inertia on gluten cross-contact — an issue patients have flagged for decades.
FDA Commissioner Marty Makary emphasized patient uncertainty and invited stakeholder input. That’s sensible. Yet the release does not outline timelines, thresholds, or likely regulatory options. Will the agency pursue mandatory disclosure of rye and barley? Set ppm limits for oats? Or rely on voluntary guidance? Those questions are deferred, not answered.
