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Lab-Grown Meat Isn’t on Store Shelves yet, but Some States Have Already Banned It
Lab-grown meat is not currently available in any U.S. grocery stores or restaurants. If some lawmakers have their way, it never will be. Earlier this month, both Florida and Arizona banned the sale of cultivated meat and seafood, which is grown from animal cells. In Iowa, the governor signed a bill prohibiting schools from buying lab-grown meat. Federal lawmakers are also looking to restrict it.
It’s unclear how far these efforts will go. Some cultivated meat companies say they’re considering legal action, and some states — like Tennessee — shelved proposed bans after lawmakers argued they would restrict consumers’ choices. Still, it’s a deflating end to a year that started with great optimism for the cultivated meat industry.
The backlash isn’t confined to the U.S. Italy banned the sale of lab-grown meat late last year. French lawmakers have also introduced a bill to ban it.
Backers of the bans say they want to protect farmers and consumers. Cultivated meat has only been around for about a decade, they say, and they’re concerned about its safety.
Third Person in U.S. Tests Positive for Bird Flu in Connection to Outbreak in Dairy Cattle
A third person in the U.S. has tested positive for H5 bird flu in connection to an outbreak in dairy cattle, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said Thursday. This is the second human case reported in the state.
This time, in addition to the eye symptoms seen in the other recent human infections with this virus, the individual, a farmworker, reported having a cough and other respiratory symptoms that are more typical of human influenza infections, the health department said.
Experts with knowledge of the case said that the addition of respiratory symptoms doesn’t necessarily indicate that the virus has become more dangerous, or that it may transmit more easily from person-to-person. Instead, they say the person likely developed lung symptoms because of the route of infection, perhaps by breathing in infectious aerosols in the milking parlor instead of rubbing their eyes with contaminated hands.
Research into how infections are transmitting from between cows and from cows to people that work with them is ongoing.
Michigan’s health department is advising people working on poultry or dairy farms to get a seasonal flu vaccine.
Pesticide Industry Could Win Big in Latest Farm Bill Proposal
“As a doctor, I am concerned about eroding protections for those most affected by dangerous pesticide exposures — the workers who apply them,” said Representative Yadira Caraveo (D-Colorado) during last Thursday’s session to discuss, amend, and vote on the House Agriculture Committee’s first draft of the 2024 Farm Bill.
Despite those objections, Caraveo was one of four Democrats on the committee who joined Republicans in moving the bill forward, complete with several controversial provisions that would make it harder for states to regulate pesticides and hamper individuals’ ability to seek compensation for harm caused by the chemicals.
Lawmakers have tried, unsuccessfully, to get similar language into past farm bills. Now, ongoing lawsuits involving Roundup’s link to cancer and paraquat’s link to Parkinson’s disease and recent state efforts to restrict the use of certain pesticides have raised the stakes. As a result, insiders say the industry is fighting harder than ever before and the new provisions reflect that push.
“This is an effort to not only cut off the ability of farmers, farmworkers, and groundskeepers to hold the companies accountable, it’s an effort to prevent the public from ever learning about the dangers in the first place.”
General Mills Faces Renewed Calls to Remove Plastic From Food
Consumer Reports is continuing to sound the alarm on plastic chemicals in food, with the advocacy group again targeting General Mills for producing a range of products found to contain risky and unintended ingredients.
Advocates on Thursday delivered a petition signed by more than 30,000 to General Mills’ headquarters in Golden Valley, Minnesota, calling on the company to address potentially hazardous plastic chemicals in its food. At issue are plasticizers, a chemical that makes plastic more flexible and resilient, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Studies have linked the substances to potential health risks including interfering with the production of estrogen and hormones, and diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, certain cancers and birth defects.
Thursday’s event follows tests by Consumer Reports earlier this year of 85 different foods. It found the highest concentration of phthalates — the most commonly used plasticizer — in a canned plastic product made by Annie’s Homegrown, an organic brand owned by General Mills. In addition to Annie’s Organic Cheesy Ravioli, other General Mills products found to contain the plasticizer included the Yoplait, Cheerios, Green Giant and Progresso brands.
New Bill Could Bail Out U.S. Farmers Ruined by ‘Forever Chemical’ Pollution
The U.S. may soon bail out farmers whose livelihoods were destroyed by toxic PFAS “forever chemical” contamination.
The proposal for a $500 million fund aims to head off a crisis for the nation’s growers and is moving through Congress amid increasing evidence that PFAS-contaminated sewage sludge used as a cheap fertilizer alternative poisoned crops and livestock. Separately, around 4,000 farms nationwide have been contaminated by PFAS from neighboring military bases.
The bipartisan proposal was included in the Senate’s version of the Farm Bill, and the funds could be used to remediate farms, buy out farmers and monitor health — or fund state-level testing for the dangerous chemicals.
The bill is modeled off legislation approved unanimously in the Maine legislature, said Sarah Alexander, executive director of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association.
Exclusive: U.S. Proposes Bulk Milk Testing for Bird Flu Before Cattle Transport
The U.S. Agriculture Department has proposed allowing farmers to bulk test the milk of their dairy cows for bird flu rather than test milk from individual cows before gaining approval to ship them across state lines, according to state and industry officials and agency documents.
The spread of the virus to cows and two dairy workers since late March raised concerns about the threat of a pandemic, and government officials are trying to contain the disease while minimizing economic damage to the farm sector. A pilot program for bulk testing milk could begin in June for farmers who choose to participate, according to documents USDA sent to industry officials this week that Reuters obtained.
Farmers said testing milk from bulk storage tanks offers the chance to collect a sample from all the cows within a herd and would be more efficient than testing samples from individual animals. Bulk tanks of milk from individual herds would need three consecutive weeks of negative testing results to show the herd is free of bird flu and enter the new program, according to USDA documents dated May 24.
Three weeks of testing milk from bulk tanks is not enough to confirm a herd is free of bird flu, though, said Gail Hansen, a veterinary and public health consultant. Samples from healthy cows could dilute samples from a small number of infected cattle in the same herd when their milk mixes in the tank, she said.
Farmworkers Face High-Risk Exposures to Bird Flu, but Testing Isn’t Reaching Them
Farmworkers face some of the most intense exposures to the bird flu virus, but advocates say many of them would lack resources to fall back on if they became ill. Scientists warn the virus could mutate to spread from person to person like the seasonal flu, which could spark a pandemic. By keeping tabs on farmworkers, researchers could track infections, learn how dangerous they are, and be alerted if the virus becomes more infectious.
But people generally get tested when they seek treatment for illnesses. Farmworkers rarely do that, because many lack health insurance and paid sick leave, said Elizabeth Strater, director of strategic campaigns for the national group United Farm Workers. They are unlikely to go to a doctor unless they become very ill.
Strater said about 150,000 people work in U.S. dairies. She said many worker advocates believe the virus has spread to more people than tests are showing. “The method being used to surveil at-risk workers has been very passive,” she said.
Federal authorities recently announced they would pay farmworkers $75 each to be tested for the virus, as part of a new program that also offers incentives for farm owners to allow testing of their dairy herds.
Farmers Must Kill 4.2 Million Chickens After Bird Flu Hits Iowa Egg Farm
Crews are in the process of killing 4.2 million chickens after the disease was found at a farm in Sioux County, Iowa, making it the latest in a yearslong outbreak that now is affecting dairy cattle as well. Last week, the virus was confirmed at an egg farm west of Minneapolis, Minnesota, leading to the slaughter of nearly 1.4 million chickens.
Overall, 92.34 million birds have been killed since the outbreak began in 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Although bird flu has become somewhat common among poultry, its spread to cattle has added to worries about the disease. In May, a second dairy farmworker was diagnosed with bird flu, and the virus was detected in both beef and milk. It has been confirmed on dairy cattle farms in nine states.
No Meat, No Plant: Protein Made by Finnish Startup Is Literally Made From Thin Air
Finnish startup Solar Foods has introduced Solein, a revolutionary protein produced from air and electricity. Yes, you read that right — a company is now making protein from literally thin air (via South China Morning Post).
This interesting approach promises to transform the food industry by offering a sustainable alternative to traditional animal and plant-based proteins.
Solein is a protein-rich powder made through a unique process involving single-celled organisms. Solein’s production uses abundant gases hydrogen and carbon dioxide to feed these organisms. Much like how sugar speeds up the fermentation process in yeast.
Solein’s production method stands out in the rapidly developing market of alternative proteins. Traditional protein sources, whether animal-based or plant-based, require significant amounts of land, water, and other resources.
Nutritional Needs Are ‘Shifting’ Amid Rise of Weight Loss Drugs, Says Nestle CEO
The meteoric rise of weight loss drugs means consumers’ nutritional needs are “shifting” which provides new opportunities for food companies, Nestle CEO Mark Schneider told CNBC.
Investors were initially concerned about the popularity of GLP-1 drugs such as Wegovy and Ozempic as it was assumed that people on the drugs would consume less food, Schneider told CNBC’s Silvia Amaro.
But that perspective has since changed, he said. “I think what since has emerged is that nutritional needs don’t go away. They’re just shifting. So, you know before, during, after GLP-1 therapy — consumers still have nutritional needs, but they may be different from someone who is not on a weight loss regimen.”
This serves as an opportunity for Nestle to bring science to the table and then “work on what we call companion products, products that really then address some of the specific consumer needs during that treatment,” Schneider said. Nestle is looking to capitalize on the popularity of the GLP-1 drugs with its “ambitious goal to push the healthier products,” the CEO said.
