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Lead-Tainted Applesauce Sailed Through Gaps in Food-Safety System
The New York Times via Yahoo!News reported:
Cinnamon-flavored applesauce pouches sold in grocery and dollar stores last year poisoned hundreds of American children with extremely high doses of lead, leaving anxious parents to watch for signs of brain damage, developmental delays and seizures.
The Food and Drug Administration, citing Ecuadorian investigators, said a spice grinder was likely responsible for the contamination and said the quick recall of 3 million applesauce pouches protected the food supply.
But hundreds of pages of documents obtained by The New York Times and the nonprofit health newsroom The Examination, along with interviews with government and company officials in multiple countries, show that in the weeks and months before the recall, the tainted applesauce sailed through a series of checkpoints in a food-safety system meant to protect American consumers.
The documents and interviews offer the clearest accounting to date of the most widespread toxic exposure in food marketed to young children in decades. Children in 44 states ate the tainted applesauce, some of which contained lead at extraordinarily high levels. Time and again, the tainted cinnamon went untested and undiscovered, the result of an overstretched FDA and a food-safety law that gives companies, at home and abroad, wide latitude on what toxins to look for and whether to test.
Like Cigarettes, Junk Food Should Come With a Warning: ‘Can Kill’
The 1970s was a confusing decade in which to be a smoker. People knew, of course, that smoking was bad for them: the evidence linking it to lung cancer had been incontrovertible since 1956. But despite government education programs, hiked taxes and restrictions in selling to children, these warnings hadn’t fully permeated the atmosphere.
And this is where we are, I think, in 2024, with what used to be called junk food, and which is now beginning to be called ultra-processed food. UPF is food that has at some stage been ground into unrecognizable pulp and bathed in additives, a definition that is gaining acceptance among experts. But it is nothing too new. We are now and have been for years, talking about the kind of food that encourages us to eat vast quantities of salt, sugar and fat in one barely chewed gulp. It is hamburgers, crisps, chocolate bars, ice cream, fizzy drinks and pappy processed cereal.
As with cigarettes in the 70s, much of the evidence is in. Junk food is linked to cancer. Two landmark studies last year showed UPFs caused heart disease and strokes. It is also beyond question that these kinds of foods cause obesity, a condition linked to 30,000 deaths a year in England alone. One in five children are obese by the final year of primary school and levels of obesity are spiraling upwards. Unhealthy diets are, worldwide, now killing more people than tobacco.
But these warnings have yet to filter through to our daily environment, in which junk food is beamed at us from bus stops and TV ad breaks — framed as an indulgence, a guilty pleasure, but not a scourge.
Study Finds Link Between Ultra-Processed Food and Potentially Fatal Heart Problems
Consuming highly processed food, such as chips, pizza, soda, and French fries, increases a person’s risk of heart attack, stroke, and death, according to the findings of a new study.
Ultra-processed foods are premade and contain ingredients such as synthetic food additives, preservatives, food colors, emulsifiers, and stabilizers. It includes food and beverages with added sugars, refined grains, and processed meats.
These foods typically have five or more ingredients and include fast foods, ham, sausage, mass-produced bread commonly sold in supermarkets, instant soup, alcohol, soda, and many beverages marketed as “fruit drinks.”
In a new study published last week in the medical journal The Lancet, Chinese researchers report that the more of a person’s calorie intake is made up of food ultra-processed foods, the higher their risk of cardiovascular events and heart disease.
Target, Aldi and Kroger Are Coming for Big Food
Store-branded goods have been slowly gaining market share in the last few years. But now they’ve built up such a cultural cachet that some of the world’s largest food and household supply companies are worried about keeping their dominance over shoppers.
It’s at the point where executives across companies from General Mills Inc. to JM Smucker Co. tried to reassure nervous investors last week that private labels won’t take over everything. And yet with retailers such as Target Corp. pumping money into refreshing their in-store brand offerings and introducing new ones altogether, private labels pose a new heightened threat to companies that have relied on their names alone to sustain business.
Biden Administration Sues to Block Kroger-Albertsons Supermarket Merger
The Biden administration is suing to block a proposed merger between Kroger and Albertsons supermarket chains, saying the deal would lead to higher food prices for consumers.
The Federal Trade Commission announced the suit in a release Monday on its website.
“The FTC charges that the proposed deal will eliminate fierce competition between Kroger and Albertsons, leading to higher prices for groceries and other essential household items for millions of Americans,” it said. “The loss of competition will also lead to lower quality products and services, while also narrowing consumers’ choices for where to shop for groceries.”
Americans have seen food-at-home prices climb more than 20% since the beginning of the pandemic, though more recently those cost pressures have eased. The USDA reported that U.S. consumers spent an average of 11.3% of their disposable personal income on food in 2022 — reaching levels similar to the 1980s, though much of this increase was attributable to large gains in food consumed away from home.
Food Giants See Opportunity to Profit From Consumers Using Weight-Loss Drugs
Food manufacturers are downplaying the negative impact that consumers using weight-loss drugs will have on their businesses, with a few seeing new opportunities to sell more popcorn, frozen meals, cereals and soups.
Weight-loss medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy have prompted concerns that people who take them will sharply cut back on buying food. A December study from Numerator found consumers using the GLP-1 medication for weight loss are spending less in grocery stores, with bakeries and snacks among the hardest hit.
But food companies attending the Consumer Analyst Group of New York conference in Florida this week said their businesses are poised to capitalize on the changing buying habits of customers who are taking weight-loss drugs.
The question remains how big of a trend will it become? There is little clarity about how many consumers will take GLP-1 for weight loss, and for the ones that do, uncertainty looms as to how long they will continue to take the medication. If it proves to be a trend that lasts, food companies want to make sure they are positioned to benefit.
Consumers Are Increasingly Pushing Back Against Price Increases — and Winning
Inflation has changed the way many Americans shop. Now, those changes in consumer habits are helping bring down inflation.
Fed up with prices that remain about 19%, on average, above where they were before the pandemic, consumers are fighting back. In grocery stores, they’re shifting away from name brands to store-brand items, switching to discount stores or simply buying fewer items like snacks or gourmet foods.
More Americans are buying used cars, too, rather than new, forcing some dealers to provide discounts on new cars again. But the growing consumer pushback to what critics condemn as price-gouging has been most evident with food as well as with consumer goods like paper towels and napkins.
In recent months, consumer resistance has led large food companies to respond by sharply slowing their price increases from the peaks of the past three years. This doesn’t mean grocery prices will fall back to their levels of a few years ago, though with some items, including eggs, apples and milk, prices are below their peaks. But the milder increases in food prices should help further cool overall inflation, which is down sharply from a peak of 9.1% in 2022 to 3.1%.
Amish Farmer Turned Republican Hero Becomes Flash Point in Culture War
Amos Miller, an Amish farmer in Pennsylvania, has become a flashpoint in America’s culture wars. Conservatives have been building support for Miller ahead of his February 29 hearing in a lawsuit brought by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office. A rally for the farmer has been planned for outside the courthouse next week, and a GiveSendGo fundraiser for the Amos Miller Organic Farm has raked in over $200,000.
Miller has repeatedly refused to comply with food safety regulations, and last month state troopers seized Miller’s edible products as part of a search warrant that was obtained after the state Agriculture Department was notified the products had been linked to E. coli outbreaks in two other states. A couple of weeks later, the state of Pennsylvania announced it was suing Miller to stop him from selling raw milk and other unregulated products, saying that his violation of food safety laws endangers public health.
Miller has argued that he does not sell his products to the public, only to his farm’s “private membership association,” and that exempts him from having to comply with government regulations.
Representative Thomas Massie, who called the raid “shameful” last month, told Newsweek in a Wednesday statement, “It’s a shame that small farmers have been pushed into these situations by overbearing government regulatory agencies and lawmakers captured by corporations and monopolies.”
Macron Booed by French Farmers Who Blame Him for Not Doing Enough to Support Agriculture
French President Emmanuel Macron was greeted with boos and whistles at the opening of the Paris Agricultural Fair on Saturday by angry farmers who blame him for not doing enough to support them.
Macron was scheduled to visit the event, which draws crowds of visitors every year. But before the official opening, several dozen protesters forced their way through security barriers and entered the site as the president was arriving.
Farmers have been protesting for months across France, including Paris, to demand better living conditions, simpler regulations and better protection against foreign competition they see as unfair. Three weeks ago, farmers lifted roadblocks around Paris and elsewhere around the country after the government offered more than 400 million euros ($433 million) in aid and tax breaks.
The French president decided to meet with groups of protesters in a separate room. He promised “floor prices” would be established for each product to “guarantee farmers’ income.”
Pesticides Are Leaving Lasting Behavioral Changes Through Generations of Fish, Study Finds
Pesticides, the silent heroes of modern agriculture, have revolutionized food production. Studies credit them with doubling vegetable yields, making them instrumental in feeding a growing global population. But their widespread use has sparked concerns about their impact on the environment and potentially even human health.
These potent chemical concoctions aren’t without their downsides. They can harm a diverse range of organisms, from insects vital to ecosystems to fish crucial for food security. Their toxicity doesn’t stop there — they also pollute water sources, with a recent UN report estimating a staggering 700 tonnes seep into our oceans every year.
A new study unveils a hidden cost even more unsettling. Even minute pesticide exposures during development can trigger lasting behavioral changes in fish. These changes can be as subtle as reduced levels of activity, potentially affecting their ability to find food and survive in the wild. More concerningly, these effects can be passed down to offspring who were never directly exposed, disrupting entire generations.
The study also found concerning bodily alterations in exposed fish, with smaller reproductive organs in males and surprisingly high reproductive capacity in their offspring. While this might seem beneficial at first glance, researchers warn that these alterations could come at a hidden cost, impacting growth, survival, and predator avoidance in future generations.
Nestle, Danone See Price Hikes Slowing After Years of Sharp Increases
Two of the world’s top consumer goods companies, Danone and Nestle, said on Thursday they will slow price increases in 2024 after two years of hikes that prompted many shoppers to seek cheaper alternatives for basic goods like yogurt and coffee.
But Danone (DANO.PA), which owns brands including Evian and Badoit waters and Activia yogurt, warned prices would still rise, citing a need to offset labor costs and shipping prices. Nestle (NESN.S) said it is seeing less impact from freight costs than in previous years although there has been some stress from attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.
Their comments follow British rival Unilever (ULVR.L), the maker of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Dove soap, which also said this month that price increases — which have helped fuel a protracted cost of living crisis — would start to ease.
As everything from sunflower oil to freight has become more expensive, spats between retailers and consumer goods companies have increased. Governments have criticized the price hikes and some of the companies responsible, most notably in France.
