Cargill, Hormel defend use of carbon monoxide in meat packaging

The committee did invite a company that has helped lead the charge against the use of carbon monoxide in meat packaging, Kalsec Inc. of Kalamazoo, Mich., which makes extracts that slow the browning of meat. Two years ago, the company filed a petition with the Food and Drug Administration seeking a ban on the use of carbon monoxide in meat packaging.

Peterson told the committee that Kalsec declined the invitation.

"It's unfortunate that for whatever reason they didn't want to be here," he said.

"Our problem is with the FDA," responded Kalsec's vice president, Donald Berdahl. "We didn't think this (hearing) was a good forum for raising that concern." The company has acknowledged it has a business interest in protesting the practice.

Since 2002, the FDA has given the go-ahead to use carbon monoxide under a process known as "generally recognized as safe."

FDA spokesman Michael Herndon said in an e-mail that the agency has not made a final decision on the merits of Kalsec's petition.
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Several supermarket chains, such as Safeway, Giant Food and Stop & Shop, agreed to stop selling meats packaged in carbon monoxide after the House Energy and Commerce Committee wrote letters expressing concern about the practice and seeking information. Those letters were signed by John Dingell, the committee chairman, and Bart Stupak, who chairs the committee's oversight and investigations subcommittee. Both are Democrats from Michigan, home to Kalsec.

Giant Food Recalls Cake Decoration

Supermarket operator Giant Food Inc. on Thursday recalled some Football bobble heads used as cake decorations because of the possible presence of lead paint.

The recall follows the voluntary recall by the manufacturer DecoPac Inc.

They are three inches tall and have a green base. They were sold since Jan. 2006.

Meat recalls point to possibility threat is growing

Does Dean Foods Sell Fake Organic Products under the name Horizon?

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According to a news release sent out by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Aug. 30, 2007, the company’s Platteville, Colo.- based plant may still see its organic certification revoked if the farm does not comply with various demands by the end of a one-year probationary period.

Aurora is one of the largest organic milk suppliers in the country, with 12,000 dairy cows on five farms. The company produces organic milk for private label programs at Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), Safeway (NYSE: SWY), Trader Joe’s and others. The company also sells milk under its own brand name, High Meadows.

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However, the agency’s own release listed a number of requirements placed on Aurora, including providing daily access to pasture during the growing season and reducing the number of cows on its farm, among others. Aurora’s dairies in Colorado and Texas are expected to be closely monitored over the next year, and certification of any Aurora farm not complying with the agreement will be revoked, according to USDA. Aurora also agreed not to renew certification for its Woodward, Colo., farm.

If Aurora loses additional certifications, organic milk supplies could dip, eliminating the current glut and raising organic milk prices, according to market analysts. Aurora Organic and Dean Foods are estimated to control as much as 70 percent of the organic dairy market.

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Monsanto: The Pus Filled Milk Company

Federal regulators have turned down a request from Monsanto Co. to take action against dairy companies that advertise milk as free of synthetic hormones.

The Federal Trade Commission said last week that the ads it reviewed did not make any misleading claims about the safety of recombinant bovine somatotropin, or rBST, a hormone that boosts milk production in cows.

St. Louis based-Monsanto, which markets the hormone under the brand name Posilac, had asked the FTC to investigate more than a half dozen companies that advertise milk products.

The company claims the ads mislead consumers into thinking that milk from cows not treated with rBST are healthier or safer than dairy products from cows treated with the hormone.

The hormone is banned in Canada and Europe, mainly due to concerns that it leaves cows more prone to illness. But the Food and Drug Administration and the company insist the hormone is safe and the FDA approved rBST to boost production in dairy cows in 1993.

Still, many dairy farmers concerned about possible safety risks refuse to use the product and a growing number of retailers, including grocery chains Safeway and Kroger Co., have switched to milk free of synthetic hormones.

The national milk brand Borden, for example, advertises that ``we work exclusively with farmers that supply 100 percent of our milk from cows that haven't been treated with artificial hormones. So, who do you trust when it comes to your family's milk?''

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Monsanto wants to patent pigs

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In what critics call a dangerous power grab, the Monsanto Company is seeking wide-ranging control over swine reproduction methods in the form of patents which, if granted, would give the corporation economic rights over any offspring produced using those techniques.Documents obtained by Christoph Then, a Germany-based researcher for Greenpeace, show Monsanto's attempts to secure broad intellectual property protection for swine herds.
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Monsanto tastes defeat