Global Food News

All around the world, people seem to be facing the same sorts of issues with food that we face here in the US. In Italy, they’re not calling it COOL, but an estimated 150,000 gathered to protest food labeling practices on Wednesday. (Washington Post) Check out the article and the cute photo of the protesters dressed up as veggies, holding a sign which reads (in Italian) “Minister, You Eat Gentically Modified Food.” The march, held in Bologna, was organized by the Coldiretti agriculture lobby, who says that imported foods are being mixed in with Italian foods, and the imports are not regulated in the same ways that the Italian government regulates their products, so basically, nobody knows whether they’re ingesting dangerous pesticides or GE foods. And of course, mixing in the cheaper imports makes it harder for Italian farmers to get fair prices for their goods. Of course, we all know that transportation costs take their toll on the environment, as well. Lots of reasons to eat where you’re at, whether it’s Italy or LA or Brazil…

Speaking of Brazil, according to Bloomberg.com, the country has filed a broad (its broadest, in fact) attack on US farm aid (not that Farm Aid, silly–we’re talking subsidies here). Brazil is accusing the US of exceeding a $19.1 billion spending cap (since 2001), violating the US pledge to the trade arbiter. This complaint comes after the June 21 collapse of WTO talks to establish a global agreement cutting rich nations’ commodity tariffs and farm subsidies. Brazil walked out of those talks when the US would not agree to drop below $17 billion. Last month, Canada filed a similar complaint. Gretchen Hamel, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative’s office in Washington, called the complaints unfounded.

In the UK, Colin Manson, chairman of the National Farmers’ Union Scotland’s Highland region, reports troubling concerns over a lack of profitability keeping young people from continuing to work on their families farms. According to Manson, “(t)he average age of a Scottish farmer is late 50s and recent research has shown that as many as half of Scotland’s farms have no successor in place.” (BBC)

Here in the US, according to USA Today, the pet food industry is slow to bounce back after March’s pet food recall.