EJToday is SEJ's selection of new and outstanding stories on environmental topics in print and on the air, updated every weekday. SEJ also offers a free e-mailed digest of the day's EJToday postings, called SEJ-beat. SEJ members are subscribed automatically, but may opt out here. Non-members may subscribe here. EJToday is also available via RSS feed. Please see Editorial Guidelines for EJToday content.
"Food Inspection Is Often Flawed"
Wash Post, 10/22/2010"The voluntary quality control system widely used in the nation's $1 trillion domestic food industry is rife with conflicts of interest, inexperienced auditors and cursory inspections that produce inflated ratings, according to food retail executives and other industry experts."
Appeals Court Upholds rBGH-Free Labelling, Overturns Ohio Ban
Grist, 10/08/2010"Earlier this week, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the state of Ohio's ban on labels that identify milk as rBST- or rBGH-free, meaning produced without the use of artificial bovine growth hormone. Consumer and organic food groups were jubilant at the Ohio news, which may have far-reaching repercussions not only for all milk, but for genetically engineered foods."
"UN Warned of Major New Food Crisis at Emergency Meeting in Rome"
Guardian, 09/24/2010"The world could be on the brink of a major new food crisis caused by environmental disasters and rampant market speculators, the UN will be warned today at an emergency meeting on food price inflation."
"Salmonella-Sickened Grandma Pleads for Food Safety"
MSNBC, 09/23/2010"A Colorado grandmother hospitalized for five days after eating an appetizer made with salmonella-tainted eggs urged Congress to pass food safety laws that might have prevented her suffering."
"Panel Advises More Aggressive FDA Analysis of Engineered Salmon"
Greenwire, 09/22/2010"While a genetically engineered salmon is almost certainly safe to eat, the government should pursue a more rigorous analysis of the fish's possible health effects and environmental impact, members of a federal advisory committee said yesterday."
"Senate Bill on Food Safety Is Stalled"
NYTimes, 09/20/2010"After his mother died from eating contaminated peanut butter, Jeff Almer went to Washington to push for legislation that might save others from similar fates. And then he went again. And again. And again."
"FDA Panel To Consider GMO Salmon"
Reuters, 09/20/2010"The first genetically modified animal could move one step closer to the U.S. market on Monday, when a federal advisory panel makes its recommendation on whether such food -- a salmon -- is safe for consumers to eat."
"Kids Without Food in Pakistan Floods Face Death"
AP, 09/20/2010"SUKKUR, Pakistan — Suhani Bunglani fans flies away from her two baby girls as one sleeps motionless while the other stares without blinking at the roof of their tent, her empty belly bulging beneath a green flowered shirt. Their newborn sister already died on the ground inside this steamy shelter at just 4 days old, after the family's escape from violent floods that drowned a huge swath of Pakistan. Now the girls, ages 1 and 2, are slowly starving, with shriveled arms and legs as fragile as twigs."
"U.S. Meat Farmers Brace for Limits on Antibiotics"
NYTimes, 09/15/2010"Dispensing antibiotics to healthy animals is routine on the large, concentrated farms that now dominate American agriculture. ... Now, after decades of debate, the Food and Drug Administration appears poised to issue its strongest guidelines on animal antibiotics yet."
"A New Name for High-Fructose Corn Syrup"
NYTimes, 09/15/2010"The Corn Refiners Association, which represents firms that make the syrup, has been trying to improve the image of the much maligned sweetener with ad campaigns promoting it as a natural ingredient made from corn. Now, the group has petitioned the United States Food and Drug Administration to start calling the ingredient 'corn sugar.'"
USDA Knew of Egg Farm Problems But Failed To Act
Wall St. Journal, 09/10/2010"U.S. Department of Agriculture experts found growing sanitary problems including bugs and overflowing trash earlier this year on the Iowa farm at the center of the national egg recall, but didn't notify health authorities, according to government documents and officials."
"Egg Industry Resorts To Blaming the Victim in Recall, Critics Say"
USA TODAY, 08/30/2010"No more sunny side up. No more eggs Benedict. No more almost-set scrambled eggs. After of one of the largest egg recalls on record, critics say the egg industry is resorting to the worst tactic of all: blaming the victim."
"Iowa Town Is Tense as U.S. Ties Farm to Salmonella"
NYTimes, 08/27/2010"CLARION, Iowa — The scrambled eggs, as always, were hissing in a skillet on a recent morning at a coffee shop here, in an egg-producing county that has suddenly found itself at the center of the nation's egg recall over salmonella. But the conversation at the weekly gathering of local ladies turned uncharacteristically tense.
"Genetically Modified Canola 'Escapes' Farm Fields"
NPR, 08/06/2010"Genetically modified crops are commonplace in fields across the United States, but a new study suggests that some plants have spread into the wild."
"Bisphenol A Linked With Decreased Sperm Quality, Quantity"
ENS, 08/04/2010"In one of the first human studies of its kind, researchers have found that urinary concentrations of the controversial chemical Bisphenol A, or BPA, may be related to decreased sperm quality and sperm concentration."

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