Food

Requests Federal RFS Mandate Waiver

Apr. 25, 2008 -- AUSTIN – Seeking immediate relief from skyrocketing food costs, Texas Governor Rick Perry today asked the federal government for a 50 percent waiver from the federal renewable fuel standard (RFS) mandate for ethanol produced from grain.

Combine harvester: Photo by lapstrake (CC)    » read more »

04-23-2008 -- A bill that will assist hundreds of thousands of Oklahomans facing hunger passed the Senate on Tuesday in a unanimous, bipartisan vote, according to the bill's co-author, State Senator Andrew Rice.

"When our neighbors are going hungry, all of us are affected - it's a moral issue. I'm encouraged that all of my Senate colleagues, from both sides of the aisle, share my views and showed they are willing to take immediate action to combat food insecurity," Rice said.

Tulsa, Oklahoma: Photo by a.saliga (CC)    » read more »

April 22, 2008 -- Jefferson City, Mo. - The influence on commodities markets by Wall Street speculators is hurting both Missouri farmers who aren't benefiting from higher grain prices and Missouri consumers who are paying more for food at the grocery store, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon said today. Nixon is urging the federal agency that regulates futures markets, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), to take action to protect consumers and farmers.

Wheat fields: Photo by Farol Tomson (CC)    » read more »

April 16, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Bob Casey (D-PA), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today wrote to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Committee asking that they include $100 million in the supplemental appropriations bill for emergency funding for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP).

The program provides assistance to local food banks, which are currently experiencing severe food aid shortages and seeing higher demand from families strained under our ailing economy.    » read more »

April 16, 2008 -- WASHINGTON – Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Carl Levin (D-MI), along with a bipartisan group of colleagues, today sent the following letter to the Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer, requesting that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) complete the 8.1 million pound purchase of red tart cherry products for donation to its Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) program as soon as possible.

Red tart cherries: Photo by Andrew McFarlane (CC)    » read more »

April 16, 2008 -- Washington, D.C.—U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Robert Casey (D-PA), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today wrote to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Committee asking that they include $100 million in the supplemental appropriations bill for emergency funding for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). The program provides assistance to local food banks, which are currently experiencing severe food aid shortages and seeing higher demand from families strained under our ailing economy.    » read more »

Climbing food and energy prices could threaten the progress that Latin American economies have made in recent years as well as the stability of the region, say Central American leaders.

Cancún, Mexico, 16 April 2008 – Central American leaders at the World Economic Forum on Latin America warned that the impact of climbing food and oil prices could undo recent gains that their economies have made.

A mother and daughter grind mandioca in Amazon region of Brazil: Photo by Julio Pantoja / World Bank (CC)    » read more »

15 April 2008 -- The rising cost of food has triggered riots in a number of countries in recent weeks. Economic policy makers warn that the inflationary effect could push millions back into poverty. And aid organizations are concerned that they will not be able to feed the poorest of the poor.

Woman and child in Bhutan: Photo by Curt Carnemark / World Bank (CC)

A street protest against rising food costs recently turned violent in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, as well as in cities in other developing countries. Peter Smerdon of the World Food Program explains what the higher costs mean for aid agencies in Somalia.    » read more »

Statement Of CFA’s Carol Tucker-Foreman

April 11, 2008 -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control report on foodborne illness rates for seven pathogens in 2007 looks depressingly like the reports for the last six years. The U.S. is no closer to reducing the toll of foodborne illness today than it was in 2001.

Incidence of foodborne illness: Chart by CFA

Graphs portraying the record show a flat line stalled far above the National Health Objectives. Even the CDC acknowledges little or no progress since 2001 in combating illnesses caused by these pathogens.    » read more »

April 10, 2008 -- A 10-state report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed little change in the incidence of some foodborne infections after a period of decline.

The findings are from 2007 data reported to the CDC as part of the agency′s Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, FoodNet.

Poultry products on store shelves: Photo by Jill (CC)    » read more »

WASHINGTON, April 9, 2008 – High food prices are threatening recent gains in overcoming poverty and malnutrition, and are likely to persist over the medium term, says a new World Bank Group policy note released today.

“Poor people are suffering daily from the impact of high food prices, especially in urban areas and in low income countries,” said World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick.

A typical meal for local inhabitants in the Amazon region of Brazil, near Manaus: Photo by Julio Pantoja / World Bank (CC)    » read more »

Rising Food Prices May Require Stepped Up Social Assistance to Help Poor

WASHINGTON, April 9, 2008 — World Bank officials today warned that the countries of Eastern Europe, Central Europe, and Central Asia face slower economic growth as a result of the economic downturn in the U.S. and Western Europe, and should step up their efforts to protect poor and vulnerable people from the effect of higher food and energy prices.

Rice-fields in a valley near Lao Cai, northern Vietnam: Photo by Tran Thi Hoa / World Bank (CC)    » read more »

09 April 2008 -- World Bank President Robert Zoellick is warning that high food prices could wipe out hard-won gains against poverty and malnutrition.

Zoellick says in a new World Bank report issued Wednesday that people in poor urban areas and low-income countries are suffering daily from the impact of high prices.

Will Eat For Food: Photo by Mikael Altemark (CC)

The report said the price of wheat in Yemen has doubled in the past year and could reverse all the gains made in poverty reduction made in the past 10 years in the country.    » read more »

Is Leader In Great Lakes Region

March 31, 2008 -- Michigan leads the nation's largest states in ensuring needy families have access to food, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Michigan has the largest percentage of families participating in its Food Assistance Program of the largest states and is ranked tenth overall among states in participation.

The USDA Food and Nutrition Service estimates that, in Michigan, more than 75 percent of persons that qualify for food assistance received it during 2005, the year covered in the report. This exceeds the national average by 10 points and is ahead of other large states. The report graded Michigan in a tie with Illinois with the highest participation among the seven Great Lakes states.    » read more »

Everett-based pizza chain is latest to join the ballpark's lineup for the 2008 season

03/13/2008 -- An Everett-based pizza chain that is making a name for itself nationally is the latest addition to the lineup of offerings at Safeco Field. Garlic Jim's Famous Gourmet Pizza has entered into a multi-year corporate partnership with the Seattle Mariners. Per Mariners policy, terms of the agreement are not disclosed.    » read more »