Food Law Prof Blog

CRS Report: The U.S. Trade Situation for Fruit and Vegetable Products

Another food-related Congressional Research Service report available on OpenCRS: The U.S. Trade Situation for Fruit and Vegetable Products. Here's the abstract:

Over the last decade, there has been a growing U.S. trade deficit in fresh and processed fruits and vegetables. Although U.S. fruit and vegetable exports totaled nearly $9 billion in 2007, U.S. imports of fruits and vegetables were more than $16 billion, resulting in a gap between imports and exports of more than $7 billion. This trade deficit has widened over time -- despite the fact that U.S. fruit and vegetable exports have continued to rise each year -- because growth in imports has greatly outpaced export growth. As a result, the United States has gone from being a net exporter of fresh and processed fruits and vegetables in the early 1970s to being a net importer of fruits and vegetables today. A number of factors are shaping current competitive market conditions worldwide and global trade in fruits and vegetables in particular, which explain in part the rising fruit and vegetable trade deficit.

CRS Report: High Agricultural Commodity Prices: What Are the Issues?

A Congressional Research Service report, High Agricultural Commodity Prices: What Are the Issues? is available on the Open CRS website. Here is the abstract:

Prices for nearly all major U.S. agricultural program crops -- corn, barley, sorghum, oats, wheat, rice, and soybeans -- have exhibited extreme price volatility since mid-2007, while rising to record or near-record levels in early 2008. Several international organizations have announced that the sharply rising commodity prices are likely to have dire consequences for the world's vulnerable populations, particularly in import-dependent, less developed nations. In the United States, high commodity prices have pushed farm income to successive annual records and have sharply lowered government farm program costs, but they have also stoked the flames of food price inflation and have raised costs for livestock producers and food processors.

In addition, high, unexpectedly volatile prices have increased the risk and costs associated with grain merchandising. In particular, they have dramatically increased the cost of routine hedging activities (i.e., pricing commodities for purchase, delivery, or use at some future date) at commodity futures exchanges and, as a result, have diminished "forward contracting" opportunities for grain and oilseed producers who are eager to take advantage of record high market prices. For some crops (particularly for wheat and rice), the price increases are likely to be relatively short-term in nature and are due to weather-related crop shortfalls in major producer and consumer countries, a weak U.S. dollar that has helped spark large increases in U.S. exports, a bidding war among major U.S. crops for land in the months leading up to spring planting in 2008, and the often perverse price effects resulting from international policy responses by several major exporting and importing nations to protect their domestic markets. Assuming a return to normal weather, these factors will likely self-correct within two growing seasons as global supplies are replenished and prices moderate. For coarse grains (corn, sorghum, barley, oats, and rye), oilseeds, and oilseed products (e.g., vegetable oil and meal), the price increases have also been due to strong, sustained demand deriving from two sources: robust income growth in developing countries (e.g., China and India), which has contributed to increased demand for meat products and the feed grains needed to produce that meat; and growing agricultural feedstock demand to meet large increases in government biofuel-usage mandates or goals in the United States, the European Union, and other countries. Market analysts, including the United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), are predicting record global grain and oilseed production in 2008 in response to the high market prices. However, given the overall strength in demand growth, most market analysts predict that when commodity supplies eventually recover and prices moderate from current high levels, the new equilibrium prices will be significantly higher than has traditionally been observed during periods of market balance. This report examines the causes, consequences, and outlook for prices of the major U.S. program crops, and provides references for more detailed information. It will be updated as events warrant.

GE Roundup Ready sugar beets and Mother's Day candy -- Andrew Kimbrell on Huffington Post blog

Genetically engineered sugar beets are on the way, and next year's candy will include sugar from the new plants.  Andrew Kimbrell of the Center for Food Safety has a post on The Huffington Post that's kind of interesting.  I had assumed that sucrose is sucrose is sucrose, always a glucose molecule stuck to a fructose molecule.  And I just assumed it's always pure.  But here's an excerpt from the article suggesting I may be too calm about it:

Sugar in your Mother's Day candy comes from several sources, including sugar beets. A new option available to farmers this year is Monsanto's Roundup Ready sugar beet, genetically engineered to survive multiple direct applications of the weed killer, Roundup. At the request of Monsanto, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency increased the allowable amount of glyphosate residues on sugar beetroots by a whopping 5,000% -- glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup. Sugar is extracted from the beet's root and the inevitable result is more glyphosate in our sugar. This is not good news for those who want to enjoy their chocolate morsels without the threat of ingesting toxic weed killer.

Read Mothers Day Candy from Monsanto Not So Sweet

FDA Final Rule on Soluble Fiber Health Claims and fat content

Last week the FDA published a final rule on soluble fiber and coronory heart disease.  (http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-9590.pdf).  The interesting tidbit involves the fat content of foods that carry the label. Under  regulation, sec. 101.62, a food could only carry the soluble fiber/coronary heart disease health claim if the food also satisfied the definitions of "low fat," "low saturated fat," and "low cholesterol."

Quaker Oats filed a citizen petition requesting a change in the regulation because its new "reduced sugar" instant oatmeal did not qualify as "low fat" and therefore could not carry the health claim.  The reduced sugar product had the same amount of oats, same amount of fiber (from the oats), and the same amount of total fat as the regular instant oatmeal, but the package weighed less because of the missing sugar.  Instant oatmeal is "low fat" if it has no more than 3 grams of fat per 55 grams of instant oatmeal (the "reference amount commonly consumed"). 

So the new reduced sugar product, with no added fat, got caught up in the rule that was intended to keep health claims off of fat-laden oatmeal cookies.

The new regulation exempts oat products that do not contain added fat from the "low fat" rule.  These products can carry the health claim even though they do not qualify as "low fat" under the regulations, provided the fat in the oatmeal is the fat naturally occurring in the oats.

Food at the border

Here's a food law issue I hadn't thought about: what can you bring across the border in your suitcase?  An AP article by Michele Kayal caught my eye:

Think twice before stuffing your suitcase with prosciutto (on USAtoday.com)

Jamie Mitchell offered to eat the illicit ham on the spot, but the border official was having none of it.

"I said 'Can I just have a couple pieces of it now?' and she said, 'I really can't let you do that,'" said the Washington lawyer, recalling his tussle with customs regulations at Philadelphia International Airport last year.

read more

Sleep and Obesity

According to my morning St. Paul Pioneer Press, a recent study shows a correlation between obesity and hours of sleep.  The study reportedly found that people who sleep less than six hours a night or more than nine were more likely to be obese. 

The full article by Associated Press medical writer Mike Stobbe is all over the internet and it provides more:

The study released Wednesday is based on door-to-door surveys of 87,000 U.S. adults from 2004 through 2006 conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Such surveys can't prove cause-effect relationships, so -- for example -- it's not clear if smoking causes sleeplessness or if sleeplessness prompts smoking, said Charlotte Schoenborn, the study's lead author.

It also did not account for the influence of other factors, such as depression, which can contribute to heavy eating, smoking, sleeplessness and other problems.

The study, Sleep Duration as a Correlate of Smoking, Alcohol Use, Leisure-Time Physical Inactivity, and Obesity Among Adults: United States, 2004-2006 by Charlotte A. Schoenborn, M.P.H., and Patricia F. Adams, Division of Health Interview Statistics, is available on the National Center for Health Statistics website (linked above). 

In an interview, health statistician Charlotte Schoenborn explains:

We found with the Health Interview Survey that people who got less than 6 hours of sleep were more likely to be obese… they were more likely to be physically inactive… they were much more likely to smoke… and somewhat more likely to use alcohol in large quantities… things that you associate with a clustering of unhealthy behaviors.

… we don’t know which direction the associations go, what’s causing what, but we do see a clustering of these unhealthy behaviors and it suggests that we need to be dealing with these as a group rather than one at a time.

The interview is available on the NCHS website (along with a link to the study): http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/STATCASTS/stat_cast_6.htm

Michael Pollan interview on YouTube

From cookingupastory.com: Michael Pollan talks about his recent book, In Defense of Food, in Portland, Oregon.  Here's the blurb:

Michael Pollan's new book, In Defense of Food, provides the backdrop for his talk at the Bagdad Theater in Portland, Oregon, and this prior interview with Deborah Kane of the environmental nonprofit organization, Ecotrust. Remarkably, Mr. Pollan is talking about a defense of food in a literal sense: it's increasingly difficult to escape from eating foods that are food-like substances (processed foods), but are not whole (real) foods. We have come to look upon "nutritionism" as a valid means of determining (healthy) value in our diet; food has been reduced to its composition of good and bad nutrients, but are we really eating healthier? In part one, we see how simple changes in food labeling requirements can influence consumer behavior, and how food manufacturer's apply overwhelming pressure to effect laws that ultimately protect their own interests.

And the first part of the video:

Michael Pollan part 2

Michael Pollan part  3

Michael Pollan part 4

Parke Wilde and Mark Winne on YouTube

Parke Wilde (U.S. Food Policy blog)has posted his interview with Mark Winne on YouTube.  Mark Winne is the author of Closing the Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty.

FDA Health and Diet Survey: Dietary Guidelines Supplement

The government's Health and Diet Survey: Dietary Guidelines Supplement -- Report of Findings (2004 & 2005) is available on the FDA website.  From the Foreward:

The choices we make every day of what to eat and how much physical activity to get play a vital role in how long we live, how much energy we have, and how healthy we are.  We live in a time of widespread availability of food options and choices. More so than ever, Americans need good advice to make informed decisions about their diets. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is committed to encouraging and helping the public adopt long-lasting, healthy lifestyles. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (Dietary Guidelines) provide the science-based information we need to make smart choices from every food group, get the most nutrition out of the calories we consume and find a balance between eating and physical activity.

The Health and Diet Survey: Dietary Guidelines Supplement tracks national change of Americans' attitudes, awareness, knowledge, and behavior regarding various elements of nutrition and physical activity.  The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) collaborated with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to leverage FDA's on-going household survey mechanism and include information based on the key recommendations from the Dietary Guidelines.   HHS initiated the baseline survey just prior to the launch of the Sixth Edition, Dietary Guidelines for Americans in January, 2005, and repeated the survey a year later.   

The survey findings indicate that although Americans believe healthy eating habits are important, sometimes knowledge and good intentions do not add up to making better choices and changing behavior.  Not surprising, there are differences in how Americans view their health and what is important to them related to their gender, age and education.  The survey also inquired where Americans turn for nutrition information, how reliable they consider Federal government nutrition information, how easy they think it is to access the information, and their familiarity with specific government nutrition offerings such as the Dietary Guidelines. 

The information from the Dietary Guidelines provides a blueprint for action.  However, putting knowledge into practice can be challenging and changing behavior is usually a long-term proposition.  Future fielding of this survey will help us monitor American eating habits and lifestyle choices over time, recognizing that adopting more healthy, active lifestyles will take a concerted effort - from the Federal government to health experts to the food and agriculture sectors to business leaders, state and local governments, scientists and researchers, and teachers and parents and individuals.

We hope you find this information helpful and encourage all of us to consider the role we can play to reinforce that developing healthy habits early in life is great, and it's also never too late to start.  Children need a healthy diet for normal growth and development, and Americans of all ages may reduce their risk of chronic disease by adopting a nutritious diet and engaging in regular physical activity.  At any age, at every stage of life, everyone can make healthier choices.