New food safety regulatory agency to protect India

All food sold in India, at restaurants, retail chains, even roadside outlets, will come under the scanner of new regulatory body.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India will start functioning in June.

Questions remain, however, about how a sector as wide and diverse as food will be regulated.

Read more: http://www.livemint.com/2008/04/18000009/Food-regulator-to-start-with-b.html

US Gov't looking at food safety reform / FDA

From Center for Science in the Public Interest:

Package introduced on April 17 urging reform of how U.S. addresses food safety.

Includes proposed FDA reforms in an effort to restore consumer confidence in the safety of the food supply.

http://www.cspinet.org/new/200804172.html

Fellowship offer from American Public Health

For American Public Health Association members:
1-year Fellowship opportunities in Washington D.C. are now available.
Visit http://www.apha.org/advocacy/fellowship/ for full details.

What's your carbon footprint? What about a cheeseburger?

The average American eats 3 cheeseburgers per week.

How much is consumed to make billions of cheeseburgers per year?

How much greenhouse gas emission is produced?

Watch this intriguing video:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/video_jamais_ca.php

A continent in crisis - Malaria blankets

Article from the United Methodist Church on the blankets for malaria campaign.
Includes startling data on Zimbabwe, specifically:

• 1/3 of the population depends on imported food handouts
• 1/3 has fled the country
• 80 percent is jobless
• Inflation is the highest in the world at more than 100,000 percent
• People suffer crippling shortages of food, water, electricity, fuel and medicine
• Life expectancy has fallen from 60 to 35 years

http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=2072519&ct=5191383

Real food? Interview with Michael Pollan

Interview with Michael Pollan ("Omnivore's Dilemma" and "In Defense of Food") discusses organic food choices, the power of the consumer, the interaction / relationship between culture and food, and food companies.

What's your relationship with food?
What of the status of our traditional supply chain?

Full article:
http://lifestyle.msn.com/green/greenarticle.aspx?cp-documentid=6463090&GT1=45002

CDC announces 1st hepatitis A case of 2008

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday announced this year's first fatal case of hepatitis A. The victim was a 30-year-old man who died four days after he was hospitalized.

So far this year, 82 new cases of hepatitis A have been reported, 47 affecting people under the age of 30.

Lin said the man was sent to a hospital in southern Taiwan on March 11. He was reportedly unconscious by the time he was brought in. The local CDC was notified the next day of his case. The man died of liver and kidney failure on March 14.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/04/01/2003407885