Just as the U.S. Mint redesigned currency to foil counterfeiters, the FDA is advising drugmakers on how to redesign their pills. The agency issued a draft guidance on special ingredients that would make it easier to authenticate tablets and capsules. “Drug counterfeiting is a serious public health concern,” Commissioner Margaret Hamburg (photo) said in a statement. “We look forward to working with industry to help ensure that consumers are not exposed to products containing unknown, ineffective, or harmful ingredients.”
Apparently the guidance is a response to the industry’s casting about for …

Fi Asia-China, China’s premiere event for professionals in the food ingredients industry, once again welcomed the world to Shanghai, China on 23-25 June, 2009. Building on the successful launch of Health ingredients (Hi) and Natural ingredients (Ni) last year, these two niche shows ran alongside Fi Asia-China and proved to be the major draw for the event’s thousands of visitors.
Ingredients for Healthy Living
Ni and Hi were developed by show organizers UBM in order to respond to the food industry’s growing interest in the application of health and natural ingredients to …

Without dramatics or great elaboration, here is a list of common ingredients in foods that I work hard to avoid.  I would love to hear what ingredients you choose to avoid and why.
A huge “duh”: High Fructose Corn Syrup, despite their fluffy (ridiculous) ad campaign
Should be a huge “duh”: Corn Syrup, period
Monosodium Glutamate, aka MSG
Aspartame
Propyl Gallate, which prevents fats from going rancid in food and cosmetics
Propylene Glycol, which I found in my cosmetics, antifreeze, and shredded coconut
Acesulfame K, aka “Sweet One”
Food Colorings, such as FD&C anything
Olestra
Potassium Bromate (see here also …

Premier Purchasing Partners First Healthcare Group Purchasing Organization to Set Specific Quality and Safety Guidelines for Suppliers
CHARLOTTE, N.C.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–To ensure patients receive the highest quality and safest food possible, the Premier healthcare alliance today released a set of standards for foodservices delivered to hospitals.
All Premier contracted suppliers will be required to adhere to national standards set by government agencies and food safety organizations for entry into the Premier Purchasing Partners foodservice supply chain. Purchasing Partners is the first healthcare group purchasing organization (GPO) to set these types of specific quality …

(07-13) 04:00 PDT Washington — Dick Peixoto planted hedges of fennel and flowering cilantro around his organic vegetable fields in the Pajaro Valley near Watsonville to harbor beneficial insects, an alternative to pesticides.
He has since ripped out such plants in the name of food safety, because his big customers demand sterile buffers around his crops. No vegetation. No water. No wildlife of any kind.
“I was driving by a field where a squirrel fed off the end of the field, and so 30 feet in we had to destroy the crop,” …

MUMBAI/DELHI: Indian subsidiaries of global food and beverage companies such as Unilever, Kellogg, Coca-Cola , PepsiCo and ConAgra are planning to 
adopt common nutritional labelling standards to address growing health awareness and concerns about obesity.
The move, aimed at pre-empting the integrated foods law that is expected by the year-end, is in line with the strategy adopted by their parent companies at the global level.
Hindustan Unilever (HUL) has already initiated the move for brands such as Kissan, Knorr and Annapurna . Others such as Kellogg, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are evaluating their options …

Increasing concern for the safety of ingredients in cosmetics has brought some widely used cosmetic preservatives by the family name ‘paraben’ to center stage. Paraben preservatives are listed under multiple names and are used to preserve the majority of cosmetics on the market today, not only to prevent the growth of bacteria and fungi but also to promote the abnormally long shelf-life of products.
As with chemically preserved foods, paraben preserved cosmetics ensure that the cosmetic manufacturer can produce the product en masse and take comfort in a multi-year shelf life. …

Recent blog posts and news articles have posted a quote from Shelley Case, stating that according to a Canadian Celiac Association study, blue cheese (or bleu cheese) is gluten-free. It is important to look more in-depth at the study that she was referring to, what it means, and exactly how the tests were conducted.
To make blue cheese, cheese makers place cultured mold into tiny holes in a round of cheese. Historically, blue cheese was made using bread as the base to grow the mold. It is the mold that grows …

At first it may seem only right for Dean Foods Co., the nation’s largest organic dairy producer, to roll out a line of yogurts and milk marketed as “natural.” But Dean’s announcement last week alarmed advocates of organic food, who say the burgeoning market for less-expensive “natural” foods reaps billions from consumers while guaranteeing little or nothing in exchange.
Certified organic food products are regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and are produced by farmers and manufacturers under a strict set of rules. But the agency defines the term “natural” …

The term “cottage” originally referred to the family cottage (home) familiar to most rural communities; and described as a source of pleasure, family bonding, and individual rest and relaxation. When we refer to the “Cottage law” we are addressing legal tools employed by a state government to establish a legal arrangement for low risk food production prepared at a home residence.
A “Cottage Food Production Operation” involves a person using their own kitchen facility to produce food items that are not potentially hazardous, including bakery products, jams, jellies, candy, dry mixes, …