BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) — Chinese health chiefs pledged Tuesday to harshly punish those caught in the production, sale and use of illegal additives in food in a nationwide campaign, which has already led to the arrests of four people.
At a video conference briefing on the initial stage of the four-month campaign, Vice Health Minister Chen Xiaohong said, “Some lawless people are still using high technologies to develop food counterfeiting techniques to challenge the supervision capability of law enforcement departments.”
Underground …

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese dairy products, flour, meat and other foods remain dangerously tainted with illegal additives despite a crackdown, the country’s health ministry said Tuesday.
Vice Minister of Health, Chen Xiaohong, told a video conference for officials some food and liquor makers continued to use banned additives, and high-tech lawbreakers were “challenging the oversight and administration capacities of law enforcement agencies,” the Xinhua news agency reported.
“Some food businesses still lack a grasp of the harmfulness and severity of illegal additives,” Chen said. “Their commitment to correcting this is not high.”
China’s …

A reported 70 people became ill in China after consuming pork products tainted with an illegal animal feed additive.
They were treated for stomach ache and diarrhoea in Guangdong province, while three people remain in hospital, reports have stated.
The tainted pig organs was found to have the steroid clenbuterol, which is used to prevent animals from gaining fat.
Contaminated pigs
According to officials in the southern province of China, three people have been held due to suspicion of involvement in raising and selling the contaminated pigs.
Banned additive
The steroid Clenbuterol is banned as a …

Scientists have produced acrylamide for decades — but the compound has only attracted widespread attention in the last decade.
To the vast majority of Canadians, acrylamide meant nothing, until Swedish researchers found in 2002 that certain foods contained the compound, which has been shown to cause cancer in animals.
Acrylamide was first synthesized in 1949 and used as a chemical intermediate in the manufacture of some plastics — including some food packaging.
Small amounts of acrylamide are also used in the synthesis of dyes, ore processing, adhesives, paper and textile coatings, permanent press …

BEIJING (AP) — China’s food industry still suffers from the use of dangerous illegal additives, a health official said Tuesday, vowing to widen a national crackdown to stop the practice a few months after the industrial chemical melamine was found in milk products that sickened thousands of children.
Vice Health Minister Chen Xiaohong told a video conference Tuesday that underground markets for additives still exist in some regions, and there are “unspoken secrets” in the food industry, said the official Xinhua News Agency.
“Some lawless people are still using high technologies to …

The Dangers of Aspartame (NutraSweet)
Aspartame is by far, the most dangerous substance on the market that is added to foods.
Aspartame is the technical name for the brand names, NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, and Equal-Measure.
Aspartame was discovered by accident in 1965, when James Schlatter, a chemist of G.D. Searle Company was testing for an anti-ulcer drug.
Aspartame was approved for dry goods in 1981 and for carbonated beverages in 1983.
It was originally approved for dry goods on July 26, 1974, but objections filed by neuroscience researcher Dr John W. Olney and Consumer attorney …

‘We are very proud to announce the Dutch participation to the Gulfood 2009 in Dubai’ said the Agricultural Counsellor for The Netherlands to the Gulf Region, Mr Philip de Jong.
‘This group of 32 Dutch companies contains suppliers of food and food ingredients as well as specialized manufacturers of processing and packaging equipment. It demonstrates the growing importance of the Gulf market for Dutch suppliers of food, food ingredients and food processing technology.’
The increase in the number of participating Dutch companies is due to the fact that the UAE and Saudi …

EAT CHEAPER AND EAT BETTER.  From FoodMatters Documentary contributor Dr. Andrew Saul.

Completely worth the 10 minutes read!!

If you had to dig into your pocket a little to pay your internet service provider this month, this page could help you get your investment back several times over. When I say, “eat well”, I mean “eat healthfully,” not “eat elaborately“. Eating healthfully means a complete but meatless diet of inexpensive, whole foods.  It also means a good tasting, simple diet that you can live with – and will live better with – every day. You …

In part two of my winery adventure two weeks ago, I stopped by tiny Converse to visit Oak Hill Winery. The journey from Elwood to Converse was around 23 miles up Indiana 13 to IN-18, full of winding paths and some nice scenery. It was the perfect opportunity to see a part of Indiana I don’t get to see often, as well as reflect on my just completed visit to New Day Meadery. If you were planning on leaving from Indianapolis directly to Oak Hill, it is 15 minutes east …

Miss M just sent me a text message from school (in between classes so it was OK!)
This is the same Miss M who cannot tolerate any artificial food additives, is anti GM foods and for the first time in her 12 years of life is trying to educate herself about organic nutrition, affects of chemicals in daily life, ethical issues and learning about the whole “climate change thingy” as she puts it…….
This Miss M has also started high school this year & is going to a school where the teachers …