I’d been hearing rumors about how the the European Commission is spending $20 million  to develop dietary recommendations and food standards that will apply to all EU member states.  I now have some confirmation of them through the British magazine, Private Eye (May 30, 2008).   The project, called EURRECA, will be conducted by a bunch of universities but the overall management is going to be through the European branch of the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI), “a front for the food and bioscience industry.” ILSI is funded by Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Bayer CropScience, and Monsanto, among other such entities.  So $20 million in taxpayer dollars will be  laundered through a food and agbiotech front group.  Private Eye says that it eagerly awaits “EURRECA’s no doubt scientifically rigorous and untirely unbiased conclusions.”

I could do this for a lot less than $20 million, but nobody asked me, alas.

I was on my way to Copenhagen last week on the first anniversary of this blog so I’ve only just remembered it. Here’s the first post from a year ago. Thanks to all of you who have been reading and commenting throughout the year. It’s been fun (and instructive) to hear from you.

I’ll report on the Nordic nutrition meetings in the next post.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is seeking proposals for faith-based advocacy efforts to prevent childhood obesity.  Have any good ideas?  Apply!

Stan writes of a previous post: “Why does this seem to be the only post I can find from you where you seem to say anything positive about a vegan diet? It seems that something like a whole food, locally grown vegan diet would be just about ideal nutritionally and environmentally as long as you get a bit of sun, maybe a little flax, and eat something with smidgen of B-12. What am I missing?”

I’m happy to comment on vegan diets, especially now that Oprah Winfrey has gone on one for 21 days–apparently a major big deal among bloggers. I don’t discuss them much because they don’t seem like a major big deal to me. I think Stan has it and isn’t missing a thing. I’m not a vegan myself – I like yogurt, cheese, and naturally raised meat – but I think vegan diets are just fine and I’m amused by rumors that Oprah is actually enjoying the experience. Surprise: vegan diets can taste good!

I’m in Copenhagen this week at the Nordic Nutrition meetings and did my usual tourist thing. I went to supermarkets to check out the products and the health claims. What a disappointment. Denmark doesn’t allow health claims, or at least not many. In Denmark, food is just food. I couldn’t find a mention of vitamins (the Danes don’t permit vitamin or mineral fortification except for iodine in salt), omega-3’s, antioxidants, or cholesterol-lowering, and the breakfast cereal aisle was scanty and only a few packages had cartoons.  But this peaceful situation will not last much longer. The E.U. rules are coming and with them will come health claims and all the marketing hype and confusion that inevitably accompany them. Too bad.

A couple of informative posts, one on ConsumerAffairs.com and another on InjuryBoard.com discuss details of the $24 million pet food recall settlement. The New Jersey judge has given preliminary approval but further approval is needed and the next hearing is not until October 14. In the meantime, if you have or had a pet caught up in the recall, here are the people to contact:

In re Pet Food Products Liability Litigation, Claims Administrator
c/o Heffler, Radetich & Saitta LLP,
P.O. Box 890,
Philadelphia, PA 19105-0890

1-800-392-7785

www.petfoodsettlement.com

In case you missed it, the New York Times has an editorial on the Pew Commission report (I am a member of the Commission, as I explained on a previous post) and on a similar report from the Union of Concerned Scientists. As the editorial explains, farm policies have turned “animal husbandry…into animal abuse,” and policies about animal confinement need rethinking and revision. My question: how about enforcing existing laws while we are at it?

This week’s question for me from Eating Liberally’s kat has to do with food waste and the world food crisis.  I do go on and on about this one.  It’s a worry.