Food

'About one tenth of China's farmland is polluted by lead, zinc and other heavy metals to 'striking' levels exceeding official limits, a government expert said according to reports on Monday.'

"Debbie Frederick hopes that her father's death in September in one of the most lethal outbreaks of food-borne illness in U.S. history will force the government to increase the safety of the country's food supply."

"Opponents of Monsanto's new genetically modified sweet corn are petitioning national food retailers and processors to ban the biotech corn, which is not labeled as being genetically altered from conventional corn. A coalition of health, food safety and environmental organizations said they have collected more than 264,000 petition signatures from consumers who do not want to buy the corn."

"The Fukushima Plate is tableware with its own built-in safety mechanism. Underneath the plate is a radiation meter that logs whether your sushi has absorbed too much seaborne radiation from the Fukushima disaster earlier this year."

"In wake of last year's BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a new study from an environmental watchdog group contends that current federal standards underestimate the risk to pregnant women and children of cancer-causing contaminants that can accumulate in seafood from such spills."

"America must stop promoting the production of biofuels if there is to be any real progress in addressing spiking global food prices and famine, such as seen in the Horn of Africa, an authoritative thinktank has warned."

Researchers are discovering previously unknown species of the cacao bean in the rainforests of Peru.

"Inconsistent reporting of foodborne illnesses among states leaves large portions of the country vulnerable to the spread of potentially deadly outbreaks before health officials can identify their causes and recall contaminated foods."

"Inspectors from the Food and Drug Administration are searching fields in Colorado's Rocky Ford region for clues as to how cantaloupes grown there this summer caused at least 100 illnesses and 18 deaths. But if a new law had been in place, they might have been there before the outbreak."

"Massive floods have ravaged vast swathes of Asia's rice bowl, threatening to further drive up food prices and adding to the burden of farmers who are among the region's poorest, experts say."