Food

With the Japanese government apparently failing in the task of protecting the public from radiation after the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear station, ordinary Japanese citizens are buying dosimeters -- and making startling discoveries.

"A group of eight senators is asking the FDA to cease consideration of the fish as food, and is threatening to pull funding for the study if the agency does not comply."

"Rich countries grabbing farmland in Africa to feed their growing populations can leave rural populations there without land or jobs and make the continent's hunger problem more severe, an environmental think tank said on Tuesday."

"Japan’s government has to release more data from ocean radiation tests to accurately assess the contamination threat to seafood, according to a statement by the Oceanographic Society of Japan."

"The food-safety world knows there are a half-dozen or more lethal forms of E. coli ending up in our meat or on our leafy greens that are so virulent they can send people to the hospital and even kill them. But in the United States only one, E. coli O157:H7, is officially termed an adulterant, meaning any raw ground beef that tests positive for it cannot be sold for human consumption."

"Executives from Wal-Mart, Walgreens, SuperValu and other stores joined Michelle Obama at the White House on Wednesday to announce a pledge to open or expand a combined 1,500 stores in communities that have limited access to nutritious food and are designated as 'food deserts.'"

"Lamb, beef and cheese generate the most greenhouse gases of 20 popular meat, fish, dairy and vegetable proteins, according to a new study from the Environmental Working Group."

"Beef from cows from Fukushima Prefecture contaminated with radioactive cesium was sold to restaurants and shoppers in at least five prefectures, according to Tokyo metropolitan government officials."

"Tons of imported fish laced with chemicals banned from the U.S. food supply, including carcinogens, are routinely showing up in this country and, state officials say, winding up on American dinner plates."

"A lot of adult environmentalists have been trying for years to focus attention on tropical rain forests in southeast Asia, but it took two teenagers to get the issue on the front page of a national newspaper and on the network news."