food policy

Gates Foundation & U.S. to Support Global Ag Fund
FarmPlate Apr 27, 2010 food policy 0 comments
Four countries and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have come together to create the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, a fund dedicated to increasing food production and encouraging sustainable farming practices in the world's poorest countries. In the wake of the economic crisis and rising food prices, there are approximately one billion hungry people worldwide. According to the World Bank, three quarters of those one billion people depend on agriculture for a living. The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program will invest in farm machinery, improving planting and irrigation techniques and building better roads to link farmers to their markets. The U.S. has already...
Food Modernization Act Has Shortcomings
FarmPlate Apr 13, 2010 food policy 0 comments
"The food safety system in the U.S. is underfunded, overwhelmed, and in desperate need of new powers to keep us safe as Americans," said Illinois senator Dick Durbin at a Chicago grocery store last weekend, according to ABC News. Durbin is the sponsor for the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) that will be debated by the full U.S. Senate as early as next week. Durbin's assessment of the food system is unfortunately quite accurate. Andrew Kimbrell, the Center for Food Safety's executive director, writes on the Huffington Post, "70 million Americans are sickened, 300,000 are hospitalized, and 5,000 die from food-borne illness every year." The Food Modernization Bill would expand the...