In a victory for raw-milk farmers, Maine's Portland City Council has given a unanimous thumbs-up to allow raw-milk sales at the city's farmers' markets.The City Council also handed the dairy farmers another victory by voting 5 to 4 against an amendment that would have required them to post a placard informing consumers of the potential health risks linked to drinking...
At the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York's annual winter conference in Saratoga Springs, about 40 farmers and farm workers packed a small conference room for a workshop on food safety. The session, titled "Food Safety: Best Practices for Farmers Markets and CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)" was listed on the schedule in both Spanish and English, and translators interpreted for...
The Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network, which works to expand small-scale meat processing, will host a free webinar Feb. 1 on microbiology basics.The webinar will delve into N-60 sampling, multi-drug resistance, non-O157 STECs and multi-drug resistant Salmonella strains, according to Meatingplace (subscription only), an industry publication."If you're a meat processor, you pretty much have to know all this stuff," says...
Last year's "food sovereignty" movement has returned in 2012 with a decidedly mean edge.New Hampshire is the second state where some lawmakers want to use their criminal code against state employees, producers and even federal officials in order to stop federal enforcement of food safety laws. Utah was the first.Unlike Utah, the proposed New Hampshire "Food Freedom Act," does not...
Organic Pastures will no longer be producing or selling raw colostrum for human consumption, according to an announcement on the dairy's Facebook page.Based in Fresno, CA, Organic Pastures is the largest producer of raw milk (milk that hasn't been pasteurized) in the nation. Colostrum, which is the first "milk" produced by mammals, including humans, after giving birth, confers passive immunity...
The Missouri Department of Agriculture's Meat and Poultry Inspection Program temporarily halted all cooked-meat processing for retail and wholesale at Kleoppel Meats in Alma, MO, saying violations had been identified during an inspection earlier this month.According to a news release, the state ag department Meat and Poultry Inspection Program uncovered records indicating that the business sold meat that had been...
A day after the 12th annual Matanza in Belen, New Mexico was put back on track, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a statement to clarify that it never wanted to see the popular regional cultural event canceled. The Valencia County Hispano Chamber of Commerce cancelled the 2012 Matanza on Dec. 26 after being told it could only serve...
From Washington to Maine with numerous stops in between, the food "sovereignty" movement emerged as the 10th most important food safety story of 2011.With many variations, the movement involved attempts -- some successful, some not -- to exempt local food producers from food-safety regulation or oversight.Father of the movement is a Big Sandy, MT farmer named Jon Tester, whose other...
You're aisle surfing at a gourmet grocery store. A milk chocolate bar with smoked bacon catches your eye, as well as the Austrian pumpkin seed pesto. You think, "I could make something like this." You've got a dynamite recipe for fennel-cayenne beets marinated in champagne vinegar and walnut oil. You picture your face on a label. You see yourself preparing...
The popularity of farmers markets and direct farm-to-market sales, such as Community Supported Agriculture, is growing nationwide. The mission of the "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food" program through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is to "strengthen local and regional food systems."It's working. According to the USDA, the numbers of farmers markets across the country have more than tripled...
Copyright © Marler Clark
