Google news alerts - fruit and vegetable headlines

As I said in the previous post, now is the time to clear out the inbox of some of my rapidly accumulating Google news alerts. For this entry, I'll hit some of the highlights of the broad "fruits and vegetables" category snatched from the Web in the past few days:

School children to get free fruits and vegetables - Another report from Europe on the new program to provide fruits and veggies to students

Celebs are eating organic - why not you?

7 Wonders of Mediterranean Diet

2009 Commodity outlook
Despite declining energy and agricultural ingredient costs, high financial leverage and weak cash flow generation continue to wreak havoc on the commodity food industry. Liquidity and debt reduction should take priority over share repurchases and acquisitions in 2009, regardless of significant stock price declines and additional assets coming to market. The well-anticipated bankruptcy filing by poultry processor Pilgrim's Pride Corp. (Pilgrim's) and the potential inability of fresh produce manufacturer Dole Food Co. (Dole) to refinance significant near-term maturities illustrate the challenges faced by a low-margin highly levered food company in a difficult operating environment.

Pollan says Obama should call for food reform
Author Michael Pollan -- described as the "Bruce Springsteen of sustainability" -- wants President-elect Barack Obama to work for sustainable foods.
Picture the White House lawn, a 17-acre triumph of petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides. Now imagine five of those acres plowed into a garden where the first family pulls weeds and harvests snow peas for photo ops -- and then eats the peas for dinner.

Eat your veggies: get good grades - TK: Wow: thank the Lord for the great PR fresh produce receives...

In one study, done at the University of Prince Edward Island, 325 junior high school students kept a food diary. On average, the daily intake of fruits and vegetables as well as milk was below national recommendations. The children who ate the most fruits and vegetables on a daily basis had the best academic performance with average scores at about the 90th percentile. There was no association with milk.

Blue Cross/Blue Shield to invest in obesity messaging

Crop of the week - spinach From The Yuma Sun:
Yuma County producers grew more than 6,500 acres of spinach valued at more than $33.5 million in 2005, primarily for prepackaged salads with some grown for wire-bunches. Spinach is the No. 6 ranking vegetable crop grown in Yuma County.

Feast on fruits, veggies this Thanksgiving

For those lucky enough to still have a house, a table and a food budget, be thankful and let fruits and vegetables be the bulk of what you serve. Unknowingly or just not thinking about it, many of us usually do this anyway. A meat, if you can afford it, can still be the centerpiece of the meal, but it will probably be the most expensive item on the table.
So now, let the far less expensive, but perhaps the most nutritious, fruits and vegetables form the bulk of the meal. There's no doubt about it, the festive color comes almost exclusively from horticultural foods. The greens of the lettuce, cabbage and broccoli along with green beans combined with the yellows and oranges of carrots, squash, sweet potatoes and corn help make an attractive table of food in nearly anyone's eyes.

You can still eat healthy on a budget - TK: the industry needs more consumer messaging about value....

Another way to save: consume foods that pack in a lot of nutritional value. By eating a piece a fruit instead of a serving of chips, you're more likely to feel satisfied and full for longer.
A good rule of thumb, recommends Nelson, is to shop primarily in the perimeter of the store; it's in the middle aisles where people can be easily tempted to pick up the grab-and-go foods and snacks.


Brussels and the cucumber The Wall Street Journal
For decades the EU has spent much of its time issuing minute rules that govern the use of mayonnaise, the definition of an egg, the diameter of a peach. All this was in the name of "consumer protection" -- as if European grocery shoppers might just drop dead at the sight of a misshapen carrot. It also kept an army of bureaucrats in business, and even a few editorial writers. But rules like these also cost consumers billions in higher grocery prices and taxes that support Europe's notorious Common Agricultural Policy. Ms. Fischer Boel cites the revised regulations as an example of the European Commission's drive to cut administrative costs and respond to high food prices and economic distress. "We simply don't need to regulate this sort of thing at the EU level," she says. "It is far better to leave it to market operators." What a thought. Still, this little triumph in deregulation isn't total. The new rules met stiff resistance from 16 of the EU's 27 member states. The EU will also continue to set standards for 10 other fruits and vegetables that account for 75% of the value of EU trade, including apples and tomatoes. The days of "bonkers Brussels bureaucrats," alas, are far from done.


Del Monte takes it all off in "Fruit Undressed"
In "Fruit Undressed," created by Smith Brothers of Pittsburgh, pineapples "go wild," wearing bead necklaces, peaches declare "It's better in the buff," and grapefruit admits it likes "to take it all off.


EU biotechnology report - USDA FAS report 47 pages from USDA FAS
There are seven Member States (MS) commercially producing genetically-engineered (GE) crops, with Spain being, by far, the largest producer. Under the EU policy framework for agricultural biotechnology, MS policy varies greatly. Coexistence frameworks have been set up in most MS or are currently being prepared, and 5 MS continue to maintain national bans. However, the EU is a major consumer of biotech products, mainly soybean meal imported to feed livestock and poultry, with at least 80 percent of EU soy crush estimated to be genetically modified. Finally, agricultural biotechnology research in Europe is declining, mainly due to political pressure.

Russian Federation talks about food security - USDA FAS

South Africa deciduous - USDA FAS 16 pages from USDA FAS
South Africa's Marketing Year (MY) 2008/09 apple production is expected to decrease 2 percent from last year to 720,000 metric tons (MT) due to continued decrease in apple area.
Pear and grape production is estimated to both increase 3 percent to 358,000 MT and 270,000 MT respectively in MY 2008/09.

Mexico announces support program for sorghum, wheat and yellow corn - USDA FAS

Green gets a holiday update - Putting veggies in the Thanksgiving dinner

Farm lessons to city kids - the importance of bees and other topics

The real enemy : corn Not sweet corn, of course. Activists link corn, junk food.