Kiko's Food News, 8.31.12

“As California goes, there goes the nation”, and in advance of November’s vote the Cornucopia Institute released a shocking visual of food brands divided yes vs no on Prop 37; many we may think of as health oriented are those opposing GMO labeling: (full story, Cornucopia Institute)

And in other GMO news, A USDA panel reached consensus that growers of genetically engineered crops should try to contain the spread of their genes to organic crops; disappointingly, the panel refused to hold the biotech companies that create the seeds responsible, instead recommending that taxpayer-subsidized insurance foot the bill to compensate farmers: (full story, SF Chronicle)

The Envionrmental Working Group (creators of the popular Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce) released Good Food on a Tight Budget, a guide to help eaters stretch our healthy food dollars; it ranks produce items that pack the highest nutrition for the least cost: (full story, Environmental Working Group)

Grocery chains are putting a full time dietician in their stores to capitalize on growing consumer awareness of the role food plays in health and happiness (and to fend off competition from specialty markets like Whole Foods and big-box stores like Walmart): (full story, New York Times)

The trickiest ingredient for cocktail creators, beer brewers, hot sauce makers and other small batch food makers to get their hands on? Bourbon barrels! But recently, used barrel seekers and sellers have been finding each other in a mutually beneficial partnership: (full story, NPR)

Sure yogurt has been made for centuries from just milk and live bacteria, but these days manufacturers are trying to increase profits by adding ingredients to speed up production and stabilize yogurt’s shelf life: (full story, Hand Picked Nation)

Under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, the USDA has issued its first major rewriting of nutritional guidelines for government-subsidized school lunches and breakfasts in more than 15 years; they require schools to serve fruits and veggies every day, only fat-free or low-fat milk, more whole grains, and slash their use of salt, saturated fat and trans fat: (full story, US News & World Report)