Category: Food

5 Million Farmers Sue Monsanto for $7.7 Billion

Launching a lawsuit against the very company that is responsible for a farmer suicide every 30 minutes, 5 million farmers are now suing Monsanto for as much as 6.2 billion euros (around 7.7 billion US dollars). The reason? As with many other cases, such as the ones that led certain farming regions to be known as the ‘suicide belt’, Monsanto has been reportedly taxing the farmers to financial shambles with ridiculous royalty charges.

The findings echo what thousands of farmers have experienced in particularly poor nations, where many of the farmers are unable to stand up to Monsanto. Back in 2008, the Daily Mail covered what is known as the ‘GM Genocide’, which is responsible for taking the lives of over 17,683 Indian farmers in 2009 alone. After finding that their harvests were failing and they started to enter economic turmoil, the farmers began ending their own lives — oftentimes drinking the very same insecticide that Monsanto provided them with.

Read More: http://www.whydontyoutrythis.com/2013/03/5-million-farmers-sue-monsanto-for-7-billion.html

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Glaxo’s manipulative hype in repositioning Horlicks in India

Courtesy : DR AR SHENOY

This TV commercial is about GSK’s attempt at re-positioning their brand Horlicks in India. The TVC claims boiling milk diminishes vitamins A, B and Folic acid content in it and therefore you should add Horlicks to milk in order to make good the loss

This Horlicks TVC trivializes the very significant act of boiling milk before consuming by unnecessarily dramatising micronutrient loss. In India, we have a tradition for boiling milk and then consuming it since ancient times and this habit is based on good reasoning.

*The 10gms pack of  Horlicks is both an irrational pack size and formulation both from the point of view of nutritional quality as well as quantity. GSK itself states on the 80gms commercial pack under the tagline “My perfect cup of Horlicks!” to add 3 heaped teaspoonful’s (27g) of Horlicks to 200 ml of milk and “as much sugar” as one likes! Never mind the fact that 27gms of Horlicks contains 8gms of sugar! HORLICKS NUTRITIONAL QUALITY DIMINISHES AS THE PACK SIZE DECREASES!

Horlicks has been positioned or perceived as bedtime hot milk drink in the country of its origin, United Kingdom, for a major part of its existence, for over 135 years.  In India, the same brand with no remarkable difference in composition from its UK counterpart is projected as a remarkable nourishment provider, which promotes growth, attention and concentration in children of school-going age. Outside of India, in more consumer-aware and well regulated societies of Asia like in Malaysia and Singapore, GSK does not make any manipulative claims regarding Horlicks as it does in India and its immediate neighborhoods.

In fact, when GSK’s India-based Horlicks advertisement making claims of five signs of growth was broadcast by a Nepali TV channel in the UK, it was monitored and UK regulator, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), took serious objections on the claims made by GSK. GSK was quick to offer an explanation that the claims were meant only for children of this part of the world (Indian subcontinent) and were not applicable to children in UK!

Click Here for the detailed eye-opener report

Strange fibers found embedded inside Chicken McNuggets

As the following video shows, the Chicken McNuggets were found to contain strange fibers that some people might say even resemble so-called “Morgellon’s.”

We found dark black hair-like structures sticking out of the nugget mass, as well as light blue egg-shaped structures with attached tail-like hairs or fibers.

These are shown in extreme detail in the photos below, taken on August 15, 2013 at the Natural News Forensic Food Lab. The actual Chicken McNugget samples used in these photos have been frozen for storage of forensic evidence.

We also found odd red coloring splotches in several locations, as well as a spherical green object that resembles algae.

We are not claiming or implying that these objects in any way make McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets unsafe to consume. We do, however, believe that this visual evidence may warrant an FDA investigation into the ingredient composition of Chicken McNuggets.

In particular, where are the hair-like structures coming from? This is especially important to answer, given that chickens do not have hair. Is there cross-species contamination in the processing of Chicken McNuggets? This question needs to be answered.

Share this story with everyone you know.

See my video

Or if YouTube censors the video, watch it at our free-speech video site, TV.naturalnews.com:
http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=151BC31144DF47CE1D85FB664CCC2A65

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/041646_Chicken_McNuggets_forensic_food_analysis_strange_fibers.html#ixzz2c9XujfNO

How food manufacturers trick consumers with deceptive ingredients lists

The myth: Ingredients lists on food products are designed to inform consumers about what’s contained in the product.

The reality: Ingredients lists are used by food manufacturers to deceive consumers and trick them into thinking products are healthier (or better quality) than they really are. This article explores the most common deceptions used by food manufacturers to trick consumers with food ingredients lists. It also contains useful tips for helping consumers read such labels with the proper skepticism.

Some of the most common tricks :

  • distribute sugars among many ingredients
  • pad the list with miniscule amounts of great-sounding ingredients
  • hiding dangerous ingredients
  • manipulating serving sizes

Click Here to Learn more about Tricks of the Food Trade and Tips for reading Food Labels

Bt Brinjal Poll

What if we had not done anything to stop genetically modified (GM) Bt brinjal? By now we would have been eating various kinds of GM foods. Thankfully, that’s not true.

Three years ago protests from thousands of us got a moratorium on Bt brinjal.[1] Multinational seed companies like Monsanto and our very own Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar dislike this moratorium. [2] It’s now up to us to ensure that they don’t use the sham of food scarcity to unleash this dangerous technology on us.

Take this poll to show your support for safe GM-free food.

 

CLICK HERE

 

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture [3]and an expert committee appointed by the Supreme Court have recommended a cautionary approach to GM crops.[4] The responses to this poll will create a solid base for the support for safe food and these recommendations as well.

There is enough food being produced by our country. A lot of it is rotting in food godowns.[5] The government is using this to create the notion of scarcity. Inserting genes of other organisms into our crops makes them unnatural and unsafe. Once GM crops are out in the open, they’ll only contaminate other crops. How is this going to secure our food?

The third anniversary of the moratorium on Bt brinjal was celebrated on February 9, 2013, all over the country. It was a reminder, that our consistent opposition to the introduction of this technology has kept it away so far. It has also prevented the government from introducing the BRAI bill, which seeks to ease entry of GM foods.[6] Let’s keep up this fight to protect our food.

So answer this poll now to build a strong support base for safe food.

 

CLICK HERE

 

 

Coca-Cola’s New Misinformation Campaign

Coca-Cola Rolling Out New Misinformation Campaign to “Combat Obesity”

A new Coca-Cola ad campaign that encourages people to come together to fight obesity is drawing fire from consumer advocates and obesity experts.1, 2

Coke says it’s trying to make consumers more aware of the healthy choice beverages Coke makes; critics say Coke is simply doing damage control.

There can be no doubt that soda is one of the primary beverages responsible for skyrocketing obesity rates. As Dr. Sanjay Gupta told CNN:3

“…the scientific community has …reached a consensus that soft drinks are the one food or beverage that’s been demonstrated to cause weight gain and obesity. And if we’re going to deal with this obesity epidemic, that’s the place to start.”

Granted, no one is forcing anyone to drink them, but there simply has not been enough public education about the dangers of excessive fructose consumption. In fact, the industry has fought tooth and nail to minimize or flat out deny these health dangers, very similar to the tobacco industry denying the risk of lung cancer..

Evidence of just how behind-the-times Coca-Cola is, their brand new multi-million dollar campaign focuses on the sentiment that:

“…beating obesity will take action by all of us, based on one simple, common-sense fact: All calories count, no matter where they come from. …And if you eat and drink more calories than you burn off, you’ll gain weight.”4

This “conventional wisdom” has been firmly debunked by science. Not all calories count equally. And the “calories in, calories out” hypothesis for maintaining weight has equally been shown to be incorrect. It is in fact FAR more important to look at the source of the calories than counting them.

Click Here for the full detailed analysis

Whither Genetically Modified (GM) Foods ?

GENETIC ROULETTE – This  path breaking movie is available for free viewing till 31st October. During the first free showing week in September, there were over 1.25 million views of this astounding documentary that shows the link between Genetically Modified(GM) Crops and human and animal disorders such as allergies, infertility, autism, cancer, birth defects and neurological problems.

The entire film is 90 minutes and can be viewed at –

http://geneticroulettemovie.com

The institute of responsible technology has also released a 10-minute re-mix for those who do not have the time to watch the entire film.

Don’t miss this 10 minute version :

Only 6 countries, including India, account for 95% of Genetically Modified Crops. Other countries have banned or severely restricted and penalized GM.  Seed companies are lobbying hard to introduce GM crops in India. It is up to all citizens to understand the risks and halt the introduction of GM food in India.

Please circulate this to all your colleagues and write to the Health Minister at azadg@sansad.nic.in / hfm@alpha.nic.in to support the unanimous call given by India’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture to immediately halt all field trials of Genetically Modified Crops. 

The Leaf initiative

Editorial team on GM 

http://www.leaf-initiative.org/

CERS exposes shockingly low nutrition levels in leading instant noodles brands

“In-house laboratory tests of 15 brands at CERS revealed most health claims to be deceptive~

Ahmedabad, 16th October 2012

The rapid permeation of instant noodles into Indian dietary habits, over the two decades, has been exponential and legendary. Today, instant noodles has become a staple in just about every child’s diet that discerning parents vainly try to get rid of, and also occasionally indulge in themselves. In view of the raging ‘instant noodles’ phenomenon, Consumer Education & Research Society (CERS), the nation’s leading consumer organization dedicated to protecting the interests of the Indian consumer, recently tested and brought out shocking facts about the nutrition levels of 15 popular instant noodles brands across the country. In a series of tests conducted at CERS’ in-house laboratory that investigated 15 instant noodle brands for some important nutrition parameters.

The fifteen brands tested  included brands like Maggi, Top Ramen, Knorr, Ching’s Secret, Sunfeast Yippee!, Foodles, Tasty Treat and Wai Wai X-press. The results were shocking. None of the brands were able to substantiate their tall claims of being healthy snacking option when interpreted against Food Standards Agency (FSA) of UK standards for fats and sodium. Some of the common findings for most of the samples tested included high level of sodium salts, significantly low fibre content, high amount of fats and several other shocking factors. The brands that claimed ‘Healthy’, ‘wholesome’, ‘enriched with proteins and iron’ and ‘full of fibre’, were refuted by the test findings as going way above the safe limit of several harmful elements. (Please see annexure for Key Findings) Continue reading CERS exposes shockingly low nutrition levels in leading instant noodles brands

Consumer Rights for Food & Food Products

Consumer Rights 
As a consumer you have certain rights with regards to the food and food products you purchase. You also have a redressal mechanism to help you. All you have to do is to be aware and exercise your rights.

Know Your Rights

  1. A Purchaser of food article may, if he so desires, have the article analysed by the Food Analyst as per the provisions of the Act.
  2. The Purchaser shall pay the prescribed fee to the Food Analyst carrying out the analysis which will be refunded if the food sample is sub-standard.
  3. The Food Analyst shall send to the Purchaser his report on the analysis of the article of food and if the finding of the report is to the effect that the article of food is adulterated / misbranded / contaminated or does not conform to the standards prescribed under the Act or the Regulations, the Purchaser shall be entitled to get a refund of the fees paid by him.

Labelling

It is mandatory that every package of food intended for sale should carry a label that bears all the information required under FSS (Packaging and Labelling) Regulation, 2011. Food package must carry a Label with the following information :

  1. Common name of the Product.
  2. Name and address of the product’s Manufacturer
  3. Date of Manufacture
  4. Ingredient List with additives
  5. Nutrition Facts
  6. Best before/ Expires on
  7. Net contents in terms of weight, measure or count.
  8. Packing codes/Batch number
  9. Declaration regarding vegetarian or non-vegetarian
  10. Country of origin for imported food

Consumer Reward Scheme 

FSSAI has a reward scheme for people who convey valid information about mislabelling, misbranding and extravagant claims. Your identity will be kept absolute secret. A reward of Rs. 500 will be given once FSSAI establishes the validity of the complaint. You can send the information to ceo@fssai.gov.in

For more details about Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) please visit their website at fssai.gov.in

The Toll Free Helpline No. is 1-800-11-2100 Complaints can be lodged and followed up online at foodsafetyhelpline.in/FSSAI/ This site also has interesting consumer resources in this area.