With all the press around the current swine flu epidemic, which has killed more than 150 people and sent thousands more to hospitals, it is somewhat disturbing that officials have not yet uncovered the source of the outbreak. Bloggers around the world have been working overtime to document the chain of illnesses, and more importantly to try to identify the source of the the virus in Mexico.

It now appears that the first illnesses were reported in small town called La Gloria, in the state of Vera Cruz in Mexico. La Gloria also happens to be the home to a massive hog farm owned by Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest producer of hogs.

As Ed Harris from Local Foods Research explains, “Bloggers… are exploring the links between Mexico’s industrial hog production industry—Smithfield Foods in particular—and the emergence of the new viral strain.”

Tom Philpott from Grist.org asserts that:

Smithfield operates massive hog-raising operations in Perote, Mexico, in the state of Vera Cruz, where the outbreak originated. The operations, grouped under a Smithfield subsidiary called Granjas Carrol, raise 950,000 hogs per year…. The Mexico City daily La Jornada has also made the link. According to the newspaper, the Mexican health agency IMSS has acknowledged that the orginal carrier for the flu could be the “clouds of flies” that multiply in the Smithfield subsidiary’s manure lagoons.

We don’t have any scientific proof that Smithfield is the source of this virus. But we have known for some time about the potential environmental and health risks related to Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations—also known as CAFOs.

While there is no concern that pork coming from Smithfield is contaminated in any way, as swine flu is spread via human contact, not food, this story once again reinforces the need for Country of Origin Labeling Laws to help us track an increasingly global and industrialized food system.

It will be a real be a wake up call if health officials confirm that this potentially fatal health threat, which is now spreading through casual human contact, originated in CAFOs that are the source of much of our food.

UPDATE: A number of other journalists, including the Guardian (UK) have been investigating the potential links to Smithfields CAFOs. The company, Smithfield Foods, denies any connection to the outbreak.

UPDATE #2: The author of the original Grist post has a follow-up piece on the controversy.

Every year on April 15th, Americans are reminded of a passion that literally helped found our nation: our collective distaste for taxes. But with our government so clearly in need of funds to address major infrastructure, education, health, social, and environmental concerns — I am not opposing taxes, but rather joining a growing group of people wondering if we are just taxing the wrong things.

Why do we tax the things we like and want more of: income, profits, sales of products, etc.? Shouldn’t we instead be taxing things we don’t like and want to incentivize people to reduce: pollution, carbon emissions, inefficient use of resources, etc.?

As we have been studying food recently, what about taxing junk food? Or ingredients of concern like sugar and high fructose corn syrup in food products?

Read what a recent report in the New England Journal of Medicine has to say on the issue…

That is exactly what Dr. Kelly Brownell and Dr. Thomas Frieden proposed in a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Brownell and Frieden assert:

Sugar-sweetened beverages (soda sweetened with sugar, corn syrup, or other caloric sweeteners and other carbonated and uncarbonated drinks, such as sports and energy drinks) may be the single largest driver of the obesity epidemic. A recent meta-analysis found that the intake of sugared beverages is associated with increased body weight, poor nutrition, and displacement of more healthful beverages; increasing consumption increases risk for obesity and diabetes; the strongest effects are seen in studies with the best methods (e.g., longitudinal and interventional vs. correlational studies); and interventional studies show that reduced intake of soft drinks improves health. [1]

So why not tax sugar-sweetened beverages? Brownell and Frieden explain:

a one-penny-per-ounce excise tax on sugared beverages… would be expected to reduce consumption by 13% — about two servings per week per person. Even if one quarter of the calories consumed from sugared beverages are replaced by other food, the decrease in consumption would lead to an estimated reduction of 8000 calories per person per year — slightly more than 2 lb each year for the average person. Such a reduction in calorie consumption would be expected to substantially reduce the risk of obesity and diabetes and may also reduce the risk of heart disease and other conditions.

There will of course be many objections to this kind of tax: is it regressive? is it intrusive? will it work? Brownell and Frieden respond to these critiques, and present significant food for thought on tax day.

Happy April 15th!

As Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) labels show up in grocery stores, we are learning that approximately 80% of our seafood, 90% of lamb and mutton, 30% of fresh fruits and nuts, and 13% of vegetables are imported from around the world. The top 10 countries importing food and beverages into the U.S. include: Canada, Mexico, China, Brazil, Australia, Indonesia, Chile, New Zealand, Colombia and the European Union.

Developing countries such as Mexico and China are increasingly important in our food supply. Food imports from China into the U.S. have quadrupled over the last decade. China is now our number one country for importing prepared/preserved fruits, number two for prepared/preserved vegetables, and number four for fresh or frozen vegetables. China also is the number one producer of farmed fish and shellfish in the world, and the number one supplier of apple juice.

China supplies 80 percent of the world’s ascorbic acid– vitamin C – one-third of the world’s vitamin A, much of the supply of vitamin B-12, and many health-food supplements, such as lysine. Perhaps most surprising, a growing percentage of imported “organic” foods are now coming from China as well. So my daughter’s lunch of fish sticks, crackers, a fruit snack, apple juice, and a vitamin could all be from China. But CSPI: Building a Modern Food Safety System [PDF]

My daughter Minju has a peanut allergy. So, my wife and I are used to reading labels to avoid products with peanuts. But over the last month, all of America has come to fear and avoid peanuts as nine people have died and almost 700 have been sickened by salmonella contamination that led to recalls of almost 3,000 different food products. This even hit us at GoodGuide when our team’s beloved Clif Bars were recalled.

The peanut scandal follows closely on the heels of several other food safety crises: melamine recently showed up in baby formula, E. coli was found in bagged spinach, and an outbreak of salmonella occurred in chili peppers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each year an estimated 76 million people in the U.S. contract a food borne illness, leading to 5,000 deaths.

But even if we can avoid these contamination outbreaks, it turns out, there are a range of other serious issues to worry about with food. I think of myself as a fairly knowledgeable, healthy eater. But I was shocked when we began our research on food products and found out what’s actually in the food we eat. It turns out that when I pack my daughter’s “healthy” afternoon snack of a juice box and a fruit snack, I’m really feeding her two desserts filled with high fructose corn syrup, added sugars, and artificial colors. Some juices have more sugar than a can of soda!

That is why we are incredibly excited to announce the release of GoodGuide’s first ratings of food products. Click to read more about our food release.

For the last year we’ve been working to develop a simplified method to inform the public about the health, environmental, and social performance of food. This has turned out to be very challenging for two main reasons: food is complicated, and the food industry and the US government have not made it easy for people to understand the full impacts of food products.

Many great nutritionists have of course identified simple steps for eating better: Eat a balanced diet. Eat smaller portions. Eat more fruits and vegetables. And try to cut down on sugar and salt.

Unfortunately, beyond these important principles, the food industry makes it difficult to choose between products, or even to know the basic facts of the products we eat. So, the GoodGuide team has been working to develop simple metrics to analyze and compare overall nutrition, health impacts, environmental impacts, and social performance of food products and companies.

We are using a nutrition scoring system developed by a team of academics called the “RRR” or “Triple R” score which stands for the Ratio of Recommended to Restricted nutrients. In addition to this nutrition score, we have developed a simple ingredient hazard score for preservatives and additives, an environmental impact score, and a social impact score. To learn more about our ratings visit our methodology page.

Today, we are launching ratings of around 5,000 products that children regularly eat. But this is just the beginning for food. Check back regularly because we’ll be adding tens of thousands of additional food products to our database over the next month. We’re also developing tools for you to discover how processed a product is, and how transparent a company is about its supply chain. You will soon be able to search for specific ingredients and who owns your favorite food company.

We would love to hear your feedback on how to make our site more useful, more accessible, and ultimately help empower you to make informed choices in the grocery aisles. So check out our new food ratings and let us know what you think!

On March 16, 2009, the US government will finally begin enforcing Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) for meats, fruits, vegetables, and some raw nuts. This comes almost seven years – and a lot of industry lobbying – since Congress originally passed the COOL law in 2002.

With this required disclosure, grocery store shoppers can finally know the country of origin of their beef, pork, lamb, chicken, goat, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, raw peanuts, pecans, ginseng, and macadamia nuts. Labeling for seafood went into effect in 2006.

Unfortunately, COOL only covers unprocessed foods. So while fresh peanuts must be labeled, roasted peanuts and peanut butter are not. A bag of frozen peas is covered, but a bag with a mix of peas and carrots is not (this is considered processed). Cooked shrimp? You guessed it, not covered. In fact, cooked meats such as bacon, cured ham, and almost any products with more than one ingredient are exempt from disclosing their country of origin.

Despite these gaps in what COOL covers, we still consider it a big step towards greater transparency in the marketplace.

Enjoy the exciting new tour of countries of the world in your grocery store!