Dirty Pigs

China is hardly in a position to cast the first stone on matters of food safety, but until last week, the pork-loving nation was refusing to import meat from hogs raised in the United States, even though a disease is decimating its own pig population and driving pork prices to record levels. The Chinese were turning their noses up at our meat because of concerns about ractopamine, a feed additive widely given to American pigs to encourage production of lean meat. Ractopamine is forbidden in China, Europe, and Taiwan. It was only after Smithfield Foods, Inc., assured the Chinese that it could find ractopamine-free swine here that the Chinese agreed to let our pork into their country.

Got rBST?

First, a small mea culpa: this space has occasionally been hard on federal regulators for failing to take action. One agency, however, is a model of efficiency—at least when it comes to protecting the interests of chemical giant Monsanto Co.

My colleague James Rodewald brought my attention to an article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch, which reports that the FTC recently ordered “a few small dairies” to remove claims from their websites stating that their milk was healthier because they did not use rBST, a growth hormone sold under the brand name Posilac by Monsanto. Rules imposed by the FTC’s sister agency, the Food and Drug Administration, allow milk producers to label their product as rBST-free, but they can make no health or safety claims and have to include a disclaimer saying that their milk is not significantly different from the milk of cows that are dosed with the hormone—which, incidentally, is forbidden for use in Canada and Europe.

But consumers aren’t buying that argument. Already, companies such as Kroger Co. and Starbucks are refusing to sell rBST-treated milk. If that trend continues, Monsanto will need a lot more than Big Brother’s protection.

It’s a Gas

A few months ago, I noted that the consumer group Food and Water Watch was lobbying for a ban on the practice of gassing so-called case-ready meat with carbon dioxide, a practice that keeps the cuts rosy-red long after normal spoilage would have turned them gray.

As usual, the USDA and the FDA dithered. Now, Tyson and Safeway, companies that are not exactly in the slow-food vanguard, have beaten regulators to the punch. Safeway no longer sells meat treated with CO2, and Tyson will end the practice this month.

Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Mich) couldn’t have said it better: “Unfortunately, neither the FDA nor the USDA regulators have demonstrated the same concern for consumers and public health.”