Trade

No More Smuggling: Many Cured Italian Meats Coming To America

Sylvia Poggioli — Thu, 16 May 2013 20:38:00 +0000

American gourmets and lovers of Italian food products, your days as food smugglers are over.

No more stuffing your suitcases with delicacies bought in Italy, hoping the sniffer dogs at JFK or other American airports won't detect the banned-in-the-USA foodstuffs inside your luggage.

In the U.S., they're called cured meats, the French say charcuterie and in Italy, the word for cured-pork products is salumi.

Tiny Mites Spark Big Battle Over Imports Of French Cheese

Sat, 11 May 2013 09:30:00 +0000
The Food and Drug Administration is currently embroiled in a surprisingly heated culinary standoff — pitting French cheese-makers (and American cheese-lovers) against regulators, all because of one very small problem: cheese mites.
Cheese mites are microscopic little bugs that live on the surfaces of aged cheeses, munching the microscopic molds that grow there. For many aged cheeses, they're something of an industry nuisance, gently brushed off the cheeses.

Obama Picks Major Fundraiser To Be Next Commerce Secretary

Mark Memmott — Thu, 02 May 2013 14:31:00 +0000
Penny Pritzker, one of the nation's richest people and a "longtime political supporter and heavyweight fundraiser," as The Chicago Tribune writes, is President Obama's choice to be his next secretary of commerce.
The president announced the news this hour at the White House. He also said that one of his economic advisers, Michael Froman, is his choice to be the next U.S.

Coffee For A Cause: What Do Those Feel-Good Labels Deliver?

Daniel Charles — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 07:20:00 +0000
What does it take to find guilt-free coffee?
Much of our coffee comes from places where the environment is endangered and workers earn very little — sometimes, just a few dollars for a whole day's work. Coffee farmers have helped cut down tropical forests, and most of them use pesticides.
It doesn't take much effort, though, to find bags of coffee with labels that promise social and environmental improvements.

Farm Bill's Sugar Subsidy More Taxing Than Sweet, Critics Say

Dan Bobkoff — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 21:33:00 +0000
While you indulge in some Easter Peeps and chocolates this weekend, you might want to think about all that sugar. No, this isn't a calorie warning. In the U.S., raw sugar can cost twice the world average.
Critics say U.S. sugar policy artificially inflates sugar prices to benefit an exclusive group of processors — even though it leads to higher food prices. But this year, prices fell anyway.