03/26/08 Nestle Says No, Salmonella & Getting Down to Business

Nestle Says No, Salmonella & Getting Down To Business plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. It is beginning to rival the best television cliff hangers like "Who Shot JR?" Farm bill negotiators continue to miss self-imposed deadlines for advancing a new farm bill - leaving the very real possibility Congress may have to extend the 2002 law through 2009. Two Fridays ago - House Ag Chair Collin Peterson told reporters PETERSON: At the end of next week or the first part of the week after we're still having some real reservations and then at some point, if we don't have this wrapped up by the first week that we come back here we won't get the bill done. The world's biggest food and drink company is not happy with plans to subsidize biofuels. Nestle's chief, Peter Brabeck-Letmatche called biofuels subsidies irresponsible and immoral. He said that if 20-percent of the world's oil demand is fulfilled by biofuels as predicted - there won't be any food left to eat. He also says water and land for cultivation are becoming scarce - while demand for biofuels drives up the price of corn, soybeans and wheat which I have no doubt will mean a price increase in Nestle products. Honduran cantaloupe have been blamed for a salmonella outbreak. 59 people including 14 from the NW have gotten sick from coming in contact with the fruit. While Honduran officials are calling the U.S. alert "unjust," the FDA warns consumers to toss any cantaloupe from Honduras and make sure you wash your hands thoroughly. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray. In today's world of advanced beauty treatments Demi Moore has just turned the clock back 200 years for women. Is Demi beautiful? Yes. Did she get that way through leech therapy? Doubtful. Am I going to rush right out and try this ancient form of cleansing the body, definitely NOT! And I doubt that thousands of other women around the country will either. Oh, there will probably be a few brave souls willing to try yet another beauty extreme to reach the unattainable perfection of face and body. I'm willing to bet it will be the same ones who have injected that little gem, Botox. The fact that the word toxin is used in the definition of a beauty aid sends up a red flag for me. Ok, I'll admit that in the last couple of months as my birthday loomed ever closer I purchased a few new items for the medicine cabinet. I will also admit that for the most part, I wasted my hard earned cash. I have come to the conclusion that the best beauty aids are eating healthy, drinking plenty of water and getting my allotted 8 hours of sleep. Sweet dreams! Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.