Rebranding Corn Syrup & Animal Traceability

Rebranding Corn Syrup & Animal Traceability plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

You say corn syrup, they say corn sugar. Now the FDA has cautioned the corn industry over its ongoing use of the term "corn sugar" to describe high fructose corn syrup, asking them to stop using the proposed new name before it has received regulatory approval. The Corn Refiners Association is attempting an image makeover after some scientists linked the product to obesity, diabetes and other health problems; some food companies now tout products that don't contain the ingredient.

Part of the framework for a proposed national animal disease traceability system involves official identification ear tags which are in use in many aspects of the livestock industry. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Administrator Gregory Parham talks about those ear tags.

PARHAM: Official ear tags commonly have characters such as the uniform ear tagging system, the animal identification number or AIN. Some have location based numbering system or a flock based numbering system and all those things are imprinted on the tag.

One of the goals of a proposed animal disease traceability program is faster discovery of the source of an animal disease or the source of a food related illness outbreak.

Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.

Forget the Oscars, or the Tony awards, or even the Grammys, there’s a contest out there geared towards the more important things in life, such as the contest designed by the American Farmland Trust promoting the economic and social value of farmers markets in communities across the U.S. In the search to find consumers top choice farmers markets nation wide the AFT hosted an online contest where people could vote for their favorite farmers market. With more than ninety thousand votes tallied this summer the winners have been announced in their perspective market categories, which are as follows: Boutique Markets, those with fifteen or fewer vendors, Small Markets, with sixteen to thirty vendors, Medium Markets, thirty-one to fifty-five vendors, and Large Markets with fifty-six plus vendors. There is a list of the country’s top twenty markets, plus there are winners in every category in every state that can be viewed on the AFT contest website. Congratulations to all the farmers market winners. And when you think about it congratulations to all of us who are fortunate enough to have these local farmers markets.

Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.