Valentine Chocolates Costing More, Export Regulations Lifted and Grocery Cutbacks

Valentine Chocolates Costing More, Export Regulations Lifted and Grocery Cutbacks plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

The company SUPERVALU, which owns the majority of Albertsons grocery stores, announced it will be cutting about 800 positions nationwide. The cuts will not affect employees like cashiers, butchers, etc. in the stores. SUPERVALU says those employees that will be losing their jobs will be notified throughout this week. The cutbacks will affect all company officers and most departments within the organization. 

Next week is Valentine’s Day and if you are buying chocolates for your sweetie you will probably pay a bit more according to USDA Researcher Lyndel Meinhardt says diseases and pests are to blame.

MEINHARDT: There’s not enough cacao bean produced out there and so the prices are going up. For example in Costa Rica 90% of their crop is lost in the field.

Yesterday the USDA eliminated regulations requiring that U.S. beef exported to the United Arab Emirates be certified as free of “mad cow” disease. USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service eliminated the burdensome regulations following an announcement by the UAE last month lifting its ban on U.S. beef products from cattle more than 30 months old at the time of slaughter.The UAE imposed the restrictions in 2009, six years after a 2003 reported U.S. incident. No cases of BSE have been reported in the United States since 2006.

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

The latest spouting off about sugar being toxic came as no surprise. Claims that sugar is as toxic as tobacco or illegal drugs has been bouncing around for quite some time now. What does come as a surprise is that those who are considered legitimate scientists are suggesting that sugar should be a controlled substance and that people should be carded whenever they purchase sweet snacks or sodas. Food activists are known for saying things that are on the outrageous side; calling cheese “dairy crack” ,and “salt the other white snorting powder” are two prime examples. Saying sugar is the equal of tobacco is certainly right up there in the audacity factor. Thankfully, there are still those in the medical community that bring common sense to the table in the discussion on nutritional food values, stating that, “sugar does not cause obesity and diabetes, excess causes those.” If it goes that far, short of implementing a “sugar prohibition”, the regulating of sugar will no doubt be a difficult issue to tackle. After all, the American public does have a love affair with sugar, but as everyone knows banning a product only makes it that much more sought after.

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