Teaching nutrition lessons, preparing healthy school meals and offering a friendly greeting are all in a day’s work for more than 250,000 child nutrition employees in the nation’s 99,000 school cafeterias and kitchens. The non-profit School Nutrition Association celebrates this professional commitment with Child Nutrition Employee Appreciation Week, May 5 - 9, 2008. The week is an opportunity for parents, students, school staff and communities to thank those who provide healthy school meals to more than 30 million children each school day.

(more…)

Today, the EU Commission held a debate on the biotech crop approval process in Europe and sent out a disappointing signal when it agreed to send back three cultivation dossiers which had been positively assessed. Europe is already lagging behind worldwide competition when it comes to biotech crops: more than 40 products are awaiting EU approval. Furthermore, in the light of the current bottlenecks in the supply of food and feed, it is unacceptable to keep putting off decisions by asking the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to reconsider dossiers such as the three biotech crops for cultivation which came before the Commission today: two insect resistant corn varieties and the starch potato Amflora which had been positively assessed by EFSA years ago.

(more…)

UNISON, the union for meat hygiene inspectors, is calling on the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to resist calls to privatise meat inspection for safety’s sake. The Meat Inspection Service currently protects consumers in England, Scotland and Wales and the decision over its fate is due out later today.

UNISON National Officer for Meat Inspectors, Simon Watson, said;

(more…)