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Keeping it Fresh: Preservatives and The Poison Squad

Cynthia Graber, Nicola Twilley and Deborah Blum Gastropod
Harvey Washington Wiley, a do-gooder farm boy who trained as chemist, worried that preservatives might be harming the public. The trials' shocking results led to the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act and eventually to the creation of the FDA.

food

Who gets to regulate lab-grown meat?

Sam Bloch New Food Economy
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced its intent to regulate lab-grown meat which is surprising since domain over meat products has always been the responsibility of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

food

Trump's Plan to Dissolve the FDA

Alex Swerdloff Munchies
What is the unpredictable candidate’s policy when it comes to food safety—and the regulation of fast food restaurants? If his original statement is in any way representative, he wants a lot less regulation of food, arguing that it is both burdensome to farmers and “overkill.”

food

The Epic Fight Over How To Label "Natural" Foods

Neal Ungerleider Fast Company
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the government agency that oversees food labeling in the United States, is changing its definition of what "healthy" actually means—and are still trying to figure out a definition for "natural foods."

food

The FDA Just Banned These Chemicals in Food. Are They the Tip of the Iceberg?

Elizabeth Grossman Civil Eats
The FDA announced that it will withdraw its approval for three chemicals used to make grease, stain, and water repelling food packaging and consider banning seven food additives used in both “artificial” and “natural” flavors. This raises much larger questions about one of the agencies with the most control over the safety of what we eat.

A Tribute to Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey: A Woman Who Made a Difference

Orac Respectful Insolence
Many Americans do not to know that thalidomide was never approved for use in the US, and that was almost entirely due to the vigilance and, yes, outright stubbornness of one brave woman, who could sniff out spin and misinformation in a drug company application and would not be swayed by unrelenting pressure.

Regulating the Magic that is Homeopathy: The Sabotage of Poor Reporting and False Balance

Orac Science Blogs
Homeopathy is, as Steve Novella characterized it, an “excellent example of the purest form of pseudoscience,” and as I, more blunt that Steve, like to call it, “The One Quackery To Rule Them All.” Failing to make that clear in media coverage of homeopathy lets advocates of homeopathic quackery to label skeptics as “homeopathic naysayers” and claim that the current FDA regulatory framework for homeopathic products is working just fine.
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