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Governments should focus 'scant resources' on food security before biofuels

"The latest calculations show that U.S. ethanol policies have increased the food bills of poor food-importing countries by more than $9 billion (£5.6 billion) since 2006," Olivier De Schutter, U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, writes in the Guardian's "Poverty Matters" blog.

19 Oct 2012

Feed the Future video shows progress in fight against global hunger

USAID's "IMPACTblog" features a "video of the week" from the State Department's Feed the Future initiative. In the three-minute video, "narrator Matt Damon discusses U.S. efforts to turn the tide against global hunger and increase agricultural production around the world through Feed the Future," according to the blog.

3 Oct 2012

Women, girls must be at center of water, food security efforts

Noting "World Water Week recently concluded in Stockholm with a special emphasis on the linkages between water and food security," Lakshmi Puri, assistant secretary-general and deputy executive director of U.N. Women, writes in this Inter Press Service opinion piece, "Creating a water- and food-secure world requires putting women and girls at the center of water- and food-related policies, actions and financing."

13 Sep 2012

Joint E.U.-UNICEF program launched in Burkina Faso aims to improve nutrition security

"Support is being rolled out in Burkina Faso as part of a European Union (E.U.)-UNICEF joint action for improving nutrition security in Africa," UNICEF reports in an article on its webpage.

13 Sep 2012

World leaders, scientists gather in Stockholm for World Water Week; Researchers warn overconsumption draining world's water supply

Some 2,500 officials, policymakers and scientists will gather this week at the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) for the largest annual meeting on water development issues as the international community recognizes World Water Week, observed August 26-31, VOA News reports. According to the news service, this year's theme is "water and food security."

28 Aug 2012

FibeBiotics aims to prove benefits of polysaccharides in clinical trials

Staying healthy requires constantly stimulating the immune system. Ingesting non-digestible fibres such as polysaccharides is thought to help. Yet companies including such ingredients in their food products cannot claim that they boost the immune system. At least, not until they have been scientifically tested and proven in clinical trials. Only then, would the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) allow such health claims.

18 Aug 2012

Center for Global Development blog responds to London hunger summit

This post in the Center for Global Development's (CGD) "Views from the Center" blog, Owen Barder, a senior fellow and the director for Europe at CGD, addresses the recent hunger summit in London, citing two reasons for concern surrounding the discussion.

15 Aug 2012

Improve investment in agriculture to meet growing demands

Extreme weather is forcing grain and meat prices to rise, and food production will have to increase about 60 percent over the next 40 years to meet a growing world population, but "there are solutions to these daunting problems," Catherine Bertini, former director of the U.N. World Food Programme and the 2003 World Food Prize laureate, and Dan Glickman, former secretary of agriculture, write in a Politico opinion piece.

8 Aug 2012

USDA's Economic Research Service report examines global food security

In a post on the USDA Blog, economists Stacey Rosen and Shahla Shapouri of the Economic Research Service's (ERS) Food Security and Development Branch describe the latest ERS International Food Security Assessment, which covers 76 countries in Asia, Latin America, North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa.

3 Aug 2012

Private sector must be part of solution to provide food and nutrition security

"Agriculture faces dual challenges: becoming more sustainable on a dwindling resource base while having to feed an increasing number of people," Paul Polman, CEO of consumer goods company Unilever, and David Servitje, CEO of baking company Group Bimbo, who serve as co-chairs of the G20's B-20 Food Security Task Force, write in a Washington Post opinion piece, adding, "To provide food and nutrition security in the coming decades will require a major and sustained effort by all stakeholders, including business."

19 Jun 2012

Relationship between obesity prevalence and growth of supermarket economy

An international team of researchers' study of the spatial patterns of the spread of obesity suggests America's bulging waistlines may have more to do with collective behavior than genetics or individual choices. The team, led by City College of New York physicist Hern-n Makse, found correlations between the epidemic's geography and food marketing and distribution patterns.

15 Jun 2012

G8 summit 'missed opportunity' to make real commitment to long-term food security

"This G8 summit was, yet again, a missed opportunity for international leaders to make a real commitment to long-term food security and support for African and developing world farmers," Eva Clayton, a former member of Congress and former assistant director general of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), writes in this post in the Huffington Post's "The World" blog.

30 May 2012

Better urban planning is key to improving health of 60% of global population that will be living in cities by 2030

The proportion of the world’s population that lives in cities has been steadily rising, so that 3 in 5 of all people globally will live in a city by 2030. The UCL (University College London)/Lancet Commission on Healthy Cities explores the many issues other than health services that contribute to population health in a city environment.

30 May 2012

With teamwork and partnerships, successes experienced in Millennium Villages can be extended globally

In this post in the Huffington Post's "Global Motherhood" blog, Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, Sonia Sachs, director of health at the Millennium Villages Project (MVP), and Prabhjot Singh, assistant professor of international and public affairs at the MVP, respond to a study on the MVP, published in the Lancet on Tuesday, writing, "These results ... reinforce the global effort to build effective, low-cost, community-led health care systems that can end millions of deaths of young children and pregnant women each year."

10 May 2012

California school rationing leads to overall less calorie consumption in kids

Researchers have found that California high school students eat less fat and sugar and fewer calories at school than their peers in states that allow the sale of snacks with more of those.

9 May 2012

Plans to tackle growing waistlines and the obesity epidemic from the Institute of Medicine

According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), obesity in America is a crisis that threatens national security and it demands urgent action.

9 May 2012

Options for improving antimicrobial use in food animal production

Today, U.S. regulators and representatives from national food production industries will meet to discuss "Improving Antimicrobial Use in Food Animal Production: Alternatives, Options and Incentives," in Washington, DC.

7 May 2012

E coli detection in contaminated meat to be ‘sped up’ says USDA

The government is gearing up to speed up the process for tracking E. coli in meat, a move that will help authorities more quickly find the source of bacteria outbreaks and hasten recalls of contaminated food.

3 May 2012

Report applauds U.S. government agencies for food security leadership, highlights areas of concern

"A new report from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs applauds U.S. government agencies for food security leadership but calls on them to up the game in the face of rising global challenges and shrinking aid budgets," Connie Veillette, director of the Center for Global Development's rethinking U.S. foreign assistance initiative, writes in the center's "Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance Blog,"

30 Apr 2012

Mad cow disease raises concern but safety nets are in place says USDA

Four sick cows ever discovered in the U.S., the one announced Tuesday being the first since 2006, and no human version of the illness linked to eating U.S. beef, is not enough to worry about. “From simply a public health issue, I put it very, very low,” Cornell University food safety expert Martin Wiedmann said of the level of concern about mad cow disease. Maintaining confidence in exports fuels the nation's monitoring of the beef supply as much as continuing safety concerns, he said.

26 Apr 2012