"European union" news and stories

Call it Showdown at the Cloned Cow Corral. The European Union is split on whether cloned animals and their offspring should be allowed into the food supply of that continent.

News organizations across the pond report that two of the EU's governing arms say yes, one has said no -- twice -- and is likely to vote a final "no" in July, which will send the whole thing into a reconciliation process.

The irony here is that while the EU debates, meat and milk (only a very small amount, granted) from the offspring of cloned animals probably already is in the U.S. food supply -- and you have no way of knowing whether you're eating or drinking it.

Here's the deal: In January 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, after years of study, said it found no inherent safety problems with meat or milk from cow, goat or pig clones or their offspring. (The FDA didn't have enough information to weigh in on sheep.) It also lifted a long-standing voluntary moratorium on putting such meat and milk on the market while it studied clones.

Too curvy or just right? Photo: cyborgsuzy/flickr

After a 20-year ban, the European Commission is allowing the sale of less than perfect fruits and vegetables.

"July 1 marks the return to our shelves of the curved cucumber and the knobbly carrot," Mariann Fischer Boel, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, says. "More seriously, this is a concrete example of our drive to cut unnecessary red tape ... It makes no sense to throw perfectly good products away, just because they are the 'wrong' size and shape."

For years, the European Commission regulated the size and shape of fruits and vegetables sold on the continent.

These days the European Union is being looked at as an inept "taste police" by many chefs and food enthusiasts. While working in the cheese industry, I spoke with many French cheese makers who felt threatened by the strict laws regarding cheese aging facilities and feared anti-raw milk legislation. This week, bakers in Germany were angered by a proposed regulation on the salt content in their products.

An article from the New York Times states that Androulla Vassiliou, the European commissioner for health, decided on Wednesday to postpone making a decision on new regulations due to the intense reaction from the German bakers, represented by a federal association and by regional lobbies. Commission spokeswoman, Nina Papadoulaki, defends the EU by claiming, "Our aim is to provide consumers with better information so that they can make informed choices. The commission has no intentions of prohibiting any bread. We have decided to continue our talks with the stakeholders."

It seems that one of the major issues that's not being addressed by the EU, thus far, is the preservation of cultural traditions in the various EU countries. Culinary cultures that date back hundreds of years are at stake. The negligence on their part to fight to maintain cultural diversity within the EU is astonishing when related to food concerns. Perhaps, there needs to be another organization to express these issues to the EU. What do you think?

Well, there aren't many of them. To be more specific, there is only one coffee making robot in Italy so far (but leave it to the Italians to come up with this one)

The robot's name is Justine, and she was only just introduced to the world as a prototype at a robotics conference in Rome on Wednesday. So far Justine can only make instant coffee, but her creators say just give it time.
They're working on ways to give the coffee maker enough sensory equipment and the ability to use both hands so that one day you can have your very own barrista at home.

Justine is the first result of a European Union project called DEXMART, which involves research partners in Italy, the U.K., France and Germany. I'm not a huge coffee drinker, but I know lots of people who are. I bet they can't wait for the day when every one has their own coffee robot. "Justine, I'll have a double shot espresso, please."

The FDA has determined that food from cloned animals and the offspring of cloned animals is as safe to eat as the products from conventionally bred animals. While food producers, manufacturers and sellers in the US ponder over that conclusion, the EU is looking to draw its own. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has begun an investigation into "the future impacts of livestock cloning."

Currently, there are no regulations in the European Union about the consumption of cloned animals or of any products derived from them. The science behind animal cloning has developed so rapidly over the past few years, however, that some scientists believe that clones are on the verge of being able to become commercially viable for mainstream animal breeders/producers. But feasibility is not the be-all and end-all of the issue. The EFSA intends to look at not only scientific studies, but at ethical ones. They expect to be able to start to shape their decision in about six months.

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