K A S H R U T . C O M_©

City of Berkeley Cracks Down on Single-Use Cups with 25 Cent Fee

January 23, 2018 from the Daily Coffee News:

"City officials in the coffee-loving city of Berkeley, California, have passed an ordinance requiring businesses to charge a 25 cent fee for single-use paper cups."
"Taking effect in January 2020, the ordinance will require disposable straws, lids, stirrers, cup spill plugs, napkins and utensils to also be compostable. Those items are to be made available only by request or at self-serve stations. Also according to the ordinance, all take-out food ware also must be compostable, all dine-in food ware must be reusable, and hardship waivers will be available for special circumstances."
"If you bring your own container, you have to have that charge removed."

Nebraska bill would ban ‘meat’ labels on lab-grown, insect and plant ‘products’

January 25, 2019 from Food Safety News:

"The mystery Nebraska State Sen. Carol Blood created briefly Tuesday by withdrawing her bill to limit the use of the term “meat” on product labels in the state was short-lived."
"On Wednesday she introduced an alternative to her original measure. The new proposal, Legislative Bill (LB) 594, seeks to amend Nebraska’s Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act. It replaced Blood’s withdrawn LB 14."
"Pyramid schemes and chain referral sales are among illegal activities covered by the state’s existing Deceptive Trade Practices Act. Reporting and enforcement is carried out by county attorneys and the Nebraska Attorney General. The proposed change would add language covering meat labeling."
"Meat means any edible portion of any livestock or poultry carcass or part thereof and does not include insect-based, plant-based or lab-grown food products,” according to Blood’s amending language."
"'For purposes of this subdivision, (a) livestock includes cattle, calves, sheep, swine, ratite birds, including, but not limited to, ostrich and emu, llamas, alpaca, bison, elk, goats, horses, and rabbits raised in confinement for human consumption and (b) poultry includes any domesticated bird, including, but not limited to, chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese raised in confinement for human consumption. . .'"
"Farmers and some legislators in Missouri and Nebraska, and possibly other meat producing states, say they want to protect the traditional animal agriculture industry at a time when promising protein alternatives are writing their marketing plans."

Sponsor withdraws Nebraska meat labeling bill without explanation

January 24, 2018 from the FoodSafetyNews:

"The Nebraska Unicameral bill for truth in advertising and labeling in the sale of meat and providing a penalty for non-compliance was looking pretty popular."
"Since Sen. Carol Blood, D-Bellevue, introduced it, Legislative Bill (LB) 14 had picked up five co-sponsors in the nation’s only nonpartisan legislative body. Blood, a business consultant elected in 2016, pulled a surprise move of her own on Tuesday when the Unicameral went back into session after the Marlin Luther King holiday."
"Blood introduced a motion to withdraw LB 14, a move not explained in the Unicameral’s journal or anyplace else. Blood did not issue a press release or explain the action, which is pending, on her district website. She could not be reached for comment."
"Sometimes bills are withdrawn only to be re-introduced with more precise language."
"When she introduced her bill, Blood said it was in support of state farm groups in hopes for the betterment of Nebraska and its future agricultural growth."

Nebraska lawmakers to consider ban on labeling meat-substitutes as ‘meat'

January 13, 2018 from the TheHill: and APNews:

"Lawmakers in Nebraska this year will consider legislation that would ban companies from labeling plant-based, insect-based and lab-grown products as meat." "Those products could include veggie burgers and tofu dogs."
"The consideration of the bill comes after Missouri in August became the first state to ban meat-substitute products from being labeled as 'meat.'"
"Nebraska led the nation in commercial red meat production in 2017 and had the most feed cows as of last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Livestock and livestock product sales generated an estimated $12.1 billion for the state’s economy in 2016, according to the USDA’s most recent available data."

Brussels - Jewish Journalist Who Covered Belgium’s Ritual Slaughter Ban Enters Politics To End It

January 18, 2019 from the Voisizneias:

Michael Freilich, "the longtime editor in chief of Belgium’s largest Jewish newspaper has announced he is resigning and running for parliament, partly in a bid to reverse recent bans in the country on the slaughter of conscious animals for meat." He joined "the New Flemish Alliance center-right party, the largest in the federal parliament."
"The party has placed Freilich in the fifth slot of its ticket for the May 26 regional elections, all but ensuring that Freilich will become a lawmaker in the Chamber of Representatives, the lower house. A victory would make him the first Orthodox Jew to serve there."

Austrialia: One in 40 ‘gluten-free’ foods contain gluten, research finds

November 12, 2018 from the news.com.au:

"Research has found one in 40 foods sold as “gluten-free” actually contained gluten, according to the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research."
"The study published in the Medical Journal of Australia tested 256 of Australia’s most commonly bought gluten-free foods, suggesting that almost 3 per cent failed to meet the national food standard."
"The study found a gluten-free pasta contained more than three milligrams of gluten in a standard single serve."
The "findings raised concerns not only for those with coeliac disease and gluten allergies, but also those with other forms of food allergies."

The Surprising Popularity of Kosher Food in Prison

January 15, 2018 from the The Tablet:

"According to the 2013 numbers, Jews are 7 percent of the state prison population of New York; the fourth largest religious denomination after Protestant, Catholic and Muslim (in that order). If the numbers were accurate it would mean that nearly twice as many Jews were locked up that year as members of the Nation of Islam. But the truth is that many inmates lie and claim to be Jewish once they enter the prison system. And why do they do it? Not as a hedge against the impending arrival of the Moshiach. They do it for the kosher food."
"At a minimum, New York state offers every Jew a standardized pre-packaged meal certified to be glatt kosher. In one facility, however, they get something even better. Greenhaven CF, a maximum security prison holding 2,500 people, of whom most are lifers, has the only hot kosher program in the state." This program has 70 slots available.
" The kosher meals were boring and tasted bad, but they were tamper-proof, which provided a measure of confidence not only in their religious authority but also that they had not been tampered with by other inmates.""Items that came in individual plastic wraps were ready-made as commodities for the prison barter system."