Category: Current News

Food safety is our business

Mercantilism Holding Sway

Food imports into UK would face tariffs absent Brexit deal; steel tariffs loom large for USMCA ratification; Sino-US trade uncertainties! Mercantilism is holding sway.

Horns of a Dilemma

Today’s horns of a dilemma (to be posted every week):  Average GDP growth 2013-’17 for following African countries: Ghana—6.08%, Ivory Coast: 11%, Cameroon-5.41%, and Nigeria-2.81% but GHG emissions were higher, 1990-2012: Ghana—23.02%;  Ivory  Coast—11.99%; Nigeria—60.49%; and Cameroon—12.37%

What Comes Next?

My class lecture topic yesterday :  Globalization’s Fall from Grace and the Impact on Agriculture Worldwide: trade war impacts on food safety, global supply chains, and commodity markets and rising climate change risks.   Wonder what the sequel will be?

FoodOnline Highlights GFSF Summit November 18, 2018

Upcoming Education   Global Food Safety Forum 6th Annual Summit: Managing Global Supply Chains In New Trading Environment November 18 to 20, 2018 | ZhongJian Building, Beijing, P.R. China GFSF, a not-for-profit organization founded and managed worldwide by GIC Group, is hosting its 6th annual summit for the promotion of global food safety and exchange …

Rescue Falling US Farm Commodity Prices with CCC?

Evidently, there is serious consideration underway to bring the Commodity Credit Corporation to the rescue of falling US farm commodity prices, especially soybeans.  The remedy is designed to be a buffer when there is a slack in demand. But there is no slack due to lower disposable income; there’s just an emerging trade war.  So …

White House Reorganization Proposal — Good News/Bad News

Yesterday’s White House reorganization proposal may be a good news/ bad news story. In the abstract, it may make sense to have a single Food Safety Agency within USDA. The potential drawbacks, however, could compound regulatory confusion more than resolve it. “We’ll be monitoring the issue,” said Nick Herrmann, GIC Director of Business Development, “but …

How Blockchain can Improve Food Safety in China’s Swine Industry

By Chih-Chieh Chang, Analyst GFSF   Situation In 2016, IBM, Walmart, and Tsinghua University in Beijing scaled up a pilot project to examine how blockchain can increase food traceability and transparency. Using IBM’s Linux Foundation blockchain-based Hyperledger technology, they found that blockchain can shorten the time to trace swine products’ information. For example, it would only …

GFSF Article Highlighted in FoodOnline

FoodOnline Guest Column | April 18, 2018  How Artificial Intelligence And Big Data Are Bolstering Food Safety  By Shijia Yao, Analyst, Global Food Safety Forum We’re all familiar with China’s past food safety issue with infant formula. But, past food safety events have taught many lessons for China, as well as the rest of the …