Timeline of Food
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www.foodreference.com/html/HistoricEvents.html
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500000BCÂ Â Â Definitive evidence
for cooking by Homo erectus dates back to about this time.
   (Econ, 3/12/15, p.75)
28000BCÂ Â Â In 2010 it was reported that starch grains
found on 30,000-year-old grinding stones suggest that prehistoric
man may have dined on an early form of flat bread, contrary to his
popular image as primarily a meat-eater. The grinding stones were
discovered at sites in Italy, Russia and the Czech Republic.
   (Reuters, 10/19/10)
c20000BCÂ Â Â Plant remains from this time were found
at the Ohalo II site on the shore of the Sea of Galilee indicating
use of barley and perhaps other grains in the human diet.
   (SFC, 6/22/04, p.A3)(SFC, 8/16/04, p.A6)
8000BCÂ Â Â The potato was first cultivated some 10,000
years ago by South American Indians. In the 16th century Spanish
explorers brought potatoes back to Europe, where it was first used
primarily as livestock feed. The potato was introduced to North
America in the 17th century. In the 18th century, the poor of Europe
began to use potatoes as a replacement for cereals in their diets.
The failure of the potato crop in Ireland in 1845-46 led to great
famine and pushed tens of thousands of Irish to emigrate to the
United States. In 2008 it was reported that genetic studies by
potato experts indicated that all potatoes originated over 10,000
years ago from a single ancestor, Solanum brevicaule, found on the
Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca.
   (HNQ, 5/10/98)(SSFC, 10/5/08, p.A15)
8000BCÂ Â Â A genetic mutation among northern Europeans
about this time made lactose tolerance continue beyond childhood.
   (WSJ, 2/12/0/09, p.A11)
8000BCÂ Â Â It is believed that the Chinese became to
first to domesticate wild boars about this time.
   (Econ, 12/20/14, p.68)
c7,975BCEÂ Â Â Humans lived in a cave near Oaxaca,
Mexico, named Guila Naquitz (White Cliff). Scattered remains of
tools, seeds and plants were found in 1966 by archeologist Kent
Flannery and some of the seeds were dated to this time. The squash
seeds showed signs of cultivation.
   (SFC, 5/9/97, p.A2)
5500BCÂ Â Â Scientists in 2012 presented evidence of
cheese making in pottery sieves discovered in Poland that dated to
about this time.
   (SSFC, 12/16/12, p.A22)
c5100BCEÂ Â Â In 2001 evidence in Mexico was reported
for corn cultivation from sediments of this time.
   (SFC, 5/18/01, p.A7)
c5,000BCEÂ Â Â Research in 2003 indicated that bananas
and taro were cultivated in the highlands of Papua New Guinea as
long as 7,000 years ago. The first signs of human habitation in the
area occurred c5,800 BCE and included a change from forest to
grasslands and increase in charcoal in the sediments. The earliest
Asian influence on the islands occurred about 1,500 BCE.
   (AP, 6/19/03)
c4000BCEÂ Â Â Apples (Malus Sieversii) similar to
modern day varieties began to appear around Almaty, Kazakhstan.
These ultimately produced the Red Delicious and Golden Delicious in
America. The Red Delicious was hybridized into the Fuji and the
Empire. The Golden Delicious was hybridized into the Gala, the
Jonagold, the Mutsu, Pink Lady and Elstar.
   (WSJ, 7/3/03, p.A1)
2700BCEÂ Â Â Domesticated maize in Mexico goes back to
this time.
   (SFEC, 4/18/99, Z1 p.2)
1500BC-1100BC Evidence found in 1998 revealed terraced farming for
corn back to this time in northeast Mexico on a hilltop overlooking
the Rio Casa Grandes.
   (SFC, 3/13/98, p.A11)
1275BCÂ Â Â Ptahmes, the mayor of Memphis, served about
this time as army chief, overseer of the treasury and royal scribe
under Seti I and his son and successor, Ramses II. Archeologists in
2010 discovered the tomb of Ptahmes at Saqqara. Foreign expeditions
in 1885 had made off with pieces of the tomb, whose location was
soon after forgotten. In 2018 scientists said a solidified mass
found in a broken jar at the site in 2013-2014 was cheese made from
a mixture of cow milk and that of a sheep or goat.
   (AP, 5/30/10)(SFC, 8/18/18, p.A2)
500BCÂ Â Â The Chinese learned to ferment soybean
around this time. The fermentation removed toxins and made soy
easier to digest. It had already been used for thousands of years as
fertilizer.
   (SSCM, 8/13/06, p.6)
400BCÂ Â Â Korean farmers about this time brought rice
to Japan.
   (Econ, 12/19/09, p.66)
356BC-323BCÂ Â Â The people have a myth that Alexander
the Great during his conquests ordered his 11 doctors to create a
remedy for all sick people and that as a result pilaf was invented.
Around 1000-1100 Mahmud of Kashgar, China, recorded a similar story
but substituted tutmach (noodles) for pilaf.
   (SFC, 8/14/96, zz-1 p.2)
74BCÂ Â Â Â Â Â According to Pliny the
Roman General Lucullus introduced cherries to Europe. Greeks had
cultivated cherries hundreds of years before this.
   (SFC, 4/12/03, p.E3)
400-500Â Â Â About this time Apicius, a Roman gourmand,
authored “De re coquinara” (concerning cookery). It is considered to
be the first Western cookbook. The first printed edition came out in
1483.
   (Econ, 12/20/08,
p.140)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apicius)
800-900Â Â Â In Poland a 9th century edict forbade Jews
from baking. The law was supposedly circumvented by boiling bread
and then toasting it. This process is believed to have led to the
creation of the bagel.
   (WSJ, 11/29/08, p.W11)
c850CEÂ Â Â Outsiders found coffee in the region of
Ethiopia called Kaffa, hence the name.
   (SFEC, 10/6/96, Z1
p.4)(http://www.koffeekorner.com/koffeehistory.htm)
1202Â Â Â Â Â Â King John of England
proclaimed the 1st food law, the Assize of Bread. It prohibited the
adulteration of bread with ground peas.
   (Econ Sp, 12/13/03, p.15)
1315Â Â Â Â Â Â In France Parisian bakers
were found guilty of mixing flour with animal droppings during the
Great Famine.
   (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R25)
1492Â Â Â Â Â Â May 15, Cheese and Bread
rebellion: German mercenaries killed 232 Alkmaarse.
   (MC, 5/15/02)
1492Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 5, Christopher
Columbus learned of maize (corn) from the Indians of Cuba.
   (MC, 11/5/01)
1496Â Â Â Â Â Â A Polish edict, pushed by
Krakow’s gentile bakers, banned Jews from selling bagels within the
city limits.
   (www.nextbook.org/cultural/feature.html?id=1075)
1498Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 26, Toothbrush was
invented. In China the first toothbrushes with hog bristles began to
show up. Hog bristle brushes remained the best until the invention
of nylon.
   (SFC, 6/6/98, p.E3)(MC, 6/26/02)
1500s   The popularity of surströmming, a Swedish
fermented herring with a noxious stench, surged in the early 1500s
and again in the early 1700s.
   (WSJ, 8/13/02, p.A1)
1511Â Â Â Â Â Â In Mecca, Arabia, there
was an attempt to ban coffee.
   (Econ, 12/20/03, p.90)
1515-1519Â Â Â Coffee from Arabia appeared in Europe.
   (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R49)
1516Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 23, Bavarian Dukes
Wilhelm IV and his brother Ludwig X enacted the Reinheitsgebot law
(purity law). It required that beer be made from malt, hops, water
and nothing else. Yeast was added to the list later.
   (WSJ, 5/27/98, p.A1)(SFC, 7/15/04, p.A2)(Econ,
10/9/10, p.76)(SFC, 4/23/16, p.A2)(Econ, 4/23/15, p.44)
c1525Â Â Â Â Â Â First found in Peru by
invading Spaniards, the tomato was also known as a "love apple" or
"wolf peach" and regarded with suspicion and shunned as food. It was
believed to be unhealthy or downright poisonous and given the Latin
name Lycopersicon, or "wolf peach." In Europe it was thought to be a
potent-and thus forbidden-aphrodisiac, hence the name "love apple."
Thomas Jefferson grew tomatoes in the late 1700s, but they weren't
widely consumed in Europe and America until the early 1800s.
   (HNQ, 1/3/99)
1527Â Â Â Â Â Â Hernando Cortez and his
conquistadores completed the conquest of New Spain. They brought
back to Spain tomatoes, avocados, papayas, and vanilla.
   (TL-MB, 1988, p.13)
1528Â Â Â Â Â Â Wheat was introduced into
New Spain.
   (TL-MB, 1988, p.13)
1550Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 7, Chocolate was
introduced (Europe).
   (MC, 7/7/02)
1553Â Â Â Â Â Â Pedro Cieza de Leon wrote
the first European description of the potato in his “Chronicles of
Peru.”
   (SSFC, 10/5/08, p.A15)
1577Â Â Â Â Â Â Francisco Hernandez,
Spanish explorer traveling through Mexico’s highlands, noted the
many uses of the maguey (agave) plant. He cited it as a useful fuel,
a material for cloth and ropes, with sap used to make vinegar and
wine.
   (Arch, 9/02, p.32)
1586Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 28, Sir Thomas Harriot
introduced potatoes to Europe.
   (SC, 7/28/02)
1602-1603Â Â Â In Russia agricultural failure in 1601
led to widespread starvation in both 1602 and 1603. It claimed the
lives of an estimated 2 million people, or about one-third of the
population, and more than 100,000 died in Moscow alone.
Government inability to alleviate both the calamity and the
subsequent unrest eventually led to the overthrow of Czar Boris
Godunov, a defining event in Russian history.
  Â
(http://faculty.arec.umd.edu/hleathers/August%202008.htm)
1621Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct, The first American
Thanksgiving was held in Massachusetts' Plymouth colony in 1621 to
give thanks for a bountiful harvest. 51 Pilgrims served codfish, sea
bass and turkeys while their 90 Wampanoag guests contributed venison
to the feast. After the survival of their first colony through a
bitter winter and the subsequent gathering of the harvest in the
autumn of 1621, Plymouth Colony Governor William Bradford issued a
thanksgiving proclamation. During the three-day October thanksgiving
the Pilgrims feasted on wild turkey and venison with their Native
American guests. American Indians introduced cranberries to the
white settlers.
   (HNPD, 11/26/98)(SSFC, 11/16/03, p.C11)(Econ,
12/18/04, p.122)
1621Â Â Â Â Â Â In Germany potatoes,
native to the Andes, were first planted.
   (SFC, 7/14/99, p.3)
1630Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 22, Indians introduced
pilgrims to popcorn at Thanksgiving.
   (MC, 2/22/02)
1630Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 25, The fork was
introduced to American dining by Gov. Winthrop.
   (MC, 6/25/02)
c1630Â Â Â The widow of a samurai set up a business
that grew to become the Kikkoman Corp., the world’s leading maker of
soy sauce.
   (WSJ, 12/27/99, p.A1)(Econ, 12/18/04, p.105)
1637Â Â Â Â Â Â May 13, Cardinal Richelieu
of France created the table knife.
   (MC, 5/13/02)
1640Â Â Â Â Â Â The Massachusetts Bay
Company sent 300,000 codfish to market.
   (SFC, 5/24/97, p.E3)
1660Â Â Â Â Â Â May 7, Isaack B. Fubine of
Savoy, in The Hague, patented macaroni.
   (MC, 5/7/02)
1673Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 20, The 1st recorded
wine auction was held in London.
   (MC, 2/20/02)
1683Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 12, Marco d'Aviano,
sent by Pope Innocent XI to unite the outnumbered Christian troops,
spurred them to victory. The Turks left behind sacks of coffee which
the Christians found too bitter, so they sweetened it with honey and
milk and named the drink cappuccino after the Capuchin order of
monks to which d'Aviano belonged. An Austrian baker created a
crescent-shaped roll, the Kipfel, to celebrate the victory. Empress
Maria Theresa later took it to France where it became the croissant.
   (Reuters, 4/28/03)(WSJ, 6/3/03, p.D5)
1708Â Â Â Â Â Â Thomas Corneille mentioned
Camembert cheese in his geographical dictionary.
   (Econ, 7/26/03, p.79)
1718Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 13, John Montagu
(d.1792), fourth Earl of Sandwich and purported inventor of the
sandwich, was born. In 2012 the town of Sandwich staged a dramatic
re-enactment of the moment when the earl was said to have invented
the sandwich, to mark the 250th anniversary of the bread-based
snack.
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Montagu,_4th_Earl_of_Sandwich)(AFP,
5/13/12)
1720Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 10, Mrs. Clements of
England marketed the 1st paste-style mustard.
   (MC, 6/10/02)
1727Â Â Â Â Â Â The 1st English-language
recipe for "English Katchop" was published in "E. Smith's Compleat
Housewife, or Accomplished Gentlewoman's Companion."
   (SFC, 8/27/03, p.E4)
1727Â Â Â Â Â Â Brazil planted its first
coffee.
   (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R49)
1733Â Â Â Â Â Â May 17, England passed the
Molasses Act, putting high tariffs on rum and molasses imported to
the colonies from a country other than British possessions.
   (MC, 5/17/02)
1738Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 15, The bottle opener
was invented.
   (MC, 4/15/02)
1741Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 13, Dutch people
protested the bad quality of bread.
   (MC, 4/13/02)
1742Â Â Â Â Â Â England's "Compleat
Housewife" cookbook was published in North America.
   (SFC, 8/27/03, p.E4)
1743Â Â Â Â Â Â "Kitchup" was declared a
kitchen staple in a British housekeeper's guide. Fish, mushroom and
walnut emerged as the 3 main ketchups.
   (SFC, 8/27/03, p.A1)
1744Â Â Â Â Â Â May 11, In Britain
Elizabeth Robinson of Middlesex and 2 other women were tried and
convicted at the Old Bailey on charges of stealing 104 imported
China oranges from a grocer’s warehouse with the intent to sell
them. She was sentenced to transport for a term of 7 years. She was
pregnant and gave birth on ship.
   (SFEC, 10/27/96, p.T9)
1755Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 30, Philippines closed
all non-Catholic Chinese restaurants.
   (MC, 6/30/02)
1758Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 15, The 1st mustard
manufactured in America was advertised in Philadelphia.
   (440 Int’l., 2/15/99)(HCB, 2003, p. 94)
1772Â Â Â Â Â Â The Paris Faculty of
Medicine declared potatoes to be an edible food.
   (SSFC, 10/5/08, p.A15)
1774Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 26, John Chapman
(d.1845), later known as Johnny Appleseed, was born in
Massachusetts. A pioneer agriculturalist of early America,
Chapman began his trek in 1797, collecting apple seedlings from
western Pennsylvania and establishing apple nurseries around the
early American frontier. Chapman was a Swedenborgian missionary, a
land speculator and an eccentric dresser (he hated shoes and seldom
wore them. He planted orchards across western Pennsylvania, Ohio,
and Indiana from seed.
  Â
(www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=94)(T&L, 10/1980,
p.42)(ON, 4/09, p.10)
1777Â Â Â Â Â Â May 12, The 1st ice cream
advertisement appeared in the Philip Lenzi NY Gazette.
   (MC, 5/12/02)
1784Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 1, E. Kidner opened
the 1st cooking school in Great Britain.
   (SC, 3/1/02)
1785Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 1, Philadelphia
Society for the Promotion of Agriculture was organized.
   (SC, 3/1/02)
1788Â Â Â Â Â Â “The Art of Cookery, Made
Plain and Easy” by Hannah Glasse was published in London.
   (SFC, 5/4/05, p.G10)
1791Â Â Â Â Â Â Legend says the Harel
family began making Camembert cheese before this time. The family
had given a priest refuge, who in gratitude gave them the recipe. In
2003 Pierre Boisard authored "Camembert: A National Myth."
   (SSFC, 7/27/03, p.M3)
1792Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 4, Oranges were
introduced to Hawaii.
   (SC, 3/4/02)
1794Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 5, Sylvester Graham,
developed graham cracker, was born.
   (MC, 7/5/02)
1795Â Â Â Â Â Â Lime juice was issued to
all British sailors to aid in prevention of scurvy. Captain James
Cook (d.1779) had prepared a paper detailing his groundbreaking work
against scurvy. He was awarded the gold Copley Medal-one of the
highest honors of England's Royal Society. Scurvy epidemics were
once common among sailors on long voyages. Cook was the first to
beat the problem, recognizing the need for an appropriate diet for
his sailors.
   (HNQ, 7/21/98)
1798Â Â Â Â Â Â Thomas Robert Malthus
authored his “An Essay on the Principle of Population As it affects
the future improvement of society with remarks on the speculations
of Mr. Godwin, M. Condorcet, and other writers.” His forecast for a
population crash was based on the calculation that it was impossible
to improve wheat yields as fast as people make babies. His 2nd
edition in 1803 introduced the idea of moral restraint.
  Â
(www.faculty.rsu.edu/~felwell/Theorists/Malthus/essay2.htm)(Econ,
12/24/05, p.29)(Econ, 5/17/08, p.94)
1800Â Â Â Â Â Â John Chapman (1774-1845),
Johnny Appleseed, a Swedenborgian missionary, a land speculator, a
heavy drinker and an eccentric dresser, began planting orchards
across western Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana from seed.
(T&L, 10/1980, p.42) )(AHD, p.225)(HNQ, 1/2/01)
c1800Â Â Â Â Â Â Worcestershire sauce was
a ketchup and came out about this time.
   (SFC, 7/3/96, zz-1,p.3)
1801Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 9, Gail Borden
(d.1874), inventor of condensed milk, was born in New York.
   (ON, 5/04, p.4)(Internet)
1801Â Â Â Â Â Â Elder John Leland, a
Baptist minister, helped commission a 1,235-pound wheel of Cheshire
cheese as a gift of gratitude for Thomas Jefferson's steadfast
support of religious liberties.
   (SSFC, 8/17/03, p.M1)
1803Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 14, An apple parer was
patented by Moses Coats in Downington, Penn.
   (MC, 2/14/02)
1803Â Â Â Â Â Â May 17, John Hawkins and
Richard French patented a reaping machine.
   (MC, 5/17/02)
1803Â Â Â Â Â Â Thomas Robert Malthus
(1766-1834), English political economist, authored the 2nd edition
of his 1798 “An Essay on the Principle of Population.” This edition
introduced the idea of moral restraint.
   (Econ, 5/17/08,
p.94)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malthus)
1805Â Â Â Â Â Â As early as 1805,
Bostonian Frederic Tudor (b.1783) considered ways to make money by
exporting ice, a valueless commodity in New England, to the tropics.
Tudor supported technical innovations, like the horse-drawn sleigh
with saw-like runners, which improved the cutting, shipping and
storage of large ice blocks. Recognizing that people living in warm
climates were not familiar with cool food and drinks, Tudor traveled
to prospective markets making ice cream and providing free ice for
barkeepers. By 1856, Tudor's role as the "Ice King" was firmly
established as 146,000 tons of ice shipped from Boston transformed
the eating habits of people from the Philippines to the southern
United States.
   (HNPD, 4/13/99)
1806Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 5, Isaac Quintard
patented apple cider.
   (MC, 4/5/02)
1806Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 3, Michael Keens
exhibited the 1st cultivated strawberry.
   (MC, 7/3/02)
1807Â Â Â Â Â Â May 22, Townsend Speakman
1st sold fruit-flavored carbonated drinks in Phila.
   (MC, 5/22/02)
1809Â Â Â Â Â Â Nicholas Appert won a
French prize of 12,000 francs for his method of keeping food in
glass bottles. Napoleon had offered the prize with military needs in
mind.
   (SFC, 9/19/07, p.G6)
1810Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 17, Lewis Norton of
Troy, PA., introduced his pineapple cheese.
   (440 Int'l, 4/17/03)
1810Â Â Â Â Â Â Peter Durand, a British
merchant, was granted a patent by King George III for his idea of
preserving food in "vessels of glass, pottery, tin (tin can), or
other metals or fit materials."
   (www.cancentral.com/history.htm)
1812Â Â Â Â Â Â The 1st American recipe
for tomato ketchup was published.
   (SFC, 8/27/03, p.E4)
1813Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 11, The 1st pineapples
were planted in Hawaii (or 1/21).
   (MC, 1/11/02)
1814Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 3, Nicolas Appert
(b.1749), French cook, died. He was the winner of a 12,000 franc
prize offered by Napoleon for developing a method to preserve food.
His original canning method took 14 years to develop and used glass
jars sealed with wax reinforced with wire.
   (WSJ, 1/21/03, p.A1)(www.foodreference.com)
1815Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 3, World's 1st
commercial cheese factory was established, in Switzerland.
   (MC, 2/3/02)
1816Â Â Â Â Â Â Henry Hall, a Cape Cod
farmer, discovered that sand spread over wild cranberry plants
induced good growth.
   (Econ, 12/18/04, p.123)
1817Â Â Â Â Â Â Dr. William Kitchiner
authored his cookbook "Apicius Redivivus, or the Cook's Oracle." It
included 11 ketchup recipes, including 2 each for mushroom, walnut
and tomato ketchups, and one each for cucumber, oyster and cockles
and mussels ketchups.
   (SFC, 8/27/03, p.E4)
1820Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 28, The tomato was
proven to be non-poisonous.
   (MC, 6/28/02)
1820Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 7, The 1st potatoes
were planted in Hawaii.
   (MC, 8/7/02)
1825Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 19, Ezra Daggett and
nephew Thomas Kensett received a patent from Pres. Monroe for food
storage in tin cans. [see 1810]
   (www.foodreference.com/html/html/january19.html)
1828Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 4, Casparus van Wooden
patented chocolate milk powder (Amsterdam).
   (MC, 4/4/02)
1830Â Â Â Â Â Â Commercial bottling
operations for ketchup began in Boston.
   (SFC, 8/27/03, p.E4)
1830Â Â Â Â Â Â Some sources say that the
1st pizzeria opened in Naples about this time. [see 1889]
   (SFCM, 4/18/04, p.16)
1833Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 24, A patent was
granted for the first soda fountain.
   (HN, 4/24/98)
1834Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 25, Delmonico's, one
of NY's finest restaurants, provided a meal of soup, steak, coffee
& half a pie for 12 cents.
   (SFEC, 5/18/97, Z1 p.6)
1835Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 13, Ladd & Co.
began the 1st sugar cane plantation in Hawaii.
   (www.laddfamily.com/Files/Hawaii.htm)
1837Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 28, Pharmacists John
Lea & William Perrins began to manufacture Worcester Sauce. [see
1834]
   (MC, 8/28/01)
1841Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 22, Cornstarch was
patented by Orlando Jones.
   (MC, 3/22/02)
1845Â Â Â Â Â Â The Economist magazine
began tabulating a food price index.
   (Econ, 12/8/07, p.11)
1845-1846Â Â Â As Ireland’s potato crop was consumed by
blight. The nation’s peasants, who relied on the potato as their
primary food source, starved. The famine took as many as one million
lives from hunger and disease and caused mass emigration. The
British government responded to the calamity too late with too
little aid, even though eyewitnesses reported the suffering in the
press.
   (HNPD, 3/17/99)
1847Â Â Â Â Â Â Britain passed a Vagrancy
Act to combat begging as famine swept Ireland.
   (AP, 11/25/08)
1847Â Â Â Â Â Â Sweet chocolate made its
debut.
   (NH, 6/03, p.74)
1848Â Â Â Â May 30, William Young patented the ice
cream freezer.
   (HN, 5/30/98)
1848Â Â Â Â Â Â John Curtis produced the
first commercial chewing gum in his home kitchen in Maine. In 1850
he established the world’s first chewing gum factory in Portland.
   (Econ, 10/29/11, p.100)
1848Â Â Â Â Â Â It was discovered that
palm oil, a native of West Africa, grew well in the Far East. By
2010 Indonesia and Malaysia produced 90% of the world’s palm oil.
   (Econ, 6/26/10, p.71)
1849Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct, The Boudin Sourdough
Bakery was founded in San Francisco by French immigrant Isador
Boudin during the Gold Rush. Boudin first used ordinary sourdough to
bake a French-style bread. In 1941 the firm was bought by Steven
Giraudo. By 1997 the 10th and Geary facility was a $500 million
operation selling bread under the Parisian, Colombo and other
labels.
   (SFEC, 1/4/98, Z1p.4)(SFC, 10/9/99, p.A1)(SFC,
5/10/05, p.D1)
1849Â Â Â Â Â Â By this time Maunsel
White, a New Orleans plantation owner, was growing peppers that had
originated in Mexico’s state of Tabasco. He devised a sauce using
the pepper.
   (WSJ, 10/9/07, p.D11)
1850Â Â Â Â Â Â May 10, Thomas Johnstone
Lipton, yachtsman, tea magnate (Lipton Tea), was born in Glasgow.
   (MC, 5/10/02)
1850Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 14, The 1st public
demonstration of ice made by refrigeration took place. James
Harrison of Australia designed an ice-making machine. It was an
improvement on one invented by Jacob Perkins in 1834.
   (MC, 7/14/02)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)
1850Â Â Â Â Â Â James Folger (18), a
native of Massachusetts, began roasting beans in SF. Folger’s Coffee
established itself on the Barbary Coast and was the first major
coffee company in SF. Jim Folger eventually traveled to the gold
country to sell coffee to miners.
   (SFC, 6/28/97, p.D2)(SSFC, 8/5/01, p.A1)(SFC,
6/5/08, p.C2)
1850Â Â Â Â Â Â The Granny Smith apple
originated about this time in Australia. According to Morgan and
Richards The Book of Apples: A Mrs. Smith, born in England in 1800,
emigrated to Australia in 1838. In 1860s she found some seedlings
growing in a creek where she had tipped out some apples brought back
from Sydney. Tree was propagated and later family increased their
orchards and marketed fruit in Sydney.
  Â
(www.newint.org/issue212/simply.htm)(http://tinyurl.com/32lr8c)
1850-1859Â Â Â The 1st recipe for ginger ale was
created in Ireland in the 1850s.
   (SFC, 6/29/05, p.F12)
1851Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 31, Gail Borden
announced the invention of evaporated milk.
   (MC, 1/31/02)
1851Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 15, Jacob Fussell,
Baltimore dairyman, set up the 1st ice-cream factory.
   (MC, 6/15/02)
1851Â Â Â Â Â Â Kalman Haas arrived in San
Francisco and soon began operating a grocery wholesale business. The
company later switched to liquor wholesales.
   (SSFC, 4/3/06, p.G5)(SFC, 3/19/17, p.C2)
1853Â Â Â Â Â Â May 14, Gail Borden
applied for a patent for condensed milk.
   (HN, 5/14/98)
1853Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 24, The 1st potato
chips were prepared by Chef George Crum at Saratoga Springs, NY.
   (MC, 8/24/02)
1853Â Â Â Â Â Â Keebler Foods was founded
in Philadelphia. It was acquired by Kellogg in 2001.
  Â
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keebler_Company)(AP, 4/1/19)
1855Â Â Â Â Â Â Anderson Preserve Co.
incorporated. It sold Boston Market Catsup throughout the US.
   (SFC, 8/27/03, p.E4)
1856Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 19, Gail Borden
(1801-1874) received a patent for condensed milk and opened a small
factory for its production in Walcottville, Conn. At this time milk
in NYC sold for 6-7 cents a quart.
   (ON, 5/04, p.5)(AP, 8/19/06)
1857Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 13, Milton S. Hershey,
chocolate manufacturer and philanthropist, was born in central
Pennsylvania.
   (www.hersheys.com/about/milton.shtml)
1857Â Â Â Â Â Â Neuhaus began making
chocolate in Belgium.
   (SFC, 9/15/96, p.T9)
1858Â Â Â Â Â Â Ezra Warner of Waterbury,
Connecticut, patented a tin can opener that looked like a bent
bayonet.
  Â
(www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/story080.htm)
1860Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 7, Will Keith Kellogg,
the brother of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (1852-1943), was born. Will
later founded the W.K. Kellogg company in Battle Creek, Mich., to
market the cornflakes invented by his older brother. [see 1895]
   (HN, 4/7/99)(WSJ, 9/29/00, p.W17)
1861Â Â Â Â Â Â May 21, Elena Molokhovets
(1831-1918), Russian writer, published “A Gift to Young Housewives,”
which remained popular in Russia for half a century.
   (Econ, 12/20/08,
p.141)(http://tinyurl.com/6u8dj4)
1862Â Â Â Â Â Â May 15, The US Department
of Agriculture was created.
   (MC, 5/15/02)
1863Â Â Â Â Â Â William Banting, An
English undertaker, printed his pamphlet “Letter on Corpulence,” in
which he recommended a high protein diet that helped him loose
weight. The diet was based on one recently recommended for
diabetics.
   (WSJ, 5/5/04, p.B1)
1864Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 4, Bread riots took
place in Mobile, Alabama.
   (MC, 9/4/01)Â
1864Â Â Â Â Â Â The Robinson family
purchased Niihau Island from the Hawaiian monarchy and moved there
from New Zealand. The family founded the Gay and Robinson Sugar Co.
   (SFC, 8/31/02, p.A21)
1866Â Â Â Â Â Â May 16, Charles Elmer
Hires invented root beer.
   (MC, 5/16/02)
1866-1868Â Â Â About this time Edmund McIlhenny
(1815-1890), banker, traveled to New Orleans and acquired some
pepper seeds from a man on the street, which he grew and used to
develop a hot sauce that he called Tabasco, after peppers from
Mexico’s state of Tabasco. In 2007 Jeffrey Rothfeder authored
McIlhenny’s Gold: How a Louisiana Family Built the Tabasco Empire.”
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_McIlhenny)(SFC, 4/5/99,
p.A3)(WSJ, 10/9/07, p.D11)
1867Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 17, William Cadbury,
chocolate manufacturer, was born.
   (HN, 2/17/98)
1867Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 5, The first shipment
of cattle left Abilene, Kansas, on a Union Pacific train headed to
Chicago.
   (HN, 9/5/98)
c1867Â Â Â Â Â Â In NYC restaurateur and
entrepreneur Charles Feltman, who owned a pie wagon at Coney, was
looking for something simple he could prepare and serve in a
confined space. He hit on the idea of putting a hot sausage in a
hard roll. Another version puts Feltman in his German restaurant,
Feltman's Ocean Pavilion, when at some point a sausage ended up
between two slices of bread. Feltman called it a frankfurter, and
cartoonists labeled it a "hot dog."
   (HNQ, 7/10/01)
1867Â Â Â Â Â Â In Switzerland Henri
Nestlé was able to produce a viable powdered milk product by this
time which saved the life of a premature baby. His firm, based in
Vevey, grew to become the world's biggest food company
   (Econ, 1/7/17, p.49)(Econ., 12/5/20, p.67)
1868Â Â Â Â Â Â A new meat market opened
in London at the site of the old Smithfield livestock market. The
original Metropolitan Railway passed underneath allowing the market
to receive much of its meat by hydraulic lifts. The railways stopped
carrying meat after 1950.
   (Econ, 1/26/13, p.16)
1869Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 9, Charles Elmer Hires
sold his 1st root beer in Phila.
   (MC, 6/9/02)
1869Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 15, Margarine was
patented by Hippolye Mega-Mouriss for use by French Navy.
   (MC, 7/15/02)
1869Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 24, Cornelius
Swarthout of Troy, New York, patented the waffle iron.
   (HN, 8/24/00)
1869Â Â Â Â Â Â Henry John Heinz partnered
with L. Clarence Noble to form Heinz & Noble in Sharpsburg, Pa.
Their first product was grated horseradish. Their first ketchup was
introduced in 1876. They produced tomato and walnut ketchup for 24
cents per gallon and sold them from whiskey barrels. In 2013 Warren
Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital acquired Heinz in a
$23.3 billion deal.
   (SFC, 8/27/03,
p.E4)(www.hfp.heinz.org/aboutus/heinzhistory.html)(SFC, 2/15/13,
p.C4)
1869Â Â Â Â Â Â Pillsbury was founded as a
US flour milling company.
   (WSJ, 5/5/99, p.B1)
1869Â Â Â Â Â Â Margarine was invented.
   (NW, 9/16/02, p.34D)
1870Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 17, George Cormack,
cereal inventor (Wheaties), was born.
   (MC, 6/17/02)
1870Â Â Â Â Â Â William Lyman of the US
invented the home can opener, with a cutting wheel that rolls around
the rim.
  Â
(www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/story080.htm)
1871      Jan 3,  Henry
W. Bradley patented oleomargarine in Binghamton, NY.
   (AH, 2/06, p.14)
1872Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 9, Samuel R. Percy
patented dried milk.
   (MC, 4/9/02)
1873Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug, The cannibalized
remains of 5 men were found on the banks of the Gunnison River,
Colorado. Alfred Packer (d.1907), one of a 6-man prospecting party,
had emerged from the area 3 months earlier. Packer was arrested but
escaped for 9 years. He then spent 18 years in jail and was paroled
in 1901. [see Apr 13, 1883]
   (AM, 5/01, p.50)
1874Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 11, Gail Borden
(b.1801), inventor of condensed milk, died in Borden, Tx. Epitaph:
“I tried and failed, I tried again and again and succeeded.”
   (ON, 5/04, p.5)(
www.famoustexans.com/GailBorden.htm)
1875Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 17, Violent bread
riots took place in Montreal.
   (MC, 12/17/01)
1875Â Â Â Â Â Â Seth Lewelling of
Milwaukie, Oregon, grew the 1st Bing cherry from the seed of a
Republican cherry. He named it Bing after a Chinese worker on his
farm.
   (SFC, 4/12/03, p.E3)
1876Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 17, Sardines were 1st
canned by Julius Wolff in Eastport, Maine.
   (MC, 2/17/02)
1876Â Â Â Â Â Â Austin and Reuben Hills
began roasting coffee at the Bay City Market in SF. [see 1878]
   (SSFC, 8/5/01, p.A1)
1876Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 5, Bananas became
popular in US following the Centennial Exposition in Phila.
   (MC, 6/5/02)
1878Â Â Â Â Â Â Austin and R.W. Hills
founded Hills Bros. Coffee in SF. [see 1876]
   (SFC, 6/28/97, p.D2)(SFC, 6/5/08, p.C2)
1877Â Â Â Â Â Â The 1st shipload of frozen
beef was carried to France from Argentina.
   (Econ Sp, 12/13/03, p.7)
1877Â Â Â Â Â Â Pietro Barilla opened a
shop in Parma, Italy, selling bread and pasta. The company left the
bread business in 1952. By 2007 it was the world’s leading pasta
maker. In 1999 the Parma pasta factory was closed and converted to
the Academia Barilla, which also housed a library dedicated to
gastronomy.
   (Econ, 6/23/07, p.75)(Econ, 12/20/08, p.145)
1878Â Â Â Â Â Â Lyman C. Byce, Petaluma
poultry pioneer, began experimenting with an incubator to hatch baby
chicks.
   (Ind, 4/26/03, p.5A)
1879Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 27, Constantine
Fahlberg discovered saccharin, an artificial sweetener.
   (MC, 2/27/02)
1879Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 8, Milk was sold in
glass bottles for the 1st time.
   (MC, 4/8/02)
1879Â Â Â Â Â Â Armour & Co., a
Chicago meat processor founded in the 1860s, introduced canned
meats. Canned condensed milk was introduced in 1912. The “Armour’s
Star” trademark was first used in 1931.
   (SFC, 8/2/06, p.G7)
1880Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 23, John Stevens of
Neenah, Wis., patented the grain crushing mill. This mill allowed
flour production to increase by 70 percent.
   (HN, 3/23/98)
1880Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 26, Duncan Hines, US
restaurant guide writer (Out of Kentucky Kitchens), was born.
   (HN, 3/25/98)(SS, 3/26/02)
1880Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 27, A.P. Abourne
patented a process for refining coconut oil.
   (MC, 7/27/02)
1880Â Â Â Â Â Â B. Manischewitz founded an
operation in Cincinnati to make unleavened bread based on a
5,000-year-old recipe.
   (SFC, 9/22/03, p.B4)
1880-1930Â Â Â The 3rd wave of immigrants arrived in
Hawaii to work on sugar cane and then pineapple plantations owned by
Europeans and Americans. The first workers were Chinese and they
were followed by Japanese, Okinawans, Koreans, Puerto Ricans,
Portuguese and Filipinos.
   (SFEM, 2/8/98, p.10,32)
1881Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 27, New York state’s
Pure Food Law went into effect to prevent "the adulteration of food
or drugs."
   (HN, 8/27/00)
1881Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 8, Edward Berner of
Two Rivers, Wisconsin, created the Sundae.
   (MC, 7/8/02)
1881Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 27, New York state’s
Pure Food Law went into effect to prevent "the adulteration of food
or drugs."
   (HN, 8/27/00)
1881Â Â Â Â Â Â Joseph Brandenstein opened
a coffee company in SF, naming it after his son Michael J.
Brandenstein and Co. The name was later shortened to MJB Inc.
   (SFC, 6/28/97, p.D2)(SFC, 6/5/08, p.C2)
1881Â Â Â Â Â Â William H. Purvis
introduced macadamia nuts to Hawaii.
   (www.hawaiiag.org/history.htm)
1882Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 15, SS Dunedin left
New Zealand with 1st frozen meat for England.
   (MC, 2/15/02)
1882Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 25, 1st demonstration
of pancake making was in a NYC Dept store.
   (MC, 3/25/02)
1882Â Â Â Â Â Â Heinz began patenting
ketchup bottles.
   (SFC, 8/27/03, p.E4)
1883Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 13, Alfred Packer was
convicted of cannibalism. [see Aug, 1873]
   (MC, 4/13/02)
1884Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 25, John B. Meyenberg
of St. Louis patented evaporated milk.
   (MC, 11/25/01)
1885Â Â Â Â Â Â Jules Harder, 1st chef of
the SF Palace Hotel, authored “The Physiology of Taste: Harder’s
Book of Practical American Cookery.”
   (SFC, 9/7/05, p.F4)
1885 Â Â Â Â Â Â In Dr. Jacob's pharmacy
in Atlanta, "French coca wine," the future symbol of "the American
way of life" as Coca Cola became known, made its debut [see Mar 29,
May 8, 1886].
   (AP, 5/3/03)
1885Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Joseph Steinwand
created Colby cheese and named it after the township where his
father built northern Clark County’s first cheese factory. In 2021 a
bipartisan bill heard by the Wisconsin state Assembly committee
aimed to make it the state's official cheese.
   (AP, 7/7/21)
1886Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 14, California orange
growers ship their first trainload of fruit from Los Angeles.
   (HCB, 2003, p.92)
1886Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 29, Coca-Cola was
advertised for the first time in the Atlanta Daily. Its inventor,
Dr. John Pemberton, claimed it could cure anything from hysteria to
the common cold. John Stith (Doc) Pemberton, pharmacist, concocted a
bath of a dark, sugary syrup meant to be mixed with carbonated water
and sold at the city’s soda fountains. This was the beginning of
Coca Cola, which then contained enough cocaine to give the a drinker
a buzz and more caffeine than the drink contains today. Sales at the
soda fountain of Jacob‘s Pharmacy averaged 9 drinks a day in the
first year. The story is told by Frederick Allen in his book “Secret
Formula.” The drink was named by Frank Robinson and he created its
signature script logo. [see May 8]
   (www.sodamuseum.bigstep.com/generic.jhtml?pid=1)
1886Â Â Â Â Â Â May 8, Atlanta pharmacist
John Stith Pemberton invented the flavor syrup for Coca-Cola, which
contained cocaine. The name for the soft drink came from his
bookkeeper, Frank Robinson. Sales of Coca-Cola at the soda fountain
of Jacob‘s Pharmacy averaged 9 drinks a day in the first year. [see
Mar 29]
  Â
(www.sodamuseum.bigstep.com/generic.jhtml?pid=1)(AP, 5/8/97)(HN,
5/8/98)
1886Â Â Â Â Â Â In SF the Fior d’Italia
restaurant began to serve clients for a nearby North Beach bordello.
Tortellini was a nickel, risotto with clams a dime and veal
scallopine and calf’s liver was 15 cents. A special 8-course meal
was 35 cents. It was originally located at 482 Broadway and
later moved to 601 Union St. In 1966 a similar special meal was
priced at $6.00. In February 2005 the restaurant was burned out of
its Washington Square location. It re-opened in November on Mason
Street at the former San Remo Hotel.
   (SFC, 4/23/02, p.A1)(SFC, 11/23/05, p.B5)(SSFC,
5/1/11, DB p.46)(SSFC, 5/1/16, DB p.50)
1886Â Â Â Â Â Â The beverages Moxie, Dr
Pepper, Coca-Cola [see Mar 29] and Hires Root Beer all appeared in
bottles.
   (SFC, 10/7/00, p.B5)
1888Â Â Â Â Â Â In NYC Katz’s Delicatessen
was founded on the lower East Side. The Jewish deli was still
operating in 2015.
   (Econ, 12/12/15, p.79)
1888Â Â Â Â Â Â Asa Candler purchased the
Coca Cola formula. In 2004 Constance L. Hays authored "The Real
thing: Truth and Power at the Coca-Cola Company."
   (SSFC, 2/22/04, p.M3)
1889Â Â Â Â Â Â The modern pizza was
reportedly invented by a Neopolitan named Raffaele Esposito. [see
1830]
   (SFEC,11/16/97, Z1 p.5)
1889Â Â Â Â Â Â Chris L. Rutt, a
newspaperman in St. Joseph, Missouri, began working on creating a
self-rising pancake mix. Within a year, he and two associates
developed the first pancake mix ever made. While seeking a name and
package design for the world's first self-rising pancake mix, Rutt
saw a vaudeville team known as Baker and Farrell whose act included
Baker singing the catchy song "Aunt Jemima" dressed as a Southern
mammy. Inspired by the wholesome name and image, Rutt appropriated
them both to market his new pancake mix. The song “Old Aunt Jemima,”
was written in 1875 by Billy Kersands, a Black comedian, and
performed, often by white men, in minstrel shows.Â
   (www.auntjemima.com/aj_history/)(NY Times,
7/19/20)
1890Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 7, In Switzerland
Henri Nestlé (b.1814), German-born Swiss confectioner and the
founder of Nestlé, died in Montreux.
   {Switzerland, Food}
   (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Nestl%C3%A9)
1890Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 9, Colonel Harland
Sanders (d.1980), originator of Kentucky Fried Chicken fast-food
restaurants, was born in Henryville, Ind.
   (HN, 9/9/98)(www.born-today.com/Today/09-09.htm)
1890Â Â Â Â Â Â Unable to raise the money
to promote Aunt Jemima pancake mix, Chris L. Rutt and his associates
sold their company to R.T. Davis Mill and Manufacturing Company,
which promoted the new product at the World's Columbian Exposition
in Chicago in 1893. The company hired Nancy Green (1834-1923), a
famous African-American cook born in Montgomery County, Kentucky, to
play the part of Aunt Jemima and demonstrate the pancake mix. Green
was killed in an auto accident in 1923. In 1917, Aunt Jemima was
redrawn as a smiling, heavy-set black housekeeper with a bandanna
wrapped around her head. The company brought on a black woman,
Anna Robinson, to portray Aunt Jemima starting in 1933. The
character was later portrayed by actress Aylene Lewis in the 1950s
and 60s. PepsiCo acquired the Quaker Oats Company and the Aunt
Jemima brand in 2001.
   (www.toptags.com/aama/bio/women/ngreen.htm)(Good
Morning America, 6/17/20)(NY Times, 7/19/20)
1891Â Â Â Â Â Â George A. Hormel, son of
German immigrants, opened a small retail meat shop in Austin, Minn.
Within months he opened a packinghouse. His son Jay became president
in 1929. Their canned ham product, developed in 1926, was named Spam
on Jan 1, 1937, and registered as a trademark on May 11, 1937.
   (SFEM, 6/16/96, BR p.26)(WSJ, 4/29/04,
p.D10)(www.hormel.com)
1892Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 2, Bottle cap with
cork seal was patented by William Painter in Baltimore.
   (MC, 2/2/02)
1892Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 18, Macadamia nuts
were 1st planted in Hawaii.
   (MC, 6/18/02)
1892Â Â Â Â Â Â The first Fig Newtons were
created.
   (SFEC, 10/31/99, Z1 p.2)
1893Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 17, Hawaii's monarchy
was overthrown by a group of businessmen and sugar planters under
Sanford Ballard Dole, who forced Queen Lili’uokalani to abdicate and
formed the Republic of Hawaii. This coup occurred with the knowledge
of John L. Stevens, the US Minister to Hawaii, and 300 Marines from
the US cruiser Boston who were called to Hawaii, allegedly to
protect American lives. Queen Lili’uokalani wrote to Pres. Harrison
for support. [see Jan 24]
   (AP, 1/17/98)(HNPD, 1/25/99)(SFEC, 8/29/99,
p.T11)(MC, 1/17/02)(ON, 11/02, p.6)
1893Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 8, The Critic reported
that ice cream soda is the national drink of the US.
   (MC, 4/8/02)
1893Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 1, Henry Perky and
William Ford patented a machine for making shredded wheat breakfast
cereal.
   (HN, 8/1/00)(MC, 8/1/02)
1893Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 6, Nabisco Foods
invented Cream of Wheat.
   (MC, 10/6/01)
1893Â Â Â Â Â Â At the Chicago Exposition
Milton Hershey was impressed with an exhibition featuring
chocolate-making machinery from Germany and commented to his cousin,
Frank Snavely, "Caramels are only a fad. Chocolate is a permanent
thing." With that, Hershey decided to go into the chocolate
business, purchasing the German-made machinery and installing it at
his Lancaster Caramel Company in Pennsylvania. With the help of
expert chocolate makers, Hershey was soon producing
chocolate-covered caramels, called "novelties." In 1900, Hershey
sold the Lancaster Caramel Company for $1 million, but retained the
chocolate-making machinery. Soon thereafter, he launched the Hershey
Chocolate Company and built a town around it, Hershey, Pennsylvania.
   (HNQ, 10/31/00)
1893Â Â Â Â Â Â F.W. Rueckheim introduced
a confection of popcorn, peanuts and molasses at the Columbian
Exposition in Chicago. It was given the name Cracker Jack in 1896.
   (AH, 10/04, p.71)
1893Â Â Â Â Â Â The first electric bread
toasters were made in England about this time.
   (SFC, 1/23/08, p.G4)
1894Â Â Â Â Â Â Milton Hershey (1857-1945)
founded Hershey Foods in Pennsylvania. He built an industrial town
near where he was born and named it after himself.
   (WSJ, 7/26/02, p.B1)(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.D1)(Econ,
3/24/07, p.18)
1895Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 26, Hawaiian Sugar
Planters Assn. formed.
   (MC, 11/26/01)
1895-1942Â Â Â The Hagiwara Family operated the
Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park. In 1914 Makoto Hagiwara
introduced the fortune cookie.
   (SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W30)(SFC, 9/7/05, p.F4)
1896Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 30, W.S. Hadaway
patented an electric stove.
   (MC, 6/30/02)
1896Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 29, The
Chinese-American dish chop suey was invented in New York City by the
chef to visiting Chinese Ambassador Li Hung-chang.
   (AP, 8/29/97)
1896Â Â Â Â Â Â F.W. Rueckheim &
Brother of Chicago received a trademark for "Cracker Jack." The
popcorn and peanuts covered with molasses syrup sold for a nickel a
box in 1899.
   (HFA, ‘96, p.67)(SFC, 7/29/98, p.)(SFC, 7/29/98,
Z1 p.23)(AH, 10/01, p.34)
1896Â Â Â Â Â Â The Molinari family began
making air dried salami in San Francisco’s North Beach.
   (SSFC, 10/30/11, p.G3)
1897Â Â Â Â Â Â In Le Roy, New York,
Pearle Wait, a carpenter, and his wife May, made a concoction of
gelatin and fruit flavor that they named Jell-O.
   (SFEC, 7/27/97, p.A2)
1898Â Â Â Â Â Â Angelo Giurlani founded
Star Fine Foods. His family ran Star Olive Oil in the Lucca district
of Tuscany.
   (SFC, 12/17/02, p.A23)
1898Â Â Â Â Â Â A Campbell Soup executive
admired the red-and-white colors of the Cornell football team and
adopted them for Campbell Soup.
   (SFC, 1/8/00, p.B4)
1899Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 8, The first household
refrigerating machine was patented.
   (SFEC, 8/8/99, Z1 p.8)(HN, 8/8/00)
1899Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 6, Carnation processed
its 1st can of evaporated milk.
   (MC, 9/6/01)
1899Â Â Â Â Â Â In Le Roy, New York,
Pearle Wait, a carpenter, and his wife May, sold their formula for
Jell-O for $450 to neighbor Orator Frank Woodward.
   (SFEC, 7/27/97, p.A2)
1899Â Â Â Â Â Â In New Orleans Oysters
Rockefeller was invented at Antoine's restaurant.
   (SFEM, 6/14/98, p.8)
1899Â Â Â Â Â Â The American Rice Food and
Manufacturing Co. of New Jersey established a copyright for an
advertising doll for Cook's Flaked Rice.
   (SFC, 3/11/98, Z1 p.5)
1899Â Â Â Â Â Â Oakland Preserving Co. and
17 other firms combined to form the California Fruit Canners
Association. They adopted the Del Monte brand name. In 1916-17 the
canner’s association called itself Calpak and started advertising
the Del Monte brand.
   (SFC, 3/1/97, p.B1)(SSFC, 10/3/04, p.J1)
1900Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 28, The hamburger was
created by Louis Lassing in Connecticut.
   (SC, 7/28/02)
1901Â Â Â Â Â Â The Monsanto Chemical
Works was founded in St. Louis, Mo., by John F. Queeny (1859–1933),
a purchasing agent for a wholesale drug company, to manufacture the
synthetic sweetener saccharin, then produced only in Germany.
  Â
(www.experiencefestival.com/a/Monsanto_-_Corporate_history/id/5306341)
1902Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 9, The 1st Automat
restaurant opened at 818 Chestnut Street, Phila.
   (MC, 6/9/02)
1902Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 23, Fanny Farmer,
among the first to emphasize the relationship of diet to health,
opened her School of Cookery in Boston.
   (HN, 8/23/00)
1902Â Â Â Â Â Â Caleb Bradham launched the
Pepsi-Cola Co. from the backroom of his pharmacy in New Bern, N.C.
He was awarded the Pepsi-Cola trademark in 1903. [see Jun 16, 1903]
   (SFC, 2/18/98, p.B2)
1902Â Â Â Â Â Â The New Jersey Ralston
Health Club run by Webster Edgerley merged with Purina Mills, a food
manufacturer run by Will Danforth, to form the Ralston-Purina Co.
Ralston Breakfast Food had been manufactured by Purina and its
success led to the merger.
   (Arch, 5/04, p.32)
1902Â Â Â Â Â Â Kosher beef prices in
America jumped from 12 to 18 cents a pound and caused riots in
Jewish enclaves in the northeast.
   (Econ, 12/12/15, p.79)
1902Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Auguste Escoffier
(1846-1935), French chef, authored “Le Guide Culinaire,” a
collection of some 5,000 recipes.
   (Econ, 12/20/08, p.141)
1903Â Â Â Â Â Â May 5, James Beard
(d.1985), US culinary expert, author (Delights & Prejudices),
was born in Portland, Ore.
   (http://members.localnet.com/~jgeorge/jbeard.htm)
1903Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 16, Pepsi Cola company
formed. [see 1902]
   (MC, 6/16/02)
1903Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 22, Italo Marchioni
applied for a patent for pastry cornets to hold ice cream and was
granted the patent on Dec 13, 1903. Ice cream cones were popularized
in the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.
   (HN, 5/2/98)(SFEC, 5/23/99, p.B7)(MC,
9/22/01)(SSFC, 10/5/03, p.C3)
1903Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 13, Italo Marconi
received a patent for the ice cream cone in NJ. [see Sep 22, 1903]
   (MC, 12/13/01)(SSFC, 10/5/03, p.C3)
1904Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 30, At 1:06 p.m.
President Theodore Roosevelt officially opened the St. Louis World’s
Fair commemorating the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase.
Although the Fair was originally scheduled to open in 1903, the
opening was delayed for a year while the elaborate fairgrounds were
completed. Visitors were awed by 142 miles of exhibits shown in
palatial buildings like Festival Hall the centerpiece of the fair
boasting an auditorium seating 3,500 and the largest pipe organ in
the world. Other wonders seen at the St. Louis World’s Fair were the
Liberty Bell, ice cream cones. Food vendors, Arnold Fornachou (ice
cream) and Ernest Hamwi (sweet, rolled wafers), collaborated for the
ice cream cones. In 1903 Italo Marconi received a patent for pastry
cornets to hold ice cream. Charles Menches sold ice cream at the
fair and an anonymous Syrian sold the zalabia pastry in the next
booth.
   (HN, 5/2/98)(SFEC, 5/23/99, p.B7)(SFC, 6/24/00,
p.B3)
1904Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 30, The St. Louis
World’s Fair popularized the all-American hamburger. The fair lasted
7 months and inspired the phrase "Meet Me in St. Louis." Cass
Gilbert designed the art museum in Foret park, the only building
left over from the fair. At the Louisiana Purchase Exposition the
temperatures in St. Louis soared and hot-tea vendor Richard
Blechynden began pouring his tea over ice thus the invention of
iced-tea. The fair popularized sausage in a bun, the hot dog with
prepared mustard and the ice cream cone.
   (SFC, 8/18/96, Z1 p.2)(SFEC, 11/17/96, Par
p.19)(SFC, 10/12/97, p.T5)(SFEC, 4/19/98, Z1 p.8)(SSFC, 10/5/03,
p.C3)
1904Â Â Â Â Â Â Although invented in Waco,
Texas in the 1880s, Dr Pepper first received national exposure at
the St. Louis World‘s Fair.
   (HNQ, 10/25/00)
1904Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 23, By some accounts,
the ice cream cone was invented by Charles E. Menches during the
Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. [see Sep 22, 1903]
   (AP, 7/23/99)
1904Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 18, In East London
Jewish anarchists on Brick Lane pelted Ultra-Orthodox worshippers
with bacon sandwiches on Yom Kippur.
   (http://tinyurl.com/3x7moee)(Econ, 3/5/11, p.17)
1905Â Â Â Â Â Â Frank W. Epperson
(1804-1983) invented the Popsicle on a cold night in San Francisco.
In 1923 Epperson remembered his frozen soda water mixture and began
a business producing Epsicles in seven fruit flavors.
   (www.icecreamusa.com/popsicle/history/)
1905Â Â Â Â Â Â Nestle S.A. originated in
a merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company for milk products
established in 1866 by the Page Brothers in Cham, Switzerland, and
the Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé Company set up in 1866 by Henri
Nestlé to provide an infant food product.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestl%C3%A9)
1906Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 19, In Michigan W.K.
Kellogg & Charles Bolin incorporated the Battle Creek Toasted
Corn Flake Co. Will Kellogg spent 2/3 of the company budget to
advertise Corn Flakes.
   (SFC, 11/16/96, p.E4)(ON, 2/05, p.10)
1906Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 30, The Pure Food and
Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act became law.
   (HFA, '96, p.32)(AP, 6/29/99)
1906Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 14, Tom Carvel, ice
cream mogul (Carvels), was born.
   (MC, 7/14/02)
1906Â Â Â Â Â Â The first chocolate
brownie recipe was published by American cookbook author, Fannie
Merritt Farmer. They were named after Celtic pixies. Farmer in 1905
first adapted her chocolate cookie recipe to a bar cookie baked in a
rectangular pan.
   (http://tinyurl.com/83xc8n6)
1906Â Â Â Â Â Â C&H Sugar took over a
waterfront mill in Crockett, Ca.
   (SSFC, 8/31/03, p.I3)
1906Â Â Â Â Â Â The Louisiana McIlhenny
family were awarded a trademark for the word Tabasco, which was also
the name of their popular pepper sauce.
   (WSJ, 10/9/07, p.D11)
1907Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 16, Orville
Redenbacher (d.1995), agronomist and popcorn entrepreneur, was born
in Brazil, Indiana. "Do one thing and do it better than anyone."
   (AH, 10/01, p.36)(AP, 7/16/07)
1907Â Â Â Â Â Â Milton Hershey, chocolate
tycoon, opened Hershey Park, an admission-free amusement park in
Hershey, Pa.
   (SSFC, 4/13/03, p.D6)
1908Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 3, M.F.K. Fisher
(d.1992), food writer, was born.
   (www.foodreference.com/html/html/july3.html)
1908 Â Â Â Â Â Â The Hydrox cookie was
created by a company that became Sunshine Biscuits Inc. Keebler
acquired Sunshine in 1996 and Kellogg acquired Keebler in 2001. In
2003 Kellogg stopped making the Hydrox cookie.
   (WSJ, 1/19/08, p.A10)
1908Â Â Â Â Â Â Monosodium glutamate (MSG)
was isolated from seaweed. Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda identified
umami, a taste imparted by glutamic acid and associated with
monosodium glutamate. Umami was later recognized as a fifth
fundamental taste.
   (SFC, 10/11/97, p.E3)(Econ, 1/31/15, p.71)
1909Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 14, The Tootsie Roll
trade-mark was registered. The application by NYC candy makers
Hirschfeld and Stern & Saalberg stated that “Tootsie” had been
used in association with the candy since September 1908. Leo
Hirshfield had invented Bromangelon Jelly Powder around 1895.
   (http://candyprofessor.com/tag/leo-hirshfield/)
1909Â Â Â Â Â Â Harry V. Warehime
established Hanover Pretzel Company in Pennsylvania with a single
recipe, Hanover Olde Tyme Pretzels.
   (http://factorytoursusa.com/full.htm)
1911Â Â Â Â Â Â May 18, San Francisco
received its first shipment of red onions from Stockton and growers
received $2.25 per sack for all they could deliver. Italian
gardeners earned about $500 an acre from their crop.
   (SSFC, 5/15/11, DB p.46)
1911Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 15, Procter and Gamble
unveiled its Crisco shortening.
   (MC, 8/15/02)
1911Â Â Â Â Â Â Dinuba, Ca., began hosting
a raisin festival.
   (SFC, 9/18/03, p.A10)
1911Â Â Â Â Â Â Liguria started a focaccia
tradition in San Francisco’s North Beach.
   (SSFC, 10/30/11, p.G3)
1911Â Â Â Â Â Â The Victoria Pastry Co.
began making Sicilian specialties in San Francisco’s North Beach.
   (SSFC, 10/30/11, p.G3)
1911Â Â Â Â Â Â Quaker Oats bought the
Great Western Cereal Co., maker of Mothers Oats. Great Western of
Akron, Ohio, had owned the brand since 1901.
   (SFC, 1/16/08, p.G4)
1912Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 23, Dixie Cup was
invented.
   (SS, 3/23/02)
1912Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 15, Julia Child
(d.2004), American chef and television personality, was born as
Julia Carolyn McWilliams in Pasadena, Calif. Her 90th B-day party
was held in SF on Aug 1, 2002.
   (SFEC, 9/28/97, BR p.5)(SFC, 10/20/99, Z1p.4)(HN,
8/15/00)(SFCM, 9/1/02, p.33)
1912Â Â Â Â Â Â Prizes were added to boxes
of Cracker Jacks.
   (www.tias.com/mags/cjca/cjcahistory.htm)(AH,
10/01, p.34)
1912 Â Â Â Â Â Â National Biscuit, later
Nabisco, came up with the Oreo cookie.
   (WSJ, 1/19/08, p.A10)
1912Â Â Â Â Â Â California farmers in
Butte County began raising rice in the wet lowlands of the
Sacramento Valley, a Japanese variety imported from Texas.
   (SFC, 5/22/96, zz-1)(SSFC, 11/25/12, p.C10)
1912Â Â Â Â Â Â The cooperative California
Associated Raison Co. was formed in the Central Valley to produce,
process and market raisins. The Sun-Maid brand name was launched in
1915. In 1916 a portrait of Lorraine Collett of Fresno became the
company’s trademark.
   (SSFC, 4/23/06,
p.F1)(www.sunmaid.com/about/our_history.html)
1913Â Â Â Â Â Â Brillo pads were
introduced.
   (SFC, 9/9/00, p.B4)
1914Â Â Â Â Â Â Mother’s Cake & Cookie
Co. was founded in Oakland, Ca., by N.M. Wheatley, a newspaper
vendor. After a series of owners the firm was sold in 2005 to
Catterton Partners, a private equity firm. In 2006 Catterton
announced the closure of the Oakland bakery and distribution sites.
In 2008 Catterton sought bankruptcy protection for Mother’s Cookies.
   (SFC, 2/28/98, p.D1)(SFC, 4/4/06, p.C3)(SFC,
10/9/08, p.C1)
1914Â Â Â Â Â Â Â In Jackson,
Michigan, George Todoroff founded the Jackson Coney Island
restaurant and created his Coney Island chili sauce recipe. In the
1910s drenched German frankfurters with Mexican chili to make chili
dogs.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_dog)(Econ,
7/12/14, p.28)
1915Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 15, Fannie Farmer
(b.1857), American culinary expert, died. Her “Boston Cooking-School
Cook Book” (1896) became a widely used culinary text.
   (WSJ, 12/29/07,
p.W8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fannie_Merritt_Farmer)
1915Â Â Â Â Â Â A famine began in Mount
Lebanon. By 1918 some 200,000 people, half the population in the
mountainous heartland, were dead.
  Â
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_of_Mount_Lebanon)(Econ.,
9/5/20, p.40)
1915Â Â Â Â Â Â The Frigerator electric
food cooler was introduced by Guardian.
   (SFC, 12/29/99, Z1 p.1)
1916Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 4, Nathan’s Famous Hot
Dogs opened a stand at Brooklyn’s Coney Island and held an eating
contest as a publicity stunt that became an annual event.
   (SFC, 7/5/97, p.A3)
1916Â Â Â Â Â Â Sarah Williamson authored
“A California Cook Book.” It was reprinted in 2009.
   (SSFC, 1/17/10, p.K2)
1916Â Â Â Â Â Â Virginia schoolboy Antonio
Gentile won a nation-wide contest and $5 to create a logo for a
snack food company. His Mr. Peanut idea was enhanced by a
professional artist and became the logo for the Planters
Company.
   (www.drloriv.com/appraisals/mrpeanut.asp)Â
1917Â Â Â Â Â Â Columbus Salame was
founded in San Francisco. In 1967 its Salami making operation was
moved to South San Francisco.
   (SFC, 7/24/09, p.D2)
1918Â Â Â Â Â Â Sailor Jack and his dog
Bingo first appeared on Cracker Jack boxes.
   (AH, 10/04, p.71)
1919Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 15, In Boston an
explosion opened a tank of molasses and the cylindrical sides
toppled outward knocking down 10 nearby buildings. 2 million gallons
of molasses oozed onto the streets and killed 21 people. Another 150
were injured.
  Â
(www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/molasses.asp)(SFC, 1/16/19, p.A7)
1919Â Â Â Â Â Â The Swiss-based Nestle
company exhausted its local supply of milk and began opening
factories in Australia, England, Germany and Norway.
   (Econ, 10/31/09, p.81)
1920Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 4, Craig Claiborne,
food critic, food columnist (NY Times Cookbook) and cookbook author,
was born.
   (HN, 9/4/00)(MC, 9/4/01)
1920Â Â Â Â Â Â Henry Burt created the
"Good Humor Bar," a chocolate covered ice cream bar on a stick, in
Youngstown, Ohio. Good Humor trucks cruised America's streets until
1976 and the company merged with Breyer's Ice Cream in 1993.
   (SFEC,10/19/97, Z1 p.2)(WSJ, 7/16/99, p.W12)
1920Â Â Â Â Â Â Walter Knott (d.1981)
first rented a berry patch in Buena Park, Ca., that he turned into a
family attraction called Knott's Berry Place. The farm later made
famous the "Boysen berry," named after Rudolph Boysen, a parks
superintendent who had crossed blackberry, red raspberry and
loganberry plants.
   (SFC, 6/14/03, p.A20)
1920Â Â Â Â Â Â Arthur Perdue began a
backyard egg business in Maryland. His son Frank (1920-2005) later
turned it into one of the nation's largest poultry processors.
   (AP, 4/1/05)(SFC, 4/2/05, p.B5)
1921Â Â Â Â Â Â May 17, Pres. Harding
opened the 1st Valencia Orange Show via telephone.
   (MC, 5/17/02)
1921Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 15, The US Congress
passed the Packer and Stockyards Act. The Act's purpose was to
"regulate interstate and foreign commerce in live stock, live-stock
produce, dairy products, poultry, poultry products, and eggs, and
for other purposes."
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packers_and_Stockyards_Act)
1921Â Â Â Â Â Â The Minneapolis-based
Washburn Crosby (later General Mills), purveyors of Gold Medal
Flour, invented Betty Crocker to serve as a public image food
expert. In 2005 Susan Marks authored “Finding Betty Crocker.”
   (WSJ, 12/30/03, p.A1)(WSJ, 3/25/05, p.W10)
1921Â Â Â Â Â Â White Castle, the world’s
first hamburger chain, originated in Wichita, Kansas. It used small
beef patties that cooked quickly and sold for a nickel apiece.
   (SFEC, 11/17/96, Par p.19)(AH, 6/07, p.11)
1921Â Â Â Â Â Â In Italy the Corsini
Biscotti company was founded in the Tuscan village of Castel del
Piano. By 2015 the family business had annual revenues of $17
million (€14m)
   (Econ, 1/3/15, p.52)
1922Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 24, Christian K.
Nelson of Onawa, Iowa, patented the Eskimo Pie.
   (AP, 1/24/98)
1922Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 18, Pres. Harding
signed the Capper-Volstead Act. It exempted farmers from federal
antitrust laws permitting them to share prices and orchestrate
supply.
   (WSJ, 9/26/06,
p.B1)(www.uwcc.wisc.edu/info/capper.html)
1922Â Â Â Â Â Â Clarence Birdseye returned
to New York state and began experimenting with packaging frozen
food.
   (ON, 8/12, p.5)
1922Â Â Â Â Â Â Vegemite, a salty,
slightly bitter spread made from brewer's yeast, was introduced by
Australian chemist Cyril Callister for the Fred Walker Cheese
Company in Melbourne. The company wanted a Vitamin B-rich spread
that could compete with Britain's popular Marmite. The name came in
a 1923 national poll. In 2009 Kraft Foods Australia announced that a
creamier variation of Vegemite would be on store shelves July 5
alongside the original.
   (AP, 6/15/09)
1923Â Â Â Â Â Â The Chocolate
Manufacturers Association was founded.
   (WSJ, 11/25/03, p.B10)
1923Â Â Â Â Â Â The Milky Way chocolate
candy bar was invented.
   (Econ, 5/30/15, p.66)
1924Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 29, An ice cream cone
rolling machine was patented by Carl Taylor in Cleveland.
   (MC, 1/29/02)
1925Â Â Â Â Â Â Aaron Streit, an Austrian
immigrant, founded Streit’s kosher matzo factory in Manhattan’s
lower East Side.
   (SSFC, 4/17/11, Par p.4)
1925Â Â Â Â Â Â Howard Deering Johnson
started his food empire with an ice-cream shop outside Boston. By
the 1960s a new HoJo restaurant was opening every nine days. In 1979
the Johnsons sold the company. By 2017 only one HoJo restaurant was
left in Lake George, NY. The motel-lodge arm still existed owned by
Wyndham Hotels.
   (Econ, 2/18/17, p.25)
1925Â Â Â Â Â Â Ernest Van Tassel leased
75 acres on Round Top in Honolulu (Nut Ridge) and began a macadamia
nut orchard, Hawaii's first macadamia nut farm.
   (www.hawaiiag.org/history.htm)
1925Â Â Â Â Â Â The Michelin Guide
introduced its star system for hotels and restaurants.
   (WSJ, 2/20/04, p.W5)
1925Â Â Â Â Â Â Franz Colruyt, Belgian
baker, set up a wholesale business importing coffee and spices from
overseas. In 2002 the 160th Colruyt store opened in Belgium.
   (WSJ, 9/22/03, p.R3)
1926Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 5, Webster Edgerly
(b.1852), head of the New Jersey-based Ralston Health movement and
co-founder of Ralston Purina, died.
   (Arch, 5/04, p.35)
1926Â Â Â Â Â Â The Aunt Jemima Mills Co.
was purchased by the Quaker Oats Company of Chicago.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aunt_Jemima)
1927Â Â Â Â Â Â Dorothy Gerber invented
commercial baby food when she tired of straining baby food at home
and asked her cannery owner husband to try it at the plant. The
Gerber baby logo came in 1928. Daniel F. Gerber strained peas for
his sick daughter and sold them by mail from Fremont, Mich.
   (WSJ, 12/4/96, p.A1)(SFEC, 3/30/97, Z1. p.2)
1927Â Â Â Â Â Â A family friend sketched
an image in charcoal of 4-month-old Ann Taylor Cook and later
submitted it to Gerber for its new baby food ads. The picture became
Gerber’s official trademark in 1931.
   (SFC, 11/24/16, p.A6)
1927Â Â Â Â Â Â Pez candy originated in
Austria as a breath mint for cigarette smokers. The name came from
"pfefferminz," the word for peppermint in German. The line was
imported to the United States in 1952, when the company decided it
could do better with fruit candy dispensed by plastic toys.
   (SFEC, 4/5/98,
p.C11)(http://money.cnn.com/2002/06/13/pf/q_pez/)
1928Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 30, Petaluma farmers
shipped 58 carloads of eggs by train to SF. 50,000 cases contained
some 18 million eggs.
   (Ind, 4/26/03, p.5A)
1928Â Â Â Â Â Â The ice cream and oatmeal
cookie sandwich called "It’s-It" was invented at
Playland-at-the-Beach by owner George Whitney. The
made-to-order It’s It sandwich was a disk of vanilla ice-cream
between 2 oatmeal cookies dipped in melted chocolate. The trademark
was acquired by Jamal’s Enterprises in 1974.
   (SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W30)(SFC, 5/20/98, Z1 p.3)
1928Â Â Â Â Â Â The Dreyer’s Grand Ice
Cream was founded in Oakland, Ca., by William Dreyer and Joseph Edy.
They were later said to have created the rocky-road flavor. In 1977
the company was bought by T. Gary Rogers (1943-2017) and business
partner William Cronk.
   (SFC, 5/5/17, p.D8)
1928Â Â Â Â Â Â Walter E. Diemer (23), an
accountant for Fleer Chewing Gum in Philadelphia, began testing
recipes for a gum base. He invented the first batch of bubble gum,
making it pink because that was the only shade of food coloring on
hand. It was sold under the Dubble Bubble name for a penny.
   (SFC, 1/13/98, p.A19)(SFC, 8/2/99, p.A22)
1928Â Â Â Â Â Â Coca-Cola began sales in
Africa. By 2008 Coca Cola claimed to be the largest private sector
employee in Africa.
   (Econ, 7/5/08, p.58)
1929Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 26, The SFC reported
that a test shipment of California juice grapes was on its way to
the Orient. Grapes were packed in a new way that would allow them to
stay frozen for a year.
   (SFC, 3/26/04, p.F7)
1929Â Â Â Â Â Â May, Clarence Birdseye and
his partners sold their frozen food operations to the Postum Company
for $23.5 million and became director of research for the
Gloucestor-based “Birds Eye” frozen food division of General Foods,
owner of Postum.
   (ON, 8/12, p.6)
1929Â Â Â Â Â Â Ernest Van Tassel
negotiates with Bishop Estate to obtain 100 acres of land in Keahoe
Mauka for planting more than 7000 macadamia nut trees resulting in
the first macadamia nut farm on the island of Hawaii.
   (www.hawaiiag.org/history.htm)
1930Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 6, Clarence Birdseye
of Brooklyn developed a method for quick freezing food.
   (MC, 3/6/02)
1930Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 6, Hostess Twinkies
were invented by bakery executive James Dewar.
   (MC, 4/6/02)
1930Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 4, Michael Cullen
introduced King Kullen in Queens, NYC, the 1st US supermarket.
   (SFC, 8/4/05, p.C1)
1930Â Â Â Â Â Â Ocean Spray was founded by
3 cranberry growers. In 1963 it launched its juices.
   (Econ, 12/18/04, p.123)
1930Â Â Â Â Â Â In Philadelphia, Pa.,
Pat’s King of Steak’s opened at Ninth and Passyunk Ave. They helped
make famous the Philadelphia cheese steak sandwich.
   (SSFC, 9/17/06, p.G5)
1930Â Â Â Â Â Â Futurist poet, Filippo
Tommaso Marinetti denounced pasta as obsolete and urged Italians to
try more avant-garde combinations like cooked salami sauced in
espresso and spiked with eau de Cologne.
   (WSJ, 12/29/95, p.A-11)
1930s      The Depression era "Eau
Claire" system set milk prices according to the distance from Eau
Claire, Wisconsin, to ensure that every region of the country
maintained a local supply of fresh milk.
   (SFC, 11/17/99, p.A12)
1931Â Â Â Â Â Â May 22, Canned rattlesnake
meat 1st went on sale in Florida.
   (MC, 5/22/02)
1931Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 2, Aerial circus star
Clyde Pangborn and playboy Hugh Herndon, Jr. set off in Miss Veedol
to complete the first nonstop flight across the Pacific Ocean from
Sabishiro Beach in Misawa City, Japan. A young boy gave Panghorn 5
apples from Misawa City.
   (HN, 10/2/99)(ON, 1/03, p.10)
1931Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 3, Clyde Pangborn and
Hugh Herndon, Jr. belly landed Miss Veedol, a Bellanca CH-200
monoplane, in Wenatchee, Wa., to complete the first nonstop flight
across the Pacific Ocean from Japan. They won a $25,000 prize from
the Japanese Ashi Shimbun newspaper. Panghorn sent apple cuttings
from Wenatchee's Richard Delicious apples to Japan which were soon
distributed across Japan.
   (ON, 1/03, p.10)
1931Â Â Â Â Â Â Ernest Van Tassel
establishes a macadamia nut processing factory on Puhukaina Street
in Kakaako; nuts sold as Van's macadamia nuts.
   (www.hawaiiag.org/history.htm)
1932Â Â Â Â Â Â In Japan the Iwasaki Co.,
a maker of replica food, was founded.
   (Econ 6/10/17, p.66)
1933Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 29, The front page of
the New York Evening Post said "Famine Grips Russia — Millions
Dying." The report was by Welsh journalist Gareth Jones who had
recently sneaked into Ukraine, at the height of a famine engineered
by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. Jones was killed by bandits in 1935
while covering Japan's expansion into China. In 2009 the diaries of
Jones were put on display for the first time in London.
   (AP, 11/13/09)
1933Â Â Â Â Â Â Sam Zemurray, a
Russia-born immigrant and shareholder in United Fruit, appeared at a
board meeting of United Fruit and with a bag of proxies declared
himself overseer of the company. He proceeded to rule UF for the
next 25 years. In 2012 Rich Cohen authored “The Fish That Ate the
Whale: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King.”
   (SSFC, 7/8/12, p.F5)
1934Â Â Â Â Â Â Clarence Birdseye, since
there were no freezer cases in grocery stores, entered a joint
venture to manufacture them. National distribution of frozen foods
became a reality in 1944 when Birdseye began leasing refrigerated
railroad cars to transport his products. Birdseye's innovations led
to the founding of General Foods Co.
   (HNPD, 12/9/98)
1933Â Â Â Â Â Â Malcolm Muggeridge
(1903-1990), English writer and reporter, broke the story on the
famine in the Ukraine.
   (WSJ, 4/17/96,
p.A-18)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Muggeridge)
1934Â Â Â Â Â Â Bob’s Big Boy restaurants
popularized the double patty hamburger sandwich.
   (AH, 6/07, p.11)
1934Â Â Â Â Â Â The Popeye cartoon “We Aim
to Please” introduced the catch phrase “I will gladly pay you
Tuesday for a hamburger today,” uttered by J. Wellington Wimpy.
   (AH, 6/07, p.11)
1935Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 24, The 1st canned
beer, "Krueger Cream Ale," was sold by Krueger Brewing Co.
   (MC, 1/24/02)
1935Â Â Â Â Â Â Kentucky Gov. Ruby
Laffoon, enjoyed the fried chicken of Harland Sanders so much that
she named Sanders a Kentucky Colonel.
   (Econ, 8/27/05, p.62)
1935Â Â Â Â Â Â Tyson Foods was founded.
By 2002 the company was the world’s largest processor and marketer
of beef, chicken and pork.
   (WSJ, 6/24/02, p.A2)
1935Â Â Â Â Â Â Giuseppe Luigi Mezetta and
his son Daniel Joseph Mezetta (1916-2005) founded G.L. Mezetta,
importer of Italian specialty foods that included glass-packed
peppers and olives. The firm was originally based at the SF Produce
Market.
   (SFC, 3/26/05, p.B4)
1937Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 1, At a party at the
Hormel Mansion in Minnesota, a guest won $100 for naming a new
canned meat-Spam. SPAM was originally called Hormel Spiced Ham in
1936 without much success.
   (HN, 1/1/00)(http://tinyurl.com/3soounh)
1937Â Â Â Â Â Â May 11, Spam, a canned ham
by Hormel, was registered as a trademark. It was introduced to the
public as Spam on July 5, 1937.
   (WSJ, 4/29/04, p.D10)
1937Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 5, SPAM was unveiled
by Hormel Foods. It was precooked pork and ham in a can, with a
little potato starch, salt, and sugar. Sodium nitrate was added to
keep it pink; without it, pork tends to turn gray. At 10 cents a can
it was a big hit.
   (http://tinyurl.com/pzr4hu8)
1937Â Â Â Â Â Â Vernon Rudolph (d.1973)
launched Krispy Creme, a donut operation, in Winston-Salem, NC.
Heirs sold the business to Beatrice Foods, which changed the recipe.
Some 20 franchisees bought the company in 1982. the 1st shop outside
the Southeast opened in Indianapolis in 1995. The company went
public in 2000.
   (WSJ, 9/3/04, p.A5)
1937Â Â Â Â Â Â General Mills introduced
Kix cereal. It was made possible by the development of the “puffing
gun” invented by Lester Borchardt Sr. (1907-2007).
   (WSJ, 1/27/07, p.A6)
1938Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 16, The US Federal
Crop Insurance program was authorized.
   (MC, 2/16/02)
1938Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 25, Pres. Franklin D.
Roosevelt signed into law the Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act. It
included a restriction on the sale of embedded non-food items,
unless there’s a functional value, like the stick on a lollipop. It
was partially provoked by a rash of injuries from depilatory creams.
   (WSJ, 6/24/02, p.A8)(Econ, 2/7/15, p.79)
1938Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 24, Instant coffee was
invented. Nestle came up with the first instant coffee after 8 years
of experiments.
   (SFEC, 2/7/99, Z1 p.8)(MC, 7/24/02)
1938Â Â Â Â Â Â The Salvation Army coined
the unofficial National Doughnut Day holiday, later marked on the
first Friday of June, to commemorate the female volunteers who
served doughnuts and coffee to soldiers during World War I.
   (http://donutdayusa.com/)
1938Â Â Â Â Â Â David Reid (d.2003 at 86)
created the image of Elsie the Cow for the Borden milk company.
Elsie's web site is at: www.elsie.com.
   (SFC, 12/19/03, p.A25)
1938Â Â Â Â Â Â Inventor Earl Silas Tupper
left the Du Pont company in 1938 to form the Tupper Plastics
Company. The material called "Poly-T" used to create Tupperware was
developed from a black, putrid, rock-hard oil refining waste product
called polyethylene slag. He refined and purified the slag into a
higher quality plastic. He then turned his attention to replacing
the widely used glass and metal food containers with his waterproof
and airtight seal introduced in 1947. [see 1939]
   (HNQ, 2/13/99)
1939Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 30, The New York
World’s Fair, billed as a look at "the world of tomorrow,"
officially opened. NY Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia mandated that the
city's nude dancers cover up during the fair. The cover-up evolved
into the G-string and later the thong. The General Motors exhibit
was titled Futurama. Philo T. Farnsworth premiered his television at
the fair. AT&T presented its first Picture Phone at the World's
Fair. Salvador Dali created a pavilion that was called “Dream of
Venus” and described as the “funny house of tomorrow.” In 2000 Miles
Beller authored "Dream of Venus (Or Living Pictures): A Novel of the
1939 New York world’s Fair." National Presto Industries introduced
the home pressure cooker at the fair.
   (AP, 4/30/97)(WSJ, 6/7/99, p.A8)(SFEC, 4/16/00,
BR p.7)(NYTBR, 2/2/03, p.20)
(www.imdb.com/title/tt0149460/trivia)(WSJ, 12/27/08, p.A7)
1939Â Â Â Â Â Â May 16, US food stamps
were 1st issued.
   (MC, 5/16/02)
1939Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 11, King & Queen
of England tasted their 1st "hot dogs" at FDR's party.
   (SC, 6/11/02)
1939Â Â Â Â Â Â Jim Rex founded the Ranger
Joe Breakfast Food Co. in Philadelphia. It was sold in the 1940s to
Philadelphia businessman Moses Berger and sold again in 1954 to
Nabisco and renamed "Wheat and Rice Honeys."
   (SFC,11/19/97, Z1 p.7)
1939Â Â Â Â Â Â The Toastolator Co., a
subsidiary of Crocker-Wheeler, began making the conveyer belt
Toast-o-Lator toasters. Production continued to 1952.
   (SFC, 5/14/08, p.G6)
1939Â Â Â Â Â Â Earl Tupper (d.1983), a
Massachusetts tree surgeon and inventor, founded Tupperware. In 1942
he introduced a polyethylene container with a fitted cap. The
containers took off in 1951 when he hired Brownie Wise (d.1992), a
secretary from Detroit, who developed a sales network based on patio
parties. Tupper forced Wise out in 1958 and sold the company to
Rexall Drugs. [see 1938]
   (WSJ, 2/18/04, p.A9)
1940Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 8, Britain began
rationing sugar, meat and butter.
   (HN, 1/8/99)
1940Â Â Â Â Â Â The Mountain Dew beverage,
a lemon-lime mixer, was trademarked by Barney and Ally Hartman of
Knoxville, Tenn. In 1948 a cartoon drawing of Willy the Hillbilly
was trademarked and used on bottles until the early 1970s. Pepsi
bought Mountain Dew in 1964.
   (SFC, 6/25/08, p.G3)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 19, Michel Roux, chef
de cuisine, was born.
   (MC, 4/19/02)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 1, General Mills
introduced Cheerioats, later renamed Cheerios. It was made possible
by the development of the “puffing gun” invented earlier by Lester
Borchardt Sr.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheerios)(WSJ,
1/27/07, p.A6)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â May 19, Jane Brody, food
and health writer, was born.
   (HN, 5/19/01)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â A monograph by M.K.
Bennett on Wheat in National Diets in an issue of Wheat Studies and
related comparative studies of the consumption of staple foods led
to what has come to be known as "Bennett's Law." As people become
wealthier, they switch from simple starchy plant-dominated diets to
a more varied food input that includes a range of vegetables, fruit,
dairy products, and especially meat. In 1954 M.K. Bennet authored
“The World’s Food: A Study of the Interrelations of World
Populations, National Diets and Food Potentials.”
  Â
(http://tinyurl.com/vxmvvdx)(http://www.pnas.org/content/108/50/19845.full)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â The US Army asked Prof.
Ancel Keys (1904-2004) of the Univ. of Minnesota to help develop an
army ration that soldiers could carry in combat. His package was
called the K ration.
   (SFC, 11/24/04, p.B6)
1941Â Â Â Â Â Â Carl Karcher (1917-2008),
an Ohio-born farm boy, bought a hot-dog stand in southern California
and soon expanded to 3 stands and then a drive-in barbecue joint
called Carl’s. In 1956 he opened his first two Carl’s Jr. fast-food
burger outlets, which were among the first to later offer salad bars
and grilled-chicken sandwiches. By 2008 there were 1,121 Carl’s Jr.
restaurants in the US and 3,036 franchised or company-operated
restaurants world-wide.
   (WSJ, 1/19/08, p.A10)
1942Â Â Â Â Â Â May 4, The U.S. began food
rationing.
   (HN, 5/4/98)
1942Â Â Â Â Â Â May 5, Sales of sugar
resumed in the United States under a rationing program.
   (AP, 5/5/97)(HN, 5/5/98)
1942Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 29, Coffee rationing
went into effect in the U.S., and lasted until the next summer.
   (http://tinyurl.com/yccxgv)
1942Â Â Â Â Â Â The founders of Wing Nien
dubbed their soy sauce Longevity. It was 1st fermented in the
basement of an old bank in San Francisco's Chinatown.
   (SFC, 10/11/03, p.B1)
1943Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 12, Frankfurters were
replaced by Victory Sausages, a mix of meat &Â soy meal.
   (MC, 1/12/02)
1943Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 29, World War II meat,
butter and cheese rationing began.
   (AP, 3/29/97)
1943Â Â Â Â Â Â May 1, Food rationing
began in US. [see Mar 29]
   (MC, 5/1/02)
1943Â Â Â Â Â Â May 29, Meat and cheese
began to be rationed in US.
   (SC, 5/29/02)
1943Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 28, President
Roosevelt announced the end of coffee rationing.
   (AP, 7/28/97)
1944Â Â Â Â Â Â May 25, Robert Michael
Payton, pizza magnate, was born.
   (SC, 5/25/02)
1944Â Â Â Â Â Â Jeno Paulucci (b.1918),
American food entrepreneur, started his Chun King business with a
loan of $2,500. Less than 2 decades later he sold it to R. J.
Reynolds for $63 million. In 1985 he sold his Jeno pizza roll
business to General Mills for $150 million.
   (SSFC, 12/24/06, p.F2)
1944Â Â Â Â Â Â The Vegan Society was
founded in England. Vegans generally limit their diets to
vegetables, fruits, nuts, and grains.
   (www.ivu.org/history/societies/vegansocuk.html)
1944-1945Â Â Â In Vietnam 1-2 million people starved to
death during this period in large part due to policies imposed by
Japan.
   (Econ, 2/5/11, p.97)
1945Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 13, Milton Hershey
(b.1857), Philadelphia chocolate tycoon, died. In 2005 Michael D.
Antonio authored “Hershey: Milton S. Hershey’s Extraordinary Life of
Wealth, Empire and Utopian Dreams.”
   (WSJ, 8/12/99,
p.A1)(www.hersheyhistory.com/milton.html)
1945Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 23, Most US wartime
rationing of foods, including meat and butter, was set to expire by
day's end.
   (HN, 11/23/98)(AP, 11/23/07)
1945Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 7, The microwave oven
was patented. Percy LeBaron Spencer accidentally discovered that
microwaves would also heat food. Spencer, an eighth-grade dropout
and electronic wizard, worked for the Raytheon Manufacturing
Corporation of Massachusetts developing a radar machine using
microwave radiation.
   (HN, 9/5/01)(Econ, 10/29/11, p.100)
1946Â Â Â Â Â Â The US Agricultural
Marketing Act of this year established grade standards for fruits
and vegetables including peanuts.
   (http://tinyurl.com/qjuu2)
1946Â Â Â Â Â Â David Barham (1913-1991)
founded Hot Dog on a Stick at Muscle Beach in Santa Monica, Ca.
   (WSJ, 2/3/07,
p.A8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Barham)
1946Â Â Â Â Â Â John Baugh (1916-2007) and
his wife Eula Mae launched Zero Foods to deliver frozen food to
businesses in Houston. In 1970 Baugh persuaded eight similar firms
to merge with his to form Systems Services Company (SYSCO).
   (Econ, 12/14/13, p.74)
1946Â Â Â Â Â Â Ray Dunlap, a chemist for
Idaho’s J.R. Simplot, invented a way to make frozen french fries
that wouldn’t turn soggy.
   (WSJ, 10/7/04, p.A12)
1947Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec, Harold Dobbs
co-founded Mel's Drive-In, at Mission Street and South Van Ness
Avenue, in San Francisco. It would become an icon of mid-century
American popular culture, memorialized in George Lucas' film
American Graffiti about the early 1960s.
  Â
(www.sfhistoryencyclopedia.com/articles/d/dobbsHarold.html)
1947Â Â Â Â Â Â Pres. Truman raised margin
requirements of futures to 33% as wartime controls ended and food
prices soared.
   (Econ, 10/11/08, SR p.16)
1947Â Â Â Â Â Â The new Florida Foods Co.
changed its name to Minute Maid. Their initial powder orange juice
proved more drinkable as a juice concentrate. Founder John Fox hired
Bing Crosby as his 1st spokesman.
   (SFC, 1/20/03, p.B4)
1947Â Â Â Â Â Â Walter S. Mack, president
of Pepsi-Cola, hired an all-black sales force led by Edward F. Boyd
to sell Pepsi directly to blacks.
   (WSJ, 1/9/07, p.B1)
1947Â Â Â Â Â Â Britain amid post-war
rationing and food shortages introduced the snoek, a relative of the
barracuda, to a hungry nation.
   (Econ, 11/1/08, p.66)
1947Â Â Â Â Â Â Canada’s Montreal
mayor-to-be Jean Drapeau declared food trucks to be unsanitary and
undignified. The Montreal ban on food trucks ended in 2013.
   (SSFC, 6/23/13, p.A4)
1948Â Â Â Â Â Â Idaho put “World Famous
Potatoes” on its car license plates. Its potato business was mostly
due to the efforts of J.R. Simplot (1909-2008), later known as the
spud king of America.
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._Simplot)(Econ, 6/14/08, p.105)
1948Â Â Â Â Â Â Henry (d.1976) and Esther
(1920-2006) Snyder opened In-N-Out Burgers in Baldwin Park, LA
County. They numbered 152 stores in 2001 as their 1st SF outlet
opened. By 2006 the chain numbered 202 restaurants. In 2009 Stacy
Perman authored “In-N-Out Burger: A Behind-The Counter Look at the
Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules.
   (SFC, 3/3/01, p.D1)(SFC, 8/15/01, p.B1)(SFEC,
3/23/97, p.A1)(WSJ, 8/12/06, p.A6)(WSJ, 4/15/09, p.A13)
1948Â Â Â Â Â Â Al Ross founded Doggie
Diner in Oakland, Ca., on San Pablo and 19th Ave. Its iconic
dachshund head was designed by Harold Bachman in 1965. The chain
grew to 30 diners including 13 in San Francisco and was sold in
1979. The chain closed down in 1986.
   (SFC, 10/6/05, p.B7)(SFC, 4/5/10, p.C6)
1948Â Â Â Â Â Â Burt Baskin (1913-1967)
and Irvine Robbins (1917-2008) combined their ice cream parlors in
Glendale and Pomona, Ca., to form the Baskins-Robbins ice cream
chain.
   (WSJ, 5/10/08,
p.A8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burt_Baskin)
1948Â Â Â Â Â Â Earle Swenson opened his
1st ice cream store at Hyde and Union streets in SF. In 1980
Swenson’s Ice Cream Co. was sold to Red River Resources of Phoenix.
   (SFC, 2/4/05, p.F9)
1949Â Â Â Â Â Â The Pillsbury Bake-Off
began as a contest for Americans with a knack for home cooking. In
1998 Ellie Matthews won a Pillsbury million dollar prize for her
salsa couscous chicken. In 2008 Matthews authored “The Ungarnished
Truth.”
   (WSJ, 3/22/08, p.W10)
1950      May 13, Diner's Club
issued its 1st credit cards.
   (SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1950Â Â Â Â Â Â The Dunkin’ Donuts chain
originated in Canton, Mass.
   (SFC, 6/22/16, p.C2)
1950-1959Â Â Â Panama disease in the 1950s obliterated
the Gros Michel variety of bananas. By the 1960s it was close to
extinction. It was replaced by the Cavendish variety. Most edible
bananas do not have seeds and are sprouted from shoots of original
trees that date back 10,000 years.
   (SFC, 4/5/04, p.D5)(Econ, 3/1/14, p.62)
1950-1959Â Â Â Cannibalism was banned in Papua New
Guinea.
   (SFC, 4/11/03, p.A6)
1951Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 26, Bread rationing
began in Czechoslovakia.
   (SC, 2/26/02)
1951Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 5, In San Francisco
the first fully separate food section made its Chronicle debut.
   (SSFC, 6/7/09, p.W3)
1951Â Â Â Â Â Â Ruben Rausing (1895-1983)
of Sweden founded Tetra Pak as a subsidiary to Akerlund &
Rausing to produce milk cartons. In 1963 the company gave the
world a flat-topped carton that can be packed and shipped like
bricks. The development revolutionized the packaging and
distribution of milk and fruit juices worldwide.
   (AP,
7/11/12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruben_Rausing)
1952Â Â Â Â Â Â Topps Chewing Gum Company
issued its first large set of baseball cards. They included team
logos and facsimile signatures and were later considered as the
first true set of the modern era. Topps had issued a smaller card in
1951, but it flopped.
   (AH, 6/03, p.52,54)
1952Â Â Â Â Â Â Kraft Foods introduced
Cheese Whiz.
   (WSJ, 6/9/07, p.A6)
1952Â Â Â Â Â Â Alvin Edlin (1912-2008)
bought Bud’s Ice Cream store in Noe Valley from his cousin Bud
Scheideman for $8,000. Revenue at the time was about $30,000. He
increased the quality and by 1976 revenues rose to about $1 million.
In 1980 Edlin sold the operation to a group of Bay Area businessmen.
In the 1990s the operation was sold to Berkeley Farms.
   (SFC, 6/10/08, p.B5)
1952Â Â Â Â Â Â The first Weber grill was
made in by George Stephen (d.1993) of suburban Chicago and was
called George's Barbecue. It was manufactured by Weber Brothers
Metal Works in Chicago. Stephen started selling his Weber kettle in
1954 and the rest is grilling history.
  Â
(www.hgtv.com/hgtv/ah_entertaining_outdoor/article/0,1801,HGTV_3117_1398364,00.html)
1953Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 8, Census indicated
239,000 farmers gave up farming in last 2 years.
   (MC, 3/8/02)
1953Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec, Swanson and Sons
introduced the TV Dinner. The turkey, sweet potatoes and peas
package was priced at 98 cents and could be cooked in 25 minutes. It
was invented by Gerry Thomas (d.2005), a salesman for Nebraska based
C.A. Swanson, following an oversupply of turkey from the 1953
Thanksgiving holiday season. Campbell Soup acquired control of
Swanson’s in 1955.
   (PC, 1992 ed, p.943,952)(WSJ, 1/7/04, p.B1)(SFC,
7/21/05, p.B7)
1953Â Â Â Â Â Â A chemist working for J.R.
Simplot, Idaho potato mogul, perfected a technique of freezing
chipped potatoes. By the late 1960s Jack Simplot was the largest
supplier of French fries to McDonald’s.
   (Econ, 6/14/08, p.105)
1953Â Â Â Â Â Â In Brazil JBS Friboi began
as a butchers founded by Jose Sobrinho in Anapolis, Goias state. By
2011 it was the world’s largest meat producer.
   (Econ, 9/24/11, SR p.22)
1954Â Â Â Â Â Â May 5, The largest store
in the Safeway chain opened at Duboce and Market in SF.
   (SFC, 4/9/04, p.F10)
1954Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 3, Food rationing
ended in Britain almost nine years after the end of World War II.
   (HN, 7/3/98)
1954Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 11, Elizabeth Coleman
White (b.1871), agricultural specialist, died of in New Jersey of
cancer. She collaborated with Frederick Vernon Coville to develop
and commercialize a cultivated blueberry. In 1927 she helped
organize the New Jersey Blueberry Cooperative Association.
  Â
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Coleman_White)
1954Â Â Â Â Â Â James Whitman McLamore
(1926-1996) and Dave Edgarton opened Insta Burger King in Miami, the
forerunner to the international Burger King chain.
   (SFC, 8/10/96, p.A20)
1954Â Â Â Â Â Â Bartender Larry J. Cano
(1924-2014) took over an old Polynesian restaurant in southern
California’s San Fernando Valley and created a sit-down Mexican
restaurant named El Torrito. By 1978 he was operating 22 locations
and sold the chain to W.R. Grace, but continued for a decade as
president.
   (SFC, 12/18/14, p.D3)
1954Â Â Â Â Â Â The WSJ described the new
fish sticks as "boneless oblongs roughly four inches long."
   (WSJ, 1/7/04, p.B1)
1955Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 15, Ray Kroc acquired
the McDonald’s chain of fast food restaurants. He was a food service
equipment salesman who owned the national marketing rights to the
milk-shake mixers used at the chain. He purchased the chain from
Richard (d.1998 at 89) and Maurice McDonald (d.1971) who started the
operation in California in 1948. Kroc built his first restaurant in
Des Plains, Illinois, and later established his world headquarters
and a company museum there.
   (WSJ, 5/30/97, p.A1)(HN, 4/15/98)(SFC, 7/15/98,
p.A20)
1955Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun, Gordon Wasson, a
vice-president of J.P. Morgan, traveled to Mexico and became one of
the first outsiders to eat the hallucinogenic psilocybin mushroom.
   (Econ, 7/15/06, p.78)
1955Â Â Â Â Â Â Toshiba introduced the
world’s first automatic electric rice cooker. In 2006 Mitsubishi
introduced an upscale rice cooker selling for $1000.
   (WSJ, 6/4/07, p.A12)
1956Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 7, Clarence Birdseye
(b.1886), founder of the modern frozen food industry, died in NYC.
   (ON, 8/12, p.7)(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Birdseye)
1956Â Â Â Â Â Â William Mitchell
(1912-2004) patented Pop Rocks, an exploding candy. It hit the
market in 1975.
   (SFC, 7/29/04, p.B7)
1957Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 27, Mario A. Gianini,
creator of the maraschino cherry, died.
   (MC, 4/27/02)
1957Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 8, William Cadbury
(89), chocolate maker, died.
   (MC, 7/8/02)
1957Â Â Â Â Â Â Life magazine printed R.
Gordon Wasson’s “Seeking the Magic Mushroom” detailing his
experiences at a religious ritual in Mexico. Wasson, a
vice-president of J.P. Morgan, experienced the hallucinogenic
psilocybin mushroom during a trip to Mexico in 1955.
   (WSJ, 7/11/06, p.B10)(Econ, 7/15/06, p.78)
1957Â Â Â Â Â Â Ben Eisenstadt, founder of
Cumberland Packaging Corp., with his son Marvin and chemist Paul
Kracauer developed a saccharine-based sweetener that was initially
geared toward diabetics. It later became known as Sweet’N Low, which
became a registered trademark of Cumberland Packaging Corp. in 1970.
In 2006 Rich Cohen authored “Sweet and Low: A Family History.”
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Eisenstadt)(SSFC, 4/23/06,
p.M6)(Econ, 1/30/10, p.77)
1958Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 25, Momofuku Ando
(48), head of Japan’s Nissin Food Products, announced that he had
finally perfected his flash-frying method and therefore invented the
instant noodle.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momofuku_Ando)
1958Â Â Â Â Â Â US Congress banned futures
trading in onions to stop speculation on prices. Onion farmers had
lobbied Michigan congressman Gerald Ford to ban trading in onion
futures. They blamed speculators for the volatility in the crops’
prices.
   (Econ, 10/11/08, SR p.16)(Econ, 11/14/09, p.93)
1958Â Â Â Â Â Â Al Lapin Jr. (d.2004) and
younger brother Jerry Lapin founded the Int’l. House of Pancakes
(IHOP) with a single outlet at Toluca Lake in LA County. Lapin left
IHOP in 1973.
   (SFC, 6/21/04, p.B4)
1958Â Â Â Â Â Â The SF Golden Grain pasta
company introduced the SF treat "Rice-A-Roni." The company was owned
by the DeDomenico family, who learned the recipe from Armenian
neighbors. A 15th century Damascus cookbook titled "Kitab
al-Tibakha" included a recipe that said "brown noodles in the oven
and cook them with rice." Golden Grain was later headquartered in
San Leandro, Ca.
   (SFC, 11/25/98, Z1 p.5)
1958Â Â Â Â Â Â Arnold Gridley (d.2004),
invented the motorized cable car after buying and converting some
old SF California Street cable cars. The cars were used in 1961
Rice-A-Roni commercials. Gridley was the great grandson of G.W.
Gridley, sheep rancher, rice farmer, and founder of Gridley, Ca.
   (SFC, 5/15/04, p.B6)
1958Â Â Â Â Â Â In Fair Lawn, New Jersey,
a new Nabisco bakery opened.
   (WSJ, 11/22/08, p.W4)
1958Â Â Â Â Â Â The aluminum can was
introduced as a food container.
   (SFC, 8/4/05, p.C1)
1958Â Â Â Â Â Â In Japan a restaurant in
Tokyo introduced a conveyor belt to serve sushi.
   (Econ, 4/22/17, p.60)
1959Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 11, The US Congress
passed a bill authorizing food stamps for poor Americans.
   (MC, 9/11/01)
1959Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 9, A Memorandum of
Understanding was signed in New York that established IRRI (Int’l.
Rice Research Institute) “as an organization to do basic research on
the rice plant and applied research on all phases of rice
production, management, distribution and utilization.”
   (http://irri.org/about-us/our-history)
1959Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 21, William R. Larson
(1933-2006) opened his first Round Table Pizza parlor in Menlo Park,
Ca., at 1235 El Camino Real. Larson sold a portion of Round Table
stock to a group of investors in 1979. In 2017 Round Table Pizza
announced that it was acquired by Global Franchise Group.
  Â
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_Table_Pizza)(SFC, 4/17/21,
p.F1)
1959Â Â Â Â Â Â In Chicago Kikkoman first
introduced soy sauce to American consumers at an International Trade
Fair.
   (Econ, 4/11/09, p.68)
1959-1961Â Â Â In China mass starvation followed Mao’s
"Great Leap Forward." The famine killed millions of people. The
famine of this period is described by Jasper Becker in his book:
"Hungry Ghosts: Mao’s Secret Famine" (1997).
   (WSJ, 2/7/97, p.A14)(Econ, 5/8/10, p.28)(SFEC,
8/17/97, BR p.8)
1960Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 30, US stopped sugar
imports from Cuba.
   (MC, 6/30/02)
1960Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 22, Cuba nationalized
all US owned sugar factories.
   (MC, 7/22/02)
1960Â Â Â Â Â Â Wilbur Hardee (1917-2008),
opened his first Hardee’s restaurant, in Greenville, NC. The company
went public in 1963.
   (SFC, 6/24/08, p.B5)(http://tinyurl.com/6ztal8)
1960Â Â Â Â Â Â George Leonard Herter
(1911-1994), Minnesota-born catalogue writer, published his “Bull
Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes and Practices.” Herter was
later considered the prince of fantasy food historians.
  Â
(http://tinyurl.com/4lgjf)(www.archeryarchives.com/herterhistory.html)
1960s   Big Top peanut butter produced a glass mug
to hold its product with a picture of Hopalong Cassidy, the old
singing cowboy star.
   (SFC, 2/18/98, Z1 p.3)
1960s   Tin-lined cans and tin foil yielded to
aluminum cans and aluminum foil.
   (NH, 7/02, p.35)
1961Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 13, Prof. Ancel Keys
of the Univ of Minnesota landed on the cover of Time Magazine for
providing a solution to why middle-aged men were dropping dead from
heart disease: eat less fat. This led the US government to its first
set of dietary guidelines in 1980.
   (Econ, 5/31/14, p.76)
1961Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 18, The "Poppin'
Fresh" Pillsbury Dough Boy was introduced.
   (MC, 3/18/02)
1961Â Â Â Â Â Â May 22, The 1st revolving
restaurant, Top of The Needle in Seattle, opened.
   (MC, 5/22/02)
1961Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 19, The UN General
Assembly adopted Resolutions 1714 (XVI) for the formation of its
World Food Program (WFP).
   (www.fao.org/docrep/46140E/46140e06.htm)
1961Â Â Â Â Â Â Fred Turner (1933-2013),
operations manager for McDonald’s Corp., founded Hamburger
University in a restaurant basement in Elk Grove, Illinois.
   (Econ, 1/26/13, p.82)
1961Â Â Â Â Â Â Calisto Tanzi dropped out
of university to concentrate on the a family delicatessen business
near the Parma railway station: Calisto Tanzi & Sons - Salamis
and Preserves. In 1966 Calisto Tanzi adopted the new ultra-high
temperature (UHT) Swedish pasteurizing technique to produce
long-life milk. In 2003 the company filed for bankruptcy.
   (WSJ, 12/22/03, p.A6)(WPR, 3/04, p.18)
1962Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb, The UN’s
Intergovernmental Committee, the governing body of the World Food
Program (WFP), held its first session. Addeke Boerma was appointed
as WFP's first Executive Director in April.
   (Econ, 3/20/10,
p.52)(www.wfp.org/about/corporate-information/history)
1962Â Â Â Â Â Â Glen Bell Jr. (d.2010 at
86) founded the Taco Bell fast food chain in Downey, Ca. He had
launched Bell’s Drive-In in 1948 in San Bernadino and later helped
establish Taco Tias in Los Angeles, El Tacos in the Long Beach area
and the Der Wienerschnitzel hot dog chain. In 1978 he sold his 868
Taco Bell restaurants to PepsiCo for $125 million in stock.
   (SFC, 1/19/10, p.C4)
1962Â Â Â Â Â Â Edwin Traisman
(1915-2007), food researcher for McDonald’s, patented a method for
preparing frozen French fried potatoes. In 1968 his associate Ken
Strong patented a method for quick frying cut potatoes before
freezing along with a short steam blanch to preserve sugars and
other flavors. Traisman was instrumental in the development of
Cheese Whiz for Kraft Foods and had bought the first McDonald’s
franchise in Madison, Wis., in the late 1950s.
   (SFC, 6/9/07, p.B6)
1962Â Â Â Â Â Â Tony O’Reilly, head of the
Irish Dairy Board, proposed a new premium brand for Irish butter to
break into the growing British market. The new product was named
Kerry-gold and successfully sold in half-pound packs of parchment
wrapping.
   (Econ, 4/8/17, p.66)
1964Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 22, World's largest
cheese (15,723 kg) was manufactured in Wisconsin.
   (MC, 1/22/02)
1964Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 7, Baskin-Robbins
introduced Beatle Nut ice cream.
   (MC, 2/7/02)
1964Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 3, Stuart Anderson
(1922-2016) founded the Black Angus chain of restaurants with the
first one opening in Seattle. The first steak dinners sold for
$2.99. The chain was sold in 1972. By 2016 there were some 45 Black
Angus Steakhouse, mostly in California.
  Â
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Angus_Steakhouse)(SFC, 6/10/16,
p.E5)
1964Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 22, At the opening of
the New York World’s Fair in Queens the Vermersch family from
Belgium introduced Belgian waffles, topped with fresh whipped cream,
powdered sugar and sliced strawberries. They had first served the
treat two years earlier at the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle, and for
years after they made the waffles at the annual New York State Fair
in Syracuse. But it was at the 1964 event in New York City that the
waffles became a sensation.
   (AP, 4/21/14)
1964Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr, Tim Horton
(1930-1974), Canadian hockey player, and Jim Charade opened the
first Tim Hortons franchise, a coffee and donut shop.
   (http://tinyurl.com/l57srxu)(Econ, 12/13/14,
p.38)
1964Â Â Â Â Â Â The Cracker Jack Co. was
purchased by Borden and sold to PepsiCo's Frito-Lay division in
1997.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_Jack)
1964Â Â Â Â Â Â Kentucky Colonel Harland
Sanders (1890-1980) sold his fried chicken business for $2 million
to private investors, who resold it in 1971 for $285 million to
Heublein. R.J. Reynolds acquired Heublein in 1982 and sold it to
PepsiCo in 1986.
   (www.answers.com/topic/harland-sanders)
1965Â Â Â Â Â Â May 16, Spaghetti-O's were
1st sold.
   (MC, 5/16/02)
1965Â Â Â Â Â Â Fred DeLuca, fresh out of
high school, founded Subway, a sandwich shop, with $1,000 start-up
money from a family friend. By 2007 it was the world’s largest
sandwich chain with over 25,000 stores in 83 countries.
   (WSJ, 1/10/07, p.C2)
1965Â Â Â Â Â Â Harold Bachman (1921-2005)
designed the logo for San Francisco’s Doggie Diner. In 1966 his
dachshund head design was turned into a rotating giant head for the
chain of diners founded by Al Ross (d.2010 at 93). Ross had founded
Doggie Diner in Oakland on San Pablo and 19th Ave. in 1948 and sold
his chain in 1979.
   (SFC, 10/6/05, p.B7)(SFC, 4/5/10, p.C6)(SSFC,
2/16/14, p.C1)
1965Â Â Â Â Â Â A 7-Eleven manager
happened upon an Icee machine in a rival's store. He saw potential
and got them into three 7-Eleven stores. Slurpee was born in Kansas
at a Dairy Queen where owner Omar Knedlik served semi-frozen bottled
soft drinks. When they were a hit, he worked with a Dallas company
to develop the "Icee" machine that replicated that consistency in
slushy soft drinks served at 28 degrees.
   (USAT, 7/11/05)
1966Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 18, US Roman Catholic
bishops did away with the rule against eating meat on Fridays
outside of Lent.
   (AP, 11/18/08)
1966Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 22, The US announced
the allocation of 900,000 tons of grain to fight the famine in
India. Mass starvation was averted in India this year by the arrival
of 10 million tons of American food aid.
   (HN, 12/22/98)(Econ., 1/16/21, p.9)
1966Â Â Â Â Â Â Nabisco introduced a
cheese spread in an aerosol can under the name Snack Mate. It later
became part of Kraft and sold as Cheeze Whiz in a can.
   (SFC, 1/31/08,
p.A13)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_Cheese)
1967Â Â Â Â Â Â May 22, In San Francisco
Ott’s Drive-in became the first fast food spot in the city after
installing the only automated ordering system in the Bay Area. In
1971 the city announced plans to demolish Ott’s and build a hotel at
the 550 Bay St. location.
   (SFC, 11/19/16, p.C1)
1967Â Â Â Â Â Â Joe Coulombe (1930-2020)
opened his first Trader Joe's grocery store in Pasadena, Ca.. He
sold the chain to German retailer Aldi in 1979, but remianed CEO
until 1988.
   (SSFC, 3/1/20, p.A9)
1967Â Â Â Â Â Â The California Packing Co.
(Calpak) changed its name to Del Monte.
   (SFC, 3/1/97, p.B1)(SSFC, 10/3/04, p.J1)
1967Â Â Â Â Â Â Robert Capon (1925-2013),
Episcopalian theologian and food writer, authored “Supper of the
Lamb,” a metaphysical treatise on cooking.
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Farrar_Capon)(Econ, 9/21/13,
p.102)
1968Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep, The Big Mac was
created by McDonald’s franchisee Jim Delligatti in Pittsburgh. It
sold for 49 cents.
   (SFC, 9/10/98, p.B2)
1968Â Â Â Â Â Â The J.M. Smucker Co.
introduced Goober Grape, a single container with peanut butter and
grape jelly swirled together.
   (SFC, 1/31/08, p.A13)
1968Â Â Â Â Â Â Denny’s bought Winchell’s
Donut Houses. Verne Winchell (d.2002 at 87) founded the business in
the 1950s.
   (SFC, 11/29/02, p.A27)
1968Â Â Â Â Â Â The 4th Betty Crocker, a
General Mills advertising icon, made her appearance and continued to
1972.
   (WSJ, 7/5/96,
p.A6)(http://chnm.gmu.edu/features/sidelights/crocker.html)
1968Â Â Â Â Â Â Newton Glekel (1913-2007),
NYC real estate lawyer and deal maker, purchased a controlling
interest in Detroit-based Hygrade Food Products Co., maker of Ball
Park hot dogs. He sold his stake to Britain’s Hanson Industries Inc.
in 1976.
   (WSJ, 8/4/07, p.A4)
1968Â Â Â Â Â Â Fred Mattson (d.1997 at
76) and Dr. Robert Volpenhein, employed by Proctor & Gamble,
created olestra, a cocktail of fatty acids that enzymes left
untouched.
   (SFEC, 6/8/97,
p.D6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olestra)
1969Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 18, The US federal
government banned artificial sweeteners known as cyclamates because
of evidence they caused cancer in laboratory rats.
   (AP, 10/18/97)
1969Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 15, Wendy's
Hamburgers, begun by Dave Thomas, opened in Ohio. In 2008 the chain
was sold to Triarc Cos., owner of the Arby’s roast beef sandwich
restaurant chain.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy's)(SFC,
4/25/08, p.D3)
1969Â Â Â Â Â Â Frank Zappa recorded a
song entitled "Electric Aunt Jemima" on his album Uncle Meat.
   (www.tranglos.com/marek/yes/tr_146.html)
1969Â Â Â Â Â Â Best Foods Inc., changed
its name to CPC International. It had begun as American Cotton Oil
in 1889.
   (WSJ, 5/28/96, p. R-45)
1969Â Â Â Â Â Â Robert Byck (d.1999 at 66)
identified MSG, monosodium glutamate, as the cause of headaches for
some people who ate Chinese food with the additive. The psychiatrist
and brain researcher at Yale Medical School in 1979 gave Congress an
early warning that the United States faced an epidemic of smokable
cocaine,
   (SFC, 8/24/99, p.A22)(http://tinyurl.com/a6bdpn)
1969Â Â Â Â Â Â Country singer Jimmy Dean
(1928-2010 started the Jimmy Dean Meat Co. He sold it to Sara Lee
Corp. in 1984.
   (SFC, 6/14/10, p.C4)
1969Â Â Â Â Â Â Britain’s chocolate maker
Cadbury merged with Schweppes. In 2006 the Schweppes unit was spun
off.
   (Econ, 11/7/09, p.63)
1970Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 24, Robert B. Choate
(d.2009 at 84), an engineer turned consumer advocate, testified on
nutrition information for consumers at a Senate subcommittee hearing
and used data supplied by cereal manufacturers. He ranked 60
cereals, including Sugar Smacks, Froot Loops, and Lucky charms, by
their nutritive value, showing that 40 products offered such poor
nourishment that they were essentially “empty calories.”
   (SFC, 5/22/09, p.B6)(http://tinyurl.com/qy7rgb)
1970Â Â Â Â Â Â Orville Redenbacker’s
Gourmet Popping corn was launched at Chicago’s Marshall Field’s.
Partners Charlie Bowman (1919-2009) and Orville Redenbacker
(1907-1995) sold the popular brand in 1976 to Hunt-Wessen Foods Inc.
The company was later acquired by ConAgra Foods.
   (WSJ, 4/18/09, p.A4)
1970Â Â Â Â Â Â Betty Crocker introduced
Hamburger Helper.
   (AH, 6/07, p.11)
1970Â Â Â Â Â Â Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor
(1937-2016), South Carolina-born Gullah writer and culinary griot,
authored “Vibration Cooking: or The Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl.”
  Â
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertamae_Smart-Grosvenor)(Econ,
9/24/16, p.86)
1970Â Â Â Â Â Â In Japan the first
homegrown hamburger chain opened in Tokyo, a year before McDonald’s
entered the market.
   (Econ, 4/22/17, p.60)
1972Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 8, US sold grain to
USSR for $750 million. Soviet grain buyers over 6 weeks purchased
$750 million worth of US grain. This was later called the "great
grain robbery" and the privately-held agribusiness giant Cargill
played a major role. The story of Cargill was told in the 1998 book
"Cargill Going Global" by Wayne Broehl Jr.
   (MC, 7/8/02)(PC, 1992, p.1040)
1972Â Â Â Â Â Â Dr. Robert C. Atkins
(d.2003), cardiologist, published his weight loss plan "Dr. Atkins’
Diet Revolution," which allowed patients to eat fat but restricted
carbohydrates.
   (SFC, 4/18/03, p.A1)
1972Â Â Â Â Â Â The See family sold their
South San Francisco chocolate and candy business to Warren Buffett,
chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Buffet named Charles Huggins as
See’s Candies top officer. Huggins retired at the end of 2005.
   (SSFC, 1/15/06,
p.D6)(www.ifa.com/Library/Buffet.html)
1972Â Â Â Â Â Â Herb Peterson (1919-2008),
a McDonald’s operator in Santa Barbara, Ca., created the Egg
McMuffin.
   (WSJ, 1/30/06, p.B2)(WSJ, 4/5/08, p.A7)
1973Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul, Russia experienced a
weak harvest. Commodity prices were sent soaring as spot prices for
wheat rose by 24% and by more than 50% between the start of June and
Aug 6.
   (Econ, 8/14/10, p.62)
1973Â Â Â Â Â Â Time Magazine announced
the debut of beefalo, meat from cross-bred cattle and bison
pioneered by D.C. Bud Basolo (1923-2012) of Tracy, Ca.
   (SSFC, 2/17/13, p.C12)
1973Â Â Â Â Â Â Stanley Cohen, Stanford
geneticist, and Herbert Boyer of UCSF co-discovered the basic
process of gene-splicing. They spliced the DNA of one bacteria into
another and cultivated a new organism. The discovery was patented by
Stanford and UCSF and resulted in 25 year earnings of more than $200
million. Recombinant DNA technology soon led to Genetically Modified
Organisms (GMOs) in food products.
   (SFC, 1/19/98, p.A10)(WSJ, 12/24/04, p.W6)
1973Â Â Â Â Â Â Dorothy Turner Everett
(1932-2007) started a barbecue business in Oakland, Ca., that grew
to become the Everett & Jones chain of barbecue restaurants.
   (SFC, 10/12/07, p.B11)
1973Â Â Â Â Â Â Antoine Riboud (1918-2002)
merged his glassware company with the dairy business Gervais Danone,
creating Danone, the biggest food group in France.
   (http://tinyurl.com/7zxts)
1973Â Â Â Â Â Â Dun-Rite, a Fresno, Ca.,
maker of a pop-up timer for roasting turkeys, was sold to 3M Co. of
St. Paul, Minn. In 1982 3M sued the Volk Enterprises, another Fresno
maker of pop-up timers developed by Tony Volk. A few years later a
settlement was negotiated. In 1991 Volk acquired 3M’s pop-up
business.
   (WSJ, 11/22/05, p.A1)
1973Â Â Â Â Â Â Kikkoman became the first
Japanese food company to open a factory in America.
   (Econ, 4/11/09, p.68)
1974Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 26, At the Marsh
Supermarket in Troy, Ohio, Sharon Buchanon became the 1st cashier to
scan a Universal Product Code (UPC) code. The 59 black and white bar
code was used on a 67 cent 10-pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit chewing
gum. The scanner was a Spectra-Physics Model A. Norman Joseph
Woodland and Bernard Silver (d.1962) had patented the 1st bar code
scanner in 1952. In 1977 an int’l. version was created.
   (SFC, 7/5/04, p.E3)(SSFC, 11/6/05, p.B5)(SFC,
6/26/09, p.C3)
1974Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 16, In Rome the first
UN World Food Conference ended. At the conference, which had opened
on Nov. 5, governments examined the global problem of food
production and consumption, and solemnly proclaimed that "every man,
woman and child has the inalienable right to be free from hunger and
malnutrition in order to develop their physical and mental
faculties."
   (SFC, 11/18/96,
p.A10)(www.un.org/esa/devagenda/food.html)
1974Â Â Â Â Â Â Richard J. Mercer
(1924-2006), advertising executive, helped create the Burger King
“Have it your way” ad campaign. Mercer also wrote the phrase.
   (WSJ, 1/6/07, p.A4)
1975Â Â Â Â Â Â General Foods was awarded
US Patent No. 3,870,803 for its Instant Stuffing Mix (Stove Top
Stuffing). Ruth M. Siems (1931-2005) was listed first among the
inventors.
   (SFC, 11/25/05, p.B4)
1975Â Â Â Â Â Â In the Philippines Tony
Tan Caktiong opened a pair of ice cream parlors in Manila. He found
that his customers liked his soy and sugar seasoned burgers better
than his sundaes and opened Jollibee in 1978.
   {Pharma, Food}
   (Econ, 1/9/16, p.56)
1976Â Â Â Â Â Â Clint Murchison Jr., owner
of the Dallas Cowboys, visited Miami for the Super Bowl and stopped
for ribs at a restaurant owned by Tony Roma (d.2003). He enjoyed the
foods so much that he purchased the majority of US franchise rights.
In 2003 the chain had grown to over 250.
   (SFC, 6/14/03, p.A21)
1977Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 11, A 20.2-kg lobster
was caught off Nova Scotia (heaviest known crustacean).
   (MC, 2/11/02)
1977Â Â Â Â Â Â Wendell Berry (b.1934)
authored "The Unsettling of America," a treatise against the
industrialization of agriculture.
   (SSFC, 6/23/02, p.M6)(SSFC, 3/21/10, p.F5)
1977Â Â Â Â Â Â Bill Niman (32) and
Orville Schell purchased 200 acres in Bolinas, Ca., to run cattle,
starting their Niman-Schell ranch. They operated under the
assumption that meat could be raised naturally, humanely and
sustainably. The partners split in 1997 and the business became
known as the Niman Ranch. In 2007 Hilco became the chief investor
and in 2009 Niman withdrew from the operations, which never turned a
profit.
   (SSFC, 2/22/09, p.A1)
1977Â Â Â Â Â Â Food riots took place in
Egypt following higher prices for everything from flour to rice.
Kamal Addin Hussein, an independent member of the Egyptian People's
Assembly, accused Pres. Sadat of punishing the people. Hussein was
voted out of the Assembly for his statements. Sadat soon backed down
and cancelled the price hikes.
   (SFC, 6/22/99, p.A24)(Econ, 11/12/16, p.46)
1978Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 26, In San Jose, Ca.,
Nolan K. Bushnell, inventor of the Pong video game, opened the
20,000-sq.-foot Pizza Time Theater, the world's largest pizza
parlor.
   (SFC, 12/26/03, p.E2)
1978Â Â Â Â Â Â John Mackey began his
Whole Foods Market in a garage in Austin, Texas, under the name
SaferWay. In 1980 he merged with a natural grocery store and opened
as Whole Foods Market. The natural foods grocery went public in
1992.
   (Econ, 7/30/05,
p.60)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_Foods_Market)
1978Â Â Â Â Â Â The Chicago Food
Depository opened with its main mission to feed the hungry. In 1998
it began to offer chef training classes to help people get jobs.
   (WSJ, 11/28/06, p.A1)
1978Â Â Â Â Â Â In the Philippines Tony
Tan Caktiong formed Jollibee after realizing that customers in his
Manila ice cream parlor liked his soy and sugar seasoned burgers
better than his sundaes.
  Â
(http://jollibeephilippines.com/15/success-story-of-jollibee-in-the-philippines/#more-15)
1979Â Â Â Â Â Â May 25, Etan Patz (6), the
first missing child to appear on the side of a milk carton,
disappeared on the way to school in the Soho area of New York City.
It was the first time he was allowed to walk 2 blocks to the bus
stop alone. The case led to the creation of National Missing
Children's Day, marked on May 25.
   (AFP, 4/20/12)
1979Â Â Â Â Â Â Tim and Nina Zagat began a
mimeographed list of restaurants rated by a few friends that grew
into the Zagat restaurant guides. Their first guide covered
restaurants in NYC. Sales exceeded $20 million in 2002.
   (SFC, 3/16/02,
p.D1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zagat's_Survey)
1979Â Â Â Â Â Â Bob Charles, a McDonald’s
franchisee in Colorado, helped create the Happy Meal when he added a
toy to children’s orders at his restaurants.
   (WSJ, 1/30/06, p.B2)
1980Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 19, T.J. Palmer and
her husband Bill opened the first Applebee’s restaurant in Atlanta,
Georgia. T.J. Applebee’s Rx for Edibles & Elixirs became popular
and they soon opened a second one. In 1983 they sold them to W.R.
Grace which passed the brand in 1988 to franchisees in Kansas City,
who took the chain public.
   (WSJ, 6/28/07,
p.A13)(http://applebees-founder.com/history2.htm).
1980Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 16, Harland Sanders,
founder of the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant chain, died in
Shelbyville, Kentucky, at age 90.
   (AP, 12/16/00)
1980Â Â Â Â Â Â Stephen Bernard (d.2009 at
61) and his wife Lynn founded his kettle-cooked Cape Cod Potato
Chips brand. The company was sold to Anheuser-Busch in 1985, but
they reacquired it when the brewer sold its Eagle Snacks division to
Lance Inc. in 1999.
   (SFC, 3/13/09, p.B7)
1980-1989Â Â Â US bottlers of Coca-Cola switched from
cane sugar to high-fructose corn syrup in the 1980s to cut costs.
Mexican bottlers continued to use cane sugar.
   (WSJ, 1/11/06, p.A1)
1982Â Â Â Â Â Â May 1, Richard LaMotta
(1942-2010) dispatched 60 street-cart vendors to the streets of
Manhattan to begin selling his 4½-ounce Chipwich cookies, which
included 3½ ounces of ice cream. Within weeks he was selling 40,000
a day at $1 each. He sold the company to Coolbrands Int’l., a
Canadian distributor in 2002.
   (SSFC, 5/16/10, p.C9)
1982Â Â Â Â Â Â Coca-Cola bought Columbia
Pictures for $750 million.
   (SSFC, 1/18/04, p.A14)
1982Â Â Â Â Â Â Alberto Culver introduced
Mrs. Dash, a salt-free seasoning made of dried onion, garlic, lemon
rind, and spices. Its popularity ebbed in the 1990s.
   (WSJ, 2/25/05, p.A1)
1982Â Â Â Â Â Â McDonald's Corp.
introduced Chicken McNuggets.
   (WSJ, 9/16/99, p.B1)
1982Â Â Â Â Â Â McDonald's, the US fast
food giant, began operations in Malaysia.
   (AP, 4/29/09)
1982Â Â Â Â Â Â Actor Paul Newman
(1925-2008) put up $40,000 to help start a specialty food company
with writer A.E. Hotcher called Newman’s Own. 100% of the profits
were directed to charities.
   (SSFC, 9/28/08, p.A17)
1982Â Â Â Â Â Â Klaus Jacobs (1936-2008),
head of the German coffee dealer Jacobs AG, orchestrated the
takeover of Switzerland’s Interfood SA, maker of the Toblerone candy
bar. In 1990 Philip Morris bought Jacobs Suchard for $3.8 billion.
Klaus went on to buy a Swiss staffing firm and in 1996 merged it
with France’s Ecco SA to form Adecco SA, which became one of the
world’s largest staffing firms.
   (WSJ, 9/20/08, p.A12)
1982Â Â Â Â Â Â The cow named Ubre Blanca
(10), crossed from a Holstein and a Zebu, produced 241 pounds of
milk in a single day. The town of Nueva Geron erected a marble
statue for her after her death in 1985.
   (WSJ, 5/21/02, p.A1)
1983Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct, Frank W. Epperson
(89), who invented the Popsicle on an extraordinarily cold night in
San Francisco in 1905, died in SF.
   (SSFC, 10/19/08, DB p.58)
1983Â Â Â Â Â Â In the Philippines
dictator Ferdinand Marcos secretly took some $228,000 from the
National Food Authority and transferred the money to a private
account. In 2010 an anti-graft court ordered his wife, Imelda
Marcos, to return the money plus 27 years of interest and $44,000 in
damages and litigation costs.
   (SSFC, 9/19/10, p.A4)
1984Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 10, Clara Peller
(1902-1987) 1st asked: "Where's the Beef?," as part of a TV ad for
Wendy’s.
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where's_the_beef%3F)(AH, 6/07, p.11)
1984Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 14, Ray Kroc (b.1902),
founder of MacDonalds and owner San Diego Padres, died.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kroc)
1984Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 23, Two oceanic
conservation groups reported that SF Bay Area fishermen have caught
only 10-12% of their 10,000 ton herring quota as they passed more
than halfway through the fishing season. Quotas had doubled since
1977 and they were concerned that the herring stocks may be at the
point of no return. The herring was harvested primarily for their
roe, which fetched up to $500 a ton and was eagerly sought by
Japanese consumers.
   (SSFC, 2/22/09, DB p.54)
1984Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 2, One of the first
McDonald's franchises was closed in Des Plaines, IL.
   (http://tinyurl.com/28tp6z)
1984Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 20, McDonald's made
its 50 billionth hamburger.
   (http://tinyurl.com/2p8ua9)
1984Â Â Â Â Â Â Flo Braker (1939-2017)
authored “The Simple Art of Perfect Baking.”
   (SSFC, 6/18/17, p.C13)
1984Â Â Â Â Â Â Robert Brooks (1937-2006)
and a group of Atlanta investors bought expansion and franchise
rights to the Hooters restaurant chain. The 1st store had opened in
Florida in 1983.
  Â
(www.cnn.com/2006/US/07/16/obit.hooters.ap/index.html)
1984Â Â Â Â Â Â Harold McGee authored “On
Food and Cooking.” It became the standard authority on gastronomical
science, that area where science and art, technique, and aesthetics
intersect.
   (Econ, 12/22/07,
p.140)(http://tinyurl.com/2numbb)
1984Â Â Â Â Â Â In China Hu Yaobang, the
Communist party's general secretary, suggested that Chinese people,
for the sake of hygiene, eat food in the Western way with knives and
forks. Yaobang's death in 1989 sparked the Tiananmen Square
upheaval.
   (Econ, 4/25/20, p.34)
1984Â Â Â Â Â Â The EU introduced milk
quotas. They were designed when low market prices and high subsidies
were filling EU warehouses with surplus “butter mountains” and
mounds of milk powder, at ever greater cost to the EU budget. The
quotas were abolished in 2015.
   (http://www.economist.com/node/10689170)(Econ.,
2/21/15, p.64)
1985Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 21, James Beard
(b.1903), US culinary expert, author (Delights & Prejudices),
died.
  Â
(http://members.localnet.com/~jgeorge/jbeard.htm)(SFC, 5/4/05, p.E1)
1985Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 7, Victor W. Farris
(75), inventor of paper clip and paper milk carton (1932), died in
Palm Beach, Fla. [see 1824 and Oct 19, 1915]
   (www.msu.edu/~daggy/cop/bkofdead/obits-fa.htm)
1985Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 23, The Coca-Cola Co.
announced it was changing the secret formula for Coke. Negative
public reaction soon forced the company to resume selling the
original version.
   (AP, 4/23/97)
1985Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 30, James A. Dewar,
creator of the Twinkie (1930), died.
   (www.foodreference.com/html/wjamesadewar.html)
1985Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 10, Bowing to pressure
from irate customers, the Coca-Cola Company said it would resume
selling old-formula Coke, while continuing to sell New Coke.
   (AP, 7/10/00)
1986Â Â Â Â Â Â The Iowa-based World Food
Prize was created by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Norman Borlaug to
recognize scientists and others who have improved the quality and
availability of food.
  Â
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Food_Prize)(AP, 6/25/18)
1985Â Â Â Â Â Â Ruth Brinker (1922-2011)
founded Project Open Hand, a SF program to provide meals for people
with AIDS. By 1988 the project was serving 500 meals a day. In 2005
she was honored with a Jefferson Award for community service.
   (SFC, 7/23/05, p.B6)(SSFC, 8/14/11, p.C9)
1985Â Â Â Â Â Â Phil Sokolof founded the
National Heart Savers Association. He went on to spend some $15
million to change American eating habits, encourage cholesterol
testing and getting nutritional labels placed on everything edible.
   (SFC, 11/28/03, p.C6)
1985Â Â Â Â Â Â In California an outbreak
of listeria was linked to soft cheese made from raw milk produced in
Los Angeles. Of the 142 cases reported, 93 were in pregnant women or
their children. There were 48 deaths, including 20 fetuses.
   (www.notmilk.com/forum/463.html)
1985Â Â Â Â Â Â AstraZeneca introduced the
fake meat Quorn, a processed mycoprotein, into a variety of food
products. It was made from a fungus discovered in the 1960s. it
reached US markets in 2002.
   (SSFC, 3/3/02, p.A2)
1986Â Â Â Â Â Â Brian (d.2004 at 51) and
Jennifer Maxwell of Marin Ct., Ca., founded PowerBar, an energy
supplement for athletes. They sold the company in 2000 to Nestle SA
for $375 million.
   (SFC, 3/20/04, p.B1)
1986Â Â Â Â Â Â The Bay Area Doggie Diner
chain went out of business. The diners had numbered 30 at one time.
   (SFEC, 11/14/99, p.C3)
1986Â Â Â Â Â Â In France Michel Lescanne,
in response to the crises in Ethiopia, founded Nutriset to develop a
product for feeding malnourished children. An initial product met
WHO standards F-75 and F-100 for therapeutic milk products that
needed to be mixed with water. In 1997 he hit upon a peanut-based
spread and called the new product Plumpy’nut.
   (WSJ, 4/12/05, p.A14)
1986Â Â Â Â Â Â In Italy the first
McDonald's Hamburger restaurant opened in Rome.
   (SFEC, 1/23/00, Z1 p.2)
1986Â Â Â Â Â Â In Italy 62 founding
members met to inaugurate Arcigola, the forerunner of Slow Food.
   (www.slowfood.com/about_us/eng/history.lasso)
1987Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 19, Vermont’s Ben
& Jerry Ice Cream & Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia announce
new Ice Cream flavor, Cherry Garcia.
  Â
(www.foodreference.com/html/html/june19.html)(http://tinyurl.com/ptccd)
1987Â Â Â Â Â Â New Jersey adopted
legislation requiring bottled water to carry an expiration date.
Water companies began stamping all bottles.
   (WSJ, 2/11/04, p.D11)
1987Â Â Â Â Â Â Michael Gilliland and his
wife, Elizabeth Cook, purchased a vegetarian food store in Boulder,
Colo. In 1991 they opened their 1st supermarket-size store in Santa
Fe, NM, and renamed the company Wild Oats Vegetarian Market.
They went public in 1996 and by 2006 had 114 stores in 24 states.
   (WSJ, 10/26/06, p.C1)
1987Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov, The US-headquartered
KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) launched its first China outlet in the
Qianmen area of Beijing, neighboring Tiananmen Square.
  Â
(www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2008-09/08/content_7007412.htm)
1988Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 29, McDonald's
announced it would open its first restaurants in Moscow.
   (AP, 4/29/98)
1988Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 2, Joe Carcione
(b.1914), US produce expert known on radio, TV and newspapers as the
Green Grocer, died in Burlingame, Ca.
   (SSFC, 7/28/13, DB p.46)
1988Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 28, The Yan Hee
Polyclinic in Bangkok, Thailand, reported on a new slimming
technique. Overweight Thais were suppressing their appetites by
sticking lettuce seeds in their ears and pressing them in ten times
before meals.
   (HTnet, 8/28/99)
1988Â Â Â Â Â Â In southern Peru Eduardo
and Mirtha Ananos began making a cola drink. By 2003 their Kola Real
was being marketed in Mexico and Ecuador.
   (WSJ, 10/27/03, p.A1)(Econ, 10/11/03, p.69)
1989Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 20, Smith Dairy at
Orrville, Ohio, made the largest milk shake (1,575.2 gal).
  Â
(http://library.thinkquest.org/11960/fun/records.htm)
1989Â Â Â Â Â Â Quaker Oats modernized
Aunt Jemima, making her thinner, eliminating her bandanna, and
giving her a perm and a pair of pearl earrings.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aunt_Jemima)
1989Â Â Â Â Â Â Carlo Petrini founded the
Slow Food Movement and adopted the Slow Food Manifesto. In 2003
William McCuaig translated "Slow Food: The Case for Taste" by Carlo
Petrini.
   (SSFC, 7/27/03, p.M3)
1990Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 14, Perrier recalled
160 million bottles of sparkling water after traces of benzene, a
carcinogen, were found in some bottles.
   (MC, 2/14/02)
1990Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 7, Health and Human
Services Secretary Louis Sullivan announced the US government would
propose a more informative food-labeling system that would require
the disclosure of the fat, fiber and cholesterol content of nearly
all packaged foods.
   (AP, 3/7/00)
1990Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 5, Paul Newman won a
court victory over Julius Gold to keep giving all profits from
Newman foods to charity.
   (MC, 4/5/02)
1990Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 10, H.J. Heinz said it
would not sell tuna caught in nets that also trap dolphins.
   (http://tinyurl.com/kj7mq)
1990Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr, Jamba Juice was
founded by Kirk Perron, Joe Vergara, Kevin Peters, and Linda Ozawa
Olds as a single Juice Club in San Luis Obispo, Ca.
   (SSFC, 12/12/10,
p.F1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamba_Juice)
1990Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct, McDonald's chose
Shenzhen for its first Chinese restaurant.
  Â
(www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2008-09/08/content_7007412.htm)
1990Â Â Â Â Â Â The California Organic
Food Acts was established.
   (SFC, 6/22/02, p.B1)
1990Â Â Â Â Â Â McDonald’s switched to
vegetable oil and added beef flavoring to improve the
cholesterol-producing profile of its french fries.
   (SFC, 9/4/02, p.A14)
1992Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 13, Crystal Pepsi
began test marketing in Providence, Denver and Dallas.
   (MC, 4/13/02)
1992Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 23, McDonald's opened
its first fast-food restaurant in the Chinese capital of Beijing.
   (AP, 4/23/97)
1992Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 28, The Agriculture
Department unveiled its pyramid-shaped recommended-diet chart that
had cost nearly $1 million to develop.
   (AP, 4/28/97)
1992Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 22, M.F.K. Fisher
(b.1908), cook book author, died of Parkinson Disease. In 2004 Joan
Reardon authored “Poet of the Appetites: The Lives and Loves of MFK
Fisher.
  Â
(www.foodreference.com/html/html/june22.html)(SFC, 11/16/04, p.D1)
1992Â Â Â Â Â Â Lanai, Hawaii, had its
last pineapple harvest.
   (SFC, 6/27/12, p.D6)
1992Â Â Â Â Â Â Panama disease, caused by
the fusarium fungus, mutated to a form capable of attacking the
Cavendish variety of banana and wiped out plantations in Malaysia.
The disease had previously destroyed the popular Gros Michel
variety, which was left growing only in remote parts of Uganda and
Jamaica.
   (Econ, 10/22/05, p.85)
1993Â Â Â Â Â Â A NASA study said: “While
no single food can supply all the essential life-sustaining
nutrients, quinoa comes as close as any other in the plant or animal
kingdom.”
   (Econ, 5/21/16, p.65)
1994Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 5, Andre Victor
Tchelistcheff (92), winemaker, died.
   (MC, 4/5/02)
1994Â Â Â Â Â Â May 19, The US FDA
approved of the first genetically engineered tomato. Flavr Savr
tomatoes supermarkets this year.
   (www.bioline.org.br/request?nl94033)(Econ,
5/10/14, p.25)
1994Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct, Congress passed the
Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act. It was intended to keep
the FDA’s hands off of vitamin and mineral supplements unless
something goes wrong. It relaxed rules on how herbs could be
marketed by allowing companies to advertise structure and function
claims even if medical evidence was sketchy.
   (SFEC,10/26/97, p.A10)(WSJ, 12/3/97, p.A1)
1994Â Â Â Â Â Â Pop singer Gladys Knight
became a spokesperson for Aunt Jemima Lite syrup.
   (http://tinyurl.com/o87jd)
1994Â Â Â Â Â Â In Zambia Francis Grogan
and Carl Irwin founded Zambeef with a staff of 60 people. In 2013
the company employed 5,000.
   (Econ, 6/8/13, p.68)
1995Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 19, Orville
Redenbacher (b.1907), popcorn magnate, died at his home in Coronado,
Ca., from drowning in a bathtub.
  Â
(http://nwitimes.com/articles/1995/09/20/export142113.txt)
c1995Â Â Â Fresh Del Monte launched its "Gold"
pineapple, grown in the volcanic soils of Costa Rica, and secured a
patent for it.
   (WSJ, 10/7/03, p.A1)
1995Â Â Â Â Â Â The EU banned Sudan 1, a
red dye and genotoxic carcinogen, from use in food.
   (Econ, 2/26/05, p.56)
1995Â Â Â Â Â Â Len Kretchman and David
Geske of Fargo, ND, developed the Uncrustable sandwich, a peanut
butter and jelly sandwich sealed in a pocket of bread. Smucker Corp.
bought their company and received a patent for the sandwich in Dec,
1999.
   (WSJ, 4/5/05, p.B1)
1995Â Â Â Â Â Â Noah Alper, founder of
Noah’s Bagels, sold his chain of 38 stores to Einstein Bagel Bros.
for $100 million. Alper had opened his first store in Berkeley, Ca.
in 1989.
   (SSFC, 12/13/09,
p.B1)(www.noahalperconsulting.com/about.html)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 24, The FDA approved a
fat substitute to be marketed by Proctor and Gamble under the name
Olestra. It is know to cause abdominal cramps but not to a medically
significant degree.
   (WSJ, 1/25/96, A-1)(AP, 1/24/01)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â May 31, The Finnish food
company Raisio Group has invented a new product that blocks the
body’s absorption of cholesterol. The new "pharmafood" is called
benecol and based on a plant extract known as beta sitostanol, a
plant sterol extracted from Nordic pine trees.
   (WSJ, 5/31/96, p.B3C)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 5, An essay by SB
Stewart discussed the history of Betty Crocker and showed the latest
8th Betty Crocker [General Mills advertising icon]. She was put
together from the features of 75 women from around the country.
   (WSJ, 7/5/96, p.A6)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 7, The average cost of
a Big Mac in the US was $2.36. In Germany it was $3.22.
   (SFC, 7/7/96, Par, p.17)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 26, A new fake fat,
Z-trim, was announced. It was developed by a researcher of the US
Dept. of Agriculture.
   (SFC, 8/26/96, p.A4)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â Helen Gustafson (d.2003 at
74) authored "The Agony of the Leaves / The Ecstasy of My Life With
Tea," a mixture of memoir, tea lore and recipes.
   (SFC, 12/18/03, p.A25)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â Claudia Roden authored “A
Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand and Vilna to the
Present Day.”
  Â
(www.goodreads.com/book/show/215649.The_Book_of_Jewish_Food)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â Dr. Robert Steinberg
(d.2008 at 61) and John Scharffenberger opened their Scharffen
Berger chocolate business in South San Francisco. They sold the
business to Hershey in 2005.
   (SFC, 9/23/08, p.B5)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â Vikram Bakshi of Connaught
Place Restaurants Limited (CPRL) brought McDonald's to India as a
local partner in a 50-50 joint venture, starting in Delhi.
   (Econ, 9/30/17, p.60)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 22, The new welfare
law in the US put tens of thousands of people off of food stamps as
of today. The new law stated that adults under age 50 without
children or jobs could only receive food stamps for 3 months in any
3-year period. The law authorized states to contract with private
companies to provide welfare services.
   (SFC, 2/22/97, p.A12)(WSJ, 3/19/97, p.A1)(AP,
2/22/02)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 3, It was announced
that scientists had discovered why some people get fat, while others
do not. They identified a gene that produces the UCP2 protein which
tends to convert fat to energy rather than leaving it stored as fat.
   (SFEC, 3/3/97, p.A3)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â May 18, From London it was
reported that new self-cooling cans would soon hit the soft-drink
market. The cans would use HFC 134a as the coolant and scientist and
environmentalists feared the impact on global warming. The coolant
was developed to replace CFCs and there was no int’l. control on its
use.
   (SFEC, 5/18/97, p.A2)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â May 24, In the Ukraine the
first McDonald’s restaurant opened.
   (SFEC, 5/25/97, p.A10)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 15, The US government
expanded its recall of ground beef sold under the Hudson brand name
to 1.1 million pounds because of new evidence of possible
contamination by E. coli bacteria.
   (AP, 8/15/98)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 21, A hamburger recall
was extended to cover some 25 million pounds. The Hudson Foods Inc.,
of Rogers, Ark., closed its Nebraska beef-processing facility under
a "non-negotiable" recommendation by Agricultural Sec. Dan Glickman
due to E. coli poisonings in Colorado.
   (SFC, 8/22/97, p.A3)(AP, 8/21/98)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â The EU made labels
compulsory for genetically modified (GM) food.
   (Econ, 11/2/13, p.32)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â The Italian Parmalat Corp.
acquired Beatrice Foods.
   (WSJ, 12/22/03, p.A6)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 19, Scientists
reported the discovery of the brain’s hunger hormone. It was named
"orexin" after the Greek word "orexis" meaning hunger.
   (SFC, 2/20/98, p.A11)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â May 29, It was reported
that 54% of adult Americans are overweight and that 22% are obese.
   (WSJ, 5/29/98, p.A1)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â May, In Maryland Tyson
foods agreed to pay $6 million to the federal government to settle
environmental violations from 1993-1997 at its 105-acre chicken
processing plant in Berlin, 8 miles west of Ocean City. The plant
was then owned by Hudson Foods.
   (SFEC, 6/21/98, p.A5)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 2, OpenTable, an
online restaurant-reservation service company, was founded in San
Francisco by Chuck Templeton.
   (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenTable)(SFC,
9/5/17, p.D1)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 9, The weekly Der
Spiegel reported that spinach grown near the nuclear reprocessing
plant in Sellafield, England, had doses of technetium-99 that was 7
times above EU food standards. Greenpeace in April had demonstrated
that game pigeons in the area were irradiated.
   (SFC, 10/10/98, p.A9)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 23, The European Union
lifted a worldwide export ban on British beef. The ban was imposed
after experts announced a possible link between "mad cow" disease
and a fatal disease in humans.
   (AP, 11/23/02)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â The US began to fortify
grains for bread and cereal with folic acid. By 2009 this led to a
31% decline in cases of spina bifida.
   (Econ, 8/29/09, p.70)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â John V.R. Evans of
Alaska’s Matanuska Valley set a Guinness world record by growing an
18-pound, 13 ounce carrot.
   (SFC, 7/6/05, p.A2)
   Â
c1998Â Â Â Â Â Â Fried candy bars began to
show up at US fairs, imported from the fish-and-chip shops of
Scotland.
   (WSJ, 10/21/03, p.A1)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â The EU imposed a ban on
genetically modified crops.
   (AP, 1/16/04)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â In Uganda plant breeder
William Wagoira found stem rust on his crops. The fungal wheat rust
(Puccinia graminis) had not been seen since the Green Revolution. By
2010 the fungus had spread as far as Iran and South Africa and
scientists feared further spread.
   (Econ, 7/3/10, p.57)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 26, In Uganda it was
reported that wheat stem-rust fungus had appeared on a crop. The
fungus killed nearly half the world's crop before the green
revolution of the 1950s. The black rust disease was named Ug99 and
by 2007 had jumped to Yemen. In 2008 it was confirmed in Iran. In
2008 Cornell Univ. received a $26.8 million grant from the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation to help combat the new strains of rust
disease.
   (WSJ, 3/26/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/3/08, p.A16)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr, Dioxin was discovered
in Belgian animal feed. It was estimated to be some 4 months after
the contamination began. Verkest, a firm that sold animal fats to
feed mills, was implicated, but the dioxin source was not yet
pinpointed. Dioxin from motor oil that was mixed into animal feed in
Belgium led to a withdrawal of food products and widespread import
bans. Quality controls on animal feed were also put in place as a
result.
   (WSJ, 6/7/99, p.A19)(AP, 1/7/11)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â May 3, It was reported
that Take Control, a new butter-margarine substitute from Lipton,
was deemed safe by the FDA. The produce was made to help promote
healthy cholesterol levels.
   (SFC, 5/3/99, p.A6)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â May 19, Researchers
reported that pollen from corn infused with genes from the Bacillus
thuringiensis (Bt) is toxic to monarch butterfly larvae when
sprinkled on milkweed, a natural food source for the caterpillars.
The genetically manipulated corn comprised about 20% of the US crop.
   (SFC, 5/20/99, p.A1,15)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â May 26, In Belgium the
public was informed that animal feed contaminated with dioxin was
fed to chickens and pigs.
   (WSJ, 6/7/99, p.A19)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 2, The EU ordered that
a vast array of Belgian products be withdrawn from sale and
destroyed due to a fear of dioxin-poisoning in chickens and eggs.
   (SFC, 6/3/99, p.A13)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 16, Austria reported
that it found animal feed contaminated with Dioxin.
   (WSJ, 6/17/99, p.A18)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 29, Belgium announced
that it had quarantined 175 more farms and that it would destroy all
115,000 tons of dioxin suspect beef, pork and poultry. Testing for
all pork and poultry products for export was extended to Aug 31.
   (SFC, 7/30/99, p.A13)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov, The US FDA started
allowing manufacturers to claim that soy products might cut the risk
of heart disease. In 2006 long term studies cast doubts on the
health benefits of soy-based foods.
   (SFC, 1/23/06, p.A2)(SSCM, 8/13/06, p.7)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â The Weston A. Price
Foundation was established in Washington DC to promote traditional
foods such as grass-fed beef and unpasteurized milk.
   (WSJ, 9/11/03, p.A1)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â In Washington DC
Restaurant Nora, under chef-owner Nora Pouillon, became the 1st
certified organic restaurant in the US.
   (SFC, 12/31/03, p.E7)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Wisconsin dairy farmers
began a cow-sharing program in order to send owners unpasteurized
milk. Sale of unpasteurized milk was illegal in Wisconsin and 21
other states.
   (WSJ, 9/11/03, p.A1)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Au Bon Pain, a chain
selling coffee and cakes, sold its Au Bon Pain division to
Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Co., which then sold it to Compass
Group in 2000. Co-founder Ron Saich sold the firm to concentrate on
the smaller sister company, Panera Bread. In 1984 the first Au Bon
Pain cafe outside of Boston opened in New York City. In 1991, the
company went public as Au Bon Pain Co. Inc.
   (Econ, 10/9/10,
p.94)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Au_Bon_Pain)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 5, A 261-page report
by the 12-person National Research Council said "it was not aware of
any evidence suggesting foods on the market today are unsafe to eat
as a result of genetic modification."
   (SFC, 4/6/00, p.A3)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 17, It was reported
that a soybean aphid from China threatened the $13.5 billion US
soybean market.
   (WSJ, 8/17/00, p.A2)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 6, In India the
Defense Research Laboratory (DRL) located in Tezpur, Assam,
published a report stating that it had achieved a new world record
of 855,000 SHU (Scoville heat units) obtained from a Naga Jolokia
(bhut jolokia) pepper. Seeds were brought to the US for testing and
in the Fall of 2006 Professor Paul Bosland of NMSU succeeded in
testing the chili. The Bhut Jolokia was confirmed as the world
record holder by Guinness, and in February, 2007 it was official.
   (www.thehottestpepper.com/)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â In Ukiah, Ca., the Ukiah
Brewing Company became the 2nd certified organic restaurant in the
US.
   (SFC, 12/31/03, p.E7)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â Austin Decoster, Iowa hog
farmer, acknowledged being a habitual violator of polluting Iowa’s
rivers and streams. He was the first Iowa farmer to be branded with
the official label. In 2010 his Iowa egg farming operations were
involved in the recall of some 380 million eggs.
   (SFC, 8/28/10, p.A6)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â The artificial sweetener
sucralose, manufactured by Tate & Lyle began to be marketed
as Splenda by McNeil Nutritionals.
   (Econ, 1/30/10, p.77)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â Mauritania launched a
radio and television campaign to end gavage, the practice of
force-feeding girls to make them gain weight as a sign of health and
fertility. Illiteracy made progress slow.
   (WSJ, 12/29/04, p.A1)
2000-2014Â Â Â Rice production in the Ivory Coast
tripled over this period as new hybrid seed lines boosted yields and
enabled farmers to grow rice in dry areas where sorghum was once the
dominant crop.
   (Econ, 3/11/17, p.59)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â May 1, In Seattle Hindus
filed a suit against McDonald’s for nondisclosure of beef flavoring
in French fries.
   (SSFC, 5/20/01, p.A9)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 13, Kraft Foods went
public in the NY Stock Exchange.
   (WSJ, 4/16/03, p.C1)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 16, The Mexican
freighter N.V. Ikon Mazatlan arrived in Cuba with 26,400 tons of
American corn a day after 500 tons of American frozen chicken parts
were received.
   (SFC, 12/17/01, p.A3)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â Eric Schlosser authored
“Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal.”
   (SSFC, 8/8/04, p.M2)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â Andrew F. Smith authored
"Pure Ketchup, A History of America's National Condiment."
   (SFC, 8/27/03, p.E4)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â Researchers identified a
“skimmed milk” gene in a cow. In 2007 a biotech company in New
Zealand announced that it had bred a cow to produce low-fat milk.
   (SFC, 6/2/07, p.B6)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â California-based Webvan, a
grocery home delivery service founded in 1999, collapsed after
expanding at breakneck speed. In 2009 it was resurrected by Amazon.
   (Econ, 11/30/13, p.61)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 8, Dave Thomas (69),
founder of Wendy's hamburger chain, died in Fort Lauderdale,
Florida.
   (SFC, 1/9/02, p.A1)(AP, 1/8/03)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 6, It was reported
that a diet rich in tomato products can lower the risk of prostate
cancer (Journal of National Cancer Institute).
   (SFC, 3/6/02, p.A2)y(WSJ, 3/6/02, p.A1)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 4, Draft rice-genome
maps were published by scientists from China and Switzerland’s
Syngenta.
   (WSJ, 4/5/02, p.A1)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 26, The SF-based Texas
Pacific Group agreed to buy Burger King from Diageo PLC for $2.26
billion.
   (SFC, 7/26/02, p.B1)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 26, Hershey Foods in
Hershey, Pa., announced that it would put itself up for sale under
directions by the Hershey Trust Co.
   (SFC, 7/26/02, p.B3)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 3, McDonald’s
announced it will use a new soy-corn oil to reduce the levels of
trans fat and increase polyunsaturated fat in its fried products.
   (SFC, 9/4/02, p.A1)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 20, William Rosenberg
(86), founder of the Dunkin' Donuts chain, died in Mashpee, Mass.
   (AP, 9/20/03)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 30, It was reported
that asparagine, a naturally occurring amino acid, formed
acrylamide, a suspected carcinogen, when heated with certain sugars.
This reaction was believed to occur in the making of fried foods
such as potato chips and french fries.
   (SFC, 9/30/02, p.A3)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â Andrew Kimbrell edited
"Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture," an
encyclopedia of what’s gone wrong with how we provide food in the
modern world.
   (SSFC, 6/23/02, p.M6)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â Marion Nestle authored
“Food Politics”. It became a bible for those who bewail the power of
food companies.
   (Econ, 11/28/15, p.75)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â The US Food and Drug
Administration warned in 2002 of a "rare" but potential risk of
severe liver injury associated with products containing kava, a
South Pacific root ground to powder, mixed with water and then
strained. Its effects include a mild numbing of the tongue and lips,
relaxation and euphoria. Exports from Fiji alone more than doubled
from 2012-16.
   (AFP, 2/1/18)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â Chris Cuvelier founded
SF-based Zola to distribute Brazilian acai juice in the US. In 2011
the company added coconut water to its product list.
   (SFC, 4/20/13, p.C2)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â Heinz introduced the
upside down squeezable ketchup bottle.
   (AH, 6/07, p.11)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â Paris businessman Tawfiq
Mathlouthi launched Mecca Cola.
   (SFC, 6/27/03, p.D1)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 24, Bernard
Loiseau (52), a celebrated French chef whose Cote D’Or restaurant in
a small Burgundy town became a mecca for the world’s gourmets, died
of apparent suicide.
   (AP, 2/25/03)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 28, The FDA announced
that every bottle of ephedra would soon bear stern warnings that the
popular herb could cause heart attacks or strokes, even kill.
   (AP, 2/28/04)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 17, Dr. Robert C.
Atkins (72), cardiologist, died in NYC from a fall on ice. In 1972
he published his weight loss plan "Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution,"
which allowed patients to eat fat but restricted carbohydrates. A
medical report in 2004 said Atkins weighed 258 pounds at his death
and that he had a history of congestive heart failure. Atkins
weighed 195 pounds when he fell on ice, but gained some 63 pounds
from fluids during efforts to revive him.
   (SFC, 4/18/03, p.A1)(WSJ, 2/10/04, p.D1)(WSJ,
2/13/04, p.B3)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 22, A new study
reported that tea boosts the body’s defenses against infections.
L-theonine in black tea is broken down in the liver to ethylamine, a
molecule that primes the response of the immune system.
   (SFC, 4/22/03)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr, Amrat Cola was
launched in Pakistan.
   (SFC, 6/27/03, p.D1)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â May 15, San Francisco
attorney Stephen Joseph withdrew his recent suit against Kraft Inc.
to stop the sale of Oreo cookies. He was satisfied with the media
attention on the high trans fat content in the cookies and other
products.
   (SFC, 5/15/03, p.A3)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 18, The Mercury Policy
Project reported that 1/3 of albacor tuna contained levels of toxic
mercury exceeding a federally recommended dose fro women of
child-bearing age.
   (SFC, 6/19/03, p.A10)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 21, A report from the
Environmental Working Group ranked pesticide contamination for 46
fruits and vegetables based on lab tests done between 1992 and 2001.
   (SFC, 10/21/03, p.A3)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 2, Alan Davidson (79),
a career diplomat who shared his knowledge of exotic cuisines in a
series of best-selling books, died in London. His books included:
"Mediterranean Seafood" (1972), "Seafood of South East Asia" and
"North Atlantic Seafood" (1979).
   (AP, 12/5/03)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 19, Parmalat SpA, an
Italian food giant, reported a $4.9 billion shortfall. Soon another
$3.6 billion in bonds was also in question. Parmalat planned to file
for bankruptcy protection in what turned into the biggest corporate
fraud in Europe's history. Parmalat employed 36,000 people in 29
countries. Fausto Tonna, former chief financial officer, soon
acknowledged that there was systematic falsification of accounts for
some 15 years. In 2001 an auditor in Brazil had raised an alarm over
financial transactions. The accounting scandal reached $17 billion.
   (SFC, 12/24/03, p.B1)(WSJ, 12/26/03, p.C1)(WSJ,
3/29/04, p.A3)(Econ, 8/6/05, p.57)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 30, The Bush
administration banned the use of meat from all sick or lame animals.
   (SFC, 12/31/03, p.A1)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 30, The US FDA banned
the dietary supplement ephedra. Some 16,000 adverse reactions had
been reported along with 155 deaths.
   (WSJ, 12/30/03, p.A1)(SFC, 12/31/03, p.A1)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Arkansas state legislators
passed an act to measure the body mass index of its schoolchildren.
Data soon revealed that 40% of the children are obese or at risk of
becoming so.
   (Econ, 6/12/04, p.29)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â In Chinese researchers at
the State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology of the China
Agricultural University introduced human genetic coding into the DNA
of Holstein dairy cow embryos, then transferred the embryos into cow
surrogates. This followed years of testing on mice. By June, 2011,
over 300 cloned cattle lived on an experimental farm in suburban
Beijing, with new calves delivered every week.
   (Reuters, 6/16/11)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Denmark became the first
country in the world to introduce restrictions on the use of
industrially produced trans fatty acids. Oils and fats were
forbidden on the Danish market if they contain trans fatty acids
exceeding 2 per cent.
  Â
(www.bakeryandsnacks.com/news/ng.asp?id=58838-adm-ramps-up)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Plumpy’nut, a peanut paste
developed in France in 1997, was 1st used on a large scale in
Sudan’s Darfur region to alleviate hunger.
   (Econ, 11/5/05, p.51)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 8, The journal Science
reported high levels of dangerous chemicals in farmed salmon. Wild
Pacific salmon had 10 times less than the farmed ones.
   (SFC, 1/9/04, p.A2)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 22, US Congress
approved an $820 billion spending bill. It included a labeling law
for the seafood industry for "country of origin."
   (SFC, 1/23/04, p.A3)(SFC, 2/4/04, p.A1)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb, Amadeus Corp. of Peru
launched a new soft drink called Vortex, made with coca extract. The
cocaine alkaloid was removed but export was still banned.
   (Econ, 4/24/04, p.36)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 9, Britain ended a
3-year review and agreed to allow farmers to grow one variety
genetically modified "GM" corn.
   (WSJ, 3/10/04, p.A14)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 15, Missouri jurors
agreed that vapors from butter flavoring at the microwave popcorn
factory had permanently ruined the lungs of Eric Peoples. The
verdict was against International Flavors and Fragrances Inc. and
its subsidiary Bush Boake Allen Inc. The flavoring manufacturers
were ordered to pay $18 million to Peoples and $2 million to his
wife.
   (AP, 3/16/04)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 27, Edward J. Piszek
(87), founder of Mrs. Paul's Kitchens, died in Fort Washington, Pa.
   (SFC, 4/1/04, p.B7)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 19, Jim Cantalupo
(60), McDonald's Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive, died of an
apparent heart attack in Florida and the company named Chief
Operating Officer Charlie Bell to replace him as CEO.
   (AP, 4/19/04)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â May 19, The European Union
lifted its 6-year-old ban on biotech products by approving imports
of an insect-resistant strain of sweet corn for human consumption.
   (AP, 5/19/04)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â May 26, The US government
planned to set a limit on how much salt American should consume to
2,300 mg a day.
   (WSJ, 5/26/04, p.A1)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 4, In NYC Takeru "The
Tsunami" Kobayashi chewed up the competition at the Nathan's Famous
hot dog eating competition, breaking his own previous world record.
Kobayashi, of Nagano, Japan, gulped down 53 1/2 wieners in 12
minutes and shattered his own world record by three dogs. 105-pound
Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas, 36, of Alexandria, Va., ate more hot
dogs (32) than any other woman and any other American in the
contest's history.
   (AP, 7/4/04)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 16, Peru’s National
Agrarian Research Institute launched a new super-cuy (guinea pig),
weighing up to 10 pounds, to help improve the Peruvian diet.
   (Econ, 7/17/04, p.37)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 29, Milk prices in the
Bay Area, $4.71 pre gallon, were reported to be 29% higher than the
$3.66 per gallon average reported by the USDA in a survey of 29
major US cities outside California.
   (SFC, 7/29/04, p.A1)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 8, Gypsy Boots (~89),
health fanatic born as Robert Bootzin, died in LA. He was the author
of “Bare Feet and Good Things to Eat.”
   (SFC, 8/12/04, p.B6)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 13, Julia Child (91),
the grande dame of US television cooking shows and books, died in
Santa Barbara, Ca. During WWII she spent 3 years working for the
Office of Strategic Services (OSS). In 2006 Her memoir “My Life in
France,” co-written with Alex Prud’homme, was published. In 1997
Noel Riley Fitch authored ”Appetite for Life: The Biography of Julia
Child.” In 2012 Bob Spitz authored “Dearie: The Remarkable Life of
Julia Child.”
   (Reuters, 8/13/04)(Econ, 8/28/04, p.78)(SSFC,
4/2/06, p.M1)(WSJ, 8/19/08, p.D7)(Econ, 8/18/12, p.74)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 20, Thailand’s PM
Thaksin said he would overturn the country’s current ban on
commercial production and trade in genetically modified food (GMOs).
   (WSJ, 10/29/04, p.A13)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 2, In Ontario, Canada,
a record 1,446 pound pumpkin was unveiled.
   (SFC, 10/12/04, p.B1)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 20, Terra Madre, an
international meeting of food communities, held its first meeting in
Turin, Italy. It formed as a part of the Slow Food movement. The
group followed with meetings every 2 years.
   (SSFC, 10/26/08,
p.A18)(www.worldchanging.com/archives/005321.html)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Steve Almond authored
“Candy Freak,” a sort of travelogue on US candy makers.
   (WSJ, 5/12/04, p.A1)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Nina Fedoroff and Nancy
Marie Brown authored “Mendel in the Kitchen,” a look at the past,
present and future of genetics in agriculture.
   (WSJ, 11/11/04, p.D9)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Mireille Guiliano authored
“French Women Don’t’ Get Fat.”
   (SSFC, 1/23/05, p.F3)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Richard Manning authored
"Against the Grain: How Agriculture Has Hijacked Civilization."
   (SSFC, 2/29/04, p.M1)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Ken Midkiff authored “The
Meat You Eat: How Corporate Farming Has Endangered America’s Food
Supply.”
   (SSFC, 8/8/04, p.M1)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Jack Turner authored
“Spice: The History of a Temptation.”
   (SSFC, 8/15/04, p.M3)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â The South Pole Food Growth
Chamber began operating. It provided at least one fresh salad a day
during the winter months to the staff of the Amundsen-Scott South
Pole Station.
   (Econ, 12/11/10, TQ p.15)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â It was reported that
McDonald County, Miss., home to 13 million broiler chickens and a
few hundred thousand turkeys, had every stream on a government
“impaired water body” list.
   (SSFC, 8/8/04, p.M2)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â In Chile days after the
recipe was published in the paper's "Woman" magazine, hospitals
around the country began treating women for burns suffered when the
dough boiling in oil suddenly shot out of kitchen pots. In 2011
Chile's Supreme Court ordered the publisher of La Tercera to pay
$125,000 to 13 people who suffered burns while trying out the
churros recipe.
   (AP, 12/26/11)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 2, H. David Dalquist
(86), creator of the aluminum Bundt pan (1950), the top-selling cake
pan in the world, died at his home in Edina, Minn. He founded St.
Louis Park-based Nordic Ware, which has sold more than 50 million
Bundt pans.
   (AP, 1/5/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 12, New US government
Dietary Guidelines suggested 30 minutes of daily physical activity
to reduce risk of chronic disease; 60 minutes to maintain a healthy
weight; and 90 minutes to lose weight.
   (SFC, 1/13/05, p.A4)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 31, The US government
released a list of 17 new carcinogens that included X-rays, some
viruses and chemicals used in frying and grilling meat.
   (SFC, 2/1/05, p.A1)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 12, Customers of the
German Edeka supermarket chain will soon be able to pay for their
shopping by placing their finger on a scanner at the check-out,
saving up to 40 seconds spent scrabbling for coins or cards.
   (Reuters, 3/12/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 15, It was noted that
Israeli researchers had found that pomegranate juice, 8 ounces a
day, helps lower cholesterol.
   (WSJ, 3/15/05, p.D4)(WSJ, 4/5/05, p.D4)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar, American potato
farmers formed the United Potato Growers of America, a group of
regional farming cooperatives intent on keeping demand for potatoes
high by controlling supply. The 1922 Capper-Volstead Act exempted
farmers from federal antitrust laws permitting them to share prices
and orchestrate supply.
   (WSJ, 9/26/06, p.B1)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 14, A US Federal Court
ruled in favor of Neutraceutical Corp. and struck down the 2004 ban
on supplements containing ephedra, a once-popular weight-loss aid.
   (SFC, 4/15/05, p.A6)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 19, The US government
sacked its one-size-fits-all food pyramid in favor of a dozen
different guides geared to individual nutritional needs and
lifestyles.
   (AP, 4/19/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 20, H.J. Heinz Co.,
the largest ketchup maker in the US, said it has agreed to buy the
HP Foods and Lea & Perrins sauce divisions from France's Groupe
Danone for $852 mil.
   (AP, 6/20/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 23, A fast food chain
in northern Japan began offering a whale burger, even as
anti-whaling nations urged Japan to cut back on its catch at an
international conference on whaling.
   (AP, 6/23/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 11, A team of
scientists from 10 countries reported that they had deciphered the
genetic code of rice. This was the first cereal crop to be
sequenced.
   (SFC, 8/11/05, p.A6)(Econ, 5/10/14, p.14)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Tom Standage authored “A
History of the World in Six Glasses: How beer, wine, spirits,
coffee, tea and Coca-Cola made the modern world.”
   (Econ, 7/2/05, p.76)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Burger King introduced its
hamburger operations in China.
   (Econ, 10/25/08, p.78)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 27, Belgium’s food
safety agency closed 96 pig and chicken farms as it traced the
source of dioxins found by a Dutch firm last week back to a vat of
Belgian pork fat.
   (AP, 1/30/06)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 27, The City Council
of Oakland, Ca., passed a measure to ban Styrofoam food packaging
for restaurant takeout food effective January, 2007.
   (SFC, 6/29/06, p.B3)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 16, Robert Brooks
(b.1937), chairman of Hooters of America, died in South Carolina. He
made a fortune selling chicken wings served by scantily clad
waitresses.
  Â
(www.cnn.com/2006/US/07/16/obit.hooters.ap/index.html)(Econ,
7/29/06, p.78)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 6, Reporting in the
Annals of Internal Medicine, European researchers said virgin olive
oil may be particularly effective at lowering heart disease risk
because of its high level of antioxidant plant compounds.
   (Reuters, 9/6/06)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 14, US federal health
officials said an outbreak a deadly strain of E. coli (0157:H7) had
left at least one person dead in Wisconsin over 100 others sick and
warned consumers not to eat bagged fresh spinach. The outbreak in 8
states soon extended to 25. The number sickened rose to at least
190. Most of the spinach crop at this time of the year comes from
California. A special effort was under way in the Salinas Valley of
California, a major leafy-vegetable growing region, to look for any
possible source of contamination there. The outbreak was traced to
California’s Natural Selection Foods of San Juan Bautista, which
recalled all suspect products. This was the same deadly strain that
in 1982 had sickened at least 47 people in Oregon and Michigan who
ate McDonald’s burgers. A surveillance system setup after a 1993
outbreak at the Jack-in-the-Box fast food chain helped single out
spinach as the likely source of this outbreak. A 2nd death on Sep
20, a 2-year-old boy in Idaho, was attributed to the spinach E.
coli. A 3rd death in late August, a woman (84) in Nebraska, was also
attributed to the spinach E. coli. On Sep 29 the FDA cleared spinach
from California’s Monterey, San Benito and Santa Clara counties.
   (SFC, 9/23/06, p.A9)(WSJ, 9/25/06, p.A4)(SFC,
9/30/06, p.A5)(SFC, 10/7/06, p.A6)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 26, The Slow Food
movement, founded in 1989, sponsored Terra Madre in Turin, Italy.
The 5-day event brought together representatives of food communities
that produced good, clean and fair food in a responsible and
sustainable way.
  Â
(www.terramadre2006.org/terramadre/welcome_eng.lasso)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 4, An E. coli outbreak
that sickened at least 58 people, two of them seriously, was linked
by health investigators to three Taco Bell restaurants in New
Jersey. The outbreak, initially believed to stem from green onions,
was later believed to have come from lettuce.
   (AP, 12/4/06)(SFC, 12/14/06, p.A6)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 5, New York became the
first city in the nation to ban artery-clogging trans fats at
restaurants. The ban became effective July 1, 2007.
   (AP, 12/6/06)(SFC, 7/2/07, p.A4)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Michael Pollan authored
“The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals,” an
indictment of the American industrial food system.”
   (SFC, 10/28/09, p.E1)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Tristram Stuart authored
“The Bloodless Revolution: “Radical Vegetarians and the Discovery of
India.” In 2007 the American version was subtitled “A Cultural
History of Vegetarianism from 1600 to Modern Times.”
   (SSFC, 1/7/07, p.M1)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â McDonald’s sold its 90%
stake in Chipotle, its Mexican grill chain.
   (Econ, 1/18/14, p.68)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 2, The UN lifted a ban
on int’l. trade in several types of caviar from the Caspian Sea.
Permission for the export of the expensive beluga variety was not
decided.
   (SFC, 1/3/07, p.A6)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 26, It was reported
that Dr. Robert Bohannon, a Durham, North Carolina, molecular
scientist, has come up with a way to add caffeine to baked goods,
without the bitter taste of caffeine. Each piece of pastry is the
equivalent of about two cups of coffee.
   (AP, 1/26/07)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 7, The US Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) announced its approval of sales of Alli, a
reduced-strength version of the prescription diet drug Xenical. The
first diet pill for over the counter sale hit stores June 15.
   (AP, 2/8/07)(SFC, 6/14/07, p.A1)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 15, Government
scientists struggled to pinpoint the source of the first US
salmonella outbreak linked to peanut butter. Nearly 300 people in 39
states have fallen ill since August, and federal health
investigators said they strongly suspect Peter Pan peanut butter and
certain batches of Wal-Mart's Great Value house brand, both
manufactured by ConAgra Foods. By June the number of cases grew to
over 600 in 47 states.
   (AP, 2/16/07)(AP, 6/1/07)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 17, James Morris, the
head of the UN food agency, said some 18,000 children die every day
because of hunger and malnutrition and 850 million people go to bed
every night with empty stomachs, a "terrible indictment of the world
in 2007."
   (AP, 2/17/07)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb, An Indian chili, the
bhut jolokia, was accepted by Guinness World Records as the world’s
spiciest chili. In 2010 the Indian military decided to use the bhut
jolokia to make tear gas-like hand grenades to immobilize suspected
terrorists.
   (SFC, 3/24/10, p.A2)(www.thehottestpepper.com/)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 13, Environmental
group Greenpeace launched a fresh attack on genetically modified
maize developed by US biotech giant Monsanto, saying that rats fed
on one version developed liver and kidney problems.
   (Reuters, 3/13/07)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 16, Menu Foods, a
major manufacturer of dog and cat food sold under Wal-Mart, Safeway,
Kroger and other store brands, recalled 60 million containers of wet
pet food after reports of kidney failure and deaths.
   (AP, 3/16/08)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 30, The Food and Drug
Administration said it had found melamine, a chemical used to make
plastics, in samples of Menu Foods pet food, as well as in wheat
gluten used as an ingredient in the wet-style products.
   (AP, 3/30/08)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 1, In NYC a ban on
restaurant cooking with trans fats went into effect.
   (SFC, 7/2/07, p.A4)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 12, HM Capital
Partners LLC, a leading, Dallas-based private equity firm, and Booth
Creek Management Corporation sold Swift & Company to Brazil’s
JBS Friboi S.A., the largest beef processor in South America and one
of the largest worldwide beef exporters. Swift was the 3rd largest
processor of beef and pork in America and the biggest processor of
beef in Australia.
   (Econ, 10/31/09,
p.74)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JBS_USA)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 23, The US FDA said
people should immediately throw away more than 90 different
products, from chili sauce to corned beef hash to dog food, produced
at a Castleberry plant in Augusta, Ga., linked to a botulism
outbreak.
   (AP, 7/23/07)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep, The world price of
wheat rose to over $400 per ton, the highest ever recorded.
   (Econ, 12/8/07, p.81)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 29, The Topps Meat Co.
expanded its recall of frozen hamburger patties to include 21.7
million pounds of ground beef that may be contaminated with E. coli
bacteria that sickened more than a dozen people in eight US states.
   (AP, 9/30/07)
2007      Oct 16,  Â
 A study in Hong Kong reportedly found that Lupeol, a compound
in fruits like mangoes, grapes and strawberries, appears to be
effective in killing and curbing the spread of cancer cells in the
head and neck.
   (Reuters, 10/16/07)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 20, Peg Bracken (89),
author of the "I Hate to Cook Book," died in Portland, Ore.
   (AP, 10/20/08)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 1, General Mills
recalled about 5 million frozen pizzas sold nationwide under the
Totino's and Jeno's labels because of possible E. coli
contamination.
   (AP, 11/1/07)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Kate Colquhoun authored
“Taste: The Story of Britain through its Food.”
   (Econ, 11/24/07, p.89)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â In Italy Oscar Farinetti
set up the first Eataly food market in Turin. In 2013 his 21st store
opened in Chicago.
   (Econ, 11/30/13, p.62)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 1, This marked the
start of the International Year of the Potato as declared by the UN.
The potato stood s the world’s 4th biggest food crop, after maize,
wheat and rice.
   (Econ, 3/1/08, p.18, 92)(SSFC, 10/5/08, p.A15)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 11, The EU food-safety
agency endorsed meat and milk derived from cloned animals.
   (WSJ, 1/12/08, p.A1)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 22, The NYC Board of
health voted to require restaurant chains to state the number of
calories in everything on their menus. Full enforcement began in
July.
  Â
(www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/pr2008/pr008-08.shtml)(Econ, 8/30/08,
p.64)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 1, Scientists in Japan
and New Zealand said they have created a "tear-free" onion using
biotechnology to switch off the gene behind the enzyme that makes us
cry.
   (AFP, 2/2/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 3, Police said
Japanese investigators found insecticide on the outside of six bags
of Chinese-made dumplings in Japan after separate dumplings made by
the same company sickened 10 people there.
   (AP, 2/3/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 8, Officials said that
the WTO has ruled against the EU's import tariffs for bananas,
possibly opening the door to millions of dollars in US commercial
sanctions.
   (AP, 2/8/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 9, The French
government suspended the use of genetically modified corn crops in
France while it awaits EU approval for a full ban.
   (AP, 2/9/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 17, The US Department
of Agriculture ordered the recall of 143 million pounds of frozen
beef from a California slaughterhouse, the subject of an
animal-abuse investigation, that provided meat to school lunch
programs. Downer cows at the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company
had been processed and sent for use in the National School Lunch
Program.
   (AP, 2/18/08)(Econ, 3/1/08, p.36)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 26, A "doomsday" seed
vault, built to protect millions of food crops from climate change,
wars and natural disasters, opened deep within an Arctic mountain in
the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard.
   (AP, 2/26/08)(Econ, 3/10/12, p.71)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb, In China poisoned
food at a snack bar in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen, killed two
diners and sickened 61 others. In 2009 two migrant workers were
sentenced to death for the poisoning. Ke Bizhi was sentenced to
death, while Wang Yingde was also given death but with the
possibility of it being commuted to a life sentence if he shows good
behavior over the next two years. Zhu Yuanlin, the businessman who
masterminded the plot, was sentenced to life in prison. Another man
was given 15 years for his role in the scheme.
   (AP, 2/24/09)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 11, The SF Board of
Supervisors passed a law requiring chain restaurants to post
nutrition information on their menus.
   (SFC, 3/12/08, p.C1)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 15, It was reported
that spores of Ug99, a wheat killing fungus that emerged in East
Africa nearly 10 years ago, has been spread by winds into the Saudi
Peninsula and South Asia.
   (SFC, 3/15/08, p.B6)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 17, The Mozambican
government made an urgent appeal to the UN World Food Program to
help more than 60,000 people left destitute when cyclone Jokwe hit
northern and central parts of the country.
   (AFP, 3/17/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 18, The World Food
Program (WFP) made a six million dollar appeal to feed some 90,000
Burundian refugees in Tanzania who expect to return to the central
African country in 2008.
   (AP, 3/18/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 22, In southern Sudan
two World Food Program (WFP) drivers on their way to the oil-rich
Abyei state were stabbed to death by six assailants.
   (Reuters, 3/26/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 25, In Sudan a World
Food Program (WFP) driver was shot dead and his assistant seriously
wounded in South Darfur state.
   (Reuters, 3/26/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 26, It was reported
that British pig husbandry is in crisis due to exploding global
grain prices. Last month British pig farmers recorded “Stand By Your
Ham” based on the 1968 US country classic “Stand By Your Man” by
Tammy Wynette.
   (WSJ, 3/26/08, p.A1)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 26, Italian officials
held a crisis meeting after Japan and South Korea banned imports of
mozzarella following the discovery of high dioxin levels in buffalo
milk used to make the famed cheese.
   (AP, 3/26/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 26, Philippine farmers
warned that the country was facing a serious rice supply crisis, as
the government signed a deal to import rice from Vietnam to boost
local reserves at a time of rising prices and shrinking global
stocks.
   (AP, 3/26/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 2, Argentine farmers,
rebelling over soaring export taxes on their crops, declared a
30-day truce suspending a three-week-long strike that has stripped
grocery shelves of beef and produce, granting Cristina Fernandez a
reprieve in the first major crisis of her presidency.
   (AP, 4/3/08)(WSJ, 4/3/08, p.A1)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 3, Corn prices jumped
to a record $6 a bushel, driven up by an expected supply shortfall
that will only add to Americans' growing grocery bill and further
squeeze struggling ethanol producers.
   (AP, 4/3/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 12, About 20,000
workers rioted over high food prices and low wages close to the
Bangladesh capital Dhaka, amid spreading global unrest over soaring
grocery costs.
   (AP, 4/12/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 14, Pres. Bush ordered
the release of $200 million in emergency aid as the UN Sec. Gen.
said a global food crises has reached emergency levels.
   (WSJ, 4/15/08, p.A1)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 15, Mike Leavitt, the
top US health official, said US food and drug regulators will start
working in China next month once Beijing gives its final approval.
   (AP, 4/15/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 15, Kazakhstan joined
other Black Sea grain exporters in curbing shipments to combat
double-digit inflation. Wheat exports were suspended until Sep 10.
Kazakhstan will become the world’s 5th largest wheat exporter this
year, shipping half its record 2007 crop.
   (WSJ, 4/16/08, p.A8)
2008      Apr 18,  Â
 In Mongolia more than 20,000 people flooded the center of the
capital, Ulan Bator, to demand that the government do something
about rising food prices that have nearly tripled in some cases.
   (AP, 4/18/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 21, In Sudan gunmen
killed a second driver delivering food aid for the UN's World Food
Program in the Darfur region, where banditry has forced vital
rations to be halved.
   (AFP, 4/24/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 21,Thailand’s
government said more than 10 million people in parts of its rice
bowl region have been hit by drought causing further concerns as
prices of the staple grain soared.
   (AP, 4/21/08)
2008      Apr 22,  Â
Security forces in northern Somalia stormed a hijacked ship carrying
food, rescuing hostages and arresting seven pirates. The seizure was
the latest in a spate of pirate attacks off the increasingly lawless
Somali coast.
   (AP, 4/22/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 23, Venezuela’s
President Hugo Chavez joined with his leftist allies to create a
$100 million program to fight the rising cost of food for Latin
America's poor.
   (AP, 4/24/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 27, It was made public
that Mars Inc. of McLean, Va., together with Berkshire Hathaway had
agreed to acquire Wrigley Co. of Chicago, Ill., for about $23
billion. The deal closed on Oct 6.
   (WSJ, 4/29/08, p.A1)(SFC, 10/7/08, p.D2)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 30, Canada pledged an
extra C$50 million ($49.5 million) for international food aid and
said it would also allow its money to be used to buy food abroad and
not tie it to purchases of Canadian produce.
   (AP, 4/30/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â May 3, The Asian
Development Bank, announced emergency funding to help poor countries
struggling with rice prices that have nearly tripled in four months.
The Manila-based organization made the announcement while meeting in
Spain.
   (AP, 5/4/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â May 4, Senegal’s Pres.
Abdoulaye Wade called the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization
(FAO) a “bottomless pit of money largely spent on its own
functioning.”
   (Econ, 5/10/08, p.69)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â May 5, In Somalia troops
opened fire and killed at least two people as tens of thousands of
people rioted over high food prices in Mogadishu.
   (AP, 5/5/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â May 20, British PM Gordon
Brown urged rich countries to end agricultural subsidies, and said
he will press for a global trade agreement to help the world's
poorest farmers escape poverty.
   (AP, 5/20/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â May 23, A UN food aid
agency said the response to its appeal for money to help meet
soaring fuel and food costs went beyond what it had hoped to
collect, saying $500 million from Saudi Arabia means it won't have
to cut rations.
   (AP, 5/23/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â May 28, African leaders,
in Japan for a major development conference, lashed out at rich
nations for erecting trade barriers that prevent the continent's
economic development even as they make lofty pledges to boost aid.
Japan pledged to double aid to Africa by 2012 and to help the
continent boost rice production two-fold to ease food shortages.
   (AFP, 5/28/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 5, In Italy a 3-day UN
summit aimed at fighting hunger worldwide ended with pledges to
boost food output, calls to cut trade barriers and more research on
biofuels. Just before the meeting Saudi Arabia announced a donation
of $500 million.
   (WSJ, 6/6/08, p.A10)(Econ, 6/7/08, p.70)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 7, In Egypt thousands
of demonstrators fought with police after a protest over flour
rations in a town on the Mediterranean coast. Mustafa Khalil (88), a
former Egyptian prime minister (1978-1980), died. He was an
architect of the 1979 Camp David peace treaty between Egypt and
Israel.
   (AP, 6/8/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 12, In Indonesia a
local health official said at least 21 toddlers have died of
malnutrition in eastern Indonesia in recent months due to a food
shortage that threatens the lives of thousands more children.
   (AP, 6/12/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 18, Food manufacturers
promised Mexico's government that they would freeze prices on more
than 150 food products to help families cope with rising costs.
   (AP, 6/19/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 30, The UN said
thousands of tons of food from the US has started flowing into North
Korea.
   (SFC, 7/1/08, p.A3)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 21, The US FDA issued
an advisory for consumers to avoid eating uncooked jalapeno peppers
after it found a jalapeno grown in Mexico in a Texas border town
warehouse that tested positive with the same strain of salmonella
that was earlier associated with tomatoes.
   (SFC, 7/22/08, p.A10)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 25, California’s Gov.
Schwarzenegger signed a bill banning trans fat in restaurants and
food facilities, making California the first state to do so. The law
takes effect in two stages: Jan 1, 2010 and Jan 1, 2011.
   (SFC, 7/26/08, p.A1)(WSJ, 7/26/08, p.A1)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 30, The UN said hunger
in North Korea is at its worst since the 1990s, prompting the
resumption of emergency UN food shipments after a two-year hiatus.
   (AFP, 7/30/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 8, Nebraska Beef, an
Omaha meat packer, recalled 1.2 million pounds of beef after
products were linked to illnesses in 12 states. In July the company
had recalled over 5 million pounds of beef due to an outbreak of E.
coli in 7 states.
   (SSFC, 8/10/08, p.A4)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 29, In SF the 4-day
Slow Food Nation opened at the Civic Center Plaza and continued at
Fort Mason, where tickets to the Taste Pavilion sold for $65. The
Slow Food movement had begun in Italy in 1986.
   (SSFC, 8/31/08, p.A1)(Econ, 9/13/08, p.38)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 12, Shops throughout
China pulled a milk powder, suspected sickening babies, from shelves
in the latest safety scandal to rock the country's food industry.
Investigators soon detained 19 people and were questioning 78 to
find out how melamine was added to milk supplied to Sanlu Group Co.,
China's biggest milk powder producer. On Sep 15 Zhang Zhenling, vice
president of Sanlu Group, read a letter of apology at a news
briefing in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei Province, where the
corporation is based. China later reported that more than 6,000
babies had fallen ill and three died after drinking contaminated
milk powder. Consumer complaints to Sanlu Group regarding its baby
milk formula had begun as early as last December. By the end of the
year 6 children had died and tens of thousands were made ill from
milk powder tainted with melamine.
   (AP, 9/12/08)(AP, 9/13/08)(AFP, 9/15/08)(AFP,
9/17/08)(SFC, 9/24/08, p.A12)(Econ, 5/25/13, p.67)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 19, Singapore banned
all dairy imports from China and the European Union demanded answers
from Beijing as the baby formula scandal, which left 4 babies dead
and over 6 thousand infants ill across China, spread to liquid milk.
   (Reuters, 9/19/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 21, Wallace N.
Rasmussen (b.1914), former head of Beatrice Foods (1976-1979), died
at his home in Nashville, Tenn.
   (WSJ, 10/4/08, p.A12)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 22, The number of
Chinese infants sick in hospital after drinking tainted milk formula
doubled to nearly 13,000 and the country's top quality regulator
resigned in the latest blight on the "made-in-China" brand.
   (AP, 9/22/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 22, The UN appealed
for $460 million to feed some 10 million Ethiopians hit by drought
and high food prices.
   (AP, 9/22/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 24, Britain pledged
26.9 million pounds for drought-hit Ethiopia, where some 9.6 million
people are in need of emergency food aid.
   (AP, 9/24/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 25, The EU banned
imports of baby food containing Chinese milk as tainted dairy
products linked to the deaths of four babies turned up in candy and
other Chinese-made goods that were quickly pulled from stores
worldwide. More than a dozen countries have banned or recalled
Chinese dairy products as melamine was found in milk products from
22 Chinese dairy companies.
   (AP, 9/25/08)(SFC, 9/25/08, p.A3)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 29, British candy
maker Cadbury said it is recalling 11 types of Chinese-made
chocolates found to contain melamine, as police in northern China
raided a network accused of adding the banned chemical to milk.
   (AP, 9/29/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 30, A new US law took
effect as part of the 2008 Farm Bill requiring food retailers to
label or display the country of origin for meat, produce and certain
kinds of nuts.
   (WSJ, 12/27/08, p.A7)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 1, In Australia a
major report to the government on global warming suggested that
Australians should eat kangaroos instead of cattle and sheep.
   (AP, 10/1/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 1, Fifteen more
Chinese dairy companies were identified as producing milk products
contaminated with an industrial chemical, further broadening a
scandal affecting products ranging from baby formula to chocolate.
   (AP, 10/1/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 5, Hong Kong said it
found two Cadbury chocolate products contained considerably more of
the industrial chemical melamine than the city's legal limit in a
growing scandal over Chinese tainted food. China attempted to
contain the fallout from the tainted milk scandal, announcing a new
survey of dairy products showed no traces of melamine and promising
to subsidize farmers hit by the scare.
   (AP, 10/5/08)(AFP, 10/5/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 6, Stewart Parnell, an
executive for Peanut Butter of America, sent an e-mail saying that
delays in shipping product from a Georgia plant was costing huge
dollars. Federal investigators later found that batches of product
containing salmonella were shipped with fake lab records saying
salmonella screenings were negative. On Sep 21 Parnell was sentenced
to 28 years in prison.
   (SFC, 9/22/15, p.A7)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 7, The UN food agency
(WFP) said it is resuming free breakfasts for hundreds of thousands
of poor Cambodian schoolchildren after securing new funds for a
program suspended due to high food prices.
   (AP, 10/7/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 8, The Asian
Development Bank announced $35 million in emergency food aid to ease
the burden of soaring food prices among some of Cambodia's poorest
people.
   (AP, 10/8/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 9, Zimbabwe's
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said that power-sharing talks
with President Robert Mugabe's government had stalled and outside
mediation was needed to break the deadlock. The UN food agency made
an urgent appeal for 140 million dollars (102 million euros) in food
aid for more than five million Zimbabweans facing severe hunger. A
state newspaper said Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate soared to 231
million percent in July.
   (AFP, 10/9/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 13, Swiss authorities
said they have found high concentrations of melamine in biscuits
from Thailand and Sri Lanka and have called on other European
countries to withdraw the products.
   (AP, 10/13/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 14, An Ethiopian
minister said his country urgently needs US$265 million to feed 6.4
million people affected by drought.
   (AP, 10/14/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 16, Around one million
Burundian children under the age of five suffer chronic
malnutrition, the UN food agency announced as it marked World Food
Day in the tiny central African nation.
   (AP, 10/16/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 16, The European
Commission announced 15 million euros (20 million dollars) of
emergency food aid for victims of drought and soaring food prices in
five east African countries. The biggest share will go to Ethiopia
and Somalia and smaller amounts to Kenya, Uganda and Djibouti.
   (AFP, 10/16/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 29, A local Chinese
government acknowledged that officials knew about melamine-tainted
eggs for a month before the contamination was publicly disclosed. A
Dalian government notice said that local authorities were notified
Sept. 27 of tests by the customs bureau of Liaoning province that
had found melamine in a batch of export-bound eggs produced by
Dalian Hanwei Enterprise Group.
   (AP, 10/29/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 30, In Iowa US federal
agents arrested Sholom Rubashkin, a former senior executive of the
Agriprocessors, a kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, for
employing illegal immigrants for commercial gain and helping them
secure fake documents. A day earlier Iowa labor authorities levied
some $10 million in fines against Agriprocessors for labor
violations. On Nov 12, 2009, Rubashkin was convicted on 86 of 91
financial fraud charges.
   (WSJ, 10/31/08, p.A3)(SFC, 11/13/09, p.A8)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 30, China’s state
media reported that the industrial chemical melamine is commonly
added to animal feed in China to make it appear higher in protein.
This appeared to be a tacit admission by the government that
contamination is widespread in the country's food supply.
   (AP, 10/30/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 12, Hong Kong
officials said they had found elevated levels of melamine in fish
feed from China’s Fuzhou Haima Feed Co.
   (WSJ, 11/13/08, p.A13)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 13, US Federal health
officials slapped a sweeping detention order on dozens of imported
foods from China, from snacks and drinks to chocolates and candies.
The agency said the action was needed as a precaution to keep out
foods contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine, which can
cause serious kidney problems.
   (AP, 11/13/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 15, Gazans seeking
food aid walked away empty-handed from locked United Nations
distribution centers after a strict Israeli border closure depleted
UN food reserves.
   (AP, 11/15/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 19, The UN asked for
$7 billion (5.5 billion euros) to fund its humanitarian work around
the world in 2009, almost double last year's appeal as a result of
soaring food prices and crises in Africa, among other factors. The
UN's food agency will slim down its bureaucracy, work to cut costs
and make investments that will improve efficiency as part of a
reform plan adopted by member nations.
   (AP, 11/19/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 19, The World Food
Program said that it has signed a new food aid deal to allow the UN
agency to provide 350,000 tons of grain to millions in Zimbabwe.
   (AFP, 11/19/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 19, In Haiti Max Cosci
of Doctors Without Borders said at least 26 children had died over a
two-week period in the remote, southeastern area of Baie d'Orange.
The UN World Food Program says it is sending medical and food aid to
the region.
   (AP, 11/20/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 27, South Korea's
supermarket chains resumed selling US beef, nearly five months after
the government lifted an import ban imposed over fears of mad cow
disease.
   (AP, 11/27/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 1, China's Health
Ministry said six babies may have died after consuming tainted milk
powder, up from a previous official toll of three, and announced a
six-fold increase in its tally of infants sickened in the scandal,
to nearly 300,000.
   (AP, 12/1/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 15, In China
substances commonly used as industrial dyes, insecticides and drain
cleaners were included on a list of illegal food additives released
as part of a months long government crackdown aimed at improving the
country's shoddy food safety record.
   (AP, 12/15/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 18, The US FDA cleared
stevia, a shrub and an artificial sweetener extracted from it, for
public use. The FDA did not technically granted approval to stevia
but affirmed it will not object to companies using it in foods and
beverages.
   (Econ, 1/30/10,
p.77)(www.naturalnews.com/News_000626_stevia_Truvia_FDA.html)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 24, Mexico began
blocking imports of meat from at least 30 US meat processing plants
due to a new US law that required food retailers to label or display
the country of origin for meat, produce and certain kinds of nuts.
The law, effective as of Sep 30, was part of the 2008 Farm Bill.
   (WSJ, 12/27/08, p.A7)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 31, Tian Wenhua,
former chairwoman of the Sanlu Group, one of China’s biggest dairy
producers, pleaded guilty to selling fake and substandard milk
powder.
   (SFC, 1/1/09, p.A3)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Maria Balinska authored
“The Bagel: The Surprising History of a Modest Bread.”
   (WSJ, 11/29/08, p.W11)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Betty Fussell (70)
authored “Raising Steaks: The Life and Times of American Beef.”
   (SFC, 11/18/08, p.E5)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Marion Nestle authored
“Pet Food Politics: The Chihuahua in the Coal Mine,” which
illuminates the connections between the food supplies of
humans, farm animals and pets.
   (Econ, 9/6/08, p.97)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Michael Pollan authored
“In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto,” an exploration of the
relationship between nutrition and the Western diet. In 2009 it
became the basis for the PBS TV documentary “The Botany of Desire.”
   (SFC, 10/28/09, p.E1)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â John Reader authored
“Propitious Esculent: The Potato in World History.”
   (Econ, 3/1/08, p.92)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Indonesia achieved rice
self-sufficiency for the first time in 24 years.
   (Econ, 1/10/09, p.38)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 12, Minnesota
officials said lab tests had confirmed salmonella bacteria in a five
pound container of King Nut brand peanut butter. King Nut of Solon,
Ohio, had recalled the product on January 10. At least 6 people had
been killed and over 470 sickened nationwide in 43 states.
   (WSJ, 1/13/09, p.A2)(SFC, 1/20/09, p.A12)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 12, In China a
Shanghai distributor of a popular brand of dog food said it had
suspended sales of the product following reports that dogs who ate
it had died from aflatoxin poisoning. This appeared to involve an
imported product, Optima, a brand of dog food made by Nashville,
Tennessee-based Doane Pet Care Co. It was not clear if the pet food
sold in China was the US brand.
   (AP, 1/12/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 16, Kellogg Co. of
Battle Creek, Mich., recalled 16 products containing peanut butter
due to possible salmonella contamination as federal officials
confirmed contamination at a Georgia facility that ships peanut
products to 85 food companies. On Jan 21 federal health authorities
confirmed that peanut butter and paste made by a Virginia company
were the sole sources of the outbreak. The Blakely, Ga., facility
was owned by Peanut Corp. of America, based in Lynchburg, Va. In
2013 four former executives of Peanut Corp. were indicted for the
outbreak that left 9 people dead and hundreds sickened.
   (SFC, 1/17/09, p.A2)(WSJ, 1/22/09, p.A4)(SFC,
2/22/13, p.A11)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 16, Kenya's president
declared the country's food crisis a national disaster and asked
international donors to contribute $406 million toward emergency
food aid.
   (AP, 1/16/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 27, In California
federal prosecutors said purchasing managers for Kraft Foods and
Frito-Lay have admitted to taking $318,000 in bribes from Randall
Rahal, a former sales broker for SK Foods of Lemoore, a major
Central California tomato processor. On August 11 Robert Watson
(59), former Kraft Foods purchasing manager, was sentenced to 2
years and 3 months for taking $158,000 in bribes.
   (SFC, 1/28/09, p.B3)(SFC, 8/12/09, p.D2)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 28, Peanut Corp.
expanded its recall to all peanut products produced at its Blakely,
Ga., plant since Jan 1, 2007, due to a salmonella outbreak.
   (SFC, 1/29/09, p.A3)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 30, Ethiopia said that
4.9 million of its people will need emergency food aid in the first
six months of 2009 due to drought and appealed for $390 million from
donors to pay for it.
   (AP, 1/30/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 17, The UN said some
4.9 million more Ethiopians are in urgent need of food aid, bringing
the total number of people in Ethiopia who need relief aid to 12
million, or 15 percent of the population.
   (AP, 2/17/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 23, China’s state
media said pig organs contaminated by a banned animal feed additive
have been blamed for sickening at least 70 people in southern China.
The pig organs tainted by the steroid clenbuterol were sold last
week in markets in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province.
Another 14 cases in Guangzhou were reported on Feb 25.
   (AP, 2/23/09)(AP, 2/26/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 28, China's
legislature enacted a tough new food safety law, promising tougher
penalties for makers of tainted products in the wake of scandals
that exposed serious flaws in monitoring of the nation's food
supply.
   (AP, 2/2809)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 6, Mexico published a
new law allowing the planting of genetically modified corn for
experimental reasons.
   (SFC, 3/7/09, p.A2)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 14, President Barack
Obama said the nation's decades-old food safety system is a "hazard
to public health" and in need of an overhau. Obama used his weekly
radio and video address to announce the nomination of former New
York City Health Commissioner Margaret Hamburg as FDA commissioner,
and his choice of Baltimore Health Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein as
her deputy.
   (AP, 3/14/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 24, Kraft Foods Inc.
notified the FDA that it had detected salmonella in roasted
pistachios through routine product testing. Kraft and the Georgia
Nut Co. recalled their Back to Nature Nantucket Blend trail mix the
next day. The FDA contacted California-based Setton Pistachio and
California health officials shortly afterward. California alone is
the second-largest producer of pistachios in the world.
   (AP, 3/31/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 31, In China and
official said police have arrested nine people and revoked the
license of a livestock market owner in a case involving pork tainted
with a chemical that made 70 people sick in Guangzhou, southern
China's biggest city. Investigators determined the pork was tainted
with clenbuterol and ractopamine, banned chemicals used to make
animals develop more muscle and less fat.
   (AP, 3/31/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 2, The US
Environmental Working Group issued a press release drawing attention
to a study by scientists at the US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention which looked for the chemical, perchlorate, in different
brands of powdered baby formula. The study was published last month.
   (AP, 4/3/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 25, In San Francisco
Anthony’s Cookies held its grand opening at 1417 Valencia Street.
   (http://tinyurl.com/yae5jzv)(SFC, 12/7/09, p.E1)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â May 4, Dom DeLuise
(b.1933), film and TV actor, died. Though lighthearted onscreen, the
prolific actor was deeply passionate about food, forging a second
career as a popular chef and cookbook author.
   (AP, 5/5/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â May 14, Scientists
reported that ginger, long used as a folk remedy for stomach aches,
limits nausea caused by chemotherapy used in cancer treatments.
   (SFC, 5/15/09, p.A14)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 7, Egypt's public
prosecutor ordered the return of a shipment of Russian wheat
impounded last month on health grounds. The decision to ship back
the 52,000 tons of wheat, worth 9.6 million dollars (6.8 million
euros), came after an investigation found the grain was contaminated
with insects and unspecified heavy metals.
   (AFP, 6/7/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 19, The UN Food and
Agriculture Organization said one in six people in the world, or
more than 1 billion, is now hungry, a historic high due largely to
the global economic crisis and stubbornly high food prices.
   (AP, 6/19/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 4, Joey Chestnut (25),
of San Jose, Ca., ate a record 68 hot dogs capturing his 3rd
straight Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Int’l. Hot Dog Eating
Contest at Coney Island, NYC.
   (SSFC, 7/5/09, p.A2)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 10, A US plant
scientists said late blight, which caused the Irish Potato Famine of
the 1840s and 1850s, is killing potato and tomato plants in home
gardens from Maine to Ohio and threatening commercial and organic
farms.
   (Reuters, 7/10/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 17, Russia said it
would lift a ban on live pigs and raw pork imports from the US state
of Wisconsin and Canada's Ontario province from July 18 due to what
it said was a "stabilization" of the situation of the H1N1 virus in
those places.
   (Reuters, 7/17/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 25, The World Food
Program said that 3.8 million Kenyans need emergency food aid
because of a prolonged drought, which is even causing electrical
blackouts in the capital because there's not enough water for
hydroelectric plants.
   (AP, 8/25/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 25, In China Wang
Yunlong, the head of the legislative committee on agriculture and
rural affairs, told his fellow lawmakers that efforts to stop the
use of "lean meat powder" (clenbuterol) had fallen short in many
areas and called for a "concentrated countrywide effort to bring it
under control." Farmers used the banned drug because it boosted
profits in two ways: It speeds up the growth of animals to get them
to market quicker and creates meat for which consumers are willing
to pay extra.
   (AP, 1/24/11)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 1, In Japan dolphin
hunting season opened in Taiji. Over the next 6 months fishermen
were expected to catch about 2,300 of Japan’s annual quota of 20,000
dolphins, to be sold for meat and to aquariums.
   (SSFC, 9/20/09, p.A20)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 8, Guatemalan
President Alvaro Colom declared "a state of public calamity" to help
mobilize funds and resources to confront a food shortage that will
affect thousands of families.
   (AP, 9/9/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 12, Dr. Norman Borlaug
(b.1914), Nobel Prize winner (1970), died at his Dallas home. He was
known as the father of the “green revolution” for his work in
high-yield crop varieties, which helped to more than double food
production between 1960 and 1990.
   (SFC, 9/14/09, p.A7)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 13, It was reported
that the hoki fish, harvested in the deep waters around New Zealand,
had declined substantially. Hoki, the main ingredient in McDonald’s
Fillet-O-Fish sandwich, was also used by Denny’s and Long John
Silver’s restaurants. From 1996 to 2001 some 275,000 tons were
harvested by factory trawlers. The allowed catch was reduced to
100,000 tons in 2007 and 2008.
   (SSFC, 9/13/09, p.A20)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 16, Brazil’s JBS
Friboi company announced that Texas-based chicken processor
Pilgrim’s Pride has agreed to be taken over for $800 million. This
and a pending acquisition with Bertin, another Brazilian firm, would
make JBS the world’s largest processor of meat.
   (Econ, 10/31/09,
p.74)(http://tinyurl.com/yb7czq9)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep, Huntington, West
Virginia, ranked as America’s fattest town, welcomed Jamie Oliver,
Britain’s famous Naked Chef, into its school district. His food
education program was turned into a reality television series called
Food Revolution.
  Â
(www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/09/huntington-west-virginia-_n_315687.html)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 19, The EU agreed to
give the dairy sector an extra $420 million in special aid in an
effort to quell a season of unrest in agriculture. Meanwhile angry
farmer pelted riot police with eggs and buckets of milk in
Luxembourg.
   (SFC, 10/20/09, p.A2)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 22, Ethiopia said it
needs emergency food aid for 6.2 million people, an appeal that
comes 25 years after a devastating famine compounded by communist
policies killed 1 million and prompted one of the largest charity
campaigns in history.
   (AP, 10/22/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 29, Chinese officials
agreed to lift the ban on US pork imports they imposed last spring
out of fear of swine flu.
   (AP, 10/29/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 4, US federal
prosecutors said Alan Huey (53), a former top executive of SK Foods,
has agreed to plead guilty to taking part in a 4-year conspiracy in
which the California tomato processor bribed food companies and
mislabeled tomato paste that exceeded government mold standards.
   (SFC, 11/5/09, p.C2)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 9, US giant Kraft
Foods launched a hostile 9.8-billion-pound takeover bid for Cadbury
which the British confectioner rejected.
   (AFP, 11/9/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 12, Afghanistan
exported 12 tons of apples to India and touted the shipment as a key
step in exploring much-needed international markets for its
agricultural products.
   (AFP, 11/12/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 13, In Russia
prosecutors said police have arrested three homeless people
suspected of eating a 25-year-old man they had butchered and selling
other bits of the corpse to a local kebab house. Parts of a human
body had been found near a bus stop in the outskirts of the Russian
city of Perm, 1,150 km (720 miles) east of Moscow.
   (Reuters, 11/16/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 16, A 3-day summit on
world hunger opened in Rome. Zimbabwe’s Pres. Mugabe used the UN
summit on world hunger to lash out at the West and defend land
reforms blamed for plunging his people into starvation. Some 60
heads of state and dozens of minister rejected a UN call to commit
$44 billion annually for agricultural development in poor countries.
   (AP, 11/17/09)(SFC, 11/17/09, p.A8)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 18, In Italy the head
of a UN food agency expressed regret that an anti-hunger summit
failed to result in precise promises of funding, and critics said
the meeting had only thrown crumbs to the world's 1 billion people
without enough to eat.
   (AP, 11/18/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 1, China’s quarantine
bureau said it has lifted bans on imports of pork products from the
United States, Canada and Mexico, but analysts said the move would
not likely lead to a surge of new imports.
   (Reuters, 12/1/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 9, The International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it needs $32
million to feed 220,000 Zimbabweans who cannot access hard currency
in the collapsed economy.
   (AP, 12/9/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 15, Ecuador said that
it had reached a deal with the EU aimed at ending a long-running
dispute between Latin American nations and the EU over tariffs on
bananas.
   (AFP, 12/15/09)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 1, Chinese state media
said authorities have shut down a dairy in Shanghai and arrested
three of its executives after tests found some of its milk products
were tainted with the same industrial chemical at the center of a
milk safety scandal more than a year ago.
   (AP, 1/1/10)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Mark Caro authored “The
Foie Gras Wars: How a 5,000-Year-Old Delicacy Inspired the World’s
Fiercest Food fight.”
   (SSFC, 3/22/09, Books p.J5)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Jonathan Safran Foer
authored “Eating Animals.”
   (SSFC, 11/8/09, p.E1)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Brad Kessler authored
“Goat Song: A Seasonal Life, A short History of Herding and the Art
of Making Cheese.”
   (Econ, 7/4/09, p.81)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Mark Kurlansky authored
“The Food of a Younger Land: A Portrait of American Food from the
Lost WPA Files,” an anthology of food writing from 1930s America.
   (Econ, 5/30/09, p.86)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Tom Standage authored “An
Edible History of Humanity.”
   (SSFC, 6/7/09, books p.J4)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Richard Wrangham authored
“Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human.”
   (SSFC, 6/7/09, books p.J4)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â In southern China the city
of Yulin, Guangxi province, introduced an annual dog-eating
festival.
   (Econ 7/8/17, p.38)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 5, The UN food agency
said it is stopping aid distribution to about 1 million people in
southern Somalia because of attacks against staff and demands by
armed groups that aid organizations remove women from their teams.
   (AP, 1/5/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 8, Israeli cooks
doubled the previous record for the world's biggest serving of
hummus, set in October by cooks in Lebanon. An adjudicator sent from
London by Guinness World Records, Jack Brockbank, confirmed that
Israeli chefs now held the record for hummus. He put the exact
amount of hummus in a giant satellite dish at 9,017 pounds (4,090
kg).
   (AP, 1/8/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 17, Glen Bell Jr.
(86), founder of the Taco Bell fast food chain (1962), died at his
home in Rancho Santa Fe, Ca.
   (SFC, 1/19/10, p.C4)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 18, US officials said
on some 390 tons of ground beef produced by a California meat
packer, some of it nearly two years ago, is being recalled for fear
of potentially deadly E. coli bacterium tainting.
   (Reuters, 1/18/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 19, British chocolate
bar maker Cadbury melted into the arms of US giant Kraft in a
multi-billion-dollar deal to create a world leader in food and
confectionery that sparked fears of job losses.
   (AP, 1/19/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 20, US researchers
reported that shaving 3 grams off the daily salt intake of Americans
could prevent up to 66,000 strokes, 99,000 heart attacks and 92,000
deaths in the United States, while saving $24 billion in health
costs per year.
   (Reuters, 1/21/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 1, China launched a
10-day emergency crackdown on tainted milk products after several
were found creeping back onto the market despite a massive scandal
that sickened hundreds of thousands of children in 2008.
   (AP, 2/2/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 3, China’s official
Xinhua News Agency reported that Lekang Dairy Company general
manager Zhang Wenxue and vice general managers Zhu Shuming and Tong
Tianhu have been charged with manufacturing and selling tainted milk
powder in the latest crackdown. Xinhua quoted Health Minister Chen
Zhu as saying "all melamine-tainted milk products will be found and
destroyed," as part of the current 10-day crackdown.
   (AP, 2/3/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 3, Mexico’s
Agriculture Dept. said private companies there have begun the first
legal plantings of genetically modified corn.
   (SFC, 2/4/10, p.A2)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 5, In Pennsylvania
about 18,000 people turned out before dawn for the 18th Wing Bowl,
an eating competition dubbed the world's biggest, and an annual
celebration of Philadelphia's raucous sports-crazed culture.
   (Reuters, 2/5/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 8, The China Daily
newspaper reported officials have recalled more than 170 tons of
milk powder tainted by the industrial chemical melamine and closed
two dairy companies in the northern region of Ningxia. The current
10–day emergency crackdown has made it increasingly clear that many
products discovered in the country's 2008 milk scandal were
repackaged for sale instead of destroyed.
   (AP, 2/8/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 9, India halted the
release of the world's first genetically modified eggplant, saying
further study needed to be done to guarantee consumer safety before
it could be cultivated in the country.
   (AP, 2/9/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 10, China declared a
new food-safety campaign after contaminated milk products from an
earlier scandal showed up repackaged in several places around the
country, exposing weaknesses in the country's promise to stop such
problems from happening again.
   (AP, 2/10/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 1, A World Food
Program spokesman militants in Somalia are preventing food from
reaching more than 366,000 people who need it, following a statement
by Islamists that aid agencies were helping "apostates" in the
war-ravaged Horn of Africa nation.
   (AP, 3/1/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 9, University of
Florida researcher Nam Dang and colleagues in Japan said that papaya
leaf extract and its tea have dramatic cancer-fighting properties
against a broad range of tumors, backing a belief held in a number
of folk traditions.
   (AFP, 3/9/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 11, The Zimbabwe Red
Cross said at least 2.17 million Zimbabweans need food aid and the
figures are set to rise because of an expected poor harvest this
year.
   (AFP, 3/11/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 13, In Qatar a two
week UN conference that opened with a focus on the Atlantic bluefin
tuna and other marine life in the world's overfished oceans.
   (AP, 3/13/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar, The number of
Americans receiving food stamps topped 40 million this month as the
jobless rate hovered near a 26-year high.
   (SFC, 6/3/10, p.A7)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 9, Meinhardt Raabe
(94), who played the Munchkin coroner in "The Wizard of Oz" (1938)
and proclaimed in the movie that the Wicked Witch of the East was
"really most sincerely dead," died in Florida. He was about 3 1/2
feet tall when the movie was made but eventually grew to about 4 1/2
feet. He toured the country for 30 years in the Oscar Mayer
Weinermobile, promoting hot dogs as "Little Oscar, the World's
Smallest Chef."
   (AP, 4/10/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 28, Dunkin' Donuts
said it is returning to Russia, following an 11-year absence, with
plans to tap growing appetite for coffee and sweets by opening up to
20 outlets in Moscow this year.
   (AP, 4/28/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr, The World Bank
formally set up the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program
with G20 donors pledging $900 million. Leaders at the G20 summit in
Pittsburgh in September 2009 had called on the World Bank to “work
with interested donors and organizations to develop a multilateral
trust fund to scale up agricultural assistance to low income
countries.”
   (Econ, 1/29/11, p.57)(http://tinyurl.com/4qwtyaz)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â May 6, An E.coli outbreak,
possibly linked to tainted lettuce, sickened at least 19 people in
Ohio, New York and Michigan prompting a recall throughout much of
the US. Freshway Food in Sidney, Ohio, said it was recalling lettuce
sold in 23 states and Washington DC.
   (SFC, 5/7/10, p.A4)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â May 7, It was reported
that bisphenol-A (BPA), contained in the lining of most US canned
foods, has been found in the urine of 93% of tested adults and
children. The hormone mimicker leaches from cans into foods,
especially acidic content like tomatoes.
   (SFC, 5/7/10, p.A14)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â May 15, Niger government
spokesman Mahamane Laouali Dan Dah said that more than 21,000 tons
of food would be given to 1.5 million people in need.
   (AP, 5/15/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â May 17, US researchers
said eating bacon, sausage, hot dogs and other processed meats can
raise the risk of heart disease and diabetes, in a study that
identifies the real bad boys of the meat counter.
   (Reuters, 5/17/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â May 21, Nigerian officials
and residents said hundreds of Niger nationals, mostly women and
children, have flooded into the country in search of food.
   (AFP, 5/22/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â May 25, The UN Food and
Agriculture Organization warned that a dramatic shortfall in
donations for Chad's agriculture relief puts 2 million people at
risk of hunger.
   (AP, 5/25/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 4, Cadmium has been
discovered in the painted design on "Shrek"-themed drinking glasses
being sold nationwide at McDonald's, forcing the burger giant to
recall 12 million of the cheap US-made collectibles while
dramatically expanding contamination concerns about the toxic metal
beyond imported children's jewelry.
   (AP, 6/4/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 12, Food critic Egon
Ronay (b.1915), whose eponymous restaurant guides helped Britain
embrace fine dining after years of postwar austerity, died. Ronay
left communist Hungary for Britain in 1946 and began writing about
food for The Daily Telegraph newspaper. In 1957 he produced the
first Egon Ronay Guide to British restaurants, modeled on France's
Michelin guides.
   (AP, 6/12/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 17, The US
Agricultural Dept. announced that Campbell Soup Co. is recalling 15
million pounds of SpaghettiOs with meatballs after a cooker
malfunctioned at one of the company's plants in Texas and left the
meat undercooked.
   (AP, 6/18/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 19, It was reported
that the North Korean government has lifted all restrictions on
private markets in a desperate attempt reduce food shortages.
   (SFC, 6/19/10, p.A2)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 21, The US Supreme
Court lifted a nationwide ban on a genetically modified alfalfa. The
injunction, imposed by a federal judge in San Francisco, prevented
farmers from planting Monsanto’s Roundup Ready alfalfa seed.
   (SFC, 6/22/10, p.A6)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 2, In Geneva the World
Food Program declared its work in Niger an "emergency operation"
after a survey found a sharp rise in malnutrition rates among young
children. WFP spokeswoman Emilia Casella said 16.7 percent of
children under 5 years old suffer from acute malnutrition in the
African country.
   (AP, 7/2/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 8, Australian police
investigated the mysterious mass poisoning of seven million tomato,
eggplant and other crops which is expected to send prices soaring.
Detectives probed whether vandals or a competitor with a grudge had
put herbicide in sprinklers at a nursery near the northeastern city
of Cairns, wiping out 16 million tons of produce, mostly tomatoes.
   (AFP, 7/8/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 4, Joey Chestnut (26),
of San Jose, Ca., ate 54 hot dogs capturing his 4th straight
Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Int’l. Hot Dog Eating Contest at
Coney Island, NYC.
  Â
(www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/04/MNSM1E9I2D.DTL)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 6, California Gov.
Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill extending voter approved
mandates for the humane treatment of egg-laying hens in the state.
   (SFC, 7/7/10, p.C1)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 9, Aid agency Oxfam
warned that the food crisis gripping the Sahel region of Africa was
reaching disastrous levels and called on governments and the
international community to act now. The crisis stretched across the
region taking in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger and northern
Nigeria.
   (AFP, 7/9/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 9, Chinese state media
said authorities have seized 76 tons of milk powder tainted with
melamine, the same chemical responsible for the deaths of six babies
two years ago.
   (AFP, 7/9/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 19, China's Cabinet,
the State Council, issued an order that said the black-market trade
in food waste and used oil posed "serious potential food safety
risks." It vowed to crack down on refined restaurant waste finding
its way back to dinner tables through illegal channels.
   (AP, 7/20/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 12, President Dmitry
Medvedev said drought has destroyed a quarter of Russia's grain crop
this year, pushing some farmers to the brink of bankruptcy and
hurting Russia's bid to expand food exports.
   (Reuters, 8/12/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 14, China’s People's
Daily reported that China will test a wider range of dairy products
and even breast milk as authorities investigate claims that a brand
of infant formula caused apparent breast growth in a small number of
babies. State media have said the babies with apparent breast growth
were found to have abnormal levels of the hormones estradiol and
prolactin, which stimulate lactation, or the making of breast milk.
   (AP, 8/14/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 14, Aid officials said
Niger is now facing the worst hunger crisis in its history, with
almost half the country's population in desperate need of food and
up to one in six children suffering from acute malnutrition.
Villagers described the situation as worse than in 2005, when aid
organizations treated tens of thousands of children for
malnutrition, and worse even than 1973, when thousands died.
   (AP, 8/14/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 17, The “Great British
Bake Off” (GBBO), a British television baking competition produced
by Love Productions, began airing on BBC Two.
  Â
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_British_Bake_Off)(Econ,
9/2/17, p.74)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 18, The US FDA said
some 380 million eggs have been recalled nationwide due to
salmonella contamination. Officials soon confirmed that over 2,000
people had been sickened by salmonella from May to July and over
500m eggs were recalled. The affected eggs were all traced back to
two farms in Iowa.
   (SFC, 8/19/10, p.C3)(Econ, 9/4/10, p.32)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 27, British
researchers said they have decoded the genetic sequence of wheat.
   (SFC, 8/28/10, p.A2)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 2, It was reported
that Miami-based Burger King Holdings has agreed to be acquired by
3G Capital for $3.3 billion, or $24 per share. The NY investment
firm was backed by Brazilian investors.
   (SFC, 9/3/10, p.D6)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 13, The US government
and the chocolate industry pledged $17 million to help end child
labor — some of it forced and dangerous — in Ghana and the Ivory
Coast, where much of the world's cocoa is grown.
  Â
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20100913/wl_mcclatchy/3626030)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 13, South Korea
announced plans to send 5,000 tons of rice and other aid to
flood-stricken North Korea in a sign of easing tension between the
divided countries.
   (AP, 9/13/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 15, Ethiopian PM Meles
Zenawi said his often drought-ravaged country would not need food
aid after 2015 as he formally launched a five-year development
program.
   (AFP, 9/15/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 16, China warned that
the worst offenders of food safety rules would get the death penalty
in a new crackdown on an industry that has spawned embarrassing and
deadly scandals in products ranging from seafood to baby formula.
   (AP, 9/16/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 20, In China JCRB.com,
a legal issues website administered by China's Supreme Court, said a
Jinfulai Dairy Company executive in Yangquan city of Shanxi province
and six other people were arrested after authorities discovered 26
tons of milk powder tainted with a toxic chemical.
   (AP, 9/20/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 22, Drugmaker Abbott
Laboratories said it is recalling millions of containers of its
best-selling Similac infant formula that may be contaminated with
insect parts.
   (AP, 9/22/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 29, The World Trade
Organization ruled that a US ban on Chinese poultry is illegal,
giving Beijing a win in the first international commerce ruling
against the administration of President Barack Obama.
   (AP, 9/29/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 19, The EU announced
plans for a five-year ban on animal cloning for food production as
well as a traceability system for imports of semen and embryos of
clones.
   (AFP, 10/19/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 21, The Guinness World
Records confirmed that a pumpkin grown in Wisconsin is officially
the world’s heaviest. Chris Stevens of New Richmond grew the1,810.5
pound gourd. It was 85 pounds heavier than the record set in Ohio in
2009.
   (SFC, 10/22/10, p.A10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 21, In the Dominican
Rep. 126 students were sickened after eating free school breakfasts
despite the government's efforts to resolve past problems with
tainted school food.
   (AP, 10/21/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 25, South Korea
prepared to send 5,000 tons of rice to flood victims in North Korea
in its first humanitarian rice shipment to its communist neighbor
since a conservative, pro-US government took office in 2008.
   (AP, 10/25/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 26, A Brazilian court
ordered McDonald's to pay a former franchise manager $17,500 because
he gained 65 pounds while working there a dozen years. The
32-year-old man says he was forced to sample food products each day
to ensure that quality standards remained high because McDonald's
hired "mystery clients" to randomly visit restaurants and report on
the food, service and cleanliness.
   (AP, 10/28/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 2, San Francisco’s
Board of Supervisors passed a law that cracks down on the popular
practice of giving away free toys with unhealthy restaurant meals
for children. The law, which would take effect on December 1, would
allow toys to be given away with kids' meals that have less than 600
calories, contain fruits and vegetables, and include beverages
without excessive fat or sugar. Mayor Newsom vetoed the measure on
Nov 13. On Nov 23 the board overrode the veto.
   (Reuters,
11/3/10)(http://tinyurl.com/25458to)(SFC, 11/24/10, p.C1)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 24, The National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it had closed 4,200
square miles/10,880 square kms of federal waters in the Gulf of
Mexico to royal red shrimping after a commercial shrimper discovered
tar balls in his net.
   (Reuters, 11/24/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 25, The EU high court
ruled that there is no such thing as "pure chocolate," ending an
EU-Italy food fight over chocolate labels. It also said the EU's
1999 chocolate labeling rules make no room for a "pure chocolate"
reference like the one Italy enacted in a 2003 law.
   (AP, 11/25/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 25, Bernard Matthews
(80), Britain’s largest turkey processor, died. He began in 1950
with an investment in 20 eggs. In 1953 he bought a derelict country
house, Great Witchingham Hall, where he and his wife, Joyce, raised
turkeys in all but one of the 36 rooms. It is still the company
headquarters.
   (AP, 11/26/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 25, San Francisco
based Del Monte said it has agreed to be acquired by a group led by
KKR & Co. in a $4 billion deal. KKR, Vestar Capital Partners and
Centerview Partners agreed to pay $19 a share in cash and would
assume $1.3 billion in net debt.
   (SFC, 11/26/10, p.C1)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 2, PepsiCo agreed to
buy one of Russia's top drinks companies in a deal that would make
the US food giant a dominant force in the Russian market and extend
its reach deep into former Soviet lands. Pepsi announced that it
will buy 66% Wimm-Bill-Dann for $3.8 billion and launch a tender
offer for the rest of the company.
   (AFP, 12/2/10)(Econ, 12/11/10, p.75)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 2, The UN appealed for
$415 million (€315 million) to feed almost two million Zimbabweans
facing near immediate malnutrition.
   (AFP, 12/2/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 13, President Barack
Obama signed into law the $4.5 billion Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act,
part of an administration-wide effort to combat childhood obesity.
Thousands more children would get into school-based meal programs
and those lunches and dinners would become more nutritious.
   (AP, 12/13/10)(SFC, 12/14/10, p.A7)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 22, The Indian
government, facing mounting public anger over soaring onion costs,
scrapped tax on imports of the vegetable to try to rein in prices of
the staple food.
   (AFP, 12/22/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dickson Despommier, a
professor at Columbia Univ., authored “The Vertical Farm: Feeding
the World in the 21st Century.”
   (SFC, 12/24/10, p.15)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Paul Greenberg authored
“Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food.”
   (SSFC, 7/11/10, p.F1)(Econ, 7/24/10, p.82)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Arnold Hiura authored “Kau
Kau: Cuisine and Culture in the Hawaiian Islands.”
   (SFC, 8/3/10, p.E1)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Adrienne Sylver authored
“Hot Diggity Dog: The History of the Hot Dog.” Cartoon illustrations
were created by Elwood H. Smith.
   (SSFC, 6/27/10, p.F7)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 4, Pres. Obama signed
the Food Safety Modernization Act, but Congress failed to adequately
fund the program, a $1.4 billion overhaul of the nation’s
food-safety system.
   (SFC, 1/5/11, p.A4)(SFC, 4/8/15, p.A7)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 6, Donald J. Tyson
(b.1930), chicken entrepreneur, died in Arkansas. He had built his
father’s chicken business into the behemoth Tyson Foods.
   (SFC, 1/7/11, p.A9)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 7, German authorities
stopped more than 4,700 farms from selling their meat and eggs as a
precautionary measure after animal feed was found to be contaminated
with cancer-causing chemicals. Authorities believed that some
150,000 tons of feed for poultry and swine containing industrial fat
has been fed to livestock across Germany. The fat contained dioxins
and should not have been in the food.
   (AP, 1/7/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 8, In Algeria Fresh
protests erupted against soaring food prices as the government
considered measures to limit the cost of staple foodstuffs to quell
the unrest. 2 people were already dead and 400 injured in protests
across the country since Jan 6.
   (Reuters, 1/8/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 8, A spokesman for
Germany's Agriculture Ministry said an overly high concentration of
cancer-causing dioxin has for the first time been detected in
samples of meat following the discovery that farm animals were fed
contaminated feed.
   (AP, 1/8/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 11, German authorities
ordered 140 pigs slaughtered after tests showed high levels of
cancer-causing dioxin in swine at a farm near Verden that purchased
tainted animal feed.
   (SFC, 1/12/11, p.A2)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 26, Algeria confirmed
it bought almost a million tons of wheat and ordered an urgent
speeding up of grain imports, a move seen heading off unrest over
food prices as protests swept north Africa.
   (Reuters, 1/26/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan, The US Dept. of
Agriculture approved the use of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready alfalfa,
ending a nationwide ban that had been imposed in March 2007. A
federal judge upheld the decision on Jan 6, 2012.
   (SFC, 1/7/12, p.D1)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan, Ethiopia’s government
imposed price controls to combat rising prices, giving food sellers
long lines of customers but barely any profit.
   (AP, 6/21/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 5, In Iran A
state-owned news website said Iran's broadcasting authority has
banned Iranian TV channels from showing cooking programs that
present recipes for foreign cuisine. The deputy head of Iran's state
broadcasting company, Ali Darabi, announced the ban during a visit
to one of the country's 30 state-run TV channels.
   (AP, 2/6/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 24, A British
specialist ice cream parlor planned to serve up breast milk ice
cream and says people should think of it as an organic, free-range
treat. The breast milk concoction, called the "Baby Gaga" ($23 per
serving), will be available from Feb 25 at the Icecreamists
restaurant in London's Covent Garden.
   (Reuters, 2/24/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 19, One of Japan's six
tsunami-crippled nuclear reactors appeared to stabilize but the
country suffered another blow after discovering traces of radiation
in food and water from near the stricken power plant. Crews fighting
to cool reactors managed to connect a power line. Japan halted sales
of food products near Fukushima because of contamination by a
radioactive element which can pose a short-term health risk. Japan's
police agency said 7,348 are dead and 10,947 are missing after last
week's earthquake and tsunami.
   (AP, 3/19/11)(AFP, 3/19/11)(Reuters, 3/19/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 20, Japan’s ministry
official Yoshifumi Kaji said that tests found excess amounts of
radioactive elements on canola and chrysanthemum greens, in addition
to spinach. He said the areas where the tainted produce was found
included three prefectures that previously had not recorded such
contamination. Tokyo Electric Power Company said two of the six
reactor units are now safely under control after their fuel storage
pools cooled down. The toll of dead or missing from Japan's worst
natural disaster in almost a century neared 21,000.
   (AP, 3/20/11)(Reuters, 3/20/11)(AFP, 3/20/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 26, In Maine a whoopee
pie maker created a massive 1,067 pound whoopee pie. State Reps.
Paul Davis and Emily Cain, sponsors of a bill to make the whoopee
pie Maine’s official “treat,” were on hand.
   (SSFC, 3/27/11, p.A10)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 27, Venezuela’s
President Chavez urged citizens to cut their calories to avoid
obesity, the latest lifestyle recommendation by the self-proclaimed
socialist crusader. Chavez has lobbied in recent weeks against what
he calls the evils of capitalism, including alcoholism, breast
implants and violent television programs.
   (AP, 3/27/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 28, Federal
agricultural workers in Louisiana were reported using blow torches
to burning every prickly pear cactus they came across in hope of
killing off a cactus-eating pest that's been on a tear across the
Gulf Coast and is moving West. Cactoblastis cactorum, a tan-colored
moth from Argentina, has been moving steadily across the Gulf Coast
for the past decade. Federal workers hoped to stop it before it gets
to Texas and the population explodes with an abundant food supply.
   (AP, 3/28/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 2, Chinese officials
said over 500 of the country’s 1,176 dairies were being shut down in
an attempt to clean up the scandal-plagued dairy industry.
   (SSFC, 4/3/11, p.A4)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 4, Japanese engineers
were forced to release radioactive water into the sea while
resorting to desperate measures to try to find the source of leaks
at a crippled Fukushima nuclear power complex hit by a tsunami on
March 11. Tokyo Electric Power said it had found radioactive
iodine-131 at 7.5 million times the legal limit in seawater near the
facility. Biologists admitted that the contamination could
eventually find its way into the ocean food chain.
   (Reuters, 4/4/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 7, Thailand
authorities seized 1,800 Bengal monitor lizards being smuggled on
pickup trucks to the capital. Their meat could sell for $7.50-$15
per pound ($16-$33 per kg) in China, making them worth more than
$60,000.
   (AP, 4/8/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 8, China’s government
and state media said 3 babies have died and 36 people, mostly
children, fallen ill after drinking possibly tainted milk in the
country's latest food scare.
   (AFP, 4/8/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 10, Chinese state
media reported that Intentional poisoning was behind the tainted
milk that killed three children and caused 36 others to become ill
in northwestern Gansu province last week. Police suspected that a
couple poisoned milk from a local farmer, causing three deaths,
because of anger over business disputes. Police soon found that
nitrite was added to milk from Ma Wenxuan's farm near the city of
Pingliang in Gansu province.
   (Reuters, 4/10/11)(AP, 4/12/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 20, China’s Legal
Daily newspaper said authorities in Shenyang have found bean sprouts
tainted with banned food additives to make the vegetables grow
faster and look shinier. Police had seized 40 tons of bean sprouts
treated with the chemical compounds sodium nitrite and urea, as well
as antibiotics and a plant hormone called 6-benzyladenine.
   (AP, 4/20/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 26, The
Philippines-based Asian Development Bank said world food prices that
surged 30 percent in the first two months of the year threaten to
push millions of Asians into extreme poverty and cut economic
growth.
   (AP, 4/26/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 27, Kenya's government
said it is removing the tax on maize and wheat imports in a bid to
cushion citizens from the effects of rising global food prices. PM
Raila Odinga told parliament that the government also wants to
remove all taxes on kerosene, the main fuel used for cooking.
   (AP, 4/27/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â May 7, Chinese farmer Liu
Mingsuo came out and counted 80 burst watermelons. By the afternoon
it was 100. Two days later he didn't bother to count anymore.
Watermelons began bursting by the score in Jiangsu province, after
farmers gave them overdoses of growth chemicals during wet weather.
About 20 farmers were affected, losing up to 115 acres (45 hectares)
of melon.
   (AP, 5/17/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â May 24, North Korea’s
reclusive leader Kim Jong Il reportedly traveled to an eastern
Chinese city to study Beijing's economic reforms, while a US
government team was in North Korea on a rare trip to assess food
shortages.
   (AP, 5/24/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â May 28, German government
officials said two more people have died of a bacterial outbreak
allegedly caused by contaminated Spanish cucumbers, bringing the
number of deaths to nine. Almost 300 people were sick with
haemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, in recent days. HUS is a rare
complication arising from an infection most commonly associated with
E. coli, a bacterium found in undercooked beef or contaminated food.
Almost a dozen people with HUS have been hospitalized in Sweden in
the past two weeks after travel to Germany. In Denmark, eight people
are hospitalized with E.coli infection that could be linked to the
outbreak. The E. coli was later identified as type O104:H4.
   (AP, 5/28/11)(AP, 5/29/11)(Econ, 6/4/11, p.63)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â May 30, Russia banned the
import of all vegetables from Germany and Spain and warned the
sanction could soon be applied to the rest of Europe because of the
deadly E. coli bacteria scare. German officials suspect the deadly
strain, which has already killed 12 people, may have come from
organic cucumbers imported from Spain.
   (AFP, 5/30/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â May 31, The death from a
food-borne bacterial outbreak in Germany rose to 16 with nearly 400
people suffering severe symptoms. Scientists were unsure of which
produce and which country was responsible for the unusual E. coli
germ.
   (SFC, 6/1/11, p.A2)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â May, Taiwan’s biggest-ever
food scare began when government inspectors testing sports drinks
and soft drinks discovered dangerous levels of industrial
plasticizers. Two food additive suppliers had substituted the
plasticizers for palm oil as clouding agents. Traces of plasticizers
were soon found in pharmaceuticals.
   (Econ, 6/18/11, p.48)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 2, The Obama
administration replaced the food pyramid standard for healthful
eating with new icon, a plate half filled with fruits and
vegetables, the other half with grains and protein.
   (SFC, 6/3/11, p.D1)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 2, Spain's prime
minister hit out at the European Commission and Germany for singling
out the country's produce as a possible source of a deadly bacterial
outbreak in Europe, and said the government would demand
explanations and reparations. The World Health Organization said the
E. coli bacteria responsible for a mysterious outbreak that has left
18 people dead and sickened hundreds is a new strain that has never
been seen before. The illness had now spread to at least 10 European
countries and fanned uncertainty about eating tomatoes, cucumbers
and lettuce.
   (AP, 6/2/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 6, German officials
retracted their assertion that the E.coli epidemic was caused by
bean sprouts from an organic farm. They said there was not enough
data to determine if the farm was in fact the source of the deadly
outbreak, which sickened people all over Europe and resulted in
twenty-two deaths.
           Â
(AP, 6/6/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 10, Laboratory tests
have determined that the E. coli epidemic in Germany and parts of
Europe was in fact caused by contaminated bean sprouts from an
organic farm. German authorities had been forced to retract their
assertion that the sprouts were to blame, but now, high-tech
laboratory testing proved that the sprouts were the culprit in the
outbreak that has killed 31 people and sickened nearly 3,000
Germans.
          Â
(AP, 6/10/11)(SFC, 6/11/11, p.A3)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 14, In an effort to
help combat childhood obesity, the Los Angeles Unified School
District agreed to stop serving flavored milk; neither chocolate nor
strawberry milk will be available in school cafeterias after July 1.
          Â
(LAT, 6/15/11)(AP, 6/14/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 22, Russia and the EU
signed a deal agreeing conditions for the resumption of EU fresh
vegetable imports to Russia, which banned them because of a deadly
E.coli outbreak.
   (Reuters, 6/22/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 23, Russia’s PM Putin
said his government would not revoke a ban on European vegetable
imports until Brussels met Kremlin conditions.
   (SFC, 6/24/11, p.A4)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 26, Jose Graziano da
Silva of Brazil was elected as director-general of the Food and
Agriculture Organization, the UN agency tasked with reducing world
hunger at a time of high food prices.
   (AP, 6/26/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 28, The Dutch
parliament agreed with the Dutch Party for the Animals (pvdD) and
passed a bill banning the slaughter of livestock without stunning it
first, removing an exemption that has allowed Jews and Muslims to
butcher animals according to centuries old dietary rules.
   (SFC, 6/28/11, p.A2)(Econ, 12/21/13, p.80)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun, Ethiopian consumers
started a text-message campaign to boycott meat in an attempt to
force prices down. The campaign has not worked.
   (AP, 6/21/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 4, The European Union
said it will restart food aid to North Korea after the country's
repressive communist regime agreed to an unprecedented monitoring
system as it suffers through its worst food crisis in years. The WFP
will check delivery at every stage and pay more than 400 visits a
month to distribution sites, hospitals, child-care facilities and
households.
   (AP, 7/4/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 5, The EU announced
action against Egyptian bean and seed imports, after tests indicated
that a 15-ton batch of Egyptian fenugreek seeds imported in 2009 to
Germany and then distributed elsewhere was at the root of an E.coli
outbreak that killed 50 people.
   (AFP, 7/14/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 11, Ethiopia said it
needed $398 million to help millions of people in need of food aid
due to a severe drought. It was estimated that a total of 4.5
million people will require humanitarian assistance during the
remaining period of the current year.
   (AFP, 7/11/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 14, Switzerland
suspended imports of some seeds, beans and sprouts from Egypt, after
the EU blamed Egyptian fenugreek seeds for E.coli outbreaks in
Germany and France. The temporary ban would expire in October 31,
2011, in line with the EU's suspension.
   (AFP, 7/14/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 22, UN food official
Olivier De Schutter ended a five-day visit to Madagascar. He said
nearly 70 percent of people living in the south of the island nation
are food insecure and that the country has one of the world's
highest levels of child malnutrition. He also said US and EU
sanctions have led to major job losses and hurt agricultural
development and urged nations to reconsider their sanctions.
   (AP, 7/23/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 26, The UN refugees
agency said some 40,000 famine-hit people have fled to the Somali
capital Mogadishu over the past month in search of food and water.
An estimated 3.7 million people in Somalia, around a third of the
population, are on the brink of starvation and millions more in
Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda have been affected by the worst
drought in the region in 60 years.
   (AFP, 7/26/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 3, US meat giant
Cargill said it is recalling 36 million pounds of ground turkey
linked to a nationwide salmonella outbreak that has killed one
person in California and sickened at least 76 others. The fresh and
frozen ground turkey products were produced at the company's
Springdale, Ark., plant from Feb. 20 through Aug. 2.
   (AP, 8/3/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 5, Somali government
troops opened fire on hungry civilians, killing at least seven
people, as both groups made a grab for food at a UN distribution
site in Mogadishu.
   (AP, 8/5/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 9, The World Food
Program said it is sending 800 metric tons of high energy biscuits
to East Africa to help fight the famine in Somalia. The UN food
agency said that the series of nine airlifts will be enough to feed
1.6 million people for a day.
   (AP, 8/9/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 10, Tanzania pledged
300 tons of maize for Somalia's drought-hit people during a visit by
Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
   (AFP, 8/10/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 15, The UN's World
Food Program for the first time acknowledged it has been
investigating food theft in Somalia for two months. Vast piles of
food sacks with stamps on them from the World Food Program, the US
government aid arm USAID and the Japanese government were found for
sale in Mogadishu markets.
   (AP, 8/15/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 17, Southern Ethiopia
teetered on the brink of a food crisis. The Ethiopian government
said 250,000 people need food aid amid what the UN says is the worst
drought in 60 years. An aid organization and agricultural officials
said the number of people who need emergency food aid in Ethiopia is
bigger, around 700,000.
   (AP, 8/17/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 19, Russia and North
Korea both announced that Moscow will provide food assistance,
including some 50,000 tons of wheat, to Pyongyang. North Korea might
face another food crisis this year due to heavy rains.
   (AP, 8/20/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 19, The UN said tens
of thousands of people have already died in Djibouti, Ethiopia,
Kenya and Somalia. It warned that the famine has not peaked and that
12 million people in the area need food aid.
   (AP, 8/20/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 5, The UN said famine
has spread into Somalia’s southern Bay region, where nearly 60% of
people are acutely malnourished, four times the rate at which an
emergency is declared. Hundreds were reported dying every day, with
at least half of them children.
   (AP, 9/5/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 27, The US Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention said that 72 illnesses were linked to
tainted Colorado cantaloupe. Colorado state and local officials said
they are investigating three additional deaths that may be
connected. Cantaloupes from Jensen Farms were recalled on Sep 10.
The listeria outbreak left 33 people dead. On Sep 26, 2013, Eric and
Ryan Jensen were arested on charges of introducing adulterated food
into interstate commerce. On Oct 22, 2013, Eric and Ryan pleaded
guilty to misdemeanor charges.
   (AP, 9/28/11)(SFC, 10/1/11, p.A6)(SFC, 9/27/13,
p.A7)(SFC, 10/22/12, p.A5)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 1, Denmark imposed a
“fat tax” on foods such as butter and oil as a way to curb unhealthy
eating habits. The tariff on saturated fats was abolished in
November 2012.
   (SFC, 10/3/11, p.A2)(Econ, 11/17/12, p.52)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 4, USAID director Raj
Shah said the US will donate more than $121 million to Ethiopia to
fight food insecurity amid a drought in the East African nation.
   (AP, 10/5/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 7, California’s Gov.
Jerry Brown signed measures to ban the importation, possession and
sale of shark fins. The importation ban begins in January, but sale
and use will continue to July 2013.
   (SFC, 10/8/11, p.A1)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 10, In California a
1,704 pumpkin won a prize of $11,224 in the annual Half Moon Bay
Pumpkin Festival. Leonardo Urena’s pumpkin set a state record, but
was 106 pounds short of a world record set in 2010 by a Wisconsin
grown gourd.
   (SFC, 10/11/11, p.C1)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct, The USDA awarded a
10-year contract worth up to $25 million to Fairfax, Va.-based SRA
International, Inc., to step up the technology used to combat food
stamp fraud. A criminal swindle of the nation's $64.7 billion food
stamp program was playing out at small neighborhood stores around
the country, where thousands of retailers are suspected of trading
deals with customers, exchanging lesser amounts of cash for their
stamps.
   (AP, 11/19/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 15, The EU said it has
tightened controls on imports of Chinese rice products after a
growing number of shipments were contaminated by unauthorized
genetically-modified rice.
   (AFP, 11/15/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 18, US Congress lifted
a 5-year-old ban on funding horse meat inspections in a spending
bill Pres. Obama signed into law to keep the government afloat until
mid-December. The last US slaughterhouse that butchered horses
closed in 2007 in Illinois. Animal welfare activists have warned of
massive public outcry in any town where a slaughterhouse may open.
   (AP, 11/30/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 18, The European
Commission said an extra 10 million euros ($13.5 million) in
humanitarian funding will go on addressing "major shortfalls" in
food in the Sahel region. The crisis is affecting 7 million people
in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Nigeria.
   (AFP, 11/19/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 24, Pakistani police
in Karachi arrested Zainab Bibi (32), a woman who had killed her
husband and was attempting to cook his body parts after he planned
to marry another woman without her permission.
   (AFP, 11/24/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 8, The UN's World Food
Program said meager rains and diminished harvests have left between
five and seven million people in Africa's Sahel region facing food
shortages. The countries of Niger, Mauritania, Mali and Chad were
worst hit.
   (AFP, 12/9/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 26, China's biggest
milk producer, Mengniu Dairy Group, said it has destroyed a batch
found to have excessive levels of a cancer-causing toxin, in another
safety scare for the country's dairy industry. The problem was
reportedly discovered before the milk containing high levels of
aflatoxin was sold to the public.
   (AP, 12/26/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 30, China’s food
safety regulator in Shenzhen said it had found excessive levels of
aflatoxin in peanuts sold in three stores, and in cooking oil in
four restaurants.
   (AFP, 12/31/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Lizzie Collingham authored
“The Taste of War: World War Two and the Battle for Food.”
   (Econ, 2/5/11, p.97)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Redwood City-based
Impossible Foods was founded. By 2020 the creator of soy-based
burgers had raised $1.5 billion including $700 million in 2020.
  Â
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_Foods)(SFC, 10/21/20,
p.C2)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â The first McDonald’s
restaurant in Bosnia opened.
   (Econ, 2/1/14, p.65)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Hungary under PM Viktor
Orban introduced one of the world’s broadest levies on unhealthy
foods. The “chips tax” applied to sugar, salt, fat, booze and energy
drinks.
   (Econ 6/10/17, p.52)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â In Pakistan the Punjab
Food Authority (PFA) was founded, the first agency of its kind
in the country.
   (Econ 5/6/17, p.39)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â In Somalia at least 80,000
people died this year of famine. A large amount of food sent by the
UN to Mogadishu during the famine never reached the starving people
it was intended for. Some of the World Food Program supplies went to
the black market, some to feed livestock. One warehouse full of
rations was looted in its entirety by a government official. Across
the city, feeding sites handed out far less food than records
indicate they should have. A report in 2013 raised the number of
Somali deaths due to famine in 2011 to 260,000, half of them under
age 5.
   (Econ, 2/25/12, p.58)(AP, 3/17/12)(AP, 5/6/13)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 3, Mali's government
announced a plan to distribute 40,000 tons of food in emergency aid
to drought victims and those lacking food security.
   (AFP, 1/3/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 10, India's Premier
Manmohan Singh called malnutrition in the country "a national shame"
as he released a major survey that found 42% of children under five
were underweight.
   (AFP, 1/10/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 10, A survey across 33
states by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, a
government watchdog, found that 68.4% of 1,791 milk samples
contained adulterants. Detergent was found in 8.4% of all samples.
   (AFP, 1/10/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 14, Dan Evins (76),
the founder of the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store chain, died in
Lebanon, Tenn. He opened his first restaurant in Lebanon in 1969.
The restaurant catered to highway travelers and focused on offering
Southern hospitality, country-style cooking and an associated gift
shop.
   (AP, 1/16/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 18, Aid agencies said
thousands of people, more than half of them children, died
needlessly and millions of dollars were wasted because the
international community did not respond to early warnings of an
impending famine in East Africa. Earlier this week food donated by
Cargill, the Minnesota-based producer and marketer of food,
agricultural, financial and industrial products, was delivered to
communities in need in Kenya. Cargill donated 10,000 metric tons of
rice to World Food Program USA. The donation, the largest ever food
donation to WFP USA, would feed nearly 1 million people for a month.
   (AP, 1/18/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 18, The EU said it is
doubling humanitarian aid to Africa's Sahel area to 95 million euros
in a "race against time" to lift two million people facing food
shortages out of danger.
   (AFP, 1/18/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 18, Niger PM Brigi
Rafini said 34.9% of local households, or more than five million
people, are going hungry.
   (AFP, 1/18/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 20, South Korea lifted
its nine-year import ban on Canadian beef.
   (Reuters, 1/20/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 30, The World Food
Program estimated that as many as a half million people could be
forced to flee Sudan if the government in Khartoum does not allow
humanitarian aid into the country. A top US official said that a
humanitarian crisis is looming.
   (AP, 1/30/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 31, WFP officials said
the World Food Program (WFP) will give emergency food to more than
80,000 people in Mozambique after twin cyclones left 32 dead.
   (AP, 1/31/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 3, A Minnesota food
company said it is recalling more than a million hard-cooked eggs
distributed to 34 states after testing revealed some may be
contaminated with listeria.
   (AP, 2/4/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 3, Puerto Rico's
government announced plans to kill as many iguanas as possible and
export their meat in hopes of eradicating an imported species that
has long vexed residents and entertained tourists. The reptiles were
first seen in the wild in Puerto Rico in the 1970s when owners began
to release them, and their numbers have since exploded. The US
territory estimated it has 4 million iguanas, which is a little more
than the island's human population.
   (AP, 2/4/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 9, The World Food
Program said a food crisis in Mauritania as a result of drought is
expected to be three times worse that in 2010, when the Sahel was
crippled by food shortages.
   (AFP, 2/9/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 15, A report from Save
the Children said 5 children around the world die every minute
because of chronic malnutrition. It also said that almost half a
billion children risk are at risk of permanent damage over the next
15 years.
   (AP, 2/15/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 15, United Nations and
EU aid chiefs called for "urgent" assistance for West Africa's
drought-hit Sahel region (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania,
Niger), saying it needed $725 million (552 million euros) this year.
   (AFP, 2/15/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 8, Taiwanese pork
farmers pelted police with rotten eggs and animal feces as anger
over policies on US meat imports sparked a mass protest. Thousands
of protesters gathered in downtown Taipei to voice fears that
President Ma Ying-jeou's government will lift a ban on US pork
treated with ractopamine, a controversial additive used to promote
lean meat. Early this week the government announced a plan to lift a
ban on ractopamine-treated US beef. But a government guarantee to
keep a ban on US pork containing the additive failed to convince the
pig farmers.
   (AFP, 3/8/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 12, The UN and
humanitarian group Oxfam said more than six million people in Niger
need immediate help as the country faces a persistent food crisis
due to drought and a number of other factors.
   (AFP, 3/12/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 15, New research
reportedly showed a link between an increase in the death of bees
and insecticides, specifically the chemicals used to coat corn
seeds. A study, titled "Assessment of the Environmental Exposure of
Honeybees to Particulate Matter Containing Neonicotinoid
Insecticides Coming from Corn Coated Seeds," was published in the
American Chemical Society's Environmental Science & Technology
journal, and provided insight into colony collapse disorder.
   (ABCNews, 3/15/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 21, Safeway said it
will stop selling fresh or frozen ground beef containing the filler
known as “pink slime.” Supervalu Inc. also said it will stop
carrying products with the filler.
   (SFC, 3/22/12, p.A6)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 21, Arysta LifeScience
Corp. of Japan canceled its registration to sell the controversial
methyl iodide pesticide in California. The pesticide was intended
for strawberry fields and had been approved for use in the state in
2010.
   (SFC, 3/22/12, p.C1)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 21, Vietnamese police
seized five tons of frozen pangolins and iguanas that were destined
for the cooking pot in China.
   (AFP, 3/23/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 23, In Sacramento,
Ca., Frederick Salyer (56), the former owner of SK Foods, pleaded
guilty to running the company as a racketeering enterprise that
bribed purchasers, fixed prices and doctored lab tests of moldy
tomato paste. Salyer served as CEO from 1999-2009, when the company
filed for bankruptcy. Salyer was arrested in Feb, 2010, during a
brief return to the US from Andorra. In 2013 he was sentenced to 6
years in federal prison and ordered to forfeit $3.45 million.
   (SFC, 3/24/12, p.D5)(SFC, 2/13/13, p.E3)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 2, The Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation gave a $12-million grant to a project aimed
at boosting yam production and doubling the income of west African
farmers of the crop. The initial focus is on 200,000 smallholder
farm families in Ghana and Nigeria.
   (AFP, 4/2/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 5, A Vietnamese survey
reported that nearly a third of pre-school children in Vietnam
suffer from malnutrition and stunted growth, while in urban areas
rates of childhood obesity are rising. The study by the National
Institute of Nutrition was based on research in 2009 and 2010.
   (AFP, 4/5/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 13, Zimbabwe state
media said the country will suffer a one million ton maize deficit
due to drought, after nearly half of the national crop now coming up
for harvest has failed. The United Nations has already appealed for
$488 million dollars in food aid for Zimbabwe for last year and the
first months of this year.
   (AFP, 4/13/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 14, The United States
called off plans to send food aid to North Korea after the
impoverished state's defiant rocket launch, as an aid group feared
more than two million children would go hungry.
   (AFP, 4/14/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 15, In southern India
a beef-eating festival at Osmania University triggered clashes
between rival students as Hindu activists fought with low-caste
Dalit groups who had organized the event in Hyderabad.
   (AFP, 4/16/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 23, Swiss-based Nestle
said it would buy Pfizer Nutrition, the infant nutrition arm of
American Drug firm Pfizer, for $11.85 billion.
   (Econ, 4/28/12, p.75)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 25, Two major South
Korean retailers pulled US beef from their stores following the
discovery of mad cow disease in a California dairy cow. US health
authorities a day earlier said the animal was never a threat to the
nation's food supply. US authorities said the dead cow had what
scientists call an atypical case of BSE, meaning that a random
mutation in the animal rather than infected cattle feed was the
cause.
   (AFP, 4/25/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 27, The UN food agency
appealed to oil- and mineral-rich nations to set up a fund to combat
the food crisis gripping the Sahel desert region (Chad, Mali,
Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger) and other parts of Africa. The
group said it needed $110 million (83 million euros) to combat the
crisis in the short term.
   (AFP, 4/27/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â May 13, Japanese artist
Mao Sugiyama (22) had his penis and testicles surgically removed in
March and kept them frozen for two months before dishing them out,
seasoned and braised, to customers at an event hall. Diners paid
20,000 yen ($250) for the plate with a portion of genitals. Police
in Tokyo said they knew of the episode, but added that it had not
broken the law as cannibalism was not illegal in Japan.
   (AFP, 5/25/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â May 15, The UN World Food
Program launched the distribution of cash vouchers for the purchase
of food in Neteboulou, in Senegal's Tambacounda region, for people
hit by poor harvests and high food prices.
   (AFP, 5/18/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â May 18, Pres. Obama
pledged that the United States will keep providing emergency aid to
feed the world's hungry and said that firms had committed $3 billion
to improve agriculture.
   (AFP, 5/18/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â May 25, Chinese media
reported that police in southwest China have detained a man
suspected of murdering more than a dozen boys and young men,
chopping up their bodies and selling the flesh to unsuspecting
consumers. Zhang Yongming (56) was detained two weeks ago in his
home village of Nanmen in Yunnan and is being investigated over the
murder of a 19-year-old man in late April and the disappearance of
several others.
   (AFP, 5/25/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â May 30, A consortium of
geneticists reported that they have decoded the genome of the tomato
and that is has 31,760 genes, about 7,000 times more than human
beings. They sequenced both the Heinz 1706 variety, used for
ketchup, and its closest wild relative, Solanum pimpinellifolium,
from the highlands of Peru.
   (SFC, 5/31/12, p.A10)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 1, Australian
researchers reported that eating a block of dark chocolate daily
over 10 years has "significant" benefits for high-risk cardiac
patients and could prevent heart attacks and strokes.
   (AFP, 6/1/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 13, Chinese dairy
maker Yili started recalling batches of baby formula after
authorities found they contained high levels of mercury. The recall
covered baby formula produced from November 2011 to May 2012.
   (AFP, 6/14/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 15, A Scottish
authority in Argyll lifted its ban stopping a nine-year-old Scottish
girl from photographing her school lunches and posting them on her
blog, after the move sparked outrage online. Six weeks ago, Martha
Payne began taking photos of the uninspiring lunches provided by her
school canteen and posting them on her blog, "NeverSeconds."
   (AFP, 6/15/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 27, Austrian police
stopped 3 overloaded vans about to ross into Hungary and found them
packed with 9.5 tons of stolen garlic, valued at $37,500, apparently
coming from Spain.
   (SFC, 6/28/12, p.A2)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 4, In NYC Joey
Chestnut of San Jose, Ca., won his 6th straight title matching his
own record of eating 68 hot dogs in ten minutes at Nathan’s Coney
Island contest.
   (SFC, 7/5/12, p.A7)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 13, Papua New Guinea
police said they have arrested 29 people accused of being part of a
cannibal cult in the jungle interior and charged them with the
murders of seven suspected witch doctors. The cult members allegedly
ate their victims' brains raw and made soup from their penises.
   (AP, 7/13/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 1, In Chile
McDonald's, Burger King, KFC and other fast-food companies were
accused in Chile of violating the country's new law against
including toys with children's meals. Sen. Guido Gerardi filed a
formal complaint with the health authority accusing those and other
companies of knowingly endangering the health of children by
marketing kids' meals with toys more than a month after the law took
effect June 7.
   (AP, 8/1/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug, Blue Apron, a pioneer
in delivering food kits to customers for assembly at home, was
founded in NYC. In 2017 the company filed to go public.
   (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Apron)(SFC,
6/3/17, p.D4)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 3, In Minnesota the
Black Bear Casino Resort near Carlton cooked up a world-record bacon
cheeseburger that's 10 feet in diameter and weighed a record 2,014
pounds. It included 60 pounds of bacon, 50 pounds of lettuce, 50
pounds of sliced onions, 40 pounds of pickles and 40 pounds of
cheese.
   (AFP, 9/4/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 4, US fast food giant
McDonald's, famed for its beef-based Big Mac burgers, said it will
open its first ever vegetarian-only restaurant in the world in India
next year.
   (AFP, 9/4/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 4, The three UN food
agencies urged governments to take quick action to curb rising
prices of corn, wheat and soybeans and avoid a repeat of the
2007-2008 food crises.
   (AP, 9/4/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 2, The US National
Institute for Public Health and the Environment said a salmonella
outbreak traced to smoked salmon has sickened hundreds of people in
the Netherlands and the United States. It has been traced to Dutch
company Foppen, which sells fish to many major Dutch supermarkets
and to stores around the world.
   (AP, 10/2/12)(http://tinyurl.com/m3wv4tr)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 8, In Half Moon Bay,
Ca., Thad Starr (45) of Pleasant Hills, Oregon, won the 39th annual
giant pumpkin contest with a 1,775 gourd, a local record. The world
record was recently set in Massachusetts by a 2,009-pound specimen.
   (SFC, 10/9/12, p.C2)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 9, The UN Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) said its 2009 headline-grabbing
announcement that 1 billion people in the world were hungry was
off-target and that the number is actually more like 870 million.
   (AP, 10/9/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 16, The UN's Food and
Agricultural Organization marked World Food Day, a day dedicated to
highlighting the importance of global food security. It said one in
eight people around the world goes to bed hungry every night.
   (AP, 10/16/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 16, Hostess Brands,
the bankrupted maker of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and other baked goods,
said it is closing all of its 33 plants and 565 distribution centers
nationwide and laying off 18,500 workers.
   (SFC, 11/17/12, p.A1)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 19, Hostess Brands Inc
agreed in court to enter private mediation with its lenders and
leaders of a striking union to try to avert the liquidation of the
maker of Twinkies snack cakes and Wonder Bread.
   (Reuters, 11/19/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 21, Arysta, the
Japanese maker of the pesticide methyl iodide, agreed to remove all
of its products from the US market and end sales permanently.
Exposure to the fumigant was shown to have caused thyroid cancer,
miscarriages and nervous system damage on rats and rabbits.
   (SFC, 11/22/12, p.A15)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 26, The US Food and
Drug Administration halted operations of the country's largest
organic peanut butter processor, cracking down on salmonella
poisoning for the first time with new enforcement authority the
agency gained in a 2011 food safety law. FDA officials had found
salmonella all over Sunland Inc.'s New Mexico processing plant.
   (AP, 11/27/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â US First Lady Michelle
Obama authored “American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen
Garden and Gardens Across America.”
   (Econ, 6/9/12, p.40)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â In Brazil the voracious
helicoverpa armiger caterpillar, that likely arrived from Asia, was
spotted for the first time in the Americas on cotton farms in
drought-prone western Bahia. The caterpillar was soon in soybean
fields thousands of kilometers away thanks to the long-distance
flying power of its moths, consuming everything from tomatoes to
sorghum.
   (AP, 2/27/14)
2012-2013Â Â Â Some 500 tons of horsemeat were sold to
a subsidiary of Comigel, a French company, whose frozen meals were
sold to 28 different companies in 13 European countries. The cheap
horsemeat from Belgium, Romania and Canada were imported into France
and then labelled incorrectly as beef, with the meat processing
company Spanghero and the Dutch middlemen pocketing the profits. In
2019 a trial opened in Paris for four men accused of helping
organize the sale.
   {France, Netherlands, Food}
   (AFP, 1/21/19)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 3, Hormel Foods said
it has agreed to buy the Skippy peanut butter business from Unilever
for about $700 million.
   (SFC, 1/4/13, p.C3)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 7, Fred Turner (80),
former CEO and chairman of McDonald’s Corp., died. He introduced the
first Drive-Thru in 1975.
   (Econ, 1/26/13, p.82)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 8, The UN World Food
Program said it is unable to help 1 million Syrians who are going
hungry.
   (AP, 1/8/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 13, Argentina said
that a monthly basket for an indigent family of four cost 719 pesos
in December, or about 5.99 pesos per day, per person. On the streets
of Buenos Aires, 6 pesos doesn't stretch beyond a pack of chewing
gum, or a cup of yoghurt, or a single "alfajor" cookie.
   (AP, 1/17/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 16, British PM David
Cameron condemned horse meat found in beef burgers sold by Tesco and
said this was likely to prove both embarrassing and costly for the
firm.
   (AP, 1/16/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 18, McDonald's and
Finley's Management Co. agreed to pay $700,000 to members of a
Muslim community to settle allegations a Detroit-area restaurant
falsely advertised its food as being prepared according to Islamic
dietary law.
   (AP, 1/21/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 2, The US and Mexico
reached a tentative agreement on cross-border trade in tomatoes.
   (SFC, 2/4/13, p.A8)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 4, Argentina announced
a two-month price freeze on supermarket products in an effort to
stop spiraling inflation.
   (AP, 2/4/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 7, UK authorities said
beef lasagna products recalled from British supermarkets by frozen
food company Findus had tested positive for more than 60% horsemeat.
   (SFC, 2/8/13, p.A2)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 9, The French and
British governments promised to punish those found responsible for
selling horsemeat in beef products. French consumer safety
authorities said companies from Romania, Cyprus and the Netherlands
were part of a supply chain that resulted in horsemeat being
disguised as beef in frozen lasagna sold around the continent.
   (Reuters, 2/9/13)(AP, 2/10/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 14, H.J. Heinz said it
has agreed to be acquired by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and
3G Capital, a Brazilian private-equity firm, in a $23.3 billion
deal. 3G later bought Kraft and merged it with Heinz in 2015.
   (SFC, 2/15/13, p.C4)(Econ, 2/23/13, p.63)(Econ,
7/9/16, p.54)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 15, Britain’s Food
Standards Agency (FSA) said it had found 29 positive tests for
horsemeat after demanding samples from UK retailers engulfed in a
contamination scandal that is spreading across Europe.
   (AP, 2/15/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 15, The EU agreed to
begin random DNA checks on meat products in a bid to put a lid on a
spreading scandal over horsemeat.
   (SFC, 2/16/13, p.A2)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 20, The Czech
Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority said DNA tests showed two
batches of frozen Nowaco Lasagne Bolognese in a branch of the Tesco
supermarket chain in the western city of Pilsen contained horsemeat.
Luxembourg was listed as the country of origin.
   (Reuters, 2/20/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 22, Frozen food maker
Birds Eye said it would withdraw some products in Britain and
Ireland after it found traces of horse DNA in one of its ready meals
sold in Belgium.
   (Reuters, 2/22/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 22, French catering
and vouchers group Sodexo said it was withdrawing all frozen beef
products from the market in Britain after finding horse meat in some
of its products.
   (Reuters, 2/22/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 22, Ireland’s
government said B&F Meats in Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary,
has been caught labeling horse meat as beef and shipping it to a
company in the Czech Rep.
   (SFC, 2/23/13, p.A2)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 25, Swedish furniture
giant Ikea was drawn into Europe's widening food labeling scandal as
authorities said they had detected horse meat in frozen meatballs
labeled as beef and pork and sold in 13 countries across the
continent.
   (AP, 2/25/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 26, Hungary’s National
Food Chain Safety Office (Nebih) horse meat labeled as beef has been
sold in the country.
   (AP, 2/26/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 26, A South African
study was released showing that donkey, water buffalo and other
unconventional ingredients have been found in almost two thirds of
hamburgers and sausages tested in South Africa.
   (AP, 2/26/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 1, Britain’s Food
Standards Agency said traces of horse meat has been found in ground
beef sold by Taco Bell, which has only three British outlets. Horse
DNA also was found in Birds Eye spaghetti Bolognese and beef lasagna
and spicy minced beef skewers from catering supplier Brakes.
   (AP, 3/1/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 5, Frozen food maker
Birds Eye said horse meat DNA found in two of its products came from
an Irish meat processor that is part of one of Ireland's largest
agricultural businesses. The company said investigations had found
its Belgian supplier Frigilunch NV had unknowingly sourced meat with
horse DNA from Irish meat processor QK Meats.
   (Reuters, 3/5/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 11, New York City
Mayor Michael Bloomberg vowed to appeal a judge's ruling that struck
down his pioneering ban on large sugary drinks sold by the city's
restaurants, movie theaters and other food service businesses just a
day before it was to take effect.
   (Reuters, 3/11/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 11, In China Shanghai
officials said the number of dumped adult and piglet carcasses
retrieved in tributaries of the Huangpu river had reached 2,813. The
city government, citing monitoring authorities, said the drinking
water quality has not been affected. Authorities have been pulling
out swollen and rotting pigs since March 8. By March 21 the dead pig
count reached over 16,000.
   (AP, 3/11/13)(SFC, 3/23/13, p.A2)(Econ, 12/20/14,
p.70)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 11, CITES
conservationists in Bangkok voted to regulate the trade of shark
species threatened because their fins are used for expensive
delicacies in Asia.
   (SFC, 2/12/13, p.A2)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 21, In San Francisco
commercial beekeepers and environmental organizations filed suit
against federal regulators for not banning the use of two pesticides
they say harm honeybees.
   (SFC, 3/27/13, p.E5)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 1, In Egypt an
outbreak of food poisoning at al-Azhar University forced the
hospitalization of 479 students. It occurred after a meal served at
the university dormitories in Cairo's Nasr City district. The
outbreak led to student protests.
   (AP, 4/2/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 6, Sweden-based Ikea
said it has withdrawn 17,000 portions of moose lasagna from its home
furnishings stores in Europe after traces of pork were found in a
batch tested in Belgium. The product had only been on sale for a
month when it was pulled off the shelves on March 22.
   (AP, 4/6/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 9, British supermarket
chain Asda said very low levels of the horse pain-killing drug
phenylbutazone, also known as bute, had been found in horsemeat
discovered in tins of corned beef. This was the first such case in
Britain.
   (Reuters, 4/9/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 9, The United Nations
reopened food distribution centers in Gaza that closed last week
following a violent protest at a UN compound.
   (AP, 4/9/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 15, The United Nations
Children's Fund said more than a quarter of children under the age
of 5 worldwide are permanently "stunted" from malnutrition, leaving
them physically and intellectually weak and representing a
scandalous waste of human potential.
   (AP, 4/15/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 16, EU officials said
that over 7,000 tests of food products across the EU have shown that
nearly 5% of food labeled as beef contained horse meat.
   (SFC, 4/17/13, p.A2)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 18, Irish company ABP
Foods, at the center of a scandal in Europe over horsemeat in beef
products, said it is leaving the frozen burger market after selling
the factory where burgers containing horse DNA were first
discovered.
   (Reuters, 4/18/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 27, The US military
said that 100 of 166 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have joined the
hunger strike. 19 were receiving liquid nutrients through a nasal
tube to prevent dangerous weight loss. Lawyers put the number of
hunger strikers at 130.
   (SSFC, 4/28/13, p.A5)(Econ, 5/4/13, p.27)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â May 2, China’s Ministry of
Public Security said police have broken a crime ring that passed off
more than $1 million in rat and small mammal meat as mutton.
   (Reuters, 5/2/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â May 7, Scientists said
Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD) is destroying entire crops of
cassava and has spread out of East Africa into the heart of the
continent. It is attacking plants as far south as Angola and now
threatens to move west into Nigeria, the world's biggest producer of
the potato-like root that helps feed 500 million Africans.
   (AP, 5/7/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â May 20, New Zealand PM
John Key said a frozen meat issue is a technical hiccup that he
expects will be resolved this week. Hundreds of tons of frozen
mutton, lamb and beef from New Zealand have been stranded for 2-3
weeks on Chinese docks after China halted their import due to a
certification dispute.
   (AP, 5/20/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â May 21, It was reported
that NASA has given a six-month grant to a company developing what
could be the world’s first 3-D food printer. And the project’s
developer, reports Quartz, an online digital news site, believes the
invention could be used to end world hunger.
   (http://tinyurl.com/mhbdgwh)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â May 21, Rob Rhinehart (24)
raised $100,000 in after requesting donations on Twitter for support
to manufacture Soylent, an artificial food substance. Over 1,000
backers overnight pledged $65 for a week’s supply.
   (SSFC, 5/26/13, p.D2)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â May 29, It was reported
that Wan Long, chairman of China’s Shuanghui International has made
a 4.7 billion bid for Virginia-based meatpacker Smithfield Foods.
The purchase was endorsed by Smithfield's board but still require
approval from shareholders and US regulators.
   (AP, 5/31/13)(http://tinyurl.com/k4sdobs)(Econ,
6/8/13, p.38)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 4, Venezuelan
officials said restrictions on the sale of 20 basic items including
toilet paper and chicken subject to price controls are set to begin
next week in Zulia, its most populous state.
   (AP, 6/4/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 13, "The Fast Diet",
also known as the 5:2 diet, is the brainchild of TV medical
journalist Michael Mosley and journalist Mimi Spencer and allows
people to eat what they want for five days but only eat 600 calories
a day on the other two. Their book, "The Fast Diet", has topped
bestselling book lists in Britain and the United States this year
and been reprinted more than a dozen times.
   (Reuters, 6/13/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 19, The World Food
Prize Foundation awarded this year’s prize to 3 pioneers of plant
biotechnology: Marc Van Montagu, founder and chairman of the
Institute of Plant Biotechnology Outreach at Ghent Univ. in Belgium;
Mary-Dell Chilton, founder and researcher of Syngenta Biotechnology;
and Robert Fraley, chief technology officer at Monsanto.
   (SFC, 6/20/13, p.A6)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 3, The Indian
government launched a $22 billion welfare program to give cheap food
to hundreds of millions of people, a center-piece of the ruling
Congress party's plan to win a third term in office in elections due
by May 2014.
   (Reuters, 7/3/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 10, The World Food
Program said it needed $27 million every month to deal with the
growing ranks of Syrians made hungry because of the war as Muslims
began observing the dawn-to-dusk fast for the month of Ramadan
across the Middle East.
   (AP, 7/10/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 16, In India 23
children died and more than two dozen others were sick in Bihar
state after eating a free school lunch that was tainted with
insecticide. The principal of the school was arrested on July 24,
nine days after she went into hiding. In October Meena Kumari and
her husband were charged with murder.
   (AP, 7/17/13)(AP, 7/18/13)(AP, 7/24/13)(AP,
10/22/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 30, A New York sate
appeals court ruled that NYC’s Board of health exceeded its legal
authority when it voted last year to put a 16-ounce size limit on
high calorie soft drinks.
   (SFC, 7/31/13, p.A6)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 5, In Britain Dutch
scientists served hamburgers made from cow stem cells at a public
tasting in London. Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, underwrote the
250,000-euro ($330,000) project, which began in 2006.
   (AP, 8/5/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 6, In France masked
farmers began dumping pallets holding tens of thousands of eggs in
front of a grocery store in Ploumagoar. The action has continued
nightly in the region due to low egg prices. Over-production and
expensive renovations to meet new European norms on hen houses have
reduced egg farmer incomes.
   (AP, 8/9/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 7, Arkansas-based
Tyson Foods Inc, declared it would no longer accept cattle that had
been fed the most popular brand of the feed additive, called Zilmax,
a powerful and fast-selling product from pharmaceutical company
Merck & Co.
   (Reuters, 8/13/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 7, In Denver, at the
National Cattlemen's Beef Association conference, meat producer JBS
USA presented a video showing short clips of cows struggling to walk
and displaying other signs of distress. It was shown as part of a
panel discussion on the pros and cons of using a class of drugs
known as beta-agonists - the additives fed to cattle in the weeks
before slaughter to add up to 30 pounds to bodyweight and reduce fat
content in the meat.
   (Reuters, 8/13/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 7, China fined six
companies, including Mead Johnson Nutrition Co, Danone and New
Zealand dairy giant Fonterra, a total of $110 million following an
investigation into price fixing and anti-competitive practices by
foreign baby formula makers.
   (Reuters, 8/7/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 26, India's parliament
passed a flagship 18-billion-dollar program to provide subsidized
food to the poor that is intended to "wipe out" endemic hunger and
malnutrition in the aspiring superpower.
   (AFP, 8/26/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 2, India's upper house
of parliament approved a $20 billion scheme to distribute subsidized
wheat and rice to 800 million people, backing an anti-malnutrition
drive that investors fear will mean missing the fiscal deficit
target.
   (Reuters, 9/2/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 11, The UN Food and
Agricultural Organization said one-third of all food produced in the
world gets wasted, amounting to a loss of $750 billion a year.
   (SFC, 9/12/13, p.A2)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 24, Burger King
introduced “Satisfries,” a new crinkle-cut french fry with about 20%
fewer calories and a slightly higher price.
   (SFC, 9/25/13, p.A5)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 16, Washington became
the 2nd state to adopt rules for the recreational sale of marijuana.
Initiative 522, a measure requiring retail outlets to label
genetically modified (GM) food, failed.
   (SFC, 10/16/13,
p.A12)(http://tinyurl.com/o7zmnsa)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 24, In India retail
prices of onions were reported to have quadrupled in three months -
now costing over 100 rupees ($1.62) a kilo, which is what a third of
the population live on per day - as a supply squeeze caused by wet
weather has hampered harvests.
   (Reuters, 10/24/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 26, Wisconsin’s
Milwaukee-based Garden-Fresh Foods recalled 50 more tons of chicken
and ham products over concern of possible listeria contamination.
The company first recalled 9 tons of food on Sep 25.
   (SSFC, 10/27/13, p.A8)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 16, The governing body
on the Hawaiian island of Kauai voted to override their mayor's veto
of a bill that seeks to reign in widespread pesticide use and the
testing of new genetically modified crops.
   (Reuters, 11/16/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 17, The head of
Syria's General Foreign Trade Organization (GFTO) said Syrian bank
accounts frozen abroad are gradually being freed up for use to fund
food purchases, with France being the most committed to releasing
the money.
   (Reuters, 11/17/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 27, In Germany
authorities in Dresden arrested a policeman on suspicion of killing
and chopping up a man he met on the Internet who apparently
fantasized about being killed and eaten. Officer Detlev Guenzel had
met a willing victim in an Internet chat forum devoted to
cannibalism fetishists. In 2015 Guenzel was convicted of murdering
Wojciech Stempniewicz and chopping him up in an S&M chamber.
Guenzel was again convicted in a 2016 re-trial.
   (AP, 11/29/13)(AP, 4/1/15)(AFP, 12/13/16)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 11, The US FDA said it
will begin curbing the use of some medically important antibiotics
commonly fed to animals to fatten them up for market. A 3-year plan
to implement this was called the Veterinary Feed Directive.
   (SFC, 12/12/13, p.A1)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 13, Europe's
second-highest court said it has overturned a decision by the
European Commission to allow the cultivation and sale of a
genetically modified potato developed by German chemicals group
BASF.
   (Reuters, 12/13/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 16, French police made
21 arrests as part of an investigation into claims that meat from
horses used to produce anti-rabies and other serums got into the
food chain.
   (AFP, 12/16/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Michael Pollan, food
intellectual, authored “Cooked: A Natural History of
Transformation.”
   (Econ, 4/27/13, p.76)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Mary Roach authored “Gulp:
Adventures on the Alimentary Canal.”
   (Econ, 5/4/13, p.82)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â "Parts Unknown," hosted by
Anthony Bourdain (1957-2018), began airing on CNN. Each trip was an
adventure, part travelogue, part history lesson, part love letter to
exotic foods. There had been nothing quite like it on the staid news
network, and it became an immediate hit.
   (AP, 6/8/18)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â DoorDash Inc., a San
Francisco–based on-demand food delivery service, was founded by
Stanford students Andy Fang, Stanley Tang, Tony Xu and Evan Moor.
   (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DoorDash)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â China reported that
inspectors had found nearly half the rice tested in restaurants and
canteens in the southern city of Guangzhou was laced with cadmium.
   (Econ 6/10/17, p.18)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 9, Health experts
launched Action on Sugar, a drive to cut sugar levels in food in an
effort to tackle obesity and diabetes.
   (AFP, 1/9/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 24, The World Food
Program said looters in South Sudan have stolen UN food aid that
would have fed over 220,000 people for a month.
   (AFP, 1/24/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 31, A US federal judge
gave Hosam Amara, a former Agriprocessors Inc. manager, a 41-month
prison term for exploiting immigrant workers at a kosher
slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa. 389 workers were arrested in a
May, 2008, raid at the plant.
   (SFC, 2/1/14, p.A6)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 3, St. Louis-based
Post Holdings Inc. said it is buying the PowerBar and Musashi brands
from Nestle SA, further diversifying its business by expanding into
the active nutrition category. Musashi is a leading sports nutrition
brand in Australia.
   (AP, 2/3/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 3, The UN launched a
bid to raise $2.0 billion (1.48 billion euros) from international
donors in 2014 to help more than 20 million people threatened by
famine in Africa's Sahel region.
   (AFP, 2/3/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 21, The EU bloc's
executive Commission added Bavarian pretzels to its "protected
origins" list.
   (AP, 2/21/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 2, Mozambique
agriculture minister Jose Pacheco said that more than 300,000 people
in central and southern regions of the country face famine this
year.
   (AP, 3/3/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 10, Fruit supply
companies Chiquita of the United States and Fyffes of Ireland said
they had agreed to merge to create the world's biggest banana
supplier. Fyffes is Europe's biggest banana importer and the oldest
industry brand, dating to 1929.
   (AP, 3/10/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 16, British food bank
operator Trussell Trust reported that the number of people in
Britain using food banks has nearly tripled to more than 900,000
over the past 12 months.
   (AFP, 4/16/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 23, The Vermont House
approved the country’s first state bill to require the labeling of
genetically modified food, effective July 1, 2016. Gov. Peter
Shumlin said he plans to sign it.
   (SFC, 4/25/14, p.A6)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â May 1, The EU as of today
banned imports of Indian mangoes including the Alphonso, considered
the king of all the mango varieties grown in South Asia, because a
large number of shipments were contaminated with fruit flies. The
pests are considered a threat to crops grown in Europe.
   (AP, 5/7/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â May 8, Religious leaders
in Britain called for all meat to be labelled with details of how it
was slaughtered after it emerged halal and kosher meat in
supermarkets is often not marked as such.
   (AFP, 5/8/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â May 28, The City Council
of Irwindale, Ca., voted to drop a public nuisance declaration and
lawsuit against Huy Fong Foods, the maker of Sriracha hot sauce.
Residents have complained last year that the spicy odors burned
their throats and eyes. Other suitors including Texas have offered a
friendlier home to the company.
   (SFC, 5/30/14, p.A4)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â May 29, In southern
billionaire Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, unveiled Dragon V2, a new
spacecraft designed to carry up to seven astronauts to the Int’l.
Space Station (ISS).
   (SFC, 5/30/14, p.A4)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 16, Britain's food
safety watchdog said you should not wash a chicken before cooking
it, because washing raw chicken spreads the campylobacter bacteria.
   (AFP, 6/16/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 1, The UN warned that
nearly 800,000 refugees in Africa have had their food rations
slashed by up to 60 percent, threatening to push many to the brink
of starvation. The situation was most dire for the 300,000 refugees
in Chad, mainly from Sudan's Darfur region and from the Central
African Republic.
   (AP, 7/1/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 2, The UN's food aid
agency warned that Ethiopia is facing a huge wave of refugees from
South Sudan, where the specter of famine threatens to heap further
misery on a people already rocked by civil war.
   (AFP, 7/2/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 4, In NYC high-ranking
chowhound Joey "Jaws" Chestnut dropped to one knee and proposed to
his longtime girlfriend before the annual Nathan's Famous Fourth of
July Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island, then packed away 61
franks and buns to hold onto his coveted mustard yellow winner's
belt.
   (AP, 7/4/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 4, It was reported
that Israeli inventor Dror Sharon has created a small scanner, the
SciO, that can read the chemical makeup of foods, drugs and other
items we use. His infrared spectrometer, the size of a thumb drive,
was being marketed for applications in food, pharmaceuticals and
horticulture.
   (SFC, 7/4/14, p.A3)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 23, Chinese police
detained five people from a unit of US food supplier OSI Group, in a
case involving expired meat sold to fast food giants including
McDonald's and KFC.
   (AFP, 7/23/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 14, Agricultural
officials from all 28 European Union countries began emergency talks
to weigh the impact of Russia's ban on Western food imports and
whether to compensate EU farmers.
   (Reuters, 8/14/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 19, Poland said it has
asked the European Commission to lodge a formal complaint to the
World Trade Organization (WTO) over a Russian ban on EU food
products that has hit Poland particularly hard.
   (Reuters, 8/19/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 21, Russia said it was
investigating dozens of McDonald's restaurants, in what many
businessmen said was retaliation for Western sanctions over Ukraine
they fear could spread to other symbols of Western capitalism.
   (Reuters, 8/21/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 22, Robert Singleton
(77), the co-owner of a shuttered Petaluma, Ca., slaughterhouse,
pleaded guilty to charges that he helped sell adulterated meat.
Three other defendants with ties to Rancho Feeding Corp. were
indicted last week for conspiring to distribute the meat. In
November foreman Felix Cabrera pleaded guilty to conspiring to
distribute adulterated meat. On Feb 18, 2015, four managers pleaded
guilty to the charges. In 2016 Cabrera was sentenced to three months
in federal prison.
   (SFC, 8/23/14, p.C4)(SFC, 2/19/15, p.E2)(SFC,
3/19/16, p.C1)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 26, Burger King said
it has agreed to buy Canada's coffee and donut chain Tim Hortons in
an $11 billion deal that would create the world's third-largest fast
food company and be based in Canada.
   (AFP, 8/26/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 8, Hong Kong pulled
pineapple buns and dumplings from the shelves after Taiwanese
authorities said a factory in the south of the island illegally used
243 tons of tainted products, often referred to as "gutter oil", to
mix with lard oil. Oil from Chang Guann, the Taiwanese oil
manufacturer, was at the heart of the scandal.
   (AFP, 9/8/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 9, Ukraine said it was
drafting a list of food and other products it plans to ban from
Russia in retaliation for Moscow's own painful and
politically-charged restrictions.
   (AFP, 9/9/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 24, In Indonesia
scientists released some 3,000 tiny wasps in a secure tent-like
habitat to monitor their success in an effort to halt an infestation
of cassava crops by mealybugs. Scientists hoped their number would
multiply to 450,000 prior to release in a month following government
approval.
   (SFC, 9/25/14, p.A6)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 30, It was reported
that China's government has kicked off a media campaign in support
of genetically modified crops, as it battles a wave of negative
publicity over a technology it hopes will play a major role in
boosting its food security.
   (Reuters, 9/30/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 23, Brazilian
companies Cutrale and Safra said they are again raising their bid
for banana producer Chiquita, to $681 million, a day before Chiquita
shareholders are expected to vote on a combination with Irish fruit
importer Fyffes. Shareholders rejected the proposal.
   (AP, 10/23/14)(AP, 10/24/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 24, Russia’s
agricultural safety agency said some 600 tons of banned meat from
Europe were discovered disguised as other items such as frozen
mushrooms, juice, fruit jellies and chewing gum.
   (AFP, 10/24/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 4, Voters in Berkeley,
California, adopted the nation’s first soda tax, a 1-cent per-ounce
levy on most beverages with added sugar.
   (SSFC, 11/9/14, p.C1)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 5, Russia gave 12
South African firms rights to supply canned and frozen fish. South
Africa will resume seafood exports to Russia for the first time in
almost two decades as Moscow looked elsewhere for food sources
following Western sanctions over Ukraine.
   (Reuters, 11/11/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 13, India won US
support for its food stockpiling scheme, rescuing the World Trade
Organization from paralysis and giving new Prime Minister Narendra
Modi a victory without major concessions.
   (Reuters, 11/13/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 14, In Syria armed
clashes erupted in Douma after hungry residents stormed food
warehouses belonging to an Islamist rebel group. Residents said the
Army of Islam only distributes food and medical supplies to its
fighters.
   (AFP, 11/15/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 25, The US FDA
announced long-delayed calorie labeling rules, requiring
establishment that sell prepared foods and have 20 or more location
to post calorie content on the menus and displays. Compliance for
most companies was due to November, 2015.
   (SFC, 11/26/14, p.A6)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 27, Britain’s Food
Standards Agency (FSA) said some 70 percent of fresh chickens on
sale in Britain are contaminated with a food poisoning bug.
   (AFP, 11/27/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 1, The UN World Food
Program suspended a food voucher program serving more than 1.7
million Syrian refugees, citing a funding crisis after many donors
failed to meet their commitments.
   (AP, 12/1/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 9, The UN World Food
Program said it has reinstated a food aid program to help feed over
1.7 million Syrian refugees following a significan cash infusion.
   (SFC, 12/10/14, p.A3)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 18, Police in Canada's
French-speaking province of Quebec announced a breakthrough in the
mysterious disappearance last August of truckloads of Canadian maple
syrup. Three suspects were arrested, vehicles were seized and
syrup-making equipment recovered after a manhunt in Canada and the
United States. Richard Vallieres, one of four defendants, made a
profit of close to C$1m.
   (Reuters, 12/18/12)(Econ, 11/12/16, p.33)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 19, US health
officials warned consumers to avoid prepackaged caramel apples after
they were linked to 4 deaths in which people were sickened with
listeria. At least 28 more were known sickened in ten states.
   (SFC, 12/20/14, p.A5)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Sandra Gilbert authored
“The Culinary Imagination: From Myth to Modernity.”
   (Econ, 8/30/14, p.73)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Nina Teicholz authored
“The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a
healthy Diet.
   (Econ, 5/31/14, p.76)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 5, Ireland said the
United States will permit imports of beef from the country, the
first European Union state allowed to resume sales since the mad cow
disease scare over 15 years ago.
   (AP, 1/5/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 7, In California US
District Judge Stephen Wilson ruled that the state prohibition
on the sale of foie gras illegally encroached upon the regulatory
domain of the federal government. The state ban was passed in 2004
and went into effect in 2012.
   (SFC, 1/8/15, p.A1)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 13, The European
Parliament lifted the EU-wide ban on genetically modified (GM) crops
allowing national governments to impose their own restrictions.
    (Econ, 1/17/15, p.52)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 21, It was reported
that an Alabama man was cited by police in Georgia for eating a
cheeseburger while driving issued under the state’s distracted
driving law.
   (SFC, 1/21/15, p.A6)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 23, It was reported
that robbers and looters were targeting trucks carrying food across
Venezuela in another sign of worsening shortages that have turned
basics like flour and chicken into coveted booty.
   (Reuters, 1/23/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 27, Albertsons
supermarket chain said FTC regulators have approved its purchase of
Safeway Inc. after the companies agreed to sell 168 stores in eight
states to preserve competition. Most of the stores will be bought by
Haggen, a northwest chain.
   (SFC, 1/28/15, p.C2)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 29, UN experts said
over 38,000 Somali children are at "high risk" from dying from
starvation despite hunger levels improving by almost a third across
the war-torn nation.
   (AFP, 1/29/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 31, It was reported
that a mysterious annual epidemic in northern India was likely due
to a toxin found in litchi fruit.
   (SFC, 1/31/15, p.A5)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 3, The United Nations
World Food Program (WFP) declared itself "extremely concerned" by
photographs showing its food parcels being handed out in Syria with
Islamic State logos on them.
   (Reuters, 2/3/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 14, Michael Ferrero
(89), Italy’s chocolate king, died. He took over the family’s
hazelnut-chocolate business after his father died in 1949 and soon
added vegetable oil to make it spreadable. In 1964 he invented the
name Nutella and in 1983 took it to America.
   (Econ., 2/21/15, p.90)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 23, The Russian
consumer watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said it has suspended since Feb 20
all imports of cheese from Poland due to irregularities in
"normative requirements".
   (Reuters, 2/23/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 2, In India a law
banning the possession and sale of beef went into effect in the
state of Maharashtra. The ban on the slaughter of cattle put
thousands out of work and created problems for struggling farmers.
The ban would not apply to buffaloes India was the world’s 2nd
largest exporter of beef behind Brazil.
   (SFC, 3/6/15, p.A5)(SFC, 3/27/15, p.A2)(Econ.,
4/11/15, p.37)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 5, Russian officials
sharply criticized US fast-food giants Coca-Cola and McDonald's for
their "unhealthy" products, comparing aggressive advertising
campaigns to a war on citizens.
   (AFP, 3/5/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 20, The US FDA
approved genetically engineered foods as safe.
   (SFC, 3/21/15, p.A5)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 24, It was reported
that H.J. Heinz Co. is buying Kraft Foods, creating one of the
largest food and beverage companies in the world with annual revenue
of about $28 billion. The deal was engineered by Warren Buffett's
Berkshire Hathaway and Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital. The two
will invest another $10 billion in the new company.
   (AP, 3/25/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 7, Dutch businessman
Willy Selten was sentenced to two and a half years in prison. He was
at the center of a Europe-wide fraud in which falsely labeled
horsemeat led to thousands of tons of meat being recalled.
   (Reuters, 4/7/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 9, Australia reported
that second case of the so-called Tropical Race 4 strain of Panama
disease affecting banana plants has been confirmed, dashing hopes
that a recently confirmed outbreak would be isolated and threatening
the country's A$550 million ($423 million) sector.
   (Reuters, 4/9/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 16, France's top
administrative court overturned a ban on the display in a pastry
shop of "racist" cakes in the shape of a naked man and woman coated
in dark chocolate.
   (AFP, 4/16/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 27, The UN said more
than 40 percent of South Sudan's 11 million people need food aid,
the highest hunger levels recorded in the world's youngest country,
where fighting erupted 18 months ago.
   (Reuters, 5/27/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 5, India’s Food and
Safety Standards Authority imposed a ban on the Maggi brand of
instant noodles made by Nestle India after a food-safety agency in
Uttar Pradesh found excessive levels of lead in the noodles. Export
of the noodles was allowed on June 30, but a ban on local sales
remained in place.
   (Econ, 7/4/15, p.55)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 16, The US FDA
finalized plans to ban trans fat, a heart damaging additive, from
the American food supply.
   (SFC, 6/17/15, p.A1)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 20, Italian pizza
makers in Milan won a Guinness World Record for creating a pizza
1.59 km long.
   (SSFC, 6/21/15, p.A3)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 22, In China
restaurateurs in Yulin, in the largely rural and poor Guangxi Zhuang
Autonomous Region, held an annual dog meat festival despite
international criticism of the event as cruel and unhygienic. At
least 10,000 dogs were expected to be slaughtered.
   (AP, 6/22/15)(Econ, 6/20/15, p.46)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 24, Russian President
Vladimir Putin extended a ban against most Western food imports for
a year after EU foreign ministers agreed to prolong sanctions
against Moscow over the Ukraine conflict until January 2016.
   (AFP, 6/24/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 3, An outbreak of
salmonella began in the US. By September one person was dead and at
least 285 others left sickened. It was traced to cucumbers imported
from Mexico by a San Diego distributor.
   (SSFC, 9/6/15, p.A7)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 4, In NYC Matt Stonie
downed 62 hot dogs to beat Joey Chestnut and win the Nathan’s Famous
hot dog eating contest at Coney Island.
   (SSFC, 7/5/15, p.A12)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 7, A French court
jailed a woman for conning thousands of Chileans into buying a kit
to make "magic cheese" they could sell back to French cosmetics
firms for use in luxury beauty products. Gilberte Van Erpe (74) was
given a six-year prison sentence -- three years suspended -- and a
250,000-euro ($270,000) fine for her scam. The scam. Which began in
2005, collapsed in July 2006 and Van Erpe was arrested in the French
Riviera city of Nice in 2008, but it was not possible to extradite
her.
   (AFP, 7/7/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 27, French farmers
angry over low prices turned back hundreds of trucks at the German
border, looking for cargos of foreign meat and milk products.
   (AP, 7/27/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 30, Belgian farmers
blocked roads and entrances to grocery store distribution centers to
protest what they say are unfairly low prices for milk, pork and
other products.
   (AP, 7/30/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 6, The Russian
government steamrolled tons of contraband cheese and destroyed fruit
with tractors in a public display of its commitment to its
one-year-old ban on Western foods. The move raised protests in
Russia, with people signing a petition urging the government to
instead donate the food to the poor suffering through the country's
vicious recession.
   (AP, 8/6/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 9, Scotland's devolved
government said it intended to ban the growing of genetically
modified (GM) crops on its territory to protect its "clean and green
brand" and because there was little evidence that Scottish consumers
wanted GM products.
   (Reuters, 8/9/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 11, An Indian official
said the government is seeking damages from Nestle India, accusing
it of unfair trade practices and false labeling after several states
found its popular brand of instant noodles contained unsafe levels
of lead.
   (AP, 8/11/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 13, Russia broadened a
food embargo imposed in retaliation for Western sanctions over
Ukraine to include Iceland, a significant fish importer, as well as
Montenegro, Albania and Liechtenstein.
   (AFP, 8/13/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 18, Russian police
said they had detained an "international criminal gang" that
produced contraband cheese worth some $30 million using banned
Western ingredients. An unnamed source in law enforcement said that
the rennet used by the ring had been imported illegally from
countries including Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, which are subject
to Russian sanctions.
   (AFP, 8/18/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 25, The World Food
Program (WFP) said around 1.5 million Zimbabweans are predicted to
go hungry this year after a dramatic fall in maize production due to
severe drought this year.
   (Reuters, 8/25/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 10, Pres. Obama
awarded Alice Waters (71), the Berkeley pioneer of the farm-to-table
movement, the National Humanities Medal. Nine other recipients
included actress Sally Field, and writer Larry McMurtry.
   (SFC, 9/11/15, p.D1)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 15, Russian state news
agencies said French supermarket chain Auchan has been fined over
$370,000 by Russian officials over alleged food safety violations.
   (AP, 9/15/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 4, The European
Commission said nineteen EU member states have requested opt-outs
for all or part of their territory from cultivation of a Monsanto
genetically-modified crop, which is authorized to be grown in the
European Union.
   (Reuters, 10/5/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 8, Paul Prudhomme
(75), king of Cajun cooking, died in New Orleans.
   (Econ, 10/24/15, p.86)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 13, European lawmakers
rejected a proposal that would have allowed countries to restrict or
ban the use of imported GM crops that have secured EU approval.
   (Reuters, 10/13/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 16, UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon marked World Food Day with a visit to
the Milan Expo World's Fair, which is focused on food security and
nutrition.
   (AP, 10/16/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 26, It was reported
that Burger King has opened its first store in sparsely populated
Mongolia, joining companies from Pizza Hut to Porsche in
anticipating an economic boom from the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold
mine.
   (AP, 10/2615)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 26, The World Health
Organization said hot dogs, bacon, cold cuts and other processed
meats raise the risk of colon, stomach and other cancers, and red
meat probably contributes to the disease, throwing its considerable
authority behind what many doctors have been warning for years.
   (AP, 10/2615)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 3, It was reported
that Chipotle has closed down 43 of its restaurants in Oregon and
Washington states after at least 37 people were reported sickened in
an outbreak of E. coli. This was the third food-borne illness at the
chain this year.
   (SFC, 11/3/15, p.D4)(SFC, 11/4/15, p.A4)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 8, Boston College said
the number of students complaining of gastrointestinal symptoms
after eating at Chipotle has climbed to 80. Chipotle said it thinks
the illnesses are an isolated case of norovirus.
   (SFC, 12/9/15, p.A10)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Liz Carlisle authored
“Lentil Underground: Renegade Farmers and the Future of Food in
America.”
   (SSFC, 1/25/15, p.N1)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Ted Merwin authored
“Pastrami on Rye: An Overstuffed History of the Jewish
Deli.”
   (Econ, 12/12/15, p.79)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Q. Edward Wang, a
China-born American historian, authored "Chopsticks: A Cultural and
Culinary History."
   (Econ, 4/25/20, p.34)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â The FDA approved
genetically modified AquAdvantage Salmon, a Massachusetts-based
company, as “safe and effective.” In 2018, the federal agency
greenlit AquaBounty’s sprawling Indiana facility. In 2021 the
inaugural harvest of genetically modified salmon began after the
pandemic delayed the sale of the first such altered animal to be
cleared for human consumption in the US.
   (AP, 5/27/21)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Costa Rica slapped a ban
on the import of Hass avocados from nine countries including Mexico,
the top producer. This was supposedly a precautionary step against
sunblotch, an infection that can hop from one species to another.
   (Econ, 9/10/16, p.28)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 7, The US government
released its 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. For the first
time it set specific limits on sugar intake.
   (AP, 1/8/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 20, Ukraine ratcheted
up its trade war with Russia in reprisal for Moscow's seeming
efforts to slash its westward-leaning neighbor's economic ties with
other former Soviet states. PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Kiev was
adding 70 food and other products to its existing list of items
Russia cannot sell in Ukraine.
   (AFP, 1/20/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 20, The UN World Food
Program said that some 2.5 million people in the Central African
Republic face hunger. The number has doubled in just one year.
   (AP, 1/20/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 31, The US Agency for
International Development announced that the US has boosted its
emergency food aid to Ethiopia by nearly $100 million to combat one
of the worst droughts in decades.
   (AP, 1/31/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 15, Venezuela said
managers of a state-run supermarket chain are among 49 people
arrested for hoarding and re-selling food at a time of acute
shortages.
   (AFP, 2/15/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 23, South Africa said
it will relax some of its tough rules on genetically modified crops
so it can ramp up maize imports from the United States and Mexico to
avert a potential food crisis amid a severe drought.
   (Reuters, 2/23/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 16, The United
Nations' food agency said it needed $220 million in funding to
provide assistance to drought-hit Zimbabwe until March 2017.
   (Reuters, 3/16/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 18, General Mills
announced that it would voluntarily add genetically engineered food
(GMO) information to its labels.
   (SFC, 3/19/16, p.D1)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 18, The UN World Food
Program said some Syrians in the besieged areas of Daraya and Deir
al-Zor have been reduced to eating grass because food supplies are
cut off.
   (Reuters, 3/18/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 23, The UN World Food
Program (WFP) said nearly half of Yemen's 22 provinces on the verge
of famine as result of the war there and more than 13 million people
need food aid.
   (Reuters, 3/23/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 12, Malawi's President
Peter Mutharika declared a national disaster after a severe drought
ravaged the southern African nation and appealed for 1.2 million
tons of maize to plug a looming deficit of the staple.
   (Reuters, 4/14/16)(Econ, 4/16/15, p.40)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 15, France's top
administrative court overturned a 2014 ban on a type of genetically
modified (GMO) maize in a symbolic victory for GMO supporters that
will not allow such crops to be grown in France because of
subsequent legislation reinforcing the ban.
   (Reuters, 4/15/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â May 5, The US FDA said it
is investigating a listeria outbreak that led to a massive recall of
frozen fruits and vegetables by CRF Frozen Foods. 8 people had
become infected from food made at its Pasco, Wa., plant. A recall
included 358 products under 42 separate brand names since May 1,
2014.
   (SFC, 5/6/16, p.A8)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â May 9, The UN World Food
Program said up to 5.3 million people in South Sudan may face a
severe food shortages during this year's lean season, nearly double
the number in the first three months of the year.
   (Reuters, 5/9/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â May 20, First Lady
Michelle Obama unveiled the FDA’s new nutrition facts label which
has a bigger display of calorie count and the inclusion of added
sugar.
   (SFC, 5/21/16, p.A1)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 14, In Venezuela
dozens of bakeries, supermarkets and hardware shops were looted in
the eastern city of Cumana after gangs of looters on motorcycles
raided trucks transporting food as the country's food crisis
continued. More than 400 people were arrested, including three
suspected gang leaders. Over the next few days at least 5 people
were reported killed in food related disturbances.
   (AFP, 6/17/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 21, In southern China
Yulin city went ahead with an annual dog-meat eating festival
despite heavy criticism and protests from animal rights activists.
   (AP, 6/21/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 4, In NYC Joey
Chestnut downed a record 70 hot dogs to regain the Mustard Yellow
Int’l. Belt at Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest on Coney
Island.
   (SFC, 7/5/16, p.A5)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 7, France-based
Danone, the world’s largest yogurt maker, agreed to buy WhiteWave
Foods, a natural-food group, for $12.5 billion.
   (Econ, 7/9/16, p.53)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 11, Romania's
President Klaus Iohannis signed into law legislation obliging
supermarkets to sell at least 51% locally-produced meat, fruit, eggs
and vegetables.
   (AP, 7/11/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul, Natasha
Ednan-Laperouse (15), who was allergic to sesame seeds, collapsed on
a British Airways flight from London to Nice after eating a baguette
from the British sandwich chain Pret A Manger.
   (AP, 9/28/18)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 11, An Indian
government panel cleared commercial use for indigenously developed
GM mustard seeds in what would be the country’s first genetically
modified (GM) food crop. Politicians still needed to give final
approvals amid wide-spread public opposition.
   (Reuters, 8/25/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 1, Yum China Holdings
Inc., the owner of KFC and Taco Bell, completed the spinoff of its
China division. It began trading as YUMC on the New York Stock
Exchange as a separate company.
   (AP, 11/1/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 24, In the SF Bay Area
a Thanksgiving luncheon at the American Legion in Antioch left 3
people dead and another 18 suffering symptoms of nausea, vomiting
and diarrhea. On Dec 20 CDC officials said the illness was caused by
Clostridium perfringens.
   (SFC, 12/3/16, p.D2)(SFC, 12/21/16, p.D2)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 30, Peng Chang-kuei
(98), the creator of General Tso’s chicken, died in Taipei. He had
created the Hunan-style dish during the Taiwan Strait crisis of 1955
during the 4-day visit by Adm. Arthur Radford, chairman of the US
Joint chiefs of staff.
   (SSFC, 12/4/16, p.C11)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 5, Vietnam punished
two editors of a major newspaper which had earlier been fined for
publishing what authorities said were false reports on toxic fish
sauce. A total of 50 news organizations were fined in November for
running reports about high arsenic levels found in fish sauce,
causing widespread panic.
   (AFP, 12/5/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 8, Britain’s
Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) said junk food ads aimed at
children from both print and social media will be banned from next
year.
   (AFP, 12/8/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 21, A Greek state food
safety agency said several soft drinks and food products mostly made
by multinational companies have been withdrawn from sale in greater
Athens after an anarchist group said it had injected packages and
plastic bottles with chlorine and hydrochloric acid. A group calling
itself "Green Nemesis" posted the threat on the internet on Dec 19,
saying it intended to cause financial damage to the companies.
   (AP, 12/21/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â The US allowed Brazilian
beef into the country after two decades of talks.
   (Econ, 3/25/17, p.59)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â The number of people
worldwide suffering from hunger this year increased by 38 million to
815 million, according to a UN report published on Sep 15, 2017.
   (SFC, 9/16/17 p.A2)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 27, The World Food
Program said around 1.8 million people are at risk of starvation in
northeast Nigeria, victims of an Islamist insurgency that is
undermining efforts by the WFP.
   (Reuters, 1/27/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 1, In South Africa
workers and managers in the chicken industry marched to the office
of the EU delegation in Pretoria, alleging their livelihoods are in
jeopardy because of allegedly illegal dumping of EU chicken meat in
the local market.
   (AP, 2/1/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 1, Zimbabwe started
levying a 15 percent value-added tax on basic foodstuffs, dealing a
further blow to cash-strapped consumers already battling to survive
in an ailing economy.
   (AFP, 2/1/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 3, Malaysia’s PM Najib
Razak dispatched a ship with thousands of tons of food and emergency
supplies for Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims, but it was unclear where
the bulk of the aid would be delivered.
   (Reuters, 2/3/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 16, The UN Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Zimbabwe is likely to be the
country hardest hit by an outbreak of armyworms that is destroying
crops and threatening food security in southern Africa.
   (Reuters, 2/16/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 17, Brazilian federal
police raided dozens of meatpacker offices, including industry
giants JBS SA and BRF SA, following a two-year investigation into
alleged bribery of regulators to subvert inspections of their
plants. "Operation Weak Flesh" had already uncovered about 40 cases
of meatpackers who had bribed inspectors and politicians to overlook
unsanitary practices.
   (Reuters, 3/17/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 21, Brazil’s
agriculture ministry said Hong Kong has banned all meat imports from
Brazil, another blow from a police investigation into corruption
among health inspectors and the alleged selling of rotten products
by some meatpackers.
   (Reuters, 3/21/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 22, In Oakland, Ca.,
Redwood City-based Impossible Foods held a ceremony to open its
67,000 square-foot factory for the production of vegetarian burgers.
   (SFC, 3/23/17, p.A1)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 22, The International
Red Cross appealed for $400 million to help some 20 million people
facing famine or the risk of it in four conflict-ridden countries:
Somalia, Yemen, South Sudan and Nigeria.
   (AP, 3/22/17)(Econ, 4/1/17, p.39)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 5, German conglomerate
JAB, owner of Krispy Cream and other food brands, announced that it
was taking over the St. Louis-based Panera Bread bakery chain for
$7.5 billion.
   (Econ, 4/15/17, p.26)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 20, It was reported
that authorities in Bangkok are banishing its world-famous
street-food vendors as part of a clean-up drive by Thailand’s
military government, outraging foodies and threatening the
livelihoods of the road-side cooks.
   (Reuters, 4/20/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 21, It was reported
that a fungus that causes “vomitoxin” has been found in some US corn
harvested last year, forcing poultry and pork farmers to test their
grain, and giving headaches to grain growers already wrestling with
massive supplies and low prices.
   (Reuters, 4/21/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â May 12, Washington and
Beijing announced an agreement giving US beef, natural gas and
certain financial services access to China's massive market in a
deal highlighting the warm ties nurtured by their presidents. The US
in exchange will allow cooked Chinese poultry to enter US markets.
   (AFP, 5/12/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â May 19, The Venezuelan
Foreign Ministry announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin has
promised to start delivering several tons of wheat each month after
speaking on the phone with President Nicolas Maduro.
   (AP, 5/19/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â May 26, It was reported
that hunger is forcing desperate refugees from South Sudan to steal
food from poverty-stricken locals in northern Uganda, after a
funding crisis compelled the United Nations slash rations in refugee
camps by half this month.
   (Reuters, 5/26/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 13, Iraqi and UN
officials said a mass food poisoning at a camp for displaced
civilians outside Mosul has left at least two dead and hundreds
requiring urgent treatment.
   (AFP, 6/13/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 21, A notorious
Chinese dog meat festival opened in the southern city of Yulin with
sellers torching the hair off carcasses, butchers chopping slabs of
canines and cooks frying up dishes, dispelling rumors that
authorities would ban sales this year.
   (AFP, 6/21/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 27, Switzerland-based
Nestle announced up to $21 billion in share buybacks by 2020 and
promised to invest in zippy categories such as coffee and pet food.
   (Econ 7/1/17, p.58)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 28, ABC and South
Dakota meat producer Dakota Dunes-based Beef Products Inc. announced
a settlement in a $1.9 billion lawsuit dating back to 2012 against
the network over its reports on a beef product dubbed “pink slime.”
   (SFC, 6/29/17, p.A5)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 4, In NYC Joey
Chestnut ate a record 72 hotdogs for his 10th title at the annual
Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest on Coney
Island.
   (SFC, 7/5/17, p.A10)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 16, Europol said 66
people have been arrested for trading horsemeat unfit for human
consumption and it had seized bank accounts, properties and luxury
cars following an investigation into a food scandal. Europol said 65
people were arrested in Spain, and the main suspect, a Dutch
citizen, was arrested in Belgium.
   (Reuters, 7/16/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 27, Slovakia’s PM
Robert Fico took a fight about the quality of food on his country's
supermarket shelves to the European Commission, calling for action
to stop companies selling lower-quality products in Central and
Eastern Europe than elsewhere in the continent.
   (AP, 7/27/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 3, USAID said the
Trump administration has given $169 million to feed people starving
in Ethiopia and Kenya.
   (Reuters, 8/3/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 5, Belgian officials
admitted they knew in early June there was a potential problem over
insecticide-contaminated eggs but kept it secret because of an
ongoing fraud investigation. Eggs from 59 farms contained high
enough levels of the insecticide, fipronil, for the food authority
to warn against any children eating them.
   (AFP, 8/5/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 8, McDonald's said it
will nearly double the number of restaurants in China in the next
five years, eventually surpassing Japan as the hamburger chain's
second-biggest market outside the US. The announcement came a week
after it completed a previously announced deal to sell most of its
operations in China.
   (AP, 8/8/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 8, The US Centers for
Disease Control said an increasing number of people have been
sickened by eating salmonella infected papaya traced to a farm in
southern Mexico. 109 people in 16 states were now sickened. One
death in NYC was reported.
   (SFC, 8/9/17, p.A6)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 9, Egypt curtailed
access to ration cards used by three-quarters of the country's 93
million people to buy subsidized food items, the latest move in the
government's economic reform plan. The decree doesn't affect current
card holders.
   (AP, 8/9/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 14, Austria's food
safety agency says it has found the first instances of eggs
contaminated with Fipronil in the country. The traces in Austria
were 10 times lower than the highest concentration found in Belgium.
   (AP, 8/14/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 14, UN food agencies
said nearly eight million people face acute hunger in the Democratic
Republic of Congo as a result of conflict, especially in the central
Kasai region.
   (AFP, 8/14/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 16, Belgium's
Agriculture Minister Denis Ducarme said the government will join in
legal action against those responsible for the egg contamination
scandal, which has hit at least 17 countries.
   (AP, 8/16/17)  Â
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 21, Italy’s health
ministry said two of 114 tested egg samples have shown traces of the
insecticide fipronil, making the country the latest to become
embroiled in a Europe-wide scandal.
   (AFP, 8/21/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 23, In the SF Bay Area
San Leandro-based Memphis Meats announced that it has raised $17
million in funding to create slaughter-free meat. The new round of
investment was led by venture capital firm DFJ and included
agribusiness giant Cargill.
   (SFC, 3/24/17, p.C12)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 27, The UN World Food
Program (WFP) says it has reduced food rations for 320,000 refugees
living in northwest Tanzania as a result of funding shortfalls.
   (AP, 8/27/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 5, An EU official said
40 countries now have been affected by a Europe-wide contaminated
egg scandal, including 24 EU members and 16 non-members.
   (AP, 9/5/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 13, Europe's top court
ruled that Italy had been wrong to ban cultivation of an EU-approved
genetically modified (GMO) maize as it had failed to show there was
a serious risk to public health or the environment.
   (Reuters, 9/13/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 24, In Australia
hundreds of people attended rallies in major cities to protest an
advertisement the Indian community described as "highly insulting"
in its depiction of the Hindu deity Lord Ganesha. The ad featured
various religious figures including the Hindu god, considered
vegetarian by followers, sitting down to a meal of lamb.
   (AP, 9/24/17)  Â
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 26, The EU Commission
said that it is distributing guidelines to food and consumer
authorities so they can act against "dual quality products".
   (AP, 9/26/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 28, German’s police
said a man has slipped a potentially lethal poison into food,
including baby food, on sale in some supermarkets in an extortion
scheme aimed at raising millions of euros. No cases of poisoning had
been reported so far.
   (Reuters, 9/28/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 29, German police
arrested a suspect (55) in the case of an alleged extortionist who
attempted to force supermarkets into coughing up tens of millions of
euros by slipping a potentially lethal poison into baby food.
   (Reuters, 9/30/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 1, The World Food
Program (WFP) appealed for 75 million dollars in emergency aid over
the next six months to help alleviate the suffering of Rohingya
Muslims in Bangladesh fleeing violence in Myanmar.
   (Reuters, 10/1/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 16, Pope Francis
marked the UN’s World Food Day by calling for governments to work
together to tackle the problems of hunger, global warming and
migration.
   (SFC, 10/17/17, p.A2)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct, Small farmers in
southeastern Niger rejoiced after authorities lifted a two-year ban
on the growing of red peppers, imposed in their fight against
jihadists. Boko Haram Islamist rebels from neighboring Nigeria were
suspected of extorting money from the red-pepper trade in the Diffa
region to fund their activities, which prompted the government to
ban the crop.
   (AFP, 10/18/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 4, In India
participants from 20 countries took part in the three-day World Food
India exhibition in New Delhi.
   (AP, 11/4/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 2, In Vietnam global
burger behemoth McDonald's opened its first branch in the historic
heart of communist Hanoi.
   (AFP, 12/2/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 11, French Baby milk
maker Lactalis and French authorities ordered a global recall of
millions of products over fears of salmonella bacteria
contamination. The company said it was warned by health authorities
in France that 26 infants have become sick since December 1.
   (AP, 12/11/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 19, Greece’s Hellenic
Food Authority issued an announcement calling on consumers in Athens
and the northern city of Thessaloniki not to buy 1.5 liter bottles
of Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola Light, 1 liter cartons of Delta brand
milk and packages of Yfantis processed sausage from Dec. 20-25. This
followed a threat by members of a group calling itself "Blackgreen
Arsonists" to contaminate certain packaged food products with
hydrochloric acid during the Christmas period.
   (AP, 12/20/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 21, French dairy giant
Lactalis recalled millions more products globally because of fears
of salmonella contamination.
   (AP, 12/21/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 30, Colombia said it
has shipped around 55 tons of ham to Venezuela after protests broke
out over shortages of the traditional holiday staple.
   (AFP, 12/30/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Michael Twitty authored
“The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African-American Culinary
History in the Old South.
   (Econ 7/29/17, p.71)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Ivory Coast, the world's
biggest cocoa producer, and major chocolate companies from Mars to
Hershey to Barry Callebaut pledged to eliminate the production and
sourcing of cocoa from protected forests.
   (Reuters, 4/19/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 5, Angry Sudanese
queued outside bakeries in Khartoum as bread prices doubled
overnight, with bakers blaming a government decision to stop
importing wheat.
   (AFP, 1/5/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 6, China’s government
said fruit and vegetable prices in major cities in central and
northern China have surged after severe winter weather cut off
highways and damaged crops.
   (Reuters, 1/7/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 20, In France Paul
Bocuse (91), the master chef who defined French cuisine for more
than half a century, died at Collonges-au-Mont-d'or.
   (AP, 1/20/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 9, The UN's World Food
Program (WFP) said poor rains and crop infestations in southern
Africa are threatening deeper hunger across the region, with
millions of people, particularly children, at risk.
   (Reuters, 2/9/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 15, A Chilean industry
group said a growing outbreak of "red tide" has put salmon farms on
alert in fish-rich southern Chile, though its impact is still far
less extensive than in 2016, when a much larger outbreak decimated
fish farms.
   (Reuters, 2/15/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 17, The KFC food chain
apologized for chicken shortages in some 900 outlets in Britain and
Ireland. This followed a change in delivery services with new
partner DHL.
   (SFC, 2/20/18, p.A2)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 19, A top UN food
agency official said about 224 million people are under-nourished in
Africa as climate change and conflicts heighten food insecurity
across the continent.
   (AFP, 2/19/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 14, Italian police
said they have dismantled a macrobiotic "sect" that denied its
followers contact with the outside world. Authorities said that
followers in the central Marche and Emilia Romagna regions were
manipulated to follow a rigidly controlled diet known as "Ma.Pi."
and that the weight of one follower plunged to 35 kilos (77 pounds).
   (AP, 3/14/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 19, An Australian
court ruled that food giant Heinz's misled consumers about the
health value of Little Kids Shredz products for toddlers, adding
that the US firm should have been aware the claims were deceptive.
The Shredz products contained over 60 percent sugar, significantly
higher than fruit and vegetables.
   (AFP, 3/19/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 5, In Antarctica
German scientists said they have harvested their first crop of
vegetables grown without earth, daylight or pesticides as part of a
project designed to help astronauts cultivate fresh food on other
planets.
   (AP, 4/5/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 10, Romanian public
health officials said they have destroyed 1,100 kg (2,425 pounds) of
Egyptian potatoes after tests showed they had brown rot disease.
   (AP, 4/10/18)
 2018      May 14, The UN World
Health Organization said eliminating trans fats is critical to
preventing deaths worldwide as it released a plan to help countries
wipe out trans fats from the global food supply in the next five
years.
   (AP, 5/14/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â May 21, A letter to
Indonesia's President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo was released in which
International stars of acting, music and sports urged Widodo to ban
what they say is a "brutal" trade in dog and cat meat for human
consumption.
   (AP, 5/21/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 8, In France Anthony
Bourdain, the celebrity chef and citizen of the world who inspired
millions to share his delight in food and the bonds it created, was
found dead in his hotel room in Haut-Rhin while working on his CNN
series on culinary traditions. Bourdain's breakthrough as an author
came with the 2000 publication of his "Kitchen Confidential:
Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly".
   (AP, 6/8/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 25, In Washington, DC,
Lawrence Haddad, a British economist and food policy researcher, and
Dr. David Nabarro, who has worked with the World Health Organization
and United Nations on health and hunger issues, were named the 2018
recipients of the World Food Prize in a ceremony at the US
Department of Agriculture. The two men have dedicated their careers
to improving the availability of nutritious food for pregnant women
and children in an effort to reduce the effects of malnutrition in
developing countries.
   (AP, 6/25/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 4, In NYC Joey
Chestnut downed a record 74 wieners and buns at the Nathan's Famous
July Fourth hot dog eating contest to win the coveted Mustard Belt
for the 11th time. Miki Sudo held on to her title as the top women's
contender eating 37 franks and buns to win for a fifth
consecutive year.
   (SFC, 7/4/18, p.A9)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 7, It was reported
that researchers from half a dozen states in West Africa have joined
together in a battle against what one expert calls a root crop
"Ebola" -- a viral disease that could wreck the region's staple food
and condemn millions to hunger. The Cassava brown streak disease
(CBSD), a virus that strikes cassava, was first discovered in
Tanzania eight decades ago. The root in some of the region's
countries is consumed by as many as 80 percent of the population.
   (AFP, 7/8/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 16, In Austria
authorities in Vienna decided to ban passengers from eating in the
capital's subway trains. But they don't plan to punish offenders, at
least to start with. The blanket ban will be introduced Sept. 1 on
the U6 line and extended to the other four lines on January 15.
   (AP, 8/16/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 11, Hanoi Vice Mayor
Nguyen Van Suu said in a message published on the city's website
that slaughtering and consuming dog and cat meat are disturbing to
foreigners and "negatively impact the image of a civilized and
modern capital." Officials say there are 493,000 dogs and cats in
Hanoi, of which more than 10 percent are raised for commercial
purposes.
   (AP, 9/11/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 17, Public fears about
sewing needles concealed inside strawberries on supermarket shelves
spread across Australia and New Zealand. Needles were reported found
in strawberries in all six Australian states.
   (AP, 9/17/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 24, The UN World Food
Program took its campaign to fight world hunger to a global cinema
audience with an innovative, interactive advertisement.
   (AFP, 9/24/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 3, British sandwich
shop chain Pret a Manger said it would list all ingredients,
including allergens, on its products after Natasha Ednan-Laperouse
(15) died in 2016 from an allergic reaction to sesame seeds.
   (AFP, 10/3/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 5, The US FDA
announced that it will be removing six artificial flavors from the
food supply. The FDA cited a 60-year-old regulation, known as the
Delaney clause, that prohibits additives shown to have caused cancer
in animals, even if tested at doses far higher than what aa person
would consume.
   (http://tinyurl.com/ybaa9m9k)(SFC, 11/22/18,
p.D5)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 22, A German man (54)
was convicted of attempted murder for poisoning baby food and
putting it on store shelves in a failed attempt to extort money from
supermarkets. He was sentenced in Ravensburg state court to 12 years
in prison.
   (AP, 10/23/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 11, In Australia My Ut
Trinh (50), a former strawberry farm supervisor, was arrested and
charged with seven counts of contaminating goods after a "complex"
investigation into a strawberry scare where needles were found stuck
into the fruit. She was accused of retaliating over a workplace
grievance.
   (AP, 11/11/18)(SFC, 11/12/18, p.A2)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 4, The US Department
of Agriculture says a unit of Brazil's JBS is now recalling a total
of more than 12 million pounds of raw beef that was shipped around
the country because it may be contaminated with salmonella. JBS
Tolleson in Arizona already recalled about 7 million pounds of beef
in October.
   (AP, 12/4/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 6, The UN World Food
Program said a survey of food security in Yemen has found more than
15 million people are in a "crisis" or "emergency" situation and
that number could hit 20 million without sustained food aid.
   (Reuters, 12/6/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 19, The UN's World
Food Program (WFP) said it will cut food aid next year to about
190,000 poor Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank due a
shortage of funds.
   (Reuters, 12/19/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 21, It was reported
that Cargill, Bunge and other global traders have halted food supply
deals with Iran because new US sanctions have paralyzed banking
systems required to secure payments.
   (AP, 12/21/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 31, The UN food agency
threatened to suspend some aid shipments to Yemen if the Houthi
rebels do not investigate and stop theft and fraud in food
distribution. The suspension would affect some 3 million people.
   (AP, 12/31/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â WeWork decided to no
longer offer meat at its events and stopped reimbursing staff for
meals that included meat.
   (Econ., 10/17/20, p.16)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â India applied to the EU
for "geographical indication" status for basmati rice. Pakistan,
which also produced basmati rice, rejected the claim.
   (SSFC, 11/29/20, p.A6)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 21, San Francisco
food-delivery startup Muncherry, founded in 2011, announced that it
has gone out of business.
   (SFC, 1/21/19, p.D1)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 31, Poland's top state
veterinary official said about 2,500 kg (5,500 pounds) of meat from
sick cows who were slaughtered illegally in Poland has been exported
to 10 other European Union countries. The Polish veterinary
inspectorate stripped the slaughterhouse in Ostrow Mazowiecka of
permission to operate earlier this week.
   (AP, 1/31/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 12, On the Italian
island of Sardinia   shepherds were joined by
students on their fifth straight day of protests in a march in
Nuoro, where shopkeepers shut stores in solidarity. The shepherds
poured milk from large canisters onto streets to protest prices paid
by cheesemakers for their milk.
   (AP, 2/12/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 26, The European
Union's top court ruled that the EU organic food logo cannot be used
on meat derived from animals that have been slaughtered in
accordance with religious rites without first being stunned.
   (AP, 2/26/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 18, US federal
authorities said 1 million pounds (0.45 million kg) of pork products
allegedly smuggled from China have been seized at a New Jersey port.
Officials feared the meat could be contaminated with African swine
fever virus, which has killed more than a million pigs in China.
   (AP, 3/18/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 20, The UN human
rights chief warned that children in Yemen continued to be killed
and maimed at an alarming rate, despite a three-month-old truce in
Hodeida. The UN said thousands of tons of food aid near the port
city of Hodeida is infested with insects and must be fumigated to
feed millions of people.
   (AP, 3/20/19)(AFP, 3/20/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 1, Michigan-based
Kellogg Co. said it is selling its iconic Keebler cookie brand and
other sweet snacks businesses to Italy-based Ferrero for $1.3
billion. Kellogg said it is also selling its Mother's and Famous
Amos cookie brands, as well as its fruit-flavored snack, pie crust
and ice cream cone businesses.
   (AP, 4/1/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 2, The UN said more
than 113 million people across 53 countries experienced "acute
hunger" last year because of wars and climate disasters, with Africa
the worst-hit region.
   (AFP, 4/2/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 12, The World Trade
Organization upheld South Korea's import ban on Japanese seafood
from areas affected by the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima.
   (AP, 4/12/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 17, Belgium
confectioner Godiva, privately owned by Turkish Yildiz Holding AS,
opened its first café in Manhattan. The company is rolling out 2,000
cafes over the next six years that will serve a complete menu of
items like the croiffle, a croissant and waffle hybrid that's
stuffed with fillings like cheese or chocolate and pressed on a
waffle iron.
   (AP, 4/17/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â May 2, Beyond Meat, a
purveyor of vegan burgers and sausages, began trading on the NASDAQ
in an IPO at $25 per share and closed at 65.75.
   (SFC, 5/3/19, p.D1)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â May 15, North Korea said
it is suffering its worst drought in nearly four decades amid
reports of severe food shortages.
   (AP, 5/15/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â May 21, Burger King said
it will launch in Sweden a version of its Impossible Whopper. The
plant-based burgers have attracted attention in the US for
resembling meat far more closely than traditional veggie burgers
with sales to start May 22.
   (AP, 5/21/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â May 21, Celebrity chef
Jamie Oliver's British restaurant chain filed for bankruptcy
protection, partly due to increased competition and escalating rents
in local commercial districts.
   (AP, 5/21/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 3, US FDA researchers
reported that food testing for a class of non-stick industrial
compounds (PFAS) found substantial levels in some grocery store
meats and seafood and off-the-shelf chocolate cake.
   (SFC, 6/4/19, p.A5)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 4, The UN's World Food
Program said fighters have set fire to thousands of acres of wheat
and other crops in northwest Syria in a campaign that has turned
food supplies in a "weapon of war" and forced hundreds of thousands
of civilians to flee.
   (Reuters, 6/4/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 21, The World Food
Program said about 40 percent of the population of the perennially
unstable Central African Republic faces acute food insecurity.
   (AFP, 6/21/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 23, Qu Dongyu (55)
became the first Chinese national to be elected to head the UN's
Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
   (AFP, 6/23/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 1, Mississippi enacted
a new law that declares "a plant-based or insect-based food product
shall not be labeled as meat or a meat food product." A lawsuit
against Mississippi Republican Gov. Phil Bryant and the state's
Republican agriculture commissioner, Andy Gipson, was filed by the
Plant Based Foods Association and the Illinois-based Upton's
Naturals Co., which makes vegan products.
   (http://tinyurl.com/y6a8k3rf)(SFC, 7/3/19, p.A4)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 2, The UN World Food
Program (WFP) said it will triple the number of people it is
providing food and cash assistance to in northeastern Congo's Ituri
province, which is facing inter-ethnic violence and an Ebola
epidemic.
   (AP, 7/3/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 15, The United Nations
reported that more than 821 million people suffered from hunger,
food insecurity and malnutrition worldwide last year. The number has
risen now for the third year in a row.
   (AFP, 7/15/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 18, The International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said rates
of malnutrition and disease are increasing in North Korea as it
faces a harvest that is half of what was expected.
   (Reuters, 7/18/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 4, The UN World Food
Program (WFP) said it reached an agreement with Yemen's rebels to
resume food deliveries to rebel-controlled parts of the country
after suspending the aid for over a month.
   (AP, 8/4/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 5, It was reported
that an Associated Press investigation has found that more than a
dozen UN aid workers deployed to deal with the humanitarian crisis
caused by five years of civil war in Yemen are being accused of
graft — joining with combatants on all sides to enrich themselves
from an international outpouring of donated food, medicine, fuel and
money.
   (AP, 8/5/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 9, A new report from
the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said
increased carbon-dioxide levels lower the nutritional value of food
staples like rice and wheat.
   (Business Insider, 8/10/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 9, The World Food
Program (WFP) announced a plan to nearly quadruple the number of
people to receive food assistance in El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras, and Nicaragua due to five years of drought. The agency
planned assistance to some 700,000, up from 160,000 helped already
this year.
   (SFC, 8/10/19, p.A2)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 16, In Iowa a judge
sentenced Randy Constant (60), the mastermind of the largest known
organic food fraud scheme in US history, to 10 years in prison,
saying he cheated thousands of customers into buying products they
didn't want.
   (AP, 8/16/19)(SFC, 8/19/19, p.A5)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 18, Senegalese Jacques
Diouf (81), who headed the UN food agency for 18 years, died in
France following a long illness.
   (AFP, 8/18/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 5, Kroger Co said it
would launch its own line of meatless burger patties, as the
supermarket chain tries to cater to a growing appetite for
plant-based meat alternatives, made popular by Beyond Meat.
   (Reuters, 9/5/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 11, A judge in San
Francisco ordered Starkist Co. to pay a $100 million fine in a
canned tuna price-fixing conspiracy involving the industry's top
three companies.
   (SFC, 9/13/19, p.D1)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 12, A conservation
expert in Malaysia said soaring Chinese demand for the stinky durian
fruit is turning into the next big threat to Malaysia's depleted
rainforest.
   (Reuters, 9/12/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 18, McDonald's Corp
announced that some of its restaurants in Britain and Ireland would
allow customers to swap toys in happy meals for a fruit bag from
next month and that it planned to introduce books as an option from
early next year.
   (Reuters, 9/19/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 19, Burger King said
it will stop handing out plastic toys in its children's meals and
began launching an amnesty for customers to return any freebies in a
bid to tackle the growing problem of plastic waste.
   (Reuters, 9/19/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 1, Egypt said it had
returned nearly 2 million people to its food subsidy program since
February, two days after tweets by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in
which he said he was personally following the politically-sensitive
matter.
   (Reuters, 10/1/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 4, Dutch health
authorities ordered a major recall of processed meats from grocery
stores after saying they had linked a spate of food poisonings over
the past two years to a likely single source. Experts had been
testing the DNA of listeria bacteria involved in cases that affected
20 people in all, killing three of them and causing one woman to
miscarry.
   (Reuters, 10/4/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 22, An independent UN
investigator on human rights said food insecurity in North Korea "is
at an alarming level," with nearly half the population — 11 million
people — undernourished.
   (AP, 10/22/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 29, Amazon.com Inc
said it would make its grocery delivery service free for Prime
members in the US and integrate all orders for groceries into one
portal.
   (Reuters, 10/29/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 31, Three United
Nations agencies warned that record 45 million people across
southern Africa face severe food shortages in the next six months,
with around a quarter of them currently enduring drought-induced
"crisis" food insecurity.
   (Reuters, 10/31/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 6, It was reported
that Norwegian company Urchinomics has a plan for dealing with
purple sea urchins that have laid waste to Northern California
coastal zones. The company would like to scoop the urchins from the
ocean, fatten them in a seaside urchin ranch, and then sell them to
sushi and seafood restaurants.
   (SFC, 11/6/19, p.A1)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 12, Texas-based Dean
Foods Co said it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, months
after the owner of TruMoo chocolate milk and Meadow Gold ice creams
ended a strategic review and decided to remain as a standalone firm.
   (Reuters, 11/12/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 17, At the Vatican
Pope Francis hosted 1,500 homeless and needy people for lunch as the
Roman Catholic Church marked its World Day of the Poor.
   (AP, 11/17/19)  Â
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 19, The World Food
Program (WFP) said jihadist violence in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso
has forced nearly 1 million people to flee their homes, destroyed
fragile agricultural economies and hobbled humanitarian aid efforts.
   (Reuters, 11/19/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 6, The World Food
Program (WFPP issued an appeal for $62 million in emergency food
assistance in Haiti, where a protracted political and economic
crises are fanning a humanitarian disaster.
   (Miami Herald, 12/7/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 9, The US CDC said a
multistate E. coli outbreak, linked to packaged salad from the
Salinas Valley of California, has sickened 8 people in the
upper-Midwest and 16 in Canada.
   (SFC, 12/10/19, p.A5)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 24, Travis Kalanick,
co-founder of Uber, severed his last ties with the ride-services
company, resigning from the board and selling all his shares as he
turns his focus to a new venture creating "ghost kitchens" for food
delivery services. He will depart Uber's board of directors by the
end of the year.
   (Reuters, 12/24/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 31, The Wall Street
Journal reported that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would
ban the sale of most flavored e-cigarettes.
   (SFC, 1/1/20, p.A7)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â In the SF Bay Area
Emeryville-based food tech company Perfect Day debuted ice cream
made with real dairy proteins but no cows. It was engineered to be
lactose-free and sold for $20 per pint.
   (SSFC, 5/10/20, p.D1)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 2, Britain's Greggs
launched a vegan version of its popular steak bake, aiming to
capitalize on the success of the meatless sausage roll that has
boosted the baker's profits and helped fuel an 80% rise in its share
price last year.
   (Reuters, 1/2/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 6, Borden Dairy Co.,
one of the oldest and largest milk producers in the United States,
filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing a dropping demand for cow's
milk, rising costs for raw milk, and its own debt and pension
obligations.
   (The Week, 1/7/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 17, The Trump
administration took another step toward dismantling Michelle Obama's
school nutrition guidelines, proposing a new rule that could lead to
more pizza and fries and less fruit and a smaller variety of
vegetables on school menus.
   (AP, 1/17/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 20, Charles Fry
(b.1927), co-founder of Fry's Food Stores, died in Arizona. He and
his brother started the food chain in 1955 in Richmond, Ca., and
expanded it to 42 stores before it was purchased by Dillons in 1972.
He helped his sons found Fry's Electronics in 1985.
   (SFC, 1/24/20, p.C5)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 18, The British Meat
Processors Association (BMPA) said British producers will not be
able to export processed meat like sausages and burgers to Europe
after Brexit unless they get a specific European Union health
certificate which currently does not exist.
   (Reuters, 2/18/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 12, Michel Roux
(b.1941), the French-born chef who had a profound influence on
elevating Britain's dining habits, died in England. Roux and his
brother, Albert, are widely credited with revolutionizing Britain's
staid and old-fashioned culinary scene, notably with their opening
of Le Gavroche in London in 1967.
   (AP, 3/12/20)(Econ, 3/28/20, p.78)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 6, Tyson Foods Inc
said it has closed a pork plant in Columbus Junction, Iowa, after
more than 24 cases of COVID-19 involving employees at the facility.
   (Reuters, 4/9/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 8, Jordan has reported
more than 350 confirmed cases of coronavirus, including six deaths.
State news said Jordan has ordered traders to stop exporting food
products to boost the Kingdom’s stockpile of food in the wake of the
crisis.
   (AP, 4/8/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 9, Smithfield Foods
Inc, the world's biggest pork processor, said it is temporarily
closing a plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, because of the new
coronavirus, the latest disruption to the US food supply chain from
the outbreak. The outbreak infected more than 800 employees. The
Sioux Falls plants began reopening on May 4.
   (AP, 4/9/20)(SFC, 5/5/20, p.A6)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 10, The UN Food and
Agriculture Organization warned of an increasing number of new
locust swarms forming in Kenya, southern Ethiopia and Somalia. The
UN has raised its aid appeal from $76 million to $153 million,
saying immediate action is needed before more rainfall fuels further
growth in locust numbers.
   (AP, 4/10/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 10, Vietnam said it
will resume rice exports from this month, after the government last
month announced a ban on rice exports to make sure the country has
sufficient food to cope with the coronavirus pandemic.
   (Reuters, 4/10/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 13, Grocery
distributor Performance Food Group Co said it had furloughed about
3,000 employees and cut pay, while funneling 1,100 workers to help
keep its retail clients' shelves stacked as it deals with the
pressures exerted on supply chains and its business by the
coronavirus crisis. Customers included Dollar Tree and Home Depot as
well as theater chains AMC, Cinemark and Regal Cinemas, which have
temporarily closed movie houses to prevent the spread of the
COVID-19 disease caused by the virus.
   (Reuters, 4/13/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 13, The UN said swarms
of locusts in Ethiopia have damaged 200,000 hectares (half a million
acres) of cropland and driven around a million people to require
emergency food aid. Billions of desert locusts have already chomped
their way through much of East Africa, including Ethiopia, Somalia,
Kenya, Djibouti, Eritrea, Tanzania, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda.
   (AFP, 4/13/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 20, Starbucks Corp
said it would roll out a plant-based food and beverage menu in China
this week, launching Beyond Meat Inc and Oatly products in a country
which is trying to recover from coronavirus shutdowns.
   (Reuters, 4/20/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 21, Chipotle Mexican
Grill agreed to pay a record $25 million to resolve criminal charges
that it served tainted food that sickened more than 1,100 people in
the US from 2015 to 2018.
   (SFC, 4/22/20, p.A4)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 22, Zimbabwe's
government agreed with bakers, millers and other businesses to cut
the prices of basic goods, including bread and sugar, to levels
before the country entered a coronavirus lockdown last month amid
soaring inflation. Annual inflation in the nation has hit 676.39%,
one of the highest rates in the world.
   (Reuters, 4/22/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 26, John Tyson, the
chairman of Tyson Foods Inc, said millions of pounds of beef, pork
and chicken will vanish from US grocery stores as livestock and
poultry processing plants have been shuttered by coronavirus
outbreaks among workers.
   (AP, 4/27/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 28, President Donald
Trump took executive action to order meat processing plants to stay
open amid concerns over growing coronavirus cases and the impact on
the nation's food supply. Unions fired back, saying the White House
was jeopardizing lives and prioritizing cold cuts over workers'
health.
   (AP, 4/28/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr, The US Department of
Agriculture began the Farmers to Families Food Box program after
many people were shocked to see farmers destroy crops because
restaurant and institutions abruptly cancelled orders due to the
virus even as food banks were crushed by demand from people suddenly
out of work.
   (AP, 2/23/21)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â May 2, In South Africa
thousands of people stood in line for hours in a South African
township waiting for handouts of food. The scene has repeated for
days.
   (AP, 5/2/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â May 5, Afghanistan's
government began distributing free bread to hundreds of thousands of
people across the country as supplies have been disrupted and prices
have soared.
   (Reuters, 5/5/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â May 9, In Switzerland more
than 1,000 people queued up to get free food parcels in Geneva,
underscoring the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on the working
poor and undocumented immigrants in the wealthy country.
   (Reuters, 5/9/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 17, Conagra Brands,
the parent company of Mrs. Butterworth's, announced the brand has
begun a "complete brand and packaging review" of its syrup products,
which critics say feature offensive phrases and imagery.
   (Good Morning America, 6/18/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 4, In New York City
Joey Chestnut (36) downed a record 75 hot dogs at the Nathan's
Famous contest at Coney Island. In the women's division, returning
champion Miki Sudo topped a field of five by devouring a record 48.5
Nathan's Famous hot dogs and buns. Nathan Handwerker opened his
world renown seaside restaurant in 1916.
   (Reuters, 7/4/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 10, Goya Foods Inc,
the largest Hispanic-owned US food company and a popular brand among
Latino Americans, became the target of a boycott campaign on social
media sparked by its CEO effusively praising President Donald Trump
at the White House.
   (Reuters, 7/10/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 7, The World Food
Program said an estimated 45 million people in southern Africa are
food insecure, with the number of people without access to adequate
affordable and nutritious food up 10% from last year. Zimbabwe is
the worst affected country, with its number of food insecure people
expected to reach 8.6 million by the end of this year.
   (AP, 9/7/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 17, UN food chief
David Beasley called on the world's billionaires to step up to help
save some 30 million people he said are at risk of dying if they
don't receive help from the World Food Program.
   (Reuters, 9/17/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 23, Mars Inc said it
was changing the name and branding of its Uncle Ben's rice products
after the brand came under fire for promoting racial stereotypes.
   (Reuters, 9/23/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep, Ugandan
Catherine Nakalembe, an assistant professor at the University of
Maryland's geographical sciences department, won the 2020 Africa
Food Prize for her work on using satellite data to study agriculture
and weather patterns, alongside Burkina Faso's Dr André Bationo for
his work on fertilizer.
   (BBC, 12/26/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 28, Cecilia Chiang
(100), whose San Francisco restaurant, the Mandarin, introduced
American diners in the 1960s to the richness and variety of
authentic Chinese cuisine, died at her home in San Francisco.
   (NY Times, 10/28/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 28, It was reported
that Belgian chocolatier Pierre Marcolini (56) has been crowned the
world's best pastry chef by a jury of independent reporters, helping
consolidate Belgium's reputation as a producer of top class
chocolate.
   (Reuters, 10/28/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 30, Dunkin' Brands
agreed to be acquired by Inspire Brands, a private US holding
company, for $11.3 billion in one of the largest restaurant
deals in a decade.
   (SFC, 11/2/20, p.C1)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 9, McDonald's
announced that it will introduce a crispy chicken sandwich early
next years and that it is developing its own plant-based category,
called McPlant, starting with a faux meat burger next year.
   (SFC, 11/10/20, p.C3)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 17, Mars, the company
behind M&M’s and Snickers, said it is acquiring the maker of
Kind bars, the snacks that celebrate their lack of artificial
flavors and preservatives.
   (NY Times, 11/17/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 28, Alonzo “Lon” T.
Adams II, the man who created the formula for Slim Jim beef jerky
sticks, died in Raleigh, North Carolina, from complications of
COVID-19.
   (AP, 12/2/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 2, San Francisco
company Eat Just announced that it will sell its cultured chicken
meat in Singapore, making it the first of its kind to be approved
for sale.
   (SFC, 12/3/20, p.C1)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 28, Britain said it
will ban "buy one get one free" promotions for food high in fat,
sugar or salt and free refills of sugary soft drinks in restaurants
from April 2022.
   (Reuters, 12/28/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â "Hunger: The Oldest
Problem," by Argentinian journalist Martin Caparros (b.1957), first
published in 2017, was updated and made available in English.
   (https://tinyurl.com/y8drkuvv)(Econ, 3/14/20,
p.67)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 6, US startup Eat Just
Inc said that Dicos, one of China's largest fast food chains, has
added plant-based egg product supplied by the San Francisco firm to
menus at more than 500 outlets across China.
   (Reuters, 1/6/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 6, Impossible Foods
Inc, maker of the plant-based Impossible Burger, said it would cut
prices for foodservice distributors in the United States by about
15% amid increasing demand for its burgers.
   (Reuters, 1/6/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 6, French chef Albert
Roux (85) died. He and his brother Michel brought Paris-style fine
dining to London in the 1960s and inspired generations of chefs.
Michel died aged 78 in March last year.
   (Reuters, 1/6/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 15, The USDA said
Nestlé Prepared Foods is recalling more than 762,000 pounds of
pepperoni Hot Pockets due to possible contamination with extraneous
materials, like glass and hard plastic.
   (AP, 1/16/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 26, PepsiCo and Beyond
Meat said they are creating a joint venture to develop snacks and
drinks made from plant-based proteins.
   (AP, 1/26/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 4, A US House
Oversight subcommittee said in a report released today that
congressional investigators have found "dangerous levels of toxic
heavy metals" in certain baby foods that could cause neurological
damage. The panel examined baby foods made by Nurture Inc, Hain
Celestial Group Inc, Beech-Nut Nutrition and Gerber, a unit of
Nestle, it said, adding that it was "greatly concerned" that Walmart
Inc, Campbell Soup Co and Sprout Organic Foods refused to cooperate
with the investigation.
   (Reuters, 2/4/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 8, United Nations data
showed food prices hit six-year highs in January after rising for
eight consecutive months.
   (Reuters, 2/8/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 9, Michelle Obama
posted that she is launching a Netflix children’s food show with a
pair of puppets “to bring a bit of light and laughter to homes
around the world.” The show called “Waffles + Mochi” launches March
16.
   (AP, 2/9/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 4, A UN report
estimated that 17% of the food produced globally each year is
wasted. That amounts to 931 million metric tons (1.03 billion tons)
of food.
   (AP, 3/4/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 16, Michelle Obama
launched a nonprofit campaign that aims to provide more than 1
million meals to food-insecure families in connection with the debut
of her children’s food show on Netflix.
   (AP, 3/16/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 22, The US Department
of Agriculture announced a 15% increase in Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits through September, providing
about $3.5 billion of assistance to people affected by food
insecurity.
   (Axios, 3/22/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 6, It was reported
that Cyprus is getting protected status for its prized halloumi,
giving its producers the sole right to sell the rubbery cheese in
the European Union. The protected designation of origin (PDO) status
will come into effect from October.
   (Reuters, 4/6/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 13, The UN World Food
Program said almost one million people are facing severe hunger in
northern Mozambique where hundreds of thousands of people have been
forced to flee a jihadist insurgency.
   (AP, 4/13/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â May 10, Benson Hill said
it is going public by merging with a blank-check firm backed by
alternative asset manager Magnetar Capital, giving the plant-growing
technology company an enterprise value of about $1.35 billion.
   (Reuters, 5/10/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â May 11, Nutrition expert
Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted (71) was named the recipient of the
World Food Prize. She pioneered innovative ways of raising fish rich
in micronutrients and fatty acids and incorporating them into diets
in developing countries. The foundation that awards the $250,000
prize is based in Des Moines, Iowa.
   (AP, 5/11/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â May 22, Animal rights
protesters blockaded four McDonald's distribution centers in the UK
in an attempt to get the burger chain to commit to becoming fully
plant-based by 2025.
   (AP, 5/22/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â May 22, Yuan Longping
(91), a Chinese scientist who developed higher-yield rice varieties
that helped feed people around the world, died at a hospital in the
southern city of Changsha.
   (AP, 5/22/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â May 26, It was reported
that beef prices are surging worldwide, taking meat off the menu in
steak-loving Buenos Aires and spoiling summer barbecues in the
United States as Chinese imports rise and the cost of feeding cattle
soars.
   (Reuters, 5/26/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â May 31, Swiss-based Nestle
said it was working on updating its nutrition and health strategy
after the Financial Times reported an internal document at the food
giant described a large portion of its food and drinks as unhealthy.
   (Reuters, 5/31/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 1, The UN said more
than 90 percent of people in Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray region need
emergency food aid, as it appealed for over $200 million to scale up
its response.
   (AP, 6/1/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 9, Chinese food
delivery giant Meituan said it aimed to hire 60,000 new employees in
2021 as the company expands into new areas of businesses such as
group community buying.
   (Reuters, 6/9/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 10, The UN Food Agency
said food imports costs across the world are expected to surge to
record levels this year, piling pressure on many of the poorest
countries whose economies have already been ravaged by the COVID-19
pandemic.
   (Reuters, 6/10/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 22, The UN World Food
Program (WFP) warned that some 41 million people worldwide are at
imminent risk of famine.
   (Reuters, 6/22/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 26, The UN World Food
Program said southern Madagascar is in the throes of back-to-back
droughts that are pushing 400,000 people toward starvation, and have
already caused deaths from severe hunger.
   (AP, 6/26/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 29, It was reported
that Barcelona-based startup Novameat is using its 3D printing
technology to manufacture vegetarian "steaks" that it hopes will
reach the mass market next year.
   (Reuters, 6/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 30, The chef José
Andrés (51) and his World Central Kitchen were awarded the
prestigious Spanish Princess of Asturias Awards for their
international relief work promoting healthy food.
   (AP, 6/30/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 1, The food assistance
agency of the UN announced that its first shipments of supplies for
vulnerable Venezuelan school children have arrived in the troubled
South American country.
   (AP, 7/1/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 3, Tyson Foods Inc
said it is recalling nearly 8.5 million pounds of frozen, fully
cooked chicken over fears of possible exposure to a harmful
bacteria. The products were made at a plant in Missouri between Dec
26, 2020 and April 13, 2021.
   (Reuters, 7/3/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 4, In NYC Joey
Chestnut broke his own record winning his 14th men's Nathan Famous
Hot Dog Eating Contest downing 76 franks and buns in 10 minutes.
Michelle Lesco took the women's title.
   (SFC, 7/5/21, p.A4)
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