USDA press release on discovery of Mad Cow Disease in California cow

It’s the end of a school day in the eastern Chinese city of Dongyang, and eager parents collect their children after a hectic day of primary school.

But that’s just the start of busy times for dozens of egg vendors across the city, deep in coastal Zhejiang province, who ready themselves to cook up a unique springtime snack favored by local residents.

Basins and buckets of boys’ urine are collected from primary school toilets. It is the key ingredient in “virgin boy eggs”, a local tradition of soaking and cooking eggs in the urine of young boys, preferably below the age of 10.

There is no good explanation for why it has to be boys’ urine, just that it has been so for centuries.

READ MORE: Urine-soaked eggs a spring taste treat in China city

Hard data is still being collected, but experts at the Reuters Food and Agriculture Summit in Chicago this week said an estimated 30 percent to 50 percent of the food produced in the world goes uneaten. The average American throws away 33 pounds of food each month — about $40 worth — according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, which plans to publish a report on food waste in April. In a year, that means each person throws away almost 400 pounds of food, the weight of an adult male gorilla. Read more: Clean your plate, save the world?
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Hard data is still being collected, but experts at the Reuters Food and Agriculture Summit in Chicago this week said an estimated 30 percent to 50 percent of the food produced in the world goes uneaten.

The average American throws away 33 pounds of food each month — about $40 worth — according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, which plans to publish a report on food waste in April.

In a year, that means each person throws away almost 400 pounds of food, the weight of an adult male gorilla.

Read more: Clean your plate, save the world?

Coca-Cola Co and PepsiCo Inc are making changes to the production of an ingredient in their namesake colas to avoid the need to label the packages with a cancer warning. The changes will not alter the colas’ taste, color or formula, according to statements from both companies. The change is meant to reduce the amount of a chemical called 4-methylimidazole, or 4-MI, which in January was added to the list of chemicals covered by California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, also known as Proposition 65. High levels of that chemical have been linked to cancer in animals. Earlier this week, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a U.S. watchdog group, said it found unsafe levels of the chemical in cans of Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc’s Dr Pepper and Whole Foods Markets Inc’s 365 Cola. Read more: Coke, Pepsi to alter caramel color ingredient
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Coca-Cola Co and PepsiCo Inc are making changes to the production of an ingredient in their namesake colas to avoid the need to label the packages with a cancer warning.

The changes will not alter the colas’ taste, color or formula, according to statements from both companies.

The change is meant to reduce the amount of a chemical called 4-methylimidazole, or 4-MI, which in January was added to the list of chemicals covered by California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, also known as Proposition 65.

High levels of that chemical have been linked to cancer in animals.

Earlier this week, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a U.S. watchdog group, said it found unsafe levels of the chemical in cans of Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc’s Dr Pepper and Whole Foods Markets Inc’s 365 Cola.

Read more: Coke, Pepsi to alter caramel color ingredient

For some Pakistanis, suicide the only way to escape poverty

In the ten months to October of 2011, about 1,600 people decided that suicide was the only option, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. The previous year 2,399 people killed themselves and poverty was a significant factor, but a precise breakup was not available, the commission said.

Growing economic pressures could push the suicide figure even higher in the South Asian nation where over one in five people live below the international poverty line of $1 a day.

Critics say alleviating poverty has never been a priority. In the 2011-12 budget, Pakistan’s government allocated 0.04 percent of spending for social protection schemes. By comparison, just over 17.8 percent went to defense, though some experts put the figure at 26 percent.

Read more of this report filed by Rebecca Conway and Imtiaz Shah

Kellogg Co said on Wednesday it will buy the Pringles business from Procter & Gamble Co for $2.7 billion in cash, as it aims to build its position in the global snacks market comparable to its strength in the cereal business. P&G agreed to sell Pringles to Diamond Foods Inc last year, but the deal fell apart because of delays caused by a U.S. probe into Diamond’s accounting practices. P&G said the deal with Kellogg would be completed by this summer. Read more: Kellogg to buy Pringles from P&G for $2.7 billion
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Kellogg Co said on Wednesday it will buy the Pringles business from Procter & Gamble Co for $2.7 billion in cash, as it aims to build its position in the global snacks market comparable to its strength in the cereal business.

P&G agreed to sell Pringles to Diamond Foods Inc last year, but the deal fell apart because of delays caused by a U.S. probe into Diamond’s accounting practices.

P&G said the deal with Kellogg would be completed by this summer.

Read more: Kellogg to buy Pringles from P&G for $2.7 billion

Hurling food isn’t just an American thing, either. The Greeks have been known to launch yogurt at figures they don’t like – an activity called yaourtoma, or yogurting. Last year in Athens, protesters threw yogurt at police trying to break up a rowdy rally outside of parliament.
Here’s A Pie In Your Eye: A Brief History Of Food Fights (via npr)

(via npr)

Source: NPR

“Romney makes it rain snack chips.” -@BuzzFeedBen Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney tosses bags of chips to members of the press on his campaign plane in Jacksonville, Florida January 30, 2012. [REUTERS/Brian Snyder]
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“Romney makes it rain snack chips.” -@BuzzFeedBen

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney tosses bags of chips to members of the press on his campaign plane in Jacksonville, Florida January 30, 2012. [REUTERS/Brian Snyder]

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney carries a surprise birthday cake for Los Angeles Times reporter Maeve Reston on his campaign plane in Jacksonville, Florida January 30, 2012. [REUTERS/Brian Snyder] Reuters Politics | @ReutersPolitics | Candidate profile: Mitt Romney
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Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney carries a surprise birthday cake for Los Angeles Times reporter Maeve Reston on his campaign plane in Jacksonville, Florida January 30, 2012. [REUTERS/Brian Snyder]

Reuters Politics | @ReutersPolitics | Candidate profile: Mitt Romney

Google takes over Kaffee Klatsch (Taken with Instagram at Kaffee Klatsch)
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Google takes over Kaffee Klatsch (Taken with Instagram at Kaffee Klatsch)