“100 Percent Organic” products must show an ingredient list, the name and address of the handler (bottler, distributor, importer, manufacturer, packer, processor) of the finished product, and the name and seal of the organic certifier. These products should contain no chemicals, additives, synthetics, pesticides or genetically engineered substances. – Washington Post

A Tulsa federal judge is pushing forward to keep a Sept. 21 trial date in a lawsuit over pollution in the Illinois River watershed.

The defendants — 12 poultry companies — had filed a motion earlier this week asking for a delay, saying they need more time to handle all the paperwork from Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson’s office.

The defense motion also argued that the case is unusually complex and that “billions of dollars” in damages could be at stake. A Tulsa federal judge is pushing forward to keep a Sept. 21 trial date in a lawsuit over pollution in the Illinois River watershed. – Tulsa World

New Yorkers who order wine online from retailers in other states are breaking the law, according to a decision handed down Wednesday by a federal appeals court. The ruling is the latest salvo in the war over wine shipping, and only promises to spark further legal fights.

A three-judge panel on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that New York’s law permitting in-state retailers to ship wine directly to consumers but forbidding out-of-state retailers from doing the same is constitutional and within the state’s rights under the 21st Amendment. The ruling upheld a 2007 district court decision, Arnold’s Wines, Inc. v. Boyle. An Indiana store and two New York consumers sued to overturn New York’s law, arguing that the Supreme Court’s 2005 Granholm v. Heald decision, which forbids states from discriminating between in-state and out-of-state wineries, also applies to wine retailers. The district judge dismissed the case and the appellate court has now concurred. – Wine Spectator

GreenGo Food, which opened in February in a tiny building in Ballard, combines two trends: farmers-market purveyors establishing restaurants and the use of locally sourced ingredients.

Wife-and-husband team Heidi and Dylan Stockman — who regularly work the Lake City and Broadway farmers markets — offer “fast food with a conscience,” with a menu emphasizing mostly local, organic food. – Seattle Times

Everybody loves secrets, mystery, and intrigue. That’s why mystery novels and films have been popular for decades, and why shows like “The X-Files” and “Lost” are cult hits.

The commercial appeal of a good mystery (real or manufactured) has not been lost on advertisers. “Mystery meat” aside, several famous brands have emphasized the uniqueness of their secret-ingredient-containing products. – LiveScience

Texas has fined a feedlot nearly $6,000 for letting 2,000 dead cattle pile up and decompose, attracting flies and creating a stench, officials said.

The Sudan Feedyard Inc. of Sudan, Texas, was given until July 26 to remove the animal carcasses, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said. – UPI

The U.S. Agriculture Department said the number of hungry people in 70 poor nations soared 10.8% last year and will climb at least 1.7% this year, and perhaps much more depending on how the global recession plays out.

The annual USDA survey, which attempts to calculate how many people are consuming less than 2,100 calories a day in countries that do or did receive food aid, is ammunition for the Obama administration in its push to help poor nations feed themselves. – Wall Street Journal

Three years ago, U.S. Department of Agriculture employees determined that synthetic additives in organic baby formula violated federal standards and should be banned from a product carrying the federal organic label. Today the same additives, purported to boost brainpower and vision, can be found in 90 percent of organic baby formula.

The government’s turnaround, from prohibition to permission, came after a USDA program manager was lobbied by the formula makers and overruled her staff. That decision and others by a handful of USDA employees, along with an advisory board’s approval of a growing list of non-organic ingredients, have helped numerous companies win a coveted green-and-white “USDA Organic” seal on an array of products. – Washington Post

Japanese scientists will have bred a new “super-tuna” within a decade that will be stronger, more resistant to disease and taste better than the bluefin presently in the oceans.

The tuna – stocks of which are in global decline – would be raised in farms to meet surging demand around the world for the traditional Japanese delicacy.

A team from Japan’s Fisheries Research Agency, The University of Tokyo and Kyushu University is close to completing the genome sequence of the bluefin tuna to unravel the secrets of the chemical building blocks of the fish and expects to be able to start a breeding programme next year. – Telegraph UK

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has asked the city for permission to display a 5 l/2-foot statue of a wounded chicken on crutches downtown to draw attention to the group’s contention that KFC mistreats millions of chickens each year.

The request was made to the Louisville Metro Department of Public Works, but specified a site that is not public property – Courier Journal

If you thought fast food had to be lowbrow, think again. Not when you can enjoy tapas from White Castle, sushi from Popeye’s or quiche from Burger King. Of course, chains don’t actually serve those delicacies, but a new website offers the next best thing: teaching budget foodies how to take standard drive-thru fare and slice, strip, mix and otherwise recreate it to look gourmet. Fancy Fast Food offers meticulously detailed, elegantly photographed recipes that can transform, say, a Big Mac Extra Value Meal into “McSteak & Potatoes” (the “potatoes” being the hamburger bun and french fries pureed in a food processor.) The large Coke, of course, gets served in a wine glass. – Time

There are new labels showing up on some food items in grocery stores — and they’re pretty cool.

Literally.

Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) laws took effect in March, and the new labels will help consumers discover exactly where their food is coming from.

The labels are being stuck on muscle cuts of beef, including veal, lamb, pork, goat and chicken, along with ground beef, ground lamb, ground pork, ground goat and ground chicken. Farm-raised fish and shellfish also get the labels, along with wild fish and shellfish. Perishable fruits and vegetables are required to have the labels, as are peanuts, ginseng, pecans and macadamia nuts. – Miami Herald

Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin called the massive water rally, one of the largest gatherings ever on the steps of city hall.

Protesters say not even the heat was enough to keep them from fighting for an issue that affects our everyday way of life.

Just days before America’s 233rd birthday, nearly 4,000 people gathered at the steps of Fresno City Hall to save the very country they say is ignoring them. – KMPH

ust because you live in an apartment or a small house without a backyard doesn’t mean you have to say goodbye to green.

Master gardener William Moss offered plenty of tips on “The Early Show” Wednesday to help you grow plants anywhere — particularly rooftops — whether or not you have a green thumb.

Moss said the main difference between a backyard garden and rooftop garden is that plants, when kept on a roof, will be in containers. – CBS News

The recession hasn’t stopped people from popping the cork off a bottle of shiraz or chardonnay.

But many budget-conscious shoppers are picking out wine more carefully, just as they do for groceries or clothes.

“What used to be a $15 or $20 bottle is now an $8 or $10 bottle,” said David Jacobs, 35, of Florida as he picked up some wine at Total Wine & More in Orlando. – Chicago Tribune

It’s looking like a fairly good year for growing cherries in Utah, especially given recent growing seasons.

After an almost total crop loss last year because of cold weather, Utah farmers are expected to harvest 2.8 million pounds of sweet cherries this summer.

The forecast for tart cherry production is even better. Utah — the nation’s second-largest producer — expects to harvest 23 million pounds, up 15 percent from the 2008 and 2007 crops. – Salt Lake Tribune

While storekeepers this month were frantically pulling E. coli-tainted cookie dough and beef from their shelves, scientists rolled out the country’s first cattle vaccine to snuff out these potentially deadly bacteria.

Epitopix LLC., a Minnesota veterinary pharmaceutical company, has received a conditional license from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to market Escherichia coli Bacterial Extract, and the firm plans to release the vaccine to begin inoculating beef cattle in the fall. – Arizona Daily Star

Summertime in the Northwest is a double-edged sword.

The kids are out of school (or perhaps the spouse is on vacation). They want to be “entertained” and they need to be fed. But who wants to be stuck in the house — let alone in the kitchen with the stove seething — when the siren song of the outdoors beckons so sweetly?

The solution: Portland’s farmers markets. – OregonLive

A natural disaster is declared in Monterey and San Benito Counties due to severe drought conditions and cattle ranchers are feeling the immediate effects.

While vegetable growers in the Central Valley are also struggling with drought, the lack of rainfall in Monterey County has decreased grass levels for grazing by 75 percent. Ag officials said many cities, like King City, has received a total of 5.61″, only 47 percent of normal rainfall to date. Cattle ranchers say the result is not enough food for all their livestock. – KCBA

The Kansas Food Bank has been awarded a grant to help pay for food donated to the Laid-Off Workers Center, a United Way-based endeavor that offers help to the unemployed.

The matching grant was provided by the Sunflower Foundation of Topeka and will donate a maximum of $41,250 to aid families during the sagging economy.

The Kansas Food Bank is assisting by providing food boxes for people who are seeking help at the center. – Wichita Eagle

Poverty rates are so high in dozens of Alaska villages that nine of every 10 students get free or reduced-cost meals at school, according to a list of state schools.

So when classes end for the summer, the free meals stop for thousands of kids.

The Food Bank of Alaska is changing that. – The Tundra Drums

The country’s pork producers are facing a growing challenge from importers of live pigs who are using a loophole in customs regulations to avoid quotas and higher tariffs.

In May alone, 110,000 live pigs were brought into Russia for slaughter, Mikhail Popov, general director of the Ostankino Meat processing plant, said Tuesday at a meeting of the National Pork Producer’s Union.

About 8,250 tons of live pork is imported into the country every month, which comes out to almost 100,000 tons of pork annually, or 19 percent of the 2009 pork import quota of 531,000 tons, Popov said. – Moscow Times

A Boston-based seafood supplier is recalling fresh tuna steaks distributed in New England because of high levels of histamine, a potentially harmful chemical that can develop naturally in poorly stored fish.

North Coast Seafood said in a statement released late Tuesday it was recalling the fish after three reports of illness. – Boston Herald

Yes, even hardcore rivals can be social-media friends (or followers, at least). Earlier today Amnesia Razorfish launched an experiment to see if it could get the cola brands to follow each other on Twitter. It tweeted the original challenge and then documented the results and the full story of how it all went down on its blog.

Coke was first to say a “gracious (but competitive) hello” to Pepsi and follow its rival. Later Pepsi responded with its own greeting, tweeting “Can rivals and tweeps coexist? We’re willing to find out. ” Both are now following each other. You know what they say about keeping your friends close and enemies closer. – Advertising Age

Hundreds of new jobs are on the way to Lyons as Chicken of the Sea gets ready to open their only facility in Georgia.

The tuna processing and canning plant will employ at least 200 people. More jobs could come as suppliers, from can makers or labelers, move closer to the plant. – WTOC