National Food Situation

U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Agricultural Economics, National Food Situation, quarterly. 

Bureau of Agricultural Economics, The National Food Situation, quarterly, 1941-. Per capita consumption of major food commodities and supply and distribution of major foods. 

Dairy Statistics Through I960, StaL Bull. No. 133, Supp. for 1963-64, Economic Research Service, USDA National Food Situation, Economic Research Service, USDA, February 1966 Agricuitural Stati ics 1980, USDA, p. 148 and 1991, p. 479. 

Worldwide the food situation is worsening. Only five nations (Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, and the United States) export substantial quantities of grains. Further, during recent years grain deficits have escalated in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East (5),... 

In countries like the United States, Canada, Australia, many European countries and certain others food regulations have existed for many decades. Many countries have yet to formulate national food policies, responding appropriately to their health situation and economy, or, where these policies have been formulated, they often do not reflect appropriately the tme nature and extent of current or emerging food safety problems. The advances in science and technology are important stimuli for modification of the laws.1... 

F. Urban and A.J. Dommen, The World Food Situation in Perspective , in World Agriculture Situation and Outlook Report , Washington D.C., National Agrochemicals Association, 1989. 

The world food situation is well expressed by Dr. Daniel Aldrich Jr. (1965) of the University of California. He states that if this well-fed continent were called to support its people with the tools of a century ago, we could very well rival some of the world s most underdeveloped nations in poverty and human misery. Of course this is an unlikely sort of if. But there are around us the partisans of a chemical-free world who would have us give up some of the principal tools of modern agriculture. 

As described above, the nature of the food supply will provide some information on the likelihood of risk of inadequate dietary zinc within a population. Information compiled by the United Nation s Food and Agriculture Organization has been used to estimate the potential risk of inadequate zinc in the food supply for a large number of countries. This estimate uses country level data on the per capita amounts of 95 different food commodities available for human consumption, and estimates of the zinc content and phy-tate zinc molar ratio of these foods, to calculate the per capita amount of bioavailable zinc in the food supply. The per capita amount of bioavailable zinc is compared to the physiological requirement for absorbed zinc weighted for the demographic distribution of the population. The theoretical proportion of the population at risk of inadequate dietary zinc is used to estimate the relative risk of zinc deficiency at the national level. For example, countries with 25% or more of the population at risk of inadequate dietary zinc are considered to be at elevated risk. This information is limited in that it represents the national average situation and cannot identify subnational populations that may be at elevated risk. In the absence of more direct measures of zinc status, such estimates will justify the need to conduct population surveys that measure risk of zinc deficiency more directly. 

As stated previously, traceability is fundamental to establishing and eliminating the root cause of nonconforming product and therefore it should be mandatory in view of the requirements for Corrective Action. Providing traceability can be an onerous task. Some applications require products to be traced back to the original ingot from which they were produced. In situations of safety or national security it is necessary to identify product in such a manner because if a product is used in a critical application and subsequently found defective, it may be necessary to track down all other products of the same batch and eliminate them before there is a disaster. It happens in product recall situations. It is also very important in the automobile and food industries in fact, any industry where human life may be at risk due to a defective product being in circulation. 

Legislation for pesticide residues, including the setting of MRLs in food commodities, is a shared responsibility between the Commission and the Member States. To date, Community MRLs have been established for about 130 pesticide a.i. For pesticides and commodities where no Community MRL exists, the situation is not harmonized and the Member States may set MRLs at national levels to protect the health of its citizens. 

It is not the aim of this memorandum to prophesy the moment at which the untenable situation in Europe will reach the stage of open war. The definitive solution of Germany s economic situation lies in an extension of our living space, i.e., an extension of the raw materials and food basis of our nation.. . Much more important [than "political leadership" solving the problem is to prepare for the war during the peace. 

The National Centre for Food Safety Technology, is spearheading several packaging related efforts to expand the fist of polymers that can be used for packaging in food irradiation applications. This comprehensive article explains and describes the current situation in the field of irradiated foods and packaging and provides an update on impending approval for processed and red meats. The industry is concerned to uphold and maintain public confidence in the processed food and irradiated food supply. 

Worldwide data are not readily available as many nations do not publish the results of their animal residue monitoring programs. The best available data are those published regularly by the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). It is possible to go back over data for many years and demonstrate improvements in the residue situation, however the records for the past few years are the important ones as they are representative of current or recent events. Since the publication of worldwide residue data is at best sparse and not consistent, this chapter has made use of the regularly published residue data from the FSIS/USDA surveys, which are available on the Internet. The assumption made in this chapter, and perhaps there is a certain naivete to this assumption, is that international residue usage is similar to that found by the FSIS/USDA. This assumption is based upon the frequency of residues found in meat products imported into the U.S. 

Proteins are constantly being lost via the intestine and, to a lesser extent, via the kidneys. To balance these inevitable losses, at least 30 g of protein have to be taken up with food every day. Although this minimum value is barely reached in some countries, in the industrial nations the protein content of food is usually much higher than necessary. As it is not possible to store amino acids, up to 100 g of excess amino acids per day are used for biosynthesis or degraded in the liver in this situation. The nitrogen from this excess is converted into urea (see p. 182) and excreted in the urine in this form. The carbon skeletons are used to synthesize carbohydrates or lipids (see p. 180), or are used to form ATP. 

The use of food additives is in effect a food processing method, because both have the same objective—to preserve the food and/or make it more attractive. In many food processing techniques, the use of additives is an integral part of the method, as is smoking, heating, and fermenting. The National Academy of Sciences (1973) has listed the following situations in which additives should not be used ... 

The most common route of exposure to NAC is (voluntary) inhalation through the respiratory tract. Although not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, it may be given intravenously in emergency situations. According to a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health survey conducted between 1981 and 1983, over 30 000 workers in the United States are exposed to NAC on a daily basis. Over two-thirds of those people are inhalation therapists and clinical laboratory technicians, with the remaining majority in some type of medical profession. 

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