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March 17, 2000
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| Wal-Mart
to test irradiated beef
Wal-Mart Stores will test market irradiated ground beef to see if customers want the product and how much they are willing to pay for it. Federal regulations allowing the sale of irradiated beef recently went into effect. Under the new rules, packages of treated meat must be clearly labeled. Colby Horn, product manager for Wal-Mart, said they are still working with beef suppliers to decide when the test marketing would begin, how the beef would be packaged, which stores will offer the product and how much higher the irradiated beef will be priced. Wal-Mart is also watching the genetically modified product debate closely. Horn said the American consumer will make the final decision on how much information retailers will provide about a particular food’s production method. "The question is going to be, ‘what do customers want to know?" Horn said. "The customer is number one. Period." Source: AFBF Executive News Watch, Feb. 29, 2000
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the number of farms in the United States is up for the third year in a row, and hit 2,194,070 in 1999. The increase is attributed to the increasing number of small scale operations. According to USDA’s annual "Farms and Land in Farms" report, the number of medium and large scale farms dropped to 997,430, down 12,980 in 1999. There were 15,690 more small farms (those with less than $10,000 in sales a year). The average farm is 432 acres and the total amount of land being farmed is 974.34 million acres. Texas has the largest number of farms at 227,000, followed by Missouri, Iowa, Tennessee, Kentucky and California. Source: AFBF Executive News Watch, Feb. 22, 2000
Lumen boasts of using GMO soybeans Lumen Foods, maker of vegetarian snacks in Lake Charles, La., says it will advertise the fact that it uses genetically modified soybeans in their meatless jerkies, even though many other U.S. food companies are reticent about their use of modified crops. Several food companies, including baby food makers Gerber and H.J. Heinz, are trying to eliminate genetically modified ingredients. "They have it all wrong," says Greg Caton, president of Lumen, which has about $3 million in annual sales. Lumen, which argues its case on its web site, isn’t at all reluctant to boast what the company is doing. "It’s publicity and it’s the right side of the issue," said Caton. |
