Exporters like the Huangyan No. 1 Canned Food Factory in Huangyan, in eastern China’s Zhejiang Province, are expecting to produce fewer canned tangerines for export.

Review of the book "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan. Pollan believes that the latter part of the 20th century ushered in America's "Age of Nutritionism," in which whole foods such as those our ancestors ate have been largely supplanted by fortified, foodlike products, prepared in factories and laboratories.

Who are we to feel so superior that we can kill off whole species for our pleasure or food ...we now pollute with runoff from our factories and our septic tanks or golf courses where we pour our poisons to kill weeds and wild life. http://pnews.org/ArT/WaR/ASup.shtml

What sustainability is really about.

What sustainability is really about.

Factory farming is the practice of raising farm animals in confinement at high stocking density; and also sometimes used more generally to refer to treating farm animals as mere factory parts as is typical in industrial farming.Confinement at high stocking density is one part of a systematic effort to produce the highest output at the lowest cost by relying on economies of scale, modern machinery, biotechnology, and global trade. For example, while not strictly due to confinement or high stocking density, synthetic hormones may be used to speed growth as part of this overall industrial farming approach that treats animals as mere factory parts. Confinement at high stocking density requires antibiotics and pesticides to mitigate the spread of disease exacerbated by these crowded living conditions. There are differences in the way factory farming techniques are practised around the world.There is a continuing debate over the benefits and risks of factory farming. The issues include the efficiency of food production; animal welfare; whether it is essential to feed the growing global human population; the environmental impact and the health risks. Gerhard Schroeder, then German Chancellor, called for a re-think of factory farming methods in 2000 in response to Europe's BSE crisis (which while not caused by confinement at high stocking density, is caused by unnatural feed supplied to farm animals for the purpose of lower costs), and the risks to human health continue to be a concern to scientists.The UN and OIE estimate that in coming decades there will be billions of additional meat consumers in developing countries eating meat that was factory farmed in developing countries but currently only about 40 out of the around 200 countries in the world have the capacity to adequately respond to a health crisis originating from animal disease (such as mad cow, avian flu, West Nile virus, bluetongue and foot and mouth disease). Globalization turns this into an international problem and widespread use of antibiotics increases the chance of a pandemic resistant to known measures. Decreased genetic diversity increases the chance of a food crisis. "The World Bank, the U.N. and the World Organization for Animal Health or OIE are all working together on several levels regarding food safety, veterinarian services, packing and transportation."