The Chinese government, embarrassed by food-safety violations in the 2007 and 2008 melamine cases and determined to prevent them in the future, has implemented comprehensive changes in food inspection procedures that includes new rules and a streamlined food regulation bureaucracy. The new program seems to be working. Food inspectors in Qinghai Province in Western China recently impounded 76 tons of milk powder and other raw dairy products and finished goods tainted with as much as 559 times the legal levels of the toxic industrial chemical melamine. The confiscated products had somehow avoided a national recall of dairy foods after the 2008 debacle. Melamine is added to food products because it mimics protein in food quality tests, making foods then seem more nutritious.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a part of the Food and Drug Administration, has published a policy framework (“The Judicious Use of Medically Important Antimicrobial Drugs in Food-Producing Animals”) relating to the use of antimicrobial drugs in animals used for food. For over 50 years, antimicrobial drugs have been used in both human and veterinary medicine, but growing resistance to these drugs makes them less effective as therapies, creating a potential danger to public health, and so these drugs need to be used more “judiciously” in order to slow the pace of growing resistance. The guidance includes limiting use of such drugs except where necessary, and limiting use in food-producing animals to situations where there is veterinary oversight. 

Researchers from China’s Inner Mongolian University were able to create a genetically modified cow that they hope will produce milk that is rich in omega-3. This is the world’s first genetically modified cow that has this trait and it is one of two genetically modified cows but it is the only one with this trait. Chief researcher Dr. Guang-Peng Li said the cow is still too young to produce milk but they analyzed an ear tissue sample and found the cow’s omega 3 fatty acid level to be 10 times more than in normal cows. Dr. Li’s long term goal for his transgenic cattle research is to get several fat-1 cattle that express high levels of omega-3 in order to produce cattle products that are healthy for humans.

A Canadian researcher investigating drinking patterns when alcohol and caffeinated energy beverages are combined has found that people drink twice the alcohol when they consume energy drinks than they would normally. One hypothesis about why this happens is that it’s a social behavior: people consume more of anything when they’re enjoying themselves. Another possibility points to the banning of smoking – a common stimulant – in many bars: people may turn to energy drinks to pick up the stimulant slack. But the most interesting hypothesis is physiological: the drinks’ ingredients may affect dopamine release from the brain, prolonging the initial euphoria that comes with rising blood-alcohol levels and holding off the sedative-like effects when they fall. According to researcher Sean Barrett, this parallels lab studies done with stimulants like tobacco cigarettes and cocaine.