Each week we round up the latest N.C. agricultural headlines from news outlets across the state and country, as well as excerpts from the stories. Click on the links to go straight to the full story.
- “Wal-Mart to make, sell healthier foods,” News & Observer: Wal-Mart is expected to announce that it will reformulate thousands of products to make them healthier and push its suppliers to do the same. …
- “Farmers worry about FDA powers,” Hendersonville Times-News: Farmers and area agriculture officials are wary of the impact the new federal Food Safety Modernization Act, designed to protect U.S. citizens from food-borne illness, could have on Henderson County’s $75 million to $150 million agricultural industry. …
- “Nash planning board recommends changes that would affect chicken plants,” Rocky Mount Telegram: Opponents continued their fight against Sanderson Farms by criticizing Nash County planning officials for recommending changes to rezoning rules that could smooth the way for a proposed chicken processing plant. …
- “State raises grade for tobacco prevention, languishes in D range in obesity, activity,” Winston-Salem Journal: North Carolina received a higher grade — a B — for its tobacco-prevention efforts in 2010, but in its initiatives on obesity and physical activity, the state languished in the D range. …
- “Some companies shrink product sizes in lieu of raising prices,” WRAL-TV: Many companies are shrinking the size of their products to boost profits in troubled economic times, Consumer Reports has found. It almost seems kind of sneaky: the price doesn’t go up, but the product shrinks. …
- “Healthy turnabout for tobacco,” News & Observer: For generations, tobacco served as North Carolina’s economic engine, creating wealth while also eroding public health. Now, thanks to an international vaccine company setting up shop in Research Triangle Park, the cash crop could be turning over a new leaf to become an integral part of preserving good health. …
- “New guidelines would make lunches healthier in Asheville-area schools,” Asheville Citizen-Times: Like it or not, public schoolchildren face eating more fruits and vegetables and fewer french fries under a proposed overhaul of school lunch menus. …