food shortage

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Venezuela to Fingerprint Grocery Shoppers

Maduro says move will foil smugglers

(Newser) - Venezuelan grocery shoppers won't be able to buy food without a fingerprint scan under tough new anti-smuggling measures unveiled by President Nicolas Maduro. Subsidies and price controls keep food in Venezuela a lot cheaper than in neighboring countries and Maduro says the new biometric system will be an "...

Venezuela's Latest Shortage: Toilet Paper

Government to import 50M rolls

(Newser) - Amid milk and coffee shortages, Venezuela is now facing a sanitary crisis: There's not enough toilet paper to go around. "I'm 71 years old, and this is the first time I've seen this," said one man shopping for the stuff. "This is the last...

Overeating Taking Bigger Toll Than Food Shortages

Non-infectious diseases now more of a threat than infectious ones: report

(Newser) - It's a worldwide first: Today, eating too much is more of a health threat than food shortages. On a global scale, overeating costs more years of healthy life than does undernutrition, according to a massive new study. The Global Burden of Disease 2010 report compares illnesses and causes of...

Remote Philippine Villages Nearly Out of Food

Isolated locales struggling in wake of Typhoon Bopha

(Newser) - A week after the devastating Philippines typhoon that killed 714, many survivors are facing a new threat: a shortage of food. Entire communities could be impacted, one relief worker warns. "Their food is fast dwindling, their roads are blocked by fallen trees and boulders, and it will not be...

Starbucks Hit With Pumpkin Latte Shortage

Customers wrestle with 'depression' over missing drink

(Newser) - Sound the alarm: There's a crisis in Starbucks land. Customers nationwide have been devastated by a shortage of Pumpkin Spice Lattes, an autumn-only favorite. "My world almost ended this morning when the local Starbucks told me they were out of Pumpkin Spice Latte," tweeted one fan. Another...

United Nations Probes Benefits of Insect Diet

 Insects: Our 
 Next Food Craze?   
 
'Guardian' blog
Sep 17, 2011 4:16 PM CDT

Insects: Our Next Food Craze?

UN agency considers benefits of a critter diet

(Newser) - Cambodian deep-fried tarantula, anyone? A chocolate ant wafer or curried cockchafer? Such meals are already popular in many nations, but now the UN is investigating whether we should all munch on the critters. In his Guardian blog, Fraser Lewry says stats favor an insect diet: After all, the world population...

Food Prices Will Double by 2030: Oxfam

Climate change, biofuels partially to blame

(Newser) - The cost of food staples is set to more than double over the next two decades, Oxfam says, as we enter a “permanent food crisis." World hunger had steadily decreased for decades, the Guardian reports, but with demand exceeding production, the numbers of hungry people are once again...

N. Korea on Kim's Birthday: Let People Eat, Um, Nothing

Dear Leader parties; no 'gifts' for Koreans

(Newser) - North Korea held its usual lavish celebration to mark Kim Jong Il’s 69th birthday today—even though the desperately poor country couldn’t afford to hand out its usual “birthday gift” of food rations to the people. In one northeastern province, even ruling party officials haven’t gotten...

Soon, We'll Have to Grow Meat in Vats: Scientists
Soon, We'll Have to Grow Meat in Vats: Scientists
in case you missed it
Aug 21, 2010 7:00 PM CDT

Soon, We'll Have to Grow Meat in Vats: Scientists

Brave new measures may be needed to feed population

(Newser) - The global population is expected to hit 9 billion by 2050, and some of the world's leading scientists say that one of the best ways to feed so many people is to grow artificial meat in vats. Though other ideas were presented in a set of 21 newly published papers,...

N. Korea Allows Private Food Markets
N. Korea Allows Private Food Markets
Jun 18, 2010 12:10 PM CDT

N. Korea Allows Private Food Markets

Pro-capitalist policy shift comes amid growing famine

(Newser) - North Korea has effectively admitted that it can't feed its citizens by allowing people to buy food and other necessities at private markets, the Washington Post reports. Such markets have existed under the radar for years, but the government order sanctioning what amounts to capitalism "abandons all pretense of...

Another Big Aftershock Rocks Chile

6.1 temblor, others prompt brief tsunami warnings

(Newser) - A 6.1-magnitude aftershock struck Chile in the past hour, further jangling nerves on a day when the government mistakenly issued tsunami warnings for coastal areas still sorting out the effects of last week’s 8.8 earthquake. President Michelle Bachelet took to the airwaves today to reassure the nation,...

Desperate Hunger Plagues N. Korea, Forces Change

Rampant malnutrition fuels capitalist markets

(Newser) - North Korea has, in its words, an “eating problem”: unable to feed its residents, it has become the world’s first nuclear-armed “beggar,” the Washington Post reports. Malnutrition has led to a spate of mental and physical disabilities—a quarter of potential troops will be disqualified because...

Mugabe Thugs Collect for Presidential Pig-Out

Starving country's ruling party gets tough to tackle champagne, caviar shortage

(Newser) - Aggressive supporters of Zimbabwe's ruling party have been pressing the country's farmers and businesses for "donations" to fund Robert Mugabe's ultra-luxe 85th birthday bash, the Times of London reports. A wish list supplied to the Times includes 8,000 bottles of champagne, 8,000 lobsters, and 4,000 portions...

Gazans Hunker Down in 'Worst' Time of All
 Gazans Hunker Down 
 in 'Worst' Time of All 
COMMENTARY
Jan 6, 2009 1:00 PM CST

Gazans Hunker Down in 'Worst' Time of All

Refugees arrive in city with horror stories

(Newser) - Lentils and bread nearly are all Safwat al-Kahlout can offer the 20 relatives holed up in his powerless Gaza City apartment, he writes in the Christian Science Monitor. As Israeli tanks roll through the city's outskirts, family members have fled inward to his flat. "I took my clothes and...

Rich Nations Snap Up Third World Farmland

(Newser) - Rich nations are buying up farmland in developing countries and drawing the ire of some critics, the Guardian reports. One UN official said the purchases, designed as a hedge against food shortages, could put poor nations at risk of starving to feed the wealthy. In "this scramble for soil...

Haitians Turn to Mud Cakes to Fill Empty Bellies

Food price hikes push everything but dirt out of reach for Haiti's poor

(Newser) - Impoverished Haitians have been reduced to living off mud cakes, the Guardian reports. The cakes of clay and water—long eaten by poor pregnant women seeking calcium—are increasingly the only food many families can afford. The global fuel and food crisis has hit Haiti, and half the population is...

G8 Leaders Chew on Global Food Crisis Over Caviar

Luxe meals by 60 chefs follow starvation talks

(Newser) - The global food crisis tops the agenda at this year's G8 summit—and the talks seem to be hungry work, reports the Independent. The 18 dishes at the eight-course luxury dinner served to the leaders last night included caviar, sea urchin, and Kyoto beef—followed by a "G8 fantasy...

Export Bans Push Food Costs Even Higher

29 nations move to keep more food at home

(Newser) - Alarmed by high food prices and shortages worldwide, some 29 countries are banning or reducing exports of foods to make sure they have enough at home. Such limitations pose a threat to countries that rely on imports, forcing prices up further, the New York Times reports. What’s more, the...

Poor Crops Threaten to Worsen Food Crisis

Bad weather in US, Australia threatens harvests amid shortages

(Newser) - Amid fears of looming food shortages around the world, this year’s crops aren’t providing much hope, the New York Times reports. While farmers in America have been hit with too much rain, Australian farmers are battling the effects of drought. US farmers planted 4 million more acres this...

Food vs. Fuel Battle Flares at UN Summit

Egypt's Mubarak asks, should we be feeding people or cars?

(Newser) - The battle over biofuels is raging at the UN’s food summit in Rome, with nations bitterly divided over whether growing corn and sugar cane for ethanol production is pushing food prices up and helping create disastrous global food shortages. On one side: Food experts who call diversion of crops...

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