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A collection of studies of agri-food standards in the modern economy, this work addresses these and helps to define the scope of the emerging study of the politics of standards setting. It contains an overview essay dealing with the multiple ways of thinking about, approaching and defining food and agricultural standards.

Our nation faces daunting challenges to its food and fiber system and to the condition of our natural resources in the coming decades. Rapid increases in world population and the pressure on resources generated by increasing per capita consumption as a result of increasing per capita income challenge the very basis of our standard of livingâ€"our food, fiber, and natural-resource base. As the nation faces the challenges, new technologies and new information systems are changing the face of biologic research. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has traditionally been the nation's primary public research engine in food, fiber, and natural resources. The National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program (NRI) is a small part of that USDA research effort, but it accounts for a substantial portion of the nation's merit-based peer-reviewed fundamental research efforts in food, fiber, and natural resources. In 1997, USDA asked the National Research Council Board on Agriculture (now the Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources) to conduct an independent assessment of the NRI program. Specifically, USDA asked the Research Council to: perform a retrospective assessment of the quality and value of research funded by the program; determine whether the science and technology priorities in the major NRI programs are defined appropriately; assess how NRI activities complement other USDA programs, those of other federal agencies, and state programs in the private sector; and recommend the nature and content of changes for the future. This report summarizes the results of the committee's analysis. Chapter 2 summarizes the value of food, fiber, and natural resources-research to the United States, focusing on economic contributions and rates of return of food and fiber research. The committee's analysis of the quality, value, fairness, relevance, and responsiveness of the NRI competitive grants program is presented in chapter 3. Chapter 4 presents the committee's analysis of the role and scope of the NRI, including its scientific objectives, its value in training and education, and its complementarity with other research activities. The committee's analysis of NRI's priority-setting process and its research priorities is given in chapter 5. The committee's analysis of organizational and funding issues is given in chapter 6. Chapter 7 presents the committee's recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the NRI program. Additional supporting materials are found in appendixes A through I.

This text provides comprehensive coverage of fibers used in food formulations, starting with the understanding of their basic chemical structure and how they are present and organized in the cell wall structure, their physicochemical and functional properties, their impact on the digestive process and their role and preventive action against various chronic diseases including colon cancer. The book focuses on traditional and new fiber rich sources, incorporating an integrated approach in terms of the technological and engineering processes used to obtain and incorporate them in traditional foods, plus their characterization, extraction and modification. The study of processing conditions including the chemical, physical and enzymatic processes of fiber extraction and modification are also covered, including traditional and emerging processing technologies, plus the application of fibers in the development of new products and processes. Science and Technology of Fibers in Food Systems integrates knowledge of fibers from their basic structural and property aspects and the applications of these ingredients to extraction process analysis, modification and feasibility for use at the industry level. The chapters incorporate the physiological aspects related to the consumption of fiber for prevention of serious diseases.

The Cost of Our Clothes -- The Fibershed Movement -- Soil-to-Soil Clothing and the Carbon Cycle -- The False Solution of Synthetic Biology -- Implementing the Vision with Plant-Based Fibers -- Implementing the Vision with Animal Fibers and Mills -- Expanding the Fibershed Model -- A Future Based in Truth.

How we produce and consume food has a bigger impact on Americans' well-being than any other human activity. The food industry is the largest sector of our economy; food touches everything from our health to the environment, climate change, economic inequality, and the federal budget. From the earliest developments of agriculture, a major goal has been to attain sufficient foods that provide the energy and the nutrients needed for a healthy, active life. Over time, food production, processing, marketing, and consumption have evolved and become highly complex. The challenges of improving the food system in the 21st century will require systemic approaches that take full account of social, economic, ecological, and evolutionary factors. Policy or business interventions involving a segment of the food system often have consequences beyond the original issue the intervention was meant to address. A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System develops an analytical framework for assessing effects associated with the ways in which food is grown, processed, distributed, marketed, retailed, and consumed in the United States. The framework will allow users to recognize effects across the full food system, consider all domains and dimensions of effects, account for systems dynamics and complexities, and choose appropriate methods for analysis. This report provides example applications of the framework based on complex questions that are currently under debate: consumption of a healthy and safe diet, food security, animal welfare, and preserving the environment and its resources. A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System describes the U.S. food system and provides a brief history of its evolution into the current system. This report identifies some of the real and potential implications of the current system in terms of its health, environmental, and socioeconomic effects along with a sense for the complexities of the system, potential metrics, and some of the data needs that are required to assess the effects. The overview of the food system and the framework described in this report will be an essential resource for decision makers, researchers, and others to examine the possible impacts of alternative policies or agricultural or food processing practices.