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The article focuses on the sources of food of Alberta, Canada. It notes that the global food system requires countries to grow cheap commodities for export with few exceptions. Relative to this, it also states that Albertans import food and food products from other places because other regions produce cheap commodities more cheaply than they do.

The article focuses on beef safety, in light of the discovery last May of an Alberta cow with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, otherwise known as mad cow disease. Premier Ralph Klein proposed a wager that he would pay any resident of Japan (the most BSE-phobic of nations) $10 billion to come to Alberta and eat nothing but beef for a year. If that person got deathly sick, Klein would pay up. There were no takers for what was, after all, a pretty safe bet. Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) -- a mysterious brain illness linked to eating BSE-infected cattle parts that has killed 153 people worldwide since 1995 -- has an incubation period of at least a decade. But Klein's bravado goes to the heart of a very emotional debate: just how safe is beef in light of last May's mad cow and the discovery of a second one (also Alberta-born) in Washington state on Dec. 23? The short answer, say the experts, is yes. Tim Sly, an epidemiologist and director of the school of occupational and public health at Toronto's Ryerson University, points to the experience in Britain, where all but 10 of the known vCJD deaths occurred. Mad cow aside, there are plenty of concerns that the widespread practice of giving antibiotics to cattle may actually be promoting new strains of drug-resistant infections in animals and humans alike. But Doug Powell, scientific director of the Food Safety Network at Ontario's Guelph University, says such concerns pale beside the biggest enemy of all: food-borne illnesses that afflict up to one in four Canadians annually and are due to micro-organisms lurking in beef and poultry as well as fresh fruits and vegetables. Controlling these outbreaks, he says, largely comes down to improving sanitation practices at every stage along the food chain.

This section offers news briefs related to the Canadian food industry. The Alberta Barley Commission's fourth annual Barley Baking Contest was held in Calgary. Pizza has been named the most dependable comfort food by consumers in Canada, according to a Harris/Decima survey released in March 2008. Melissa Craig, executive chef of the Bearfoot Bistro in Whistler, British Columbia, won gold at the Gold Medal Plates' Canadian Culinary Championships held in Toronto, Ontario in February.

Focuses on Max Satanove, an 82-year-old who is known as Edmonton, Alberta's Grocery Guy. His work checking food prices for his comparative price chart; Where the chart is published; Why he continues with this unpaid position.

Reports on the food and beverage industry in Alberta. Statistics noting an increase in shipments for western Canada from a study by Calgary's Canada West Foundation; The category of value-added agriculture; Comments from Ian Strang, acting president and chief executive officer of the provincial government's Agriculture Value Added Corporation (AVAC) on the need for more research and development funding; Alberta's goal of boosts in primary farm production and value-added production.

Focuses on the integration of food and retail centers in Calgary International Airport in Alberta. Provision of street-priced restaurants and food facilities; Promotion of airports as a destination; Impact of the 1994 National Airports Policy on the marketing strategy.

Presents several photographs about the FM Live! event at the Stadium Club and the National Association of College and University Food Services conference in Calgary, Alberta. Guests of the celebrations; Sponsors of the event.