Green tea joins Portuguese sausage, Spam, saimin, and fruit punch as McDonald's menu items that can be found only in Hawai'i.

Unique to Hawai'i's market, McDonald's will be replacing its generic hot tea with organic green tea produced using the ancient practice of pan-firing the leaves. McDonald's green tea, produced by the Hawaiian Islands Tea Company is also inspected to assure the tea is 100 percent organic and complies with U.S. Dept. of Agriculture organic standards. Hawaiian Islands Tea Company also provides McDonald's Restaurants of Hawaii with its iced tea.

2005 was record year for genetically engineered crops

Last year set records for the growth of genetically engineered crops, as more farmers in Europe and the developing world embraced biotechnology, an industry-supported group reported today.

Yet anti-biotech activists and other observers still complain that the industry isn't helping alleviate world hunger as it has long promised. None of the commercially available genetically engineered crops last year were nutritionally enhanced. Much of the output is for animal feed.

Some 8.5 million farmers in 21 countries grew engineered crops on 222 million acres last year, an 11 percent increase over 2004, according to a report released by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications.

Many papaya farmers in Hawai'i, which supplies 90 percent of the United States' supply, credit biotechnology with saving the industry from a ruinous virus 10 years ago.