Excellent editorial by Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation.
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By Eric Schlosser
April 29, 2011
"At the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual meeting this year, Bob Stallman, the group’s president, lashed out at 'self-appointed food elitists' who are 'hell-bent on misleading consumers.' His target was the growing movement that calls for sustainable farming practices and questions the basic tenets of large-scale industrial agriculture in America..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-being-a-foodie-isnt-elitist/2011/04/27/AFeWsnFF_print.html
Sunday, May 1, 2011
The Atlantic - New Federal Guidelines Regulate Junk Food Ads for Kids
Marion Nestle describes the FTC's newly released rules about marketing food to children, and points out where there's still room for improvement.
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By Marion Nestle
April 29, 2011
"The FTC released its long-awaited principles for food marketing to children yesterday. These are proposed principles, scheduled to apply to marketing to children ages two to 17, to go into effect by 2016. The principles are now open for comment..."
http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/04/new-federal-guidelines-regulate-junk-food-ads-for-kids/238053/
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By Marion Nestle
April 29, 2011
"The FTC released its long-awaited principles for food marketing to children yesterday. These are proposed principles, scheduled to apply to marketing to children ages two to 17, to go into effect by 2016. The principles are now open for comment..."
http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/04/new-federal-guidelines-regulate-junk-food-ads-for-kids/238053/
Grist - Is Walmart our best hope for food policy reform?
Tom Philpott points out several flaws with the recent deal between Walmart and the Let's Move! campaign.
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By Tom Philpott
April 29, 2011
"Two years into the Obama administration, most of the energy around food-policy reform resides in the East Wing, in the form of the first lady's Let's Move! campaign. So far, Let's Move has been about Michelle Obama pursuing what I have called a 'soft power' campaign -- that is, using her stature to nudge private companies to reform their ways in the absence of real policy change..."
http://www.grist.org/food/2011-04-29-is-walmart-our-best-hope-for-food-policy-reform
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By Tom Philpott
April 29, 2011
"Two years into the Obama administration, most of the energy around food-policy reform resides in the East Wing, in the form of the first lady's Let's Move! campaign. So far, Let's Move has been about Michelle Obama pursuing what I have called a 'soft power' campaign -- that is, using her stature to nudge private companies to reform their ways in the absence of real policy change..."
http://www.grist.org/food/2011-04-29-is-walmart-our-best-hope-for-food-policy-reform
Food & Water Watch - In North Carolina, the Pig Manure Is Hitting the Fan
North Carolinians, take action to help fight the worst factory farming practices in NC!
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April 21, 2011
"If you think of it literally, that’s pretty close to what’s happening with North Carolina’s hog industry — specifically within large factory farm operations that collectively raise most of the state’s 10 million hogs… and their 40 million daily gallons of untreated manure. Sadly, North Carolina has one of the oldest and worst ways of disposing of hog waste: they use manure lagoons and sprinkler systems, which presents a serious threat to public health. The state passed a legislative measure in 2007 that asked factory farm operations to voluntarily phase out their old practices and improve their quality standards for air and water. But it shouldn’t be surprising to learn that, when something is voluntary, industry doesn’t usually do it. So far only a few factory farms have implemented the new systems. It’s time for North Carolina to make these standards mandatory..."
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/blogs/in-north-carolina-the-pig-manure-is-hitting-the-fan/
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April 21, 2011
"If you think of it literally, that’s pretty close to what’s happening with North Carolina’s hog industry — specifically within large factory farm operations that collectively raise most of the state’s 10 million hogs… and their 40 million daily gallons of untreated manure. Sadly, North Carolina has one of the oldest and worst ways of disposing of hog waste: they use manure lagoons and sprinkler systems, which presents a serious threat to public health. The state passed a legislative measure in 2007 that asked factory farm operations to voluntarily phase out their old practices and improve their quality standards for air and water. But it shouldn’t be surprising to learn that, when something is voluntary, industry doesn’t usually do it. So far only a few factory farms have implemented the new systems. It’s time for North Carolina to make these standards mandatory..."
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/blogs/in-north-carolina-the-pig-manure-is-hitting-the-fan/
LA Times - Dieters can get out of 'healthy' food trap by checking ingredients
If a packaged food is labeled as "healthy," it probably isn't.
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By Marissa Cevallos
April 23, 2011
"Dieters are more fooled by misleading health labels than people who don’t obsess about calories, a new study suggests. Dieters believed a heap of pasta shells, mozzarella and salami was healthier if it was called a 'salad' instead of 'pasta.' They also ate more jelly beans than non-dieters if they were presented as 'fruit chews' instead of 'candy'..."
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/23/news/la-heb-diet-healthy-20110422
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By Marissa Cevallos
April 23, 2011
"Dieters are more fooled by misleading health labels than people who don’t obsess about calories, a new study suggests. Dieters believed a heap of pasta shells, mozzarella and salami was healthier if it was called a 'salad' instead of 'pasta.' They also ate more jelly beans than non-dieters if they were presented as 'fruit chews' instead of 'candy'..."
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/23/news/la-heb-diet-healthy-20110422
Friday, April 22, 2011
This Dish Is Veg - New Study: Vegetarian diet helps prevent heart disease, diabetes and stroke
Yet another reason to go veggie!
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By Robin Lawless
April 22, 2011
"Happy Earth Day everyone! Just in time for Earth Day comes the release of a new study that confirms what most vegetarians and vegans know already; not eating meat is not only better for the planet, it’s better for your health!..."
http://www.thisdishisvegetarian.com/2011/04/1526new-study-vegetarian-diet-helps.html
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By Robin Lawless
April 22, 2011
"Happy Earth Day everyone! Just in time for Earth Day comes the release of a new study that confirms what most vegetarians and vegans know already; not eating meat is not only better for the planet, it’s better for your health!..."
http://www.thisdishisvegetarian.com/2011/04/1526new-study-vegetarian-diet-helps.html
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Huffington Post - Drug-Resistant Bacteria in Half Your Meat? Time for Congress to Act
Author of Animal Factory reacts to the recent report about the amount of drug-resistant bacteria found in meat. Could not agree more.
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By David Kirby
April 15, 2011
"Once again, our industrial food production system has come to bite us back -- this time in the form of drug-resistant staph bacteria detected in one-half of supermarket meat samples tested in one study, with one-half of the resistant samples found with bacteria that were resistant to multiple drugs..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/drugresistant-bacteria-in_b_849928.html
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By David Kirby
April 15, 2011
"Once again, our industrial food production system has come to bite us back -- this time in the form of drug-resistant staph bacteria detected in one-half of supermarket meat samples tested in one study, with one-half of the resistant samples found with bacteria that were resistant to multiple drugs..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/drugresistant-bacteria-in_b_849928.html
LA Times - Meat contaminated with resistant bacteria
One more reason to not eat meat, or to at least pay attention to where it comes from...
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By Marissa Cevallos
April 15, 2011
"Meat in the U.S. may be widely contaminated with strains of drug-resistant bacteria, researchers reported Friday. Nearly half of all meat and poultry sampled in a new study contained drug-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, the type of bacteria that most commonly causes staph infections. Such infections can take many forms, from a minor rash to pneumonia or sepsis. But the findings are less about direct threats to humans than they are about the risks of using antibiotics in agriculture..."
http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-meat-bacteria-20110415,0,7997782.story
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By Marissa Cevallos
April 15, 2011
"Meat in the U.S. may be widely contaminated with strains of drug-resistant bacteria, researchers reported Friday. Nearly half of all meat and poultry sampled in a new study contained drug-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, the type of bacteria that most commonly causes staph infections. Such infections can take many forms, from a minor rash to pneumonia or sepsis. But the findings are less about direct threats to humans than they are about the risks of using antibiotics in agriculture..."
http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-meat-bacteria-20110415,0,7997782.story
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Food Politics - FDA makes recalls transparent
By Marion Nestle
April 5, 2011
"The FDA has just revised its method for listing recalls online. As explained by Food Production Daily, the FDA was required to do this by the food safety bill passed in January. The new site is nifty. It displays recalls in a neat, searchable, trackable table..."
Click here to see an example of how the table works and to link to the FDA's new recall tracking site.
April 5, 2011
"The FDA has just revised its method for listing recalls online. As explained by Food Production Daily, the FDA was required to do this by the food safety bill passed in January. The new site is nifty. It displays recalls in a neat, searchable, trackable table..."
Click here to see an example of how the table works and to link to the FDA's new recall tracking site.
Huffington Post - Let's Ask Marion Nestle: Does Factory Farming Have a Future?
By Kerry Trueman, EatingLiberally.org
April 13, 2011
"We talk a lot about the factory farms that provide most of our meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products, but most Americans have no idea what really goes on inside a CAFO, or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation... Given all the problems inherent in industrial livestock production, do you see a future for factory farming?"
Click here to read Nestle's answer and to view a slideshow about factory farming.
April 13, 2011
"We talk a lot about the factory farms that provide most of our meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products, but most Americans have no idea what really goes on inside a CAFO, or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation... Given all the problems inherent in industrial livestock production, do you see a future for factory farming?"
Click here to read Nestle's answer and to view a slideshow about factory farming.
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