For those who might be interested in informing themselves on the GM debate, a scientific perspective that addresses concerns on biosafety, biodiversity, and intellectual property among other things.
Category Archives: Food Safety
The GM Debate
Posted in Food Policy, Food Safety, Food Security, Nutrition
Tagged food policy, food safety, food security, nutrition
The Best Laid PLans….
So, there you are, grilling a Tilapia fillet for dinner (perhaps with a side of quinoa or broccoli!) and congratulating yourself on eating right. Well, the new York Times has a piece that will make you think again. Farm raised Tilapia is fed a corn based diet and is a meager source of fish oil, DHA and EPA which are the reason for eating fish in the first place. Plus, all those fish farms have huge adverse environmental impacts.Read and weep…….
Food Safety In China
A new food safety scare broke out in China over tainted pork , NPR reports.
Posted in Food Safety
The Atlantic Food Summit 2011
An interesting day in the food world, speakers with great insights from all parts of the food world. I would have preferred to see a more in depth analysis of the issues relating to biotechnology but otherwise came away replete! Video here from the Atlantic.
Posted in Food Policy, Food Safety, Food Security, Nutrition, Price Rise
Farm Subsidies, Radioactive Sushi, Strawberries…
…in the news headlines today.
The GOP proposes cutting farm subsidies to the extent of 20 percent of current spending.
NPR addresses the concerns over tainted seafood from Japan as leaks continue from the Fukushima Dai-chi nuclear plant.
Spring is here and the countdown to strawberry times has begun (at least in my home!) so here is a reminder of the reason why it is worth paying extra for organic strawberries.
Posted in Food Policy, Food Safety
Monsanto Sued by Farmers
In a new and interesting development, organic farmers have sued Monsanto over its allegations of patent infringements of seeds. Reported by Grist.com.
Posted in Food Policy, Food Safety
Food Trends to Celebrate!
Mark Bittman celebrates good news from the food world. I particularly like the introduction of food into the national conversation and growing our own food. “A planter on every deck” seems to be the motto in my neighborhood this spring: not only does this make us feel connected to our food, it also draws us outside and gardening is a great activity for kids and parents to do together. Of course, closest to my heart is what he aptly calls “the edible school lunch”, chocolate milk is a thing of the past in our county and more vegetable options are coming up. The shoots of a better food world are peeking through. Spring is really here!
The Return of Salmonella
So, we might just be looking forward to another summer without the delights of tomatoes or spinach as efforts are on to cut FDA funding for food safety. This area was sadly under-funded to begin with, and now House Republicans want to slash that further. If these proposals go through, the FDA will have to furlough or lay off staff and that will mean fewer, or less intensive inspections of all the stuff that is going into your grocery cart.
Yes, we need to live and budget more sensibly as people and as a nation but how could the health of the citizens fall off the priority list? On the flat, not-warming planet where these proposals might have originated, has anyone given a thought to subsidies? or biofuels? Just saying!
Two Banana Stories
My day, like that of so many people across the world ,starts with the banana. I set out one each for the kids, they moan about how boring it is, I remind them how good it is for them, and then; ritual completed we munch together in the early morning calm. So when I heard about the banana crisis in Uganda, which is the world’s second largest producer of banana and where the banana is a staple food, I was concerned. It turns out that rather than give up and watch the banana plantations be laid to waste by disease, Ugandan scientists are testing a GM strain that would withstand the BXW bacteria. This new story though, has the same ending as many we have heard before: opposition to GM technology means there might be a very long wait before these developments can actually be brought to the fields. In the meantime, livelihoods are lost, and an entire way of living is in danger.
Closer to home, the introduction of individually plastic wrapped bananas by DelMonte brought howls of laughter as well as disbelief. Had no one noticed that the banana came in its own bio-degradable wrapper? Why did people try to interfere with Nature? So obvious, right? Consider this, as theAtlantic did: individual wrapping, intended to preserve freshness, will lower the number of perfectly good bananas thrown out each year. The article also makes the point that we should stop thinking of nature as sacred and man as a despoiler. We are part of the same world. Yes, we should be more thoughtful in the way we impact nature but let us not set some impossible Garden of Eden standard for this interaction.
Posted in Food Policy, Food Safety, Food Security, Nutrition
Tagged food policy, food safety, food security
What is “Organic?”
A balanced read from NPR on the organic/conventional/GMO debate.
Posted in Food Policy, Food Safety, Nutrition
Thought + Food 