Today is World Water Day and it was heartening to read some encouraging news on the avaiability of clean drinking water. According to The Economist, 87% of the world’s population has access to drinking water from an “improved” source. While this news is encouraging, the U.N. also reported that rampant pollution of our water sources kills more people than war. So the uphill battle to ensure clean drinking water for everyone on the planet continues…
Farewell, Bluefish Tuna?
Today, a motion to ban international trade in bluefin tuna failed to pass at the UN Convention on Trade in Endangered Species in Doha, Qatar. Overfishing has drastically reduced stocks of the bluefin tuna but heavy lobbying by the fishing industry and staunch opposition from Japan where bluefin is a prized ingredient for sushi prevented the ban. What does it say about us as human beings that we do not respect another species’ right to exist?
Posted in Uncategorized
The Case of Bt Brinjal in India
News came in this week that India has halted plans for commercial cultivation of Bt Brinjal (or eggplant). The debate centers around the familiar issues relating to health and environmental issues and loss of biodiversity. Almost at the same time, though, there are reports of plans to grow GM potatoes in the United Kingdom. China is already growing transgenic cotton with plans for other crops such as rice, maize, soybeans etc. According to World Bank estimates, by 2006 , 8% of the global crop area was already planted with GM seeds.
The case for GM crops is made by emphasising their higher yield, reduced use of pesticides and herbicides and their role in curbing world hunger. World population is expected to reach 9 bn by mid-century and public policy needs to tackle the question of expanding food production to meet the increased demand. The shortfalls are going to be exacerbated by the impact of climate change and widespread famine is possible. GM crops represent an important breakthrough in increasing agricultural productivity yet there is stiff resistance to their adoption. In the future though, this may be the best of producing food in a sustainable way. There is a lot of misinformation about GM or “Frankenfood”. No, so far there is no evidence that adopting the cultivation of GM crops for food or feed will make breed pigs with wings or flying potatoes. Actually, rice enhanced with vitamin A , known as Golden Rice or tomatoes enhanced with lycopene could help boost health outcomes in areas of need.
In fact, such is the commotion over this issue that even the Vatican has taken a stand on it! Watch this blog for more updates.
Posted in Food Policy, Food Safety, Food Security
Play the Game and Help the Hungry
I just found this great website run by the World Food program and the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. You get to play a fun game and expand your vocabulary and at the same time donate free rice to feed the hungry. Try it out!
Posted in Food Security
Snack Down!
Most parents found themselves nodding assent as they read Jennifer Steinhauer’s excellent article on snacking. She makes the point that snacking has assumed a huge role in the daily nutrition of kids and worries that a lot of the snack demands are met by processed or junk foods. Yes, snacking is all-pervasive. The pace of life is hectic and rushing from one activity to the other is almost always punctuated by snacks. but, as Thomas Rogers points out, one can try to pick healthier options say apple slices or carrots over vending machine horrors. The problem is one of time. For the parents juggling a job, errands and multiple kids activities time is dear. After a long day the idea of cleaning , peeling and chopping fresh fruits and vegetables is hardly appealing. Also, the allure of ready to go snacks which will please the kids is hard to resist. But you know what is even harder? Just saying NO! Some of us will remember living by the rules of eating your dinner even if it was not your favorite thing, no snacking later to make up for it but as any parent will vouch that is a hard option. Perhaps the solution is to try to provide healthy snacks and limit them to whatever is actually required to prevent the development of a grazing habit. Tackling a full on snack tantrum in sight of the vending machine and the eyes of the entire room is hard, squeezing out a few more minutes to chop up apples instead if paying through the nose for pre-cut stuff at the grocery store is also hard but filling up the kids with junk ia\s not an option at all. Oh well, no one said parenting was a piece of cake!
Posted in Nutrition
Is it safe to eat lettuce again?
Last summer, at the height of the grill-and-salad days a dark cloud loomed. Tainted lettuce , carrying e coli had to be recalled. There was the usual noise to the slow response to a public health hazard. That leads us to think about how the path can be retraced to the source of the trouble. While it may be possible to do so in this country what about produce which is brought in from all corners of the globe? Is this the price we have to pay for being spoilt enough to demand (and get) strawberries in December? This article explains what is being done about it.
Posted in Food Safety
Food for Thought
At the grocery store I contemplate a bunch of glistening pink cherries which my daughter has insisted we absolutely need. Why are they shining? Are they coated with wax? Pesticides? Where did they come from and what kind of produce standards are followed in that country? Are they organic and worth the extra money? I wonder if they have been on the news recently for health scares? I need some answers! Thats when I came up with idea of a blog which will provide the information we need on what finds its way to our plates and also let us share what we think about it, and I say “we” because I hope to hear from you too!
Posted in Uncategorized
Thought + Food 