by Marion Nestle, PhD, professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University
I was a member of the FDA Food Advisory Committee when the agency approved production of genetically modified foods in the early 1990s.
At the time, critics repeatedly warned that widespread planting of GM crops modified to resist Monsanto’s weed-killer, Roundup, were highly likely to select for “superweeds” that could withstand treatment with Roundup. Continue reading
Posted in Food Politics, Pesticides & GMOs
Tagged GMOs, industrial food system, pesticides
by Marion Nestle, PhD, professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University
A question from a reader:
Q. I was wondering if you could comment on the recent article in the New York Times which questions the link between food deserts and obesity.
A. Sure. Happy to. The article talks about two recent studies finding no relationship between the types of foods children eat, what they weight, and the kinds of foods available within a mile and a half of their homes.
These finding seem counter-intuitive in light of current efforts to improve access to healthier foods in low-income communities. Continue reading
Posted in Food Politics, Healthy Diet
By Margaret Riche, EcoCentric
According to many family farmers, there is an atmosphere of fear in rural America today. The threat of litigation looms, carried on the wind, by bird and by bee, in the form of Monsanto’s genetically engineered seeds. When these patent-protected drifters settle on a neighbor’s non-GE field, in effect contaminating their crops, unwitting farmers are suddenly at risk for legal retribution from the biotech giant. Continue reading
by Marion Nestle, PhD, professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University
BPA has become a classic example of how point of view influences decisions about low-dose chemicals in the food supply for which the science is uncertain.
If you are a believer in the “precautionary principle,” any suggestion of harm is enough to support banning BPA until it is proven safe. Continue reading
By Walker Foley, communications assistant at Food & Water Watch
Some consumer advocates are marking a swift victory after Beef Products Inc. announced the shutdown of three of its four factories last week. But pink slime is just the frothy tip of the repulsive, risky, potentially unsafe meat iceberg floating in our food supply.
In case you’ve been out of the country for the past two weeks and missed the pink slime hysteria, here’s the gist. In 2002, USDA microbiologist Gerald Zirnstein dubbed BPI’s lean, finely textured beef trimmings (LFTB) “pink slime.” Zirnstein’s neologism lay dormant for the next 10 years until mainstream media and consumer activists rallied around the term and asked not, “Where’s the beef,” but, “What’s the beef?” Continue reading
by Marion Nestle, PhD, professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University
Apparently as a result of a need to cut costs, the USDA is changing the way its inspectors oversee chicken processing.
As Dana Milbank of the Washington Post puts it, this is
a proposal to allow chicken slaughterhouses to inspect themselves — eliminating those pesky federal monitors who have the annoying habit of taking diseased birds out of the food supply.
Even if the Obama administration were inclined to bring down capitalism with an orgy of overregulation, there isn’t enough money in the budget to enforce the rules on the books. That’s what the chicken fight is about: Spending cuts…are a form of de facto deregulation (my emphasis). Continue reading
Posted in Children's Health, Food Politics, Men's Health, Women's Health
Tagged industrial food system
by Peter Lehner, executive director, Natural Resources Defense Council
Last Thursday night, a federal court ordered the Food and Drug Administration to take action on the practice of giving antibiotics to livestock through animal feed. This victory will help protect American families against superbugs and other drug-resistant bacteria. Continue reading
Posted in Children's Health, Food Politics, Men's Health, Women's Health
Tagged healthy diet, industrial food system
by Marion Nestle, PhD, professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University
Dietary sodium continues to generate much talk but little action.
The CDC issued a recent Vital Signs report on dietary sodium with this graphic:
Posted in Children's Health, Food Politics, Men's Health, Women's Health
Tagged healthy diet, industrial food system
by Marion Nestle, PhD, professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University
Olivier de Schutter, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, has issued five recommendations for fixing diets and food systems:
by Margaret Riche, EcoCentric
Fox just found out what animal activists – and increasingly, others who speak out about food – have known for years. Activists who expose truths that threaten the profits of big business are more and more becoming targets for legal action.
Posted in Food Politics, Healthy Diet, Sustainable Farming
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