Tag Archives: industrial food system

The Pollution Solution That Will Make Us All Sick

Posted on May 23, 2012 by lzerbe| Leave a comment

By Rich Bindell, senior writer and blogger at Food & Water Watch

The path to a green economy is dotted with many mirages. Eco-compensation is one of them. World Resources Institute (WRI) describes eco-compensation as if it’s a just reward to companies for providing sustainable solutions to environmental problems, but it really just encourages business as usual for big polluters. It doesn’t solve the problem of poor water quality. In fact, it allows companies to profit while they continue to compromise our resources. It’s market-based pollution trading. Continue reading →

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Posted in Climate Destabilization

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GMO Crops in Crisis

Posted on May 16, 2012 by lzerbe| 1 Comment

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 →

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Posted in Food Politics, Pesticides & GMOs

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The Top Environmental Factors Affecting Your Health

Posted on April 23, 2012 by lzerbe| 2 Comments

By Deirdre Imus, president and founder of The Deirdre Imus Environmental Health Center at Hackensack University Medical Center

The first ever Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970, after Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, called for “an environmental teach-in.” More than 20 million people participated that year, and now more than 500 million people in 175 countries observe Earth Day on April 22 by raising awareness for environmental issues around the world. Continue reading →

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Posted in Children's Health, Men's Health, Women's Health

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The Low-Down on BPA

Posted on April 20, 2012 by lzerbe| 6 Comments

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 →

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Posted in Children's Health, Food Politics, Healthy Home & Garden, Men's Health, Women's Health

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Doo Doo Chicken: the New Pink Slime

Posted on April 13, 2012 by lzerbe| Leave a comment

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 →

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Posted in Food Politics

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Danger in the Poultry Aisle

Posted on April 6, 2012 by lzerbe| 2 Comments

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 →

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Posted in Children's Health, Food Politics, Men's Health, Women's Health

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Superbug Lawsuit Could Save Antibiotics

Posted on March 26, 2012 by lzerbe| Leave a comment

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 →

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Posted in Children's Health, Food Politics, Men's Health, Women's Health

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Salt Wars: What’s Really Too Much?

Posted on March 26, 2012 by lzerbe| 2 Comments

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:

Continue reading →

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Posted in Children's Health, Food Politics, Men's Health, Women's Health

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United Nations: Tax Unhealthy Food

Posted on March 13, 2012 by lzerbe| 6 Comments

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:

  • -Tax unhealthy products.
  • -Regulate foods high in saturated fats, salt and sugar.
  • -Crack down on junk food advertising.
  • -Overhaul misguided agricultural subsidies that make certain ingredients cheaper than others.
  • -Support local food production so that consumers have access to healthy, fresh and nutritious foods.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Food Politics

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Natural Food Terms That Trick Consumers

Posted on March 5, 2012 by lzerbe| 1 Comment
by Marion Nestle, PhD, professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University.FoodNavigator.com has issued a collection of its recent articles on “natural” and processing.  At issue is the meaning of “natural,” which many people perceive as equivalent to organic or healthy.  As I’ve said before, it isn’t.

FoodNavigator.com has issued a collection of its recent articles on “natural” and processing.  At issue is the meaning of “natural,” which many people perceive as equivalent to organic or healthy.  As I’ve said before, it isn’t.

Natural has no regulatory meaning.  The FDA merely says (note obfuscating double negatives):

From a food science perspective, it is difficult to define a food product that is ‘natural’ because the food has probably been processed and is no longer the product of the earth.

That said, FDA has not developed a definition for use of the term natural or its derivatives. However, the agency has not objected to the use of the term if the food does not contain added color, artificial flavors, or synthetic substances.

One thing is clear: “natural” sells food products. Continue reading →

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Posted in Food Politics

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