Illegal Immigrants and Food Cost Or How Strict Immigration Policy Kills the American Farmer
For years now whenever someone made the battle cry, “Let’s get rid of all the illegal immigrants” I would counter with a question to directly jab where it hurts the most–the pocketbook. “Do you want to keep food prices as low as they are? How much of your paycheck are you willing to put for [...]
November 2, 2009
Tags: agriculture, food, policy Posted in: Politics 
No Comments
Finally An Intelligent Move: RIP Smart Choices
After creating quite a stir in the foodie blogosphere, the mainstream media, and even riling up the lethargic FDA, the industry led Smart Choices label is voluntarily suspending the promotion of its program. Â They even had the Attorney General of Connecticut after them–Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced that he was investigating the program and some [...]
October 26, 2009
Tags: blogs, change, education, FDA, Health, heroes, nutrition, policy Posted in: Health, Politics, Science & Technology 3 Comments
Personal Pleas For Food Safety, Will The Calls Be Heeded This Time?
It’s been 16 years since the Jack-In-The-Box E. coli in 1993, where hundreds were injured and four children died after eating undercooked hamburgers from the chain. Â Court documents later showed that the “fast-food chain knew about but disregarded Washington state laws that would have prevented the deadly 1993 outbreak of E. coli food poisoning” (link). [...]
October 12, 2009
Tags: change, FDA, food safety, Health, policy, USDA Posted in: Health, Politics 2 Comments
Great Food Politics Blogs
Parke Wilde teaches graduate level courses in food policy and statistics at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. Â Along with some of his graduate students, he keeps the U.S. Food Policy.
He recently wrote a sort of ‘top ten’ list of food policy blogs for blogs.com:
In this list, he looked beyond [...]
October 7, 2009
Tags: blogs, education, food, Health, policy Posted in: Fun Food Facts, Health 2 Comments
Soda Taxes Part Two – The Industry Creates A Citizens Coalition
Does the potential revenue from soda taxes persuade anyone to give anyone a second thought?
Not a chance, says the group Americans Against Food Taxes. Â Americans Against Food Taxes is a “coalition of concerned citizens” that is strictly opposed to the sweetened beverage taxes. Â However, on more than cursory view, you find that it is actually [...]
September 30, 2009
Tags: Barack Obama, change, marketing, nutrition, obesity, policy, soda, sugar Posted in: Health, Politics, Science & Technology No Comments
Egypt Becomes A Pigsty Without Pigs
In an attempt to curb the spread of HINI influenza, commonly referred to as ’swine flu’, Egypt’s officials ordered the culling of every single pig in the nation. Â Egyptian officials now claim that the measure was not related to the swine flu pandemic, but rather about cleaning up the filth in a local neighborhood that [...]
September 25, 2009
Tags: bacon, Health, policy, waste Posted in: Health, Politics No Comments
Dairy Farms Contaminate Water And Get Away With It
According to the EPA, agricultural runoff is single largest polluter of the nation’s rivers and streams. However, thanks to years of paltry EPA authority and the lax legislation imposed during the Bush administration, their hands are pretty much tied when it comes to stopping it. There are laws in place that have big [...]
September 21, 2009
Tags: agriculture, Barack Obama, change, cows, farmers, green, Health, moms, policy, USDA Posted in: Health, Politics One Comment
A Relentless Focus On Prevention, Or Something
Food safety and child nutrition were topics at this year’s National Food Policy Conference. Â Bringing together the food industry, public health officials, consumer advocacy groups, and the government, the conference makes a concerted effort to demonstrate progressive action on key issues facing the nation and its food supply.
The Child Nutrition Act is due to be [...]
September 14, 2009
Tags: agriculture, change, education, farmers, FDA, food safety, Health, nutrition, policy, USDA Posted in: Politics No Comments
The Future Of Health Care Is Fighting The Farm Lobby
In an op-ed piece for the New York Times, Michael Pollan portends the entangled futures of health care, obesity, and insurance companies. Just as the insurance companies joined governmental efforts to rally against smoking, Pollan foresees insurance companies tackling obesity. This is necessarily after upcoming health care reforms.
Even the weaker versions of reform [...]
September 11, 2009
Tags: agriculture, Barack Obama, change, farmers, Health, Michael Pollan, nutrition, obesity, policy, subsidies Posted in: Health, Politics No Comments
Food Fortification – Too Much Of A Good Thing?
A Short History of Fortification
The first widespread use of fortification was in the early 1900’s. Â In some areas of the United States, upwards of 60% of the population had enlarged thyroid glands, also known as goiters. Â In 1924 officials all over America began iodizing salt and within ten years goiters all but disappeared.
Just before World [...]
September 9, 2009
Tags: FDA, food, food safety, innovation, marketing, moms, nutrition, policy Posted in: Health, Science & Technology One Comment
