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
Come On Down To The…USDA!
Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan wants to be the “matchmaker” between the Obama administration and USDA program administrators. She recently sent out a memo, “Harnessing USDA rural development programs to support local and regional food systems,” (pdf) to her staff and interested third parties. It details how those programs can cash in on the [...]
August 31, 2009
Tags: agriculture, education, farmers, food event, policy, USDA Posted in: Health, Politics One Comment
Marion Nestle Talks Sugar And Ag Policy On The Colbert Report
According to the manufacturers of a huge amount of processed, sugar-laden foodstuffs, there is a sugar crisis in the United States. On August 5th, representatives of those companies wrote to the Secretary Vilsack at the USDA asking him to lift the stringent quotas on imported sugar. Marion Nestle, of course, has plenty to say [...]
August 26, 2009
Tags: agriculture, farmers, food event, policy, subsidies, sugar, USDA Posted in: Politics No Comments
Time Magazine Takes A Bite Out Of Cheap Food
Usually when the mainstream media talks about the plight of factory farmed animals and their deleterious effect on the environment, they do so in passing. It’s almost a casual afterthought to the story about why eating red meat will kill you faster, if it gets mentioned at all. Enter Times (online) magazine. The article Getting [...]
August 24, 2009
Tags: agriculture, bacon, cows, factory farms, farmers, Health, obesity, policy, waste Posted in: Health, Politics One Comment
Obama Announces Plan For Lunchroom Reform
In a special interview with an intrepid 11-year-old, Obama explained how he was going to make school lunches both tastier and healthier. Damon Weaver comes from a low-income school district in Pahokee, Florida, and has previously scored interviews with Dwayne Wade, a basketball star, and then-senator Joe Biden. Weaver asks what many parents want to [...]
August 19, 2009
Tags: Barack Obama, change, food, Health, heroes, nutrition, policy Posted in: Uncategorized No Comments
Patrick Kennedy Responds To Food Safety Query
Back in June I wrote about the new Food Safety Enhancement Act being proposed to congress. While the bill was a huge step forward in many regards, many thought the language was discriminatory against small farms. I encouraged everyone to contact their representatives and voice their concern for a “one-size-fits-all” solution to food safety.
You can [...]
August 14, 2009
Tags: agriculture, farmers, food safety, policy Posted in: Health, Politics 2 Comments
Factory Farmed Animals Hog All The Antibiotics
70% of the antibiotics produced in the US go to animals that are not sick. Amassed together in small spaces, diseases can flourish and rapidly spread to all of the confined animals so the purveyors of Concentrated Animal Feed Operations (CAFOs) use them as a preventative measure, but also to stimulate growth. Both practices are [...]
July 15, 2009
Tags: agriculture, bacon, Barack Obama, change, farmers, food safety, Health, heroes, policy Posted in: Health, Politics, Science & Technology One Comment
State Of The Food Nation
Food Inc. is out in theaters and is scaring the “bejesus” out of people. Michelle Obama has harvested her garden and made stirring speeches encouraging change in the American diet. Healthcare reforms are being debated in Congress that will effect the way chronic, food-related diseases are treated. There are massive food recalls almost weekly. Our [...]
July 6, 2009
Tags: agriculture, Barack Obama, change, farmers, FDA, food, food safety, Health, nutrition, policy, USDA Posted in: Health, Politics, Science & Technology No Comments
Celebrate July 4th With Contaminated Cookies And Beef
The Cookies
From January to June 2009, at least 69 people from 29 states have gotten sick with E. coli O157:H7, which stemmed from eating Nestlé’s raw cookie dough.
On June 19, the FDA warned the public not to eat Nestlé’s raw cookie dough and Nestlé issued a voluntary recall.
Like most voluntary recalls, it does not stop [...]
July 3, 2009
Tags: FDA, food, food event, food safety, Health, policy, USDA Posted in: Health, Politics One Comment
Food Inc., The Reviews Are In
Sorry, there are no theaters within 20 miles of my zipcode that are playing Food Inc. I will have to get it on Netflix when it comes out. In the mean time, I have watched the trailer and read a bunch of the reviews:
There is the short and sweet review by Marion Nestle, who describes [...]
July 1, 2009
Tags: agriculture, change, farmers, food event, Health, marketing, nutrition, policy Posted in: Fun Food Facts, Health, Politics 4 Comments
