While writing my farewell piece, I had a good time revisiting some of my favorite columns from over the years:
“My Dream Food Label,” which to me remains a model of what should be considered when creating a
label that gives the information we need to make smarter food choices;
“A Food Manifesto,” which, though nearly 5 years old, still pretty much outlines the major issues
in food;
Current FDA rules allow multiple species of fish to be sold under the same name, a practice critics say is abetting seafood fraud. Here a Maldivian fisherman sorts his catch in Male.Credit Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Backed by Big Food, the House has passed a bill that prevents states from mandating GMO labels on food packaging. (Whatever happened to Republicans’ love of states’ rights?) But it turns out the fight may not be worth the effort: GMO labels don’t actually scare people away from buying the product. In some cases they even increase support for genetic modification.
First Lady Michelle Obama’s school lunch standards have increased access to healthy meals in racially diverse schools, in many places eliminating the nutrition gap between diverse and predominantly white schools.
Hundreds of thousands of olive trees in Italy are being decimated by a bacterial disease known as olive tree leprosy.
Under current FDA policies, 64 different species of fish can be sold in fish markets and restaurants under the name “grouper”; for a “snapper” it’s 56. While you might not
care whether you’re eating a Pacific creolefish or a Hapuka (both sold as “sea bass”), an ocean conservation group says the jumbling of names is abetting illegal fishing and seafood fraud.
“We are seeing the emergence of the next generation of the food distribution system.” Takeout delivery by drones? No: drive-thru grocery stores built by — who else? — Amazon.
Fisheries in the North Sea are beginning to recover after a decade of aggressive sustainability policies
that targeted bottom trawling. One (unsurprising) result: bigger fish.
Malcolm Gladwell tackles an old question that still lacks a satisfying answer: Why are there dozens of varieties of mustard but only (really) one kind of ketchup?
Kraft employees have discovered a major downside to their recent merger with
Heinz: no more free cheese sticks.
The governors of Maryland and Virginia are in a highly publicized tiff over which state gets to claim the famous “Maryland blue crab” as its own. The debate has uncovered some very interesting facts about crab behavior, but it’s also proved that neither
man is above making truly terrible puns.
A horse watches over the historic site of Fort Phil Kearny in Banner, Wyoming.Credit Anne Sherwood for The New York Times
Agricultural lobbyists in Washington are gearing up for a major battle – this time, with each other. (You gotta love that.) Departing from decades of traditional unity, Big Corn is investing heavily in
an attack on Big Sugar, hoping to unwind a lucrative package of subsidies that’s among the most generous in U.S. agriculture.
A Wyoming rancher lays out five common-sense reasons why farmers and ranchers should get ahead
of regulators and start making their operations ecologically sustainable now. Really great.
Adios, blue-tinged milk: General Mills is removing all artificial colors and flavors from its cereals. Yes, even from Lucky Charms. Which, you know, doesn’t make them “healthy.”
Employing Orwellian “doublespeak,” the Texas Department of Agriculture issued a press release that simultaneously touted its efforts to combat child obesity while also lifting a decade-old ban on deep fat fryers in public schools. Because nothing slims a child’s waist faster than a helping of French fries.
What-a-shock department: If done properly, intermittent fasting can benefit your waistline and reduce levels of molecules
associated with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Though fair warning: it will probably also make you very hangry.
A New York City regulator accused Whole Foods of routinely overcharging customers for pre-packaged food by overstating the products’ weight – “the worst case of mislabeling” investigators had seen in their careers.
Most areas of the United States could supply 80-100 percent of their populations with
food grown or raised within 50 miles. This, of course, was the case from the dawn of agriculture until maybe 75 years ago, and still is around much of the world.
Companies can predict whether a new product is likely to flop based on a surprising metric: positive feedback from consumers who bought — and loved — products that failed in the past.
(One study calls these customers “harbingers of failure.”)
A high-sugar diet not only hurts your figure (not to mention your teeth), it also appears to make your brain less adaptive to change.
“Theoretically, China has strict food safety regulations, but execution is often the problem.” Talk about an understatement: 100,000 tons of smuggled frozen meat was seized by authorities, some
of it more than 40 years old.
A new report out by Food and Water Watch reveals a striking paradox for today’s food movement. At the same time that organic,
sustainable food and its advocates have spread across the country, factory farming has exploded. Two pieces from writers on the so-called left and, interestingly, the so-called right (this is a terrific piece), grapple with what this means for
the food movement’s future.
Schools that opted out of the federal lunch program because of objections over its new health requirements have accumulated massive deficits,
prompting some to return to the fold.
Elite-cattle breeders are using a procedure called embryo transfer to reproducedozens of calves a year from their genetically superior heifers, all via surrogate cows.Credit Sally Ryan for The New York Times
President Obama announced a plan to address the troubling decline in honeybee populations by making seven million acres of federal land more bee-friendly. But environmentalists say that by not addressing the pervasive use of toxic pesticides, the president’s measures don’t go nearly far enough.
The North Carolina legislature overrode a governor veto in order to pass an extremely unpopular “ag-gag” bill that will allow business owners to sue employees who secretly record happenings at work. This is really disappointing.
A culinary historian cautions slow-food advocates against romanticizing our ancestors’ “fresh and natural” — as opposed to processed and industrialized — eating habits. “For
our ancestors, natural was something quite nasty.”
Foster Farms has announced it will eliminate the use of human antibiotics in its poultry. While great for the animals (and consumers), the new policy is likely a reaction to the farm’s recent feature in a Frontline documentary investigating salmonella outbreaks linked to their chickens.
Farmers in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta have offered to give up 25 percent of their water in exchange for promises from the state that there would be no further reductions this season.
A pizza shop in Queens, NY, served as ground zero for an international drug-trafficking ring. The husband-and-wife duo running the restaurant reportedly had ties to the Genovese crime family (one of the “Five Families” dominating the New York
mafia scene), and creatively hid shipments of cocaine in cargo containers marked “fresh cassava.”
In an attempt to shake off its “Whole Paycheck” reputation (and boost disappointing sales), Whole Foods says it is opening a more affordable sister chain of stores in 2016.
Demand for organic produce in the U.S. is growing so fast, organic poultry and dairy operators are having to import non-GMO corn and soybeans from Romania and Turkey. Could those farmers wedded to Monsanto seeds be feeling remorse?
Roy Choi promises to deliver a burger that is locally sourced, sustainable and delicious — all for 99 cents. How? By eliminating food waste.
Roasted corn soup is served at El Mirador in San Antonio, TX. Tex-Mex aficionados say the cuisine rarely gets the credit it deserves.Credit Stacy Sodolak for The New York Times
Tens of thousands of low-wage workers and activists hit the streets last week in an ongoing nationwide campaign for $15 an hour. While opponents of higher wages say a
raise would cost jobs, proponents point to a new study by the Berkeley Center for
Labor Research and Education that shows low wages cost taxpayers nearly $153 billion a year in government support for the working poor.
In Mexicali, Mexico, Chinese dishes are as integral a part of local cuisine as carnitas and tacos, thanks to a fascinating consequence of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.
Middlebury College recently pledged to source 30 percent of its dining hall food from local farms by
2016. That’s in Vermont, folks.
Confusing testimony given by the president of the School Nutrition Association on Capitol Hill last week only furthered speculation that the SNA has become a mouthpiece of the processed food industry.
Sales of organic products in the U.S. reached a record-setting $39.1 billion in 2014.
“Texas and Mexico — two of the United States’ most-loathed peoples. America doesn’t like mongrels, and that’s exactly what Tex-Mex food is: wonderful, beautiful mongrel meals.”
A great illustrated guide to the history of Tex-Mex.
An astounding number of flavors, preservatives and other additives are never tested or evaluated by the FDA before going to market. More troubling is the fact that many of the scientists hired by food companies to test new products — a process that allows companies to avoid a rigorous government
safety review — have ties to Big Tobacco.
Michelle Obama wants to combat junk food marketing to kids by using the same visually appealing tricks to advertise fresh produce. It’s a laudable effort but one that’s likely to fail — and not just because food companies can outspend the First Lady 2,000 to 1.
Californians angry at lax government oversight of bottled water companies have started a petition to kick Nestle’s water bottling operations out of the state.
Washington, D.C., is getting customized refrigerated vending machines that replace Doritos and Twizzlers with snacks like Szechuan chicken banh mi and wasabi peas.
With little advance warning to employees, Walmart fired 2,200 people when it
temporarily closed five stores, ostensibly due to severe plumbing issues. The manager of one store said it was the first time she was hearing about the sewer problems, and a worker speculated the closings
were related to worker activism for higher pay.
A recent study found that people who bring their own bags to the grocery store are more likely to buy organic goods and junk food.Credit David McNew/Getty Images
Governor Jerry Brown has ordered mandatory water restrictions for the first time in California history, thanks to record-low snowfalls this winter that compounded an already catastrophic drought. “It’s a different world,” Brown said. “We have to act differently.” I’ll have more things to say about this next week.
Due to “misperceptions” about their campaign — which drew national scrutiny thanks to a New York Times story — Kraft Foods and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics have canceled their plan to put “Kids Eat Right” logos on Kraft Singles. That was fast.
Walmart is pushing into urban centers with
a vengeance, hoping its prepared food and produce sections will fill a niche in food deserts. This would be a good thing if the introduction of a Walmart store didn’t contribute to a rise in obesity in its surrounding community.
“War and pestilence might kill large numbers of people, but in most cases the population recovers,” writes George Monbiot. “But lose the soil and everything else goes with it.”
“I want to go home. We all do. Our parents haven’t heard from us for a long time, I’m sure they think we are dead.” An investigation by the Associated Press discovered that some of
America’s seafood comes from Burmese slaves. (Update: Thanks to the investigation, Indonesian government officials visited the island where the men were being kept and helped rescue more than 300 people.)
A whopping 70 percent of frozen pizzas, pastas and meat dishes purchased in chain grocery stores exceed FDA recommendations for sodium intake.
Sen. Tom Cotton eats birthday cake with ice cream almost every day.
A selection of dishes prepared at Chutney Masala in Irvington, NY.Credit Richard
Harbus for The New York Times
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is rolling out a new nutrition seal,
“Kids Eat Right,” for select foods. However, it’s unclear what exactly the label implies, since the first food to display the seal is Kraft Singles, a product whose connection to real
cheese is so dubious that the FDA ordered the company to stop calling it “cheese food” in 2002. Bizarrely, the academy insists the seal is not an endorsement but just an advertisement for its
Kids Eat Right educational website. No wonder parents think sugary drinks are healthy.
Hospitals are supporting community gardens and increasing access to affordable, healthy food thanks to Obamacare.
French authorities fined 11 yogurt makers $204 million for colluding in a six-year price-fixing cartel,
complete with secret phone lines and clandestine meetings at the popular café Au Chien qui Fume. To avoid getting fined, Yoplait turned double agent and ratted the group out.
Government efforts to eradicate tooth decay in the 1960s were heavily influenced by the sugar industry, which persuaded researchers to develop vaccines for cavities rather than just telling people to eat less sugar.
Disappointingly, researchers have found that farmers markets in the Bronx — intended to increase local access to fresh fruits and vegetables — charge more than nearby stores and offer a limited variety of produce.
Yet another reason to reduce red meat consumption: vegetarian diets, especially those that include fish (pescatarian if you want to get technical), appear to significantly reduce the risk of colon cancer.
The American breakfast has moved decisively away from cereal, and Kellogg Co. is having a hard time adjusting.Credit Paul Sakuma/Associated Press
“It’s not going to help us. We need the hours.” That was the reaction of many Walmart workers after the retail giant announced it would raise wages for U.S. employees to at least $10 an hour beginning next year. While the increase is no doubt welcome, it’s nowhere close to the $15 an hour workers
asked for and doesn’t address an equally big issue: not enough hours in the first place.
Nestlé, the world’s biggest food manufacturer by sales, last week reported its slowest annual sales growth since 2009, citing in part a shift among health-conscious consumers away from Lean Cuisine and other packaged foods.
California’s senate majority leader wants sugar-sweetened beverages like soda and energy drinks to carry warning labels.
Some farmers who knowingly employ undocumented immigrants are worried legalization will cause their workers to seek better jobs.
Chocolate is getting a makeover: Nestlé is dropping artificial flavors and colorings from all of its chocolate candy products by the end of the year, and Hershey claims it will soon use only “ingredients you recognize.”
The unequal distribution of farm subsidies has a new face: the handsome leading man on this season of “The Bachelor,” who bills himself as a small-time Iowa farm boy but is actually, in the words
of the show’s host, “a fourth-generation land baron,” who has received over $370,000 in farm subsidies since 2001. The vast majority of Iowa subsidy recipients, on the other hand, collect on average less than $1,565 a year.
A 25-cent raise enabled a woman to buy her grandson proper diapers, but that’s about it. In the highly politicized fight over raising the minimum wage, it’s important not to forget what it’s actually like to live on $7.25 an hour.
Six urban school districts that collectively buy more than $552 million of food and supplies each year announced they will no longer buy chickens raised with antibiotics.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack threw water on hopes that the new federal dietary guidelines would take environmental factors into consideration, as was recommended by a panel of independent health and nutrition experts. A petition urging the USDA and Department of Health to keep sustainability on the table can be found here.
Apples once again top the list of produce contaminated with pesticides.
Peaches, nectarines and strawberries also need careful washing.
“For almost a century, Kellogg defined the American breakfast: a moment when people would be jolted out of their drowsiness—often with a stupendous serving of sugar.” Now, analysts say,
the floundering company is ripe for a takeover.
Aristotle called it so in 330 B.C., but it took the rest of us a bit longer to determine that fat is a taste.
Thanks to a decline in packaged food sales at supermarkets, giant food companies are following budget conscious shoppers into dollar stores, though they’re not exactly offering discounts. By shrinking their package sizes, food giants like Kraft – which has annual
revenues of more than $18 billion – can make their products look more affordable while actually charging far more per ounce, targeting cash-strapped shoppers who can’t afford to buy
bulk.
Citizens of the Italian town of Amatrice – the birthplace of amatriciana – were none too pleased when they heard chef Carlo Cracco confess on national television that his recipe for amatriciana includes garlic. True amatriciana, say town
officials, has just six ingredients: pork jowl, pecorino cheese, white wine, San Marzano tomatoes, pepper and chili. I, too, have been yelled at by Italian friends for adding garlic non-traditionally.
In its latest attack on Obama’s higher nutritional requirements for school lunch, the School Nutrition Association has released a paper claiming that the new rules are causing 50 percent of school meal
programs to operate at a loss. What they fail to mention is that that number is lower than it was in 2010,
a full two years before the new food rules were put into place.
