by Baylen Linnekin | July 8, 2017 Two lawsuits and action in Congress indicate wasteful, unconstitutional mandates may be on their way out. Last week, a federal court in Montana handed an important victory to opponents of USDA checkoff programs. As I describe in my recent book, Biting the Hands that Feed Us, USDA checkoff…
By Caitlin Dewey | July 7 The first known shipment of cooked chicken from China reached the United States last week, following a much-touted trade deal between the Trump administration and the Chinese government. But consumer groups and former food-safety officials are warning that the chicken could pose a public health risk, arguing that China…
By Tim Spector | Updated 4:59 AM ET, Wed July 5, 2017 (CNN) Mounting evidence suggests that the richer and more diverse the community of microbes in your gut the lower your risk of disease. Diet is key to maintaining diversity and was strikingly demonstrated when an undergrad student went on a McDonald’s diet for…
By Jeremy Bernfeld | Jul 5, 2017 Dangerous Jobs, Cheap Meat: Death and injuries on ‘The Chain,’ a Harvest Public Media series about the dangerous life of working in a meatpacking plant, was recognized as an outstanding example of investigative reporting by the public radio industry. The series was awarded first place in the Enterprise/Investigative…
By Pam Martens and Russ Martens | July 5, 2017 The day before the 4th of July, when most Americans were hustling about preparing for family barbecues, the New York Times finally decided to publish an editorial warning about Wall Street’s potential threat to the nation. Unfortunately, it did so with the kind of timidity…
By Peter Whoriskey | July 5 KALONA, Iowa — This small town has become a landmark in the organic-farm movement, and it has nothing to do with foodies or hippies. Instead it has been Amish farmers who, in their suspenders and wide-brimmed hats, have helped develop one of the densest clusters of organic farms in…
By Richard Oswald | July 5, 2017 “Lean finely textured beef” (LFTB) is a nice phrase for an unpleasant food product. The maker of LFTB recently sued ABC News for a report documenting the process that popularized the material’s nickname: Pink Slime. When I worked in a local packing plant for a few months in…
Johnathan Hettinger, Robert Holly, Jelter Meers, and Erin McKinstry, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting Published 3:07 p.m. CT July 3, 2017 In 2013, the Chinese firm Shuanghui received wide public attention when it purchased U.S. pork producer Smithfield Foods for a record $4.7 billion. In an overlooked part of the deal, Shuanghui also acquired more…
by Kelly Brogan, MD “It’s been a little over 3 weeks since we last met, and I wanted to send you an update. I started eating red meat daily to address the reactive hypoglycemia. I am feeling so much better! I am a lot less hungry, can fall asleep more easily and stay asleep! (I…
By BEN KENIGSBERG | June 29, 2017 Wendell Berry is difficult to classify. “Some people would think he’s a novelist and some think he’s an essayist and some think he’s a poet — and it kind of drifts off into nothing in particular,” his wife, Tanya Berry, says with a laugh toward the end of…