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Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 13:50:05 PM PDT
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- The United States just got a little bit fatter. This is tragic, tragic news. A new study found that obesity rates among adults rose in nearly half of U.S. states and didn't decline anywhere. I'd like to separate the simple measure of "obesity" from "unhealthy habits" and "poor health" because I think it's misleading to only examine obesity - there are plenty of skinny people who eat poorly and don't exercise and just because they fit in size 4 jeans doesn't make them healthy - but obesity is obviously easier to measure than food consumption habits. And, given all of its limitations in measuring health, this rise in obesity is not a good thing.
- Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley speaks out for health care reform, including a public option! Yay! Now we just need 59 other Democrats who agree with him and we're all good.
- Obama Foodorama picks up the slack for the USDA by telling us which retailers sold the E. coli-tainted recalled beef. The US government is required to report this information to the public but in this most recent recall, to the best of my knowledge, they have not done so yet. Thank goodness for bloggers.
- Good lord. The latest in school food news is interesting - but not good. It's a write up of the heavily-corporate-funded School Nutrition Association's food expo, which F is for French Fry describes by saying: "Imagine if Las Vegas built a Costco-themed hotel with a particular emphasis on chicken nugget samples and then filled the building with lunch ladies."
- Don't miss this fantastic write-up by Deb Eschmeyer about the hard work and delicious rewards of organic farming.
- Fooducate gives us the dirt on phosphoric acid (aka "that chemical in Coca-Cola").
- Here's my favorite headline of the day: "Screwing up environment not so great for economy, studies find." Hmm, Al Gore's been saying that for years.
- Grist reviewed six dairy-free ice creams. While they focus on taste, I tend to focus on labels. Some of these "treats" contain absolutely disgusting ingredients, so gross that no matter how good they might taste, I won't buy them. My favorite by FAR is Luna & Larry's Coconut Bliss. I don't buy it often, however, because I have a problem. Once I taste it, I can't stop eating it. I can easily put away a whole pint in one sitting.
- This week in beekeeping: Who knew that bees were such a frickin' soap opera?
- Who owns seeds? Check out this fantastic diagram of the seed industry. As you may have guessed, Monsanto owns much of the industry, but it's not without heavy competition from other major plays like DuPont and Syngenta. Still, the industry is alarmingly consolidated. (H/t Mark Bittman)
- Well, holy shit. Dean Foods was already a thorn in the side of organic dairy farmers with its bullshit organic brand Horizon. Now it's even worse, undercutting organics with a new 'natural' brand. What the hell does natural mean anyway? It's just a feel-good term to slap on labels without any sort of standards or regulatory oversight. No wonder Dean likes it.
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| Jill Richardson :: Sampler Platter |
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