Don’t look now, but some turkey has antibiotic-resistant superbugs
Not to put a damper on your Thanksgiving or anything, but there are two new studies showing that drug-resistant bugs like MRSA are showing up in farmed meat, including turkey. Farm animals get fed a...
View ArticleEating rice raises risk of arsenic exposure
Sometimes it just feels like we should give up eating, particularly if "we" are "pregnant women." A new study links rice consumption with higher levels of arsenic in the bloodstream, which can...
View ArticleYour mom was right: Don’t eat raw cookie dough
I know, I know, it's so good. But a study of a 2009 E. coli outbreak, led by CDC researchers and state health officials, has traced the contamination back to prepackaged raw cookie dough. Turns out...
View ArticleThe bad food news of 2011
We continue digesting this year’s food politics coverage below — only this time we take account of the things that didn’t go so well. (Tired of bad news? See the year’s good food news instead.) 1....
View ArticleFast food chains give up ‘pink slime’ meat product
McDonald's, Taco Bell, and Burger King just stopped using a product popularly known as "pink slime" in their burger meat. The "slime" comes from the tiny bits of beef in leftover fatty trimming. Those...
View ArticleScrooged: FDA gives up on antibiotic restrictions in livestock
Most "subtherapeutic" antibiotics are administered to animals on industrial farms via their feed. (Photo by Kerben.) The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pulled a Scrooge move just before Christmas....
View ArticleWill the Butterball raid yield any real results?
The Butterball facility in North Carolina that was raided on Thursday. (Photo by Mercy for Animals.) If turkey were beer, Butterball would have the brand power of Budweiser, Miller, and Coors...
View Article‘Antibiotic-free’ pork has the same rate of antibiotic-resistant bacteria
We really do try to Pollan it up and do the whole “eat food, not too much, mostly plants” bit. But “mostly plants” obviously means “sometimes bacon.” And maybe the farmers’ market wasn’t open, so we...
View ArticleThe Economist uses stale right-wing ideas to attack government regulation
Regulations kill jobs? Yeah, we've heard that one before. Cross-posted from the Center for Progressive Reform. The Economist’s Feb. 18 edition offers a cover package of five articles on...
View ArticleDr. Vandana Shiva: Occupy our food supply!
Photo by Ajay Tallam. Today, Feb. 27, is an Occupy Our Food Supply day of action. The following essay is just one of several related posts that will be appearing around the internet to mark the day....
View ArticleWhy less arctic ice means more mercury in your babies
Here is a thing I definitely would not have understood without this animation. Reuters explains the results of this NASA study in words, which aren’t nearly as adequate. [T]hick, perennial Arctic sea...
View ArticleSchool lunches still contain ‘pink slime’
For those among you who really miss the “pink slime” content of McDonald’s hamburgers and Taco Bell’s … everything, you can still get your fix of the ammonia-doused meat product, made of leftover,...
View ArticleCampbell’s to ditch BPA from soup cans
Photo by Antonio. Attention, shoppers: Campbell’s (FINALLY) announced plans to eliminate hormone-disrupting chemical bisphenol-A from the linings of its soup cans. And it only took consumer outrage,...
View ArticlePig ears and donkey butts: 5 foods that could save the world
Photo by Laura Billings. Andrew Zimmern, host of the Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods, eats some pretty strange dishes. Now, he wants you to do the same in the name of saving the world: You can change...
View ArticleBeekeepers to EPA: We’re running out of time
Beekeepers have seen average population losses of around 30 percent every year since 2006. (Photo by Enrique Lara.) Beekeepers have been concerned that pesticides are to blame for the bee die-offs...
View ArticleFDA to GMO labeling campaign: What million signatures?
It hasn’t been a good week for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — if you care about public health. If, however, you think corporate interests and politics should trump science, well, then it’s...
View ArticleAntibiotics in your meat? The ethanol industry might be partly to blame
Photo by USDA. Last year, while touring a fairly small, pasture-based farmstead cheese company, I found myself in a giant feed barn with a group of curious foodies. It was one of the last stops before...
View ArticlePeebottle Farms: The dirt on the dirt
Photo by Jonathan Steffens. I’m a phenomenal putter-offer, and getting my backyard soil tested is exactly the kind of chore I am fantastic at avoiding. It is the obvious, responsible thing to do,...
View ArticleFour important food and farm stories you may have missed
1. FDA and antibiotics: If you’re confused, it’s not your fault As I mentioned a few weeks ago, the courts have recently told the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) it has to regulate several commonly...
View ArticleWhere ‘the whole animal’ meets pink slime
Photo by Teresia. A recent New York Times op-ed declared that sustainable meat is a “myth.” Whether pastured, small-scale, large-scale, rotationally grazed, locavore, industrialized, etc., all meat is...
View ArticleScientists discover ancient antibiotic-resistant bacteria
Okay, nobody panic, but scientists have found a stash of bacteria that have never had contact with humans, but are resistant to antibiotics anyway. If this happened in a movie, this would probably end...
View ArticlePaper asks: Does high-fructose corn syrup contribute to a rise in autism?
Photo by Robert Bradley. I know what you’re thinking: “Tom, it’s been ages since you wrote about high-fructose corn syrup.” And you’re right! It has. But as I’m feeling petulantly defiant, I think...
View ArticleDeadly tree disease could wipe out California’s citrus industry
Photo by Yellow. Cat. Hide ya’ lemons, hide ya’ limes — a deadly disease is coming for California’s citrus trees. State ag experts recently found a tree that tested positive for Huanglongbing–and yes,...
View ArticleScientists use glow-in-the-dark fish to track hormone-disrupting chemicals
Photo by University of Exeter. Imagine if your body could tell you where and when a certain chemical is impacting your health. Scientists at the University of Exeter have done just that — with...
View ArticleEw! Eyeless shrimp and deformed fish now routinely caught in the Gulf
Ok, this is gross. The shrimp coming out of the Gulf of Mexico two years after the BP spill have some seriously nasty stuff wrong with them. They are lacking in eyes. Their gills are full of junked up...
View ArticleLeaked letters suggest Maryland’s governor is henpecked by the chicken industry
Photo by the Chesapeake Bay Program. The Gulf of Mexico dead zone seems to get all the attention. Yes, the low-oxygen area that forms every year in the waters surrounding the Mississippi Delta is the...
View ArticleRaw deal: Maine residents’ fight for unregulated food draws crackdown
Farmer Dan Brown has been sued by the Maine Dept. of Agriculture for selling raw milk, despite the passage of a food sovereignty ordinance in his town. New England town meetings typically include...
View ArticleResearchers find link between drug-resistant bladder infections and poultry...
From the Food and Environment Reporting Network: Bladder infections affect 60 percent of all American women, with a rising number resistant to antibiotic treatment. Now researchers looking into the...
View ArticleYou know you want to be Grist’s newest fellow
Are you an early-career journalist, storyteller, or multimedia wizard who digs what we do? Then Grist wants you! We are now accepting applications for the spring 2017 class of the Grist Fellowship...
View ArticleAfter farmed salmon break-out, Washington state says: “Please, go fishing.”
The state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife is urging the public to fish as they would in their wildest dreams — no limits on size or quantity! Last weekend, an unknown number of farmed Atlantic salmon...
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