The Organic Consumers Association is assembling a list of Obama appointees to various food- and ag-related posts , all of whom come from “big ag.” It’s a handy list, even if you don’t buy into the Association’s default assumption that this is a bad thing. The thing about the “revolving door” between government and industry is that, well, industry people have a lot of expertise. It can be hard to find... 

It may take a year or two or five or twenty, but eventually some sort of levy will be placed on the liquid candy purveyed by the  beverage industry. In the past few weeks, two additional voices were heard in the argument for consumer (and legislator) mindshare on this issue. A Harvard experiment, in a hospital cafeteria, tried various intervention models to get people to drink less sugary drinks. Posters with warnings had no effect, but raising... 

The Agriculture Department has released data showing the adoption rates in the United States for some of the biggest genetically modified crops since 1996. The accompanying graph is startling. It shows how, for example, soybeans have gone from zero to 93 percent of the entire crop in that time. “If you eat any processed foods containing corn, soybeans, or beet sugar, you should assume that they have a high probability of containing genetically... 

In her depressing account in the American Journalism Review of newspapers withdrawing from the nation’s capital, Jodi Enda notes the following: Even if they are large, even if they are central to how Americans live their lives, most parts of the federal government—the very offices that write the rules and execute the decisions of Congress and the president—remain uncovered or undercovered by the mainstream media. Consider that not... 

That bewildering array of olive oil at the grocery store might become a bit easier to navigate , thanks to new regulations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The standards, which will take effect in October, “will differentiate cheaper imposters from the best oil,” says the Associated Press. Makers of cheaper oils have tried to pass themselves off as being of higher quality by using terms such as “extra light,”... 

Industrial Ground Beef The USDA is enacting more stringent safety regulations for ground meats provided to school lunch programs. This will bring the safety programs up to the safety levels of no less than … hold your breath … fast food burgers. The U.S. Agriculture Department announced Friday that it will require all ground beef purchased for the National School Lunch Program to adhere to new safety standards after July 1. The program... 

One of the hottest trends in the grocery business theses days is Kosher food. Sales reached $12.5 billion in 2008, 64% more than  2003. Kosher food abides by a set of religious laws observed by Jews for thousands of years. Amongst them – pork and shellfish are prohibited, meat and dairy products cannot be eaten together, and more. So has there been a mass conversion to Judaism recently, or is the kosher trend to be attributed elsewhere?... 

Inadequate Public Funding and the Sale of Competitive Foods as a Revenue Source This is a guest blog-post by Professor Timothy D. Lytton First Lady Michelle Obama’s recently launched Let’s Move campaign to reduce childhood obesity has put a spotlight on reforming school food. The primary reason for the abundance of unhealthy foods in schools is inadequate public funding of school meals and schools in general. Unfortunately, the sale of unhealthy... 

DAILYBREAD.jpg I’m worried this will keep me distracted for hours or even days. But then, it will also be highly useful to me on nearly a daily basis from now on. The USDA has created a ” Food Environment Atlas ,” which is basically a Google Map that users can manipulate to find out all kinds of things about America’s food system at both macro and micro levels, based on government data that can be mixed and matched with...