In surveying the CDC website, I found 24 multistate, foodborne outbreaks listed for the calendar year 2018. The investigations of these outbreaks identified 2584 cases resulting in 788 hospitalizations and 11 deaths. These outbreaks represent only a very small view of the estimated 48 million people who become sick due to foodborne illness, 128,000 become hospitalized and 3000 die. In the grand scheme of things, … Continue reading Notable food safety outbreaks in 2018

Should food scientists consider Harvey Wiley a hero who used science to make food safe? OR was he the man who fought valiantly to get chemicals out of our food but failed? Based on the limited introduction to his work in my Food Science classes in college, I considered him to be a hero. Now books like The Poison Squad by Deborah Blum have cast … Continue reading The Poison Squad: One Chemist’s Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Century

Do you still believe in calories? I do. I understand that there are exceptions to the rules such that protein calories may not be metabolized as rapidly as those from alcohol, carbohydrates and fats. I also understand that there are variations in metabolic rates from one person to the next. Some of us can eat massive amounts of calories without gaining weight, while others seem … Continue reading Top 10 sources of calories in the American diet

Names matter. Success or failure of an idea, product or genre can hinge on its name. Two weeks ago, I suggested that the success of a monumental change in the way we produce meat could hinge on how it is named. The power of a name in today’s society has major implications for how a person, place or thing is perceived. A common name and … Continue reading What’s in a name? Why does it matter?

Cellular meat production has been proposed as a sustainable alternative to traditional animal husbandry and slaughter. It involves culturing muscle-like tissue in a liquid medium with a variety of techniques from tissue engineering. It has also been called clean meat, cultured meat, or in vitro meat, and it is part of the wider field of cellular agriculture in which efforts are being made to use … Continue reading Cultured Meat Production: What is it? What Should we Expect? by Kelsey Tenney

Paul Shapiro is passionate about Clean Meat. He is passionate about its potential for solving major issues with respect to animal welfare, global warming, farm-worker safety and the health of meat eaters. Unfortunately, he must argue his case using the language I usually use to defend processed food. It would appear that the deck is stacked against him. “Judged by the amount of suffering it … Continue reading Clean Meat: How Growing Meat Without Animals Will Revolutionize Dinner and the World

Despite an incredibly inept rollout, the Green New Deal is real. I have actually studied the proposal to try to understand its potential implications for processed food. Although the now disgraced FAQ sheet is no longer available, it is time to look at the original document which does NOT mention farting cows or the demise of the airplane. Concepts described in the plan will be … Continue reading Where does processed food fit into the Green New Deal?

In 1976 I attended a fair on the University of Massachusetts campus that warned us of dire consequences associated with global warming and the environment. I did not believe. Many of the dangers to the environment that the doomsayers were saying back then are now becoming evident, just not nearly as fast as they predicted. If we had heeded them then, we probably would not … Continue reading Some alternative visions for a sustainable future

There appears to be growing realization that we need to do something about our environment. A recent report released during the World Economic Forum  at Davos last month suggests that we are in dire straights and need to reform soon or face doom. Release of the Green New Deal document indicates that the issue of sustainability and the food supply will be a key campaign … Continue reading Nourished Planet: Sustainability in the Global Food System

I am a great admirer of Robert Paarlberg, but I did NOT expect to like this book, The United States of Excess. Yes, it is about obesity and gluttony. It appears to blame the person for becoming fat, but more blame seems to be placed on the food available, particularly processed food. The book is so much more than a blame game, however. It is … Continue reading The United States of Excess: Gluttony and the Dark Side of American Exceptionalism