Growers and Grocers

Jack from Fork & Bottle sent me this impressive chart (from 1999) that details the contaminants found in every bottled water you can imagine.
Workers for the Natural Resources Defense Council bought water from various locations (mostly California) and analyzed the contents. They also noted the water source, if available.
Anyone know of more recent information? My […]

The battle over a definition for organic milk has heated up, as the Organic Consumers Association called for a boycott against Horizon Organics, which raises cows in giant feedlots that follow the letter of the organic law, not the spirit.
The boycott comes as the USDA considers a change to the “organic” definition for dairy that […]

Progressive news aggregator Common Dreams points to this poorly written article (perhaps poorly translated) about the privatization of seeds in India. Farmers on the subcontinent already buy public-sector seeds from the government, but a new initiative would allow private companies to sell high-yield seed varieties directly to farmers.
Most farmers view this as a good […]

The Institute of Food Technologists has just published the results of an intense look at organic food, and they argue that there’s little basis for the organic industry’s claims that organic food is safer for human consumption because it lacks antibiotics and resistant bacteria.
I didn’t know that organic producers made that claim. Evidently, neither did […]

Holy cow! No, wait, make that Holy Pig! The USDA has released a comprehensive analysis of the average nutrient levels in common cuts of pork. The report itself only contains the current findings, but a summary compares modern-day pork analysis to the values that researchers came up with in 1991. The differences confirm what most […]

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey has responded to Michael Pollan’s letter, itself a response to John Mackey’s letter rebutting some of the points in Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma.
Maybe I should just set up a category for this. It’s a delight to see these two passionate, well-informed people support each other’s efforts and debate key points in […]

The blogosphere has buzzed with the idea of lab-grown meat for the last year or so, but today Wired offers a more in-depth look at the state of the research, and the problems that scientists wil need to overcome before lab-grown meat becomes a commercially viable product.
Any of you vegetarians want to comment on whether […]

USA Today profiles spray-on flavors, offering a look at some of the 150 squirtable food additives you might find at your local store.
The pump bottles are aimed primarily at dieters who want to add flavor without calories (because herbs and spices are hard to find?), but you’ll soon see candy-flavored sprays to make veggies more […]

As the Farm Bill approaches its renewal date in 2007, numerous groups have started pushing their own vision of what the new bill should say.
One of those strategies would just extend the Farm Bill from 2002. The Center for Rural America thinks this is a bad idea.
Chuck Hassebrook argues that the current Farm Bill’s “bigger […]

Norway has announced plans to build a “Noah’s Ark” for seeds, according to this AP story. The vault, in the remote Svalbard Islands, could keep three million seeds safe in the event of a disaster, which the designers define as nuclear war, environmental collapse, or “accidents, mismanagement and shortsighted budget cuts.”
The seeds will be wrapped […]