Author: Jessica Hejny

It looks like the vote over the Oregon ballot initiative Measure 92 is close enough that there will be a recount.  The latest count has it losing by only 1,500 votes.  This is a wide enough margin that it is still likely to be defeated in the recount, but we can hope!  Also, note that the campaign over Measure 92 was the most expensive ballot measure race in Oregon’s history, with opponents spending $21 million and supporters spending $9 million.

http://www.oregonlive.com/mapes/index.ssf/2014/11/gmo_labeling_measure_heads_int.html

First, PBS Newshour investigates China’s purchase of Smithfield foods in 2013, the largest Chinese takeover of an American company.  Interestingly, the Chinese company that bought Smithfield paid 30% more for the company than its market value.  Some speculate that the Chinese government had a hand in the deal, seeking to acquire overseas meat suppliers to keep pace with the meat consumption of its growing population.  Smithfield constitutes 25% of the pork industry in the U.S., 25% which is now controlled by Shuanghui Foods.  This raises concerns of American food security if major food processors are owned by foreign companies.

Second, why does the U.S. chill its eggs?  Many countries around the world do not.  Eggs do not need to be refrigerated unless they are washed right after coming out of the chicken, which is standard practice in the U.S.  We like our eggs clean and this means that they must be refrigerated all the way through the supply chain.

The chart is too big to embed in the post, but check it out here.

This chart was created by Professor Philip Howard at Michigan State University.  He has additional information and charts on his website.

Germane to our discussion of food economics last class and to our discussion of food justice today, Grist published an article today on the causes and effects of the rise in food prices.  As we already discussed, the rise in food prices hurts low income consumers most because we/they spend a higher percentage of our/their income on food.  There is significant disagreement on the causes of rising food prices, however.  Most agree that yields are not rising enough to outpace population growth, but there are also arguments that point to food speculation, the rise of meat consumption in China, bad weather, the growth in biofuels, and rising energy (petroleum) costs.  Certainly all of these factors are contributors, but which ones we privilege has consequences for the policies we design to address rising food prices.

http://grist.org/food/why-food-prices-scaled-the-peaks-and-why-it-matters/

Welcome to our course blog!  We will use this space to post food news, continue discussions from class, opine on food issues, and spark a food revolution.  Remember to provide a description of and engagement with the content you are posting, and make your links hyperlinks so we don’t have to copy and paste.

Happy blogging!

Jessica