First and foremost: babies are not classified under the US Dietary Guidelines until they are two years of age. So in these two years, a lot of the baby’s food choices surprisingly has to with the mother’s socioeconomic status. It was found that babies who’s diet included more breastfeeding and solid foods are more-so related to higher income homes. Babies who’s diets consisted of high sugar and fat, seemed to derive from families of low-income parents.These high fat diets evolve and end up seizing bone growth in babies as they mature, and the FDA is trying to educate families on this. Definitely an interesting read, focusing on food justice.

Read more: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141030133532.htm

John Oliver does a hilarious take on our modern day sugar industry- and how we have come to a point where we think adding sugar will improve taste. The sugar industry holds incredibly high power, and is constantly in alliance with the Corn Refiners Association, which tends to implement high fructose corn syrup into every type of food known to mankind at this point. At this point, foods that are being created, are further being added sugar. Oliver uses the analogy of ‘clamato juice’, a mixture of clam juice and tomato juice. He says it can be improved by adding sugar, meanwhile you can just take out the clam juice!..Definitely some food for thought in today’s society.

Read more: http://grist.org/list/john-olivers-takedown-of-the-sugar-industry-is-pretty-sweet/

According to a recent New Yorker article, we’ve gone from eating four ounces of meat twice a week in 1920 to eating 4.4 to 6.9 ounces a day. It is scary to think how messed up our food system has gotten due to this industry, and how expensive meat is in the industry. Similarly to what we discussed in class, overconsumption of meat is something we must limit at this point; but it will take a lot of convincing the butchers and slaughterhouse workers that are shifting our food chain.

Read more: http://grist.org/food/should-meat-be-a-luxury/

Many corporations are realizing that “enjoy by”, “sell buy”, or “best-before” labels on foods are not legitimate, they are just from the manufacture that are gauging when their food will be the tastiest. You can eat most of these food items up to a few weeks after their due by dates. People throwing away lots of food due to abiding by this date, are tremendously adding to the massive food waste our world has today. A new food labeling system called Cue Bump Mark’s goal is to reduce unnecessary tossing of foods. The only issue to this Cue Bump Mark industry is that the sticker will cost more than the original “best by” sticker.

I think it’s worth it. Do you?

Read more: http://grist.org/list/food-expiration-dates-are-garbage-heres-a-new-label-thatll-make-you-think-before-you-toss/

I found this article about the U.S. fraud of shrimp mislabeling to be very compelling, being a frequent seafood eater. In a report released last week, Oceana conducted a survey of 111 restaurants and grocery stores across the U.S., and found that over 1/3 of the shrimp was mislabeled entirely, whether stating “farm raised’, or “gulf”.  New York, where I am from, had one of the highest rates of shrimp-fraud, with 43 percent of samples misrepresented, which is so frightening! What I have been eating this whole time?…

Read more: http://grist.org/news/sorry-but-your-shrimp-platter-didnt-come-from-the-gulf/

Recently, an initiative has been growing to create healthy fast-food restaurant alternatives in California in an attempt to revolutionize the fast-food industry (read about it at the link below). These healthy meals are prepared just as quickly as something you could get at McDonalds, even though these new restaurants are currently few and far between. These restaurants have names like Veggie Grill and Lyfe Kitchen, but they shy away from using the word “healthy” while advertising so as not to scare off salad-skeptics and meat lovers.  Obviously, the prices at these health-centered chains are not quite as low as prices at McDonalds, Burger King, etc., but the idea is that a lot of people will pay a little bit more for finer ingredients and healthier food. I think that this is a really good start; hopefully, soon people will not be able to blame obesity issues on the convenience of fast-food restaurants like McDonalds, and instead choose these just as convenient healthier options.

http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-81841656/

http://grist.org/list/john-olivers-takedown-of-the-sugar-industry-is-pretty-sweet/

In this clip, John Oliver takes on the sugar industry and its power on the Western diet. He specifically discusses the proposed “sugar added” labeling and how the FDA is currently hearing arguments from various associations who would face problems if the proposal was put into law. One of the amendments to the proposal that was raised was that it should be expressed in grams rather than teaspoons with the fear that teaspoons are a more understandable measurement and people will be turned off from products when they understand how much sugar is actually added.

John Oliver, in all of his comedic glory, suggested that neither grams nor teaspoons should be the measurement of sugar added. Alternatively, packages should display sugar added in terms of circus peanuts (you know, those gross, semi-porous orange clumps of sugar…). He then suggested that we all ban together in a social media outrage and use the hashtag #showusyourpeanuts to demand that food producers include an easy way to visualize the amount of sugar they add to their products on the label.

http://grist.org/food/millennials-monsanto-wants-to-be-your-hipster-friend/

This just in: Monsanto has hired someone to undertake something that, even with a contract with one of the strongest private arms firms, they will not be able to accomplish. Vance Crowe was recently hired by Monsanto as the director of Millennial Engagement. This man is tasked with building a relationship of trust and cooperation with those who were born between the mid 80’s and 2000. This is the generation who participates in marches against Monsanto and includes the hashtag #monsantoevil in their tweets. This is the generation that is making organic, vegan, non-GMO, and local eating popularized. This is the generation that is beginning to question our food system and understand not to trust many of the products that our parents trusted.

By no means is every member of the “Millennials” totally averse to favoring Monsanto, but I think it’s fair to say that not many of us who have heard of Monsanto see them in a favorable light. In a way, I’m kind of glad Monsanto exists. It has been proven time and time again that having a common enemy unites people in some of the most effective ways.

This article introduces a new aluminum soda can that is composed of up to 90% recycled aluminum. This can is cheaper, much better for the environment, and requires as little as 5% of the energy needed to make a standard aluminum can (mined from bauxite, a limited mineral), yet none of the large beverage companies are taking advantage of this product. Major limitations in the advancement of this product seem to be the dominant use of plastic bottles over cans, and the companies’ reluctance to commit to a single aluminum provider.

The author of this article, Edward Batha, was an overweight man with high cholesterol levels. In order to try and lose weight and gain control over his health, Batha decided to go vegan for a month to see how such a diet would affect his health. Batha’s experience was quite interesting as he was forced to investigate every single ingredient of all of the foods he consumed. Through reading this article, I began to realize how many animal products are hidden in foods that we do not even realize. For example, Batha states that most beers contains a fining agent that usually is made of fish bladder (EW?).

Check out Batha’s story and read about all of the shocking foods that are made with animal products!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-471918/Could-lentils-save-life-Meet-man-vegan-month.html