Food and Farming
Is It Time to Put Down the Bacon?
By now you've probably heard the sobering news: Red meat may cause cancer. And bacon and other popular processed meats definitely do, the World Health Organization says. Does that mean we all need to quit eating processed meats — no pun intended — cold turkey? For...
Don’t Let Them Blind You with Their Science
When I first began researching agriculture, I had no idea how organic farming worked. I saw it as a somewhat backward yet non-toxic and desirable way to grow food. Organic farmers didn’t use fertilizer, I figured, so maybe the plants would be smaller. And they didn’t...
The Great Pumpkin Shortage Is Coming
Pumpkin fever is back. The latest bout of this seasonal disorder has infected Hostess Twinkies and moved Starbucks to put a smidge of real pumpkin in its pumpkin spice lattes. Previously, the ubiquitous coffee purveyor used a common ploy: It evoked agrarian and...
When Your Teacher Asks If You Want Fries with That
When it comes to predatory marketing to children, nobody's lovin' it like McDonald's. In addition to selling unhealthy food, the chain lures kids in with toys and a playground — and its spokesperson is a clown. But it's the fast food giant's marketing to captive...
An Awfully Bitter Brew
Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall/ 99 bottles of beer/ Take one down, pass it around… only one bottle of beer on the wall. Most people never sang that old song all the way to the end. But one multinational brewing corporation is finally ready to belt out the...
Letting Pepsi Police Itself Isn’t Very Sweet
If you drink Mug Root Beer or the apple-flavored Manzanita Sol soda, you might unwittingly become one of the first people to try a brand new artificial sweetener. The new product is called Sweetmyx 617, and PepsiCo is blending it with high fructose corn syrup to...
Your Weed Killer Might Kill You
When I began writing about agriculture nearly a decade ago, I learned quickly that people generally believed that Roundup, the best-selling weed killer made by Monsanto, was relatively harmless. Roundup breaks down quickly, everyone said — and into non-toxic...
Chicken Disneyland
McDonald’s made headlines recently by announcing it will transition to cage-free eggs by 2025. Hooray: You can feel better about eating that Egg McMuffin. Or at least you can a decade from now. Less than 1 percent of the fast food giant's eggs currently come from...
Have Your Coke and Guzzle It Too
Good news about obesity: A new scientific organization is coming to grips with this bulging national problem. Called the Global Energy Balance Network, it comes at obesity from a unique perspective. According to them, the key to controlling one's weight isn’t cutting...
A Big Win for Fast Food Workers
For many Americans, the only connection between Labor Day and labor is that you don't have to do any of the latter as a result of the former. In other words, it's just a day off work — an occasion to barbecue or go out of town for a three-day weekend. But millions of...
