Food and Farming
Sweet Tomato Victory
Some of America’s worst-paid and least-protected workers have scored agreements with two of the nation’s largest tomato growers after a 15 year labor dispute. They even got a long-overdue apology.
“In a free society, few are guilty, but all are responsible,” explained Jon Esformes, operating partner of Pacific Tomato Growers, the first to ink a deal with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. “The transgressions that took place are totally unacceptable today and they were totally unacceptable yesterday.”
Is Free Speech just for Corporations?
The big brand-name corporations love advertising. They love it so much that they spend some $170 billion a year in our country to put all sorts of slicken and hokum on their products, and on their own public image.
The Lineup: Week of October 18-24, 2010
Here’s what you’ll find in the latest OtherWords editorial package.
Big Chocolate’s Child Slavery Addiction
Sorry to scare you, but on Halloween much of the chocolate Americans will hand out to trick-or-treaters will be tainted by the labor of enslaved children.
Big Food’s Blame Game
Corporations spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year marketing a dangerous product to America’s children.
Farm-to-School’s Teachable Moment
Schools throughout the country are shaking up the cafeteria through new initiatives to improve children’s health while giving a boost to local farmers. It’s time to give the mystery meat a break and bring out locally produced apples, squash, tomatoes, and chicken.
Slashing Food Stamps Makes No Sense
Yes, even as millions of Americans are stuck in long-term, relentless unemployment, thus increasing the urgent need for family assistance, our well-fed, big-butted Solons grabbed nearly $12 billion from the supplemental nutrition assistance program. This puts the “dumb” in dumbfounding.
Egg Recall Reveals our Broken Food System
This mind-boggling egg recall, involving half a billion eggs from Iowa, is no fluke. It’s just the latest example of how the consolidation of our nation’s food production puts consumers at risk. The recall involves 30 different brands but only two factory farms–Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms. Massive egg facilities on this scale are prone to frequent disease outbreaks.
Rotten Egg Farming
The vast Iowa egg recall is terrifying. So far, half a billion eggs are involved. Who knows how many we have already eaten? Our health authorities say about 1,300 Americans have gotten salmonella from them so far.
Shut Up and Eat Your Sugar
One, America has a rather huge child obesity problem. Two, major food corporations constantly pitch ads to children for such stuff as sugar-saturated breakfast cereals and fat-laden “Happy Meals.” So, how does fact No. 2 relate to fact No. 1? Yes, No. 2 is a cause of No. 1. It’s really not that hard to grasp, is it?
