The USDA’s Reckless Plan

The USDA’s Reckless Plan

My friend Jim, a farmer, jokes about bringing a bowl of manure and a spoon to the farmers’ markets where he sells his beef. “My beef has no manure in it, but you can add some,” he’d like to tell his customers. I’m sure you’d pass on...
A Rotten Bacon Behemoth

A Rotten Bacon Behemoth

American consumers may not even notice the change if a newly proposed takeover by China’s largest meat processor of our nation’s leading pork company goes through. But the $4.7 billion transaction would certainly show up on our plates: in the form of...
A Dubious Honor

A Dubious Honor

Global pork titan Smithfield has ranked second among food production companies on Fortune magazine’s 2013 list of “Most Admired Companies.” Before untangling how terribly strange and ironic this is, I’d like to address just what “most...
A More Humane Holiday Ham

A More Humane Holiday Ham

“What are your Christmas traditions?” I asked the family I was staying with in Kenya earlier this year while doing some research. I wondered whether Kenyans decorated Christmas trees or awaited Santa Claus like American children do. My host’s...