You’ve Got Food

You’ve Got Food

Armed with hefty grants from the Pentagon, squads of food technologists are on a mission to supplant nature with a great leap forward into the Brave New World of synthetic foodstuffs. Not satisfied merely to tinker with the genetic makeup of nature’s products,...
Would You Like a Shot of Formaldehyde with That?

Would You Like a Shot of Formaldehyde with That?

The delightfully naughty movie star Mae West liked to joke: “I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.” Less delightful are some of the purity claims of such food manufacturing giants as PepsiCo, which has long marketed a line of its Frito-Lay snack foods as...
Meat So Cheap You Could Die

Meat So Cheap You Could Die

Thanks to the shutdown, the government is doing less to protect Americans from foodborne pathogens and deal with the aftermath of outbreaks. The timing couldn’t be worse. Ten days after the shutdown began, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that 317...
Size Matters

Size Matters

They’re found in M&Ms, Dunkin’ Donuts, Jell-O pudding, and even Pop-Tarts. Scientists don’t know if they’re safe to eat. The government doesn’t regulate these things. Even food manufacturers often don’t know this technology is...
Padding the Bottom Line by Gouging the Customer

Padding the Bottom Line by Gouging the Customer

Mothers the world over have told their children a zillion times: “Stop playing with your food!” I now share their frustration. I’d like to yell at the conglomerate packagers of America’s victuals: “Stop playing with our food!”...