Sustainable Dish

A recent UK report claims that there is no nutritional difference between organic and conventionally grown food. We find these results fishy, and so does Paula Crossfield whose rebuttal can be seen on the Huffington Post and Civil Eats.

H.R. 2749, or The Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, was six votes shy of passing through the House of Representatives. There is a lot of controversy surrounding this bill and its potential effects on organic and small farmers; Tom Philpott of Grist does some excellent reporting around the remaining questions.

If you’re still into soda, the blog Fooducate gives you nine reasons to stop drinking it.

A new CDC report estimates that 34% of Americans are overweight and 33% are obese. That means that a whopping two-thirds of Americans have a weight problem. In addition, Marion Nestle reports that it costs the American tax-payer $147 billion a year!

The “late blight”, a fungus that kills tomatoes and potatoes, is ravaging the Northeast. The spores were shipped up from Alabama where they had weathered the winter, and now many farms, organic ones in particular, are feeling the effects of blight. Read about “late blight” from a farmers perspective on Civil Eats as well as our blog’s synopsis.

The Daily Green reports that home pesticides are linked to cancer in children. If the existing evidence that pesticides cause obesity, low sperm count and other reproductive health problems isn’t enough to keep people away from them, I hope this does.

Next week is National Farmers Market Week, so get out to your local farmers market and give them thanks!

School Lunch Talk tells us all about how the USDA helps bring junk food in the form of “commodity-processed” food into the lunch room. From Tyson to Kraft, the USDA is feeding your kids factory-farmed chicken and rBGH-filled cheese!