Food

Friday, November 20, 2009

Big Macs Near Schools Make For Obese Students

03/23/2009

Teens who go to school near fast food joints are more likely to be fat, according to a report coming out of California. The Los Angeles Times reports this morning of an eight-year study of more than one million California teens. The university researchers found that having a fast food restaurant was within easy walking distance of a school (530 feet) resulted in a 5.2 percent increase in obesity. The correlation disappeared when fast-food joints were farther from the campus.

The study didn't break down rural versus urban schools, but a recent National Public Radio report told us that obesity was now a particular problem in rural areas. (The report told of how Fossil, Oregon, went on a town-wide weight loss program.)

In the California teen study, women and Latinos showed the greatest gain in body fat. And the difference increased when Big Macs or Taco Bells were nearby. Inevitably, the researchers suggested that cities consider banning fast-food restaurants from locating near schools, much as liquor stores are restricted. California schools no longer serve sodas or junk food. And some schools there have banned bake sales. Los Angels has a one year moratorium on new fast-food outlets in a 32-square-mile area of South LA.

Ag and Trade | Food

Farm Policy a Mess, but Garden Looks Good

03/20/2009

President Obama is getting no love from farm state Democrats. Obama has proposed capping payments to farmers who gross more than $500,000 in farm income — a change that would require Congress to re-open the farm bill. House Ag Chairman Collin Peterson has been traveling about the country telling folks this proposal is DOA. "That was a laughable proposal that hadn't been thought out obviously and it makes no sense, so that is not going any place," Peterson is saying.

Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, one of the President's earliest and strongest swing state supporters, has whipped off a letter to USDA Secretary Vilsack saying she is not all that happy with the $500,000 limit. "I urge caution before agreements made in the Farm Bill are overturned and altered," McCaskill wrote. Meanwhile, Daryll Ray, at the University of Tennessee, explains that a cap based on gross income (instead of profits or losses) makes absolutely no sense.

As for the current state of ag policy, well, the White House is putting in quite a large garden (above) Friday — as well as two hives of bees — a recommendation made by foodies such as writer Michael Pollan (who calls the garden "one of those small gestures that is powerfully symbolic").

Ag and Trade | Food

MRSA Found in Pork Samples

03/16/2009

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof Sunday published a second column on the presence of MRSA (the drug-resistant staph infection) in pork. He quotes a study conducted last year that found MRSA in five out of 90 samples of pork sold in retail outlets in Louisiana. Kristof notes that the widespread use of antibiotics in hog farms is helping to create more drug-resistant strains of pathogens.

In a column last week, Kristof told the story of Tom Anderson, a rural Indiana doctor who kept finding cases of MRSA among his patients in and around Camden. The doctor finally grew convinced the disease was being incubated at the large hog farms that circled the town (above). Anderson died last year. He was only 54. The question Kristof asks is whether "we as a nation have have moved to a model of agriculture that produces cheap bacon but risks the health of all of us. And the evidence, while far from conclusive, is growing that the answer is yes."

Meanwhile, the Obama administration is promising to bolster the nation's practically non-existant food inspection system. Last year, the Food and Drug Administration inspected 7,000 out of 150,000 domestic food facilities; 35 years ago, the agency got to half the facilities every year. President Obama called this level of inspection "unacceptable."

Ag and Trade | Food

Peterson Says Obama Ag Proposal 'More Than Dead'

03/10/2009

Rep. Colin Peterson, a Minnesota Democrat, said President Barack Obama's plan to cut farm subsidies was "more than dead on arrival. They're going to have to go back to the drawing board." Peterson gave his thoughts on Obama's ag plan while at the national convention of the National Farmers Union. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi addressed the NFU convention (the second time in the last three years she made an appearance). She said she favored a proposal to increase the amount of ethanol allowed in gasoline.

NFU members supported a number of proposals at their convention. The membership voted in favor of loans or grants to aid the production of nutritious foods for local markets and schools. They supported using commodity checkoff funds to help food banks. They passed a proposal favoring a single payer healthcare system for all Americans. And the NFU membership called on the Department of Agriculture to implement the country of origin labeling (COOL) as called for in the 2008 Farm Bill.

The NFU elected Roger Johnson (above), North Dakota's Agriculture Director, as the new NFU president, replacing Tom Buis.

Cool Places | Food

Eating My Way Through Denison, Iowa

03/10/2009

El Paisano in Denison, Iowa

Nearly one out of five residents of Crawford County, Iowa, hail from Latin America. The new residents have done a world of good for the area's cuisine.

Ag and Trade | Food | Politics and Government

Letter from Langdon: Agri-Executives Like Me

03/09/2009

The argument used to be that farms needed to get bigger to survive. How'd that work out for GM?

Ag and Trade | Food

Farm Subsidies or Food Banks?

03/03/2009

He made the comparison last week and again yesterday. U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack proposes that Congress, according to Reuters, "will need to choose between supporting rich farmers or feeding more hungry children amid a slumping economy and a surging deficit."

"We will do our best to frame this discussion in that way, so that people understand: 30 million children, 90,000 farmers," Vilsack told Reuters after speaking to people who work with the nation's food banks and anti-poverty groups. "It is a tough choice, but it's a choice that folks are going to have to make," he said.

President Obama's budget proposes to phase out direct payments to farmers with sales of over half a million dollars a year. That will save nearly $10 billion over the next ten years. "A cut-off at $500,000 in gross sales is way too low because that affects family farmers, not just big agribusiness. It doesn't take many acres to reach that," said Tom Buis, president of National Farmers Union.

Ag and Trade | Food | Media

Taking the Long Way from Farm to Table

02/26/2009

From the Farm to the Table Gary Holthaus's journey from the farms of the Upper Midwest to the nation's kitchens is roundabout. But ag issues are urgent, writes David Mudd; let's pick up the pace.

Food | Health | Media

Speak Your Piece: About 'Mountain Dew Mouth'

02/21/2009

When tobacco was found to be both addictive and unhealthful, it was regulated and the companies agreed not to market to children. Well, how about Mountain Dew?