5@5: Meatpackers hid COVID-19 data | A black perspective on food deserts | Plant-based diets and the heart

Emails show how meatpackers fought to hide COVID-19 data

Weeks into the COVID-19 crisis, Tyson Foods hired a private company to test workers at its Wilkesboro, North Carolina, plant—and stopped sending results to the county's public health department. When the company finally responded to the state health department, more than 20% of the plant's workforce had tested positive. Similar delays contributed to the rapidly increasing outbreaks in the towns and cities where meatpacking plants are located throughout the country. Read more at ProPublica.org…

We gon’ eat well and cook great: Shifting food equity

What is a food desert? It's not a natural phenomenon; it's a sign of the systemic racism behind this country's food inequality. Even when black communities have food, they often don't have healthy food. This system, which removes blacks from every aspect of the food supply chain, has been in place for more than 100 years. Consider this take from Journey Foods' CEO Riana Lynn. Read more at TheSpoon.tech…

Plant-based diets considerably reduce heart-disease risk

Adults who strictly adhered to the Mediterranean and other plant-based diets reduced their chances of heart disease up to 20%, according to a study published Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. For the study, researchers tracked about 170,000 women and 43,000 men with no history of heart disease who had participated in other studies. Different diets showed different results because, the leader researcher said, no single diet is best for everyone. Read more at UPI.com…

Food banks expect need to continue growing

Even as businesses start to re-open around the country, demand for food isn't waning. The Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services saw the need for food double in April and May, but the organization's president says demand may grow because of the recession. "This is not what a food bank was designed to do," Blake Young said. Read more at The Atlantic…

More evidence that CAFOs' manure overload leads to dangerous runoff

In Minnesota, where the number of concentrated animal feeding operations has tripled since 1991, livestock produce much more manure than can be used on nearby fields. Yet, farmers keeping applying chemical fertilizer as well. As a result, fields are saturated and the nutrients that plants can't use make their way to groundwater and waterways. Read more at Foodprint.org…