5@5: Silicon Valley vs. the real-food movement | PETA says Whole Foods isn't actually selling humane meat5@5: Silicon Valley vs. the real-food movement | PETA says Whole Foods isn't actually selling humane meat

Friday, June 5

Bracing for a food fight: High tech vs. slow food

via National Geographic

Food is being reimagined in a plethora of ways. So how do we decide what "real food" really is? And can Silicon Valley and the good-food movement find common ground? Read more...

PETA files false advertising complaint over Whole Foods' 'humane meat'

via PETA

A complaint filed with the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs claims Whole Foods' Washington D.C. stores deceive customers by labeling meat raised unethically as "humane meats." Read more...

Organic offshoring: As demand rises, increase in imports poses safety risks

via Forbes

"The problem is that some of this organic-supply-driven-sourcing exposes us to crop production in regions that don’t have the basic environmental and food safety protections that we who live in the rich world normally have the privilege to assume," Steven Savage writes. Read more...

What Bill Nye got wrong in his about-face on GMOs

via Civil Eats

The Science Guy's statements about herbicides let Big Ag off the hook. Read more...

Can ingredient supply chain handle the "non-GMO tsunami?"

via The Organic & Non-GMO report

Industry experts say the supply of most non-GMO ingredients can indeed keep up with exploding demand. Read more...

Thursday, June 4: Lawsuit questions Similac's organic baby formula | Subway next to overhaul ingredients

Abbott facing lawsuit over 'non-organic' Similac

via Just-Food

A class-action lawsuit accuses the company of misleading consumers about its Similac Advance Organic Infant Formulas that allegedly contains several non-organic ingredients. Read more...

Eat fresher? Subway also dropping artificial ingredients

via ABC News

Subway joins the ranks of fast food restaurants purging artificial ingredients from its menu, including removing caramel color and preservatives from its cold cuts, as well as other ingredients from its sauces and cookies. Read more...

Coca-Cola debuts bottle made entirely of plant materials

via Consumerist

The new "PlantBottle" is made solely of plant materials, including sugar cane, and Coke says it hopes to have the bottle in wide use by 2020. Read more...

Tests of canned food brands reveal most have controversial chemical in can lining

via Food Safety News

The Environmental Working Group has released a list of 78 canned food brands that it found use BPA in their can linings, as well as brands that don't use BPA. Read more...

Kraft's new dye-free mac and cheese still looks day-glo orange. Here's how it tastes

via The Huffington Post

Reviewers at HuffPost said they "couldn't really tell a difference" in the taste of the reformulated orange stuff. Read more...

Wednesday, June 3: Why America needs a definition for "natural" | No, almonds are not the enemy

America needs a real definition of what 'natural' food is

via Wired

“Sometimes companies use the Natural label in good faith, because they can’t meet all of the strict guidelines on the Organic label,” says Barbara Rasco, a food scientist from Washington State University. But there's no guarantee. Read more...

Fear of almonds

via New York Times

Almonds are not the enemy, and not eating them isn't going to solve California's water problems, Mark Bittman argues. Read more...

Blackmores: We want to see krill sustainability with our own eyes

via Nutra Ingredients

Australia's leading supplement brand sent a representative to confirm supplier Aker BioMarine's sustainability practices. Read more...

Lifesaving bindi is a wearable iodine supplement

via Springwise

350 million people in rural India don't get enough iodine in their diets, leaving them at risk for problems during pregnancy or even brain damage. A program called Grey for Good has created iodine patches that are worn as bindis. Read more...

Grocery industry tries not to freak out as Amazon plans its own food line

via Re/code

With its new line, Elements, Amazon looks to compete head-on with big consumer brands. Read more...

Tuesday, June 2: White House holds forum on antibiotics | A bad time for chickens, a good time for Hampton Creek

As avian flu rages, Hampton Creek rises

via Inc.

It's a good time to be a startup trying to break the food industry of its dependence on chickens. "It's hard to name a fast food chain or global retailer or manufacturer we haven't been on the phone with or corresponded with by email," CEO Josh Tetrick told Inc. Read more...

White House meeting elicits pledges to reduce antibiotic use

via New York Times

At an event today, representatives from hospitals, food producers, medical societies and restaurant chains pledged to reduce the use of antibiotics in an effort to curb antibiotic resistance. Read more...

Sysco sizes up organics

via Food Business News

When asked about the nation's largest food service distributor's presence in natural and organics,  its chief financial officer said Sysco "will participate in that trend." Read more...

The psychology of why so many people are anti-GMO

via Fast Company

People are easily influenced by arguments that tap into what they already intuitively expect, according to scientists who argue that it's intuition that's behind most of the world's distaste for GMOs. Read more...

Replanting America: 90 percent of what we eat could come from local farms

via takepart

Researchers at the University of California, Merced, attempted to quantify the potential of local food. Here's what they came up with. Read more...

Monday, June 1: Study finds higher profit margins with organic farming | Omega-3s, without the fish

Organic agriculture more profitable to farmers

via Washington State University

A new study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds lower yields but higher profit margins with organic farming over conventional. Read more...

Asheville co-op lobbies Capitol Hill for GMO labeling

via The Citizen-Times

A group of natural food leaders, including Jerry Greenfield of Ben & Jerry's and Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farm, met with members of Congress to discuss the need for GMO labeling. Read more...

Scientists brew omega-3 supplement without fish

via ABC News

Amidst growing concerns about the sustainability of fish, scientists turn to microalgae. Read more...

Billy Corgan Launches Health Food Box Venture

via RTT News

The Smashing Pumpkins frontman teams up with food subscription service Farm To People on limited edition baskets of vegan and paleo treats. Read more...

Next generation: Souped-up probiotics pinpoint cancer

via The Scientist

Researchers programmed a certain probiotic strain to detect cancer metastases in the liver. Read more...