Musings on sustainable food systems, agriculture vs. agroecology, and more!
Continuing with our mini-series, after our first installment, let’s turn to a buzzword that has gotten a lot of attention in the last years: grass-fed and/or pasture-raised animal products. What is the label’s motto/what does it stand for? The idea of grass-fed ruminants and pasture-raised other animals is that this production method is much more … Continue reading Labels Unveiled: Grass-Fed and Pasture-Raised
This is a great example for the fact that not all livestock is created equal – and that extensification, not intensification, of livestock production could address future land, climate and food issues concurrently.
As the Coursera course “Introduction to the U.S. Food System” draws to a close (so sad, it was great!), the staff highlighted a great initiative in their last set of lectures – the story behind Meatless Monday!
Only a couple of days ago, I was at lunch with friends at IKEA, where my friends were enjoying Kottbullar (the Swedish meatballs) and joking around that they were hopefully horse meat free. Yesterday, that joke turned sour as IKEA was the last in a series of enterprises that found horse DNA in their processed … Continue reading What the Horse Meat Scandal Can Teach Us
When you think about the linkage between food policy and public health, your first thought is probably over- or undernutrition, obesity, or diabetes – something relating the food we eat to our health directly. What if I told you that specifically livestock production methods could pose a health threat to us all, irrespective of where … Continue reading If Sick, Just Pop a Pill – Or Eat a Steak?! Antibiotic Use in Animal Farming.
During my undergraduate degree in Political Science, I wrote my Bachelor’s Thesis on Russia’s definition of food security and their food policies in general, so I still follow news about that topic with great interest. To summarize my 50-page paper in two sentences, Russia seems to be striving for total food independence (meaning that all … Continue reading Russia's Ban on U.S. Meat Exports – Is It Legit?
I was catching up on news the other day and listening to the BBC World Service podcast of February 8th where, in response to the European horse meat scandal (if you haven’t been following it, frozen prepared lasagna had contained up to 100% horse meat though it was labeled as beef), a story on new … Continue reading Meal worms – the future for meat lovers?
Over at NPR’s The Salt blog, they published an awesome infographic to visualize how much is needed until a typical quarter-pound hamburger (apparently in France they call it a Royale with Cheese ;)) – just the patty – can land on your plate. Head on over to their site for a great overview, or check out the stats below … Continue reading What are a hamburger’s real ingredients?
