Food Politics

by Marion Nestle
Jul 6 2022

Canada’s new front-of-pack food label

Canada has joined the ranks of countries with front-of-package food labels alerting customers to products high in salt, sugar, and saturated fat.

I learned about this in a press release from Kate Comeau, Communications Advisor, Mission, Canada | Heart & Stroke

The official announcement from Health Canada is here. 

It comes with an explanatory Infographic.

I think the warning labels used in some Latin American countries work better, but this is a big step forward and is likely to cover the great majority of ultra-processed foods—and those are the ones that are best avoided.

Congratulations to Canadians who pushed for this.  Progress!

Jul 5 2022

What’s up with the Daily Harvest recall?

Daily Harvest is a company that makes vegan meals, mostly organic, and freezes them for home delivery.

By mid-June, it had received 470 complaints from customers who ate a new product, French Lentil + Leek Crumbles, but developed severe liver and gall bladder problems.  On June 23,  Daily Harvest issued a recall of the product “due to potential health risk” (also see After 470 reports of illnesses, Daily Harvest recalls French Lentil + Leek Crumbles).

I was especially interested in this event for two reasons: Daily Harvest twice sent me meals to sample (before it introduced this one) and I knew they had to be cooked before eating, which would kill harmful microbes, and I could not imagine what could possibly cause reactions this toxic (as I explained to the New York Times).

This product’s ingredient list seems benign:

organic butternut squash, organic hemp seeds, organic cauliflower rice, organic extra virgin olive oil, organic french lentils, organic red lentils, organic tri-colored quinoa, organic cremini mushrooms, organic tara flour, organic leeks, organic parsley, water, organic cassava root flour, organic flax seeds, organic sacha inchi powder, chia seeds, organic porcini powder, himalayan sea salt, organic apple cider vinegar, organic onion powder, nutritional yeast, organic garlic powder, organic tomato powder, organic white pepper, organic coriander seeds, organic mustard powder, organic thyme.

More than that, on June 25, food safety lawyer Bill Marler was asking the same question: What is it in Daily Harvest’s French Lentil and Leek Crumbles that is causing liver failure?  He was sending samples out to his own labs.

On June 28, Daily Harvest responds to customers sickened, hospitalized from 1 of its products.

On June 30, the FDA published its Investigation of Adverse Event Reports: French Lentil & Leek Crumbles

On June 17, 2022, in response to consumer complaints submitted to the company, Daily Harvest voluntarily initiated a recall of their French Lentil & Leek Crumbles…From April 28 to June 17, 2022, approximately 28,000 units of the recalled product were distributed to consumers in the continental United States through online sales and direct delivery, as well as through retail sales at the Daily Harvest store in Chicago, IL, and a “pop-up” store in Los Angeles, CA. Samples were also provided to a small number of consumers. Daily Harvest emailed consumers who were shipped the affected product, and other consumers for whom the company had contact information and consumers were issued a credit for the recalled product. Consumers who may still have the recalled product in their freezers should immediately dispose of it.

On July 1, the FDA announced the recall and issued an advisory for these events.

Also on July 1,  Daily Harvest issued UPDATES ON OUR VOLUNTARY RECALL OF FRENCH LENTIL + LEEK CRUMBLES

Rachel here – I want to give you another update on the French Lentil + Leek Crumbles recall. As you know, we’ve been conducting exhaustive testing over the course of the last two weeks. Despite this, we still have not identified a possible cause. I am sorry that it’s taking as long as it is to pinpoint exactly what may have made people sick. We are deeply committed to finding answers for those impacted. We’re working with top doctors, microbiologists, toxicologists as well as 3 independent labs.   While additional testing is underway, results to date rule out the following:

  • Hepatitis A

  • Norovirus

  • A range of mycotoxins, including aflatoxins

  • Food-borne pathogens including Listeria, E.Coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus Aureus (Staph), B.Cereus, and Clostridium Species

  • Major allergens including egg, soy, milk, and gluten

I assure you, we will not stop until we get to the bottom of this. We’re continuing to work in close cooperation with the FDA, CDC and other health agencies. The FDA released an update on their investigation yesterday, which can be found here on their website.

I’m baffled.  I can’t understand why toxin testing hasn’t come up with anything.  The illnesses are real and all traced to this product.

The FDA’s recommendation: “Consumers should not eat, sell, or serve recalled products. Consumers who may still have the recalled product in their freezers should throw it away.”

Bill Marler agrees with don’t eat it, but he wants the product saved as evidence.  He has questions and suggestions:

His hypothesis: the Tara ingredient.

We believe that the illnesses may well be linked to a common ingredient called Tara that comes exclusively from Peru (this due because it is a unique ingredient to the French Lentil + Leek Crumbles AND to certain Revive Smoothies where people are reporting identical symptoms).

Here’s what Wikipedia says about Tara:

Tara gum…is produced by separating and grinding the endosperm of T. spinosa seeds…The major component of the gum is a galactomannan polymer similar to the main components of guar and locust bean gums that are used widely in the food industry….Tara gum has been deemed safe for human consumption as a food additive… Medicinal uses in Peru include gargling infusions of the pods for inflamed tonsils or washing wounds; it is also used for fevers, colds, and stomach aches. Water from boiled, dried pods is also used to kill fleas and other insects.

Bill Marler is on the case.  He has 175 clients so far.

I’ve heard privately from people who experienced sickness after eating this product.  I’ve read about others like this one:

I wish everyone a speedy recovery, and hope the toxin gets identified soon.  Stay tuned.

Jul 4 2022

Happy July 4 (expensive!)

Food prices are rising.  The American Farm Bureau keeps score.

Every year, the American Farm Bureau, with the help of volunteer shoppers around the country, calculates the average cost for a July 4th cookout. This year, it will cost about $70 to feed ten people. Thats a 17% increase compared to a year ago. Inflation, ongoing supply chain disruptions, and the war in Ukraine are all contributing to the substantial increase in food prices.

And stay safe!  (Food Safety News has the details on how to avoid food poisonings).

Jul 1 2022

Weekend reading: Discouraging breastfeeding: digital strategies

Here’s a recent report from WHO: Scope and impact of digital marketing strategies for promoting breastmilk substitutes

 

The report’s findings:

Why should we care?  Because it is so easy to discourage breastfeeding, and digital marketing does just that.

Here are some comments on this report:

And here are links to the first WHO report and to other reports on digital marketing.

Jun 30 2022

Tomatoes as a source of vitamin D? Gene editing in action.

You can’t make this stuff up.

The latest in gene editing is to get tomatoes to  produce a precursor to vitamin D.

Why do this?

Gene-edited tomato plants that produce a precursor to vitamin D could one day provide an animal-free source of the crucial nutrient…When the gene-edited tomatoes, described in Nature Plants on 23 May, are exposed to ultraviolet light in the laboratory, some of the precursor, called provitamin D3, is converted to vitamin D3. But the plants have not yet been developed for commercial use, and it is not known how they will fare when grown outside.

So far, this is totally theoretical.

Even if it turns out to be possible, why bother?

If you want an animal-free source of vitamin D, just go outside and get some sunlight on your skin.

Gene editors must need ideas for projects.

Jun 29 2022

Regenerative agriculture and climate change: report

Urvashi Rangan of the Funders for Regenerative Agriculture (FORA) sent me the press release from this group’s report. 

From the press release:

We are very proudtodayto be publishing our first brief,RegenerativeAgriculture and Climate, which outlines how regenerative agricultureand livestock production can restore degraded land, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and store carbon while producing nutritious food. The brief is clear that regenerative agriculture – including sustainable meat production – is a “shovel ready” climate solution that if scaled quickly could rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to remove carbon dioxide from the air. 

The report pulls together the arguments for the benefits of regenerative agriculture as a solution to climate change, deals with misconceptions about regenerative practices, and provides useful figures and references. 

The escalating climate crisis requires rapid action on two critical fronts: (1) a steep reduction in greenhouse gas emissions; and (2) the removal of carbon dioxide from the air and its safe, long-term storage.  Regenerative agriculture can do both. ..Using
photosynthesis and biology, it can restore and maintain the carbon cycle on land. Any amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) absorbed by trees, plants, and soils and subsequently stored has been removed directly from the atmosphere and will help alleviate climate change.  It can also reduce methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from livestock production.  

If you want to know more about regenerative agriculture—and why it matters—this is a great place to start.

Jun 29 2022

The latest on food crises: the news is not good

I got a press release from the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC) , an international alliance of the United Nations, the European Union, governmental and non-governmental agencies, announcing its latest annual report on Global Food Crises.

Its main findings:

About 193 million people in 53 countries or territories experienced acute food insecurity at crisis or worse levels than in 2021.

The countries in worst trouble are Ethiopia, southern Madagascar, South Sudan and Yemen; these require urgent action to head off widespread collapse of livelihoods, starvation and death.

Why is this happening?  The key drivers:

  • Conflict: the Ukraine war
  • Weather extremes: climate change
  • Economic shocks: the COVID-19 pandemic

What needs to be done?

  • Address root causes: structural rural poverty, marginalization, population growth and fragile food systems
  • Prioritize smallholder agriculture
  • Promote structural changes to the way external financing is distributed,
  • Promote more efficient and sustainable ways of providing humanitarian assistance
  • Avoid further conflicts

Good luck with that.  These are the political challenges of our time.

Jun 28 2022

Annals of marketing inventiveness: selling OJ

Nostalgia: I can still remember 6-ounce glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice.

Never mind, it’s a new world.

My former student and now colleague, Lisa Young, did not want me to miss this one: Tropicana’s campaign to pour orange juice over cereal.

Tropicana has invented a special cereal for this purpose (I wonder how it tastes?).

But I’m sure Tropicana would be pleased if you poured OJ on any other cereal.

OJ is fine, but watch out for the 22 grams of sugar in 8 ounces (one orange has about 12).