Food Politics by Marion Nestle

I spotted this one in the Journal of Nutrition, and took a guess at who must have paid for it. The study:  The Effect of Three Daily Servings of Full-Fat Dairy for 12 Weeks on Body Weight, Body Composition, Energy Metabolism, Blood Lipids, and Dietary Intake of Adults with Overweight and Obesity.  J Nutr 2026 Apr;156(4):101373. doi: […] The post Industry-funded study of the week: Full-fat dairy a…

Nick Chater & George Loewenstein.  It’s On You: How the Rich and Powerful have convinced us that we’re to blame for society’s deepest problems.  WH Allen, 2026.  345 pages. This book directly addresses an issue I’ve fussed about for ages: putting the blame for poor diets on individuals and ignoring the social and political forces […] The post Weekend reading: It’s all your fault appeared first on…

I am not usually a fan of techno foods, but I have to admit: this one might have possibilities. World’s first cell-based chocolate bar developed with Mondelēz: The first-ever milk chocolate bars made with cell-cultivated cocoa butter have been produced… Read more Here’s how this works: Celleste Bio uses cell suspension culture technology to produce […] The post Cell-based chocolate? Oh, why not.…

One of the reasons for Monday’s rally at the Supreme Court (see Monday’s post) is the food industry’s efforts to be able to continue to use whatever additives it chooses, without regulatory oversight. A press release from the Environmental Working Group warns: ‘FRESH’ and Affordable Foods Act is rotten to the core. This refers to […] The post Preempting the GRAS loophole: not a good idea appeared…

It’s deja vu all over again. During the Trump I administration, I wrote repeatedly about the tragic relocation of the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) to Kansas.  As I said, the Government Accountability Office confirmed my analysis. Why tragic?  I don’t have anything against Kansas, but expecting long-time residents of the Washington, DC area to […] The post American tragedy redux: USDA is…

Farm Action has joined Vani Hari (the Food Babe) and other groups in this People vs. Poison rally. Livestream it here. The “poison” here is glyphosate, the potentially carcinoenic weed killer manufactured by Monsanto (now owned by Bayer) for use with genetically modified crops. People vs. Poison says, “For decades they poisoned us for profit.  […] The post Happening today: Rally against glyphosat…

Vital Strategies has issued two reports about digital marketing of soda and alcohol based on AI analysis of web content: Sick from Scrolling: Protecting the Next Generation from the Flood of Unregulated Social Media Marketing. Soda and alcohol marketing is flooding social media at a scale that outpaces regulation—embedding brands into sports highlights, influencer content […] The post Weekend rea…

Pesticides, herbicides, and other agricultural chemicals in food are of great concern right now, and getting rid of them is high on the agenda of Make America Health Again (MAHA). This will not be easy.  The chemicals pervade the food supply and Big Ag producers claim that cannot grow food without them.  We have already […] The post Current events in agricultural chemicals appeared first on Food …

It’s hard to keep up with what’s happening with food innovations.  Manufacturers have to keep coming up with new products to encourage sales.  Functional foods—those with ingredients over and above what’s in natural foods—seem to work.  But so do others.  Here is a sample. Functional food craze: What are the next breakout ingredients?  After a year […] The post Annals of food marketing: some new …

FRAC, the venerable Food Research & Action Center, is tracking trends in SNAP participation. The decline is not because of lack of need.  As FRAC explains, it is the result of deliberate efforts by the Trump administration to reduce SNAP enrollments. At the end of 2024, President Trump intervened to allow replacement benefits for victims […] The post Just as expected, SNAP participation is declin…

No food or supplement is too small to evade research aimed at selling it.  Try this one: ADM study: Postbiotic supports metabolic health markers in labradors:  Supplementing labradors with the postbiotic Bifidobacterium animalis subspecies lactis CECT 8145 may influence metabolic health markers during weight change, according to ADM research…. Read more ADM makes dietary supplements.  NutraIngred…

I always like to know what the food industry is thinking, and was interested to run across a new report from the National Association of Manufacturers: Manufacturers Feed America: Strengthening Communities, Fueling Innovation, Growing the Economy. It begins: Behind every grocery store shelf is a carefully designed system that ensures American families can count on […] The post Weekend reading: Ma…

With all the fuss over defining the term ultra-processed, public and private groups are filling the gap with labels that identify foods that are not ultra-processed. I know of three ultra-processed labeling initiatives so far. I.  Leading the way is the Non GMO Project. It already is licensing foods meeting its non ultra-processed standards to carry this seal. […] The post Coming soon to a superm…

I’ve been writing about Beyond Meat’s financial troubles since at least 2022, so the latest problems come as no surprise. Beyond Meat, you will recall, makes plant-based meat alternatives: nutrition powerhouses, clean protein, fiber essential for the gut microbiome. Recently, Beyond Meat announced that it would be moving into beverages—“a logical move—and not an admission […] The post What’s happ…

EPA, HHS Announce Historic Actions to Protect Americans from Microplastics and Safeguard Drinking Water [EPA] For the first time in the program’s history, EPA is including microplastics as a priority contaminant group in its draft Sixth Contaminant Candidate List (CCL 6), now open for public comment. CCL 6 also includes pharmaceuticals as a group—another first—along […] The post The new microplas…

I was interested to run across this article announcement: Nestlé researchers find Taurine-B vitamin blend may support motivation: A study in healthy adults found that daily supplementation had a positive impact on motivation, attention, mental energy and effort toward achieving goals after 14 days of intake…. Read more It immediately raised the question: Why would […] The post Industry-funded stu…

I know I just posted a bunch of these, but here are even more. To understand what’s happening with alternative meats—both plant- and cell-based—it helps to remember that companies making these products are businesses funded by venture capitalists. The European Union’s recent ban on using the term “meaty” to apply to these products could have […] The post Weekend reading: more on alternative meats…

The Glynwood Center for Food and Farming is hosting this event. Details to follow. The new MAHA dietary guidelines could mean that changes are coming to school meals. Or so the USDA says. While waiting for the USDA to issue new rules, various groups are urging specific improvements. United We Eat, a coalition of MAHA-supporting groups, urges the USDA Secretary to get busy Aligning School Meal Sta…

The Glynwood Center for Food and Farming is hosting this event. Details to follow. The American Heart Association has just published its updated dietary guidelines: The 2026 Dietary Guidance to Improve Cardiovascular Health: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association [the press release is here]. These constitute a firm rebuttal to the MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) guidelines i…