I must say I was surprised this morning. Surprised, but delighted.

The four words that elicited my gleeful shock were “Pathogens in Our Pork.” It was the title of Nicholas Kristof’s Op-Ed piece, which ran yesterday but which first crossed my path this a.m. as I scanned the Sunday New York Times’ headlines residing in my inbox.

Of course, my surprised delight did not stem from the subject itself, as it is one of grave importance. Nor did it arise from the accompanying article being my introduction to this issue, as I have been tracking it for a few months. Rather, it was the fact that this morning, with the Moon still in excavating Scorpio, that this swept-under-the-rug food-safety concern was finally seeing more of the light of day. This gave my inner optimist hope that with increased awareness would come further cries of action for safeguarding our food supply, which was what brought a glint to my sleepy, pre-coffee eyes and a smile to my face.

What is the issue to which I—and Mr. Kristof—refer? Read More…

If there were something in your food that scientists, healthcare researchers, and consumer advocates thought questionable, you’d probably want to know, right? Well, if you live in the U.S., this information may be more difficult to obtain than you’d think.

The reason: Our country doesn’t require labeling for foods that have been genetically modified (GM). While genetic modification of food is a complex process, the bottom line is this: the DNA of the seeds from which the food is grown have been altered, oftentimes by mixing it with the genetic code from other species.

Why don’t we have the liberty to know which of our foods are “real” and which are grown from manipulated GM seeds?

While the answer is complex and beyond the scope of this article, it is worth noting that the government committee responsible for setting GM food in motion was headed by a chemical industry executive and included no members of the USDA or FDA. (This committee was actually spearheaded by ex-VP Dan Quayle, which is kind of ironic when you think that the man infamous for not being able to spell “potato” played a great role in casting the dye for this arena of our government’s food policy.)

If GM seeds were just a novelty, this may not be much of an issue. But novelty they aren’t: in fact, the Grocery Manufacturers of America, more than five years ago, had estimated that about 70% of all packaged foods sold here contained a GM ingredient. So chances are you’re likely to come across these foods on any given grocery-shopping outing. And yet not know. Read More…