Interview with Charles Wilson, Co-Author of Chew On This
Written by Scott Butki
Published December 14, 2006

In 2005 I read Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. In both a review and in a Best Books of the Year compilation piece, I wrote it was the best non-fiction book I have read in several years.

I knew before I read it that it would change my life, particularly my eating and buying habits, and it did. What I did not realize was what an amazing piece of writing this is. A friend who teaches English has used this book as an example of persuasive writing and that totally makes sense, as this book manages not only to convince you that fast food companies do not have the interests of their employees — and sometimes their customers — in mind when making decisions, but also explains every important issue involving fast food, without coming off as redundant or preachy. (more…)

I have been opposed to the irradiation of food for years and the recent outbreaks of food bourne illness do nothing to change my mind. We need to mandate chnage to agribusiness that guarentees a safe food supply – not think irradiation means we can produce unsafe food and then use a silver bullet to make it safe.

Food Biz Considers Nuclear Option

By JIM DOWNING
The Sacramento Bee

SACRAMENTO, Calif.
Two high-profile E. coli outbreaks this year have some in the food business wondering – once again – whether it’s time to go nuclear. For decades, many food safety experts have argued that irradiation – zapping food with high-energy rays to kill microorganisms – could avert hundreds of deaths and perhaps millions of illnesses each year. But for just as long, federal regulators and food retailers have been leery of bringing the technology to market.

Despite exhaustive reviews by federal scientists and endorsements by public health and medical groups around the world, irradiation by its very name conjures up images that are anything but wholesome – nuclear fallout, for one. (more…)

The NEWS GAZETTE

Parents, students speak out for school menu changes
By Amy F. Reiter
Monday December 18, 2006

URBANA, ILLINOIS – Ask a cafeteria table of eighth-graders what they think about school lunch and you won’t have to wait long – or even until the end of the question – for a plateful of answers.

Morgan Applebee thinks that school lunch is “gross.”

“I’ve found hair in it before. I’ve found plastic,” she said. “The fries sometimes would be half-cooked.” (more…)

School strives to energize meals
By John McReynolds/Record Correspondent

Lompoc High School: Its doomsayers are a legion.

So are its defenders.

Class periods are too short, or too long, its neighborhood is unsafe, or not, its football team failed to make the playoffs. Well, there is no argument on that one.

Nor is there debate about the cavernous room once known as the cafeteria. That old-school label still appears in raised block letters outside the building, but inside it has been transformed. It is now “Braves Bistro Food Court,” a hip café.

The long green institutional tables with attached benches are gone. So are the frozen burritos packaged during the Reagan administration and the depressing atmosphere of chow hall at the prison. Nobody used to come here. (more…)

Lunch Lessons from the Renegade Lunch Lady
This article is a reprint from: www.mombian.com

• Children born in the year 2000 will be the first in our country’s history to die at a younger age than their parents.
• More than 35 percent of our nation’s children are overwieght, 25 percent are obese, and 14 percent have type 2 diabetes, a condition previously seen primarily in adults.
• Current research shows that 40 percent of all cancers are attributable to diet.
• 78 percent of the schools in America do not actually meet the USDA’s nutritional guidelines.

Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children

These are just a few of the sobering statistics in Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children, a new book by Ann Cooper and Lisa M. Holmes. Luckily, most of the book is meant as an antidote to the gloomy prognosis. It offers both inspirational tales of making a difference and practical advice for parents and teachers wishing to do so in their homes and schools. (more…)