Daily Food & Ag Digest
Every day, the staff of the Genetic Literacy Project scours the Web for stories on a range of agricultural and food issues, including the GMO debate, conventional and organic farming, regulations, new breeding technologies and sustainability. We publish excerpts of those stories and encourage our readers to visit the original publications for the complete stories.
Viewpoint: RFK Jr. recommends replacing ‘poisonous’ seed oils with beef tallow. The American Heart Association says that could eventually kill you.
Beef tallow is a high-fat food that contains very limited micronutrients when consumed in typical dietary amounts. ... The high ...
Despite politicized disinformation, Midwest AI data centers are fueling a solar energy boom
Electricity has turned into one of the most important commodities in the [Midwest] region, with utility rates increasing in recent ...
Seeds of power: China turns to genetic engineering to become global superpower
Amid persistent US-China tensions and recurring supply chain shocks, Beijing is moving upstream in the food system by tightening control ...
Transforming farming and nutrition with AI and robotics? Larry Ellison’s half-billion-dollar Hawaii greenhouse dream goes bust
In a row of six greenhouses on a remote stretch of the Hawaiian island of Lanai, Larry Ellison is trying ...
Farmers are a major source of misinformation—about farming
Misinformation has long been a feature of social media platforms. That’s why a University of Waterloo researcher has launched a ...
Misinformation and climate change are endangering summer watermelons
Watermelon may be a global success story, but its breeding reality is increasingly defined by pressure: climate volatility, rising disease ...
AI-based tool could detect and reduce online misinformation
Researchers from the University College London (UCL), UK, have developed a Diet-Nutrition Misinformation Risk Assessment Tool (Diet-MisRAT) to detect and ...
Kennedy has quietly stopped touting problematic raw milk. Health concerns aren’t why
[Robert F.] Kennedy, who once took shots of raw milk at the White House alongside a wellness influencer, stopped publicly ...
Running ‘wild’: Last year, RFK, Jr. was given a green light to ‘reform’ chemical policies. Glyphosate illustrates how Trump now has him on a tight leash, and MAHA is furious
Kennedy and Trump ... forged a unique coalition during the 2024 presidential campaign. As the face of the "Make America ...
EPA concludes glyphosate is not carcinogenic. Missouri courts say Monsanto failed to warn it might be. SCOTUS weighs in.
Plaintiffs have filed tens of thousands of lawsuits in state courts alleging that Monsanto’s Roundup weed-killer gave them cancer. The ...
Boy Kibble: Muscle-building protein maxxing is the latest male health delusion
Protein popcorn. Protein water. Even protein coffee. Across grocery stores and social media feeds, marketers are pushing protein — especially ...
MAHA’s special protein-focused formula for skin care: Beef tallow and salmon sperm. How could they be wrong?
From moisturizers made with beef tallow to salmon sperm facials, consumers have become more interested in animal-based skin care products ...
Stupid study of the month: Eating fresh fruits and vegetables can lead to cancer
... With the rise of anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, federal food guidelines have centered on slabs of meat, ...
Woo truce? The science and health establishment divided on how to deal with MAHA and RFK, Jr.
The Trump administration’s celebration of its new meat- and milk-centric dietary guidelines was held in an auditorium decorated with colorful ...
Europe is on the cusp of approving gene editing of crops. Many other countries may follow soon.
After three decades of waging war on crop biotechnology, European politicians are about to change course. In late April or ...
Viewpoint: Why over-eating processed foods is not the main driver of obesity
Typical binge foods share a common feature: They are composed mainly of fast-digesting carbohydrates that rapidly raise blood sugar ...
‘Appeal to nature’ and other dietary myths that seem appealing but could damage your health
... A systematic review that examined 64 studies concluded that “online nutrition-related information is often inaccurate and of low quality”. ...
Viewpoint — Influential sports scientists: ‘No evidence that organic food is healthier’
Dr. Mike Israetel, a sports scientist and professor with a PhD in kinesiology, recently appeared on The Rubin Report to ...
Reviewing the evidence on the benefits and dangers of glyphosate
President Trump recently signed an Executive Order that expands U.S. production of glyphosate, a herbicide contained in commercial and domestic ...
A new tool can spot diet and nutrition misinformation—and measure its risk of harm
A new tool that not only identifies diet and nutrition misinformation online but also evaluates the content’s risk for potential ...
How China engineered its agricultural revolution
Between 1959 and 1961, an estimated 30 to 45 million Chinese people died in a famine resulting from Leader Mao Zedong’s Great ...
Viewpoint — Dirty Dozen produce ranking flop: Environmental Working Group is at it again with its scientifically ignorant rankings
Spring has sprung. And along with the change of season comes the annual release of Environmental Working Group’s “Shopper’s Guide to ...
Viewpoint: Cheddar cheese from unpasteurized milk? Cheese linked to e coli outbreak but Raw Farm and organic grocery stores reject recalls
Pasteurization exists for a reason: It is a time-tested way to make sure that dairy products don’t contain bacteria that ...
Viewpoint: The ‘link to cancer’ myth—Activist and trial lawyers misrepresent the potential danger of glyphosate and other herbicides
President Trump recently signed an Executive Order invoking the Defense Production Act to ensure increased domestic supplies of elemental phosphorus ...
Vitamin D alert: Cod liver oil contains environmental toxins. Is it safe to eat?
Cod liver oil comes from fish liver and therefore contains environmental toxins. Is cod liver oil or capsules with fish ...
Stomach or digestion problems? Wellness “experts” on social media are promoting these quack cures
Social media is usually rife with misinformation about how to boost health, and various tricks to your improve your digestion ...
Viewpoint: Farmers face mounting challenges — Proposed U.S. farm bill doesn’t meet them
The House Agriculture Committee advanced a proposed farm bill ... —a set of legislative proposals that have traditionally balanced the social safety ...
