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.
Edible circuits: Food-fueled batteries could be safely used inside the body to power the future
Researchers have started crafting edible circuits and sensors that can be used in the body. But such devices need a ...
Viewpoint: Why the EU’s Farm to Fork policy doesn’t measure up to tech-driven sustainable US agriculture
Recently, the USDA hosted the Agricultural Outlook Forum, and as someone who covers food and trade policies in Europe, the ...
Long banned in Kenya, insect-resistant genetically-modified cotton brings farmers huge profits
Despite severe drought in much of the country for four years, cotton farmers in Lamu county have had a bounty ...
Do bees have emotions and dreams?
This March, ecologist Stephen Buchmann released a book that unpacks just how varied and powerful a bee’s mind really is ...
‘Food grown in labs pose no unusual health risks’: Joint Food and Agriculture Organization and and World Health Organization report
Cell-based food production, which is the field of growing animal agricultural products directly from cell cultures, has been explored as ...
Bayer CEO ponders breakup as glyphosate litigation continues to depress profits
Incoming Bayer chief executive Bill Anderson says he is keeping an open mind on whether to break up the company ...
Here’s how synthetic biology can support eco-friendly agriculture
Methane from cattle and livestock accounted for 37.5% of greenhouse gases in 2020. Added to this is the carbon footprint from gas ...
Viewpoint: Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list of ‘pesticide soaked’ conventional fruits and vegetables contains a confession and caveat: conventional produce is healthy
The Environmental Working Group recently released it’s 2023 Dirty Dozen list. This annual propaganda allegedly ranks the fresh produce with ...
Clear plastic from slimy seaweed? Wild algae poised to become packaging alternative of the future
There’s seven million square kilometres of seaweed already growing around the world — about the same size as the Amazon ...
How do plants respond to stress? Noisily
Stressed plants make audible sounds that can be heard many feet away, and the type of sound corresponds with the ...
Plastic nanoparticles found in food could potentially impair fetal development
Nanoscale plastic particles like those that permeate most food and water pass from pregnant rats to their unborn children and ...
Luxembourg — the first EU country to ban glyphosate — has been ordered by a court to reauthorize the weedkiller. Here’s why
Luxembourg announced on [April 3] that it was reauthorizing the marketing of glyphosate-based products, after being the first European Union ...
‘Growing chicken from animal cells’: FDA appears poised to approve second US lab-grown meat
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced this week that it has completed its second pre-market consultation with a ...
How your brain reacts to even small ‘doses’ of sugar
If you’ve ever bought a box of donuts only to find it triggers a donut phase in your life, you ...
Climate change threatens to undercut boom in seaweed farming
While scientists are still pinning down if and how kelp farming might be a climate change champion, the case is ...
Canada alarmed over Mexico’s rejection of GMO corn imports
Canada is deeply concerned about Mexico’s recent departure from its longstanding approach to regulating genetically modified crops ...
Lack of hazard assessments could dampen approvals of cell-based meat
An assessment of hazards in cell-based meat products has found considerable gaps in knowledge. There are several areas where data ...
Viewpoint: How the European Union’s proposed sustainable food initiative could hurt US farmers
The European Union is carving out the legislative framework for so-called Sustainable Food Systems (SFS). In essence, these new regulations ...
Defining regenerative agriculture
According to IFIC’s 2022 Food and Health Survey, 43% of consumers want to purchase food and beverages that were produced in a ...
Tweaking one gene could help crops survive and thrive in salty water
Chinese scientists have discovered a crop gene that, once deactivated, can allow plants to thrive in saline and alkaline soils, ...
Four multinational companies sell half of all seeds globally, says USDA report on agricultural consolidation
Just four massive corporations sell more than half of all seeds on a global basis, and for many staple commodity ...
Viewpoint: ‘A fool’s errand’ — Here’s why the FDA’s new ‘healthy’ label for foods won’t move the needle on chronic disease
In September, the FDA began the process of promulgating new rules to determine what foods could carry the label "healthy." In ...
Viewpoint: ‘Chemical alarmism’ — Scientist builds case that banning ‘forever chemicals’ PFOS and PFOAs could cause more harm than good
PFOA and PFOS were used early on to solve a problem in protecting human life. The problem? In 1967, a ...
Viewpoint: What’s killing bees? Reviewing the impact of parasites and climate change on pollinators
Bees are vital to our lives; without them, there would be no almonds, and few apples, onions, blueberries, carrots, or ...
Viewpoint: ‘The Netherlands’ hyper-efficient food system is both a triumph and a cautionary tale’
Going back nearly 80 years, anxieties over food security have driven the tiny Netherlands to become a global leader in agriculture despite ...
India green lights field trials for two genetically modified crops — disease-resistant potatoes and nutrient-boosted bananas
After mustard, India is set to begin trials of two more genetically modified (GM) food crops — bananas and potatoes ...
Treating epilepsy with a keto diet? Sounds far-fetched, but it can work
The ketogenic diet is an extremely low-carb diet that consists of almost no carbohydrates, a moderate amount of protein and ...
