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.
Just because a chemical ingredient used in food is found in household products or medicine does not mean its unsafe
"Many food-grade additives share names with industrial products, but concentration makes all the difference," said Jessica Steier, a public health ...
Resilience, sufficiency, efficiency: Balancing the challenges facing modern agriculture
There’s no shortage of opinions when it comes to the future of agriculture. Across Europe and beyond, the debate is ...
Certain foods naturally contain chemicals that help us sleep better. Here are some of them
Research shows that the most beneficial diet for sleep seems to be a plant-based diet that includes lots of wholegrains, dairy ...
Appeal to Nature Fallacy: Understanding soaring chemophobia from the ideological left and right
Chemophobia is complicated, but, in short, it’s a distrust or fear of chemicals and appears in many of aspects of ...
How pioneering technology transformed Israel’s desert into an agricultural oasis
Agriculture in Israel transformed in the early 20th century, marked by the rise of wheat, citrus, and other vegetable cultivation ...
Can bacteria replace synthetic fertilizer?
Synthetic fertilizer is a modern wonder, helping to feed billions of people, but it’s not without its costs. Fertilizer runoff ...
Viewpoint: Can regenerative agriculture spark the beginning of the end for carbon intensive conventional farming?
Today, techniques such as cover-cropping and integrated pest management are being embraced not only by environmental activists but also by ...
CRISPR for ‘stronger, sweeter’ cocoa: Mars bets on gene editing technology to future-proof chocolate supply
Candy maker Mars said ... it has partnered with biotech company Pairwise to speed up the development of more resilient ...
How the organic industry is combating fraud
The organic industry is no longer the niche market it was several decades ago. To support growing demand across multiple ...
In a dramatic shift to a more science-based food policy, Europe eases restrictions on importing GMO feed grain from the U.S.
The EU's 2025 approval of GM corn imports reflects a pragmatic recalibration of its regulatory framework. While the EU remains ...
Despite no evidence of health harm in humans, companies scramble to phase out synthetic dyes
On January 15, 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration revoked authorization of Red No. 3 in food, causing it ...
Honeybee supplements could protect an essential insect as climate stresses soar
Scientists have developed a honeybee "superfood" that could protect the animals against the threats of climate change and habitat loss ...
Landmark GMO: Pakistan develops cotton variety that resists pests and withstands 120F degree heat
In a landmark development for Pakistan’s agriculture sector, the Centre for Excellence in Molecular Biology (CEMB) at Punjab University, in ...
Soapy cilantro? Bitter Brussels sprouts? Coffee with a chemical aftertaste? How genes shape our differing processing of food smells
In 2025, a major breakthrough came from Leipzig University, where genetic epidemiologist Markus Scholz led a sweeping genome-wide association meta-analysis ...
The politics and science of lab-produced cultivated fish and meat in the U.S.
The regulatory landscape for cultured meat continues to evolve at the federal level. On May 28, 2025, the U.S. Food ...
Mars’ M&Ms and Snickers may soon produce its chocolate candies from cacao gene edited to withstand plant diseases and extreme heat
Mars, Incorporated has licensed Pairwise's Fulcrum® gene editing tools for cacao research and development. This licensing agreement grants Mars access ...
Farmers and MAHA forged a bond of convenience to help elect Trump. The weedkiller glyphosate is tearing them apart
The fact is, the Trump administration spends a lot of time trying to please completely contradictory parts of its coalition: ...
Next-generation sweeteners: Balancing function and flavor while navigating regulatory hurdles
With an increase in consumers looking for products with lower sugar contents and a need to be transparent with ingredients, ...
Creating easy pollinating flowers: How AI and gene editing work round-the-clock to speed up crop breeding
For millennia, developing resilient crops relied on pollination by nature or humans—making the process long and often costly. Now, scientists ...
From non-browning apples to robot harvesters, Okanagan has a radical plan to reshape the apple orchard
Before Neal Carter invented the world’s first commercially produced bioengineered apple, he helped mechanize lentils in the Middle East, diversify ...
New Zealand’s plan to end 30-year ban on gene editing technology sparks ag industry optimism and public debate
The Gene Technology Bill was discussed at length at the second annual Plant Breeders' Forum in Ōtautahi Christchurch ..., hosted by the ...
What is ‘Green AI’?
Degradation of the natural environment, resource depletion, and climate crisis are intricate phenomena requiring innovative and advanced solutions. This is ...
Bayer’s plan to contain still spiraling suits against glyphosate
Bayer will “significantly contain” glyphosate litigation by the end of 2026, CEO Bill Anderson said ... during the company’s second-quarter ...
Americans are eating less ultra-processed foods, but we’re still not eating healthier. Here’s why
Americans, on average, get 55% of their calories from ultra-processed foods, according to a study published ... by the Centers for Disease ...
Gene editing breakthrough: Chile becomes first country in the Americas to approve high fiber wheat
The Chilean startup Neocrop Technologies, in collaboration with the national seed company Campex Baer and Argentina’s Buck Semillas, has developed ...
Science, safety and solutions: GMO promotion in Ghana
Movements opposing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) remain one of the most impactful protest movements in recent times, successfully suppressing the ...
Understanding plant biodiversity: Myths and facts
[W]hen we say “lost genetic diversity”, everyone understands extinction both in terms of species and variety. The registered varieties have ...
