industrial food
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White House pressured Vilsack to approve GMO alfalfa, media reports suggest
According to reports from Wall Street Journal ag-policy reporters and New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, the USDA's recent decision to green-light GMO alfalfa was based on political pressure from the White House. Brings back memories of the Clinton and Bush administrations, when ag policy toed the the agrichemical industry line.
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Yo quiero lots of weird and unpronounceable ingredients
Now that we know that Taco Bell's "seasoned beef" is mostly made up of extenders and "flavor enhancers," I got to wondering what other weird things lace the fast food giant's delicacies. Attention, truth-in-advertising lawyers: we've got a strawberry-free "Strawberry Frutista"!
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Is Taco Bell's beef 'filler' the healthiest thing it sells?
As Grist's Tom Laskawy reported earlier today, an Alabama law firm is suing Taco Bell in order to force the company to stop labeling the contents of its Crunchy Tacos as "beef." The firm says their own tests revealed the tacos are only 35 percent beef -- the rest is filler! Not surprisingly, Taco Bell has called the firm a pack of lying liars, sort of. Here's the official response.
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Taco Bell 'beef': mostly not beef [UPDATED]
A class-action lawsuit claims that Taco Bell puts too much filler in its beef products to legally call it beef.
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How Walmart execs fleeced the White House on 'healthy food'
Michelle Obama and Walmart announced a healthy food initiative last week. The media accepted the deal at face value. Here are some hard questions.
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Why the Happy Meal is a crime — and not just a culinary one
Strong scientific evidence suggests that marketing to children under age 8 is "inherently deceptive." Deceptive advertising is illegal. Therefore ...
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Walmart vows to use its power for good food, not evil
Walmart has graphically demonstrated the damaging aspects of severe market consolidation in the food industry. If it can now demonstrate a benevolent side to market domination, then I salute it -- and shrug.
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Food industry FAIL: Foods promoted as healthy for kids — surprise! — are mostly not
A new study released today by the Prevention Institute should represent the final nail in the coffin of food industry self-regulation. Out of 50 products claimed to be good for kids, 84 percent flunk basic nutritional standards.
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Life, liberty, and the pursuit of fatness
When did a diet of processed, sugary junk foods become what "real Americans" eat? Messaging by Big Food -- echoed by a cynical GOP -- has taken many people hostage in what I call American Fast Food Syndrome. And it's killing us.