USDA Forbids Fruits & Vegetables

The sponsors of the food guide pyramid have a policy that is markedly out of line with the healthy eating recommendations it purports at mypyramid.gov: keeping small time farmers from growing fruits and vegetables.

The recent New York Times article My Forbidden Fruits (and Vegetables) by farmer Jack Hedin, tells his tale of fighting to grow healthy foods for his community. It’s heartbreaking. He ends up paying a fine for growing produce on designated commodity acreage.

The truth seems to be that the USDA is implementing the commodities program at any cost. Even if it means a disproportionate amount of unhealthy foods flooding the market in the form of processed snacks items, beverages sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, grain fed animals for meat and dairy. This policy promotes production of these foods, the overeating of these foods, and thus, it supports the burgeoning of obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers.

As a dietitian who works with an urban poor patient population, I know full well the barriers to obtaining and eating fresh produce. What would benefit my clients, our nation’s school children, the elderly, and the population at large, would be a food policy that supports the growing of fruits and vegetable.

The farm bill, currently being debated, not only impacts small farmers like Jack Hedin but all the eaters of America. The farm bill funds food stamps, the commodities program, conservation, and other programs fundamental to the nation’s wellness. Last fall myself, and many others, sent letters to senators urging them to support an amendment to the farm bill that didn’t pass. Now it’s anyone’s guess what’s going to happen if the house doesn’t produce a final bill this week- the current bill is due to run out March 15th.

As the cost of food rises, fruits and vegetables will be unreachable for many food insecure families. Unless something changes.

Bottom Line:
We’re a long way from achieving five to nine serving of fruits and vegetable, in a rainbow of colors.

Support a healthy farm bill. Petition your representative to make meaningful changes to our nation’s food policies. Check out Oxfam’s pages on the farm bill. And please leave a comment if you know of any more up to date legislation information.

In the meantime, seek out and support alternative sources of produce at farmers markets, through CSAs, gardening, and urban agriculture.

Food Safety Needs Proactive Approach

The 143,000,000 pounds of meat recalled last month sparked quite a debate. But while legislators cry outrage, the food industry seems to be lobbying quite successfully for the status quo to remain in place; aiming to patch holes in the dam of swelling food hazards.

Food Navigator (an online Food & Beverage Industry media outlet) reported "last week the US House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a meeting to discuss which measures work best in safeguarding the nation's food supply. It was attended by representatives of leading companies in the food processing industry....The Committee urged food manufacturers to provide serious recommendations and strongly support legislation to ensure the safety of the nation's food."

Now the US Grocery Manufacturers Association is recommending congress increase funding for the FDA's food safety inspection and testing. In a recent press release the GMA outlines their proposed plan:

-A requirement that every food company have in place a mandatory foreign supplier quality assurance program to ensure that foods and food ingredients arriving on American shores from overseas meet food company and federal government standards.

-Food companies will voluntarily share confidential test results, laboratory data and sourcing information with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) so that the government can focus its limited resources on high-risk products and countries, such as China.

-The federal government, in consultation with the food industry, will work with foreign governments to raise overseas food safety standards and improve the quality of food and ingredients processed overseas.

-We have asked Congress and the Bush Administration to double the FDA food safety budget over the next five years to allow the agency to hire more inspectors and scientists, upgrade its antiquated information systems and expand its laboratory and testing capability.

-We have called for the establishment of new regulations governing the harvesting and processing of fresh fruits and vegetables to cut down on food-borne outbreaks.


Of the five recommendations the GMA makes, three focus on the hazards of imports. This effectively diverts attention from our significant national problems. Quality is inherently at risk in a globalized food system, and food manufacturers must address this if they continue to import more food from far away, but current mandatory food safety & quality assurance standards have failed in our own country, why expand the same ineffective rules to a larger system?

In the fourth recommendation, the GMA asks the government to allocate more money for inspectors and testing and the last recommends increased regulation for fruits and vegetables.

None of these recommendations deal with the hazards that U.S. factory farms pose to food safety. In our current paradigm, cattle are raised in such high-stress settings with such poor nutrition, that the animals are at higher risk of disease. The wide spread use of antibiotics aims to stem the tide of infection, but medicine can’t replace the benefit of fresh grass to eat and space to roam for these herbivores. Factory farming and high volume slaughterhouses/processing plants create more problems than increased inspection and testing could ever hope to solve. The waste of factory farms then runs off into waterways that are used for irrigation, fishing, swimming, and drinking. Is this not a serious food safety issue?

To continue our national policy of cheap food in general and cheap meat specifically is a food safety issue in and of itself.

The position paper of the American Dietetic Association on Food and water safety acknowledges the importance of safe food and water for the health of a population. Historically dietitians have seemed to focus mostly the food safety issues of hand washing and safe internal temperature for cooking meats, but a growing number of dietitians are beginning to expand the conversation to include more proactive approaches to keeping consumers safe and well fed. Increased advocacy for safety includes working towards a clean food system.

Bottom Line: The best option for safe and clean food is to reduce our dependence on an unsafe system. While much of the recalled beef has already been eaten by schoolchildren there are proactive steps to take. Get to know your farmers. Learn to cook local, seasonal foods. Buy grass-fed beef. Eat more vegetarian meals.

Visit a website like http://www.foodroutes.org/ or Marion Nestle's blog http://www.whattoeatbook.com/to start.

Meat's Deep Eco Footprint

Recently, the New York Time's published a piece by Mark Bittman called "Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler." This important article details many of the ways our increasing demand for cheap meat is having drastic effects on environmental and personal health.

On the impact of factory farms he says, "These assembly-line meat factories consume enormous amounts of energy, pollute water supplies, generate significant greenhouse gases and require ever-increasing amounts of corn, soy and other grains, a dependency that has led to the destruction of vast swaths of the world’s tropical rain forests." The article also includes some great graphics which help to visualize the meat industry's high energy costs and waste output.

From a health perspective, he notes the high cost of meat includes high rates of obesity, diabetes, some cancers, as well as antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria. (It must also be said here that grain fed beef contributes to the high levels of omega 6 fatty acids in the western diet, throwing off the ratio of omega 3 to 6. By eating more plant foods and switching to moderate amounts of grazed animal products, its possible to achieve what's thought of as optimal EFA ratios.)


Find the article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/weekinreview/27bittman.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&nl=8hlth&emc=hltha4

Bottom line:
Eating more plants and less animals can improve our health and the health of the planet. If you choose to eat meat, small amounts of grass fed beef, bison, pastured chicken or turkeys, and wild (sustainably caught) fish in our diet can contribute to personal health and planetary wellness.

Is Organic Better for You?

Increasingly, I get questions from clients about whether organic foods are “better for you.” Up until this past year, my standard dietitian response would have been something along the lines of, “No clear scientific evidence consistently supports the notion that organic food is more nutritious than conventionally raised food, but myself and many others choose organic for environmental & ethical reasons…” (i.e.; they’re not really better for you, on an individual level at least.)

But a growing body of research is showing that organically grown foods are better for us. Some studies have found that organic produce has higher values of several nutrients and phytochemicals, such as Vitamin C and flavanoids, than their non-organic counterparts. Last year the British Journal of Nutrition reported that the breast milk of mothers consuming organic meat and dairy has higher levels of beneficial fatty acids. And because pesticide exposure is a risk factor for several diseases including birth defects and diabetes, we likely want to minimize our exposure as much as possible. So my standard dietitian response now sounds more akin to, “Research is beginning to uncover that organic foods can have health benefits.”

But the true story of organic can not be summed up in a sound-bite due to the complexity of issues that surround organic foods and the fast growing organic industry.

What really is Organic?

At it’s ideal, the organic philosophy includes not just the environmental benefits reaped from excluding synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides in the farming process, but also encompasses animal welfare, social justice, and community well-being. National and third party certifying agencies have organic standards meant to quantify the term.

According to the current USDA national standards:
“Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation.”

In addition to being free of toxic sludge and genetic modification, “ all organically raised animals must have access to the outdoors, including access to pasture for ruminants.” But, the standards go on to say, “They may be temporarily confined only for reasons of health, safety, the animal's stage of production, or to protect soil or water quality.” This confinement ends up being the case all too often in industrialized agriculture’s production systems, which will be further detailed below. (See: The Conundrum of Industrial Organic) Organic dairy cows may not be treated with recombiant bovine growth hormone to stimulate increased milk production or be given regular doses of antibiotics to prevent the bacterial infections common to animals in the typical high stress environment of factory farm dairies.

Processed foods with the USDA Organic seal must contain at least 95% organic ingredients. Certain ingredients have been exempted from the rule because it has been decided that organic versions are hard to find or do not exist. (The National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances was recently updated in October of last year and includes ingredients such as citric acid, dairy cultures, corn starch, kelp, lecithin, pectin, and xantham, guar, locust bean, and carob bean gums.)

People choosing organic foods can be certain they are choosing foods grown or raised without:
o synthetic fertilizers, herbicides and fungicides
o toxic pesticides
o sewage sludge
o genetic engineering
o ionizing radiation
o bovine growth hormone

But, unfortunately, this doesn't mean all organic foods are grown sustainably.

The Conundrum of Industrial Organic
The concept of organic is so appealing to consumers that an entire industry has grown up around the term. Currently only 3% of the food & beverage market, sales in the organic sector have been growing about 20% each year since 1990. Translation: there is alot of money to be made in organics and so big businesses (such as Walmart) have gotten involved.

But are all organic farms as bucolic as the packaging would have it seem? The answer is, unequivocably, no.

Industrial organic follows the letter of the law, but not the heart of it. A recent class action lawsuit for against organic dairy giant Aurora illustrated that by cutting corners for profit, some in the industry may be illegally exploiting the term organic.

Large swaths of land may devoted to organic crop, while continuing to grow in the industrial, mono crop conventional paradigm. Though free of all manners of toxins, this system does not promote biodiversity and remains energy intensive. When the organic foods we buy are imported across the seas from China and beyond (and they are, increasingly) we know we’ve lost a handle on the true spirit of organic. Recently I heard a local grandmother complain, “Why can’t we have organic sunflower seeds in our local co-op? Why do they come from China? This is absurd. We grow sunflowers here. I have them in my backyard.”)

Farming as If We Need To

There are small farmers all over the country fighting for the spirit of organic by growing a wide variety of crops, protecting the biodiversity of their region, and reducing their carbon footprint by implementing “closed-loop systems”. Closed loops decrease the amount of inputs brought to the farm by practices such as seed saving, composting, using manure as fertilizer, animal breeding, bee keeping, using rain barrels and solar energy. etc, so nothing is wasted and each process on the farm becomes a part of the life cycle. These farmers may not all be certified organic due to the time & expense it takes to become USDA certified, but if you talk to them, you know they hold sacred the value of life over profit. (This is drastically different than the way most of our food is produced, but it works because it is more in alignment with the principles of nature; returning to the soil instead of constantly take, take, taking. We are seeing a dissapearance of topsoil, water shortages, climate change, and exticntion of species all at an alarming rate. Its time to do things differently.)

This is precisely why science is beginning to find that organics can be healthier. When the soil of organic farms is more complex, so will be the phytochemical portfolio of the foods grown. Conventional farming’s reductionist thinking allows the soil to become barren and nutrient poor while pumping in synthetic fertilizers that reduce the available nutrition, including valuable microorganisms, to the plants. This may be contributing to the wide spread, sub clinical deficiencies the nutrition & medical profession is beginning to notice. We don’t need more food, we need better food; grown well and unadulterated.

The bottom line:

Not all studies show that organic is more nutritious, but we don’t need official sanction to say that there are several reasons to believe organic foods can be healthier. While science is still “hashing it out”, people choosing organic can be certain they are choosing foods grown or raised without synthetic fertilizers, herbicides and fungicide, toxic pesticides, sewage sludge, genetic engineering, ionizing radiation, and bovine growth hormone. Organic isn’t always the best, but it is better than conventional. Seeking out local farmers, or growing organic foods yourself is the best way to ensure you’re getting truly sustainable foods.

What is Sustainable Nutriton?

sus·tain·a·ble (sə-stā'nə-bəl) -adj. 1. capable of being sustained. 2. responsible use of a resource such that it may be used in the present and by future generations. nu·tri·tion /nuˈtrɪʃən, nyu-/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[noo- trish-uhn, nyoo-] –noun 1. the act or process of nourishing or of being nourished. 2. the science or study of, or a course of study in, nutrition, esp. of humans. 3. the process by which organisms take in and utilize food material. 4. food; nutriment. 5. the pursuit of this science as an occupation or profession.

Sustainable nutrition supports health of the individual, the community, and the planet.

Sustainable nutrition is holism vs reductionism.

Sustainable nutrition acknowledges that the act of everyday eating is a meaningful, complex, and intimate interaction with the world around us.

Sustainable nutrition appreciates that our food choices can be powerful tools for change.

In order to reconnect people with their food choices, the interplay of cultural, biological, ecological, political, agricultural, physiological, health, social and culinary sciences must be recognized. This blog seeks to explore these issues of sustainable nutrition on the local, national, and international level and to serve as a resource for everyday eaters as well as nutrition professionals.