Food News: Making America Healthy Again, Except for a Little Listeria
An ultra-processed vegan newsletter that is way more reviled than plant-based newsletters.
hi hi,
surprised to see me in your inbox on a tuesday?
this is about as spontaneous as i get!
ok so this isn’t so much about spontaneity as it is about playing catch up after busy life things. i’ve been sitting on many of these articles for a couple of weeks and decided to break from my usual friday timing to finally get this newsletter out.
as i went to schedule this edition i realized it wouldn’t just be published on a tuesday, it would be tuesday, september 10th—a day i’d be experiencing one of the heartbreaking “firsts” i wrote about in Noshing: The Last Orange. september 10th is my grandpa’s birthday, the first one he isn’t here on earth to celebrate.
in Oy Vey It’s A Euology i shared that i came to understand my grandpa j through food, particularly his food habits and routines. one such routine was that around 10 pm each night he would pause the show or movie he was watching at an extreme volume, get up from his recliner, and grab dessert from the kitchen. most often he took a couple of scoops from whatever container of ice cream was in the freezer, brought it back to his “man cave,” settled into his recliner, played the tv, and ate his ice cream.
my partner made the perfect suggestion that we honor this difficult “first” by getting ice cream tonight and celebrating grandpa j.
i’d like to invite you to join in our celebration. enjoy some ice cream, or your preferred treat, and quite literally make today a little sweeter for yourself. then pass along some of that sweetness to the world around you that so desperately needs it.
i welcome you to bring others into this ad hoc celebration, share (and tag me in) a photo of your treat, or send me a note about what made your day sweeter. i’m @oyveyitskay on socials and you can always reach out via email at oyveyitskay@gmail.com.
-k
What I’ve Read
Grocery stores boost political donations even as Democrats take aim - High food prices and shrinkflation have been a big talking point for this newsletter but also for Democrats. Reuters analysis has found, “At least 154 Democratic lawmakers or their fundraising organizations have accepted contributions from a handful of top food companies during the current campaign cycle. That includes 51 congressional Democrats - one in five - who have done so while publicly blasting corporate greed in the food industry.” Campaign donations are also coming into Democrats from meatpacking industry companies like JBS USA, Tyson Foods, and Cargill.
TLDR; politicians are acting like politicians. I’ll continue to support Democrats, like the Biden-Harris Administration with a demonstrated history of working to lower the cost of living for Americans. If this lights your fire, there is plenty more data about industry contributions to political candidates, check out Food Processing & Sales PACs to candidates, 2023-2024.The Word ‘Vegan’ Is Still More Reviled Than ‘Plant-Based’ But…Why? - Wow it is possible to write about the meaning(s) and public perceptions of veganism in a detailed manner that includes definitions, citations, and nuance! I’ll be damned. My own research on these topics is mostly aligned with what the author, Seth Millstein, presents in this comprehensive article. I feel particularly seen by the section “What the Polls on Veganism Reveal” where Millstein acknowledges, “the inconsistency of polling on the matter.”
I find polls—and even some scientific studies—attempting to quantify rates of veganism are mildly useful, at best. I’ve personally confirmed the limitations of Gallup poll by emailing Gallup to ask if it—internally or externally—has a definition of veganism or vegetarianism used to ensure consistency, accuracy, or precision of the data and subsequent analysis based on said data. As of January of this year, it did not. This article adds depth to its overview of the vegan landscape by qualifying veganism beyond a poll or study—including three theories about why people may not like the word “vegan.” I have my own theory as to why society has such a deep distaste for vegans and veganism, which wasn’t represented in this analysis, but that’s for another time.Life After Factory Farming: ‘The Longer They’re Out, the Happier They Are.’ - “Virtually all of the meat consumed in America comes from industrialized farms.” It is well documented that this type of industrialized animal agricultural farming is detrimental to the farmed animals, our environment, and the people who work within the system as farmers, slaughterhouse workers, etc. While we often hear that factory farming is necessary to keep animal-based foods affordable, the current government subsidies and profit structures mainly benefit those at the top of major animal ag corporations.
Tyler Whitley, head of the Transfarmation Project—a Mercy for Animals program that creates opportunities for animal farmers to transition from farming animals to farming plants—is interviewed for this article and shares his experience working directly with farmers and other impacts of the project. According to Whitley, farmers seek to leave factory farming because of their poor quality of life, financial hardships, treatment by large agribusinesses, and the toll being immersed in animal cruelty and the gross conditions of farms can take over time. Whitley also shared that he has, “never heard of a farmer who’s regretted their choice to get out,” of factory farming.Project 2025 Calls for Major Cuts to the US Nutrition Safety Net - Project 2025’s initiatives continue to scare the shit out of me and it’s especially concerning what it plans to do to federal food assistance programs. My fear does not come from reading the 920-page document in full, but from the excerpts I have read and reports from trusted sources. This article focuses specifically on how Projet 2025 will restructure the USDA, make drastic cuts to and impose stricter barriers to accessing SNAP and WIC, and decrease federal funding for universal school meal programs.
A Kroger exec reportedly testified that the supermarket giant raised prices of milk and eggs beyond inflation costs - During court hearings about the proposed Korger-Albertsons merger Andy Groff, Kroger’s Senior Director for Pricing, was questioned by the FTC about an internal email to Kroger execs about staple household item prices. In this email, Groff wrote, “On milk and eggs, retail inflation has been significantly higher than cost inflation.” In Groff’s testimony, he stated the company’s objective was to pass inflation costs to consumers. Of course, Kroger is downplaying this, calling it cherry-picking, and states that for decades it has worked to lower prices for consumers. Fool us hundreds of times about having the best interest of consumers at heart, shame on you, fool us another few hundred times, shame on you.
If you’re an antitrust law enthusiast or just want to broaden your knowledge of legal strategy, read Kroger-Albertsons FTC Suit Puts Labor Antitrust Loophole in Play.Kennedy Says Trump Will ‘Make Americans Healthy.’ His Record Suggests Otherwise. - Kennedy’s idea of what will make Americans “healthy” would be laughable if it wasn’t completely absurd and dangerous. Kennedy’s “positions” are almost indistinguishable from the crock nutrition accounts I see online that demonize “chemicals” in food in favor of their specific and completely unfounded conceptualization of “clean” foods, undermine trust in regulatory associations, scare people about GMOs, and freak out about how our food is poisoning us and causing all kinds of bogus health problems while simultaneously refusing to wear masks, get flu, COVID, and other preventive vaccines, and encouraging people to drink raw milk or engage in other dangerous behaviors in the name of “wellness.” This article analyzes Kennedy’s claims of what another Trump presidency would mean for public health against the Trump administration’s actual record on the same issues. These issues include pesticides and other chemicals, Trump-supported lobbyists, Trump’s federal appointees with clearly biased, pro-industry motives to run the Energy Department, Interior Department, and EPA, and school food nutrition standards.
Boar's Head faces multiple lawsuits after its deli meat is linked to deadly listeria outbreak- If you have purchased or plan to purchase Boar’s Head’s animal meat products please pay attention! A listeria outbreak has been linked to the Boar’s Head Provisions Co. plant in Virginia and has (at the time of this Forbes reporting) caused 9 deaths across 8 states and 57 hospitalizations across 18 states. Boar’s Head has recalled 7 million pounds of deli meats beyond the initial 200,000-pound recall and has added 71 products to the recall list. Despite this location having on-site USDA inspector monitoring the plant daily, the USDA has found dozens of health and safety violations linked to the outbreak including mold, mildew, and insects. Production has been shut down at this plant and Boar’s Head is now rightly facing lawsuits. It’s absolutely awful to think about everyone who has become sick or died from this outbreak and all of the animals who were slaughtered and processed into meat only for their meat to be recalled and discarded.
If You’re Going to Read 1 Piece in Full
Read Why One Dietitian is Speaking Up for ‘Ultra-Processed’ Foods by Jamie Ducharme for Time
Quick Summary:
Dr. Chris van Tulleken, a physician specializing in infectious disease, wrote the book Ultra-Processed People. While writing this book he conducted an experiment where he spent a month eating mostly ultra-processed foods (UPF); chips, soda, cereal, frozen foods, and other stereotypical “junk” foods. He experienced weight gain, differences in hormone levels, and changes to his brain shown on an MRI and decided he could universalize his experience to all UPF and the people who consume them.
Jessica Wilson, MS. RD. is a clinical dietitian who specializes in weight-inclusive, fat-positive, trauma-informed work primarily with BIPOC clients and other marginalized communities. Wilson conducted her own experiment inspired by van Tulleken’s and spent a month on a diet that was 80% highly processed foods. The foods she chose aren’t unfamiliar to the average American; soy chorizo, Trader Joe’s ready-to-eat meals, tater tots, etc. After her experiment, Wilson found, “she had more energy and less anxiety.”
As noted in the article, it’s important to remember that there is no scientific consensus or universal definition of processed foods. We have different popular categorizations, like the NOVA classification system, but even these have fairly major limitations. Not all processed foods are equal. Nuance around food processing is so often left out of popular science media and is frequently disregarded by influencers who get their clout (and affiliate sales) from promoting “clean food” content.
There has been PLENTY of discourse around this article. Most of the discourse I’ve seen—outside of my carefully curated food and nutrition bubble—is negative. People are showing up in comment sections and creating response pieces with so much confidence and finger-wagging, even though some cannot recall the article’s specific facts (ahem…Dr. Mark Hyman). Others are blatantly misinterpreting the facts or are responding in bad faith, likely because they do not know how to reconcile things that challenge the very fragile healthism narrative they hold so dear. And it’s crucial to acknowledge that much of the negative discourse is steeped in misogynoir, something Jessica Wilson, MS. RD. has been calling out on her social platforms.
Have you read this article or any of the discourse in the news or on social media?
What are your thoughts?
Love the title, creative and hilarious as always
As always, I learn so much from your article. Thank you.