Tomato or Potato: The Farm-to-Plate Knowledge Gap

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What is this?

Despite eating as often as three meals a day, somehow we’ve become disconnected from exactly what it is that we’re eating.

Case in point: a suprising new study out of the UK showed young adults are even more misinformed about their food than we thought. The survey revealed that more than a third did not know bacon comes from pigs or that eggs come from hens. In fact, 11% thought eggs were made from wheat or corn and only 40% knew that butter comes from a dairy cow, and 40% failed to associate milk with an image of a cow—7% actually linked it to wheat.

The Ethics and Economics of In-Vitro Meat

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test tube meat

What if someone told you that you could eat meat without harming animals? We don’t mean plant-based meats, though developments there are exciting, too. We mean meat from animals—but it’s grown in a laboratory and without the need to raise and slaughter conscious animals. Sounds like weird science?

It may be, but in vitro meat is also one of the most interesting approaches to addressing the animal welfare, environmental, and public health issues associated with industrial animal agriculture.

Beef Industry Upset Over USDA’s Support for Meatless Monday

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MM-cow-300x193.jpgThe US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an agency notorious for its unabashed promotion of animal agribusiness and animal-based foods. As noted by the Associated Press: “The USDA often promotes the beef industry by encouraging Americans to eat meat.”

This week, however, the USDA got caught in the line of fire from, of all groups, the National Cattleman’s Beef Association (NCBA). Why? Because it (the USDA) touted the benefits of meat-free foods.