With Europe’s E. Coli outbreak fresh in mind, many Americans may have asked the question: “How does our government handle outbreaks of contaminated food?” A new audit of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) performance during 17 food recalls that took place in 2007 and 2008 may renew the questions about how unsafe food […]
Read recent posts from the Foreign Policy Blog network that relate to food security issues. Food and International Folly from the Global Health blog Glorious Food from the Climate Change blog Enjoy!
Aquaculture, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), is “the fastest growing food production system in the world.” It accounts for nearly 50 percent of the world’s food fish, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), and more than 1 billion people rely on fish as an important source of animal protein. With this […]
Both children and adults in the United States seem to do their best to avoid eating as many fruits and vegetables as they should, and the recent deadly E. Coli outbreak in Europe gave them an added excuse to leave these items off of their plate. Against these odds, the USDA released its new nutrition […]
Read recent posts from the Foreign Policy Blog network that also relate to food security issues. Food Insecurity in East Africa from the Africa blog Changing Climate Driving Food Shortages from the Climate Change blog Enjoy!
Bean sprouts have had a roller coaster week in the ongoing investigation into the source of E. Coli contamination which has claimed 31 lives and sickened 3,000 around the world. After being identified as the source for contamination earlier in the week and then being exonerated, German officials have once again tapped bean sprouts as […]
Now that a recent outbreak of a deadly strain of E. Coli that hit Europe in late May has been contained by stepped up screening, governments and consumers are questioning how the outbreak of such a deadly bacteria emerged and how can future outbreaks be prevented. First, what is known: At the time of this […]
A new report on global water stress out last week from the British risk assessment firm Maplecroft highlights countries at “extreme risk” for water shortage, declaring, “current and future water availability as one of the foremost global challenges.” Nine of the top ten countries on the list are from the Middle East/North Africa region, with […]
Share Our Strength has enlisted Academy Award winning actor and child hunger activist Jeff Bridges to promote its “No Kid Hungry” campaign. The initiative aims to end child hunger in the United States by 2015 by building a community of supporters who commit to participating in programs and initiatives organized by Share Our Strength. Share […]
What’s the best way to aid the hungry? Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology spend their time trying to answer this question, and they wrote about their findings, as well as the findings of other researchers, in the recent food issue of […]
What can we expect for the future of global food security when factoring in the impact of global warming, population and consumption patterns? Recently published reports may help illuminate the discussion. Researchers at Stanford University and Columbia University analyzed the impact that global warming has had on food production from 1980 to 2008. The study […]
Foreign Policy magazine has come out with their “food issue,” in which authors discuss how food is a driver of world politics. While the authors discussed food’s role in the recent protests in the Middle East, and well as the intersection of hunger and poverty (the hungry are the poor and the poor are the […]
Inflation has risen 3.2% over the last year in the U.S., mostly because of increased food and gas prices. This is the biggest 12 month increase since October 2008. The number comes from the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the most widely used measure of inflation. While this may seem like a lot, inflation is even […]
Echoing recent warnings by the FAO about a budding global food crisis, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton counseled representatives at a meeting in Rome on Friday about the dangers of rising prices and enduring shortages of food. Now, thankfully, the situation we face today is not yet as serious [as the 2007-2008 global […]
When speaking of food deserts, areas that lack access to affordable fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat milk, and other foods that make up the full range of a healthy diet, many would be surprised to learn that there are Americans who lack sufficient access to such resources. Research has shown that increasing rates of obesity […]