Food Sleuth Radio

Did you know that soil health is integral to life on earth? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn for her conversation with Leo Horrigan, MS, Food System Correspondent for the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, and author of What if Soil Microbes Mattered? Our Health Depends on Them. Horrigan explains how and why successful farming starts below ground. He describes the symbiotic relationship between soil microbes and plants to support human and planetary health. He also explains how common practices used in conventional/chemical agriculture (synthetic pesticides, fertilizers and tillage) harm soil microbes.  On a positive note, regenerative/organic agriculture offers great potential for a brighter farming future.Related Websites:  https://clf.jhsph.edu/sites/default/files/2025-08/what-if-soil-microbes-mattered-1.pdf/

Mariana Chilton, PhD, MPH, is a Professor of Public Health and an advocate for food security. In this engaging discussion, she reveals that hunger stems from greed, not food shortage, and highlights how low wages keep many reliant on support systems. Chilton emphasizes the need for solidarity over charity to tackle hunger effectively. She also discusses the urgency of measuring food insecurity and reveals its profound impact on children's health and futures. Ultimately, she calls for compassion and structural policy solutions to combat food injustice.

Did you know organic agriculture has a legal definition, but “regenerative” agriculture does not?  Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn for her conversation with Charlotte Vallaeys, MS, independent consultant, advocate, and champion of organic agriculture. Board member of Organic Voices and the Organic Farming Research Foundation, Vallaeys discusses the definition of organic, its multiple benefits to health, environment and climate, and consumer confusion over the term “regenerative agriculture.” Related Websites: Real organic podcast: https://realorganicproject.org/charlotte-vallaeys-outcome-based-agriculture-pitfalls-episode-one-hundred-eight/

Did you know that the sugar responsible for alpha-gal allergy is widespread in processed food products, drugs and dietary supplements? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn for her conversation with Heather Norman-Burgdolf, PhD, Associate Extension Professor in the Department of Dietetics and Human Nutrition at the University of Kentucky, and author of “Food Allergens: Alpha Gal.” Norman-Burgdolf discusses ways to navigate the alpha-gal allergy, which ranks as the tenth most prevalent food allergy in the United States.Related Websites: https://publications.ca.uky.edu/sites/publications.ca.uky.edu/files/FCS3646.pdf

Did you know that a tick bite could lead to a food allergy?  Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn for her conversation with Sharon Forsyth, conservationist and patient advocate for the alpha-gal syndrome community. Forsyth created Alpha-gal Information.org, a comprehensive informational resource on AGS. She discusses how to avoid tick bites and the challenges of living with alpha-gal food allergy (also known as mammalian meat allergy).Related Websites: https://alphagalaction.org/

Stephan van Vliet, PhD, is an expert in nutritional science at Utah State University, focusing on the link between farming practices and food quality. In this discussion, he reveals how agricultural methods directly impact nutrient density and human health. He explores the benefits of regenerative agriculture, emphasizing soil health and biodiversity. The conversation touches on how ultra-processed foods lack essential phytonutrients. Stephan also advocates for dietary guidelines that reflect the importance of how food is grown.

Did you know that being hungry can affect our mood and behaviors? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn for her conversation with Katherine Pryor, award-winning children’s book author, and good food advocate, whose latest title: The Attack of the Hangries, helps parents, teachers and children understand what happens when our fuel supplies run low, and how to stay well nourished. Beyond education and entertainment, this book can be used to help support food assistance programs (which serve one out of every 5 children in the United States), universal school meals, and school food policies.Related Websites: www.katherinepryor.com

Did you know that Tyson, Perdue, Cargill, and JBS have all been found to have children working in their meat processing facilities? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn for her conversation with Todd Larsen, MA, Executive Co-Director for Green America, who will explain how and why U.S. children are working in agriculture, restaurants, and meatpacking industries.Related Websites: www.enduschildlabor.org

Did you know that one in five children in the U.S. receives food assistance? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn for her conversation with Joseph Llobrera, PhD, Director of Research for the Food Assistance Team at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. Llobrera discusses low-wage workers who depend on SNAP, and the far-reaching economic and health impacts of cuts to both food assistance and health care in the GOP’s Budget Reconciliation Bill. ImpactsRelated Websites: https://www.cbpp.org/sites/default/files/5-29-25sfp-factsheets_rev8-1-25-national.pdf

Did you know that some of the most popular brands of chocolate rely on child labor/slavery on cocoa plantations? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn for her conversation with Terrence Collingsworth, Founder and Executive Director of International Rights Advocates, which works globally to stop corporate human rights abuses and end modern day slavery. Collingsworth will discuss how children are kidnapped, taken to cocoa plantations, and the conditions of their forced labor. He exposes chocolate brands to avoid, and how to find chocolate that is free of child slavery. See: https://www.slavefreechocolate.org/ethical-chocolate-companies. To see films exposing child labor in the chocolate industry, see the Dark Side of Chocolate: https://www.slavefreechocolate.org/dark-side-of-chocolate and The Chocolate War: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9K2yevB8IURelated Websites: https://www.internationalrightsadvocates.org/