Food Sleuth Radio

Did you know that 80 to 90 percent of all agriculture globally is based on annual grain crops? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Evan Craine, Ph.D., Research Associate at The Land Institute, who discusses the ecological benefits of perennial agriculture.Related website:  www.landinstitute.org https://kernza.org/new-kernza-food-drink-products-proliferate/

Dr. Omanjana Goswami from the Union of Concerned Scientists talks about soil health, human health, and water pollution from Tyson meat processing plants. They discuss the connection between soil and human health, impacts of nitrate pollution, corporate influence on policies, consumer choices in the food system, and the health risks associated with nitrate contamination in drinking water.

Dr. Pam Koch, a Professor at Columbia University, discusses child nutrition. She talks about teaching children to cook, the impacts of ultra-processed foods on child nutrition, empowering kids to make healthier choices, and the importance of hands-on cooking experiences to promote healthy eating habits.

Did you know that our brains play an important role in regulating appetite and food intake? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Marc Cornier, MD Professor of Medicine and Director of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases at the Medical University of South Carolina. Cornier shares his research on the neurocircuitry related to appetite. He emphasizes that obesity is a chronic disease, and discusses the influence of high fat diets,  gut microbiota, hormones, exercise and brain activity on weight. Related website:  My Brain Made Me Overeat! So What Can I do About it? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bne4VOHMOsw

Toxicologist Alexis Temkin from the Environmental Working Group joins the host to discuss the 2024 Shoppers Guide to Pesticides in Produce. They cover pesticide residues on foods, benefits of organic farming, and the impact on vulnerable populations like children and pregnant women. They emphasize the importance of making informed choices when shopping for produce.

Did you know that astronauts’ liquid wastes are recycled into drinking water in space? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Peter Annin, national water journalist, director of the Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation at Northland College, Ashland, WI, and author of Purified: How Recycled Sewage is Transforming Our Water. Annin reports on multiple successful national examples where human waste is filtered, treated and transformed into vital pure water.Related website:  https://www.purifiedbook.com/

Did you know that heavily subsidized biogas digesters pose a risk to rural communities and are not the climate-change solution they’re made out to be? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Chloe Waterman, M.S., Senior Program Manager for Climate Friendly Foods at Friends of the Earth. Waterman discusses the hazards of Biogas and key points from the Friends of the Earth report on the topic, titled: “Biogas or Bull***? The Deceptive Promise of Manure Biogas as a Methane Solution.”Related website:  Friends of the Earth:https://foe.org/resources/biogas-or-bull/ Big Oil and Big Ag Ponzi Scheme: Factor Farm Biogas (Food and Water Watch): https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2024/01/09/the-big-oil-and-big-ag-ponzi-scheme-factory-farm-biogas/ Food System Reform Act: https://www.booker.senate.gov/news/press/booker-introduces-package-of-bills-to-reform-us-food-system 

Author Marianne Landzettel discusses sustainable meat production, highlighting regenerative farming benefits and climate impact. Contrasts in agriculture between EU and US are explored, emphasizing soil health importance. Nutritional differences in grass-fed vs. grain-fed beef are examined, along with humane slaughter practices in meat production.

Did you know that there is solid science behind concerns regarding the safety of genetically modified crops? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Timothy Wise, MS, author of Eating Tomorrow: Agribusiness, Family Farmers, and the Battle for the Future of Food, and Senior Advisor at the Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy. Wise discusses GM corn, and the impact of the U.S. Mexico Canada Trade Agreement (formerly NAFTA) on Mexican food sovereignty.Related website:  https://www.iatp.org/about/staff/timothy-wise Mexico Defends GM Corn Restrictions with Science: An Analysis of Mexico’s response in the USMCA dispute: https://www.iatp.org/mexicos-science-based-defense-gm-corn-restrictions

Did you know that 80% of the avocadoes consumed in the U.S. are imported from Mexico? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Alexander Sammon, politics writer for Slate, journalist and author of “Forbidden Fruit: The anti-avocado militias of Michoacan.”  Sammon describes the impact of U.S. trade policies on avocado imports, the environmental impacts of avocado production, and the violence related to avocado farming in Mexico.  Note: Cinco de Mayo is the second largest avocado consuming day in the U.S.Related website:  https://harpers.org/archive/2023/11/forbidden-fruit-avocado-militias-michoacan-mexico/