Did you know that food is at the core of health and wellness as well as national and international security? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Laurie Beyranevand, JD, Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at the Vermont Law and Graduate School, South Royalton, VT. Beyranevand discusses food law and policy, plus several of the Center’s reports, including “The State of Prison Food in New England: A Survey of Federal and State Policy” and “Exposed and At Risk: Opportunities to Strengthen Enforcement of Pesticide Regulations for Farmworker Safety .”Related website:  “Hunger as a Weapon” – Global & National Security Institute:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skeMCnQwMPY Reports: https://www.vermontlaw.edu/academics/centers-and-programs/center-for-agriculture-and-food-systems/reports Labels Unwrapped: https://labelsunwrapped.org/ 

Did you know that consuming ultra-processed foods harms both our physical and mental health? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Eric Hecht, MD, MPH, PhD, Founder and Executive Director of the Institute of Etiological Research, and author of the paper, “Cross-sectional examination of ultra-processed food consumption and adverse mental health symptoms,” published in the Journal of Public Health Nutrition. Hecht explains epidemiology, defines “ultra-processed foods,” and discusses the challenges of behavior change, as well as the multiple negative health effects of consuming ultra-processed foods.Related website:  Institute of Etiological Research: https://www.etioinstitute.org; NOVA Classification of Ultra-Processed Foods: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-health-nutrition/article/un-decade-of-nutrition-the-nova-food-classification-and-the-trouble-with-ultraprocessing/2A9776922A28F8F757BDA32C3266AC2A 

Did you know that incarcerated individuals who participate in Chef Jimmy Hill’s culinary training program have a 6% recidivism rate? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Chef Jimmy Hill, award-winning Executive Chef and instructor of the Food Tech training program at the Lakeland Correctional Facility in Coldwater, MI. Hill, who is featured in the James Beard Award – winning film, Coldwater Kitchen, describes his culinary program, garden, and compassionate leadership.Related website:  https://www.chefjimmyleehill.com 

Did you know that a film about a remarkable prison-based culinary training program won the James Beard Foundation’s Media award in 2023? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Brian Kaufman, Executive Video Producer at the Detroit Free Press and co-director of Coldwater Kitchen, the James Beard award-winning documentary featuring Chef Jimmy Hill, who runs a highly regarded culinary training program at the Lakeland Correctional Facility in Coldwater, MI. Kaufman describes his experience making a documentary film in the confines of a state prison.Related website:  https://coldwaterkitchen.film/

Did you know that the number of farmers markets has grown from 1,755 in 1994 to almost 9,000 markets in 2019? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Ben Feldman, Policy Director for the Farmers Market Coalition, a national non-profit with a mission to strengthen farmers markets for the benefit of farmers, consumers, and communities.  Feldman discusses the benefits of farmers’ markets, how the Farm Bill can support farmers’ markets, and why SNAP benefits present a challenge to markets.  Note: August 6th-12th is National Farmers’ Market Week.Related website:  https://farmersmarketcoalition.org/

Did you know that only seven to nine percent of global cancer funding goes towards prevention? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Kristina Marusic, MFA, journalist with Environmental Health News (www.ehn.org), and author of A New War on Cancer: The Unlikely Heroes Revolutionizing Prevention (Island Press). Marusic connects human health with our environment, discusses our woefully under-funded efforts in cancer prevention, harmful anti-regulation rhetoric, cultural narratives and the phenomenon of “blind loyalty” to corporations that make us sick. Marusic finds hope in collective, systemic-level solutions and provides resources for action.Related website:  www.kristinamarusic.com/https://islandpress.org/books/new-war-cancer

Did you know that 70 percent of the land in the state of IA is planted in a corn/soy rotation, and that almost none of the decisions driving this current production system were made with the nutritional or caloric needs of human beings in mind? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Chris Jones, Ph.D., retired research engineer at the U. of IA and author of The Swine Republic: Struggles with the Truth about Agriculture and Water Quality. Jones discusses the water quality sensor network he managed at the U of IA, and the devastating environmental impacts of IA agriculture, which is dominated by corn and soy, corn-based ethanol and 25 million hogs. He explains the benefits of biodiversity, farming to scale, and stopping federal support of corn-based ethanol. Jones says local politics are key to changing policies affecting our environment and health. His book features a collection of blog posts about agriculture, water quality and the forces behind our food, fuel and farming policies.Related website:  Ice Cube Press, https://icecubepress.com/2023/04/10/the-swine-republic-2/ Presentation in Fairfield, IA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QShuYfzxntk&t=464s Article: Ethanol: “Environmental Outcomes of the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard:” https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2101084119Water Quality Monitoring Network: http://www2.iihr.uiowa.edu/research/the-iowa-nutrient-research-center/?doing_wp_cron=1688300810.4253079891204833984375 

Did you know that the U.S. Geological Survey plans to reduce their tracking and reporting of nationwide pesticide-use? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Alan Kolok, Ph.D., Professor of Ecotoxicology at the U. of Idaho; Director Emeritus, of the Idaho Water Resources Research Institute and author of Modern Poisons: A Brief Introduction to Contemporary Toxicology. Kolok is one of more than 200 scientists opposed to proposed changes in how the USGS will track and report pesticide use. Kolok used USGS maps to find a relationship between pesticide use and pediatric cancers. See: “Investigation of Relationships Between the Geospatial Distribution of Cancer Incidence and Estimated Pesticide Use in the U.S. West” https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2021GH000544 Related website:  https://islandpress.org/books/modern-poisons 

Did you know that pesticide manufacturers deliberately discredit reputable scientists and employ a host of other corrupt practices to protect sales of their products? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Stacy Malkan, co-founder and managing editor at US Right to Know, a non-profit investigative research group working globally to expose corporate wrongdoing and government failures that threaten our health, environment, and food system.  Malkan investigates and reports on pesticide and food industry PR and lobbying operations, and is the lead author of a new report, “MERCHANTS OF POISON: How Monsanto Sold the World on a Toxic Pesticide - A case study in disinformation, corrupted science, and manufactured doubt about glyphosate.”Malkan reveals the tactics used by pesticide manufacturers (and the food industry) to protect their profits, including efforts to discredit reputable scientists. The report includes a case study of Monsanto’s efforts to suppress the findings of an International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) panel on cancer concerns associated with the herbicide glyphosate. US Right to Know also shares the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) new report investigating how industry influences health research: https://usrtk.org/industry-pr/how-sponsor-bias-impacts-health-research/Related website:  www.usrtk.org 

Did you know that it’s easier than you might think to meet protein needs on vegetarian diets? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Brenda Davis, RD, plant-based diet expert and author of Plant Powered Protein: Nutrition Essentials and Dietary Guidelines for All Ages. Davis discusses the multiple health benefits of plant-based diets and describes how to easily meet protein and other nutrient needs. She also discusses the new (and unique) Canadian Food Guide: https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/Related website:  www.plant-poweredprotein.com