This week on What Doesn’t Kill You , award winning journalist Michael Moss deconstructs his recent NY Times story on abused animals at the hands of USDA researchers. This program was sponsored by Route 11 potato chips. “There is a huge difference between research to promote the beef industry, and research to improve consumer safety.” [22:30] “It is becoming increasingly hard for me to go to a restaurant and blindly eat meat without knowing who raised it.” [29:00] –Michael Moss on What Doesn’t Kill You

In this corner we have the Center for a Livable Future’s Bob Martin, and in the other, Doctor John Glisson, representing the National Chicken Council! The debate? A new study from the Harvard School of Public Health gives what the Chicken Council calls a fair and balanced look at antibiotics in poultry, while Bob Martin, speaking for consumers, suggests it’s missing a few key details. A robust back and forth between the two sides characterizes this vigorous debate about the present course, and future expectations, of our food system. This program was brought to you by Cain Vineyard & Winery “The reason I thought this was an important study was not so much what it said or didn’t say – it was the way they dispassionately looked at the facts and what is known and drew their conclusions based on that. It wasn’t very speculative. They didn’t point fingers. It mostly concluded we don’t know enough to make conclusions. Thats’s why I thought it was refreshing.” [06:00] –Dr. John Glisson on What Doesn’t Kill You “The problem is really is the way antibiotics are used in farm animal production. They’re not used the same way in clinical medicine. In clinical medicine, an infection is treated with a strong enough dose to kill the bacteria. [..] The difference in food animal production is that low levels of antibiotics are used daily to suppress bacteria and that’s how resistant bacteria emerges.” [08:00] –Bob Martin on What Doesn’t Kill You

Chipotle recently took Carnitas off the menu in over 600 restaurants. Why? Is this a watershed moment for the pork industry? Find out on a brand new episode of What Doesn’t Kill You! Katy Keiffer is joined by Chris Arnold, Communications Director at Chipotle and Jeff Tripician, Chief Marketing Officer & Executive Vice President at Niman Ranch. This program was brought to you by Rt 11 Potato Chips. “It’s been a big story and what’s been most eye opening on our end is the degree at which customers are supporting the decision. The overwhelming majority of people appreciate our standing on principle and our decision not to make a compromise.” [05:00] “We’ve invested quite a lot over the years in building a supply chain that meets these higher standards and it becomes a pretty significant differentiator for Chipotle from the rest of the restaurant industry.” [16:00] –Chris Arnold on What Doesn’t Kill You “The industry is there to provide choices. Niman is a choice and there are lots of different ways people can raises animals and provide food. If you are a farmer in the middle and you’re somewhere between very large and quite small and invested in infrastructure, it’s difficult to make a transition. That’s what we do – we work with those farmers and help them understand how to make that transition.” [11:00] –Jeff Tripician on What Doesn’t Kill You

On a thought provoking episode of What Doesn’t Kill You, Katy Keiffer is joined by Danielle Nierenberg, President of Food Tank (www.FoodTank.com) and an expert on sustainable agriculture and food issues. Danielle has authored or contributed to several major reports and books, including Happier Meals: Rethinking the Global Meat Industry (2005), State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet (Editor and Project Director, 2011), Eating Planet 2012 (2012), Food and Agriculture: The Future of Sustainability (2012), and Food Tank by the Numbers: Family Farming Report. Danielle tackles a variety of topics on the show today and previews some of the discussions that will take place at the upcoming 1st annual Food Tank Summit! Food Tank, in partnership with The George Washington (GW) University, is excited to announce the 1st Annual Food Tank Summit at the Jack Morton Auditorium (former home of CNN’s Crossfire)! This two-day event will feature more than 75 different speakers from the food and agriculture field. Researchers, farmers, chefs, policy makers, government officials, and students will come together for panels on topics including; food waste, urban agriculture, family farmers, farm workers, and more. This program was brought to you by Tabard Inn. “So many people are watching food as a spectator sport. If we could use those forums to teach people practical things we could make some headway.” [08:00] “We try to spread information – spread it to a range of stakeholders whether it’s regular eaters, policy makers, businesses…really just exploring how the use of information can spread innovations – not just from north to south but south to south – having communities talk to each other.” [28:00] “If we ignore industry, we’ll never make the change we need to see.” [33:00] –Danielle Nierenberg on What Doesn’t Kill You

Learn about the future of composting on the 2015 season debut of What Doesn’t Kill You! Katy Keiffer is joined by the team behind FOR Solutions, the “sustainable answer to the food scraps management issue.” Their patented solution creates nutrient-dense compost in just 5 days. The mission of FOR Solutions is to change the way people perceive food scraps from thinking of them as waste to thinking of them as a renewable, recoverable natural resource that has the power to revitalize Earth’s soil. Food scraps management is truly the epitome of the sustainability movement. Katy chats with Founder & Executive Chairman, Nicholas Smith-Sebasto, Ph.D. and Chief Executive Officer, Edward Friedman who help listeners understand the technology behind FOR Solutions and some of the problems we face when it comes to composting in this country. This program was brought to you by Cain Vineyard & Winery. “Our digestion vessel just mimics the human stomach. We can digest anything that humans can digest.” [07:00] “We need to stop thinking of discarded food as waste. If we think of it as waste – we will treat it like waste.” [26:00] –Nicholas Smith-Sebasto on What Doesn’t Kill You “The first time I saw this system it was mind blowing and game changing. I thought if we could bring this system to places with large amounts of discarded food – the effect would be tremendous.” [11:00] –Edward Friedman on What Doesn’t Kill You

Things are changing quickly in the chicken industry. The Urban School Food Alliance, a coalition of the largest school districts in the United States that includes New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami-Dade, Dallas and Orlando, recently announced an antibiotic-free standard for companies to follow when supplying chicken products to its schools. Katy Keiffer digests this news with a great panel of guests on both sides of the industry on this week’s episode of What Doesn’t Kill You. She’s joined by Dr. John Glisson, Vice President of research at the US Poultry & Egg Association in Tucker, Georgia, Eric Goldstein, Chief Executive of the Office of School Support Services and Mark Izeman, Director, New York Urban Program, Senior Attorney, Food & Agriculture and Senior Attorney, Urban Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council. This program was brought to you by Cain Vineyard & Winery. “The cost of producing chicken will go up soon as a result of this [The Urban School Food Alliance announcement]” [16:00] –Dr. John Glisson on What Doesn’t Kill You “We came to the realization there’s an overuse of non therapeutic antibiotics in the poultry sector. That’s just something we don’t like.” [25:00] –Eric Goldstein on What Doesn’t Kill You “As the scientific evidence mounts, industry groups often tend to splinter.” [37:00] –Mark Izeman on What Doesn’t Kill You

Tune in to this week’s episode of What Doesn’t Kill You for an in-depth conversation on labor issues in the restaurant industry. How do tipped wages affect workers? Why is there a labor shortage in the industry? Find out as Katy Keiffer chats with Michael Leviton, the former Chairman of the board for Chefs Collaborative; and Chef/Owner, Lumiere and Chef/Partner, Area Four Boston, Massachusetts. He is a seven-time James Beard Foundation Award nominee and recipient of national awards from Food & Wine, Bon Appétit, Gourmet and Saveur. This program was brought to you by Consider Bardwell. “I don’t know what needs to be done, but there’s definitely a labor shortage in this industry.” [11:45] “The only way to gain mastery is by doing it over and over again.” [34:30] –Michael Leviton on What Doesn’t Kill You

Meet Sarah Teale, documentary filmmaker and founding member of Adirondack Grazers Cooperative, a group of beef producers from small to mid-scale, family farms in New York and Vermont that naturally raise and finish beef. The Co Op’s mission is to maximize member revenue by developing sales in wholesale and specialty markets not easily available to individual farmers. Tune in as Katy Keiffer chats with Sarah on a brand new episode of What Doesn’t Kill You. They discuss the co-op model, it’s successes and shortcomings, and the distribution challenges that small farmers face in 2014. Sarah is also creating a documentary film to tell the story of Adirondack Grazers and simultaneously highlight the loss of family farms in today’s agricultural landscape. Learn how serious this issue is as Sarah describes just how much farmland is being lost today and what we need to do to reverse the trend. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA. “Just to call it grass fed isn’t right. There ought to be distinctions made on labels and menus.” [11:00] “Our sweet spot is in wholesale. Doing frozen meant a lot of management of tiny pieces of meat.” [17:00] “I think there is an understanding now from the governor that there is potential for bringing money to upstate New York where they seriously need it. There’s a willingness to try and help, I just don’t think they know how yet.” [28:00] –Sarah Teale on What Doesn’t Kill You

Katy Keiffer is rounding up the headlines and providing sharp commentary with guest Marion Nestle on a topical episode of What Doesn’t Kill You. Marion Nestle is Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health (the department she chaired from 1988-2003) and Professor of Sociology at New York University. Her books include the seminal Food Politics, Why Calories Count, Pet Food Politics, Safe Food and many more. She blogs at foodpolitics.com. Katy and Marion chat about everything form fad diets to FDA labeling rules. This program was brought to you by Whole Foods Market. “Nobody needs genetically modified foods – we have foods. We don’t need them to be genetically modified.” [18:00] “Functional foods is the word given to foods that have some nutritional thing added to them above and beyond what they already contain.” [32:00] “I love the Paleo diet because it makes me laugh every time I think of it. The biggest intellectual problem in nutrition is trying to figure out what people eat. It’s really challenging figuring out what people ate yesterday, let alone 15,000 years ago.” [37:00] –Marion Nestle on What Doesn’t Kill You

This week on What Doesn’t Kill You, Katy Keiffer is once again joined by journalist Tom Philpott for an insightful conversation on immigration, food chains and more! For five years, Tom Philpott served as a columnist, food editor, and senior food writer for the online environmental site Grist. He’s a cofounder of Maverick Farms, a center for sustainable food education in Valle Crucis, North Carolina. Before moving to the farm in 2004, Philpott worked as a financial journalist in Mexico City and New York, most recently writing daily dispatches on the stock market as equity research editor for Reuters.com. His work on food politics has appeared in Newsweek, Gastronomica, and the Guardian. This program was brought to you by The International Culinary Center “Americans are eating less meat for a lot of reasons, and we don’t fully know what’s going on with that.” [18:00] –Tom Philpott on What Doesn’t Kill You