Here are some of the best food stories we came across this week:
- Local Meat Stays Local in Small Regional Slaughterhouses – Local meat’s dirty little secret is that it’s usually shipped hundreds of miles, often to other states, to be processed and packaged before it’s shipped back to be sold “locally.” Now local cattle producers are banding together to start small-scale slaughterhouses to create more jobs and ensure local meat stays, well, local.
- Celebrity Chefs Join the Charge Against the Farm Bill –Food activists and celebrity chefs like Mario Batali, Tom Colicchio, Alice Waters and writer Michael Pollan urged Congress to slash subsidies to big commodity crop farmers and instead invest that money in healthy food programs and conservation efforts. The Senate is about to vote on the every-five-years bill.
- Disney to Ban Junk Food Advertising to Children – The Disney Corporation stood with first lady Michelle Obama this week to announce its ban on all advertising of junk food on all Disney radio, television and online programming intended for children aged 12 and under. The ban is scheduled to be fully in effect by 2015.
- Bipartisan Cranberry Caucus Advocates for Fruit – Democrats and Republicans finally found common ground this week in the formation of the Cranberry Caucus, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators from cranberry-cultivating states that committed to ensuring the fruit isn’t negatively impacted by legislation banning or limiting sales of sugary beverages.
- Study Determines Healthiest Cities in U.S. – An independent survey by Sperling’s Best Places and Russell Athletic ranked major cities by number of gyms and athletic centers per capita, hiking and running trails per capita, percentage of the population commuting by foot or bike and eating habits with a focus on fruit and vegetable consumption. San Francisco came in first place, with New York in second and Los Angeles a surprising sixth.
What did we miss? Let us know in the comments below, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter for links like these all week long.
Image courtesy of benketaro.
