Tag Archives: app

Weekly Round Up, 8.24.12

Waste Not Want Not

Here are some of the best food stories we came across this week:

  • Study Finds Americans Waste Up to 40% of Their Food – A new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council found that American trash up to 40% of the nation’s food supply every year, which creates the largest amount of solid waste in landfills. The study found the average family of four wastes about 20 pounds of food per person per month, and about $2,275 per year.
  • Lawyers That Took on Tobacco Now Targeting Big Food – Attorneys who won millions of dollars in record class action settlements against the tobacco industry have turned their sites on Big Agribusiness. In the last four months a dozen of those lawyers have filed 25 cases against ConAgra, Monsanto, General Mills, PepsiCo, Heinz and Chobani, claiming that the companies have wrongly labeled ingredients and products in violation of federal regulations.
  • New Scanner App Gives Gluten-free, Dietary Alerts – Fooducate has come out with a new smartphone app that scans barcodes on packaged foods; users can choose up to three alerts that will warn them if products contain gluten, peanuts, eggs, soy, tree nuts, fish, shellfish or milk. It also informs gluten-free users if the food was processed in a facility with gluten. The app costs $4.99.
  • Kids State Dinner at White House Celebrates Healthy Eaters – First Lady Michelle Obama, as part of her Let’s Move! initiative, hosted a State Dinner — well, luncheon — to honor the 54 kids (and their folks) from each state and territory who won the contest to develop a healthy, delicious recipe. (The link above includes the free cookbook.) The President dropped in to say hello. The menu included kale chips, a corn, bean and quinoa salad, and fruit smoothies.
  • “Good Food on a Tight Budget” Guide Helps Families – The Environmental Working Group reviewed government surveys and tests for nearly 1,200 foods, then factored in prices, nutrients, pesticides, environmental pollutants and artificial ingredients, and chose the best 100+ foods for their guide. The site also includes tools for tracking food prices, plus menu planning and shopping list tools.

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.

Photo courtesy of goblinbox.

Weekly Round Up, 5.4.12

Now That's a Fish Counter

Here are some of the best food stories we came across this week:

    • Greenpeace Releases Its Fish Counter Scorecard – For the first time since the inception of Greenpeace’s Carting Away the Oceans ratings, two retailers actually received a “good” score for sustainable seafood practices: Safeway and Whole Foods Market. In last place was BI-LO/Winn-Dixie.
    • USDA Ending Pathogen Testing for Produce Via Budget Cuts – The Microbiological Data Program that tests about 15,000 fruits and vegetables for E. coli and other dangerous pathogens will probably end in the fiscal year 2013. The Senate Appropriations Committee decided not to fund the $5 million program, which provides close to 90% of all bacterial pathogen data about produce.
    • Californians Poised to Vote on Prop to Label All GMO Food – The Right-to-Know campaign has gathered enough signatures on its petitions to get a prop on the Nov. 6, 2012, ballot that would require manufacturers to label all foods containing GMO ingredients sold in California.
    • Anti-Bottled Water WeTap App Finds Closest Water Fountains – As part of a commitment to stop landfills from overflowing with water bottles, Evelyn Wendel created an app that allows users to bookmark drinking fountains using GPS and Google Maps, rate the quality of the faucets, and share the news with other users.
    • Study Details Which Countries Consume the Most Meat – The Economist reported that overall worldwide consumption of meat is on the rise. Surprisingly, the country that eats the most is not the U.S. (which came in second). Luxembourg leads the globe, at 136.5kg per person. India was last, at 3.2kg each.

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 HarshLight.