The Times (UK): Britain’s Food Standards Agency is launching an investigation into what seems to be rampant food labeling fraud in the country — unscrupulous producers are conning consumers willing to pay more for organic and “natural” foods. Recently 30 million “free range” eggs were exposed as being from factory hens, and industrial meat is frequently passed off as organic.
Newsweek: More on the strike at Smithfield’s Tar Heel plant, which “processes” 32,000 hogs a day.
New York Times*: Farmers in Iowa and other Midwestern states are starting to grow grapes and make wine, which offers far higher per-acre profit than soybean or corn. Traditional European grape varieties tend not to do well in these temperatures, but some newer hybrid types — like vidal blanc, seyval blanc and chambourcin — can withstand the cold. And as consumers start to have more local pride, these wines are winning converts, too.
New York Times Magazine: A transfixing account of a 10-day sagra, or harvest festival, in Buonconvento, Italy. The entire 500-person town cooks for each other and then eats together: bruschetta, crostini, ribollita soup, rabbit-and-chicken stew, steak, sausage, spinach and crostata di marmellata.
Times-Leader (PA): A Kansas City columnist interested in the 100-Mile diet offers some interesting insights. Eating organic food once required a lot of sacrifice and effort, she observes, so maybe eating local will also get easier, too, once farmers start doing some of the preserving or freezing that would make it possible for consumers to stay loyal to local out of season.
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