The salmonella outbreak from fresh tomatoes has sickened hundreds so far — with many more sicknesses presumably going unreported — in 36 states, and the FDA has still not identified the source of the pathogen. Sabin Russell, the San Francisco Chronicle’s medical reporter, yesterday revealed that a major reason is that tomatoes from many regions are mixed together as they move through the stages of commerce. The practice is known as “repacking.”

Recently a new “restaurant” opened up where I live. This eating establishment, called Cereality, is a franchise with five other locations. It calls itself a “Cereal Bar and Café” and its menu primarily features different kinds of cold cereal that you can mix and match along with a variety of toppings. What’s not to like?

The husband and I are in Scottsdale, AZ, visiting his family for a few days before the W.K. Kellogg Food and Society Conference starts in nearby Chandler. (See last year’s recap.) The Ethicurean’s Elanor is going too; we’re excited to hang out with our buddies Tom Philpott and Sam Fromartz, among the many food-movement people […]

As the Ethicurean has grown, we have started to get some really off-the-wall e-mails from PR people. I can no longer resist publishing the most head-scratching of them, with the identifying information compassionately removed.

Stop busting my chops: Researchers at Texas A&M have introduced a genetically modified hog that has a pair of succulent jowls at each end. Targeted at the “foodie” market, the new animal provides twice the usual amount of the cut used to make gourmet guanciale. (Charcuterie Today)

Sing for your supper: Responding to studies linking the beef-cattle industry with deforestation, Wendy’s plans to test-market a burger made of starlings. (News on the Wing)

Editorials and op-eds about sustainable agriculture (or its opposite) from newspapers and websites big and small.

The latest in a series of interpretive paintings done by 5-year-old Frederick, inspired by his mother’s reading "The Omnivore’s Dilemma" and summarizing it for him. (See #1, Children of the corn | #2: Chicken Little at Magic Mountain | #3: Sequoia National Pork)
To counteract billions in marketing dollars, parents must start young.
When the subject […]

My 6-year-old learned her first curse word recently: crap. I’d take more pride in the fact that she lasted six years without learning the word if it weren’t for this: I’m the one who taught it to her.

A line of 7,500 trucks stretching 85 miles. That’s what it would take to haul the nearly 300 million pounds of meat and poultry products that were recalled between January 1, 1994, and November 30, 2007, in 773 separate incidents. These eye-popping numbers come from the appendix of a Congressional Research Service […]

This is a special edition of the Digest devoted to reactions to the Food and Drug Administration’s determination that clones and their milk are safe for consumption.
Rick Weiss reports on the USDA’s request for a "voluntary moratorium" on selling clones to allow consumers to adjust to the idea (i.e., let them forget about this week’s […]

Agency scientists decided to use the same simple but effective standard used by farmers since the dawn of agriculture: If a farm animal appears in all respects to be healthy, then presume that food from that animal is safe to eat

Breaking news and developments, such as contaminated-food outbreaks, Farm Bill milestones, and how the farming community is faring around the world.

Breaking news and developments, such as contaminated-food outbreaks, Farm Bill milestones, and how the farming community is faring around the world.

Once again, we’ve been nominated for Best Food Blog - Group in the Well Fed Network’s Food Blog Awards. We don’t actually care about the award — we just want to win this assortment of Paula Deen items, so we can creatively annihilate them.

Breaking news and developments, such as contaminated-food outbreaks, Farm Bill milestones, and how the farming community is faring around the world.