In The News

Quarrels in the EU Over Meat Promotion: DutchNews.nl

February 16, 2020
The European Union is under constant pressure to enact best practices for the bloc regardless of cultural differences. Dutch officials question the need for EU subsidies to promote meat consumption amid growing health and environmental concerns. “The EU has spent some €60m promoting meat since 2017, in direct contradiction to Dutch efforts to cut meat consumption on health grounds, according to...

East Africa Locust Outbreak: Al Jazeera

January 29, 2020
Clouds of locusts are ruining crops and livelihoods in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya. “The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated one swarm in Kenya at around 2,400 square kilometres (about 930 square miles) - an area almost the size of Moscow - meaning it could contain up to 200 billion locusts,” reports Al Jazeera, adding that experts worry about food security in a region...

African Farmers Take on Big Chocolate: FT

David Pilling January 19, 2020
Ghana and Ivory Coast produce about two thirds of the world’s cocoa. David Pilling, writing for the Financial Times, questions why such nations cannot break free of poverty, and then explains how many farms are small, producing just a few bags of pods each year. “Ghana supplies about one-fifth of all cocoa beans, for which it earns about $2bn a year, less than one-fiftieth of the value of the...

Slowbalization: Lobe Log

John Feffer December 25, 2019
The slow food movement – relaxing, eating local, focus on tradition – has influenced slowness in other areas of life including education and travel. “To a world addicted to ever greater connection speeds, ever faster modes of transportation, and ever more caffeinated feats of multitasking, the go-slowers recommend a perverse resistance to the frenzied scherzo of modern life in favor of a more...

The Pursuit of Authenticity: Yale Insights

Áine Doris December 23, 2019
Consumers value authentic products and foods, but definitions of “authentic” can vary widely. Anyone in marketing must understand what authenticity means for their particular products and customers. Balázs Kovács, who researchers organizational behavior at Yale’s School of Management, studied what authenticity’s means among ordinary people and found big differences when the word is applied to...

The Bitter Side of Sugar: Manila Times

November 29, 2019
Wonderful confections are plentiful and affordable due to trade, industry and marketing practices. Chefs no longer limit sugar to desserts and add the ingredient to sauces, salads, coffee and more. “Even non-sweet carbohydrates like pasta, bread, rice, oatmeal, corn, peas and potatoes become the simple sugar glucose once eaten and processed by the body,” explains the Manila Times. Glucose is...

Rising Seas Threaten 300 Million People: Guardian

Jonathan Watts November 11, 2019
Homes of 300 million people are facing threat from rising sea levels across the world, more than three times the previous estimate of 80 million, according to a study published in Nature Communications. The risk assessment was revised after a more sophisticated method applied artificial intelligence to compensate for overestimation of land altitudes. The biggest change in estimates occurs in Asia...