5@5: Attorneys general investigate Amazon | Pandemic EBT program feeds millions of children
Each day at 5 p.m. we collect the five top food and supplement headlines of the day, making it easy for you to catch up on today's most important natural products industry news.
August 3, 2020
Amazon's market power to be investigated by New York AG
Attorneys General from New York and California are working in conjunction with the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Amazon.com's online marketplace for allegedly abusing its market power. Experts expect this to result in an antitrust enforcement action similar to that taken against Microsoft in 1998. Read more at Bloomberg…
Replacing school meals, P-EBT program lifted millions of children out of hunger
Today's good news: the Pandemic EBT program, which was created by Congress to help low-income families feed their children during school closures, has lifted at least 2.7-3.9 million children out of hunger. The program works much like SNAP; families are given payments on an EBT card which they can use to buy groceries. While food insecurity rates have doubled since the pandemic began, the White House opposed a proposal earlier in the year for temporarily increased SNAP benefits. Read more at The Fern…
Essential food workers are at unique risk for COVID-19. Some are fighting back
Tyson announced over the weekend that it would begin offering weekly coronavirus tests for employees at its U.S. facilities after both a civil rights complaint and a lawsuit were filed against the company in the month of July. The convergence of the Black Lives Matter movement with heightened workplace risks has led advocates to push for more protections for Black, Latinx and Asian workers, who are more likely to be on the front lines. Read more at Eater…
The US food system is killing Americans
The U.S. makes up 4% of the world's population, but represents almost a quarter of gobal COVID-19 fatalities. A huge contributor to this that often goes undiscussed is the prevalence of diet-related diseases in America, and how poor quality food can lead directly to co-morbidities linked to the novel coronavirus. This could be thought of as nutrition insecurity as opposed to food insecurity, wherein the vast majority of food options available are detrimental to consumers' wellbeing. Read more at CNN…
The nation's oldest organic produce distributor is weathering the pandemic
San Francisco-based organic produce distributor Veritable Vegetable is navigating the pandemic-related supply chain chaos admirably. The company's female leaders have always advocated for a shorter supply chain and giving food workers the respect they deserve as an integral and important part of the system, two interests that have coincided with consumers' over the past few months. Read more at Civil Eats…
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