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.

May 8, 2020

2 Min Read
indoor herb garden
Getty

Spoiled milk, rotten vegetables and a very broken food system

COVID-19 has laid bare the weaknesses inherent in putting efficiency above all else when it comes to the global food system. New barriers preventing food from reaching its intended markets or drastic drops in demand can and have caused the whole thing to collapse in on itself. So what needs to change? For starters, creating systems that rely on local and regional food will help eliminate key vulnerabilities and are also more sustainable in the long run. Read more at The New York Times

 

Seeds are the new sourdough

A desire for food resilience, a surplus of extra time, wanting to nurture a living thing—these are all reasons consumers have been buying up every packet of herb, fruit and vegetable seeds they can lay their hands on. The hashtag #quarantinegarden is rife with makeshift garden beds from novices and experts alike showing off their home-grown produce, and many expect the boom to last as instability within the global food system becomes more apparent. Read more at Grub Street

 

Unsafe workdays for farmworkers could double by 2050 due to climate change

A new study projects that the number of days it's too hot to work outside will double by 2050 because of global climate change. What this likely means is that the government will need to step in to ensure the nation's farmworkers have enough rest breaks and air-conditioned refuges from the heat. The risk of farmworkers dying from extreme heat is currently 20 times the rate of workers in other professions. Read more at Modern Farmer

 

Beyond Meat CEO looks to win consumers over during meat supply shortage with 'value packs'

Beef supplies are falling, prices are rising and plant-based meat makers are gearing up to capture a new wave of flexitarians as a result. Beyond Meat is offering value packs to help close the price gap between its product and real beef and expects to see a serious bump in sales as consumers begin spending more time outside grilling. Read more at CNBC

 

The pandemic is changing how we eat. But not for the better

People are joining CSAs, baking bread and cooking from home more than ever before, but will they continue to do so when easier mealtime options become available again? As this writer points out, when the pandemic has subsided the "realities that drive our embrace of convenience will still be there." Read more at The Washington Post… 

Subscribe and receive the latest updates on trends, data, events and more.
Join 57,000+ members of the natural products community.

You May Also Like