Study: The ‘forever chemicals’ in your takeout bowl may pose more dangers than previously thought

As it turns out, “short-chain” per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) may be even more dangerous than the older “long-chain” PFAS that these chemicals replaced. A growing body of research shows that short-chain PFAS have a destructive effect on ecosystems and the human body alike because they travel more easily through public waterways and are more bioavailable. Read more at New Food Economy …

Amazon appears to be cutting prices at Whole Foods again

This August Whole Foods’ prices were lowered by roughly 2.5% as compared to 2018, following a 3% price increase during the first three months of 2019. The company’s pricing premium to other grocers has fallen since its acquisition by Amazon, but last quarter’s revenue growth was relatively flat for physical stores. Read more at CNBC …

Our food is killing too many of us

It’s no surprise to members of the natural products industry that food-related health problems are an epidemic in our society. It would follow, then, that improving Americans’ nutritional deficiencies would have an outsize impact on the U.S. health care system. But this debate has no clear solutions or ways forward as of yet “because of two fundamental realities: Health care is expensive, and Americans are sick." Read more at The New York Times …

How the past decade has changed food and farm labor

The workers who grow, harvest, prepare and serve food in the U.S. have achieved some major milestones in the past 10 years—an increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, policies to stop sexual harassment and forced labor in the workplace and commitments among cities, school districts and companies nationwide to serve healthier and more equitable foods being some. However, justice in food labor is far from ubiquitous; here, several experts discuss issues surrounding such labor and illuminate a path forward for the food industry. Read more at Civil Eats …

North Carolina’s polluting pig farms

After sitting on hundreds of complaints about 11 polluting industrial hog farms in North Carolina for years, state regulators have validated 62 of them and posted them publicly online. But why now? North Carolinians have turned to the courts over the last several years, and in response the state Department of Environmental Quality has implemented a new system for investigating complaints in addition to allegedly implementing tougher oversight in its permits for the hog operations. Read more at The Guardian …