Food Politics

Thank you! I had no idea so many groups were working to improve school food. I hope they are coordinated in some way and not working at cross-purposes.

I’m going to study this and try to figure out where I can put my energy to try to make a difference. One needs to do more than type comments!

Good list! Thanks for that.

I’d add Montery Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program: http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.aspx

Not quite the same as the good folks you’ve listed, but information to help folks be informed consumers of seafood– and knowledge is power. They take both health and the environment into account when rating itemsane even have a free phone app so you can check when you’re at the grocery store or eating out.

Disclaimer: I work for a local a health department.

If you have a local Board of Health (we don’t here) attending and participating in their meetings or serving on the board is good way to become active locally.

I believe supporting your local HD which usually provides a broad array of services from WIC, nutrition counseling, food inspection, and other environmental and public health areas helps to send a message from the bottom up.

Of course the suggestions Marion made are great also.

Great list. If employees in the food industry or government agencies are retaliated against for unveiling problems related to school food, Farm Bill policy, etc. — the Government Accountability Project’s Food Integrity Campaign works to protect truth-tellers and their effort to bring transparency to the food system.

Thank you, Marion, for including School Food FOCUS on this great list alongside so many other excellent efforts.

We’re a national collaborative that leverages the procurement power and knowledge of some of the largest school districts in the nation — to make school meals more healthful, regionally sourced, and sustainably produced.

Just three years old as an organization, we now count 33 large school districts among our members. For more about School Food FOCUS and what we do, please check out this recap of our annual conference in early June:

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs024/1102701457366/archive/1105983926548.html

@Anthro: We do indeed coordinate our efforts whenever possible. Many of us are in frequent contact with one another to share information and collaborate where our work is complementary.

@Jim Schmidt: I agree! Several of the FOCUS school districts have chosen health departments as their district partners, who help them to lay groundwork for procurement change and spread information about that change to the public.

An important list!! To add to it I suggest…Two Angry Moms (www.angrymoms.org) is a award winning documentary, and associated network of parents and other school food advocates (www.angrymoms.groupsite.com) working to improve school food and the school food environment throughout the United States.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! As someone who is just starting to get involved, I find this list a fantastic jumping off point. I read so many things about what’s wrong with the food supply in the country, but I haven’t seen such a concise and any to navigate list of places to start to do something about it.

Couple additional ag policy advocates not to be overlooked:

http://os.hudson.org/

http://www.consumerfreedom.com/

http://www.obesitymyths.com/

I am managing editor of an on-line magazine I would like to offer you a full page ad for free.

Our fourth magazine Issue II centers on FOOD and global issues such as Monsanto/Genetic Engineering, Irradiation, Hunger/ Effects of Dry Season/War, Food Safety/Allergies/Wheat-antigens, Labeling/Truth-in-labeling, Free Trade, Water and Vegetarianism/Organics, Farming/Bees, and Seed banks.

Part I and Part II of goodnewpress.net can be viewed at:

http://issuu.com/varsane/docs/bullypublished
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Sincerely,
Rhonda Varsane
Managing Editor
http://www.goodnewpress.net
Blog: http://goodnewpressnet.wordpress.com
Email: editor@goodnewpress.net
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/hdf7kc
1-972-948-7657
“Good News – Let’s Build It Together”

[...] Resources for advocacy: school food and ag policy, Food Politics — a list of organizations working on food issues, particularly school food and the farm bill from Marion Nestle. [...]

Just ran across this post and think it’s great! Then as I read the comments, I gagged in laughter.

openeyes mentions several ‘ag policy advocates’… two of the three are astroturf organizations fully funded by the food and beverage industry.

HAH! Some advocates. I guess industry needs advocates too… they just hide their real interests behind fake ‘consumer-oriented’ organizations.

[...] Resources for advocacy: school food and ag policy Tweet [...]