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Let’ keep doing what we can to get through this year and hope that we can all be together in the next one.  Happy holidays!

(Thanks to VeggieQuest for the inspiring image)

Jennifer Clapp.  Food.  3^rd edition.  Polity Press, 2020.  

I did a blurb for this one, as I did for the previous two editions:

In this newly updated edition of Food, Jennifer Clapp explains how our current global food system affects every aspect of what we eat and, therefore, our health and welfare. Food unpacks and clarifies what is happening now in the industrialized marketing of food and its international trade, control by corporations, and financialization.  As for what is to be done, Clapp provides a roadmap to a food system that promotes the health of people and the environment, in ways that ensure food justice, equity, and sovereignty.

A gift cartoon from Cagle.

Enjoy the day.  Stay safe.  Stay sane.

You might think that Halloween is—or was pre-Covid—a fun activity for your kids, but it’s underlying purpose is to sell candy, as much as possible to as many people as possible.  It’s a big part of total annual candy sales (Valentine’s Day is another).

Let’s start with The Counter’s account of how the candy industry convinced everyone to buy record-breaking amounts of candy, while public health authories were discouraging trick-or-treating.

Is it possible to trick-or-treat safely?  Suggestions:

• Halloween2020 (whatever that may be) has a county-by-county guide to safe trick-or-treating.  The site has a curious collection of sponsors, one of them Hershey’s:  “For more sweet and simple Halloween ideas, visit the Hershey Halloween Happiness Hub.”
• Harvard Global Health Institute offers more Halloween advice on how to celebrate safely:  As cities and counties across the US begin to announce guidance on Halloween, new safety guidelines in alignment with the CDC’s social distancing guidelines, and the Harvard Global Health Institute map has been issued to help families celebrate the season safely…. Read more

What’s happening with Halloween in New York City?

• Halloween latest: New York to allow trick or treating, rise in candy sales in September:  There will be regional differences across the country in the way that people choose to celebrate the Halloween season throughout the month of October, but with chocolate and candy sales already up up by 13% this year – ‘it is on’, says the NCA…. Read more

ConfectionaryNews.com has produced a Special Edition: Fright night: How American candy companies are gearing up for Halloween

No doubt, Halloween is going to feel different this year, but as John Downs, president and CEO of the NCA [National Confectioners Association] says: “it is​ definitely happening!​”

In this special edition newsletter we focus on how the confectionery industry in the USA is preparing for one of its main holiday seasons.  Halloween is estimated to generate over $4bn in revenue for candy companies and while the festivities are going ahead, the emphasis is on staying safe and following guidelines.

To help consumers and its members prepare for this year’s event the NCA has launched its Halloween Central portal with up-to-date advice from top health experts on how to celebrate safely.  With online sales of candy soaring, we look at an innovative solution from Mars Wrigley with the launch of its virtual Treat Town app for those who are unable to join the outdoor fun this year.  We also report on how other big companies, including Hershey and Ferrero, intend to lift spirits this Halloween – and new kid on the block Stuffed Puffs completes our round-up with a spooky twist on a camp-fire classic.

Check-out the articles below to find out more – and have fun but stay safe this Halloween.

• • As Americans prepare for Halloween, NCA issues expert guidance on staying safe and having fun: With the country looking forward to Halloween, even though it may look different this year due to coronavirus safety protocols, the National Confectioners Association (NCA) is offering best and up-to-date guidance and advice on its Halloween Central website to keep people safe while enjoying the fun… Read 
  • Mars launches online trick-or-treat experience to keep Halloween special: Halloween candy powerhouse Mars Wrigley has launched its digital Treat Town to provide a virtual trick-or-treat experience for candy for those unable to go door-to-door this year… Read
  • Hershey’s ‘fang-tastic’ Halloween treats hit the shelves early:  Hershey was one of the first out of the blocks of the big candy companies to reveal its Halloween treats this year when way back at the beginning of July it introduced Reese’s Franken-Cups, KIT KAT Witch’s Brew, Hershey’s Kisses Vampire chocolates and Hershey’s Cookies ‘N’ Crème Fangs as its seasonal treats… Read
  • Ferrero to launch ‘31 Days of Halloween’ campaign:  Although trick-or-treating might look different this year, Ferrero says it has a bunch of new treats to share for those celebrating virtually, socially distancing with friends or from the comfort of their own homes… Read
  • Stuffed Puffs launches Halloween game-changer with its new singles treat:  Stuffed Puffs, the company that reinvented the S’mores by figuring out a way to add the milk chocolate inside the marshmallow, has launched its first ever Stuffed Puffs Halloween singles… Read
  • It’s official: ‘Halloween is Happening’, says NCA president and CEO John Downs:  As the conversation in the media and in our communities around Halloween and whether or not it is canceled continues, I want to share a simple but important thought with the industry and our retail partners as we move into the next several weeks of our annual ‘Super Bowl’ moment: Halloween is happening!.. Read

Since writing about Christopher Gardner’s study on Monday this week, I have plant-based meats on my mind.  Here are some other recent items about the booming interest in these products.

• Plant-Based ‘Meats’ Catch On in the Pandemic: As the meat industry struggles to respond to the outbreak, makers of vegan substitutes are ramping up production to meet new interest from shoppers…To meet the demand, Impossible Foods has been hiring more workers, increasing pay and adding more shifts. Beyond Meat reported record sales in the first quarter of this year.

• Bringing home the plant-based bacon: Sunfed aims to provide a more healthy ‘guilty pleasure’:  New Zealand-based plant-based meat firm Sunfed Meats’ recent launch of its Boar-Free Bacon in supermarkets nationwide has seen strong success due to its taste, texture and a rising demand for healthy and clean foods by consumers, according to the firm’s CEO…. Read more
• Beyond Meat lags conventional companies in sustainability disclosures, report says:  The plant-based meat company said it has quantified the environmental benefits of its product versus conventional beef and is currently conducting a carbon-footprint assessment.
• Coronavirus Meat Shortages Have Plant-Based Food Makers’ Mouths Watering: Beef producers racing to meet consumer demand say any shortfalls are temporary, as sellers of meat alternatives look to seize opportunity
• Opinion: Software to Swallow — Impossible Foods Should Be Called Impossible Patents: Intellectual Property Model of Food Maintains Harmful Reliance on GMO Grains, Detracts from Regenerative Agriculture, Hastens Soil Loss.
• Impossible Foods launches direct-to-consumer site and rolls out to hundreds more retail stores this month:  Impossible Foods has launched an e-commerce site to make its plant-based burgers available to all US consumers in the lower 48 states, offering free, two-day shipping of larger, family-sized quantities of the Impossible Burger…. Read more 
• The next challenge for plant-based meat: Winning the price war against animal meat: To save the world, plant-based meat needs to be cheaper.
• Impossible Foods raises another $200m; products under development include milk and steaks:  Impossible Foods has raised $200m in a Series G funding round led by new investor Coatue, with participation from existing investors including Mirae Asset Global Investments and Temasek as well as new investor XN. The move brings its total funding since 2011 to about $1.5bn…. Read more

This is what the bagged salad section of the Wegmans in Ithaca, New York, looked like early last Friday morning (right after the store opened for the day).

Thanks to Stephanie Borkowsky for the photo.

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) announces that the Philippine Department of Agriculture/Philippine Rice Research Institute (DA-PhilRice) has approved Golden Rice—bioengineered to contain beta-carotene, a precursor to vitamin A–and ruled it as safe as conventional rice.

 With this approval, DA-PhilRice and IRRI will now proceed with sensory evaluations and finally answer the question that many Filipinos have been asking: What does Golden Rice taste like?

To complete the Philippine biosafety regulatory process, Golden Rice will require approval for commercial propagation before it can be made available to the public.

My prediction: it will taste like rice.

But keeping up with this saga requires a lifetime commitment, apparently.

In 2016, I posted about Golden Rice, the poster child for the benefits of food biotechnology, pointing out that:

Beta-carotene is a precursor of vitamin A and the idea behind this rice was that it could—a conditional word expressing uncertainty—help prevent blindness due to vitamin A deficiency in areas of the world where this deficiency is rampant.

But vitamin A deficiency is a social problem.  Fruits and vegetables containing beta-carotene are widely available in such areas, but are not grown or consumed as a result of cultural or economic issues.  If they are consumed, people cannot absorb the beta-carotene cannot be absorbed because of poor diets, diarrheal diseases, or worms.

Here we are, 16 years after the Time cover, and Golden Rice is still not on the market.

In 2020, we are 20 years after the [in]famous Time Magazine cover—its operative word is the conditional “could”—and Golden Rice is still not on the market.  For an explanation of why, see my book, Safe Food: The Politics of Food Safety.

The saga continues.