All Podcasts
E36: Amy Kircher on Food Fraud, Pomegranates & Baby Formula
May 2019Fraud. We hear about it a lot. Financial fraud, political fraud, and more, but food fraud? It turns out that this is a more significant issue than one might imagine. Dr Amy Kircher, director of the Food Protection and Defense Institute at the University of Minnesota is a leading voice on this issue. Listen to Podcast/Read Transcript about E36: Amy Kircher on Food Fraud, Pomegranates & Baby Formula »
E37: Unhealthy Foods Make Healthy Foods Stand Out
May 2019Imagine you are a manager of a supermarket and you're working with health authorities to increase the purchase of healthy foods. Let's say broccoli. What would you change? What comes to mind might be changing price, creating attractive displays or providing information on how to make tasty dishes with broccoli. But there might be other surprising options, according to our guests, neuroeconomist Scott Huettel and Nicolette Sullivan. Listen to Podcast/Read Transcript about E37: Unhealthy Foods Make Healthy Foods Stand Out »
Special Podcast: Climate Change: Adding Up the Bill
April 2019Who will take the hardest hit financially as the world heats up, and can anything be done about it? Listen to this Ways & Means podcast and find out. Listen to Podcast/Read Transcript about Special Podcast: Climate Change: Adding Up the Bill »
E35: Jennifer Pomeranz on Food Policy and Industry Tactics Driving Preemption
April 2019In the past several years, cities in California led the way in passing taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages. Berkeley was first with Oakland, San Francisco and Albany, California following, each with the aim of improving public health by decreasing consumption of beverages known to be associated with obesity, diabetes, and other medical issues, and to raise revenue for needed programs. But then something historic happened: preemption. A leading expert on the application of the law on public health and on the issue of preemption is Jennifer Pomeranz. Listen to Podcast/Read Transcript about E35: Jennifer Pomeranz on Food Policy and Industry Tactics Driving Preemption »
E34: Juan Rivera on the Success of Mexico's Soda Tax
April 2019For people around the world who believe that taxing sugared beverages is a good public health policy, the country of Mexico passing such a tax was a stunning victory. There was a significant need in Mexico to be sure, given high rates of obesity, especially in children, and very high consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. But there was also a powerful beverage industry fighting the taxes. A fascinating story unfolded as the tax was being considered with a number of courageous and creative individuals at the center. One key figure is today's guest, Dr. Juan Rivera. Listen to Podcast/Read Transcript about E34: Juan Rivera on the Success of Mexico's Soda Tax »
E32: Food Fraud 101 with Amy Kircher
April 2019Fraud. We hear about it a lot. Financial fraud, political fraud, and more, but food fraud? It turns out that this is a more significant issue than one might imagine. Dr Amy Kircher, director of the Food Protection and Defense Institute at the University of Minnesota is a leading voice on this issue. Listen to Podcast/Read Transcript about E32: Food Fraud 101 with Amy Kircher »
E33: Food Defense and the Extreme Complexity of our Food Supply Chain
April 2019In another podcast called Food Defense 101, Amy Kircher, director of the Food Protection and Defense Institute at the University of Minnesota, painted a picture of threats the nation faces with intentional contamination of the food supply. A very important part of her work is what to do about this threat. Listen to Podcast/Read Transcript about E33: Food Defense and the Extreme Complexity of our Food Supply Chain »
E30: Christina Roberto on Food Labeling in Guatemala and Soda Taxes in Philly
March 2019Many policies have been proposed and enacted to help improve public health by changing their diet and preventing obesity. Among the most prominent, our efforts to reduce consumption of sugary beverages, ranging from programs that educate consumers about risks to the most dramatic approach: taxing such beverages. Evaluating these other policies is critical and understanding how governments can best move ahead. Leading the charge was such evaluation as our guest today on the Leading Voices in Food Dr. Christina Roberto from the University of Pennsylvania. Listen to Podcast/Read Transcript about E30: Christina Roberto on Food Labeling in Guatemala and Soda Taxes in Philly »
E24: Carlos Monteiro on the Dangers of Ultra-processed Foods
March 2019Ever wonder how the body processes processed foods? When corn becomes Cheetos or wheat becomes Twinkies, for example, or water becomes Coca Cola? How does the body react, what are the health consequences, and who is responsible for any negative effects? These are but some of the questions that occupy our guest, Dr Carlos Montero. Listen to Podcast/Read Transcript about E24: Carlos Monteiro on the Dangers of Ultra-processed Foods »
E23: Al Sommer on Vitamin A, Blindness and Global Politics
March 2019We speak today with someone whose work is credited with preventing 400,000 cases of blindness and saving as many as 1 million deaths per year. Dr. Alfred Sommer has earned this place in global history. He discovered that Vitamin A deficiency reduces immune responsiveness and resistance to infectious diseases such as diarrhea and measles. He proved that vaccination for smallpox as late as six days after infection can prevent the disease. He demonstrated the effectiveness of a simple and effective tool for monitoring the nutritional health of children at high risk of dying from malnutrition, and he identified an early accurate predictor of optic nerve damage, signaling when to start Glaucoma therapy. Listen to Podcast/Read Transcript about E23: Al Sommer on Vitamin A, Blindness and Global Politics »
E19: Martin Bloem - Embrace Complexity to Fix the Food System
March 2019One of the most important questions facing the world is how it will feed itself both now and in the future. Answering this question will require the brightest minds; people who will understand the complex interactions of trade, poverty, climate change, agriculture technology, and the ever-changing political landscape from country to country. And this is just a name, some of the factors. Few people are as capable of seeing how all these pieces fit together as our guest Dr. Martin Bloem, professor, and director of the Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Listen to Podcast/Read Transcript about E19: Martin Bloem - Embrace Complexity to Fix the Food System »
E20: Darriel Harris on Harnessing Faith to Improve Community Health
March 2019Can you make sustainable changes in community or neighborhood health without tackling the issue of food and diet? Why is such work so difficult? What is the role of churches and other faith organizations? Our next guest on The Leading Voices in Food is Reverend Darriel Harris and he works on this problem in a variety of ways. Listen to Podcast/Read Transcript about E20: Darriel Harris on Harnessing Faith to Improve Community Health »
E22: Heber Brown on Organizing Communities Around Their Food
March 2019In the US food system, communities of color suffer disproportionately from lack of access to affordable, nutritious food. But what happens when you connect growers with their communities? Or when communities grow their own food on Church owned land? In Baltimore, Maryland, and along the I-95 corridor in the southeast United States, you can see this happening through the Black Church Food Security Network. Our next guest on The Leading Voices in Food is Reverend Dr. Heber Brown, who founded this network with the goal of helping churches to grow their own food on church-owned land, and to partner black farmers and urban growers with historically African American congregations to create pipelines for fresh produce. Listen to Podcast/Read Transcript about E22: Heber Brown on Organizing Communities Around Their Food »
E29: Linda Bartoshuk on Supertasters, Yuck, and the Future of Food Nutrition
March 2019Ever heard the term supertasters? Have you wondered why some people love broccoli and others find it very unpleasant. Is family upbringing the answer to this? Or, is there a biological basis for this and for other taste preferences? The leading voice on these issues is Dr. Linda Bartoshuk. Listen to Podcast/Read Transcript about E29: Linda Bartoshuk on Supertasters, Yuck, and the Future of Food Nutrition »
E18: Ashley Gearhardt on Food Addiction and You...Yes, You.
March 2019Can some foods have addictive properties? We all have cravings for some things--chocolate, let's say? But can food really hijack the brain much as happens with classic substances of abuse? And are foods engineered by the food industry in ways that trigger addictive like reactions in the brain? Such are the questions being asked by Dr. Ashley Gearhardt. She is an associate professor of psychology and the clinical science area at the University of Michigan and a leading researcher in the field of food and the brain, food, and addiction in particular. Listen to Podcast/Read Transcript about E18: Ashley Gearhardt on Food Addiction and You...Yes, You. »
E16: Sara Bleich on Menu Labeling, Marketing and Public Health
February 2019Do you make better food choices when you see calorie counts listed on restaurant menus? Do you think food stamp recipients should be able to buy unhealthy foods, like sugary drinks? And what role should the government play in our food choices? We’ll explore these questions on The Leading Voices in Food with Dr. Sara Bleich. Listen to Podcast/Read Transcript about E16: Sara Bleich on Menu Labeling, Marketing and Public Health »
E17: Cheryl Queen on Corporate Responsibility and Power in the Food Industry
February 2019Imagine working for a company that serves more than 5 billion meals worldwide every year. Balancing what people like to eat with corporate goals of promoting health, sustainability, and fair labor practices. Explore these ideas with Leading Voices in Food guest Cheryl Queen of Compass Group North America. Listen to Podcast/Read Transcript about E17: Cheryl Queen on Corporate Responsibility and Power in the Food Industry »
E14: Nurya Love Parish on a Calling to Steward our Lands
February 2019Did you know that most church land holdings are not located in high-priced cities? Instead, they're in countless rural locations from Maine to California, with land deeded over in wills by former parishioners or purchased over the years by church leaders. Today's guest on The Leading Voices in Food series is Nurya Love Parish, who is animated by the idea that from a religious perspective, land is part of creation and needs to be managed with wisdom. Listen to Podcast/Read Transcript about E14: Nurya Love Parish on a Calling to Steward our Lands »
E25: Christopher Carter on Looking at Food Theologically
February 2019How should society balance people's needs and wants for meat and eggs against the needs and wants of farmers and farm animals? What do theologians and ethicists have to say about factory farming, animals and marginalized communities. It's a complicated subject that triggers strong feelings about moral economics, racial equity, nutrition, and environmental sustainability will explore these issues today on The Leading Voices in Food podcast with our guest, Methodist pastor Christopher Carter, who's also an assistant professor of theology and religious studies at the University of San Diego. Listen to Podcast/Read Transcript about E25: Christopher Carter on Looking at Food Theologically »
E6: Shenggen Fan on Hunger, Climate Change and the Hope of Innovation
February 2019What happens when a child is malnourished? Can such a child ever “catch up” later in life? Why does urbanization and obesity seem to go hand in hand—and what does this mean for food production? We’ll explore big picture food system questions today on the Leading Voices in Food with our guest Dr. Shenggen Fan. Listen to Podcast/Read Transcript about E6: Shenggen Fan on Hunger, Climate Change and the Hope of Innovation »
E13: Mark Bittman on Eating Sustainably and Agroecology
February 2019Many people in the modern world have become distant from their food. They may not know where it's grown, who grows it, who produces it, or who harvests it, what impact its production has on the environment, how it is processed, how to prepare it, and more. A champion of shrinking this distance and of understanding how all these pieces fit together is an activist, and an advocate, and a journalist. A person whose career has been devoted to making it easier for people to eat healthy food, and good food, Mark Bittman. Listen to Podcast/Read Transcript about E13: Mark Bittman on Eating Sustainably and Agroecology »
E27: William Dietz on Obesity, Undernutrition & Climate Change
February 2019It would seem at first glance that undernutrition and obesity are opposite sides of the same coin and not very related to one another and that neither of these issues would be related at all to climate change. Well, this turns out to not be true at all according to an authoritative new report for our listeners. The title of the report is The Global Syndemic of Obesity, Undernutrition and Climate Change, The Lancet Commission Report. One of the architects of that report is Dr. William Dietz. Listen to Podcast/Read Transcript about E27: William Dietz on Obesity, Undernutrition & Climate Change »
E12: Renske Lynde on Cultivating Food System Entrepreneurs for Impact
February 2019Imagine if the focus of your work was to identify the most promising entrepreneurs, those who could potentially develop transformative and scalable food and agriculture solutions. Imagine working closely with those entrepreneurs as their ideas blossom and their businesses develop, promote organic gardening effort to tackle food insecurity and Silicon Valley to accompany that converts organic waste in the compostable bioplastic. How fun would this be? Such is the work of Renske Lynde, director of Food Systems 6, a nonprofit California public benefit corporation based in the San Francisco Bay area, whose mission is to support promising entrepreneurs who want to transform how we grow, produce and distribute food. Listen to Podcast/Read Transcript about E12: Renske Lynde on Cultivating Food System Entrepreneurs for Impact »
E11: Kornegay Farms’ Kim LeQuire on the Blessings of a Life in Agriculture
February 2019Has the buy local food movement helped farmers and open up new markets? Is organic farming really better than conventional farming? And what does it take to run a successful farming operation? We'll discuss these topics and more with today's guest Kim LeQuire. Kim runs Kornegay Family Farms along with her father Danny, mother Susie and brother Dan. Kornegay Family Farms is a 5,000 acre, fourth generation farm in Johnston County, North Carolina. The Kornegay's grow sweet potatoes, tobacco, soybeans, cotton, wheat, and peanuts. The also run four swine finishing floors. Listen to Podcast/Read Transcript about E11: Kornegay Farms’ Kim LeQuire on the Blessings of a Life in Agriculture »
E7: Thomas Farley on the Real Returns of the Philadelphia Soda Tax
January 2019Today's guest has had a fascinating career and has made significant contributions to public health in Louisiana, New York, and in Pennsylvania. He says he learned the true value of public health investigating syphilis and legionnaire's disease outbreaks while working for the Center for Disease Control's epidemic intelligence service. He's worked on the front lines to prevent and control infectious diseases such as HIV and sexually transmitted diseases, and his research on obesity led him to see the obesity epidemic in our country as an outcome of an unhealthy environment. Dr. Thomas Farley is the Health Commissioner for the City of Philadelphia and he led work to pass a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, seen widely as a significant success in health policy. Listen to Podcast/Read Transcript about E7: Thomas Farley on the Real Returns of the Philadelphia Soda Tax »