For those who haven’t: in response to a CDC report that cited Huntington, WV as the most unhealthy city in America, British Chef Jamie Oliver decided to kick-off his U.S. food revolution.

He began by addressing the food being served in one Huntington elementary school. He was given a one week trial period by Food Service in which he had to replace the typical school lunch with  healthier, fresh cooked options and get the kids to eat it. He then tackled similar challenges at a high school, college, and with individuals.

Now he has started a petition to improve school food all across America.

If you want to support his efforts and learn more about the work he is doing, you can check it out here.

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Obama Foodorama has an in-depth perspective on the dangers of Senator Grassley.

Further technological advances in the world of farmers markets – online pre-orders.

Tennessee prisons are now composting food scraps.

Watch out! A call for caution when dumpster diving.  Which was also covered in this blog back in March

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 Michelle Obama makes a return visit to Good Stuff.  I recommend Spike’s Sunnyside (a bacon cheese burger with a fried egg on top).

 Another Type 1 beef recall.  New food safety bill to the rescue!

 Civil Eats has a good write up on the “Rewards of Growing”

 More than you ever wanted to know about chicken trade policies.

 This week was President Obama’s birthday – amidst all the turmoil, at least he can enjoy an incredible cake.

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 Slow Food has a great post about saving the Gravenseteins.

 Millions of people have quit drinking soft drinks.  Here are the Top 9 reasons why.

 Obama Foodrama has a great recap on yesterday’s Beer Summit.  Who would have thought there were so many political angles to make a beer selection?

 There was a great article in the Detroit News about how farms in Michigan have prospered by delivering their products.  The article goes on to describe Mind, Body and Spirits, a local organic restaurant, which resides in this bloggers hometown.   

 Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! Late blight is a huge problem affecting NE farmers.

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 The bill failed to pass the House today as it was brought to a vote by special rules where there were no amendments and only limited debate.  Therefore, the bill had to pass with 2/3 of the vote as opposed to the simple majority.  It fell six votes short.

 The bill is supposed to be re-introduced today under different rules which call for a simple majority vote, which assuming everyone votes the same way they did yesterday, should pass with flying colors.  Major opponents of the bill included Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH).

 This bill has been in the works for a while.  With the recent emphasis on food and the role it plays in the healthcare debate, it makes sense that food safety has become a hot button issue.  Food Inc is opening around the country and opening the public’s eyes as to how food gets from the farm to the plate. 

 Its great to see Congress take another step towards improving food and the greater public health of the nation.  At this point, it’s hard to tell what the overall affect of the bill will have on local farmers and producers.  Hopefully it will create a safer environment for food cultivation and not just more red tape to sort through.

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$52 million of those cuts are coming from Human Support Services and Other Low-Income Programs.  To put this in prospective, the next largest cut is for Public Education at $17 million. 

I urge all of you to visit the Save Our Saftey Net website, look through the information, and sign the petition to urge the City Council to reconsider their budget cuts.  The hungry and homeless shouldn’t face the brunt of the economic burden for the rest of the District.

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Jessica Biel has a bad habit of wasting food.

 Don’t mess with Texas, especially when it comes to restaurant waste.

 Chris over at First Helping explores how the recession has affected homelessness.

 With the Locavore movement gaining steam, local seed banks are beginning to pop up across the country.

 US Food Policy has released a list of the top 10 policy destinations, complete with Google Earth pictures.

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Eating Liberally provides us with the story of a town in Australia has called for a ban on the sale of bottled water.

Our friends over at Civil Eats chronicle their adventures in roof-top gardening.

La Vida Locavore is excited about Jay Inslee’s new House bill to raise funds and awareness for community gardens.  It’s complete with a list of co-sponsors – Thank you John Conyers (D-MI14).

Beware of Starbuck’s opening up local coffee shops!

If Obama can eat at Ray’s Hell Burger, why can’t he get a “Fat Darrell” from the local Grease Carts at Rutgers?

Check out what DCCK President Robert Egger has to say about the news of a Social Investment Bank coming from our neighbors across the pond. 

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Who would have thought that one of the most controversial corporations in America would be the first to start one of the biggest greening projects in retail? The Big Money Blog’s Marc Gunter reported that Walmart has started a consortium of businesses and universities, including the University of Michigan, that have undertaken the task of creating a sustainability index that would be labeled on every product from bicycles to Hi-Def TVs.

Details of the program are still scare as it will not be announced until later today at Wal-Mart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. The project has been in development for over a year and complete roll-out could take up to two years. However, the end result is that consumers will have a concrete statistic on the sustainability and global impact of every product they buy off Wal-Mart shelves.

And how is Wal-Mart able to throw their collective weight around? By being the nations largest retailer, earning $406 billion in revenue in 2008. This is not the first time Wal-Mart has flexed its muscles either. They announced that by May 2008, the store would only carry concentrated bottles of laundry detergent because they used less water and less plastic packaging. Wal-Mart struck again when they announced they would no longer carry products made with cotton by Uzbekistan, as they protested the countries child labor laws.

Not too long ago, many people may not have thought that Wal-Mart would be playing the role of moral compass in terms of our national sustainability. But it seems this is exactly what they are doing and as the country’s largest private employer it is a role nicely suited to them. Wal-Mart has done the responsible thing by realizing that this project is bigger than itself and partnering with suppliers and universities to develop an index that will truly measure the transparency of a product’s supply line and its impact on the environment. It should be interested to see how this initiative is carried out, and the public’s response to it.

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A story in yesterday’s New York Times revealed how close to 300 people are going to lose their food stamp benefits in NYC for failing to disclose the fact that they were legally married.  The kicker is that food stamp benefits are based on people living inside the home, not marital status.  In some cases the victims would have been entitled to MORE benefits.

The city sent notices to the 300 people that said that they were over-issued food stamps for the amount of $0.  These people did not get anything extra from the state, and now the safety net has ripped.  These people are now losing their benefits for “failing to provide accurate information”.

What are these people, these parents, and these kids going to do now that their food stamp allotment has been unfairly taken from them?  There is no second state safety net in place for them.  This is where the role of the non-profit sector comes in to fill the void left by state run programs.

Our Campus Kitchens are a shining example of how communities can rise up and help those that are in need.  We currently have 20 kitchens across the nation from Spokane, WA to Gainesville, FL that work to end hunger on a daily basis for hundreds of people just like those affected in New York.   Interested in starting a Campus Kitchen?  Click the link above to get started. 

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