Posted by Sheryl Kirby in food for thought, news and media, on the web on September 1, 2008 at 5:14 pm

Here's some food for thought for today...

• A show of hands - can't figure out what constitutes a portion of food? Here's an easy guide, assuming you have average size hands.
• Will the Maple Leaf foods debacle be a hard lesson that improves food quality and safety, or will proposed regulations see more companies policing themselves in terms of health and safety issues?
• Wal-Mart hops on the local bandwagon, but their definition of "local" seems a bit sketchy to some.
• Moonshine school - sadly not an article about keeping the tradition of the backyard still alive, but on training law enforcement authorities on what to look for to arrest bootleggers.
• "If we let one farm pay to have their cows tested for BSE, then that implies cows from other farms might have the disease, so better not to let anyone do any testing, even if there's a risk." Yet again, the logic of the USDA puts consumers at risk.
• I think I just threw up a little in my mouth - the Lancaster Brewing Company combined a milk stout with a strawberry wheat beer for a concoction they dubbed the "chocolate-covered strawberry." No... just no.
• And finally, the Freakonomics folks take on the locavores. There's mudslinging - follow the links.