Food prices in the U.S. fell for 19 straight months through July, the longest streak of price declines since the 1950s. Prices for staples like beef and eggs have fallen dramatically over the past year and a half, thanks in part to cheaper fuel costs and China buying less food from the U.S.
America's insatiable appetite for chicken has led industrial farms to breed even-bigger fowl. In 1978, the typical full-grown broiler chicken weighed 4 pounds - today, the average bird weighs just over 9 pounds.I went to see the full article, which is here. I took this quote which can be applied to all our food.
The bulk of the U.S. population still doesn't care where their food comes from, as long as its cheap.Scary stuff, what we are doing to our food. Though I will confess, clearly I have been brainwashed because the 1957 animal doesn't look like a chicken to me. In my mind, a chicken is the bird with the huge chest/breast.
The gluten-free craze hit critical mass this year, with a third of Americans claiming they avoid the ubiquitous wheat protein. Food makers have been quick to catch on—and cash in—creating a $9 billion industry. “At least 70 percent of it is hype,” the Mayo Clinic’s Joseph Murray told The New Yorker. “There is just nothing obviously related to gluten that is wrong with most of these people.” But the proof is in the gluten-free pudding, said one convert: “I know that I’m intolerant, because I gave it up and I felt better.” The Week Magazine, 12/31/2014
Protein, in all forms, is officially trending. The original superfood, protein builds muscle and aids weight loss, and this year it was pumped into practically everything in the grocery aisles, whether snack chips or Cheerios. But the quest for amino acids may be headed to even stranger heights. Food entrepreneurs are now betting that protein-rich insects—think mealworm bars and milled-cricket flour—will be the next foodie frontier.
If you’re looking to reduce your carbon footprint, you may want to change your diet. New research has concluded that raising cattle for beef is nearly 10 times more damaging to the environment than producing pork, chicken, or eggs. The study is the first to quantify the overall environmental impact of various livestock and draws on data collected by the U.S. departments of Agriculture, Energy, and the Interior from 2000 to 2010. Scientists analyzed land use, water consumption, and nitrogen pollution from fertilizers, as well as the greenhouse gases, such as methane, emitted by the animals. Researchers then calculated the amount of resources required to produce one calorie of each product. Pork, chicken, eggs, and other dairy products all have roughly equivalent environmental impacts, but raising beef requires 28 times more land and 11 times more water while generating five times more greenhouse gas emissions compared with other agricultural products. The message for the consumer is clear, Mark Sutton of the U.K.’s Center for Ecology and Hydrology tells The Guardian (U.K.): “Avoiding excessive meat consumption is good for the environment.”
Protein is getting pricey. The cost of beef, beans, bacon, and nine other protein sources jumped 28 percent in the last five years. In 2014 alone, protein prices have risen roughly 5 percent—twice the pace of increase for any other food group.
Men may have evolved to take a punch in the face. That’s the conclusion of a radical new theory suggesting that our male ancestors developed more robust brows, jaws, cheeks, and molars for protection during fights over mates, food, and other resources. The conclusions are based on an examination of the facial structures of Australopithecus—the immediate predecessors of the human genus Homo—compared with those of apes and modern humans. “It turns out that the parts of the face that became stronger were the parts of the face that most frequently break when modern humans fight,” evolutionary biologist David Carrier tells LiveScience.com. The theory builds on earlier work suggesting that the modern hand—with its flexible thumb, squared palm, and shorter digits—was adapted for aggression. Researchers note that the ability to form a fist entered the fossil record about 4 million years ago, around the same time that males developed their thicker facial features.
The average U.S. price for fresh beef rose in February to its highest level since 1987 — $5.28 a pound — as cattle ranchers reduced their herds amid dry conditions and demand for beef increased in China and Japan, among other export destinations, The Associated Press reports. Prices are expected to stay high for a few years, at least.
Some shoppers are sucking up the price hike — 25 cents a pound in a month — or switching to cheaper cuts, while others are simply looking elsewhere for their protein. Some ranchers are nervous that people will permanently change their eating habits if prices stay high, even as all cattle ranchers are thrilled about getting more money for their wares.
As for restaurants, they're either passing on the higher costs to customers or, as some higher-end restaurants are, serving smaller steaks. So, bad time to go on the paleo diet, and good time to own a hamburger stand. - - Peter Weber
