A honey bee worker hovers over a flower.
Credit: © Shutterstock

Tomorrow, May 20th, is World Bee Day! This day, designated by the United Nations, celebrates bees and raises awareness of how important bees are to our daily life. Bees and other pollinators are endangered by human activities. Nearly 75 percent of all food crops depend on pollinators. They are necessary for food security and biodiversity throughout the Earth. World Bee Day is a cause to learn more about bees and support causes that protect bees.

Bees are insects that live in almost every part of the world except near the North and South poles. Bees are one of the most useful of all insects. They produce honey, which people use as food; and beeswax, which is used in such products as adhesives, candles, and cosmetics. There are about 20,000 species (kinds) of bees. Only the kinds known as honey bees make honey and wax in large enough amounts to be used by people.

Flowers provide food for bees. The bees collect tiny grains of pollen and a sweet liquid called nectar from the blossoms they visit. They make honey from the nectar, and use both honey and pollen as food. During their food-gathering flights, bees spread pollen from one flower to another, thus pollinating (fertilizing) the plants they visit. This enables the plants to reproduce. Numerous wild plants and such important food crops as fruits and vegetables depend on bees for fertilization.

The rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis).
Credit: © Rich Hatfield, The Xerces Society

Both young and adult bees sometimes fall victim to such diseases as European foulbrood and American foulbrood. These diseases may turn the bees into a gummy, lifeless mass. They are caused by bacteria. Diseases caused by fungi, such as Nosema disease, are also a threat to bees.

Human activities also harm bees. Insecticides meant to kill other insects kill thousands of bees each year. Weed-killing sprays take away an important source of bee food by destroying weeds and their flowers.

Colony collapse disorder (CCD) is an unusual condition that destroys hundreds of thousands of honey bee colonies each year in the United States. When a colony is affected by CCD, most of the adult bees disappear from the hive. The colony still contains a queen, immature bees, and honey. Experts are not certain what causes CCD. Mites and agricultural pesticides may contribute to CCD. Pesticides are chemicals used to kill insects and other pests.

Colorful vegetables at an outdoor market include beans, lettuce, peppers and tomatoes. This market, from the city of Mugla in southwestern Turkey, also sells a variety of fruits.
Credit: © Janine Wiedel Photolibrary/Alamy Images

Today, Tuesday, November 1, is World Vegan Day. Vegan bakeries, diners, and other products are popping up everywhere around the world. Today is the day to skip the burger and milkshake and grab a salad, veggie burger, or tofu! What does it mean when food is vegan? And why is everyone talking about going vegan?

Veganism is a type of vegetarianism. Like vegetarians, vegans avoid eating meat, poultry, and fish. Vegans also tend to avoid food made by animals—such as dairy, eggs, and honey—and animal by-products such as gelatin found in everyday foods. A by-product is a secondary product made in the production of something else. People follow vegan diets for environmental, ethical, and health reasons. Many people, such as activist Greta Thunberg, are vegan because it reduces your carbon footprint.

Tofu is a food made of soybean curds pressed into cakes or blocks. Chunks of tofu can be prepared in many ways and added to many dishes, including salads, shown here.
Credit: © Cathy Melloan

While vegetarianism has been around for thousands of years, the concept of veganism developed within the last century. Since the early 2000’s, food manufacturers have worked to develop improved plant-based substitutes for cheese, milk, meat, and eggs. Most of these substitutes require less energy and water to make and transport. The availability of such substitutes in grocery stores, restaurants, and even sports stadiums has made being a vegan easier than ever before. Grocery stores carry substitutes for nearly every meat item and byproduct. The options are endless!

There are guides available online for people who follow vegan diets to make sure they can eat at sports arenas, concert venues, and other places. Even fast food restaurants are crafting creative vegan options for customers. Burger King became the first fast food restaurant to release a vegan nugget in January of 2022.

Most vegans do not stop after mastering the vegan diet. They also make smart choices about clothing, makeup, and other household items. Most vegans avoid wearing or using animal products such as feathers, fur, leather, silk, and wool. Many fashion companies offer vegan shoes, coats, and purses. Some of these items are made of recycled water bottles and other plastic items. Many vegans also avoid products that have been tested on animals and oppose using animals for medical experiments or in entertainments such as horse racing.

March 6, 2020

Last week, on February 24, the 1 millionth variety of seed was added to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault located on Spitsbergen, an island off the coast of Norway. The facility was designed as a “doomsday vault” to store seeds from millions of plants, including nearly all the world’s food crops. These seeds may be needed in the future to reestablish crops destroyed by major disasters.

Snowy hills surround the entrance to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault on Norway’s Spitsbergen Island. credit: Mari Tefre, Svalbard Global Seed Vault

The newest additions that put the vault over the million mark included samples of beans, corn, and squash from India, Mali, Peru, and the Cherokee Nation in the United States. The new contributions also included clover, grass, and herb seeds from the United Kingdom’s Kew Gardens.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is the largest seed storage facility in the world. The vault can hold up to 4.5 million seed samples from wild and domesticated plants.. Many of the seeds come from crop varieties that are not widely grown, as well as from staple food crops. The genetic diversity in the stored seeds may help scientists develop new crop varieties that can thrive in climates and soil conditions different from those that exist today. The Svalbard facility opened in 2008.

Seeds are stored in boxes in the cold, dry environment of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. credit: © Mari Tefre, Svalbard Global Seed Vault

The plan for a doomsday vault originated with the United Nations International Seed Treaty of 2001. The site at Spitsbergen was chosen because it is an unlikely place for a disaster to occur. The site is remote, largely uninhabited, geologically stable, and naturally cold. The seed vault was built in an abandoned coal mine about 490 feet (150 meters) deep in the side of a mountain. The vault lies within permafrost, a layer of earth that remains frozen the year around. The vault is kept at a temperature of –0.4 ºF (–18 ºC). The low temperature keeps the seeds viable—that is, able to germinate under proper conditions—for long periods.

There are many smaller seed vaults in other parts of the world. Such facilities, often called gene banks, help preserve genetic diversity in food crops. The Svalbard facility serves as a global reserve gene bank. In 2015, researchers removed some seeds from the Svalbard vault for the first time. They used some of the seeds to replenish the supply at a gene bank in Aleppo, Syria. Some of that gene bank’s seeds had been lost during Syria’s ongoing civil war.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is owned and administered by the government of Norway. Daily operations are overseen by the Nordic Genetic Resource Centre, a Scandinavian organization dedicated to the sustainable use of plants, farm animals, and forests. Sustainability is the ability of an activity or way of life to continue over the long term without exhausting resources, damaging the environment, or harming people. The Crop Trust, established by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, helps fund the operation of the seed vault. The seeds stored at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault are owned by the gene banks that have deposited them there.

July 15, 2019

Food fads come and go every year, but for most Americans, meat always has a starring role on the dinner plate. Our meat habit has a cost, however: it can harm both our health and the environment. Cutting back on meat consumption, or cutting meat out completely, goes a long way toward helping the environment and our bodies—as well as the animals butchered for meat. Searching for meat alternatives, several food industry startups are offering new forms of meat and meat substitutes that are redefining meat as we know it—and they may change forever the way we produce and consume food. Lab-grown meat or plant-based substitutes are now often indistinguishable from the flesh of animals, and the future of meat may be one that does not involve animals at all.

New lab-grown and plant-based meats offer alternatives to traditional meats such as the beef used to make this hamburger. Credit: © Brent Hofacker, Shutterstock

Most nutritionists consider meat to be an important component of a well-balanced diet. Meat supplies vitamins, minerals, and fats necessary for good health and growth. Meat also provides an especially good source of protein. However, meat is not universal in the American diet. Many vegetarians avoid eating meat because they believe it is wrong to kill animals for food or they consider meat to be unhealthy. Many vegetarians, however, will consume such animal products as cheese and eggs. Vegans, on the other hand, eat an entirely plant-based diet and avoid all foods derived from animals, including honey and milk.

In the United States, per capita (per person) meat consumption has grown steadily to about 95 pounds (43 kilograms) per year—more than double the amount consumed in 1960. Each year, the United States raises more than 30 million beef cattle, 73 million hogs, and a staggering 9 billion chickens. The feeding, housing, transportation, and processing of these animals into food is a global industry consuming enormous amounts of energy resources and creating vast amounts of pollution. The meat industry is also one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

Lab-grown or cell-cultured meats may soon rival traditional meats in U.S. supermarkets. Credit: © Tony Hertz, Alamy Images

Food companies have created a variety of meat substitutes over the years, from veggie hot dogs and bacon to tofurkey (tofu turkey). MorningStar Farms, owned by food industry giant Kellogg, has been producing meat substitutes since 1975. Many people consider such plant-based products to be a healthier alternative to meat, especially such red meats as beef, pork, and lamb. In general, red meats have more saturated fat, which can raise blood cholesterol and contribute to heart disease. Medical research has shown that higher meat consumption is linked to a greater incidence of certain cancers. Until now, most meat substitutes have had limited appeal. Made with products like TVP (textured vegetable protein), a by-product of soybean oil production, these products are often found to be dry and lack the look, juicy texture, and taste of meat.

Meat substitutes have long included such products as tofu, a food made of soybean curds pressed into cakes or blocks. Credit: © Shutterstock

Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, however, are food industry startups with new vegan-friendly products that are virtually indistinguishable from traditional meat. Beyond Meat makes its substitute beef using pea protein isolate, coconut oil, and canola oil in a ratio that mimics the fat and protein content of ground beef. Impossible Foods uses soy and potato protein, sunflower seed oil, and coconut oil. Other ingredients include water, salt, and methylcellulose, a substance derived from plant fiber that is widely used in the food industry as a thickener and emulsifier. (An emulsifier bind liquids in an emulsion, a mixture of liquids that do not dissolve in each other.) Beyond Meat uses natural coloring agents derived from beets to provide the juicy appearance of a rare-cooked burger. Impossible Foods uses genetically modified yeast to make soy leghemoglobin (also called a heme), a molecule identical to the blood-red pigment in meat, to provide an appetizing color, meaty flavor, and a juicy sizzle.

Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods hamburger substitutes have modestly better nutritional profiles compared to beef burgers. Both meatless products have fewer calories, slightly less fat, and similar amounts of high-quality protein. The meatless burgers also provide a modest amount of dietary fiber. Beyond and Impossible emphasize the benefits of their products for health, animal welfare, and combatting climate change. However, should we assume that such ultra-processed foods are always better?

In 2019, government health agencies in Europe and the United States released reports that linked higher consumption of ultra-processed foods to an increase in rates of obesity and cardiovascular disease. Such processed foods, including canned foods and most snacks, are made with highly refined ingredients and many additives to improve flavor, texture, and shelf life. Impossible and Beyond burgers are made from an extruded paste of mechanically extracted proteins mixed with vegetable and seed oils, spices, and other ingredients to add flavor and provide meat-like texture. Each lists at least 20 ingredients. Some health experts also worry that they may include several potential allergens that could cause problems for sensitive individuals, although there have not yet been any reported issues.

There is also a certain suspicion that tends to surround mass-produced food substitutes meant to replaced cherished favorites. While meat has a complex composition and structure—made up of amino acids (the building blocks of protein), fats, minerals, vitamins, and water all woven together—it is usually considered a single ingredient—a whole food that is proven safe to eat. Companies producing plant-based meat substitutes are not immune from being labeled “Frankenfoods” by advocacy groups if their production processes are too complex or secretive.

In 2018, the American hamburger chain Burger King began selling an Impossible version of their trademark “Whopper” hamburger in several Midwest cities on a trial basis. The chain has plans to make the sandwich available nationally by the end of 2019. Burger King will do a plant-based burger for European locations, too–but it cannot use Impossible burgers there because of the use of genetically modified yeast. In 2018, the European Court ruled that gene-edited crops are subject to the same strict regulations Europe has for genetically modified organisms (GMOs). European real food advocacy groups worry that products like the Impossible burger will increase public acceptance of genetically engineered food and highly-processed food over whole foods grown by farmers.

A food researcher tastes a hamburger patty made from meat grown in a laboratory. The patty was formed from protein strands grown by cattle cells cultured in a laboratory, rather than by slaughtering and butchering a cow. Credit: © Toby Melville, Reuters/Landov

As plant-based meat substitutes gain in popularity, some food industry experts believe that the future of meat is in cell cultures. In 2013, scientists in the Netherlands took cells from a cow and produced muscle fibers in a laboratory—the first lab-grown meat. That summer, they revealed their work to the world in a news conference. As the press looked on, a chef prepared the laboratory product into a hamburger. Today, proponents of lab-grown meat say the technology has the potential to produce real beef, pork, chicken, and fish grown from a small cell sample, eliminating the need for farms, feedlots, slaughterhouses, or even animals. Some animal-welfare groups favor this “cellular agriculture” because it diminishes the need to kill animals to provide food for human beings. They see cellular agriculture as a way to establish a more humane world without livestock farms and slaughterhouses.

New Harvest, a company headquartered in New York City, holds an annual conference on advancements in cellular agriculture. Connecting scientists and businesses, New Harvest helps to establish companies that produce cell-cultured food. The laboratory process reduces land and water costs and produces a fraction of the greenhouse gas emissions compared with factory farms. Companies in the United States and Europe are already producing cell-cultured foods. One of them is Muufri, which produces animal-free milk. Another is Memphis Meats, which introduced cellular-grown meatballs in 2016.

But will people eat a hamburger that was grown in a lab? Public perception is just one challenge facing lab-grown meat. To overcome the many challenges, cultured meat proponents are upfront and transparent about the technology and the manufacturing processes involved, emphasizing the many positive environmental and ethical benefits.

Another challenge involves how these products are overseen within the heavily regulated food industry. In 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finalized an agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish regulatory jurisdiction over the production of meat that does not involve animals. Under the plan, the FDA will oversee the collection and growth of cultured cells. The USDA will regulate the processing of those cells into meat and determine how the products will be labeled.

Before cell-cultured meats hit supermarkets, a range of other questions still remain to be answered. What sort of products will be available, exactly how healthy will they be, and what will they cost? Perhaps the most important question is: How will they taste?

September 14, 2017

Last month, Switzerland became the first European Union (EU) country to allow the sale of insect-based food items for human consumption. That’s right, for those of you craving a mealworm burger or a side of crickets or grasshoppers, you can now get them at the local market in Bern, Geneva, or Zürich. Long accepted as a protein-rich food in other parts of the world, eating insects is relatively new to Europeans, who—like a lot of other people—have a hard time getting over the “yuck” factor of eating bugs. Insects, however, are a logical, practical, and even tasty food choice as human populations continue to rise along with the economic and environmental cost of raising traditional crops and livestock.

Mealworms (the grubs of a type of darkling beetle) may be new to the diet of many people, but they have long been used in animal feed. Credit: © Denis Tabler, Shutterstock

In Africa, Asia, and parts of Latin America, it is common to find insects on menus or for sale in markets. In the United States, insects can be found as exotic menu items, and they are often used as food additives or dyes. U.S. companies can sell whole insects as long as the bugs are clean, wholesome, and raised specifically for human consumption. Most Food and Drug Administration (FDA) laws, however, detail limits of “unavoidable” bugs in other food. Chew on that for a minute. Anyway, in Europe, the Novel Food Regulation limits food that was not “used for human consumption to a significant degree” before 1997. This means that nontraditional food items must get special legal clearance. In May 2017, Switzerland approved crickets, grasshoppers, and mealworms as food items, and after the EU agreed, bugs hit store shelves in August.

A wide variety of prepared insects are available for snacking at this market in Thailand. Credit: © Thor Jorgen Udvang, Shutterstock

Not all insects are fit for human consumption, of course, but many provide a highly nutritional, readily available, and environmentally friendly food source. Traditional agriculture—the planting and harvesting of crops, the raising of livestock, and the transport and delivery of food items—is a heavy contributor to global warming, which in turn adversely affects traditional agriculture. To slow the impact of climate change, and to feed the world’s ever-growing human population, insect agriculture is a logical and practical choice. Aside from Switzerland’s new food items, such insects as ants, bees, beetles, caterpillars, and locusts are packed with protein, fiber, good fats, and vital minerals. Bugs require much less feed, space, and care than traditional farm animals. They also emit considerably fewer greenhouse gases than most livestock.

Insects can be quite tasty, too. After all, they are arthropods, the largest phylum (division) of the animal kingdom that also includes crabs, lobsters, and shrimp. Most animals and many people on Earth already indulge in entomophagy (insect eating). Is it about time the rest of us joined them?

July 11, 2017

In the United States, July is National Hot Dog Month. The hot dog, the simple sausage in a bun, is one of the country’s favorite foods. A popular outdoors or on-the-run fast food, hot dogs—traditionally called frankfurters, but also known as red hots or wieners—sell in peak numbers during the hot months of summer. Whether the dogs are cooked on the grill or purchased from a stand or at the ballpark, Americans eat an estimated 150 million hot dogs over the 4^th of July holiday alone. So, in honor of the humble hot dog, let’s explore some fun facts and delicious history.

July is National Hot Dog Month in the United States. These hot dogs are dressed according to taste in mustard, onions, pickles, and tomatoes. Credit: © Olga Nayashkova, Shutterstock

The frankfurter is named for Frankfurt, Germany, where frankfurters were first made in the Middle Ages. Modern frankfurters are made of cured and well-smoked beef, pork, poultry, or a combination of meats. In the second half of the 1800’s, frankfurters became popular in the United States as a street food for people taking a break from work or simply out and about town. They were also popular at holiday festivals, local fairs, and traveling carnivals.

German immigrant Chris Von der Ahe is credited with popularizing frankfurters at baseball games. In 1882, Von der Ahe, a grocery and tavern owner, bought the St. Louis Browns baseball team—largely so he could sell frankfurters and beer at the ballpark. Von der Ahe enjoyed great success, and frankfurters quickly appeared at ballparks around the country. According to popular lore, frankfurters became “hot dogs” in 1901 at the Polo Grounds, the home ballpark of the New York Giants. Vendors there sold hot “dachshund sausages,” which was quickly simplified to hot “dogs.” Today, the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council estimates that roughly 19 million hot dogs are sold at Major League Baseball stadiums each year.

Two of the more celebrated events of National Hot Dog Month are the annual hot dog eating contest at Nathan’s Famous in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn and the annual hot dog lunch for staff and members of Congress in Washington, D.C. Numerous cooking contests, festivals, and other events celebrate the hot dog throughout July in all parts of the country.

Los Angeles is credited as the top hot dog eating city in the country, followed by New York City, Philadelphia, and Boston. Outside the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom are the next hungriest for hot dogs, and hot dogs are easily found and eaten in most cities around the world. Mustard is the most popular hot dog condiment—though kids generally prefer ketchup. People often add cheese, onions, pickles, relish, or tomato slices to make their frankfurter “top dog.”