Food Safety Archives - Dirt to Dinner

D2D in the Kitchen: Prepping a Clean Turkey

It's that wonderful time of year again! D2D found the best tips to properly clean, prepare, and cook your turkey for a delicious and safe Thanksgiving meal. Gobble gobble!

Food Safety

Tiny plastics pose huge problems

Microplastics can enter the human body in a variety of ways — through the foods we eat, the clothes we wear, and the packaging we use. The health risks have been well documented, but here's how to mimimize the impact.

Food Safety, Health

How Do Wildfires Affect Ag?

The frequency and intensity of wildfires are on the rise, posing significant consequences for an ever-growing number of people and our agricultural system. But what about the impact on our food system?

Climate Change, Food Safety

Dirty Tactics from EWG’s Dirty Dozen

EWG recently released its annual “Dirty Dozen” produce list, which stokes fears of eating produce with pesticide residues...as if we don't already have enough to fear with COVID. But is EWG right? Or do the benefits of eating produce to maintain our health far outweigh these concerns?

Food Safety, Health, Soil and Crop Management

Grilling Season: Food Safety Best Practices

Before you fire up the grill, let’s review safe food storage, handling, and preparation to help you protect yourself, your families, and your guests from food-borne illnesses.

Food Safety

Food Safety at Farmers' Markets

Soon farmers’ markets will be bustling as consumers flock to buy fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and meat from local farmers. What food safety regulation applies to the food there? The same as or different than the fruits and vegetables we buy at the grocery store?

Food Production, Food Safety

Avian Flu: Should We Worry?

Humans are not the only ones who get the flu – 58 million birds around the world are contracting ‘bird flu’, otherwise known as H5N1 or Avian Influenza...and dying. As more species become infected with this virus, there's concern that it's ‘spilling over’ into mammals and, more specifically, humans. Should we be worried?

Food Safety

Plastic food packaging: opportunity or lost cause?

Plastic packaging has indisputably revolutionized our global food system, keeping foods safer as it moves across the globe with fewer transport needs and less fuel...but at a steep environmental price. Is there any hope?

Food Production, Food Safety

How safe is our food from cyberattacks?

Many of us recently learned that our food system is vulnerable to cyberattacks, just like any other business. Despite these events, industry experts find new ways to keep our food safe and supply chain constantly in motion to feed the world. Here's what's being done now...

Food Safety, Food Technology

EWG's “Dirty” Little Secret: There’s No Science Behind It

Lucy Stitzer, D2D's founder, believes we should have a choice on whether to buy organic or conventional produce - but wants science to drive the decision, not fear...

Food Safety, Health

Transparency in the Produce Aisle

Few technologies can transform the relationship between growers and consumers like the promise of transparency. And with Covid, many of us demand even greater food safety assurances. How are growers, distributors, processors, and grocery stores implementing transparency along the way?

Food Safety, Food Technology

Chlorinated Chicken: Public Health or Politics?

Trade talks between the U.S. and the U.K. have centered on a food safety practice for poultry products that positions science against good food policy. So, at what point should science govern our food supply?

Food Regulations & Policy, Food Safety, Food Trade

Making the Case for Sustainable Aquaculture

More than half the fish we eat comes from fish farms. But some countries' farms operate with little to no health or safety standards and zero traceability. With our rising need for fish, are we willing to pay more for high quality and transparent aquaculture production?

Agricultural Technology, Food Production, Food Safety

What's happening at our local grocers during COVID-19?

We have a bunch of questions about changes in product demand, managing supplier channels, and maintaining employee safety during this fragile time. So we turned to a local Midwest grocer for their insights...

Food Production, Food Safety

Coronavirus and Our Food: Should We Be Scared?

As coronavirus COVID-19 spreads globally, how concerned should we be for our safety? And should we fear transmission of the virus via our food, especially among imported products?

Food Regulations & Policy, Food Safety

2 Trade Deals and Plant Food in a Pear Tree: Top News in 2019

2019 has been a wild ride! News about our food and how we get it – from dirt to dinner – have had us on the edge of our seats...

Animal Welfare and Health, Food Production, Food Regulations & Policy, Food Safety, Food Trade, Soil and Crop Management

The African Swine Fever Epidemic: Are We at Risk?

Many of us are unaware of issues affecting our food supply. But what if the pork products we place in our grocery carts became harder to find? The devastating disease, African Swine Fever, has made this a potential reality in Asia.

Food Safety, Food Trade

Can I Get Sick from Animals Fed GMOs?

If I eat meat or dairy and those animals have eaten GMO corn or soybeans, am I ingesting GMOs, too? Will I get sick? And what about the animals...is GMO feed harmful to them?

Food Safety, Health

Can GMOs Make Me Sick?

Concerned if GMOs are harmful to your health? We dug into exactly what happens in our bodies when we eat food that has been grown with a GMO.

Agricultural Technology, Food Safety, Health

My Nightmare Meal: A Personal Reflection of Our Food System

Ag Secretary Perdue recently told us not to fear our food. Have we really come to the point that people must be told by a cabinet-level government official that their food supply is okay to eat?