Weekend reads: soda tax, school meat & more

Food news and items of interest from around the Web for your weekend reading.

Fri, May 21 2010 at 2:24 PM

Related Topics:

Organic Foods, Buy Local, Organic & Sustainable Wine, Schools

It’s Friday afternoon, and that means it’s time for me to give you a little weekend reading from around the web. Here are a few food related items that I thought might interest you.

A couple of weeks I gave you my opinion about the soda tax. I don’t think it has anything to do with keeping people healthy. I think it’s simply a fundraiser. In Philadelphia, the City Council said no to the soda tax, and now police, firemen and library services will be cut. Looks like the soda tax for Philadelphia was going to be a fundraiser.

Mayor Nutter resolved Thursday to slash police and fire companies and reduce branch libraries to four-day weeks after City Council buried his proposed sugary-drinks tax and passed a $3.9 billion budget that he characterized as fiscally irresponsible.

Click here to read the fully story on Philly.com.

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Remember the USA Today story late last year that reported that the standards for meat in our schools was worse than the standards for meat at fast food restaurants. The newspaper is now reporting that the USDA has made the meat standards equal to that of fast food chains. I’m still not going to let my kids eat school hamburgers.

Come fall, the ground beef used in school lunches will be as safe as ground beef sold to the nation's fast food chains — a major improvement, critics say.

The U.S. Agriculture Department announced Friday that it will require all ground beef purchased for the National School Lunch Program to adhere to new safety standards after July 1. The program supplies ground beef, chicken and other food for more than 31 million schoolchildren.

Click here to read the full story.

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If you’re near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania this weekend, stop by The Riverside Wine Festival on Sand Island. Several Pennsylvania wineries will have their wines for festival goers to taste.

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Our lifestyle blogger Siel is reporting from The Sustainable Food Institute this week, and heard author Paul Hawken speak about his experience with organic foods. You should check out her post, Paul Hawken: Take back your taste buds.

Enjoy your weekend!

Image: Matt Callow

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