Food

Organic farming could feed the world

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Ivette Perfecto of the University of Michigan in the US and her colleagues found that, in developed countries, organic systems on average produce 92% of the yield produced by conventional agriculture. In developing countries, however, organic systems produce 80% more than conventional farms. Perfecto points out that the materials needed for organic farming are more accessible to farmers in poor countries.

Link [via Red State Green]

Going Ape

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Another take on the Paleolithic diet.

Ms Garton looked for inspiration to the plant-based diet of our closest relatives, the apes, and devised a three-day rotating menu of fruit, vegetables, nuts and honey. The prescribed menu was:

  • safe to eat raw;
  • met adult human daily nutritional requirements; and
  • provided 2,300 calories – between the 2,000 recommended for women and 2,500 for men,

Volunteers could also drink water. In the second week, standard portions of cooked oily fish were introduced – a nod to a more hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

Paper Says Edible Meat Can be Grown in a Lab on Industrial Scale

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Some older news that I found in my link backlog.

And, the authors agree, it might take work to convince consumers to eat cultured muscle meat, a product not yet associated with being produced artificially.

“On the other hand, cultured meat could appeal to people concerned about food safety, the environment, and animal welfare, and people who want to tailor food to their individual tastes,” says Matheny. The paper even suggests that meat makers may one day sit next to bread makers on the kitchen counter.

McDonald’s beef fries settlement disbursed

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McDonald’s will pay $10 million to 24 Hindu and vegetarian groups after falsely describing its french fries, which contained a beef additive, as vegetarian. I last posted about this [two years ago](http://plasticboy.com/archives/2003/01/16/scientist-roasts-mcdonalds-lawsuit-deal/), I guess they’ve been wrangling over the money ever since.