Reconstructing the historical expansion of industrial swine production from Landsat imagery.

In the USA, historical data on the period over which industrial swine farms have operated are usually only available at the county scale and released every 5 years via the USDA Census of Agriculture, leaving the history of the swine industry and its potential legacy effects on the environment poorly understood. We developed a changepoint-based workflow that recreates the construction timelines of swine farms, specifically by identifying the construction years of swine manure lagoons from historical Landsat 5 imagery for the period of 1984 to 2012. The study focused on the Coastal Plain of North Carolina, a major pork-producing state in the USA. The algorithm successfully predicted the year of swine waste lagoon construction (+ /- 1 year) with an accuracy of approximately 94% when applied to the study area. By estimating the year of construction of 3405 swine waste lagoons in NC, we increased the resolution of available information on the expansion of swine production from the county scale to spatially-explicit locations. We further analyzed how the locations of swine waste lagoons changed in proximity to water resources over time, and found a significant increase in swine waste lagoon distances to the nearest water feature across the period of record.

Transferring Racial/Ethnic Marketing Strategies From Tobacco to Food Corporations: Philip Morris and Kraft General Foods.

Objectives. To investigate the transfer of marketing knowledge and infrastructure for targeting racial/ethnic minorities from the tobacco to the food and beverage industry in the United States.Methods. We analyzed internal industry documents between April 2018 and April 2019 from the University of California San Francisco Truth Tobacco Industry Documents Library, triangulated with other sources.Results. In the 1980s, Philip Morris Companies purchased General Foods and Kraft Foods and created Kraft General Foods. Through centralized marketing initiatives, Philip Morris Companies directly transferred expertise, personnel, and resources from its tobacco to its food subsidiaries, creating a racial/ethnic minority-targeted food and beverage marketing program modeled on its successful cigarette program. When Philip Morris Companies sold Kraft General Foods in 2007, Kraft General Foods had a "fully integrated" minority marketing program that combined target marketing with racial/ethnic events promotion, racial/ethnic media outreach, and corporate donations to racial/ethnic leadership groups, making it a food industry leader.Conclusions. The tobacco industry directly transferred racial/ethnic minority marketing knowledge and infrastructure to food and beverage companies. Given the substantial growth of food and beverage corporations, their targeting of vulnerable populations, and obesity-related disparities, public policy and community action is needed to address corporate target marketing.

Cell-cultured meat: Lessons from GMO adoption and resistance.

This article discusses the choices and strategies that can hasten or delay the adoption of novel food technologies. We start by examining how genetically-modified food became an object of controversy in the United States and Europe. Then, we present lessons suggested by the history of GMOs for cell-cultured meat adoption. The history of GMOs suggests at least eleven concrete lessons for cultured meat adoption that remain under-discussed in the literature. This paper's findings diverge in several ways from received wisdom on cultured meat adoption. We argue, among other things, that genetic engineering firms understood their work to be humanitarian and environmentally-friendly and so were unprepared for popular backlash, that technology adoption is more readily affected by consumer activism when buyers in a supply chain exert more pressure on sellers than the reverse, and that focusing on the positive aspects of a technology is more successful for encouraging its adoption than responding to negative perceptions.

Mapping the cattle industry in Brazil's most dynamic cattle-ranching state: Slaughterhouses in Mato Grosso, 1967-2016.

The state of Mato Grosso is Brazil's agribusiness powerhouse with a cattle herd of 30.2 million head in 2017. With land use patterns heavily influenced by beef production, which requires substantial land inputs, the state is a key target for environmental conservation. Yet the spatial and temporal dynamics of slaughterhouses in Mato Grosso remain largely unknown due to data limitations. Here, we provide a novel method to map slaughterhouse expansion and contraction. We analyzed the opening and closing of 133 plants between 1967 and 2016 in Mato Grosso and estimated the geographic locations and slaughter volumes. This was achieved by triangulating across multiple data sources including a registry of 21 million companies, government records of three million slaughter transactions (Portuguese acronym GTA), and high resolution satellite imagery. Our study is the first to include longitudinal information and both inspected (for food quality) and uninspected slaughterhouses. The results show that 72 plants operated in 2016 through 52 holding companies. By measuring geographic distances between active plants and pasture areas, we documented a 29% increase in the density of plants during 2000-2016, showing an expansion of the cattle slaughter infrastructure. We identified three periods of expansion: 1967-1995, with 15.1% of the plant openings; 1996-2003, with 24.6%; and 2004-2016, with 60.3%. While closings likely occurred throughout the period studied, no data were available prior to 2002. We estimated a minimum value for the volume of uninspected slaughter as 2-3% for 2013-2016. We conclude by discussing potential applications of the data, a deidentified version of which is made available through an online repository. The method developed here can be replicated for the whole country, which would increase our understanding of the dynamics of cattle slaughter and their impact on land use.

The Short-Lived Epidemic of Botulism From Commercially Canned Foods in the United States, 1919 to 1925.

In 1919, three deadly outbreaks of botulism caused by consumption of canned olives packed in California captured national headlines. In all of the outbreaks, which occurred in separate locales, unsuspecting people died after consuming tainted food during a banquet or family meal. The press's sensational portrayal of canned food as hazardous aroused alarm among consumers at a time when commercial canning was becoming more common. Intent on restoring the image of their product as safe and wholesome, canning industry leaders funded a "botulism commission" of scientific experts in 1919 to investigate how to systematically eliminate the threat of botulism that had imperiled their business. The commissioners identified the scientific reasons for the outbreaks, and on the basis of their findings, the California Department of Public Health issued explicit recommendations for sterilization procedures intended to ensure safety. However, the department did not mandate inspections for all canneries. When commercially packed fruits and vegetables continued to cause botulism, industry leaders voluntarily backed a cannery inspection act to legally require all California canners to possess appropriate equipment and follow scientifically validated sterilization procedures. After the California legislature approved the act in 1925, canneries were inspected, regulations were enforced, and no further outbreaks occurred. This botulism epidemic is an example of a disease outbreak that was controlled when business interests became aligned with public health goals. The press's portrayal of afflicted persons as innocent victims and worthy citizens galvanized businessmen to implement safeguards to protect consumers from botulism intoxication. To preserve their customer base and salvage their corporations, leaders of the canning industry acknowledged the public health threat of their unregulated procedures and acted on the recommendations of scientists.

Sugar Industry and Coronary Heart Disease Research: A Historical Analysis of Internal Industry Documents.

Early warning signals of the coronary heart disease (CHD) risk of sugar (sucrose) emerged in the 1950s. We examined Sugar Research Foundation (SRF) internal documents, historical reports, and statements relevant to early debates about the dietary causes of CHD and assembled findings chronologically into a narrative case study. The SRF sponsored its first CHD research project in 1965, a literature review published in the New England Journal of Medicine, which singled out fat and cholesterol as the dietary causes of CHD and downplayed evidence that sucrose consumption was also a risk factor. The SRF set the review's objective, contributed articles for inclusion, and received drafts. The SRF's funding and role was not disclosed. Together with other recent analyses of sugar industry documents, our findings suggest the industry sponsored a research program in the 1960s and 1970s that successfully cast doubt about the hazards of sucrose while promoting fat as the dietary culprit in CHD. Policymaking committees should consider giving less weight to food industry-funded studies and include mechanistic and animal studies as well as studies appraising the effect of added sugars on multiple CHD biomarkers and disease development.

Careers in Industry: Pioneering Spirit Prevails at the Carlsberg Research Laboratory.

The founder of the Carlsberg brewery, J.C Jacobsen, recognized the value of private-public partnership and established the Carlsberg Foundation in 1876 with the single aim of applying research and innovation to brew the best beer. One hundred and forty years on, Jacobsen's vision still prevails, and in this interview three scientists from the Carlsberg Research Laboratory (Birgitte Skadhauge, Anna Haldrup, and Ole Olsen) share their experience about finding a career at the crossroads between industry and basic research.

Food security and food insecurity in Europe: An analysis of the academic discourse (1975-2013).

In this paper we address the academic discourse on food insecurity and food security in Europe as expressed in articles published in scientific journals in the period 1975 to 2013. The analysis indicates that little knowledge has been produced on this subject, and that the limited research that has been produced tends to focus on the production of food rather than on people's access to food. The lack of knowledge about European food insecurity is particularly alarming in these times, which are characterised by increasing social inequalities and poverty, as well as shifting policy regimes. More empirical, comparative and longitudinal research is needed to survey the extent of food security problems across European countries over time. There is also a need to identify groups at risk of food insecurity as well as legal, economic, practical, social, and psychological constraints hindering access to appropriate and sufficient food.

Neoliberal science, Chinese style: Making and managing the 'obesity epidemic'.

Science and Technology Studies has seen a growing interest in the commercialization of science. In this article, I track the role of corporations in the construction of the obesity epidemic, deemed one of the major public health threats of the century. Focusing on China, a rising superpower in the midst of rampant, state-directed neoliberalization, I unravel the process, mechanisms, and broad effects of the corporate invention of an obesity epidemic. Largely hidden from view, Western firms were central actors at every stage in the creation, definition, and governmental management of obesity as a Chinese disease. Two industry-funded global health entities and the exploitation of personal ties enabled actors to nudge the development of obesity science and policy along lines beneficial to large firms, while obscuring the nudging. From Big Pharma to Big Food and Big Soda, transnational companies have been profiting from the 'epidemic of Chinese obesity', while doing little to effectively treat or prevent it. The China case suggests how obesity might have been constituted an 'epidemic threat' in other parts of the world and underscores the need for global frameworks to guide the study of neoliberal science and policymaking.

La innovación en la industria de alimentos: Historia de algunas innovaciones y de sus innovadores / Innovation in the food industry: The history of some innovations and of their innovators

Innovation is currently present in all areas of development, particularly in the food industry. Innovation requires creative effort, audacity and technological and/or commercial skills. In the evolution of foods and the associated processes there have been many failures but also many innovations and successful innovators. This paper describes some cases of successful innovations that finally turned into products that are massively consumed daily.

La innovación es un tema actualmente presente en todas las áreas del desarrollo, particularmente en la industria de los alimentos. La innovación requiere esfuerzo creativo, audacia, habilidades tecnológicas y/o comerciales. En la evolución de los alimentos y de los procesos asociados han existido muchos fracasos pero también muchas innovaciones e innovadores exitosos. Este trabajo describe algunos casos de innovaciones exitosas que finalmente se transformaron en productos que diariamente son de consumo masivo.

Rethinking industrial citizenship: the role and meaning of work in an age of austerity.

T. H. Marshall in his famous tract Citizenship and Social Class wrote briefly about what he called 'industrial citizenship', a type of belonging rooted in the workplace. Here Marshall's ideas are developed alongside a consideration of Durkheim's Professional Ethics and Civic Morals together with research material from the Guinness Company. It shows the way the Company actively sought to create 'Guinness citizenship' within its London brewery. The article draws out the ways in which the significance and potential of work based citizenship for ameliorating the ills of industrial society are clearly articulated in mid-twentieth century Britain and echo earlier neglected Durkheimian sociological ideas on work. These ideas have real potential to inform contemporary academic and policy debates about the nature of capitalism and the form and content of work now and in the future.

The Interrelationships between Lactose Intolerance and the Modern Dairy Industry: Global Perspectives in Evolutional and Historical Backgrounds.

Humans learned to exploit ruminants as a source of milk about 10,000 years ago. Since then, the use of domesticated ruminants as a source of milk and dairy products has expanded until today when the dairy industry has become one of the largest sectors in the modern food industry, including the spread at the present time to countries such as China and Japan. This review analyzes the reasons for this expansion and flourishing. As reviewed in detail, milk has numerous nutritional advantages, most important being almost an irreplaceable source of dietary calcium, hence justifying the effort required to increase its consumption. On the other hand, widespread lactose intolerance among the adult population is a considerable drawback to dairy-based foods consumption. Over the centuries, three factors allowed humans to overcome limitations imposed by lactose intolerance: (i) mutations, which occurred in particular populations, most notably in the north European Celtic societies and African nomads, in which carriers of the lactose intolerance gene converted from being lactose intolerant to lactose tolerant; (ii) the ability to develop low-lactose products such as cheese and yogurt; and (iii) colon microbiome adaptation, which allow lactose intolerant individuals to overcome its intolerance. However, in a few examples in the last decade, modern dairy products, such as the popular and widespread bio-cultured yogurts, were suspected to be unsuitable for lactose intolerant peoples. In addition, the use of lactose and milk-derived products containing lactose in non-dairy products has become widespread. For these reasons, it is concluded that it might be important and helpful to label food that may contain lactose because such information will allow lactose intolerant groups to control lactose intake within the physiological limitations of ~12 g per a single meal.

Saberes híbridos: las Sugar Companys y la moderna plantación azucarera en Cuba / Hybrid knowledge: the Sugar Companys and the modern sugarcane plantation in Cuba

Desde los estudios sobre la producción y difusión del conocimiento, este texto explora el encuentro e intercambio entre prácticas y saberes locales y globales dentro de la plantación azucarera entre los siglos XIX y XX, un proceso definido como 'saberes híbridos'. Este artículo también se hace eco de los estudios que ven en la región como modelo de referencia interterritorial. En el texto se destacan algunos elementos del occidente azucarero cubano transferidos a las nuevas plantaciones del este a través de la negociación entre el conocimiento local y las prácticas y saberes estadounidenses, no exenta de tensiones personales, imperiales, científicas o empresariales (AU)

From the studies on the production and dissemination of knowledge, this paper explores the encounter and exchange between local and global practices and knowledge within the sugar plantation between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a process defined as 'hybrid knowledge'. This article echoes the studies are in the region as a model of interregional also referred. Highlights some elements of Western Cuba sugar transferred to new plantations east through negotiation between local knowledge and practices and American knowledge, not without personal, imperial, scientific or businesstensions (AU)

Bringing comfort and convenience to the colonial table: Delhaize Frères & Cie's Colonial Department in the 1920s and 1930s.

The paper explores the role of convenient shopping in establishing a sense of comfort for Europeans in a colonial environment. So far, there has been little investigation into how Belgian retailers tried to gain a firm foothold in the Congo, how they presented themselves and promoted their wares. This paper examines the activities of the colonial department of Delhaize Frères & Cie 'Le Lion', Belgium's first and largest food multiple. It examines how this large grocery chain tried to establish itself in the Congo, what motivations it had to extend its business to the colony, what audience it wished to reach, what products and services it had to offer and what sales and marketing strategies were used. It appears that convenient shopping was one of the key selling points Delhaize's advertising, while also characterising its products as indispensable for Europeans' comfort, moral respectability and homely warmth in a so-called primitive, backward environment.

Sugar industry influence on the scientific agenda of the National Institute of Dental Research's 1971 National Caries Program: a historical analysis of internal documents.

BACKGROUND: In 1966, the National Institute of Dental Research (NIDR) began planning a targeted research program to identify interventions for widespread application to eradicate dental caries (tooth decay) within a decade. In 1971, the NIDR launched the National Caries Program (NCP). The objective of this paper is to explore the sugar industry's interaction with the NIDR to alter the research priorities of the NIDR NCP. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We used internal cane and beet sugar industry documents from 1959 to 1971 to analyze industry actions related to setting research priorities for the NCP. The sugar industry could not deny the role of sucrose in dental caries given the scientific evidence. They therefore adopted a strategy to deflect attention to public health interventions that would reduce the harms of sugar consumption rather than restricting intake. Industry tactics included the following: funding research in collaboration with allied food industries on enzymes to break up dental plaque and a vaccine against tooth decay with questionable potential for widespread application, cultivation of relationships with the NIDR leadership, consulting of members on an NIDR expert panel, and submission of a report to the NIDR that became the foundation of the first request for proposals issued for the NCP. Seventy-eight percent of the sugar industry submission was incorporated into the NIDR's call for research applications. Research that could have been harmful to sugar industry interests was omitted from priorities identified at the launch of the NCP. Limitations are that this analysis relies on one source of sugar industry documents and that we could not interview key actors. CONCLUSIONS: The NCP was a missed opportunity to develop a scientific understanding of how to restrict sugar consumption to prevent tooth decay. A key factor was the alignment of research agendas between the NIDR and the sugar industry. This historical example illustrates how industry protects itself from potentially damaging research, which can inform policy makers today. Industry opposition to current policy proposals-including a World Health Organization guideline on sugars proposed in 2014 and changes to the nutrition facts panel on packaged food in the US proposed in 2014 by the US Food and Drug Administration-should be carefully scrutinized to ensure that industry interests do not supersede public health goals.

Phages in the global fruit and vegetable industry.

From recent articles, we have learned that phages can constitute a promising alternative in the food industry to eliminate bacterial pathogens from seedlings in greenhouse and field environments, as well as from fresh-cut food products. The fruit and vegetable industry requires quite a different approach than the meat or dairy industry. Several factors can inhibit efficacy of phage treatment such as plant watering or washing ready-to-eat products (water may dilute therapeutic doses), UV irradiation or extensive spreading of phytopathogens by wind, insects or even humans. Spontaneously occurring anomalous weather conditions in different parts of the world also may have an enormous impact on phage persistence in cultivations and on yields. Despite that, some phage preparations are commercially available and, without doubt, are much safer than chemical treatments. Along with increasing worldwide fruit and vegetable consumption, plant diseases and human foodborne illnesses are becoming a serious economic problem, resulting in a focus on optimization of phage treatment.