Food Safety

Invasive carp cause serious damage to native fish populations in the Mississippi River and the lakes and rivers throughout the Midwest because they out-compete native species for food and space. The fish are wild and thrash about as they sail through the air, sometimes smacking fishers in the face. The carp pose another more serious threat, however.

Of all the issues we cover, one in particular has all of us at Civil Eats deeply concerned: the widespread overuse of plastic in food and agriculture. From the myth of recycling and the millions of tons of plastic in the oceans, to the abundance of “forever chemicals” and microplastics making their way into our food and our soil, plastics are contaminating the food chain, polluting the environment, and making us sick.

Maine voters approved an amendment Tuesday that enshrines the “right to food” — the first of its kind in the United States. The amendment to the state’s constitution declares that all people have a “natural, inherent and unalienable right” to grow, raise, produce and consume food of their own choosing as long as they do so within legal parameters.

As you may have heard, Bill Gates has been buying up farmland across 18 U.S. states through various subsidiary companies. In all, he now owns about