The U.S. election is on November 3. Many have voted early. Hope that voting democracy isn't too damaged where you live.
Food policy hasn't come up in the campaign. We don't know where Joe Biden stands on food policy or how he thinks about food. We do know he isn't Donald Trump and won't make things worse.
- Earlier this year, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service allowed the sale of chicken meat made from birds that have had diseases for human consumption.
- The U.S. sends meat and seafood to be processed in China and the food comes back to the United States.
- Rollbacks on the nutrition standards of school lunches from where they were under Barack Obama.
- The horrible tariffs that impacted farmers for no logical reason. The American Farm Bureau points out that debt in the farm sector is projected to increase by 4 percent to a record $434 billion. Farm bankruptcies continue to rise.
This is not the whole list by a long shot. This would be a 30-minute read with the whole list and the Internet does not want a 30-minute read.
Obama signs school lunch bill, still waiting on food safety bill
Blanche Lincoln, who worked hard to cut school lunch increase, lost her Senate race
BalanceofFood.com school lunch coverage
The Democratic Party has had control of the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the White House for 4 years between 1981 and the present. Bill Clinton had that level of control from 1993-1995 and Barack Obama from 2009-2011. During the Obama time, there was a lot of political work that went into a 6¢ school lunch increase, the first such non-inflationary increase to school lunches since 1974.
Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) worked so hard to reduce the increase to 6¢.
The Dems taking back the Senate is possible but will be a difficult task. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris might get elected but without the Senate, they won't be able to get much done, especially on the food supply.
We would love to have a policy debate with a pair of parties that cared about the impact of nutrition and food policy. We barely have one at times.
Celebrating the Michelle Obama legacy for food and nutrition
BalanceofFood.com endorses Michelle Obama to be First Lady for 4 more years
We don't make endorsements here at BalanceofFood.com. Our "endorsement" of Michelle Obama in 2012 was more about her efforts than her husband's efforts.
We know the famous rose garden in the White House was destroyed recently. We don't know what happened to Michelle Obama's organic food garden on the White House property.
If Biden and Kamala Harris get elected, perhaps Dr. Jill Biden will incorporate Michelle Obama's help once again.
Daily Show addresses increased junk food in school lunches
We mentioned in May 2019 that Higher Ground, Barack and Michelle Obama's production company, is working on a half-hour series for Netflix called Listen to Your Vegetables & Eat Your Parents. The program will “take young children and their families around the globe on an adventure that tells us the story of our food.”
That program is still in development. As we have noted, government can do some good but other forces need to be part of the process. We hope some adults learn along with children about the value of vegetables.
Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump on how they approach food
5 questions you should ask presidential candidates about U.S. food policy
The Obama Administration brought in a "nutrition czar." Sam Kass served as a senior policy adviser for nutrition policy and executive director of Let’s Move! Kass was there from the administration start until December 2014. Debra Eschmeyer, co-founder of Food Corps replaced Kass in those roles.
Eater through Civil Eats covered a lot on Dems work on climate change and agriculture.
Biden served as vice president in the Obama Administration. A "secretary of nutrition" would be a vital resource as opposed to a secretary of agriculture. The United States hasn't had a significant secretary of agriculture in a positive sense in a very long time.
We hope to have more positive coverage of school lunches and overall food policy in the next 4-8 years.
photo credit: Kevin E. Schmidt/Quad City Times
video credit: McDonald's
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