Food Safety

LAMONT, CA - AUGUST 12: Farm workers spray chemicals at the edge of a field bordering homes on August 12, 2004 near the town of Lamont, southeast of Bakersfield, California. California's Central Valley is one of the nation's most important agricultural and oil producing areas. Mass food production has brought heavy use of chemicals, including pesticides that have sickened hundreds of area workers and residents. In 2002, the last year for which numbers are available, 172 million pounds of pesticides were used on California fields sickening 478 people as airborne chemicals drifted 39 times, according to the state Department of Pesticide Regulation. On May 2, a crew of 100 workers was caught in a drift of pesticide at nearby Arvin that made 19 of them sick, including a woman who was five months pregnant. This spring, state Sen. Dean Florez introduced a bill, the Pesticide Drift Exposure Response Act, to help pay for field workers' medical care. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

EPA Approves Four New Pesticides That Qualify as PFAS

September 8, 2025

Despite MAHA promises to reduce chemical exposures, experts warn the Trump administration is approving a wave of ‘frightening’ pesticides.

In Hawai‘i, Restoring Kava Helps Sustain Native Food Culture

February 24, 2025

The Kanaka Kava crew plant ‘awa observing traditional Native Hawaiian protocols. (Photo credit: Kanaka Kava)

Op-ed: Egg Prices Are Soaring. Are Backyard Chickens the Answer?

February 18, 2025

two black chickens and a brown chicken peck at produce in a backyard area

The Fate of Denver’s Last Slaughterhouse Is on the Ballot

By Raksha Vasudevan

October 23, 2024

inside a slaughterhouse with hundreds of slayed lambs hanging from hooks

Is Recycled Plastic Safe for Food Use?

August 27, 2024

Tracking Tire Plastics—and Chemicals—From Road to Plate

By Virginia Gewin

July 16, 2024

Pesticide Industry Could Win Big in Latest Farm Bill Proposal

May 29, 2024

New School Meal Standards Could Put More Local Food on Students’ Lunch Trays

April 30, 2024

A student at Ashford Elementary School in Houston fills up on local food in his school lunch. (USDA Photo by Lance Cheung)

Can Agriculture Kick Its Plastic Addiction?

December 4, 2023

Strawberries sit in rows covered in agricultural plastic.

Will a Food and Ag Focus at COP28 Distract From the Fossil Fuel Economy?

October 16, 2023

United Arab Emirates oil field with rigs and pumps at sunset. (Photo credit: Anton Petrus, Getty Images)

AI Is Writing Books About Foraging. What Could Go Wrong?

By Claudia Geib

October 10, 2023

Foraging book covers

PFAS Shut Maine Farms Down. Now, Some Are Rebounding.

By Kirsten Lie-Nielsen

October 2, 2023

Upland Grassroots Hemp Farming

The True Cost of Tuna: Marine Observers Dying at Sea

By Lee van der Voo

May 23, 2023

A watercolor-style illustration of a marine observer looking through binoculars at a tuna fishing vessel. (Illustration credit: Tina Zellmer)

How the Jackson Water Crisis Is Hurting Its Restaurants

By Christina Cooke

April 19, 2023

Restaurant workers in Jackson, Mississippi, use bottled water to prep before customers arrive as the city remained without reliable water infrastructure in September 2022. (Photo © Rory Doyle)

After 60 Years, ‘Silent Spring’ Is Still Changing the World

October 19, 2022

Rachel Carson and the original cover of Silent Spring

Will New Standards for Salmonella in Chicken Cut Down on Food Poisoning?

September 27, 2022

A raw whole chicken on a tray to illustrate the risks of salmonella in chicken

High Levels of PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’ Found in Fish

By Carolyn Beans

June 23, 2022

The US Is a Dumping Ground for Illegal Seafood. Some Lawmakers Want to Clean Up the Market

By Lee van der Voo

June 13, 2022

buyers at a fish market

Glass, Plastic, Or PLA? Dairies Struggle to Replace Single-Use Bottles

By Gosia Wozniacka

December 14, 2021

Assorted dairy and dairy-alternative beverages in bottles at a Sprouts supermarket in Texas. (Photo credit: NeONBRAND on Unsplash)

Concerns About Workplace Safety as Meatpacking Plants Recruit Foreign Visa Workers

By Luis Velazquez, Investigate Midwest

August 27, 2021

a meatpacking plant worker uses a saw to cut through a slab of meat

Will the U.S. Ban PFAS in Food Packaging?

June 3, 2021

Food service worker holding a compostable container made with PFAS and forever chemicals.

OSHA Has Failed to Protect Food Workers. Can a New Director Keep Them Safe?

May 11, 2021

farmworkers talk to a covid workplace safety protection worker in california. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

15 Stories About How the Pandemic is Impacting Food and Farm Workers

By The Civil Eats Editors

September 7, 2020

farmworkers picking corn

USDA Seeks to Permanently Speed up Poultry Plant Line Speeds

August 31, 2020

food workers at a poultry processing plant watch chickens go by as line speeds accelerate

It’s Now Legal for Home Chefs in California to Sell Meals. Will More Cities Get on Board?

June 30, 2020

a collage of three different home chefs and home cooks who work as MEHKOs