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#5SmartReads - November 12, 2024

putting the election in perspective + what to do next

Hitha Palepu

Nov 12

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#5SmartReads is a Webby-honored weekly news digest that amplifies underreported news and underrepresented perspectives. My goal is to help you stay informed without being overwhelmed, and to embrace nuance and reflection over picking a side.

I’m offering 50% off the annual subscription through November 17th - if you haven’t upgraded your subscription, please do!

Why food recalls are everywhere right now (Vox)

The answer is a nuanced one.

One reason is that investing in food safety within the FDA helps us investigate and track the source of these food borne illnesses, and issue recalls faster (though this doesn’t cover meat, poultry, or eggs - which falls under the Department of Agriculture's responsibilities).

The other is our increasingly complicated food system - food imports, the rise in processed foods, and the bare minimal inspection of food production facilities.

I understand the premise of the Make America Healthy Again movement, particularly the emphasis to move away from processed foods and into whole foods.

I’m fully onboard - but in order to make this happen, we need to change the economics of food in a major way in this country.

As someone who works with the drug side of the FDA, I also know how critical the inspection of facilities (where our drug substance and our finished products are manufactured) are to ensure the safety of our drugs - and how we need more inspectors to stay on top of annual audits. If the drug side of the agency is already under-resourced, I suspect it’s even worse on the food side.

There are solutions to this problem (many which require greater funding and regulation by the FDA and USDA):

significantly increase the fines to companies who are the source of food borne illness outbreaks (a sliding scale model - the greater the disease spread, the larger the fine)
continue to invest in diagnostic tests + digital efforts to test + trace illness outbreaks (and offer tax breaks to food manufacturers who proactively test and publish food safety reports)
significantly increase investments in smaller farms that are growing diverse crops and animal products (and scale local public-private partnerships for more circular food systems)

You also have options as a consumer:

grow some of your own herbs & food (I love my Click-n-Grow garden, which is 20% off), and shop from your local farmer’s markets as much as possible
cook your food at the required high temperatures, use silicone cutting boards for meat and keep them separate from your vegetables (also consider using separate knives when cooking)
shop mindfully - Walmart has the strictest policy when it comes to temperature controls for their food shipments from source to store (h/t Abra Belke for this insight!).

Zooey Zephyr Wants to Do Right by Montana (Teen Vogue)

“I think about the way peace requires us to commune with people who hold antithetical beliefs to us in kind, genuine, and delicate ways.” She told us that she tries to approach every conversation with three things in mind: “First of which is that the person I'm talking to came to their beliefs genuinely. The second is that they hold beliefs that were nuanced. And the third is that they are willing to change their mind under the right circumstances. That is not true of everyone. That is particularly not true of everyone in politics. But I believe that about my opinions.”

We have a lot to learn from Zooey Zephyr, a state representative in Montana. She received national attention for her vocal opposition to Senate Bill 99 (banning gender-affirming medical and surgical care for children) and subsequent censure last year, and there is so much more to her and her work outside of this major issue.

Zephyr brings a both/and approach to leadership that I think is vital today - being steadfast in your values while doing what you can, the best you can, consistently and quietly. Her belief in everyone deserving dignity and safety can be seen in her legislative efforts, from protecting trans rights in Montana to tenant protections and infrastructure repairs.

Hope is a choice, and a hard one right now. This fantastic interview fanned the flickering flame of hope in my heart - I hope it does the same for you...