Institute For The Future

The government keeps sticking its nose in my food!

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New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is at it again. First, it banned the use of trans fats in restaurants. Now it is launching a campaign against sushi!

More specifically, it is encouraging women who are are pregnant, breastfeeding, or planning to have children in the near future to stop eating raw fish and to cut down on their intake of cooked fish, too. A citywide survey showed that women of childbearing age in NYC had three times the level of mercury in their blood stream as did women in the same age group nationwide.

We could debate the validity of this study, but the reason I mention it is really because I find it to be an interesting example of the politics of food. And our Foodscapes project is always on my mind.