The following letters recently appeared in our February 2017 issue of Food Processing magazine.
Unfair to Kaepernick
I'm a big fan of Food Processing magazine. But I'd like to share my point of view after reading the Editor's Plate in November, which may be the perspective of other readers as well.
The piece finished with you stating that you're a "big supporter" of freedom of speech, yet was adversarial against Kaepernick's free speech actions. Not strongly adversarial, but adversarial nonetheless. Certainly, it didn't offer any praise for his efforts.
Instead of criticizing Kaepernick's right to protest, perhaps it would have been a less divisive article had you bridged his protest, which has been very successful achieving broad media attention to the subject (which was his point), with the fantastic entrepreneurial efforts of two of his predecessors, Franco Harris and Lydell Mitchell.
Police brutality is a sensitive issue and not just for black Americans. For many citizens affected by this, his silent protest IS inspiring. Heck, people are talking about police brutality in a food processing magazine! Thus, to say he isn't "making a difference" might be unfair.
Ryan Howard
Chicago Vegan Foods
Recognize GMO rice
A half-million kids under the age of 5 will die again this year due to vitamin-A deficiency in the Third World. GMO Golden Rice could provide the nutrients to prevent blindness and death, but it has been awaiting approval for over a decade thanks largely to organic activists who claim this crop will threaten organic crops.
As someone who worked for five years as a USDA organic inspector, please let me assure you that nothing could be further from the truth. Not only will GMO Golden Rice alleviate the suffering of millions, it could also – in point-of-fact – be grown organically! So I joined with 11 scientists and wrote an article last year in The Daily Caller about producing the world’s first organic-GMO crop. I then wrote a brief follow-up immediately after Mr. Trump won the presidency.
Would you please help get the word out about this? GMO Golden Rice has been given to the world free of charge by its inventor, Dr. Ingo Potrykus. All that stands in its way is the lack of political will.
I hope Mr. Trump's new Secretary of Agriculture understands this issue. Organic activists claim GMOs threaten organic crops. But, as is often the case with anti-everything activists, they have never bothered to read their own federal standards for organic production.
Mischa Popoff, Former USDA contract organic inspector
Royse City Texas
More aid for food banks
I was hoping I could somehow get your help on an Idea I have. Our country's food banks need help. No one in America should ever go hungry, so why do they? How much money do Americans spend on food each year? And how much money do these companies make? A lot! So why can't they donate to our food banks and keep the shelves well stocked? Maybe we can start some kind of bill to take before congress so these major companies have to donate 5 percent of their profit in food.
Food banks run out of food and people get turned away, and what they give you for a family of four will last three days if you're lucky. What is wrong with this picture? Why are we so concerned with money and not concerned with the greater good for the community?
Kathleen Fisher, Washington
Editor's note: Every major food company I know gives generously -- in product, cash and volunteer hours -- to food banks, either local ones or national ones. Foremost among them is Feeding America. Make sure your company is on its list of donors. Individuals can donate, too. See feedingamerica.org.