Data is Plural – Data journalist Adrian Nesta is building a automated pipeline to collect and standardize data on food safety recalls and alerts from two US federal agencies — the FDA and the USDA. For each alert, the standardized dataset indicates the notice’s title, ID, URL, and time posted, as well as the product description, company name, brand name, recall type, recall reason, impacted states, risk level, and more.
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Category Archives: Food and Nutrition
The Ocean Investigations Guide
Via Ian Urbina: “Investigative reporting about activities at sea is a unique specialty requiring distinct tools and tactics. How can I find open-source footage evidence of human rights abuses or illegal fishing on ships? Is it possible to connect ships to the specific seafood buyers? Is there a way to track ships even when they… Continue Reading
Almost all of earth became permanently drier since 1990: Report
The Hill: “More than 75 percent of the globe became permanently drier over the past three decades, according to a report from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The report, published Monday, found that about 77.6 percent of the globe became drier from 1990 to 2020, more than it did over the preceding… Continue Reading
The Global Fishing Legislative Database
Ian Urbina, The Outlaw Ocean Project: “If you don’t know the rules, it’s tough to determine whether they’ve been broken. And yet, there isn’t a central spot online where a journalist or researcher can find the rules that apply in a given countries’ waters. This tool, called The Global Fishing Legislative Database, is meant to… Continue Reading
100 million places
Data is Plural: “Foursquare has released an open dataset describing more than 100 million points of interest across 200+ countries. For each place, the dataset includes its name, address, latitude/longitude, date entered, date updated, date marked closed, telephone number, website, email address, and relevant categories. Among the many possible labels: casino, comedy club, 300+ kinds… Continue Reading
Bookmark ‘Calculator Soup’
Lifehacker – For the Next Time You Need to Convert Just About Anything – “We all have a few go-to calculations that we find ourselves doing often, like converting ounces to cups or miles to kilometers—that sort of thing. When I need to do a quick conversion, I use Calculator Soup, a simple website offering… Continue Reading
Want to donate to charity? Here are 10 guidelines for giving effectively
Vox: “Giving to charity is great, not just for the recipients but for the givers, too. But it can be intimidating to know how to pick the best charity when there are thousands of worthy causes to choose from, and especially when so many are suffering around the world. Yet that suffering makes it all… Continue Reading
The 25 Most Important Recipes of the Past 100 Years
Slate – “When we initially reached out to scores of chefs, recipe writers, historians, and food luminaries for nominations for their most important American recipes of the past 100 years—Which written recipes were the most influential, pivotal, or transformative for American home cooking between 1924 and 2024?—we expected strong opinions, but we didn’t anticipate the… Continue Reading
Our World in Data
“Poverty, disease, hunger, climate change, war, existential risks, and inequality: The world faces many great and terrifying problems. It is these large problems that our work at Our World in Data focuses on. Thanks to the work of thousands of researchers around the world who dedicate their lives to it, we often have a good… Continue Reading
Mapped: How Much Americans Spend on Groceries in Each State
Visual Capitalist: “Since August 2020, prices for “food at home” (groceries) have increased by 20% according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the steepest inflation seen since the 1970s. On average, American households are paying about $270 per week ($1,080 a month) for groceries, according to Delish, which sourced their findings from the… Continue Reading
Undercover investigation reveals the deception of “humane”-certified farms
Vox: “An overwhelming majority of Americans say they’re concerned about the treatment of animals raised for meat, and many believe they can help by simply selecting from one of the many brands that advertise their chicken or pork as “humane.” But such marketing claims have long borne little resemblance to the ugly reality of raising… Continue Reading
Why you should get rid of your black plastic spatula immediately
Fast Company: “If you have a black spatula in your kitchen, or other black plastic items around your house like takeout containers or children’s toys, they could contain high levels of toxic flame retardants. Those chemicals—which have been linked to cancer, neurological damage, and hormone disruption—may be a result of recycling contamination, specifically from electronics,… Continue Reading
