Who’s The Food Watchdog?
Andrew Schneider is an investigative reporter, but he’s also a foodie. No question.
Cut him and he bleeds cilantro. His spice rack is so big it has its own zip code. He has a holster for his in-pot blender. His notebooks of recipes cover fancy cuisine, solid grub and pure rotgut he’s discovered on every continent, including Antarctica.
Yet, weirdly enough, Schneider is still better known in some circles as a two-time Pulitzer winner (here’s the second one) and a hard-nosed news reporter. He broke the story of the asbestos poisoning of Libby, Montana, and the criminal indictment of W.R. Grace, leading to the largest environmental crime case in U.S. history. Along with reporter David McCumber, Schneider authored the book “The Air That Kills: How the Asbestos Poisoning of Libby, Montana, Uncovered a National Scandal.” He’s the guy who first reported widely on the dangers of diacetyl, a butter flavoring used in thousands of products, which when heated can destroy the lungs of food-factory workers, mom-and-pop confection store owners and chefs across the country.
After approximately 100 years of working at top daily newspapers, wire services and magazines, Schneider launched his public health and safety blog Cold Truth, a heavily read blog that covers the food we eat and the products we’re sold; hazards in our workplaces and homes, both man-made and natural.
And then, just because he never knows when to quit, Schneider launched The Food Watchdog, where reporter meets foodie. Where substantiated fact coexists with season-to-taste directions. A place, at long last, where the inquiring minds, whether short-order cook, recipe whore, chef, public-health or food-safety nerd; or just a big eater can have a safe place to read, learn and think deep thoughts about truffles, salmonella and why shrimp glow blue in the refrigerator.
We’ve changed the look of the blog in recent weeks, so let us know what you think of The Food Watchdog. Ideas, questions, tips, criticisms, praise to: schneider@thefoodwatchdog.com
Some of Schneider’s previous investigations:
Asian Honey, Banned in Europe, Is Flooding U.S. Grocery Shelves
A third or more of all the honey consumed in the U.S. is likely to have been smuggled in from China and may be tainted with illegal antibiotics and heavy metals. A Food Safety News investigation has documented that millions of pounds of honey banned as unsafe in dozens of countries are being imported and sold here in record quantities.
USDA May Be Ready to Tackle Other Lethal E. coli Strains. (2010)
For years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has ignored dramatic proof that several unregulated strains of E. coli contaminate America’s meat supply.
Regulated or Not, Nano Foods are Coming to a Store Near You. (2010 to present)
As part of an eight-story investigation for AOL News, Schneider examined the burgeoning use of nanoparticles in food and beverage and the act that little, if any, is tested for health hazards.
Honey Laundering (2008)
The honey business is plagued with international intrigue, where foreign hucksters and shady importers sometimes rip off conscientious packers with Chinese honey diluted with cheap sugar syrup or tainted with illegal antibiotics.
The Dangers of Diacetyl (2008- present)
Diacetyl is a chemical butter flavoring commonly found in microwave popcorn. Government worker safety investigators have linked diacetyl exposure to the sometimes fatal destruction of the lungs of hundreds of workers in food production and flavoring factories. Yet it can be found in thousands of products.
AN AIR THAT KILLS: How the Asbestos Poisoning of Libby, Montana, Uncovered a National Scandal
In this book, journalists Andrew Schneider, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, and David McCumber, a Pulitzer finalist, tell the chilling story of the most outrageous corporate health scandal in U.S. history. This is the true story, by the journalists who broke it, of a small Montana town devastated by a vermiculite mine owned by the profit-hungry W.R. Grace & Co.
Grace — and the Zonolite Company before it — hid the risks of its mining business for more than 60 years. Toxic dust contaminated with lethal asbestos fibers poured out of the mine for decades, poisoning the men who worked there, the families they went home to and the town that grew around in. In one year alone, more than two-and-a-half tons of asbestos fibers were released into the Libby air every day. So far, far more than 400 people in Libby have died from asbestos-related diseases and thousands more have been sickened. And the death toll keeps climbing. But the outrage doesn’t end there. Vermiculite ore from Libby was shipped around the nation — and the world — and used in potting soil, attic insulation and fireproofing materials. An estimated 30 million homes in the U.S. and Canada have potentially lethal insulation from Libby in their attics. And when the World Trade Center towers collapsed on 9/11, they released asbestos fibers from Libby into the air of lower Manhattan.
AN AIR THAT KILLS, says author Ken Auletta, “will make your blood boil.” And not just over the actions of the mine owners. Schneider documented in a chilling paper trail that the town was left to die by every branch of every government charged with making sure that something like this doesn’t happen. But the book will also give you hope by explaining how a former cowboy and barmaid teamed up with two hippies and a geek to take on the Bush White House, bring help and Libby and put Grace executives on trial for their actions.
An updated version of An Air That Kills will be release soon after the conclusion of the criminal trial.
Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett is a regular contributor to The Food Watchdog. She has spent the past three decades reporting, editing, reviewing books and freelancing for newspapers, magazines and news websites. She had the good fortune to work for The Seattle Times until 2003 in various capacities: news desk and feature-section editor; magazine columnist and editorial writer.
Email: kimberly@TheFoodWatchdog .com
She blogs at Type Like the Wind.
Kathy Egan is The Food Watchdog’s resident “renaissance dietitian” and senior writer. Egan started her career in hotel and restaurant food-service management, then built a successful private practice as nutrition counselor and personal trainer. Her work with athletes, elders, weight-management clients of all ages and post-surgical patients provides Egan a broad spectrum of experience from which to draw.
Her reporting and commentary cover topics ranging from innovative institutional food-service models to evaluating the latest high-profile diets.
Email: WatchdogRD@gmail.com
