When Wendy Davidson laced up her shoes to run the Chicago Marathon in 2016, the challenge wasn't so much about scoring a fast time for the self-described non-runner. Davidsons goals were far more personal and ambitious: stretching her limits and making herself uncomfortable.

Today, shes aiming to bring the same philosophy and drive from that endurance race to the corporate office as the new CEO of Hain Celestial, a $1.5 billion leader in the natural and organic food and beverage space.

I ended up learning [from the race]that you need to take big, bold moves, make yourself super uncomfortable, Davidson said in her first media interview since taking over in January. For me at [Hain], the biggest unlock is how do we make sure that we are consistently challenging our way of thinking. How might we do that differently, and not allow the status quo, even if its successful, to be a place where we get too comfortable.

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Davidson took over the top post from Mark Schiller who was instrumental in stabilizing Hain. During his four years at the helm, Schiller prioritized slimming down the sprawling food and personal care giantthrough the divestiture of non-core assets while curtailing a sharp slowdown in sales and shrinking margins.

Davidsons agenda is far different: Shes been hired to grow the business.Thats how Im wired, she said. Im the right person at the right time.

A seasoned CPG veteran, Davidson is no stranger to the food space, with experience at Kellogg, McCormick & Co. and Tyson Foods. The 53-year-old executive also has deep insight into healthier offerings like those sold by Hain after previously serving as president of the Americas for Glanbia Performance Nutrition, a maker of healthy food, drinks and other products including Think! Bars and SlimFast.

Davidson's agenda to grow Hain hinges predominately in three areas: driving more from its existing portfolio through innovation, boosting brand awareness and accelerating distribution. She's wasted little time making changes that could help Hain achieve the lofty goals she has set out.

In an effort to ramp up connections and build trust with employees, Davidson holds weekly tea talks with 10 randomly selected people to see whats on their minds and what she should be thinking about. She also organizes monthly town hall meetings her first one came just three days after starting where employees are encouraged to ask her anything.

Hainalso has embraced an operating model where product developers, packaging engineers, marketers and brand builders, among other employees, can work anywhere throughout the country a practice designed to give the company access to the best people. Later, these individuals will come together at a central location to test, discuss and troubleshoot.The idea, Davidson said, will help get products to market faster, create more relevant items and improve execution when a product is launched.

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Outside the company, Hain plans to increase public awareness starting in the second half of the year for many of its largest offerings such as Sensible Portions and Terra chips, several of which stopped advertising and promotions in the last year.

But an even bigger part of making the companys products more top-of-mind will come through the wider distribution of its better-for-you offerings beyond just big-box stores and health and wellness retailers where the lions share of its items are sold.

These include getting its Celestial Seasonings teas into hotel rooms and its better-for-you snack brands into places like college campuses and school cafeterias.

Its a strategy similar to Davidsons time at Kellogg, where for seven years she was responsible for increasing consumption of the food makers brands, including Pringles, Cheez-Its, Rice Krispies Treats and Corn Flakes cereals, outside of the home.

Davidson also is eyeing a deeper presence for Hain in convenience stores where consumers are on-the-go but many of them are looking to eat healthier.Hain currently has a less than 1% share of this channel.

We have a solid portfolio of brands in a solid group of categories that are big and growing, that have tailwinds because of where the consumer is at, she said. We need to drive from our core right now, and I think we have lots of potential to do that.

Despite all the promise,Casey Lea, global director of quantitative research at ISS Governance, said Hain continues to face falling margins, three-straight quarters of losses and a stock price hovering near its lowest point in four years.Sales growth, while improving, remains negative.

During its second-quarter earnings releasedin February, net sales dipped 4.8% from the quarter a year earlier to $450 million despite an increase in North America, a region that contributes nearly two-thirds of the companys overall business.

Lea said it could be a tough road given the strong downward trajectory, but also a big opportunity for Davidson and the companys shareholders if she can turn Hain around.

You're coming into a business that has clearly been, everything's been going the wrong way, he said.The expectations are pretty low for the company. So they are cheap.The market hasn't priced in a whole bunch of improvement."

For years, Hain employed a strategy of rolling up brands that dramatically increased the size of its portfolio. The companys growth-at-all-costs mentality proved disastrous.

After a half-decade where revenue grew more than 20% annually, Hain was suddenly facing a slowdown in sales and shrinking margins. Its stock came close to being delisted and an activist investoragitated for change.

At one time, more than a third of its nearly 60 brands were losing money and it owned a disparate group of offerings spanning 37 different categories.

Today, the company is vastly smaller, overseeing 32 brands globally.

In the U.S. alone, it manages 20 brands, including Celestial Seasonings teas, Sensible Portions Garden Veggie Straws and Greek Gods yogurt,and a personal care portfolio of cleansers, shampoos, sunscreens, and lotions. About half of these items are No. 1 or No. 2 in their category, according to the company.

For me at [Hain], the biggest unlock is how do we make sure that we are consistently challenging our way of thinking. How might we do that differently, and not allow the status quo, even if its successful, to be a place where we get too comfortable.

Wendy Davidson

CEO, Hain Celestial

After her predecessor spent much of the last several years divesting brands,Davidson said there is substantial growth potential in the current portfolio without the need to make significant changes.

I see it as more maybe a little bit of shaping in the portfolio, she said. But I dont see any big, big divestitures that we need to do. And I dont see any giant white space that we need an acquisition to fix.

Davidson said she is reviewing Hains brands that are strong in one region, such as tea or snacking in the U.S. and meat-free items in the U.K and Canada, to determine whether they can play in other parts of the globe where the company has operations. Shes also assessing if any of its offerings could move into adjacent categories that are in demand with consumers, like bringing its snacking brands into bars or teas into on-the-go hydration.

Davidson acknowledges that Haingoes up against industry juggernauts,including Hershey,MondelzInternational, Campbell Soup and PepsiCo,that operate in many of the categories it sells products.

These same CPG companies have latched on to rising trends such as better-for-you snacking to launch their own offerings or to improve the quality of existing ones in their portfolio by cutting salt, sugar or adding other attributes like organic to make them more appealing.

Still, Davidson is undeterred, saying Hain operates in a sweet spot where the company is big enough to tap into the marketing prowess and innovation knowhow employed by her competitors while benefiting from the nimbleness and pinpoint focus valued by smaller upstarts operating in a specific niche.

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Hain has a large variety of brands across various usage occasions to meet natural and organic needs throughout the day snacks, cooking oil, soup, peanut butter, tea, yogurt and cookies. This gives Hain the scale it needs to have credibility important to increasing its reach with customers and piquing the attention of prospective retailers, Davidson noted.

The food manufacturer also has products with a lower price point in the premium better-for-you segment, making them more attractive to a wider swath of shoppers.

In addition, Hain operates only in the natural and organic category. It doesnt have the distraction of some of its larger CPG competitors who have a few items commingling with other lesser healthy options as part of a much bigger portfolio,Davidson noted.

We're not a big CPG. And we're not a small single-brand startup. We play in the middle, she said. So how do we out-small the big and use nimble and agile ways of working to move faster than they can move? And how do we help out-big the small by leveraging our scale and capabilities to punch above our weight?

As she digs in at Hain, Davidson will inherit many of the same problems other food and beverage companies are facing: the continued emergence of the consumer from COVID-19, rising inflation and supply chain disruptions. Hain will be better positioned to accelerate its turnaround as conditions improve.

Davidson acknowledged in the past few years,the company wasnt fully ready to take the training wheels off to drive growth with these outside distractions weighing on the business.

I'm excited about the potential of the company, because I do think we have some really good building blocks, she said.We have great people. We have great brands, we have a great business, but all of them have opportunities for investment.

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The ambitious plan by Hain Celestial's new CEO to restore growth ... - Food Dive

For some people, grocery shopping can be a dreaded household task, clouded by thoughts of crowded aisles and long lines. For others, it's an opportunity to discover new products, brainstorm creative meal ideas, and experience a sense of accomplishment when checking off a to-do list.

Regardless of where one stands, it's fair to say that shoppers have their preferred place for purchasing food, which could be driven by prices, product quality, or proximity to one's home.

No one knows food like a professional chef. Have you ever wondered where these food experts like to buy their food when they're not busy whipping up meals in their restaurant? We've got you covered. From local gems to regional favorites, here's a look at where five chefs in the United States like to do their grocery shopping.

RELATED: 9 Best Specialty Grocery Stores in America, According to Chefs

When you're craving seasonal produce, nothing beats the fruit and vegetable offerings at a farmers market. "It is often more expensive, but I think it's a win-win," saysEmilie Berner, lead chef of online plant-based culinary arts and food operations at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE).Berner prefers to do her grocery shopping at farmers markets when possible, noting the plentiful selection of them in the Los Angeles area, where she recently moved.

"I'm getting more delicious and nutrient-dense produce while supporting local food systems, which, in turn, supports my values," she says. "So going to a farmer's market is satisfying on multiple levels."

Michelle Palazzo, pastry chef at Franchette, a French bistro in New York City, is partial towards farmers markets, as well. She says that she will "try to get all [her] groceries" at Union Square Greenmarket, which is open year-round.

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As a resident in Manhattan's East Village, Palazzo is also a fan of mini specialty grocery chain Gourmet Garage and high-end grocery store Mulberry Market. Gourmet Garage began as a supplier for restaurants and chefs. It has since expanded into four retail locations in New York City. Mulberry Market has a standalone location on, you guessed it, Mulberry Street.

"I love the premium ingredients these stores offer," Palazzo says. "I know I can walk out with fresh, high-quality, and trusted items I can use in both my personal and professional baking."

H Mart has been the go-to grocery store forJi Hye Kim since she moved to to the United States in 1992. "They tend to have really fresh fruits and vegetables and they focus a lot on Asian produce and fruits," says theaward-winning chef and the owner of Korean restaurant Miss Kim in Ann Arbor, Mich., adding that she will buy cases of fruit instead of purchasing it individually.

Beyond the produce options, Kim highlights her love for H Mart's pre-made banchan (Korean side dishes), home goods section, and snack offerings.

"I can spend hours in their junk food aisle," she says. "I'm indifferent to things like cereal because I didn't grow up with it, but put me in a shrimp chips aisle in H Mart, and I will get so excited like kids in a candy store that just try to grab as much as I'd like."

James Beard Award-winning chef Ken Oringer is also a frequent shopper at Asian markets like H Mart. "To be immersed in a different culture when you grocery shop is always fascinating to me," says the Boston-based co-founder of JK Food Group."And there's always so many things that I discover when I'm there."

In addition to purchasing produce and whole fish from these stores, Oringer has an appreciation for the diverse selection of gluten-free products such as rice flour, rice paper, and tofu skins, as his family follows a gluten-free diet.

Another specialty market Oringer likes to visit is Italian marketplace chain Eataly, which is home to multiple restaurants, food and beverage counters, and cooking classes.

The chef shares that he will buy produce and dried goods from this Italian market, adding that the meat and fish offerings are "amazing." He also says that he frequently gravitates towards Eataly's more unique food offerings.

"They always attract me to try different things as well, whether it be a different kind of canned seafood, or pistachio paste, or black truffle pesto, or what have you," he says.

With 394 locations across the U.S., Sprouts Farmers Market is widely known for its fresh produce and healthy selection, which makes it a haven for chefs like Berner."They have great produce and bulk sections where you can even get your spices in bulk," she says. "I like grocery stores that offer that option as a way to reduce costs and packaging."

From the freshly made sub sandwiches to the variety of in-store dining options, there's a lot to love about Rochester, N.Y.-based Wegmans, which has locations in the northeast and mid-atlantic regions of the U.S.

"Wegmans is a gigantic grocery store that has everything that I could ever need to cook for my house when I do cook at home, which is very rare," says corporate chefAJ Capella of Montclair Hospitality Group,who oversees the ramen restaurant chain Ani Ramen.The New Jersey-based chef points out that the regional grocery chain offers antibiotic and hormone-free proteins, noting that he only purchases his fish from Wegmans.

"I [also] really like their bakery department. All their bread is really good," Capella adds. Wegmans' bakery department has an assortment of items ranging from pastries and desserts to artisan breads and dietary restriction-friendly products.

Known for its natural and organic food offerings, Whole Foods currently has more than 500 locations across North America and the UK. The Austin, Texas-based supermarket chain also carries locally-grown seasonal items, with Orlinger pointing out that he loves when Whole Foods sells local producelike strawberries and peachesover the summer.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

While Capella shares that he will opt for this grocery chain when he needs "a quick something," Berner says that she will "make special trips to Whole Foods to get their chicken jalapeo sausages, as well as their marinated barbecue tofu."

Trader Joe's is often celebrated for its creative variety of productsan element that has "pleasantly surprised" Oringer, who says he has a newfound appreciation for the neighborhood grocery chain now that one of his restaurants, Faccia a Faccia, is right around the corner from it.

In terms of products, the Boston-based chef is a fan of TJ's roasted nut options, corn chips, hatch green chili salsa, and Gluten-Free Everything Bagels. He also calls TJ's frozen foods section "really creative," mentioning options like the Chicken Tikka Masala and Chana Masala.

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8 Grocery Stores Where Chefs Love To Shop - Eat This, Not That

This week marks the annual Food Waste Prevention Week, an entire week devoted to educating and inspiring culture change around wasted food. When we waste food, were wasting all of the natural resources that went into producing that food and contributing to climate change throughout the lifecycle of that food, including when it is disposed of in landfills or incinerators. Furthermore, wasted food represents wasted money that many folks cant afford to lose, especially as inflation makes our food more expensive.

This week is about preventing food from becoming waste because, though there are climate benefits from composting and keeping food and organic materials out of landfills, weve still wasted all of the water, energy, and land that went into producing, transporting, cooling, processing, and storing the food at every other step of the food supply chain. By preventing food from going to waste and better optimizing our food production, we can prevent further land conversion, biodiversity loss, and agricultural production pressures.

NRDC has been part of the national planning team for Food Waste Prevention Week and we are delighted to see many of our local, regional, state, and national partners joining this movement.

More than 500 partners across the country and around the globe are participating in their own ways. Many Food Matters city partners are holding in-person events, joining local morning newscasts, and sharing their work on social media.

To kick off the week, NRDC and EPA co-hosted a webinar on Local Solutions to Food Waste, featuring Food For the Soul,Hamilton County R3Source,Food Shift, andAlameda County StopWaste. Thesecounty agencies and non-profit food rescue organization pairs have teamed up in their communities on reducing food waste. We heard compelling narratives about dignity, waste as a construct, and relationship-building in our work to recognize the full value of food and all people from farmworkers to eaters.

Food Waste Prevention Week originated in California in 2018 with a statewide push to recognize how food waste intersects with the work of numerous state agencies. This year, a handful of state Departments of Environment and Natural Resources have recognized the importance of reducing food waste and have signed up to participate in the week. Though Florida and Tennessee have held onto the lead, Oregon and Washington have been vying for a top spot on the partnership leaderboard with more than 45 partners participating from each of the Pacific Northwest states.

Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation is hosting a week of family-friendly events including a day of service with food pantries and a statewide food drive. Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is collaborating on a workshop with cooking tips and demos on backyard composting food scraps.

A bipartisan caucus, led by US Representatives Chellie Pingree (D-ME) and Dan Newhouse (R-WA), was relaunched this week to promote food waste reduction across the food supply chain, educate Congress on food waste issues, and boost federal agency work on food waste reduction strategies. As Congress wades through the Farm Bill this year, opportunities to reduce food waste abound, and we look forward to seeing some of our coalition recommendations come to fruition.

Earlier this month, US EPA released their latest data on generation and management of food waste in the country showing that were backsliding on our national goal to cut food waste in half by 2030. In 2019, the most recent year for which data is available, we generated more food waste per capita than in prior years and we landfilled more food waste than ever before.

Though we are pleased to see so much conversation about preventing food waste this week, we need to see much more action from all levels of government, from every food business, and from each household to ensure that good food nourishes us rather than feeding climate change.

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Food Waste Prevention Week Across the Nation - NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council)

One of the newest online grocers in the industry, Martie, just opened a Texas-sized warehouse in Dallas that will serve as its new nationwide shipping center, the discount grocery toldWinsight Grocery Business.

Martie cofounder Louise Fritofjsson said in interview that the 38,000-square-foot warehouse enables the company to make Texas Marties 11th state in the grocers delivery area. It also is preparing the 14-month-old company to expand to the rest of the country, she said. Fritofjsson said their goal is to be available nationwide by the end of the third quarter. Fritofjsson noted that the company's growth is fueled by seed funding from Upfront Ventures, Day One Ventures and Summiteer.

The business operates online only and purchases overstocked products from manufacturers before selling them to consumers at discounts of up to 70% off. The grocer, which is currently in business in 10 other statesCalifornia, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Montanaoffers more than 800 items from national brands such as KIND, Kelloggs, Quaker and Annies Homegrown.

I want to build the IKEA of food, Fritofjsson said, referencing the Swedish housewares store known for selling low-priced furniture that consumers assemble themselves. She said IKEA is a model for her grocery business because its affordable and its customers are proud to shop there. Its a treasure hunt; you go in for one thing and leave with 20, Fritofjsson said.

The online store only offers packaged goods, so no produce or perishable items, and shoppers can also peruse household and bath goods like laundry detergent and toothpaste. Fritofjsson said about half of the goods available on Martie are simply overproduced by manufacturers, which typically make more than they estimate they will sell to account for potential loss. Other items available might be seasonal, such as Valentines Day chocolates after Feb. 14. About a quarter of Mmartie's products are nearing their sell-by date, she said.

In addition to making packaged goods available at a discount, the overstock grocer is also diverting perfectly good packaged goods from the landfill, Fritofjsson said. She noted that over the last 14 months, the company has already diverted a million pounds of food from landfills, and its saved shoppers more than $2 million.

We offer the best deals on products you know and love, ship everywhere within the states we operate (including rural zip codes), and enable shoppers to make a sustainable choice," she said in a statement. "Were very excited to have launched in Texas, a strategically important market for us, as we continue our expansion from the West Coast towards the East.

To keep Martie's prices low, its delivery times (typically two to three days) are not as speedy as some other retailers and platforms. But those in Dallas can expect to have their orders within 24 hours, Fritofjsson said.

She said the goal of providing inexpensive packaged goods is to help fight food insecurity, noting that as many as 9 million children in the United States face inaccessibility to healthy food. And although Martie is a discount grocer, that doesnt mean shoppers can't purchase healthy, organic foods through the portal, Fritofjsson said.

She said that when she began researching the idea for the discount grocery business, Fritofjsson realized food shortages werent the problem, but logistics were. I felt theres enough (food) to go around, but its the going around part that is the problem to solve, she said.

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Martie launches online overstock grocer in Texas with new warehouse - Winsight Grocery Business

PRESS RELEASE

Published April 12, 2023

The global organic fertilizer market is anticipated to increase at a CAGR of 6.0% from 2019 to 2029, reaching a market value of USD 11.8 billion by the end of the forecast period, according to a recent analysis by Persistence Market Research. Due to the increased use of organic farming methods in nations like China, India, and Japan, the Asia-Pacific region is predicted to have the fastest-growing market.

As people become more aware of the advantages of organic farming and the need to lessen agricultures impact on the environment, the market for organic fertilizer is anticipated to rise significantly over the next years. To improve soil fertility and crop growth, organic fertilizers are made from natural resources like animal and plant waste. The market is being driven by the rising demand for organic food and the expanding popularity of sustainable farming methods.

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Drivers and Restraints:

Drivers:

Restraints:

What are the Key Questions Answered in PMRs Report on Organic Fertilizer Market?

Organic Fertilizer Market Segmentation

Form

Source

Application

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Research Methodology Organic Fertilizer Market

The research process used by PMR analysts to create the organic fertiliser market report includes extensive primary and secondary research. Analysts have offered sharp insights and precise forecasts of the organic fertiliser industry by examining the market-validated data that has been gathered and verified by appropriate resources.

Analysts conducted interviews with C-level executives, vice presidents, sales and marketing managers, regional managers, raw material suppliers, brand managers, industry players, and investors as part of the main research phase. Analysts have highlighted the growth prospects of the organic fertiliser market based on data gathered through interviews with reliable sources.

To gain the requisite information of the organic fertiliser market, analysts did an in-depth analysis of several annual report publications, while papers, research publications, industry association publications, case studies, and company websites.

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Regional analysis includes:

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The Chemicals and Materials division of Persistence Market Research offers distinct and pin-point analysis about chemicals and materials industry. Chemical coverage extends from commodity, bulk, specialty and petrochemicals to advanced materials, composites and nanotechnology in particular with special emphasis on green alternatives, recycling and renewable technology developments, supply-demand-trade assessment. Our research studies are widely referred by chemical manufacturers, research institutions, channel partners and government bodies for developing The Way Forward.

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Global Organic Fertilizer Market to Experience Robust Growth with ... - Digital Journal

The frozen food aisles have become much more popular over the past few years thanks to factors like COVID-19 forcing people to prioritize foods with a longer shelf life, brands making better-quality frozen food options, and people living busy lives and appreciating the convenience factor that these foods offer. What was once a section of the grocery that was thought of as a space that simply housed ice cream and frozen veggies is now a treasure trove of convenient food that allows us to eat the foods we love in minutes (or seconds, depending on what you are choosing).

But while there is no disputing that leaning on frozen foods has its perks, there are some choices that are less-than-ideal when it comes to options that support our health. Some frozen food choices can be relatively high in sodium, fat, or sugar. And some brands lean on preservatives or other unhealthy ingredients to extend their shelf life.

If you are a frozen food lover and you are focused on supporting your overall health, it would likely be helpful to be armed with a list of options that aren't the best choice for helping you attain your goals. If you are searching for such a list, read on to learn which frozen grocery options are the worst frozen foods in America.

Eating ultra-processed meats like sausage and pepperoni is linked to outcomes like an increased risk of developing certain cancers. These pizza rolls contain sausage, pepperoni, and imitation mozzarella cheese, making it a snack stuffed with questionable ingredients.

Better Choice: Snow Days Pizza Bites

Snow Days Pizza Bites grain-free and organic pizza bites are made with real cheese, organic veggies, and olive oil.

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If you are craving the taste of a strawberry dessert, this may not be the best choice for you. Sure, it offers a strong strawberry flavor, but it is also made with ingredients like corn syrup, artificial flavors, and Red 40 food dye.

Better choice: HALO Top Strawberry Frozen Yogurt Pop

Icelandic-Style Skyr Halo Yogurt Pops are made with creamy yogurt, crunchy granola, and real fruit as ingredients. And since they only contain 100 calories per serving, they can be a part of a healthy and balanced diet.

This frozen treat is essentially an ice cream version of a candy bar. Made with added sugar and artificial flavors, this bar leaves a lot to be desired in the ingredient department. And with so little fiber found in these treats, it is unlikely that they will provide a significant amount of staying power.

Better choice: KIND Frozen Treat Bar, Dark Chocolate Almond Sea Salt & Nut

With a whopping 7 grams of fiber per bar, KIND Frozen Treat Bars will help people feel a bit more satisfied after snacking on these vs. other comparable options. This creamy almond frozen treat combines three delicious flavors: dark chocolate chunks, chopped almonds, and sea saltall layered with smooth nut butter.

The breading on these spicy nuggets results in a hefty amount of carbs per serving. The artificial flavors, soybean oil, corn syrup, and wheat flour found in these nugs may be unappealing ingredients to some.

Better Choice: Applegate spicy chicken breast bites

Enjoying spicy chicken bites doesn't mean you have to lean on deep-fried options loaded with unhealthy ingredients. Applegate Spicy Chicken Breast Bites are casein-free, made from chickens that are never treated with antibiotics and are humanely raised. Plus, they are made with only white meat chicken.

Plant-based may sound healthier than animal-based beef. But that isn't always the case. In the case of this faux beef, the ingredients include textured soy protein, caramel color, canola oil, and natural flavors.

Better Choice: No Bull Veggie Burger

Not all plant-based meat alternatives are created equal. No Bull is made with ingredients like organic lentils, organic carrots, and organic chia seeds, and it is free from anything artificial. And with a whopping 7 grams of fiber per serving, this burger can offer some gut health support, too.

While we won't argue that starting your day with protein is a smart move if you are focused on weight management, this breakfast option may not be your best bet as a vessel for this important macro. With additions like caramel color, soy protein concentrate, and added sugar, you may want to think twice before you grab this meal-on-a-stick.

Better choice: Premier Protein Frozen Pancakes

Premier Protein Frozen Pancakes are packed with 15 grams of protein per serving, and with around a minute in the microwave, these pancakes will keep you full and focused without the mess and cleanup in the morning. These pancakes have far less fat than the sausage-pancake-stick combo, with only 3.5 grams per serving (0.5 grams saturated fat).

With a whopping 530 calories and 27 grams of fat per serving, this dish is not the most weight management-friendly by any means. And one serving also provides almost 40% DV of sodium, which is a factor that people with high blood pressure should be aware of.

Better choice: Saffron Road Chicken Enchiladas Poblano Frozen Meal

Saffron Road Chicken Enchiladas Poblano Frozen Meal is a delicious dish made with roasted dark meat chicken, spinach, and Oaxaca cheese. Hand-rolled corn tortilla enchiladas in a smooth, creamy poblano peppers chili sauce, this option is gluten-free and halal. It I also made with chicken that is not raised with antibiotics.

This pasta dish is high in carbs, sodium, and fat. While it may be delish, it isn't the best choice to lean on when pasta night shows up on your calendar.

Better choice: Kevin's Natural Foods Beef Bolognese Pasta Kit

Kevin's Natural Foods Beef Bolognese is made with cauliflower pasta, grass-fed ground beef, and an Italian-style tomato sauce. This pasta dish is free from soy, gluten, or dairy, making it a Paleo-friendly option. Plus, it is made with zero added sugar, and it provides a whopping 10 grams of protein per serving. Also, since this dish is ready to be enjoyed in just 5 minutes, it is a fantastic option for busy people who want a good-for-you meal on the table ASAP.

These sausage links aren't just made from pork or other meats. Soy protein concentrate, BHA, and BHT are some ingredients you will find on the food label for these sausages. And nutritionally speaking, the 5 grams of saturated fat provides 25% DV of this nutrientnot the best food to eat to start the day on the right foot.

Better choice: Applegate Organics Chicken and Apple Breakfast Sausage

Casein, gluten, and dairy-free breakfast sausage makes for a better-for-you breakfast option. Made with organic chicken, organic apple, and real spices, you won't find any fillers or unnatural flavorings in this product. Bonus? Applegate Organics Chicken and Apple Breakfast Sausage come from animals that are humanely raised.

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With this sandwich, you're starting your day with (read: nutrient-stripped) carbs in the form of a croissant crust, and with only one gram of fiber, you're going to be hungry not too long after you're done eating this. And the cured meats found in this option aren't helping matters either. Over time, frequent consumption is linked to an increased risk of certain cancers.

Better Choice: Eggland's Best Three-Cheese Omelet

Eggland's Best Three Cheese Omelet is a great solution for those who want an egg dish ASAP without compromising on nutrition and quality. Made with Eggland's Best eggs, which have 25% less saturated fat, 6 times more vitamin D, and 10 times more vitamin E compared to ordinary eggs, this frozen omelet packs 15 grams of protein per serving. For a grab-and-go breakfast made with quality ingredients, simply cut your cooked omelet in half, and enjoy it in between two slices of whole-grain toast.

Even though this pizza isn't made on a croissant crust, it is still not the best choice when it comes to frozen pizzas. Note that mozzarella substitute appears before real mozzarella on the ingredient list, which means that more of the "cheese" used is not real mozzarella.

Better Choice: Milton's Craft Bakers Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Totally gluten-free and made with real cauliflower, this perfectly crispy pizza is made with only quality ingredientsincluding real cheese only!

The amount of sodium found in this breakfast bowl is way too much for something to be considered heart-healthy. And with only 1 gram of fiber, this is hardly the best meal to start your day with if you are trying to reach the 2530 grams of fiber recommended by the American Heart Association.

Better choice: Tattooed Chef Breakfast Bowl with Plant-Based Sausage.

Made with cage-free scrambled eggs, tater bites, real peppers, and a cheese sauce, Tattooed Chef Breakfast Bowl is packed with nutrients and quality ingredients.

Banquet's Sweet & Spicy Asian Style Boneless Chicken Strips are covered in a sauce that brings a little heat and a little sweetness. Together, it makes for a mega-salty meal that has as much sugar as you would get from one Original Glazed Krispy Kreme Donut.

Better choice: Sweet Earth General Tso's Tofu Bowl

This spicy bowl is packed with flavor and is made with nutritious and simple ingredients. Brown rice and broccoli add fiber, while the sweet-and-sour sauce coating the crispy tofu isn't drowning in added sugar.

With 920 calories per entre, this mac and cheese is better left on the grocery shelf. There are much better options out there to help you get your macaroni fix.

Better Choice: Kidfresh Wagon Wheels Mac & Cheese

With no artificial ingredients, 12 grams of protein per serving, and hidden carrots in each bite, this kid-focused frozen meal can be enjoyed by both kids and kids at heart.

If you are trying to avoid artificial food dyes and artificial flavors, then this treat is definitely not for you.

Better choice: Wyman's Just Fruit

Made with frozen wild blueberries and Greek yogurt bites, Wyman's Just Fruit is a frozen treat that gives the mouthfeel of Dippin' Dots but offers much more in the nutrition department. Wild blueberries are an antioxidant powerhouse, and each serving contains only 45 calories per cup.

The Buffalo-style TGI Fridays wings are yet another high-sodium option. The chain offers up plenty of other frozen options, so maybe go with the spinach artichoke dip instead?

Better choice: Wholly Veggie Buffalo Cauliflower Wings

Most Americans have a hard time consuming the appropriate amount of vegetables every day. If you get a hankering for something buffalo, Wholly Veggie cauliflower wings can help people meet their goals. Made with real cauliflower but served like chicken wings, these gluten-free, vegan snacks are made with quality ingredients and provide 2 grams of fiber per serving.

It is tempting to eat the entire pizza if you opt for this one. But doing so will provide more sodium, protein, and fat than what people should be eating in an entire day. The processed meat found on this pizza isn't great for our health, either.

Better choice: Banza Supreme Pizza

Banza Supreme Pizza leans on the humble chickpea to make its crust, resulting in a gluten-free option that provides protein and fiber. And instead of using processed meat as a topping, pizza eaters will find Beyond Meat as a topping addition.

There is no denying that including fish in our diet is a wise choice to support our heart and brain health. But this option is packed with sodium, carbs, and fat.

Better choice: Frozen Salmon Filets

Opting for a frozen salmon filet will allow you to have total control over how much sodium your final dish contains. Simply thaw, season, and cook for a healthy protein addition.

This cheesy and meaty meal serves up plenty of unappealing ingredients such as nitrites, caramel color, and interesterified soybean oil. And the 28 grams of saturated fat is certainly not a selling point either.

Better choice: Blake's Chicken Pot Pi

Blake's is made with quality ingredients and has a made-from-scratch flavor. It also has much more saturated fat than other options out there.

Making your own burger without added salt won't result in a patty that contains nearly as much sodium as this one does. It also has quite a bit of saturated fatbefore you've even added a slice of cheese!

Better choice: Teton Waters Ranch Mushroom & Onion Burger

These burgers are a blend of beef and mushrooms, helping people sneak in some much-needed veggies at mealtime. There are no hormones and no antibiotics used on the cows. They are also super simple to make, too.

Eat two scoops of this and you'll consume more calories than you would with a McDonald's burger with a small side of French fries. And that isn't even taking the sugar quantity into account.

Better choice: Noosa Cookies & Oh-So-Creamy

Noosa Cookies & Oh-So-Creamy contains live probiotics, so enjoying this treat may help support gut health. Plus, it contains no artificial anything.

These pops are basically sugar, water, and artificial colors and flavors. While they are a nostalgic treat, they are really doing nothing for us when it comes to health support. They do turn our tongue different colors when we enjoy them, which is always fun, though.

Better choice: ReHarvest Provisions Very Berry

Yes, these pops are on the boogie side, and their price point is much higher than the Fun Pops. But ReHarvest Provisions Verry Berry pops are made with nutrient-dense ingredients like berries and zucchini. Bonus? Many of the ingredients found in these pops support skin health, too, so indulging may leave you with glowing skin!

Snacks made with high fructose corn syrup, sugar, and artificial flavors don't scream "good for you." It may be best to leave these treats for a special occasion versus an everyday occurrence.

Better choice: Yass Poppables

If you are seeking a bite-size sweet treat, Yasso Poppables can fit the bill. Packed with real frozen yogurt and coated with chocolate and crunchy quinoa, these snacks can help support your health a bit better than some alternatives.

These waffles are low in fiber and can use more protein to up the satiation factor. If you top your waffles with syrup, factor the 6 grams of sugar into your total intake at breakfast time. It is easy to see how the sugar intake can add up.

Better choice: Birch Benders Protein Toaster Waffles

A better toaster waffle choice is Birch Benders Protein Toaster Waffles. With 11 grams of protein per serving and made with quality ingredients, these waffles are a great brekkie to start your morning off right.

While cheese can be a part of a balanced and healthy diet, breaded and fried options of this beloved dairy option can make this otherwise healthy food a not-so-great choice.

Better choice: Wholly Veggie Mozzarella Style Sticks

Wholly Veggie Mozzarella Style Sticks are vegan, gluten-free, non-GMO, and made with cauliflower powder as a coating. Nothing artificial and totally delish.

Hoping these are better than the drive-thru version? Probably not. Potatoes are a healthy vegetable that provides fiber and vitamin C. But if they are prepared with salt and fat, your resulting dish can end up being a calorie and sodium bomb.

Better Choice: Alexia Crispy Rosemary Fries

Made with less added fat and salt than other frozen potato options, these fries are loaded with flavor and still allow people to enjoy a spud-packed side once in a while.

Just because they're touted as portion-controlled and low-calorie, doesn't mean you should stock up on these. This frozen option is relatively high in added sugars. And the 800 mg of sodium doesn't help matters either.

Better choice: Kevin's Natural Foods Cilantro Lime Chicken

Lean on this paleo-friendly, high-quality protein dish for a quick and easy chicken night. Pair it with some homemade rice and veggies for an ultimate good-for-you meal.

Made with more rice than chicken, there's nothing fun about this party in a bowl.

Better choice: PuraVida Foods Flame Grilled Fajitas Rajas

A combo of poblano peppers, bell peppers, and red onions tossed in EVOO, pink salt, and peppercorns, this fajita mix is a much better-for-you choice. Plus, you can control how much rice you enjoy with this combo, toowhich is a good thing when you are supporting your overall health.

Never settle for a frozen dinner with about a half-day's worth of blood pressure-spiking salt. You can do much better by choosing many other options out there.

Better choice: Just Bare Lightly Breaded Chicken Breast Filet

Opt for a lightly breaded chicken breast and add your own low-sodium sides for a better-for-you meal.

RELATED:17 Best Fast-Food Cheeseburgers In America

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The 30 Worst Frozen Foods in America Eat This Not That - Eat This, Not That

Traceability determines how materials, packaging, products, processing aids, and so forth have moved through the supply chain. Often broken down into two aspects, trackand trace, traceability systems underpin food safety, food quality, sustainability claims, and transactional mechanisms to prevent food fraud and food defense incidents.

Tracingis the ability to follow a product backward from the retail shelf to the manufacturer, the ingredient supplier, and their suppliers. Trackinginvolves following material from suppliers, such as a spice, through to the spice mix and then all the finished products and their destinations where the spice mix was used as an ingredient and/or dusting material. The granularity of traceability is also essentiali.e., the level of detail in which we can determine traceability. Granularity reflects the time element of the traceable unite.g., production for one week, one day, one shift, the product produced between the last two quality control checks, and the distance element over which the traceability operates from "one step forward, one step back" (SFSB) through to entire "field to fork" (F2F) traceability. Traceability underpins information sharing in supply chains and characteristics of the data and the systems developed. The characteristics discussed in this article include visibility, transparency, and trust.

Figure 1 captures the many drivers of traceability in today's global food supply chains. Of note, the GS1 standards organization does incredible work to facilitate product traceability and recall generically and specifically for different food industry segments. For example, the GS1 Traceability Standard1 is an invaluable resource for organizations, and implementation guidance documents are available for beef, fish, poultry, pork, fresh fruit and vegetables, eggs, wine, and more. The traceability standard also details examples of the fast-evolving need for organizations to understand critical tracking events (CTEs) and key data elements (KDEs). For example, the latest U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Final Food Traceability Rule2 articulates the need for CTEs and KDEs for certain products, with full compliance scheduled for January 20, 2026. The final rule is part of the FDA's New Era of Smarter Food Safety blueprint and implements Section 204(d) of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

Over the past two decades, our understanding of food traceability has grown dramatically. Just like any other emerging field of study or practice, however, it can be shaped and reshaped in different directions until the concept settles and matures. It also differs in how it is applied in practice. Traceability is developing and maturing, but much remains to be tackled. For instance, F2F traceability is frequently discussed and, in some supply chains, has been achieved through analog, paper-based systems. While transitioning to digital traceability approaches has been proposed, there are challenges in collating and open sharing of all information in supply chains (supply chain visibility).

Allergen management is one area where such systems have direct public health implications. A key point not often discussed in F2F traceability is privacy laws, which prevent consumer transactions from being tracked without consent. After all, if organizations or government agencies knew every food item bought and consumed in a household, would people feel this was an invasion of their privacy? Using customer loyalty cards with rewards points in return for providing purchase information is an embedded consumer practice, or purchasing food online and engaging with features such as "your shopping list." However, these data-driven loyalty programs and online algorithms do not give a picture of the totality of food purchases, food waste, and consumption for a given household.

Personally identifiable information (PII) is legally collected when you purchase goods from member-based retailers like Costco, through retailer loyalty programs, or through e-commerce channels. In these opt-in programs, PII is legally captured and may enable the "fork" dimension of proper F2F traceability. If something goes wrong in the supply chain, then these retailers can notify their customers directly of a product recall. If PII is not captured, then only theproductidentification is known, and the other two "Ps" needed for traceabilitytheparty(consumer name) andpremises(consumer's home address)are unknown and, thus, traceability stops at the retail shelf.

Even if we are aware of and comprehend the goals of F2F traceability, perhaps F2F transparency would be a better framework to approach the topic. We argue that bringing food to market may involve many trading parties and complex supply chains, and business-to-business (B2B) interoperability between these systems is frequently lacking. Apart from short or local supply chains (e.g., a farmer's meat sold at a farmers' market, their farm shop, or vending machines), often called business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions, a customer typically has no access to the information about the many parties engaged in bringing a product to market. Suppose a consumer scans a 2D or 3D barcode on a food item. In that case, they may have limited access to a form of "fork-to-farm" traceback, often accessing only static marketing information about the brand or farm on a website, but receiving little to no data on the route to market (the actual F2F traceability).

Of course, a consumer scan is not the same degree of traceback that a food company might perform in a product recall scenario. Still, it can provide a semblance of trust. Providing consumers with static data (e.g., brand details, supplier location, farm location) on the food source lacks granularity. It is an oversimplification of the intricacies involved in end-to-end food chain traceability.

From an organizational perspective, transparency should be seen as a fundamentally important tool for addressing stakeholder and customer mistrust while improving and proving (a process known as nonrepudiation) an organization's responsible management practices.3In the food industry, we discuss creating a culture of food safety. With his excellent books and briefings, pioneers like Frank Yiannas helped pave the way. Is it now time for executives at large food companies to consider creating and enforcing a culture of transparency? What would that mean for their internal operations, and what does that mean for their shareholders and customers? There is little doubt that the pressures on food companies to deliver safe, affordable, and nutrient-dense foods to market are increasing amid disruptions and conflict.

More specifically for the food industry, product-related transparency was first discussed with consumer safety, environmental politics, and sustainability concerns in mind. Transparency refers to the availability and visibility of data among the parties involved in food supply chains and extending pertinent data to consumers to permit more informed purchasing decisions. Information about the brand owner, the geographic origin or provenance of the raw materials and ingredients, the growing and harvesting practices, the manufacturing processes, working conditions, and environmental effects could be part of specific product information made transparent (visible) for consumers. Providing this information across the supply chain and to consumers can help maintain product identity (preventing fraud and counterfeiting, and thus engaging more governmental and customs support), preserve food quality (verify harvest/best before dates, etc.), food safety (food safety advice, rapid recall notifications of unsafe food), and reduce risk to brand value, among other things.4,5,6

Information on the credentialing procedure for product or process claims, including kosher, halal, and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic, to name a few, is conceptualized as a crucial element in transparency data. For example, USDA recently announced7stricter rules and enforcement actions for USDA organic claims on January 18, 2023, to signal "A significant increase in oversight and enforcement authority to reinforce the trust of consumers, farmers, and those transitioning to organic production." USDA provides a website where a consumer can verify if a particular food company and product are certified to their organic standard. This is a critically important move by USDA, as its organic logo sends a strong signal to consumers and acts as a proxy for trust, especially as it is a governmental scheme with rigorous enforcement.

However, this strong signal of trust is still vulnerable to bad actors that fraudulently claim to have USDA organic certification, but do not. When we checked USDA's website for a list of fraudulent certification claims8in late January 2023, we found 166 records, consistent with previous years. The highest frequency of fraudulent USDA organic certifications reported was found in the U.S. (31 recorded fraudulent certifications), followed by China (23), South Africa (17), Thailand (14), Mexico (12), and India (9). In Europe, similar instances of fraud with organic products are founde.g., selling conventionally produced eggs as organic in the UK and Germany, dilution of organic pistachios with the conventionally grown product identified in Spain, and the Italian "Puss-in-Boots" incident with cereals, a highly sophisticated organized crime group network spanning multiple countries and legal jurisdictions.9With credence-based foods, it is a daunting task to manage a global certification scheme and deliver effective market surveillance. Regulators must encourage an online presence where consumers can verify these product claims.

Visibility means that specific data and information are readily accessible for those who wish to use it (both inside and outside the organization) for validation, monitoring, surveillance, and verification of business operations, food product history,10and to understand both upstream (e.g., suppliers) and downstream (e.g., organizations involved from the business to end user) activities. Supply chain visibility has been described as "traceability and transparency of [the] supply chain process"11or the "identity, location, and status of entities transiting the supply chain, captured in timely messages about events, along with the planned and actual dates/times for these events."12

Visibility extends beyond traceability's passive, transactional aspects.13Traceability allows organizations to follow a product or its components forward and backward through a supply chain. Visibility provides information about what happened at each stagealong with the people, processes, equipment, and materials involvedand as a result, the likely food safety impact. For example, in the event of a food product recall for glass contamination, traceability allows an organization to identify the batch size that needs to be recalled, where its ingredients came from, and where the product went and to which customers. Visibility utilizes information beyond traceability documentation to determine what happened at each stage, what preventive measures were or were not in place, and if they had been implemented. The process of visualizing food traceability systems has also been considered in recent research to minimize data loss using material and information flow modeling techniques.14Still, this aspect of food safety management has yet to take off within business. Information loss can occur at any point in a supply chain where there is a failure or incomplete transfer of traceability data. Minimizing information loss generally drives better supply chain performance, specifically regarding food safety and the potential risk of product recalls.14

Traceability and visibility are only two elements of transparency, as disclosure plays an essential role in delivering transparency.15Transparency extends beyond the provision of information alone. Transparency provides visibility of how and why decisions were made, what information was used to make those decisions, and who made decisions on behalf of others, e.g., consumers. For example, during a food safety risk assessment, an organization will determine the acceptable level of a food safety hazard that is deemed appropriate (e.g., the limit of detection of the monitoring equipment); however, is this acceptable for a consumer? While a wealth of technologies are now being used in food supply chains to enable digitalization and more real-time sharing of data, if the technologies themselves lack transparency and explainability, this may cause consumers to be concerned about what has been disclosed by an organization and also what has not.15Trust is built on the foundations of traceability, visibility, and transparency. Roy (2021) summarizes that while traceability maps logistical interrelationships between products and their component parts, supply chain visibility seeks to integrate information sharing across the supply chain to build governance structures and maximize coordination, productivity, and performance.16

Sustainability is usually viewed as an attribute of a practice that impacts the use and application of resources in such a way as to allow any foreseeable future generation to be able to employ such resources to meet their needs effectively. To be meaningful, a definition of sustainable practice requires an understanding of the following:

Because sustainability includes social attributes, it is an important (perhaps the most important) part of ensuring equity in a food supply chain. The farmers, seasonal workers, and distributors involved in sourcing for the food supply chain must be sustained with just as much care as the soil, water sources, and pest remediation necessary to bring the foodstuffs to harvestability. Economic sustainability must include sufficient resiliency so that the workers relevant to food production are not readily enticed to seek other activities and employment when the opportunity arises.

The economic aspects of sustainability require careful consideration of how both net profits and insurance-based protection for safeguarding future net profitability are distributed from the farmer through to consumers. Based on recent work, sustainability can be modeled economically with a combination of persuasion and operant conditioning incentives (ethos and positive reinforcement), with traditional willingness-to-pay/marginal cost (WTP-MC) curves, and with sensitivity analysis-enabling Likert surveys.17Incentivization and persuasion must adapt to the realities of the food supply chain, as for any other form of sustainability. Based on this, sustainability in the food supply chain is conditional to the current state of knowledge of the resource requirements of this supply chain and the impact the logistics of this chain place on the resources required for the practice. Sustainability is an innately mutable state, and preparing for that fact will aid in designing supply chain processes that are preadapted to change with the exigencies of each supply chain. Two key organizational resilience attributes are agility and buffer capacity.18

The environmental resources associated with a food supply chain are, on the surface, the most obvious aspect of a sustainability plan. However, most plans are relatively superficial, focusing on the suppliers with which the logistics network (procurement, distribution, warehousing, and retail) has direct interactions. Since sustainability must be concerned with factors that may limit or grow the resources required by these suppliers, a resilient sustainability plan must include secondary and even tertiary suppliers to ensure that the primary suppliers have multiple sources for their supplies, including seed and feed, pest remediation, irrigation, transportation, and seasonal access to labor and logistics support. No one can plan a contingency for every potential vulnerability. Still, there is an increased need to add layers to the sustainability plan to provide a faster, more effective response to exploiting strategies for these climate, geopolitical, and pricing vulnerabilities, as well as other crises. Insurance companies are already involved in protection strategies for weather uncertainties and climate change risk mitigation;19they are undoubtedly to become more involved in sustainability and supply resiliency planning in the future as part of strategies to lower their exposure to risk.

The growing fields of systems engineering and developing circular rather than linear economics combine to provide emerging technologies and practices for more broadly establishing sustainability in food supply chains and providing improved and transparent means of modeling and evaluating them. Sophisticated modeling techniques such as lifecycle analysis (LCA), technical-economic analysis (TEA), and agent-based modeling (ABM) allow sustainability to be modeled on a farm-to-farm level, affording a bottom-up basis for an accurate overall picture of total resource use in a complete supply chain.

Additionally, multiple forms of economic modeling, such as the WTP-MC curves mentioned previously, enable a top-down approach to be simultaneously employed. From the comparison of bottom-up and top-down models, anomalies in the alignment of these two or more modeled networks help identify the locations most likely to deviate from the models. In these locations, extra attention can be paid to refine the models locally and also to adjust the models overall. This type of multi-network anomaly detection can be used for sustainability along adjacent (and equally important) topics of cyber-physical security, IoT, and other sensing, analytics, and identification of potential illicit trade and human trafficking.20

From the perspective of putting a broad program in place, sustainability starts with using what is already available; e.g., asset inertia or "sunk costs." Recognizing, for example, that the manufacturing sector has invested trillions of dollars in existing equipment and processes means that sustainability experts will look at ways to migrate these existing resources to improved resources without incurring higher costs (to the social, economic, and environmental aspects of sustainability cost modeling). Where possible, sustainability can be adopted from the ground up; for example, in creating carbon-negative infrastructure materials.21,22Also, the approach of trying to employ sustainability in the most difficult of environments (e.g., spaceflight) and then being able to "back off" the solution to the more mundane applications is attracting adherents.23It is essential for businesses to consider both offsetting strategies and also insetting, making processes and activities more efficient and, as a result, reducing their environmental impact.

In terms of delivering transparency, the services involved in getting food products to market is an area that we believe is underdeveloped and receives little attention. The research division of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) examined Chile's services industries for wine and fresh cherries in 2015.24It was remarkable to learn that both sectors needed considerable services for a single-ingredient product. In the wine industry, for instance, "a total of 70 services can be identified in this value chain; 33 of which are more directly related to the wine production phase, while 23 relate to the agriculture phase; an additional 14 services are transversal operations that support all stages of the value chain."24

The cherry value chain consisted of 88 different services. Orchard establishment included seven services across research and development for variety development, preparation and planting, and irrigation installation. Cherry production included 20 services (agronomy, pest control, certification, equipment and transportation, labor); packing included 19 services (certification, packaging, labor, information technology); marketing, distribution, and sales included 12 services; and transversal services included 13 services (finance, accounting, legal, human resources, etc.).

How can the sustainability and credence credentials of the service providers be checked and verified? How can we be sure they are licensed, certified, or authorized, and that their personnel are properly trained and competent? How do we know they followed regulations in both the country of production and the countries to which they are exporting, and used the proper treatments and chemicals? We strongly advise businesses to look into the services needed to bring their products to market. It is crucial to be able to rapidly identify all the services that went into bringing an unsafe product to market when a food recall is necessary and a forensic investigation is required. One particular aspect of note is software as a service (SaaS) and robotics as a service (RaaS) with particular focus on cyber security and vulnerability to cyber-attacks, particularly ransomware.

Verifiable credentials include many possibilities other than blockchain, which is a specific form of a distributed ledger. Distributed ledgers are multi-party means of providing consensus through a distributed, synchronized, shared record of digital data. Sequential digital signing by each sender/receiver pair in a supply chain has been available for decades by providers and standards bodies such as GS1. Credentials can also be readily provided through the use of digital signing (this can be used for any digital record, from code signing to document signing). Public key signatures (PKI), distributed ledgers tied to transaction signatures, encryption within encryption, and chains of nonces are additional sources of verifiable credentials.

Blockchain provides some non-equitable outcomes. For example, mining the next valid chain in a blockchain is innately susceptible to resource (computing power) asymmetry, thus allowing much of the chain sequencing to fall into the hands of those with the most computing power. Blockchain and bitcoin are also estimated to have the equivalent carbon emissions footprint as the country of Sri Lanka, perhaps double that if all cryptocurrencies are included. Given these facts, we recommend in general to keep credentialling both simple and sustainable: use multi-factor authentication (which also helps in forensic analysis of cyberattacks since the attackers leave their footprint on two or more networks simultaneously), and use tried-and-true PKI for authentication access control and non-repudiation tasks in the food supply chain. Certification scheme holders in the food industry who provide credence verification should investigate using the W3C "Verifiable Credentials Data Model v1.1" to facilitate digital verification of credence claims.25

Pressure to make sure that the world's food ecosystems are resilient, sustainable, and compliant with environmental and human rights laws is growing. Embedding traceability, transparency, and trust in food supply chains is also essential. The new German supply chain due diligence act,26which went into force on January 1, 2023, is proof of this. The act mandates necessary steps to be taken by companies in Germany with 3,000 or more employees in order to maintain human rights and environmental protection across their entire global supply chains. The act establishes rigorous standards and promotes increased transparency. The actions and behaviors required to get food sown, grown, harvested, processed, and distributed are largely unobservable by the buyers, unless they have a constant local presence or engage in regular unannounced audits; therefore, companies will undoubtedly face significant compliance challenges and increased transaction costs. Audits, however, have their limitations because they only offer proof for a certain moment in time.

There is little doubt that transparency and trust are essential to the success of future food supply ecosystems; however, the delivery of these criteria in practice remains the subject of much debate.

John G. Keogh, M.B.A., M.Sc., is a strategist, adviser, and management science researcher with more than 30 years of executive leadership roles as director, vice president, and senior vice president in global supply chain management, information technology, technology consulting, and supply chain standards. Currently, he is Managing Principal at Toronto-based niche advisory and research firm Shantalla Inc. and Professor of Practice at McGill University Center for the Convergence of Health and Economics (MCCHE). His advisory and research focus is on transparency and trust in the food chain, digital transformation, traceability, and recall.

Steve Simske, Ph.D.,is Professor of Systems Engineering at the Colorado State University. In his 20+ years in industry, he has directed teams in research on 3D printing, education, life sciences, sensing, authentication, packaging, analytics, imaging and manufacturing. His books, Meta-Algorithmics and Meta-Analytics, address intelligent systems. Dr. Simske is the author of more than 450 publications and more than 200 U.S. patents. He is an IS&T Fellow and the Steering Committee Chair for the ACM DocEng Symposium, which meets annually. He is an IEEE, NAI, IS&T, and CSU FIIE Fellow, and the Steering Committee Chair for the ACM DocEng Symposium.

Louise Manning, Ph.D.,is Professor of Sustainable Agri-Food Systems at the Lincoln Institute for Agri-Food Technology at the University of Lincoln. She is passionate about food and farming and how they support communities large and small around the world and help them to thrive. She has had over 100 papers published in peer-reviewed journals, and has written and published many books for a range of audiences. Dr. Manning's research is focused on the critical issues in society, food, and farming including sustainability, resilience, values, integrity, and trust. She works with academics, communities, industry, and policy-makers to develop new thinking to address the challenges of today and the future.

Read more:

Global Food Chain TraceabilityReflections on the Past, Present ... - Food Safety Magazine

Organic gardening has surged in popularity as more people realize synthetic fertilizers effects on the environment. Most people choose organic fertilizers because they are made from natural elements, making them better for plants and the environment.

But are organic fertilizers really the best option? Well explore the pros and cons and help you decide whether theyre suitable for your garden.

Organic fertilizers come from organic sources, such as animal manure, plant residues, and other natural substances.

These fertilizers provide nutrients to plants in a slow-release manner and improve soil health by increasing the soils organic matter content.

The nutrients in these fertilizers are not immediately available to plants as they are in synthetic fertilizers. Instead, the organic matter in these fertilizers must first be broken down by soil microbes before the nutrients become available for plant uptake.

This slow-release mechanism ensures that plants receive a steady supply of nutrients over an extended period, reducing the risk of over-fertilization, which can lead to environmental pollution and plant damage.

Unlike synthetic fertilizers, organic fertilizers improve soil structure, promote microbial activity, and increase nutrient availability. This leads to healthier soil and improved plant growth, which results in more nutritious and flavorful produce.

These fertilizers improve soil health by increasing the organic matter content. Organic matter provides food for soil microorganisms, which in turn breaks down the organic matter into nutrients that plants can use.

This process increases the soils fertility and water-holding capacity, which results in healthier plants.

They enhance soil structure. By creating a crumbly soil structure, organic fertilizers allow air and water to move freely through the soil, promoting deeper root growth and minimizing soil erosion.

They also promote soil microbial activity. Soil microorganisms are essential in breaking down organic matter and releasing nutrients for plant uptake. Sustainable fertilizers provide a food source for these microorganisms, increasing their population and soil activity. This, in turn, improves soil fertility, leading to healthier plants and better-tasting produce.

Most experts consider organic fertilizers more environmentally friendly compared to their syntheitc counterparts. They are typically derived from natural sources such as animal waste, plant matter, and compos, making them sustainable and renewable.

Secondly, they promote soil health by increasing soil biodiversity, improving soil structure, and enhancing water-holding capacity. This helps reduce erosion and nutrient leaching, which significantly contribute to water pollution.

Unlike synthetic fertilizers, which may contain harmful chemicals and toxins, organic fertilizers come from natural materials that are non-toxic and pose no threat to people or animals. This means you can feel confident using these fertilizers in your garden without worrying about potential health risks.

One potential drawback of organic fertilizers is attracting pests and wildlife to your garden. They are made from natural materials, such as bone meal and fish emulsion, that attract insects and animals.

While beneficial in some cases, such as attracting pollinators to your garden, it might lead to an overpopulation of certain pests, like aphids or slugs, which can damage your plants.

Its vital to monitor your garden regularly and take action if you notice increased pest activity, such as using organic pest control methods or adjusting your fertilizer application to avoid overfeeding your plants.

Another drawback is that these fertilizers may not provide enough nutrients to meet the needs of certain plants. The nutrient content of organic fertilizers can vary widely depending on factors such as the source material, the processing method, and the composting conditions.

Additionally, organic fertilizers may release nutrients more slowly than synthetic fertilizers, so plants may not receive the nutrients they need on time.

As a result, gardeners may need to supplement their organic fertilizer with other sources of nutrients, such as compost or synthetic fertilizers, to ensure that their plants get all the nutrients they need to thrive.

Organic fertilizers are a game-changer for your garden, health, and the environment. By making the switch, you are improving your plants health and vitality and contributing to a more sustainable and eco-friendly future. Give organic fertilizers a try and reap the sweet rewards of a healthier, more vibrant garden.

Originally posted here:

The Pros and Cons of Organic Fertilizers - Greener Ideal

WASHINGTON Today, President Biden announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to the Presidents Committee on the Arts and the Humanities:

Presidents Committee on the Arts and the HumanitiesThe Presidents Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) was founded in 1982 by Executive Order to advise the President on cultural policy. The First Lady has historically served as Honorary Chair of the Committee, which is composed of members appointed by the President. Private committee members include prominent artists, scholars, and philanthropists who have demonstrated a serious commitment to the arts and humanities. Public members represent the heads of key federal agencies with a role in culture, including the Chairs of the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities, the Librarian of Congress, the Secretary of the Smithsonian, and the Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, among others. PCAH advises the President and the heads of U.S. cultural agencies on policy, philanthropic and private sector engagement, and other efforts to enhance federal support for the arts, humanities, and museum and library services. The PCAH will also engage the nations artists, humanities scholars, and cultural heritage practitioners to promote excellence in the arts, humanities, and museum and library services and demonstrate their relevance to the countrys health, economy, equity, and civic life. Over the past 40 years, PCAH has catalyzed federal programs and played a vital role in the advancement of arts and humanities education, cultural diplomacy, and the creative economy.

Bruce Cohen, Co-ChairBruce Cohen is an Oscar and Tony-winning, Emmy-nominated producer of film, theater, television, and live events. He won an Academy Award for Best Picture for American Beauty and earned additional Best Picture nominations for Milk and Silver Linings Playbook. He produced both the feature film and Broadway musical versions of Big Fish, won the Tony for Best Play in 2020 for co-producing Matthew Lopez The Inheritance, and was Tony nominated the same year for co-producing Jeremy O. Harris Slave Play. In television, he was Emmy nominated for producing the 83rd Annual Academy Awards and executive produced Pushing Daisies and Broadway at the White House.

During the Obama-Biden Administration, Cohen served as the entertainment industry liaison for Joining Forces, First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Bidens initiative supporting service men and women and veterans. With Higher Ground, President Barack Obama and Michelle Obamas production company, he is producing Rustin for Netflix, directed by George C. Wolfe, starring Colman Domingo as Bayard Rustin and coming out later this year. He is a graduate of Yale University and started his film career as the DGA Trainee on Steven Spielbergs The Color Purple. He lives in New York City with his husband and daughter.

Lady Gaga, Co-ChairStefani Germanotta, known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an award-winning singer, songwriter, actress, and philanthropist. She has sold over 170 million records, and has won 13 Grammy Awards, making her one of the best-selling most awarded female musicians in history. As an actress, she is known for her roles in A Star Is Born, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won for Best Original Song for Shallow, and American Horror Story: Hotel, for which she won a Golden Globe, among others. Shes been recognized with the Fashion Icon award by the Council of Fashion Designers of America and has been included on Forbes list of the Worlds Most Powerful Women and TIMEs list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2022, Lady Gaga launched Haus Labs, a clean and vegan color cosmetics line that develops innovative formulas that push the boundaries of clean makeup.

Lady Gaga is known for her philanthropy and staunch support of LGBTQI+ rights and mental health. She has traveled with President Biden to support the Its On Us campaign to combat campus sexual assault, has worked tirelessly over the years to advocate for equality, and has been an outspoken champion of mental health awareness. At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, she curated a televised concert to benefit the World Health Organizations COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, helping raise over $128 million. Alongside her mother Cynthia Germanotta, she founded and leads Born This Way Foundation, which supports the mental health of young people and works with them to build a kinder and braver world. Since its inception, the Foundation has demonstrated the transformative power of kindness and its impact on mental health through youth-driven initiatives, research-based programming, and high-level partnerships.

Jon Batiste, MemberJon Batiste is one of historys most brilliant, prolific, and accomplished musicians. Batiste studied and received both a B.A. and M.F.A. at the world-renowned Juilliard School in New York City. From 2015 until 2022, Batiste served as the bandleader and musical director of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS. In 2018, he received a Grammy nomination for Best American Roots, and in 2020, he received two Grammy nods for the albums Chronology of a Dream: Live at the Village Vanguard and MEDITATIONS (with Cory Wong). In 2020, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Score for the Disney/Pixar film Soul, an honor he shared with fellow composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Batistes work on Soul also earned him a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, an NAACP Image Award, and a Critics Choice Award. He is the second Black composer in history, after legendary jazz musician Herbie Hancock, to win an Academy Award for composition. Batistes latest studio album, We Are, was released in March 2021 to overwhelming critical acclaim. Subsequently, he was nominated for eleven Grammys across seven different categories, a first in Grammy history. He went on to win five of those Grammys, including Album of the Year.

Constance M. Carroll, MemberIn 2021, Dr. Constance Carroll established and currently serves as the president of the California Community Colleges Baccalaureate Association, a nonprofit organization with the mission of providing assistance and expanding opportunities for Californias 116 community colleges to offer four-year degrees in selected workforce fields that now require a bachelors degree. Carroll served as Chancellor of the San Diego Community College District from 2004 to 2021, when she retired. In addition, she served as president of three community colleges: San Diego Mesa College, Saddleback College, and Indian Valley Colleges. Carroll was also Director of Freshman Academic Advising at the University of Pittsburgh and Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Southern Maine.

Carroll received a B.A. in humanities from Duquesne University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in Classics (Ancient Greek and Latin). She earned a Certificate of Proficiency in Hellenic Studies at Knubly University in Athens, Greece, and attended the Harvard University Institute for Educational Management. Currently, Carroll serves on the National Council on the Humanities, which is affiliated with the National Endowment for the Humanities, having been nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2011. She is a member of the national boards of the Community College Baccalaureate Association, the College Promise National Advisory Board, and the Community College Humanities Association.

George Clooney, MemberGeorge Clooneys achievements as a performer and filmmaker have earned him two Academy Awards, five Golden Globes including the Cecil B. DeMille Award, four SAG awards, one BAFTA award, two Critics Choice Awards, an Emmy, four National Board of Review Awards, and the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award. Films from his production company with Grant Heslov, Smokehouse Pictures, include Warner Bros Academy Award winning drama Argo, Good Night, and Good Luck, The Midnight Sky, The Tender Bar, and The Ides of March. Ides, which Clooney starred in, co-wrote, and directed, received Golden Globe nominations for Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Motion Picture Drama. In addition, the film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. He has also starred in films such as Out of Sight, O Brother, Where Art Thou, Syriana, Michael Clayton, Up in the Air, The Descendants, Gravity, and the Oceans trilogy. Before his film career, Clooney starred in several television series, becoming best known to TV audiences for his five years on the hit NBC drama ER. His portrayal of Dr. Douglas Ross earned him Golden Globe, SAG, Peoples Choice, and Emmy Award nominations.

Among the many honors received as a result of his humanitarian efforts was the 2007 Peace Summit Award, 2010 Robert F. Kennedy Ripple of Hope Award, and he was a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2022. Clooney has produced three telethons: The Tribute to Heroes (post 9/11), Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope, and Hope for Haiti Now, the latter of which raised a record 66 million dollars from the public. In August of 2016, Clooney and his wife, Amal, launched the Clooney Foundation for Justice.

Philip J. Deloria, MemberPhilip J. Deloria is the Leverett Saltonstall Professor of History at Harvard University, where he chairs the Committee on Degrees in History and Literature. His research and teaching focus on the social, cultural, and political histories of relations among American Indian peoples and the United States, as well as the comparative histories of Indigenous peoples in a global context. He is the author of several books, including Playing Indian, Indians in Unexpected Places, American Studies: A Users Guide, with Alexander Olson, and Becoming Mary Sully: Toward an American Indian Abstract, and is co-editor of The Blackwell Companion to American Indian History (with Neal Salisbury) and C.G. Jung and the Sioux Traditions by Vine Deloria, Jr. (with Jerome Bernstein).

Deloria received the Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University in 1994, taught at the University of Colorado, and then, from 2001 to 2017, at the University of Michigan, before joining the faculty at Harvard in January 2018. Deloria served for over a decade as a trustee of the Smithsonian Institutions National Museum of the American Indian, where for many years he chaired the Repatriation Committee. He continues to work toward the return of Native American ancestors and cultural patrimony and for the flourishing of Indigenous life. Deloria has served as President of the American Studies Association and the Organization of American Historians, and will begin serving as President of the Society of American Historians in May 2023. He is an elected member of the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

M. Anglica Garcia, MemberDr. Anglica Garcia is an educational leader who is passionate about issues of access, equity, and student success in higher education. Garcia serves as the President of Berkeley City College, which is recognized as an Hispanic Serving Institution and an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution, both proud symbols of being the communitys college. Unapologetically, she believes community colleges provide liberatory education experiences that disrupt the status quo, especially for historically minoritized communities. She is a Co-Founder and Board Member of COLEGAS, a statewide organization focused on advocacy and development of Latinx professionals in California Community Colleges, and has a proven record of equity-minded leadership. Garcia serves on the Puente Project Advisory Board, the national LGTBQ Leaders in Higher Education Board, and previously on the Board of Directors for Higher Education Resource Services. Appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly, she served as the Vice Chair for the Student-Centered Funding Formula Oversight Committee, charged with reviewing legislation, data, and its impact on the California Community Colleges. She has been a fellow with the Aspen Presidential Institute, the National Community College Hispanic Council, and the UC Davis Wheelhouse Institute, all of which are leadership programs focused on equitable student outcomes. Garcia is a proud second-generation Latina and first-generation college graduate, who earned a doctorate in Educational Leadership at San Francisco State University, a masters in social work at San Diego State University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal and Civic Studies at Saint Marys College of California. Garcia has been appointed to be the Superintendent/President of Santa Rosa Junior College, effective July 1, 2023.

Jennifer Garner, MemberAward-winning actress Jennifer Garner has enjoyed a successful career at the top of her field in both film and television and has also taken on the role of philanthropist and entrepreneur. Garner is known for her versatility in a wide range of starring-roles in Alias, Dallas Buyers Club, Love Simon, Juno, and more. She recently starred in and produced the film YES DAY, based on the childrens book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, which became Netflixs biggest Kids & Family film release. She also recently starred in the sci-fi film The Adam Project for Netflix opposite Ryan Reynolds, Mark Ruffalo, and Zoe Saldana, directed by Shawn Levy. Up next, Garner executive produces and stars in the Apple TV+ limited series The Last Thing He Told Me, based on the eponymous New York Times bestseller, which premieres on April 14th. She most recently wrapped production on the Netflix comedy feature Family Leave, which she is also producing, and will also star and produce a sequel to YES DAY.

Garner is a Save the Children Trustee and has worked with the organization for more than a decade. In addition to bringing Save the Childrens early childhood education programs to her home state of West Virginia, she has advocated on Capitol Hill and traveled to Arkansas, California, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington to meet with lawmakers, press, and philanthropists to raise awareness and funds for the organization. In 2014, Garner joined the global non-profits board of trustees, deepening her commitment to issues affecting children in America and around the world. In 2017, Garner co-founded the organic food company Once Upon a Farm with Cassandra Curtis, Ari Raz, and former Annies president John Foraker. Together the visionaries have grown the company with a goal of providing children with the best tasting, most nutritious, and highest quality food utilizing sustainable methods. As a businesswoman, Garner has worked with major brands including Neutrogena and Capital One, and most recently joined the Virtue Labs team to amplify and raise awareness about the unique health and beauty benefits of the companys premium hair care line.

Nora Halpern, MemberArt historian, museum director, and curator Nora Halpern has spent her public and private life advocating for art, artists, and social justice. Since 2001, she has been a Vice President at Americans for the Arts, focusing on arts policy convenings and engaging individual thought leaders to advance the arts and arts education across America. She is co-founder of Street Scenes: Projects for DC, a public art program that provides access to the broadest possible audience by utilizing the city as a gallery space. Raised in New York City, Halpern began her career in Los Angeles as the Frederick R. Weisman Collections Curator and Founding Director of Pepperdine Universitys Art Museum. She was a Los Angeles Human Relations Commission member and received the Mayors Award of Merit for Outstanding Volunteer Service.

Halpern has taught and lectured internationally. Among her many publications is the recent Putting the Arts to Work: 15 Years of National Arts Policy Roundtables, 2006-2020. She has curated numerous exhibitions, including a Yoko Ono retrospective in Venice, Italy. Halpern has served on the boards of the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, the Santa Monica Museum of Art, ArtTable, PS Arts, and Scholastics Alliance for Young Artists and Writers, among others. She was appointed to the Arts Commission of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021 and was a Biden Arts Policy Committee member. Halpern received her B.A. and M.A. from UCLA and was awarded a Helena Rubinstein Fellowship in Curatorial Studies from the Whitney Museum of American Arts Independent Study Program.

Steve Israel, MemberSteve Israel served in the U.S. Congress between 20012017, including four years as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee from 20112015. He left Washington to pursue new passions, including opening an independent bookstore, Theodores Books, in his historic hometown of Oyster Bay, fulfilling a lifelong dream. He also directs the nonpartisan Institute of Politics and Global Affairs at the Jeb S. Brooks School of Public Policy at Cornell University, which serves as a platform for civic engagement and bipartisan dialogue. He has published two critically acclaimed satires of Washington: The Global War on Morris and Big Guns. He proudly serves on The Library of Congress Madison Council as well as many other boards of directors.

In Congress, he served on the House Appropriations Committee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies, which has jurisdiction on historic preservation, fine arts, cultural arts, museums, and related activities. He also served on the Subcommittee on Defense and the House Armed Services Committee. Israels written commentary has appeared in The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, The Atlantic magazine, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. He writes a biweekly column in The Hill, covering the state or democracy. He lives with his wife Cara in Oyster Bay, Long Island.

Marta Kauffman, MemberMarta Kauffman is an Emmy and Golden Globe-winning television writer, producer, director, and showrunner. Kauffman recently finished the Netflix comedy Grace and Frankie starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. She may be best known for creating NBCs long-running hit Friends with David Crane. The iconic series ran for 10 seasons and earned 63 Emmy nominations, winning Outstanding Comedy Series in 2002. Reruns continue to delight with Friends: The Reunion being a ratings juggernaut. She and David Crane also created HBOs Dream On, recognized with CableAce Awards and additional Emmy nominations. The Writers Guild of America West awarded Kauffman and Crane the 2016 Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for lifetime achievement in television writing. She also earned the 2016 Outstanding Television Writer award at the 23rd annual Austin Film Festival & Screenwriters Conference as well as the Kieser Humanitas Award. She recently received an Honorary Doctorate from Brandeis University. Kauffmans other credits include Georgia, Five, Veronicas Closet, The Powers That Be, Call Me Crazy: A Five Film, and the documentary Seeing Allred. Kauffman has served on several Boards of Trustees including CalArts, Oakwood School, The Lung Cancer Foundation of America, Big Sunday, and IKAR.

Ricky Kirshner, MemberRicky Kirshner is one of the entertainment industrys preeminent producers of televised special events. During his 30-year career, he has been tasked and entrusted in imagining and implementing many of the worlds most widely acclaimed and award-winning television specials, stadium spectaculars, and conventions; producing shows for every major U.S. network and watched by millions of people. Kirshners Executive Producer credits include The Tony Awards, Super Bowl Half-Time Shows, The Kennedy Center Honors, Democratic National Conventions, Presidential Inaugurals/Galas, The Oscars, and many others. Throughout his career, Kirshner has collaborated with artists and performers across all disciplines of classical arts, musical and dramatic theater, cinematic arts, and the music industry, working with major stars as well as up and coming performers and amateur groups. Kirshner has been recognized by industry peers for excellence in television, receiving 26 Emmy Nominations and winning ten Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award, and an Edward R. Murrow Award. Strongly committed to Arts and Music education in schools, Kirshner supports internship programs for college students on his shows. He is also a frequent guest speaker at colleges and universities, inspiring future generations to pursue careers in television and performing arts.

Troy Kotsur, MemberTroy Kotsur earned the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Frank, the Deaffisherman father of a hearing daughter who wants to be a singer in director Sian Heders CODA. The film also won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. Kotsur is the first Deaf male actor and only the second Deaf actor overall to win the Oscar, after his CODA co-star Marlee Matin for her role in Children of a Lesser God. Kotsur also earned BAFTA, Critics Choice, Gotham, Independent Spirit and Screen Actors Guild awards, and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his role in CODA. Other recent film credits include Wild Prairie Rose, No Ordinary Hero: The SuperDeafy Movie, which he also directed, Universal Signs, and The Number 23.

In television, Kotsur was most recently seen in the Disney+ series The Mandalorian, for which he created the Tusken sign language, and was also used in the shows spinoff series The Book of Boba Fett. Other television roles include CSI: NY, Scrubs, Criminal Minds, Strong Medicine, Doc, and Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye. A native of Mesa, Arizona, Kotsur began acting in grade school, with some of his earliest performances including reenacting Tom and Jerry cartoon storylines to his classmates. He studied theater, film, and television at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, and following graduation, toured with the National Theatre of the Deaf.

Katie McGrath, MemberKatie McGrath is Co-CEO at Bad Robot Productions. She oversees the companys corporate culture, communications, and ancillary businesses. Prior to joining Bad Robot, McGrath was a founding partner at First Tuesday Media, a political media firm based in Los Angeles. Earlier, she served as Director of Communications at MTV Networks and as Vice President at the strategic communications consulting firm Robinson Lerer Sawyer Miller. McGrath began her professional career in Washington, DC as a legislative assistant to Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA). She currently serves on the transition team for Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and the boards of Pro Publica, ARRAY Alliance, and The McGrath Abrams Family Foundation.

Laura Penn, MemberLaura Penn has been Executive Director of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC) since 2008. Under her leadership the Unions membership has grown over 100%, a result of her work expanding SDCs jurisdictions, leading bold and successful negotiations, and furthering its Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion initiatives and political engagement. She serves on the General Board of the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE) and is an active member of DPEs Arts and Entertainment and Media Industry Coordinating Committee. She is Co-Chair of the Coalition of Broadway Unions and Guilds, the first woman to hold a leadership position with this coalition of 18 influential unions representing workers on Broadway. Penn serves on the Tony Awards Administration Committee and is a Tony Voter. She served as a panelist for the New York State Council for the Arts, for more than a decade was a site evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts, was Vice President of the League of Resident Theatres, and was two-term Chair of the Seattle Arts Commission. Recognized with Seattles Distinguished Citizen Medal, she is an advocate for civic dialogue and public participation and has been dedicated throughout her career to the idea that artistic excellence and community engagement are intrinsically connected. Penn previously served as an arts executive for Intiman Theatre and Seattle Repertory Theatre and began her career at Washington, DCs Arena Stage, Living Stage Theatre Company. Penn currently teaches Labor Relations in the graduate program at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale.

Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya, MemberAmanda Phingbodhipakkiya is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and community builder based in Brooklyn, New York. Born in Atlanta to Thai and Indonesian immigrants, her practice spans sculpture, textile, large-scale murals, participatory installation, and public art campaigns. Her work examines the unseen labor of women, amplifies AAPI narratives, and affirms the depth, resilience, and beauty of communities of color. Phingbodhipakkiyas art has reclaimed space in museums and galleries, at protests and rallies, on buildings, highway tunnels, subway corridors, and on the cover of TIME magazine. She has been artist-in-residence with the NYC Commission on Human Rights and created art in collaboration with the US Embassy in Thailand. She is a 2023 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow in Visual Arts and is building community archives of AAPI stories as part of civic practice residencies with the San Francisco Asian Art Museum and Poster House. Her work has been acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Museum of the City of New York, the Museum of Chinese in America, and the Library of Congress.

Arnold Rampersad, MemberArnold Rampersad is Sara Hart Kimball Professor Emeritus in the Humanities at Stanford University. A graduate of Bowling Green State University, he earned his Ph.D. in English and American Literature at Harvard. He also taught at the University of Virginia, Rutgers, Columbia, and Princeton. His books include The Art and Imagination of W.E.B. Du Bois; The Life of Langston Hughes (2 vols.); Days of Grace: A Memoir, co-authored with Arthur Ashe; Jackie Robinson: A Biography; and Ralph Ellison: A Biography. His edited volumes include The Oxford Anthology of African-American Poetry; Complete Poems of Langston Hughes; and, as co-editor, Selected Letters of Langston Hughes.

From 2003 to 2006 he served as Senior Associate Dean for the Humanities at Stanford. Winner in 1986 of the National Book Critics Circle Award in biography and autobiography, he was later a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in biography and, in 2007, the National Book Award in non-fiction prose for his biography of Ralph Ellison. He won fellowships from the MacArthur Foundation (1991-1996), the J.S. Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the ACLS. Princeton University awarded him its Howard T. Behrman Medal for distinction in the Humanities. In 2011, he received the National Humanities Medal from President Obama at the White House. Harvard awarded him its Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Medal in 2014. He holds honorary doctorates from Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and the University of the West Indies, among other schools. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.

Shonda Rhimes, MemberShonda Rhimes is an award-winning television creator, producer, and author, as well as the CEO of the global media company Shondaland. Rhimes is the first woman to create three television dramas Greys Anatomy, Private Practice, and Scandal that have achieved the 100-episode milestone. In 2017, Rhimes shifted the entertainment industrys business model when she left network television for an unprecedented agreement for Shondaland to exclusively produce streaming content in partnership with Netflix. Bridgerton, Shondalands first scripted series with the streamer, has become a worldwide franchise with seasons one and two of the show holding top spots among English language programming for Netflix. Rhimes broadened her companys content landscape when she launched the culture website Shondaland.com in partnership with Hearst Digital Media. More recently, she launched Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeart Radio to produce podcast content. Shes a New York Times best-selling author for her memoir Year of Yes and has built multi-platform partnerships with such leading brands as Dove, Masterclass, Microsoft, and Mattel. Rhimes has been included three times in the TIME 100 list of most influential people and her work has been celebrated with numerous awards including induction into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.

Kimberly Richter Shirley, MemberKimberly Richter Shirley is a retired attorney and certified public accountant whose professional career specialized in providing legal and financial expertise to not-for-profit organizations and startup companies. Shirley is a trustee of the Seattle Art Museum, the Tate Americas Foundation, and the University of Washington Foundation and is a former trustee of the Pacific Northwest Ballet. She is a member of the National Gallery of Art Collectors Committee, the Tate North American Acquisitions Committee, the University of Washington Henry Art Gallery Advisory Council, and the Wellesley College Presidents Advisory Council. Shirley and her husband Jon live in Medina, Washington and actively support arts, education, and human service organizations. Together they are committed collectors of modern and contemporary art with an emphasis on sculpture. Shirley received her Bachelor of Arts from Wellesley College and her Juris Doctor from the University of Puget Sound School of Law.

Horacio Sierra, MemberHoracio Sierra is an educator, journalist, activist, and creative writer. His research on English and Spanish Renaissance literature has been funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the U.S. Department of Education, and the University of Texas. As a tenured English professor at Bowie State University, Marylands oldest HBCU, he has created in-person and online courses such as Graphic Novels, Studies in Popular Music, Queer Cultural Studies, Shakespeare & Film, and U.S. Hispanic Literature. The University System of Maryland awarded him their Excellence in Teaching Award for his commitment to experiential education.

Sierras work as a theatre and literary critic has been published in The Miami Herald, Comparative Drama, and Theater Journal. His editorials on topics such as the importance of a humanities education have been published in The Washington Post, The Hartford Courant, and The Baltimore Sun. His poems exploring the intersections of history, geography, and identity have been published in The William & Mary Review, Saw Palm, and Gulf Stream Magazine. As a Miami native with strong ties to his familys Cuban and Spanish heritage, Sierra is President of the Cuban American Democrats, Director of the Sierra Family Scholarship, and has provided college application workshops for his alma mater, Miami Coral Park Senior High. He is also an Executive Board Member of the South Atlantic Modern Language Association. Sierra earned his BS from the University of Miami and his PhD from the University of Florida. He lives in Miami with his husband, Dallas Clay Sierra.

Anna Deavere Smith, MemberAnna Deavere Smith is a writer and actress. She is credited with having created a new form of theater. Her plays, sometimes called docudramas, focus on contemporary issues from multiple points of view and are composed from excerpts of hundreds of interviews. Plays, and films based on them, include Fires in the Mirror and Twilight: Los Angeles, both of which dealt with volatile race events in the 1990s; Let Me Down Easy, about the U.S. health care system; and Notes from the Field, which focused on the school-to-prison pipeline. Her work as an actress on television includes Inventing Anna, The West Wing, Nurse Jackie, and Black-ish. Mainstream movies include Philadelphia, The American President, and Rachel Getting Married. President Obama awarded Smith the National Endowment for the Humanities Medal. She was the 2015 Jefferson Lecturer. She is the recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, several Obie awards, two Drama Desk awards, the George Polk Career Award in Journalism, and the Deans Medal from the Stanford University School of Medicine. She was a runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama and nominated for two Tony Awards. Shes a University Professor at NYUs Tisch School of the Arts. She has several honorary doctorate degrees including those from Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, University of Pennsylvania, Spelman College, Prairie View University, Juilliard, and Oxford.

Joe Walsh, MemberMulti-Grammy award winning singer, songwriter and producer, Kennedy Center Honoree and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Joe Walsh has entertained the masses and captivated his peers for more than five decades. His classic hits like Funk #49, Walk Away, Lifes Been Good, Rocky Mountain Way, Life in the Fast Lane, In The City, Ordinary Average Guy, and Analog Man embody his American origin story, guitar genius, and lyrical wit. Born in Wichita, Kansas and raised in Ohio and New Jersey, Walshs musical journey began with the Cleveland-based James Gang in 1969, continued with his trio Barnstorm and then took off with the launch of his 12-album solo career in 1973. In 1975, Walsh was recruited into the Eagles who would become the highest selling American band in history and one of the top touring acts in the world to this day selling out stadiums and arenas into 2023.

Walsh has honorary doctorates in music from Kent State University and the Berklee College of Music and has been celebrated for his charitable works in the fields of music education, recovery from addiction and womens health and safety. In 2017, Walsh founded VetsAid, an annual music festival that brings together musicians and audiences of all backgrounds to raise funds for veterans and their families. A Gold Star son himself, Walsh brought the festival most recently to his hometown of Columbus, Ohio with guests Dave Grohl, Nine Inch Nails, and The Black Keys. He has, to date, disbursed $2.7 million in grants to veterans services groups nationwide.

Kerry Washington, MemberEmmy-winning, SAG and Golden Globe-nominated actor, director, and producer Kerry Washington is a versatile and fearless multi-hyphenate who has received high acclaim for her work in film, television, and theater. Washington is a lifelong advocate and activist, dedicated to using her voice to fight for justice for all communities. She is focused on building a more equitable democracy and in service of this goal, founded Influence Change (IC) and the Vision Into Power Cohort. IC is a strategic initiative that partners with high impact non-profit organizations to increase voter turnout. The VIP Cohort, launched in partnership with Movement Voter Fund, provides ten grassroots organizations with the resources and knowledge to build civic engagement in their communities through storytelling and collective action.

In 2022, Washington was honored as one of TIME Magazines 2022 Women of The Year. She has been involved with many social and political causes, including her service on President Obamas Committee on the Arts and Humanities. She is also Co-Chair of former First Lady Michelle Obamas When We All Vote campaign and the Black Voices for Black Justice Fund, an organization funding Black leaders who are helping to build a more equitable America. In 2021, Washington and several other industry leaders co-founded The Roybal School of Film and Television Production, in partnership with the LAUSD. It is a magnet school aiming to drive transformational change across the entertainment industry and provides education and practical training in the arts and sciences of filmmaking to marginalized communities.

Pauline Yu, MemberPauline Yu is President Emerita of the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), a non-profit federation of 79 scholarly organizations which she led for sixteen years. ACLS has been the preeminent representative of American scholarship in the humanities and interpretive social sciences since 1919 and has provided competitive fellowships and grants to individual scholars in those fields since 1926. Yu was previously dean of humanities at the University of California, Los Angeles for ten years, founding chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures at the University of California, Irvine, and professor at Columbia University and the University of Minnesota. She received her B.A. in History and Literature from Harvard University, her M.A. and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Stanford University, and holds five honorary degrees. In 2021, she received the award for Distinguished Service to the Profession from the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages of the Modern Language Association.

Yu has been elected to membership in two honorary societies, the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She serves on the Academys board of directors and is also a trustee of the Institute for Advanced Study. In addition, she is a member of the board of several philanthropic organizations, including The Henry Luce Foundation and The Teagle Foundation. She is the author or editor of five books and has published widely on topics in Chinese poetry, comparative literature, and the humanities.

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President Biden Announces Key Appointments to Boards and ... - The White House

ChatGPT is already making its mark on the travel industry, with Expedia recently integrating the AI chatbot into its app.

We recently put the bot to the test by asking it to plan a no-expenses spared two-week holiday around Europe. The result was pretty disappointing. The carbon-intensive itinerary would have meant spending most of the holiday at airports, on flights and packed like sardines into over-touristed sights.

So, we decided to see if the bot could plan us a more interesting trip that wouldnt blow our carbon budget. Heres the ultimate, budget- and eco-friendly weekend break in Europe, according to ChatGPT.

In case you haven't heard of it, ChatGPT is a popular chatbot developed by OpenAI. Users ask it questions and it uses masses of data to give a unique, highly personalised response.

We asked the bot where we should go for an environmentally friendly trip in Europe. It came up with five suggestions.

ChatGPT hailed Copenhagen, Denmark, for its ambitious goal to become the first net zero capital by 2025.

It suggested Costa Brava in Spain as a destination for outdoor enthusiasts, and it lauded the Azores in Portugal for their sustainable development initiatives.

It broadly recommended Norway for its strong commitment to sustainability and eco-friendly accommodations.

But the destination that stood out most was Amsterdam.

The Netherlands capital is on a mission to clean up its image - so what better place to go for a clean, green weekend trip?

Amsterdam is very bike-friendly and has a great public transportation system. You can visit sustainable attractions such as the Eco-Supperclub and the Organic Food Farmers Market, ChatGPT suggested.

The city also topped Schroders European Sustainable Cities Index 2021 for its strong environmental policies - though ChatGPT failed to mention this point.

Next we decided to test ChatGPTs attention to detail when it comes to travel planning. We asked it to plan a budget- and eco-friendly weekend in Amsterdam, travelling from London.

Leaving no room for interpretation, we asked Please can you plan me the most sustainable, budget friendly trip to Amsterdam from 26 to 28 May 2023?

Please include the most sustainable and budget friendly transport, sustainable accommodation, sustainable activities and sustainable meals or sustainable restaurants, including costs for everything.

It told us that the train is the most sustainable mode of travel, producing approximately 8.5 kg CO2e per passenger for a one-way trip based on data from the International Energy Agency (information gleaned from a second question about emissions).

However, it recommended a train and ferry combination as a cheaper way of getting from London to Amsterdam.

Producing around 10 kg CO2e per passenger for a one-way trip, this mode of transport is still significantly greener than flying, which produces approximately 117 kg, according to data from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Settling on the train and ferry option, we asked ChatGPT how to go about it.

Here are the instructions it gave:

Since were travelling on a budget, we also asked the chatbot to include costs.

By booking in advance, you can save money on train and ferry tickets, it told us - very insightful.

For example, you can take a Greater Anglia train from London Liverpool Street Station to Harwich International Station for around 15 [17] per person, and then take the Stena Line ferry from Harwich to the Hook of Holland for around 50 [57] per person. Finally, take a train from the Hook of Holland to Amsterdam Central Station for around 10 [11] per person.

While the prices it gave are definitely on the low side, the journey checks out and could be done in a day in around 11 hours.

For accommodation, ChatGPT recommended Cocomama hostel, a certified eco-friendly hostel located in the city centre.

A bed in a shared dorm room starts at around 30 [34] per night, or you can book a private room starting at around 75 [85] per night.

Again, the prices are optimistically low, though ChatGPT did estimate slightly higher prices in our final budget. Also, the property is booked up for our dates - and many in the future.

That said, the property has decent reviews, is cheaper than most places in the city, and its green credentials check out.

According to its website, it offers bike hire and prides itself on using pre-loved furniture. It also has natural stone heating, water-efficient toilets and showers, double glazed windows, a grass roof for eco isolation, an environmentally friendly water system and waste recycling.

They also have a cat, so we're sold.

ChatGPT also gave its recommendations for sustainable activities that allow you to explore the city while minimising your environmental impact.

Here are the suggestions it gave:

This isnt exactly an inspired suggestion but it makes sense for an eco visit on a budget.

The Cuyp frequently tops the list of markets to visit in Amsterdam, though thats not a reason to swerve it. Its also right around the corner from Cocomama hostel.

The Noordermarkt offers everything from organic food to antiques, making it a decent idea for an eco shopping trip.

While Vondelpark is the citys most popular, it's also great for visiting on a budget - especially in summer when you might stumble upon a free open-air concert. Oosterpark is known as a bird watching spot, so another reasonable suggestion from ChatGPT.

In a city packed with vegan, organic and farm to table restaurants, its tricky to choose where to spend your mealtimes.

ChatGPT turned our basic request for sustainable meals or restaurants into a decent list of spots offering locally sourced, organic food.

These included:

With great reviews and a seasonal plant to plate approach - the restaurant grows 300 varieties of vegetables, herbs and fruits on site - this seems like a good suggestion, albeit a little pricey.

Again with excellent reviews, this vegan spot is primed for Instagrammers with its neon signs and graffiti-licked walls. It also has four outposts around the city.

This arty cafe is located in A Lab, a creative community that takes over Shells former lab - at least its being put to greener use now.

The total estimated cost given to us by ChatGPT was definitely on the optimistic side - especially since we were planning little more than a month ahead.

Total: 245-410 (278-465) per person.

However, if we could even come close to that, it would be a pretty pocket-friendly visit to one of Europes most expensive cities.

Some of the suggestions could have been more original, but all in all were pretty pleased with the result of our second foray into chatbot trip planning.

More:

We asked ChatGPT to plan the ultimate cheap eco weekend in Europe - Euronews