Food Sleuth Radio

Did you know that tooth decay is the most common chronic disease of childhood and that Maine was the first state to eliminate soft drinks from schools? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Jonathan Shenkin, DDS , pediatric dentist based in Augusta, Maine, former Vice President of the American Dental Association, and Clinical Associate Pro...

Did you know that art has always been a driving force for activism?   Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Chris Jordan , award winning photographer and artist whose work helps us see the impact of consumer culture and our unconscious behaviors. Jordan’s work is a call to action to repair our broken relationship with planet Earth. He is b...

Did you know that cannabis is comprised of over one hundred different cannabinoids which have a myriad of health benefits? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Janice Newell Bissex MS, RD, Registered Dietitian, Holistic Cannabis Practitioner, and author of the Simple Guide to CBD: Fact, Fiction, and a Path Forward. Bissex discusses the hi...

Did you know that farming in community creates a social contract between people, and can help lift depression and loneliness? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Molly Rockamann, founding director of Earth Dance Certified Organic Farm School based in Ferguson Missouri. Rockamann discusses her global farming experiences, food sovereignty,...

Did you know that a growing number of students across the country are working to eliminate synthetic herbicide use on their campuses?  Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Mackenzie Feldman, Founder and Executive Director of Herbicide-Free Campus, and Food Research Fellow for Data for Progress where she writes food and agriculture policy...

Did you know that grasslands are essential for sequestering carbon from the atmosphere, and ranchers are critical in preserving America’s grassland ecosystem? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Marshall Johnson, Vice-President of the Conservation Ranching Initiative at National Audubon Society. Johnson discusses details of the Conservat...

Did you know that what and when we eat can affect our mood? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Holly DeLong, MS, RDN. DeLong discusses how food affects mood, sleep, immunity and stress with specific dietary recommendations.   Related website:    www.yourfoodandmood.com  

Did you know that with few exceptions, the food served in prison does not support mental and physical health?  Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Mark McBrine, organic farmer and Food Service Manager at Mountain View Correctional Facility in Charleston, Maine. McBrine describes his unique transformational food and farming operation at a...

Did you know that food is more than sustenance? It defines who we are, Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Alison Alkon, Ph. D., professor of sociology at the University of the Pacific ( https://liberalarts.pacific.edu/campus-directory/alkon-alison ), who discusses her TED talk titled: “ Food as Radical Empathy .” Alkon defines food just...

Did you know that food is an integral part of the human experience, yet that which is served in prison most often fails to contribute to the rehabilitation of those who are incarcerated?  Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Leslie Soble, M.A., Impact Justice research fellow for the Food in Prison Project and lead author of  the report, “...

Did you know that the herbicide, dicamba, threatens organic farmers’ economic viability as well as consumer access to local fresh organic fruits and vegetables? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Rob Faux, Ph. D., organic farmer and Pesticide Action Network’s Communications Associate for Iowa. Faux owns and operates the Genuine Faux Far...

Did you know that Native Hawaiians lost much of their connection to cultural foodways due to colonization? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview withLani Eckart-Dodd, Native Hawaiian farmer, educator, and water rights advocate from Maui. Eckart-Dodd defines “Aloha Aina,” and discusses native foods, and the impact of sugar plantations and Christ...

Did you know that chronic inflammation is a risk for a host of diseases?  Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Jean La Mantia, Registered Dietitian, author, speaker & cancer survivor, based in Toronto, Canada. La Mantia discusses the risks of chronic inflammation, and describes the benefits of both an anti-inflammatory diet and interm...

Did you know that Hawaii imports the majority of its food, leaving its citizens vulnerable to food shortages during disasters? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Autumn Ness, Director of Hawai'i Organic Land Management a Program of Beyond Pesticides based in Maui. Ness discusses her efforts to regulate widespread pesticide spraying, and...

Did you know that “One Health” is a valid, interdisciplinary approach to public health that connects human, animal, and environmental health? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Brian Ronholm, Director of Food Policy for Consumer Reports , and former Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety at USDA. Ronholm compares the credible “One Healt...

Did you know that breast milk is a complex system that is both responsive and dynamic?  Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Jennifer Smilowitz, Ph. D., Associate Director of the Human Studies Research Program for the Foods for Health Institute at UC Davis, and Director of Scientific and Strategic Development for the International Milk Ge...

Did you know that breastmilk is uniquely suited to support infant growth, and the infant gut microbiome? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Jennifer Smilowitz, Ph. D., Associate Director of the Human Studies Research Program for the Foods for Health Institute at UC Davis. Smilowitz describes the unique nutritional characteristics of bre...

Did you know that there’s a difference between soil-based and hydroponically produced berries?  Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Hugh Kent, owner of King Grove Organic Farm in Central Florida where he grows soil-based, certified organic blueberries. Kent compares soil-based organic agriculture to hydroponic berry production, and the c...

Did you know that our food and farming choices impact bird populations? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Dan Scheiman, Bird Conservation Director at Audubon Arkansas. He'll discuss the damaging effects of widely used agricultural and lawn-based pesticides (dicamba, neonicotinoids) on trees, insects and birds, as well as the benefits o...

Did you know that the new “GMO” food labels required in January 2022 will not say “GMO,” but instead say “bioengineered”?   Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Anne Ross:, attorney with an advanced degree in Agriculture & Food Law from the University of Arkansas. As policy advisor for the Cornucopia Institute, Ross investigated organ...

Did you know that Native Americans understand that food systems are ecological systems? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Dina Gilio-Whitaker, adjunct professor of American Indian studies at California State University at San Marcos, and Policy Director and Senior Research Associate at the Center for World Indigenous Studies. She'll discuss her informative new book, As Long As Grass Grows: The Indig...

Did you know that farmers plant dicamba-resistant crops is defense of neighbors’ use of this herbicide? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Terry Fuller, farmer and chair of the Arkansas Plant Board. Fuller discusses why farmers use dicamba, the resulting crop damage, and the vandalism he’s experienced on his farm simply for speaking out...

Did you know that soil health predicts plant health and nutritional quality? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Gladis Zinati, Ph. D., Director of the Rodale Institute’s Vegetable Systems Trial.  Zinati describes how organic farming methods influence soil microbial health, and nutrient uptakes improve the nutritional value of our food....

Did you know that meat-packing plants have been centers for Covid-19 outbreaks? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Leah Douglas, staff writer and associate editor at the Food and Environment Reporting Network. Douglas discusses her ongoing investigations into COVID-19 outbreaks in meat packing and processing plants, as well as her story...

Did you know that food manufacturing brought into question a food’s purity? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Benjamin Cohen, Ph. D., environmental historian, Chair of Engineering Studies and Associate professor at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa, and author of Pure Adulteration: Cheating on Nature in the Age of Manufactured Food . Coh...