On Wednesday morning, the Food & Environment Reporting Network’s second article, “Dispute over drug in feed limiting US meat exports,” was published on msnbc.com. The article is available here in our archive, where you can find additional reporting on the international body that is currently discussing the drug, ractopamine, as well as details about the testing of it. We are glad to report that the story is starting a conversation across multiple media channels.
The story has been recommended by a number of other news sources, including The New York Times and CNN, and has inspired reporting in Mother Jones, Grist, Huffington Post, SF Weekly, the Taipei Times and Food Safety News. Reporter Helena Bottemiller appeared on New York Public Radio to discuss the story on Thursday. And we’ve had a good showing via social media: The story has generated 184 comments, been recommended on Facebook over 1,000 times, and shared 971 times through other sources. We’ve had some high profile tweeters share our news, including @RuthReichl (a member of our editorial board); Rep. @LouiseSlaughter, a microbiologist who has authored a bill that ends the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in animal agriculture; and @SlowFoodUSA. In addition, @ProPublica’s #muckreads highlighted the story on its Web site.
Bottemiller was able to obtain exclusive documents and her reporting sheds new light on an important and underreported human health story that has far-reaching trade implications. Through the publications of stories such as this, the Food & Environment Reporting Network uncovers news critical to the public’s right to know about food, agriculture, and environmental health. Keep your eye on this space; there’s much more to come.