The UC Food Observer chooses a handful of important stories for you to read each work day. Typically, we offer this on Fridays, but with so many important and wonderful stories out there, we’ll be providing a wrap several days a week.

On the menu, in no particular order:

 

1. U.S. House Democrats are set to fight a GMO regulation bill (the Safe and Affordable Food Labeling Act). By Philip Brasher (@PhilipBrasher) for Agri-Pulse. Follow Brasher and @AgriPulse for breaking news.

 

2. Are hospital farms the next big thing in healthcare reform? A terrific piece by Jodi Helmer (@helmerjodi) for Civil Eats. And ICYMI, Eloisa Ruano Gonzalez pens a wonderful profile of Civil Eats’ editor-in-chief, Naomi Starkman (@NaomiStarkman). For The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California); you can read it here.

 

3. ICYMI, a UC Food Observer opinion piece: “No child left behind” should also apply to education about the nation’s food system.

4. California’s drinking water: not just vanishing, but also widely contaminated. Tom Philpott (@tomphilpott) writes this piece for Mother Jones.

 

5. John Oliver (@iamjohnoliver) on the shocking amount of food we waste; HBO Last Week Tonight video. Related: Oliver Balch (@OliverBalch) reports on food waste in Europe for Guardian Environment.