Following the evidence from paddock to plate and looking beyond the nutrition panel to understand the story behind our food.
💡 Know Your Food™
The nutrition panel tells us what's in our food.
The ingredients list tells us what manufacturers added.
Neither tells us the story of that food before it reached the manufacturer's doorstep.
Why Know Your Food?
We make many of our food choices based on nutrition. We look for protein, fibre, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and healthy fats, and understandably assume that choosing foods with a strong nutritional profile means we're making a healthy choice.
But nutrition is only part of a food's story.
How was it grown or raised? What was it fed? How was it stored, transported or processed? Were agricultural or veterinary chemicals used? What standards regulate their residues? And do those standards continue to reflect the way we eat these foods today?
These are the questions behind Know Your Food.
Following the Evidence
I'm naturally curious about food, and working in nutrition and food has taught me not to accept every alarming claim I hear. Some turn out to be true, some contain a grain of truth, and others fall apart when you look for evidence.
Every Know Your Food investigation begins with a question, not a conclusion. I'll look for primary research, Australian food standards and regulatory documents wherever possible, and distinguish what we know from what we don't.
My goal isn't to prove a point. It's to better understand the story behind our food.
And when better evidence becomes available, I'll update what I've written.
