Last week, NRDC celebrated four remarkable food vanguards for their pioneering efforts to create healthier and more sustainable food systems at the fifth annual Growing Green Awards. The winners, who are leaders in tackling antibiotic resistance on farms, infusing urban areas with fresh produce in corner stores, championing business innovation in organic agriculture and empowering communities with sustainable food equity projects, were honored last Thursday at the City View at Metreon in San Francisco.

Follow the Growing Green Awards on Facebook.

Pioneers in Sustainable Food Show We Can Eat Well and Protect the Environment Frances Beinecke, President

As people across the country learn to reconnect with their food and how it's grown, farmers, businesses and activists nationwide are tackling major food system problems. Good food heroes show us that no matter where we live, solutions exist to repair America's clogged food system and offer families everywhere delicious and nutritious food. Read the post.

Saving Antibiotics

Since the 1950s, it has become routine practice to add low levels of antibiotics to the feed or water of healthy livestock to promote faster growth and prevent infections that tend to occur when animals are housed in crowded, unsanitary, and stressful conditions. By overusing antibiotics and feeding them to animals that don't have bacterial infections we're making the drugs doctors rely on to treat illnesses like pneumonia, strep throat, and childhood ear infections less effective.

NRDC is continuing to press the Food and Drug Administration to act on this abuse of antibiotics. In the meantime, you can take the following steps to protect yourself and support responsible meat production that doesn't endanger essential medicines:

1. Prepare foods safely at home -- follow the food-safety handling tips in our grilling guide.

2. When shopping for meat, look for these labels that certify products come from farms that only use antibiotics on animals to cure infections and not for any other "non-therapeutic" uses:
• USDA Certified Organic
• American Grassfed Certified
• Animal Welfare Approved
• Certified Humane

You may also want to look for labels like "No Antibiotics Administered" or "Raised Without Antibiotics," especially if they are USDA process verified. CAUTION: Even meat labeled "Organic" or "No Antibiotics Administered" can be contaminated with antibiotic resistant bacteria, so you'll still need to follow the safe handling practices above.

The New Pork Gospel

Meet the "Pope of Pork" in this OnEarth web exclusive. Read the article.