Of the five senses, perhaps the senses of smell and taste make the most lasting impressions. Remember school lunches? I know I’ll never forget mine. For example, what my elementary school’s lunch ladies called “smoky links”—cocktail weenies swimming in congealed gravy—and what passed for a burrito are burned into my memory.

I grew up in an era when the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), under President Regan, revised school lunch standards to allow school nutritionists to consider ketchup and other condiments like pickle relish as a portion of vegetables. Luckily, that was quickly reversed as a result of public outcry.

If you were a suffering public school cafeteria kid like me, you’ll be interested to know that things are improving for kids at lunchtime. Why? Health concerns for our children’s growing obesity problems and the public’s increasing concern about food safety has inspired politicians to take new interest in school lunches.

In fact, the USDA has begun offering politicians and their staff members taste tests of some of the top items on school lunch menus. Congressional members and staff recently feasted on chicken fajitas and sliced ham a la school cafeteria, for example.

The USDA supplies schools with meats, fruits, dairy and other food stuffs through a program that has a dual purpose—to help feed underprivileged children and also support agricultural markets. This program has improved since the days when I was a cafeteria diner. Today, the program offers a far wider selection to schools—180 different foods today compared to just 54 in 1981 (the same year as the ketchup-as-vegetable scandal and my not-so-beloved smoky links). The diversity of foods available to schools through the USDA now includes dried fruits, nuts, brown rice, legumes and unprocessed meats. In short, with these healthier options, it should be easier for school lunch ladies to craft healthy meals for kids. Getting the kids to eat them is another matter.

In the latest podcast in our Chew on This series, Dr. Kent Ames, professor at the Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine, discusses animal health and the role that large farms play in providing food for the growing world.

The latest podcast in our Chew on This series highlights the important role research veterinarians play in ensuring food safety. Their research is crucial to forecasting the emergence of foodborne diseases and possible food safety.

In this Chew on This podcast, we discuss the role that veterinarians play in food safety research and forecasting with Dr. Scott Hurd, associate professor of veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine at Iowa State University.

It doesn’t take long when talking to Dr. Doug Powell, founder of Barfblog.com, to find out that he’s got a sense of humor: “As you know, freedom of the press belongs to those who own one … and I own Barfblog, so there!”

After just a few years of publishing, his comically named internet journal, Barfblog.com, has drawn a good sized following -- approximately 10,000 people visit his site daily. His site boasts a half dozen highly educated correspondents, dedicated to improving public health by educating readers about the dangers of food-borne illnesses.

But what about that strange name … and some of the goofy stories he publishes?

“The humor makes it more relatable,” explains Michelle Mazur, a Barfblog.com contributor and a second-year veterinary student at Kansas State University, where Barfblog.com is based. “Humor is important. If you just put out abstracts every day it gets a little boring. Doug has a unique sense of humor, as do I, and so does everyone at Barfblog.com.”

“Marshall McLuhan [famed media theorist] said that those who try to distinguish between entertainment and education don’t know the first thing about either, and if I had an underlying philosophy that would be it,” Dr. Powell says. In the 1990s he worked as a journalist—the Canadian correspondent to Science and to a Canadian newspaper -- and he learned that, to hook a reader, sometimes you have to be a little silly. Most food handlers (restaurant workers, etc.) are under the age of 30, and young people don’t always think a lot about food