Food Sleuth Radio

Series produced by Dan Hemmelgarn

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Join Melinda Hemmelgarn, a registered dietitian and investigative nutritionist, for 28-minute, weekly interviews with national experts in food, health and agriculture. From physicians to film makers, writers, farmers, scientists and chefs, Food Sleuth Radio navigates our complicated food system. You’ll discover how farm and food policies impact our environment and public health, and learn the secrets to eating well. Provocative, practical and personal, Food Sleuth Radio helps us think beyond our plates to find “food truth.”
Award-winning Food Sleuth Radio ranks among the top national “green food radio shows.” If you care about what you eat, tune in!

Melinda Hemmelgarn is a registered dietitian, “investigative nutritionist,” award-winning writer and Food Sleuth Radio host. With 30 years’ experience in clinical, academic and public health nutrition, she’s a trusted consumer advocate, and an engaging and energizing national speaker.

For 20 years, Melinda wrote a weekly, trademarked Food Sleuth newspaper column for the Columbia (MO) Daily Tribune. She has published articles in the American Journal of Nursing, Today's Dietitian, Natural Awakenings, ACRES, Current Health, and Edible Communities magazines.

Prior to her freelance writing, speaking and radio career, Melinda developed and directed the Nutrition Communications Center at the University of Missouri. In 2004, she received a Food and Society Policy Fellowship which allowed her to connect the dots between food, health and agriculture. Today she uniquely applies critical thinking skills to media messages about food and farm policy to advance "food system literacy."

Melinda received her B.S. in Dietetics from Florida State University; her M.S. in Human Nutrition and Food Systems from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and completed a dietetic internship through Cornell University at the New York Hospital.
She is a member of the Association of Health Care Journalists, National Association for Media Literacy Education, and the American Dietetic Association’s Hunger and Environmental Nutrition Practice Group.

Food Sleuth Radio has been produced by Dan Hemmelgarn at KOPN Studios in Columbia, MO since June, 2009. The “Mother Nature Network” ranked the show among the “top national green food radio shows” in 2009, and in 2011, Food Sleuth Radio won 1st place for radio interview from the National Federation of Press Women.

Contact: Dan Hemmelgarn: hemmelgarndan@gmail.com; 573-449-3720 Hide full description

Melinda Hemmelgarn is a registered dietitian, “investigative nutritionist,” award-winning writer and Food Sleuth Radio host. With 30 years’ experience in clinical, academic and public health nutrition, she’s a trusted consumer advocate, and an engaging and energizing national speaker. For 20 years, Melinda wrote a weekly, trademarked Food Sleuth newspaper column for the Columbia (MO) Daily Tribune. She has published articles in the American Journal of Nursing, Today's Dietitian, Natural Awakenings, ACRES, Current Health, and Edible Communities magazines. Prior to her freelance writing, speaking and radio career, Melinda developed and directed the Nutrition Communications Center at the University of Missouri. In 2004, she received a Food and Society Policy Fellowship which allowed... Show full description


641 Pieces

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It may seem hard to imagine, but we have more microbial cells in our guts than we have human cells in our bodies. Join Food Sleuth Radio host and R...

  • Added: May 01, 2014
  • Length: 28:01
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Allergy rates are increasing for reasons still under investigation. However, Amish communities have a lower incidence of allergies compared to th...

Bought by RadioFreePalmer


  • Added: Apr 25, 2014
  • Length: 28:00
  • Purchases: 1
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Which is the better way to “feed the world” – with organic or “conventional” agriculture? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Mel...

  • Added: Apr 18, 2014
  • Length: 28:00
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April is Parkinson’s Awareness Month. Did you know that farmers who use pesticides are at greater risk for developing Parkinson's Disease (PD)? Or ...

  • Added: Apr 10, 2014
  • Length: 28:00
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“Natural” gas may sound like a clean alternative to foreign oil, but natural gas extraction utilizing hydraulic fracturing (fracking) increases the...

  • Added: Apr 04, 2014
  • Length: 28:00
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Is organic food worth a higher price at the check out? Chuck Benbrook, Ph.D., Washington State University, helps us do the food math. Join Food Sl...

  • Added: Mar 27, 2014
  • Length: 28:00
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Irritable Bowel Syndrome is embarrassing and awkward, painful and disabling. And dietary advice can be confusing and conflicting. Join Food Sleu...

  • Added: Mar 21, 2014
  • Length: 28:00
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The food we eat can be a powerful tool for extending life, reversing diabetes, healing our planet and creating a more compassionate society. Join ...

Bought by RadioFreePalmer


  • Added: Mar 14, 2014
  • Length: 28:00
  • Purchases: 1
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Benny McLean has been working in the Florida citrus industry ever since he was 10 years old. Today he is production manager for Uncle Matt’s Organ...

  • Added: Mar 06, 2014
  • Length: 28:00
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Humans depend heavily on invertebrate animals -- those without a backbone—including earthworms and beneficial insects. In fact, one third of the ...

  • Added: Feb 28, 2014
  • Length: 28:00
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We’re told that genetically engineered Golden Rice is the answer to third world Vitamin A-related blindness, but is it? Join Food Sleuth Radio host...

  • Added: Feb 21, 2014
  • Length: 28:00
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The Union of Concerned Scientists reports that herbicide-resistant weeds have reached epidemic proportions, infesting 61 million acres and growing....

  • Added: Feb 13, 2014
  • Length: 28:00
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Farmer Joe Maxwell says: “I raise hogs; I don’t produce pork.” Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her in...

  • Added: Feb 07, 2014
  • Length: 28:00
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When Consumer Reports tested 300 raw chicken breasts from supermarkets nationwide they discovered that more than half of the samples contained bact...

  • Added: Jan 31, 2014
  • Length: 28:00
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When Klaas Martens transitioned to organic farming, his neighbors at the local coffee shop bet how long it would be before he went broke. But Marte...

  • Added: Jan 23, 2014
  • Length: 28:00
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Can organic farming feed the world? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with New York State...

  • Added: Jan 17, 2014
  • Length: 28:00
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By day, Kathy Pryor helps Washington hospitals bring healthy food into health care. By night, she’s a children’s book author. Join Food Sleuth Radi...

  • Added: Jan 10, 2014
  • Length: 28:00
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Chronic diarrhea can be debilitating and isolating, and as many as five percent of the population, or 15 million Americans may suffer from the cond...

  • Added: Jan 03, 2014
  • Length: 28:00
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Should we be engineering seeds and patenting genes? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview wit...

  • Added: Dec 27, 2013
  • Length: 28:00
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With the industrialization of agriculture, our diets have become out of balance with an abundance of omega-6 fatty acids and a deficiency in omega-...

  • Added: Dec 20, 2013
  • Length: 28:00