The Juicy Bits
Its summer harvesting season in the agriculture world, but as June proved an especially hot climate this year, Greece has been struggling with olive production as climates dry. If only there was a molecule that could make their plants grow larger... scientists in California think there is. UC San Diego scientists discovered a molecule that exists in both plants and animals that stimulates plant growth. Speaking of bringing the heat, the 2025 National High School BBQ Championships were held in Kansas for the first time earlier this June, where students competed culinarily in a high school parking lot. Exciting new annual lists and rankings in the restaurant and beverage industry were posted as well, from the popular World's 50 Best Restaurants list to the The World's 40 Largest Beer Companies In 2025 from BarthHaas. June brought the heat and lot more food news, here's to a cooler July and lots of BBQ'n, happy reading!
—Maddox Joachim
Restaurants
The World's 50 Best Restaurants List For 2025 Is Here
Image Source: Nomadic Foodist
The largely awaited annual World's 50 Best Restaurants List for 2025 is finally here. The list features the best restaurants from 32 cities and 22 countries around the world. Maido in Lima, Peru took the number one spot with chef Mitsuharu ‘Micha’ Tsumura's innovative takes on traditional Japanese food. An honorable mention is due for Sühring in Bangkok, Thailand, where German twin brothers and chefs Mathias and Thomas Sühring draw inspiration from multiple European and Thai cuisines to create a creative seasonal menu with a primarily German influence. The pair's restaurant landed the 22nd spot on the list. This year's list was sponsored by San Pellegrino and Acqua Panna.
Beverages
The World's 40 Largest Beer Companies In 2025
Image Source: JCM / Adobe Stock
Despite tariff wars, consumption decline, and a flurry of other issues, the beer industry continued to thrive throughout 2025. BarthHaas, a German hops company, released their industry report for 2025 early this June showcasing the world's top beer companies and largest exporters. AB InBev and Heineken, which secured the number one and two spots respectively, brewed a combined total of 736.19 million hectoliters of beer. All together, the 40 largest beer companies in the world brewed a combined total of 1,638.82 million hectoliters of beer for the year, a small decrease from least year's 1,648.71 million hectoliters.
BBQ Hot Spot
High School Students Win National BBQ Competition
Image Source: Steve Venne / KCUR
The 2025 National High School BBQ Championships were held in Kansas for the first time ever in Gardner this June. This was the 5th year of the competition, featuring 87 different high school teams and 15 middle school teams from 7 states. Shawnee Mission High School students took first place under the nickname "Caught Smokin" after battling it out in the Gardner Edgerton High School parking lot. The team comprised of five students from the Shawnee Mission District’s Broadmoor Bistro at the Center for Academic Achievement culinary program. Steve Venne Venne, the team’s coach, has been cooking professionally for over 20 years and has been a Shawnee Mission educator for the past 13 years.
Cooking
Trending Cookware Brands Face Scrutiny After Falsely Advertising Non-Stick and Ceramic Pans
Image Source: Sincerely Media / Unsplash
Non-stick and ceramic cooking pans are trending for all the wrong reasons on social media. Brands like Our Place’s Always Pan, Caraway and GreenPan have been scrutinized in recent weeks on social media after studies found they may not be fully ceramic. Independent testing suggests they contain potentially toxic substances like titanium dioxide or lead. Washington state now requires full disclosure of nonstick from pan manufacturers, citing concerns over PFAS replacements as brands make the switch from Teflon.
Supply Chain
Hot Climates Put A Strain On Olive Oil Production In Greece, Demand Skyrockets
Image Source: Milada Vigerova / Unsplash
Greece is one of the biggest olive producers in the world, exporting over $1 billion worth of olive oil a year. Over the past year, the country's main agricultural industry has suffered as climates dry up. Present day temperatures are putting a strain on production as olives dry out and farmers are forced to rely on hopeful irrigation techniques. The nation's olive supply has naturally taken a hit, pushing some to begin stealing product. Bloomberg reported that 37 tons of olive oil filled drums were stolen from a mill in the northern region of Greece, Halkidiki. The local growers lost around $300,000 worth of product. Antonopoulos, a member of the Agricultural Cooperative of Kalamata, says he’s far less worried of theft as he is with olive producers fleeing the industry as costs rise. "Many people are abandoning olives," he says, the fields are just "becoming forest."
More Supply Chain News
China Reopens Japanese Seafood Imports After 2 Year Ban Regarding Radioactive Wastewater
U.S. Steel Tariffs May Raise Canned Food Prices By Up To 15%
A Study On Czechia's Major Struggles With Food Security In Recent Years
Image Source: Anthony Delanoix / Unsplash
A recent study published in the BMC Public Health journal revealed that among respondent 30% of Czechia's population were likely to report food insecurity. Younger folks aged 20 to 34 years old are even more likely to be food insecure, while lower income individuals in the same age range suffer the most. The study analyzed fruit and vegetable intake as well as the varying diets across the country, finding that those with gardens at home and other home food production practices in place often did well. Meanwhile individuals with higher BMI and lower education had 30% higher chances of not having daily access to fruits and vegetables. The sociodemographic-economic factors in the study were sex, age, education, income, number of children and home food production. The results indicated the need for policies that improve financial access to nutritious foods and strengthen the nation's overall food supply.
Agriculture
Farmers Face New Battles As Bird Flu Jumps From Poultry To Cattle
Image Source: Jeffery DelViscio / Scientific American
While the bird flu has been a known infectious disease among poultry farmers for years, the jump from poultry to dairy was far more unexpected. Poultry farmers have been lining the surrounding areas of their chicken barns with gravel and even shining lasers to deter other birds from contaminating facilities. Now, cattle farmers may be following suit in the same practices as bird flu makes the jump from chickens to cows. Farmers in Texas noticed cattle were producing less dairy and getting sick back in 2024, and sent blood samples to Elisha Frye of Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine to be studied. Frye concluded it was H5N1, a strain of bird flu. Humans are getting sick from H5N1, too, although not as often. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 70 bird flu infections in humans since last year, where most cases included farmworkers in contact with sick cattle and poultry.
More Agriculture News
ICE Raids Pose Harvesting Issues For California Farms
USDA Staff Firings Put A Hold On Agricultural Conservation Work
Farmers In Illinois Are Expanding Produce Supply Chains
Indian Farmer Grows Apples In Impossible Climate, Hopes Demand And Production Will Grow
University Of Michigan Researchers Arrested After Smuggling Crop Fungus From China
Regulations
Global Cases Of Food Fraud Soar This Year As Suffering Supply Chains Are Exploited
Image Source: Bert van Leeuwe / Getty Images
There has been a significant increase in globally reported food fraud cases in 2025. "Tracking incidents of food adulteration and fraud in high-risk commodities worldwide reveals a complex picture emerging in the first quarter of 2025," says Konstantinos Pehlivanis of FoodAkai, a software company that tracks food safety data. The company released a Global Food Fraud Index that predicts which food categories will see the highest up-tick in forecasted food fraud cases. Eggs, dairy, and nuts are the most at risk groups of food for fraud in 2025, followed by fats and oils, seafood, and cereal products. Meanwhile meat and poultry, juices, and coffee should show significant decreases in food fraud cases for the year.
Food Processing
Fly Larvae Turn Food Waste Into Useful Protein
Image Source: Energesman / BBC
City councils around the world are embracing maggots as a mean to eliminating food waste sustainably. In Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, larvae have been tasked with processing the city's food waste, as well as the food waste of 6 neighboring councils. Energesman, the waste management company behind all of this, does not charge councils or residents for the service. Fly larvae have robust appetites, and are also perfect for protein products when slaughtered before becoming mature flies. This means the same creatures chowing down on our food waste could be turned into animal feed or even paints and adhesives.
Health
Food Safety Experts Say Recent FDA Cuts Threaten Food Supply Safety Long Term
Image Source: Chad Baker - Jason Reed - Ryan McVay / Getty Images
Mass federal layoffs among the departments overseeing food in the U.S. like the FDA, USDA, and CDC have experts worried about food safety going forward. Nearly 80 percent of the U.S. food supply is regulated by the FDA, and in March, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services revealed the FDA would cut 3,500 FDA employees. “I’m not worried about the food I’m buying tomorrow or in a week or in two weeks, I’m worried about long-term,” says Martin Wiedmann, a food safety scientist at Cornell University. Former FDA commissioner Robert Califf points out that "the food side of the FDA has been massively underfunded," and in 2024, 17% of the FDA’s nearly $7 billion budget went to food regulations, about half of what the agency spent on overseeing drugs.
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Science
California Scientists Discover Metabolite That Boosts Plant Growth Immensely
Scientists recently discovered a molecule known for protecting animal immune systems exists in plants as well, itaconate. The molecule even stimulates plant growth, proven by an experiment at Dickinson Lab, UC San Diego that involved watering corn seedlings with the substance alongside a control group. The results were noticeably taller seedling growth in the itaconate watered plants. Researchers at the School of Biological Sciences of the University of California San Diego partnered with colleagues at Stanford University, Peking University, Carnegie Institute of Science and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México to use chemical imaging to reveal itaconate's significant role in stimulating plant growth and the potential for further use and exploration of the molecule. Jazz Dickinson, an assistant professor in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology and the study's author, said, "this discovery could lead to nature-inspired solutions to improve the growth of crops, like corn. We also hope that developing a better understanding of the connections between plant and animal biology will reveal new insights that can help both plant and human health."
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