Talking About Turmeric (and Food Fraud) with Wudan Yan

Today on Repast, Michael and Diana talk with Wudan Yan, an award-winning narrative journalist covering science and society, about an article she published in July of this year about lead-tainted turmeric.  In this article, Wudan looked at the Bangladesh supply chain for turmeric to discuss turmeric adulteration, the battle against this adulteration, and confronting food fraud more broadly.  Michael, Diana, and Wudan discuss the article, Wudan’s process, and the complex problem of food fraud here.

Wudan’s work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Guardian, High Country News, The New York Times, New Yorker and beyond and her journalism has been supported by grants and fellowships from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, UC Berkeley's Food and Farming Fellowship, The Institute of Journalism and Natural Resources, among others.  Prior to journalism, Wudan was a cancer biologist studying the pharmacology of drugs for the treatment of solid cancers.  

You can read The Vice of Spice: Confronting Lead-Tainted Turmeric here.

You can read more about Wudan Yan and explore her work here.

Michael T. Roberts is the Executive Director of the Resnick Center for Food Law & Policy at UCLA Law.

Diana Winters is the Deputy Director of the Resnick Center for Food Law & Policy at UCLA Law.