According to an article published by The Atlantic this week, conscientious carnivores may have a new reason to opt for antibiotic-free meat in grocery stores and restaurants. The ubiquitous use of antibiotics on livestock, which has long been linked to poor animal health, questionable farming practices, and the rise of resistant superbugs, now seems to be responsible for at least some of the obesity epidemic as well.

The Atlantic cites a growing body of scientific research pointing to the importance of intestinal flora (the “good bacteria”) in maintaining a healthy weight. These studies suggest a two-way street: obese individuals can improve their insulin resistance and overall health by receiving a balanced dose of gut bacteria, but individuals with a lower BMI may be at risk of “contracting” obesity if their intestinal biome is disrupted. And the greatest threat to that biome, especially among those who do not take antibiotics frequently themselves, is the ever-increasing use of such drugs in our farm animals.

70% of antibiotics used in the U.S. go to farm animals, and the vast majority of those are intended either to prevent infection (rather than treat it) or increase body weight. It now looks like that increase in weight could be passed along to the consumer – unless the connection becomes common knowledge, and demand pushes more and more farmers toward antibiotic-free practices.

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The Le Cordon Bleu Campus, Las Vegas

This January, the last class of students will enter Le Cordon Bleu, the popular culinary school with 16 locations around the United States. The for-profit school falls under the purview of the Obama Administration’s gainful employment rule, which cuts off federal funding from any school where graduates borrow money at high rates to pay for school but earn little after graduation. Many such institutions have recently come under fire for their predatory enrollment practices and misleading promises about job placement. Le Cordon Bleu in particular was the subject of a 2013 class action lawsuit alleging that the school oversold the benefits of their degree. They settled out of court for $40 million dollars.

Le Cordon Bleu is best known for it’s flagship location in Paris and famous alumna Julia Child, but branches in the U.S. are run by the Career Education Corporation and act largely independently from the original. The Career Education Corp. had previously announced that they would sell off the culinary school, but eventually decided it would be more cost effective to shut them down entirely and focus entirely on online schools instead.

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The recent United Nations climate conference in Paris drew to a close with a historic deal, but there is still a long uphill battle ahead to reduce emissions and reach the target CO2 levels most climate scientists agree are safe. One creative solution has emerged from the farming industry, where food waste (and the decomposition of edible food in landfills) is responsible for over a billion tons of carbon emissions every year.

Nicholas Chabanne is an entrepreneur encouraging consumers to “eat ugly” through his campaign Gueules Cassées, which translates into Ugly Mugs. He is part of a growing international movement to encourage people to buy and consume more produce that would ordinarily be deemed too visually unappealing for supermarkets – and as a consequence end up in landfills. Often the fruits and vegetables which are discarded by major producers simply do not meet size criteria, or have minor superficial blemishes from the farm.

Chabanne is joined by like-minded entrepreneurs around the globe, including the San Francisco startup Imperfect Produce and the Portuguese cooperative Fruta Feia (or Ugly Fruit). With logistics in place, consumers can buy this produce at significant discounts, but most conventional grocery stores refuse to sell anything that doesn’t meet the strictest visual criteria.

So far, the movement to “eat ugly” has gained a foothold largely with home consumers, but restaurants buying directly from wholesale producers can do their part to increase demand as well. Meeting the climate goals established in Paris will take commitment and creative solutions across the board – hopefully this is one idea that diners can stomach just fine.

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