Giving Compass' Take:

• Sarah Zhang at The Atlantic discusses the challenges of someone who is allergic to corn. The versatility of corn allows it to be found not only in common food products but also things like hand-sanitizer, IV solutions and common pills. 

• How can people with corn allergies navigate safely through a society that hails corn? How can funders support a food system that provides alternatives?

• Here's a look at how corn and corn policies are affecting other issues such as border control. 

When Christine Robinson was first diagnosed with a corn allergy 17 years ago, she remembers thinking, “No more popcorn, no more tacos. I can do this.”

Then she tried to put salt on her tomatoes. (Table salt has dextrose, a sugar derived from corn.) She tried drinking bottled iced tea. (It contains citric acid, which often comes from mold grown in corn-derived sugar.) She tried bottled water. (Added minerals in some brands can be processed with a corn derivative.) She ultimately gave up on supermarket meat (sprayed with lactic acid from fermented corn sugars), bagged salads (citric acid, again), fish (dipped in cornstarch or syrup before freezing), grains (cross-contaminated in processing facilities), fruits like apples and citrus (waxed with corn-derived chemicals), tomatoes (ripened with ethylene gas from corn), milk (added vitamins processed with corn derivatives). And that’s not even getting to all the processed foods made with high-fructose corn syrup, modified food starch, xanthan gum, artificial flavorings, corn alcohol, maltodextrin—all of which are or contain derivatives of corn.

Read the full article on corn and corn allergies by Sarah Zhang at The Atlantic