Monica Eng is a Watchdog reporter with the Chicago Tribune who focuses on food and consumer issues. In this role,she examines how well the food industry and government agencies are serving the public, and how consumers can make the best choices. She also writes reguarly for the Good Eating section, focusing on cooking, health, sustainability and food trends.

Monica Eng has been at the Tribune since 1996. During that time she has served as an editor and reporter covering entertainment, ethnic culture and food. In 2009 she moved to the Watchdog team to look at these issues with a stronger investigative and consumer focus. Eng has won various awards for her coverage of cultural and consumer issues. Her food writing has been nominated for five James Beard awards on topics ranging from the ethics of meat to why Chicago Public Schools serve kids nachos everyday. Before coming to the Tribune, Eng worked as a construction worker in Nicaragua, a researcher in Uzbekistan and a journalist at the Daily Southtown and Chicago Sun Times. She is a proud product of Chicago Public Schools--as are her siblings, children and parents.

Food, health, cooking, sustainability and education. See a gallery of Monica Eng's James Beard nominated stories about school nutrition at chicagotribune.com/schoolfood or just click on "My Blog" under her photo. You can also find her work at www.chicagotribune.com/features/food/stew/

Parents of autistic children feel duped by puppy trainer 2/8/2012
Downstate woman wins Pepsi grant to deliver service dogs, but families fear they may never arrive When they got the news in April, Faith Creighton's parents were thrilled to tell their 7-year-old daughter she was finally getting her own puppy.

Chicago water sampling shows high levels of lead 1/31/2012
Current sampling methods may not be detecting all the lead in Chicago tap water In a new round of water testing by the Environmental Protection Agency, half of the 29 Chicago homes visited yielded at least one sample containing more than 15 parts per billion of lead, a level that can trigger regulatory action if detected during routine screening.

'Lunch ladies' criticize how CPS updated school food 1/25/2012
Workers who serve meals say most kids are not eating healthful new foods on the cafeteria menu, a survey says Workers who serve meals in Chicago Public Schools say the majority of kids are not eating the healthful new foods on the cafeteria menu, according to a confidential survey released Tuesday.

Durbin queries USDA about school lunch abuses 1/14/2012
Tribune analysis prompts letter on how department plans to balance accountability and students' access to meals Responding to a Tribune article on fraud risks in the federal free-lunch program, Sen. Dick Durbin on Friday sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack asking what his department will do to "bolster eligibility verification measures" in the program.

School free-lunch program dogged by abuses at CPS 1/13/2012
With little oversight and many incentives to cheat, system is 'ripe for fraud,' report concludes When a teachers assistant at Chicago's North-Grand High School handed in her child's lunch form last school year, it showed that her household made too much money for the child to receive free lunches.