Courtesy of Flickr.com
When big business and food meet, the results are often delicious. But is it healthy? I recently read an article in Reader’s Digest (June 2015, print issue) about 50 things food manufacturers don’t tell consumers about packaged foods. Here are some that I found particularly deceptive:
Tanya’s comments: This is truly sharing the wealth. Despite what Conservatives say, is it really a bad thing?
In response to the problem, Callahan and other members of the community send 37 children home with backpacks full of food each weekend: two breakfasts, two lunches, and two dinners. As Carolyn Gregoire of the Huffington Post reports, “Retired teachers come in…
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Photo courtesy of centerforfoodsafety.org
I just received an email from an organization called Center for Food Safety with some good news (and the usual donation request!):
Photo by Center for Food Safety
From the Center for Food Safety:
Dow Chemical, the same company that brought us Dursban, Napalm, and Agent Orange, is now in the food business and is pushing for an unprecedented government approval: genetically engineered (GE) versions of corn and soybeans that are designed to survive repeated dousing with 2,4-D, half of the highly toxic chemical mixture Agent Orange.
Photo courtesy of woodleywonderworks via Flickr
Scientific American magazine (in the February 2014 issue, the print version) published an article on recent scientific studies revealing the surprisingly sophisticated level of the intelligence of chickens. (You can find the online version of the article here, but you can only access an excerpt of it unless you have an account with the website.) As the authors detail the experiments and their results, they make two points: first, that chickens are vastly more intelligent than we thought; second, how these findings can, and should, affect our feelings about the factory farm conditions in which the average chicken is placed before heading to market. They also talk about how this can, and should, influence our purchasing decisions when buying chicken at the grocers.
Photo courtesy of Walter Baxter (geograph.org.uk)
From CredoAction.com:
Any day now, the first genetically modified animal ever to enter our food supply, AquaBounty salmon, could be approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Urge your members of Congress to cosponsor the SAFE Act
SourceASPCA
We recently told you that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved applications for horse slaughter inspections at Valley Meat Company LLC in Roswell, New Mexico, and Responsible Transportation in Sigourney, Iowa. The USDA is likely to also grant horse slaughter inspections at Rains Natural Meats plant in Gallatin, Missouri, in the coming days.
This week we learned that no horse slaughter plants will be granted inspections until at least July 29 as a result of a lawsuit filed against the USDA by several animal welfare organizations.
This lawsuit buys critical time for our horses. The Agriculture Appropriations bills, which contain language that would prevent horse slaughter in the U.S., are expected to pass in the coming months. We are seeing building momentum for the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act, which would prevent the slaughter of…
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Photo – HappyBunch by Saskia Jansen
From Our-Compass.org blog:
Send an email to the members of the committees currently considering passage of the Safeguard American Food Exports Act. Respectfully demand a full hearing on the bill pending in each chamber!
This bill is an excellent safeguard to protect people from the dangers of eating horsemeat, and a way to assure that the law protects horses. Let’s keep our laws strong in protecting horses from cruel and inhumane practices.
Go to Our-Compass.org for more info.
Foie Gras – photo courtesy of sg.lifestyleasia.com
Ever wondered how foie gras is made?
Last month, a Mercy For Animals investigation uncovered stark evidence that what’s involved in the making of foie gras is nothing short of animal torture. A company in New York that produces the dish, billing itself as “the humane choice for purchasing foie gras,” was the subject of a secretly taped video by the animal advocacy group that showed ducks being abused. In light of the discovery, a website called AmazonCruelty.com has posted a petition asking Amazon.com to stop selling the dish.
According to Our-Compass.org, Dr. Greg Burkett, DVM, an avian specialist, saw the video and stated:
“If one looks at the production of foie gras for what it really is—causing a healthy [duck] liver to become diseased by forced overfeeding—then eating it could leave a whole different taste in your mouth.”
Other bird experts weighed in as well after watching the footage. Dr. Nedim Buyukmihci, Emeritus Professor of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, said:
“This overfeeding will lead to liver enlargement and malfunction, causing chronic metabolic dysfunction and illness. The ducks at this facility, therefore, are being subjected to extremely inhumane conditions causing them to suffer greatly.”
Mercy For Animals notes on its AmazonCruelty.com website that, due to the distress caused to the birds, the practice has been outlawed in California and more than a dozen countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and Israel. Our-Compass.org says that leading chefs, restaurants, and grocery retailers, including Costco, Safeway, Wolfgang Puck, Giant Eagle, and Target, refuse to sell foie gras due to its inherent cruelty.
Photo courtesy of thefabweb.com
To tell Amazon.com that it’s time to follow the lead of other retailers who refuse to sell foie gras, go to AmazonCruelty.com.
Illuminate 