This front-page New York Times expose on how the government is pushing dairy (while at the same time supposedly shunning saturated fat and obesity) is causing quite a stir. Dairy Management, a marketing and promotion agency created by the USDA to push more dairy down our throats, is doing an excellent job. According to the …
Aug
24
8 Reasons to Beware of Eggs
Half a Billion Eggs Recalled, And Counting… Over 500 million eggs have been recalled due to an outbreak of Salmonella that sickened thousands of people across the country (and many cases go unreported because Salmonella infections, which cause diarrhea and stomach cramps, often go undiagnosed). This is one of the country’s worst food safety recalls, …
Jun
11
Get Involved!
There are two bills going through Congress right now that can help reduce farm animal suffering and promote compassion. 1) Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act (HR 4733) Battery cages, gestation crates, and veal crates are considered the most inhumane confinement systems in the agriculture industry. Hens in battery cages have less than the space …
May
11
The NEW Four Food Groups
Most of us grew up with the USDA’s old “basic four” food groups, first introduced in 1956: 1) Protein: meat, poultry, fish, eggs, beans, nuts 2) Dairy: milk, cheese, yogurt 3) Grains: bread, cereal, rice, pasta 4) Fruits & Vegetables In 1992, the USDA created the Food Pyramid Guide as a visual aid: The Food …
Apr
29
A Brief History Lesson
At the end of WWII, our munitions plants were morphed into plowshare factories and began turning our ammonium nitrate surplus into chemical fertilizers (if you follow that link, start reading about half-way down, at the paragraph that starts with “Unfortunately…”). But fertilizers and machinery are not the only things linked to war. Most chemical warfare …
Apr
19
Cows On Drugs
Since I’ve been in San Antonio for a week, I’ve been eating gobs of Mexican food instead of cooking, so there is no Meatless Monday this week. Instead, I have an excellent article from The New York Times, written by a former commissioner of the USDA, about why we need to stop feeding our livestock antibiotics …
Mar
16
Post About Poop, Number 2 (pun intended)
This post isn’t actually related to the first Post About Poop, except that they both do happen to be about, well, poop. In the past 40 years, the US has effectively reduced the manmade pollutants that left our waterways dead, discolored, and occasionally flammable. But sadly, we’ve managed to smother the same waters with the most natural stuff in …
Oct
27
Ending World Hunger
Food expert Francis Moore Lappe, author of Diet for a Small Planet, once said that we should look at a piece of steak like it is a Cadillac. “What I mean,” she explains, “is that we in America are hooked on gas-guzzling automobiles because of the illusion of cheap petroleum. Likewise,we got hooked on a …
Sep
17
White House Farmer's Market
Two posts back-to-back?! I just found this and thought it was a more than worthy reason to double-post today. The White House Farmer’s Market opens today, demonstrating to all of the United States that the current administration is supportive of sustainable, healthy, humane, local food sources. You can bet this is where I’ll be after …
Jun
17
Rules And Regulations
To address a question I received… How can the FDA (Food & Drug Administration) possibly allow crap-filled meat to enter the market? Well, the meat industry is regulated by the USDA (US Department of Agriculture), not the FDA. And unfortunately, the USDA is operating under a conflicted mission: to promote the sale of American beef …
