Do you know that the greatest risks from pesticides in your diet come from eating conventionally produced fruits and vegetables? A new pocket guide can help you avoid the highest-risk fresh produce during both the summer season and winter, when a significant share of fresh produce is imported.
Available at www.organic-center.org, the “Organic Essentials” pocket guide presents lists of conventional fruits and vegetables that pose the most significant pesticide-related risks and – therefore – are the most critical produce items to purchase as organic.
Risk rankings are based on The Organic Center’s March 2008 report, Simplifying the Pesticide Risk Equation: The Organic Option.
The following fruits and vegetables present the highest risk: Read the rest of this entry »
More bad meat
July 8, 2008
The USDA’s monthly Livestock Slaughter report shows May was another record-setting month for meat production. U.S. commercial meat production totaled 4.22 billion pounds in May, up 4 percent from the 4.08 billion pounds produced in 2007.
Pork production totaled 1.82 billion pounds, up 3 percent from the previous year. Hog slaughter totaled 9.06 million head, up 3 percent from May 2007. The average live weight was down 1 pound from the previous year, at 268 pounds. Beef production, at 2.38 billion pounds, was 4 percent higher than last year. Cattle slaughter totaled 3.14 million head, up 3 percent from May 2007.
From January to May, commercial meat production was 21.0 billion pounds, up 7 percent from 2007. Accumulated pork production was up 11 percent, and beef production was up 4 percent.
Cows, pigs and chickens aren’t raised in pretty green meadows. They’re raised in crowded, unfavorable conditions and, especially in the case with dairy cows, are injected with growth hormones. Read the rest of this entry »
Where it all comes from: Deconstructing the BBQ
July 7, 2008
The long holiday weekend may be over but summer is just getting started. Most Americans either attended a BBQ or will be sometime in the next few months. And while certain foods are standard fare, there is hardly a thought as to where they all came from. Here’s some info that may give you a little more perspective:
More than 1 in 4
The chance that the hot dogs and pork sausages consumed at your BBQ originated in Iowa. The Hawkeye State was home to 17.6 million market hogs and pigs on March 1, 2008. This represents more than one-fourth of the nation’s total. North Carolina (9 million) and Minnesota (6.7 million) were the runners-up.
6.8 billion pounds
Total production of cattle and calves in Texas in 2007. Chances are good that the beef hot dogs, steaks and burgers on your backyard grill came from the Lone Star State, which accounted for about one-sixth of the nation’s total production. And if the beef did not come from Texas, it very well may have come from Nebraska (4.7 billion pounds) or Kansas (4.1 billion pounds). Read the rest of this entry »
Chew on this: Food poisoning no small matter
July 5, 2008
Approximately 76 million Americans — one in four — are sickened by foodborne disease each year. Of these, an estimated 325,000 are hospitalized and 5,000 die, costing the U.S. $44 billion annually.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/07/cpsi_food_safety.html
So sad. Another out-of-control recall. More ground beef. More sick people. A government on vacation. And stupid comments that would lead anyone to wonder, “what exactly is an acceptable level of EColi?”
Nebraska Beef Ltd. is expanding a recall announced earlier this week to include all 5.3 million pounds of meat it produced for ground beef between May 16 and June 26.
Federal investigators have linked Nebraska Beef’s products to an outbreak of E. coli illnesses affecting 41 people in Michigan and Ohio.
USDA spokesman Roger Sockman said investigators traced the meat back to Nebraska Beef after finding two samples of beef that tested positive for E. coli at processing plants that bought meat from Nebraska Beef.
Sockman said investigators then visited Nebraska Beef’s plant and found “unacceptable high levels of E. coli.”
Some Nebraska Beef products were sold by grocer Kroger Co. Kroger has recalled ground beef products in more than 20 states because the meat may have been contaminated. Read the rest of this entry »
Your milk on drugs - Just say no!
July 3, 2008
Do you drink milk? Do you give milk to your kids? Then you need to know about rBGH. Otherwise known as “crack for cows,” it has devastating health effects on consumers, including cancer.
Milk from rBGH-treated cows has much higher levels of IGF-1, a hormone considered to be a high risk factor for breast, prostate, colon, lung, and other cancers. IGF-1 levels in milk from treated cows with rBGH can be up to 10 times higher. Studies suggest that pre-menopausal women below 50 years old with high levels of IGF-1 are seven times more likely to develop breast cancer. Men are four times more likely to develop prostate cancer. IGF-1 is implicated in lung and colon cancer. Read the rest of this entry »
Tomatoes making people sick? Maybe, maybe not
July 1, 2008
The Food and Drug Administration has expanded a salmonella investigation focused on raw tomatoes to other fresh produce commonly consumed with tomatoes.
David Acheson, the FDA’s associate commissioner for foods, declined today to specify what new products the agency is looking at, and added that tomatoes remain the top suspect. Read the rest of this entry »
USDA recalls 531,707 pounds of EColi infected ground beef following illnesses in Michigan and Ohio
July 1, 2008
Nebraska Beef, Ltd., an Omaha, Neb., establishment is recalling approximately 531,707 pounds of ground beef components that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced today.
The problem was discovered by FSIS through traceback investigations and ground beef samples collected from two federally inspected establishments positive for E. coli O157:H7, as well as multiple samples of Kroger brand ground beef positive for E. coli O157:H7.
Kroger brand ground beef samples were collected by the Michigan and Ohio Departments of Agriculture and Health from patients in Michigan and Ohio. Nebraska Beef, Ltd., was identified as a common supplier to those stores in addition to two federally inspected establishments where FSIS obtained a positive ground beef sample that was matched to the outbreak strain identified in Michigan and Ohio.
The epidemiological investigations and a case control study conducted by the Michigan and Ohio Departments of Agriculture and Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined that there is an association between the ground beef products and 35 illnesses reported in Michigan (17) and Ohio (18).
See related story: Yet another sad tale of ground beef contaminated with EColi
Chew on this: Bad business
July 1, 2008
Under the new Farm Bill, government buys sugar for 23 cents a pound, resells it to ethanol producers for 3 cents a pound.
Source: Rolling Stone, June 12, page 36
Am I crazy or is Ag Secretary Ed Schafer rewarding states with $30 million (taxpayer) dollars for actually doing their job?
The Story:
Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer today announced that USDA will award $30 million to states for demonstrating excellence in administering Food Stamp Program benefits in Fiscal Year (FY) 2007. Among those states, South Dakota and Nebraska have exceptional records, winning high performance bonuses every year since 2003, the first year that the high performance awards were authorized. The overall national payment accuracy rate for FY 2007 was 94.36 percent, an historic high for the program. Read the rest of this entry »
