Stupid me ...

As skeptical as I am about the US poison-the-food industry, along with their servants in government, I actually thought that orange juice was ... well ... uh ... really orange juice. Stupid me.

What You Don't Know About Orange Juice [ via tristero at Hullabaloo ]

Progress to what ...

Killing Us Softly: Cigarettes and Industrial Food

Here industrial food production has stripped away 1/3 of our nation's top soil, destroyed (and continues to destroy) tens of millions of acres of healthy living soil and its critical biological diversity, introduced synthetic chemicals into the environment which individually and collectively reduce both ecological and human health, pursues monoculture practices with GMO technologies without any idea of its long term impact on ecological and human health, made our food supply dependent on foreign energy, and relies on antibiotics (70% of all antibiotic use) to allow for the industrial production of genetically similar (or identical) animals.

Surprise ...

The chemical --poison the food supply-- industry is against Michelle Obama's organic garden.

Organic White House Garden Puts Some Conventional Panties in a Twist

The fact that the chemical industry is considered conventional and the use of ages-old gardening techniques is considered radical says way too much about our world.

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Today's QUOTES:

... I wish news reporters knew how to do things like simple math, if they did, they might take less of a cheerleader stance for the Feds. --Ahí Vamos de Nuevo by Michel Marizco, borderreporter.com

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Organically Grown Corrections ...

I linked to a C&L post in Organic vs GM ...

C&L has a correction post up about the subject: Monsanto and HR 875, Take Two

Food makers worried how to present their products in Depression-America ...

Food makers gear marketing to tough times

Not to worry. Their customer's health will be no more an issue in bad times than they were it good times. Chemicals will continue to fill the bill.

[Sara Lee Corp] is emphasizing the value of its Jimmy Dean Skillet product, Barnes said, noting that a consumer just has to add eggs and can feed a family of five a hearty breakfast for about $5.00.

Just what heartiness will you find in one of Jimmy Dean Skillet meals (other than the eggs you add yourself? Here's the list of ingredients as listed on the package:

POTATO CUBES (POTATOES, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL [SOYBEAN AND/OR COTTONSEED OILS] AND/OR VEGETABLE OIL [CANOLA, SOYBEAN AND/OR SUNFLOWER OILS], MALTODEXTRIN, SALT, DEXTROSE, TETRASODIUM PYROPHOSPHATE AND DISODIUM DIHYDROGEN PYROPHOSPHATE [TO MAINTAIN NATURAL COLOR]), COOKED CHORIZO SAUSAGE (PORK, SEASONING [CHILI PEPPER, SUGAR, PAPRIKA, SPICES, NATURAL FLAVORINGS, DEXTROSE, BHT], SALT, WATER, CITRIC ACID, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, VINEGAR), SWEET CORN, BLACK BEANS, RED BELL PEPPERS, PASTEURIZED PROCESSED MONTEREY JACK CHEESE WITH CHIPOTLE CHILI PEPPERS AND NATURAL SMOKE FLAVOR (MONTEREY JACK CHEESE [CULTURED MILK, SALT, ENZYMES], CREAM, ANTI-CAKING BLEND [POTATO STARCH, CELLULOSE, NATAMYACIN {NATURAL MOLD INHIBITOR}], SODIUM PHOSPHATE, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF CHIPOTLE CHILI PEPPER, SALT, NATURAL FLAVOR, ARTIFICIAL COLOR, SORBIC ACID [PRESERVATIVE]), ONION, GREEN BELL PEPPERS.

Potato cubes with partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Don't you just luv the fact that these 'food' makers don't even know what kind of oil they are going to use: could be soybean or perhaps cottonseed. Then they leave the option that they may not use just partially hydrogenated oil. They may combine it with non partially hydrogenated oil (how sweet of them). You realize these makers of 'food' know that partially hydrogenated oil is harmful. Well not to worry, a country that has transferred all the wealth to a very few can't complain about what's left, poisonous food not with standing.

Silly idea, but how about just buying a couple potatoes, some olive oil or canola oil to go along with those eggs. Dice and saute them yourself. Maybe a little bit of sausage for flavor. Garlic perhaps. Yum.

Then you could skip the following:

MALTODEXTRIN, SALT, DEXTROSE, TETRASODIUM PYROPHOSPHATE AND DISODIUM DIHYDROGEN PYROPHOSPHATE [TO MAINTAIN NATURAL COLOR])

and

SUGAR, PAPRIKA, SPICES, NATURAL FLAVORINGS, DEXTROSE, BHT], SALT, WATER, CITRIC ACID, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, VINEGAR),

Corn and or black beans would be nice, but a little broccoli might be better. Cheese, too if it appeals to you. But why use this processed gunk. A little grated cheddar, Monterey jack, longhorn cheddar, swiss, gouda, whatever sprinkled on the top of the dish would be nice. That way you can skip the

ANTI-CAKING BLEND [POTATO STARCH, CELLULOSE, NATAMYACIN {NATURAL MOLD INHIBITOR}],
and
SODIUM PHOSPHATE, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF CHIPOTLE CHILI PEPPER, SALT, NATURAL FLAVOR, ARTIFICIAL COLOR, SORBIC ACID [PRESERVATIVE]),

Such a meal would taste very good with much less salt than the 670mg per recommended serving (four servings per packages). Adding your own fresh green pepper and/or onion if you wish, and whatever spices you prefer. I would use turmeric on the potatoes, no pepper but generous use of anaheim chili peppers (that is before I quit eating chili peppers and tomatoes because of arthritis).

I see no reason to add cream to this dish. I think if it needed more filling power I would use another potato and a little more broccoli instead of the cream.

Why does the food industry hate us?

If they're not feeding ground animals to herbivores or adding bacteria and other unpleasant things to our meats and vegetables they are shoveling salt into the processed convenience foods they engineer for attractiveness, tastiness and addictive qualities. Their engineering and marketing talents cover everything except nutrition and wholesomeness.

• 2300 milligrams (1 teaspoon) a day is the recommended upper limit for sodium.
• Most Americans get at least 4000 mg per day.
• 75% of that salt come from processed foods.

So the easiest way to reduce salt intake would be to cut out processed foods.

The food industry could reduce the salt they use to help make their concoctions palatable and addictive but have you noticed that when they reduce the salt they increase the sugar or the fat or both?

Link

Children raised on soda and juice are growing up with weak bones.
This is a short video at WebMD. Of course the short ad at the beginning is for juice. And the solution is Tums. I think WebMD is too dependent on advertising to trust them to do any more than present corporate controlled 'wisdom. '

Yesterday's QUOTES ...

A joke ... The largest commercial bank in the United States is lobbying Congress for the right to harvest organs from debtors who default on loans, it was announced today. ... almost.

How much worse can it get ...? ... more and more distillers grains have ended up in cattle feed (and, to a lesser extant, in hog and poultry feed).

But like manure in a feedlot packed with corn-fed steers, problems associated with distillers grains as feed are piling up. -- step by step, I'm approaching vegetarianism, in an attempt to keep US food industry poisoned products out of my diet.

Your open letter, sadly, can be seen only in one of two ways: 1). you are either unable or uninterested in obtaining facts before you go into political Rambo mode; 2). or you are simply firmly lodged inside Karl Rove's colon. Which is it?

The story of “Taxi [to the Dark Side]” shows the sort of problems faced by anyone who wants to present an accurate and candid portrait of the Bush Administration’s policies of official cruelty. But the entertainment side of the ledger is even more disturbing.

I went to the Trader Joe's today ...

... and found an unsweetened soy milk with additives. The additive that caught my attention was inulin. Never heard of it. So I asked at the checkout. After mentioning pre- and pro-biotics (she said its one and not the other, but I can't remember which is which) she decided on the analogy of 'fertilizer for the stomach.' Who could resist such a concept? I decided to buy it and look up 'inulin' on the web. [Update 12/3/2007 As this post is getting more than the usual readership I'll just add here that Trader Joe's is my favorite store and that we all would get better food if some of the insufferably large grocery store corporations converted their stores from pushing chemically saturated pseudo food concoctions to real food.]

From Wikipedia: Inulin

for foods

Inulin is used increasingly in foods because it has unusual nutritional characteristics. It ranges from completely bland to subtly sweet and can be used to replace sugar, fat, and flour. This is particularly advantageous because inulin contains a third to a quarter of the food energy of sugar or other carbohydrates and a sixth to a ninth of the food energy of fat. It also increases calcium absorption^[2] and possibly magnesium absorption^[3], while promoting intestinal bacteria. Nutritionally, it is considered a form of soluble fiber, and it is important to note that consuming large quantities (particularly for sensitive and/or unaccustomed individuals) can lead to gas and bloating. Inulin has a minimal impact on blood sugar, making it generally considered suitable for diabetics and potentially helpful in managing blood sugar-related illnesses.

The entire list of ingredient of this additive enhanced soy milk is as follows: Trader Joe's SOY Essential Soy Beverage

• Organic Soymilk (filtered water, whole organic soybeans)
  
• Filtered Water
• Inulin
• Calcium Carbonate
• Organic Flaxseed Oil
• Natural Flavors (ed. we get to guess what this might be)
• Sea Salt
• Carrageenan
• Vitamin A Palmitate
• Vitamin D2
• Riboflavin (B2)
• Vitamin B6
• Folic Acid
• Vitamin B12

That's all well and good. I will try this product since I keep looking for a usable unsweetened soy drink [added 12/3/07: ... that is one that doesn't need refrigeration until opened. Trader Joe's has a perfectly good unsweetened Organic soy milk in the refrigeration section].

In google-ing 'inulin' I encountered the following article which I think should raise concerns about the mind set of those who see themselves in the business of 'designing' our food.

Thoroughly Modern Milk by Cindy Hazen

And more about inulin:

Studies boost the Inulin market after the discovery of its health benefits

Seems one of the main beneficiaries of all this 'good news' about inulin will be the people who make the product who just happen to also be the people spreading all the good news and doing the studies.

One of the leading inulin makers, Orafti has been influential in building the science behind this ingredient, backing the research on inulin's interaction with calcium.

Last December the Guardian Unlimited produced a Special Report called What's Wrong with our food: Just add milk ... among other things

Fortification

Vitamins were first added to breakfast cereals in the early 1930s, first the "sunshine vitamin" D, and later fragile, heat-sensitive B vitamins, and vitamin C and iron. A new wave of fortification is coming. Inulin, known to the food industry until recently as a bulking agent, is now added as a "prebiotic", and companies are looking at adding omega-3 fatty acids such as DHA. There are technical difficulties - the long chain molecules in DHA can be damaged by high temperatures and pressure processes. Firms have worked out how to take a dairy protein and carbohydrate to form a slurry with tuna oil, which is spray dried to encapsulate DHA.

Enjoy!

Your appetite may be in danger ...

Don't read the article 'Recipe For Disaster --What’s (not) in a food label?' by Megan Tady or you may lose your appetite.

Some highlights:

• The FDA refuses to label food that has been genetically modified ...
  
• ... the FDA may not even know which food contains GM ingredients
• ... the USDA is allowing imported seafood to be labeled organic despite the absence of a standard
• ... with the Bush administration continually delaying country-of-origin labeling on food, we still can’t avoid products from places with dubious safety records.
• In April, however, the FDA proposed a plan to yank this label and allow industry to replace the eerie term “irradiation” with the more palatable “pasteurization.” And along with the word play, the FDA is considering removing the requirement for any label on any radiation that doesn’t cause “material change” to the meat.

Think the Republicans are good a securing our borders? ...

Well, think again:

1M lbs. of Chinese seafood slips past FDA inspection by Justin Pritchard
At least 1 million pounds of suspect Chinese seafood landed on American store shelves and dinner plates despite a Food and Drug Administration order that the shipments first be screened for banned drugs or chemicals, an Associated Press investigation found.

What's in a name? ...

Find the cheapest food manipulators, that is manufacturers, and get various poisons (specially from China) added to your food as filler and 'flavor.'

Now there's botulism (also poisonous) from Lakeside Foods Inc in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Does Lakeside Food package its botulism in Wisconsin or did it subcontract that out to China?

The following cheapest common denominators, that is brands, are complicit in spiraling the US food supply into the muck:

Albertson's, Happy Harvest, Best Choice, Food Club, Bogopa, Valu Time, Hill Country Fare, HEB, Laura Lynn, Kroger, No Name, North Pride, Shop N Save, Shoppers Valu, Schnucks, Cub Foods, Dierbergs, Flavorite, IGA, Best Choice and Thrifty Maid

U.S. issues new botulism warning for green beans

Worse than I thought ...

UPDATE (July 7, 2007): Here's an article with some basic information about genetic engineering (ge) and/or genetically modified organisms (gmo): The ABC's of GMO's

And if you are not already more terrified of your government than 'the terists' then you are not paying attention: Farm Bill Could Hamstring State Food Safety Agencies (via Pacific Views).
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"Nearly three quarters of all processed foods contain genetically engineered ingredients, but you'd never know it by reading package labels."