Just Label It ORG a simple request from the population to know what is in their food. If this becomes law in California the rest of the nation will most likely benefit because it’s unlikely companies will create different labels for different states.

I’m totally amazed 30% of the people in the poll agree with Sen Brown! I guess I should be happy 70% seem to be able to grasp axiomatic logic. PEOPLE! please stop destroying my planet for your short term gain!

You can find the Poll here:   The poll at the Patch

No good deed goes unpunished! Sen Brown indicts  the Whole Foods Market policy of not purchasing the RED label or “AVOID” species on the Seafood Watch list. I’m completely flummoxed that someone could be so stupid or so evil.

So Google maps going 8 bit and the Usual Plethora of Tech stunts are pretty amusing but I really liked the straight faced stunt by The Daily Meal casually announcing Whole Foods to soon have live animals to sell.

Reaffirming the popular high-quality supermarket chain’s commitment to traceability, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey explains, “If you slit the damn lambie-pie’s throat yourself, you know exactly where the chops come from. We’ll even give you step-by-step instructions on our new app, ‘The Thrill of the Kill.’” In addition to several varieties of heritage-breed sheep, Whole Foods plans to offer living, breathing, organically raised Black Slavonian and Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa pigs, South African Boer and New Zealand Kiko goats, and, in selected locations, Belted Galloway cattle. Alligator and kangaroo will be added in 2014. To help consumers choose from this array, Mackey has hired 700 specially trained “meat sommeliers.”

The Whole Foods site has a few pranks embedded in it as well. Happy April first….

Last week Utah became the second state after Iowa to pass new laws that prohibits taking photographs or videos on farms without permission. Violation of the law can lead to imprisonment up to a year and fines of up to $2,500.

It is the industry’s latest response to the rash of secretly videotaping production facilities by animal activist groups, who are calling such legislation “ag-gag” laws.

Earlier this month the Iowa State Legislature outlawed the recording of undercover video in livestock operations. Those found guilty of violating it face up to a year in jail and up to $1,500 in fines. Repeated offenses can be labeled an aggravated felony and carry jail time up to two years and fines up to $5,000.

This is because of fear that super bugs like MRSA will be created but hey what ever gets crap out of the food chain. I’m all for it!

Citing the threats to human health by overuse of antibiotics in animals, a federal judge has ordered the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to start proceedings to withdraw approval for the agricultural use of penicillin and tetracycline to promote animal growth.

The ruling compels FDA to take action on its own safety findings by withdrawing approval for most non-therapeutic uses of penicillin and tetracyclines in animal feed, unless the industry can prove in public hearings that those drug uses are safe.

The decision stems from a lawsuit filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT), Public Citizen, and Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) last year.
“For over 35 years ago, FDA has sat idly on the sidelines largely letting the livestock industry police itself,” Avinash Kar, NRDC health attorney said in a news release.  “In that time, the overuse of antibiotics in healthy animals has skyrocketed – contributing to the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that endanger human health.”

In 1977, FDA concluded that feeding animals low doses of certain antibiotics used in human medicine, namely, penicillin and tetracyclines, could promote antibiotic-resistant bacteria capable of infecting people.

“In the intervening years, the scientific evidence of the risks to human health from the widespread use of antibiotics in livestock has grown,” according to the court decision.

“Drug manufacturers will finally have to do what FDA should have made them do 35 years ago: prove that their drugs are safe for human health, or take them off the market,” NRDC attorney Jen Sorenson said in a news release.

Wendy’s said Friday it will improve the humane treatment of chickens by using O.K. Foods’ stunning system and the welfare of pigs by requiring suppliers to phase out gestation stalls.

The world’s third-largest QSR chain said it is the first to endorse O.K.’s low atmospheric pressure system (LAPS), which renders birds permanently unconscious prior to handling at the plant. LAPS is an alternative to electrical stunning.

“We’ve studied the LAPS system and agree that it’s a major improvement to industry practices,” said Dennis Hecker, head of Wendy’s Animal Welfare Council and senior vice president of quality assurance, in a news release. “We encourage all chicken producers to embrace this practice.”

Wendy’s since 2007 has given preferential buying to suppliers who have adopted plans to phase out single-sow gestation crates.

“The company is now going further by requiring all of our U.S. and Canadian suppliers to provide their plans to phase out the use of gestation stalls in their operations,” Hecker said.

Wendy’s monitors its animal welfare standards through announced and unannounced audits.

“Wendy’s has a very effective auditing program to confirm animal welfare standards are routinely followed throughout North America,” said animal welfare expert Dr. Temple Grandin, associate professor, Department of Animal Science, Colorado State University. “I applaud their efforts to work with their suppliers to move away from gestation stalls, and adopt the LAPS system which will greatly improve the welfare of chickens.”

The Wendy’s system includes more than 6,500 franchise and company restaurants in the U.S. and 27 other countries and U.S. territories worldwide.

People in greater numbers are caring about what is in their food and that’s a good thing, but I worry that “evil” is way more clever than the consumer. The public is balking at  Pink Slime and that’s good because maybe someone will get this crazy idea to do a study on the long term effect of low dosage of Ammonium Hydroxide on people. I’m guessing increased chance of various cancers but I don’t know because it seems this wasn’t worthy of study(I haven’t found a proper study or paper published yet). People are reacting to the more visceral argument of “don’t feed crap to my kids”. So while we are defeating Pink Slime, this is going on…..

Traces of two highly toxic feed additives were allegedly discovered in sausage products from T-Ham and Hsin Tung Yang. Salbutamol as well as cimaterol, feed additives promote lean meat, are much more toxic to humans than ractopamine.

The Whole story can be found HERE (Pig Progress Site) 

I’m flummoxed… evil seems to be winning

USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service is expected to announce today — perhaps as early as 1 p.m. EST — that it will begin identifying products offered through the National School Lunch Program that contain lean finely textured beef and, where possible, offer variations that do not include LFTB, sources toldMeatingplace.

For example, schools will be able to choose between ordering bulk ground beef without LFTB or formed patties that include the product.

The decision has not been officially announced, but was leaked to The Associated Press and widely reported earlier today. Rich Jochum, spokesman for North Sioux City, S.D.-based Beef Products Inc., which supplies LFTB to the school lunch program, told Meatingplace that the company will have an official response when the USDA’s announcement is made official later today.

So yesterday on The Chew you see Mario & Gwenyth cook up some good stuff, but the really exciting part of the show is Chef Symon wearing Black Pig Meat Co T-shirt The Chew Episode