Posts Tagged ‘food’

Fresh, Local Foods in your supermarket

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

When I think of a “fresh” tomato, I think about walking outside to my garden and picking a ripe tomato off of the tomato plant. To me that’s as “fresh” and “local” as I can get.

But a Northern KY supermarket that I recently frequented has other thoughts in mind when they say that their produce is “fresh” and “local”.

I had my son pick up a tomato from the display that said the tomatoes were “fresh” and “locally grown”.
We looked at the PLU sticker and the label said “grown in North Carolina”.

Now, I could give them the benefit of the doubt, and think “ok – North Carolina is only about a 5 – 8 hour drive – so it is kind of fresh and might be considered local”.
But then I have to take into consideration how a huge supermarket chain distributes it’s produce.
It would be one thing, if that particular batch of tomatoes was loaded onto a truck at the farm in North Carolina and then delivered directly to my local supermarket – roughly 8 hours later. That would, for all intent and purpose, make these tomatoes local and fresh.

But the fact is, the tomatoes from North Carolina were loaded on a truck from the farm and delivered to a distribution center. How long they sat there, who knows? Were the tomatoes picked ripe or were they still a bit green, so they wouldn’t go bad while sitting at the distribution center?
Then they are delivered to the stores from the distribution center. And where is the distribution center?
I don’t know. I guess I could research it, but I wouldn’t print it here – that would reveal who the super market chain is and I would probably be slapped with a law suit.

How dare I reveal that kind of information to the public! By doing so would reveal the fact that the super market chain was… telling un-truths to the public! That would be cause for “defamation of character” or some other type of legalese – and I could be sued for – heaven forbid! For telling the truth that the tomatoes were most likely not fresh when picked, and definitely not local!

Anyway – my boys learned an object lesson. “Fresh” and “Local” in a grocery store only means that the super market chain has a very un-easy feeling about local farmers that are selling healthy, nutritious foods – all because the foods they grow and sell really are “local” and “fresh” – so much so, that they still retain their nutrient-rich vitality – not to mention… great taste!

What can we do about this??? Buy from a local farmer. Get to know a local farmer. Help out his family by helping out your own, by buying what he grows…

–Pat

Why are we in this ‘Health Care’ mess?

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

I ran across a news article from August 10th. it explains in great detail why we have become an unhealthy society. It mirrors what we have been telling people for a long time, but at its core, it explains why we are here, in the quagmire.

The debate about health care would be a non-issue, had the FDA NOT overurned a LAW passed by congress in 1938 – which stood until it was rescinded by the FDA in 1973.
Of course, the FDA did not have, and was not GIVEN the POWER to overturn this legislation. It did so without public notice, no fanfare, and no publicity.

What was in this law?
Here is a quote from the article:
“If some readers are old enough to remember, in the middle half of the 20th century, there was a law put into place by Congress issuing a food label on food products that were not what they said they were. In Michael Pollan’s book In Defense of Food he describes that these food items were given the name ‘imitation’ food. The law was called the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The law read, “…there are certain traditional foods that everyone knows, such as bread, milk, and cheese, and that when consumers buy these foods, they should get the foods they are expecting…[and] if a food resembles a standardized food but does not comply with the standard, that food must be labeled as ‘imitation.’” ”

As a small time cosmetic manufacturer, we are held to the letter of this law, and MUST list every ingredient we put in the products that we manufacture, package and sell.
As producers of food for our own family, and for those of you that have “discovered” us, we raise, and grow food and value-added products that have never seen chemical pesticides, weed killers, pollutants, growth hormones, or antibiotics, except to save an animal, which then does not produce anything (like goat milk for our lotions, or eggs) that we would consume, use or sell for use, until the antibiotics have passed out of their systems and they are once again healthy. So why do the big food corporations get away with this?

Once again, it boils down to money.
If we greased the palm of the FDA bureaucrats, we too could ride on easy (spelled s-l-e-e-z-y) street…

This has lead to the use of foaming degreasers in toothpaste, shampoos and other body products – known carcinogens, high-fructose corn syrup and other corn by-products in over 90% of the 47,000 + “food” items in the average grocery store. All increasing the risk of cancer, obesity, diabetes, sores on the scalp and skin, dry skin issues, and a myriad of other maladies, which we run to doctors to “fix” for us. And they “fix” our ailments with chemical ointments, drugs, and everything else under the sun – except nutritional education and restoration of the natural balance in our lives that comes from eating healthful, nutritious foods, and getting rid of the shampoos, anti-bacterial soaps, lotions, and other items e pour on our skin, in our hair and in our mouth that should never have been touched.

Through education, and telling our selves “no” to bad things and “yes” to those things that are good for us, we won’t need the “Health care” system for much…

Read more…

–Pat

USDA recalls 800,000 pounds of beef

Friday, August 7th, 2009

Beef that is contaminated with the Salmonella bacteria has been found in Newport, Colorado, and traced back to the Beef Packers Incorporated, in California.

Read the story here:

www.healthnews.com/alerts-outbreaks/usda-announces-ground-beef-product-recall-california-company-3541.html

Once again, why do American consumers trust the USDA or the food industry?

–Pat

U.S. farmers face shrinking markets, subsidy woes | U.S. | Reuters

Thursday, February 26th, 2009

As the US farmers face a major reduction in exports, they will reduce the amount that they plant – this will cause an upheaval in our own economy -

Now is the time for all of us to go back in time – and start planting our own “victory gardens” – in order to feed our own families.

Here is an excerpt from a news article from Reuters:

“Last year, as growing ranks of the poor worried about soaring food prices, American farmers flourished with exports rising $33 billion to a record $115.5 billion.

But this year with margins and farm income under pressure, farmers are expected to slash planting of major crops by 5.2 million acres to some 247.6 million acres.”

via U.S. farmers face shrinking markets, subsidy woes | U.S. | Reuters.

We are having a raised garden bed class in April – maybe you should learn some good techniques??? BTW – it’s free…

–Pat

Drug Roulette – The new game for aging Americans

Wednesday, December 24th, 2008

It seems that over 2 million elderly Americans are taking potentially dangerous combinations of drugs, according to this article.

The most alarming statistic is One in ten Older men are taking risky combinations of drugs – from blood thinners and cholesterol medicine to Aspirin and Ginkgo pills.

The American diet, the AMA (American Medical Association) and pharmaceutical companies are to blame, along with our sweet tooth and the companies making the processed food items which we crave (the cravings, in large part coming from the added hydrolyzed protein, AKA, MSG). Of course,  the only medicines we would need could be, have been, and are, found in the very foods we (should) eat.

Eating a “raw”, unprocessed diet could alleviate many of the modern maladies affecting our society.  The FDA ad USDA turn a blind eye to many harmful items found in the food chain, and have decided to regulate based on the monetary contributions to “pet projects”, grants and, of course, age old graft. – A term I have affectionately termed “Poison for Profits”.

If we were to spend more money on good, healthful, nutritious foods and less on electronic toys, we would be a far healthier society. But mainstream media, and their bombardment of the American populous with advertisement  and marketing that insists that we are not complete without a GPS in our cell phone that we can use while driving down the interstate and while watching a DVD in the automobile console and drinking a diet beverage, brainwashes us into believing all of the consumerism hype. We have to have it or we won’t be cool!

So, why don’t we start the New Year with a new resolution? A resolution to take back control and to live healthier by:

  • Reading labels on everything we buy
  • Eating more fruits and vegetables
  • Eating less processed food items
  • Choosing organic when possible
  • helping someone else to eat better

And most of all, let’s remember that the food we eat is our medicine. The pharmaceutical companies don’t want you healthy, they want your money…

To your health,

Pat

For safer food… – 12/18/2007

Wednesday, October 29th, 2008

There is an organization — “The Center for Food Safety” – that has done some great work on the behalf of all those that want natural, wholesome foods to eat.
In the past year alone, they have:
<ul>
<li>Won a major federal court victory that stopped the planting of a new genetically engineered crop – Roundup Ready alfalfa – for the first time in history; </li>
<li>Halted risky field tests growing experimental drug crops (pharmacrops) in open fields through other federal court victories;</li>
<li>Defended the organic standards from numerous threats by agribusiness to weaken them;</li>
<li>Generated over 145,000 comments to FDA from people opposing milk and meat from cloned animals in our food supply;</li>
<li>Won the passage of the Mikulski-Specter amendment in the Senate version of the Farm Bill demanding further testing of food from cloned animals before FDA allows such products on the market;</li>
<li>Fought for and won a ban on animal cloning in organic production;</li>
<li>Successfully pressured Congress to remove language in the Farm Bill that would have eliminated the rights of states and local governments to regulate genetically engineered crops;</li>
<li><font size=”3″>Pressured FDA to maintain strong and accurate labels on irradiated foods.</li>
</ul>
You can keep abreast of all food safety issues, or support this great organization by going to their website:

http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/index.cfm