Bad Beef
Following a recall of over 800,000 pounds of beef last month, Huntington Meat Packing Inc has recalled a further 4.9 million pounds of meat that was not processed in line with the food safety plan developed by the company itself--possibly exposing its customers to E.coli bacteria.
Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro said the incident showed the US meat industry was unable to police itself:
"This recall dispels the notion that the meat industry can police itself to ensure the safety of meat products. This is a company that failed to follow the food safety plan that it developed and may have knowingly produced meat products under unsanitary conditions. Those products were then sold for consumption over a period of 347 days. This is unacceptable and we should not allow companies to operate under this kind of regulatory regime."
The US Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) confirmed the recall of 10-50 pound boxes of beef and veal products had been issued because Huntington had failed to follow its food safety plan at its Montebello plant for almost a year from January 22, 2009 to January 4, 2010. The products were shipped to distribution centres, restaurants, and hotels in California.
No illnesses have been reported in connection with eating the products, added the safety watchdog.
Image by Mike Licht on Flickr courtesy of Creative Commons Licensing.
- 2-16-10
- Jennifer Palmer's blog
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Toxin by Robin Cook
Or...
another reason to kill your own animals. But really, this is a damn shame. They can't even follow their own saftey rules, what good are they then?
Yet another reason
karma connection
This is necessary.
And the angel of the lord came unto me, snatching me up from my place of slumber.
And took me on high, and higher still until we moved to the spaces betwixt the air itself.
And he brought me into a vast farmlands of our own midwest.
And as we descended, cries of impending doom rose from the soil.
One thousand, nay a million voices full of fear.
And terror possesed me then.
And I begged,
"Angel of the Lord, what are these tortured screams?"
And the angel said unto me,
"These are the cries of the carrots, the cries of the carrots!
You see, Reverend Maynard, tomorrow is harvest day and to them it is the holocaust."
And I sprang from my slumber drenched in sweat like the tears of one million terrified brothers and roared,
"Hear me now, I have seen the light!
They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul!
Damn you!
Let the rabbits wear glasses!
Save our brothers!"
Can I get an amen?
Can I get a hallelujah?
Thank you Jesus.
This is necessary.
Life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on . . . This
is necessary.
Thanks for pointing this out about diseases...
While none have been reported in direct connection with this incidient, it's definitely been proven that red meat indirectly harms many thousands of people every year both in their bodies and environment.
Peace,
jp
Disgusting!
Bravo!
Schobiz: "Do you think that
Of course a plant wants to live.
But let's take lettuce for example. Cut the lettuce back to eat it, and it grows back! And very quickly.
Same thing with mint and many other leafy greens.
When was the last time ya saw a cow killed and then it grew back in the spot it was killed?
Thing is, in urban centers, you just really don't need meat or dairy or eggs, etc. There's sooo many other options, all plant based, that are far more beneficial to your health.
If you live in the jungle, or perhaps if you are Inuit, it's a different story. With the Inuit, and most indigenous peoples, the relationship with eating meat is not like westernized cultures. For the Inuit “both hunter and seal are believed to benefit: the hunter is able to sustain the life of his people by having a reliable source of food, and the seal, through its sacrifice, agrees to become part of the body of the Inuit.”
Sort of silly
So beef isn't a renewable resource? Come on...
I'm an organic free range grass fed cattle rancher or grass farmer, whichever you prefer, and actually yes, those cattle do grow back in the same spot, calf after calf, cow after cow. They allow this land to remain unbroken by a plow, unaltered by machinery, and an excellent habitat for wildlife and the inherent beauty of the land in it's natural state. Cattle convert grass and weeds wich wouldn't ordinarily be a food source into edible protien for human consumption.
Beef isn't what's broken, the system is broken! Broken by corporate interests that short cut the natural process. But the consumer can change that by voting with his or her pocketbook. Buy organic grass fed beef, or butcher your own. Then you are eating a product that is healthy for your family, and the earth...
Not so black and white
I'm not trying to question your integrity, but to me your justification still falls short of offering a solution. I will be the first to say that people in Western society eat WAY too much meat and don't play a big enough role in deciding where the meat comes from and how it was raised. We certainly don't maintain the earthly integrity that most indigenous peoples posses, but this doesn't change the fact that nature is one big cycle of one creature eating another.
As for your statements about nutrition, I think you are false in saying that "all plant based options are far more beneficial to your health". The planting of massive soy, corn, and wheat fields is highly destructive to the environment, just as industrial farming of animals is. In the end, the earth NEEDS the bones and remains of animals for the regeneration of healthy soil. I too need this nutrition from time to time in order to maintain the right balance.
"We can dominate or we can participate, but there's no way out".
Plants, Death and Health
It's not a moral issue, not for me at least.
Plants have a whole different perception of death. They experience death and rebirth many times over in the course of a season, a lifetime, along with their relationship with the Sun, and so forth. For me anyway, having a deep and intimate relationship with plants by eating & drinking them (and growing them to eat & drink them) has taught me much about life & death, or at least different ways of percieving what death is about, especially in terms of food.
Like how, for the traditional ways of the Inuit, the (spirit of the) seal becomes part of the person who eats it, the more I build a healthy consuming relationship with plants, the more the plant becomes part of me, and then, the more I seem to gather perceptions of life via health, and death via seasons.
Now, I didn't intend to say that all plant based options are healthy--you're right, soy, corn, wheat, potato chips... all not so good. But the healthy options, for "modern urban folk" are indeed plant based. If I want a "burger" I can make a raw/live burger from mushrooms and sunflower seeds and herbs. And it is as "filling"--indeed it's more filling and powering as any big bad beef buger premium gradeA whatever. I can make live bread from flax seeds and zuchinni to stick that mushroom-seed burger in.
Mushrooms, seeds, flax, zuchinni - I can grow it all, or get it very local, from local farmers.
Still, yes flying in goji berries from China and mangoes from Ecuador may not be so sustainable in the long run.
However, it's a far cry from burning down the Amazon to make way for cattle and soy.
As for soil... fungi are great "soil magicians", as Paul Stamets has put it. Fungi build soil by breaking down organic matter, and even cracking apart rocks.
So bones and animals may play a role, but plants and fungi factor in big.
As for a solution... well hmmm I'd love it if I had one here in my pocket....
If I have a personal solution, it's that a plant based, raw or live food diet brings me increasingly closer & deeper to the world and ways of plants and fungi.
I can learn a lot from plants and fungi regarding thriving, surviving, growing and (photo)synthesizing. Consequently, getting deeper to the heart of things, and perhaps even having a more intimate connection & communication to that porcupine I saw, the coyotes that howl at night, the deer that visit me, or those eggs from a 20 year old turtle I ate when I was three weeks in deep jungle.
When I eat store bought meat, or cheese, dairy etc - all I learn is that I've got the flu.
hey... How did you know I put little mittens on the leaves?
Eat Eggs
Humans do not need to eat the flesh protein. A very good friend of mine is a doctor of nutrition. He has said that humans can get all the nutrients they need and protein from eggs, if you even need to ingest animal protein.
Be very (careful) whose BLOOD you are consuming. It is very powerful... think about it.
Leaf mittens.
I certainly agree with what you are saying about getting food locally (aka bio-regionalism). I understand that the Inuit rely on the seal and have a deep spiritual connection and respect for the prey. Just as the Native Americans revered the buffalo and deer. My point is that when I get into a debate about meat consumption, it's typically black and white. Either it's wrong or it's right, and while that conclusion might be motivated by the idea of planetary justice, I'm saying it's not as simple as that. It's pretty clear that we can make distinctions between industrial, factory farmed food and local, sustainably produced food that revolves around seasonality.
I find that keeping my diet about 70% vegetarian is a good balance. The other 30% is meat from locally sourced farms. The meat is typically much more expensive, and keeping it to one or two times a week works out well. Living in the Bay Area also makes this easy. Year round farmers markets and access to some of the most artisan quality products in the world! A good resource is also eatwild.com - there are listings for every state on CSA programs (community supported agriculture) and where to get pastured raised animals.
Beyond the Morale
In the Yoga tradition there is a whole karmic covering that transpires when eating outside of the plant kingdom.
More about refined consciousness {Sukriti - Sanskrit} which in turn effects morality, rather than "in the name of morality" to effect higher consciousness.
In has the actual science of symbiotic vibration behind the whole theme.
Anyone who really lives only off vegetation for a substantial amount of time, eating the appropriate combination of nutrients etc, from these sources alone, will attest to this over time, as it is an actual experience, and not a belief or lifestyle ... similar to Entheogens ... actual conscious realization.
refined consciousness...
Yes, it is a step into higher conscioiusness, and any vegan or vegetarian will attest to this!!
animals are sacred.
Not black and white, more like guidelines
A lot of us at RS/Evolver respect pre-contact Native American and indigenous shamanic cultures. The majority of them ate meat before the White Man came, but it was mostly free range. Also, they had some spiritual respect for the animal, which is severely lacking in modern industrial agriculture. Drive up the 5 freeway from L.A. to San Francisco and you'll pass Harris Ranch, aka "Cowschwitz." It's enough to make anyone go veg. Gotta be some bad karma in those Big Macs.
The Union of Concerned Scientists published a book in 1999 called, "The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices." (I know, I hate the word "consumer" too.) They really tried to objectively weigh the environmental impacts of things that ordinary people do. Their overall conclusion is that the two worst things for the environment are (1) driving a car and (2) eating beef. Beef cattle require incredible amounts of water and land; far more than chicken, fish or dairy. Modern beef ranching creates a lot of pollution and is a major cause of the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, home of our beloved ayahuasca.
My advice for spiritually aware people is to try to minimize eating beef. When you do eat meat, make it free range and grass fed; at least the cow had some natural connection with the Earth before it died. Better yet, slaughter meat yourself so you get a closer connection to your food.
Me, I gave up meat a year ago. Never missed it.
I appreciate your comments,
I appreciate your comments, and I agree with much of what you are saying. However, the human animal is plainly an ominivor, and in order to get the protien and certain amino acids we very much need, red meat is simply the easiest choice, and my argument is that it doesn't have to be a bad choice for the earth or your health! My post below explains a lot about what I'm talking about, but I will coment here as well.
Cattle ranching is land intensive, but it also permits the land to remain unbroken by a plow, unaltered by machinery, and natural for the local wildlife and the inherent beauty thereof. Organic grass fed beef takes a vegetation that would otherwise be useless as a food source (ie grass and weeds) and converts that vegetation to edible protien for human consumption. As I explain below, get to know a local rancher, most cow-calf ranches (ie ranches that raise calves) are organic, simply because hormones interfere with reproduction and that's what these operations are about, so they are mostly hormone and antibiotic free. They usually just feed their cattle on grass (no concentrated rations), and they a free range. Once you get to know these guys, you will like them. They are salt of the earth people, and most of them won't mind selling you a weaned calf, some will even take it to the local processor who in most cases will cut the beef to your specifications (Animal handling included), I even say a prayer over my calf when I drop it off at the processor, and the guy in the back actually lowered his head...LOL!
These processors are used to taking special requests most of the time, Kosher, etc., so they don't mind. It's an involved process to be sure, but you will get the best beef you have ever had, and you will be confident about the food source your family is eating, and isn't that what this is all about?
Thank you for your post Lightning Hawk.
I can understand how the
Food Nazis
Everyone knows that most
Shame