And the meat recall saga continues. The latest suspect is canned meat- that delicious concoction of parts you might not normally eat, sodium, preservatives, and most recently, botulism.

Castleberry’s Food Co., the culinary artists behind Hot Dog Chili Sauce, Barbecued Beef and Beef Stew in a can, has announced a voluntary recall involving 80 types of stew, chili, hash and other products after two confirmed and two potential botulism cases broke out in the U.S. in consumers having eaten the hot dog chili sauce products.

Symptoms of botulism include difficulty in walking and swallowing and impaired vision and speech. From there it leads to convulsions and paralysis of the respiratory muscles then suffocation and death. Sounds great to me….bring on the canned meat, swallowing is over rated anyway!

Oh, and by the way, watch out for your pets! The recall has been extended to cover four canned Natural Balance pet food products, co-packed by Castleberry’s.

Read (one of the many) full articles: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1645935,00.html

Link to Castleberry’s website: http://www.castleberrys.com/news_productrecall.asp

This advertisement is ripped out of this week’s Newsweek magazine. Now, is it just me or is this ad just a little creepy? It shows an ear of corn and the company logo/slogan “BASF: The Chemical Company.” The ad proclaims that corn based ethanol is a viable fuel source (of course it’s not…). Corn based ethanol actually needs as much energy to create the fuel as the fuel produces when burned in automobiles. This is a net zero effect.

What’s really happening behind the scenes is that 33% of all government based farm subsidies go toward corn production. We have too much corn in this country, we don’t need to produce more quantity! BASF makes loads of money by increased corn production, from farmers that “farm the system” using government (tax payer) subsidies. They just so happen to also produce the ethanol on the other end. Pretty clever multi-tiered revenue streams. You see…it’s companies like BASF, Monsanto and others that make all the money in agriculture….not farmers.

From the company that brought you…

Ammonia

Bleaching agents

Formaldehyde

Fertilizer

Melamine (our Chinese friend)

Hydroxylamine compounds

Plasticizers

Industrial Coatings

Detergents and Formulators

Superabsorbents Industrial Applications

The list goes on…

They are now happy to introduce, “Food.” (and fuel), but don’t worry, there will be plenty of corn leftover for animal feed, high fructose corn syrup, mayonnaise, soda, apartame, sorbitol, MSG, xanthan gum, etc.

This chemical company creates the genetically modified corn seed, the fertilizers, the pesticides, the herbicides that are the building blocks of our industrial food system. It’s a closed loop, with most of the money coming full circle back to BASF and other chemical companies.

Our food system is one of the biggest lies being ‘fed’ to us today. Let’s get it together and let our government know that this is unacceptable and the system needs real reform! In September, Congress and the Senate will vote on a new food (farm) bill that will be in place for the next five years. We have an opportunity to have our voices heard on this.  The book “Food Fight” by Daniel Imhoff is a great read and resource on the Farm Bill for us regular citizens.

By now we all know that animal agriculture places an enormous strain on our planet. Between greenhouse gases, pollution, deforestion, soil erosion, cruelty, the list goes on…we have a very compelling reason to go vegetarian, even one day a week. Check out this statistic found by Akifumi Ogino of the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Tsukuba, Japan.

A kilogram of (…conventionally farmed…) beef is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution than driving for 3 hours while leaving all the lights on back home.

Now consider the impact of going vegetarian just one day a week. By making this simple change in the way you eat, over the course of a year you will save 15kg (35lbs) of meat. Based on Mr. Ogino’s research, that’s like driving a car for 45 hours and leaving all the lights on in your home at the same time…more time than a standard work week! This is a pretty easy thing to do and our planet (and every living being on it) will appreciate it.

A kilogram of beef is responsible for the equivalent of the amount of CO2 emitted by the average European car every 250 kilometres, and burns enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for nearly 20 days.

On the days that you choose to eat meat, consider eating grass-fed beef. A 2003 Swedish study showed that organic beef, raised on grass rather than concentrated feed, emits 40 per cent less greenhouse gases and consumes 85 per cent less energy.

For more information, check out the NewScientist article.

There is a bit of news on the Veggie Booty recall front. It seems that the “Veggie Seasoning” is the ingredient suspected to contain the salmonella that was discovered. Last month, Veggie Booty caused 61 food-bourne illnesses in 19 states.

Here’s my favorite part.

According to Robert’s American Gourmet, Inc., the makers of Veggie Booty, the Food and Drug Administration ’suggested’ that the company voluntarily pull Veggie Booty from shelves until it was determined what was causing individuals to fall ill

I bet you can’t guess where the “Veggie Seasoning” came from? *Hint* think pet food and toothpaste.

Now, we are not accepting food from China and they are not accepting food from us (yesterday’s story). This is a great way to keep things local, right!? Too bad it takes poisoning the food system to reduce the “food miles” for both countries. Ok, that may be oversimplified, but it’s nice to dream.

Here are a couple of links to the story.

China has decided to block some pig and chicken “products” from entering their country from the United States. This decision doesn’t boad well for the animal factory operators at Cargill and Tyson. China is a huge market for offloading “variety products” that we don’t eat here….such as pigs ears and chicken feet. Losing this market may cause a big blow to the U.S. Pork industry. But never fear, these dubious companies are not going to take this lying down. No sir! They may file a trade dispute to force China to resume purchasing products from them. Not only that, but back in May, President Bush ‘urged’ the Chinese leaders to accept our meat products. You’d better watch out China!

So, what’s all the fuss about? Well, China recently discovered that salmonella-contaminated chicken and other products with growth agents or other additives were being exported from the United States. Growth hormones, eh? Here is what some guy from Cargill had to say about that.

Cargill spokesman Mark Klein said one growth additive in question, ractopamine, was common in the U.S. pork industry and had been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “While it has not been approved for use in China, we understand that steps are underway to get those approvals,” he said in an e-mail message.

It’s good to see that they are taking steps to get these growth hormone approvals underway. I would hate to think that the U.S. wouldn’t be able to share our Salmonella-growth hormone tainted food “products” with the rest of the world. When it comes to things like this we are NOT a selfish country.

China may put plastic filler (melamine) in pet (and people) food and serve cardboard to unsuspecting passersby on the street….but they are not willing to accept some disgusting food from the United States. I guess even China has limits.

Eat It While You Can- because your great-grandchildren won’t. World water supplies are dwindling and that means the water intense animal based diet will eventually become a thing of the past. “It’s going to be almost impossible to feed future generations the kind of diet we have now in western Europe and North America.” (bbc)

Hate Thy Neighbor- If you are a Confined Animal Factory Operation (CAFO) owner and you move your operation to a new community, prepare yourself to be the most hated person in that community. “Can you imagine what it smells like when they burn a pile of rotting pigs for an afternoon or an entire day and night?” a nearby resident said. “The odor is just absurd.” (vernonbroadcaster)

Meats and Sweets = Breast Cancer- A study of Chinese women who adopted a more Western diet that included higher consumption of meat and sweets showed an increase in breast cancer. “The researchers found that overweight, postmenopausal women who ate a western-style diet had a greater than twofold increased risk of estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancers. There was no association between breast cancer risk and a vegetable-soy-fish diet.” (yahoo news)

Have You Hugged a Rat Today?- You should! Rats may be more caring and selfless than their reputation suggests. Or at least they can be very kind to each other, even to rats they have never met before. Ok, so this isn’t vegetarian or food related, but I found it interesting nonetheless. (nytimes)

Slap a Label On It- An overwhelming majoring of folks in the U.S. want to know more about thier food. In fact, 92 percent of Americans want to know which country produced the food they are buying. I hope this has a trickle down effect in create measurable standards for other food labeling initives (e.g. free-range, humane, sustainable), but after seeing what the USDA has done recently to undermine the ‘organic’ standards, I won’t be holding my breath. (msnbc)

Moo Cows Go Poo- I wanted to post this video on wannaveg, but it’s only available on MSN video. This is the PSA I mentioned that was shown at Live Earth last weekend. It encourages people to go vegetarian one day a week. It’s a bit on the gross side, but the message is fantastic! (msn video)

Sheepmower- No need for pesticides or herbicides in this vineyard….also no need for tractors. Some researches are training sheep to clean up vineyard weeds but stay off the grapes. “They don’t use gasoline and keep down weeds — a necessary task to deter pests and keep vines healthy — sans herbicides.” (msnbc)

Ingredients:
1 Large Onion Chopped
1 Large Green Pepper Chopped
1 Large Red Pepper Chopped
4 Stalks Celery Chopped
1.5 T Cumin
1/2 T Cayenne Pepper
1/2 T Salt
1/3 T Black Pepper
1 Can of Corn
2 28oz Can of Diced Tomatoes
6 C Vegetable Broth
1 Package Vegetarian Soyrizo
1 Bag of Tortilla Chips

In a large soup pot, Saute Onions, Peppers, Celery in olive oil until soft and then add spices cooking until well mixed. Add in corn, tomatoes, broth and soyrizo. Season to taste. Cook over medium heat and simmer 30 minutes. Drop in tortilla chips immediately prior to serving.

NOTE: If you have a slow cooker/crock pot, all ingredients should be placed in the order listed above. Cook over LOW heat for 8 hours, adding in the chips immediately prior to serving.

Add some salsa and avocado for a little more “fiesta in your mouth.”

While reading through my daily news I found this article that told a story of a woman who struggles with vegetarianism.   When she first went to college she used vegetarianism as a way to cover up her eating disorder.   This is an unfortunate reality for some so called “vegetarians” that perpetuate a stereotype that vegetarians are sickly and frail.

After college she struggles to not become a “weirdo” vegetarian that no-one likes to have over for dinner, and everyone talks about.  In the end she struggles with her humanity and her conflict around the moral issue of eating animals.

I think many on again – off again (and consistent) vegetarians have these or similar struggles.   This article really does a good job bringing them to light.

Read the story here. (msn)

Video artist Molly Schwartz traces how far food travels from field to fork.  There is an accompanying story here.

I didn’t like the name “Rundown:” of the news summaries we post. It really didn’t have anything to do with going veg. So, I came up with this one. Let me know what you think about it….if you would like to suggest another name for our periodic news summaries, let me know.

Organic’s better? – A ten year study finds that organic tomatoes have more flavonoids (anti-oxidents) than conventionally grown tomatoes. I’d say most people didn’t need a study to find out that organic is better….but thes studies are nice to see. (bbc news)

Methane Kills- Literally. Five people died last week in a pool of liquefied cow shit. It seems that they were overcome by methane gas while cleaning out a pipe in the lagoon. “You cannot smell it, you cannot see it, but it’s an instant kill” (cnn)

Subsidizing Snacks- Our food system is based on five commodity crops (soybeans, corn, rice, wheat and cotton). Not one of these subsidized crops is a fruit or vegetable. Subsidies lead to cheap snack foods and soft drinks, made from ingredients like high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated soybean oil. Meanwhile, the lack of subsidies for fruits and vegetables makes them expensive by comparison. (ny times)

Live Earth: Go Veg One Day a Week- Say what you want about Live Earth, (see also: ‘Hippie Episode’ on Southpark) they apparently had a publice service announcement tell people about the environmental benefits to going vegetarian one day a week. Good news for wannaveg! P.S. if anyone can find and send us this video, we would be greatful! (nj.com)

Concientious Meat Eater- From the Magazine, “Food: The Way We Eat.”  In his Meat Manifesto, Fearnley-Whittingstall corners the reader: “Are you, among the millions of consumers putting pressure on farmers to produce mountains of cheap meat of dubious quality, by dubious means?” and “Have the animals you’ve consumed lived well? . . . Have they been cared for by someone who respects and enjoys their contact with them?” (ny times via Ethicurean)