Thursday, March 29, 2012

Americans Reject Pink Slime Beef, But Six Politicians Still Push It

Taco Bell, McDonald's, and Burger King dumped beef with pink slime, Play Doh-look-alike filler last December after chef Jamie Oliver exposed the ammonia-treated goop on TV a few months earlier.

Safeway, Albertson's, Super-Valu, Kroger, Winn-Dixie, Stop & Shop, Wegmans, Target, and other large grocery chains are dropping slime-filled ground beef in response to consumer demands. Walmart will offer consumers clearly labeled choices. 

Yet the USDA continues to stand by its "7 million-pound order of connective tissue and beef scraps doused in ammonia, set to hit school lunch trays in coming months" which it hilariously allows the meat industry to deceptively dub "lean, finely textured beef." 

Six politicians... five governors from farm states and the lobbyist-beholden head of the U.S. Agriculture Department... persist in urging Americans to ignore what Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad calls "an unwarranted, unmerited food scare."  The politicians pushing the pink-slime concoction that was previously reserved for dog food are:

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Meat Lobbyists Angered by "Hot Dogs Cause Butt Cancer" Billboard

Chicago commuters were greeted this week by a billboard shrilly proclaiming "Hot Dogs Cause Butt Cancer." 

The sign, located on the busy Eisenhower Expressway, is sponsored by longtime health activist group Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, led by Dr. Neal Barnard of George Washington University. 
"The billboard’s blunt language was prompted by a recent survey showing that a surprising number—39 percent—of Americans do not know what the colon is," writes PCRM.com. 

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Campbell's Tomato Soup: Bad Policy Spoils Good Soup

Andy Warhol painted it. The Paris Exposition awarded it the Gold Medallion for excellence in 1900.

American mothers have served it to children for over 100 years. My husband craves it when he's sick. Or busy at work.

In 2012, Campbell's Tomato Soup still ranks as one of the top ten selling dry grocery items in U.S. grocery markets.


Truth be known, it's fairly healthy, too, for canned, modern industrial food.  No fat, no cholesterol, no fake colors or flavors. Laced with minerals, iron and Vitamin C. An entire can... two servings... is only 270 calories (before requisite grilled cheese sandwich).


Campbell's has added a generous dose of high fructose corn syrup (i.e. sugar) to please America's sweet tooth. And all canned soups are inherently very high in sodium (i.e. salt). Clearly, canned soups are second best to homemade in both taste and nutrition.


The soup in Campbell's Tomato Soup isn't the health hazard. It's the can. 

Campbell's Soup Co., now a profit-hungry multinational corporation with $7.7 billion in annual sales, is one of the major food manufacturers to still line its cans with bisphenol-A (BPA), a hormone-disrupting chemical that can leach from can linings into the foods held inside.