Passion for Food

“Imagine what it would be if, as a national policy, we said we would be only  successful if we had fewer people going to the hospital next year than last year?  The idea then would be to have such nutritionally dense, unadulterated food that people who ate it actually felt better, had more energy and weren’t sick as much …  now, see, that’s a noble goal.”  

-- Joel Salatin, owner/farmer of Polyface Farms in Virginia, which lets his livestock graze on grass, the way nature intended.  (pictured above)

As Dan and I have been passionately harvesting our goods from our 8x8 plot in our back yard, we've been thinking hard about how we'll feed our family. We've also been planning to live on local foods in August for at least 2 weeks. We talk and talk about where our food comes from and what kind of waste we use to get it... This inspired us to watch the newest and most inspiring documentary thus far: Food Inc.

"Food Inc exposes America's industrialized food system and its effect on our environment, health, economy and worker's rights. "

Please watch the trailer here.

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Some of the facts from Food Inc. are disturbing, empowering, frustrating, exciting and disappointing.  But, we left there feeling excited to garden, harvest and impact our small section of 28213 and not support big government (something we've been against for years already)...

 Pesiticides are infiltrating our fruits, vegetables and water.  For example, a single apple can be covered with 42 known residues found by the USDA, 5 probably carcinogens, 19 suspected hormone disruptors, 10 neurotoxins, and 5 developmental or reproductive toxicants.  (www.whatsonmyfood.org) 

Food travels about 1500 miles to get to my grocery store. AND I drive 15 miles to save $2.00!!! 

 Each year, as many people die from heart disease as killed in the September 11th attacks.  Yet, the government spends as little as  maybe 1 committee meeting on how to control the crap thats in our food.  

 

 In the 1970s, the top five beef packers controlled about 25% of the market. Today, the top four control more than 80% of the market. 

 

 In the 1970s, there were thousands of slaughterhouses producing the majority of beef sold. Today, we have only 13. 

 

 In 1998, the USDA implemented microbial testing for salmonella and E. coli 0157h7 so that if a plant repeatedly failed these tests, the USDA could shut down the plant.  After being taken to court by the meat and poultry associations, the USDA no longer has that power. 

 

 In 1972, the FDA conducted 50,000 food safety inspections. In 2006, the FDA conducted only 9,164. 

 

 During the Bush administration, the chief of staff at the USDA was the former chief lobbyist for the beef industry in Washington. 

 

 Prior to renaming itself an agribusiness company, Monsanto was a chemical company that produced, among other things, DDT and Agent Orange. 

 

 In 1996 when it introduced Round-Up Ready Soybeans, Monsanto controlled only 2% of the U.S. soybean market. Now, over 90% of soybeans in the U.S. contain Monsanto’s patented gene. 

 

 Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas was an attorney at Monsanto from 1976 to 1979.  After his appointment to the Supreme Court, Justice Thomas wrote the majority opinion in a case that helped Monsanto enforce its seed patents. 

 

 The average chicken farmer invests over $500,000 and makes only $18,000 a year. 

 

 32,000 hogs a day are killed in Smithfield Hog Processing Plant in Tar Heel, N.C, which is the largest slaughterhouse in the world. 

 

 The average American eats over 200 lbs. of meat a year. 

 

 30% of the land in the U.S. is used for planting corn. 

 

 The modern supermarket now has, on average, 47,000 products, the majority of which is being produced by only a handful of food companies. 

 

 70% of processed foods have some genetically modified ingredient. 

 

 SB63 Consumer Right to Know measure requiring all food derived from cloned animals to be labeled as such passed the California state legislature before being vetoed in 2007 by Governor Schwarzenegger, who said that he couldn’t sign a bill that pre-empted federal law. 

 

 Corn products include: ketchup, cheese, Twinkies, batteries, peanut butter, Cheez-Its, salad dressings, Coke, jelly, Sweet & Low, syrup, juice, Kool-Aid, charcoal, diapers, Motrin, meat and fast food. 

 

 Corn, which is the main ingredient in animal feed, is also used as a food additive. Those products commonly include:  Cellulose, Xylitol, Maltodextrin, Ethylene, Gluten, Fibersol-2, Citrus Cloud Emulsion, Inosital, Fructose, Calcium Stearate, Saccharin, Sucrose, Sorbital, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Citric Acid, Di-glycerides, Semolina, Sorbic Acid, Alpha Tocopherol, Ethyl Lactate, Polydextrose, Xantham Gum, White Vinegar, Ethel Acetate, Fumaric Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Baking Powder, Zein, Vanilla Extract, Margarine, and Starch. 

 

 1 in 3 Americans born after 2000 will contract early onset diabetes; Among minorities, the rate will be 1 in 2. 

 

 E. coli and Salmonella outbreaks have become more frequent in America, whether it be from spinach or jalapenos.  In 2007, there were 73,000 people sickened from the E. coli virus. 

 

 In January 2008, the FDA approved the sale of meat AND milk from cloned livestock.

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Here are some quotes from the film that I find staggering:

“Not only do they not want you to know what’s in it, they have managed to make it against the law to criticize their products … In Colorado, it’s a felony if you’re convicted under a veggie libel law.  So you could go to prison for criticizing the ground beef that’s being produced in the state of Colorado.”

“You look at the labels and you see farmer this, farmer that. It’s really just three or four companies that are controlling the meat.  We’ve never had food companies this big and this powerful in our history.” 

 – Eric Schlosser, author of “Fast Food Nation.” 

 

“All those snack food calories are the ones that come from the commodity crops, from the wheat, from the corn, and from the soybeans.  By making those calories really cheap, it’s one of the reasons that the biggest predictor of obesity is income level.” 

“Cows are not designed by evolution to eat corn.  They’re designed by evolution to eat grass. And the only reason we feed them corn is because corn is really cheap and corn makes them fat quickly … The industrial food system is always looking for greater efficiency.  But each new step in efficiency leads to problems.  If you take feedlot cattle off their corn diet, give them grass for five days, they will shed eighty percent of the E. coli in their gut.” 

-- Michael Pollan, author of “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto,” which 

bowed in January, 2008 

“The irony is that the average consumer does not feel very powerful. They think that they are the recipients of whatever industry has put there for them to consume.  Trust me, it’s the exact opposite.  Those businesses  spend billions of dollars to tally our votes.  When we run an item past the supermarket scanner, we’re voting.” 

 – Gary Hirshberg, founder of Stonyfield Farm.

It SHOULD NOT be cheaper to purchase two 'hamburgers' than purchase a head of broccoli.  Consumer PROFIT should not be priority over consumer health...but it is.  The USDA and FDA are closing their eyes and letting lobbyists live in the their pockets to control the regulation.  See what Eric Schlosser (of Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (of The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food) have to say about our biggest livelihood: FOOD!

 Dan and I ask that you watch Food Inc. and be a voter at the supermarket!