Recent Food Recalls - First the Canteloupe, now ground beef

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Grokette
Grokette Posts: 3,330 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Here we are with another round of food re-calls. When are these food recalls going to be wake up calls for us to demand local and sustainable food sources?

Better yet, seek out sources of local meats, eggs, raw dairy and produce. Eat what is in season and local to you. The factory farming system is ruining our food supply.

Not only is shopping for local and sustainable foods safer, it is cheaper too. We as a nation need to start demanding better of the people that are supposed to supply us with safe foods.

no-to-factory-farms.jpg?w=250&h=300

Here is the ground beef re-call from Tyson Foods:

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/fitness-food/safety/story/2011-09-28/E-coli-scare-prompts-Tyson-to-recall-ground-beef/50587346/1

http://home.lifegoesstrong.com/cantaloupe-recall
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Replies

  • dls06
    dls06 Posts: 6,774 Member
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    And it's only going to get worse. dun dun dun......................
  • XFitMojoMom
    XFitMojoMom Posts: 3,255 Member
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    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7x_7La0xCc&feature=related

    :flowerforyou: :smile:
  • Nanadena
    Nanadena Posts: 739 Member
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    I SO agree. We are a small private farm and ranch. It is tough. Our animals are all natural as are our birds, but we cannot make money at this. We do it for us.
  • farrellb2
    farrellb2 Posts: 120
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    If you cook you meat all the way through you generally cook the Ecoli out, or so I was told
  • CharlieLopez2005
    CharlieLopez2005 Posts: 114
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    If you cook you meat all the way through you generally cook the Ecoli out, or so I was told

    I don't have my references handy, but I think eColi (at least some strains of it, like 157) can survive high cooking temperatures.
  • mea9
    mea9 Posts: 561 Member
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    It is about to get so much worse with the impeding approval of the GMO salmon to name but one. Here local, free range, organic chicken (as well as other meats) is 3x the price of the factory stuff but reflects the real cost of the food. Safer, healthier and tastes better – a really different food. It means having chicken once a week instead of 3x and being creative with beans and other protein sources but you have to stay healthy and so do the animals.
  • spacecase76
    spacecase76 Posts: 673 Member
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    seek out sources of local meats, eggs, raw dairy and produce. Eat what is in season and local to you. The factory farming system is ruining our food supply.

    Not only is shopping for local and sustainable foods safer, it is cheaper too. We as a nation need to start demanding better of the people that are supposed to supply us with safe foods.

    I have been fortunate to find local sources of beef. chicken, eggs, *WINE!!* veggies, diary, and pork (though, I don't eat pork). I LOVE the local farmer's markets we have here. Add to it that I don't eat much meat. I have not felt "threatened" or in fear of a food recall in a very long time.
  • catwrangler
    catwrangler Posts: 918 Member
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    I don't eat red meat or pork so that's OK. I buy eggs from local backyard producers and this morning I happily ate my locally grown farmer's market cantelope with no fear :happy:

    I have a few sources to look into for locally grown chicken meat although ideally I would like to cut that out of my diet as well. Baby steps!

    I am trying to do this but it is hard and expensive. Except for the eggs, they are only $1 a dozen and delicious!
  • SeasideOasis
    SeasideOasis Posts: 1,057 Member
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    I AGREE!!

    Being able to sustain your local areas OFF your local areas is the BIG picture people are not wanting to look at. The perks COMPLETELY out weigh the cons.

    Granted, some climates can grow certain things, but I know my garden (which is organic) produced tomatoes, peppers (of all sorts), eggplants, butternut squash, zucchini (you get the picture) enough for my household and then some.

    My better half would LOVE to get a big plot of land we he (we) can also have a larger garden (so we can have more for canning), area for chickens, fruit trees, etc. At the end of the day, we should not be relying on other nations to feed our own people. It's bad business.

    Plus, the more we do locally, the better off local economies will be.
  • rossi02
    rossi02 Posts: 549 Member
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    At the end of the day, we should not be relying on other nations to feed our own people. It's bad business.

    Plus, the more we do locally, the better off local economies will be.

    This.. so very true!
    It reminds me of when I was younger and a lot of my family was employed by sewing mills and such. They complained about their plants closing, but would always be the first to say, they go to wal-mart and get the cheapest socks and undershirts sold... have we not learned our lesson from that?? What's really surprising.. when you buy local food, it's usually cheaper, fresher and not pre-treated with a load of chemicals, so it's a win-win all the way around.
  • BrewerGeorge
    BrewerGeorge Posts: 397 Member
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    I'll say this once, then leave it because I don't want to get into a political argument...

    You guys realize that organic methods are incapable of producing enough food to feed the world, right? Organic food is for rich westerners. If not for chemical pest control and fertilization of staple grains, large numbers of poor people in poor countries simply would not have enough food to eat.

    Nevermind.
  • rossi02
    rossi02 Posts: 549 Member
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    I'll say this once, then leave it because I don't want to get into a political argument...

    You guys realize that organic methods are incapable of producing enough food to feed the world, right? Organic food is for rich westerners. If not for chemical pest control and fertilization of staple grains, large numbers of poor people in poor countries simply would not have enough food to eat.

    Nevermind.

    I don't take it as you have to go the organic route.. just buying local is a huge help, as long as you are comfortable with the methods they use on their farm all is well. I'm more concerned with the chemicals applied to the foods to keep them fresh when shipping them half way across the country opposed to the chemicals used for pest control and fertilization. However, that may just be me.. but it's how I look at it.
  • mea9
    mea9 Posts: 561 Member
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    I'll say this once, then leave it because I don't want to get into a political argument...

    You guys realize that organic methods are incapable of producing enough food to feed the world, right? Organic food is for rich westerners. If not for chemical pest control and fertilization of staple grains, large numbers of poor people in poor countries simply would not have enough food to eat.

    Nevermind.

    I disagree. It has been proven many times that grain crops grow better, are more productive and healthier when planted more sparsely. They require less chemicals, use less seed and produce the same or better. Factory farms refuse to take this approach because they would have to be flexible and monitor and evaluate. Adjust.

    People in those countries go hungry now even though there is enough food. It is a political issue and not a production problem. One of the keys is to use more alternative protein sources rather than strictly meat. The cost of producing meat is high. We know this. Diversity and care are the solutions.
  • SeasideOasis
    SeasideOasis Posts: 1,057 Member
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    I'll say this once, then leave it because I don't want to get into a political argument...

    You guys realize that organic methods are incapable of producing enough food to feed the world, right? Organic food is for rich westerners. If not for chemical pest control and fertilization of staple grains, large numbers of poor people in poor countries simply would not have enough food to eat.

    Nevermind.

    I disagree. It has been proven many times that grain crops grow better, are more productive and healthier when planted more sparsely. They require less chemicals, use less seed and produce the same or better. Factory farms refuse to take this approach because they would have to be flexible and monitor and evaluate. Adjust.

    People in those countries go hungry now even though there is enough food. It is a political issue and not a production problem. One of the keys is to use more alternative protein sources rather than strictly meat. The cost of producing meat is high. We know this. Diversity and care are the solutions.

    Agreed. If you really look at "starving" countries, its usually based on politics, not local people not willing to work hard for themselves. My very close friend lived in a very small village in Africa. Luckily, they had a wonderful leader/chief (I forget the proper terminology) who treated his people well and their village was never without proper food to feed everyone who lived there. Obviously, due to the economics of this village, little to nothing was bought from other villages, as the "money" just was not there.
  • BrewerGeorge
    BrewerGeorge Posts: 397 Member
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    The politics of distribution prevents available food from getting to people, yes. But if not for conventional farming practices, there wouldn't be food in the first place.

    Modern food production is what has prevented the predicted Malthusian collapse. China approached it in the 60's when they had a famine in which millions and millions died because they simply could not grow enough food to feed their population.

    The most important man of the 20th century that you've probably never heard of is Norman Borlaug. In case you don't read the link, he was a food scientist and Nobel laureat who was credited with saving over a billion people from starvation by introducing modern farming methods to the third world. This man was a true hero.

    Here's one of his quotes,
    ...some of the environmental lobbyists of the Western nations are the salt of the earth, but many of them are elitists. They've never experienced the physical sensation of hunger. They do their lobbying from comfortable office suites in Washington or Brussels. If they lived just one month amid the misery of the developing world, as I have for fifty years, they'd be crying out for tractors and fertilizer and irrigation canals and be outraged that fashionable elitists back home were trying to deny them these things.

    ETA: inline link flags don't work, apparently...
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug
  • fidgekitty
    fidgekitty Posts: 43
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    Thats what motivated me to buy chickens and raise them myself. Hopefully next year I can get a bigger batch of birds for meat. At this point I'm giving eggs away because I get more than I can eat :D As for red meat, I'm fortunate to live in an area of abundant deer and elk, can't get more free range and organic than that lol. What's going on in big agriculture is terrifying, some day I'd like to be at least 75% food independent, because those above are right, it's just gonna get so much worse :(
  • amycal
    amycal Posts: 646 Member
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    YES! I was just at the local Farmer's Market on Tuesday and bought meat from a local farm that is Animal Welfare approved and raises grass fed beef and pork! For more information read Omnivore's Dilemma - such an interesting book
  • Grokette
    Grokette Posts: 3,330 Member
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    I'll say this once, then leave it because I don't want to get into a political argument...

    You guys realize that organic methods are incapable of producing enough food to feed the world, right? Organic food is for rich westerners. If not for chemical pest control and fertilization of staple grains, large numbers of poor people in poor countries simply would not have enough food to eat.

    Nevermind.

    All of the food I get locally is not organic, but it is local and sustainable agriculture. If we focused back to local and sustainable agriculture for meats, eggs, produce (fruits and veggies) food would be cheaper and easier to obtain, plus it would spark the growth of local farming again in different areas of the country.

    So yes, local and sustainable could feed us all.

    There are soo many other countries on this earth that don't allow GMO seeds to be brought in, factory farming systems, etc and they are producing enough food for their countries population.

    We need to go back to traditional farming practices. This is the only way we will survive.
  • Grokette
    Grokette Posts: 3,330 Member
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    The politics of distribution prevents available food from getting to people, yes. But if not for conventional farming practices, there wouldn't be food in the first place.

    Modern food production is what has prevented the predicted Malthusian collapse. China approached it in the 60's when they had a famine in which millions and millions died because they simply could not grow enough food to feed their population.

    The most important man of the 20th century that you've probably never heard of is Norman Borlaug. In case you don't read the link, he was a food scientist and Nobel laureat who was credited with saving over a billion people from starvation by introducing modern farming methods to the third world. This man was a true hero.

    Here's one of his quotes,
    ...some of the environmental lobbyists of the Western nations are the salt of the earth, but many of them are elitists. They've never experienced the physical sensation of hunger. They do their lobbying from comfortable office suites in Washington or Brussels. If they lived just one month amid the misery of the developing world, as I have for fifty years, they'd be crying out for tractors and fertilizer and irrigation canals and be outraged that fashionable elitists back home were trying to deny them these things.

    ETA: inline link flags don't work, apparently...
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug

    Please don't try and say that Companies like Monsanto and Cargill are hero's....................I will get banned from this site. After all, they employee a bunch of food scientists and such.

    Food and scientist don't belong in the same sentence. I would not call him a hero.
  • BrewerGeorge
    BrewerGeorge Posts: 397 Member
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    ...
    So yes, local and sustainable could feed us all.
    That depends on your definition of "us" Certainly, it could feed all of us rich Westerners who only spend 2-5% of our income on food. Asia, Africa, South American would starve - were starving - before modern agriculture was introduced. This isn't conjecture or some pie-in-the-sky idealism. People, children, were dying because they didn't have enough to eat... then they weren't because they STOPPED using traditional agriculture and doubled or tripled their food output from one year to the next.

    Read the wiki article I linked.

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