Ruminations

Donald Kennedy, former commissioner of the U.S. FDA, writes in a NYTimes editorial that since the U.S. Congress has passed major health care legislation, now is the time to focus on the widespread use of antibiotics on the animals we consume, which leads to development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria that infect humans. This is a major problem.

He points out that in Denmark since the late 1990s, when that country banned the use of antibiotics in farm animals except for therapeutic purposes, the numbers  of resistant bacteria in Danish livestock shrank considerably. Members of he American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Pharmacists Association, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the American Public Health Association and the National Association of County and City Health Officials all are urging Congress to phase out the non-therapeutic use in livestock of antibiotics that are important to humans.

We agree. To read the complete editorial, click here.

Filed by admin at 8:03 am under Nutrition, Diet & Food Politics
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According to an article in FoodSystemsInsider.com, “Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle has indicated he will sign a bill the Legislature passed late last month allowing farms to sell raw milk directly to consumers through 2011. … The federal government doesn’t allow sales of raw milk because of concerns about food-borne illness, but states can allow them as long as the milk doesn’t cross state lines.”

Opposing the bill is the Wisconsin Dairy Business Association because of fear that an outbreak of disease could damage the state’s reputation for producing safe dairy products.

This will be interesting to follow in the coming months and years. Read more here.

Filed by admin at 4:22 pm under Nutrition, Diet & Food Politics
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An article in the New Zealand Trade & Enterprise, available on the web, suggests that American farmers are being pressured to reassess and revamp their dairy operations, where most of the 9+ million cows live indoors. According to the article, “The vocal animal rights movement in the United States is putting pressure on containment farmers to let their animals live in the open, and retailers such as Whole Foods Market are paying a premium for “range-fed” milk. … The country’s largest co-operative, Dairy Farmers of America, has told its 18,000 members that pasture-based farming is the way of the future.”

This is good news for the consumer, and we hope for U.S. dairy farmers, as well, who are struggling for survival. Read the article here.

Filed by admin at 6:03 pm under Nutrition, Diet & Food Politics
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Our newest favorite blogger is Hannah Wallace, who writes on Food Politics for The Faster Times on the web (www.thefastertimes.com). Her Oct. 9 blog entry discusses the stomach-roiling topic of E. coli in factory-farmed beef, discussed in a long article in the previous Sunday’s New York Times magazine. Unfortunately, as the article and Hannah discuss, not much has changed over the years in assuring food safety in America’s meat packing industry. After reading the original article, as well as Hannah’s Cliff Notes (her term), you will likely never eat another mass-produced burger.

One way to avoid E. coli contamination is to keep it from proliferating in the cow’s rumen.  If it does not develop in the rumen (because of grain feeding), obviously then it won’t be in the manure, the meat or the spinach.

Hannah Wallace’s blog: http://thefastertimes.com/foodpolitics/2009/10/09/cliffs-notes-to-the-times-e-coli-investigation/

NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/health/04meat.html?_r=1&em

See also Cornell University’s study: http://bakewellrepro.com/ruminations/?p=10

Filed by admin at 5:45 pm under Food Safety, Nutrition, Diet & Food Politics
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We were pleased to read in the Sept. 16 issue of the Washington Post about a mother who decided to tackle the thorny issue of her son’s bad eating habits, specifically of fast food. She set out to prove that fast-food items cooked at home save money as well as calories.

Her conclusion? “Not only is homemade food almost always more nutritious (lower in calories, fat and sodium), fresher and better for your family in most every way, but it’s also significantly less expensive and, in most cases, once you have your ingredients on hand, no more time-consuming.”

Read about her efforts here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/15/AR2009091500749.html

Filed by admin at 5:35 pm under Nutrition, Diet & Food Politics
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Recently the New York Times visited Bryn Teg, a farm in the Northern Kingdom of Vermont, that’s owned by Judith Jones. She is a long-time editor at Knopf who edited Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, among many other noted authors, and is herself an author (The Tenth Muse and The Pleasures of Cooking for One). The farm has a small herd of grass-fed beef that includes Black Anguses and Belted Galloways.

Hardwick Beef’s own Michael Gourlay is mentioned in the article as advising Jones’ step-daughter Bronwyn Dunne on the herd and grass-finishing the cattle. Not only does Judith Jones relish the fact that her family is using the land for pasture and raising “contented” cows, but she also enjoys “a return to the true beef flavor that she hadn’t experienced since she was in Paris in her 20s,” as the article notes. “… this is what meat should taste like,” she says.

To read the entire article, click here. 

To read Judith Jones’ blog about her adventures in farming, click here.

Filed by admin at 12:03 am under Better Beef, Nutrition, Diet & Food Politics
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Roger Cohen, a New York Times columnist, recently traveled to France, and offers fresh insight into food safety and the reality of live food for people who want to be healthy. In stark contrast to Americans’ preference to have their food arrived pre-packaged, he writes, “the French don’t believe what they’re eating is genuine unless they’ve seen gritty proof of provenance. …”

Later in his column, he concludes, ”The American healthcare debate is skewed. It should be devoting more time to changing U.S. culinary and eating habits in ways that cut the need for expensive care by reducing rampant obesity, to which anxiety, haste and disconnectedness contribute. France has much to teach, guts and all. ”

Here’s the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/opinion/31iht-edcohen.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Op-Ed%20Columnist:%20%20Advantage%20France%20&st=cse

Filed by admin at 7:29 pm under Food Safety, Nutrition, Diet & Food Politics
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Michael Pollan, among other food writers and activists, argues persuasively that the food we eat in this country is way too cheap. And that’s why we are too fat, and suffer from food-related illnesses. He’s so persuasive that even that cynic George Will wrote a column in the March 8 Washington Post about the problem. Pollan observes that the availability of cheap abundant fertilizer after World War II basically revolutionized our agriculture in the U.S. … and not in a good way. Then the Nixon Administration in the 1970s panicked over the rise in food prices and authorized a massive campaign of subsidies, all to keep the farmers and middle America fat and happy.

Read these two related articles: George Will’s column

Steve Cornett’s comments at agweb.com

Filed by admin at 11:32 pm under Nutrition, Diet & Food Politics
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While the new Obama administration disappointed food safety advocates with his choice of former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack to be Secretary of Agriculture, we all are much happier with his selection of Kathleen Merrigan to be Deputy Secretary of Agriculture. She is an advocate of sustainable and organic agriculture and in her position at Tufts University in Boston, she directed a group of projects designed to stimulate community gardens, develop regional marketing strategies between consumers and local farmers, and promote food and gardening education in local schools.

Hearings on her confirmation earlier this month turned into a debate on organic farming practices, with the ranking Senate Agriculture Committee member, Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), arguing his concern that “in promoting your passion for organic production and sustainable agriculture, you tear down other types of agriculture with different points of view.”

Filed by admin at 11:20 pm under Nutrition, Diet & Food Politics, Sustainable Agriculture & Policy
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Finally, some good news on the NAIS front, and a significant victory for those farmers advocating the freedom to farm. The USDA has canceled the mandatory premises registration directive. However, states like Michigan and Wisconsin still need to rescind their mandatory NAIS regulations in order to be in agreement with federal requirements.

NAIS was promised to be a completely voluntary animal identification system but it was changed into a mandatory NAIS for producers who engage in interstate commerce and who participate in any one of the dozen or more federally regulated disease programs. Needless to say, this alarmed farmers across the country.

NoNAIS.org has led the effort to overturn this ruling, and you can read more here: http://nonais.org/2008/12/31/r-calf-nais-usda-cancels-mandatory-premises-registration-directive/

Filed by admin at 5:08 am under National Animal ID System, Nutrition, Diet & Food Politics
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