Food Thoughts

Weekly Food Thought 01/07/2010

The New York Times run a great article "Safety of beef processing method questionned", you will find the link down the page if you have not read it yet.

Basically ground beef is injected with amonia in order to kill salmonella and co.
Nice ....
The USDA endorsed it and FDA signed off on the use of ammonia, concluding it was safe when used as a processing agent in foods <!!!>
and because it is a processing agent no need to disclose it on the label ...
School lunch official buy it because it shaved 3 cents, yes 3 cents, per lb ... Hi it's your kids, I dont have any still I find it disturbing <!!!>
 As usual the motiv is cheap cheap cheap ...
I am no doctor but honestly last time I was around amonia was when my Mom was doing her spring cleaning and she used it to clean ... the windows !!!
and it brings me to a story that I read some time ago, the largest or second largest cheese producer in France, I dont remember the exact details, announced they would make their signature camember with pasteurized milk instead of raw milk .... that started an uproar from the street to the food critics to people picketing the factory .... and it worked, the consumers succeeded and the factory backed out and kept making their camember with raw milk !!!!
My whole point is how much more amonia do you need to start to react ??? I mean a real reaction, one that will boycott all process food, one that will make certain you know where your food comes from ??? One that will make you start to grow a few "things", raise a couple of chickens ??? I know it is work and time consuming and money and changes but ultimately it is your health ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/us/31meat.html?emc=eta1

Muscovy ducklings arrived this week, 2 days old snuggling in their box with a little heat pad to keep them warm during their overnight trip