The Remnant Online

Health => Healthful Living => Topic started by: Richard Myers on January 16, 2004, 10:40:00 AM

Title: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on January 16, 2004, 10:40:00 AM
Can the public rely upon government agencies to protect them from unsafe food? Here is a situation that reveals the truth.

"Federal agriculture officials did not test any commercial cattle for mad cow disease through the first seven months of 2003 in Washington state -- where the first U.S. case of the disease was detected last month -- according to records obtained by United Press International."

The slaughter house where the "mad cow" was found is being reported as being known for slaughtering older and injured dairy cows, which are considered the cattle most at risk of developing mad cow disease. The need for a high protein diet for  milk production has motivated many to feed their cows animal products, sometimes from cows or sheep.

The "mad cow" was detected in Canada in May and even then there was according to this report no testing of commercial cows in the State of Washington for BSE in the months of May, June, and July. Washington is on the border with Canada and many cattle cross between the two states.

Those who continue to eat animal products do so in the face of great evidence that there is no safety in doing so. The evidence of the great harm done to dairy cows is now coming to light. They suffer under the wickeness of man. The government has allowed much to continue that will prove a curse to those who trust in the arm of flesh.

UPI Exclusive Story  

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on January 19, 2004, 11:17:00 AM
Today, I read the statement of a worker at the slaughter house where the first US mad cow was found. He said "The USDA had told the world that the mad cow had been slaughtered here, but it was not in the food chain. A blatant lie. It was one of many."

The worker said the cow was not a downer, but was in with a lot of downers. It was an old cow. He said the meat was sold as human food. The head, tail, tongue, liver and kidney were in the human food chain locally.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Ele Holmes on January 19, 2004, 05:11:00 PM
Oh Yuk Richard....  That makes me sick.  I wonder how much of the U.S beef is shipped down here to Mexico?  My cooking class has only 8 to 10 who are interested in vegetarianism.... out of 3 churches. I know many eat meat....pray for our people here, I guess in all the world too.  We must teach them health and how to eat healthy without meat and animal products.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on January 27, 2004, 12:43:00 PM
The United States is revising it's regulations regarding BSE after the confirmation of the "mad cow" found in Washington. Notice what is being done and that it was not done when it should have been done. Notice also what is had been fed to cattle. "In addition, along with banning blood and blood products from cattle feed, McClelland said the FDA will ban the use of poultry litter as a cattle feed ingredient. Poultry litter consists of bedding, spilled feed, feathers, and fecal matter collected from poultry confinement areas. The material has been used in cattle feed in some areas of the country where cattle and large poultry raising operations are located near each other." We reap what we sow.

UPI

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on February 03, 2004, 09:30:00 AM
The purpose of this topic is to call into question the suitability of relying upon the government when it comes to the safety of our food. Many of us consider that government inspection assures the safety of what we eat. I don't believe we can turn our eyes away from reality. The government has not done a good job of protecting our food supply. Animals are diseased and the government allows them and their milk and eggs to be sold as food for human consumption.

Here is another pointed problem that the government has allowed to continue despite the significant risk posed to the food supply.

In the meat industry "splitters" use band saws to split carcasses down the middle. This cleaves the spinal column from neck to tail. Then water washes the fat and bone dust off the saw. The slurry, with spinal cord in it, runs all over the meat.

The USDA has assured the public that none of the "mad cow" entered the food chain. Then it assured the public that none of the meat that entered the food chain from the mad cow was dangerous because it was not brain or spinal cord which is the most infectious part of the animal.

The current practice of splitting the carcass does not protect the public from an already accepted dangerous material, the spinal cord and it's fluids. "Bucky Gwartney, director of research for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, confirmed that most American slaughterhouses do the same."

NY Times

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on February 04, 2004, 05:23:00 PM
The cattle industy is a 20+ billion dollar industry. Does it have influence with elected officials? Of course it does. Take a look at industry objections to today's expert panel suggestion to ban poultry in cattle feed. Remember as you read that mad cows find their way into chicken feed. It is not illegal to feed downer cows to chickens. I recall reading about a very upset cattle rancher in England who did not know his cattle feed contained chicken that had been fed mad cows. The objection to the panel's suggestion is an example of the irresponsibility in the industry.

Reuters

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on February 08, 2004, 05:56:00 AM
Any thoughts about the Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs going to Mexico to discuss that nation's water debt and encourage the country to reopen its market to American cattle and beef products?

Seems that Mexico's food safety may be in question after her trip. Calling Mexico's Debt

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Sister Marie on February 10, 2004, 08:48:00 AM
 Mercury affects brains of adolescents
Study of high-seafood diet points to poison's long-lasting impact.
6 February 2004
HELEN PEARSON

Faroe Islanders are virtually unique in their whale-rich diet.
© SPL

Eating seafood that contains mercury can affect the brain development of children in their adolescence, according to a study of people in the Faroe Islands.-------------

The group previously found that the children, when 7 years of age, had a slower transmission of electrical signals along a particular circuit in their brain than normal. Now that the children are 14 years old, after a continued diet of fish and whale meat, the researchers find that this disruption is even worse1. They also found evidence that mercury exposure is linked to subtle difficulties in controlling blood pressure2.
The findings suggest that any harm done by mercury before birth or in early childhood was not repaired as the children grew up. And continued mercury exposure may continue to affect the brains of teenagers, says team leader Philippe Grandjean of Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts.
At the moment, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advises pregnant women, nursing mothers and young children to avoid eating shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish, in order to keep mercury intakes low. But Grandjean suggests that safety messages about mercury should highlight the toxin's potential impact on older children as well.
=====================
Read the whole article at:  http://www.nature.com/nsu/040202/040202-16.html

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Sister Marie on February 10, 2004, 08:51:00 AM
Organic food contaminated with GM
Many so-called organic foods contain genetically modified soya.
6 February 2004
JIM GILES


Over 60% of processed foods contain soya extracts.
© Digital Vision

A wide range of 'organic' food products on sale in the United Kingdom contain genetically modified (GM) ingredients, according to a study due to be published in April1. The revelation has prompted organisations that certify food as organic and GM-free, such as the Soil Association, to hurriedly review their procedures.

Transgenic soya was found in ten of 25 organic or health food products tested by Mark Partridge and Denis Murphy, biotechnology researchers at the University of Glamorgan in Pontypridd, Wales. Eight of the ten were labelled either as 'organic', which should indicate the absence of transgenic ingredients under Soil Association rules, or explicitly as 'GM-free'.

The study, which confirms previous tests by national food standards agencies in Ireland and the UK, implies that a wide range of foodstuffs probably contain traces of GM material.

Damaged credibility................
================================
Read the Whole Article at: http://www.nature.com/nsu/040202/040202-15.html

[This message has been edited by Sister Glass (edited 02-10-2004).]

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on February 12, 2004, 05:35:00 AM
Quite a few years ago I was attending a Rotary luncheon when the local UC farm advisor, sitting next to me brought up the subject of organic farmers and the danger posed by sewer sludge being used as fertilizer. He shared with me that root crops such as potatoes and carrots take up the heavy metals from the sludge and then destroy the livers of those who eat the crops.

That was a clear warning to me to take great care in what I put into my gardern soil. With the knowledge of infectious agents in animal products including manure it makes good sense  to not use manure as fertilizer. What is the greatest risk that I can see today? Prion contamination. I do not know of any evidence that it is a problem or could be, but common sense indicates that caution is warranted.

Prions (BSE, Scrapie) that destroy brain tissue in animals and humans are not destroyed by the heat that is generated in compost piles. It may be that they are destroyed by other activity, but until this is shown there is enough concern to warrant using other fertilizers. I have pointed out in previous posts that compost from cow manure may transmit the very dangerous form of e.coli bacteria.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Sister Marie on February 12, 2004, 06:57:00 AM
Mad Cow Proteins, or Prions, Found in Nasal Passages
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/02/20/MN81735.DTL

Prions get wired
http://www.nature.com/nsu/030210/030210-21.html

Could mad cow disease have been discovered sooner?

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/madcow/hindsight.html
==========================

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With Christian Love,
Sister Marie

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on February 16, 2004, 07:45:00 AM
A recent survey found that most consumers would pay more for meat if each cow was tested for mad cow disease. Upper cost for the test is said to be 10 cents per pound. Why won't the industry test each cow? What would they find and what would that do to the meat and milk industry?
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on February 18, 2004, 10:36:00 AM
Japan won't buy American beef until each cow is tested for BSE. They say the risk is too great. Guardian Story
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on March 09, 2004, 09:13:00 AM
In a letter sent to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman late last week, the governor of Oregon accuses the U.S.D.A. of repeatedly failing to provide state officials with information crucial
to maintaining consumer confidence.

Oregon Live

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Liane H on March 09, 2004, 09:25:00 PM
Hi:

From what I know the only way one can test for BSE is the animal would have to be killed. There is no other way.

So in order to do this, if I understand the process is that the meat would have to be put in storage and the brain taken to a lab for testing and then only upon a negative finding could the rest of the cow be used and sent for food and anything else that is done with the remaining parts.

Does this sound correct to any of you?

Liane

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: WendyForsyth on March 10, 2004, 12:15:00 AM
I had understood that there was a blood test that could be used on live cattle.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on March 10, 2004, 07:04:00 AM
There is a quick test that is used in Europe. The problem is not the cost or the time, but the reality that more BSE will be found and that is where the great cost will be to the meat and dairy industry.

The true cost is not the loss of money, but the disease being transmitted to humans and animals. When the truth comes out we shall find out that people have been contracting prion disease for many years from eating animal products.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on March 21, 2004, 07:52:00 AM
Hundreds of dead cows have been found piled in huge holes at dairies in southern New Mexico. The local people in New Mexico are concerned about the danger posed by the dead cows. There is a concern as to why so many cows have been killed and are being disposed of in such a way. Have they been tested for BSE? New Mexico
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: WendyForsyth on March 21, 2004, 10:31:00 AM
Cows that have mad cow disease are not supposed to be disposed of in the normal manner, such as burning at normal temperatures. Perhaps these cows either were determined, or supposed to carry or be infected with the prion? I haven't read the article yet, just a quick thought before I forget of a possible reason.

wf

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on March 26, 2004, 04:51:00 PM
While California has a lot in common with Sodom they may be passing legislation to test all cattle in the state for BSE (mad cow disease).   TRO Health News
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on April 26, 2004, 12:08:00 PM
I began this topic by saying that many of us rely upon government agencies to insure the food supply is safe. Is that trust misplaced?

Yes, I believe so. The high incidence of cancer, I believe is largely a result of poor government policy in policing the food industry.

Here is an article that will support my view: UPI News

The USDA apparently has been falsifying export certificates for many years.

[This message has been edited by Richard Myers (edited 04-26-2004).]

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: WendyForsyth on April 26, 2004, 12:38:00 PM
Not surprising. Here is the corrected link.

UPI News

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on May 11, 2004, 09:02:00 AM
South Korea does not want U.S. beef, but are being told that it is safe.   Yonhap News
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on May 15, 2004, 09:11:00 PM
We often hear that only cows who exhibit symptoms of Mad Cow Disease need to be tested. Denmark has just found another "mad cow". It is interesting to note that there were no symtoms of mad cow before the animal died. Daily Mail
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on May 24, 2004, 08:03:00 AM
A commentary regarding the present situation with BSE (Mad Cow Disease).

Don't trust USDA about mad cow

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

Amid concerns about beef's safety, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has consistently sent a clear message: Trust us. We've got mad cow disease under control.

The assurances warrant a heavy dose of caution from U.S. consumers, as well as officials in Japan and elsewhere who are being urged to resume importing American beef. Panic isn't in order, by any means. But anyone who wants to believe the government has a firm basis for its public assurances should pay attention to what happened last week.

Seattle Post

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on June 23, 2004, 08:36:00 AM
The attitude of those charged with food safety in the U.S. gives good reason to have great concern. Here is a "report card" on how the government is doing with the Mad Cow problem in the U.S. Center for Food Safety

[This message has been edited by Richard Myers (edited 06-27-2004).]

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Brent on June 27, 2004, 05:43:00 PM
What do you think about genetically modified foods being hazardous to our health?

Or about the claims in the Safe Shopper's Bible by government scientist Samuel Epstein that most health and beauty products contain hazardous chemicals?
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0020820852/002-3858141-2716002?v=glance

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I invite everyone to use my website as a witnessing tool. http://brent.f2g.net/

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on July 06, 2004, 05:25:00 AM
Combining plants and animals is an example of how far out science has gotten. It is a problem. Thanks, Brother Brent for the post.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on July 06, 2004, 05:31:00 AM
There are those who are working hard to convice us that all is well, just as in England before people started dying. Professor Busboom is one such individual. He says "As an animal scientist who has followed this issue and recognizes the near-zero risk that BSE poses in the U.S., it is troubling to consider all of the money and energy being diverted toward BSE instead of diseases that pose real risks..." And of course he is an "expert". You may read his opinion at the Seattle Times.

One day Mr. Busboom's words will come back to haunt him....and many others who trusted in his "expert" knowledge.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on September 16, 2004, 06:58:00 PM
There is concern in the U.S. Congress that the U.S.D.A in not doing a good job in protecting the public's health regarding food. Henry Waxman, the ranking minority member of the House Committee on Government Reform has sent a letter to the head of the USDA expressing concern that they have not been honest in their duties. "The public depends on the USDA to protect the safety of the food supply and to provide honest assessments of problems when they do arise. My concern is that the Department has not met either of these obligations."

U.S. Congress

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on September 18, 2004, 09:18:00 PM
The Japanese government, which has been considering exempting beef from cattle aged 20 months or younger from tests for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, will not accept the U.S. proposal, insisting that it is unscientific, officials said. Yomiuri

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on November 20, 2004, 03:06:00 PM
At times "unsafe" food gets into the food chain and is recalled. When I say "unsafe" I mean that all agree it is unsafe. An example would be when the first U.S. confirmed "mad cow" was found. The meat was recalled, but did all of those who had purchased the meat find out in time to trash it? No. Even stores with those privacy invading cards that keep track of their customer's purchases  and know who purchased the recalled beef did not notify these individuals that the meat they purchased came from lots identified as "mad cow" recall meat.

If that were the end of the story it would be bad enough, but what if states and the federal government entered into secrecy agreements where the names of stores and restaraunts could not be released? So, then the life destroying meat that did not get picked up in a recall, but was sold to customers would be eaten even though the store, or state, or federal government could have warned the customer that they may have purchased the disease laden meat.

You say this does not happen? Wrong. Read this press release dated October 1, 2004.

"Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) vetoed a bill yesterday that would have let Californians know whether they’ve purchased contaminated meat or poultry. The bill, SB 1585, would have ended a secrecy agreement between the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and California that prevents the state from disclosing the names and locations of stores that receive shipments of recalled meat.

“Consumers have a right to know if they purchased recalled meat or poultry,” said Ken Kelly, Staff Attorney at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). “Why force families to roll the dice when they put food on the table? Governor Schwarzenegger prefers a get-sick-first, ask-questions-later policy.”

Center for Science in the Public Interest

When the state and businesses hide this important information from the public we know that we cannot rely upon the intergrity of the state or busness to protect the safety of our food.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Bill Wennell on November 29, 2004, 07:30:00 AM
Again, for those who do not know, I am a Seventh-day Adventist and I am also a Meat & Poultry Inspector for the US Department of Agriculture. There were a lot of threads being discussed here and maybe too many to be satisfactorily answered but the bottom line is: No! You cannot trust the government to protect you! The USDA is business run but public protective. It wears two hats, one as public protector and the other as a stimulator of US agriculture commodities. Guess which one wins when there is trouble? I have never tested a cow for madcow in my 12 years working for the USDA, nor have ever seen one done. And these precautions don't stop with madcow. Did you know that arsenic is legally allowed in chicken? Did you know that the public does not have to be notified where contaminated meat is being sold in event of a recall (only generalities like which state)?

I only became an Adventist about six years ago and I would still be eating meat if I did not know the ramifications of what Satan is doing here on earth. As Adventists, we have been warned. We disregard the health message at the peril not only of our health but our salvation.

Many people misunderstand what the Bible means when it says that it is not what a man eats or that salvation is not a matter of eating or drinking. These verses aren't talking about the action of eating as much as the intent of the heart. Salvation is not about eating or drinking, but if you are not eating and drinking according to the Bible when you know what is right, your heart is not right with God. You're not damned because you ate pork (etc.) but because you knew better but did it anyway. (Does that make sense?) It is the intent of the heart, even if the intent seems honest. "I only did it because..." but you knew better. My point is that we are not to worry about getting madcow through various means when we are doing what we can NOT to get it, like abstaining from meat and processed foods that may have "natural flavors". It is God's job to protect us from byproducts or allow them to infect us if it serves His purpose. If I get vCJD (human madcow disease) as a vegan meat inspector, do you think it may draw attention to how bad this disease is? So if God allows me to get infected for His purpose, so be it. But DON'T presume that He will protect you while you continue to eat at Burger King to satisfy lustful appetite.

I for one am not scared of this disease personally but I fear for the world at what is happening. The USDA is doing a terribly lousy job of reassuring the US public that there is nothing to be worried about. The only reason it is working is because the majority of the public doesn't care. When madcow broke in the US a year ago there was not a significant decline in meat consumption in the US while the rest of the world was boycotting our under-inspected meat. Talk about blindness! How many Adventists does this include? I posted a (partial) list in the forum on "Natural Flavors" of products that contain animal products that most people would never suspect. Did you know Grapefruit juice has ground beetles in it? Quite a lot of cheese is made using pork products (including Kraft singles) and Macaroni & Cheese (a favorite at Adventist potlucks)! God won't protect us from willful ignorance!

------------------
Bill Wennell
BiblicalTruths2000@Juno.com

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: JimB on November 29, 2004, 07:51:00 AM
Bill, the fact that you work for the USDA and are a SDA that has accepted the health message puts you (I believe) in a unique circumstance and God has a special plan for you. I also have really appreciated your contributions here at TRO. They are definitely eye opening and it is good to hear from someone who has an "inside" track. They have personally made me more careful.

However, I do not see how drinking Grapefruit juice can be labeled as "willful ignorance". It is one thing to be shown that when eating meat you're taking a risk and then turn around and eat it anyway. It is another thing to have no idea that there are beetles in grapefruit juice and drink it.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Bill Wennell on November 29, 2004, 10:17:00 AM
Brother Jim - You are correct and I did not wish for the two ideas to seem blended. The facts on the grapefruit juice was to show how the government is not interested in your health nor in real truth in labeling. Also the harsh statements on "willful ignorance" were not meant at anyone in particular but a general rebuke at "us" within Adventism that in any way choose to decieve ourselves into thinking certain claims in the Bible are not meant for us. I still ask God to continue to show me where I am still trying to decieve myself as I know my heart is wicked and not to be trusted. It is while keeping this in mind that we are to help our brothers and sisters in Christ that we see doing the same in these areas! Thanks for the corrections!  :)

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Bill Wennell
BiblicalTruths2000@Juno.com

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: JimB on November 29, 2004, 10:43:00 AM
Brother Bill, I hope you do not think that I was trying to correct you. I just didn't see the correlation in what you were saying. As it turns out I just didn't completely understand what you were trying to say. Miscommunication is easy even when talking face to face. I was just trying to understand what you were saying better.

One other thing about meat eating in general. Adventists who eat clean meant for whatever reason are not eating clean meat all by definition because there is blood still in the flesh and I'm sure that nearest fastfood joint doesn't serve kosher meat.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on December 01, 2004, 10:55:00 AM
Brother Bill points out an important and interesting fact. The U.S.D.A is the agency that promotes U.S. agriculture. Like other similar governmental agencies, the experts come from within the industry being regulated. It only makes sense. The difficulty arises when selfishness (that is natural to man) sets safety behind personal interests. Too often this is the case.

Not all involved act from selfish motives. Like our Brother Bill there are those who regard the health and safety of the public a vital trust. We live at the end of time and too many trust in the world to provide for their well being when it is Jesus that is the One to whom we all should look.

He has sent a message to the world regarding our food. In large measure this message has been rejected. Few today understand that there is no such thing as "clean" meat or "clean" milk. God loves us and our children and has warned us that the animals are sick and there is no safety in eating any food that contains animal products.

Because of the desire on the part of large businesses to sell their products, they do not declare all that is contained therein. It is prudent to inquire as to what is in the food you intend to eat. There is no safety in blind trust in those who are not converted and walking in the light we have been given.

[This message has been edited by Richard Myers (edited 12-01-2004).]

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Bill Wennell on December 01, 2004, 11:41:00 AM
Thank you Brother Richard, I have to admit that it is strange working for an agency that doesn't do what it is supposed to. I try to uphold what regulations there are and hope that I find a "real" job soon.  :)

Brother JimB, don't feel bad when you correct someone! If I write something that is not clear, I want someone to bring it to my attention. It is not a rebuke, just a clarification. By the way, I have to eat crow (which is also unclean). Last week we picked up a Tropicana Blends 100% juice of Strawberry-Orange and last night I had a glass for the first time. This morning as I was reading the ingredients, guess what was in it? Cochineal - ground beetles! The rest went down the drain. If anyone is keeping notes - add this product to it. By the way, it is only when the color red is needed - the grapefruit juice is the "Ruby Red" product and the one I had was strawberry (red). Why they do this I will never know. Bottoms up!

------------------
Bill Wennell
BiblicalTruths2000@Juno.com

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on January 06, 2005, 05:17:00 PM
 Statement by Ron DeHaven, Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service--USDA

January 3, 2005

"Yesterday, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) confirmed that an older dairy cow from Alberta, Canada, has tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The infected animal was born in 1996, prior to the implementation of Canada's 1997 feed ban. No part of the animal entered the human food or animal feed systems.

"USDA remains confident that the animal and public health measures that Canada has in place, including the removal of specified risk material (SRMs) from the human food chain, a ruminant-to-ruminant feed ban, a national surveillance program and import restrictions, combined with existing U.S. domestic safeguards and the additional safeguards announced as part of USDA's BSE minimal-risk rule announced Dec. 29 provide the utmost protections to U.S. consumers and livestock.

'The extensive risk assessment conducted as part of USDA's rulemaking process took into careful consideration the possibility that Canada could experience additional cases of BSE.

"According to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) guidelines, a country may be considered a BSE minimal-risk country if it has less than 2 cases per million cattle over 24 months of age during each of the previous 4 consecutive years. Considering Canada has roughly 5.5 million cattle over 24 months of age, under OIE guidelines, they could detect up to 11 cases of BSE in this population and still be considered a minimal-risk country, as long as their risk mitigation measures and other preventative measures were effective.

"USDA will continue to work closely with CFIA officials as their investigation into this situation progresses."

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on January 21, 2005, 07:51:00 AM
With the danger posed to the public when there is an outbreak of disease in animals slaughtered for food, will it be safer to notify the public or to keep the concern a secret? The State of Iowa is reveiwing a request to keep such things secret.

Iowa State agriculture officials want to be allowed to keep secret certain records dealing with the control of livestock diseases such as mad cow disease. Key lawmakers are unsure whether they want to take that step.

Desmoines Register

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Liane H on January 21, 2005, 09:25:00 AM
Last week when I was talking to my friends Carolyn and Jake we were discussing Mad Cow Disease and other unsafe foods.

After listening to them and correcting some misconceptions they had you could see the fear in their eyes.

They are not at a point they are going to give up their meat, clean or unclean, but they this year are determined to start raising their own beef cows, getting them from the safest people possible and we are going to start a co-op garden in growing as much as we can of our own food.

For me this is a big step in the right direction for them. Over the last year I have noticed a cut in the amount of the meat they put on their plates and seeing more of other foods such as fruit and vegtables with grains.

For some it comes slowly and for others it is very quickly changed. Please keep them in your prayers that the Holy Spirit will continue to impress them.

Liane, the Zoo Mama  

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on January 26, 2005, 01:04:00 PM
The USDA and the beef industry insist that the American beef supply is safe. They argue that the infectious prions that cause the disease are only found in the brain and nervous tissue, not the muscles, not the meat.

In 2002,Stanley Prusiner, the scientist who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his discovery of prions, proved in mice, at least, that muscle cells themselves were capable of forming prions. He describes the levels of prions in muscle as "quite high," and describes the studies relied upon by the Cattlemen's Association as "extraordinarily inadequate." Follow-up studies in Germany published May, 2003 confirm Prusiner's findings, showing that an animal who is orally infected may indeed end up with prions contaminating muscles throughout their body. And just last month, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Swiss scientists found prions in the muscles of human CJD victims on autopsy. Eight out of the 32 muscle samples turned up positive for the deadly prions.

Body Fueling

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on January 27, 2005, 07:42:00 AM
WASHINGTON -- January 26 -- Eighteen farm, consumer and public interest groups today delivered a letter to new Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, expressing their concern about the apparent retaliation against the chairman of the National Joint Council of Food Inspection Locals (NJC), who recently made disclosures covered by the Whistleblower Protection Act about the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) rules on bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease.

On Dec. 8, 2004, NJC chair Charles Painter sent a letter, on behalf of the NJC (the government meat inspectors’ union), to the USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS), outlining concerns about the removal of “specified risk materials” (SRMs) from cattle and FSIS inspectors’ ability to enforce the export requirements for products destined for Mexico. SRMS are the nervous system tissues believed to be most likely to carry the infectious prions that cause mad cow disease.

Among his concerns: 1) Plant employees are not correctly identifying and marking animals over 30 months old, which means plant employees and government personnel further down the line are unaware that numerous parts should be removed as SRMs and these high-risk materials are entering the food supply; and 2) [Production line] inspectors are not authorized by the USDA to take actions when they see plant employees sending products that do not meet export requirements past the point on the line where they can be identified and removed.

Rather than addressing the issues raised, the USDA reacted to the letter by directing extraordinary resources to targeting the NCJ chairman and other regional union presidents:

On Dec. 23, FSIS compliance officer appeared unannounced at the home of Painter, while he was on annual leave, to question him about the allegations in the letter.
On Dec. 28, Painter received a notice from FSIS that he was under formal investigation.

On Jan. 6, Painter was ordered to Washington, D.C., to be questioned for three hours by FSIS.

On Jan. 7, seven regional council presidents for the NJC also were ordered to appear in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 11 for an interview.
“Mr. Painter offered this information to the USDA because he was concerned that the agency’s inadequate policy could put consumers in danger,” said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen’s food program. “The USDA should have been grateful, but it chose to attack the whistleblower instead of attacking the problem. Secretary Johanns has emphasized that USDA employees should be treated with ‘equality, dignity, and respect.’ We urge him to live up to those words and stop this retaliatory investigation of Mr. Painter.”

In his letter, Painter did not identify specific plants where reports had come from, because he did not know. In fact, he chose not to learn the identity of the plants so he would not be forced to disclose this information, which could allow the agency to take retaliatory action against the inspectors assigned to these plants.

“This case presents a classic example of the value and necessity of whistleblowers,” the letter from the public interest groups said. “The concerns outlined by Mr. Painter’s letter are of vital interest to consumers, especially in light of recent announcements of the discovery of two more cases of mad cow disease in Canada and the agency’s intent to re-establish imports of live animals from Canada. The public has the right to know that the reality inside meat plants is not the same as the picture being painted for the media by USDA officials in Washington, D.C.”

The groups urge Johanns to immediately investigate this incident and reconsider the decision to initiate a formal misconduct investigation of Painter. The USDA also should take steps necessary to establish an environment inside FSIS that encourages employees to disclose issues of waste, fraud or threats to public health, the groups said.

The groups signing onto the letter include the American Corn Growers Association, Cancer Prevention Coalition, Center for Food Safety, Community Nutrition Institute, Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Policy Institute/Consumers Union, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Foundation, Inc., Family Farm Defenders, Government Accountability Project, Global Resource Action Center for the Environment, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Iowa Farmers Union, Lane County Food Coalition, Organic Consumers Association, Public Citizen, Safe Tables Our Priority, The Humane Society of the United States, and the Weston A. Price Foundation.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on January 30, 2005, 07:46:00 PM
In response to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns' request to Japan to resume beef imports, a Japanese Agriculture Ministry official said the diplomatic pressure would not influence Tokyo's position. "Even if Japan resumes imports, Japanese consumers will not buy American beef if they are not convinced that it is safe."

All cattle in Japan are tested for mad cow disease. The United States rejected Japan's request for blanket testing of cattle.

Reuters

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on February 07, 2005, 08:01:00 PM
FDA Statement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 4, 2004


Statement on Texas Cow With Central Nervous System Symptoms

On Friday, April 30 th , the Food and Drug Administration learned that a cow with central nervous system symptoms had been killed and shipped to a processor for rendering into animal protein for use in animal feed.

FDA, which is responsible for the safety of animal feed, immediately began an investigation. On Friday and throughout the weekend, FDA investigators inspected the slaughterhouse, the rendering facility, the farm where the animal came from, and the processor that initially received the cow from the slaughterhouse.

FDA's investigation showed that the animal in question had already been rendered into "meat and bone meal" (a type of protein animal feed). Over the weekend FDA was able to track down all the implicated material. That material is being held by the firm, which is cooperating fully with FDA.

Cattle with central nervous system symptoms are of particular interest because cattle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE, also known as "mad cow disease," can exhibit such symptoms. In this case, there is no way now to test for BSE. But even if the cow had BSE, FDA's animal feed rule would prohibit the feeding of its rendered protein to other ruminant animals (e.g., cows, goats, sheep, bison).

FDA is sending a letter to the firm summarizing its findings and informing the firm that FDA will not object to use of this material in swine feed only. If it is not used in swine feed, this material will be destroyed. Pigs have been shown not to be susceptible to BSE. If the firm agrees to use the material for swine feed only, FDA will track the material all the way through the supply chain from the processor to the farm to ensure that the feed is properly monitored and used only as feed for pigs.

To protect the U.S. against BSE, FDA works to keep certain mammalian protein out of animal feed for cattle and other ruminant animals. FDA established its animal feed rule in 1997 after the BSE epidemic in the U.K. showed that the disease spreads by feeding infected ruminant protein to cattle.

Under the current regulation, the material from this Texas cow is not allowed in feed for cattle or other ruminant animals. FDA's action specifying that the material go only into swine feed means also that it will not be fed to poultry.

FDA is committed to protecting the U.S. from BSE and collaborates closely with the U.S. Department of Agriculture on all BSE issues. The animal feed rule provides crucial protection against the spread of BSE, but it is only one of several such firewalls. FDA will soon be improving the animal feed rule, to make this strong system even stronger.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on February 07, 2005, 08:04:00 PM
Did the cow have BSE?  It was not tested. How about that! No worry though. Only pigs are supposed to eat that cow. And they don't get mad cow. I wonder what happens to all those prions that end up in the pig. I suppose some end up in pork chops and others end up in Pork and Beans. And still others end up in ham or bacon.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on February 22, 2005, 08:24:00 PM

United States
Department of
Agriculture

Marketing and
Regulatory
Programs

Animal and
Plant Health
Inspection
Service

Washington, DC
20250
Subject: Implementation: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy; Minimal-Risk Regions and Importation of Commodities from Canada

To: Brokers, Importers, and Other Interested Parties

On January 4, 2005, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) published a final rule in the Federal Register to amend the regulations regarding the importation of animals and animal products and to recognize a category of regions that present a minimal risk of introducing bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) into the United States via live ruminants and ruminant products. APHIS also added Canada to this minimal risk category, which allows the importation of certain live ruminants and ruminant products and byproducts from Canada under certain conditions. The effective date of the final rule is March 7, 2005.

A. Effective March 7, 2005, the following ruminant products may be imported into
the United States from Canada without an import permit under the prescribed
conditions:

1. Beef (including veal) or bison meat, meat byproducts, and meat food products as defined by the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) regulations in 9 CFR 301.2, when accompanied by the required Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) veterinary health export certificate certifying that the products:
a. Were processed in a CFIA-inspected establishment, which operates in compliance with an approved CFIA program to prevent commingling of ruminant meat products eligible for export to the United States with ineligible ruminant meat products;
b. Were derived from animals that were subjected to a ruminant feed ban equivalent to the requirements of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (21 CFR 589.2000);
c. Were derived from animals for which air-injected stunning was not used at slaughter;
d. Were derived from animals that were under 30 months of age when slaughtered; and
e. Do not contain specified risk materials (SRMs) as defined by FSIS regulations (9 CFR Parts 301, 309, et. al.).

Establishments wishing to export to the United States must also comply with the following FSIS requirements that the meat, meat food, or meat by-products:
a. Do not contain mechanically separated bovine meat.
b. Do not contain product from an advanced meat recovery (AMR) system in which SRMs were used.
c. Are derived from animals that have been determined to be fit for slaughter (i.e. were not non-ambulatory disabled).

For the purposes of this rule, all conditions above also apply to bison.
2. Whole or half carcasses of beef (including veal) or bison from animals under 30 months of age when slaughtered that are accompanied by the required CFIA veterinary health export certificate certifying that the conditions specified in item one have been met and that the carcasses are from CFIA establishments that meet FSIS requirements also specified in item one.

3. Sheep or goat meat, meat byproducts, and meat food products as defined by the FSIS regulations in 9 CFR 301.2, when accompanied by the required CFIA veterinary health export certificate certifying that the products:
a. Were derived from animals slaughtered at a CFIA-inspected establishment that either slaughters only ovine and caprine species less than 12 months of age or operates in compliance with a segregation program approved by the CFIA and the Administrator as adequate to prevent contamination or commingling of the meat with products not eligible for importation into the United States;
b. Were derived from animals that were less than 12 months of age when slaughtered;
c. Were derived from animals that did not test positive for and were not suspect for a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy;
d. Were derived from animals that have not resided in a flock or herd that has been diagnosed with BSE; and
e. Were derived from animals not subject to movement restriction within Canada as a result of exposure to a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy or that the product is derived from ovine or caprine meat products legally imported in Canada from the United States or from a region not considered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to be affected with or at risk for BSE.

4. Carcasses of sheep or goats from animals that were less than 12 months of age when slaughtered and accompanied by the required CFIA veterinary health export certificate certifying that the conditions specified in item 3 above have been met.

5. Cervid meat, including hunter harvested cervid meat (e.g., deer, moose, elk, caribou, etc.) will be allowed unrestricted entry. Importers will need to present to the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer evidence that the product is cervid meat, such as a hunting license or commercially prepared labels found on unopened packages or other official documents.

6. Hunter harvested wild ruminant (non-cervid) meat or dressed carcasses (eviscerated and head removed) such as wild sheep, goats, or bison/buffalo when accompanied by the hunter with a hunting license, tag, or equivalent.

7. Bone derived bovine gelatin when accompanied by the required CFIA veterinary health export certificate.

8. Tallow accompanied by the required CFIA veterinary health export certificate certifying that it contains less than 0.15 percent insoluble impurities.

9. Sheep casings when accompanied by the required CFIA veterinary health export casings certificate.

10. Offal, derived from cattle or bison that were under 30 months of age when slaughtered, or derived from sheep, goat, and cervidae when accompanied by the required CFIA veterinary health export certificate.

11. Food products containing relatively small amounts of ruminant ingredients, e.g. 2 percent or less cooked bovine meat or 3 percent or less raw bovine meat, from animals under 30 months of age, for commercial use when accompanied by the required CFIA veterinary health export certificate. Examples of such products are prepared foods that are not regulated by FSIS and that contain bovine extracts such as: flavored noodles, soup products and bouillon.

12. All products identified in items 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8 above that clear CBP at designated ports of entry must proceed to an official FSIS import establishment (listed below in section E) for reinspection. All shipments presented to FSIS for reinspection must include complete Customs Entry Numbers in order for an inspection assignment to be generated.

Beginning March 7, 2005, the conditions prescribed in the final rule will take effect. All of the above commodities (excluding cervid and hunter harvested ruminant meat) will be required to be accompanied by a CFIA certificate and presented to a CBP Agricultural Inspector Specialist (CBP AIS) at the ports of entry listed under Section D.

B. Import permits, (VS Form 16-6), will still be required for the following products:

1. Ruminant products transiting the United States from Canada. Ruminant products transiting the United States must meet all USDA import requirements for ruminant products from Canada.

2. Pet food that contains ruminant products of non-Canadian origin or non-ruminant animal products processed in facilities that do not receive, store, or process ruminant products.

3. Animal feed that contains ruminant products of non-Canadian origin or non-ruminant animal products processed in facilities that do not receive, store, or process ruminant products.

4. Ruminant hide derived gelatin limited to human or industrial use.

C. The following products continue to be prohibited:

1. Personal use amounts of beef, lamb, and goat meat.

2. Pet food in passenger baggage and groceries.

D. The following ports of entry must be used for shipments requiring CFIA
certification. Arrival at the port of entry must be during the listed hours of
operation. These hours are when CBP-AIS are available:

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on February 22, 2005, 08:27:00 PM
Notice this one:  "Bone derived bovine gelatin" will be coming in from Canada. Also, deer and elk which suffer CWD (mad deer disease).
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Bill Wennell on February 23, 2005, 11:13:00 AM
     When the new secretary for the Department of Agriculture was before the (house or senate, I forget which) for a confirmation hearing, he was quoted in the paper as saying he wanted to relax the regulations that went into effect after the first case of madcow was confirmed in December of 2003. It further stated that he, like so many others in the USDA, had come from a milk (or meat) background.
    Too many government officials have too many hats and try to please both sides of the fence. Of course when that happens, they usually end up pleasing the money side, which is big business. At least one good thing came out of the current regulations, no more downer cattle were allowed into the human food chain. This is one area he specifically stated as wanting to amend - the definition for a downer cow. This may be one reason Ann Veneman stepped down, too much pressure.
    Is the USDA doing everything possible to make sure our meat is safe? If you think so, I have a bridge I want to sell you - cheap!

------------------
Bill Wennell (USDA Meat & Poultry Inspector)
BiblicalTruths2000@Juno.com

[This message has been edited by Bill Wennell (edited 02-23-2005).]

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on March 06, 2005, 07:02:00 PM
Seems that something has happened in Washington. There is a delay on the new rule allowing Canadian beef into the U.S.

"On January 4, 2005, the USDA, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
published a final rule which amended the regulations to provide for the importation of certain ruminants, ruminant products and byproducts from regions that pose a minimal
risk of introducing bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) into the United States,
and designated Canada as the first minimal-risk region (70 FR 460-553, Docket
No. 03-080-3). The effective date of the final rule was to be March 7, 2005.

However, on March 2, 2005 the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana granted
a preliminary injunction to prevent the implementation of the minimal risk rule until the R-CALF lawsuit is considered on the merits by the court.

Therefore, until further notice, the current import requirements for ruminant and ruminant commodities from Canada will remain unchanged. Only those commodities that were listed in the August 15, 2003 notice (republished May 6, 2004) will be eligible for importation from Canada, under the risk-mitigation measures specified in that notice."

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on July 03, 2005, 08:39:00 AM
The question comes to mind as to how the medical profession is doing when it comes to warning us of health risks due to eating infected animals. Here is a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1999.

Risk of Transmission of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy to Humans in the United States--Report of the Council on Scientific Affairs--Litjen Tan, PhD; Michael A. Williams, MD; Mohamed Khaleem Khan, MD, PhD; Hunter C. Champion; Nancy H. Nielsen, MD, PhD; for the Council on Scientific Affairs, American Medical Association.

JAMA. 1999;281:2330-2339.

Conclusions  Current risk of transmission of BSE in the United States is minimal because (1) BSE has not been shown to exist in this country; (2) adequate regulations exist to prevent entry of foreign sources of BSE into the United States; (3) adequate regulations exist to prevent undetected cases of BSE from uncontrolled amplification within the US cattle population; and (4) adequate preventive guidelines exist to prevent high-risk bovine materials from contaminating products intended for human consumption.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on July 15, 2005, 05:44:00 AM
Many in the meat industry (processors)are happy that the court has allowed the USDA to follow through with it plan to import both meat and live cattle from Canada.  The U.S. finds itself in an interesting situation. They have been pressuring Japan to lift its ban an American beef that was imposed when the first Mad Cow was discovered in the U.S. It was of Canadian origin and the world was told that the U.S. meat was safe. Now that the U.S. has its own home grown Mad Cow, how can it forbid Canada to export to the U.S. when it continues to pressure Japan to import U.S. beef?

So, all are happy now that the U.S. has BSE. Like Canada all is under control and the world can continue to eat meat knowing that the government has their best interests at heart. Japan has been testing all of its cattle for BSE. But, the U.S. will not allow any rancher to test their own. Greed is running rampant in the world and disease is upon us. Epidemics of Biblical proportions can be expected. I guess AIDS has already made this a reality. But, more is on the way. The connection between diseases in animals and humans is not rightly considered. The eating of animal flesh, milk, and eggs is a vector for the transmission of many diseases. As the diseases spread in the animals, so it does in the those who eat from them.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on July 15, 2005, 06:00:00 AM
Japanese food safety regulators are questioning the safety of U.S. beef after a Ministry of Agriculture study showed nearly half of the 20 mad cow cases found in Japan would have passed unnoticed under U.S. testing methods. Business Week
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Bill Wennell on August 16, 2005, 06:46:00 AM
http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/gonemade062905.cfm

http://www.washtimes.com/upi/20050721-043953-6306r.htm

http://www4.nationalacademies.org/news.nsf/isbn/0309092590?OpenDocument

http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/render072205.cfm

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8122-1702287,00.html

http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/missed071805.cfm

http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/blood071505.cfm

[This message has been edited by Richard Myers (edited 11-02-2005).]

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on November 02, 2005, 04:37:00 AM
Is there any evidence that eating scrapie infected sheep and goat is safe? I have not seen any. How does the USDA treat the subject? Being invested with the job of promoting agriculture in the U.S. they approach the subject not with the safety of humans in mind. They make the statement that there is no evidence that eating scrapie infected sheep is  harmful to humans.

From the USDA--

"Interpretive Summary:

Scrapie is a fatal disease of sheep and goats characterized by degeneration of the nervous system. It is part of a group of diseases classified as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). These diseases include forms that affect cattle, elk and deer, mink, and humans. The infectious agent is thought to be a prion, an agent smaller than the smallest known virus. Scrapie has a long history with the first descriptions dating back over two hundred and fifty years. Despite this long history, many factors of the disease are still not fully understood including a complete characterization of the infectious agent, how it is transmitted and how it causes disease. Recent evidence linking the human TSE to the cattle TSE (mad cow disease) has increased attention for all TSEs, including scrapie. There are many laboratories in several different countries actively conducting research on scrapie and other TSEs. There is no evidence to date that scrapie is a risk to human health.

Technical Abstract:
Scrapie is a fatal neurodegenerative disease of sheep and goats. It is part of a group of diseases classified as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). These diseases include bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle, chronic wasting disease (CWD) in elk and deer, transmissible mink encephalopathy, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) in humans. The infectious agent is thought to be a prion, an agent smaller than the smallest known virus. Scrapie has a long history with the first descriptions dating back over two hundred and fifty years. Despite this long history, many factors of the disease are still not fully understood including a complete characterization of the infectious agent, routes of transmission and pathogenesis. Recent evidence linking vCJD in humans to BSE in cattle has increased attention for all TSEs, including scrapie. There are many laboratories in several different countries actively conducting research on scrapie and other TSEs. there is no evidence to date that scrapie is a risk to human health."

One day someone in the government will admit that eating sick sheep is a risk to hujan health. For those who have any common sense it can well be understood that there is a great risk associated with eating any animal that has a spongiform disease.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on November 02, 2005, 04:39:00 AM
"Researchers hunting the herd linked to the first U.S. case of mad cow disease found most of the animals were slaughtered - and possibly in the human food supply - even before the government probe began."  San Luis Obispo Trib
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Liane H on November 02, 2005, 06:02:00 AM
Lets face facts here. In the year 2002 there were 9.8 billion animals slaughtered for food in the United States. Each year increase of 400 million additional animals so we are far over the 9.8 billion now.

There are only 4.8 million vegetarians of various sorts in the United States, so if there are presently 297 million Americans so we can see why so many animals are slaughtered each year for food, just for humans. There is a percentage of this slaughtering of animals for pet food as well.

Let us look at the process of this food. Let us take a cow that is raised on a ranch for food. Can we trust these people to care for these animals? Do they cut corners to save money with the price of so many things going up including oil?

The the next step is shipping these animals to the slaughter house. Who are these people that do that? How well and humanly do they care for these animals that are taken from the only place they have known in their lives?

Once at the slaughter place, they do not yet die. They are kept in pens to be fatten up so there is more meat on them with fat in them. How long do they stay in these small areas? How well are they cared for?

Then the people on a daily bases that kill these animals. 9.8 billon around the country in a year. Anyone want to guess how many animals are killed per second each day? Are they treated humanly as they are killed? Are they still alive when they cut them to release the blood or hang them by their legs? How clean are these places? How cold are the rooms that this skin is cut away so that bacteria does not get into the meat? Are the lands clean that do this work?

Then after the animal has been cut up it is stated that if they see cancerous parts of the meat, they now can cut that part out and sell the rest for human consuption. Who makes that determination? Do they reall do it enough to make the meat safe? With the magnitude of this are the people expected to meet a quoto of processing and do they cut corners in doing so?

Then the meat is shipped to the various markets around the country. How is the packing done? What kind of containers is the meat put into? Is the temp safe and correct? What do they do when a container shuts down and the cooling system is not working? Do they still sell the meat? Who are these people that do this? How clean are these containers?

Once at the stores. Do they maintain the temp that this meat needs to be at? How long is the meat exposed to regular temp as they cut it up for pakaging? Do they label the dates on them correctly so that they are not sold after a safe time?

I often wonder back when I was eating meat that those days I did not feel to well was not some flu, but what I had been eating.

Liane, the Zoo Mama

How healthy are all these people that are around these animals from start to finish.  

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: WendyForsyth on November 02, 2005, 08:45:00 PM
To date, less than 360,000 cows have been tested out of the millions that are slaughtered every year.

The White House menu for Prince Charles and Camilla. Interesting how the President isn't serving beef for himself and his family, or the royal family.

Medallions of Buffalo Tenderloin, Roasted Corn, Wild Rice Pancakes, Glazed Parsnips and Young Carrots; Mint Romaine Lettuce with Blood Orange Vinaigrette, Vermont Camembert Cheese and Spiced Walnuts; Petits Fours Cake, Chartreuse Ice Cream, Red and Green Grape Sauce...

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on November 03, 2005, 01:35:00 PM
I don't know any ranchers that raise cattle and don't eat them. I am sure that the president eats beef on a regular basis. Buffalo is "special" for royalty. The president sadly is part of the world's royalty.

Back on topic....even the President of the United States does not understand the dangers assoociated with eating animals and their products. When politics allow the fox to guard the hen house then politicians can expect to be bit by their own foolishness. Presidents are not immune to Mad Cow Disease or Alzheimers.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: WendyForsyth on November 03, 2005, 03:38:00 PM
Who better to know the dangers of mad cow disease? Maybe they know, especially the Brits should know, and I'm certain they don't want American Beef as it's widely known that foreigners look down on American testing standards, maybe they know and choose to avoid the poison themselves while making the big bucks off of the people.

The President could easily not eat American Beef while ordering something like Kobe Beef from Japan at great costs and which is under rigid guidelines.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on January 21, 2006, 08:46:00 PM
The U.S. has high standards for food? Well...it does for Japanese beef. But, even then it can't deliver.

Just six weeks after lifting a two-year ban on U.S. beef products, Japan closed its borders again Friday after inspectors there discovered pieces of backbone in a veal shipment.

Although such meat products are considered safe for Americans, Japan has forbidden their import because of concerns about mad cow disease.   Chron

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on January 25, 2006, 09:27:00 PM
US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns was cited as announcing he was sending a team of experts to Japan, hours after the Japanese government announced that banned spinal material had been found in a consignment of US beef at Tokyo airport, and that under US regulations, the backbone, or vertebral column, that was exported to Japan is "not a specified risk material because it was in beef under 30 months," adding, "However, our agreement with Japan is to export beef with no vertebral column and we have failed to meet the terms of that agreement. While this is not a food safety issue, this is an unacceptable failure on our part to meet the requirements of our agreement with Japan. We take this matter seriously, recognizing the importance of our beef export market, and we are acting swiftly and firmly."

In other words for the American consumer it is safe meat, but for the Japanese, they won't buy it. Time will certainly tell us who is wiser. The beef market to Japan is 1.4 Billion dollars. You would think that the U.S. would test all cattle as do the Japanese. Why not for 1.4 billion dollars? There must be a good reason!


  statesman.com

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on January 25, 2006, 10:41:00 PM
"Specified risk material"?  Material that is more likely to contain BSE prions, or at least more of them. Where is the large mass of BSE prions? In the brain. So, if you have a cow under age 30 months, the brain is no longer "specified risk material".  :) Go ahead and eat all the cow brains you want. It is very safe to do so according to the U.S.D.A.

Japan doesn't buy it. While they believe it is safer to eat 20 month old beef, they still will not buy brains. Seems like they are using their brains and want to keep them healthy. Well...their efforts are surely better than Americans, but they too will find that even young cows will transfer BSE.  It is just a matter of time.....

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Liane H on January 26, 2006, 02:15:00 AM
Brother Richard:

Made a good point. They are protecting Japan better than they are protecting Americans.

Sooner or later it will all come to a head with an outbreak like in England, then so many will know that they had been misled.

The games people play.

Liane, the Zoo Mama  

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on January 29, 2006, 07:03:00 PM
Japan does not appear to be afraid of finding BSE in their cattle. They test each one. And...they now are paying for testing of all suspected CJD deaths. They want to know the truth about this disease and its relationship to their food supply. Sadly, this is not the case in the U.S. TMC Net
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Bill Wennell on February 14, 2006, 04:11:00 AM
Do we know what we are eating? Or, are we trusting the companies that supply us our food?

yahoo

------------------
Bill Wennell
USDA Meat & Poultry Inspector
BiblicalTruths2000@Juno.com

[This message has been edited by Richard Myers (edited 03-23-2006).]

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on March 22, 2006, 07:44:00 PM
Two years ago a company named Creekstone Farms wanted to begin testing each of its cattle for BSE. The USDA refused to allow this and has continued to refuse this request. Here is a news release from two years ago.

Date: April 6, 2004

OCM Supports Effort by Creekstone Farms
to Restore Japanese Markets

Lincoln, NE ~ The Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) said today it fully supports Creekstone Farms’ effort to restore its market access to Japan by testing 100% of the cattle the company slaughters for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Japanese exports are a vital part of the company’s business.

In February, Creekstone Farms announced that it intended to institute a 100% testing protocol, and petitioned the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) accordingly. USDA initially responded saying Creekstone did not have "the legal right to market" product as originating from cattle that have been privately tested and threatened criminal prosecution under the 1913 Virus Serum Toxin Act if Creekstone moved forward with its plan. Last week a USDA spokesman said the agency was still "looking at" Creekstone’s proposal.

Creekstone’s Chief Operating Officer Bill Fielding said the loss of the Japanese export market translates to a per head loss of $200, while total test costs on a per head basis would be $20. Test results are available in four hours. The move would make Creekstone Farms the first U.S. meat packer to offer a voluntary testing program. Tyson, Excel, Swift and National have resisted 100% testing.

Japan’s government implemented a 100% testing program of all domestic animals slaughtered for human consumption last year, and banned imports of U.S. beef in late December of 2003 when a Canadian Holstein cow located in Washington State was diagnosed with the brain wasting disease. The Japanese remain insistent that the U.S. implement an equally stringent surveillance program for any animals destined for Japan. On April 2, Japanese officials rebuffed a proposal from U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman to name an international panel to "mitigate" the Japanese ban on U.S. beef saying the proposal was a departure from previous discussions.

"OCM completely supports Creekstone Farms in its effort to regain its Japanese beef business,” said Fred Stokes, OCM president. “Creekstone has developed a testing protocol that Japan accepts and could begin exporting immediately but for the roadblocks imposed by USDA. Here’s an independent company, which employs 700 workers and is a market outlet for cattle producers, which may be forced into failure by this absurd USDA position. One the one hand, USDA is hell-bent on opening the floodgates to beef from Canada and, in this action, slams shut the door to our best beef market. The Japanese clearly are not going to be bullied into submission. They want 100 percent testing and Creekstone is willing to provide it. Whatever happened to the notion that the customer was always right?” asked Stokes.

“USDA needs to quit carrying water for the big packers who want to force Japan to accept beef the way they offer it and do the right thing here. They need to approve Creekstone’s plan for testing, give them their export permits and allow the company to remain in business.”

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on March 22, 2006, 07:52:00 PM
"Creekstone Farms believes it is vital to U.S. trade with Japan and other countries and the economic future of America's beef exporters to have the freedom to test for BSE, which will provide an added layer of confidence for U.S. beef customers worldwide."

The company wants to test all the cattle it processes in its Kansas plant for BSE.

After two years of waiting with no action from the USDA, Creekstone Farms will file a lawsuit against USDA tomorrow.

The pressure is great to not test all cattle since the disease will be found in the cattle.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Bill Wennell on March 23, 2006, 03:32:00 AM
There is only one reason I can think of that the USDA has been denying this companies right to test all the cattle slaughtered for the Japanese market - they are afraid that with testing that many cattle, more BSE will show up.

In the last 3 years, the USDA has tested about 600,000 head of cattle. An impressive number for only 3 (4 in my book) positives. But when you consider that in that same time frame 105,000,000 have been slaughtered the percentage tested is only .06%, no wonder we only have 3 positives!

------------------
Bill Wennell
USDA Meat & Poultry Inspector
BiblicalTruths2000@Juno.com

[This message has been edited by Bill Wennell (edited 03-23-2006).]

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on March 23, 2006, 09:10:00 AM
Brother Bill, it is very sad that the result of this negligence will be many, many infected people. They are eating the infected cows today. How many we do not know. No one can make an intelligent decision based on what we know to be the facts and say that no mad cow slipped through such a loose net.

The fact of the matter is that we are talking about huge losses in the industry because of this disease. It is sad, but human health ought not be put at risk as is being done.

This story regarding Creekstone Farms ought to wake up sleeping Americans as to the danger out there. We have posted it on our homepage in an effort to help spread the word. Those who see this and continue eating beef and feeding it to their children are placing themselves at great risk, and doing so knowingly.

We take no pleasure in saying that in the not too distant future all may see what we can see now. We praise God that He sent us warning over one hundred years ago as to the nature of this most serious situation. It is very sad that the trumpet has not been sounded by the church.

I attended a very large health seminar not long ago put on by a group associated with our church and I did not hear one word spoken regarding this subject. It is most amazing to me how we can neglect the responsibility that is upon us at this time.

Thank you for placing your influence on the side of truth.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Bill Wennell on March 24, 2006, 06:44:00 AM
Sorry you weren't able to make my seminar last week, I don't mind speaking out about the practices that decieve people into thinking their food supply is safe. While the USDA is good about some safety (cooking temp, refrigeration), when it comes to industry, they give in (labeling, recall requirements, arsenic in chickens, mad cow prevention is the biggest joke). I imagine someday I'll get fired, but someday soon Christ will come also, and that's more important!

------------------
Bill Wennell
USDA Meat & Poultry Inspector
BiblicalTruths2000@Juno.com

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on March 24, 2006, 02:19:00 PM
You are in a difficult situation with your work, but God has allowed you to be there for a reason. It is indeed a test for you and your character is growing as you stand on the Lord's side. There will be many who will be moved by your influence and it will begin for them a path that will lead to heaven.


Those care for their health and the health of their children will appreciate the truth and will make good Christians.  :) Keep up the good work.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Bill Wennell on March 29, 2006, 04:31:00 AM
More on Creekstone Farms:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/22/ap/health/mainD8GGT1003.shtml

Relevant portions of the story:

"The department AND LARGER MEAT companies oppose comprehensive testing, saying it cannot assure food safety." (As if not testing does?)

"LARGER companies worry that Japanese buyers would insist on costly testing and that a suspect result might scare consumers away from eating beef." (What would positives do?)

"The U.S. has been testing around 1 percent of the 35 million head of cattle slaughtered each year..." (200,000 tests per year divided by 35 million head slaughtered per year = .006%, so let's just round it up to 1%)

And I can't find the article now but yesterday I read where the USDA will determine whether to lower testing after talking with Japan, but the way it was worded sounded like it was saying they would announce lowering the testing after talking with Japan. As is to say, we will get Japan to rebuy from us, then lower the amount of testing we do.

In another article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060329/hl_afp/healthjapanustrade_060329111726

"Unlike the United States, Japan screens every slaughtered cow for madcow disease, the brain-wasting illness formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy."

------------------
Bill Wennell
USDA Meat & Poultry Inspector
BiblicalTruths2000@Juno.com

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on April 04, 2006, 09:01:00 PM
Politics in both the U.S. and Japan make the safety issue a lesser concern. Monday Japan reshuffled an expert panel on mad cow disease that advised the government on the safety of U.S. beef. According to Kyodo News agency, half the 12-member panel resigned. Those who resigned are thought to have favored a more cautious approach to resuming imports, Kyodo said. Cattle Network
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on April 04, 2006, 09:42:00 PM
Now that we absolutely know that Mad Cows are bred and born in the USA, wouldn't you like to know that the meat you eat comes from a cow that tested negative for Mad Cow disease? What harm would it do for you to have this information? Politics is becoming more and more corrupt and will not let you have this information.

Here is what the U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said Monday regarding private testing of cows for BSE. "There's no scientific justification" for why Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, which owns a packing plant in Arkansas City, should test all its cattle for mad cow disease.

The federal government can't let an Arkansas City company test its cattle for mad cow disease because doing so would be bad for international trade. Wichita Eagle

Since this decision by this man will result in the death of many U.S. citizens and also citizens of other countries such as Japan, it would not be inappropriate to sentence him in accordance with the severity of his crime.

Willful negligence in such matters needs to be criminally punished. When it comes out that mad cows were indeed eaten by people and it did result in CJD, then saying I am sorry, will not do. Politicians and career bureaucrats need to be held responsible for such corruption.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Liane H on April 05, 2006, 03:29:00 AM
I just find it incredible that a company cannot do what it wants for the better of people.

I think there already is a sickness in the minds of people that do not realize the magnitude of these things, or maybe they do and want to turn a blind eye to the whole thing.

Again when you have a President that is in the beef business you have to wonder if there is a conflict of interests here. I would bet you that every cow has been tested before he and those close to him eat it.

Liane, the Zoo Mama  

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on April 17, 2006, 07:32:00 PM
The U.S. is pushing Japan to take cows that are not tested for BSE. They also tell us that cows under age 30 are safe. But Japan refuses to take cows over the age of 20 months. What if a cow turns up with BSE under age 30 months? Or how about under age 21 months? Can't happen? Will you take a chance with your children's lives?

Here is something that may interest a very few of us. "Japan is conducting tests on a 20-month-old steer suspected of having mad cow disease, a top government official said on Monday, and the case could have wide repercussions on Tokyo's beef trade policy if confirmed." Well, maybe it won't be confirmed this time. But, those who think that eating young cows is healthy will one day learn that it is not.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Bill Wennell on April 25, 2006, 05:15:00 AM
Not only bad for us, but for those who make it as well!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060425 /ap_on_he_me/food_flavorings_illness;_ylt=An7Z.HCN9ieQPf0EMWr80hOs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3czJjNGZoBHNlYwM3NTE-

Meanwhile, the     Food and Drug Administration has allowed flavoring producers and sellers to decide which chemicals are safe, and California's occupational safety agency has delegated health examinations of flavoring workers to an industry-paid doctor.

"There is nothing to indicate that additional regulations are needed," Belsky added.

The difficulty of assessing workplace illness is further complicated by employees who fear reprisal for complaining about hazards and by physicians who lack the training to recognize bronchiolitis obliterans and other occupational threats.

About 70 U.S. companies are involved in the making and sales of flavorings, according to the Flavor and Extract Manufacturing Association, the largest trade group for the $3 billion-a-year industry.

The latest suit, filed in February, charges that the Flavor and Extract Manufacturing Association conspired with the other defendants to fraudulently conceal information about the health risks of butter flavoring.

------------------
Bill Wennell
USDA Meat & Poultry Inspector
BiblicalTruths2000@Juno.com

[This message has been edited by Bill Wennell (edited 04-25-2006).]

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on May 13, 2006, 01:25:00 PM
Japan continues to reject US beef. And they continue to test their own cows for BSE. They have now discovered another mad cow. The government has confirmed its 26th mad cow, this one in a 5-year-old Holstein. Meat inspectors in Hokkaido found on Thursday that a dairy cow tested positive for the disease.
News 24
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on June 17, 2006, 10:11:00 PM
Here is something we missed. Hard to imagine the world did not hear about it, but it is true. The USDA did declare an emergency in July of 2000 because of the discovery of "atypical TSEs) in sheep in the USA. Interesting that they were not home grown sheep like our homegrown mad cows that have "atypical TSEs".

Maybe there has been another emergency declared that we have not heard about?

*******************************************
USDA

Declaration of Emergency

Because of an Atypical Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (Prion Disease) of Foreign Origin

A transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) (prion disease) of foreign origin has been detected in the United States. It is different from TSE's previously diagnosed in the United States. The TSE was detected in the progeny of imported sheep. The imported sheep and their progeny are under quarantine in Vermont.

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies are degenerative fatal diseases that can affect livestock. TSE's are caused by similar, as yet uncharacterized, agents that usually produce spongiform changes in the
brain.

Post-mortem analysis has indicated positive results for an atypical TSE of foreign origin in four sheep in Vermont. Because of the potentially serious consequences of allowing the disease to spread to other livestock in the United States, it is necessary to seize and dispose of those flocks of sheep in Vermont that are affected with or exposed to the disease, and their germ plasm.

The existence of the atypical TSE of foreign origin represents a threat to U.S. livestock. It constitutes a real danger to the national economy and a potential serious burden on interstate and foreign commerce.

APHIS has insufficient funds to carry out the seizure and disposal of animals and germ plasm necessary to eliminate this disease risk. These funds would be used to compensate the owners of the animals and
germ plasm for their seizure and disposal in accordance with 21 U.S.C.
134a.

Therefore, in accordance with the provisions of the Act of September 25, 1981, as amended (7 U.S.C. 147b), I declare that there is
an emergency that threatens the livestock industry of this country and hereby authorize the transfer and use of such funds as may be necessary from appropriations or other funds available to agencies or
corporations of the United States Department of Agriculture to seize and dispose of animals that are affected with or exposed to this TSE, and their germplasm, in accordance with 21 U.S.C. 134a.

Dated: This declaration of emergency shall become effective July 14, 2000.
Dan Glickman,
Secretary of Agriculture.
[FR Doc. 00-18368 Filed 7-19-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on July 27, 2006, 09:47:00 PM
STATEMENT BY AGRICULTURE SECRETARY MIKE JOHANNS REGARDING THE REOPENING OF THE JAPANESE MARKET TO U.S. BEEF
July 27, 2006

"I am pleased that Japan announced today it would resume imports of U.S. beef from cattle 20 months of age and younger. This has been a long process as we've confirmed that our system is in full compliance with Japan's import requirements and provided Japan with clear, scientific data confirming that American beef is extremely safe. It is gratifying to know that these efforts paid-off, as did the patience demonstrated by Congress.

"It is unfortunate that the trade resumption launched last December was cut short in January of this year. Nations need reasonable methods of addressing the inadvertent shipment of products that don't meet an importing country's specifications, without disrupting an entire trading relationship. The U.S. has such methods of addressing noncompliant shipments from Japan, as well as our other trading partners, and I am hopeful that going forward Japan will take a similar approach.

"As we look forward, we must also continue to strive to move beef trade with Japan and throughout the world toward science-based international guidelines. Science provides us with clear data upon which to build trading standards. All of us must be mindful of these guidelines and work toward complying with them.

"In 2003, the United States exported $1.4 billion worth of beef and beef products to Japan. I look forward to the day when we resume that level of trade. To that end, I have asked the Japanese Government to meet with us this fall to discuss the next steps toward strengthening our beef trading relationship and graduating to standards based in science."

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on July 27, 2006, 09:49:00 PM
"I have asked the Japanese Government to meet with us this fall to discuss the next steps toward strengthening our beef trading relationship and graduating to standards based in science."

One day the Japanese and a lot of others will be asking what the next steps ought be in regards to punishment of those who conspired to conceal the true "science". On the other hand, most of the information is out in the open and the blind sheep are following the blind politicians.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on August 24, 2006, 11:55:00 AM
First we didn't have any mad cows, now it is "just another mad cow"!

STATEMENT BY US AGRICULTURE SECRETARY MIKE JOHANNS REGARDING CANADA'S EIGHTH BSE CASE August 23, 2006

"This morning, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) notified the USDA of a case of BSE in a beef animal in Alberta, Canada. Canada has started an epidemiological investigation to identify the animal's herd of origin.

"With the information currently available we do not anticipate a change in the status of beef imports from Canada. While our risk assessment anticipated multiple cases of BSE, we are confident that the interlocking safeguards in place in both Canada and the U.S. are providing effective consumer protection.

"USDA continues to work on the proposed rule to allow animals over 30 months of age from countries at minimal risk for BSE. We will incorporate epidemiological findings from this latest case into the current risk assessment to ensure that the conclusions we have drawn about the proposed rule's effectiveness are still accurate."


Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on November 09, 2006, 11:18:00 AM
I can't find the story online, but soon we will have it. Last July the USDA, FBI and other government agencies, with guns drawn raided an Arizona meat packer. The alleged crime was testing cattle that were being processed as food for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad-cow disease.

Federal authorities confiscated records on more than 11,500 cattle tested at Farabee Processing from June 2004 until July 27 when federal agents executed the search warrant at the small packing plant just south of the Phoenix metro area. Farabee said he couldn't list all of the government agencies that showed up, ranging from the FBI to the local tribal police.

"You name it, they had a group here," he said. "They had their guns drawn, coming in the front door and grabbing employees, handcuffing people, just a fiasco. And all they had to do was come in and talk to me because were under federal inspection all the time. They wanted to come in and make a statement and put that fear into us that they were the government." By Chris Clayton
DTN Staff Reporter.

Well, there you have it. This company was testing high risk cows for "mad cow disease" and the government put a stop to it in a big way. Enjoy your animal products. Cancer is increasing at a rapid rate because the animals are diseased and the government agencies responsible for food safety are not protecting us. Cancer is transmitted from animals to humans.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on March 29, 2007, 10:14:00 PM
In this thread we have reported on the battle between a US meat producer who is suing the USDA to be able to test its cows for BSE, Mad Cow Disease. Creekstone Farms halted its plan to test each cow in 2004. Well, the courts have decided the case in favor of Creekstone Farms and against the USDA saying they do not have the authority to regulate the tests. The testing is done on dead cows, not live ones. This is really good news! If the appellate court upholds the ruling, we will find out how many people are being subjected to Mad Cow Disease.

This is a huge industry and the battle is not over. As I recall, we are looking at around 50 billion dollars. That doesn't sound right. Maybe somebody and check that out. Billion is a lot of money.  So, in the desire to protect the industry, many are subjected to CJD.

WASHINGTON — The federal government must allow meatpackers to test their animals for mad cow disease, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, a meatpacker based in Arkansas City, Kan., wants to test all of its cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. Larger meat companies feared that move because if Creekstone tested its meat and advertised it as safe, they could be forced to do the expensive test, too.

The Agriculture Department currently regulates the test and administers it to less than 1 percent of slaughtered cows. The department threatened Creekstone with prosecution if it tested all its animals.

U.S. District Judge James Robertson ruled that the government does not have the authority to regulate the test. Robertson put his order on hold until the government can appeal. If the government does not appeal by June 1, he said the ruling would take effect.
source

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on April 10, 2007, 08:08:00 PM
No more mad cows in the US?

A heifer born from an animal in the same herd as a Canadian bull diagnosed in February with mad cow disease was exported to the United States in 2002, but a U.S. official said on Tuesday there is no evidence the animal had the brain-wasting disease.

The heifer was sent to a feed lot in Nebraska and later slaughtered in the state at a facility overseen by a U.S. Agriculture Department inspector.

After discovering the infected bull, Canadian inspectors looked at other animals born in the same herd during the previous 12 months.

"It most likely" entered the food supply "given that it was slaughtered," said Karen Eggert, a spokeswoman with USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

source

Any chance  that the animal was tested for BSE? Slim to none.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: stephen on April 11, 2007, 12:40:00 PM
On the same topic "is our food safe" let's look at another Government Agency who 'works for our own good'.  

The Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) is a unit of the Institute of Medicine (IOM).  It is interesting that the chair of the FNB (as of 2004) has been consultant to several major dairy-related companies such as National Dairy Council, Mead Johnson Nutritionals, which is a major seller of dairy based products, Nestle Company and a Dannon Yogurt affiliate.  Simultaneously, he was chair of the Dietary Guidelines Committee that establishes the Food Guide Pyramid and sets national nutrition policy affecting the National School Lunch and Breakfast programs, the Food Stamp Program and the Women, Infants and Children Supplemental Feeding Program (WIC).  As chair of this latter committee, his personal financial associations with the food industry were not publicly revealed as required by federal law.  Eventually a court order, initiated by the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine, was required to force him and his fellow colleagues to reveal their relationships with the food industry.  Although the chair's industry associations were more substantial, six of the eleven committee members also were shown to have ties to the dairy industry.

"The entire system of developing public nutrition information has been invaded and co-opted by industry sources that have the interest and resources to do so.  They run the show.  They buy a few academic hacks who have gained positions of power and who exercise considerable influence, both within academia and government.

It seems curious that while government scientists are not allowed to receive personal compensation from the private sector, their colleagues in academia can receive all that they can get.  In turn, these conflicted individuals then run the show in collaboration with their government counterparts.  However, restricting academics from receiving corporate consultancies is not the answer.  That would only drive it underground.  Rather, the situation would be best handled by making one's industry connections a matter of public disclosure.  Everyone needs to know the full extent of each academic's associations with the private sector.  Disclosure and full transparency is in everyone's interest.  These associations should not be something we have to go to court to discover.

Lest you think that this FNB is merely a five-second news bite that then gets filed into a dusty old cabinet somewhere in Washington, there are tens of millions of people directly affected by this panel's findings.  According to the summary of the report itself, the recommended levels of nutrient consumption that are set by this panel are the basis for nutrition labeling of foods, for the Food Guide Pyramid and for other nutrition education programs...They are used to determine the types and amounts of food:

*  provided in the WIC Program and the Child Nutrition Programs such as School Lunch

*  served in hospitals and nursing homes for Medicare reimbursement

*  found in the food supply that should be fortified with specific nutrients

*  used in a host of other important federal and state programs and activities, such as establishing reference values used in food labeling.

The School Lunch Program feeds 28 million children every day.  With officially recommended consumption patterns like these, we are at liberty to put any agricultural commodity we want into the hungry mouths of children already suffering from unprecedented levels of obesity and diabetes.  By the way, the 2002 FNB report does make one special exception for children:  it says that they can consume up to 40% of calories as fat, up from 35% for the rest of us, while minimizing the risk of chronic disease.  The Women, Infants and Children Program affects the diets of another 7 million Americans, and the Medicare hospital programs feed millions of people every year.  It is safe to say that the food provided by these government programs directly feeds at least 35 million Americans a month.

For people who are not directly fed by the government, this nutrient information still has significant consequences.  From September 2002 onwards, nutrition education programs around the country have incorporated these new guidelines.  This includes education in primary schools, universities, health professional programs and other community-based programs.  Food labels also will be affected by these changes, as will the nutrition information that seeps into our lives via advertising.

In school, our children can be fed more fat, more meat, more milk, more animal protein, and more sugar.  They will also learn that this food is consistent with good health!  The ramifications of this are serious, as a whole generation will walk the path of obesity, diabetes, and other chronic diseases; all the while believing that they are doing the right thing.  Meanwhile, our government and its academic hacks can feel free to unload more meat, more fat, more animal protein, and more sugar onto the neediest among us.  For others concerned about nutrition, every time they see a dietitian, every time they see their doctor, every time they see a nutritionist, and every time they go to a community health center, they may be told that a diet high in fat, animal protein, meat and dairy is consistent with good health, and they needn't worry about eating too many sweets.  Posters that deck the bulletin boards of public institutions will now feature these new government guidelines as well.

In short the FNB report which represents the most sweeping regressive nutrition policy statement ever seen, will either indirectly or directly promote sickness among Americans for many years to come.  

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on April 11, 2007, 02:16:00 PM
Yes, Brother Stephen, when Babylon fell we ought not be surprised to find such corruption throughout our societies. For those who want to protect themselves and their families, there is only one safe place as we near the end. Only in Christ will we be safe.  The poison in the wheat given to our pets reveals a serious flaw in our government agencies and the honesty of business. What happened to our pets is also happening to us. It is the same morality.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Mimi on April 11, 2007, 04:53:00 PM
With each announcement and press release, you would think that one would cease to be amazed. But it keeps coming and the amazement grows. We must be guarded at every side and as you say, Richard, Christ is the only answer. He is our only hope.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: stephen on April 12, 2007, 12:06:00 AM
Amen.  There is a glorious hope in the path.  Seeing these things unfold concerning government and merchants of the earth is awesome, as are spiritual unfoldments.  Untold hardship and trials are taking place, gaining, yet we see the promise of His eternal kingdom.  He will correct the misery and sadness all around.  He will wipe the tears and bring smiles to the faces of His children.  He is our loving Father Who will protect us and keep us for His Own.  Such an awesome promise fills me with joy and the events of this world, however tragic, do not cause depression in me.  They are only pains and trials, refinement necessary to save as many as will turn and come to Him.  Even so...come Lord Jesus!
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Mimi on April 12, 2007, 06:43:00 AM
Absolutely, Stephen! The bad news keeps rolling in, the condition of merchants and governments who turn on the people are yet signs of His near appearing. We know these things must come to pass.

If we did not have His promises, that includes the sure word of prophecy, near hysteria would rein.

Even so, come Lord Jesus!

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on April 12, 2007, 01:20:00 PM
Amen Brother Stephen. Five years ago I did not see the "merchants of the earth" the way I do today. The Bible says "And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.  And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.  Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.  Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong [is] the Lord God who judgeth her."   Rev. 18:2-8.

This is what we see so plainly today as "conservatives" who profess to be moral push through economic plans that are returning America and the world back to the days of popes and kings. Babylon, the professing Christian church, has indeed fallen from her high estate. It is amazing to hear so many who profess to be moral approve of homosexual unions, legalized sodomy, monopolies, foreign ownership of corporations, the sale of dangerous drugs, the refusal to test cows for mad cow disease, the refusal to enforce immigration laws, etc. etc. What it says to me is that the "merchants of the earth" openly follow principles that are contrary to their high profession of Christian morality.

We are living in the very last days of Earth's history where the root of all evil is bearing sway in the world and even in that country that is depicted in the Bible as having had two horns like a lamb, but would one day speak as a dragon.  Bible prophecy is sure.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Mimi on April 24, 2007, 07:28:00 PM
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/23/eveningnews/main2719464.shtml

More questions in the news this evening ... read the section about inspectors - or lack of ... some only see an inspector every 10 years!

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on April 24, 2007, 09:30:00 PM
I don't buy newspapers very often, but when I saw this article in the paper, I bought one. This is important for people to understand. Poisoned wheat and rice from China may indeed be in human food in the US and the world. We cannot rely upon government to protect us any longer. I don't think things will get any better. There is a lot of pressure to continue the push for a global economy to the detriment of the US consumer. There ought to be country of origin labeling, but my guess is that business interests will keep this from happening. Corruption abounds.

[This message has been edited by Richard Myers (edited 04-25-2007).]

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Mimi on April 25, 2007, 08:04:00 AM
I'm with you on this, Richard - world trade will take priority over safety.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on June 02, 2007, 07:49:00 PM
American globalism had led to more poisonous food coming across the borders. China is still Communist and does not have any thing that compares to the US standard for food safety. They do not have any morality either.

Pets have died, but most Americans do not understand the risk to them also. And, it is not just the US. Countries around the world are also importing foodstuff from China. This is very bad.

"China's growing influence as an exporter of fresh produce for human consumption. While China's overall exports of agricultural goods are relatively small, they're growing at a torrid pace. In the first three months of this year, imports of fresh fruit from China grew 279%, to $7.4 million; fresh vegetables grew 66%, to $32 million; and fruit and vegetable juices grew 98%, to $109 million."

"China's record with food imports isn't reassuring. Just last month, 107 food imports from China were detained by the Food & Drug Administration at U.S. ports, according to The Washington Post. Among them were dried apples preserved with a cancer-causing chemical and mushrooms laced with illegal pesticides."  source

Few food imports from China are ever inspected.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Esther 7 on June 02, 2007, 10:36:00 PM
Well, the U.S. has some of the worst standards in the world. Worse than third world countries in some instances. This is shown by the fact that these unhealthy foods were allowed into the country in the first place.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on February 07, 2008, 12:02:01 AM
Is our food safe? How about school lunches, are they safe?  No!

Earlier this week, the Humane Society released hidden-camera video taken in a California slaughterhouse that has explosive potential. The Washington Post had the story first on Wednesday, before the video was officially released, and reporter Rick Weiss described it as showing:

    [W]orkers at a California slaughterhouse delivering repeated electric shocks to cows too sick or weak to stand on their own; drivers using forklifts to roll the ‘downer’ cows on the ground in efforts to get them to stand up for inspection; and even a veterinary version of waterboarding in which high-intensity water sprays are shot up animals’ noses....The footage was shot at Hallmark Meat Packing in Chino, California, which sells the meat to the Chino processor Westland Meat Company. In the last five years, Westland has sold over 100 million pounds of frozen ground beef to the USDA’s commodities program, which donates the food to school lunch programs.  source (http://www.chow.com/grinder/tag/hallmark+meat+packing)

Video of Downers (http://video.hsus.org/)
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Mimi on February 07, 2008, 03:30:20 AM
Animals are crowded into close cars, and are almost wholly deprived of air and light, food and water, and are carried thus thousands of miles, breathing the foul air arising from accumulated filth, and when they arrive at their place of destination, and are taken from the cars, many are in a half starved, smothered, dying condition, and if left alone, would die of themselves. But the butcher finishes the work, and prepares the flesh for market.  {2SM 418.3}

Animals are frequently killed that have been driven quite a distance for the slaughter. Their blood has become heated. They are full of flesh, and have been deprived of healthy exercise, and when they have to travel far, they become surfeited, and exhausted, and in that condition are killed for market. Their blood is highly inflamed, and those who eat of their meat, eat poison. Some are not immediately affected, while others are attacked with severe pain, and die from fever, cholera, or some unknown disease. Very many animals are sold for the city market, known to be diseased by those who have sold them, and those who buy them for the market are not always ignorant of the matter. Especially in larger cities this is practiced to a great extent, and meateaters know not that they are eating diseased animals.  {2SM 418.4}
     
Some animals that are brought to the slaughter seem to realize what is to take place, and they become furious, and literally mad. They are killed while in that state; and their flesh prepared for market. Their meat is poison, and has produced, in those who have eaten it, cramp, convulsions, apoplexy, and sudden death. Yet the cause of all this suffering is not attributed to meat. Some animals are inhumanly treated while being brought to the slaughter. They are literally tortured, and after they have endured many hours of extreme suffering, are butchered. Swine have been prepared for market even while the plague was upon them, and their poisonous flesh has spread contagious diseases, and great mortality has followed.--How to Live, No. 1, pp. 51-60.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Mimi on February 07, 2008, 11:28:45 AM
 A disposition to cause pain, whether to our fellowmen or to the brute creation, is satanic. Many do not realize that their cruelty will ever be known, because the poor dumb animals cannot reveal it. But could the eyes of these men be opened, as were those of Balaam, they would see an angel of God standing as a witness to testify against them in the courts above. A record goes up to heaven, and a day is coming when judgment will be pronounced against those who abuse God's creatures.--PP 443
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: stephen on February 07, 2008, 11:24:57 PM
Amen.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on March 08, 2008, 09:57:36 PM
Do we still believe our food is safe because it is under government inspection? Here is something I missed a few years ago. I don't suppose things have changed. If you are still eating pig, then you may want to reconsider.
USFDA
May 4, 2004
   

Media Inquiries: 301-827-6242
Consumer Inquiries: 888-INFO-FDA

Statement on Texas Cow With Central Nervous System Symptoms

On Friday, April 30 th , the Food and Drug Administration learned that a cow with central nervous system symptoms had been killed and shipped to a processor for rendering into animal protein for use in animal feed.

FDA, which is responsible for the safety of animal feed, immediately began an investigation. On Friday and throughout the weekend, FDA investigators inspected the slaughterhouse, the rendering facility, the farm where the animal came from, and the processor that initially received the cow from the slaughterhouse.

FDA's investigation showed that the animal in question had already been rendered into "meat and bone meal" (a type of protein animal feed). Over the weekend FDA was able to track down all the implicated material. That material is being held by the firm, which is cooperating fully with FDA.

Cattle with central nervous system symptoms are of particular interest because cattle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE, also known as "mad cow disease," can exhibit such symptoms. In this case, there is no way now to test for BSE. But even if the cow had BSE, FDA's animal feed rule would prohibit the feeding of its rendered protein to other ruminant animals (e.g., cows, goats, sheep, bison).

FDA is sending a letter to the firm summarizing its findings and informing the firm that FDA will not object to use of this material in swine feed only. If it is not used in swine feed, this material will be destroyed. Pigs have been shown not to be susceptible to BSE. If the firm agrees to use the material for swine feed only, FDA will track the material all the way through the supply chain from the processor to the farm to ensure that the feed is properly monitored and used only as feed for pigs.

To protect the U.S. against BSE, FDA works to keep certain mammalian protein out of animal feed for cattle and other ruminant animals. FDA established its animal feed rule in 1997 after the BSE epidemic in the U.K. showed that the disease spreads by feeding infected ruminant protein to cattle.

Under the current regulation, the material from this Texas cow is not allowed in feed for cattle or other ruminant animals. FDA's action specifying that the material go only into swine feed means also that it will not be fed to poultry.

FDA is committed to protecting the U.S. from BSE and collaborates closely with the U.S. Department of Agriculture on all BSE issues. The animal feed rule provides crucial protection against the spread of BSE, but it is only one of several such firewalls. FDA will soon be improving the animal feed rule, to make this strong system even stronger.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on March 27, 2008, 09:34:01 AM
This is a little technical, but I think that it good that some of our readers get involved in this subject. This ought to be of concern to each church member and every person living on this planet, at least if they have children they are responsible for.

 Prion diseases are characterized by a long incubation period. In scrapie, sheep may incubate and spread the infection for several years before clinical signs evolve. We have previously studied the occurrence of subclincal infection in the brain. Now, we have studied the occurrence of subclinical infection in the brain and several lymphoid tissues in two scrapie-affected Icelandic sheep flocks by immunohistochemistry for PrPSc, a molecular marker for infectivity, and correlated this with results of PrP genotyping. At culling, one flock had one confirmed scrapie case, while the other flock had two. Analysis of 106 asymptomatic sheep by immunostaining for PrPSc revealed that the incidence of subclinical infection was 58.3% in one flock and 42.5% in the other. PrPSc was only detected in lymphoid tissues. The youngest positive sheep were 4 months old. PrP genotyping showed that over 90% of the sheep were of a genotype which is moderately sensitive to infection and may delay neuroinvasion. Our results show that asymptomatic sheep may spread the infection during the long incubation period of several years, which constitutes an important obstacle in the eradication of scrapie. Our findings indicate that contamination of the environment plays an important part in sustaining the infection.  source (http://www.springerlink.com/content/u761171744280806/)

What does this mean to the health of our children?
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on June 02, 2008, 12:52:41 PM
A Chicago-based company is recalling beef products distributed in 11 states because of possible E. coli contamination, federal officials say.  source (http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/05/18/meat.recall.ap/?iref=mpstoryview)
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on December 22, 2009, 08:30:31 PM
The Government has ignored warnings that antibiotics fed to chickens pose a major risk to human health. Government reports obtained by the Sunday Star-Times reveal that as far back as 1999, an expert panel warned that antibiotics used in the poultry industry were breeding superbugs resistant to human medicine. The 1999 report warned drugs used to prevent disease in chickens could create resistance to front-line human medication crucial for treating respiratory infections such as pneumonia, sexually transmitted diseases and the hospital superbug MRSA  source (http://tahilla.typepad.com/mrsawatch/mrsa_and_the_food_ch/index.html)
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Esther 7 on May 13, 2010, 06:36:42 PM
Has anyone heard about Hexane in veggie food?
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Immanuel on May 17, 2010, 07:25:49 AM
Study shows link between pesticides and ADHD. Source. (http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/05/17/pesticides.adhd/index.html?hpt=T2)
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on November 17, 2010, 06:38:08 PM
The number of deaths from food is under reported. But, it is estimated by the CDC that of the deaths related to food-borne illnesses most come from just a few germs. Five pathogens account for over 90% of estimated food-related deaths: Salmonella (31%), Listeria (28%), Toxoplasma (21%), Norwalk-like viruses (7%), Campylobacter (5%), and E. coli O157:H7 (3%).  CDC (http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol5no5/mead.htm)
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Vicki on November 17, 2010, 07:06:28 PM
A librarian suggested I read The Omnivore's Delimna, The Secrets Behind What You Eat, by Michael Pollan. It's an interesting, disturbingly interesting, book. The introduction alone has me contemplating the wisdom of ever eating a Russet potato from Idaho again.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on November 17, 2010, 07:33:24 PM
What we don't know won't hurt us....... or will it? Tell us about the Russet potato.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Vicki on November 18, 2010, 06:02:24 AM
A good book report doesn't give all the information but leaves the audience wanting more info so they will go read the book. - Mrs. Quinn, 5th grade.  :)

The farm written about was 15,000 acres, divided into 135 acre crop circles. They are watered, fertilized and sprayed with pesticide from an irrigation system that rotates from the middle of the circle, and controlled from a computer. One of the pesticides used is called Monitor which is so toxic to the nervous system that no one is allowed into the field for 5 days after it is sprayed - even if the irrigation system breaks and the crop might die. When the potatoes are harvested they must be stored for 6 months so this pesticide can dissipate and the potatoes can be eaten.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on November 18, 2010, 06:40:10 AM
Why do not we hear about this toxic pesticide?  Remember Alar?  It seems the media has not done a very good job if this author is correct in his assessment. It may be that he did this research on the one day of the year he was using marijuana.

Let's look into this chemical pesticide.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Vicki on November 18, 2010, 06:43:00 AM
No. I don't remember Alar.....tell more.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on November 18, 2010, 07:36:04 AM
Alar was a chemical, first marketed in 1968, that apple growers sprayed on trees to make their apples ripen longer before falling off. In use, however, Alar breaks down to a byproduct called "unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine" or UDMH. The first study showing that UDMH can cause cancer was published in 1973. Further studies published in 1977 and 1978 confirmed that Alar and UDMH caused tumors in laboratory animals.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency opened an investigation of Alar's hazards in 1980, but shelved the investigation after a closed meeting with Alar's manufacturer, the Uniroyal Chemical Company. In 1984, the EPA re-opened its investigation, concluding in 1985 that both Alar and UDMH were probable human carcinogens. Under pressure from Uniroyal, however, the EPA allowed Alar to stay on the market. Its use continued, even after tests by the National Food Processors Association and Gerber Baby Foods repeatedly detected Alar in samples of apple sauce and apple juice, including formulations for infants.

Consumers Union and environmental groups such as the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) saw Alar as an example of a regulatory system that was not functioning properly. If Alar were a new chemical being considered for approval, it would not have been allowed on the market, but since it was already in use, getting it withdrawn ended up taking nearly a decade.

By 1989, the states of Massachusetts and New York had banned the chemical, and the American Academy of Pediatrics was urging a similar ban at the federal level. "Risk estimates based on the best available information at this time raise serious concern about the safety of continued, long-term exposure," stated an EPA letter to apple growers which estimated that 50 out of every million adults who ate apples on a regular basis would get cancer from long-term exposure to Alar -- in other words, 50 times the human health hazard considered "acceptable" by EPA standards. The danger to children, the letter warned, was even greater. Aside from these urgings, however, federal agencies continued to avoid regulatory action.  source (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Alar_and_apples)

Since then, industry has gone to great lengths to say that this was an example of "Chicken Little environmentalism", with headlines such as "Enviros Accused of Inciting Paranoia," "The Century of Science Scares," "The 60 Minutes Health Hoax," and "Pseudoscientific Hooey the Scare Tactic of Choice Nowadays." Thanks in large part to ACSH's efforts with journalists, the word Alar has become a near-universal shorthand for an irrational health scare stemming from "junk science."

When I hear "Alar", I remember how people rose up in response to the media stories and refused to buy apples. The growers quickly had to back down and they ceased using Alar.

Industry is too lax in regards to the safety of our food. And, the government has in many cases allowed the fox to guard the hen-house. It seems that maybe industry has succeeded in quieting the media?
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Vicki on November 18, 2010, 07:51:01 AM

methamidophos (Monitor)

Personal - WHO recommends that for the health and welfare of workers and the general population, the handling and application of methamidophos should be entrusted only to competently supervised and well-trained applicators who must follow adequate safety measures and use the chemical according to good application practices. Regularly exposed workers should receive appropriate monitoring and health evaluations. (IPCS. 1993).

Protection - Protective clothing as indicated in the FAO Guidelines for Personal Protection when Working with Pesticides in Tropical Climates (FAO, 1990) is required; a respirator should also be worn by mixers and when spraying tall crops. The use of flaggers should be avoided; if used, they require full protective clothing, including a respirator. All equipment and protective clothing should be washed thoroughly after use; clothing should be laundered separately from family clothing.

     Unprotected workers should be kept out of treated areas for 48 hours. (FAO, 1990)

Application - The manufacture, formulation, agricultural use and disposal of methamidophos should be carefully managed to minimize contamination of the environment. To minimize risks for all individuals, a 48-hour interval between spraying and re-entry into any sprayed area is recommended. Pre-harvest intervals have been set in many countries. These intervals vary from 3 to 90 days (most falling within 14-21 days), depending on the crop, harvesting technique and the country.

     In view of the high toxicity of methamidophos, this agent should not be considered in hand-applied ULV spraying practices. (IPCS, 1993; FAO, 1995)
 
Mode of action - Methamidophos affects the nervous system by inhibiting acetylcholinesterase, an enzyme essential for normal nerve impulse transmission.

Uptake - Methamidophos can be absorbed following ingestion, inhalation and skin contact.  

Indonesia, Kuwait, Sri Lanka, Samoa have either banned or severly restricted use because of environmental & human health hazards.

source (http://www.fao.org/docrep/w5715e/w5715e02.htm)

Another site confirms a 14 day pre-harvest interval. I found no mention of having to store potatoes for 6 months. This is upsetting to me. Someone I know is often telling me conspiratorial things to which I reply, Just because it's in a book doesn't mean it's true.  Same goes for recommended library books. It's not something I would choose to have been used on my potatoes, but it seems the author has exagerated according to what I have found this morning.  :( I do believe I will find time to write the author to see if he can substantiate his sources.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on November 18, 2010, 08:12:03 AM
I took a quick look and could not find much.  It is a dangerous chemical for those who handle it. If applied by airplane, the drift would be hazardous to homes in the area. It is one of many such chemicals being used to produce our food. Many in the world make much about chemicals and then refuse to see the danger from eating animal products. :(   

We must be concerned about what industry is doing. They are not trustworthy, nor the government. China has a poor record and we ought not be eating food produced in China. And, government has made it impossible to tell where products are coming from.

You are quite a ways ahead of many, dear sister! Your garden, while a lot of work, is producing healthy food for your family! The days are here where those who have practiced economy and caution, will be richly rewarded. My heirloom tomatoes are just now producing!  The late summer and the deer took a toll. We are now learning what to do. Those who are not, will be quite hungry when they try to learn and eat at the same time. :(
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Vicki on November 18, 2010, 08:39:25 AM
Yes, it is always better to grow our own - then we know what is and is not on/in them. Enjoy your heirlooms! They do take longer to ripen than the others I grew but are worth the wait.  It's good not to have every tomato plant ripen at the same time - prolongs our enjoyment.  :) God's blessings are even in the details of when our food ripens.  :)  It was mentioned in a recent garden seminar to make sure there is adequate space between varieties so they do not cross for seed to use the next year. The speaker planted a delicious heirloom next to a store bought that wasn't so good. He saved the heirloom seeds and got an awful tasting tomato the next year. I'm not saving seeds this year & will try again next growing season - planting things farther apart.

I e-mailed the author this morning. There was a note that he does not respond to every letter.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Won Bae on December 26, 2010, 11:58:11 AM
What do you eat daily?
Mrs. White's writing suggests no meat.  Not only meat she lists other things such as chesse, this means no pizza, and no "Hay Stack" then lists condiments so there should be not ketchup or mustard which many SDAs use with the Big Franks.  Then she also said no pickles.  No vege and fruit at the same meal!
One must be aware  all kinds of chemicals going into the analog meat such as Wham, Scalopes and all other LL food or Worthington food.
I do have problem eating out for my lunch.  There isn't any vege restaurants around here.  Most of time I end up each pasts without sprinle of cheese.
It gets to be trouble some.  Any suggestions?

Won
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: colporteur on December 26, 2010, 01:10:35 PM
What do you eat daily?
Mrs. White's writing suggests no meat.  Not only meat she lists other things such as chesse, this means no pizza, and no "Hay Stack" then lists condiments so there should be not ketchup or mustard which many SDAs use with the Big Franks.  Then she also said no pickles.  No vege and fruit at the same meal!
One must be aware  all kinds of chemicals going into the analog meat such as Wham, Scalopes and all other LL food or Worthington food.
I do have problem eating out for my lunch.  There isn't any vege restaurants around here.  Most of time I end up each pasts without sprinle of cheese.
It gets to be trouble some.  Any suggestions?

Won

Won are you a good cook? If not it is not hard to do. You can eat all the things you refer to. There is not much that you can eat out on and be safe. That includes the bread. We had haystacks this Sabbath with home made cheese, olives, tomatoes, lettuce, onion, vinegar free salsa, brown rice and beans. We ate till our hearts content.
    We eat home made pizza with most of the same ingredients as well as wheat flour and sweet red pepper diced. For breakfast we have whole grain cereal and fruit or pancakes or french toast. We use coconut or nut milk of some kind. Sometimes we make hashbrowns and tofu. The children love it.

Often for lunch we have a chef salad with an array of lettuces, red cabbage, tomatoes, avocado, sweet peppers, carrot, cilantro, curly or italian parsley and a delicious home made salad dressing. Rarely do we eat a meal without something raw and often 50% raw. If it isn't a sald it is carrot and celery sticks, avocado, and or nuts.

I'm getting hungry and am about to partake of Italian spaghetti with home made dairy free parmesan and a tomato sauce with bulger burger and sauteed onion and garlic. Also a good salad and garlic bread made with flaxseed oil and garlic salt spinkled on toast. Canned garden green beans tops it off.  Bye bye !
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: colporteur on December 26, 2010, 01:47:06 PM
Won;

If where you work you have access to a plug in and you invest in a cooler with an ice pack or two and you can have almost anythiing you wish for lunch. A small crock pot full of whatever you cooked the night before and a salad fit for a king and you are all set.

Another inexpensive asset is a small toaster oven. You can make toast, warm up a baked potato or a slice or two of your own tailor made pizza.

We don't need analogs although there are a couple that are fairly healthy though they are not sold at the ABC.

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Won Bae on December 26, 2010, 01:53:41 PM
Good for you.  Unfortunately, I don't like to cook.

Won
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: colporteur on December 26, 2010, 01:58:28 PM
Good for you.  Unfortunately, I don't like to cook.

Won

Some things we just have to learn and do like it or not. It will pay you back immeasureably and when lunch time comes you will have a healthier body and peace of mind. Any thing worth while takes effort.  Many things are easy to cook and take little time. Part of the salvation process is surrendering our will and doing things that may not be our favorite thing to do. Learning new things is part of our growth while here. Like many projects, learning to cook will become more interesting as you apply yourself.

Making a nice big salad only takes minutes with nimble fingers and a sharp knife. The time it takes to make a meal at home the night before will be returned by not having to walk or drive to a resturant and wait to be served and checked out. Neither will you have to wrestle with the cook or go through the menu ten times looking in vain for something that is fit to eat.

Incidently, Mrs. Whire does more than recommend removing some of those things from the diet and unbias health experts not of our faith confirm what God has shown us.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Vicki on December 26, 2010, 02:45:36 PM
Sandwiches are always a good alternative, too. You can make a vegan spread or buy hummus. Add a variety of: lettuce, sprouts, tomatoes, onion, beet slices, homemade non-vinegar pickles, etc. You can also mash beans with the vegan spread for sandwich fillers.

Last potluck had a delicious vegan spread: rice & nut dish, mashed potatoes, crocks of soups or beans, bread stuffing, burritos, chips & cheese sauce, salad, homemade bread & vegan butter and vegan desserts: gingerbread cookies, pumpkin pie & honey buns. Sometimes the problem isn't what is there to eat, but to remember to control yourself when it is all healthy. One member also makes an effort to bring something soy-free for me - imagine, vegan & soy free! that's not easy to find. He made the most delicious vegan mexican dish for yesterday.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Mimi on December 26, 2010, 05:18:02 PM
Often for lunch we have a chef salad with an array of lettuces, red cabbage, tomatoes, avocado, sweet peppers, carrot, cilantro, curly or italian parsley and a delicious home made salad dressing. Rarely do we eat a meal without something raw and often 50% raw. If it isn't a sald it is carrot and celery sticks, avocado, and or nuts.

I'm getting hungry and am about to partake of Italian spaghetti with home made dairy free parmesan and a tomato sauce with bulger burger and sauteed onion and garlic. Also a good salad and garlic bread made with flaxseed oil and garlic salt spinkled on toast. Canned garden green beans tops it off.  Bye bye !

I'm on my way over. Set me a plate, please.  ;)
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Mimi on December 26, 2010, 05:20:23 PM
He made the most delicious vegan mexican dish for yesterday.

I hope you had some left over. If so, please freeze it and save it for me. Will be over Tuesday. Set me a plate, please.  ;) ;)
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Vicki on December 27, 2010, 06:06:44 AM
It was so good there were no leftovers, and he was going to give them to me! How sad! I put in a request for next potluck, though. Come on up!
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on December 27, 2010, 10:49:15 AM
Good for you.  Unfortunately, I don't like to cook.

Won

Some things we just have to learn and do like it or not.

Amen!! This morning I peeled bananas, oranges, and cut apples, and pineapple, added some raspberry sauce I had canned.  It is true that I did cook the raspberries, but anyone can do that, Won.  The more we eat the fruit as it comes off the tree, the healthier and happy we shall be. :)

And, when we eat fresh food not processed by the food industry we have a much better chance of our food being safe.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: colporteur on December 27, 2010, 02:59:30 PM
Often for lunch we have a chef salad with an array of lettuces, red cabbage, tomatoes, avocado, sweet peppers, carrot, cilantro, curly or italian parsley and a delicious home made salad dressing. Rarely do we eat a meal without something raw and often 50% raw. If it isn't a sald it is carrot and celery sticks, avocado, and or nuts.

I'm getting hungry and am about to partake of Italian spaghetti with home made dairy free parmesan and a tomato sauce with bulger burger and sauteed onion and garlic. Also a good salad and garlic bread made with flaxseed oil and garlic salt spinkled on toast. Canned garden green beans tops it off.  Bye bye !

I'm on my way over. Set me a plate, please.  ;)

Sorry, there was not much left but for you we would make a fresh array.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Mimi on December 27, 2010, 05:37:36 PM
Oh wow! What a friend!
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on April 19, 2012, 10:50:26 PM
Is our food safe to eat?  If we depend upon the government and its politicians, we may be greatly disappointed. It would not be good to place your children's health in the hands of a government or its politicians. An example?   Sacrificing One's Own Child (http://www.washingtonpost.com/john-selwyn-gummer-cordelia-gummer/2011/04/15/AFGQBekD_photo.html)

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on April 19, 2012, 11:01:49 PM
"EU farm ministers are almost certain to vote to lift the ban on British beef next week. Myles Neligan looks back on a dark chapter in the UK's relations with its European partnersON 26 March 1996, Farm Commissioner Franz Fischler rose early, ate a hearty breakfast and single-handedly destroyed much of the UK beef industry."   source (http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/traumatic-and-costly-uk-beef-ban-saga-finally-draws-to-a-close/37433.aspx)

They seem to think that it is not safe to eat meat. Cancer and Alzheimer's are at all time highs. Most of these leaders must believe that they "just happen" all by themselves.  But, we know better.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on April 19, 2012, 11:12:51 PM
One may purchase a video of the esteemed politician, John Selwyn Gummer, who wanted his daughter to eat the UK beef. source (http://www.t3licensing.com/video/clip/1B03452_0003.do)
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on April 26, 2012, 12:18:00 PM
Jesus said that just before His return, the world would be as it was at the time of Noah. We are there.

Do you trust in the government to protect your home, your job, your education, the economy?  We have learned that the government is not God. Trouble is coming, it is already here. Jesus is coming soon! But, do we think that the government is protecting our health when it comes to the safety of our food? Some continue to rely upon the growers, the food industry, and the government to keep our food safe. But, it is not a good idea to leave the safety of our food up to these institutions. Corruption abounds and many will pay the price with their health and their lives.

This will come as a surprise to many. What if I told you that dung was being fed to livestock? How about blood and fat being fed back to cattle, sheep, and pigs? Would you believe that most calves do not get to nurse on their mothers? Or even get to drink milk? They do not. They are fed a milk replacer so that humans can drink their mother's milk. Dried blood is used as a protein in many milk replacer products.

Dung, blood, and fat from the farm animals is used to create a high protein feed that is then fed back to livestock. It would appear that it is not safe to continue eating animals and their products.  A Bible Answer (http://abibleanswer.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=386:dung-blood-and-fat-for-food&catid=107:general-topics&Itemid=157)
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: carls365 on April 26, 2012, 01:36:08 PM
Jesus said that just before His return, the world would be as it was at the time of Noah. We are there.

This will come as a surprise to many. What if I told you that dung was being fed to livestock? How about blood and fat being fed back to cattle, sheep, and pigs? Would you believe that most calves do not get to nurse on their mothers? Or even get to drink milk? They do not. They are fed a milk replacer so that humans can drink their mother's milk. Dried blood is used as a protein in many milk replacer products.

Dung, blood, and fat from the farm animals is used to create a high protein feed that is then fed back to livestock. It would appear that it is not safe to continue eating animals and their products.  A Bible Answer (http://abibleanswer.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=386:dung-blood-and-fat-for-food&catid=107:general-topics&Itemid=157)

No! I don't trust the gov whatsoever in anything. Perhaps at one time you could but today, they hire incompetence and immorality, corruption, and thievery is epidemic.

Yes, I've known for a number of years the abominable feeding practice of the meat industry, that's why I condemn them so. I first heard about it when I learned fish are fed by offal from poultry situated above the fish ponds and the feeding of livestock with parts of other livestock. Also a while back the gov gave permission for cancers  to be just cut out and the rest of the meat proceed for packaging and human consumption.

Money talks, your health walks. (to put it politely)
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on April 26, 2012, 10:18:52 PM
The State of Iowa has criminalized the undercover video and photographs of factory farms without permission.  A Bible Answer (http://abibleanswer.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=387:stopping-the-wistleblowers&catid=107:general-topics&Itemid=157)
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: colporteur on June 19, 2012, 02:46:22 PM
The State of Iowa has criminalized the undercover video and photographs of factory farms without permission.  A Bible Answer (http://abibleanswer.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=387:stopping-the-wistleblowers&catid=107:general-topics&Itemid=157)

So, one cannot take photos of abuses without permission yet the gov't can tap your phone, search your house, and arrest, torture, and kill you without permission. And we call Hitler evil ?
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: carls365 on June 19, 2012, 02:49:53 PM
The State of Iowa has criminalized the undercover video and photographs of factory farms without permission.  A Bible Answer (http://abibleanswer.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=387:stopping-the-wistleblowers&catid=107:general-topics&Itemid=157)

So, one cannot take photos of abuses without permission yet the gov't can tap your phone, search your house, and arrest, torture, and kill you without permission. And we call Hitler evil ?

And it'll only get worse.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: colporteur on June 19, 2012, 03:00:40 PM
I read on the net this morning the "Dirty Dozen" This is a list of the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetable by chemicals. The determination was made after the product was washed and peeled where it applies.

The Dirty Dozen

1.  apples
2.  celery
3.  sweet bell peppers
4.  peaches
5.  strawberries
6.  imported nectarines
7.  grapes
8.  spinach
9.  lettuce
10. cucumbers
11. domestic blueberries
12. potatoes


The following were found to be the cleanest.

1.   onions
2.   sweet corn
3.   pineapple
4.   avocado
5.   cabbage
6.   sweet peas
7.   asparagus
8.   mangoes
9.   eggplant
10. kiwi
11. domestic cantelope
12. sweet potatoes
13. grapefruit
14. watermelon
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Mimi on June 19, 2012, 03:08:58 PM
CNN had a feature on that. Even washed, the apples were still covered with pesticides.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on September 05, 2012, 06:04:51 PM
The number of people getting sick and dying from food poisoning is on the increase. The negligence of workers handling food has always been a problem, but today it appears to be getting worse. As food comes from many different countries and many different cultures, we need to be concerned. We have addressed the need to be concerned about products that come from China, as an example.

In noticing the high number of recalls of food infected with listeria and salmonella, I did a little research. Here is an example of what is going on in some food manufacturing facilities.

    Your employees must wash their hands thoroughly (and sanitize if necessary to protect against contamination with undesirable microorganisms) in an adequate hand-washing facility before starting work, after each absence from the work station, and at any other time when the hands may have become soiled or contaminated, to comply with 21 CFR 110.10(b)(3). However, on 2/1/2011 an employee touched the production room floor while cleaning up organic matter from under the grinding machine. The same employee then dipped his hand in the cooling sink water that was holding tofu for cooling without washing and sanitizing his hands between tasks.

    You must maintain gloves, if they are used in food handling, in an intact, clean, and sanitary condition, to comply with 21 CFR 110.10(b)(5). However, an employee opened the walk-in cooler, moved a wooden pallet, and opened a box of spice mix while wearing green rubber gloves. The same employee then dumped the spice mix into a mixing bowl, added water and immersed his gloved hand into the bowl to mix spices into the water without cleansing and sanitizing the gloves between tasks. The mixture was then poured directly into a batch of ready to eat tofu mix. In addition, another employee picked up a block of tofu with his gloves after rinsing them  with water from the nozzle of a hose that had been on the production room floor.

"Read to eat tofu"?  Then the tofu is packaged and the bacteria or virus grow. It is no wonder that there is so much disease being spread through the food chain. This is not an infrequent event that we read of.  I see the same thing in hospitals where nurses and doctors glove up, then touch their cell phones while treating patients.  They go from one patient to another transferring germs from one patient to another via their cell phones. 

I think that fear is not what we want, but it appears that some common sense is needed to limit one's exposure to the dangerous infections that are in the increase. Eating processed foods without cooking them seems to putting one more and more at risk. 

For many years, I have considered the source of water being used to process food or used as an ingredient.  Orange juice from concentrate requires water if sold reconstituted as much is sold. Or you can buy it "not from concentrate".  Which is safer?  Unless of course one has picked up an orange off the workroom floor with his gloved hand and then puts his hand into the orange juice.  :(

As the world becomes more corrupt, if that is possible, these concerns become more of an issue. How is your garden growing?
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: JimB on September 05, 2012, 06:23:43 PM
Your comments are timely. Tonight on the way to the store to buy some fruit I turned on the radio and a well know finance advice talk show was on and he was talking about an experience he had at a restaurant recently. He was sitting near the door to the kitchen and as he described it he could hear a waitress "coughing up a lung" all over the food which made him loose his appetite.  But he had a unique twist to his comments. He said the problem was that these minimum wage people do not get paid "sick days" so they force themselves to work when they are sick and thus expose everyone else there and the food to their "sickness".  He didn't come out and say but I think it was a somewhat veiled push for better benefits and health care for everyone.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Wally on September 06, 2012, 02:47:46 AM
I knew there was more than one reason I avoid restaurants.  ::) We may have to start giving the same advice here that we do to people traveling in tropical countries--eat only cooked food; nothing raw--except fruit, and only if you can wash it first.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: colporteur on September 08, 2012, 04:38:01 PM
We have been hearing about all the hidden things in "natural flavors" that are harmful. I always suspected that this was an area of hidden hazards. We decided to clean out of our cupboard everything with "natural flavors." There were moans and groans when the Bush vegetarian beans went out. Then there were a couple of kinds of vegan soups that had to go. Last but not least was the tomato sauce. "Ohhhh noooooo !" went the chorus. We had no idea just what all lurks in "natural flavors." We may make a few phone calls before making a trip to the food pantry however we have heard that companies are not very willing to release information on "natural flavorings". If they do, can we even trust them ? I think not! 
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Mimi on September 08, 2012, 05:38:42 PM
This very day I learned my favorite enchilada sauce has natural flavorings in it! Vinegar, too. ARGH!
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: JimB on September 08, 2012, 05:53:57 PM
Believe it or not some companies will respond to emails. About a year ago I inquired to a company via email what source where their enzymes and they very willingly said that it's hard to tell. Sometimes they are from an animal source and other times they are not. It depends on what is available when they need them.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on September 08, 2012, 07:43:08 PM
Raw pig would be a "natural flavor".
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on January 18, 2013, 07:13:07 PM
Safety restrictions are being removed between Canada and the United States if a proposal to maintain livestock trade during disease outbreaks is made law. "Canada and the United States have agreed to maintain livestock and meat trade during animal disease outbreaks."  source (http://ca.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idCABRE90F13G20130116)
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on April 27, 2013, 10:02:18 PM
When doing some research on the relationship of Mad Cow and Mad Sheep Diseases to Alzheimer's, I ran across this statement. Many may not be interested, but some will. The disaster in England in the early nineties, where British citizens were dying after eating Mad Cows, ought to have been prevented. That there was a barrier between cow, sheep, and humans with the disease was not good science.

The following is from the National Institute of Neurological  and Communicative Disorders and Stroke, Annual Report Fiscal Year 1982; US. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, a full ten years before the human deaths began.

REVISION OF SURGERY AND AUTOPSY ROOM TECHNIQUES
FOR DEALING WITH DEMENTIA PATIENTS

A. Precautions for handling CJD patients in hospitals and in operating and
autopsy rooms and laboratories . The discovery that the worldwide-distributed
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is caused by a serially transmissible,
self-replicating agent that passes through bacteria-, protozoan- and
fungus-retaining membrane filters, the demonstration that the virus is widely
distributed in non-CNS tissues and fluids of affected patients and possesses
great resistance to usual antiseptics, has also resulted in a growing concern
among medical and paramedical nursing and laboratory personnel, particularly
neurologist, neurosurgeons, pathologists, and anesthesiologists, about the
potential hazards involved in caring for patients with presenile dementias and
handling their tissues. Concern comes largely from recent reports documenting
transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease by corneal transplant, the accidental
inoculation of two patients in neurosugery with CJD-contaminated electrodes used
in stereotactic electroencephalographic recording and stimulation, the suspicion
that a neurosurgeon and two general practitioners may have contracted CJD from
patients and the characteristic greatly over-represented among patients with CJD
of a history of brain or eye surgery in the previous two years before onset of
clinical disease. These concerns have further been hightened by the recent
transmission of CJD to a chimpanzee by implantation of the same silver
electrodes that caused disease in the two human patients after more than two
years storage in formaldehyde vapors ued for sterilization. In response to
these concerns we have published precautions for conducting biopsies and
autopsies and have more recently, presented a summary on the current knowledge
of the pathogenicity and communicability of CJD and related subacute spongiform  source (http://www16.us.archive.org/stream/annualreportnat1982natio/annualreportnat1982natio_djvu.txt)

Ten years later the British were being told there was no danger from eating Mad Cows. Many are told there is no evidence that eating Mad Sheep will cause death to humans. And, we are continually being told not to worry about eating Mad deer and elk, that there is no evidence that humans will die from eating them. 

And, while we are at it, we are told there is no danger from eating or drinking Bovine Leukemia infected diary. If you can accept all of this, I know there are some who would like to sell you the Golden Gate Bridge at half of what it cost to construct it.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Mimi on April 28, 2013, 04:24:42 AM
That is a stunning article, Richard!
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on April 28, 2013, 08:58:24 AM
Many will say that the problem with the lack of safety regarding our food supply is with the businesses that put money above human health. There is truth to this, but I don't see this as the major problem. Often the fox is put in charge of the henhouse. But, what has that to do with the education of the public? Even if the food is allowed to be adulterated or sold when diseased, why is there no great outcry from those in the medical profession or universities? Yes, I know that monied interests are involved, but there is another concern that is overlooked. Why is it that physicians and medical staff are silent about the connection between a virus and cancer? Most Americans know that a virus can cause cancer, but the dots are never connected so that one is more careful about what goes into the body. Why don't doctors advise their patients that it is not just HPV and HIV that cause cancer, but that there may be many viruses that lead to cancer?  One of the reasons is that many are not willing to change their lifestyle to avert the viruses.  An example is the Bovine Leukemia Virus that infects many dairy products.  If the doctor is not going to cease eating meat and dairy, then most often they are not going to say anything to their patients.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on May 30, 2013, 10:55:28 AM
"And the band plays on."

United States, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack wants to encourage us that all is well with eating American cow. You would think that Obama has stock in Tyson or Cargill.

"I am very pleased with OIE's decision to grant the United States negligible risk status for BSE. This is a significant achievement that has been many years in the making for the United States, American beef producers and businesses, and federal and state partners who work together to maintain a system of interlocking safeguards against BSE that protect our public and animal health. This decision demonstrates OIE's belief that both our surveillance for, and safeguards against, BSE are strong. U.S. beef and beef products are of the highest quality, wholesome and produced to the highest safety standards in the world.

Last year, exports of U.S.-origin beef and beef products totaled $5.5 billion. With our negligible risk classification from the OIE, we have a strong foundation in place to continue increasing exports of U.S.-origin beef and beef products. In doing so, we will continue to press trading partners to base their decisions on science, consistent with international standards. U.S. food and agricultural exporters and consumers worldwide benefit when countries adopt science-based international standards."

Now the pressure will be brought to bear on nations that don't want cows that have not been tested for Mad Cow Disease, like Japan who tests every cow killed. The Japanese will be forced to buy the carcasses of dead cows from America. As an aside, Japan built their economy based on unfair trade, now they are going to reap what they have sown. Very sad.  We pray that the church is doing her appointed work in Japan so that its citizens will understand there is no safety in eating from the carcass of a dead animal. A mind is a terrible thing to waste.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on February 09, 2015, 12:32:47 PM
Society depends to a large degree on governmental agencies to protect it from disease in the food supply. Government has failed in many societies to do this. I would like to link to an article published when Helen Grant died a few years back. She was a voice crying in the wilderness when many in England were being infected when eating BSE infected cow meat. "As ministers and the food industry battled to reassure consumers that British beef was 'perfectly safe' and that eating it carried 'no conceivable risk', Wendy Grant, like other scientists involved, found herself the victim of a smear campaign, treated with hostility by Ministry of Agriculture officials and accused of being 'out of date'. But she refused to go away." The article reveals my concern about those charged with protecting our food supply.  Helen Grant (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/medicine-obituaries/9205842/Wendy-Grant.html), faithful to her calling.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on January 07, 2017, 07:41:42 AM
We came across an article that brings into question the US governments ability to keep imported food safe. It seems the World Trade Organization is more concerned about trading than safety. Standards were changed which allowed food safety to be endangered. 

A short time later, the USDA’s independent investigative Office of Inspector General (OIG) decided to review the USDA’s performance in making these historically important equivalency decisions. In 2000, the OIG released a blistering analysis, noting systemic failures in the equivalence determination and enforcement processes for countries representing every inhabited continent. The OIG report was a scathing exposé on the threats posed when food safety prerogatives and policies are trumped by trade goals.   Standards Relaxed (http://www.r-calfusa.com/wp-content/uploads/trade/20070725-PublicCitizenFoodSafetyReportBeef.pdf)
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Curt on April 19, 2023, 03:52:05 PM


https://scitechdaily.com/warning-study-finds-superbugs-lurking-in-40-of-supermarket-meat/ (https://scitechdaily.com/warning-study-finds-superbugs-lurking-in-40-of-supermarket-meat/)

By EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES APRIL 17, 2023

A Spanish study found 40% of supermarket meat samples contained multidrug-resistant E. coli strains, highlighting the need for regular assessments of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in meat products and emphasizing farm-to-fork interventions and proper food handling practices to reduce risks.

“Superbugs” present in chicken, turkey, beef and pork, Spanish study finds.

Multidrug-resistant E. coli were found in 40% of supermarket meat samples tested in a Spanish study. E. coli strains capable of causing severe infections in people were also highly prevalent, this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2023, Copenhagen, April 15-18) will hear.

Multidrug-resistant bacteria can spread from animals to humans through the food chain but, due to commercial sensitivities, data on levels of antibiotic-resistant bugs in food is not made widely available.

They analysed 100 meat products (25 each of chicken, turkey, beef and pork) chosen at random from supermarkets in Oviedo during 2020.

The majority (73%) of the meat products contained levels of E. coli that were within food safety limits.

Despite this, almost half (49%) contained multidrug-resistant and/or potentially pathogenic E. coli.

Also pneumonia pathogen was found along with extra-intestinal pathogens which can cause problems outside of the gut, like Urinary Track Infections (UTIs)

Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: rahab on April 19, 2023, 07:06:36 PM
Scary and sad.  :o :'(
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Curt on April 20, 2023, 02:32:23 PM
Indeed
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: rahab on June 28, 2023, 05:14:38 AM
This is the missing link as to why vegans are still sick.

We know already from the China Study that animal protein can turn on cancers.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQmqVVmMB3k&pp=ygUXY290dG9uc2VlZCBvaWwgcmVzZWFyY2g%3D
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on July 07, 2023, 07:21:30 AM
Thanks for posting the video, rahab.  It is very good. We understand that switching from margerine to butter is not the answer. Animal products are not the safer choice. The oxidation of oil ought to be understood as a danger to health.  Here is a study that gives some information on lipid peroxidation and cell death for those who are interested in a deeper look into what the video reveals. From the study: "A growing body of work implicates lipid peroxides as key mediators of many pathological states including inflammation, cancer, neurodegenerative disease, as well as ocular and kidney degeneration."  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5319403/
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: rahab on July 07, 2023, 12:38:29 PM
Thanks Richard, that really nailed it.

It’s not the nuts and seeds themselves but rather the manufacturing process that makes them toxic.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on July 09, 2023, 12:31:57 PM
Yes, free fats (oils) allow oxygen to degrade the fat. Free radicals and oils can cause damage to cells and DNA.  Better to get fats in their natural state as in the olive and in the corn and in the soybean. When using oils, heat, light, and time will increase the rate of oxidation in the oil. And different oils will oxidize at different rates. 
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Curt on July 17, 2023, 05:39:41 PM
Warning: Scientists Discover Elevated Levels of Toxic Metals in Fruit Juices and Soft Drinks

https://scitechdaily.com/warning-scientists-discover-elevated-levels-of-toxic-metals-in-fruit-juices-and-soft-drinks/?expand_article=1  (https://scitechdaily.com/warning-scientists-discover-elevated-levels-of-toxic-metals-in-fruit-juices-and-soft-drinks/?expand_article=1)

By TULANE UNIVERSITY JULY 13, 2023

According to a recent study conducted by Tulane University, certain popular drinks were found to contain toxic metals in quantities surpassing federal standards for safe drinking water.

The investigation tested 60 beverages, and found that five of them contained a higher concentration of a particular toxic metal than what is considered safe by federal standards. The report noted that two assorted juices were found to contain arsenic concentrations exceeding the standard of 10 micrograms per liter. Furthermore, a cranberry juice, a mixed fruit and carrot juice, and an oat milk were all found to have cadmium levels beyond the standard of 3 parts per billion.

The sampled beverages, which included those commonly found in grocery stores – single and mixed fruit juices, plant-based milks, sodas, and teas – were measured for 25 different toxic metals and trace elements. Mixed-fruit juices and plant-based milks (such as oat and almond) contained elevated concentrations of toxic metals more often than other drinks, according to the findings published in the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. ……..

These soft drinks are often consumed in smaller quantities than water, meaning the health risks for adults are most likely low. But Godebo said parents should be cautious about what drinks they offer their children. …….

“These metals are naturally occurring so it’s hard to get rid of completely,” Godebo said. ……….

“I don’t think there needs to be fear,” Stoner said. “In toxicity, it’s the dosage that often makes the difference so everything in moderation. But this creates awareness that there needs to be more study.”
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: rahab on July 18, 2023, 03:03:26 PM
Need to know how to detox from the contaminated food and drink.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Richard Myers on July 19, 2023, 05:33:29 AM
Thanks for sharing, Brother Curt.  Better to drink pure juice rather that concentrates with added water. Who knows where the water is coming from. Rivers into which the sewers are dumped? Often more than likely.

How to detox? Eating clean food with lots of fiber will help if the contaminates are in the gut. But, once it gets into the blood stream and enters the organs, including the brain, damage is done. The kidneys and liver filter the blood, but they are often damaged by heavy metals and contaminates like nano aluminum. Prevention is best where we can make choices as to what to put into our bodies. Look for "water" as an ingredient in processed foods. Then think about where that water is coming from. Often we see big cities. What big city is not getting its water from rivers into which sewers flow? And, think about China where heavy metals have contaminated their air,water,and soils.

Then think about the USDA allowing sewer sludge to be in fertilizer and to be put on farm land. Those who are living in the country and have a garden will be blessed. We are not to worry about what we eat. And, we are to do the best we can, then depend upon our Lord to protect us from the "poison" that surrounds us like the nano aluminum falling from the sky.
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: rahab on July 19, 2023, 03:48:16 PM
Agree.

Going to take a stab at a list for metal detoxers

Cilantro
Chlorella
Garlic
Lemon
Blueberries
Beets
Turmeric
Title: Re: Is Our Food Safe?
Post by: Curt on July 27, 2023, 01:46:33 PM

Thank you brother Richard. Our job is to educate educat educate. Prevention is our first line of defence, secondly but by no means less is maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle. God has made our bodies to handle much more than we give it credit for. Some things may seem more difficult or take a longer time but in the end it will be proven that nature does her work wisely and well.

Check for symptoms of metal toxicity:
Symptoms will vary depending on the metal/material but in general these are some of the associated symptoms. Word of caution, do not take just one or two symptoms and self-diagnose metal toxicity, it depends on the type of metal and would usually be multiple of these symptoms. It also would take a large amount of some chemicals others may give symptoms almost immediately depending on the amount ingested or present in soft tissues.

In some cases, symptoms include headaches, vomiting, abdominal pain, lack of appetite (anorexia), constipation, slurred speech (dysarthria), changes in kidney function, unusually high amounts of protein in the blood (hyperproteinemia), and unusually pale skin (pallor) resulting from a low level of iron in the red blood cells. A urine or hair follicle sample can be tested by a health professional to determine levels of metal toxicity.

The healthier your lifestyle the better your body will perform its own ceansing usually through urnie and sweat. Therefore exercise and good circulation helps the cleansing and detox process.

Diet - Our natural foods help to bind to some agents and some minerals help to chelate (bind) and help in the removal out of the body. The glutathione "supersystem" is your body's main detoxification system. Glutathione binds to heavy metals and other toxins, but it requires the assistance of enzymes, antioxidants, and transport proteins. Vitamin C, magnesium, green vegetables,

A family of enzymes called glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) is responsible for binding glutathione to these toxins—which can include excess hormones, manmade chemicals, environmental pollutants, pharmaceuticals, and heavy metals—preparing them for excretion. Ref: naturalgrocers.com, Health hotline article. Even plants have a defence mechanism based on Glutathione (GSH) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3317707/#:~:text=In%20order%20to%20cope%20with,agent%2C%20antioxidant%20and%20signaling%20component. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3317707/#:~:text=In%20order%20to%20cope%20with,agent%2C%20antioxidant%20and%20signaling%20component.)

So do not panic or jump to conclusions on your status relative to heavy metals. Seek professional assistance and evaluation and then follow through from there.