Archive for September 2015
Consumer Reports: Lower Bacteria Count in Organic Grass Fed Beef
Three hundred samples of raw ground beef from stores nationwide were recently tested by Consumer Reports for harmful bacteria. In “The Safest Beef to Buy,” a recent article in Consumer Reports On Health (October, 2015), this nonprofit, independent organization which provides advice on “goods, services, health, and personal finance” (and accepts no advertising in its publications), noted that “a higher bacterial presence” was found in conventional beef, which was “twice as likely to contain bacteria that are resistant to three or more classes of antibiotics.” (Consumer Reports’ testing and reporting on the safety of beef was, in fact, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts.)
Noting that meat is a common source of food poisoning in the United States, where consumers “bought more than 7 billion (yes, billion) pounds of ground brief” in 2014, Consumer Reports recommends purchasing “organic grass-fed beef, which tends to have a lower bacteria count and less antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and comes from animals raised in more humane condition.” Warning that infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria “can be difficult to treat and are a major public health problem,” the organization also advises that ground beef should always be cooked to medium (160 degrees F).
We previously reported that it’s been estimated in one year anywhere from 17,800,000 to 24,600,000 pounds of antibiotics, or approximately 80 percent of all antibiotics used in the United States, are fed to livestock. The results of the recent analysis by Consumer Reports of raw ground beef is a reminder of the continuing concern for this too common practice in industrial agriculture to feed livestock antibiotics.
Further, Consumer Reports’ advice to purchase “organic grass-fed beef” is also bolstered by our earlier post concerning a thorough review of the scientific research spanning three decades which focused upon the differences in nutritional quality between grass-fed and grain-fed cattle. Agriculture experts at California State U (Chico) and University of California (Davis), who carefully reviewed the scientific research, confirmed that grass-fed beef is by far superior nutritionally to grain-fed beef.
Eatwild maintains an easy to use directory of more than 1400 pasture based farms in the United States and Canada (producing products including beef, chicken, turkey, pork & lamb) and which raise their livestock on pasture from birth to market. And it should be noted, that in addition to health benefits for the consumer, raising animals on pasture instead of factory farms, when properly managed, is a net benefit to the environment.
(Frank W. Barrie, 9/21/15)
Delicious Delicata Squash Topped With Sautéed Local Pears in Cinnamon Butter in 30 Minutes
Thacher Park’s Pear Orchard
Tree branch laden with Bartlett pears
Squash halves face down in microwavable bowl
Squash halves, filled with sautéed pears, ready for final 5 minutes in microwave
Delicata squash with pears sautéed in cinnamon butter
This summer’s CSA (community supported agriculture) share in the bounty of Roxbury Farm has surpassed earlier years. And for the first time in the past five years, we have received Delicata squash, a cream-colored winter squash with green and orange stripes, from the farm in Kinderhook (Columbia County, NY) in our weekly shares on a couple of occasions. With the summer heat, baking the Delicata squash in a hot oven, my method of choice at Thanksgiving time for preparing acorn or butternut squash, was a no go.
The unused, small microwave oven, which has peered down from underneath a kitchen cabinet for 30+ years, caught my eye. Hmmm. The Global Healing Center, which is an advocate for “organic living and natural health,” notes in an article, “Why You Should Never Microwave Your Food,” that “Microwaving cooks the food at very high temperatures in a very short amount of time [but results] in a great deal of nutrient loss for most foods, especially vegetables.” Still, the bigger concern in microwaving food relates to the fact, cited in this insightful article, that “microwavable foods are processed and in packaging that contains an assortment of chemicals (such as benzene, toluene, polyethylene terpthalate, xylene, and dioxins)” and these chemicals are “likely” to be absorbed into the food. Using the microwave to cook a Delicata squash quickly on a hot summer day will result in some nutrient loss, but at least the danger of absorbing chemicals from packaging is not an issue.
After some pondering, the summer heat prompted me to make an exception to my practice of not microwaving food. In 30 minutes, a Delicata squash was a surprising summer treat, with sautéed Bartlett pears picked locally at the historic Pear Orchard in John Boyd Thacher Park, a favorite hiking spot in the Helderberg Escarpment just west of Albany in upstate New York.
Some explanation is needed on harvesting some pears from a state park. For years, the pears ripening in Thacher Park above Albany have caught my eye. On occasion, I’ve picked a couple to taste the local fruit growing freely in the mountain air. This year, the fruit was bountiful and appeared to be going to waste, with many falls, decaying beneath the trees. A short conversation with a supervisory park ranger gave me the o.k. to pick some pears. These very local Bartlett pears (growing just up the road from my home in Albany) would make for a buttery and fruity topping for the delicious Delicata squash (also known as peanut squash, Bohemian squash, or sweet potato squash). According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 31% or 133 billion pounds of food in the United States goes uneaten. Using some overlooked pears in a state park seems trivial in contrast, but nonetheless brings special satisfaction in knowing fruit, which would have gone to waste, has made for a tasty dish.
With good reason, Delicata squash is also known as sweet potato squash since the taste is very similar to that of a sweet potato. I’m not so sure why it is also known as a peanut squash, though its flavor is mild like peanuts.
1 Delicata squash
4 Bartlett pears
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons of butter
Slice the Delicata squash in half, starting at the bottom of the squash and slicing downward to the stem. Scoop out the seeds and any pulp. Place squash halves cut side down in a microwaveable dish. Add ¼ to ½ inch of boiling water to the dish. Microwave on high for 10 minutes.
While the Delicata squash is cooking, slice up 4 small pears into small pieces. (I do not peel the pears since the skins will cook down nicely and add nutrition and flavor to the sautéed fruit.) Melt the butter in a small pot. (I like to use a local butter, Kriemhild Meadow butter from the Hamilton (Madison County, NY) dairy farm’s grass-fed cows.) Add the sliced pears and cinnamon, and stir continuously for a few minutes. Add 3/4 cup of boiling water, and continue to simmer the fruit until tender, an additional 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding more water if needed.
Remove the Delicata squash from the microwavable bowl after it has cooked for the 10 minutes indicated above, and drain the water from the bowl. Turn the squash, cut side up and fill with the pear mixture. Return the bowl to the microwave oven and cook on high for an additional 5 minutes. Enjoy delicious Delicata squash in the heat of late summer!
(Frank Barrie, 9/15/15)
Idaho Ag Gag Law Knocked Down By Judge Protecting Freedom of Speech & Whistleblowers
The Idaho legislature passed a bill, which was signed into law by Governor C.L. Butch Otter on February 14, 2014, that created a new crime, “interference with agricultural production” (Idaho Code Section 18-7042). This so-called “ag gag” law criminalized any of the following five specified actions:
(1) a person, not employed by an agricultural production facility, enters a production facility “by force, threat, misrepresentation or trespass;” (2) a person obtains records of an agricultural production facility by force, threat, misrepresentation or trespass; (3) a person obtains employment with an agricultural production facility by force, threat, or misrepresentation with the intent to cause economic or other injury to the facility’s operations; (4) a person enters an agricultural production facility that is not open to the public and, without the owner’s express consent or authorization by judicial process or statutory authorization, makes audio or video recordings of the conduct of the facility’s operations, and (5) intentionally causes physical damage or injury to the facility’s operations, livestock, crops, personnel, equipment, buildings or premises.
Chief Judge B. Lynn Winmill for the U.S. District Court of Idaho, in a thoughtful and thorough decision, has granted summary judgment to the Animal Legal Defense Fund (and the sixteen other organizations and individuals), who challenged this Idaho ag gag law, on the basis that it violated the First Amendment right to free speech. Judge Winmill also determined that this Idaho law violated the Equal Protection Clause because it was motivated in substantial part by animus towards animal welfare groups and impinged on their fundamental right of free speech.
The Idaho ag gag law was initially drafted and sponsored by the Idaho Dairymen’s Association, a trade industry organization that represents dairy farmers and producers in the state. The association was responding to the negative publicity generated by a video secretly recorded by Mercy for Animals, a Los Angeles-based animal rights’ group which showed workers at the Bettencourt Dairies’ Dry Creek Dairy in Hansen (Twin Falls County), Idaho “using a moving tractor to drag a cow on the floor by a chain attached to her neck and workers repeatedly beating, kicking, and jumping on cows.”
Idaho is not the only state to enact an ag gag law. Similar laws have been enacted in Iowa, Kansas, Missoui, Montana, North Dakota, and Utah, with a new North Carolina law effective in January 2016. With an extraordinary eleven amicus (friend of the court) briefs filed in this litigation, including briefs from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and from Professors Susannah W. Pollvogt and William Araiza (scholars of the Law of Unconstitutional Animus), Judge Winmill’s determination was awaited by many and his thoughtful constitutional analysis will have consequences for the other ag gag state laws, certain to be similarly challenged in court proceedings.
In his strongly worded decision, Judge Winmill noted that “Protecting the private interests of a powerful industry, which produces the public’s food supply, against public scrutiny is not a legitimate government interest.” Instead, “animal agriculture is a heavily-regulated industry and food production and safety are matters of the utmost public concern.” With a literary jab, the judge pointed out that under Idaho’s ag gag law, the conduct of Upton Sinclair, who lied to get a job at a Chicago meatpacking plan, and thereby documented the horrors in The Jungle (which resulted in major federal food-safety legislation), would be subject to criminal prosecution under a law like the Idaho law, now struck down.
Other plaintiffs, who joined Animal Legal Defense Fund in this successful litigation, included five named individuals and these eleven other organizations: American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho, Counterpunch, Farm Forward, Farm Sanctuary, Idaho Concerned Area Residents for the Environment, Idaho Hispanic Caucus Institute for Research and Education, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, River’s Wish Animal Sanctuary, Sandpoint Vegetarians, The Center for Food Safety and Western Watersheds Project.
Frank W. Barrie (9/4/15)
