Backlash against western food — U.S. pork in Russia — Coca-cola in Bolivia

From Pakalert Press:

“On December 7, 2012 Russia’s Federal Agency for Agricultural Control, Rosselhohznadzor, banned the imports of meat containing ractopamine. This is a food additive that allows to reduce the content of fat in beef and pork. The drug is added to food so that animals grow the muscle mass instead of fat.

According to researchers, ractopamine affects the human cardiovascular system, and in some cases can cause food poisoning. This drug is banned for use in 160 countries, including China and Russia. It is allowed in 24 countries, including Canada and the United States. Codex Alimentarius of the World Health Organization, adopted in July 2012 in Rome by representatives of 186 countries, allows the contents of ractopamine in meat.

Australian supermarkets just say “NO” to factory farmed pork, in deference to “consumer sentiment”

From Ocean Robbins, on Common Dreams:

“In one of history’s most stunning victories for humane farming, Australia’s largest supermarket chain, Coles, will as of January 1 stop selling company branded pork and eggs from animals kept in factory farms. As an immediate result, 34,000 mother pigs will no longer be kept in stalls for long periods of their lives, and 350,000 hens will be freed from cages.Screen shot from video below

The saga of Mark Tijssen, the pork, and Ministry of Natural Resources, goes on

The tale of a Canadian army major and 40lbs of pork continues…….but has taken an uncomfortable twist.

What is a search warrant?  We don’t have property rights enshrined in Canada’s Constitution, so that’s not it.  A search warrant actually protects the privacy rights of citizens of this country – and that’s where Mark Tijssen’s story takes its nasty turn.

To back up a bit, in November 2009, Mark and a friend bought a live pig, brought it home and butchered it.  When the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) was made aware of this, an incredible chain of investigative actions was set in motion that saw Tijssen charged with four counts under the Ontario Food Safety and Quality Act and Regulation 31/05 (Meat).  By June of 2010, MNR made Tijssen an offer – plead guilty to all charges, and $100,000 in fines would be reduced to a paltry $1000.  What a deal! 

Pork product responsible for 23% of Salmonella positive results at USDA

From Doug Powell on Barfblog:

Was it the sauce? Photo via Barfblog.

“Pork barbecue with vinegar and pepper-based sauce is the source of 23 per cent of salmonella-positive samples the U.S. Department of Agriculture reviewed from 2005 to 2010. The contamination has not caused any known illnesses.

Exactly what part of the dish is contaminating it with salmonella isn’t clear. FSIS notes that it “may have come from the addition of contaminated ingredients (such as the pepper) to the sauce, or from cross-contamination of the product or sauce in the post lethality processing environment.”

Paying $8 for eggs — or incurring the externalized costs of agribiz farming

From Tom Philpott on Mother Jones:

“Over on the Atlantic site, the food politics writer Jane Black has a thoughtful post on farmers market sticker shock in brownstone Brooklyn.

Confronted at her neigborhood market by the spectacle of $8/dozen eggs—which had sold out, no less—Black frets that “that the ‘good-food-costs-more’ argument is being taken to an extreme that puts at risk the goal of a mass food-reform movement, which is to make good food available to the greatest number of people possible.”

Black goes on to do a bit of analysis on the $8/dozen farmer’s production model and reckons that he probably isn’t just sticking it to Brooklyn yuppies: “It turns out that’s what it costs him to produce his eggs,” because he uses a labor-intensive pasture-based system and feeds his birds organic corn, which is much more expensive than conventional.

Enviropigs “Trojan Horse” transgenics?

Excerpt from a National Post story by Sarah Schmidt titled “Genetically engineered pigs a step closer to dinner plate“:

University of Guelph developed these Ecopigs. University of Guelph photo.

“OTTAWA — Genetically engineered pigs are one step closer to becoming meat on Canadian kitchen tables with the federal government poised to declare that they do not harm the environment.

Canwest News Service has learned Environment Canada has determined that Yorkshire pigs developed at the University of Guelph are not toxic to the environment under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. The official declaration will be made on Saturday.