Today we are going to talk about what can sometimes be a taboo topic:
what exactly is in your food?
In order to know what you are eating you need to know what you're eating ate.
When an animal is killed for food the head, hooves, the horns, the intestines
and their contents (meaning poop), the bones and blood are deposited into huge grinders at rendering plants.
Six or seven million house pets that are euthanized in animal shelters every year and road kill
are also taken to the rendering plant. No animal is too ill, too cancerous or too decomposed.
These horrid ingredients are then ground and steam cooked. The heavier protein stuff
is dried and made into a brown powder that includes fecal matter. This brown powder
is added to almost all pet foods, as well as into livestock feed. In short, the food
your food ate consists of dead pets, road kill, diseased animals, reject parts and poop.
Maybe the poop in your food’s food doesn’t concern you – what about the poop in your
food? In a study conducted by the USDA they found that 78.6% of ground beef contains microbes
that are spread primarily by faecal matter.
Once upon a time, USDA inspectors had to condemn any meat with faecal contamination but about
30 years ago, the industry convinced the USDA to reclassify feces – feces are now classified
as a cosmetic blemish. In the poultry industry after emersion in
a scalding tank, chickens go to a massive refrigerated
tank of water. Tom Devine from the Government Accountability Project has said that “the
water in these tanks has been aptly named “fecal soup” for all the filth and bacteria
floating around.” While a significant number of European and
Canadian poultry processors employ air-chilling systems, 99% of US poultry producers have
stayed with water-emerging systems. It’s not hard to figure out why: air chilling reduces
the weight of the bird’s carcass but water chilling causes the dead bird to soak up water,
the very same water known as fecal soup.
Johnathan Safran Foer states “US poultry consumers now gift massive poultry producers
millions of additional dollars every year as a result of this added liquid. The USDA
knows this and defends the practice – after all, the poultry processors are...simply doing
their best to `feed the world.’ (Or in this case, ensure its hydration.)” Of course,
you might notice that your chicken doesn’t quite taste right. How good could a drug-stuffed,
diseased-ridden, shit-contaminated animal possibly taste?
Independent turkey farmer Frank Reece says “Everyone knows it’s our food. We’re
messing with the genes of these animals and then feeding them growth hormones of all kinds
of drugs and antibiotics that we really don’t know enough about. Kids today are the first
generation to grow up on this stuff and we’re making a science experiment out of them. Isn’t
it strange how upset people get about a few dozen baseball players take growth hormones,
when we’re doing what we’re doing to our food animals and feeding them to our children?”
Got pus? Milk does! Due to the infections caused by the unnatural treatment of dairy
cows, the dairy industry is actually allowed a certain amount of pus in its milk. One hundred
and eighty (180) million cells per eight ounces to be exact. This is termed the `somatic cell
count’ and it is an industry standard. Milk also contains the antibiotics given to the
cows in order to fend off the various infections that produce the pus, as well as blood, bovine
growth hormone and (you guessed it) faeces.
What about our processed food? Any food that is processed is virtually tasteless, so where
does the flavour in your food come from?...New Jersey. The area produces about two thirds
of the flavour additives sold in the United States. In Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser
writes: “Calling any of these flavours `natural’ requires a flexible attitude towards the English
language and a fair amount of irony.” Cochineal extract, known as carmine or carminic acid
is made from the desecrated bodies of female dactylopius coccus costa.
The bugs feed on red cactus berries and colour from the berries accumulates in the females
and their unhatched larva. It takes about 70,000 of them to produce one pound of carmine
which is used to make processed food look pink, red or purple. Starbucks’ Strawberry
frappuccino and Dannon’s Strawberry Yogurt both get their colour from carmine as do many
fruit bars, candies and fruit fillings. Here are some ingredients listed in Consumer Reports’
Shop Smart Guide as “weird but edible”, “ammoniated beef”- trimmings of meat are
gassed with ammonia to kill pathogens. This is the pink slime that went viral on the internet.
"Bacteriophages" This additive actually contains viruses. It is sprayed on ready-to-eat meats
and poultry products to destroy the bacteria. "Sodium nitrate" high cooking temperatures
and stomach acid can cause these chemicals used in processed and cured meats to form
compounds associated with cancer. If all of that isn’t enough for you, have
you ever wondered where artificial raspberry, vanilla or strawberry flavours come from?
"Castoreum!" - An extract made from dried, ground up sacs located by the anal glands of beavers.
Yes, we are talking about pouches in the ass of a beaver. It can be added to foods such
as gums, alcohol, candy and baked goods. Perhaps tossing a beaver’s salad does give you a
nice little vanilla flavour but does that really make it right?
So, let’s review. Being vegan is extreme but eating antibiotic pumped meat, shit-water-inflated
birds, nipple pus, ground up beetle fetuses, shit-contaminated meat and beaver ass pouches
is a-okay. Believe it or not, this is just the smallest peak into what’s in your food.
And in keeping with nugget style, I’ll see you guys next time.