Test Tube Burgers?

Stem cells used to grow hamburger in a laboratory may be served at a restaurant near you.

With a current price tag of $330,000 it will about 20 years before meat grown from stem cells will be available to meet the protein needs of the world.

The growing taste for meat in the developing world, especially in China and the limited arable land and water resources, have led scientists on a search for alternative ways of producing meat.

But there are concerns:

Many of the medical crises we’re seeing in the world today are partly due to some of the unnatural ways we’re manufacturing food – from the chemicals to preserve the taste, to the hormones to increase the size of produce, to the pesticides to control production. At the end of the day, all of these factors are taking a toll on our society.

Antibiotic Use in Livestock Coming Under Scrutiny

The Food and Drug Administration is calling for restrictions in use of antibiotics in animals.

Crowded and filthy conditions call for the use of the drugs to prevent illness in the animals which could be passed on to humans.

However, it seems that the antibiotics are indeed being passed on to humans and helping to create super-bugs which are becoming increasingly drug resistant.

Some 80 percent of antibiotic drugs in the United States were sold for use in food animals, according to the FDA. Many of those are used to help animals grow faster and prevent infections from breaking out on big farms. Today’s announcement on cephalosporins doesn’t affect those antibiotics in feed.

Still, the more the cephalosporins are used, the greater the chances that they will stop working because bacteria can become resistant to them.

Government Subsidized Obesity?

When you consider that there are more tax dollars being spent on junk food than on fruits and vegetables it seems obvious that there is a conflict of interest.

Spending tax dollars on health care to combat childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes while fueling the problem with those very same dollars seems like a fool’s errand, to be sure.

It makes the efforts of people like Michelle Obama look downright ridiculous in face of the facts.

Food Just Isn’t as Good as It Used to Be

The use of fertilizers and pesticides has created food which has become void of nutrient value.

Getting the daily recommended vitamins and nutrients is becoming more difficult even for the most conscientious eater.

Since the industrial and agricultural revolution we have seen factory farming takeoff and is now used to grow most of our fresh fruits and vegetables. These intensive farming methods rely on heavy use of potent herbicides and pesticides. Unfortunately, over time these chemicals have sterilised our top soils and neutralized many of the naturally occurring minerals.

Although organic farming does not use harmful chemicals, organic fruits and vegetables may still be grown in the same depleted soils and the organic ‘seal’ is not necessarily a guarantee of high mineral content.

Daily supplements may be one way to get the vitamins and minerals which are not abundant in foods.

More Salmonella at Cargill Inc. Turkey Plant

The same Arkansas plant which recalled 36 million pounds of ground turkey last month has yet again found salmonella after recent testing following a temporary shutdown.

More ground turkey has been recalled due to a suspicion of salmonella.

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