More that just nourishment
"Here’s an article from the Washington Post on irradiating vegetables with just the bare bones. And here’s an enthusiastic op-ed from today’s Wall Street Journal with a lot of useful links.
And here’s the New York Times giving equal time to “food safety advocates” (another of those preemptive strike names) who see it as a cover up for dirty conditions on farms (and presumably on trucks and in processing facilities). Hmm. Of course we want farms and trucks and grocery stores and everywhere our food goes to be as clean as possible. But (a) we can’t inspect them all and (b) even if we could, perfect cleanliness–just like total safety–is an impossible goal.
And then there’s the argument that many food borne illnesses are caused by viruses that won’t be killed by irradiation. So this is an argument against getting rid of the cause of a large number of food borne illnesses? Come on." stated Rachel in her blog a few weeks ago. go to her site to get the links to the Washington Post , Wall Street Journal and New York Times articles www.rachellaudan.com/2008/08/irradiating-spinach-and-lettuce.html
I responded on her blog and updated that post today too. What is bothering me is our nourishment is such an essential part of how we function as human beings and I feel that it is all being taken away from our control. We need to eat or we will die so how do we make the wise choices for our food. That is becoming harder and harder to do.
Friday I was listening to the radio and heard a report about the sugar beet harvest that is going on now. Monsanto has come out with a seed that grows twice a fast so that at harvest time the farmers have a much bigger yield and since the plant grows so fast less weeds grow so the farmers get a benefit on both. Sugar is in almost every thing we eat and do we know if that product is safe for us. How do we know that it is feed to the animals we eat they are safe.
This whole things scares me.
And here’s the New York Times giving equal time to “food safety advocates” (another of those preemptive strike names) who see it as a cover up for dirty conditions on farms (and presumably on trucks and in processing facilities). Hmm. Of course we want farms and trucks and grocery stores and everywhere our food goes to be as clean as possible. But (a) we can’t inspect them all and (b) even if we could, perfect cleanliness–just like total safety–is an impossible goal.
And then there’s the argument that many food borne illnesses are caused by viruses that won’t be killed by irradiation. So this is an argument against getting rid of the cause of a large number of food borne illnesses? Come on." stated Rachel in her blog a few weeks ago. go to her site to get the links to the Washington Post , Wall Street Journal and New York Times articles www.rachellaudan.com/2008/08/irradiating-spinach-and-lettuce.html
I responded on her blog and updated that post today too. What is bothering me is our nourishment is such an essential part of how we function as human beings and I feel that it is all being taken away from our control. We need to eat or we will die so how do we make the wise choices for our food. That is becoming harder and harder to do.
Friday I was listening to the radio and heard a report about the sugar beet harvest that is going on now. Monsanto has come out with a seed that grows twice a fast so that at harvest time the farmers have a much bigger yield and since the plant grows so fast less weeds grow so the farmers get a benefit on both. Sugar is in almost every thing we eat and do we know if that product is safe for us. How do we know that it is feed to the animals we eat they are safe.
This whole things scares me.
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