ഇറച്ചി തിന്നുന്നതിനിടയില് സമയമുണ്ടെങ്കില് ഇതൊന്നു വായിച്ചുനോക്കൂ.
ഇല്ലെങ്കില് വിട്ടേര്, " ഓ, ഇതൊക്കെ ബെറുതെ പറയണാന്നേ."
Story at-a-glance
- Sneaky “tricks of
the trade” employed by the meat industry include “pink slime” made of
otherwise unusable scraps, meat glue, and reconstituted meat—all of which
fool you into thinking you’re buying something of higher quality than you
are
- McDonald’s
seasonally-available McRib sandwich contains more than 70 ingredients,
including a chemical used in gym shoes and other items requiring a rubbery
substance. And the pork is actually a restructured meat product made from
the less expensive innards and scraps from the pig
- Russia has
recently banned U.S. meat supplies after discovering it contains
ractopamine—a beta agonist drug that increases protein synthesis, thereby
making the animal more muscular. This reduces the fat content of the meat.
Ractopamine is known to affect the human cardiovascular system, may cause
food poisoning, and is thought to be responsible for hyperactivity, muscle
breakdown, and increased death and disability in livestock
- As much as 20
percent of ractopamine remains in the meat you buy from the supermarket.
Despite potential health risks, the drug is used in 45 percent of U.S.
pigs, 30 percent of ration-fed cattle, and an unknown percentage of turkeys
Over the past couple of years, we’ve learned the unsavory truth about “
pink
slime,”
reconstituted
meat, and how the use of
meat
glue cheats you out of your hard-earned money at the grocery store and
threatens your health.
We’ve also learned that fast food fare such as McDonald’s hamburgers contain
so many chemicals and so few real food ingredients that a
burger
fails to show signs of decomposition after
more than a decade...
The famous McDonald’s McRib also came under closer scrutiny, and turned out
to be something less than mouthwatering. The McRib sandwich is a non-standard
item on the fast food restaurant’s menu;
1
its annual return is always advertised with great fanfare — last year it even
made the headlines on ABC News.
2
The pork sandwich is described as a tasty fan favorite slathered in tangy
barbecue sauce, slivered onions and tart pickles, served on a hoagie style bun.
Sounds perfectly normal, but what’s it made of,
really? In a November
2011 article, CBS Chicago news
3
spilled the beans on this seasonal favorite:
“More than 70 ingredients make up the McRib and, yes, one of them is
pork. But as CBS 2’s Vince Gerasole reports, there’s also an ingredient that
can be found in shoes... [Registered dietician Cassie] Vanderwall gave the
McRib a closer look and found the McRib has azodicarbonamide, which is used to
bleach the flour in bread. It has other uses. 'It could be on your yoga mat, in
your gym shoes, in your anything that’s rubbery,' Vanderwall said...
Then there’s the pork – which is really restructured meat product. In other
words, it’s made from all the less expensive innards and castoffs from the
pig... Vanderwall said the McRib ingredient list 'reminds me of a chemistry
lab.'”
To see pictures of a ‘deconstructed’ McRib sandwich, check out
foodfacts.info’s McRib page.
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It sure doesn’t look so appetizing anymore once the sauce is washed off and the
meat sliced in half. In fact, it can barely pass meat, which was the point CBS
news tried to make in the first place.
What is "Food" Anyway?
Two years ago, the
nonprofit
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine singled out McDonald's in
their advertisement against obesity-related deaths. As the ad claimed, obesity,
diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension and heart attacks are hallmark
diseases associated with a fast food diet – a clear indication that it does not
provide the appropriate nutrition for your body.
So, is McDonald's fare really food?
When you consider the fact that a large number of the ingredients in a fast
food meal exist nowhere in nature, but are rather concocted in a lab, the
answer would have to be '
no.' Unfortunately, and to our severe
detriment, ever since the advent of the so-called TV dinner back in the 1950's,
the concept of "food" has expanded from meat, vegetables, raw dairy
products, fruit and other such natural items to include the highly processed,
preserved, artificially flavored and often brightly colored chemical
concoctions. But man simply was NOT designed to thrive on man-made chemicals.
Sadly, store-bought foods you might not recognize as processed, such as
ground beef, are oftentimes no better. As reported last year, approximately 70
percent of the ground beef sold in U.S.
supermarkets contains "pink slime" added in as a cheap filler.
The Pepto-Bismol-colored concoction consists of beef scraps and cow
connective tissues, which has been treated with ammonium hydroxide (basically a
solution of ammonia in water). It can legally make up 15 percent of any given
beef product, which shaves about three cents off the cost for a pound of ground
beef. The trimmings used come from parts of the cow that are most likely to be
contaminated with dangerous bacteria like E. coli — which is why it
must be
treated with ammonia to kill off the pathogens in the first place. It’s really
industrial food practices like this that pose very real threats to your health,
not raw unpasteurized dairy products and other non-processed whole foods...
Russia
Throws Poisonous Meat Back to U.S.
In related “questionable food” news, Russia has recently banned U.S. meat
supplies after discovering it contains
ractopamine
— a beta agonist drug that increases protein synthesis, thereby making the
animal more muscular. This reduces the fat content of the meat. As reported by
Pravda,
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Russia is the
fourth largest importer of US
meats, purchasing about $500 million-worth of beef and pork annually.
The drug is banned for use in 160 countries, including China
and Russia, but
allowed in 24 countries, including Canada
and the United States.
According to the
New York Times,6
the ban took effect as of December 7, 2012, and Russian health regulators
stated that while they will initially conduct their own testing, foreign
countries will soon be required to certify their meat as ractopamine-free if
they want to export it to Russia. While the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)
considers ractopamine safe and doesn’t test for it, Russia’s
chief health inspector, Gennady Onishchenko, claims there are “serious
questions” about the safety of the drug. He told the
New York Times:
“For instance, use of ractopamine is accompanied by a reduction in body
mass, suppression of reproductive function, increase of mastitis in dairy
herds, which leads to a steep decline in the quality and safety of milk.”
Ractopamine is also known to affect the human cardiovascular system, and may
cause food poisoning, according to Pravda.
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It’s also thought to be responsible for hyperactivity, muscle breakdown, and
increased death and disability in livestock. While other drugs require a clearance
period of around two weeks to help ensure the compounds are flushed from the
meat prior to slaughter (and therefore reduce residues leftover for human
consumption), there is no clearance period for ractopamine. In fact, livestock
growers intentionally use the drug in the last days before slaughter in order
to increase its effectiveness.
According to veterinarian Michael W. Fox, as much as 20 percent of
ractopamine remains in the meat you buy from the supermarket. Despite potential
health risks, the drug is used in 45 percent of U.S.
pigs, 30 percent of ration-fed cattle, and an unknown percentage of turkeys.
Mexico and Brazil
have announced that they will comply with Russia’s
demand for ractopamine-free meats.
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The US has
shown no sign of coming to an agreement, however. Instead the US has accused
Russia of violating World Trade Organization (WTO) rules — an accusation
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich has dismissed as being part of
business as usual, since “all WTO members break these rules.”
How to Identify REAL Food
There are major incentives to center your diet on real foods as opposed to
“food-like” products, the primary one being that real food is essential for
optimal health. Real foods also taste delicious, and when bought from
sustainable sources help to protect the environment. But with all the sneaky
tricks being employed, how can you tell the difference? Here’s a listing of the
characteristics and traits of real food versus processed “food products.”
Real Food
|
Processed Food-Like Products
|
It’s grown, and sold “whole”
|
Produced, manufactured in a factory, and sold in neat,
convenient packages
|
Variable quality
|
Always the same (no quality or taste variance)
|
Spoils fast
|
Stays “fresh” for extended periods of time
|
|
No preparation required, just heat and serve
|
Vibrant colors and rich textures
|
Contains fillers, additives and preservatives to make
otherwise dull and bland mixtures appetizing
|
Authentically flavorful
|
Artificially flavorful
|
Strong connection to land and culture
|
No connection to land or culture
|
Shopping Guidelines for Real, Health-Promoting Food
As the U.S.
agriculture industry now stands, antibiotics, pesticides, genetically
engineered ingredients, hormones and countless drugs are fair game for
inclusion in your food. So if you purchase your food from a typical
supermarket, you’re taking the chance that your food is teeming with chemicals
and drugs — even those that have been banned in other countries due to adverse
health effects.
So please do your health a favor and support the small family
farms
in your area. You’ll receive nutritious food from a source that you can
trust, and you’ll be supporting the honest work of a real family farm.
It all boils down to this: if you want to optimize your health, you must
return to the basics of healthy food choices. Put your focus on WHOLE foods —
foods that have not been processed or altered from their original state — food
that has been grown or raised as nature intended, without the use of chemical
additives, drugs, hormones, pesticides, fertilizers, and “mystery concoctions”
of discarded scrap parts.
It’s really as simple as that!
And it’s not nearly as daunting a task as it may seem to find a local farmer
that can supply your family with healthy, humanely raised animal products and
produce. At
LocalHarvest.org,
for instance, you can enter your zip code and find farmers' markets, family
farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area, all with the
click of a button. Once you make the switch from supermarket to local farmer,
the choice will seem natural, and you can have peace of mind that the food
you’re feeding your family is naturally wholesome. That said, regardless of
where you do your grocery shopping, these are the signs of high-quality,
health-promoting foods you want to look for:
- It's grown without pesticides
and chemical fertilizers (organic foods fit this description, but so do
some non-organic foods)
- It's not genetically modified
- It contains no added growth
hormones, antibiotics, or other drugs
- It does not contain any
artificial ingredients, including chemical preservatives
- It is fresh (keep in mind
that if you have to choose between wilted organic produce or fresh
conventional produce, the latter may actually be the better option)
- It did not come from a
factory farm
- It is grown with the laws of
nature in mind (meaning animals are fed their native diets, not a mix of
grains and animal byproducts, and have free-range access to the outdoors)
- It is grown in a sustainable
way (using minimal amounts of water, protecting the soil from burnout, and
turning animal wastes into natural fertilizers instead of environmental
pollutants)
If the food meets these criteria, it is most likely a wise choice, and would
fall under the designation of "real food." Keep in mind that
reclaiming your kitchen is part and parcel of healthful living, so you know
exactly what you're putting in your body. If you need help to get started, see
Colleen Huber's helpful tips on how to eat
healthier
organic food on a budget. And if you're "hooked" on fast food and
other processed foods, please review my article
How
to Wean Yourself Off Processed Foods in 7 Steps. It's one of the absolute
most positive life changes you could make!