MILK IS MURDER?

Here's a cute mainstream article about a supposed romantic rift ("dating dilemmas") within the veg community between vegans and vegetarians. I probably wouldn't make note of it, but the good thing is, there's some nice ink for our favorite Vegan Freaks.

Frankly, any coverage of what veganism is probably helps in the long run, but it's kind of pathetic that mainstream sources have to tart such coverage up into confections such as this rather than address the real societal and industrial issues pertaining to this ideology. A sample quote: "Neither group eats meat. But that doesn't make life easier for vegans who try to date 'murderous' vegetarians."

Uh huh. I guess I don't get out much, because in my interactions with hundreds of vegans and vegetarians I have so far failed to ever encounter a single vegan referring to vegetarians as "murderous." But it makes good copy.

RECALLORAMA

Dunno when I'm going to have a chance to sort out and publish those backlogged entries, but for now Meat Facts is all-meat-recall, all the time. I'd say most consumers who are paying attention to the news probably have a vague idea that there was a big E.Coli recall around the beginning of this month, but how many do you suppose know there was a pretty damn large E.Coli recall a week later that was unrelated? Probably not so many. Yet probably still more than those who've heard about this week's two meat recalls for the same root cause - fecal matter in the meat - but two different names, listeria and salmonella.

There was a recall on Wednesday of 35 tons of Chicken Fettucine Alfredo for listeria, and while that's a lot of stuff to throw out (no worries since very few of the people who bought it will hear about this), it pales next to the one announced late last night, practically Friday - a recall so massive they can't even say yet how big it is, for all of ConAgra's chicken and turkey pot pies, which are marketed under the "Banquet" label as well as many store brands. If and when they release an exact poundage on this one, I'll update this for your maximum informativity. This one, oddly, was originally announced as a "psssst, stop selling that because it might be tainted" non-recall, with the company dragging its feet until... hey... the end of the week... for the huge news to come out! Amazing how these coincidences keep piling up, ain't it?

RECALL MANIA

OK, as you can tell I haven't had a lot of time to get to the Meat Facts interface lately and post new stuff. I have a bunch of interim posts from late September in draft form that I will fill in later, but let me just say right now: WTF is up with our War on E.Coli? Looks like that's one war that's already been lost!

First we had this ho-hum midweek recall...

Then, early Saturday (ahem), it was expanded to one of the largest meat recalls in history...

Then, it emerged that ONCE AGAIN, the USDA had dragged its feet on announcing the recall, as though trying to make it clear that business concerns were always paramount over the health of actual consumers...

Then, while everybody was talking about the Topps situation, there was yet another Massive Friday Recall - more than 400 TONS of beef- that was "unrelated" except insofar as the root causes of both recalls - feces in the meat as an unavoidable by-product of current industry practices - tends to relate them. (And of course, it's worth mentioning that neither of these were "abundance of caution" recalls - actual people, mostly children, have suffered terrible problems - including kidney failure - from unwitttingly consuming this feces-laced meat.)

Now it turns out Topps is (again announced on the weekend, strange for a "business" story, no?) going out of business. Yes, the biggest meat supplier in the USA is going out of business. You might think this would be front-page news all over America, but then, we must have our priorities.

PREACH WHAT YOU PRACTICE

This is an interesting ongoing story, and now's as good a time as any to include a snapshot of it: Dave Warwak, a vegan since January, has been "preaching" a vegan lifestyle to students at Fox River Grove Middle School - until administrators sent him home on leave for the offense. For a while the issue was framed as "Show me where it's illegal to tell kids about veganism," but now it's moved into a newer, and in my opinion more strategically dubious, area: Vegan teacher won't return to school until school stops serving milk and meat. Um, OK. Seems like kind of a longshot. I mean, a reeeeeal longshot. Seems counterproductive. But on the other hand, if he wins this...

ONCE AGAIN: VEGAN DIET FIGHTS PROSTATE CANCER

Not sure why this was necessary, when the conclusion could have been as easily drawn by a careful perusal of the peer-reviewed articles cited in Meat Facts, but here it is: "Low-fat plant-based diets may help prevent or slow the progression of prostate cancer, according to a new research review."

PITCHING THE CITY VEGGIE

Just stumbled across this and wondered what vegetarian organization had put out this press release. Notably, it's from the Greater Philadelphia Tourism and Marketing Corporation, a decidedly non-veggie outfit dedicated to selling the city's strong points to attract tourists. Although I would quibble with some of the descriptions and inclusions and omissions, this is a very good sign.

VEGAN(S) OF THE MONTH

The headline, "Iowa City Makes it Easy to Go Vegan" somewhat oversells the scope of this story, but it's still an encouraging read, focusing on three vegans and businesses associated with them, all of which are smack dab in the heartland of America, knocking down some coastal preconceptions.

LATEST E.COLI RECALL - EIGHT NINE PEOPLE SICKENED

If it's Friday, it must be meat recall time. This one is not for E.Coli that might cause a problem, but already has, and that was distributed throughout the Northwest. But did you hear about it?

UPDATE 9/4: This is an odd one - I'm trying to nail down whether it was a bona fide Friday Recall or a late-Thursday one (which, going into Labor Day weekend, amounts to the same thing) and getting conflicting info. Also, this source I've never heard of pegs the amount of meat recalled at a whopping 41,000 pounds (yes, that's a little over 20 tons of ground beef), but I look to the USDA FSIS page to settle such discrepancies, and here's the oddity - it's not there at all! Did the USDA give everybody in the department the long weekend off? What's going on?

YOUR GUIDE TO HOGWASHING

Lee Hall provides a good overview, well written and well packaged for the Web, of the latest industry effort to co-opt animal activism: Re-packaging the killing and enslavement of animals as "compassion." A wacky concept? Maybe, but it's successfully hoodwinking way too many people.

KILLING FARM ANIMALS IS CRUELTY

Not just cruelty, but "A beastly kind of cruelty," according to the headline on this story. You see, because the punks who did the killing didn't eat the animal afterward, that somehow made its death 'cruel,' unlike, you know, the death all farm animals are headed for. Not sure how an animal that's being shot has its experience altered by what's going to happen in the future, but then, I'm not a farmer.

The buzzards led Nick Bursio to his prized calf. He found the body just over a rise in the field, with a bullet hole in its left shoulder, near the heart. Bursio had heard of animals killed by rustlers for their meat. But not until that May morning had he ever imagined anything so senseless as shooting cattle presumably just to watch them die. "I had a hollow feeling in my gut, to see that dead calf laying there, with the mother cow bellowing nearby," said the Sonoma County rancher. "I thought, what the hell's going on in this place?"

Exactly. I mean, if that calf had been taken away to be turned into veal, that mother cow would've been chuckling gleefully, right?

So that's one cognitive-dissonance oddity. But here's another: "In California, state law provides some protection for large farm animals, but enforcement varies among counties. As a result, prosecutors in farm cases often settle for convictions on lesser vandalism charges." So to sum up, if you destroy the farmer's animal (the putative basis of his very business), that's "vandalism." But if you take any photos of his operation from anywhere near his property, that's, yes, "terrorism." Okey-doke.

FED TO THE LIONS

According to the Seattle Times, there's trouble a-brewin' in our nation's zoos over feeding horsemeat to the big cats. "It's definitely up for debate," said Kathleen Larson, Point Defiance's interim veterinarian. "Unfortunately, all people won't be happy until our carnivores are eating salad."

Uh, no, Kathleen. For the record, we won't be happy until 'your' carnivores are no longer held captive in 'your' zoos. But the point is, this is just one more issue pointing out the fallacious idea that wild animals can be kept in captivity for human entertainment without severe problems resulting. The best, most professional zoo in the world is still not completely prepared for everything (aside from freedom) a wild animal needs, and to put it lightly, most US zoos are far, far below that standard.

Good to hear at least some thinking going on in Columbus... "Don Winstel, the Columbus Zoo's assistant director, like representatives from several other zoos, said the switch six months ago was a pragmatic one as domestic sources for horse meat closed down. He also recognized that zoo visitors might be more comfortable knowing horse was off the menu. 'It's just more alien to people in the U.S.,' he said of horse-meat consumption. 'But, in reality, I'm not sure how to judge which animal should be butchered and which one should not.'" Hmmmmmm, good point, Don.

VICK GUILTY PLEA

So the sports hero is just as despicable and cowardly as some of us had figured, and were chastised for rushing to judge him. Time to judge now? Who wants to put money down on how long this criminal loser has to wait before walking back onto an NFL playing surface?

'WESTERN' DIET BRINGS CANCER BACK

"Patients who had received surgery and chemotherapy for state III colon cancer would be better off eating a so-called prudent diet as researchers found that eating a Western diet would increase the risk of cancer recurrence," according to a new study, which spotlighted red meat and dairy along with processed foods and sweets as making up the 'Western' diet.

"In response to the study news, the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) published a press release to emphasize the importance of plant foods in prevention of colon cancer. The AICR recommends 'colon cancer survivors follow the dietary advice known to reduce risk for colon cancer and cancer in general: aim for a diet high a variety of vegetables, fruit, whole grains and beans and low in meat and dairy foods.'"

ONE KIND OF DOG ABUSE ON THE WANE

While we wait to see if Michael Vick will or will not admit his involvement in illegal dogfighting, let's not miss this tearjerker out of Florida, "the Greyhound State": "Saturday, the Tampa Greyhound Track will host its last dog race, ending a 74-year tradition on this gritty stretch of Nebraska Avenue. Operators say low attendance at the dog races prompted the move." Yvonne Gurbada, secretary and treasurer of the Florida Greyhound Association said that the place used to be packed regularly, but no more: "You can't imagine 5,000 people here, but there were. Now, there aren't even 500 people here." Awww. Where'd I put that tiny violin?

ON VACATION

I was. Now I'm not. But I probably should've said something before I was. But at least now I have.

Posts to follow will catch up on what I missed. At least some of it.

ELEPHANTS' PROGRESS: SLOW BUT SURE

While American cities drag their heels and cling to the archaic "tradition" of animal exploitation as entertainment, performing elephants are disappearing from more enlightened metropolitan climes:

"Even though there are probably more circuses in Britain than ever before, only eight still tour with animals and Bobby Roberts' Circus is the only one left that has an elephant." Whether that elelphant, 'Anne,' gets "pensioned off" as she deserves or not, it's stunning - and encouraging - that a tradition-steeped country such as England has only one remaining circus elephant. And:

"The state government has banned domesticated elephants from India's largest city, saying that forcing the beasts to walk the city's chaotic, crowded and polluted streets was an act of cruelty." The ban was issued after a campaign charging that elephants "are not properly fed, and suffer skin and foot ailments from being forced to walk on scorching hot, potholed city roads for long hours. When not working, the elephants were chained to posts and unable to move with most living under busy overpasses." A rough life, sure, but at least they didn't have to listen to that annoying calliope music every day.

INCONCEIVABLE! 'RECALLED' MEAT STILL ON SHELVES

In a stunning development that no one could have predicted, "Stores nationwide are continuing to sell recalled canned chili, stew, hash and other foods potentially contaminated with poisonous bacteria even after repeated warnings the products could kill." You may recall that those warnings were "repeated" because of the structure of the recall - first announced on Thursday night with 720,000 pounds involved, then expanded over the weekend to a size so massive it apparently cannot be computed and reported. Truly, a "Friday" recall in spirit if not in letter.

It's big, though: "The recall now covers two years’ production at the company’s Augusta, Ga., plant - a tally that spirals into the tens of millions of cans," the AP article notes, yet a huge portion of those dangerous cans are still being purchased and consumed because, oddly, consumers and retailers both seem to have missed the news. "The FDA alone has found them in roughly 250 of the more than 3,700 stores visited in nationwide checks, according to figures the agency provided to The Associated Press. In states like North Carolina, more than one in three stores checked by state officials in recent days were still offering recalled products for sale. Officials there pulled 5,500 cans and pledged to keep searching." And although "health experts consider botulism a severe health threat but worry that word of the recall has not reached all consumers or retailers, especially mom-and-pop operations. 'It has been a problem getting the message out. We’re having a problem reaching the smaller stores,' said Lynae Granzow, an epidemiologist with the Indiana Department of Health." Hey, let's check and see how many of those smaller stores are still selling tainted spinach and peanut butter!

RELATED, SORT OF: July 25 - Custom Pack, Inc. of Nebraska recalls 5,920 pounds of ground beef and buffalo products for possible E. coli contamination.

HELLO SUMMERFEST

To those of you not at Summerfest: Here I am at Summerfest.

To those of you at Summerfest: Here I am at Meat Facts.

SCORE ONE FOR MSN

I opened Internet Explorer to its default page on this computer (not mine), which is MSN.com, and was immediately greeted with their front-page story, "Is it Cheaper to be a Vegetarian? Meat may be murder ... on your wallet." Fearing the worst, I read through that and a sidebar, "Is a vegetarian diet really healthier?" and I have to say, taking into account the idiom, i.e. mainstream, lowest-common-denominator journalism, this is a pretty fair account. One hint is that when you click through that opening question to the article, the headline on the page is "Go vegetarian to save money," with the subhead, "Staples such as rice, corn and beans can make trips to a grocery store less expensive. But the biggest savings may come in health-care costs years later." And while the piece on the "healthier?" question retains its question mark in the headline, the article is pretty unequivocal.

The second paragraph starts out, "Evidence has been building for two decades that people who eat a mostly vegetarian diet have the upper hand. But ..." ah, yes. The "but" - what is the writer going to counterpose against the supposed evidence? The sentence continues, "even scientific studies may not be enough to convince meat eaters to give up their lust for flesh in exchange for a longer, more disease-free life." Wow. So there really was nothing to contradict the truth - only a separate issue of whether meat-eaters will care about the truth.

And with phrases like "we’re not talking a few percentage point differences, but 25 percent to 35 percent less risk," this piece does get the clear benefits across, well, clearly. And sometimes startlingly: "[W]hile the dairy industry would have you believe that milk is the best source of calcium, research suggests otherwise. 'When we think calcium, we tend to think dairy,' Andrews says. 'But when you take a step back, the main source for all minerals-including calcium—is soil from the ground.' So plants such as bok choy, broccoli, collards, and kale are a good source of calcium. In fact, calcium from these plants is absorbed by the body twice as readily as calcium from cow’s milk." Wow. What's next, an in-depth report on Vegetarian Summerfest?

EXTRA! COLUMNIST ATTEMPTS 'VEGAN' DIET

Although I am too weak-willed so far to go to the extremes of Caldwell Esselstyn's NO OIL plan, I do recognize its health potential. More to the point, I understnad that it's not synonymous with "veganism," a fact you'd think anyone writing yet another "I tried veganism" column would do enough research to nail down, but no:

Animal products: Forget them. Nuts, avocados, oil: Taboo. I gasped, but what about olive oil? Forbidden. In other words, he was asking me to become a vegan.

In other words, your take on Esselstyn's eating plan - or on veganism - is about as valuable as your conception of "vegan" is accurate.