MEDDLE MANAGEMENT

There are plenty of people who find fault with the USDA - but you usually don't hear such screeds from meatpackers. In this story of how one guy's family business (cue violins) was destroyed by USDA incompetence, he notes that the agency's "real policies imperil the consumer. The USDA doesn't want that out." He also observes that "The USDA could care less about the health of my grandkids." Hey, pal, join the club.

PRE-THANKSGIVING TURKEYS

Yes, it's kind of a "dog bites man" story, but stop and think for a moment how Thanksgiving will be for the families of these two who found it more important to go out shooting animals than to be around for their loved ones.

THANKS FOR THE DISCLOSURE... NOT!

"Is your Thanksgiving turkey crawling with germs?" asks WebMD. "Nobody knows" is the disturbing answer given. Last year, the USDA put out a list of 38 turkey plants they'd tested. In the worst plants, one-fourth to one-half of all turkeys carried Salmonella, a dangerous food-poisoning germ. Salmonella poisoning makes 1.3 million Americans sick, leading to 15,000 trips to the hospital -- and more than 500 deaths -- every year. "The list ruffled feathers by naming the good and bad turkeys by brand name," notes WebMD, which is apparently why this year, there's no list available! So... good luck!

BOMBSHELL: MEAT, COW'S MILK ALIEN TO HUMAN BODIES

In an astonishing University of California study, researchers have isolated a molecule, Neu5Gc, that we are singularly predisposed against, which comes to us through eating meat and drinking milk. The findings suggest "that everyone who doesn't follow a vegan diet is regularly inviting a foreign invader to reside permanently in their bodies, one that sometimes ends up in cancerous growths." But how would our species have thrived with such a time-bomb in our system? "Early humans lived much shorter lives than we did, so any risks involved in eating red meat may not have been important. 'They may have been there all along, but who cares if you are only going to live for 50 years,' says Dr. Johns, an expert in evolution and diet. The dangers of meat may be more significant now that humans are living much longer, he says."