Bravo Cheese Recalls all of its Cheeses

               On November 23 this year, Bravo Farms had decided to recall all of its cheeses because of the many E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks from their products. They sell many different varieties of cheeses in retail stores throughout the nation, mainly on the west coast. They sold cheeses that included Gouda, Pepper Jack, Tulare Cannonball, and different styles and flavors of Cheddar cheese. “Out of concern for any further contamination we have decided to further expand the recall to include all of our cheeses,” the company said. After the recent Gouda cheese (mentioned in my previous blog) outbreak in 5 different states, they decided to test their cheese plant for any pathogens. During the investigation, listeria monocytogenes and E.Coli O157:H7 bacteria have been discovered by California Department of Food and Agriculture, the company says.

Rooftop Garden

These are the picutres I took at our class trip to the rooftop garden. It was really interesting to discover people are trying to be green any possible way they can. Growing your own produce helps you learn about gardening and ways that you can be healthier. Growing your own produce is organic and is much healthier than buying fruits and vegetables from the supermarket because you do not add any preservatives, hormones or chemicals that makes our food less nutritious. This has inspired me to be more aware of what I eat and how I can choose healthier foods.

Tylenol and Other Medication Recalls

                 This November, more than 40 over-the-counter medications are voluntarily being recalled by the McNeil Consumer Healthcare company. These include pain, fever and allergy medications for infants and children. Forms of Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl, and Zyrtec and all being recalled. Their has been traces of higher concentrations of ingredients in the products that are supposed to be. Some of the medications “may contain inactive ingredients that may not meet internal testing requirements' or 'may contain tiny particles” and in addition, some of the raw materials in the products were 

 and that some of the raw materials used to make the products were adulterated with bacteria. The McNeil company that their are no reports of detrimental medical mishaps, the recall is a “precautionary measure.”  

               If medication similar to these being recalled are needed you can substitute them with medications such as a chewable tablet, a box of the medicine that hasn’t been recalled with a lot number that wasn’t included in the recall, or another brand or generic form of the medication which has not been affected by the recall at all.

Recalled over-the-counter medications for infants and children include these medications:

• Tylenol Infants' Drops
• Children's Tylenol Suspension
• Children's Tylenol Plus Suspension
• Motrin Infants' Drops
• Children's Motrin Suspension
• Children's Motrin Cold Suspension
• Children's Zyrtec
• Children's Benadryl Allergy liquids in bottles

Don't take food samples from Costco

                Who knew that a tiny cube of a cheese sample could make 27 year old social worker Annette Sutfin so sick? She took a cheese sample at one of the Costco’s in Phoenix, Arizona and went to the hospital three days later. She suffered stomach cramps on October 18, and they got really intense on the 21st. When she went to the hospital, she was released, but she went back two days later because of bloody diarrhea. She stayed till the 25th and later got a call from the Maricopa County Health Department on November 1 to tell her she tested positive for E. coli 057:H7.

               No one had told her that the Bravo Farms Dutch Style Gouda Cheese she took a sample of was made from raw milk and that their are risks to be considered when consuming unpasteurized products. "All the things you read about E. coli seem to be about beef," she said and the investigation of what she ate did not seem likely to lead back to the small Costco cheese sample. 

  Sutfin did recover but not 100 percent. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, their were 10 other victims of the outbreak in Arizona. Eight are from Colorado, three are from New Mexico, two are from Nevada and one is from California.

Watch Your Lettuce

               Freshway Foods of Sidney, Ohio, may be responsible for a romaine lettuce recall earlier this year, that had sickened students in three states. According to the lettuce distributor, investigators are tracing the outbreak to a farm in Yuma, Arizona. Freshway Foods sold the lettuce in 23 states and recalled it because of a possible E. coli 057:H7 outbreak. Three of the illnesses were life-threatening. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention linked 10 other cases to the recall.  

               Both college and high school students were effected by the outbreak. Health officials claim that college students were sickened in April and have already recovered. The superintendent in New York, James Parla said that two cases were confirmed and connected to other cases in two different states. Vice President at Freshway Foods Devon Beer, said that the company with the FDA and found the farmer who grew the contaminated lettuce but would not name him. 

               The recall only includes lettuce that had a “best if used by” date on or before May 12 because Freshway Foods did not continue buying its lettuce from the manufacturer. It was not clear why the contaminated lettuce had hit college and high schools students the worst but it was probably because of the "grab and go" salads sold at Kroger, Giant Eagle, Ingles Markets, Marsh grocery stores food service outlets and in-store salad bars and delis. Most of the recalled lettuce was sold in states east of the Mississippi River. It was sold in Alabama, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

More recalls at Wal-Mart

               In May 2010, alfalfa sprouts sold to over 400 Wal-Mart stores in 15 states have been recalled because they were contaminated with salmonella. The sprouts were sold raw by Caldwell Fresh Foods to Wal-Marts in Alabama, California, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon and Wisconsin, the company said. The Centers for Disease Control said that the sprouts had sickened 22 people in 10 states and a baby located in Oregon. The rest of the eleven were from California. Besides Wal-Marts, the sprouts were also sold to restaurants, deli’s and nationwide retailers. Caldwell Fresh Foods did not comment on the situation and they did not answer the company phone.

               The Oregon Department of Human Services announced the first outbreak and reported that the sprouts were sold in 18 states in South, Midwest and West. Two people were also sickened in Nevada and two in Wisconsin. The CDC said that one person each became ill in Arizona, Oregon, Idaho, Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico and Colorado. The sicknesses began between March 1 and May 2 and six people were reported to be hospitalized. The spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Caren Epstein said that the sprouts were removed from the stores as soon as their was knowledge of the contaminated produce. She reported that 75 in Illinois, 56 in Georgia and 47 Wal-Marts in Louisiana purchased the sprouts and the rest of the stores included 12 other states. 

Cadmium: Dangerous Toys/Giveaways at McDonald's

               In June 2010, 12 million cadmium-tainted "Shrek" drinking glasses sold by McDonald's were being recalled. Similar cheap products raise many questions about the products being manufactured for Americans. "It could have been any glass company," said Ron Biagi, an executive with Arc International, which made the glasses. "We all do the same thing using materials from the same suppliers." McDonald’s stated that their glasses met the federal guidelines with the cadmium levels permitted to make the product. Scott Wolfson, a spokesman of a CPSC-testing lab, said that the glasses do not meet the standards of the toxic mental of what they contain. The CPSP issued a major announcement telling consumers to stop using the dangerous glasses. "We believe the Shrek glassware is safe for consumer use," McDonald's USA spokesman Bill Whitman said. "However, again to ensure that our customers receive safe products from us, we made the decision to stop selling them and voluntarily recall these products effective immediately." 

              Cadmium can cause bone softening, kidney problems, hinder brain development in young people and long term exposure can cause “adverse health effects.” The Shrek-glassware would cause long term exposure with low levels, and would enter a child body if the child puts their unwashed hand into their mouths.

Subway: Not as fresh as you think...

               According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, forty-eight Illinoisans contracted a rare form of salmonella after eating at Subway restaurants in June 2010. Out of the forty-eight, seventeen were hospitalized. This illness has reached as far as 18 counties. Subway isn’t aware of the specific food that was contaminated, but them and FDA are working together to figure out where exactly the problem is coming from. 

               In 2008, Subway had additional problems with salmonella in Great Britain. Subway sold contaminated meat for about five months which causes 120 illnesses and one death. These problems result in revenue issues within the company especially in Illinois. To promote the new breakfasts, Chicago and Northwest Indiana would give away breakfast sandwiches for free from 7-11 a.m. on Tuesdays. Any effort to promote their business is a plus. 

Letting Salmonella Slide

  Basic Food Flavors Inc. is the company who produces hydrolyzed vegetable protein, (HVP) which is a food enhancer used in many ready-to-eat foods. A recall included 177 products containing HVP in June 2010. On June 23, Basic Food Flavors Inc. received a warning letter from the FDA for documentation on their products. 

  During the last inspection of the plant, Salmonella contamination was found and led to a recall of all HVp powder and paste made by the company since September 17, 2009. Food safety officials in Washington D.C. were worried about the thousands of products that would need to be recalled so the FDA limited its recalls on products because it lacked a “kill step,” (when potentially dangerous pathogens are removed from a product when it is being manufactured). Only 177 products were recalled. The FDA said that “the salmonella had established a niche environment”, and it was contaminating the facility. The company is trying to think of solutions so that it will not survive and become a bigger problem in the factory. 

No More Bison Meat

               About 66,000 pounds of ground and tenderized steak bison products were recalled because of potential E. coli O157:H7 in July 2010 by the Rocky Mountain Natural Meats company in Henderson, Colorado. The recall occurred after the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) had found products to be contaminated with E. coli. An investigation done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and the New York Department of Health discovered that 6 people had became sick after consuming products from the company.  One person was from New York and the other five became ill in Colorado. The products were distributed from May 21 and May 27. Although the sell-by date for the recalled meat has passed, consumers may still have the product in their freezers.  

Grass Fed Beef v.s. Corn Fed Beef

  Today, cows, sheep and other grazing animals diets have only consisted of corn and grain instead of grass. This causes many problems in the animal digestive system and bad consequences for both the grazer and us. The reasons factory farms have started doing this was because it’s much cheaper, faster and more profitable. In the United States, cows would be slaughtered after four or five years. Today, they are slaughtered after fourteen or sixteen months. This is done with large amounts of corn, protein supplements, antibiotics and growth hormones. Feeding a cow corn instead of grass is extremely disturbing to their digestive systems and it can possibly kill the animal if it is not done as gradually as possible and with massive amounts of antibiotics. The beef that we eat has caused waste runoff into rivers and ocean and pollutes the water and the environment. Infectious E. coli is found in many beef products because of the poor diets of cows which we consume, which makes us sick, and can possibly kill you. Feeding cows grass can have many positive effects on our bodies with the nutrients it provides us. Feeding cows corn and grain instead of grass can produce bad effects to both ours and the cows digestive systems and can really harm the environment and feeding them grass is much more positive because it produces high quality meat with less bacteria and infections that can potentially make us sick. 

  Cows are known as ruminant animals. Ruminant animals are mammals that have a complex stomach that digests plant based foods in a number of steps. First, the cow chews the food and it passes through its first stomach. It then regurgitates the partly digested food known as the cud, and it begins to chew the food again. This process in re-chewing  the cud to further break down plant matter is known as “rumination.” Humans do not posses this type of digestive system to ruminate, but if they did it would be caused by some kind of trauma and can become a chronic disorder which would be called rumination syndrome. Since these cows are ruminants, they are made to digest plants, but what they are being fed now is corn and grain and their digestive systems are not made for this. The pH levels in a healthy cow would be a 6 or 7. A cattle with a pH level lower than 5.5 is susceptible to become ill because of innumerable amounts of bacteria in their stomachs. The pH level in their guts are normal when they are consuming forage, but when they eat corn and grain it changes the level and their guts become extremely acidic. A common illness cows suffer from is called acidosis. It is caused by a diet too high in carbohydrates, low fiber content, and forage that is too finely chopped which all produce a high number of lactic acid in the stomach. Symptoms are ulcers in the rumen which can cause liver abscesses, laminitis (sore hooves), decreased appetite and milk production, depression, dehydration and can even lead to death if not treated properly. This also causes “feedlot bloat” which is when they develop lactic acid from not eating enough roughage, which is so severe that their is a chance that an animal can suffocate from it. The reason these cows can live like this because they are given a small dosage of antibiotics daily. “Putting cattle on a corn based diet is like putting humans on a diet of candy bars-you can live on it for a while, but eventually you are going to get sick” (Singer 61.) The beef producer doesn’t care about how the animal feels. They think that as long as they can get the cow to the slaughterhouse in time before it dies of all these problems, then its fine because it will generate a profit. Feeding corn and grain to cows causes many problems to their bodies and to the meat that we are consuming. The harm to their bodies causes harm to our bodies too. 

  The way the animals are fed and treated in unnatural and dangerous for the cows but also has a huge impact on us. Due to the diets of the cows on feedlots in the beef packing industry, their stomachs and intestinal tracts become highly acidic, which welcomes the growth of the bacteria E. coli O157:H7. This has been known as an extremely dangerous pathogen that comes from the buildup of bacteria in the cows bodies. The meat is then consumed by us and we contract a food borne illness that can possibly be deadly. Over the years, their have been many recalls of beef in the United States as this pathogen traveled from stomach to stomach. Each year, 200 people die from E. coli 0157:H7 in the United States and 25,000 people are diagnosed, which converts to about 2 people every hour being declared positive for the food borne illness. These are all people who are simply eating a hamburger for dinner. The causes of this illness impacts children and the elderly much more aggressively because of their weaker immune systems. The reason that people contract E. coli is because of the bad conditions on the feedlots  that the cows live in and the acidity in their stomachs. The E. coli can survive the acidity of the human stomach because it has built up a  high resistance to the acidity. "Grain does not specifically promote the growth of E. coli O157:H7, but it increases the chance that at least some E. coli could pass through the gastric stomach of humans," Russell said. "The carbohydrates of hay are not so easily fermented, and hay does not promote either the growth or acid resistance of E. coli,” said James B. Russell, a USDA microbiologist and faculty member of the Cornell Section of Microbiology. A very useful study done by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Cornell microbiologists have led to the conclusion that changing a cows diet from grain to hay just five days before it was to be slaughtered, could dramatically reduce the number of acid-resistant E. coli in their bodies. "In the meantime, now that we know where the acid-resistant E. coli are coming from, we can control them with a relatively inexpensive change in diet," Russell said. The effects of feeding corn and grain to a cattle has immeasurable effects on our bodies and the actual cows, but it also has huge impacts on the environment. 

  Not only do cows promote pollution caused by methane-emitting flatulence, but feeding them corn causes many other negative effects to our environment. Large amounts of greenhouses gases are being produced from the large feedlots of thousands of cows. Growing the corn to feed these cows nationwide, takes a lot of energy into the machinery being used in the fields. This also includes chemical fertilizers which are added to the soil to improve the soil quality. A single acre of corn requires 14 energy inputs and the U.S. produces about 1.5 bushels every year, just to feed the cows. “We have succeeded in industrializing the beef calf, transforming what was once a solar-powered ruminant into the very last thing we need: another fossil-fuel machine,” said David Pimentel, a Cornell ecologist who specializes in agriculture and energy. Grass is much more efficient and produces less greenhouse gases. A field of grass gets its energy from the sun, which is a renewable source. Cows drop their waste onto the grass, which creates instant fertilizer and nutrients for the next cycle of crops to grow. Run-off waste that pollutes our air and water is another issue. The feces and pee from cows build up on large feedlots and are usually put into one area. If its rains, this waste will ultimately get into a nearby body of water. The feces contain steroids that the cows were given to make them grower faster and in a shorter time. Alan Kolok, a professor of biology at the University of Nebraska, is studying the effects of runoff from feedlots in the the Elkhorn River. He explains how the fish are showing signs of altered sexual features. Males have less masculine features and females have less feminine features. This is known as “Endocrine Disruption,” and the Nebraska Department of Game and Parks is concerned about what would happen to recreational fishing. The bottom line is that cows should be fed grass because it produces less pollution to the environment. Feeding grass to cows has many benefits to us and the quality of the meat is overall much better. 

  Grain and corn fed beef promote the growth of E. coli in their stomachs because of high acidity levels. The Journal of Dairy Science has stated that levels of E. coli are usually higher in feedlot cows, so, grass fed cows are obviously healthier. Grass fed beef is natural for cows because they are ruminants and they digest forage much easier. Grass fed beef is lower in fat and saturated fat and provides us with a lot of omega-3. These fats are very important for our nutrition and are also found in flaxseeds and fish, walnuts, soybeans and from animals who has grazed on omega-3 rich fields. Grass fed beef contains a third less fat per serving compared to feedlot beef and a three-ounce serving contains 35 milligrams of brain and heart protecting omega 3’s compared to 18 milligrams of the same serving for feedlot beed.  When cows are sent to feedlots and taken off a grass diet, they lose the omega-3’s that they had stored in their tissues and this meat only contains 15-50 percent of omega-3’s as grass fed beef. Grass fed beef is also higher in vitamin E and higher in conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which is a nutrient linked with lowering the risk of cancer. Kate Clancy, Ph.D., a senior fellow at the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, reported that research in rats has associated higher CLA levels with easier weight loss and a reduced risk of heart disease and certain types of cancer. Grass fed beef is healthier and promotes better nutrition compared to feedlot cows. 

  In conclusion, cows who are fed grass rather than corn and grain are much healthier. They are not filled with antibiotics, have healthier digestive systems, and overall, have a better quality of life. The beef that we eat from feedlot cows have a high chance of being contaminated with E. coli and contain pathogens, bacteria, hormones and feces. When we consume these dirty products, they make us really sick and can possibly be fatal. Not only does the effects of feed cows grain and corn effect us, but it also effects the environment. Growing the corn to feed the cows, transmitting the food and then transmitting the beef promotes the use of a lot of greenhouse gases. Waste run-off in the waters cause many problems to nearby ecosystems and can permanently damage the them. Grass is overall much better because of the health boosts it gives us including the omega 3’s and good fatty acids. Grass fed beef also contains linoleic acid (CLA), which is associated with lowering the risk of cancer. Overall, grass fed beef has much better results and can really help us, the environment and the well being of the cows.



Works Cited: 



1.) Robbins, John. "What About Grass-fed Beef?" John Robbins Official Site. 18 Apr. 2010. Web. 21 Nov. 2010. <http://www.johnrobbins.info/blog/grass-fed-beef/>.
2.) "Linoleic Acid." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 21 Nov. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linoleic_acid>.
3.) Moyer, Lyndsay. "Grass Is Greener: The Health Benefits of Grass-Fed Beef | Women's Health Magazine." Women's Health July-Aug. 2008. Women's Health Magazine: Health, Fitness, Weight Loss, Beauty and More. Web. 21 Nov. 2010. <http://www.womenshealthmag.com/nutrition/benefits-of-grass-fed-beef>.
4.) Solomon, Claude. "Corn-fed Cows Are Killers; Killing Us and Earth With Every Bite." Web log post. A Six Foot 6 Inch View on Food. 7 June 2010. Web. 21 Nov. 2010. <http://solomon1eng103.blogspot.com/2010/06/corn-fed-cows-are-killers-killing-us.html>.
5.) Segelken, Roger. "CU and USDA: Cattle Feeding Change Could Cut E. Coli Risk." Cornell Chronicle 17 Sept. 1998. Cornell Chronicle. 17 Sept. 1998. Web. 8 Nov. 2010. <http://www.news.cornell.edu/chronicle/98/9.17.98/cattle_feeding.html>.
6.) Parker-Pope, Tara. "Switching to Grass-Fed Beef." The New York Times 11 Mar. 2010. The New York Times. 11 Mar. 2010. Web. 8 Nov. 2010. <http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/switching-to-grass-fed-beef/?scp=4&sq=feeding%20cows%20corn&st=cse>.
7.) Singer, Peter, and Jim Mason. "Meat and Milk Factories." The Ethics of What We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter. [Emmaus, Pa.]: Rodale, 2006. Print.
8.) "Ruminant." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 21 Nov. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruminant>
9.) “DLC-ME | The Microbe Zoo | Animal Pavillion | Cow Rumen." DLC-ME Home Page. Web. 21 Nov. 2010. <http://microbezoo.commtechlab.msu.edu/zoo/zacmain.html>.
10.) Bowen, R. "Digestive Anatomy in Ruminants." Arbl.cvmbs.colostate.edu. 23 Nov. 2003. Web. 21 Nov. 2010. <http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/herbivores/rumen_anat.html>.

Dead Animals in School Lunch

               Some kids attending school rely on school lunch because it’s free for them and their parents do not have money to provide them with their own lunch five days of the week. Due to this, kids are provided with disgusting and unhealthy food in their school cafeterias. They are supposed to be fueling their minds to learn for the rest of the day with healthy and nutritional foods, but how can they possibly do this when they are being fed literally nothing but garbage? The food industry is so low that it will serve kids at school food that has been declared as “unfit for human consumption,” by the USDA (Schlosser 219). It is ridiculous to know that this is being approved and it really shows how the food industry and the government work together in trying to making the most profit that is available. This topic interested me because I thought of myself as a student at school. I have been eating school lunch since my whole life and now I completely regret it. I thought I was being fed healthy, nutritional food but what I was really eating was probably old and contaminated meat. The thought of this really makes cringe and it probably made you cringe too. All of us have been eating school lunches since our first day of kindergarten and it should be stopped immediately. Kids in elementary, junior high school and high school are all still growing and we need good nutrition from the food we eat. School lunch is probably equally as bad as eating at McDonald’s or any other fast food restaurant.
               “A 1983 investigation by NBC News said that the Cattle King Packing Company – at the time, the USDA’s largest supplier of ground beef for school lunches and a supplier to Wendy’s – routinely processed cattle that were already dead before arriving at its plant, hid diseased cattle from inspectors, and mixed rotten meat that had been returned by customers into packages of hamburger meat” (Schlosser 218). This quote really disturbed me because it tells readers about a real investigation that was done by a national news channel and the secrets they had found in a food companies factories. All these kids want is a good meal provided by their school and what they actually get is diseased and disgusting old meat that was dead before it was even slaughtered. I sure wouldn’t want my kids eating school lunch after finding out this information. How much lower can these food companies be? When will they end all the pain and suffering the outcome of their unhealthy food gives us for the kids that simply want to eat a good meal? It isn’t fair to the kids, parents and to anyone else eating it. This is just one example of how messed up food companies are. They take making the most profit possible rather than giving kids something healthy to eat.

Secrets of the Pet Food Industry

  The pet food industry in the United States is the only industry legally allowed to lie to consumers, and the only food industry allowed to violate Federal food safety laws. Food recalls not only happen to food that we eat, but also to our family dogs and cats that we love so much. This major pet food recall had occurred in 2007. 

U.S. Magistrate Judge John T. Maughmer sentenced Sally Qing Miller and husband Stephen Miller, owners of ChemNutra, Inc., to pay a $25,000 fine and three years probation. ChemNutra Inc. was at fault for importing melamine tainted vegetable protein ingredients. These ingredients were put into the pet food and was responsible for the thousands of illnesses and deaths in dogs and cats. ChemNutra pleaded guilty but was fined $25,000 because of knowingly importing contaminated poisonous vegetable proteins and the manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, will pay $150 million in criminal fines to settle allegations it knowingly sold the contaminated ingredients. 

  Menu foods who is another pet food manufacturer responsible for hundreds of recalls and thousands of deaths in pets in 2007. They settled for $24 million dollars for pets who consumed melamine tainted pet foods. A human drug company was fined $600 million in civil penalties and its product did not result in any illness or death. This controversy explains itself. We pay a lot of money for the well being of our pets and the pet food industry obviously does not care about the welfare of the animals that we treat like family members. This really needs to be changed. What more can the food industry lie to us about?

Prospectus

Today, cows, sheep and other grazing animals diets have only consisted of corn instead of grass. This causes many problems in the animal and bad consequences for both the grazer and us. The reasons factory farms have started doing this was because it’s much cheaper, faster and profitable. In the United States, cows would be slaughtered after four or five years. Today, they are slaughtered after fourteen or sixteen months. This is done with large amounts of corn, protein supplements, antibiotics and growth hormones. Feeding a cow corn instead of grass is extremely disturbing to their digestive systems and it can possibly kill the animal if it is not done as gradually as possible and with massive amounts of antibiotics. Feeding cows grass is much more positive because it produces high quality meat with less bacteria and infections that make us sick.

The health effects of feeding corn to cows take a number of tolls on our bodies. The beef that we eat has caused waste runoff into rivers and ocean and pollutes the water and the environment. Infectious E. coli is found in many beef products because of the poor diets of cows. The poor diets of corn and grain cause their stomachs to be very acidic, just like our stomachs. The acid in our stomach helps to kill off bacteria from food that we’ve eaten, but the bacteria is now immune because of the high acidic levels in the cows. Nothing is being done about this problem because food companies try to make the most profit possible and in the cheapest way. They do not care about the welfare of the consumers eating the food they produce because it’s all about money.

            The sources I will be using is a blog written by a student that uses a lot of important and useful on the effects of corn fed diets in cows and the effects of it on humans. I will be using the book “The Ethics Of What We Eat,” by Peter Singer because he talks about all the practices factory farms follow. I will also be using the LaGuardia database to find books related to my research. 

E. Coli...A Close Friend

          1 million pounds of ground beef products were recalled on August 6, 2010 because of seven people who fell ill with E. coli contamination. The company Valley Meat Co., of Modesto, sold the contaminated meat to  California, Texas, Oregon, Arizona and internationally, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. Most of the products were sold frozen and processed from October 2, 2009 to January 12, 2010. The source of the outbreak was determined but one of the seven sickened patients, with a meat sample in their freezer. 

          The USDA was looking for stores where the products were sold to remove them from the shelves. "This is the first recall in our history and we will investigate the matter thoroughly and take any measures deemed necessary to further elevate our safety standards, protect consumers, and ensure confidence in our products," Valley Meat stated. Valley Meat advises consumers to throw out the potentially contaminated meat with the establishment number "EST. 8268" on the label, and throw it out or bring it back to stores for a refund.

          The majority of infected people were in Northern California. Exposures also took place in Marin, Mendocino, Placer, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Siskiyou and Kern counties. Ralph Montano said that none of the patients cases were so severe that they need hospitalization, and all of them recovered. Symptoms include severe stomach cramps, diarrhea, vomiting and a low fever. If the situation is on a higher level of severity, the infection can lead to kidney failure, brain damage and even death.

Salmonella, the FDA, Jack DeCosta, and Continued Bad Habits

Corporations and factories have been allowed to participate in many unsafe practices and the government hasn’t done a thing to promote food safety habits. Due to this, Wright County Eggs and Hillandale Farms are responsible for the recent outbreak of salmonella in eggs, and have recalled about half a billion eggs in May 2010. Salmonella causes fever, severe vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and can cause fetal infections if it gets into the bloodstream. Their have already been 1,300 cases of salmonella between May and July but only about one in every 38 cases of salmonella are actually reported. So the numbers are actually much higher and approximately in the ten thousands. 

Austin “Jack” DeCoster is Wright County Eggs owner and also has family ties to Hillandale Farms, which also come together because they manufacture and buy their eggs from the same places. He has a long list of animal and environmental abuses, and Secretary Robert Reich, writer of the Christian Science Monitor blog on August 24, commented, “DeCoster agreed to pay a $2 million penalty (the most we could throw at him) for some of the most heinous workplace violations I’d seen. His workers had been forced to live in trailers infested with rats and handle manure and dead chickens with their bare hands. It was an agricultural sweatshop.”

In a Forbes investigation in 2006, a detailed report of the conditions at Ohio Fresh Farms showed similar conditions to those at the Wright County Egg Farms and stated, “In the three years of its existence the company has incurred dozens of enforcement actions from the state, up to seven issued in a single day, for such violations as promoting swarms of flies at ‘extreme levels’ and discarding empty vaccine vials, mixed in with manure in a vacant field.” Investigators also added that they had discovered Salmonella on the site and the factory had one of the worst ammonia emissions, which cause skin and lung irritation. 

Their is an outcome of about 9,000 deaths each because of 81 million cases of food-related illnesses. The Food and Drug Administration is responsible for overseeing corporations in the food industry and has 450 inspectors for about 156,000 different sites. These companies are visited by the inspectors about once a year which tells us that instead of protecting consumers, they are contributing to the population in not knowing that our food really isn’t safe. The corporations are enabled to continue business, despite their violations and unsafe practices.

Heres a link to daily food recalls and outbreaks: 

http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/default.htm

Hidden Ingredients

MY NEW PROJECT:
            I did not like my original blog project so I thought of a different topic. My new topic will be based on food recalls and how bad food is effecting people in the United States. I will be finding my information from the past five or ten recent years and post my findings on my blog one a week. I will write about how and why these things happened in certain places and where the food that was recalled came from. The themes of my project are food and health and the morality of big food companies. What I hope to learn about are the foods that I should be eating less of and why these foods make people sick. I already know that these problems are the companies fault but I hope to further learn how they can avoid these problems.

MY OLD PROJECT:
             My weekly blog for class will be based on a research project of how many of our foods contain high fructose corn syrup, soy bean, and modified ingredients. Every few days I will look at one supermarket item in my refrigerator and look at the ingredients they contain. I will keep my eye on the foods that contain one or more of the three ingredients and report on what supermarket food I examined. Most of the foods we thought would never contain these ingredients probably do because of all the many different forms corn can be morphed into.

Our class has recently watched a movie called “Food Inc.”, and in the movie it mentioned that the supermarket is basically fooling us. All the foods that we think are so different from each other are actually very similar because they contain at least one out of those three ingredients. Corn and soy beans have recently been modified for mass production and used for many things. This includes feeding cows, pigs, chickens and even fish corn because it is so cheap. Corn has become revolutionized in America. 

            The themes of my project are basically food and health. What I hope to learn from this project is about my food and exactly what is in it. We are fooled by all these big companies that we think produce all this diverse and good tasting food, but we are really just eating the same thing over and over and not receiving the right nutritional values . The kinds of thoughts I hope to inspire my readers with are to also do the same thing that I am doing for my project. I am hoping that they will do investigating in what they eat too like checking labels and researching certain companies and how they produce their food. It will be very educational to myself and all of my readers and knowledge is power. 

Problem-Posing Assignment

           The problem in Chapter 3 is the amount of violence coming from the young and the poor, working in the fast food industry in Eric Schlossers book “Fast Food Nation.” Many of the robberies and theft that go on in fast food restaurants are from current or former employees. These young employees are angered by the minimum wage they receive and how they are treated unfairly, without respect or value. The effects of this are employee outbursts and commitment of armed robbery early in the mornings or late at night. They can steal money from the restaurant because they are so angry with there jobs. This effects and endangers both employees and customers. For example, on page 84, Eric Schlosser explains a situation at a McDonald’s in Moorpark, California where the restaurant was being robbed. The day shift manager recognized the night shift manager under his mask. An example of a political issue that has risen caused by violence in the workplace is that of The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). This act could help promote safety guidelines during the night shift at fast food restaurants  and because of the high levels of workplace fatalities in women. The National Restaurant Association and one hundred congressmen opposed the act because they were bribed with money. In January 1999, The National Council of Chain Restaurants lobbied against OSHA and formed an organization called the “Alliance for Workplace Safety.” 

          “No other American industry is robbed so frequently by its own employees”, Joseph A. Kinney notes, the president of the National Safe Workplace Institute. He also adds that we shouldn’t be wasting time installing cameras and such but we should improve the job experience for workers. This relates to violence in fast food restaurants because its showing how an employer himself is telling restaurants that they need to do a better job in satisfying there employees. Americas fast food industry workers are looked at as no more than slaves who worked in the fields. It is the same principle except in modern times. That is what the fast food industry in America is all about. Paying workers as little as possible and making the most profit possible. 

          My personal experience goes back about three years ago. It isn’t as violent as an armed robbery, but I can relate to the subject. I worked in a coffee shop and closed around eleven o clock. It was about ten and I was cleaning up the espresso machines when an old African American man with an unshaved face and a limp walked in. His clothes made it noticeable that he wasn’t the richest man in the world. I noticed my tip jar a few minutes before and saw a dollar crammed inside with a red, circular stamp plastered on it. The man walked up to the register and asked for a cup of coffee, so I turned around and went in the same step by step process to fill up the little cup. I turned around and asked for a dollar and fifty cents. The man handed me the same dollar that was in my tip jar, and I noticed my almost now empty jar. I told him that I knew he had taken the money from the cup and he started mumbling and cursing as he walked out of the store. I had called the police and when they came we watched the video of him taking the money while I had my back turned to make his coffee. I felt angry and upset to know the money I had worked hard for had been taken. 

          Solutions that have been tried and failed were everything from security cameras, burglar alarms, panic buttons, drop-safes and additional lighting on the premises. Even the most thoroughly guarded fast food restaurants are still vulnerable. For example, in April 2000 a Burger King located on the grounds of the Offut Air Force Base in Nebraska was robbed by two men in ski masks and armed with shotguns. The equipment did not the effect the robbery one bit and they got away with over $7,000. My personal experience is from my account that I have mentioned before. In my case, the solution worked and didn’t worked. I still got my money taken but the cameras helped to identify the thief. 

           If I was given unlimited resources and connections, I would hire a security guard to protect the place when it closed and another when it opened in the morning and I would work with the police force. These fast food franchises have so much money that they can use to hire security guards and it will save the workers lives, and prevent any money from being stolen from the restaurants. This would lower the violence rate in the fast food industry and workers would feel much safer and probably appreciate their bosses more. I would also pose a solution towards the managers or franchisee holders. I would tell them to take the money out of the registers and safes and keep them somewhere out of the fast food restaurants several times a day to  prevent robberies in which they take more money. 

Edited Descriptive Writing Response

               I approached the large golden arches from far away. As I near the tall square building, I roll down my window to smell the golden fries that cook nonstop. I drive up to the large, square, black menu with all of the similar (but made in a different way), items to choose from. I concentrate on the board for a minute and then I move up to the large speaker to order. I move up again after that, going to the next window to pay the small amount for my large meal. I wait for my white paper bag with a large “M” lettered arch printed on the front. As the worker opens the window to hand me the food, I see and hear the business of the fast food restaurant and smell all of the mouthwatering food. I take my bag, drive off and the car fills with the smells of salty fries and chicken. I open up the bag like its a present on christmas morning and steal a few scolding hot fries. They scorch the tip of my tongue so I close the bag and wait till I arrive home. 

                When I get home I sit at the table, open the bag and lay out my food on a plate. I take a bottle of ketchup from the refrigerator and smother my warm fries with tomatoey, high-fructose corn syrupy, goodness. I grab a few fries again, tasting the salty crispy crunch. Then, I take a bite of my chicken sandwich with a golden bun, soft and crispy chicken and loads of mayonnaise that seep out when you take a bite. When I reach the last few bites, I often become sad and when I’m done, I feel tired and sleepy. I was definitely lovin’ it. 

Descriptive Writing Assignment

            I approached the large golden arches from far away. As I near the tall square building, I roll down my window to smell the golden fries that cook nonstop all day. I drive up to the large, square, black menu with all of the delectable items to choose from. I concentrate on the board for a minute and then I move up to the large speaker to order. I move up again after that, going to the next window to pay the small amount for my large meal. I move up to the last window and wait for my white paper bag with a large “M” lettered arch printed on the front. As the worker opens the window to hand me the food, I see and hear the business of the fast food restaurant and smell all of the mouthwatering food. I take my bag, drive off and the car fills with the smells of salty fries and chicken. I open up the bag like its a present on christmas morning and steal a few scolding hot fries. They scorch the tip of my tongue so I close the bag and wait till I arrive home. 

            I sit at the table, open the bag and lay out my food on a plate. I take a bottle of ketchup from the refrigerator and smother my warm fries with tomatoey, high-fructose corn syrupy, goodness. I grab a few fries and eat them, tasting the salty crispy crunch. Then, I take a bite of my chicken sandwich with a golden bun, soft and crispy chicken and loads of mayonnaise that seep out when you take a bite. When I do reach the last few bites, I often become sad.

            When I’m done, I feel tired and sleepy so I lay my bloated belly on the couch for a while. After a McDonald’s meal, you can call me a couch potato because that’s what it makes me want to do. I feel satisfied afterwards and sometimes I even feel a little bit too full, even if I didn’t eat very much. 

Cafeteria Food

                Hello to whoever is reading this. The other day at school, I visited the school cafeteria during my break. When I got there, I was expecting something totally different than what I had found out. I thought that there would be fresh and healthy food, or at least somewhat, but I discovered the total opposite. There wasn't a large variety of options but there was basically all fried foods and a small area for salads. I try to eat as little fried food as possible because its so fattening. So, I instinctively went toward the salad bar.
                The vegetables looked really dry and old and looked like they were very low quality. It wasn't the most pleasing sight at lunch time. There was a choice between grilled and crispy chicken and I asked for grilled because its obviously healthier and more nutritious. They said they were out of grilled chicken which means its pre-cooked which is gross. How hard is it to take a chicken cutlet and either fry or grill it? This makes me wonder about other food habits all fast food restaurants follow.  So, I ended up getting a turkey wrap. It was really bland in flavor and didn't impress me at all. The lettuce and tomato tasted old and it reminded me of middle school and high school cafeteria food. I ended up throwing half of it out. I definitely won't be visiting the school cafeteria anytime soon again.
                The vending machines in school are really bad. They are filled with fattening chips, cookies, carbohydrate filled granola bars (which some people think they are healthy) and soda and other sugary and salty drinks. Why can't these school provide something healthier and more nutritious? People are aware of the health hazards of school food, and some schools have tried to change there bad habits. Serving and selling all this unhealthy food adds to the amount of kids that don't eat the proper food to energize and concentrate throughout the day.
               Therefore, I believe schools should change the food the serve to the future of America because by them serving this food, they are hurting our bodies for the future. Only then will people realize the mistakes they've made throughout their lives with their poor diet habits and there is no going back after that.

BPA: Cited Annotation

Grady, Denise. "In Feast of Data on BPA Plastic, No Final Answer." New York Times. 6 Sept. 2010. Web. 20 Sept. 2010. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/science/07bpa.html>.

                

        Denise Grady describes BPA (bisphenol-A) in a negative way and how it can have bad effects on children and babies. BPA is found in a lot of plastic products such as water bottles and baby bottles, and after many people found out that it was harmful, it will not be sold by its manufacturer, Sunoco, anymore. This chemical does not only affect children. It effects anyone who is exposed by it. It can cause serious illnesses such as cancer, infertility and behavior problems and was also recently linked to childhood obesity. The European Union has a rule called "precautionary principle" that states that products should not be used until they are proven harmless. The United States has an opposite view and thinks that it would be fine to use BPA and other products, as long as it hasn't been harmful yet. 

Scientists are puzzled at this point because of all the different tests and ways that this chemical has been experimented with. BPA may also have to do with breast cancer, uterine cancer, obesity, behavior, the immune system and its association with estrogen and it can cause many different effects. Tests had been done with rats and giving them lower levels of BPA caused different and weirder effects than a higher dose would. Scientists all found different effects in there own fields of science and University’s have also done testing. At this point, Scientists are just trying to figure out exactly what it does and the different ways that it can effect us. 

Fast Food Nation: Chapter One

                Hello everyone! I have finished reading chapter one of Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser  today, and I honestly thought that it would be boring but I do like it so far. Schlosser tells you about a specific story of one entrepreneur who took risks and had great success, but in the end loses it all. Along the way, Schlosser also tells us of other fast food victories and the stories of the most successful and most popular fast food franchises today. The stories are remarkable because of the similar ways each person that started these fast food chains began. They were almost all uneducated, had a small fortune and took large risks. Today, all of those fast food chains are the biggest money makers.
                While reading chapter one, I had a few thoughts. The way that these chains made there food was most likely much different than they make it today (which is with chemicals and hormones). If these restaurnats made it like they did years ago, maybe it wouldn't be as bad for Americans and not cause all these sicknesses and diseases. When these business owners first opened there fast food restaurants up during the early 1900's, I doubt that they were thinking how different and unhealthy they would make peoples lives years to come. They just wanted to make fast cash but I don't think that they thought of the consequences of how the food was going to change and become revolutionized decades later.
               Fast food did change the entire world and without it restaurants and small businesses would be making the most money. I think that there would be less obese and unhealthy people who are  the right weight just as well. In America, there are currently 60 million obese people over the age of 20. There are 9 million obese children between the ages of 6-19. Obesity is the #2 cause of death in the United States.  I don't believe that it is a positive thing that these fast food chains were so common since so long ago. Society would definitely be much different than it is today if they had not been created.

My First Blog

                 Hello. My name is Constance. This blog is for English 103 at LaGuardia Community College in New York. In this blog we are starting to research ethics of food. I eat certain foods and stay away from others. This is because I know what is done to certain foods that our harmful to our bodies presently and in the future.
                 I will not often cook at home because my parents take care of that, but I do cook when I'm home alone and just because I sometimes like to. Usually, my parents do all of the food shopping but I will go with them once in a while. When they shop for groceries they go to a number of different places. They go to a regular supermarket, fruit and vegetable store or traditional European food stores that sell specialty items that you would not find in a regular supermarket. Lately, I've been eating a bit unhealthy but I usually eat lots of vegetables, grains, and chicken. I have been a vegetarian in the past but I became very unhealthy and sick because I was not getting the proper nourishment. So, I have decided to only eat chicken and do not eat any red meat but it can be very unhealthy. I eat a lot of fruits and my favorite are probably kiwi and mango. My other favorite foods are probably traditional dishes that originate from my culture. They are made with thick sauces and vegetables, rice, meat, and cheeses and I really enjoy them. I periodically order take out and I love chinese food and eating it is a really bad habit of mine but I guess it's okay once in a while.
                 Sometimes I'm not even sure what I'm eating when I get food from fast foods restaurants or fast food restaurants but it definitely tastes good. The same goes for these large fast food franchises in that people don't really know what they are eating. They sell cheap meat, make lots of profit and thousands of people turn obese and unhealthy. They also end up have many health issues like diabetes and high cholesterol and thousands of other health concerns. People want the quickest, cheapest and fastest food that they can get.
                I want to say that I know where my food comes from but I probably don't. I do have an idea about what farmers and big food companies do to their food to increase the profit that they can receive. These poor farm animals are being tortured, crammed into cages with other animals, being fed cheap food and using hormones instead to grow them bigger than ever. If people actually knew what they were really eating I don't think they would ever look at there cheeseburger or box of fried chicken the same way ever again. The same thing goes for fruits and vegetables. Farmers grow crops with hormones to grow the produce larger to make more profit and increase the value. They also use harmful pesticides that can make us sick.
                In conclusion to my first post, I am somewhat aware of the dangers of the food we put into our bodies. I would like to learn more of where food comes from to educate myself with smart decisions on what and what not to eat. I think its important to eat healthy foods that can help energize your body everyday and not hurt you in the future.