Foods Banned in Europe, Why Not in America?
97Food for thought?
Banning Food Products
While the European Union (EU) continues to ban or require labeling on foods that are subjected to irradiation and genetic modification, the US still thinks a ban is not necessary. The belief is that people living in the EU have a right to know what's in their food or what has been done to it.
Meanwhile, I need to add that many other countries have no need to ban these questionable food practices because such is not permitted in the first place. For example, over a 4 year period, when I lived in S. Korea, food was expected to be quality, fresh and locally grown. When Wal-Mart promised such foods and did not deliver, the women refused to buy their produce and put Wal-Mart out of business. When America demanded that S. Koreans accept American beef, thousands took to the street in protest. I agreed because millions of pounds of beef are recalled annually here in the US.
What about those millions of pounds of beef?
Despite millions of pounds of beef being recalled annually as well as other foods, (drugs, supplements, household products, etc. - see links below), we still continue to trust manufacturers who are only required to monitor themselves. We still rely on food that is overwhelmingly processed with 70% of it having genetically modified (GM) ingredients.
Have you figured out yet what happens to the millions of pounds of beef that is recalled? Sometime ago I contacted the USDA for an answer. See if you can guess what happens to the recalled beef.*
In the meantime, beef continues to be sold to the American shopper and to schools and millions of pounds continue to be recalled.
Here are some questionable food practices:
Genetically Modified Foods:
I recently read that 80% of the American diet consists of processed food. If you walk into an American supermarket, the shelves are filled with thousands of boxes and cans (even though cans are lined with the chemical BPA), as well as frozen packages, and all the snack junk - this is our diet. The fruit and produce aisle is usually somewhere off to the side. It gets worse - because 70% of all that packaged food is genetically modified (GM).
Our corn and soy is GM. So is canola oil (canola oil is GM rapeseed oil from Canada - thus the 'can' in canola oil) and then there is cottonseed oil. If you are eating a bag of potato chips right now - it may have cottonseed oil. In addition to all we've read about how unhealthy potato chips are, cotton is one of the most heavily 'sprayed with pesticide' crops.
There are people who believe that the epidemic of allergies, asthma, skin problems, and chronic ailments are due to GM foods. In the EU, if a GM product is .9 percent or more it must be labeled. In the US, labeling is not required.
Why is it so hard to grow healthy food?
Actually it's not - please see the link below for an urban farmer who got tired of seeing sickness and obesity in young children in his community - and created a massive year round farm right in the city of Milwaukee. He was also recognized by the MacArthur Foundation with a Fellowship Award. Surprisingly, right here in NYC, people are taking to vacant lots and roof tops, more than ever, to grow food.
Irradiation:
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved irradiation, since 1963, to kill dangerous organisms in beef, pork, chicken, lamb, herbs, spices, flour and fruit and vegetables.The EU only permits it on dried spices, herbs and vegetable based seasonings.
There are those that argue that with food-borne illnesses killing at least 5,000 people annually, irradiation is necessary - despite the fact that critics warn the process destroys nutrients. But I think we should be asking ourselves why our food is so filthy that practically all of it must be irradiated. (This corresponds with my USDA beef response below).
Antibiotics:
To get bigger, fatter animals, the US gives antibiotics to 70% of its healthy livestock. This practice can create drug-resistant campylobacter (according to kidshealth.org this is a bacteria transmitted by contaminated food and water, affects over 2 million people per year, and is a leading cause of food-borne illness in the US).
For some unknown reason children in our schools are still given containers of milk and there are no labels to indicate that the milk is free of bovine growth hormones. The breakfast program usually provides something like milk and cereal (a breakfast of bovine growth hormones and GM corn products). Our children overwhelmingly have weak immune systems because breastfeeding is not embraced in the US culture. Sometimes chocolate milk is offered. I read a label and it contained partially hydrogenated oil which no one is supposed to digest any longer. Least of all children.
When I lived in Seoul, all children were guaranteed a full Korean style lunch which includes rice, soup, a minute bit of protein, always kimchi, another veg, and fruit, all freshly made - while our children are given nuggets of something, french fries, packaged stuff, even beef products that sometimes make it on the recall list. Korean children do not suffer from obesity nor does the general population.
Dyes:
Despite the fact that dyes added to our processed foods may cause behavioral problems - they remain on the market. The D.C. based Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has asked the FDA to ban certain dyes that may cause hyperactivity in children (in the wake of a 2004 analysis). Dyes in question are red 40, red 3, blue 1, blue 2, green 3, yellow 6 and orange B. These colorings are found in snack chips, candy, crackers, those awful colored drinks, that awful macaroni and cheese product, vitamins and much more.
- Check the CSPI website for more information @ cspinet.org (the CSPI is urging the FDA to crackdown on false and misleading food labeling, and there is a recent report on a troubling decline in foodborne outbreak Investigations, and much more).
- Check the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy's Online Brain Food Selector (iatp.org/brainfoodselector)
- Check hub pages for a wealth of healthy living and eating suggestions.
The EU requires labeling of foods containing particular synthetic dyes linked to behavioral problems in children.
What happened to the recalled beef?
* In 2007 it seems everyday I heard on the news that millions of pounds of beef were recalled - where did it go? I kept waiting for a big bon fire somewhere in the wide open desert where this would all be dumped by the ton(s) and destroyed - but it never happened. Here we are ending 2009 and no bon fire of the tons of recalled beef. So where is it?
Actually in 2007 I contacted the USDA and asked what happens when beef is recalled. I got a very nice response from the meat and poultry hotline - they have a virtual representative at: askkaren.gov - the response:
"It depends on the reason the product is recalled. If it is recalled for bacteria and it is determined that the meat can be made safe by processing, it will be used in a product that is thoroughly cooked. If it is recalled for a problem like improper labeling it can be relabeled."
(As mentioned above, the CSPI reports that inaccurate and misleading labeling is still a problem)
Yes, the beef is not destroyed by the large manufacturers - it is back on the supermarket shelf in those cooked canned products with beef and those frozen products with beef. No labeling is required so we don't know exactly who is using the recalled product. And we also know why irradiation is so important for American food products. If you google or yahoo recalled beef there will be hundreds of reports about millions of pounds of recalled beef - and for years, much of it winding up in schools.
What about our children?
Honestly, I think our children deserve better. Of course we do too as adults but adults have a tendency to make excuses - but can we continue to make excuses when it comes to feeding this to our children? Who doesn't pay good money for these products?
There are also many non-food products that are banned or simply not used in the rest of the world - see links below.
In doing research, I found the topic overwhelming and tried to keep this short by limiting it to food - and including links for other issues affecting health.
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Thank you so much for commenting lounn - I have been working on this for ages and it kept growing and growing - there is just so much and it has not improved since I wrote the USDA over 2 years ago. Just more information, more recalls and on and on.
Oh my goodness! So all that recalled beef is just "repurposed" so to speak. BkCreative, at the risk of getting on my soap box, I'm just going to say that since my little girl was diagnosed with ezcema, I noticed that the strict diet I placed her on has not only helped her, but my whole family as well. I read practically every label, and have stopped purchasing canned fruits and vegetables for a long time now. I try to stick with frozen or fresh fruits and veggies, and in the event we do eat meat, it's usually turkey or chicken. The fresher the better is my motto. And the explaination given to you about where all the recalled beef goes .... don't get me started. It really is up to us to become informed consumers. Thank you for another splendid, eyeopening hub.
That's the word Veronica Allen 'repurposed' - I mean just how long is this stuff handled?
I honestly got tired doing all the research here because there are 10s of thousands of chemicals we are dealing with everyday - from the clothes we wear, the sheets on the bed, personal care products, practically everything in the house and on and on. Our babies are having a hard time.
It's a never ending vigilant process. I love your soap box by the way - and I'm so glad so many hubbers are also on their soap boxes!
Thanks for writing!
Thank you BK for a true and great hub, everything you said is true about not taking things that's banned off of the shelves. Thank you for sharing this great info. Godspeed. creativeone59
Wow, that is an ey-opener. I never knew anything about it and also never thought about it. Thank you for doing all these researches.
Very nice hub. Very informative. Thanks for sharing.
You're welcome creativeone59 - one of my elders many years ago told me that when we finally get information - all the damage has long been done. She is right of course. Often we hear about recalls after all the products have been sold and used.
You're welcome Hello, hello. Last week I heard that millions more pounds of beef were recalled. It just doesn't stop.
Glad you found the information informative Philipo.
Thanks for writing!
Wow - really eye opening information. It is so sad that we have let our food supply become so unhealthy. I try to be careful and not purchase too many processed foods - but I guess I need to really watch more carefully. Thanks for the reminder!!
You're welcome Patti Ann - I'm glad you look at this as a reminder. Unfortunately, when a manufacturer changes ingredients in a product they are not required to announce the change - so even if we have read labels before we have to read again.
Thanks for commenting!
Back in the 70's children were fed a well balanced diet in schools now they call ketchup a vegetable and they are fed junk. It's no wonder kids are overweight.
I totally agree with you BK, my thought is that the US as a country didnt sign in the Kyoto protocol yet (reducing of carbon emission etc), as they always say, lifestyles of American isnt in compromise, it is time for the lawmakers to really take a look and banned these foods too, Have a good day, Maita
Nice to meet you Pamela N Red - and how well I remember Reagan announcing that ketchup is to be considered a vegetable in school lunches. Our poor children, overweight, chronically ill and trying to handle the adult issues of sickness and obesity.
And prettydarkhorse - our lifestyle in America has certainly been compromised - by all the toxins in our diet and environment. Really, how can we think this is okay for our children. Not signing the Kyoto agreement has in no way benefited us as a whole - maybe a few people - and look at the price our children must pay.
Thanks so much for writing!
Very well researched and written hub. I guess I'll think twice about getting a cheeseburger from MacDonald's now. Thanks for sharing this vital information.
thanks for this valuable information, this is a big eyeopener for all of us.
This is an excellent and important hub. Thanks for taking the time to put it together.
what an eye opener, bkcreative. i hope that this information will reach many Americans as well as other nationalities, too.
it makes me sad though that more and more adults do not care for the young and choose the fastest way of feeding. i hope this trend will change.
Thanks for commenting PWalker281 - glad you liked the hub. Once we stop buying the stuff with our hard earned money - we'll get a better product! It may be okay to buy US fast food out of the country - higher standards have to be met like organic eggs and no high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oil and GM foods!
You're welcome midnightbliss - I appreciate the comment. Glad we hubbers are so receptive to healthy eating.
I appreciate the compliment Curious Jen. Thanks for commenting!
Thanks Bingskee! I often think of a belief by the First People on this continent who said something to the effect of "We have not inherited the land from our ancestors, we have borrowed it from our children." It seems we just won't think beyond our immediate needs. As a teacher I see such suffering in children of all ages - and it is diet and environment-related.
I too hope the trend will change - honestly, it makes life easier in the long run! But change won't happen if we still buy the garbage sold to us.
This is a very valuable information. You really had put much effort in researching this topic. Good job!
Thanks beth811 - I appreciate the compliment. I would have to write hundreds of pages to get in all the information about the thousands of toxins in our environment - but I know readers get the picture!
Hi BK,AS you know,my partner and I put together a project we discovered in NYC.We bought two derelict nine story buildings which are know Indoor Farms.We are planting in another week or so(had to let the soil stabilise according to the AG consultant)and hope to get our first harvest in about four months.This is a Great project in every way especially for northern cities cause these farms grow year round.This Hub is a God send.Thanks for the links to other Info,it will help a great deal.Thanks again for doing all this research!
Dean
Its so worrying i know. In the Uk we have our own set of foods and products that are banned elsewhere but deemed ok over here.
Hello cheaptrick! I do remember reading your hub about the project in NYC (I'm sure I commented) and would love to hear more so I can come shop! I'm glad you found the hub useful but I am even more glad that you are effecting change - thanks so much. Sounds like a real winner!
Hello ethel smith - I enjoy my time in the UK when I visit my cousins in Hitchin - then we go to a farmer's market with excellent fresh food. And the quality of what I find in Waitrose and even Tesco's is far superior to what I find on a US supermarket shelf. You are so far ahead of us here. It just makes sense. How can you keep a nation healthy and provide healthcare and then feed them toxic garbage. Sigh!
Thanks for writing!
I never gave much thought to what happens to the food that is recalled. I guess I should have been paying more attention. Our children and ourselves deserve better. This is certainally a cause worth getting involved in. Thanks for your information and I will certainly try to get more involved in this problem.
Nice research you have had!
I'm glad to hear you say that Kathy Rimel. It saddens me too, to see how our children are suffering from such a poor diet and it has been allowed to happen - all in the name of profit. There is absolutely no other reason why we would be sold such dangerous garbage. The best thing is to be aware and we are now - and spend our money accordingly.
Thanks for the comment chimmychan. I'm glad you read the hub!
Lord...your hub only tipped the iceberg. I almost became physically ill imagining what we're consuming. I need to put this hub up on my frig as a diet aid.
Great diet aid! And so true pmccray - it would take hundreds of pages to write about what we are consuming - there's the high fructose corn syrup, and the partially hydrogenated oil - which is supposed to be removed from products but still remains - don't add the personal care products like toothpaste and lotions etc. I supposed we won't stop until we become physically ill - immediately!
Thanks for commenting!
As always - Great research BK! I never even thought about what happened to the recalled meat. Good Grief! Guess my head has been in the sand...
Great hub Bk....it was amazing living in the UK for a while and seeing the differences with some of their foods there. Especially when it came to meat. A lot of families I knew would go to special local farms that they trusted for their meat. Anyway, this was really interesting.......Best, GPAGE
Well the old adage is "You are what you eat" and I´m sure that´s true but my concern would be how to know that the organic food you are buying is truly organic - how do we know that the polutants are not already in the soil?
Surely, it cannot be 'rocket science' to develop worldwide standards on food and food safety - both regarding development and distribution?
What a list! Is anything safe?
I agree with you!!
You know The Rope - we'd like to think that there is a sense of responsibility among the people/corps we depend on for food - but there isn't. Quality food should be a right not a gamble.
I agree with you GPAGE - I can taste the difference in the food in the UK - I also appreciate all the labeling on products. At least there is effort.
Lyns - back in the '60s - that was the saying 'you are what you eat' and for being health conscience we were called 'health nuts' - yes nuts! And truly we don't know what is organic or locally grown - my new saying for eating is 'I must vary my poisons' only because too much of one thing that may then be recalled or overly processed is likely to be toxic.
Nicks I'd like to see food grown and eaten in the country of origin - these imports of fresh foods means no nuttients by the time we get it.
jtrader - is anything safe? Probably not - I think we have to start demanding proof instead of assuming.
Thanks tal g mel!
Thanks for writing!
I was worried too when I first moved to the States, a year and a half ago from the UK, about giving my son milk. The artificial growth hormone issue was worrying. Then a friend told me that in MA you have better laws than some of the other states when it comes to food laws. Still, I think the issue of food quality and banning foods need to be based on people first, profits second. Why should certain foods be banned based on where you live when clearly the damage can be universal to all human beings.
Yes, hellomoo!
Laws vary from state to state but they are pretty much meaningless, it's like gun laws. Guns are illegal in NYC so criminals just drive South and buy all they want and flood the city streets, easy. W/o eliminating bovine growth hormones entirely and all questionable food practices on the federal level, the food moves freely from state to state. As long as it is allowed to exist in this country - who knows what you are actually getting.
Thanks for commenting!
The U.S. needs more of this expose type of writing when it comes to our food BK, well done. Glad to hear they are making a difference in my hometown of Milwaukee. There were many urban gardens around in Chicago too when I lived there for the past seven years, I hope this is a continuing trend.
I like this hub as with your other hubs too, I went to look again here, it seems we are in the right path of thinking, Thank you BK, Maita
I agree Ben Zoltak - we now have the power of the internet to share this kind of information and pass it on. I think it will begin to make a difference. And Milwaukee is doing it in a big way!
We seem to be on the right path Maita - no one is surprised or shocked about this information, anymore - it's just a matter of sharing it and benefiting from it.
Thanks for writing!
What a shocking piece!! And makes me so glad that I eat vegetarian style...but you started to make me wonder about the vegetables I buy now. I guess the only safe conclusion is to grow your own garden and eat out of it. As far as the meat.....I am speechless about the recalled product.
I think everyone should read this hub. It would truly open their eyes at least I hope it would!! Great job!!
Thank you Wealthmadehealthy - the most disturbing thing about this is that it has been going on for years! Most vulnerable are children of course and we see how it is affecting them.
All the exercising in the world cannot make up for the ravages of toxic foods. No other culture spends as much time and money on gyms, and supplements and diet foods - yet we remain chronically ill and obese. We need fresh, whole, locally grown foods. Food always works to keep us healthy and fit - there is no other way.
Thanks for commenting!
very informative and well researched! I also never imagined recalled beef is then 'repurposed.' that is sick. working with young upper middle class children, 3-5 years old, I would say maybe 3 out of 20 children brought a decent, healthy lunch. parents filled their lunchboxes with 'fruit' drinks, chips, chicken nuggets, lunchables, gummy candies (one parent actually said they had fruit in them because it said 'fruity gummy bears'). I am constantly amazed at how little our adult parents take the time to educate themselves about how to feed their children! there are just no excuses, the info is out there, everywhere.
thanks for sharing an important topic.
It's amazing rebekahELLE - that the choices, of which there are so many, are just so very poor - no matter what you buy. We are buying into advertising. We've actually been taught that a snack food is 'chips, cookies, candy' - we need to change our vocabulary and call it what it is 'garbage' or 'junk' - when I lived in S. Korea, a snack for the children was cherry tomatoes - they loved them!
I'm so glad you commented and shared your experience about what is being given to our children.
Thanks so much - and nice to meet you!
BKCreative, what a thought provoking hub. Indeed food is a very integral part of our lives, and we hardly think of what we eat and how it is been grown or made. I have been to Europe they really have a lot of labels and indeed they are consious about what they are putting in thier mouth.
From where I am in India, the things are a whole different story. Nothing in this part of the world is safe, I feel scared of what to give my child as the food is compromized. With the hike in normal commodity prices, sweets and restuautant dishes ingredients are compromized putting our health in jeopordy. Thumbs up for this hub.
I wish we can think of animals as humans. Do we want to be fat? Then maybe we should rethink about the fatter, bigger, the better animals. I do believe what we eat is what we are! Do we think that cancer or other diseases just came out of nowhere? I think it is related to out food. Great hub!Thanks.
Thanks for your input charanjeet kaur. Since we no longer have local control over our food supply - then indeed we have no idea what we are putting in our mouth. I appreciate your response because it shows concern for your child which is my biggest issue. As adults we can kind of figure out a food issue but a child just suffers. I appreciate your compliment - once so many of us voice our concern we can effect change.
It seems tim-tim that we forget that we are also animals. We are so duped into thinking that diseases are age-related. It is not true - it's our diet, environment and lifestyle. I've been traveling by bus this last week and people in their 60's and 70's can barely climb steps, walk without a cane, or catch their breath. Yet in S. Korea, people that age and older, run past me as I climb the mountains there.
Glad we hubbers can spread the word!
Thanks for commenting!
Wow, thanks for the article. I have been very interested in this lately too. It is sad how most of America eats. Not real food at all.
Wow, thanks for the article. I have been very interested in this lately too. It is sad how most of America eats. Not real food at all.
Powerful, powerful, powerful, who knew, certainly not the public. I usually don't read long hubs all the way through, as with most of us, unless they are as interesting as this, and my goodness this was so interesting that I could not stop reading until the end. I am going to bookmark this one and also email to my friends. I'm also going to "Digg and stumble this. I am so glad that I finally read this. Please do more like this.
Hello Jennifer - It is sad the fraud that has been perpetrated on the American public. Imagine we are actually being blamed because we are told it's 'freedom of choice' - don't buy it if you don't want it - huh? My free choice is 'garbage' or 'junk' - what's the choice there?
Thanks fastfreta! I'm so glad you found the hub useful. This is great because together - we hub people are going to effect change. Thanks for sharing it with all your friends as well. We all deserve real food - it should be a right not a gamble or a privilege! And Okay, I'll do more research articles. I'm working on something about the hundred and hundred of side effects, often fatal - not just of prescription drugs but over-the-counter.
Thanks for commenting!
And Americans wonder why children, teens, and adults have more medical issues. We wonder why there are more cases of cancer, bone/muscle/joint problems, and why we're sick all the time.
I hope one day Whitney05 - and very soon - we will connect the dots. Sigh! We weren't always a chronically ill nation. Our poor children.
Nice to meet you and thanks for commenting!
Yes, we've pretty much ruined our food and beverage supply. Chemicals, antibiotics in everything, all thanks to an expert or scientist of some kind. I haven't microwaved food in over a year, haven't used antiperspirant (aluminum chlorhydrate) in 2 years or more, and avoid water with fluoride.
So true rmcrayne - we just eat whatever is thrown in our mouth. And those deodorants? - that's a whole other hub of horrors - yikes! Microwaves - good for heating frozen processed foods - a doubly whammy.
Good to meet you and thanks for commenting!
Great hub and great information and how true! It seems we don't seem to care much about what is going into our bodies here in the US as long as it is quick to make and easy on the pocket book but that really doesn't say much for our desire to stay healthy does it? Definitely something needs to change here. Audrey
BK, I agree we weren't always so ill. My geology teach in high school was also a human anatomy teacher, and one day she asked how many of the students has knee or joint issues, and about 10 or so 16-18 year olds raised their hands. She said about 20-30 years ago there may have only been 1 student raise their hand.
So true Audrey - we will put anything in our mouth - without a thought. Sigh! Once we remember that profit and not health is at work here - maybe we will effect some change.
How sad Whitney05 - that so many children already have knee and joint issues - we have failed them. Chronic ailments have become so common that now it's become the norm - like 'well you're getting old you're supposed to have these ailments - it's age' - well it's never been true before. Sigh!
Thanks for commenting!
As a person that has A LOT of food allergies I totally agree with and support your hub. I have a condition called "Geographic tongue" which is brought on and made worse by food borne allergens. I'm seriously considering having my own organic garden just so I can eat without breaking out. I am also allergic to most dyes, preservatives, and food tnederizers (MSG) and a lot of chemically enhanced spices. Needless to say I break out all the time and my tongue is constantly a patchwork of dead taste buds which is what geographic tongue does. This is a huge, huge problem in this nation yet we insist that we need to continue adding this crap to our food. Do people have to start dying, before someone gets the hint?
Well written and great research!I do agree that we have to be selective of what we're eating.
Schools don't give kids much milk anymore. My kids are offered chocolate milk only, white milk is out. Advertisers have convinced us it is okay to consume the garbage they produce. "All in a day's profit", corporate America says. "Factory farms are good for the economy" they continue. And you and I are guinea pigs. At least corporate profits are up. Right?
Well thats an eye opener.Office girl. http://www.netplumb.co.uk
I think the saddest part of it is so true though across the board - we just don't think anymore. When I look at people in the stores and what is in their carts, I seriously want to make a 'citizen's arrest'....can you imagine - I can hear it over the loud speakers now...'old lady alert on aisle 7 - it's that Kirchner woman again and she's grabbing things out of people's carts and running down the aisles with them...block the front door'. It literally makes me sick though what I see folks putting into their carts and then I look at their kids and I want to cry! It must sound like I'm judging but truly I'm not - how long does it take to pay attention to diet, etc. and if you claim you love your kids or family - why NOT? Just common sense in my humble old lady opinion.....
all of this to save money...it's a waste...
Does anyone still wonder why are americans obese?
Wow Leah Wingert! - that is something new to me - geographic tongue - what an amazing topic to explore and I will! So many are suffering from allergies - but take medications which suppress the symptoms so they think they are fine and continue eating or living in toxic environments. Thanks so much for your comment - I will explore it further - and nice to meet you too!
Thanks Anya Tan - so many hubbers are sharing great information - so I think we all will effect some change here!
When I was in a school recently Keith Tax, I read the label on the chocolate milk and it had partially hydrogenated oil and high fructose corn syrup - two things that no one should eat. Schools become dumping grounds for super cheap foods. Sad but true!
Thanks Net Plumb - I appreciate your comment!
I'm with you AKirchner! We'd have fun in the markets - we'd become shopping cart inspectors - two old ladies. We'd be scary too. I always look at what people are buying and of course it's the people with children buying most of that junk. We've turned the garbage into something called 'treats' or 'snacks' - wouldn't it be nice if it was properly labeled like 'non-food mess' or 'mystery meet' (don't even spell it 'meat') - as always I appreciate your thoughts.
All this to save money Millionheir - our health is for sale - and it's cheap, cheap, cheap!
We're obese and so chronically ill Petra Vlah - there are so many older adults in my neighborhood who can barely walk, have canes, on riding chairs, obese and on an on. And it's become the 'norm' - yikes!
Thanks for writing. I think if we had to find a healthy group of people - it would be people who write on hub pages - a nice community, for us to share information.
Great hub and I have wondered what effects this is having,it seems kids are maturing sooner than ever before. I know we have become a nation which eats a lot of chicken and it is unreal how fast chickens can be grown using all those chemicals.
What interesting points! thanks for sharing!
good job, great hub!
I've read, Putz Ballard, that females are maturing rapidly because of all the hormones - and hormones are causing a decrease in male births (a hubber recently wrote about this too) - and fish in the sea are turning female. We are destroying everything for the sake of cheap, unhealthy food.
Thanks askjanbrass. I appreciate your comment - and it's nice to meet you too!
Thank you for sharing the information in this hub, BKCreative.
As a child care provider, I do see the effects of junk food on children, which includes hyperactivity. Then the parents try to get their children assessed for mental disorders etc. We need to focus more on prevention methods and save the money being spent on cures.
You've summed it up create a page - billions are spent on so-called cures. Proactive is always best. Poor children. Unfortunately so many parents are quick to accept the labeling and medication of their children.
Thanks for sharing first hand information!
BK, this is very disturbing. I recently read an article saying that a rise in hormone levels has been linked to the genetics in child molesters. Makes one want to become a vegetarian.
It is because in the US the FDA is king. The FDA is in the pocket of all the food and drug companies and is merely a tool for their profits. The FDA made it illegal for a supplement/food/herb to technically be a cure for anything it has to a be a drug.
Interesting comment Jiberish - I think we are all being affected and in so many different ways. What next, I wonder?
The FDA is king in the US Nick - you're absolutely right about that. What's so horrible is that it is approving drugs that are toxic - it is allowing drug manufacturers to do their own safety testing. It's only after a disaster does the FDA step in. Hardly for our benefit.
Thanks for commenting!
Absolutely wonderful. They have just started to allow gm crops here in Australia. Many people want clear labelling of this and of other dangerous additives. It seems silly to throw away the lucrative european food market for seeds that dont regrow and that according to some reading Ive done do not increase crop yeilds, but actually decrease yields. Grapes of Wrath is a great literary work that talks about the share farmers who bought seeds from the company... dont we learn our lessons???
Thankyou for this excellent peice of writing. Bravo.. please continue!
Thank you so much salt! Still profit before people - and long term harm is not even considered. So, of course it's up to us to demand the elimination of this fake food! I hope Australia does not follow this American trend.
If it is harmless - why not label it here in the US?
Nice to meet you and thanks for commenting!
It makes sense when you think about the overall health of our population. Great hub, thanks!
For sure Maddison81 - there is definitely a connection!
What's so sad is that Americans are duped into spending hours exercising, jogging, in the gym, on diet pills - all a losing battle because of those thousands and thousands of empty calories - and high transfat diet. We're even told we are lazy and that's why we are obese. I don't think any other nation works out/exercises as much as we do, yet...
Nice to meet you and thanks for commenting!
Whe I lived in the states it always amazed me that Americans said food in America was better than in England. This may have been true during World War 2, but definitley is not applicable today. I've never seen so much bad food and a nation eating it! In the UK there is loads of veggie, vegan, organic options. They tell you how far the veggies have traveled to get to the supermarket. The ready meals are even a world apart, focusing more on healthy natural food. All my friends eat loads of fruits and vegetables etc. In the states people seem to think that the bigger and cheesier the portion the better the food is, missing the point completely about delicate flavors and fresh produce.
Of course I have to agree with you Hacienda Yucatan. We probably have the worst diet in the world because obesity and chronic ailments speak loudly! When I visit my cousins in England I love to go to the supermarkets - the foods, even packaged, are far superior and better labeled - it is immediately noticeable in the taste.
Then I had the pleasure of living in Seoul, S. Korea and they believe totally in fresh daily, locally grown and in season. A Korea person can tell you what each food is good for - here in the US we have no idea.
And we eat it and eat it and eat it. It just boggles my mind.
Thanks for your input. But we are going to effect some change here - now! If not for ourselves - then we absolutely owe it to children. We have to stop the madness.
Thaz, So, of course it's up to us to demand the elimination of this fake food! I hope Australia does not follow this American trend.http://www.3dwallpaperdownload.blogspot.com/
Very interesting article - makes you think about what you eat eh! I don't particularly think things are that much better in Europe - having lived in England there were plenty of food scares there too!
Thanks nadia12345!
I suspect vannarith, more and more countries are sneaking these foods into the food supply - the farther removed we are from seeing where our food is grown the more likely it is to be tampered with.
Hi SimeyC, I remember in England about a year ago - the free range eggs turned out not to be free range - a big scandal and so on. No doubt, food sources can be questionable. The times I spend at my cousins in England, there is a big difference in the taste of fresh foods. I think one good sign that food is tampered with is through children, when they become fat, have allergies and chronic ailments.
Thanks for writing!
I try to avoid processed food as much as possible.
It's a good idea rdelp. Nice to meet you by the way. I enjoyed your hubs!
Just wanted to add, very thorough summary, I will save this article. The genetic modification issue is the one that scares me the most. There is not sufficient testing going on. I have switched to an almost completely organic diet, as the only way one can be relatively sure one is not poisoning oneself.
Woah! There are times I cannot help my craving for potato chips. I've known that it was bad but now, I think it's worse. I have to fight the urge.
Thanks latex mattress - we do have to now be totally in control of what we eat because know we now for sure that profit comes before health. And nothing will change, we can yell all we want, but since it is profit - only our money can speak - and be heard.
I think it's the salt we are craving bbpaul8888 - but the salt used in all processed foods is like salt/sodium on the supermarket shelf - more processed garbage - and that type of salt is wreaking havoc on our bodies - we need real quality sea salt. Unfortunately too, potatoes have made it to the list of things that you should not buy unless organic - then the cottonseed oil which seems to be the oil of choice is GM - then add that type of sodium - disaster all around. There are other chips on the market which are supposed to be better - you know organic potatoes, sea salt, a good oil, etc. but who knows for sure.
Nice to meet you by the way! Thanks for commenting!
The school part is very frustrating. I'm horrified by the 'food' served to the kids at school, my son tells me what the choices are, most are not even real food. He wonders why he has skin and stomach problems...
Seems like everything we consume (air, food, water) is too polluted to be safe. Does it really have to be a full-time job to find nutrition in this American abundance?
It seems that way TLMinut - that those we have entrusted to be responsible have not given healthy foods a second thought.
When I taught in the Korean public school system they would not dream of giving their children the garbage that we give ours - they get a full meal of real food. A snack over there is fruit not soda, chips, cookies, etc.
It is the diet of children that concerns me the most as they are still young and developing - but already affected by what was at one time called 'adult diseases' e.g. high blood pressure, heart disease, high cholesterol etc. - the use of hormones is wreaking havoc.
We have to speak with our dollars.
Nice to meet you and thanks for commenting.
THANK YOU.
You're very welcome KateWest!
Everything you have written is true. I've been battling to raise my family free of GMOs, hormones, etc and it's a never ending battle. My question is this to the governments: if it has been proven to be harmful, why is it still being used? My only answer: bottom line profit. Along the way, there are many "middlemen" who are making a huge profit at the expense of society's (especially children's) health. When money is more important that health, one can assume that we are in a downward suicidal spiral. This was an excellent hub!
I'm so glad I came by to read this as I've been wanting to ever since I saw it as a Featured Hub. I must say that this is one of the best hubs I've come across (and I read a lot of hubs). You did a great job on detailing the finer points of the state of our mass-produced foods. No wonder the U.S. has health issues that are far worst than any other wealthy country in the world. This was an amazing read.
I'm glad to have finally read this and I am now a fan.
Thanks Beth100 - it is so unfair to our children - while the media sells the crap to them, other countries don't allow this. So the parents are blamed and we do all we can by buying fresh whole foods, preparing it - only to find out that the fresh apples are toxic, potatoes are heavily sprayed with pesticides, popcorn which is supposed to be a safe treat is made from GM corn, the linings in cans have BPA, the meat may have e.coli, the peanut butter has partially hydrogenated oil - and on and on. I think what we need to do is educate our children in the meantime so they will be savvy consumers and not want what is sold to them - they are being preyed on. I appreciate all your efforts.
I'm so glad you came by too dohn121 and read the hub. We have the worst health issues - totally ignored because then we can blame it on aging (which is a myth) or prescribe a toxic drug to suppress symptoms. We are in a vicious cycle of poor health. Is there anyone who can justify filthy meat served to school children, and coming up with a solution to irradiate it, then if it's recalled well cook it and put it back on the shelves. There is no accountability.
But surprise, few people realize it but the Obama administration is making some serious changes at the FDA and USDA - this explains why Johnson & Johnson is now recalling Tylenol and a lot of OTC drugs that have been a known problem since 2008. And products like Tylenol (acetaminophen) can cause liver and kidney damage even death - but we are not being properly cautioned - well that's a whole other hub.
What! You are just becoming a fan? I have been your fan for ages!
How embarrassing! I really did think that I was a fan, until I visited your profile page and saw that the "Follow" option was available! Well, now that settled :D I'm going to read more of your work to make up for it. Um, Happy New Year?
Oh, Okay then. And I shall have not just one Happy New Year - but I am gearing up for the new Year of the Golden Tiger! Great Big Things are out there! I have no use for winter but I think this February I will make it down to ChinaTown and enjoy the sharing of good luck and good energy! Thanks for checking back!
I never found this product at the market or supermarket at my city. But we have to aware like this product. health is important it can't change with the money, right. organic plant also the best.
We concentrate sometimes on what is put on the foods, such as insecticides, herbacides and so forth. We also need to realize that much of these chemicals are absorbed into the food itself. Potato plants are laced with herbacides and pesticides, which work into the ground during watering. As potatoes are root veggies, their skin absorbs the majority of these chemicals. However, some of these are also absorbed into the veggie itself. This could be a whole new hub.... BTW, Happy New Year on the 14th of February and enjoy the fun!
Fine ending!
Thanks prasetio30 - it pays to be aware. I'm tired of being told that this is the best that can be done in this country - and we have to accept what is given to us!Yet, when we refuse to buy the garbage - well, suddenly it is possible to get what we want. But there is so much deception, not only in labeling - but in not bothering to label at all.
Thanks so much about raising the potato issue Beth100 - the last I read is that we should never buy potatoes unless they are organic - because as you say they are heavily sprayed and of course there is the GM issues. If you buy potatoes and let them sit around and they do not naturally sprout they they are GM - designed never to spoil and be sold forever. The thing is we can actually grow our own potatoes so easily as one hubber pointed out and wrote a great hub (akirchner - above)- I've done it years ago and had the best potatoes ever - and I grew them by cutting off the eyes of potatoes I had - but we can't do this with GM potatoes as they do not sprout.
Thanks for adding the potato information - we do need to be aware. I will never accept the claim that we must accept inferior food because...well, just because... The fact is, the only thing we need for survival is food (yes water too but watery foods and fruits count). Everything else is secondary or not even necessary.
Thanks PNEUMONIA expert. Nice to meet you too!
I always follow your hub.
I love to read the article here.
Thank you for your good article.
It's very interesting.
Thank you for your good article.
I will be reading often.
It's really great.
I feel fun when you read about this.
Thanks for the article.
This is the best hub I will be reading often.
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I always feel like when you read about this.
Good hub - Very good information.
Thanks for the article.
Hello.
I read it and feel like much.
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Good hub - Very good information.
Fantastic for your post.
I read very much like fun ha ha.
I will be reading often.
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I love to read to read more.
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good hub.
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I like this hub as with your other hubs too.
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I will return again.
Great hub, very well written, full of info.This is a very good article.
I like this hub as with your other hubs too.The article you wrote is filled with wisdom!
Nice to meet you thanks for the article This is a very good article.
Great hub, very well written, full of info. Thanks again!
Great info. It always makes me happier to be eating slightly small, funny shaped veggies I've grown myself, when I read this type of thing.
People should know what is going on in the world concerning poison in our food. Such as aspartame for example.
Thank you momo for always following - I'm glad you found the information interesting.
Thank you too samsan - please do check back again!
Van it's the best hub? Well, thank you very much!
You're welcome kitty - thanks so much for reading. I appreciate your comment.
Rubius, thanks for the compliment. Thanks for commenting too.
I'm glad you found the article fantastic Xocon! Thank you!
You know Susan, there is so much more. I will do more research. Thanks for commenting!
Zaza, thank you for reading this and other hubs as well. It is much appreciated!
Abnormal - thank you too for reading this hub and the other hubs. It's the comments that inspire me to keep at this!
Wocon, thank you too, and nice to meet you too. Thanks for your comment!
I'm with you ecogirl333 - there is nothing like your own garden. When I grew most of my food - well, there is no taste comparison. Nice to meet you! Thanks for commenting.
So true antonrosa - how interesting that we are sold this myth about aspartame helping us lose weight when it does the opposite - not to mention all the other problems. I'm surprised that we believe companies that are in the business to sell us a product - and not good health.
I so appreciate all the comments. Because so many of us are on the same page we will effect change - by not buying this garbage, growing more of our own, shopping locally and sharing information!
i just joined and I'm 11!!!!
I thought you had to be 18 savyg101! I'll come and visit you. Thanks for visiting me!
This is an absolutely fantastic article, and certainly a fairly hot topic. It has deeper roots in trade and overall global policy--a battle of the Cartegena Protocol on Biosafety, which represents multilateral trade agreements in general, and the WTO.
Thanks so much for all the additional information askjanbrass. I'm glad hubbers are sharing! Just yesterday there was an announcement of 350 tons of beef recalled in the US, more e.coli - it just does not stop!
i agree with you
Thanks! It's no surprise! Your hub just confirms what many people suspect or have personally already found to be true regarding the often poor quality of food here. When I was in Europe recently the superior quality of the food was quite evident...made with fresher ingredients and not laden with chemical preservatives. On the matter of food, I guess there is a figurative and literal ocean between here and there!
Thank you for commenting vasutkin!
I have the same experience when I travel, Cassidella, in Europe and everywhere really - even American products sold overseas cannot have the same toxic ingredients. Soda for example must have sugar and not high fructose corn syrup which has proven to be a major cause of obesity. And the peanut butter cannot have the partially hydrogenated oil like here.
Thanks for your input!
Thank you for good material. This is a benefit for me. I like to read more about this.
Thanks for commenting tik! I'm glad you found the information beneficial.
Great info. Thanks.
You're welcome Poni - thanks for reading and commenting!
This is why I try and grow as much of my own food as I can.
Great Article. We eat to much in America. I think we just need help!
Makes sense bengriston - when I had a garden and grew most of my food it was so far superior to what is on the market. We no longer know what real food taste like - I wonder if this is why so many babies and young children hate vegetables - they know it's bad.
And we do eat too much Ardyss Levive. All the wrong things, supersized quantities, on giant plates. The selling point is quantity - not quality.
Thanks for a very informative hub. It does work the other way as well as there are some things banned in the USA that the UK and Europe still allow. You would think everyone would choose to play safe and restrict things until they are proven safe but it doesn't seem to work that way.
I did not know that the recalled meat was repacked and resale for human consumption! I was always wondering about the millions pounds of recalled meat every year. Now I know and it makes me want to be a vegetarian!
I did not know that the recalled meat was repacked and resale for human consumption! I was always wondering about the millions pounds of recalled meat every year. Now I know and it makes me want to be a vegetarian!
You're welcome Tim Blackstone - and good point - with foods no longer being locally grown there is no telling what we are getting and from where. Thanks for commenting - nice to meet you too.
By the way Dao Hoa - I just heard on the news that 350 tons of beef was recalled. But it is not the 'fresh' beef - it is beef from 2008 which seems to be the repurposed beef. I suppose we will wonder together now about this 350 tons of recalled beef. Will it be burned? Perhaps it will be pet food or shipped overseas. We should be informed. I just don't know. Nice to meet you and thanks for your comment.
The information regarding food processing is immensely fruitful. A quantum of information is being displayed in lucrative fashion. A note on beef and genetically modified food is worth to read. Thanks a lot for providing such useful information.
You're welcome stephensaldana - I'm glad you found the information useful! Thanks for commenting!
I'm going to make my husband read this. I know that food situation in the U.S. is horrific for such a well developed country. Maybe this is the push he needs to choose better over cheaper.
Nice to meet you T R Upshur - I like the way you put it - chose better over cheaper. This is not something we should give up on or throw our hands up and say 'we can't change it' - because we have to. We are wreaking havoc on ourselves, our developing children, and the environment. Thanks for commenting!
Awesome hub. So much truth and food for thought! Thanks for posting this great info. Now to check out your hub on the farmer from Milwaukee...
Thanks for checking out both hubs Katrina Ariel - glad you found the hub awesome - thanks for the compliment!
Very informative hub, BkCreative. Maybe it's time for the whole world to start looking at local, fresh produce, so a lot of the additives and preservatives become unnecessary. And I so agree with you about colours - so many ailments have been linked with synthetic dyes and pretty much nothing has been done about it. I like the way the EU nations have been very strict about this issue. In India, we've been a part of a minority that wanted natural colours in the foodstuffs - nothing really works when huge food industries are involved and the change means lowering profits. However, like those Korean women, I feel by spreading the word, the common man or woman can come together and effect change by boycotting certain products. Finally, an aware consumer is king or queen.
Hello Shalini Kagal - it's amazing that our most basic need - food - would be so corrupted leaving us here in the US overwhelmingly obese and chronically ill. But as you say, when it becomes an industry - the only concern is profit by any means - and not quality, not health. But awareness is making a difference. Thanks for your comments!
Ive read about and heard about the terrible food in the US for years, you're exactly right. Good hub.
The US really does need to re-evaluate its food system. Too many things are slipping through the cracks and poisoning those who eat it, all in the name of making a dollar.
Thanks for reading jamesorr - unfortunately it has been bad for years and year, thus all the chronic ailments which don't pop up overnight. Sigh. Nice to meet you by the way.
I just read a news article today Mitch King about the serious problem of high cholesterol - in children. I'll have to research it more and write about it. If not for ourselves - surely we can demand healthy food for growing children - good grief! Thanks for writing
Wow! What an eyeopener! Thanks for an excellent hub. We in India are currently debating whether or not to allow Genetically modified brinjal (I have just written a hub on it). We could learn to avoid the mistakes that have been made elsewhere with GM food, but instead, of learning from them we seem to be making the same mistakes!
I though being vegetarian was a healthy option...till I read about GM foods. What can one eat that is safe these days?
GM foods are bad they dont go well with heat .. I have not been able to get that old aroma and clasic taste in may soups..
Dam scientist..
Hello adite - thanks for the information - I will check out your hub about the GM item. Glad to meet you.
So true cashmere - we are beginning to eat whole foods once again but now we have to be aware of the fact that many are genetically modified. I can only hope if it says 'organic' it really is.
Great point Gomet - so this could very well be why when you go into a restaurant now you know longer smell good smells - even when the food is put in front of you - you smell nothing. Same thing at home - the home is no longer filled with those great aromas while you are cooking. Thanks for that observation!
Too often in the USA lobbies give $$$ to politicians so that the politicians won't vote for bills that don't favor the food companies' agendas.
So true RYPcontent - how self-serving can our politicians get? But such is representative democracy as opposed to a direct democracy. So as individuals we have to effect change.
Thanks for commenting - and nice to meet you!
Its getting to the point where we cannot trust anything we eat in this country.
Unfortunately, that is so true EWS. It may be even worse than we thought - because who is going to tell us. On the bright side, we have the internet so we can share information and are no longer left so totally uninformed. Thanks for commenting!
Interesting hub, I wonder how the standard compares in Aussie
I'd like to know about what is going on in Australia also evan26. I wonder if Monsanto has been welcomed with its GM seeds. Thanks for commenting!
Thats a great hub, you've obviously put a lot of work into this. I've been trying to get the message across to people for years that the foods we are pretty much forced to eat are killing us slowly. although we have all the labelling you could ask for in the uk, its still really hard to avoid the bad bits as theres so much of the damn stuff! I recently started trying internet marketing, concentrating on the things i find interesting, but the dr suzanne gudakunst fat loss diet is something you should check out, and maybe do a section on your hub about it, it is a bit 'salesy' but very worrying too. I am totally in agreement with what you and her are trying to get across to people, we are being manipulated, 'keep em fat and unhealthy, and sell em the drugs etc to help em'. its a catch 22 and we are the losers. I HOPE MILLIONS READ YOUR HUB and wake up to whats going on out there. good luck and keep up the awesome work.
Thank you goodknight-1 - I'll look into the dr. you mentioned. Good point you raised - we really do not know what we are eating no matter which continent we live on. I suppose it comes down to chronic health conditions (which he have in the US), and obesity (which we of course have here).
I hope too that millions read my hub - I think you will bring me such luck! Thanks again!
I .. Didnt read it all, I started dozing off and staring at the green thing at the top of your page..
But FOOD AWARENESS IS AWSOME!
thank you for the post
-ClownSauceBarf.
Glad you enjoyed the green thing at the top! No, no it's not clownsauce. That's the term 'food awareness' - I think it will become the catch phrase!
Thanks for commenting!
Very well written and important hub. I sure hope this makes it out there to the majority of people who need to read it! I've been fortunate to live abroad for the past 8 years and the diet as soon as you step out of the US becomes considerably healthier. Sadly, Thailand is learning from the US in order to yield more crops to help raise the economy at the expense of nutrition - Not only are large corporations supplying them with pesticides, they're also bargaining with them for exclusive rights to their crops - which also hurts the the land (crops need change or the soil gets burnt out).
Fortunately, there are still many local farmers whose crops haven't been bought out (though many have - with promises of selling direct to superstores like Tesco or Tops, instead of farmers markets), so it's still possible to find organic, pesticide-free produce at many locations - though the shift to fake food can definitely be felt.
I often hear the excuse that the companies make produce "more attractive" to the consumer by making it larger, or without imperfections...I don't believe that for a second - I think if people knew how imperfect it was making their insides, they'd sooner eat a smaller, tastier tomato in place of those orangey-pink, huge, tasteless things they sell on the "produce aisle" in the US.
Thanks for your hub!!
Thanks! for informing the public on food awareness.
I like how you pointed out how children in Korea eat very healthy at their schools. A lot of the schools in the US are trying to implement healthier food choices not all of them are on the ban wagon so far but I hope they change their ways. I saw a show on cable about Public school obesity and how the kids lunches need to be changed to help the fight against obesity here in Miami, FL, they filmed one grade school and high school and they had a after school workout class to help kids with obesity lose weight I wish more schools offered this program.
Hi this is a very well put together hub which contains some very alarming details to note.
I was not aware that US did not embrace breast feeding for babies as as the case in Australia. The breast milk (which contains colostrum, which aids the babies with their immune systems)is very much encouraged by nursing staff and Doctors alike here in Australia) it would be better for US to take on this concept, even just for the babies sake.
You also say in your hub about GM foods being the cause of epidemic breakouts of skin problems, allergies and other similar problems. We have only just recently accept GM foods into our country. It worries though would the effects will be on our children as they are our future. You mention also, dyes used in our food can be the cause of behavioural probems, perhaps ADD, and others like it could be included in this. I was also disturbed about school children drinking from unmarked milk containers, and not knowing whether there are any bovine growth hormones inside , this is ever so frightning inideed. One would have to ask everytime you start to eat something, "Is this Safe, will it make me get some sort or reaction or make me very sick, has it been treated with something that is not good for us. The list could go on and on couldn't it? You have brought to light so many things that are "Food for Thought", please excuse the pun",but you know what I mean, it is a very good hub, indeed it is.
I can see why it was picked for the Hubpages News Weekly. You should be very proud of this achievement God Bless BB
Very informative hub! well done!
Hello Laura Spector, I know what you mean about quality food in Thailand - I have been and what delicious food - recipes even created with lime to cool you down and papaya for the benefit of enzymes. Then during the time when I lived in s. Korea - and eating 3 full fabulous meals is a must - I watched my cholesterol drop 30 points in 3 months and I ate and ate - and just got so energetic and darn healthy. And don't we all hear it - 'look how beautiful the fruit is and how plentiful...' Whaat? It looks like wax and tastes even worse. Thanks so much for your comment and I spent some time in your hubs of art last night - lovely! So nice to meet you.
I'm so glad raemay38 - to hear that US public schools are making an effort - what's the point of all this nutrition talk and education and then you send them to school where the milk HAS bovine growth hormones - and the food is GM and the meat is suspect, and the packaged items list partially hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup - two things that no one is supposed to ingest - but dump it at the schools. I'm seeing more parents sending their children to school with a healthy lunch - we have to do this. Nice to meet you by the way.
Thanks dali48 - I live in NYC and finally even supermarkets are jumping on this organic bandwagon - of course when I travel to other countries they ask me why does America have to make that distinction - why isn't it all good food? Hmmm. And the farmer's markets are doing big business. We want good food and we are concerned about our children. This is a country that does not guarantee health care - yet it permits foods that is destroying our health. Health care need not be so costly if we were not so sickly. The Obama Administration is demanding accountability at the FDA and USDA and so now we are seeing more tons of meat recalled and OTC drugs, but wait...these were known problems that have been on the shelves since 2008. As always it is profit before people.
Hello BEAUTYBABE - yes the US has encouraged this thing called 'infant formula' for newborns - and we wonder why our children are growing with compromised immune systems - well no breast milk and of course, this formula was done solely for profit because it cannot compare. Ah, but mothers are taking back control - of their breasts. By the way a couple years ago we had many blackouts here in NYC leaving people in the dark sometimes for a week at a time. It was the lone foreign women who said she was so glad she was breastfeeding because she knew her baby could eat. Other women could not make their own formula, had to buy but wait the electric can opener did not work, you could not sterilize glass bottles. Even worse we find out these cans and plastic baby bottles contain the toxin BPA which is known to be harmful especially to babies. Yes, our children are suffering from every type of ailment now. The most logical place to look first is of course diet - what a mess!
I had no idea the hub was picked for Hubpages News Weekly - thank you for telling me that. I'll come and visit you soon!
Thanks for writing Misterlak!
I appreciate all the comments.
very informative I didn't know schools were using recalled meat that is not good for our children. I have a lot of allergies and the benadril I took thinking it was safe was recalled and for pain Tylenol was recalled too after being a heart patient my doctor had recommended it. What is safe?
Hello cute kitty and myawn - isn't horrible to know that what you are eating or the OTC drug is recalled? I am forced to live by the motto of 'varying my poisons' because if I eat too much of one thing - chances are it will be recalled and I will have taken a toxic dose. The meat sent to schools does not have to explain its origins, it's age, whether it is irradiated - no information is required. We do not even have the right to make an 'informed' decision. I hope you are doing okay.
I know there are about a zillion comments to this effect already, but GREAT HUB! Thank you for putting this out there and contributing to food awareness. Over the years, I and my family have become advocates of healthy, fresh, unprocessed, and organic foods. We try to grow as much of our own food as is possible, and have become discerning shoppers.
It's interesting to find out that children in places like Korea are offered what sounds like quite the healthy lunch option, while here--you're right. It's junk! I hope that people who read this hub really think about the information you have provided and do something constructive to change the way we Americans look at our food sources.
Hi BK, This is a great hub and when I focus on what is being done to our food supply it makes me sick. Especially because I was raised on a farm that produced wholesome healthy organic foods for us to eat. And in many instances see the differences in the way those same food items are produced and processed in today's market.
Thanks for sharing your insight and Congratulations on this hub being featured in this week's HP newsletter. :)
Hello Infinitenesmith - I'm so glad you found the information interesting. You're doing what we all will probably have to do now - grow our own food. And 'food awareness' - it has to be a must. It's good that you are teaching your children - that will make all the difference. Thanks for writing and it is nice to meet you too!
Thank you for commenting Money Glitch. As I sit here I am wondering just how much is it - that we don't know! This arrogant attitude that this stuff is okay and therefore no labeling is required - what? I cannot even make a choice as to what I will feed my children, my family, how I will spend my money. And thanks for the info about the HP newsletter. I did not know and will go check it out.
I appreciate all the comments because so much is added by everyone - thanks for that!
BkCreative:
Very good hub I never realized our recalled food wasn't destroyed, but merely recycled back into the market This knowledge might make people think twice about processed foods. Thanx
caretakerray
You're very welcome caretakerray. I read on the internet that when one school found out that the meat they were using was recalled - they dumped it and burned it just to make sure it would not be returned to the market. It makes me think of those days when we ate in a restaurant and had leftovers - we either had to take it home or destroy it on the plate so it would not be reused. Thanks for writing!
Great hub! I have kids and it can be pretty tough trying to get them to eat healthy. Organic food is so expensive. But, whenever local farmers markets have food I try to go there. OF course that isn't too helpful in the winter. A new one is finally opening in my own city. It is hard to get the kids to eat healthy when all they see is the junkfood all over the grocery store and on commercials. I tried a garden last year but it didn't do too well. But, I plan to try again. Our food used to contain lots of nutrients but, now so few seem to be taking pride in bringing the best possible product to the store. It is sad that it is too much for us to ask for our vegetables to not be sprayed with chemicals and our meat filled with hormones and antibiotics and our water cleaned with chlorine and other chemicals.
It's true jim10 - our children are bombarded with junkfood messages and TV is one of the biggest culprits. And yes, even if you buy the fresh fruits and vegetables and get your children to eat them - they are likely to be GM with little or no nutritional value. Healthy food should be a right - not a guess or a gamble.
Thanks for you input.
Food is big business. A one percent increase in profit margins outweighs any health considerations.
That sums it up, its a disease - profit, and it is big, big, business. It's not unlike big pharma that puts out toxic drugs - hey if they maim thousands - well the profit outweighs any lawsuits. Thanks for your input.
BKCreative, it looks like you have done your homework. Your article sheds some light on another growing problem in the US.
We are becoming an overweight, undernourished country. Mainly because of all of the processed foods that are not regulated by the FDA.
Once again, it is all about the all-mighty dollar. Who cares about your health more than you do? It certainly is NOT the individuals that regulate what goes into our food.
Excellent article. Count me in your fan club.
Thanks so much for your comment christryon! There was a time when we used the word 'undernourished' we were always talking about other countries - it just couldn't be here. But it is happening. Yes, there is no regulation over our food supply - anything goes and it's keeping us chronically ill.
So glad to meet you!
Excellent article BK.
You know what really frightens me is the Genetically modified food. I had no idea it even existed until about 5 years ago when something on the Kellogg's Cornflake Box caught my eye.
I never have bought or eaten it again. Yet, there are so many things that are now genetically modified. No one knows what it will do, no matter what they tell us now.
And also, regarding the many who are suffering allergies, asthma, and skin issues possibly related to this GM food, I have been saying for years that all of the chemicals and hormones stuffed into our food supply, have caused children to be "bigger", develop faster than in past times. I mean if one takes a look at this they can see that indeed what we are eating and feeding our kids has caused a growth in "normal" size and developement not to mention so many diseases.
Hmmm... thanks for this article.
Thank you A. M. Gwynn - it's so true, we are nothing more than guinea pigs - but we shouldn't have to wait any longer to see the damage this 'food' is doing to our health. Your comments are all on point. Girls are developing rapidly with all the growth hormones added to meat and chicken and no telling what else.
Obesity is epidemic no matter how much we diet, or jog or go to the gym - you just can't work off the chemicals in processed food. And speaking of breakfast cereals, I read the label on Kellogg's cornflakes the other day - artificial ingredients added. Good grief - it is not even real food anyway - not to mention the fact that corn is GM to begin with. It gets to be overwhelming but we have to save the health of our children.
Thanks so much for your comment.
Thanks so much for an informative hub. I've been eating cleaner the past few months and have noticed a huge difference in my energy levels. I had no idea that recalled beef could be sold again. You're right, we need to be more demanding consumers.
This is a big eye opener...thanks for the information. The media can play a big part in this; we just need to get them involved.
You're welcome LRobbins, I'm glad you found the hub informative. It's amazing how anything can be done to our foods and we do not have to be notified. There was a time many packaged products had sugar but when they changed to high fructose corn syrup - well there was no need to let us know so we just kept on buying - even paying the same prices for products that were greatly cheapened.
Thanks for writing shareitt! One day some media type person will probably do a big expose. Seems the media have to be involved or we will just keep on assuming that every thing is okay.
I appreciate the comments. Thanks for writing!
wow, never knew all this. Alot of good information!
Thanks for writing. Your comment is appreciated!
Great hub, very informative :-)
Wow BK, just looking back at this article of yours, 188 comments!!! What an inspiration! Keep up the good work.
Ben
This is worse than I thought. Reprocessing recalled meats.....astounding! You have put so much time and research into this article and it shows. I wish that our government would follow the lead of other ones that seemingly care more about their people's health. At least you and others are trying to raise awareness and that is a good start. Thanks!
Thanks sophs - I'm glad you found the hub informative. Thanks for commenting.
Well, thank you Ben Zoltak - I did not know the hub had 188 comments. I'm glad that it has received the interest of so many - because I know the information will be shared. Thanks for the compliment.
So true Peggy W. It is unbelievable that recalled meat would be put back on the supermarket shelf - and no law exists that requires manufacturers to be honest about their business. Even labeling is suspect - who can you believe, about food quality anymore. It's about profit not our health. So once again it is up to us to spread the word and effect change.
Thanks for commenting!
Very interesting and enlightening!
Thanks for commenting Dorrene R!
As many of your readers have commented, I also am shocked at what can happen with recalled beef. And to think that our tax dollars, at least in part, are used for feeding our school children re-re-re-processed meat so that the producers don't suffer the losses they should. Sounds like another case of the taxpayer subsidizing big business. Thanks for all the wake-up calls. Super Hub!
Thank you Sally's Trove - I just heard yesterday that thousands of pounds of beef (and this time veal too) have been recalled. This is just never ending.
And good point - I feel like I am being taxed into oblivion - and yet the school lunches are garbage. Our children and their health deserve real food but it is being compromised!
Thanks for your comment!
wow! there is some very good information here. thanks!
You're very welcome garcilazoand! Thanks for commenting!
Thanks for bringing to our eyes this invaluable info!
You're very welcome. Thanks for commenting C_Pinto!
You give us food for thought.You can not just trust in the food stores will do the right thing.I want to come back and reread this hub over and over again.
Thank you DREAM ON! I appreciate your comment. I'm glad we are going to effect change - it's a mistake to think that as individuals we have to accept whatever is tossed our way. Hah! We'll stop buying it - ah, the language of money - that seems to be understood very clearly.
BK, I think the problems with US foods is that agricultural corporations have grown so large and powerful that they affect legislation and regulation.
Yes, it's true Delores Monet - we have accepted the corporate culture, who told us they were good for us and we believed it for some reason. We have to remember that our dollars feed these corporate giants. It's the health of all children at stake here. Those dollars they use to buy Washington pols - they get from us.
Hallelujah, Amen, and praise the Lord. One more reason -really- to be veggie. But what can we trust in the USA? It is really hard to trust "man" at all. "Let's cut some corners and get a bottom line". Thanks very much.
Yes, it is totally on us Micky Dee to effect all the change we want. Trust has left me so long ago with what is on the market.
You're welcome and nice to meet you. I'm enjoying your hubs!
I've lost track of how many places I have recommended avoiding prepared meals and processed foods at the grocery store. I had no idea that recalled beef reentered the food supply through the back door. Yuck. Thanks for doing the research. Maybe if enough people start demanding nutritious food more than convenience--and voting with their shopping and spending--we'll get better food. You have to admit, though, that the food industry has so far provided what people have demanded most: convenience and the lowest price possible. Change culture, and industry will follow. Simple but not at all easy.
Nice to meet you allpurposeguru - and you know it still gets worse. I went to buy organic soy milk - and while all the products remain in the dairy section - the word 'organic' has been removed. I know that big corps have bought up these companies - and it seems no effort is made to continue the practice of organic. Soy beans like corn are most likely GM so I had to pass. Products change and we are never notified of the changes. It is like we are the enemy and these companies are out to say 'hah, gotcha and it's your fault for not knowing better!'
We have to change. If not for ourselves then for all children - otherwise we have failed the children and what can be our excuse - you know, as the adults in this mess?
I'll come visit you - thanks for writing!
Thanks very much for the insightful article. I suppose much of the food produced in the U.S. isn't entirely safe, but I doubt that produced in Europe is much better overall because pollution there is as bad or worse as it is in America. Eating organically grown food is probably best for one and all, but it tends to cost more and maybe be hard to obtain. Overall, this is just another problem to deal with on our overcrowded planet. If we don't do something about the population explosion - and soon - we'll be happy to eat whatever crap we can get our hands on! Later!
Thanks so much for writing Kosmo! It seems in the US we are already happy to eat whatever crap we are getting. But real food tastes soooooo good - you know right out of the garden! My goal in life now is to retire from the City and find a garden - the house is not as important at the grounds - because I must once again grow real food!
Nice to meet you by the way!
Great hub with alot of interesting information I've bookmarked so I can come back often. Thanks
Hello BKcreative I finally got to read your hub. I have seen it featured so many times. I didn't know it was my type of hub. I agree with everything you say. A lot of our processed food is filled with chemicals such as dyes and preservatives and God knows what else. And yea even the produce are not free of it they have the pesticide and artificial fertilizers etc... I stay clear off these foods. I almost always cook my food using fresh vegetables and as fresh meat as I could find it.I try to keep meat consumption low. And my veggies I try to by from a farmers market as much as I can. I have written a hub on whether all those foods labeled organic are really organic. Because now huge industrial farms are growing organic foods and transporting huge amounts of food across state lines. And I believe I read somewhere that they irradiate these organically grown food. Anyway these are issues I like to write about myself. It also makes me sad that our children have to eat these crap. Thanks for such an informative hub.
Thanks for writing Golden Mama. Good to meet you too!
Hello lelanew55 - glad this is a hub that got your attention. I will certainly be following you so I can keep up with all your hubs.
You know every time I turn on the news there has been another salmonella outbreak or a mass recall of meat - it is just endless. And the organic food - I trust none of the labels. The only thing I can do right now - to use a term from the 60's - is to 'vary my poisons' - if I eat too much of one thing it may be the thing that has been recalled and I now have a toxic overload.
And I just noticed the word 'organic' is missing from the soy milk brands I used to buy - these organic products as you say are also bought up by industrialized food companies.
Thanks so much for you input - I'll come visit you now!
I wanted to say this before, BkCreative, given your subject matter, I hope you aren't a "Debbie Downer" at parties. Hahahahahah. Also, I'm very impressed that your rating is 99. I've never gotten higher than 98. Gotta jump higher, I guess. Later!
Me, I'm a live and let live type of person - we are all grown and have to assume responsibility for our own actions. Hey, someone just told me I had a 100 score on my hub "Money Saving Ideas That Are Cheap But Not Degrading." I'm glad!
Thanks for writing!
You bring up some very valid points about our food and how we trust manufacturers and grocery chains to give us healthy food when in reality unless we do adequate research we will not know what we are putting into our bodies.
So true Reasearch Analyst! For some reason our trust is misguided. It is advertised so we buy it with no questions asked. We deserve better. Thank you for commenting!
Another good hub! I hardly ever eat beef now. It is not the same as it used to be. A piece of roast beef turns into a hard block like a stone when it is cold. It never used to be like this. I don´t know what is the cause. So I eat mainly chicken, turkey and fish.
Maybe it is American beef Hummingbird5356. That is one of the US's exports. Although the idea of exporting food is disturbing because it cannot be fresh at all. We also have the poorest quality beef. When we tried to export it to S. Korea - the people took to the street by the thousands in protest. And Japan has long banned it.
Nice to meet you by the way!
I enjoyed this hub a lot. Isn't it interesting that as a country we get all excited and fight over "Health Care Reform" when the easiest way to lower the cost of "Health Care" is prevention. Yet next to nothing is being done to remove the toxins from our food supply?
Have you seen Food, Inc. the movie. " http://www.foodincmovie.com/ "
I put it in quotes so it wouldn't lower the PR of your page.
There is a very interesting part in the movie where they are using Ammonia to sterilize beef. Very sickening! Think about what Ammonia is!
McDonald's Chicken Nuggets are only 44% chicken. They contain a number of known contaminants and chemicals.
In nature Cattle do not eat corn! Corn creates an environment in the cows rumen that allows for the proliferation of e-coli.
Cows and Chickens both stand ankle deep in their own feces in pens. They are not roaming free on the farm. They are not eating what they would eat naturally.
Americans bemoan Corporate Profits on a monetary scale yet TRUST implicitly these same companies to provide a safe food supply.
The world is toxic. There is no real safe way to eat. But the "safest" way to eat is to eat as close to the source as possible. Avoid the packages, bottles, and cans.
And think about what you eat. If a Twinkie can live on the shelf for more than a year without degrading... is that something you really want to put in your body?
Thanks so much for your input MikeV - I don't know what it's going to take for us to take control our health - it all starts with nutritious real foods. Ancient cultures advocate healthy eating before advocating traditional medicine. We simply cannot be healthy with the types of food stuff and toxic products being sold to us.
I did see the film you spoke of. It's interesting you mention cows eating corn - we've made it worse by giving them genetically modified corn, as well as antibiotics and even other dead cows.
It's a nasty business with another recall - this time for salmonella in a protein additive found in practically all processed food (the hydrolyzed protein). Every day there are recalls but small ones that we just don't hear about.
The elders in our culture are so upset about health care reform because they are totally dependent on these toxic drugs and have been told that they will die without them - not due to them. I have never seen so many sickly and chronically ill people over 40.
Other cultures can guarantee free med care because nutrition is part of the equation - unlike here. No one should have to file for bankruptcy because of an illness wiping them out - but neither should a country allow the toxic drugs and food that the US has thus permitted. Change is happening in the FDA - because of the useless role they have played thus far. This explains why repurposed meats that have been on the shelves since 2008 have been recalled by the tons recently, as well as Tylenol and many other Johnson and Johnson OTC products which have been on the shelf since 2008 with no intentions of recall until now.
Additionally, the USDA has just been held accountable for blatant discrimination in the farming industry allowing Black farmers to be wiped out leaving a chosen few controlling the industry (this was the Pigford lawsuit) - those chosen few received mega-grants and loans. The USDA intentionally allowed lawsuits to run their course rather than admit to their involvement in driving farmers out of business and creating less competition in the US. The President was wise enough to add a settlement under the Defense Budget because we will always allow money for war.
Thanks for the link too! I tend to go on and on which I don't like to do - I just like to put information out there and offer 'food' for thought.
Thanks for the information!
You're welcome DOUBLE K!
A few years ago, in the Uk, Tony Blair tried to force us to have GM foods. Indeed, there were several crop trials which were often (illegally) destroyed by protesters and given the unofficial title 'Frankenstein Foods'. It didn't come to much (so far) because 90 per cent of the population were against GM foods and said that they would not buy them. In the UK GM food would have to be labelled and would thus be boycotted. At the time of all the fuss, organic food purchases increased considerably. For people to make choices food must be labelled properly and if it is not consumers are not able to make a free choice. I do not think the UK is necessarily that considerate, though. It is the EU that steps on with its stringent rules and regulations.
How well I remember the uproar and the use of the term Frankenstein Foods - the perfect label. I remember the protesters and well folks took action back then.
In the US, the fight continues to label foods - accurately. We are constantly told that GM foods are harmless yet manufacturers will not label their products as such. We have been misled and it is perfectly legal.
Thanks so much for your input and bravo for the EU!
Very informative! Thanks!
You're welcome Sandyspider. Love that avatar!
The EU is super sensitive to this stuff. BUT, its better to be safe then sorry right?
Thanks for this. I do my best to eat healthy and organically. Not always easy I suppose. I certainly try.
Hello knowledgeeater! It is the only way to do it - to be safe rather than sorry. We haven't learned that here in the US.
You're welcome festersporling! Nice to meet you byt the way.
Hello knowledgeeater! It is the only way to do it - to be safe rather than sorry. We haven't learned that here in the US.
You're welcome festersporling! Nice to meet you by the way.
The bottom line is, America is more concerned about money, then the health of its people.
This is so informative and such an eye-opening! Great job Bkcreative!
I couldn't agree with this more, it's just total crap what's going on here in the US. My mother has always taught me to eat pretty healthy, but of course when I saw Food Inc, that just reinforced it even more. We need to keep educating everyone so they stop buying the junk and force the big guys at the top to produce healthy food, or allow it.
Thank you mruduveni jones! I'm glad you found the hub informative.
Thank you ddhamilt. I love that you give your mother credit. Bravo! We moms were always the nutritionist - we weren't just buying food we were planning too. I'm glad we are going to effect some change now.
Thanks for the comments and so nice to meet you both!
I think in a lot of cases, we're just too lazy to take responsibility for our own health. Great informative hub!
Well, it's true lender3212000. Sigh! I hear so many people say they don't have time. But even healthy choices can be fast. When I lived in S. Korea all foods were done quickly - no hours of baking or tons of preparation. The whole idea was freshness.
Nice to meet you by the way!
It is really sad to think children are eating the meat and GM food that flunked in the markets. I figured they must make pet food for dogs or cats out of the stuff.
Here's to fighting for more local small organic farms everywhere in the US.
Thanks for writing this informative hub
You're welcome Uva - I am so happy to see the return of the small local farmer. The food is just soooooo much tastier - and smells good.
Nice to meet you too! Thanks for commenting!
We should just go to USFDA and make a picket line forever until they see the light! Is there a movement that's been started?
Thanks so much for your input Rory. I'm happy to say that the USDA is being held accountable for intentionally driving farmer's out of business and into poverty, so much of our food comes from overseas, or are controlled by very few farmer's here, leaving us with few options - President Obama has just signed legislation to compensate farmer's discriminated against. Perhaps we will see more quality farming practices. The FDA has also received additional funding to hire more food inspectors - our foods supply needs to be overseen - constantly.
Unfortunately, these gov't agencies are faceless entities. We do not hold the individuals making disastrous decisions accountable. That we need to correct.
OK - now I know what happens to recalled beef (but I kind of wish I didn't). Very nice and informative hub btw.
money control people, we eat crap and chemical food everyday.
Now when you ask a kid who make the egg ? he will answer walmart.
Bugs are icky and butterflys eat too much peanut butter. I prefer the grape jam.
Hello Thamisgith - thanks for the comment. It's so much fun to be informed, yes? Nice to meet you too!
Good point ledimi! Wal-mart makes the eggs will be the answer! We are so far removed from our food source.
Such an interesting comment Dove Milk Chocolate Stalker!
I would guess that GM food is safe (but who knows in the long run). On the other hand, when farmers are threatened with losing their farms if a single Monsanto gene is found in their crops and they have not bought Monsanto seeds you know their is a problem.
Ultimately, the security of the world's food supply cannot be left to a company that has shown itself to be so ruthless in the pursuit of cash it is happy to abandon all moral and social concerns.
So true about Monsanto, Will Apse. And we have allowed this to go unchecked - I don't think intentionally because we are never informed, no labeling is required. So I ask - if we are supposed to eat fresh foods - well how can GM foods be considered fresh when they are designed to sit on the shelf forever. I bought a red onion the other day - forgot about it - and it did not sprout. I remember when onions would sprout - so how old was this onion, then.
Thanks so much for your input - we are really developing a food awareness on hub pages. I'm glad HP is doing their part by running a month long contest on health issues and so-called alternative meds.
Nice to meet you by the way!
This is an excellent hub of info.I am a 6 year member of naturalcures.com.Love him or hate him,Kevin Trudeau used to be involved in the upper echelon of the food and drug industry and knows what the real purpose is behind it all.Its quite scary.Its very true that the food and medico are in it together.The goal is to increase shareholder values and nothing more than that.If everyone were fit and well,they would lose money from both sides.There are over 1500 ingredients that by law dont even have to be listed on the label.Thats scary.Antibiotics without probiotics will cause internal fungal conditions that later show up as arthritus and many other maladies.Over 85% of the populace has this condition.Whats scarier still is that it is intentional.Its no wonder so many people are angry about this.My hats off to this hubber.This is a great article and will definitely wake some more people up.
Thanks so much cw-star! I know how long Kevin Trudeau has been condemned. I just don't understand why we don't want to hear, as individuals, another side of the food/and pharmaceutical industry. It amazes me that deception is perfectly legal. Why isn't this called terrorism since it destroys so many of us? And how can we allow this brutality when it comes to our children. It is unconscionable - but legal(???). No listing of over 1500 ingredients? Legal still?
Finally, so many comments have shown that people are willing to effect individual change and have left some great comments - yours included. It's the only way change will happen - it is totally on us.
Thanks for taking the time to write and for your input!
I always thought there was something odd about cheap beef in canned soups, now we know why! The fact that beef can be repurposed is disturbing. This is one of the most important topics of today and it just gets completely ignored in the United States. Frustrating!
Thank you for all of this information, this should come as a wake up call to a lot of people.
I'm glad you found the information informative, thegreenerme. You may be interested in knowing that a lot of it is being recalled, millions of pounds that have been on the shelves since 2008. The Obama administration has added more food inspectors, and even signed a law to compensate small farmers that were intentionally driven out of business by bigger food conglomerates (a USDA fiasco) - leaving us with less small farmer's and fewer choices.
It amazes me that we can be deceived legally. Fortunately, we the consumer, can effect immediate change.
Nice to meet you by the way.
very informative hub. Thank you.
Wow! Every American needs to read this Hub! Awesome! I try as I might to tell my clients - first class foods only - that processed stuff is horrible! The consumer rules in the US - and we haven't yet figured it out! We are being sold! Excellent article! Have bookmarked and must reference sometime very soon! Excellent!
You're welcome dpfitzell. I'm glad you found the hub informative. Thanks for writing.
I appreciate your praise GmaGoldie - thanks so much. I just read that tons of processed foods have been recalled because of hydrolyzed protein - seems it has salmonella. And yes, yes, yes, - the consumer rules. We have to demand quality and we will get it. Already I am seeing changes. It's a shame that such deceit has been legal - and lies by omission are perfectly acceptable.
Thanks for commenting!
A nice read. Thanks.
Daniel
You're welcome festersporling1 aka Daniel - thanks for commenting!
I believe that no one, least of all the government should start telling people what they can and cannot eat - the more we decide on diets - food that's good for you - the more obsese North Americans are becoming. Something isn't right here.
Just guarantee us the right to quality and we'll be fine. The fact that food corp's can be deceptive in labeling and uncaring with quality shouldn't be acceptable. Sure, let me eat a potato but if it is GM give me the choice - which we don't have.
Nice to meet you by the way!
Great hub! I read such infos years ago and,I have to admit,I thought the author must be exagerating (Jim Hightower). Now,you are bringing it back to my attention and seems to be painful-terriffying real. No wander so many children treated for Bipolar disorder and locked for behavioral problems. The whole poisonous chemistry in the food is messing up the whole hormonal regulation,I think.
Desgusting commercial- business-oriented ,masochistic society!
Thanks for reading and commenting Romana50. As a former full time teacher I saw all the serious health issues with our children who are truly living on junk. And you're right now they are all being treating for assorted diseases with no effort made to address causes.
It is really cruel when you think about it.
Thanks for your input!
Hi,
I enjoyed your article. Toxins in home cleaning supplies and Personal care products can really mess up a child's life and make living no fun. This is our story with home toxins:
The worst and most widely used toxin is formaldehyde, and the industry uses about 15 different names for this chemical so you won't easily recognize it. They really care about us, don't they:
(NaturalNews) The FDA Handbook is the standard for regulations in the US regarding the manufacture of food and drugs, including cosmetic and skin care products. It is interesting to learn that this handbook actually allows the use of known harmful ingredients in the creation of cosmetic and skin care products.
In fact, almost any ingredient is permissible in cosmetics and body care products, as evidenced by these quotes from the FDA Handbook:
This is an excerpt from:
http://www.naturalnews.com/025531_dioxane_ingredie
Doesn't sound like the government is very concerned either.
Thanks so much for your input My 2 Sense.
All we have suffered through is just a reminder that we are no more than consumers in the scheme of things. But having said that it does give us the power of the dollar - if we would just wield it. It's good we can share so much information on the internet. I think it may be making a difference.
Thanks for commenting. Nice to meet you by the way!
Thanks for your comment,
This struck a chord:
"Yet, the medical profession will tell us it is genetic."
In our 2 year quest, we saw around 15 M.D.'s and medical professionals, none of them mentioned toxins. The only 2 that did were the last 2, and that was only after they were quizzed by my wife, the information was not given to us as a possible diagnosis, but merely something that we could try.
That really gives me cause for concern.
I have become a follower
So glad to meet you and I so appreciate all you are doing and writing.
I tell you when I used to go to my Grandmother's farm in NC, like 50 years ago - everyone was super healthy, strong, slim, glowing, - no such thing as dementia in my elders, and it was common to live to be a healthy 100. Now when I visit that same community half the people are on dialysis, the rest are crippled or disabled by some disease - so no "It is not genetics" - this is diet and environment. It's painful to see people disabled in their 40s and 50s. They have been told it is part of the aging process. Such nonsense.
Thanks for commenting. I'm looking forward to your first 100 hubs!
Something that I find curious, here in the UK, ALLLLL food is labled with sell by dates and use by dates. Not in the USA. Why, I wonder? If you go to the supermaket here later in the day, they are getting rid of freshly cooked foods or or other things that have to be sold by that date. NOT used by. Why can't this be done in the US? Money reason, I am sure. I'd say, 90% of what we eat is from the fresh food market. We eat so little of anything processed in our homes.
Lord Bryan
Thanks for that input Lord Bryan. I do remember when I was in England and visited Tesco's with my Cousin Roger - everything was marked down that evening. I couldn't believe it - all the bargains and perfectly good fresh food.
We have a long way to go here in the US. We have opted to turn the responsibility of our food over to unknown sources and they have used and abused us.
I think we get it now. Our health is too important to not take total control of. Thanks for your input!
I like the fact that you brought up Dyes and specific types of dyes in this article. I think people need to take into account all aspects of artificial content in their foods, especially dyes. Smart writing
Thanks Body Magic! Your reading and commenting is certainly appreciated!
This is a prime example of why they call us fat americans...
we've got to do a better job of protecting ourselves from ourselves. thanks for the article.
Thanks so much for your comment Ardyss. It seems we are not learning. I went to a community meeting held in a hospital auditorium and happened to glance into a patient bathroom and the toilet seat was...3 feet wide!!! It took my breath away. But I am sure these custom made toilet seats are necessary in hospitals for patient care - but yikes!!!
Yikes,
now they are supersizing the toilet seats. Why are we building the infrastructure that supports our ridiculous eating habits. Great hub.
So true Livesmart360 - I can still see that toilet seat - it will never go away. I know so many nurses who have been injured in the hospital trying to move patients - patients who are suffering ailments because of their obesity.
Thanks for your Yikes, too!
your hub is very important ... we need to know the truth in order to make free choices, particularly if we talk about our health. Thanks!
You're very welcome fucsia. I'm glad you found the hub useful. Thank you for writing!
I am not at all surprised. I have been saying this for years and have been called a 'cynic!' Why is the truth about our toxic industrialized food supply with all the harm it is doing to our health - so hard to accept? If we accept these facts - we can finally do something to effect change.
We should be ashamed to allow our children to be subjected to these toxins.
Great hub! Thanks so much!
I agree thelistlady - our children certainly deserve better. I just read yet another report about how our girls are developing at age 9. And men should be especially concerned because the toxins are...well eliminating men. There are so many reports and studies on the effects of toxins on humans - of course we are totally ignoring the other animals being wiped out.
Thanks for your comment!
Oh, what we must learn to be healthy - very helpful Hub! Excellent once again!
Thanks so much 4FoodSafety. I'm so glad we now have forums to spread the word. Thank for commenting.
OK, I am about ready to give up meat.
It is, Ardyss Nicole, for lack of better words 'food for thought' - we just have to demand better than this. And we have to ask ourselves why we have tolerated this for so long.
Thanks for writing!
It seems the US is a testing ground for "new" foods. You are clearly passionate about what you do and have an exceptional hub.
Have you seen the new salmon they "created"?
Simply awful.
Ugh, it is so disgusting the things that Americans consume and that we are able to buy. Everything is processed, packaged, fried and gross. Being a vegan, I practically live on fruits, vegetables and whole grains and most everywhere else in the world also builds their diet around foods other than meat byproducts. Why is that Europe would ban food that America doesn't? Makes no sense unless "people" in charge really care nothing about the dwellers of the country. Excellent hub!
Ugh the farm raised salmon - can we get any worse? Is there something worse Plumber Manchester? We are going to have to be totally responsible for our foods here in the US. Unfortunately what we are testing is know to be carcinogenic - so the testing seems to be 'just how much garbage can we take.'
Thank you TheVacationLady. I totally agree and just got through working on a hub explaining why we need to return to the earth for our food. What is being done to us is disgusting - but as adults we have some control but our children don't so we have to effect some change. Great to meet you by the way!
Wow! I just stumbled on this hub. Amazing reporting! I had NO idea about what happened to recalled beef. I see some more interesting hubs that I want to read this week. I started to bookmark them, but I think I just need to follow you, that way I won't miss a hub!
Thanks so much bayoulady. By now you have probably heard that billions of eggs have been recalled - we just have to stop this industrialization of food. These companies have had numerous violations.
Good food means good health - but we don't have what should be our most basic right - healthy food.
Thanks for commenting. I'm enjoying your hubs as well.
BkCreative, thank you for being a voice crying out to the masses! This is such a timely and important article! I think the only way for the food industry to hear what the public wants is to demand it! And the best way to do that is to stop buying the crap they are selling. Yes it makes shopping harder, and at times a little more costly, but the benefits are overwhelming!
Please keep up the good work! And thank you!
Thank you so much for your great words of support RunAbstract. It saddens me how poor our food is but we still line up to buy it. And when you think about it - whatever we pay for it is too much because it has little or no nutritional value - we are not saving at all.
And look how sick our babies and children are. If food is health - then something is wrong with our food.
Thanks for writing and being part of the solution and not the problem.
This is...unnerving, and really written! I became your follower, and subsequent reader, due to this statement written on one of katywhowaited's hubs:
"It makes me think of my favorite book 'The Color Purple' by Alice Walker, written entirely in the form of letters. Amazing. Yet it angered many people - she only told the truth.?"
Read the book in my teens, and I have no idea why it pissed so many people off. But I totally agree with you, and it's one of my favorites.
Nice to meet you ahostagesituation. I'm glad you found the information useful even if unnerving. I don't understand how we can give this food to our children - even if we as adults don't care about our own health.
My all time favorite book - The Color Purple - not just the truth but the amazing way Alice Walker told the story through letters - brilliant. Great to meet you by the way!
I think it's the salt we are craving bbpaul8888 - but the salt used in all processed foods is like salt/sodium on the supermarket shelf - more processed garbage - and that type of salt is wreaking havoc on our bodies - we need real quality sea salt.
Certainly student loan - it is nothing more than processed garbage -the sodium on the shelves and in all processed foods. I've always enjoyed real sea salt and never had a problem with high blood pressure.
Thanks for commenting!
Hi there, You make some great points- points that I have thought of myself. Yet, I would like this extended to all people in the U.S. including our children. It's just so sickening all the dyes, sugar and high fructose syrups added to food that don't need it or could go without it. Sodium content are ridiculous and contributing to physical/ internal illness as well
You're so right of course. I'm actually insulted that our food quality is so poor, even dangerous and the very existence of it is deemed okay. Nice to meet you by the way - thanks for writing!
Thanks for the information.
You're welcome SUSIE405. You know practically every time I turn on the tv or check print media - there is something else banned in Europe but not here. Recently, it is many more food dyes that we continue to use. I'm hoping we will not continue to buy these processed products.
Thanks for writing!
I liked your hub very much! I live in the UK and I have read a few days ago in the national press, that Brussels had passed cloned meat for human consumption. And the manufacturers will not have to specify on packaging that the meat is cloned. Very unsettling since we all know how long cloned animals live! Brussels is also quietly lifting all the bans on genetically modified crops one by one. Something is very rotten in Europe as well!
What a horror story irbis. The problem here too is with labeling - companies do not have to specify what the product is. We are going to have to move as far away from this industrialized food as possible. Good grief!
Thanks for you input. Comments like yours keep us all informed.
The simple answer? Greed. This, in combination with the fact that so many of our "food regulation" officials were once also paid employees of major US food production companies.
This industrialization of food is destroying us and our environment. I'm appalled at the lack of responsibility. Greed and stupidity - what a combination.
Thanks for writing. I can keep up with you now!
Hi there, I have just read an article in www.lovefood.com called The secret cloned meat in your food by Kirsty Page. I believe everybody should read it, as it appears we all have been eating cloned meat for some time without being aware of it. I detest the way politicians and big corporate businesses are treating us!
Thanks for sharing that information - if we didn't spread the word - how would we know. I'm not a meat eater - gave it up 35 years ago because back then it was horrible - so I can imagine what it is now.
I do believe cancer is related to food.
Me too - we never had all these problems when we had real food. My elders live to be a hundred in good health. Of course this pollution is a serious problem.
Thank you for sharing about this a hundred in good health.The problem with GM foods is that there is simply not sufficient research It has been embraced in Japan for over three decades, but E.U. bans still .Thank you for sharing.
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Joffyt.
chocolates
You're welcome joffytjomasom9. I have no reason to believe a profit driven chemical company is better than nature. They like to say there is nothing to indicate GM foods are harmful. But that is not the question. The question is "Is it healthy?" No answer to that. I didn't know Japan embraced GM foods.
Thanks for commenting.
Great article.
Thanks MarkMAllen15!
Very informative article. The real disgrace is that GM food is showing up in so much of our food supply. Any soda or baked product or cereal sweetened with HFCS is made with GM corn. I've written hubs on the same topic.
Thanx for this and a new follower!
You're welcome and I am your follower too - great hubs you have. You know a chef pointed out to me this his specialty is soups but they no longer have that delectable aroma and he suspects that it's the GM vegetables. What a horrible thought.
Thanks for writing - I will be checking out your hubs as well.
This hub is too loaded,Thanks for the the Info
You're very welcome elija-god! Thanks for writing!
Love his hub! Thanks for sharing.
You're welcome philipandrews188. I'm glad you enjoyed the hub and thanks for commenting!
You know... when I was in public school many years ago our lunches were real meals. A meat, 2 veggies, rolls, and maybe jello or cake, along with milk.
And then I remember as a young adult thinking, "Is this a joke?" When our then commander in cheif decided a packet of catsup was to be considered a vegatable in school lunches!
Now school lunches have become nothing more than "fillers" to stop hunger pains, and have nothing to do with nutrition!
That on top of the CRAP that make up school food is disgusting!
Why are we in this country being fed this terrible food without being educated to make wise choices?
I wish I had read this article a year and a half ago!!! Because I was honestly completely unaware of GM foods until late last year! And I CARE about what I eat and serve!
I haven't owned a microwave in years. I buy all my dairy and beef products from a company that only grass grazes the livestock. (Except for one brand of kosher hotdogs we eat.) But it seemed a moot point when I realized we had been eating GM vegetables UNKNOWINGLY!!!
We are betrayed by the people who produce this nasty food! Nature is betrayed! We are betrayed by the officials who allow this food to be "dished" out to an unsuspecting public without educating us about what has been done to our food supply. And there in NO WAY, in my opinion, good results will be seen in the long run!
I know one young mother with a 2 year old baby who spends more time at the doctor's with her child than you can imagine! This baby suffers from constant congestion, allergies, diarrhea, and is behind on weight gain and growth. But how can a child grow when the little body spends all it's energy on trying to stay well? Do I think this baby shows all these symtoms because of diet? Absolutely!
Plus the program, WIC, that this young mother is involved with only allows certain brands to be "bought" with the WIC vouchers. And if you ever notice in the supermarket which products are tagged as "WIC approved", it's always the cheapest brands on the shelf! Never an organic product! It makes me sick! And this kind of thing is making babies sick in their formative years!
It's an outrage and a shame that our precious children are the "fall guys" here, in the bread basket of the world!
Your information is vital! Everyone needs to know what is happening with our food supply, and hence our people, especially the kids! Please keep up your efforts! I sincerely appreciate you!
I am so glad RunAbstract that you are writing about this topic as well. We have to keep it current lest people think food is improving - it is not.
And of course the whole problem is that this is kept quiet - there is no labeling required because if we were informed I think most people would simply not buy.
Ah,and how well I remember when Reagan said ketchup is a vegetable - and that stuff now has high fructose corn syrup which we should never eat.
And yes, the sickness of our children - their immune systems are being destroyed.
Thanks for commenting!
Honestly, I grew up eating very little meat, and the practices of companies makes me not even want to eat much of it ever again.
You've probably heard that millions of pounds of ground turkey have been recalled. Only thing we need for survival is food and water - and both have been so thoroughly industrialized.
Thanks for writing!
you know I just recently started Culinary school to cook and of course had to go through my servsafe exam. I always had a problem with food in the U.S but I never looked up so much info. till a friend of mines daughter became diabetic. He started looking up all this stuff on it and telling me so I decided to have a look myself. I knew the food processing plants were corrupt but reading about that meat just makes me wanna be a vegitarian. O-o Glad i'm in the pastry part of Culinary even though i have looked up many things on sugars used in produts. Looks like i'm going to be changing my sugars for my sweets now.
Thank you ~Dreamer~ your comment is appreciated. Diabetes is not only epidemic here in the U.S. people are beginning to think it's just part of getting older. Good grief!
I read recently that 80% of USA food has no nutritional value. I'm not surprised that we are morbidly obese, chronically ill and just all around simple-minded. Sigh.
Actually A study shows that many children are getting diabetes (My friends little girl is 7) Because all the sugars that their parents give them constantly. To much sugar is becoming a large source of the diabetes cause. My friends little girl has to have 3 shots a day cause of this :( I think a lot of it is Americans do not watch what they eat, they should be more aware of things like this (I'm so blogging about this to try and make people more aware)
What a legacy we are giving American children - chronic ailments.
Back in the 60s the popular slogan was 'you are what you eat' - it has never been truer. We are eating more processed foods, more GM food, foods with no nutritional value because our soil is devastated - and I'm appalled to see that breakfast cereals made by Kellogg's still have high fructose corn syrup - something we are never supposed to eat. Then add cow milk to the cereal which has bovine growth hormones.
When I lived in S. Korea every meal including breakfast was real food - no packaged cereals. It was this way when I visited my grandmother's farm back in the 50-60's. Real food: rice, vegetables, a protein - my mother went out early and picked wild blueberries.
Hope you share your blog with us. Thanks for writing!
Yes it is getting very true. You know ailments such as Altimers and Autism dont exist anywhere but the U.S really. Like we have such a large population and it's growing even bigger here but not anywhere else. I was thinking about doing more research on that actually. But anyways if you want to see some of my oppinions on things here's my blogged. Not quite as detailed as your's however. http://www.exotickat.blogspot.com/ I might try and stay in touch for more info. I guess as a Culinary Student I want to know what is in our food. Perhaps I can be one of the only cafe's in America that has Food that is actually healthy and homegrown. haha ^_-
Imagine a cafe with real food. Wow. We can dream, Dreamer.
I was just reading an article about how some restaurants are growing their own produce out back. I would certainly support such a place.
I will check out your blog now. Thanks for checking back and writing!
Thank you for more information. I am determined to create such a restaurant. It's my own way of rioting without having an actuale riot lol ^_^ Anyways, It was really nice chatting with you and learning more about this.
Hi again Dreamer - I just read some of your blog - and isn't horrible how we were told for so long that we had chronic ailments because of...our genes!!! And unfortunately, as a nation we started to fall for that utter lie.
Maybe you should write for hubpages and put some of your idea here!
Thanks, my blog is not as popular as yours right now so I'm glad you actually took the time to read some of it. Yes, I think it is terrible that people blame their genes for alot of things that happen. I guess everyone needs a way out for something so blaming our genetic makeup seems the best way to go. However, (going back to food topic) I am sure that alot of chemicals we ingest now and days have alot to do with it as well as just our choices as individuals. also Thanks for the idea, I will consider it. Anyway to get out information to others that they should know. Thats just my way of thinking.
Please let me know if you do decide to write here Dreamer so I can follow and keep up with you! We have a lot of work to do but people are listening because I get so many positive responses to my hubs here.
I just got back from Europe. I felt better and the food was so much healthier. What can we do to stop this Euthanasia. Mac Donalds come on. Wht doesn't our wonderful Gov shut it down? Because they don't want to take care of the older people. Gov wants them to die. It will be an outstanding amount of older people needing help from the Gov very soon. It will creep up on us slowly then we have an epicdemic all the sudden. Like we didn't see it coming. Like the banks and the economy. We didn't see thet either.
Hello Andy!
Isn't it interesting that the McDonald's in England for example, are supposed to use free range eggs, and no high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oils - but in the US the poorest quality everything goes into fast foods.
We older folks should know what's going on - we've been around long enough to know that aging doesn't mean being on every type of drug complete with side effects. Poor food and toxic drugs and we are lapping it up.
Thanks for commenting!
I couldn't agree more that our children do not deserve to eat gm foods, repackaged recalled meats, chemicals and dyes. I try my hardest to keep processed foods out of the house but its EVERYWHERE! And it is very convenient. When I DO give it to my kids on occassion I feel so bad. Great article BK
Thanks Ardie. I think of how easy it was to enjoy good food when I was a child - even the flavor and aroma is gone now. Mothers have a near impossible job now - we should all be ashamed of the garbage called food that is advertised to and directed towards children. One neighbor said she only bought organic snacks for her children. Guess what? There was a major recall of those snacks.
We all have to effect change for children and not leave it on the shoulders of mothers - who are being wrongfully blamed for this health and obesity epidemic of children.
Yeah, Europe and other places are way better at keeping their food of high quality. That's scary that meat that's been recalled can actually make it back into the grocery store.
The other thing that often gets into our diet are dangerous prescription drugs. I just saw an ad for a class action lawsuit on TV yesterday for people who had taken osteoporosis drugs and suffered horrible side effects. It's crazy that so many prescription drugs make it into circulation without the proper testing.
I'm just amazed Cold Pressed Oil that as Americans we are treated so poorly - as in profit before people - always! I've never seen so many sick people walking around. Then with the prescription drugs as you mentioned - always a recall because of deadly side effects. It just never ends.
Thanks for writing!
American greed and stupidity goes hand in hand.
It saddens me Nina. Suddenly it seems we have a right to be as greedy and especially as stupid as possible. Thanks for writing!
I've done a little study o the dangers of hydrogenated oils. Good article. Thank you.
Hydrogenated Oils: How Bad Are They for Us?
Ever since food processing manufacturers realized they could extend the use of many vegetable oils by injecting hydrogen into them, the birth of hydrogenation was born.
So true beauley! And it was done at the expense of the health of the consumer. Thanks for the link. I'll check it out!
Fantastic information. It stuns me to see how stubborn we Americans are when it comes to our nutrition on a national level. Only recently in the last few years I've been turned on to the natural food diets like the Paleo diet and it's working out great. Thank you for a great hub!
You're welcome Chris Teguh. Health is all we have and to abuse it...I just don't get it. When I travel overseas food just tastes a thousand times better. I'm just amazed that we accept so little when it comes to nutrition. Sigh! Thanks for commenting!
Awesome Hub! What a food-bank (sorry for the pun :) of information. It is not safe to eat anything any more. We find out more and more about so called Organic Foods all the time and it seems that most of them are still not safe for you unless you grow them yourself!
Great blog!
I watched a tv programme on how they con people about meat. It showed you how they make hot dogs in the US and UK, you actually get less than 2% meat it's all made up from the tail, feet, the ermm rear hole and Bones crunched together. The uk government had to act because the public was outraged but in the US the laws are stacked against the people the government do nothing. The US needs more people like u making them aware of what they are eating!
Oh and stay away from any canned meat because it's likely to be around 12% actual meat.
President Obama promised the American people before his election in 2008 the he would make companies responsible list GMO content in all food ingredient. No word has been mentioned on its implementation yet.
Iðunn 2 years ago
I agree with you. Useful hub, I knew our food product was unhealthy, but I didn't know the half of it. Wonderful job of disseminating information.