Student Attitudes to GM Food

A survey of 372 students found that factors such as age, gender, bio tech knowledge, politics, religion and trust in government or industry had no consistent relation with willingness to eat transgenicc meat.  Fifty percent of the students indicated that they would eat transgenic meat. These students were also more likely to read labels when shopping, and they had higher trust that scientists are truthful about transgenic meat.

It is interesting that although the FDA and GM animal producers oppose labeling of BM products, as this study suggests that people who attend most to labels are also most accepting of GM meat products.  However this small student self-report study may not reflect actual shopping behavior, or the attitudes of the wider general public.

Sources:

• Ibrahim, M., Johnson, F. Brewer, A. (2010). Student response to transgenic meat: an analysis of a Fort Valley State University survey. 2010 Annual Meeting, February 6-9, 2010, Orlando, Florida. [Full Text]

Melamine in Milk [China]

Melamine-contaminated milk powder has surfaced again in the Shanxi province of China.  The milk powder was produced by Jinfulai Dairy Company. Melamine is used to make a product appear to be of a higher quality, specifically a higher protein content.  Melaminecan be used in milk to disguise the fact that the milk has been watered down.


Sources:

• Seven Arrested over More Melamine-tainted Milk Found in China
• China arrests six in latest melamine milk powder scare

FDA Considers GM Salmon

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is currently considering whether  genetically modified Atlantic salmon are safe for consumers, and whether it should carry special labelling.

AquaBounty Technologies Inc developed the fish to be fast growing, halving the normal 3 year growing period.  The GM fish produces growth hormones all year, rather than just in the summer.

AquaBounty appear to oppose labelling requirements that would identify the salmon to consumers as genetically modified.  Reuters report that David Edwards, head of animal biotechnology for the Biotechnology Industry said that special labelling:  "just causes confusion for the consumers."

Opponents question the safety of the product, and warn that escaped GM fish could devastate wild salmon populations.

Genetically engineered vegetables (such as corn and soy) are widely available, as a GM pet animals (e.g. Yorktown Technologies LP's GloFish).  However the Aqua Bounty salmon will be something of a test case when it comes to food animals. If AquaBounty obtain approval for their Atlantic salmon similar lines of tilapia and trout would likely follow.


Sources:

• Biotech salmon faces scrutiny at FDA panel
• FDA advisors to vote on genetically engineered salmon
• A genetically engineered fillet: GMO salmon and future food
• Has FDA Already Decided About Genetically Engineered Salmon?

Religion and Meat (in progress)

Christianity

Barclay (2010) suggests that a Christain orientation, specifically  to wards food includes thanksgiving to God and careful consideration of the well-being of others.  On this basis he argues that wealthy Christians should consider greatly reducing their meat intake based on the adverse environmental effects of large scake meat production.

Islam

British Question Halal Meat

The Mail seemed outraged that a lot of meat served at British events, schools and in other public settings including Wembley Stadium is Halal.  Halal meat is of a type and preparation considered correct under Islamic law.  Specifically it is not pork, and has been slaughter with a prayer to Allah by cutting he neck veins resulting in rapid exsanguination--minimising the amount of blood left in the carcass. 

It has been suggested that Christians should not eat alal meat because it has been dedicated to Allah. Some also argue that halal slaughter is not humane as the animal is not "stunned" (unconscious) when it is killed.  For this reason The RSPCA and Vegetarians International Voice for Animals (Viva!) oppose providing only Halal options to consumers, and not informing them that the meat is Halal.

References:

• Barclay, JMG. (2010). Food, Christian identity and global warming: a Pauline call for a Christian food taboo. The Expository Times, 121, 585-593.

Sources:

• Halal Britain: Famous institutions and schools routinely serve up ritually slaughtered meat
• On London's Halal Hoo Ha

Canada Protests Country of Origin Labelling

Country of Origin Labelling (COOL) has been in the news recently.  It currently requires that if an animal is raised in Canada, but processed in the United States, it must be labelled as "Canadian".

Republican senator Saxby Chambliss, who is currently visiting Canada, supports the law.  He argues that because Canadian products are of a high quality, comparable to American products, the label should produce no disadvantage.

However the Canadian government feels this practice  places the Canadian product at a disadvantage in the American market because Americans want to 'buy American' even when other products are of similar quality. Canada and Mexico  are protesting to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that COOL labelling represents an unwarranted barrier to trade.

Sources:

• U.S. senator backs meat labelling law [CBC]
• Country-of-origin meat labelling on the way [Times Colonist]

Recall: Hallmark Fisheries Crabmeat

Hallmark Fisheries (Oregan) is recalling crabmeat products. The effected products are large containers are used by food service companies and so it is unlikely that members of the public will have them in their larders.  The recall relates to five-pound cans, one-pound vacuum packs, one-pound plastic tubs, and eight-ounce plastic tubs of crabmeat branded Hallmark, Peacock, Yaquina Bay and Quality Ocean International. The recall affects the states of Washington, Nevada, Oregon and California.

The potential contaminant is a bacterium called Listeria (Listeria monocytogenes) which can cause an illness (called: listeriosis) in young children, the elderly or people with weakened immune systems.  Pregnant women should avoid products that might contain Listeria is it is can be transmitted to the baby at birth and potential cause meningitis. Listeria results in 2,500 illnesses and 500 deaths in the United States each year.

• Listeria Prompts Crabmeat Recall
• Hallmark Fisheries recalls crab meat products distributed in Nevada
• Crab Meat Product Recall In Nevada

Feeding Meat to Herbivorous Animals: the Taboo

In later posts I will look at the very real health and safety consequences that can occur when animal flesh is feed to herbivorous livestock such as sheep, cows and horses.  But in this post I want to discuss how our aversion to this practice has pre-scientific roots and functions as a cultural taboo.

Many people have feeling about the natural order of things. The sheep eats the grass, the man eats the sheep.  Much of this natural order is no longer literally necessary.  Stock feed may be safely made from many different products, processed to extract their consituent nutrients.  The same is true of the human diet which no longer needs to include meat for nutritional reasons.  However the "natural order" remains intuitive pleasing to the majority, and has for a rather long time.  This may explain the existence of cuationary myths about how animals may be driven mad by feeding them inappropriate foods.

Several myths tell how horses were driven mad by being fed flesh, and went on to attack an devour their owners.  Glaucus, King of Ephyra, was said to feed his chariot horses human flesh--ultimately causing them to turn on him during a race and eat him alive.  Likewise the Thracian King Diomedes was said to feed human flesh to horses and turned upon him and ate him.  These myths can be read as encoded warnings that animals should be feed that which is natural for them.


Sources::
Papakostas YG (2005). et al Horse Madness (hippomania) and hippophobia. History of Psychiatry 16, 467-471.

What This Blog is About

There are many people in the world who either do not eat meat at all, or eat it unapologetically with no interest in how it is produced and the impacts on animal welfare (and also to some extent, conservation, nationalism, religious identity and a great many other subjects).  This blog is not for those people.

Others eat meat but want to make good ethical choices.  The want to know where their food comes from, how it is made, and how one product is different from another.  They do not, however, want to make the acquisition of this knowledge their life's work or daily obsession.   This is where I come in.

In this blog I will begin to tease apart the different types of animal products available to consumers.  What makes them different, what about this food might you want to know, where it was made? Was it raised humanely? Is it vegetarian fed, organic, genetically modified?  What doe this all mean. 

 

Some of the qualities food have are factual, like where it was made, what breed of animal it came from, how it was slaughtered, and it's nutritional qualities.  Some of these qualities are more conceptual, what some researchers call the fetishization of food (Cook, 2006).  This is what makes food seem wholesome, patriotic, exotic, sexy or comforting, regardless of what its constituent parts might actually be.  Sometimes these two aspects are inter-meshed in strange and misleading ways.

I intend to investigated animal-based foods (meat, milk and eggs), case-by-case, issue by issue, and draw what I learn altogether into a single, simple consumer guide which will, hopefully, emerge from this blog in book form.  I hope some of you will come along on this journey of discovery.

 

Welcome.

References:

• Cook I. (2006). Geographies of food: following. Progress in Human Geography 30, 655-666.