Meat Industry Pushes for Recall Cutback

Fructose must be limited with taxes, age limits: UC profs

(NEWSER) - Tobacco, alcohol, and ... sugar? Yes, according to professors at UC San Francisco, sugar should be regulated like tobacco and alcohol in order to cut down on ailments like heart disease, high blood pressure, and fatty liver disease, the Los Angeles Times reports. “For both alcohol and tobacco, there is robust evidence that gentle ‘supply side’ control strategies" such as "taxation, distribution controls, [and] age limits" are beneficial to society, they write in the journal Nature . More»

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver spearheaded drive against controversial beef

(NEWSER) - Jamie Oliver's gastric juices must be bubbling with joy. The food activist and celebrity chef has fought for months against so-called "pink slime," and lo and behold, McDonald's announced last week it has stopped using the controversial beef, CBS News reports. The chain was "taking a product that would be sold in its cheaper form for dogs" and gave "it to humans," Oliver said; he's "thrilled" by McD's decision. More»

Critics worry move will compromise public safety

(NEWSER) - The US Department of Agriculture announced plans to close 259 offices, labs, and other facilities yesterday, in a move that will save the agency $150 million per year. But the announcement has some farmers and food safety experts worried, the AP reports. "They wiped out the entire Midwest," says one stunned deputy district manager, who discovered that his office—which oversees Minnesota, Montana, the Dakotas, and Wyoming—was on the chopping block. More»

It's a cheap, relatively healthy meat option for the poor: Josh Ozersky

(NEWSER) - When Congress lifted the ban on funding horse meat inspections , no one exactly cheered, because Americans find the idea of eating horse meat “gross.” But maybe it’s time to get over “our national revulsion” against the stuff, writes Josh Ozersky in Time . For one thing, since horse meat is so unpopular, it would be cheaper than most other meat—meaning that “the poorest Americans could eat fresh meat more frequently." More»

A butcher, hunter, and rancher discuss the ethics of eating animals

(NEWSER) - For long stretches of their lives, Nicolette Niman, Tovar Cerulli and Joshua Applestone were all vegetarians or vegans. Now, they’re a rancher, a hunter, and a butcher, respectively, who “firmly believe food from animals can be healthful, environmentally appropriate, and ethical,” they write in the Atlantic . Their stories:

• Nicolette: She became vegan “after hearing that beef was deforesting the Amazon,” but eventually “learned that animals were essential to sustainable farms.” They increase soil fertility and convert otherwise inedible vegetation and uncultivated land into food.
• Tovar: He became a vegan after listening to Buddhist teachings, but eventually “realized that all food has its costs. From habitat destruction to combines that inadvertently mince rabbits … crop production is far from harmless.” What matters, he decided, “wasn’t what we ate, but how that food came to our plates.”
• Joshua: He was a vegetarian until he met his wife and opened a meat company. “Once I saw how the meat we were selling had been raised, and met the farmers who were striving to raise animals sustainably … I realized I didn’t have a problem with meat. I had a problem with the inhumane practices of the commercial meat industry."