In an age of processed food and chemically treated crops, sustainable food not only benefits our health, but also the environment. Organic and local farms produce better quality food and cause less harm to the environment through things like carbon emissions and water pollution. In addition, the organic farming movement encourages people to plant seeds and grow their own food, thereby empowering people to eat healthier and take personal steps to creating a better world to live in.

Here are a couple of related articles that I found interesting and wanted to share this week:

Sustainable Food: 10 Reasons to Care

Why should sustainability be a priority? Not only does it create more nutritious foods, but it also fosters a sense of community, is more ethical and is better for the environment. This article explores the many ways that sustainable food is good for society as a whole.

Eat Organic to Mitigate Climate Chaos

There is a common belief that industrialized agriculture is more efficient that organic farming. This article offers research that discusses how organic farming is actually more efficient, yielding the same amount of products but with less pollution to the environment.

Joel Salatin Responds to New York Times Article on “Myth of Sustainable Meat”

I’ve often wondered if the Joel Salatin model of organic farming can be scaled up. Joel takes on James McWilliams article point by point to covering methane, neanderthal management, pig rings, global warming and nutrition.

Following is a letter that Romeo Danais from General Butler Farm sent out to his customers that’s he has agreed to share with me. It’s about the arsenic that many bulk suppliers put in their chicken feed.  It’s important to start asking what the animals you eat, eat so make sure to ask your grocer or your farmer. If they don’t know, ask them to find out.

What do the words ‘chicken’ and ‘arsenic’ have in common?

Well, they shouldn’t have anything in common, but, the USDA and the FDA thinks its OK to put arsenic in chicken feed to reduce mold and bacterial growth.

Let me tell you an interesting story;

A few weeks ago, I had an ad in Craigslist for Chicken feet. Yes, as a result of processing my chickens, I have chicken feet for sale, for food. Yes, a lot of people eat chicken feet, and a lot of people use chicken feet for, well, for chicken stock. The chicken feet add a marvelous flavor and gelatinous texture to chicken stock. Anyway, sorry, I tend to digress on occasion.

So, I got a call on my chicken feet ad, and the caller asked if there was any arsenic in my chicken. “Arsenic in my chicken? Why would I put arsenic in my chicken?” was my response, and here’s what he went on to tell me.

For quite some time, his parents have been getting ever so more anemic and went to the doctors to figure out what was wrong. The doctors had all sorts of tests made up and found high levels of arsenic in their blood. They analyzed the water in their home, tested paint chips from each room, tested darn well near everything until they finally got down to diet. It seems the parents disdained red meat, including beef, pork and lamb and the exotics like bison, elk & etc. and settled on chicken for their animal protein source. In fact, they ate chicken 2 – 4 times a week, and liked it.

The problem was, it was store-bought chicken. Store-bought chicken that was raised in factory farms that +used a feed additive that reduced mold and bacterial growth in the feed and made the chickens look more pinkish in the meat and gave the skin a more yellowish color to it. That feed additive was low levels of arsenic. Arsenic, like in Arsenic and Old Lace! In fact, a person can survive low-level arsenic poisoning for quite some time. But, because of the way it damages cells – breaking apart the structures that allow cellular respiration - it turns out to be a quite dangerous carcinogen.

Unfortunately, this fellow’s parents were eating too much chicken that had the ‘acceptable levels of arsenic’ in it and his parents’ bodies weren’t expelling the arsenic fast enough, so they were becoming ever more anemic. The question came back up, “so, do your chickens have arsenic in them?” Well, I said no, but, I would call my feed supplier and find out for sure. I got his tel. number and assured him I’d call back.

I called Cargill (my bulk feed supplier) and asked about the arsenic. After verifying my account number and looking at my feed deliveries, the Cargill rep answered, “Romeo, from the beginning you specified no additives in your feed, as you didn’t want any antibiotics, growth hormones or chemicals. So, no, we didn’t add anything to your feed other than the basic grain meals that we use in chicken feed.” I asked if they added arsenic to ‘regular’ chicken feed, and he confirmed that someone ordering general chicken feed would have trace amounts added along with the usual list of additives.

I take pride in raising my chickens as naturally as your grandmother would have done;

Out in the yard on forage, eating bugs and worms and grass (just like chickens have been doing for millennia), along with additive-free grain meals, tomatoes and other produce from my garden, apples from my trees, etc. I even put a few tablespoons of Apple Cider Vinegar in their water to prevent parasites from ever getting into my chickens.

My chickens live for 14 weeks before they are ‘processed’, on the other hand, store-bought (on growth hormones and chemicals) are just 7 weeks old when they are brought to market. The chicken industry has made cheap animal protein available to the masses – unfortunately they have brought cheap animal protein to the masses – the operative phrase is “cheap animal protein” full of growth hormones, arsenic, antibiotics and who-knows-what residue in their flesh. Flesh that you ingest when you eat store-bought chicken.

Read the second paragraph of this first report and you may never eat store-bought chicken again!

http://blogs.forward.com/the-jew-and-the-carrot/136663/

http://blogs.plos.org/speakeasyscience/2011/06/10/playing-chicken-with-arsenic/

http://www.organicconsumers.org/foodsafety/arsenic060405.cfm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/08/arsenic-chicken_n_873299.html

http://healthland.time.com/2011/06/09/arsenic-chicken-and-old-regulatory-standards/

Kath Gallant takes a look at Big Food over the last 115 years.

We had our first session on “ethical eating” tonight while the rain poured on… Kathy Gallant from Blue Moon made the most unbelievable timeline on the “industrialization” of food!  I see a movie in the works!  Amy Robinson really opened our eyes to the plight of the honey bees and Leigh Sloss told us how the wheat industry has changed in the last few thousand years (all in 20 minutes!)

I gave some perspective on the environmental and health impacts of the food industry. For example did you know:

• Food production contributes to 30% of the gases that are causing global warming -  18% is from meat production .
• Environmental damage from pesticides is estimated at $9 billion a year.
• We throw away 500 billion plastic bags a year.
• We throw away on average  30% of the food we buy – nearly 1.5 pounds of food every day (do you compost?)

You may also want to check out this video on the “disconnect” between our government’s agricultural and health priorities: How to get fat without even trying:  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtLFeH0W1×4)

Join us at our upcoming sessions on April 6, April 13,  April 20, from 7;00 – 9:00 pm at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Exeter on 12 Elm Street.  RSVP: Cynthia Young at cynthia@woodflute.net or 686-7266. It’s free!