We must face facts - meat is the problem

[mspohr]

Could the Next Pandemic Start at the County Fair? Could the Next Pandemic Start at the County Fair?

But there is real risk in our own backyards — and barnyards. Since 2011, there have been more confirmed human cases of swine flu in the United States than anywhere else in the world. (That may be because other nations are doing less testing and surveillance, and many cases here and abroad are likely to go undetected, experts say.) Most have been linked to agricultural shows and fairs. “They have become kind of hot spots,” Ms. Linder said.

Pigs play a key role in the evolution of influenza. They can be infected by swine, bird and human flu viruses simultaneously, serving as mixing vessels in which different strains can reshuffle their genetic material, yielding new versions of the virus.

The world is emerging from a pandemic that killed at least 6.9 million people. It won’t be the last. Outbreaks of zoonotic diseases, which can spread between animals and humans, have become more frequent in recent decades, and animal pathogens will continue spilling over into human populations in the years ahead. To Americans, spillover might seem like a distant problem, a danger that dwells in places like the live animal market in Wuhan, China, that may have been the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic

 

[JRP3]

Can’t beat them? Eat them: the fight against the US wild boar plague

These feral pigs cause billions of damage, but some chefs and meat purveyors are putting this pork on the map – and menus

www.theguardian.com

Wild boar is both from Texas – and not. It’s hard to remember that swine are native to Europe – not the Americas – because they’ve been here so long. Christopher Columbus brought the first eight pigs, intended as food, to the western hemisphere with his voyage to Cuba in 1493. The wild descendants of those pigs and others, estimated to number 6 million in 35 states, have been wreaking havoc ever since; annually, they cause $2.5bn in damage to crops, forestry and livestock producers. They can spread disease to both humans and domestic animals. With upwards of 2 million of these beasts in Texas alone, the state has become the epicenter of a massive nationwide pig problem.

It makes sense to use invasive out of control species as replacement for factory farmed animals where possible. What must be understood by some people is that wild populations cannot scale to fully replace factory farmed animals and is not an excuse to continue to consume animals at our current rate.

 

[mspohr]

It makes sense to use invasive out of control species as replacement for factory farmed animals where possible. What must be understood by some people is that wild populations cannot scale to fully replace factory farmed animals and is not an excuse to continue to consume animals at our current rate.

Yes, this cannot scale.
It may help ameliorate the destruction caused by this animal.
I'm also thinking of invasive lionfish in tropical waters. They are good to eat.

 

[mspohr]

A Democrat’s obsessive quest to change the way America is farmed and fed

Earl Blumenauer has been on a 26-year quest to pass a bill to reform farming to center people, animals and the environment

www.theguardian.com

Blumenauer, a Democrat from Oregon, wants to see a version of US agriculture that centers people, animals and the environment, rather than the large-scale, energy-intensive commodity crop farms that currently receive billions of dollars in subsidies. In effect, he has a completely different vision for how 40% of the country’s land looks and works.Blumenauer’s newest plan, the Food and Farm Act, was introduced earlier this year, as an alternative to the farm bill – the package of food and agricultural policies passed every five years that is up for renewal this fall. His proposal would redirect billions of dollars away from subsidies for commodity farms towards programs that support small farmers, climate-friendly agriculture and increasing healthy food access. The bill also prioritizes food waste management and animal welfare – areas that have been completely neglected by previous iterations of the farm bill.

At the heart of Blumenauer’s bill is farm subsidy reform. In the most recent iteration of the farm bill, approximately $63bn was dedicated to subsidies. These mostly benefited the largest farms and agribusinesses, with 70% of subsidy payments going to just 10% of farms, most of which produce commodity crops like soy, corn and wheat, which are often used to make animal feed, processed foods and even fuel for cars.

Factory farming and animal agriculture contribute nearly 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide and previous farm bills haven’t acknowledged the impact of factory farms on the climate, says Alexandra Bookis of Farm Sanctuary.

 

[mspohr]

Involuntarily vegan

Nearly half a million in US may have been affected by tick-bite meat allergy

CDC issues warning over alpha-gal syndrome, red-meat allergy primarily associated with lone-star tick saliva

www.theguardian.com

In new reports released on Thursday, the CDC found that between 96,000 and 450,000 Americans since 2010 may have been affected by alpha-gal syndrome. The syndrome, also known as a red meat allergy or tick-bite meat allergy, stems from alpha-gal, a sugar molecule not naturally present in humans. Instead, it is found in meat including pork, beef, rabbit, lamb and venison, as well as products made from mammals including gelatin and milk products.

Those include hives or itchy rash, nausea or vomiting, heartburn or indigestion, diarrhea, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, drop in blood pressure, swelling of the lips, throat, tongue, or eyelids, dizziness or faintness, or severe stomach pain. Symptoms typically appear two to six hours after consuming food or being exposed to products that contain alpha-gal such as gelatin-coated medications.

 

[mspohr]

The Backlash to Plant-Based Meat Has a Sneaky Explanation - Truthdig

Remember when plant-based meats were cool? It was sometime around 2020; we were at home, bored, worrying about our health, the planet and the future. Enter Beyond Burger, a cholesterol-free, pea-protein patty that bleeds beet juice and requires 90 percent less water and 100 percent fewer dead...

www.truthdig.com

Thus, we cannot bestow the title of plant-meat pillager exclusively upon Berman. He is one part of a massive movement, backed by billions of dollars, to keep animal meat on our tables and plant-based meat back in the fads of the pandemic. The label ultra-processed is a general term with no real classification,” added Jarman. “As a nutrition scientist I have one view…Processing per se isn’t bad. What is bad is food that has no nutritional value.” (Or, in the case of red meat, food that raises your risk of several chronic diseases.)

As the tide of plant-based fandom continues to ebb and flow, just know that this is no natural rhythm. There is a man behind the curtain, many in fact, directing you and the media to that ingredients label, that website, and that full page ad telling the tale of all the processing required to turn peas into meat. It is a heavy marketing tactic, used to keep consumers from coming upon the meat industry’s own bloody secret: that there’s a process required to turn animals into meat, too. And it’s much worse.

 

[mspohr]

German supermarket trials charging true climate cost of foods

Penny chain raises price of products including wiener sausage, cheese and yoghurt in week-long experiment

www.theguardian.com

In a week-long experiment in all 2,150 branches of the Penny chain, a range of nine products, mainly dairy and meat, will be priced at what experts from two universities have deemed to be their true cost, in relation to their effect on soil, climate, water use and health.

The “wahre Kosten” or “real costs” campaign has seen the price of wiener sausages rise from €3.19 to €6.01, mozzarella go up by 74% to €1.55, and fruit yoghurt increase by 31% from €1.19 to €1.56. The awareness promotion week is taking place in conjunction with academics from the Nuremberg Institute of Technology and the University of Greifswald, and was triggered by the conviction among consumer researchers that price tags in supermarkets in no way reflect the true environmental or long-term health costs of producing the foodstuffs and getting them on to retailers’ shelves

 

[mspohr]

The Truth About Your Bacon Opinion | The Truth About Your Bacon

What I am confident of is that right now we’re on the wrong side of history and that future generations will look back at videos like these and be baffled that nice people like us could blindly tolerate such systematized cruelty toward intelligent if cantankerous fellow mammals not so different from us.

 

[K.I.T.T.23]

The Truth About Your Bacon Opinion | The Truth About Your Bacon

What I am confident of is that right now we’re on the wrong side of history and that future generations will look back at videos like these and be baffled that nice people like us could blindly tolerate such systematized cruelty toward intelligent if cantankerous fellow mammals not so different from us.

This is an interesting philosophy, and one that I struggle with. There is a term for it... (had to look it up) it is called Presentism. I hope that future humans look at us and don't judge us due to our naiveté and limited technology, but rather try to understand why we did things the way we did and then they can learn from those lessons and apply them to their society.

Being confident that society as a whole is on the "wrong side of history" is a bit narcissistic. After all, the slaughter of animals for food has been going on for a while... at least since recorded history roughly 12,000 years ago, right? At some point an alternative may be developed, but until then we have what we have.

Anyways, good to see the forum continue on while I was on vacation

 

[mspohr]

This is an interesting philosophy, and one that I struggle with. There is a term for it... (had to look it up) it is called Presentism. I hope that future humans look at us and don't judge us due to our naiveté and limited technology, but rather try to understand why we did things the way we did and then they can learn from those lessons and apply them to their society.

Being confident that society as a whole is on the "wrong side of history" is a bit narcissistic. After all, the slaughter of animals for food has been going on for a while... at least since recorded history roughly 12,000 years ago, right? At some point an alternative may be developed, but until then we have what we have.

Anyways, good to see the forum continue on while I was on vacation

This is similar to the arguments that have long been made (and continue) about slavery.

 

[K.I.T.T.23]

This is similar to the arguments that have long been made (and continue) about slavery.

I wanted to stay away from that example, a bit too political...

However, since you opened the door; I'll step in. You may be 100% correct IMHO if I understand you correctly. To judge those in the past participating in slavery with a modern lens of evaluation would be wrong and ignorant. To continue the practice of slavery is also wrong.

That said, I am still going to go and visit the pyramids (I know... we don't know if they were built by slaves or not... not the point) as well as enjoy many medical and technological advancements that were only made possible due to the rights violated by and against our forefathers.

So, I will eat my steak and porkchops regardless of what generations in the future think. My bones will be long turned to dust by the time this matters.

 

[David_Cary]

Slavery was wrong at the point that we were advanced/enlightened to realize it was wrong. So say around 1800, it was considered wrong by much of the western world. But it was considered wrong by educated people with the empathy chip probably in 1750. Which makes those in 1775 pretty awful people by some standards if they felt slavery was ok.
So, to me, you are a slave owner in 1775. Not something I would be proud of. I would rather be John Adams.
Now, advancement moves a lot faster in 2023 than 1775. Like probably 10X faster. So what was acceptable in 2020 can be considered disgusting in 2030. Sort of like 1750 to 1850.
As we all know, there were plenty in 1850 that thought slavery was a-ok. We know how that turned out...
Now I realize you are old but I doubt your bones will be dust in 2030 or 2035...

 

[mspohr]

Cowboys and vegetarians: why American rightwingers see beef as a birthright

Meat and masculinity have been bound together in the US for centuries – and that’s no accident

www.theguardian.com

The Canadian pop psychologist Jordan Peterson – who’s been called “custodian of the patriarchy” by the New Yorker – is an adherent of carnivore diets. Joe Rogan, more recently in the news for agreeing with the notorious misogynist Andrew Tate, has himself promoted “the Lion Diet”, a carnivore approach that eschews even dairy in favor of water, salt, and meat from ruminant animals. This way of eating has been gaining traction on social media, where shirtless men proudly display their meals of steak, grassfed-cow butter, and duck eggs.

That these men believe in prescribed gender roles and all-American tradition is no coincidence. “Recent scientific studies confirm that those of us who hold authoritarian beliefs … who seek wealth and power and support human dominance over nature, eat more meat than those who stand against inequality,” writes Marta Zaraska in her book Meathooked: The History and Science of Our 2.5-Million-Year Obsession with Meat. For these men, performative meat eating is a demonstration of virility and restraint; of power and savagery.

Settler colonialism, the term that describes the displacement of Indigenous peoples in favor of European settlers, was essential to the creation of the beef industry – as it was for many other beloved American institutions. Nineteenth-century government policy saw the Great Plains ecosystem turned from a grass-bison-nomad system to a grass-cattle-rancher one, with the Indian wars a necessary step in the establishment of the rancher mythos.

In order to meet environmental targets, the US needs to eat drastically less beef than we are currently consuming. We also need to reverse global trends: many other countries are developing a taste for cheap cow and pork. Global meat consumption is expected to increase by 1.4% this year, which is more than the planet can handle. But as a society we are unable to tackle our meat consumption without acknowledging that beef is more than a foodstuff – when it means cowboys, masculinity and strength, when it is a literal cash cow for so many, when so many in the US are committed to its significance – and when even the newfangled substitutes are hooked on the old models of how meat should be sold and what it looks like.

 

[mspohr]

New plant-based pork ribs to feature edible vegan bones

Exclusive: Company says some may see the bones as ‘ideological provocation’ but motivation was avoiding waste

www.theguardian.com

Plant-based pork ribs with a twist – edible vegan bones – will soon make their debut on diners’ plates, a vegan food company has announced. The idea of the edible bones, produced by Juicy Marbles, began with the manufacturer wanting the bones to be compostable, but then realising they could also be eaten. The first products will be available from the end of August in the UK, EU and US.

Cutting traditional meat consumption in rich nations, where people already eat more red meat than is healthy, is vital to tackling the climate crisis. Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture are dominated by those from livestock, particularly cattle, which make up 15% of all global emissions. Plants cause far lower emissions. Cutting meat and dairy consumption also slashes pollution, and land and water use, with scientists saying it is the single biggest way for people to reduce their impact on the planet

Meat and dairy production uses 83% of farmland around the world and causes 60% of agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions, but provides only 18% of calories and 37% of protein. A 2022 report from the Boston Consulting Group said plant-based meat was by far the most effective climate investment.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

New plant-based pork ribs to feature edible vegan bones

Exclusive: Company says some may see the bones as ‘ideological provocation’ but motivation was avoiding waste

www.theguardian.com

Plant-based pork ribs with a twist – edible vegan bones – will soon make their debut on diners’ plates, a vegan food company has announced. The idea of the edible bones, produced by Juicy Marbles, began with the manufacturer wanting the bones to be compostable, but then realising they could also be eaten. The first products will be available from the end of August in the UK, EU and US.

Cutting traditional meat consumption in rich nations, where people already eat more red meat than is healthy, is vital to tackling the climate crisis. Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture are dominated by those from livestock, particularly cattle, which make up 15% of all global emissions. Plants cause far lower emissions. Cutting meat and dairy consumption also slashes pollution, and land and water use, with scientists saying it is the single biggest way for people to reduce their impact on the planet

Meat and dairy production uses 83% of farmland around the world and causes 60% of agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions, but provides only 18% of calories and 37% of protein. A 2022 report from the Boston Consulting Group said plant-based meat was by far the most effective climate investment.

Imagine if they could make them sweet. "Ribs" for entree, bones for dessert.

 

[mspohr]

‘Gigantic’ power of meat industry blocking green alternatives, study finds

Analysis of EU and US shows livestock farmers receive about 1,000 times more public funding than plant-based and cultivated meat

www.theguardian.com

The analysis of lobbying, subsidies and regulations showed that livestock farmers in the EU received 1,200 times more public funding than plant-based meat or cultivated meat groups. In the US, the animal farmers got 800 times more public funding.

The researchers also found that almost all dietary guidelines avoided highlighting the environmental impact of meat production and bans on alternative products using terms such as “milk”.The researchers said that tackling the problem would require government policies that ensured the price of meat reflected its environmental costs, potentially via taxation, increased research on alternatives, and better informed consumers.

 

[mspohr]

California’s Top Methane Emitter is a Vast Cattle Feedlot. For Now, Federal and State Greenhouse Gas Regulators Are Giving It a Pass. - Inside Climate News

Forty miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border in Southern California’s Imperial Valley, the Brandt Company cattle ranch is the largest single point source of methane emissions in the state, releasing more of that greenhouse gas than any oil or gas well, refinery or landfill. The 643-acre feedlot...

insideclimatenews.org

Forty miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border in Southern California’s Imperial Valley, the Brandt Company cattle ranch is the largest single point source of methane emissions in the state, releasing more of that greenhouse gas than any oil or gas well, refinery or landfill. The 643-acre feedlot is home to 139,000 beef cattle, according to the most recent figures reported by state regulators. With their belching and manure, the animals produce an estimated 9,167 metric tons of methane annually, according to an Inside Climate News analysis. The calculations build on the work of the nonprofit coalition Climate TRACE, which is developing a farm-by-farm inventory of methane emissions from cattle with the aid of public records, satellite imagery and artificial intelligence.
Nationwide, cows collectively emitted more than twice as much methane from their belching and manure in 2020 as all of the country’s oil and gas wells, including those active and abandoned, onshore and offshore, according to an Inside Climate News assessment of the EPA’s 2022 Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions.

 

[mspohr]

Pureture Creates Vegan Casein That's Cheaper Than Dairy Proteins

Pureture has formulated vegan casein via a yeast-based traditional fermentation process that's cheaper than conventional protein.

www.greenqueen.com.hk

New York-based biotech company Pureture has formulated vegan casein using yeast-based traditional fermentation. The company tells Green Queen that its tasteless and odourless plant-based milk protein – designed for alt-dairy products – can be supplied at a lower price than its conventional counterpart.

 

[mspohr]

Farmers upset that they are losing their government subsidized, polluting way of life.

Labeled Climate Culprits, European Farmers Rebel Over New Standards

Asked to cut herds, move or even shut down to help meet E.U. environmental goals, agricultural workers say too much is demanded of them. Their anger is reshaping the political landscape.

www.nytimes.com

To meet climate goals, some European countries are asking farmers to reduce livestock, relocate or shut down — and an angry backlash has begun reshaping the political landscape before national elections in the fall.

But the sector also produces almost half the Netherlands’ emissions of nitrogen, a surplus of which is bad for biodiversity. Ms. Breunissen and thousands of other farmers bridle that they are now labeled peak emitters.

But it was also a nod to national identities and a way to protect competing farming interests in what would become a common market. To that end, from its outset, the bloc established a fund that, to this day, provides farmers with billions of euros in subsidies every year.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Pureture Creates Vegan Casein That's Cheaper Than Dairy Proteins

Pureture has formulated vegan casein via a yeast-based traditional fermentation process that's cheaper than conventional protein.

www.greenqueen.com.hk

New York-based biotech company Pureture has formulated vegan casein using yeast-based traditional fermentation. The company tells Green Queen that its tasteless and odourless plant-based milk protein – designed for alt-dairy products – can be supplied at a lower price than its conventional counterpart.

They say the company name is from Pure Future, I thought it was Pure Culture, but I can't help but think of Pure Torture.

If true, it would be the first product in what Seba talked about as The Disruption of Food.