The Real Food Chronicles

Musings on Water and Other Stuff People Buy....

2010-01-14T19:45:00.002-05:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about personal responsibility and the role that plays in making purchases. We try to adhere to the age 'recommendations' on board games and toys. We put our kids in car seats. They wear helmets when they ride their bikes or roller blade. We walk them across the street to a friend's house until we're sure they'll remember to look both ways. That's responsible, right? Why then, do so many people refuse to take responsibility when buying things to put in or on their bodies and homes?

knowurfood wrote an excellent post on real water. Here are some facts: Dasani (Coca-Cola) and Aquafina (Pepsi) water is tap water from utility companies. Re-filling plastic bottles is harmful. It's primarily the BPA that's the issue...and it depends on the composition of the bottles how much BPA will actually leach into water/formula. Stainless steel bottles are your best choice, especially those not made in China. The SIGG bottles, though the most expensive, are the best. The bottles made in China are usually aluminum/metal blends....and we know from experience and the amount of metal electronic waste that we sell the Chinese that it's ending up in any and all of the metal products (water bottles, silverware, accessories, costume jewelry) -- cadmium, lead, etc. Track the e-waste trail here.

Check out this article about cadmium that was recently 'discovered' in children's costume jewelry: US Agency Goes After Cadmium in Children's Jewelry Again, I can't understand why people are shocked about this, or that this is even newsworthy. Just about every single piece of cosmetic jewelry you pick up in the store is made in China. We sell China our cheap, unwanted e-waste. The laborers there don't have health protection and have terrible working conditions in these big factories -- open vats of molten heavy metals being stirred by hand. And we Americans don't seem to care until someone stateside decides that maybe we should test this stuff.

When are we going to learn that we, too, have to look both ways when we cross the consumer street, and ask the same questions -- where should I look? Is it safe? What will be the outcome of my decision? Only when people begin asking questions, challenging the status quo and tracing their products to their origins will we be truly empowered, and who knows, maybe even a little bit safer.

Counterpoint to Healthy Food for Healthy Kids

2010-01-12T19:08:00.000-05:00

Repost from 'knowurfood' January 10, 2010 8:03 PM
So, 4Real and I know we differ when things become political, which is why we were so excited to work on this site together.
I, personally, am not getting a nice warm and fuzzy from the first two bills. The government getting more involved in the food safety of our school lunches....really? That should make me feel better?

This may look good on paper, but in no way makes me feel better about what my child would eat in public school. This is the same government that has gotten us into this situation. They have bowed down to industry so much that we have subsidized ourselves to a point that over processed imported food is cheaper than local REAL food. How can a plant full of people, plus the cost to transport "materials" (aka. FOOD) to and from that plant, be cheaper than going to a local farmer and saying..."I'll take the whole box of fresh tomatoes, and I'll see you again next week"?

Enough complaining.
What does make me feel a little better is the idea of a bill that addresses the amount of fruit and vegetables in school lunches!

I have a child in elementary school, and yes, every once in a while we let him have the "treat" of buying lunch at school. (...I will preempt this story by saying, I am okay with a cookie or ice cream for dessert, or fries as a treat. He is a kid. If I were to forbid all of these, I fear his, and my, future!) I digress. He knows about "good food choices" and so at the end of the day, we ask him what he chose for lunch. "Chicken tenders" or "a hamburger" are sadly the only 2 responses I expect. "White milk" is a given since it is an agreement between us...you buy school lunch, no flavored milk. The real sad part is hearing what the side "healthy" options were...."well I got fries and green beans, because that is all they had, but I didn't eat the green beans because they didn't taste very good". This is a child who loves fresh fruit. Where were the bananas or apples or oranges? We all know that living in the world of today, these are cheap and easy to import at all times of the year (I'm not even going to argue eating local here!!!) The problem is.....
I don't know.

Parents don't yell enough?
Parents don't yell loud enough?
Parents don't care?
The country doesn't care?
...the community doesn't care?
This is what we need to focus on. Not what the government needs to do, but what we as parents and as part of a community need to care about. You want your kids, or your area's kids, to care about school? Give them the tools to make it through the day and let their minds grow. Heath care is the result of our problem... The problem is we let the government decide that is right for our kids, instead of going back to our roots and letting the community work together and care for our kids from the beginning.

Real Food, Real Water

2010-01-10T20:59:00.002-05:00

I was at work the other day filling up my water bottle from the water fountain (this is part of my new years resolution...drinking more water each day). A co-worker walked up to me and said: "you are getting you water from THERE?" Um...did I miss a non-potable sign somewhere? It's cold, it's filtered,..it's water! My response was a confused, "um, yeah. Where else should I get it from?". What I ended up in was a short dialogue on how I didn't need fancy water even if the company provided "imported" filtered water just down the hall. The end result was a confused co-worker mumbling, "I don't understand how you refuse to eat meat when you don't know where it came from but you will drink THAT water".

This got me thinking. (Go figure!)

Why is it that we trust the government to make sure we are provided with edible food at stores and restaurants, but we don't trust them to make sure the water we drink is drinkable? Most people don't question it being using to prepare the fountain soda we drink (yes, the companies only provide the syrup, not the water or CO2 used to make it soda).

I am looked at as crazy by these same co-workers because I have no problem buying milk and meat labeled "not for human consumption". If you ask me, these are the looks of people who don't understand food. The food I buy is labeled this way because the farmers, that I have met, do not agree with the way the government audits farms. For this reason, the farmers don't let the government audit their farm. Hey, but guess who can? You and me! The people buying and eating the food. This is the exact opposite of most places "certified" by the government. What am I supposed to feel better about? Trusting someone else to look at my farmer, or a farmer who says, "sure stop by and let your kids walk around the farm anytime you want!"? This gets me to another point. Yeah, my kids (7 and 5) know that the chicken on their plate once had feathers and wings and the beef once said "moo". They also know what broccoli and blueberries look like before they end up in the store....

But I digress.

The point of my rant here is that I don't see a disconnect in my wanting to know my food and not needing bottled water. I don't trust the unseen in either case! I like to know my farmer as often as possible. I don't automatically trust industry or the government to tell me my food is "safe" or "healthy". In this same manner I don't automatically trust the government or industry to tell me that my water is safe to drink. Why would I go get "imported" (aka bottled) water instead of water from the fountain? This is water that has gone through a processing plant, been put in a bottle, and traveled to my work site only for the delivery company to come pick up for refilling. I should feel better because this came from a facility that once in a while is audited by the government and "passes" this audit?? Why not skip the middle man?

I will take my water from the fountain....(and my food from the farmers!)

Healthy Food for Healthy Kids

2010-01-09T11:42:00.005-05:00

Start a conversation with someone about food safety & quality and inevitably the topic of school lunches will come up. While most people are in agreement that we can do more to improve the quality of these lunches, it's difficult to get the ball rolling. Most often, arguments against changing the kinds of foods offered take the following approaches: 'healthy food is too expensive for school districts', 'cafeterias are understaffed and preparing healthy food takes more time', and 'we don't serve soda anymore so look how far we've come'. None of these arguments address the predictions that have been made about the future of our children's health or that the CDC estimates that by 2050 the number of people living with diabetes will triple from what it is today.

It will be important to watch and advocate for several bills in Congress this year. The first, introduced by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), calls on the federal government to improve food safety. The second, which will be introduced by Congressman Joe Sestak (D-PA), will be more specific to the USDA's National School Lunch program and improve communications between entities that regulate recalls and food testing.

More impressive, however, is the legislation that was introduced on December 16, 2009 by U.S. Representatives Sam Farr (D-CA) and Adam Putnam (R-FL) called The Children's Fruit and Vegetable Act of 2009. This bill directly addresses the core issue of school lunch quality and emphasizes the inadequate amounts of fruits and vegetables children are offered when they purchase school lunches.

On the individual, common citizen level, there are many things we can do:

1. Get informed. Visit your child's school during lunch hours. Find out what is offered and speak with the cafeteria staff/principal/food services director to encourage them to offer healthier options.
2. Email and call your elected officials and ask that they support these key pieces of legislation. Contact information for state and federal legislators can be found at http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

3. Talk to other parents to brainstorm ideas for ways to encourage this change to come about. Some examples of successful school lunch programs are the Farm to School program and the story of Central Alternative High School in Appleton, Wisconsin.
4. Keep fighting the good fight. Find allies in congress and in your school district, and don't give up!!!

Additional resources for this article can be found here:

New School Lunch Legislation in Works, Jan 7, 2010

Full Text of The Children's Fruit and Vegetable Act of 2009

2007 Diabetes Statistics

School Lunches Fall Prey to Lobbyists

Follow the Money

2010-01-07T10:40:00.003-05:00

Here is an excellent site if you're interested in tracking Lobbyist contributions:

OpenSecrets.org
This is an easy to navigate site with an extensive search engine, where you can track the recipients of lobbyist money and the amounts received. More easily navigable than maplight.org, this site also features a cool database called 'Revolving Door' found under the tab Influence & Lobbying. Searchable by person or employment, this database organizes its results in timelines and agency lobbying profiles. Very comprehensive.

Voting for Change: Will That Be Debit or Credit?

2010-01-06T20:46:00.004-05:00

Democracy has changed. It’s disheartening to think that after a cutting-edge campaign and election which brought scores of new voters to the polls, the votes we cast and our chants of “Yes, We Can!” have since been drowned out by the thunderous sound of lobbyists and special interest groups pouring money down the halls of Congress. The appointment of Tom Vilsack as Secretary of Agriculture raised a few eyebrows as well, and pointed to a future of continued conflicts of interest within the USDA.

So where does that leave us? How can we assume personal responsibility for our health when the interests of various agricultural programs are not in line with our own? Can we make informed decisions about the kinds of food we put in our bodies when multi-national food corporations hide behind closed doors and refuse to disclose all ingredients and processing practices? And if we decide that we will no longer purchase the products in question, can we afford the healthier alternatives? It might be that we can't afford not to.

For those who can, this begins by voting for wholesome food and against irradiated, ammonia-sanitized, feedlot, mass-produced, hormone laden, over-processed, non-toxic "edible foodlike substances" (Pollan) -- and no, not by filling in a bubble at the polls once every couple of years. Each time we make a purchase at the grocery store, farmer's market, and yes, even Wal Mart, let it be a vote cast for high-quality, real food. If lobbyists and agro-business are capable only of understanding the dollars and cents of their bottom lines, then let's speak to them in terms they can understand.

USDA Food 'Safety' Paradox

2010-01-05T12:50:00.005-05:00

Image Source: Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

NY Times Article: Safety of Beef Processing Method Is Questioned

It seems, on the surface, to make sense. Meat from feedlots will contain E. coli. You can reduce the amount of E. Coli in beef to 'barely detectable amounts' by injecting it with ammonia. Problem solved. Or is it?

When will food policy change in order to address the cause of the problem, instead of simply putting a bandage over it? Why can't the USDA ask, "How can we reduce the amount of E. coli that makes its way into Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs)?"

The solution to this problem requires a way of thinking that US government is not ready, or willing, to adopt. It means changing the way we look at how food is produced, in whose interest farm subsidies are designed, and lifting the veil on large-scale food production so that consumers are aware of where their food is coming from and what it's been through before it ends up on their plates.