Drawing Inspiration for the future from the corn belt.

Q: In what town can you visit a facility that maintains and preserves thousands of varieties of open-pollinated heirloom garden seeds, leave your bike unlocked all night, eat locally grown foods, and marry your same sex partner?

A: Decorah, Iowa pop. 8,118

I’ve got news for the coasts. You’re not all that. Well, ok Portland, Oakland, and Brooklyn, you really are all that, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t unassuming towns in the middle of this great nation of ours developing local economies, creating progressive communities, preserving the best of the past, and busting stereotypes.

What I did on my summer vacation was take a road trip through about two-thirds of the country. I saw some great scenery, burned too much gas, camped, swam, hiked, and visited countless gas station restrooms. But not once did I dine in a chain restaurant or shop in a conventional grocery store. To paraphrase Bob Dylan, the country is a-changin’ everywhere.

Demonstration Gardens

One of my favorite stops of all was the sweet little Northeast Iowa town of Decorah. The draw was Seed Savers Exchange, an organization that works to preserve biological diversity in our food supply by maintaining, regenerating, storing, and distributing heirloom garden seeds that have been passed down for generations.

Their carefully catalogued vaults preserve treasures such as Turkey Craw beans, a brown bean with snowy white speckles whose seed is said to have been first found in a wild turkey’s craw; Bloody Butcher corn, a drought resistant variety with blood red kernels dating back to 1845 Virginia; and Udumalapet eggplant, a stunning golden and lavender striped variety from India.

Demonstration Gardens

To understand why preserving these varieties matters to all of us (not just gardeners) consider that, according to the FAO (Food and Agriculture Association of the United Nations), about 75% of the genetic diversity of agricultural crops has been lost since the beginning of the 1900s. For example, in China, nearly 10,000 wheat varieties were cultivated in 1949, but by the 1970s, only about 1,000 varieties were in use.

For an example closer to home, in 1900 there were about 8,000 varieties of apples grown in the U.S. Today only about 100 varieties are grown commercially, with just 11 making up 90% of all apples sold in chain grocery stores (source: Seed Savers). This lack of genetic diversity leaves our food supply vulnerable to pests, climate change, and disease. Remember the great potato famine of Ireland was a result of a disease that decimated the one variety of potato grown in Ireland at the time.

Orchard Pig

In addition to the seed vaults, the 890 acre heritage farm boasts demonstration gardens where the seeds are regenerated, hiking trails, a trout stream, a herd of rare Ancient White Park Cattle,  and a few Gloucestershire Old Spot Pigs, who feed on the windfall in the historic apple orchard. (diversity is important for animals too!) There’s also a vineyard, with grapes particularly suited to the Iowa climate. It’s a magical place and well worth a visit. You can also order seeds from their online catalog.

Decorah’s Courthouse

One thing you might not expect to find in a small Midwestern town is a thriving gay wedding industry, but Decorah’s got that too. Remember in 2009 Iowa became the third state (after Massachusetts and Connecticut) to legalize same-sex marriage. Shortly thereafter, local resident, Amalia Vagts, Executive Director of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (elm.org), an organization whose mission is to expand ministry opportunities for publicly-identified LGBTQ Lutherans, her sister Rachel, a Decorah City Council member, and some friends launched the website Welcome in Decorah, to provide resources for gay couples hoping to marry in the town.

Though the site lists caterers, lodging, wedding venues, restaurants, and shops that welcome gay couples and their families, it’s a wedding resource for ALL couples wishing to marry in Decorah.

“My sister and I hatched the idea for this site the very day the decision came down,” said Vagts. “We were having coffee and talking about what a great place Decorah is for weddings, and I said, you know, we should create a destination wedding website. Finding the name was easy because it embodies what we wanted with the whole project…we just wanted everyone to know they are welcome in Decorah.”

Thus far 178 same sex couples have married in Decorah, all but 15 from outside the state, with the bulk coming from nearby Minnesota.

True to my heart, Decorah is also a place that supports its local farmers. Not only is there a farmers market downtown every Wednesday and Saturday May through October, but there’s a rockin’ food co-op. Oneota Co-op offers a great selection of local, organic produce, organic packaged foods, bulk foods, an extensive health and wellness section, and even a good selection of local meats, eggs, dairy, and sustainable seafood.

The deli, Water Street Café, is a popular lunchtime spot for downtown workers and residents and offers catering as well. It’s an amazing store, carrying everything a giant Whole Foods Market carries, but in a footprint that fits within a small-town city block. Thanks to the co-op our travel meals included such feasts as wild salmon with organic local squash, grass-fed local rib-eye steaks with tomatoes, housemade mozzarella, and basil—all cooked on a gas stove on our tailgate. We also enjoyed pastured eggs, local multi-grain bread, yogurt, and artisanal cheeses from Wisconsin all the way home. Take that McDonalds.

The orchard at Seed Savers Exchange

On one of our nights in Decorah, we attended a birthday party in a barn, where we sipped local microbrews among the fireflies and chatted with an interesting mix of musicians, co-op folks, professors at the local university, and city council members. Later, we sauntered back to our lodging, enjoying the warm evening air and noticing all the bikes that their owners had left unlocked, leaning against poles, or the sides of garages. One bike even sported a pannier with an unopened bag of potato chips sticking out. It’s really good to get out of San Francisco once in awhile and realize there’s a whole other world out there.

Do you have a favorite flyover zone? Tell us about it in the comments below.

Images: Mrsdkrebs (main), AJ Perling (courthouse), Vanessa Barrington

The post A Flyover Zone That’s Worth a Linger appeared first on EcoSalon.

How overuse of antibiotics and germ phobia may contribute to our most serious health problems.

We are more bacteria than human. More “other” than ourselves. It’s true. Bacteria cells in our bodies outnumber human cells by 10 to 1.

Scientists are just now discovering the role that the beneficial bacteria in our bodies play in governing how our bodies react to food, regulating appetite and digestion, and enhancing immunity to a host of chronic diseases. An article in May’s Scientific American (synopsis here) outlined the incredible diversity of the microbial systems living within us (our microbiome) and told how scientists are mapping the DNA of these bacteria to discover the important role microbiomes play in our health.

We’re pretty much sterile in the womb, only beginning to build our rich bacterial inner lives as we pass through the birth canal. Another early source of bacteria for infants is through their mothers’ milk and through interacting with family members, pets, and the world around them. Compared to two generations ago, children today have a deficit of beneficial bacteria in their bodies. The reasons for this include the increase in Cesarean births, formula feeding, antibacterial soaps and hand-sanitizers, and the prescription of antibiotics for childhood infections. Other possible reasons include the overuse of antibiotics in both human medicine and animal agriculture, and our modern American diet.

As scientists discover the specific roles some of the bacteria play in regulating functions such as digestion and appetite, they are beginning to hypothesize that a deficit in beneficial bacteria may be the cause of many of our modern health problems including obesity, food sensitivities and allergies, diabetes, autoimmune disorders, and even cancer.

For example, the bacteria, H. pylori regulates the hormones that govern hunger. In studies, people who lack the bacteria due to treatment with antibiotics gain more weight. According to Scientific American, less than 6% of American children have H. pylori in their bodies now, while 2 to 3 generations ago, 80% of Americans had it, corresponding with the generational rise in obesity.

The article also talks about another bacteria called B. thetaiotaomicron, which coaxes nutrients out of indigestible carbohydrates like whole grains. A deficit of B. thetaiotaomicron can create problems with digestion that lead to serious illness, and may be behind the rise in autoimmune disorders. Nishanga Bliss, Master of Science in Traditional Chinese Medicine, licensed acupuncturist, and author of the book, Real Food All Year, on the benefits of eating seasonally from both a Chinese and Western medicine perspective, explains how this works.

“When your body doesn’t get the nutrients it needs from food, it sets up an inflammatory cascade through your systems, and this can contribute to a lot of our chronic diseases including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and autoimmune disorders.” Bliss goes on to tell EcoSalon, “About a decade ago, scientists started to figure out that inflammation is a factor in all of these diseases. At current rates, one in five people will be diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder within their lifetimes.”

Bliss adds that a lack of beneficial bacteria in the gut is likely the cause of many food allergies and sensitivities, which cause inflammation in the body that can lead to disease.

“Your body shouldn’t have an immune response to food unless it’s bad. It’s the microbiome’s job to tell your body not to freak out about the food you eat.” Without a healthy, balanced microbiome “your body attacks the food, causing an allergic response and inflammation,” Bliss says.

So what are five things you can do to make sure your microbiome stays healthy and keeps you healthy?

1. Eat Foods That Contribute to a Healthy Microbiome

These include fermented foods such as sauerkraut, fermented pickles, kimchi, yogurt, and a modest amount of beer or wine, and sourdough bread (even cooked fermented foods like sourdough have a positive impact on digestion according to Bliss). She also recommends fiber rich foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans. The reason is because beneficial bacteria feast on these foods to make them digestible to our bodies. In turn, they gain nourishment and increase in numbers, said Bliss.

2. Stop Sanitizing

Lose the hand-sanitizer unless you’re in a dangerous or particularly dirty situation or working with an immune compromised individual. Soap and water are plenty effective for everyday hand washing. If we make our environments too sterile, our bodies won’t be able to handle stronger bugs they might come into contact with.

3. Use Antibiotics Sparingly and Replenish Gut Flora

Don’t take antibiotics unless you know you have an infection. If you do take them, make sure you finish your course so as not to create resistant survivors. Always up your intake of fermented foods to rebalance your gut flora. Bliss says go straight to food sources as the probiotic capsules available in health food stores, though perfectly fine, are made from fermented foods anyway.

4. Urge Regulators to Prohibit the Routine Use of Antibiotics in Agriculture

The overuse of antibiotics in healthy animals to make them grow faster or help them withstand the filthy conditions on factory farms is a growing problem that we talked about recently. This practice could be leading to drug resistant superbugs, and their residues might be finding their way into us, killing our good bacteria and affecting our health.

Industry representatives contend that meat and milk are routinely tested for antibiotic residues and that it isn’t a problem in our food supply. However, testing data from dairy cows presented here from 2008 show that scheduled inspections included only 1,099 of the 2.7 million dairy cows slaughtered for meat in total – less than half a percent. Inspector generated sampling, on the other hand, targets animals with signs of disease or animals from producers with questionable histories. In 2008, inspector generated sampling covered 80,131 dairy cows – still fewer than 3% of all dairy cows slaughtered for meat. But, 788 cows tested positive for a wide range of drugs, with many testing positive for more than one type.

5. Join Fix Food’s Campaign to Get the Drugs Out of Our Meat

In the absence of real regulation by FDA, a new campaign launched by Fix Food goes straight to consumers, asking them sign a petition demanding that Trader Joes sell meat raised without antibiotics. Robert Kenner, Director of Food Inc., is on the board, so you can see more of his great work in the video announcing the campaign.

Images: kaibara, AlegnaMarie, BeinKorean

The post Your Health Depends on Beneficial Bacteria appeared first on EcoSalon.

Agribusiness spinmeisters reach new level of sophistication.

I recently received no fewer than three press releases (plus a phone call) regarding a Food Dialogues event to be held in Hollywood. I thought, “Wow, they must really want me to go.” The event was billed as a series of discussions about the “realities” of food production, promising to bring together, “entertainment movers and shakers, chefs, academics, large restaurant operators, journalists, local leaders, and farmers and ranchers,” to discuss how food is grown and raised.

At first glance, I thought it sounded great. After all, I mostly write about food production so I’m always keen to learn more from a broad range of perspectives. Though I have my ideas about the kind of food system I’d like to see (ecologically based, small-medium scale, humane, diverse production) I recognize that I’m not a farmer and probably could use an education on the “realities” of food production from the farmers’ point of view. There was even a tour of a famous Hollywood urban farm listed on the program. I got excited until I looked a little more deeply into the group (and its PR company) organizing the event. That’s when I realized I’d almost been had.

The event is to be presented by the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) and their PR Company, Ketchum, part of a program for which the partnership has won a prestigious PR award in the brand building and reputation management categories. From their press release, USFRA is “a newly formed alliance consisting of a wide range of prominent farmer and rancher led organizations and agricultural partners.” I have to give them credit for transparency. Their list of affiliates, partners, and board members is easy to find. It includes a number of state farm bureaus, industry groups such as the National Pork Board, United Egg Producers, the National Corn Growers Association, and the National Milk Producers Federation. There are no individual farmers on the list, but it’s not that surprising, as farmers (like in other industries) organize into groups to help them advance their interests. A look at the industry partners and advisors section, however, is going to raise a few eyebrows in sustainable food circles. The premier partner advisory group consists of DuPont, John Deere, Pfizer Animal Health, and of course, the food movement’s favorite whipping boy, Monsanto. Industry partners include some biggies too: Archer Daniels Midland and Dow AgroSciences to name two.

So what are these stalwarts of the conventional, industrial food system doing masquerading (sort of) as movement types? From their press release, USFRA “recognizes that Americans have important questions about our food and how it is produced,” and the alliance can “help farmers and ranchers answer consumers’ and influencers’ questions, including the tough ones, about food production.”

I still wanted to keep an open mind about these food discussions. Because, after all, agribusiness is a reality, and everyone in the food production business should be talking to one another and sharing best practices. I thought, optimistically, that maybe these groups are beginning to see the impossibility of sustaining the current chemical and petroleum-dependent system and really do want to engage in discussions with consumers and influencers.

I chose to look at one issue covered on their website, antibiotic use in agriculture, and compare the alliance’s presentation of the “facts” with published facts from other sources.  Here’s what I found:

USFRA Fact number 1:

Producers consult with veterinarians about antibiotic use: Veterinarian involvement is mandated for all antibiotics approved since 1988.

Real World Fact: It wasn’t until April 11, 2012 that the FDA announced a rule requiring farmers to get a prescription from a vet before issuing antibiotics. The USFRA claim that prescriptions were “mandated” since 1988 refers to a rule issued that only applied to new drugs. According to the source document USFRA provides from the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), “many of the older antimicrobials are available for over-the-counter sale to producers.” The entire source document serves as a strong plea to farmers to use antimicrobials judiciously and under the supervision of a veterinarian. USFRA must not have thought anyone would read the source document they provided, as it doesn’t help make their case. I came away convinced that the veterinary community is concerned about overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture, although, probably due to close ties with powerful farmer/rancher groups and drug companies, they don’t actually say it.

USFRA Fact Number 2:

All Milk Tested for Antibiotics: All milk is strictly tested for antibiotics on the farm and at the processing plant. Any milk that tests positive cannot be sold to the public.

Real World Fact: This is mostly true. Every tanker load of milk is tested before processing and if antibiotic residues are found, it is dumped. Farmers are not required to test their milk, though many do.

USFRA Fact Number 3:

Meat and Poultry for Food Are Rigorously Monitored By Law: Meat and poultry for human consumption must pass inspection and monitoring by FSIS (Food Safety Inspection Service).

Real World Fact: In addition to recent moves by the FSIS to privatize poultry inspection, the sheer number of food poisoning cases requiring hospitalization a year (around 50,000) makes this claim of “rigorous monitoring” by FSIS debatable. Current numbers on food contamination cases can be found here. 

USFRA Fact Number 4:

Many Antibiotics Sold for Animal Use Are Not Used to Treat Humans: According to FDA statistics, 35 percent of antibiotics sold for animal use are in classes not used in human medicine. And all antibiotics are carefully examined for any human health implications before approved and incorporated into labeling. This means they have no possibility of contributing to antibiotic resistance bacteria in people.

Real World Fact: According to the AVMA’s antimicrobial fact sheet, “the vast majority of antibiotic classes are used in both humans and animals.” And the same New York Times article referenced above notes that 80 percent of antibiotics sold in the United States are used in animals. Of these, about 80 percent are given through feed, with an additional 17 percent given in water. Just 3 percent were given by injection. This indicates that the antibiotics are not being used “judiciously” to treat sick animals, but as a matter of course. Furthermore, the same article goes on to say that public health officials began to worry about resistance way back in the 1970s but industry lobbying has prevented much action on banning certain classes of antibiotics until recently, when the Obama administration moved to restrict certain classes of antibiotics for use in food animals.

USFRA Fact Number 5:

When Organic Animals Are Sick, They May be Treated with Antibiotics: When an animal raised for food on an organic farm becomes ill, organic livestock producers utilize natural remedies. If these remedies are ineffective then it must be given medical treatment including antibiotics if appropriate for the illness. Once an animal is treated with antibiotics, it cannot be sold as organic.

Real World Fact: The above statement is true, but it’s pointless. Most people are concerned about the overuse of antibiotics on healthy animals or to induce growth. Few would argue against treating sick animals (organic or conventionally raised) to alleviate their suffering and prevent the spread of disease. The problem is with the routine use of antibiotics commonly practiced in agriculture today, not in using antibiotics to treat illness.

USFRA Fact Number 5:

FDA Approval Process Is Stringent: FDA has a stringent approval process for veterinary medicines and antibiotics – much like that for human medications. In fact, antibiotics for use in animals require the same testing as those used in humans, with the additional requirement that they must be tested to ensure meat and milk from the animal given the medicine will be safe for human consumption.

Real World Fact: This is a sweeping generalization that doesn’t really address the overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture. Safe or not, it’s resistance we’re worried about. Not to mention, despite the FDA’s approval process, examples abound of cases where approved drugs were found to have deadly side effects.

USFRA Fact Number 6:

No Cases of Animal Antibiotic Use Leading to Antibiotic Resistant Superbugs: There has been no proven link to antibiotic treatment failure in humans due to antibiotics use in animals for consumption.

Real World Fact: Proven is the key word here. The use of antibiotics in agriculture is so prevalent (remember 80% of all antibiotics are used on animals) that establishing a causative link between specific human cases of resistant infections and specific cases of farmers using antibiotics is impossible. But the links are getting stronger, as recent investigative pieces in the Los Angeles Times, and Self magazine indicate. And a recent study by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) found that a resistant strain of MRSA has jumped from animals from humans. It’s time that farmer groups and regulators start paying attention to this because waiting for a proven link could prove to have widespread and deadly consequences.

I get that farmers are tired of being demonized for the failures of the food system, but the professional organizations to which they belong seem intent on preserving the status quo and ignoring the very real threats to the continued viability of the current system. As a long-range business plan, I find this lacking. Instead of spending money on PR to influence the conversation, why not break away from the agribusiness sponsors such as Monsanto and DuPont and start having some real, honest conversations among their diverse membership about how to start to shift away from some of these practices that the public has very good reason to be worried about?

Images:AtomicPope, Lee Cannon, Wongaboo, andyarthur

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In the absence of government action, citizens take on GMO labeling themselves.

You know the saying: “if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.” That’s especially true when change moves at the speed of politics and we need something done now.

Label It Yourself is a decentralized, grassroots movement that lets consumers label foods containing genetically engineered (GE) ingredients. It’s an idea that combines elements of DIY,  culture jamming, and a even a bit of the Occupy movement to basically give a big, fat middle finger to policy makers who refuse to regulate the spread of genetically engineered organisms, and the global corporations that lobby against such regulations.

You can start now. Download the artwork, print up a bunch on label sheets, head out to the grocery store, and slap labels on packaged foods that likely contain GE ingredients.

They won’t be hard to find. It’s estimated that up to 70% of packaged foods contain some GE material.

Tips for identification:

1. Start with any non-certified organic packaged food containing any of the top genetically modified food crops—corn, soy, canola (rapeseed), and sugar beets.

2. Don’t stop there. Read ingredient labels to look for derivatives of those crops commonly found in packaged foods. These include corn flour, corn oil, corn starch, corn syrup, fructose, dextrose, and glucose, modified food starch, soy flour, lecithin, soy protein, soy protein isolate, and isoflavone. Also look for cottonseed oil (as much as 93% of US-grown cotton is genetically modified). Vegetable oil and vegetable protein are suspect since they could easily be derived from GE soy, corn, canola, or cotton.

3. Identify sweeteners: After the approval of GE sugar beets, acreage in production exploded, making any non-organic product that lists sugar, but doesn’t designate it as 100% cane sugar, suspect.

Kellogg is already feeling the pain of the Label it Yourself movement. Activists began posting photos of the label on Kellogg’s corn flakes on Kellogg’s Facebook Page, although Kellogg’s keeps taking it down.

For all you rule followers, there’s positive news regarding the various political efforts to label GE foods: The Just Label it Campaign, which is gathering signatures to ask the FDA to initiate Federal labeling has 1 million signatures and counting. California’s Right to Know campaign garnered enough support among voters to qualify for November’s ballot. None of these efforts are mutually exclusive. Polls consistently show that 90% of American consumers want GE food labeled, so they can decide on their own.

Now, if we could just take on global warming ourselves.

The post Label It Yourself Movement Raises Awareness About GMOs appeared first on EcoSalon.

Why placing fewer inspectors in poultry plants isn’t likely to result in safer food.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is proposing what they’re calling a modernization of chicken and turkey inspection at slaughtering plants. In the world of government regulation, the term “modernization” usually means simplification. Sometimes modernization is a good thing when it truly untangles layers of complicated and confusing regulations. Other times it just means less regulation.

The proposed changes would remove government inspectors from the processing line and concentrate them offline, ostensibly to allow them to focus only on inspection tasks related to food safety. The inspection and sorting duties once performed by FSIS inspectors on the processing line would be given to employees of the plant. The rule also allows poultry lines to speed up from a maximum of 70 to 140 birds per minute to a maximum of 175 birds per minute. If this sounds like more of a gift to the poultry processing industry, than a boon to food safety, it is. Here’s how the new rule could affect consumers and workers.

1. Lack of Training + Faster Line Speeds=More Worker Injuries

The proposed rule does not prescribe specific training for the establishment employees that are taking over the duties of the online inspectors. The USDA will provide their training materials to the plant, but there is no mechanism to ensure that those materials are used, or that they are made available in a language understood by the workers.

In addition to inspecting birds and removing deformed and visibly diseased birds, line workers will also be expected to perform trimming duties – all while the line is moving faster. It’s hard to imagine that this won’t in itself result in more defected and possibly diseased birds getting through, and it’s a given that it won’t be a boon to workers.

The proposed rule would allow some plants to increase line speeds from a maximum of 70 to 140 birds per minute to a maximum of 175 birds per minute. Poultry plant jobs are already among the most dangerous in the nation, with under-reporting of injuries common, and little recourse for the workers, many of who are undocumented.

2. More Dirty, Diseased Chickens Coming to a Plate Near You

A pilot of the proposed program has been up and running in two-dozen plants since 1998. Consumer group Food & Water Watch examined 5,000 pages of documents pertaining to the pilot, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, and found troubling levels of non-compliance with current regulations. Among the reports were high rates of carcasses contaminated with feathers, bile, scabs, organ bits, and visible feces. According to Food & Water Watch, The Government Accountability Office issued a report in 2001 critical of the privatization scheme, which has languished in these pilot plants before being proposed again in early 2012.

 3. Poultry Plants Will Make Up Their Own Process Control Rules With No Government Oversight

In the Summary of Issues raised during the initial comment period, FSIS states that “establishments operating under the proposed new inspection system would have the flexibility to implement the process controls that they have determined would best allow them to produce RTC (ready to cook) poultry.” Not only that, but “there would be no pre-approval of an establishment’s procedures… establishments are responsible for ensuring their procedures for preventing contamination are effective.” As far as taking tissue samples, according to the rule, “establishments would need to determine the frequency and type of sampling that would be sufficient to demonstrate that they are maintaining process control.” In other words, the plants get to determine their own safety practices across the board. After seeing Food Inc., Fast Food Nation, and numerous other documentaries about the industrial food system, we might want to question if self-regulation is such a good idea here.

4. USDA Inspectors Will Look at More Plant Data and Fewer Chickens

Instead of being placed throughout the line, inspectors would be placed at one point pre-chill to visually inspect carcasses for fecal contamination. Their other duties would be offline performing duties such as reviewing plant records and test results to make sure the plant maintains process control for food safety and sanitation and taking samples for salmonella and campylobacter.

5. What They Don’t See Can Hurt You

The sorters employed by the plant who will be doing the work formerly done by trained FSIS inspectors will be required to look for carcasses with seticemia/toxemia (blood infection) while trimming the birds, but will not be required to look inside the birds. When this practice was questioned during the initial comment period for the new program, the FSIS responded that these diseases are identifiable from examination of the outside of the carcass alone. But, this guide  to identifying poultry diseases notes that there are several signs to look for when identifying a bird infected with septicemia at slaughter time. In addition to looking at the outside of the carcass for discoloration, these include hemorrhages on the heart, liver, kidneys, muscles, and membranes; and swollen liver, spleen, and kidneys.

USDA has three stated reasons for the “modernizing” poultry inspections: saving taxpayer dollars, improving food safety, and increasing efficiency. Fewer paid inspectors will obviously save money, faster line speeds will increase efficiency (at the expense of workers) but there is no way we can be sure that replacing food safety inspectors with untrained workers, and allowing the industry to make up its own rules will make the poultry we buy any safer.

If you agree, you have until May 29 to leave a comment.

Image: USDA.gov

The post 5 Reasons Why Privatizing Poultry Inspection is a Really Bad Idea appeared first on EcoSalon.

A look at the people and practices behind California’s foie gras ban.

Considering the number of people who have actually eaten foie gras it’s surprising the amount of attention California’s pending ban of the sale and production of foie has generated.

Last week a group of big-name chefs made headlines by coming out against the ban. Calling themselves the Coalition for Humane and Ethical Farming Standards, the chefs traveled to Sacramento to ask lawmakers not to enact the ban, offering this charter instead. The bill, SB 1520, was passed seven years ago, with a grace period until July 2012 to allow producers to explore alternatives to the controversial practice of force-feeding.

Leaving aside the fact that their coalition name conjures up images of Astroturf why would chefs such as Thomas Keller, Charles Phan, and Michael Mina advocate in favor of a feeding practice that expands ducks’ livers to 10 times their normal size, by inducing a fatty liver disease called hepatic lipidosis (basically hepatitis). Many would say, “It’s delicious,” others would say, “it’s a culinary tradition,” and still others would say, “I don’t want the government telling me what I can cook.”

The crux of the chefs’ argument is that they only source from humane suppliers and a ban would put these good producers out of business, leading to a black market. Most of these chefs source from the one foie gras producer in California, Sonoma Artisan Foie Gras.

The two other producers in the U.S. are in New York, and both use methods that chefs who serve foie would describe as humane. After a visit to one of these farms, Sarah DiGregorio concluded in The Village Voice, “The fact that some industrial farms elsewhere are making foie gras in inhumane ways doesn’t mean that all foie gras production is inhumane.”

According the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) the humane standards put forth in the charter by the Coalition for Humane and Ethical Farming Standards basically seek to continue the practices that are already in place in virtually all U.S. operations, such as regular visits by animal health care professionals, USDA inspections, hand feeding, and cage-free living quarters. This chart shows side-by-side comparisons of the charter and current practices.

Regardless of feeding methods and living conditions, the question of whether or not the practice of force-feeding a duck up to three pounds of food a day is a humane practice has been the subject of much debate. Even the veterinarians can’t agree. The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has considered resolutions opposing the practice on humane grounds, but has stopped short of taking a position, due to concern by food supply veterinarians that it would lead to the group having to take a position on other much more large-scale factory farming practices.

The AVMA says that empirical research regarding the health and welfare of birds during and after the feeding process is limited, but the group’s backgrounder does say: “force feeding (sic) overrides animal preference and homeostasis. Although ducks may, under some conditions, voluntarily consume large amounts of food, if force feeding (sic) is interrupted they will fast for a period of 3 days or longer, indicating that ducks have been fed past the point of satiety.”

What do chefs who aren’t a part of The Coalition have to say?

“I’ve eaten foie gras a number of times,” said Aaron French chef at the Sunny Side Cafés, in Albany and Berkeley, CA, and author of The Bay Area Homegrown Cookbook. “The last time I had it I thought, ‘I don’t really need to eat this ever again,’” adding, “It’s inherently unnatural, and I don’t believe in eating any meat that’s not raised according to the animals’ natural cycles.”

In addition to being a chef, French is also an ecologist and ornithologist. He concedes that migratory water birds do have a natural tendency to store fat, but taking it to the extreme of foie gras is “kind of silly.” He tells me there are some producers producing a foie gras-like product (faux gras) without force-feeding, but says, “It’s not really the same. It’s a choice we’re making to choose this force-fed foie gras as the best. Why can’t we as a society choose the qualities of a naturally fattened liver as superior?” He likens it to the production of feedlot beef, in which the cows are fed an unnatural diet of corn, as compared to 100% grass-fed beef, in which the cows are allowed to graze naturally. As a society, we’ve decided we prefer the taste and texture of feedlot beef, but that’s starting to change.

French thinks that, rather than a ban on current practices, which he believes will create an alternate market for the current product, we should use this opportunity for education to shift our perspective away from force-feeding and toward a more benign product that doesn’t require the practice, much like we’re starting to shift our tastes to prefer grass-fed beef.

Samin Nosrat, an Oakland-based chef and writer and founder of the pioneering Pop Up General Store echoes some of French’s thoughts.

“Foie isn’t one of my go-to ingredients,” she says, “I don’t condone force-feeding ducks or geese. On the other hand, I care about food traditions, and I feel sad whenever a family business goes away,” adding, “this could be a great opportunity to look into other ways of producing it.”

Besides the farmer in Spain known as the Duck Whisperer, made famous in this TED talk by Dan Barber, there doesn’t seem to be anyone producing a product that is truly foie gras, without the use of force-feeding.

Charlie Hallowell, owner and chef of Pizzaiolo and Boot and Shoe Service in Oakland, CA, doesn’t serve a lot of foie gras. “I serve rustic Italian food,” he says, but, “I don’t get the justification for banning. It’s misplaced. It’s a cheap and easy target for animal rights activists. We should f*cking ban McDonalds!”

Adding, “it’s a teensy market.” “We should ban corn syrup and other things that are part of a large structural apparatus…There are things in the food system that have a widespread impact on our communities and the way we live our lives and foie gras isn’t one of those things.”

Hallowell adds, “I’ve been to foie gras farms and I’m most concerned about the labor practices on these farms.” He goes on to tell me that for the really high quality livers, the same worker has to feed the duck throughout its life because ducks become stressed by new people, and stress damages the liver. The workforce on foie gras farms is mostly an immigrant workforce, and it’s not uncommon for a worker to go without a day off during the entire feeding cycle of 20-30 days. This information makes me wish the chefs’ charter had taken up humane treatment of workers.

By press time, no California legislators have offered to champion the chefs’ proposed charter and the ban is still scheduled to go into effect. The city of Chicago repealed an earlier ban in 2008. Many countries prohibit force-feeding of animals, but the only country with a large foie gras industry to ban the practice has been Israel, whose Supreme Court ruled against force-feeding in 2003. When it comes to agriculture, the impact of any action in California cannot be overstated. California’s ban on battery cages for egg-laying hens led directly to United Egg Producers pledge to work with HSUS toward enacting federal legislation banning the practice. Perhaps a ban on a food of the 1% is just the first baby step toward banning some of the large-scale factory abuses that will have a much larger impact on the health of animals and our environment.

Images: Stu Spivak, VirtualErn, and Just Chaos

The post What the Foie? A Close Look at California’s Ban on Force Feeding Ducks appeared first on EcoSalon.

It’s up to us to say no to corporations buying up our public water and selling it back to us in plastic.

In the context of World Water Day on March 22, a report by the World Economic Forum ranked water shortage as one of the top global risks – right up there with widespread financial collapse and terrorism. And a recent U.S. intelligence report predicted that water shortages caused by population growth and climate change could spark terrorism and wars over the next 10 years.

You probably know that many people worldwide don’t have access to sufficient clean water for their daily needs, but the water wars are even in full swing in the U.S., as global corporations such as Nestle, Crystal Geyser, and Coca Cola obtain cheap water rights from strapped municipalities, bottle it, and resell it at a huge profit, turning what should be a human right into a global commodity.

These companies are not only sucking up the water in our natural springs, but, because they are meeting opposition in those efforts, they’ve turned to buying up our tap water, putting it in plastic, and selling it back to us.

Cases all over the country reveal that many of the deals are done in secret when a company buys or leases land from a private owner to access springs, and then makes deals with government officials to build a bottling plant. The company usually promises jobs in exchange for tax breaks, but, according to data provided by Food & Water Watch, the jobs are few (generally fewer than 10 for local residents) and low paying. (below the national average). Once the public gets wind of the deal, they often try to fight it.

In one high profile case in McCloud, California, a small mountain community near Mt. Shasta, Nestlé (which also owns Perrier, Poland Spring, and Arrowhead) gave up after a six-year battle with residents over a bottling plant that would tap the area’s spring water. Opponents had said the deal was done in secret without proper environmental review.

After that case, Nestlé turned to the tap, announcing plans to locate a plant in Sacramento that would bottle 82 million gallons a year of Sacramento’s municipal water supply and sell it to consumers under the company’s Pure Life brand (at a retail value of between $111 and $166 million). The Sacramento City Council and citizens were left out of the deal. Citizens formed a group to stop the plant, but it was unsuccessful and the plant opened in February 2010.

Just this week, it was announced that residents of Cascade Locks in Oregon are fighting a proposal by Nestlé to bottle water from the Columbia Gorge.

The bad publicity is starting to influence company actions. The Crystal Geyser Company recently nixed plans for a plant in Orland, California, after a citizen group sued to stop the plant from being built. To announce the cancellation, the company’s PR spin machine went passive-aggressive with a divisive, finger wagging letter aimed at opponents, essentially accusing them of depriving the good people of Orland of great jobs.

But Nestlé takes the cake for cynical PR efforts. This press release touting Nestlé work to improving watersheds across North America could have been torn from the pages of Jonathan Franzen’s novel, Freedom.

Lest you think it’s just big, bad corporations going after public water, it’s not. In Southern Oregon, one individual water speculator is looking to make a buck on the waters of the McKenzie River. In Maine the Passamaquoddy tribe is working to build a plant to manufacture water they plan to siphon from an aquifer on tribal lands.

We’ve only talked about the supply side. On the demand side, there are promising developments that could slow the trend toward privatization of water. In a move that concerned representatives from Coca Cola, The Grand Canyon banned all sales of bottled water earlier this year and several universities are considering or enacting similar bans.

Images: aweidner, jonicdao, brimelow

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More everyday foods than you think are fermented.

One can barely walk down the street these days without tripping over a DIY sauerkrauter, cheesemaker, home brewer, or pickler. Fermented foods are all the rage, but they’re cool for more reasons than fashion. Fermentation is good for the gut, and increases the digestibility of foods; it’s a reliable preservation technique; and research shows that it increases the nutrient content in certain foods.  The best reason to eat fermented foods though is flavor. The process of fermenting adds layers upon layers of complexity to foods. As an illustration, think about the difference in flavor between milk and cheese, or cabbage and sauerkraut, or grape juice and wine.

Coffee
Coffee beans are surrounded by a stubbornly sticky pulp. After picking, they are crushed to loosen the pulp, then fermented. The length and technique of the fermentation process, along with roasting, determines the final flavor of the coffee.

Chocolate
is a crucial step in chocolate production, removing bitter tannins and imparting complexity.

Tea
The differences among teas can largely be explained by the method of processing, as most teas come from very similar plants. All teas are oxidized, but some teas, such as pu-erh undergo a second fermentation that imparts a unique flavor

Sourdough Bread
Sourdough bread is fermented with the help of wild yeasts that are unique to a region, climate, or even kitchen. Mixing wild yeast culture into flour and water to make bread will create bubbles that cause the bread to rise, and give the bread a characteristic sour taste.

Cheese
Cheese is really milk gone bad (in a controlled way) All cheese consists of milk, culture, and sometimes coagulant. Different cheeses began with different cheese cultures, some of which have been handed down for generations.

Cultured Butter
Cultured butter is butter made from soured (again in a controlled way) cream that is then whipped or churned to separate the whey from the butterfat. This extra step is what makes cultured butter more expensive than regular butter.

Crème fraîche
One of the most versatile dairy products around, crème fraîche is soured cream, the precursor of cultured butter, and one of the easiest and most foolproof cultured dairy products to make at home.

Yogurt
Yogurt is milk that has been cultured with two very specific strains of bacteria: streptoccus thermophilus and lactobacillus bulgaricus. Most yogurts in the grocery store are filled with artificial additives, colors, and sweeteners. When shopping, look for plain yogurt containing nothing but cultures and milk. Or make your own.

Kefir
Also known as drinkable yogurt, kefir is a cultured dairy product similar to yogurt, but it contains more strains of friendly bacteria than yogurt.

Salami
Salami and other cured meats made the traditional (slow) way are actually fermented. The meat is mixed with salt and spices, inoculated with a special culture, and then allowed to cure naturally, without additives. That’s why, when you bite into a really fine artisanal salami, you can usually detect a slight tang. That’s the fermentation.

Wine
To make wine, the grapes are mixed with yeast and allowed to ferment before aging.

Beer
Beer is made from fermented mashed grains like hops and wheat. Differences in flavor and body come from manipulating the ratio of ingredients and adding other flavors.

Sauerkraut
Sauerkraut is another very simple home fermenting project. You can ferment cabbage easily with just salt, or you can use a lacto-fermentation method by adding a little yogurt whey. Try it here.

Pickles
Traditionally, dill pickles were made through fermentation. Now they are most often made with vinegar. The traditional types are making a resurgence, however, and can be found in specialty stores carrying local products. Or you can make them yourself.

Kimchi
There are more varieties of kimchi than cars, but all have a delicious funk in common, and that funk comes from fermentation. Kimchi is made like sauerkraut but may contain different types of vegetables and seasonings, sugar, and often some type of dried or fermented fish product.

Kombucha
This popular drink, like yogurt, and unlike wild fermented items like sauerkraut, is the product of a very specific culture. The culture is a spongy, slightly slimy disc that is sometimes called mother and sometimes called a skoby. The culture ferments a mixture of black tea and sugar into a tart, slighty fizzy drink that some people insist is a cure-all for many ailments

Fish Sauce
Where does the dipping sauce in Thai and Vietnamese restaurants get its pungency? From the fish sauce, which is made of mashed up whole fish, packed in salt and fermented. But beware. Not all fish sauce is created equally. Some brands are produced through a chemical process, not a natural fermentation process.

Vinegar
Vinegar is made by fermenting wine with a “mother,” which is a stringy mass of bacteria found in unpasteurized vinegar. It’s easy to make vinegar at home from leftover wine and culture, either purchased or obtained from another vinegar.

Miso
The salty paste used in Japanese cooking is made with a special koji culture, rice or barley, and soybeans. Many people think it’s the key to Japanese longevity.

Tempeh
This meaty tasting soybean cake, popular in Indonesian cuisine is a product of fermenting cooked soybeans with a special mold. If the tempeh sometimes appears moldy, that’s because it is. But rest assured, it’s like the mold in blue cheese and ok to eat. Here’s a great recipe for pan-fried tempeh

You might be surprised by how many common, beloved foods are fermented. But, there are dozens more less common ones such as injera, the tangy, spongy bread made of teff that is used to sop up the juices of Ethiopian and Eritrean stews; many of the shrimp and fish pastes used in Korean and other Asian cuisines; Norwegian rakfisk; and Icelandic hákarl, one of the more challenging fermented foods.

Images: Teo, Victoria Chan, Gianfranco Cardongna, Yo Ames, Vanessa Barrington

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One afternoon a week I step into a dimly lit, nondescript storefront off of bustling 24^th Street in San Francisco’s Mission District, where, in short order, I will install myself in a recliner and nod off into a blissful state of unawareness. An endless loop of chanting monks plays over the sound system, and I’m surrounded by prone figures, lying motionless and silent. No, it’s not an opium den; it’s my neighborhood community acupuncture clinic.

Community acupuncture is a practice that is growing in popularity around the country, as it allows a practitioner to see multiple patients simultaneously in a large common room at a much lower cost. Most community acupuncture clinics charge patients on a sliding scale (usually ranging from $15-$40).

“Acupuncture is beneficial for so many everyday health issues but it must be given regularly for its full benefits to be reaped, said Ninah Hofmann, owner and acupuncturist at CA Works.

“Community acupuncture’s sliding scale makes regular treatment affordable to a large segment of the community,” Hofmann says.

Speaking from personal experience, I have successfully treated severe seasonal allergies, and occasional back pain with once a week treatments – something I could never afford to do if I were paying the usual cost of private acupuncture. In addition to a lessening of allergy symptoms and pain, I’ve noticed an overall increase in emotional well-being as a result of regular treatments.

Brenda Klein, a fellow client at CA Works told me, “I’m a walking testimony for regular acupuncture. It has had a profound affect on me. I’m a markedly different person and no longer suffer from the anxiety and stress I once did.”

I spoke to Courtney, another regular client at my clinic, who is using acupuncture to treat sickness from chemotherapy.

“I got sick the first week of chemo, but since then I’ve been coming to acupuncture from one to three times a week and it’s keeping me from being sick,” she said, adding, “No worries about this being a community clinic vs. a private room. Everybody goes in and focuses on themselves. It doesn’t matter who else is in the room, the neutrality of the space is great.

Acupuncturists like Hofmann aren’t going it alone, and community acupuncture isn’t just a trend borne of the recession. It’s a bona fide movement nationwide with its own cooperative called the People’s Organization of Community Acupuncture (POCA), whose mission is to make acupuncture available and accessible to as many people as possible and to support those providing acupuncture to create stable and sustainable businesses and jobs.

Ninah thinks of community acupuncture as a sustainable business model for both herself and the community, but it’s much more than that. It provides the more intangible benefit of calm, serving as an oasis of relaxation in the midst of a frenetic neighborhood in a major city.

As Ninah says, “The community setting allows the community to come together in a quiet space to take care of themselves. This collective stillness is so uncommon in our fast paced culture and I think within this stillness there is something very therapeutic.”

Looking for community acupuncture in your area? Check out this map of Poca-affiliated clinics.

Image: Daveknapik

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The Green Jobs Fair illuminates the ecology of staying out of prison.

The economy has chewed up and spit out plenty of experienced professionals and newly minted college graduates. Now, imagine you’re a recently released prisoner from San Quentin, reentering the world with the same set of life and employment skills (only rustier) that likely contributed to the actions that got you into prison in the first place. What would you do? What help exists to smooth your reentry?

A number of inmates facing imminent release from San Quentin recently attended a Green Jobs Fair (the second held inside the prison), where they were able to meet and speak with various representatives from local green industries and nonprofits to find out about green opportunities on the outside.

Henry, an inmate scheduled to be released in 30 days, was picking up pamphlets about biofuels. “I’m a driver, and I’m just here seeing what’s available,” he said. “One thing I learned from the computer age is that people don’t keep up. Green is big and I want to learn as much as I can because it’s big.”

The job fair was organized by The California Reentry Program and The Insight Garden Program, two organizations that work with prisoners in San Quentin to help ensure that former inmates stay on the outside.

Founded in 2003 by Allyson West, who started as a volunteer teacher at San Quentin, The California Reentry Program (CRP) offers a number of resources to help released prisoners succeed in the outside world. They include help obtaining employment, education, medical services, drug/alcohol treatment, and housing.

Acknowledging the lack of jobs in this economy, even for people without a criminal record, West said that the idea for a Green Job Fair was sparked when she heard Van Jones speak at the prison a couple of years prior about the lack of green jobs. What struck her about his speech was that he encouraged prisoners to broaden their thinking and look at and learn about some of the green industries, not necessarily for jobs, but for opportunities where they could become entrepreneurs.

“You can’t stereotype prisoners any more than people on the outside,” said West. “There’s a wide range of dreams and aspirations, and many of these men have not thought about what they can do beyond working in a warehouse. If these guys have some kind of entrepreneurial spirit, down the road, they can hire others and stop the cycle of discrimination.”

Like the California Reentry Program, The Insight Garden Program (IGP) works with men scheduled for release. This program teaches men how to reconnect with the outside world through an ecological lens. Through hands-on work in the prison’s organic garden, the program teaches ecological literacy with the ultimate goal of rehabilitation through a connection with nature. IGP’s Founder and Director, Beth Waitkus, also works with interns from various universities to conduct research and explore employment opportunities in gardening, landscaping, and green jobs for men leaving prison.

How can an understanding of ecology help men succeed in the outside world? “If the men don’t understand how things are interconnected, they can’t understand how their behavior impacts those around them,” said Waitkus. “As part of the program we give them cognitive and emotional tools to help them learn to respond to the world, rather than react.”

With California slated to release 40,000 prisoners over the next couple of years, it seems imperative to support any program that has a chance of sending these people out into the world healed. And it’s not so crazy to think that working outdoors in nature-based systems can be the key to keeping men from re-offending. This story of one recently released inmate who learned beekeeping in a prison program illustrates how connection to something larger than themselves can keep men engaged in the outside world in healthy ways.

The numbers bear up. In 2011, the IGP launched a reentry program for men paroling to Richmond and Oakland in collaboration with Rubicon Programs, Planting Justice, and the CRP. The recently completed recidivism study of 117 men who paroled from the IGP between 2003-2009 found that less than 10% returned to prison or jail – a 60% drop compared to the statewide recidivism rate.

Earl, who was attending his second Green Jobs Fair, has no intention of coming back to prison after he gets out in June. He’s one of the lucky ones. He has a job to go back to. His boss at the storage facility where he was previously employed has been writing and asking when he’s getting out. Still, the programs in prison have given him an understanding of the possibilities of a green economy.

“The green economy is about doing things differently, and the more people know, the more they can get involved,” he said. “I took this class so I could go convince my boss… we have all this roof space [in the storage facility]. I told my boss we should put solar panels in and it won’t cost anything and then sell it back to the grid.”

Earl also thinks that, if there were more tax write-offs, more businesses should be planting gardens and donating the produce, and that prisons should be more self-sufficient and grow their own food.

Mark Stefanski, a biology teacher at Marin Academy, who has been a volunteer teacher in the IGP for five years, said “These guys are more educated about sustainability issues than the general public,” adding, “We encourage systems thinking in the program, using nature as a model. These guys get it. They realize they are part of a system that’s broken…and they see the concepts in these restorative programs as a way to be plugged into the future and a principal pathway out that is both earth friendly and human friendly.”

Attending the fair were a number of food and farming organizations, including People’s Grocery,  CA Food and Justice Coalition, and Farmlink; and green industries including Give Something Back, Stop Waste, and Yokayo Biofuels; as well as representatives from the Ella Baker Center, Green for All, and other non-profits; and educational attendees such as Laney College and Solano Community College.

I spoke to a few representatives to see what they could offer former prisoners in the way of jobs and resources.

The non-profit food justice organization, People’s Grocery, offers resume building stipend positions in gardening and event planning and outreach. Bay Area Green Tours hopes to be able to connect former prisoners with green jobs through their networks and educate willing participants about how to eat greener. They also offer internships in tour planning. Farmlink is the second step for aspiring farmers who already possess agricultural experience, offering loans and brokering agreements with landowners.

Since jobs are so hard to come by for anyone these days, I was left hoping that there was more to successful reentry than a job. Cheryl Parr, a retired corrections officer trainer who worked at both Sierra Conservation Center and California Correctional Facility in Susanville told me over the phone that, “a strong family core outside of prison is essential,” adding that “even if there are jobs, they still need a little push. A lot of prisoners never actually got the life skills they need.”

Because many prisoners have always lacked a strong family core, programs like the California Reentry Program and Insight Garden Program are necessary to teach the skills former inmates need to take advantage of the job opportunities that do exist. Even though well-paying industries are not exactly standing in line to hand out good jobs to men exiting prison, programs that offer prisoners new ways of looking at and dealing with the world, as well as information about what opportunities exist on the outside, give men a better chance of succeeding. A chance at success isn’t just about ensuring the men don’t commit more crimes; it’s about offering a chance to give back and contribute to the community in meaningful ways.

Stefanski told me about one prisoner who is a model for what can be accomplished with a little investment in rehabilitation and education. The man, a participant in both programs at San Quentin, was released about 1 1/2 years ago, in his late 50s, after spending half of his life in prison. He now works with youth in Richmond, CA, at the urban agriculture non-profit Urban Tilth, whose core belief is that environmental restoration is inextricably connected to economic and social restoration. Urban Tilth uses the principles of Permaculture to hire and train local people to grow food for the community.

As Stefanski said, “these guys are going to get out in three to five years. The question is how are they going to come out?”

Photos courtesy of Kirk Crippins

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