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EPA changes rules to allow more toxic cleaning chemicals in mainstream food
(NaturalNews) Just in case you’ve forgotten, EPA stands for Environmental Protection Agency. That was sarcasm. You haven’t forgotten. But it appears the EPA has.
Reading alphabet soup can be confusing. The FDA, USDA and EPA all seem to cross over each other when it comes to what happens with food.
Recently, the EPA made a ruling on the use of a chemical that’s used for a variety of products, including sanitizing cleaners for facilities of food industry providers and restaurants. The chemical will show up in processed foods.
An August 22, 2012 Courthouse News edition contained a short article entitled “More Ammonia Now Allowed in Processed Food.” It was a reference to the EPA’s latest revision for limits using Didecyl Dimethyl Ammonium in the carbonate or bicarbonate form (DDACB). Focus on ammonia.
The former limit of 240 ppm (parts per million) was raised to 400 ppm. A petition to raise the allowed limit was issued to the EPA by a principle provider of Read more…
USDA plans to keep feeding ‘pink slime’ to your kids
(NaturalNews) After garnering nationwide attention for being secretly added to processed hamburgers and beef products, including those served in school lunchrooms, “lean finely textured beef,” aka “pink slime,” is reportedly on its way out from the menu offerings of McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Burger King. But according to Mother Jones, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) plans to keep ordering this imitation, ammonia-laced product for use in its National School Lunch Program (NSLP), a taxpayer-funded government food program that serves low-income students.
Pink slime gained much notoriety after being featured in the acclaimed 2008 documentary Food Inc.. Robert Kenner, the film’s director, revealed an inside look into Beef Products International (BPI), a South Sioux City, Neb.-based processing plant that produces most of the nation’s supply of pink slime. The product, which is composed of bovine connective tissue and random beef scraps doused in ammonia and formed into a paste, is commonly used as a beef filler because it is low-cost and supposedly less risky compared to conventional ground beef.
You can watch a disturbing clip from Food Inc. featuring footage from the BPI plant and commentary by BPI founder Eldon Roth at the following link:
Future Of Food For 9 Billion? Edible Insects
Insects produce much smaller quantities of greenhouse gases per kilogram of meat than cattle and pigs. This is the conclusion of scientists at Wageningen University who have joined forces with government and industry to investigate whether the rearing of insects could contribute to more sustainable protein production. Insect meat could therefore form an alternative to more conventional types of meat.
Credit: Wageningen University and Research Centre
Cattle farming worldwide is a major producer of greenhouse gases. For the assessment of the sustainability of insect meat, the researchers at Wageningen University quantified the production of greenhouse gases of several edible insect species. The results of the study were published in the renowned online journal PLoS ONE on 29 December.
The research team has for the first time quantified the greenhouse gases produced per kilogram of insect product. The gases concerned were methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). The results demonstrate that insects produce much smaller quantities of greenhouse gases than conventional livestock such as cattle and pigs. For example, a pig produces between ten and a hundred times as much greenhouse gases per kilogram compared with mealworms.
Emissions of ammonia (which causes the acidification and eutrophication of groundwater) also appear to be significantly lower. A pig produces between eight and twelve times as much ammonia per kilogram of growth compared to crickets, and up to fifty times more than locusts. An additional advantage of insects over mammals is that they convert their food into meat quicker.
Alternative
The study indicates that proteins originating from insects in principle form an environmentally-friendly alternative to proteins from meat originating from conventional livestock. Further research is required to ascertain whether the production of a kilogram of insect protein is also more environmentally friendly than conventional animal protein when the entire production chain is taken into account.
Contacts and sources:
Wageningen University and Research Centre
Full bibliographic information
Dennis Oonincx, Joost van Itterbeeck, Marcel Heetkamp, Henry van den Brand, Joop van Loon, Arnold van Huis. An Exploration on Greenhouse Gas and Ammonia Production by Insect Species Suitable for Animal or Human Consumption. PLoS ONE 29 December 2010. See http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0014445
Vaccine/ Autism Link is Not Fraud
Do You Know What You’re Injecting into Your Child?
Takeaways
- Not all vaccines are thimerosal-free.
- The ingredients may concern pro-lifers, vegetarians, and vegans.
- Vaccines contain chemicals recognized as hazardous and poisonous.

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