FEED – Food & Environment Electronic Digest - July 2007
Read FEED online
Contents
- Tyson goes antibiotic free for fresh grocery chicken
- The future of your food choices is being debated in Congress now!
- Climate change threatens wild relatives of food crops
- Ireland's government pledges to go GE-free
- Summer Reading: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
1. Tyson goes antibiotic free for fresh grocery chicken
Tyson Foods, the nation's largest producer of chicken, announced last month that it has begun to produce all of its fresh chicken free of antibiotics and is selling the chicken in grocery stores under a "Raised Without Antibiotics" label. An estimated 70 percent of all antibiotics used in the United States are regularly added to the feed of livestock and poultry that are not sick—a practice with serious consequences for our health. Bacteria that are constantly exposed to antibiotics develop antibiotic resistance. This means that when humans get sick from resistant bacteria, the antibiotics prescribed by doctors don't work.
UCS applauds Tyson's decision as a step in the right direction for public health. This announcement also presents a great opportunity for fast food-companies like Burger King to adopt strict antibiotic use policies for their meat suppliers. Take action now by signing our petition to fast-food companies!
2. The future of your food choices is being debated in Congress now!
Negotiations are underway in the House and Senate on the 2007 food and farm bill, the major agricultural and food policy legislation in the United States. Read more...
3. Global warming threatens wild relatives of food crops
Global warming is likely to endanger the wild relatives of some of the world's most important food crops, according to a recent study. Using a simulation model, researchers at the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research studied the effect of global warming on wild varieties of several crops, including peanuts and potatoes. They determined that 61 percent of wild peanut species analyzed and 12 percent of wild potato species analyzed could become extinct in the next 50 years. Plant breeders often tap into the rich genetic diversity of wild species for traits allowing crops to adapt to harsh conditions. Wild relatives can contain genes for valuable traits such as drought resistance or insect tolerance. If changes in climate drive wild relatives to extinction, farmers may lose the very genetic resources needed to help our food crops adapt to the same changes. For more information on this topic, visit Biodiversity International's web site.
4. Ireland's government pledges to go GE-free
Ireland's new coalition government recently revealed plans to make the island free of genetically engineered (GE) plants and animals. Read more...
5. Summer Reading: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
On your way to the beach or other vacation destinations this summer, be sure to get your hands on Barbara Kingsolver's latest page-turner, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. Kingsolver, perhaps best known for her novels set in the desert southwest, takes a different turn with this memoir recounting her family's move to rural Virginia, where they endeavor to eat nothing but the food they or their neighbors can produce. Kingsolver writes eloquently of her love for food, the land, and the natural environment of her Appalachian home, and starkly contrasts her family's choice to eat local foods and become more self sufficient with the industrialized agriculture, processed-food model that makes up most Americans' diets. Part cookbook and instruction manual (learn to make your own cheese and then whip up a delicious pizza with it!), part autobiography, part ode to simple pleasures like family, neighbors, and making do with what you have, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is certain to lure you away from the drive-thru line and into the kitchen.
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