You Are What You Eat
By now, unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard about the "horse meat scandal" in Europe. But you may not have heard yet that horse has also apparently been found in IKEA meatballs. Maybe you're one of those people who thinks this "scandal" doesn't matter. Maybe you think people should just "get over it." Well if you are, let me explain why it absolutely does matter.
But, for those residing in blissful oblivion, here's a recap:
A French company bought beef from a Cypriot company (who got it through a Dutch company, who purchased it from two Romanian abotoires) and then sold it to a Swedish company who put it in their frozen lasagne that was then disseminated all over Europe. But somewhere along this convoluted chain the "beef" turned out to be horse...
So why should you care if there's horse in your lasagne? Well, the issue is not the animal it came from (although, there is reportedly phenylbutazone in the meat - this is a drug that is banned for human consumption because it reportedly causes cancer), it's about the deception that went along with it.
Have you ever seen that SC Johnson commercial with Fisk Johnson talking about the "Family Standard?" He says that companies don't have to tell you what's in the products they sell...and if you've ever looked at a list of ingredients and seen "natural flavor," "artificial flavor," etc, then you know he's telling the truth.
But why does it matter? Well, it matters because you're using the product! Do you honestly not want to know what you're eating? What you're breathing? What you're absorbing through your skin? If not, then I suspect you do most of your eating in fast food restaurants.
But beyond that, this situation illustrates a larger problem; the lengths people will go to to turn a profit. The Swedish company that put the meat in their lasagne expected it to be beef (as far as we know...see, this spider web has no discernable center), and presumably they paid beef prices. Horse meat is cheaper than beef, so whoever "mislabelled" it (and the Romanians insist it wasn't them) perpetrated a deliberate fraud. The more we allow big companies to abuse us, the more they will.
Not too long ago (2010) there was a massive salmonella outbreak spawned by an Iowan company (Wright County Egg) that had been a little lax in their safety and hygiene regimen (and that's a gross understatement - the company had 426 positive results for salmonella, including 73 samples that were potentially positive for salmonella enteritidis, and this had been going on at least as far back as 2008). But as with this horse meat situation, this company cared more about their bottom line than about the consequences of their criminal (yes, criminal) actions.
And how about GMOs? GMOs (genetically modified organisms) are organisms that have had their DNA tampered with (that's right tampered with). While they are banned in much of the EU, they are legal (thanks to the lobbying power of GMO giant Monsanto) in the US. Although there are a number of studies on the effects of GMO's, there's still no general consensus on the health aspects of them.
Frankly, I don't care about the lack of evidence; if it's been manhandled then it's probably unhealthy. Look at the health consequences of pretty much everything else that humans have tried to "improve." Milk is a good one, so is bread. And that's only the tip of the iceberg! Don't believe me? Just look at the increase in food-related diseases and allergies! People want to bitch about the obesity spike, but look at what's caused/causing it: our "improved" society has made exercise difficult and unhealthy eating easy.
A few weeks ago I witnessed the height of our "modern" society's idiocy: I was watching a football game and saw two commercials that made me even more disgusted with the human race (I know, hard to fathom that there's room for more disgust, but sure enough...). These commercials were back-to-back, so kinda hard to miss the absolute ridiculousness of them.
The first commercial started out by talking about how the Okinawans are the longest lived people on earth and it's because of their diet, but YOU can get the health benefits of the Okinawan diet by taking this pill that has the synthesized goodness of the Okinawan diet without all the yucky work! WOOHOO!
The second commercial started out by talking about how the Japanese are the healthiest people on earth and it's because of their diet, but YOU can get the health benefits of the Japanese diet by taking this pill that has the synthesized goodness of the Japanese diet without all the yucky work! WOOHOO!
*facepalm*
Really?
But that's the mentality these days; it's easier to take a pill than to change your diet. The only good thing to come out of the horse meat scandal is the greater number of people who have made the choice to prepare their own food, rather than buy pre-packaged, highly processed crap. But talk is cheap; in order to change the food industry, action is needed.
Trackback
