Pink pork won't kill you

Well cuz....

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/2011/01/990 ... s-monsanto

After 12 years of battling to stop Monsanto's genetically-engineered (GE) crops from contaminating the nation's organic farmland, the biggest retailers of "natural" and "organic" foods in the U.S., including Whole Foods Market (WFM), Organic Valley and Stonyfield Farm, have agreed to stop opposing mass commercialization of GE crops...

Yeah, I know. I just saw that the other day and am still processing it.

I'm less wound up over the principle of GM crops, in any case, than I am about Monsanto. It's sort of like nuclear power: I'm for it in principle, but not so much for letting corner-cutting engineers build the power plants.

Boy, Robin, some company must have done a real number on you! Monsanto knows if they introduce a food that makes someone sick they'll be sued to the point of going out of business; it is in their interest to test, test more, and be sure things are right. A genetic engineering company - often with maybe a dozen employees just waiting to cash in - has a real disincentive to do the testing. Yet, you inherently "trust" the GEng company more??? I understand what you mean, but absolutely no way I agree with that!

[Robin Garr]

Boy, Robin, some company must have done a real number on you! Monsanto knows if they introduce a food that makes someone sick they'll be sued to the point of going out of business; it is in their interest to test, test more, and be sure things are right. A genetic engineering company - often with maybe a dozen employees just waiting to cash in - has a real disincentive to do the testing. Yet, you inherently "trust" the GEng company more??? I understand what you mean, but absolutely no way I agree with that!

It's not about making people sick, Andrew. It's about putting farmers out of business who save seeds, or who have soybeans with Monsanto DNA propagated in their land because it blew in or was carried in by birds. Watch Food Inc., read Pollan, and look around. As I said, I'm not really all that exercised about somebody inserting a fish gene into wheat if it will help solve world hunger. But Monsanto's corporate antics in what appears to be a conscious effort to stifle small-farm competition? Yeah, that bothers me. Not because of what they're doing to me, not directly, but what they're doing to the civilization we all live in.

[Robin Garr]

Monsanto

Totally by coincidence, Andrew, I just got this Email about GMOs and Monsanto from Food Democracy Now. Interesting stuff. The organization is certainly an advocacy group, but as best I can tell from the "About" page, not run by agribusiness. One of the founders is with Niman Ranch. The others appear to be farmer-activists.

http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/sign ... s_warning/

Monsanto

Totally by coincidence, Andrew, I just got this Email about GMOs and Monsanto from Food Democracy Now. Interesting stuff. The organization is certainly an advocacy group, but as best I can tell from the "About" page, not run by agribusiness. One of the founders is with Niman Ranch. The others appear to be farmer-activists.

http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/sign ... s_warning/

It is an interesting web page. Not sure I agree, but worth reading. Thanks.

The question now is how to convert the masses. As a former senior marketer for consumer packaged goods companies - and a former marketing professor who has taught Maslow (as long as we're all on that bandwagon) - until such a time as consumers' motives align with small farms and quality rather than cheap price and quantity (along with matching a threshold of quality) we're stuck with the world as it is. I'm glad one of us (namely you!) isn't tired of butting his head against a brick wall.

Of course, a lot of the smaller "quality" companies whose products may cost a tad more but are generally regarded as providing top products produced with respect for the environment are really totally owned by a few of the mega-packaged goods manufacturers! Even Monsanto makes Agent Orange, DDT, Nutrasweet, and also developed the process used to manufacture LED lights (making them affordable to all). And, Nestle bought Stouffer's, Kellogg owns Keebler and Kashi, etc etc etc.

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/pink-pork-wont-kill-you-according-to-the-usda-2488054/

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service has lowered its temperature recommendation for cooking pork to 145 degrees -- down from 160. (This means that pork will be held to the same standard as beef, veal, and lamb.)

Of course, there's an inherent irony in the fact that the USDA is lowering pork's minimum temperature ...

It's that professional chefs have been cooking pork this way FOR YEARS! Now home cooks and backyard barbecuers can finally catch up to the restaurant standard without worry. But the question is: Will they?

I've been doing this for many years- pork tenderloin is always cooked to still pink inside in my house. But you should have seen the look on my BIL's face the first time I served it to him - he turned white as a sheet for fear of eating "undercooked pork"!

I celebrated by thawing a couple of "mgrs special" center cut T-Bone chops I found while Krogering a few weeks ago. Got them for 3 bucks each!!! Had to them indoors, and ended up smoking the house up with my cast iron grill. Well worth it.

Bingo!! I found another special on the same center cuts like last month, while Krogering. Lower Brnsboro. They had a few more. Could not have been luckier. EXCEPT, I gotta toot my horn. I can now put "professional poker player" on my resume'. You can play in as many tournaments as you want, but if you don't win any money, you are not a "pro". I got 4th out of 45 and tripled my money. Belterra rocks!!! Hit trip 3's on the river to knock out #5 and he had 2 pair. Only paid top 4, I'm in the money.