Don't Breathe the Meat

[ensho]

http://counterpunch.com/rosenberg02112009.html


Scrambled Pig Brains for Four?
Don't Breathe the Meat


The head tables where workers use compressed air to turn brain mass into a slurry are gone at Quality Pork Producers (QPP) in Austin, MN, Indiana Packers Corp. in Delphi, IN and Hormel Foods Corp. in Fremont, NE.

But the neurological disease which the tables are blamed for causing in at least 24 workers in 2007 and 2008--Progressive Inflammatory Neuropathy (PIN)--is not.

In late November more than 20 people demonstrated at the Quality Pork Producers plant in Austin against the treatment workers who developed the non-refractory PIN have received from the pork processor.

They carried signs saying, The Hospitals Prescribed Us Steroids, Science Doesn't Have Cure For Our Disease and Hormel and QPP Guilty For Our Disease.

Eighteen workers at QPP, five at Indiana Packers Corp. and at least one at the Hormel Foods Corp. in Fremont, NE have developed the mysterious autoimmune disease characterized by tingling and numbness of the limbs and progressive weakness and debility leading to wheelchairs, paralysis and hospitalization in some cases.

-snip-

But how could the press omit mention of the "aerosolized blood and organ particulate matter" a.k.a. brain mist when it is thought to cause PIN? And it's a recognized risk in the Occupational Health Act?

It turns out that pork workers who developed PIN were in charge of turbo-charging a hog's brains out its snout with a high pressure hose and "pouring" the brain soup into containers for shipment overseas and to parts of the US where it is eaten as a human food delicacy.

-snip-

The important thing say state health and ag officials is the disease which left workers unable to walk a year after they contracted it is not contagious and the meat is safe to eat!

So safe, meat executives initially sought "chemical toxins at the plant" for the cause of PIN (see: gas leaks at the World Trade Center collapse.)

So safe the Minnesota Health Department tucks a photo of a can of Rose Pork Brains with Milk Gravy in between photos of the head table in its final 53-page PIN investigation report--and a recipe for Scrambled Brains which serves four.
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I'm so glad I gave up eating meat, fish or fowl long, long ago. (except some dairy).


hopefully these workers will get some serious medical attention and the meat company changes its way of slaughtering.

[Warpy]

1. I still eat a little fish

but that's it for me, too. I haven't eaten pork for decades.

I satisfy my once a year fried chicken Jones with Quorn products. They really are great.

Obviously the company will have to change its practice to a less efficient but far less injurious method unless it wants crippled workers and big lawsuits which it now will lose.

Once you know the cost to both humans and animals of meat, it becomes far less attractive a foodstuff.

Just be aware that some people don't feel well when they stop eating meat.

[ensho]

2. what do you mean - some people don't feel well not eating meat

isn't that habit addiction - an emotional thing

[trotsky]

3. No, there are many nutrients that are difficult to come by in a strict vegan diet.

Humans evolved as omnivores - though many of the more obnoxious vegans will try to argue that point - and as such, meat provides us with a nutrient- and protein-dense food source.

[Ignis]

15. Pull the other one, it's got bells on.

I've been vegan for almost 20 years, and I'm in pretty damn good shape for a cuberat.

My sports coaches think so. My doctor thinks so. My nutritionist thinks so.

Perhaps you know something that they don't? :shrug:

[Warpy]

8. Maybe, maybe not.

I'm not their judge.

[Mari333]

10. I am the only person in my bio family that doesnt eat meat or dairy

everyone of my brothers and sisters (5) is obese. 1, who is 42, has had quadruple bypass, 2 sisters and my mom all had tumours in uterus and complete hysterectomies, 1 brother has high blood pressure and cannot walk more then 10 feet. I am the oldest and so far my BP is 120/70 and nothing amiss. I am also normal weight. I dont know whether it has anything to do with meat and dairy in their diets and not in mine, but who knows.

[Ignis]

14. Q - U - O - R - N ! Oh yeah!

Just had to jump in here to second your recommendation of Quorn products. They're becoming more and more common in the US, to the point where you might actually find them in the freezer at your local grocery. So if you're looking to cut down your consumption of chicken, give it a try.

Quorn™ is the brand name of a premium line of all-natural, meat-free frozen foods. The Quorn brand has been sold in the UK since 1985, and since that time has become the #1 retail brand of meat-free foods in the world! And since its US launch in 2002, Quorn products have become the best-selling frozen meat-free brand in natural food stores*!

Quorn products deliver great taste, fantastic quality and a wide variety of items to meet the demands of on-the-go lifestyles.

You can depend on Quorn products to always be meat-free and soy-free.
There are believed to be over 600,000 varieties of fungi in the world, some of which are the most sought after foods like varieties of mushrooms, truffles and morels. The principle ingredient in all Quorn products is mycoprotein (“myco” is Greek for “fungi”). The mycoprotein comes from Fusarium venenatum, which was originally discovered growing in a field in Buckinghamshire, England. In the late 1960s, initial product development began, soon recognizing mycoprotein’s potential as an efficient and nutritious protein source.

-- http://www.quorn.us/

[Warpy]

17. The chicken nuggets pictured actually taste like chicken

and lack that spongy texture of the commercial slop you find out there, made from skin, cartilage, feet, comb, and everything else they can make into a slurry, thicken and reform.

I'd much rather eat fungus.

[Ignis]

19. Breaded Fungus Slurry for one, please!

Now if I can just talk them into leaving out the egg whites... *sigh*

[dionysus]

18. i prefer boca spicy chik'n patties myself ;)

[taurus ascendant]

4. Meat is pure filth...to eat it is GROSS!!!!

<EOMFM>

[DS1]

6. The tombstone here is hardly surprising

especially with a douchey name like that

[NNN0LHI]

12. Didn't last long did he?

4 posts and outta here.

Don

[goforit]

5. Well this is just plain ignorance to the max.

[Quantess]

7. In which countries are pureed pig brains considered a delicacy?

It seems like a bad idea to eat brains of any kind, since so many terrible, debilitating, diseases have been linked to eating brains.

[ensho]

13. I was wondering the same thing. do these foreign brain eaters know

what has happened to the US brain workers?

[crispini]

9. Ewwwwwwww.

I still eat a little meat but get more veg every day.

[NNN0LHI]

11. Damn! I just snorted a line of pork

Better call 911.

Don

[Sandrine for you]

16. This post opened my appetit