What Drugs Was Your Thanksgiving Turkey On?

[marmar]

from Civil Eats:



What Drugs Was Your Thanksgiving Turkey On?

November 23rd, 2011
By Martha Rosenberg


So far, 2011 has not been a great year for turkey producers. In May, an article in Clinical Infectious Diseases reported that half of U.S. meat from major grocery chains–turkey, beef, chicken and pork–harbors antibiotic resistant staph germs commonly called MRSA. Turkey had twice and even three times the MRSA of all other meats, in another study.

In June, Pfizer announced it was ending arsenic-containing chicken feed which no one realized they were eating anyway, but its arsenic-containing Histostat, fed to turkeys, continues. Poultry growers use inorganic arsenic, a recognized carcinogen, for “growth promotion, feed efficiency and improved pigmentation,” says the FDA. Yum.

And in August, Cargill Value Added Meats, the nation’s third-largest turkey processor, recalled 36 million pounds of ground turkey because of a salmonella outbreak, linked to one death and 107 illnesses in 31 states. Even as it closed its Springdale, Arkansas plant, steam cleaned its machinery and added “two additional anti-bacterial washes” to its processing operations, 185,000 more pounds were recalled the next month from the same plant.

Since the mad cow and Chinese melamine scandals of the mid 2000′s, a lot more people think about the food their food ate than before. But fewer people think about the drugs their food ingested. Food animal drugs seldom rate Capitol Hill hearings which is just fine with Big Pharma animals divisions since if people knew the antibiotics, heavy metals, growth promotants, vaccines, anti-parasite drugs and feed additives used on the farm, they would lose their appetite. Besides, people aren’t Animal Pharma’s primary customers anyway and the long term safety of animals drugs isn’t an issue, since patients supposed to die. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://civileats.com/2011/11/23/what-drugs-was-your-thanksgiving-turkey-on/

[bros]

1. Yikes

Tofurkey. Heard of it? Not bad at all, really. Here in the Hudson Valley we've got a lot of great options for vegetarian/organic fed cage-free Birds this time of year. Eat local meat or skip it all together, IMO.

[iscooterliberally]

2. Well, not iodine I suppose.

The DEA is afraid we might make meth out of our turkeys... :rofl:

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

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[bros]

4. Also

Report: BPA in Thanksgiving Canned Food

"...For half of the products tested, a single 120-gram serving of the food contains enough BPA to show adverse health impacts in lab studies. Have some pumpkin pie after your green bean casserole and gravy, and the amount of BPA delivered to each holiday diner adds up to a concerning chemical dose.

BPA levels in the canned foods we tested were all over the map, even among cans of the same product made by the same company. No BPA was detected by our tests in Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce, although the company has stated that it does use BPA in its cans.

If you're cooking this Thanksgiving, seek alternatives to canned foods (we offer some here). Beyond the holiday season, we need to get this toxic chemical out of all food packaging and make sure replacements are safe. That's the goal of the Breast Cancer Fund's Cans Not Cancer campaign."

found here: http://www.breastcancerfund.org/big-picture-solutions/make-our-products-safe/cans-not-cancer/bpa-thanksgiving-food.html