Our Tainted Meat Supply

I want to share with you this important article about our meat supply published by the Environmental Working Group.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Environmental Working Group, or EWG, they are the leading environmental health research and watchdog organization.   Their mission is to “see that Americans get straight facts, unfiltered and unspun, so they can make healthier choices and enjoy a cleaner environment.”  They offer extensive consumer guides to safe cosmetics, healthy cleaning products, pesticides in produce and safe sunscreens, to name a few.

Below is a portion of their report.

Superbugs Invade American Supermarkets

For the PDF version of this report, click here.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are now common in the meat aisles of American supermarkets. These so-called superbugs can trigger foodborne illness and infections that are hard to treat.

An analysis by the Environmental Working Group has determined that government tests of raw supermarket meat published last February 5 detected antibiotic-resistant bacteria in:

These little-noticed tests, the most recent in a series conducted by the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System, a joint project of the federal Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Department of Agriculture, found that supermarket meat samples collected in 2011 harbored significant amounts of the superbug versions of salmonella and Campylobacter, which together cause 3.6 million cases of food poisoning a year.

Moreover, the researchers found that some 53 percent of raw chicken samples collected in 2011 were tainted with an antibiotic-resistant form of Escherichia coli, or E. coli, a microbe that normally inhabits feces. Certain strains of E. coli can cause diarrhea, urinary tract infections and pneumonia. The extent of antibiotic-resistant E. coli on chicken is alarming because bacteria readily share antibiotic-resistance genes.

Not surprisingly, superbugs spawned by antibiotic misuse — and now pervasive in the meat Americans buy — have become a direct source of foodborne illness. Even more ominously, antibiotic misuse threatens to make important antibiotics ineffective in treating human disease. In the past, people who became ill because of contact with harmful microbes on raw meat usually recovered quickly when treated with antibiotics. But today, the chances are increasing that a person can suffer serious illness, complications or death because of a bacterial infection that doctors must struggle to control.

The proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria poses special dangers to young children, pregnant women, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems.

This is scary stuff!  I’m not suggesting you have to become vegetarian to avoid these foodborne illnesses – after all vegetables can be contaminated too, especially when coming from long distances. (It is a good idea to go meatless a couple of days a week at least!)  Instead, be a smart meat consumer and opt for organic or grass-fed, grass- finished meats.  They are usually raised without unnecessary antibiotics and in a more humane and sanitary environment.  Ask your butcher or supermarket how the meat was raised and buy local meat when you can.  And always make sure you meat is cooked thoroughly.

Information compiled from ewg.org.

 

 

 

 

 

GOHSPA

Mark your calendars for the grand opening of GOHSPA, a clever acronym for Green-Organic-Holistic-spa and the spa I referred to a few weeks ago in my blog. Saturday, October 27 from 11 – 3 is a “Tent Event” happening at the Whole Foods plaza in Woburn, just before the spa’s grand opening on November 10.  There will be free chair massages, face painting and lots of fun activities going on.  All the stores are participating.

  I stopped by GOHSPA the other day and are we all in for a real treat!  It is beautifully decorated with a warm and calming atmosphere, and legitimately “green” – low VOC paint, cork floors, LED lighting, low flush toilets, energy-efficient washers, dryers, heating and cooling systems, organic towels and purified water.   The owner Beth Gaudette has been a dedicated green cosmetologist for over two decades, well before it became fashionable to do so, and believes you treat the skin, the body, and the mind as one.  She sees GOHSPA as a place to relax with a focus on wellness and healthful beauty.  Services include organic manicures and pedicures, holistic facials, makeovers, hair removal, body care treatments and massages. She also offers alternative services like Tui Na, a cross between acupressure and Shiatsu and tuning forks, as well as a complete kid’s spa menu.  Beth’s a vegan so you can be sure her products and services are vegan too!

Stop by the tent event, have some fun and pre-book a routine treatment or a special indulgence.  You can look forward to feeling replenished and well nurtured by her capable staff, just in time for the holidays!  For more information, visit www.gohspa.com.

 

 

“GREEN” COFFEE (AND TEA)

 

Image by Peter Wild

 

After crude oil coffee is the world’s most commonly traded commodity, and tea is the world’s most consumed beverage after water.  Making an “eco-correct” purchase of these mainstays of the American diet, however, can be complicated.

There are several categories for coffee. “Fair Trade” applies to coffee, tea, chocolate, bananas, handicrafts that are produced in a way which ensures living wages and safe working conditions for farmers, promotes sustainability and usually includes rigorous environmental standards.  “Shade Grown” coffee refers to the traditional method where coffee beans grow in shade and mature slowly, creating richer flavors. Coffee farmers were encouraged to replace shade grown coffee with sun cultivation in order to increase yield.  To do this, over 2.5 million acres of forests in Central America were destroyed, which caused an immediate loss in biodiversity, both in the many types of trees and plants that were eliminated and the animals that depended on them.  When I visited Brazil, we saw sun cultivated coffee plantations everywhere and were told that 95% of the Atlantic rainforest has been destroyed.  Coffee and tea with the organic certification are ecofriendly, grown without toxic chemicals, thus sparing workers from exposure to the harmful pesticides and herbicides.  They are also harvested in a way that protects the environment.

In summary, most fair trade coffee is also shade grown and organic.  Otherwise, you choose which of the certifications is the most important to you and buy accordingly. Fortunately, you can now buy coffee and tea with these green certifications at most grocery stores, Starbucks, Peets Coffee and Dunkin Donuts.

One more tip, coffee grounds and tea leaves make outstanding compost!