Meatless Mondays

There are more reasons to eat less meat - possibly particularly at school --  It is likely injected with ammonia which is considered a "process" and not an "ingredient" and thus not labeled. Read the Times reporting on it here and note the "pink slime" reference.  You can also watch Jamie Oliver's video on beef, ammonia and slime.

(((If you missed the previous Meatless Monday posts read them here and here -- plus , I've copied relevant excerpts from our Weekend Reading posts here:

I've recently been reading the USDA's Weekly Reside Repeat Violator list.  It shows the packing plant and originating farm of meat found to have illegally high levels of antibiotics (not just antibiotics - that's ok, apparently - these are just the folks who took it way too far.) It's disgusting to see what we're eating: penicillin, neomycin, sulfadiazine, tetracycline, and on and on and on.  Cargill shows up numerous times -- and so does a company with "all natural" in it's name, so read your labels carefully. Dairy cows frequently appear on the list - the aging cows used for ground beef.

If you have been following our posts calling for Meatless Mondays, you may be interested in the evidence posted on the Small Bites blog in an article about 'cultured' meat on the terrible impact of meat production on animals, humans and the environment.

The WSJ ran an article on the USDA's stepped up inspections of pork due to the rampant use of antibiotics and concerns that antibiotic residue in meat is illegally high.  Previous testing has shown that the highest levels of antibiotic residue are found in ground beef. Unfortunately, the major meat processors in question do supply the national school lunch program.)))