The Meat We eat
By agfarm
@agfarm (930)
United States
June 3, 2007 6:16am CST
I just recently read an Article in the June / July 2007 issue of
Mother Earth news , which I found so completely Shocking I just have to let Mylotters Know. This article talks about Beef and the American Meat Industry in General ; however , it's origins are very politically Motivated.
Walmart and various other " Super-Stores" hit the news again w/ their cost-cutting measures and your Food. Due to the Fact that the trend towards Unions are so negative...and More specifically Union Butchers are " expensive " WalMart has found a way around that and at the same time save Millions of dollars in lost meat turnover. They use the technologies of " gas-packaging " and " brine-injection systems " To be more clear on what we're eating ...These case ready meats go straight from the Delivery truck at Walmart to their Meat Shelf. Not processed on their premisis. The interesting thing is...WalMart has been doing this since 2001
WalMart's decision came just one Month after MeatCutters in Jacksonville , TX
voted to Unionize. Meat injection systems ( More commonly known as " pumping" ) use needles to add solutions of up to 30% water laced w/ salt and flavorings , to extend shelf life and add " juciness " to meats , which might otherwise be tough and tasteless. Here's my personal pet pieve...M.A.P. or Modified atomspheric packaging
more commonly referred to as " Gas -packaged Meats " This process involves removing regular air from a package of meat , and replacing it w/ a specific Blend of Gasses
including...Carbon Monoxide , Carbon Dioxide ,Oxygen , and Nitrogen.
These Gasses are used to " Control " and " Enhance " the coloring of your Meats , so that the meat still looks fresh....even though it's three weeks past it's due date. also...These " Case-Ready " meats have been found to contain Startling amounts of Sodium. Something many Americans cannot have in their diets.
So now....I ask you is there anything wrong w/ this ? Is this helping America in any way??? Are Unions so Bad , that we are willing to Sacrifice the Food we feed our Children , just to Shut-down the Unions? Kindly Share your thoughts on this.
2 responses
@ParaTed2k (22940)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
4 Jun 07
All that and nobody seems to be dying or getting sick from it.
Thanks for the heads up though.

@ParaTed2k (22940)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
6 Jun 07
Nothing complacent about it. I did thank you for the heads up, and yes, we do have the right to know what we are eating.
The bad peanut butter was investigated and we know what happened, it had nothing to do with unions or not having one.
My point was simply that what you are complaining about has been going on for 6 years now and there hasn't been any problems resulting from it.
If you want to talk about problems with our food supply, why bring unions into it when some of the biggest problems are because the FDA isn't doing its job.
@nancygibson (3736)
• France
3 Jun 07
We refuse to buy supermarket meat and have avoided it as far as possible for several years now. Its really not hard to buy direct from teh producer, even in alarge city as many are now online and will send meat through the mail in chiller packs if you can't go to them. What we do though is every few months we go to a farm we know well and buy meat direct. They will butcher it exactly how we like, or we can have sides of meat and finish chopping it up at home. The taste is superb, its pretty much the same price as the nasty supermarket meat, and in some cases we have had a chance to meet the animal when it was alive and satisfy ourselves that it was well cared for.
I really do encourage anyone who eats meat to consider buying direct from the producer, its so much better for everyone especially the animal, and you know exactly what you are feeding your family.
