Reclaim the Seeds
Local seed and food organization Aseed is sponsoring a seed swap and local food fair. Bifurcated Carrots will be there with a stand on Saturday.
If you’re in the area, please come by! Entrance is free.
If you’re able to sponsor a stand or presentation on either day, please get in touch! You can either contact me, and I will put you in touch with the right person, or you can contact them directly via their websites. There is no cost to sponsor a stand. You can either give seeds and plants away at no cost, or you can sell them. You can also run an information only stand.
Open Tap for Anitibiotics in US Agriculture
It’s a busy Christmas for politicians this year! Lots of things seem to be being sneaked through during the holiday season. I posted a few days ago about the announcement of a GM corn trial in Belgium, and now I’ve come across this quiet announcement by the FDA in the US that they are formally giving up trying to regulate the routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock in the US. It’s not like they’ve been doing much in the past, but now it’s official.
Supposedly, Europe is going in a different direction, but I’m not sure that really means anything. Now the routine feeding of antibiotics as a growth stimulant is forbidden, but all that means is farmers have to say it’s necessary for something else, and can continue to use them. Maybe all routine use will be prohibited, but this is far from a done deal.
New GM Corn Trial Planned in Belgium
Following up on the GM potato trial that took place last year in Belgium, a new GM trial — this time corn, is planned for the coming three years in the same location! I wonder if they’re going to build a stronger fence this time?! Is it just a coincidence they announced this the day before Christmas holiday weekend?
This time they assure us no one could possibly object to the trial. They say they will remove the tassels before the plants produce pollen so contamination of the nearby environment won’t be possible. They also say there will be no business interests, it will only be a project of the university. Hm, I wonder if the university has any business connections itself…
An important message from the organizers of the resistance:
[EN] Hello,
Yesterday we learned that the VIB is requesting authorisation for a field trial for GM maize in Wetteren. This crop would be launched in a three year open field trial, from 2012 on. A public consultation is organised which is open till 21 January.
It’s very important to respond individually to this consultation by using the special form for this purpose.
Below you find links to useful documents, press articles and a dossier that aims to develop some arguments on this case.
http://fieldliberation.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/rough-reader-on-the-new-vib-maize-crop.pdf
The pdf is just a personal summary of some facts and possible context around that sudden new field trial. To be used freely, as extra inspiration for replying at the inquiry, for an article, an action, or a campaign…
For more information see their website.
See here to respond to the consultation, but be aware as of the time of this post, the English language form wasn’t available. Keep trying! Let’s send some web traffic their way and let them know we’re eager, even before the form becomes available.
Another World is Plantable – Community Gardening in South Africa
I was looking around for other films made by Ella von der Haide, the same person who made Resilient Seed the film about our Brussels action last spring, and I came across this. What a find! This is a really interesting look into Community Gardens in South Africa, and the sorts of problems they face.
Is Pizza a Vegetable?
One of President Reagan’s claim to fame in the US was trying to declare tomato ketchup a vegetable for school lunches. This would mean schools could serve hamburgers or fries, and as long as it came with ketchup it was a complete meal.
School children’s tastes have since evolved, and now pizza is the new hamburger. With evolving foods comes the need to update laws. In order to keep up with the times, the US congress declared pizza a vegetable because it has tomato paste on it. This measure in congress was necessary in order to override the USDA’s advice to the contrary.
So what else comes with the tomato paste in school lunch pizza? Courtesy of Kristin Wartman’s article on Grist, here’s a list of ingredients in ConAgra’s “traditional 4×6 school pizza”:
CRUST: (Enriched wheat flour (bleached wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, soybean oil, dextrose, baking powder (sodium bicarbonate, sodium aluminum sulfate, cornstarch, monocalcium phosphate, calcium sulfate), yeasts (yeast, starch, sorbitan monostearate, ascorbic acid), salt, dough conditioners (wheat flour, salt, soy oil, L-cysteine, ascorbic acid, fungal enzyme), wheat gluten, soy flour).
SAUCE: (water, tomato paste (31 percent NTSS), pizza seasoning (salt, sugar, spices, dehydrated onion, guar and xanthan gum, garlic powder, potassium sorbate, citric acid, tricalcium phophate and soybean oil (prevent caking)), modified food starch).
SHREDDED MOZZARELLA CHEESE: (Pasteurized part skim milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes).
SHREDDED MOZZARELLA CHEESE SUBSTITUTE: (Water, oil (soybean oil, partially hydrogenated soybean oil with citric acid), casein, milk protein concentrate, modified food starch, contains 2 percent or less of the following: sodium aluminum phosphate, salt, lactic acid, mozzarella cheese type flavor (cheese (milk, culture, rennet, salt), milk solids, disodium phosphate), disodium phosphate, sorbic acid, nutrient blend (magnesium oxide, zinc oxide, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin and vitamin B-12), vitamin A palmitate).
That looks like a vegetable to me! It’s that ‘nutrient blend’ in the shredded mozzarella cheese substitute that makes all the difference.
Lizz Winstead at the Guardian also wrote a piece on this.
