Tag: Food Supply

Closing Thought–01Apr24

****This is NOT an “April Fools” gag!****

Remember a few months ago when we were told of the shortage of eggs thanks to bird flu?  Well. it looks like they are setting us up again.

Back in those days I asked about the high prices we were asked to pay for eggs….

Is It Price Gouging?

With the most recent warning from the egg industry has sent people on a mission….

A shortage of eggs in shops during Holy Week has led Norwegians to flock to supermarkets across the border in Sweden and hoard the traditional Easter favorite, reports the AP. Norwegian news outlet Nettavisen said Thursday that the Nordby shopping center in Sweden, located just off the border about 62 miles south of the capital, Oslo, has been filled by “desperate” Norwegians trying stock up on eggs. The center’s Maxi-Mat food store ran out of eggs Tuesday, while the adjacent Nordby Supermarket has had to limit the number of eggs purchased to three 20-packs per household, the news outlet reported.

Not only are the Swedish stores better stocked with eggs, a traditional Easter treat needed for many dishes, but the product is also more affordable in Sweden, Nettavisen said. “It’s far cheaper than you get in Norway—if you can get eggs in Norway at all, that is,” Ståle Løvheim, the head of the Nordby shopping center, told Nettavisen. “The last time I was in Norway, the store was empty” of eggs. A pack of 20 eggs in Sweden sells for about $3.70, about 30% less than the price in Norway. Concerns about overproduction of eggs in Norway led to farmers being offered compensation to reduce egg production. That and the effects of bird flu have led to a shortage, according to news reports.

Egg prices are at near-historic highs in many parts of the world as Easter approaches, reflecting a market battered by disease, high demand, and growing costs for farmers. Ranked consistently among the most expensive countries in the world, Norway is known for its substantially high cost of living, especially in regard to food products and alcohol, which are heavily taxed even when compared to well-to-do Nordic neighbors. Many residents living in southern Norway regularly make shopping trips across the border to Sweden, where products and services enjoy a lower value-added tax, a phenomenon that has evolved into a lucrative business for Swedish store owners

I know it is Sweden….but how long before the trend makes it to us from across the pond?

Will it the toilet paper shortage of the future?

This is another “Not An April Fools” joke.

A report by Oddspedia, a sports-betting and data-tools website, lists Florida as America’s No. 1 conspiracy theory “hotspot,” followed by those in California, while the Sunshine State’s residents “ranked as the second-most gullible.”

But Oddspedia’s analysts noted conspiracy theorizing is a national pastime of sorts these days, with broad implications for this year’s election.

“In the lead-up to the 2024 US elections, conspiracy theories have entrenched themselves as a notable element of American political discourse,” the Oddspedia report concluded. “The impact of these theories on the presidential race is noteworthy, with the potential to either bolster or undermine a candidate’s credibility.”

What’s going on? Here is what Oddspedia found:

https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/politics/2024/04/01/april-fools-florida-tops-conspiracy-theories-gullible-residents/73142438007/

Now since it is ‘April’s Fools’ Day I thought a little history would help….

April 1st is celebrated by many as April Fools’ Day, a cheeky date on the calendar when playful pranks abound, within people’s homes, at schools and workplaces, and even in newspaper articles or television programs. The day is known around the world as a light-hearted moment in the diary to try and catch out unsuspecting friends, family, employees, and teachers with silly games to make one another laugh. But where did the tradition come from, and why did it occur on this particular Spring date? The exact origins of April Fools’ Day are unknown, but there are several possible sources that point to its evolution through the ages.

https://www.thecollector.com/history-of-april-fools-day/

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–29Mar24

By now most everyone knows about the trouble with the pesticide known as Roundup….but did you know that the maker of this pesticide is the aspirin people, Bayer? (Think about that for a moment)

Bayer is fighting in most states to stop all the lawsuits against it and its product Roundup….as a public service I want to pass on what this company is up to in your state.

On TikTok, Iowa State Representative Megan Srinivas is angry.

“To me,” she says, pointing at herself with both hands, her eyebrows raised, “Iowa’s farmers matter more than corporate interests.”

Srinivas, a Democrat, posted the video on February 7 to draw attention to a bill that was just starting to make its way through the statehouse. If passed, the legislation could prevent individuals who use pesticides from suing manufacturers based on the argument that the manufacturer should have warned them the products could cause cancer or another illness.

Srinivas is a physician, and one specific concern added to her outrage. Less than a year earlier, the Iowa Cancer Registry released data showing Iowa now has the second highest cancer rate in the country, after Kentucky, and is the only state where rates significantly increased between 2015 and 2019. For the first time, researchers at the Iowa Cancer Consortium have a plan to evaluate whether the incredible volume of weed- and bug-killers used in the state is a contributing factor (although an annual report released at the end of February focused more on high rates of binge drinking).

However, while other states have seen a flurry of more than 100,000 lawsuits brought by individuals claiming Roundup—the most widely used commercial product that contains the weedkiller glyphosate—had caused their cancers, Iowa stands apart. Especially in agriculture, most people trust the safety of pesticides, locals say, and Roundup is the most common and coveted.

Inside Bayer’s State-by-State Efforts to Stop Pesticide Lawsuits

Check with your state rep to see just what Bayer is up to in your state.

I am sure that money will be the answer to their problems….after all there are elections come up…..and soon.

Have a wonderful weekend and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Prepare For Sticker Shock

We all have gone to the grocery store and found that our food keeps costing us more and more of our hard earned cash.

We bitch about the cost of gas…but at least it comes down….maybe not to as low as it was a month ago but it does fluctuate…food on the other hand does not.

Will we ever get a break?

The prediction is….not on your life.  (Keep in mind that this will be a global problem just not a solely Main Street problem)

The new analysis shows that global warming could cause food price inflation to increase by between 0.9 and 3.2 percentage points per year by 2035. The same warming will cause a smaller rise in overall inflation (between 0.3 and 1.2 percentage points), so a greater proportion of household income would need to be spent on buying food.

This effect will be felt worldwide, by high and low-income countries alike, but nowhere more so than in the global south. As with various other consequences of climate change, Africa will be worst affected despite contributing little to its causes.

…

The first is that the same climate change effects that are causing the inflation are already making food harder to get hold of. For instance, higher temperatures can cause long-established and predictable farming seasons to shift and so may hinder crop production.

Other consequences can include more pest and disease outbreaks that deplete livestock and food reserves, and heat stress to already-poor roads which makes it harder to access rural communities.

All of these factors push prices higher and reduce the purchasing power of affected households. The drivers of food inflation are already worsening food insecurity.

https://theconversation.com/food-prices-will-climb-everywhere-as-temperatures-rise-due-to-climate-change-new-research-226345

Then there is the food that you go to the grocery for….like fruits and veggies….they could be poisoning you.

The latest edition of an annual consumer’s guide published Wednesday reveals that almost three-fourths of non-organic fruits and vegetables sampled contained traces of toxic pesticides while the “dirty dozen”—including strawberries and spinach—tested at levels closer to 95%.

Scientists with the Environmental Working Group (EWG) document in their new report, “2024 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides In Produce,” that four out of five of the most frequently detected pesticides found on the twelve most-contaminated produce items were fungicides that could have serious health impacts.

“There’s data to suggest that these fungicides can disrupt the hormone function in our body,” EWG senior scientist Alexa Friedman told Common Dreams, adding that the chemicals had “been linked to things like worse health outcomes” and “impacts on the male reproductive system.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/ewg-2024-dirty-dozen-pesticides

Another reason I try to grow as much of my fruit and veggies as possible…..although I am getting older and gardening is getting harder.

Just thought I would let you know what is on the food horizon.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–19Mar24

I live on the Gulf Coast and part of our economy is that of seafood….the industry down here has taken many hits in the past twenty years….Katrina crapped on our seafood, then came Deepwater Horizon oil spill another dump on our seafood….then there is the Spillway that when opened screws our oyster industry then there is the influx of foreign seafood flooded the markets….like I said many hits and then came one last shot at killing our seafood industry……

A new report from researchers at the Cooper University Hospital in New Jersey suggests that necrotizing fasciitis may no longer be as rare as previously assumed, no thanks to climate change and global warming

Necrotizing fasciitis (NF) is a rapid-spreading, life-threatening bacterial disease that destroys the fascia, the tissue under the skin surrounding muscles, fats, and blood vessels. It is caused by a species of bacteria known as Group A streptococcus, also called “flesh-eating bacteria”, and Vibrio vulnificus. These bacteria thrive in warm salt and brackish waters, alternatively entering the body through open wounds or oral ingestion. 

Recent statistics show that necrotizing fasciitis affects about 1 in every 250,000 people in the United States per year [2]. In some other parts of the world where the climate is warmer, it may affect as much as 1 in every 100,000 per year. NF has been termed a “very rare” disease due to these low frequencies of occurrence, but global warming may be causing the increase. 

This recent report published in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that those statistics may be on the verge of going higher as world waters are getting warmer [3]. Flesh-eating bacteria species (especially Vibrio) thrive in unusually warm waters, and according to the report from the CUH, the few cases of necrotizing fasciitis studied have mostly arisen from the Southeastern U.S coast, the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, and the Gulf of Mexico. 

Experts Warn That ‘Flesh-Eating’ Bacteria May Be Spreading To Seafood, Beaches Due To Climate Change

It just does not pay to be a fisherman on the Gulf Coast anymore….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Food And Slave Labor

There are things about our food chain that most do not know…..did you know that some food suppliers use prison labor?

That’s right prison labor.

In a sweeping two-year investigation, the AP found that goods linked to the forced labor of US prisoners wind up in the supply chains of a dizzying array of products, from Frosted Flakes cereal and Ball Park hot dogs to Gold Medal flour and Coca-Cola beverages. They’re on the shelves of most supermarkets, including Kroger, Target, Aldi, and Whole Foods. Many of the companies buying directly from prisons are violating their own policies against the use of such labor. But it’s completely legal, dating back largely to the need for labor to help rebuild the South’s shattered economy after the Civil War. Enshrined in the Constitution by the 13th Amendment, slavery and involuntary servitude are banned—except as punishment for a crime. Takeaways from the AP’s investigation:

  • People of color are disproportionately affected: Goods tied to prison labor have morphed into a massive multibillion-dollar empire, extending far beyond stamping license plates or working on road crews. The 2 million currently imprisoned are disproportionately people of color. Some are sentenced to hard labor and forced to work—or face punishment—and are sometimes paid pennies an hour or nothing at all. They’re often excluded from protections guaranteed to almost all other full-time workers.
  • The businesses that benefit: The AP linked hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of transactions to agriculture-based prison labor in state and federal facilities over the past six years. Those figures include everything from people leased out to work at private businesses to farmed goods and livestock sold on the open market. Reporters also found prison labor in the supply chains of giants like McDonald’s, Walmart, and Costco—and in the supply chains of goods being shipped all over the world, including to countries that have been slapped with import bans by Washington for using prison and forced labor.
  • Wide range of jobs: The country’s prison work programs employ around 800,000 people, and the vast majority toil at tasks like maintaining prisons, laundry, or kitchen work. But inmates also are contracted out to private companies in industries with labor shortages, doing some of the country’s dirtiest and most dangerous jobs in poultry plants, meat-processing centers, and sawmills. In Idaho, they’ve sorted and packed the state’s famous potatoes. In Kansas, they’ve worked at Russell Stover making chocolates.
  • From the companies: Mammoth commodity traders like Cargill, Bunge, Louis Dreyfus, Archer Daniels Midland, and Consolidated Grain and Barge have been scooping up millions of dollars’ worth of soy, corn, and wheat straight from prison farms. Cargill acknowledged that, adding that “we are now … determining the appropriate remedial action.” McDonald’s said it would investigate links to any such labor, and Archer Daniels Midland and General Mills, which produces Gold Medal flour, pointed to their policies restricting suppliers from using forced labor. Whole Foods responded flatly that it “does not allow the use of prison labor in products sold at our stores.”
  • From the prisons: Corrections officials and other proponents note that not all work is forced, and that prison jobs save taxpayers money. They also say workers are learning skills, potentially shaving time off sentences, and given a sense of purpose, which could ward off repeat offenses. “A lot of these guys come from homes where they’ve never understood work and they’ve never understood the feeling at the end of the day for a job well done,” said David Farabough, who oversees Arkansas’ prison farms.

This is messed up!

Cheap labor and no price decreases just more profit while the consumer foots the bill.

I know it is for a fact…. I had a relative that was sent to one of these private ‘workhouses’ where they put him to work in a leading chicken packing planet one of the larger ones in the South…..he was paid $1.10 an hour and by the time everybody took their part of the paycheck he was lucky to have $5 a week to buy essential and pay his restitution.

It is a great way for the private prison system to make lots of money with very little pay out in return….plus the state pays them for housing an inmate.

Think about that when going to the market….never mind most could care less.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Fixing The Food System

I have never made it a secret that I believe the big agribusinesses are not a great idea…..for one is they are destroying the environment and for two the whole GMO craze does nothing for4 the quality of the produce just the quantity.

I have been growing my own produce for many years because I cannot stand the taste of the GMO crap…that basically has little to no actual taste it just last longer on the shelves.

Since the whole agribusiness is so entrenched in our system these days and young people have little idea what real produce or meat actually taste like is it here to stay or can it be fixed?

While the article I reference is basically tackling the meat industry it still bears exposure…..I offer it up as to make sure that I try to be as balanced as I possibly can (and it is not an easy trip for me)….

In addition to being the main cause of animal cruelty in the world, factory farming is a primary source of environmental degradation. The industrialized meat industry accounts for 37 percent of worldwide emissions of methane, a global warming gas 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the first two decades after its release. It is also responsible for 65 percent of human-made emissions of nitrous oxide—a gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide—that depletes the ozone layer, which protects the Earth’s surface from the Sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation.

Factory farming also depletes the planet’s fresh water. Just a single egg takes more than 50 gallons of water to produce. A pound of chicken, 468 gallons. A gallon of milk, 880 gallons. A pound of beef, 1,800 gallons. It also requires vast tracts of land, which means the industrial meat industry is also the cause of massive deforestation around the globe, destroying ecosystems, threatening Indigenous communities and their traditional ways of life, and endangering a host of wildlife. Data shows that companies in the supply chain of JBS, the world’s largest supplier of meat, are potentially responsible for the destruction of up to 124 square miles of Brazilian rainforest every single year to produce beef that is exported around the globe.

How to Fix Our Food System

Eliminate meat?

I am an old fart and that just is not going to happen….this article sounds more like an ad for the ‘plant based’ con job.

And to be fair here is a rebuttal to the meat thing….

Bev Turner brilliantly pulled apart a climate scientist on his dictate encouraging Britons to give up meat.

The GB News host, in a lively debate on Britain’s Newsroom delivered a withering summation of the advice being offered by environmental campaigner, Donnachadh McCarthy.

She said: “I think if we’re worried about farty cows, we’ve been had, Donnachadh, we’ve been had. Because the biggest landowner in America now is Bill Gates.

“I’m sure you’re aware of this. And what does Bill Gates want to do?

“He wants to make money out of us not eating meat because he’s not putting cows on those fields.

“He’s putting solar panels and he’s encouraging us whilst building factories of fake meat. And you talk about health.

“A good steak full of protein with some vegetables is better for you than a bowl of vegetarian pasta, all the carbohydrates we’ll eat in their place.

https://www.gbnews.com/news/meat-free-ban-news-bev-turner-climate-scientist-video-interview

Here!  Here!  I will take my protein the old fashion way….meat and veggies…..

Then there is the plant thing….

If we depend on plants for all our eating needs would that not be just as bad for the environment…..like more fertilizer run-off….more pesticides….etc all making its way into our ground water supply.

Something needs to be done but what?

I try to use small farm producers when I can and grow many of my own veggies….I know that is small potatoes (no pun intended) but surely we can find a solution to the problem of huge agribusiness.

Thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Grow Your Own

Another hot Sunday and my search for something akin to FYI was in vain so this is my next best thing.

For the last couple of decades I have had a small garden to grow tomatoes, greens, carrots, radish, cucumbers…and lots of fruit trees….tangerines, satsumas, plums and figs and a few blueberry plants…..nothing to write home about but it keeps us in fresh grown food for several months….always a welcome treat.

This year because of a very mild winter the field mouse population has exploded and they in turn look to me for their food supply….my two pups do a find job of protecting the garden but they can only work so fast….I am thinking of training them to use pellet rifles.

I have a problem with all the GMO stuff….I am old so I remember what a fresh peach, tomato, plum, etc should taste like and the ‘fresh’ stuff in grocery stores does not come close.

Stop all this whining and get to the point, right?

I wish something could be done to change all that….well sports fans one Dem is trying and has been for 26 years…

Each year for the last 26 years – nearly his entire tenure in the US Congress – Earl Blumenauer has advocated for a law that would utterly transform US agriculture.

Nearly every time, though, his proposals have been shut down. Even so, he persists.

Blumenauer, a Democrat from Oregon, wants to see a version of US agriculture that centers people, animals and the environment, rather than the large-scale, energy-intensive commodity crop farms that currently receive billions of dollars in subsidies. In effect, he has a completely different vision for how 40% of the country’s land looks and works.

“Every year is an uphill battle. We’re up against entrenched, wealthy, strong interests,” said Blumenauer, known for his signature bowtie, circular glasses and bicycle enamel pin. He’s the spitting image of a progressive environmentalist and doesn’t shy from discussing some of agriculture’s most divisive issues.

But he remains optimistic and steadfast in his vision for the American food system. Now more than ever, he feels momentum and support surrounding the future of farming and food production. People care about where their food comes from and what kind of impact their food is having on the climate, he says.

Blumenauer’s newest plan, the Food and Farm Act, was introduced earlier this year, as an alternative to the farm bill – the package of food and agricultural policies passed every five years that is up for renewal this fall. His proposal would redirect billions of dollars away from subsidies for commodity farms towards programs that support small farmers, climate-friendly agriculture and increasing healthy food access.

The bill also prioritizes food waste management and animal welfare – areas that have been completely neglected by previous iterations of the farm bill.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/26/earl-blumenauer-agriculture-farm-bill-congress

All Dems should step away from their paymasters at Big Agri and get on board with a bill that makes sense.

It is a shame that I learned of this from a UK newspaper…apparently agribusiness has its claws in the MSM as well as Congress.

We all should be in support of this effort for it makes a lot of sense (maybe that is why it is not popular).

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

Enjoy your Sunday and as always be well and be safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

These Are The ‘Cleanest’

Continuing with my FYI Sunday….

My previous post I warned my readers about the ‘dirtiest’ fruits and veggies….today I want to show that not all our produce is ‘dirty’.

 

This is the list of the ‘cleanest’ produce in our local markets.

And, as a bit of a palate-cleanser, the group lists its “Clean 15” fruits and vegetables. In order of least to most contaminated:

  1. Avocados
  2. Sweet corn
  3. Pineapple
  4. Onions
  5. Papaya
  6. Frozen sweet peas
  7. Asparagus
  8. Honeydew melon
  9. Kiwi
  10. Cabbage
  11. Mushrooms
  12. Mangoes
  13. Sweet potatoes
  14. Watermelon
  15. Carrots

These may be considered ‘safe’ but I still suggest that you wash them thoroughly before preparing and consuming.

I hope that these two post were helpful in some small way….I do try to keep my readers abreast of health issues.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

These Are The ‘Dirtiest’

A little FYI for your Sunday.

In these days when most people are concerned with the food they eat I feel I need to help them out as much as possible.

When you grow to the store to buy your fresh fruits and veggies this list i a good one to have with you.

These are the ‘dirtiest’ fruits and veggies….

Mama (and the US government) always said to eat your fruits and veggies, but nowhere in that conventional wisdom was there anything about getting your daily allotment of pesticides. Yet, as CNN reports, that’s exactly what some of us are inadvertently doing. The nonprofit Environmental Working Group rounds up a list of the “Dirty Dozen” most contaminated nonorganic fruits and veggies, according to the group’s testing after washing the produce in a way normal Americans might. And sorry, blueberry lovers: Your blue gold has found its way onto the 2023 list. In order of most to least contaminated:

  1. Strawberries
  2. Spinach
  3. Kale, collard greens, mustard greens
  4. Peaches
  5. Pears
  6. Nectarines
  7. Apples
  8. Grapes
  9. Bell and hot peppers
  10. Cherries
  11. Blueberries
  12. Green beans

This produce needs to be thoroughly cleaned before then are consumed.

So are all our fruits and veggies the ‘dirtiest’?

No they are not….

Tune in tomorrow for the cleanest fruits and veggies.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is It Price Gouging?

By now we all have been to the grocery store and have been flabbergasted at the high price of eggs….my experience has been a wide range of prices for a dozen from $4.32 to $7.52….

Would there be some form of price gouging going on with these prices….

A US senator has joined farmers in calling for an investigation to crack the problem of soaring egg prices. Government data shows the national average retail price for a dozen eggs reached $4.25 in December, for a 138% increase from the $1.79 average a year earlier, though the average price nears $10 in some parts of the country, per Vice. All this has led to more shouts of price gouging, per the AP. Farm Action, a farmer-led advocacy group, has called for the FTC to investigate Cal-Maine Foods, the largest US egg producer, after it reported a 110% increase in quarterly sales and 600% increase in gross profits, per the Hill. Cal-Maine logged profits of $198.6 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2023, compared to $1.1 million a year earlier.

Cal-Maine says its eggs cost $2.71 a dozen on average in the most recent quarter, which is almost double the price of a year ago but well shy of the prices consumers are paying. In explaining the prices, set in negotiations with distributors and stores, the company cites increased demand, higher costs, and fewer chickens as a result of the avian flu outbreak. The slaughter of 43 million egg-laying chickens within the last year reduced the supply by 5% to 6%, per the AP. However, chickens have been laying more eggs on average, per Vice. Though some experts disagree, Farm Action’s Joe Van Wye says supply concerns accompanied by a 22% increase in production and input costs since 2021 fails to explain the price spike.

There “appears to be a collusive scheme among industry leaders to turn inflationary conditions and an avian flu outbreak into an opportunity to extract egregious profits,” said Farm Action, which has long warned about major firms driving up consumer prices, per the Hill. Sen. Jack Reed of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies added to the pile on Tuesday, asking the FTC to investigate “the industry’s role in perpetuating high prices and hold those responsible accountable for their actions.” The Rhode Island Democrat noted “small producers, which have faced many of the same market challenges as the biggest producers, have managed to keep prices under control.”

I believe it is price gouging and the big retailers are the worse.

Are there any thoughts on this turn in our food supply?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”