Don't go there!
Five foods for people concerned about their health and the environment to avoid
By Greg Plotkin 01/14/2010
While “voting with your fork” is an effective way to demonstrate your food values, it’s important to remember that the term describes both what you should buy and also the things you should avoid purchasing.
Rather than singling out specific foods to stay away from, I’ve instead listed five “classifications” of food you should think twice about before purchasing in 2010.
Here are the top five:
1) “Factory-farmed” meat — This is basically any meat product you can purchase in the grocery store, and certainly anything with the name “Tyson,” “Hillshire Farm” or “Smithfield” on it. Meat production — or more accurately, I think, industrial meat production — is said to be responsible for up to 51 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions across the globe. In addition to the environmental damage these large-scale livestock facilities cause, the inhumane and unsanitary conditions many of these animals are raised in is a leading cause of food-borne illness in the US. On average, 76 million Americans are sickened by the food they eat every year (and more than 5,000 die). If that alone isn’t a reason to think twice about eating factory-farmed meat, I’m not sure what is.
2) Anything on a Seafood Watch list — While much of the conversation about sustainable food focuses on farming practices on land, it’s important to remember that we also rely on the oceans for a significant portion of our food supply. Overfishing in many areas of the world has become a problem over the last few decades as American (and global) consumption of fish has risen. The result, according to the UN, is that nearly two-thirds of all ocean species are overfished and that — if current consumption trends continue — the populations of all wild fish species currently caught could collapse before 2050.
3) Anything with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) — New research has found that consuming HFCS actually causes our bodies to grow fat cells and contributes to the early onset of diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. Not enough to make you think twice about downing that can of soda? Well, you should also consider that traces of mercury have been found in almost half of the commercial HFCS used in the United States. So not only can HFCS make you fat, it can also make you sick. Avoiding HFCS is actually quite easy — the best things to do are to eat less fast food, drink less soda and read the labels on the food you eat.
4) Foie Gras — OK, so I did single out one. For those who aren’t already painfully aware, foie gras is fattened duck or goose liver made by force-feeding the birds until they nearly explode. Found in many high-end restaurants across the country, foie gras is a sought-after delicacy for many self-described foodies. However, both sustainable food advocates and animal rights groups have called for the end of foie gras farming, calling it both inhumane and “a disease marketed as a delicacy.” While some have been convinced that foie gras production does not equate to torture, I still find it difficult to support a practice that force-feeds animals just so that only the wealthiest individuals in the country can enjoy their fatty livers.
5) Out-of-season produce — As industrial agriculture has changed the way food is produced around the world, it has also destroyed the notion of seasonality in our diets. No longer must we wait anxiously all winter for the first strawberry of the spring, as there is now an endless variety of fresh produce available in grocery stores year-round. While this is convenient, the consequences of meeting this constant demand for fresh produce are not to be overlooked. The average American foodstuff travels 1,500 miles from farm to fork. An easy way to reduce “food miles” is to eat seasonally and purchase locally grown foods whenever possible. It’s both the environmentally friendly and delicious choice to make!
This article first appeared on change.org. Greg Plotkin is a local food enthusiast, former farm laborer from Connecticut and current grant writer at American Farmland Trust in Washington, DC. The views and ideas he shares here are his alone, and do not represent those of American Farmland Trust.
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High fructose corn syrup, sugar, and several fruit juices are all nutritionally the same.
According to the American Dietetic Association, “high fructose corn syrup…is nutritionally equivalent to sucrose. Once absorbed into the blood stream, the two sweeteners are indistinguishable.”
The American Medical Association stated that, “Because the composition of high fructose corn syrup and sucrose are so similar, particularly on absorption by the body, it appears unlikely that high fructose corn syrup contributes more to obesity or other conditions than sucrose.”
No mercury or mercury-based technology is used in the production of high fructose corn syrup in North America.
Woodhall Stopford, MD, MSPH, of Duke University Medical Center, one of the nation’s leading experts in mercury contamination, reviewed the results of total mercury testing of samples of high fructose corn syrup conducted by Eurofins Central Analytical Laboratory (Metairie, LA) in February and March 2009. Dr. Stopford concluded:
• No quantifiable mercury was detected in any of the samples analyzed.
• High fructose corn syrup does not appear to be a measureable contributor to mercury in foods.
Consumers can see read Dr. Stopford’s findings at http://duketox.mc.duke.edu/HFCS%20test%2....
As many dietitians agree, all sugars should be consumed in moderation as part of a balanced lifestyle.
Consumers can see the latest research and learn more about high fructose corn syrup at www.SweetSurprise.com.
Audrae Erickson
President
Corn Refiners Association