Cultured meat isn't going away anytime soon. The People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals (PETA) are making sure of it.

Yesterday PETA disclosed they'll be offering one million dollars to the first group able to grow palatable chicken meat within the next 4 years:

From PETA: PETA Offers $1 Million Reward to First to Make In Vitro Meat:"PETA is offering a $1 million prize to the contest participant able to make the first in vitro chicken meat and sell it to the public by June 30, 2012. The contestant must do both of the following:

• Produce an in vitro chicken-meat product that has a taste and texture indistinguishable from real chicken flesh to non-meat-eaters and meat-eaters alike.

I'm still wondering ... is cultured meat living?

A group of artists from the Tissue Culture and Art Project (TCA) in Australia grew this steak for their exhibition "Disembodied Cuisine".

Click to read captions, and to see some cultured meat up close.

The Swedish grocery store chain, ICA, is considered one of the most trusted retail brands in Sweden. It celebrated its 90 year anniversary this year.1

According to Wikipedia, a documentary aired on Swedish television last week that showed ICA employees:"... relabeling out-of-date ground meat, as well as grinding down other forms of meat past their 'best before' date to make ground meat (mince)."

I've been eating a lower carbohydrate diet. By default this has me eating more meat. The recent issues of breast cancer in my family have had me investigating meat consumption's affect on cancer risk.

I found this study while browsing the research:

Red Meat Intake and Risk of Breast Cancer Among Premenopausal Women (November, 2006)

Study Basics

• Study population: 90,659 premenopausal women from the famous Nurses Health Study II

Once again, I am reminded that I need to take some photography classes. This recipe for Move it Along Pork and Veggie Stir-Fry from Get Real Meals is definitely a quick and healthy keeper.

We don't eat a whole lot of red meat (not for any good reason, I just don't like it that much other than in a burger), so I like to mix it up every now and then with a pork dish. That's what I was thinking when I picked out this recipe, plus I love having my meat and veggies all in one dish (less cleanup to do in the end).

This recipe is also a perfect example of what people don't understand or refuse to acknowledge about Rachael Ray - most of her recipes are chock full of fresh veggies and lean protein. Served with a side of brown rice, this is a healthy meal with a bunch of flavor. Here's the recipe with my comments in brackets:

2 pounds boneless pork rib chops or loin chops, cut into thin strips [It's easier to do this is if the chops are cold.]

Mark Bittman, author of the popular How To Cook Everything , New York Times' food writer, and host of the YouTube video that accompanied my post New York Times' No Knead Bread (probably the most-visited post in my entire blog archive) has a new NYTs article out. From yesterday's paper:

The USDA has jurisdiction over meat, poultry, and eggs. The FDA has jurisdiction over just about all other food products. The FDA does not currently have recall authority, but they are in the process of asking Congress for it.

In my previous post I said I did not know whether the USDA had recall authority. The article below suggests they do not have recall authority, nor do they want it:

Well, how about that. Mark Bittman has a blog. (Thank you, Melinda.)

Bitten: Mark Bittman on Food

It doesn't look like he posts often. Although he did make a few comments yesterday about his recent article that appeared in the New York Times, the one we discussed on my post, Got Vegetables?:

Eating Meat Is Only Human, Bitten, 5 Feb 2008

He lamented (I think he was lamenting), that he "got only two comments [on his original article]: one from a cattle rancher with some smart reasoning, and one from someone who was a little more emotional."

This is another in my series of posts on low-carb diets. I've been reducing the amount and changing the type of carbohydrate I eat, which by default changes the amount of fat and protein I eat. I'm wondering what the long-term effect of this pattern of eating is.________

In 2006, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations published a 400-page report detailing the impact of livestock on the environment:

Livestock's Long Shadow, FAO, 2006 (PDF)

It's been a real eye-opener for me:

Climate Change:"The livestock sector is a major player [in climate change], responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions measured in CO2 equivalent. This is a higher share than transport."The major portion of those emissions comes from gases other than CO2, gases with a greater potential to warm the atmosphere, such as:

• Methane - from enteric fermentation by ruminants
• Nitrous oxide - from manure

Land Use:

I was on a serious quest for something easy and healthy, preferably with a bunch of veggies. But, I also wasn't in the mood to do a whole bunch of searching around online.

I sure am glad it's not my job to come up with the best eating plan for all Americans, let alone the world.1 (The World Health Organization has my sympathy.) The choices and defenders of those choices are numerous and polarized.

Regarding carbohydrates, it may be that a low-carbohydrate diet, around 10% of calories, is the best eating plan for overall health for everyone. Alternatively, it may be that a high-carbohydrate diet, above 45% of calories, is. Research has not sufficiently compared and contrasted the two.

Thai to die for! Now here's a tiny treasure with cheap eats. Dad, Daniel & I met at Bay Thai Cuisine for lunch the other day, and went out sockless (it knocked our socks off!). Cash only, but that's fine if you're prepared. The staff and owner are friendly, and eager to get the spicing just to your taste.

A former White House Administration official wants to Nix The Farm Bill: 1"I’ve got a way to reduce global poverty, decrease the number of workers crossing our borders illegally, save American taxpayers money, and cut your supermarket bill -- in one fell swoop. How? Get rid of US farm subsidies and tariffs."

For the rest, see former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich's latest blog post: Nix The Farm Bill.

In our winner-take-all economy where the filthy-rich, get filthier and richer, and the workers get their paychecks and benefits squeezed and slashed - workers are standing up. And, more and more we're standing together.

The IBT (International Brotherhood of Teamsters) has reached out to the Fed Ex workers to help them unionize. Fed Ex labels their drivers "independent contractors" instead of "employees" so they can get around paying benefits, and make the drivers lease their own trucks (costing the workers $40,000). Click here for more information. And, here to sign a petition urging Fed Ex Ground to treat their drivers fairly.

Another week with five all new episodes. Here are the highlights and recipes from Rachael Ray's talk show this week. For the recipes from this week's shows, check out the shopping list and the recipe archive.

Recall my post from a few weeks ago, Living High Off The Hog?, where livestock farmers in Pennsylvania ..."... started giving their pigs and cows chocolate - and banana chips and cashews and yogurt-covered raisins, any of which were cheaper than run-of the-mill corn and beans. One farmer even supplied his cattle a special "party mix" of popcorn, pretzels, cheese curls and crisps. This, he told reporters, saved 10% on feed costs."It looks like livestock farmers in Europe may add animal remains to their party mix: 1
"The European Union is preparing plans to allow pig remains to be used to feed poultry. The practice - banned in Europe after the BSE* crisis 10 years ago - would save farmers millions of pounds as prices of cereal feed for chickens soar, say officials in Brussels."

This was unbelievable. To see this kind of frankness in a public report just made my jaw drop. Virtually all of the diabetes- and health-related material I've laid my hands on over the years has skirted these issues. Most of those publications, however, were either produced by drug companies directly, or indirectly influenced by them. My non-profit is.

This past Christmas, I got a George Foreman Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine© as a gift.
In fact, it's the Super Champ Limited Edition© as shown to the left, in operation!
Tonight I've decided to finally take the thing out of the box and use it.
So there it is.
It is sitting on my countertop!
I'm ready to go.
I'll be inaugurating the thing with some boneless pork chops avec baked potato. Being the skilled culinary wizard that I am [ahem]... I put the 'tater in the oven, where it is currently in the throes of death. Gives me time to peruse the periphery of the Machine.

Jane Hamsher at FireDogLake reports that Fabiani & Lehane, the formerly-Democratic PR firm, has been canned by SEIU Local 99 and will have lost all of its union clients by week's end. From Jane's post:"By the end of the week, I believe Chris Lehane will have no union clients because of his work for the AMPTP," says SEIU President Andy Stern, who confirms that all Change to Win Unions are severing ties with Lehane. "His days are numbered in the labor movement." ... Change to Win unions include the Teamsters, Laborers, SEIU, Carpenters & Joiners, United Farm Workers, Food and Commercial Workers, and UNITE HERE.

On Wednesday, November 14, 2007, the FDA engaged in a historic event: its first teleconference with bloggers. I felt honored to have been invited.

In attendance were FDA Commissioner, Andrew von Eschenbach (center in the photo), and FDA Assistant Commissioner for Food Protection, David Acheson (right in the photo). (HHS Deputy Secretary Tevi Troy is shown on the left.)

As a reformed meat eater (I'll eat anything that swims, walks or crawls in the water but not on land - at least not anymore) it seems strange for me to get excited about a burger joint, yet here we are. I just caught a glimpse of this incredible little Kansas "fast food" restaurant on Sundance (yes, the TV channel), and all I can say is this: I wish I didn't have to drive all the way to Lawrence, Kansas to eat there. (They have non-meat items on the menu.)

Hey, at least Local Burger gives me a reason to go to Kansas someday... Though I hope someone with deep pockets will catch wind of this incredible concept, take the time to go eat there, and make it possible for Local Burger to open more restaurants around the country - starting with wherever I happen to be living.

Talking about barley make me recall this Table I posted a while ago. It came from a paper written by Dr. Vinson in 1999, entitled:

The Functional Food Properties of Figs

I like figs.

Well, I just ran some numbers. According to the data in this Table, 2 tablespoons of dry barley has 37% more polyphenols than 1/2 cup blueberries ... and 3650% more polyphenols than an equal amount of wheat.1

Rachael Ray is looking awfully flirty on the cover of her December-January Issue of Every Day with Rachael Ray, don't you think? It's only appropriate though, since this is the New Year's issue. I sad to say that this is a double issue, which means we have a long wait until the February issue hits the stands.

So, apparently everyone in the blogosphere was too worked up about the stupid "Is Rachael Ray a terrorist" story to write any posts about making her recipes this week! I cannot tell you how many blog posts and news articles have been posted about the Dunkin Donuts ad where Rachael Ray was supposedly wearing a keffiyeh.

The ad has now been pulled by Dunkin Donuts, who also informed critics that the scarf actually had a paisley print. Whatever! It's such a stupid story that I really didn't want to write about it at all, but instead it'll just make this appearance in the Roundup instead of getting its very own spotlight. If you want to check out the ad and read about the non-scandal scandal, check out this ABC News story that sums it up and has a video of the ad.

The National Resources Defense Council has published this wallet card to aid in selecting fish. I know it's difficult to read. Clicking on it will take you to the original .pdf source where you can make some good quality printouts.

________

I was digging through the FAO's data files and saw some numbers I thought would look better on a chart than in a few columns on Excel.

Click for larger.
There are 172 countries included in this graph. I couldn't fit all their names on the x-axis but you can go to the Excel file to see the intake for a particular country. Protein intake ranges from 25 grams/person/day in the Democratic Republic of Congo to 136 g/p/d in Israel. (Israel?) The US consumed an average of 133 g/p/d. Intakes are for the years 2002-2004.

You can find the raw data at:
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, Food Security Statistics (Under Food Consumption / Nutrients).
________Chart and image of chart: Homegrown.

In light of the "more than 28 million pounds" (see below for quote source) of possibly tainted food removed from circulation in 2007 alone, I was prompted to take a look at the current sponsors of the Safe Food Act 2007. Since my last look, two more House members have added their names.

The complete list of sponsors of the Safe Food Act 2007 today is:

Along with the Senate sponsor of the bill, Senator Richard Durbin [IL], there are 3 Senate cosponsors:Senator [State] - Date of Cosponsorship
Sen Schumer, Charles E. [NY] - 2/15/2007
Sen Casey, Robert P., Jr. [PA] - 3/21/2007