Tag: food

‘Major Win’ – Amish Farmer Persecuted By Feds Can Now Sell Raw Milk Out-of-State

Amos Miller, an Amish farmer in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, will be allowed to sell his raw milk products out-of-state following a ruling this week by Lancaster County Judge Thomas Sponaugle.

Attorney and podcast host Robert Barnes, who represents Miller in the case, labeled the decision a “major win” for the farmer.

“Court agreed to modify injunction so that it only applies within the state of Pennsylvania removing the ban on sales to customers outside state,” he wrote, thanking Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for their support.

The Kentucky congressman responded on X, writing, “Congrats! A small win, but a win nonetheless for Amos Miller . Why is the government is spending resources prosecuting an Amish farmer who sells to willing buyers when we have so many real problems at the moment? We should empower small farmers instead of prosecuting them.”

Keep reading

Tyson Foods hoping to hire over 40K immigrants for labor-manufacturing jobs: report

Tyson Foods says it’s eager to hire over 40,000 asylum-seekers and migrants arriving in the United States, according to a report from Bloomberg.

The multinational food conglomerate is allegedly hoping to hire personnel from the massive influx of migrants coming into the country from South and Central America.

“They’re very, very loyal,” Tyson human resources leader Garrett Dolan said in a statement to the outlet.

“They’ve been uprooted and what they want is stability — what they want is a sense of belonging.”

“We would like to employ another 42,000 if we could find them,” Dolan said.

The company is disputing the report, releasing a statement on their website accusing the article of “misinformation.”

“In recent days, there has been a lot of misinformation in the media about our company, and we feel compelled to set the record straight,” Tyson said in the statement.

“Tyson Foods is strongly opposed to illegal immigration, and we led the way in participating in the two major government programs to help employers combat unlawful employment, E-Verify and the Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers (IMAGE) program.”

“Tyson Foods employs 120,000 team members in the U.S., all of whom are required to be legally authorized to work in this country,” the statement adds.

“We have a history of strong hiring practices, and anybody who is legally able is welcome to apply to open job listings.” 

Keep reading

MOLD WILL BE THE FOOD OF OUR DYSTOPIAN FUTURE: NEW RESEARCH EXAMINES THE FUTURE OF FUNGI AS FOOD

In the ongoing search for sustainable and environmentally friendly alternatives to meat and other animal proteins, researchers have settled on a new product that only solidifies our descent into a dystopian science fiction story. Published in Nature Communications, this could be humanity’s new favorite food; genetically engineered mold. 

The study, led by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, demonstrates how the edible fungus, Aspergillus oryzae, can be bioengineered to enhance its nutritional value and sensory appeal as a meat substitute. By modifying the fungus’s genome using cutting-edge synthetic biology tools, the researchers were able to elevate the production of key nutrients and flavor molecules, bringing it closer to mimicking the taste and texture of real meat.

A. oryzae, also known as koji mold, has a long history of safe use in fermented foods and has recently gained attention as a potential scaffold for cellular agriculture and alternative protein production. However, like many other fungi used in food applications, it has inherent limitations in nutrition and taste. To overcome the reality that this mold basically tastes like crap, the research team developed a comprehensive synthetic biology toolkit for A. oryzae. 

Using the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system, which allows for precise genomic modifications, the researchers first set out to enhance the production of ergothioneine, a potent antioxidant with potential health benefits, in the fungal mycelium. By overexpressing the fungus’s native ergothioneine biosynthetic genes, they were able to achieve levels much higher than those found in oyster mushrooms, currently the top dietary source of ergothioneine.

Next, with every dystopian science fiction trope imaginable, the team tackled the challenge of creating a more meat-like flavor and appearance. 

They engineered the fungus to overproduce heme, the iron-containing molecule responsible for the characteristic taste and color of red meat. By modulating the expression of key enzymes in the heme biosynthetic pathway and introducing a heme-binding protein, they elevated intracellular heme levels to 40% of those found in leading plant-based meats that incorporate heme for flavor and color.

Remarkably, the heme-overproducing strain exhibited a distinct red color and could be readily formulated into realistic meat alternatives with minimal processing, setting it apart from plant-based proteins that often require extensive purification and additives.

Keep reading

A little bit of Pfizer in your cheese? Fake rennet bypassed additive approval process

Pfizer’s bioengineered rennet turns your milk into cheese
You may be surprised to learn that the cheese you are eating, if it’s not USDA organic, most likely contains synthetic rennet bioengineered by Pfizer. Often referred to as microbial rennet, the source of the rennet is not required to be listed on food labels, so most Americans have no idea that the food they are eating contains non-natural ingredients.

Pfizer’s bioengineered rennet turns your milk into cheese

You may be surprised to learn that the cheese you are eating, if it’s not USDA organic, most likely contains synthetic rennet bioengineered by Pfizer. Often referred to as microbial rennet, the source of the rennet is not required to be listed on food labels, so most Americans have no idea that the food they are eating contains non-natural ingredients.

Global Research‘s Dr. Ashley Armstrong, who believes that natural rennet is preferable to synthetic rennet, explained that cheese making involves just four ingredients — milk, salt, starter culture, and (traditionally) animal rennet. Rennet is used to curdle the cheese and separate the curds from the whey. Today, rennet comes from more than one source, the others being “vegetable rennet, microbial rennet, and a genetically modified version called FPC (fermentation-produced chymosin). Chymosin is one of the two enzymes found in natural animal rennet, the other being pepsin:

Animal rennet is usually 90% chymosin enzyme and 10% pepsin enzyme. The small amount of pepsin will break down the casein protein in milk in a slightly different way compared to just chymosin alone, producing a final product with an enhanced taste.

Supreme Court rules new life forms can be patented

The permissibility for manufacturers to make synthetic rennet resulted from a 1980 Supreme Court ruling that new life forms can be patented. As VRG’s (Vegetarian Resource Group) research director Jeanne Yacoubou, MS, explained, this became pivotal to the development of synthetic rennet FPC (fermentation produced chymosin) when animal rennet started rising in price as a result of the animal rights movement:

When calf rennet became scarce and unreliably available in the 1960s and 70s as the veal industry was declining due to the animal rights movement but demand for cheese increased, calf rennet became very expensive. Companies looked for a “rennet substitute.” Recombinant DNA technologies involving microbes were becoming popular and companies turned to it in the 1980s. [Emphases added.]

Keep reading

Rep. Massie warns about fed plan to electronically track all U.S. cattle to stymie beef production

Hidden deep within the new omnibus bill is a secret provision to allow the federal government to electronically track all cattle in the United States.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) warned about the hidden provision on X, stating that lobbyists will receive $15 million in taxpayer funds to unleash the electronic tracking grid on the nation’s meat-producing cows and bison.

As stated directly from the omnibus, the agreement “directs the Department to continue to provide the tags and related infrastructure needed to comply with the Federal Animal Disease Traceability rule (9 CFR 86), including no less than $15,000,000 for electronic identification (EID) tags and related infrastructure needed for stakeholders to comply with the proposed rule, ‘Use of Electronic Identification Eartags as Official Identification in Cattle and Bison’ (88 FR 3320), should that rule be finalized.”

None of this, warned Rep. Massie is legal. And yet, the near-total apathy of the American people these days means these kinds of things are easily passable without so much as a peep from the wider constituency.

“No law authorizes this!” Rep. Massie wrote on X.

“It will be used by the GREEN agenda to limit beef production, and by the corporate meat oligopoly to DOMINATE small ranchers.”

Keep reading

Ground cinnamon sold at discount stores is tainted with lead, FDA warns

Ground cinnamon sold by U.S. discount retailers is contaminated with high levels of lead and should be discarded, federal health officials said Wednesday.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said cinnamon sold by stores including the Dollar Tree and Family Dollar contains lead at levels that could be unsafe for people, particularly children, with prolonged exposure to the spice. The agency urged suppliers to recall the products voluntarily.

Cinnamon products included in the agency’s safety alert include the La Fiesta brand sold by La Superior and SuperMercados; Marcum brand sold by Save A Lot stores; MK brands sold by SF Supermarket; Swad brand sold by Patel Brothers; El Chilar brand sold by La Joya Morelense; and Supreme Tradition brand sold by Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores.

“Removing the ground cinnamon products in this alert from the market will prevent them from contributing elevated amounts of lead to the diets of children,” the alert said.

Keep reading

90% of U.S. Cheese Contains GMO Made by Pfizer

Who doesn’t love cheese?! And for good reason — it is not only delicious but also incredibly nutritious. And despite what the mainstream tells us, humans have been making and consuming this superfood for over 7,000 years. In fact, cheese serves an important role in human history.

Historians document that milk, dairy and fermented dairy products, like cheese, served as a nutrient-dense calorie source that was storable, allowing some of the first explorers to safely travel and expand communities, creating more demographic shifts and diverse farming communities.

“Dairy provided food security, as it is a nutrient-rich superfood.

“Consumption of milk and dairy products would have had many advantages for early farming populations. Milk, yogurt, and cheese are good sources of calories, protein, and fat. They provide a reliable food between harvests or during droughts, epidemics, or famines.

“Milk is a relatively pathogen-free source of fluids that could be critical during times of water scarcity. Cheese provides a means of storing these nutrients to be used when milk production is low, and can be easily transported.

“Furthermore, fermentation of milk into yogurt or cheese lowers lactose content and allows lactose intolerant individuals to reap the benefits, while maintain, or in some cases enhancing, other essential nutrients such as fat and calcium.”

But cheese was traditionally made with just these four ingredients:

  1. Milk.
  2. Salt.
  3. Starter culture, what’s used to make the desired cheese strain (for ex. Muenster versus Swiss).
  4. Animal rennet is used as a clotting agent to curdle the milk into cheese, separating the liquid parts of milk from the solids — a very vital part of the cheese-making process!

You add culture to milk and let it ferment. Then, you add rennet, which separates the milk into curds and whey. Then you press the curds and age them. And voila — cheese!

Rennet is a complex set of enzymes that are naturally produced in the stomachs of ruminant animals, like cows.

The main enzyme present is chymosin, which is a protease enzyme, meaning it breaks down protein. Rennet from animals also contains other enzymes like pepsin and lipase.

So these enzymes in rennet target casein, the main protein in milk. They cause the casein molecules to divide and re-coagulate into even larger clumps, forming cheese curds.

So, rennet serves as a vital part of cheesemaking since it helps curdle the milk into cheese, separating the liquid part from the solid part.

Keep reading

Study Finds 80 Percent Americans Exposed to Fertility-Lowering Chemicals in Cheerios, Quaker Oats

According to a recent study, four in five Americans tested positive for an agricultural chemical found in several wheat and oat products, including brands like Cheerios and Quaker Oats.

The peer-reviewed study, published in the JESEE journal on Feb. 15, looked at urine samples from American citizens to determine their exposure to chlormequat chloride—a plant growth chemical. Exposure to the chemical can result in lower fertility and harm developing fetuses even at doses below acceptable levels set by regulators. Researchers detected chlormequat in 80 percent of urine samples collected between 2017 and 2023, with “a significant increase in concentrations for samples from 2023.”

The chemical was detected in “92 percent of oat-based foods purchased in May 2023, including Quaker Oats and Cheerios,” said the Environmental Working Group (EWG), which conducted the study.

Out of 25 conventional oat products tested, 23 had “detectable levels” of chlormequat. One in eight organic oat products had the chemical, while two in nine wheat products had low concentrations of chlormequat.

Researchers collected 96 urine samples, out of which 77 showed the presence of chlormequat. The numbers suggest that the subjects likely underwent “continuous exposure” to the chemical since chlormequat leaves the body about 24 hours after ingestion.

The frequency of the chemical in samples was observed to rise with time. In 2017, 69 percent of samples had chlormequat, which jumped to 74 percent in 2018-2022 and then to 90 percent in 2023.

Keep reading

Prisoners in the US are part of a hidden workforce linked to hundreds of popular food brands

A hidden path to America’s dinner tables begins here, at an unlikely source – a former Southern slave plantation that is now the country’s largest maximum-security prison.

Unmarked trucks packed with prison-raised cattle roll out of the Louisiana State Penitentiary, where men are sentenced to hard labor and forced to work, for pennies an hour or sometimes nothing at all. After rumbling down a country road to an auction house, the cows are bought by a local rancher and then followed by The Associated Press another 600 miles to a Texas slaughterhouse that feeds into the supply chains of giants like McDonald’s, Walmart and Cargill.

Intricate, invisible webs, just like this one, link some of the world’s largest food companies and most popular brands to jobs performed by U.S. prisoners nationwide, according to a sweeping two-year AP investigation into prison labor that tied hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of agricultural products to goods sold on the open market.

They are among America’s most vulnerable laborers. If they refuse to work, some can jeopardize their chances of parole or face punishment like being sent to solitary confinement. They also are often excluded from protections guaranteed to almost all other full-time workers, even when they are seriously injured or killed on the job.

Keep reading

PEOPLE LIVING IN THE ANDES 9,000 YEARS AGO MAY COMPLETELY REDEFINE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF HUNTER-GATHERERS

Isotopic analysis of the remains of people living 9,000-6,500 years ago in the Andes Mountains of modern-day Peru indicates they were not hunter-gatherers as previously believed but instead would be better categorized as “gatherer-hunters.” That’s because “hunter-gatherers” implies a diet consisting primarily of hunted meat supplemented by a diet of gathered plants, whereas these early Peruvians existed on a diet that was 80% plant-based.

“Conventional wisdom holds that early human economies focused on hunting — an idea that has led to a number of high-protein dietary fads such as the Paleo diet,” explained University of Wyoming Assistant Professor of Archaeology Randy Haas, who led the research effort. “Our analysis shows that the diets were composed of 80 percent plant matter and 20 percent meat.”

Keep reading