Those of you who have been following the dog and cat poisoning, may be dismayed by todays revelation that the pet food tainting may have been intentional. Apparently, the plastics chemical can make feed appear more protein-rich, so they get more money for it. Additionally, in California, state agriculture officials placed a hog farm under quarantine after melamine was found in pig urine there.
So now they are feeding this stuff to animals we eventually eat? More from MSNBC:
The FDA and Agriculture Department also were investigating whether some pet food made by one of the five companies supplied by Wilbur-Ellis was diverted for use as hog feed after it was found unsuitable for pet consumption.
I don’t know about you, but this is scaring the hell out of me. What else are we eating? We can’t grow enough of this stuff ourselves? We have to import corn and rice gluten from China?
Very interesting article in the NY Times this week on Veal: Veal to Love, Without the Guilt. As most of you probably know, veal used to be raised in tiny pens, and was pumped full of chemicals.
“I did raise factory veal — all the chemicals, antibiotics, steroids I used. We wouldn’t let our friends eat what we used to raise. For our own use we were raising humane veal.”
besides the drawback of the way veal calves used to be raised, there was one other issue. It just didn’t have all that much taste. Now changes on the farms have been made that get rid of the crates, giving the calves room to walk and turn around, and grain and grass are added to the food. The resulting meat is greatly improved over what was commonly served in the past. According to the Times,
Veal from calves fed sufficient grass or grain as well as milk has real character and flavor. For anyone who knows only the bland old-fashioned veal, it is as if a brand-new ingredient has been discovered. Tasting this new veal is not unlike biting into your first heirloom tomato from the garden after a lifetime of eating supermarket tomatoes bred for durability.
Interesting article. I’m wondering if this is starting to appear on area menus, or if there is still such a stigma attached to veal, that chefs are afraid to use it.
Response to a baking class by Shuna of Eggbeater has been overwhelming. We may have to talk her into adding a second class, and find a bigger kitchen. If anyone has ideas for a space were we can have the class, please let me know. Also, if you are interested, please drop me a note so that we can get you on the list before it fills up.
I’m sure many of you have noticed that some of the news pieces are obviously from two different people. Cuisine Bon Femme is now an official administrator of this site. We both have very busy lives, so things won’t be changing a whole lot, but she’ll be contributing to news posts, posting items now and then, and approving comments. This will help me out a lot as I am dealing with other issues. Welcome Cuisine Bon Femme!
I hope all of you have a terrific weekend.
Keep me posted on the Shuna classes. How about The Busy Corner?
The gluten thing is odd as well as frightening.
Of course we grow scads of wheat, but the U.S. processes little gluten. Other countries
produce sweeteners from wheat (we use corn)
which leaves them with lots of gluten.
We love gluten because we want everything, (including our pet food), with gravy. Gluten provides that.
Whats odd is that, somehow, it’s cheap to ship wheat halfway aound the world, have it prossessed into gluten, and shipped back.
Now it’s turning up (contaminated) in animal feed? If melamine is so cheap, why were my kitchen counters so expensive? Why are my ‘chikin’ nuggets only 99 cents?
This could not possibly turn up in a frozen pot pie,
Could it?
It’s frightening because it can turn up in almost any meat. It is used in pig, chicken and cattle feed by some.
The food risk is scary to me. I trust a few restaurants for using high end farms. But now I wonder where do those farms get their meat? How to know?
Lynn -
Unfortunately Busy Corner doesn’t have an oven, unless you count the toaster oven. Hey, but what baker doesn’t love a challenge? The space would be fun, though.
If you are interested in the Shuna Class please drop me an e-mail at cuisinebonne@gmail.com
We should have stated, the critera for the kitchen is that it must have a gas range and convection oven.
Thanks, it should be a fun (and delicious) time for all. More info coming soon…
So are you putting this all together with Shuna, fooddude? I signed up for her mailing list on her website. Hopefully, that means I’m on the list. Also, I work at a Wild Oats location with a cooking school, so I can check into that if it would be of interest to anyone.
We are putting this together with Shuna, but being on her mailing list doesn’t mean you are signed up for the class. Drop Cuisine Bonne Femme an email at the address in the comment above yours, and she’ll be happy to add you.
“The response has been overwhelming.”
Can I share how honored I am?
Email any one of us and you’ll be placed in a queue!
Thank you for looking forward to my arrival– it makes my next trip to your illustruious city all the more exciting!
Thank you so much.