Diet & Health
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1993:
The Burger King franchise at
Watkins Glen, New York, in February qui-
etly introduced the spicy bean burger sold
by British Burger King outlets. Priced at
$2.29, the vegetarian burger is made from
kidney beans, carrots, onions, potato
flakes, and peppers, breaded and deep
fried, served on a bun with catsup, cheese
(optional), and tomato. Associated Press
quoted the manager as saying six weeks
later, “The demand is unbelievable. People
are coming from all over. There’s not a seat
in the restaurant. They say there are 12 mil-
lion vegetarians in the U.S. If we can kick
into that market, it’s well worth our while.”
According to AP, the spicy bean burger
will be introduced nationally if it remains
popular in Watkins Glen through the end of
the summer.
Another wave of toxic E. coli
bacterial infections has hit the northwest.
Four children died in December and
January––three in Washington and one in
California––from eating hamburgers conta-
minated with the toxic E. coli strain at Jack-
in-the-Box restaurants. At least 600 people
were afflicted in all. In late March, five
people fell ill from eating contaminated
steak at the Sizzler franchise in Grants Pass,
Oregon. A month later, six people became
sick from E. coli after drinking unpasteur-
ized milk marketed by the Thomas Jersey
Dairy in Portland, Oregon, prompting a
raw milk recall by the state agriculture
department. According to deputy Oregon
state epidemiologist Dr. Katrina Hedberg,
the milk probably was contaminated by cat-
tle feces.
The USDA on April 10 seized 20
tons of sausage allegedly made from cattle
judged unfit for human consumption, and
recalled all products of the Coast Sausage
Co. in San Francisco, whose major cus-
tomers are various U.S. military bases.
The newly formed New Orleans
Vegetarian Network, a project of
Legislation In Support of Animals, signed
up 70 members at its public debut. To join,
write P.O. Box 740321, New Orleans, LA
70174.
New regulations governing the
treatment of animals at slaughterhouses
took effect in Ontario province, Canada,
on April 1. Included are a limit on the
length of time animals may be kept at a
slaughterhouse before being killed, a
requirement that water be available, and
standards for restraint and stunning.
Medical researchers have now
identified 16 common components of veg-
etables with cancer-fighting properties.
They range from ordinary fiber, which
dilutes carcinogenic compounds in the
digestive system, to genistein, a newly iso-
lated chemical component of soybeans that
apparently inhibits the development of
prostate cancer. (In other words, tofu-eat-
ing males are likely to enjoy a longer,
healtheir sex life than steak-eaters.) Other
important chemical cancer-fighters in veg-
etables include flavonoids, which block
receptor sites for cancer-promoting hor-
mones, and vitamin C, which inhibits the
formation of nitrosamine, a carcinogen, in
the stomach. A thorough resume of the
research to date appeared on pages C1 and
C9 of the April 13, 1992 edition of The
New York Times.
The January/February edition
of Advance, the bulletin of the Asthma
and Allergy Foundation of America, fea-
tured advice on coping with allergies to
cockroaches, cat dander, and dog dander.
The organization also distributes a more
extensive report on Cat-Induced Asthma,
by Dr. Thomas E. Van Metre Jr. The
AAFA may be reached at 1125 15th Street,
NW, Suite 502, Washington, D.C. 20005.
