Diet & Health
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:
The USDA proposed March 9 to apply the same
sanitary standards to poultry as to red meat. Currently, no
trace of fecal matter is permitted on red meat, but fecal matter
is tolerated on poultry under a grading system that also consid-
ers the presence of bruises, feathers, and protruding bones. A
dead bird is deemed unfit for human consumption only if it
receives a failing cumulative score. Earlier, the USDA said it
would seek Food and Drug Administration approval of the use
of radiation to kill bacteria on red meats. Whether the request
would be extended to cover poultry too was unclear.
The White House on March 4 accepted the resig-
nation of executive chef Pierre Chambrin and three of his
kitchen aides. A French cuisine specialist, Chambrin report-
edly resisted Hillary Clinton’s efforts to de-emphasize animal
products on the White House menu, which included inviting
heart disease treatment pioneer and vegetarian exponent Dr.
Dean Ornish to lecture the kitchen staff.
Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders on March 7 intro-
duced a newly formed Coalition for Hypertension Education,
representing seven national health advocacy groups. A primary
target of the coalition will be the hypertension rate among
Afro-Americans, who are afflicted twice as often as
Caucasians, usually at an earlier age. Meat-eating is associated
with several factors that cause hypertension, among them high
blood cholesterol and elevated salt intake.
Even a 10% excess of iron in men’s diets may
increase their risk of cancer, National Museum of Health and
Medicine director Dr. Marc Micozzi reported in a recent issue
of the International Journal of Cancer. Most American men
get most of their iron from red meat; enough can be had from
grain products.
The NPD Group, a top marketing research firm,
reports that 8% more men than women eat red meat; women
eat far more fresh fruit and vegetables. The NPD data confirms
the findings of numerous medical studies, which have linked
the difference in eating habits with greater female longevity.
A recent episode of the CBS news program 4 8
Hours featured footage of unsanitary conditions in the Federal
Beef Processors boning room at Rapid City, South Dakota,
videotaped by an employee with a hidden camera. Federal
Beef sued CBS to keep the footage off the air, but was
rebuffed by Supreme Court justice Harry Blackman. Those
who missed it can get a synopsis for $2.00 from Pamela Teisler
of the Viva Vegie Society, POB 294, New York, NY 10012.
The Vegan Society, begun in November 1944, will
publish a 50th anniversary edition of The Vegan magazine this
summer, including words from founder Donald Watson––still
alive and still a vegan. Get details from 7 Battle Road, St.
Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex TN37 7AA, England.
