ConAgra To You: "Drop Dead (But Don't Dare Blame Us)"

by: JayinPortland

Fri May 15, 2009 at 08:00:00 AM PDT

The frozen pot pies that sickened an estimated 15,000 people with salmonella in 2007 left federal inspectors mystified. At first they suspected the turkey. Then they considered the peas, carrots and potatoes.

The pie maker, ConAgra Foods, began spot-checking the vegetables for pathogens, but could not find the culprit. It also tried cooking the vegetables at high temperatures, a strategy the industry calls a "kill step," to wipe out any lingering microbes. But the vegetables turned to mush in the process.

Cue ConAgra throwing hands up, saying "oh well, we tried!"  And now?

So ConAgra - which sold more than 100 million pot pies last year under its popular Banquet label - decided to make the consumer responsible for the kill step. The "food safety" instructions and four-step diagram on the 69-cent pies offer this guidance: "Internal temperature needs to reach 165° F as measured by a food thermometer in several spots."

See?  It's your fault if you get sick from the "food" that they sell you (for 69 cents).  Silly consumer, safety is up to you!

ConAgra said it was also trying to apply the kill step to as many ingredients as possible, but had not yet found a way to accomplish it without making the pies "unpalatable."

Heh, as if they were ever "palatable" in the first place.  Once upon a time, we took meaningful action in this country against companies who put profits before people.  Guess we're back in The Jungle these days though, thanks to 28 consecutive years of corporate conservatism in Washington.

As this piece lays out (again), it isn't the local farmer or artisan baker or rancher or cheesemaker responsible for the safety problems with our current food system.  Rather, it's the same agribiz conglomerates whose lobbyists have been entrenched in the halls of power across America for years and years.  Let's make sure that this time we focus our fixes on the real problems; rather than ridiculously misfired shots at responsible small growers, producers and pet owners.

Sampler Platter

by: Jill Richardson

Tue May 05, 2009 at 08:00:00 AM PDT

• Gene Logsdon, author of Small-Scale Grain Raising (an absolutely delightful book that I will review soon), says it's time to start growing your own bread. (H/t Natasha)

• The Gates Foundation is funding GM pharma tomatoes. Blah. I hate them.

• Is it really Michelle Obama who deserves credit for an increase in seed sales for the second year in a row, or is it high food prices and a shitty economy? I don't know about you but now that I've got no job, I've got a lot more time for gardening and a lot less money for food!

• "What will party-hopping Arlen Specter do about food/ag policy?" asks Obama Foodorama. My hunch is that we will see no change in his positions, which tend to be middle of the road according to conventional wisdom and very frustrating according to me (now why won't he support EFCA???).

• LOL, the legislators of West Virginia (a.k.a. the 5th fattest state in the U.S.) killed a menu labeling bill while eating junk food and got caught on video. Sometimes YouTube is a really great thing.

• After the peanut disaster, Georgia has a new food safety law.

• Get Fooducated about salad dressing and then learn to make your own. Even simple olive oil and lemon juice or balsamic vinegar will do the job. Apparently most store-bought salad dressings are kind of a scam when you actually look at the ingredients.

• California's school lunch funding is in trouble. Although, to be fair, so is everything else in the CA state budget. Our state is just f*ing broke. Why can't we tax all the movie stars, or something?

• Black farmers rallied in DC last week, asking the USDA to shed its nickname "the last plantation" and finally compensate them fairly.

• According to research by ConAgra, ConAgra's Healthy Choice brand products are very healthy! Mmm hmm. And last week I heard from Coca-Cola's researchers that sodas are excellent at hydrating you and you need more than 9 cups a day. So why don't you wash down your Healthy Choice meal with a Coke?

• The food industry wants to monitor itself for ethical behavior. But Marion Nestle disagrees that industry self-regulation is the way to go. How about some independent oversight?

Mexico Stops Importing U.S. Meat

by: Jill Richardson

Mon Dec 29, 2008 at 16:00:00 PM PST

Mexico Suspends U.S. Meat Imports

Mexico has suspended meat imports from 30 processing plants in 14 states, including Smithfield Packing Inc., which is based in North Carolina.

The news was released on the U.S. Department of Agriculture Web site.

Smithfield is the world's largest pork slaughterhouse.

According to the Associated Press, other companies that will be affected by this move are Tyson Foods, Inc., Cargill Inc., ConAgra Foods Inc., and Swift Foods Inc.

The ban could greatly affect Tyson because high feed prices have already strained its profits and Mexico represented 23 percent of its international sales in 2008.

Authorities believe the suspensions may be in retaliation for the U.S. putting a country-of-origin labeling law into effect earlier this year in response to concerns the safety of imports.

The country-of-origin labeling law mandates the separation of foreign cattle and pigs in U.S. feedlots and packing plants.  Foreign animals are also now required to have more documentation about where they come from and have tags that indicate they are free of mad cow disease.