La Vida Locavore is the blog for anyone whose crazy life includes planting, growing, weeding, fertilizing, raising, picking, harvesting, processing, cooking, baking, making, serving, buying, selling, distributing, transporting, composting, organizing around, lobbying about, writing about, thinking about, talking about, playing with, and eating food!
Agriculture
Chair: Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
- Max Baucus (D-MT)
- Michael Bennet (D-CO)
- Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
- Bob Casey (D-PA)
- Kent Conrad (D-ND)
- Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
- Tom Harkin (D-IA)
- Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
- Pat Leahy (D-VT)
- Ben Nelson (D-NE)
- Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
- Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
- Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- John Cornyn (R-TX)
- Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
- Mike Johanns (R-NE)
- Dick Lugar (R-IN)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Pat Roberts (R-KS)
- John R. Thune (R-SD)
Appropriations
Chair: Daniel Inouye (D-HI) Ag Sub-Committee
Chair: Herb Kohl (D-WI)
- Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
- Dick Durbin (D-IL)
- Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
- Tom Harkin (D-IA)
- Tim Johnson (D-SD)
- Ben Nelson (D-NE)
- Jack Reed (D-RI)
- Robert Bennett (R-UT)
- Christopher Bond (R-MO)
- Sam Brownback (R-KS)
- Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Arlen Specter (R-PA)
Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions
- Chris Dodd (D-CT)
Agriculture
Chair: B Collin Peterson (D-MN)
V. Chair: B Tim Holden (D-PA)
B Joe Baca (D-CA)
- John Boccieri (D-OH)
B* Leonard Boswell (D-IA)
- Bobby Bright (D-AL)
B* Dennis Cardoza (D-CA)
- Travis Childers (D-MS)
B Jim Costa (D-CA)
- Henry Cuellar (D-TX)
- Kathy Dahlkemper (D-PA)
B Brad Ellsworth (D-IN)
- Debbie Halvorson (D-IL)
B Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD)
- Steve Kagen (D-WI)
- Larry Kissell (D-NC)
B Frank Kratovil (D-MD)
- Betsy Markey (D-CO)
B Jim Marshall (D-GA)
P Eric Massa (D-NY)
B Mike McIntyre (D-NC)
- Walt Minnick (D-ID)
B Earl Pomeroy (D-ND)
- Mark Schauer (D-MI)
- Kurt Schrader (D-OR)
B David Scott (D-GA)
B Zachary Space (D-OH)
- Timothy Walz (D-MN)
- Frank Lucas (R-OK)
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- K. Michael Conaway (R-TX)
- Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)
- Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
- Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)
- Sam Graves (R-MO)
- Timothy Johnson (R-IL)
- Steve King (R-IA)
- Robert Latta (R-OH)
- Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO)
- Cynthia Lummis (R-WY)
- Jerry Moran (R-KS)
- Randy Neugebauer (R-TX)
- Phil Roe (R-TN)
- Mike Rogers (R-AL)
- Jean Schmidt (R-OH)
- Adrian Smith (R-NE)
- Glenn Thompson (R-PA) *=House Organic Caucus member B=Blue Dog Democrat
Appropriations
Chair: Dave Obey (D-WI) Ag Sub-Committee
Chair: P Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)
- Sanford Bishop (D-GA)
* Allen Boyd (D-FL)
- Lincoln Davis (D-TN)
*P Sam Farr (D-CA)
*P Maurice D. Hinchey (D-NY)
P Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)
P Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
- Jack Kingston (R-GA)
- Rodney Alexander (R-LA)
- Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO)
* Tom Latham (R-IA) *=House Organic Caucus member
P=Congressional Progressive Caucus
Education and Labor
P Chair: George Miller (D-CA)
- Jason Altmire (D-PA)
- Robert Andrews (D-NJ)
- Timothy Bishop (D-NY)
P Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
- Joe Courtney (D-CT)
- Susan Davis (D-CA)
P Marcia Fudge (D-OH)
P Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
P Phil Hare (D-IL)
- Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX)
P Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
- Rush Holt (D-NJ)
- Dale Kildee (D-MI)
P Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
P Dave Loebsack (D-IA)
- Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY)
P Donald Payne (D-NJ)
- Jared Polis (D-CO)
- Robert Scott (D-VA)
- Joe Sestak (D-PA)
- Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH)
P John Tierney (D-MA)
- Dina Titus (D-NV)
- Paul Tonko (D-NY)
P Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)
- David Wu (D-OR)
- Buck McKeon (R-CA)
- Judy Biggert (R-IL)
- Rob Bishop (R-UT)
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- Michael Castle (R-DE)
- Vernon Ehlers (R-MI)
- Luis F Fortuno (R-PR)
- Brett Guthrie (R-KY)
- Peter Hoekstra (R-MI)
- Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA)
- John Kline (R-MN)
- Kenny Marchant (R-TX)
- Tom McClintock (R-CA)
- Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)
- Thomas Petri (R-WI)
- Phil Roe (R-TN)
- Todd Russell Platts (R-PA)
- Tom Price (R-GA)
- Mark Souder (R-IN)
- GT Thompson (R-PA)
- Joe Wilson (R-SC) P=Congressional Progressive Caucus
Attention, pet owners: You are the beneficiaries of an extraordinary gift.
Five acres of serene, forested land in Oklahoma have been donated for a memorial sanctuary where, at no cost to owners, every pet that has fallen ill or died due to dangerous pet food will be remembered with a personalized memorial stone. The sanctuary, named "Vindication," is located at Keystone Lake in Oklahoma and is expected to open this June. The donor hopes that Vindication will comfort grieving owners.
(The judge made no immediate ruling today, so we need to stay tuned to this story to see what will happen. - promoted by Jill Richardson)
Currently, about half of the America's sugar supply comes from genetically modified sugar beets, which have been engineered to be resistant to Monsanto's Roundup herbicide. In a hearing scheduled to take place today in San Francisco, a federal judge could make a ruling which would order a nationwide halt to the planting and use of genetically modified sugar beets while the USDA conducts an environmental impact assessment - a process which could take two or three years.
I've read postings in reference to the trans fats in some, or all girl scout cookies. Interesting reads, very informative and I guess I shouldn't be surprised now...I'm new at this...bare with me ;)
Monsanto's former managing directior of India operations is talking, and it's not pretty for the behemoth of genetic modification. Tiruvadi Jagadisan is accusing his former employer of faking scientific data with the intent of evading the government's regulatory requirements. The 84 year-old Jagadisan is quoted as saying, "I retired from the company as I felt the management of Monsanto, USA, was exploiting our country." Jagadisan had been with Monsanto for almost 20 years.
Food safety is defined as taking precautions and complying with necessary rules during production, processing, storage and delivering stage of food in order to provide healthy and precise food production. Sufficient food supply or food safety has been a strategic issue in history of humankind. In view of rapidly increasing world population, environmental pollution has become a serious threat for human health as a result of the use of developing technology and of policies providing for the intensive input use for the supply of food necessities.
Nobody's been in charge of food safety at the USDA for the past year. That's the bad news. The new news (and maybe good news?) is that Obama finally announced plans to nominate Dr. Elisabeth Hagen for the job. She's no newbie to the USDA. She's currently their Chief Medical Officer and she previously served in a senior post within FSIS (USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service). She's a medical doctor who went to Harvard Medical School and she specializes in infectious disease.
Bill Marler's got a post up about the announcement here, but he doesn't provide much information beyond what the USDA press release says about her. Obama Foodorama also posted about her but she doesn't offer much new information either.
So I suppose the overall story is that we finally have someone in charge of meat and poultry food safety (a full YEAR into the Obama administration) and she might be okay. She might even be good. Who knows. I'll continue to keep an eye on this one.
This is going to be a tough sell because one, I'm not going to try to sell you a thing and secondly, I want to share something with you, another blog. But I'm hoping with the blessing of Jill Richardson, I can share this information with you with you while you keep an open mind.
Over the past few months I've been working with Mareya Ibrahim of Eat Cleaner on blogging and facebook related communications but it's more than just a product. She's encouraged me getting involved with Slow Food's Time for Lunch Campaign which has been eye opening to say the least and frustrating but I'm still working away. I've also been involved in local Community garden groups that I would be working on with or without her influence.
But over the last few months I've learned a great deal about Eat Cleaner and Mareya and that this is a woman on a mission and it's not just about selling you a food wash.
(Yum, how about some of that pink slime in your burger? - promoted by Jill Richardson)
Folks,
Might as well start the new year with a good dose of outrage, because it won't be a happy one unless we all get right down to work righting the wrongs that threaten peace, happiness and well-being world-wide. How 'bout this: A company buys up beef "trimmings" (in other words, waste swept up from beef processing floors) that are contaminated, uses machines to macerate it and centrifuges to force out the fat. Then this "pink slime" is mixed with ammonia to kill pathogens and, get this, mixed with ground beef to a level of 15% and fed to millions of school children and hapless junk food addicts at McDonalds and Burger King. The idea behind mixing the slime with ground beef is that it's so toxic it's supposed to kill pathogens that might be in the ground beef. Only one problem, there's no scientific proof of this. When folks complain about the smell, the company reduces the level of ammonia (without notifying USDA) and of course, the pink slime is sent out contaminated. This is a story of the "good ol' boys" in the USDA rubber-stamping a horrendous atrocity (they simply accepted, with no independent verification, the "safety" studies of the company making this shit). Actaully, the real purpose seems to be to reduce the cost of the hambuger patty, since the stuff is garbage, it's cheap. I say, the sale of this crap ends in 2010. What do you say?
2009 was a banner year for salmonella and E. coli. Here's the top 10 food safety stories of 2009 list cross-posted with permission from Food Safety News.
Here is the Food Safety News 2009 Naughty and Nice List, printed here with the permission of the author (Food safety lawyer Bill Marler). NOTE: The opinions expressed in the list are his. I understand that not everyone shares his views on things like raw milk... feel free to express your disagreements in the comments.
You may remember a Washington Post article of a few months ago about a Nevada woman, Linda Rivera, age 59, who had been stuck in the hospital fighting for her life for months after eating E. coli-tainted Nestle Tollhouse cookie dough:
Linda Rivera has just been trying to stay alive. Her cascading problems started about seven days after she ate the dough when her kidneys shut down and she went into septic shock. Then doctors had to remove part of her colon, which had become contaminated. Soon, her gallbladder was inflamed and had to be excised. Shortly after, her liver stopped functioning. It is unclear exactly what is causing her loss of speech, although the toxin produced by the E. coli O157:H7 bacteria can attack the brain.
Of all the victims, Rivera has spent the most time in hospitals -- about 120 days since May. She was recovering well enough at one point to go home for nine days but, during that reprieve, she had to be rushed to the emergency room three times.
It's now almost December. I was wondering - hoping - if Rivera was home safely with her family now, so I asked. The news was not great. She's still in the hospital but out of the ICU. She's no longer on a feeding tube, but she's still on a ventilator. She suffered a stroke as well as kidney and liver failure.
My thoughts and prayers are with Rivera and her family. This must be a very tough holiday season for them.
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coaltion has a new action alert out about the food safety bill, and I urge everyone who reads this to please send a message to your two Senators - especially if they are on the HELP committee. Details are below and at the link.
Note that action is required before November 18. That gives you just less than a week. To take action on a second alert, one for the Organic Farming Research Foundation, go here.
Well, technically it's not my business, not at all, but I feel like it's my business. You see, I met Mareya because she was the only person to hold an "Eat-in" in Orange County to show support for important changes to the The Child Nutrition Act which is reauthorized every four years and has a huge impact on what hundreds of thousands of kids eat every day at lunch. I wanted to attend her eat-in because I believe strongly in supporting Slow Food's agenda.
The eat-in did not happen, not enough people responded. It was disheartening but we promised we would meet up anyway and talk about our passions regarding food issues. I thought I might have a partner for the Aliso Viejo Community Garden. I knew I might make a friend and an ally. Only good things could come from this.
So we met a few weeks later and I learned more about her business, I insisted on learning more about it, Eat Cleaner, All Natural Food Wash and Wipes. I was intrigued and to be honest, I was out of work and thought maybe there was an opportunity for a job.
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