I bought 1/4 of a locally grown grass fed beef this year. I can’t overstate how glad I am to have that option. The government regulations make it impossible for ranchers to produce and sell their products in a mainstream manner- all my meat was marked “NOT FOR SALE” on the wrapper to satisfy some regulation. I was able to go to the place where the meat was processed- it was immaculate and they only process one or two animals at a time, so there’s not much opportunity for cross contamination. Because corporate cattle are forced to live in unnaturally crowded conditions and given grains which they aren’t naturally able to digest, they need lots of antibiotics. I won’t even touch on the “down cattle” who potentially have far worse issues than those caused by feed lots and slaughter houses. Grass fed beef aren’t forced to live under crowded conditions and only eat what cows naturally eat, so they tend to stay much more healthy and don’t require antibiotics. In the end, I feel totally confident about my food when I buy local. Corporate foods are for people far braver than I am.

That’s all well and good that you are a vegan, unfortunately, everything we eat slowly kills us. While there is hard evidence that people who eat less than what is considered “normal” certainly live longer, there is no evidence that those who eat only products that are not from animal protein enjoy the same benefits.  Vegans suffer a significantly lower occurrence of heart disease, but still have a mortality rate comparable to meat eaters. Vegans still suffer from lack of many nutrients that meat eaters don’t. In other words...We will all die no matter what we eat.  If we try to stay healthy, and stay away from smoking and other toxic drugs...we will live approximately the same amount of time.  If you don’t eat meat or dairy, supplement your b-12 sources, if you do eat meat and dairy, watch your fat intake and eat smaller portions of animal products.  Mostly, be happy...The outcome of life is invariably death, the healthy being can delay death to a short degree overall, but he or she will eventually face it.  If you are happy being a vegan, then great...if your unhappy being a vegan, I see more problems with that than dying 3 years earlier because you loved your juicy steaks..

Any department with ‘US’ in front of it is nothing more than an extension of the corporations and the industries it is supposed to regulate.  The Republicans are bent on killing off the pesky middle class so it will be only them, the ultra rich, and them immagrants who work for them.  Everyone else is expendable.  Soon they’ll be putting Blackwater snipers on the overpasses to pick off anyone not driving a high end luxury car.

The need for a healthier and more sustainable food system could not be clearer in light of this record recall.  The combination of cruelty to animals and dangerous food is not isolated; it is endemic in a system that prizes profit above all else.  The filth of factory farms has no place in a healthy society and should be replaced by family-scale farms and organic farming standards.