barthanderson’s Recent Comments

• Click here to view comment in original post

  Mark Kastel of Cornucopia weighs in on Merrigan

  http://www.fairfoodfight.com/blog/el-drag%C3%B3n/kathleen ...On Kathleen Merrigan is a progressive's dream pick for the USDA posted 8 months, 2 weeks ago 1 Response

• Click here to view comment in original post

  higher wages = more crap-food?

  Maybe I'm cynical, but don't higher wages simply encourage higher prices at the manufacturing level due to increased demand of what we already have? In other words, higher wages lead to more expensive crap-food?

  That said, I think you're right, Tom. Higher wages are definitely part of the equation, but without another viable food system in which to make money, factory farmers and industrial "food" manufacturers won't see fit to jump ship from the old one. They'll just keep turning the garbage-mill.

  I do think we're getting closer to real change. The interlocked network of local foodsheds (that is, a decentralized, national-local food system) is the best model that I can imagine -- increased food safety, an enriched rural economy, better nutrition and healthful ingredients, etc -- but the feds and/or big bidness needs to invest in it dramatically to make it more viable.  

  As you said, it's a chicken-and-the-egg proposition. I just think we need to address supply and demand simultaneously or real change won't take effect. On Until real middle-class wages start rising, we can't end agricultural subsidies posted 8 months, 3 weeks ago 4 Responses

• Click here to view comment in original post

  King Corn's Man

  With the real work of the USDA being an expansion of an already sprawling corn crop, consider my enthusiasm officially curbed. ;)

  But I'm open to persuasion. I just want to see what Vilsack really brings to the table.

  http://www.fairfoodfight.com/blog/el-drag%C3%B3n/wapo-gus ...
  On It's official: Nutrition will play a big role in reform at the USDA posted 9 months ago 1 Response

• Click here to view comment in original post

  "nutritional" research, please

  Thanks for the pubmed links, SaraJane!

  But I guess that sort of proves my point. There's lots of info about raw milk's apparent microbilogical danger, but very little modern research on its nutritional or "beneficial" properties (if any).

  I'll bring up organics again. Back in the eighties, no one knew about phytochemicals, but it turns out, organic frutis and veggies are particulalry rich in this cancer-fighter.

  What I would like is research that doesn't rely on conventional wisdom, which scientific communities are just as susceptible to as any other. Is there research addressing probiotic qualities, nutrients that may or may not be destroyed by pasteurization/homogenization, or alleged immune system support provided by raw milk? If there is such research, and raw milk is really no different than processed, great, I'd like to read those peer-reviewed papers.On Umbra on raw milk posted 9 months, 3 weeks ago 20 Responses

• Click here to view comment in original post

  No research?

  >> The nutrient claim is not supported by research.

  Can I ask a question about the above statement, Umbra? Do you mean that research has disproved this claim, or that there simply is no research available on the nutrient quality of raw versus processed milk?

  I ask because I suspect that peer-reviewed research hasn't looked at raw milk exhaustively -- I haven't been able to find anything one way or the other. And, also, with a lack of corporate interest in raw milk (because it's illegal to sell across state lines) comes a lack of corporate research dollars.

  I'm not a raw milk true believer by any means. But as a seeker of good intel, I am interested in the claims that raw milk drinkers make based on their own, anecdotal experience. I'm also reminded of statements made about organic food in the eighties and nineties, that "there is no research supporting the claim that organic food is healthier." When the research dollars started to flow toward examining organics' claims, lo and behold, it turned out the freak fringe (and their anecdotal experience) could be supported by research after all. On Umbra on raw milk posted 9 months, 4 weeks ago 20 Responses