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Pastimes : Vegetarians Unite! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elmer Flugum who wrote (176)	8/28/2000 5:15:54 PM
From: Ben Wa	Respond to of 2067

you can only do that in Arkansas any more realistic ideas?....

To: Elmer Flugum who wrote (176)	9/27/2000 12:28:42 PM
From: SIer formerly known as Joe B.	Respond to of 2067

Wednesday September 27 9:37 AM ET Health and Cheese: Am I Bleu? dailynews.yahoo.com By Deborah Zabarenko WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Au revoir, Roquefort! So long, Emmenthal Swiss! Nice knowing you, farmhouse Cheddar! And Parmigiano Reggiano -- it's been grate, but stay off the spaghetti. These and other classic cheeses made from raw milk could be only aromatic memories if U.S. government scientists conclude that the same old-fashioned method that makes them taste good could also make people sick. The very idea has sparked consternation, and an Internet petition drive, among hard-core cheese fans and traditional American cheese makers. To them, such a move would be tantamount to the end of civilization as they know it. ``It would be like burning up the scores of a just-discovered symphony by Beethoven,'' said Dun Gifford, who heads a U.S. group that aims to preserve traditional ways of food preparation. ``It's just as much a cultural icon as dance, music or architecture. It would be a tragedy; we'd lose richness in our lives.'' American Cheese Society President Ruth Flore said by telephone from Wisconsin, a key dairy state, ``What we are looking to do is to convince the FDA to keep the status quo. If the FDA forces the cheese makers to pasteurize their products, then they'll be sacrificing a significant level of taste.'' The difference in taste between pasteurized and unpasteurized cheeses is hard to describe, although raw milk partisans certainly try. For Flore, ``The beauty of a raw milk cheese is you can actually taste where it's come from. You can taste the milk, your palate can detect the land, the grass, the herbs where the cows are grazing naturally.'' Jean Garsuault, president of L'Institute International du Fromage, did not mince words in an essay on the French Web site, fromages.com. ``Cheeses made of pasteurized milk are often of good quality and conserve well, but their taste is bland and soft in comparison to raw milk cheese.'' Raw milk cheeses, including Roquefort, some Cheddars, Emmenthal and the Parmigiano Reggiano, are traditionally made by introducing bacteria to unpasteurized milk and then aging the mixture for at least 60 days at 35 F (1.66 C). Traditional cheese makers maintain the aging destroys any harmful microorganisms, and for decades the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has agreed. But now the FDA is questioning whether disease-causing organisms might survive the cheese-making process. If tests show their fears are justified, raw milk cheeses might be banned in the United States. To forestall this outcome, Gifford's group, Boston-based Oldways Preservation & Exchange Trust, has joined with the American Cheese Society to form the International Coalition to Preserve the Right to Choose Your Cheese, or Cheese of Choice Coalition (CCC). Support for the raw milk cheese cause can be registered on a petition at the society's Web site, cheesesociety.org. There are hundreds of other related sites, including rawmilk.org -- showing an oval medallion with an alarmed cow, a golden sunrise and a pitcher of milk -- and the French site. Nothing is going to happen for up to two years, according to the FDA, which has commissioned research into whether unpasteurized cheese is dangerous to public health. Raw milk cheese lobbyist Marsha Echols said there might be action within months. The threat is not confined to the United States. French raw milk cheese makers are striking out against government restrictions as well.

To: Elmer Flugum who wrote (176)	9/27/2000 12:29:03 PM
From: SIer formerly known as Joe B.	Respond to of 2067

Anybody ever try Trader Joe's tofu? It's the best I ever tasted and that ain't easy for me to say because I think I lot of their self branded products suck.

To: Elmer Flugum who wrote (176)	10/4/2000 1:23:00 PM
From: SIer formerly known as Joe B.	Respond to of 2067

Judge Nixes Label for Altered Crops WASHINGTON, Oct 04, 2000 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by critics of agricultural biotechnology who want the government to require labels on foods made with genetically engineered crops. The lawsuit challenged the Food and Drug Administration's 8-year-old policy that considers gene-altered crops to be essentially the same as those produced by conventional breeding methods and thus not subject to the same regulatory controls as food additives. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, in a ruling Sept. 29, said the biotech critics failed to prove that FDA violated procedural and environmental laws in establishing the policy or that the agency should mandate labeling of the foods. Unless the agency decides biotech ingredients are materially different from conventional products, it "lacks a basis upon which it can legally mandate labeling, regardless of consumer demand," she wrote. Genetically engineered crops, herbicide-resistant soybeans in particular, became popular with farmers in the late 1990s and are found in products throughout supermarkets. The FDA policy was established in 1992 in the last year of the Bush administration and has been defended vigorously by the Clinton administration. FDA officials announced this spring that they would propose mandatory safety reviews of new gene-altered products but they insist they still believe the foods are safe. Such reviews are now on a voluntary basis. The lawsuit was filed in 1998 by several anti-biotech organizations, including The Center for Food Safety, and a group of scientists and religious leaders. They don't plan to appeal the decision and will instead wait to see what rules FDA proposes for the mandatory reviews, said Andrew Kimbrell, an attorney who handled the lawsuit. Industry officials say the FDA rules are unlikely to make much difference in how foods are brought to market. "Genetically engineered foods have gone virtually unregulated in the United States," he said Wednesday. Anti-biotech groups also are likely to challenge the Environmental Protection Agency as it decides in coming months whether to renew registrations for several varieties of corn that have been genetically modified to resist insect pests, Kimbrell said. The biotechnology industry has been on the defensive in recent weeks because of a nationwide recall by Kraft Foods last month of taco shells that were found to contain a variety gene-altered corn that hasn't been approved for human consumption. The decision "reinforces the integrity of the system, which is based on sound science, at a time when this system is under discussion," said Michael Phillips, who directs agricultural issues for the Biotechnology Industry Organization. The FDA said this week that its own lab confirmed the corn was in the taco shells and said it planned to test additional products. The corn, known as StarLink, is the only biotech crop that is not approved for food use. Aventis CropScience, which developed the corn variety, has agreed to reimburse the government for buying all of this year's crop to ensure that it does not get into the food supply again. EPA allows the corn to be used only for animal feed because of unresolved questions about whether it could cause allergic reactions in people. --- On the Net: fda.gov Center for Food Safety: centerforfoodsafety.org Biotechnology Industry Organization: bio.org By PHILIP BRASHER AP Farm Writer