Growing Meat & New Guideline

Growing Meat & New Guideline plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

Yesterday the USDA and the Department of Health & Human Services released the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the federal government's evidence-based nutritional guidance to promote health, reduce the risk of chronic diseases, and reduce the prevalence of overweight and obesity through improved nutrition and physical activity. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

SEBELIUS:  Help give American’s the tools they need, the information they need to stay healthy, stay well and thrive and prosper. And one of the most important things we can do, get people information based on the latest science and research and we’re updating that information all the time.

I’m not sure that cattle & pork producers should really be concerned but there are new reports of a University of South Carolina researcher growing meat. It's a product he believes could help solve future global food crises resulting from shrinking amounts of land available for growing meat the old-fashioned way ... on the hoof. If you are having trouble with things like genetically modified crops, this should really send chills up your spine.

Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.

So just who are the fifty most important and powerful people in food? Well, foodie website The Daily Meal, claiming “extensive research”, ticks off such names as Rachael Ray, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Martha Stewart, Michael Pollan, Ingrid Newkirk, Oprah Winfrey, Wolfgang Puck, Michelle Obama, and the American Consumer; who  at least made it onto the list. Several more big names are included in their listing, but one name is glaringly absent, the American Farmer. Which would leave any person of average intelligence to pose the question, where would all these people be without farmers to grow their food for them? And where on this list of important people are the volunteers who give of themselves at our nation’s food banks? Isn’t it appalling that television super stars, animal rights activists, and even mega box store CEOs made it onto a list of the most important people in food, but the very people who work to grow the food that Michael likes to complain about, Martha likes to decorate with, and Oprah likes to scarf are omitted. Guess that’s because it’s a list more about power than importance.

Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.