Food, Glorious Food?

[Stavros]

An article in today's Observer/Guardian raises a question about American made food that has become something of a threat in the context of the much-awaited but as-yet dormant post-Brexit US-UK Trade Agreement.

Much ink has been spilled on Chlorinated Chicken, and today the target is US Bacon-

“The American processed-meat industry acts just like big tobacco,” Guillaume Coudray, author of Who Poisoned Your Bacon Sandwich?, told the Observer. “It obscures the truth about nitro-meats and clouds the facts for its own commercial benefit – and they have been at it for decades. They have done this despite clear and overwhelming evidence that nitro-meats cause bowel cancer.”

Coudray’s claims echo the row over chlorinated chicken (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47440562). The practice of washing poultry meat with chlorine is common in the US but banned in the UK. The government has said it will not allow the import of chlorinated chicken (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/19/uk-ministers-gain-power-to-allow-lower-standard-food-imports) and hormone-treated beef under a transatlantic trade deal, but has refused to sign those pledges into law.
The US processed meat industry uses nitrites derived from celery juice to cure pig meat, keep it pink and preserve it so it can stay on supermarket shelves longer. Nitrites are harmless in themselves, but when they are cooked and ingested, they produce nitrosamines which are carcinogenic."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/14/uk-us-brexit-trade-deal-could-fill-supermarkets-with-cancer-risk-bacon

What do Americans think or feel about this? Can you tell from the packaging on food what ingredients it has, if the chicken has been 'chlorinated' or the Bacon zapped with nitrates? One would expect there to be a public health crisis if we are to believe some of the stories we read.

[fred41]

I don’t have any bacon in my fridge - so I can’t tell you what it says on the package. I sometimes eat chicken bacon, but I’m not sure it’s really any healthier. the cancer risk has always been stated in public about cured and processed meat (also charred meat for the barbecue lovers). You can buy uncured bacon, but apparently it isn’t much healthier because they still use celery salt which also contains nitrites. Would it make a difference to have all this printed on a package...probably not. After all, people still smoke cigarettes , right? The other thing is, even without the potential cancer risk...the meat’s high sodium content is a definite cardio vascular problem. The more interesting thing is that UK, Canadien and American Bacon are not the same things (for those few that don’t already know this). US bacon is made from pork belly which has a higher fat content and tastes completely different from UK bacon cut from the loin. Pork belly....mmmmmmmm.

[Stavros]

Thanks for your thoughts, Fred -but I have never given much thought as to where the meat for Bacon comes from, so that was new to me. I like Bacon, but very rarely eat it, for the health reasons you describe, which is also why I eat less and less meat these days. The packaging issue is a legacy of the EU where producers are obliged to list the ingredients, and their content with regard to the percentage per gram of fat, carbs, sugar, energy and so on. It is important for me because I am Type II Diabetic, and am dismayed at the volume of sugar and carbs that are in convenient ready meals, but also cereals -most of which are off my diet.

I do recall that the Bacon in China I ate when I was there, had a sweetish tinge to it, so I wonder which part of the pig they use, or more worryingly, what they add to it if they do, to give it its flavour. Additives may be the biggest problem in food culture. Obesity has become a major problem in China in recent years. I guess in the end its best not to eat meat products if they are not organic, setting aside the Vegan/Vegetarian argument. But it is also about the politics of regulation and animal husbandry, with the Americans accused of slack practices in regard to animal husbandry, thus loading the meat with bacteria-whacking chemicals after being slaiughtered.

[fred41]

Sugar is part of the bacon curing process...and maple bacon is both sweet ...and yummy. However, it’s as ridiculously bad for you as it is ridiculously delicious, so I try to avoid it as much as possible...which is difficult because it smells so damn good due to the Maillard Reaction - https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt...-better-cooked (https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/10/10/162636059/100-years-ago-maillard-taught-us-why-our-food-tastes-better-cooked) . Pork belly is also one of my favorite ingredients in Thai cooking.

I guess the best way to know what’s in your food is to own a farm with your own livestock. That wouldn’t work for me because after giving all the animals human names, I wouldn’t be able to kill them ..so I’d be stuck with very expensive pets that would require a crazy amount of work to maintain. I realize there’s a certain hypocrisy in eating animals that only other people kill (often , quite inhumanely), but here we are. Trust however, if I was starving - I’d be able to slaughter anything and eat it raw if I had to. All that being said, if I had my life to do over again, I’d eat mostly vegetables and fish.

One of the best things for diabetes is cardio to help burn off excess sugars, but I realize how tough that is during the Covid crisis - both my gyms went out of business, so I can’t run on a treadmill and I hate running outside. Pro - no more knee pain. Con - less lung capacity, higher resting heart rate...and I can now only eat tiny baby meals because my metabolism is so damn low..lol. I feel you Stavros, Type 2 and hypertension run in my family (luckily I have neither)...all you can do is eat as best you can and maybe try to go for walks as much as possible. I picture you living in a beautiful community so I hope that is true and makes getting out enjoyable. Stay well.

[Stavros]

Meanwhile, on the other side of town...

"Restaurant staff at Donald Trump (https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/trump)’s Washington (https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/washington) hotel have revealed the bizarre, secret rules of serving the ex-president and his “crazy VIP list”, including a seven-step Diet Coke pour process, making sure he heard the “pop” on the ketchup bottle being opened and ensuring he always has the biggest steak at the table."
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/washington-restaurant-staff-spill-secrets-230315900.html

If he is so obsessed with being poisoned, why not use a sachet of ketchup? Because it doesn't go 'Pop'?? And what are the seven-steps it takes to open a can of Diet Coke -and why doesn't he open it himself?