The Deep Danger of Our Food System
A man has just died of Mad Cow disease in Canada. I feel that this is a symbol of the unintended consequences of our industrial approach to food.
Looking back from a disease which baffles us, what is the pattern? Mad Cow is related to our response to making our animals into factories. To increase production of milk, we feed cows high protein aka meat. Whose meat? Other cow's meat!. The result, we increase yields but shorten their lives. An average high production Holstein lasts 4 years while a grass-fed Holstein lasts 25. We increase vet fees, as they do not cope well with meat, and we risk mad cow for the herd and for us. We finish beef cows on corn. They increase weight fast but they change their stomach bacteria as corn is not a normal food for a grass eater. The result? New strains of E-coli for us and more fat in the meat. As we increase populations of meat animals in confined spaces, we increase the risk of infectious disease. So we add antibiotics to the feed for cattle, pigs chickens and even Salmon. Where do these antibiotics end up? In us!
The real health issues that surround our food are less how it is handled and more related to how we raise and keep our animals.
Do we "need" cheap food? In Canada food costs less that 10% of the average Canadian's after tax wage. What is the real price for this cheap food?
9:47:55 PM 
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