Food Technology: Vat Beef, Aeroponics, Organics, etc.

We do get food safety scares from time to time in the U.S. and other countries (China is a favorite of the press), resulting in recalls and breathless reporting on the quantity of deaths and illnesses, as if the news channels are keeping score.

"This salmonella outbreak killed 30 people." "This e. coli outbreak killed 80!" "This pesticide poisoning incident killed 200!" "Winner!"

edited 14th Aug '13 12:47:13 PM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

I disagree about organic foods being "vanity" products, but then again, I have an endocrine disorder.

"I don't know how I do it. I'm like the Mr. Bean of sex." -Drunkscriblerian

Disorders like yours are definitely something that makes a valid case for organic, or at least pesticide-free, farming, to satisfy particular dietary requirements. That doesn't mean that we could feed a planet on it, any more than it would be practical to replace all cow milk with soy milk.

I have a milk protein intolerance, so I substitute soy milk and non-dairy margarine in most things (or do without). I wouldn't expect everyone to make or desire to make that change just because I can't (or shouldn't) consume regular milk.

That said, it's also a very valid line of inquiry whether the use of pesticides, hormones, and/or antibiotics while raising cattle causes the milk they produce to have unhealthy side-effects in humans. That's a legitimate reason to be concerned about factory dairy farming. Appeal to Nature is not a legitimate reason.

edited 14th Aug '13 1:46:59 PM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

Hang on, why is "I have an endocrine disorder and should avoid endocrine disruptors, therefore for me organic isn't a vanity product" an Appeal to Nature?

"I don't know how I do it. I'm like the Mr. Bean of sex." -Drunkscriblerian

It is not. For you it's dietary necessity. For others, who have no health-based reason to choose it over mass-market food, it's an Appeal to Nature.

edited 14th Aug '13 1:22:20 PM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

This. it doesnt help that the 'appeal to nature" types also tend to create vast networks of websites dedicated to spewing half-true (at best) prepaganda about how their uncles cousins friend totally cured his cancer by going vegan.

The guy credited with starting the Green Revolution (which basically means what people sometimes call "factory farming," including pesticides and gene manipulation and so on,) Norman Borlaug, was given a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in promoting this movement. He's credited with saving the lives of about 1 billion people who would've starved without "factory farming."

Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.

Nature doesn't care about healing you. Nature wants you to die. Nature is a bitch.

My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.

On the subject of the Green Revolution, I'd consider its legacy to be rather mixed. While it's true that Borlaug saved a lot of lives, he also created and/or exacerbated a number of other problems.

Eating a Vanilluxe will give you frostbite.

Fixed it for you ;)

Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.

{waves a hand a Fighteer}

These are not the typos you're looking for.

She's still a bitch. She brought you into this world in order to kill her other creations and then eventually die a horrible death and be eaten by another of her creations. Nature is a bloody, violent war for survival.

My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.