Whole Foods Recall

I happened to be shopping at Whole Foods recently when I was “interviewed” by a TV reporter from News 12 regarding the beef recall.

The purpose of this is to be fair to Whole Foods. I stated in the interview that I thought Whole Foods was a good store and I would continue to shop there. Although I have not seen the interview, I have been told that it was not included in the piece.

If you are curious about beef recalls and the food industry you have to read Fast Food Nation. My only major complaint is: what good is a recall after I have eaten the beef and tossed any proof of purchase? None. There should be a better system. Unfortunately, beef recalls are more common than we would care to believe.

There are some good web sites addressing the issues in the beef industry.

The following numbers are staggering:

• More than one third of the world’s grain harvest is used to feed livestock
Breaking that down a little bit:
• Almost all rice is consumed by people • While corn is a staple food in many Latin American and Sub-Saharan countries, “worldwide, it is used largely as feed.”
• Wheat is more evenly divided between food and feed, and is a staple food in many regions such as the West, China and India • The total cattle population for the world is approximately 1.3 billion, occupying some 24% of the land of the planet
• Some 70 to 80% of grain produced in the United States is fed to livestock
• Half the water consumed in the U.S. is used to grow grain for cattle feed • A gallon of gasoline is required to produce a pound of grain-fed beef