The Gastrocast

On the mainland on the bimonthly supply run today. I wanted to go during the week, but pig and children and life got in the way. So here I am giving up a beautiful Saturday for an all day run to the grocery store.

This has been a bit of a lost week. It began normal enough. Somehow in the middle of it I spent a lot of time spinning my wheels–planning to butcher pig parts which never came; planning a meal around said missing pig parts; planning two parties for work which keep changing and looking for more work fruitlessly.

I have also been in the doldrums podcasting wise. I need to improve the technical nature of things but can’t find the time to devote to it. My dear long-suffering wife is tolerating podcasting taking up so much of my free time but she still can’t see any point to it and lately has been equating my lack of work to the amount of time it takes me to produce a Gastrocast–time I could be using to seek jobs.

Meanwhile with every other spare moment spent out in the garden, the polytunnel or butchering chickens my office has devolved into a mass of piles and I am sure there are unpaid bills under stacks of partly read magazines and cookbooks scattered everywhere. A stack of business cards beckons to me by the keep board–54 of then wanting me to email their givers. I got as far as writing a generic letter which could be customized on the fly, but it is missing details still and that was weeks ago. I need a PA or a life coach or producer or something. Or even an employee. I was never more on track and in charge of things as when I have someone working for me. . . .

As for the half-pig, most of it is done. 3 hours the first night dividing it up and deciding what to do with the meat and curing bacon, pancetta and guanciale. 4 hours yesterday preparing a ham cure, getting the ham in the cure and making space in the fridge for it and making sausages.
That was actually the best part of the whole thing–the gleeful job of making sausages again. It has been years since I have had everything assembled–my neighbor’s giant meat grinder and even bigger sausage stuffer. I made 7 kilos of suasage–3 kilos of Spanish Chorizo which I love and 4 of a regular sagey pork "butcher’s" sausage. At the end of that run I added some leek and potatoes to the mix to try to emulate a sausage I once had at The Swan in Tetsworth, UK.
The longest part of the sausage making was washing everything well before making the sausage and cleaning it all up again afterwards.

Ah well, the ferry pulls in to the mainland terminal. Off to post this at the Cafe and to source local ingredinents–only, no pork for a while at least.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Sorry this week’s show is a bit late–life happens. . . .

In fact, it’s still happening and I’ll have to post the show notes later. . . .like all the links and stuff. The flickr set can be reached via the photo.

Have a great weekend. I’m on the mainland tomorrow. More later.

Popularity: 8% [?]

The vulnerability of our food system from attack is really a no-brainer.  But is regulation, tracking and "improving government responsability" the way forward to protect us? Doesn’t it seem collecting data on everyone (NAIS) into one large database, and consolidating our food sources into centralized facilities just gives malicious entities a larger, easier target? You really can’t imagine that we could have a Fort Knox of Vegetable and Meat Production in the USA–cordoned off factory farms full of security check-points and military outposts–but that’s where things are headed if only a few companies or locations produce our foods. And who will pay for all of this? We, as a nation, are hardly willing to spend more money on Quality Foods. Will we spend more on the same mediocre food, or worse, to keep it in Anti-Terror Lock down?

WAKE UP! You’ve got a week to find and source something local for your dinner this weekend. Do It! If you don’t cook–then I doubt your reading this blog–find a company that supports localization in food. Empower yourself to prevent the centralization and destruction of our Food Supply, and enjoy better tasting, fresher food. If we keep the majority of our food sources local–say within a 500-800 mile radius, rather than the 2000 miles most of it travels now–we hold on to diversity and culture and destroy the easy to hit targets of bioterrorism we seem to need to protect so much.  Why is this so hard for people to understand? Are we so lazy? Have we given up our freedoms for a 99 cent Hamburger, jumbo Fries and a Biggie Cola?

I weep.

Popularity: 8% [?]

One of the controls the USDA wants to use in order to enforce it Machiavelian Animal Id plan is so called "Market Forces". Well, says I, grabbing my modestly sized wallet–"I’ve got your market forces right here, dude. . . ." That’s right. If the Governement want to control us and our animals and property through the market they’ll have to first get us to spend the money they so desperately crave. And if they want to penalize people who don’t register with their plan by keeping them out of the market or from selling their animals–that works too. A for instance–how much is your usual supermarket chicken–$.99 a pound. Some places $.79 a pound but occasionally $1.29. How much of that goes to the farmer?  I sold my chickens recently for $2.50 a pound. They taste great, are almost organic and are bigger and healthier looking than supermarket chickens. My buyers have asked when I’ll have more. I didn’t need to play in the "Market" to be sucessful in this. The chickens only left the "farm" in the purchaser’s vehicles. Complete traceability. When they told me how great the chickens tasted–positive feedback loop.

So the next step would be to control where I buy my chicken feed. That’s already happening across the country. Again. I buy only from feed stores who haven’t asked any questions and don’t sell feeds produced by the instigators of Animal Id. I also raise a significant amount of my own chicken feed–grass and barely. Try again Mr. USDA Rob-the-Consumers-Blind-to-prove-your-point. Now, granted, not everyone is willing to go to my level of extreems. I’m not too sure how far I am willing to go myself. But I do know that unless we send a clear message via our wallets this sort of BS will go on and on and on.

So, you there, put down the Round-Up. Back away from the sickly looking two pack of chicken on sale. Run from the hormone-stuffed beef tenderloin. Set down the imported Tilapia. Start asking questions about where your food comes from, how it is produced and why it doesn’t cost more if the farmers are to have a lifesyle similar to yours. Find out what is happening to the face of Food in America and inform yourself about what you can do to keep US out of the hands of the Corporate Fifedom.

And if you’re a farmer–take a stand to better your position. Get off the gravy train and quite thinking the Government is going to help you. That’s like thinking buying something you never buy just because you have a coupon is going to save you money. How much money have you lost selling milk or beef or pork to the collective? How could you market it locally and keep more profit? How much money have you given Monsanto and what have you gotten back? When are they coming after you for patent infringement? If you didn’t grow their crops at all you’d  be ahead of the game. And don’t tell me your family would starve–they already are aren’t they? How much do you own and to who? Quit monocropping and start a CSA, or Farmer’s Market. When no one is growing GM crops and buying pesticides and herbicides from the seed supplier their monopoly over us all will crash–which by the way: why is Enron so investigated and not Monsanto? Stop paying money to destroy your health, the health of others and of the Earth and THINK about the fact that Organic Farming is proven to give equivalent crop yields.

Let’s get this Nation back on track–out of the hands of "Market Forces" and back into the control of the People.

Popularity: 8% [?]

As I read this I was struck by onething and one thing only. All the "high security" around these Huge Poultry Facilities isn’t so much about keeping them safe, but about keeping the public and their prying eyes out. These Poultry "farms" (if by farm you mean square mile animal warehouses) have to be secured. God knows one whiff of anything viral and the immuno-compromised captives within its walls would all drop dead. What is the penalty for an employee who farts?

Another thing–quote:

Foster Farms is taking a different approach with its “broiler”-raising farms. One of its facilities, the 120-acre Gurr Ranch, is not ringed by razor wire or even fencing. The hen houses are padlocked, and outsiders are not welcome, but the real emphasis is on making the ranch as repulsive as possible to migrating birds.

The resulting landscape looks like a moon base, intentionally devoid of trees and ponds but colonized by 64 identical outbuildings that house nearly 1.3 million chickens.

Migrating birds are looking for food, water and shelter, said Charles Corsiglia, an avian veterinarian on the staff of Livingston, Calif.-based Foster Farms, the biggest poultry company in the West.

“If we make our farms so that they don’t have those things as they’re flying over, they say, ‘You know, that looks like a really bad place to land, because there’s nowhere for me to waddle around,’” Corsiglia said. “‘So I’m going to land at the dairy, or the canal.’”

Excuse me, but if this is a "ranch" and the broiler houses are padlocked on a "moon base" of identical buildings without a shred of vegetation–how is this supposed to instill in me the desire to eat the pallid, sun-deprived ghosts of chickens held captive within?

This article isn’t so much about how wonderful the poultry industry is in preparing to battle the Avian Flu so our food source is safe. It’s more about how disgusting our food source is and shouldn’t we be doing something to change it, rather than creating the perfect place to breed Bird Flu and start a pandemic?

Let me state again, folks. Migratory birds do not a pandemic make. A few isolated pockets of outbreak perhaps. Humans and their arrogance have created and spread the Avian Influenza and now this same arrogance is being used to manipulate the rest of us with scare tactics and fear. Inform yourselves and become more powerful than power itself!

Popularity: 8% [?]

It has been an interesting day so far. The morning dawned cold and grey. No rain, but a damp spring air. I went to the neighbor’s farm to help load some animals for slaughter. Due to mechanical problems and the rigidity of the ferry time-table the butcher did not arrive. We waited and talked. Why was he coming to take the animals away? We live in one of the last few remaining areas around where there are butchers who will come and slaughter your animals for you on the farm–no transportation of live animals at all. We can even pay extra to have the meat USDA inspected for re-sale. I had spoken with this butcher the day before. He never gave his reasons for hauling the live animals away, but the fact that I wanted my half-pig scalded and de-haired, rather than skinned seemed to justify the hoopla for him.  Still he did not come.

I came home and did what I do most days here. Tended my flock, tended the flora in the polytunnel, tended my kinder in their schooling. After lunch I went back over to the neighbors for round two.  This time I had brought the butcherman some recipes from Fergus Henderson’s "The Whole Beast"–figuring he might be interested. He probably has more tidbits than he knows what to do with and being a thrifty family man he might appreciate the savings he can keep on his food budget with recipes like Rolled Pig’s Spleen and Crispy Pig’s tails. . . . I had also brought my list of cuts I need for an upcoming job I am going to do for the farmers’: cooking for 100 guests of the farm in exchange for ownership of Torino, the calf.

We had Torino’s older Brother and Aunt to load up and 5 bacon pigs. Butcherman arrived and got into position. The cattle were to be loaded first.  They were suspicious, but these are not your usual wild-eyed range beasts. These are tame animals who trust humans and what they do for them.  But Butcherman, being from "out there"–ie not a world where animals are respected for what they give us–hopped into the loading pen with a whip and started cracking it before I could say boo. He got the beasts wild-eyed and frenzied and wondered why they wouldn’t load.  If he hadn’t done that they would have gone in the trailer with bread and a bit of coaxing from behind with a large gate panel to keep them moving.  Well, I got the gate panel. Butcherman was told not to use the whip and we got the beasts into the trailer after a moderate amount of cafuffle.

Next come the piggies. Trailer in place. I’m holding the snorting, curious dudes in their house with a bit of fence and Butcherman says something about his "hotshot" prod. I told him there would be no need for that with these pigs.  He went into the pen. A shake of some pig feed in a bucket and into the trailer they went. Although, one did get a bit freaked out and turned to run. I stopped him with my foot, gently placed on his cheek to keep him from hurting himself on the trailer gate. Very little fuss.

Butcherman didn’t want my recipes. He took one look at the word Spleen and paled. He did take my order for the cut of meat I needed–a whole shoulder and front joint to the first rib for slow cooking. Unfortunately I couldn’t get it with any skin on, because that pig was to be skinned. I did get him to keep the head on my half-pig. I also requested all the tails and feet.  We shall see what I get back.

I have sausage casings on the way. I am reading up on far too many ways to handle my half-pig.  I know where they’ve come from. How they have been treated up to today. I can only imagine, but perhaps I don’t want to, how they will be treated later when they get to the mainland to meet their fate in the hands of Butcherman. Hopefully, our quiet testomony to the nobleness and willingness of these 7 creatures to give themselves up to their live’s purpose will give him pause to think again before zapping them or whipping them out of the trailer. I can only hope.  In this case, these were not my animals. Not my place to say how or what way they should be handled. I do know they have lived a 1000% better life than most animals raised for meat to be sold in supermarkets. But I will remember Butcherman and carry the lessons of today forward so when it is my animals, my meat and my decision everyone will know their part and play it to the best of their ability.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Thanks to a listener inquiry we are making Tempura on this week’s Show. I also go on a biodiesel rant, and talk about arsenic in commercially raised chickens.
The cheese board is back this week with Le Berger de Rocastin.

Flickr Photos

Music is The Night Tales Of A Fairy by Fumitaka Anzai

More HIp Than Hippie Podcast

OCA Article on Arsenic in Chicken

Popularity: 9% [?]

Join the Podchef for a cup of coffee. In the style of the masters of the big headshot. . . .

Popularity: 9% [?]

Subject: TAKE ACTION TO SAVE ORGANIC STANDARDS

Dear Friends,
I came across this important alert and thought you might be interested. It’s from the Organic Consumers Association-

The watchdog group Cornucopia Institute published a long-awaited report on organic dairy practices in the USA on March 22, and the facts are rather sobering. The good news is that most organic dairies in the U.S. are following strict organic standards, including giving animals regular access to pasture. The bad news is that several major players in the organic dairy sector are blatantly violating organic standards.

Two of the largest organic dairy companies in the nation, Horizon Organic (a subsidiary of Dean Foods); and Aurora Organic, a supplier of private brand name organic milk to Costco, Safeway, Giant, and others, who together control 65 percent of the market, are purchasing the majority of their milk from feedlot dairies where the cows have little or no access to pasture.

In addition, a routine practice on these giant dairy feedlots, many with thousands of cows, is to continuously import calves from conventional farms, where animals have been weaned on blood, fed slaughterhouse waste and genetically engineered grains, and injected or dosed with antibiotics. Send a message to the National Organic Program of the USDA to stop the labeling of factory farm milk as "organic."
More information, related newspaper headlines and petition here:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/nosb2.htm

Popularity: 8% [?]

I never understand how people can be so passionate about foods they hate. But then perhaps there are people who think I am crazy in terms of foods I love. So imagine my surprise when I found this on Boing Boing this morning.  Imagine a whole site dedicated to hating an herb? Are there other such sites for, say, fennel, thyme, hyssop, lovage? What is it about Cilantro which drives people so crazy?

If I hadn’t have just had this discussion with other foodies a few weeks ago, I probably would have never thought about it much. Nevertheless I did have a lengthy and heated discussion, on Cilantro.  My conclusion is that there is a lot of terrible quality present in the food chain when it comes to this herb. I have experienced it myself.  Firstly, it is highly perishable. I recieved three pounds of it once in a catering order–all looking fine and dandy as I checked it in–only to have it turn black and slimy by the next morning.  Plastic bags are its enemy. Any sort of sunlight, or temperature change once in plastic will kill it. However, not all cilantro on the market turns sour so quickly. What about the rest of the stuff?  I think it has a lot to do with how it is grown. I am spoiled because my cilantro overwinters quite well. Rarely anymore do I have to buy commercially grown cilantro, or should we break away from that name and call it Chinese Parsley, or Coriander.  When I do have to buy it in large quanteties for catering or when my crop is short then I do notice a lack of flavor. A certain aroma and tang to it not present in my Organicaly grown variety. Also, because its flavor changes depending on how fresh it is and at what stage of development it was when it was harvested that could affect tasting outcomes.  Now, when I do seek out commercially grown herbs, I always buy from an Organic source–largely for the taste.

So my answer to the crazy, cilantro hating masses? Grow your own. Take ownership in your phobia/dislike. Be proactive. Plant a seed and grow some of the stuff organically–its really easy to do and the stuff grows like a weed. Then start out small. Clip some cilantro and mix it in with some salad greens. Add it to some store bought salsa. Then work your way up and soon you will be enjoying pea and cilantro soup and cooking with not only the leaves, but the stalks and roots as well.

Popularity: 8% [?]

My dream of my own cured ham for dinner tonight did not materialize–this year. However, at 9am I am placing a boned, stuffed Pork Shoulder in the oven. One without Tags. . . .And it can cook in there while we’re on about our day, like a bit of love waiting till we’re ready.  As it is cold and windy here and the egg hunting is blustery this will be a welcome "find" when we come back from an afternoon nature walk.

We did the same sort of thing last night for this morning. All the ingredients were mixed–wet together and kept in the fridge. Dry waiting on the counter. During the egg hiding the two met and a Coffee Cake was born for early morning egg hunter consumption. Now if only there were someone to bring us a slice and a cup of coffee into the bed we are about to return to after a restless night of quelling 5 excited bunny watchers.

Hope everyone has a great, stress free, full-of-great-food Easter!

Neal

Popularity: 8% [?]

Here’s a short, dramatic video of Livers Sauteing.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Farm to Fork

Has the government stolen the Sustainability Movement’s term "Farm to Fork" for their own purposes? I thought the gist of the term and movement was about connecting consumers with farm direct foods without the middleman and limited government intervention. Consumers win by getting fresher, better prepared, healthier foods that they know the provenance of, and Farmers win by providing foods that earn them a living instead of a subsistence.

Now the term "farm to fork" seem to mean something else–the government’s attempt to convince consumers that our foods are safe. That we can soon trace products from farm to fork. Except that is a lot to ask, isn’t it? There are so many steps for commercial processes that the idea that you can trace which steer produced the steak on your plate, or hamburger meat in the freezer is ridiculous. It couldn’t happen and corporations don’t want it to any way. But that is one of the arguments behind the National Animal Identification System. Traceability–That pure, untainted line from farm gate to your plate. Do we really believe this can be achieved in the US, or are we allowing ourselves to be fooled because we’re lazy?

I did a Google search on the term "farm to fork" and found some interesting information–some of it on the Sustainability side of things, but much siding with the Corporate tainting of the term. Traceability. I’ve written elsewhere about my thoughts on that term. But that is one of the main platforms of the NAIS. That we in the US need traceability in our meats so that we can sell other nations safe meat–oh, and have safe meat here at home, too. . . . But they can’t have it both ways. What are we supposed to do when the government and the cattle industry say one thing, but mean another?

I’ve heard it said recently that we MUST have the NAIS in full mandatory compliance because we need to export our beef. The US produces more beef in a year than it consumes. We HAVE TO export it. Okay. Perhaps. Fair enough–if it were true.  However, the US imports almost 40% of the beef it consumes. Or are we Importing to Export? We get Live cattle from Canada and partially processed meat from Argentina and other places–Are there traceability systems in place in those countries? Are we checking the provenance of those meats? I don’t think so. As soon as these animals touch US soil they are American and can be resold as such. So do we need to export more beef, or should we be importing less? Are we putting in place the NAIS so that we can export High Quality US grown and raised meats so that we can import foreign meats to serve to our own citizens?

I fully support Farm to Fork. I even support Traceability. If by either you mean knowing where you food comes from, who produced it, how it was produced, and whom you bought it from in the least possible steps with the most possible personal connection with the least distance traveled. A decentralized system with a transportation distance radius of 500 miles, not 2000. A system which employs more citizens earning more money, spending it on the local economy.  What I don’t mean is a limited number of slaughterhouses in one part of the country hidden from view, covering up horrid practices, in an inbred and closed and corrupt system. Receiving animals from anywhere, and sending out meats to anywhere. Because once your NAIS cow hits the Abattoir traceability stops in this country. It doesn’t matter that it was clean and disease free because chances are it won’t be once it comes out of the factory. And there are no laws or systems to prevent the sale or for mandatory recall of tainted meat products–that’s all voluntary: if they care enough to find out about the problem.

So instead of Farm to Fork–which is a model that works–the government should be a bit more honest, a bit more transparent and call their system what it really is. Farm to Feedlot to Factory to Packing House to Meat Locker for Export or to MegaMart to You. Thousands of people handling each piece of food you buy, none of them being paid enough to care about you or your health.

If the government really wants Traceability and wants us to believe in it and demand it,  they should start by allowing us to trace our TAX DOLLARs before they ask us to track our personal property. And if they won’t do that then the instigators of the NAIS–the NIAA and the Beef Associations–should be willing to tag and track themselves for one year in a database we can all monitor to know where they are and how they’re manipulating our government.

Popularity: 9% [?]

In Gastrocast #54 I take you with me as I butcher chickens. We talk about the NAIS and we make chicken liver pate.

Links:
Thanks for this GREAT Review!  Sorry I couldn’t remember the name of your blog–Daily Recipe.

South Central Farmers Movie–a must watch!

Vote at Podcast Alley

Some Gruesome Flickr Photos

Music by Drallibotrop and Solcarlus

Recipe

Chicken Liver Pate
Based on recipes by Darina Allen of Ballymaloe Cookery School and Elizabeth David

8 ounces fresh, preferably organic chicken livers
8-12 ounces of unsalted butter.
2 tablespoons of Calvados Apple Brandy–or any Brandy
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
2 cloves garlic crushed
large pinch of Mixed Spice–1 cinnamon stick, 1/2 heaped teaspoon allspice, generous grating of nutmeg all ground together
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
melted or clarified butter to cover

Clean and trim the livers of any membranes, sinews or green areas. Heat a skillet over medium high heat, melt a pat of butter and saute the livers gently. Season with salt and pepepr. Cook until the pink has just gone, but not so much that the outside of the livers becomes tough.
Remove the livers and deglaze the pan with the brandy, carefully flambeing the liquor to burn off the alcohol. Add to the livers.
Sieve the livers or process with a food processor. Mix in the thyme, garlic, and mixed spice. Puree until smooth. Allow to cool. Add the butter and blend. Use more butter if the livers taste strong. Season to taste with extra salt and pepper if necessary. This pate should be smooth and light tasting.

Place the pate in one or more ramekins, a decorative mold, or chill slightly and roll into a log. The pate can also be piped from a pastry bag. If potted, seal the top surface with a light coating of melted butter to keep from turning grey and oxidizing.
Should keep up to 5 days in the refrigerator, but strength of taste will gain with age.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Three years ago, when I returned home from Ireland I was alive with the buzz word–traceability: The ability to trace the history, application or location of a substance throughout its life cycle for the purpose of establishing accuracy of measurements. This is as close a definition to what I envisioned as I can find today. I was singing the song of "traceability"–the ability for end consumers to know where their food came from, how it was treated along the way, who produced it and who sold it. My vision was to put a face on food. To know more farmers, butchers, producers so as to make the world smaller, more friendly, safer and less sterile.

I had seen this first hand in Ireland. Often in a village the butcher is also the farmer who raises the animals he is selling in his shop. When you go for meat you can see how the animals are living in the field. When the animals are slaughtered they never leave the farm. All inspections are done on the premise, all sales take place from said premise. This is a person you know and trust, and if you don’t he won’t survive for lack of business. This is a face in food. An interconnected social network. No better model for traceability can be found. If there is a problem with the meat, you know where it came from, how it was produced, and who sold it too you. Same goes for local vegetable producers, or for honey, of anything else you can source locally. There is 100%, immediate traceability. If, God forbid, there is a disease outbreak or trouble it is immediately known in the surrounding area. No technology needed, just human interaction and the trust that personal relationships engender.

Now comes the reality. The word "traceability" is far from my simplistic vision (although it needn’t be). The USDA has morphed its meaning to go beyond provonance. To the government "traceability" means complete and absolute knowledge. No trust. Pure documentation. Documentation from birth to death and beyond. Parentage, life, sicknesses, travel, and death of each animal. However, from there they don’t seem to care too much. There is no traceability once an animal enters the slaughterhouse. No traceability as an animal’s parts are sold by any number of butchers to any number of stores to any number of people around the country. But the USDA claims it wants to change that. They claim they want to trace that cow/pig/chicken/sheep/goat right to your door. Seems a bit unlikely. There is no face on food in their system. We too often don’t know where it comes from, how its handled, or who produced it.  To the USDA "traceability" isn’t about providing you with a better product, but about covering up producers faults. The sooner they know about an issue the sooner spin can be put into effect.

The USDA wisdom over "traceability" now extends to animal feeds as well. If you produce Hay, for instance, you will be required to record what field it was cut from, who was there working in the field, who drove the truck the hay was on and who the hay was sold to. Forward and backward traceability. They claim this is to make our food sources safer from bio-terrorism. Now feed stores will soon be required to take down the information of who is buying feed from them. No longer is my concern over whether the feed in the unmarked sack is what it is supposed to be, or which feed store sells the right mix at the best price, I have to worry about what information the store is passing on about me. As if the government really needs to know. As if legally they have a right to know. This invasion of privacy destroys our very freedom. Private property becomes a tool the government can use to trace us.

Increasingly we ourselves become traceable–cell phones, debit cards, chipped driver’s licenses. More and more we are relinquishing our rights to privacy and anonymity. Like the victim who was identified by her ipod we have become as cattle in a system of "traceability". Traditional rights are falling by the wayside as we yeild to some nebulous "greater good".  Who are we, where have we come from, where are we going, what did we buy, what can be sold to us? Tracing our animals, tracing ourselves is only going to get more common, more invasive, and worse. And we have to ask, as the USDA rolls out its plan for Animal Identification, where will it end once it’s begun?  Where is the farmer who raises the meat I can see on the hoof in the field who sells it to my butcher who cares enough about his customers to provide quality products who sells me just what I need so there is no waste anywhere along the system and pure and perfect "traceability" as I cook the roast to feed to friends who return to the butcher who must buy some more great meat from the farmer? That is what we should strive for. Not some overpriced, bloated, bureaucratic system designed to make more work for all and more money for those at the top. Traceability is needed. Traceability is good. But where the government is concerned, perhaps it should start with out Tax Dollars.

Popularity: 7% [?]