Text 16417, 158 rader
Skriven 2008-11-14 06:49:08 av Michael Loo (1:18/200.0)
  Kommentar till text 16334 av Jim Weller (1:123/140)
Ärende: Corn and fast food 213
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 -=> Jim Weller said to All <=-

 JW> Corn is found in just about all U.S. fast food burgers and chicken
 JW> sandwiches, a U.S. study says (Mark Blinch/Reuters).

Big surprise, eh. But, you know, that's not that big a deal.
Water (fed to most animals in their diet) is also found in
just about all U.S. fast food. The fact that corn-derived
compounds occur in muscle meat doesn't say much. Those
corn-based nutrition elements could be soybean- or wheat-
based, and there wouldn't be that much of a fuss, though
the social, economic, and ecological issues are about the
same. By the way, I hate the corny TV ads as much as the
next guy.

 Corn is the key
 JW> ingredient in U.S. fast food, but it isn't easy for consumers to
 JW> find out what's in their burgers, sandwiches and fries, according to
 JW> a U.S. study released Monday. 

Ambiguous statement of the week, I'd think. I figure I know
pretty well what's in my burger, and I don't mind just so it's
mostly meat, preferably not mouse meat, of course.

 JW> Researchers from the University of Hawaii sampled more than 480
 JW> servings of hamburgers, chicken sandwiches and fries from three
 JW> leading chains in six cities, and concluded there was evidence that
 JW> all of the chicken and 93 per cent of the beef had been fed corn
 JW> exclusively.

"Yeah, so?" And what are geologists doing digging up stuff
like this? I'm suspicious.

 JW> "Our results highlighted the overwhelming importance of corn
 JW> agriculture within virtually every aspect of fast food manufacture."

"Well, duh." Someone wrote a book on this not too long ago, and
the points were well taken. If Hope whats'erface read the book,
there would have been no need to waste taxpayer resources on
this study. For an interview that to me shows how bankrupt the
researchers are, go to tinyurl.com/sillybunt and check out the
complete non sequitur last paragraph.

 JW> A consumer who ate one cheeseburger, chicken sandwich, and a small
 JW> order of fries would consume:
 JW> Half of the day's recommended calories.
 JW> Four-fifths of the recommended carbohydrates. 
 JW> Three-quarters of the recommended protein (90 per cent for a woman). 
 JW> The full day's limit of dietary fat.

Wait a second. What are there besides carbs, protein, and fat
that go with Calories? Do you see what this statement implies?
That the other half of the day's Calories should come from
1/5 of the carb and 1/4 of the protein allowance. This is
clearly bogus. Go back to school, you Hawaii kniggits.

 -=> Dave Sacerdote said to Jim Weller <=-

 JW> Fast food industry relies heavily on corn, researchers say
 JW> Corn is found in just about all U.S. fast food burgers . . .
 JW> 93 per cent of the beef had been fed corn exclusively.
 DS> Hello, and welcome to "bullshit conclusions."  Feeding the beef 
 DS> on corn doesn't mean there's "corn in the burgers."  That is one
 DS> of the most misleading statements to come out of a stupid-assed
 DS> "news" agency.

There's some corniness in the burgers. See below.

 DS> So when I eat my hens' eggs, I'm eating bugs, grass, dogshit and
 DS> feathers, right?

To some small degree. Luckily, these things don't have so
pervasive a taste as, say, corn or soybeans.

 JW> The top chains oppose ingredient reporting, the authors said.
 JW> The authors said, "Ingredients matter for many reasons: U.S. corn
 JW> agriculture has been criticized as environmentally unsustainable and
 JW> conspicuously subsidized."

Smells like vegetarian propaganda to me.

 DS> Feed corn isn't an "ingredient" in burgers.

Completely agree. The top chains do report ingredients, as
ingredients are defined. They even say when the ingredients
adhere to some higher (or at least additional) standard,
such as the California Organic Foods Act. Which reminds me,
whoever appropriated the term "organic" for this foodborne
term should be boiled in his own grease.

 -=> Jim Weller said to Dave Sacerdote <=-

 DS> Hello, and welcome to "bullshit conclusions."
 JW> No bullshit. Scientists can determine an animal's diet while it was
 JW> alive from a sample of meat.

BFD. I can determine many animals' diet from the taste of
the flesh. Corn-fed and grass-fed cattle taste different,
for example. Wild salmon that grazed on shrimp taste
different from those raised on salmon chow.

 JW> The Globe and Mail article quotes a report from PNAS, the
 JW> Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States
 JW> of America.
 JW> PNAS is one of the world's most-cited multidisciplinary scientific
 JW> serials.

It's seen better days. I'd guess that both Science (the journal
of the AAAS) and Nature (privately owned) are better regarded
and more cited. Anyway (as recent articles in Nature have shown)
publication in even a good journal is not a complete indicator
of either truthfulness or fairness of a piece of research.

 JW> And from http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/abstract/135/6/1515
 JW> Nutritional Methodology: Carbon and Nitrogen Stable Isotopic
 JW> Composition of Hair Protein and Amino Acids Can Be Used as
 JW> Biomarkers for Animal-Derived Dietary Protein Intake in Humans.

I'm guessing this is a completely different issue.

Bourbon Pecan Pie
cat: Southern, booze, dessert
serves: 8

1 1/2 c pecans
3 lg eggs
1/2 c dark brown sugar
1 c dark corn syrup
1/4 ts salt
6 Tb unsalted butter; melted
1 ts vanilla
2 Tb bourbon
1 Tb flour
9 in metal pie tin lined with pastry

Preheat oven to 350F. Spread pecans on baking sheet and
roast for about 7 min, until toasted. Remove from baking
sheet and cool. Raise oven temperature to 450F.

In a large bowl, beat eggs slightly, and whisk in the
sugar and corn syrup. Whisk in the salt, butter, vanilla,
and bourbon. Mix flour with pecans and add.

Prick the bottom of the pastry all over with a fork.
Pour the filling in, and put the pan on a flat baking
sheet. Place on the lower level of the oven, reduce heat
to 350F and bake for 35-40 min, until filling is puffed
and firm. Check after 20 min; if crust is browning too
quickly, loosely mold a piece of foil around the edges.

Serve warm or at room temperature, with whipped cream
or vanilla ice cream.

New York Times 11/19/97
___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30

--- Maximus/2 3.01
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