From: wheeler@SUPER.ORG (Ferrell S. Wheeler)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.animals
Subject: DIET AND HEALTH NEWS
Date: 25 Jul 92 02:01:10 GMT



DIET & HEALTH NEWS
 
     * The U.S. Army's Natick Research, Development, and
Engineering Center has been assigned to develop a new "multi-faith"
field ration to serve the estimated 125,000 Jews, Moslems, Hindus,
and vegetarians in U.S. military service.  The new ration became
essential during the Persian Gulf War, according to Capt. Mitchell
Ackerson, an Army rabbi, where "Guys who kept kosher either ate
very little, fudged here or there, or went hungry."
 
     * Marlene Wolford of the Silent Unity prayer ministry in Unity
Village, Mo., recently organized an airlift of 20 tons of
vegetarian food to the former Soviet Union, "I want the Soviets to
know they have a choice," Wolford told "Vegetarian Voice".  Over 30
firms donated food; Eden Foods contributed over 14 tons.
 
     * Food and Drug Administration agents on March 24 seized
38,640 cans of 7th Heaven brand cat tuna in Newark, N.J., which had
been relabeled Ocean King, IGA, Blue Bay, and National brand tuna
for human consumption.  The tuna was part of a batch of 25 to 50
million cans that were originally deemed unfit for human
consumption by Canadian government inspectors back in 1985.  After
the cannery at St. Andrews, New Brunswick, threatened to go out of
business, then-fisheries minister John Fraser overruled the
inspectors.  Nationwide outcry forced Fraser to resign.  The
cannery closed anyway.
 
     * After a year of additional testing, the USDA and Dept. of
Health and Human Services have confirmed that the Eating Right
Pyramid graphic is the most effective illustration of departmental
dietary recommendations.  Agriculture Secretary Edward Madigan
withdrew the newly completed graphic in April 1991, after meat and
dairy interests objected that it would decrease consumption of
their products.  Whether the graphic will ever be used remains
unclear.
 
     * USDA researchers claim to have identified the flavor
peptide, BMP, that gives beef its characteristic taste.  The
researchers told the American Chemical Society on March 31 that BMP
might be used to upgrade cheaper cuts of beef--or to make soy
protein and/or tofu taste exactly like beef.  Soy or tofu products
flavored with BMP would not be strictly vegetarian,  unless the BMP
could be synthesized without the use of beef derivatives, but might
contribute significantly to lowering beef consumption among people
who are unwilling to become vegetarians.
 
     * Burger King, Peter Piper Pizza, and Subway are leading a
fast-food franchise invasion of Mexico.  Burger King plans to spend
$10 million over the next decade to establish Mexican outlets.  The
result could be a sharp rise in Mexico's presently low per capita
meat consumption.
 
     * Saccharin causes cancer only in rats, Univ. of Nebraska
pathologist Dr. Sam Cohen told the annual meeting of the Federation
of American Societies for Experimental Biology on April 8. 
According to Cohen, humans don't have the high urine protein level
necessary to begin the carcinogenic reaction.
 
 From: Animals Agenda
 456 Monroe Turnpike
 Monroe, CT 06468
 Issue:  5/92
 
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