Lifestyle Hub

Real murder: what happens at a slaughterhouse

Following on from my blog post about the "murder" at the Nanakuli animal shelter, here is an account from Wikipedia of the mass murder process at a slaughterhouse (this is not for the faint of heart):

The slaughterhouse process differs by species and region and may be controlled by civil law as well as religious laws such as Kosher and Halal laws. A typical procedure follows:

Cattle (mostly steers and heifers, some cows, and even fewer bulls) are received by truck or rail from a ranch, farm, or feedlot.

Cattle are herded into holding pens.

Alleged murder of animals at Nanakuli animal shelter

Front page news today is about an ex-caretaker of 400 animals claiming he is the victim of a vendetta by the Humane Society. He and his wife operated a non profit animal shelter at Nanakuli, after his wife died it apparently got too much for him so he asked for help from the Oahu Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, who came and got the animals. The SPCA does not euthanize animals, unlike the Humane Society, though the Humane Society state on their website in the Q & A's about this matter:

Question: What is the Humane Society’s euthanasia policy on animals?

Stop subsidizing meat, use that money for health care

Johnny nailed it when he commented (in response to my blog post about taxing soda to limit obesity):

"I think a better solution would be for the government to take all the money that it currently uses to subsidize the meat industry and use that to improve the heathcare system.

Taxes on junk food

An August 23, 2009 LA Times article is an interesting read on the push to tax junk food.

Pouring on the fat! NYC poster gets the message across

The New York Health department has given up the idea of taxing soda as a weapon in the war against obesity and have instead started a graphic advertising campaign showing a soda being poured into a glass, with the soda turning into liquid fat on its way to the glass. Pretty graphic, and some may even think gross, but it really gets across the message that drinking soda is a major cause of obesity. Pretty creative, and great to see the government actually get serious about getting the message across.

GMO foods possibly to be sold in UK supermarkets

The major GMO companies are achieving success in their campaign to spread GMO foods all over the world. According to an article in the UK Telegraph today, "Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Marks & Spencer, Co-Op, Somerfield and the budget chain Aldi have met with civil servants to discuss their problems in finding traditional food supplies." A report on the meetings noted: "Retailers were concerned that they may not be able to maintain their current non-GM sources of supply as producers increasingly adopt GM technology around the world."

Sugar & Obesity

Aloha, there have been some interesting articles in the media this week. The first is that the average American consumes 22 teaspoons of sugar a day (i.e.

Whole Foods CEO comments on health care debate results in boycotts and picketing

I have been busy lately so not a lot of blogging has been going on. My last blog was that the CEO of Whole Foods, John Mackey, stated in a press interview that "we sell a lot of junk".

Whole Foods announces "We sell a bunch of junk"

This blog post kind of violates some rules like: I shouldn't talk about our competition as it just brings them more attention, or I shouldn't talk stink about them, etc. But, you know, I just have to comment when you see an article where the CEO of Whole Foods is quoted as saying "We sell a bunch of junk". Like, that must be the dictionary definition of putting your foot in your mouth! Or maybe he is being very honest and real and is just telling the truth (I can't fault him for that).

Down to Earth announces store remodel plans

Not only are we opening a new store in Hilo, we are also remodeling our Kailua and Kahului stores!

The remodel of the Kahului store includes an expansion that converts 3,000 square feet of storage space into retail space, for a total of 9,000 square feet. The bigger and renovated store will have many new products and will allow us to offer our customers a wider range of healthy and organic products. We will more than double the size of the chill and frozen department, greatly improve our award winning vegetarian deli, and expand our wellness, grocery, and produce departments.