Children's Health And The Meat Industry

When did our children become disposable?

This loaded question was posed around the conference table in Anthony Geraci's sunny office at the Baltimore School District headquarters as a group of us talked about programs designed to help our kids make healthier choices in their lives, beginning with the food they eat.

As Food Service Director, Tony has worked closely with the district's dietician to make systemic changes that have resulted in the kids in Baltimore schools trying new foods and slowly becoming more health conscious. But it has not been without controversy and therein was the question we posed.

When school began in September, the kids of Baltimore became the first in the country to adopt 'Meatless Mondays, an international program that asks people to cut meat from their diet one day a week. Their goal is simple: reducing meat consumption by a mere 15% can improve human and planetary health. Endorsed by esteemed medical institutions like the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, this seems like a no-brainer, right? Impressed with the credentials and the program, Baltimore decided to take part and see what would happen. I'm not sure anyone was ready for the firestorm of attacks being launched at them by the meat industry.

Leading the charge is, of course, every vegetarian's favorite villain, J. Patrick Boyle, CEO of The American Meat Institute, whose mission in their own words includes: being the most effective, credible and widely recognized voice of the meat and poultry industry, and valuing livestock and poultry as nutritious food sources. The mission statement also says that the 'AMI values honesty.' Ah, irony.

The attacks launched against Meatless Mondays in Baltimore schools are anything but honest. If they told the truth, they would say that by eliminating meat for one meal a week in our kids' diets, we are affecting their bottom line. They have little regard for our children's health. If they did, would growth hormones, steroids, antibiotics and other toxins are so heavily used in the foods they peddle to our kids and call valuable sources of nutrients? If they told the truth, they would acknowledge the connections between childhood obesity, diabetes and heart disease and the excessive consumption of meat products. If they told the truth, they would admit that reducing meat intake by even the smallest amount results in dramatic improvements in human and planetary health.

While Meatless Mondays has received an endorsement from PETA, the infamous animal rights group, it has little to do with the program itself, except to applaud its efforts. The idea of not eating meat on Monday originated back in World War I as an effort to conserve resources. But that's not good enough for Mr. Boyle. In his letter to Andres Alonso (CEO of the Baltimore school district), Mr. Boyle stated that this campaign is a way for animal activists to brainwash young children. Yes, Mr. Boyle, we can't have our kids going all healthy and compassionate on us and valuing life!

His letter continues: "I was disturbed to read about your school system's decision to bow to an animal rights organization in holding "Meat Free Mondays." This initiative is sponsored by the Grace Spira Project at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The name Spira refers to Henry Spira, who is widely regarded as of the most extreme animal rights activists in the 20th century." Puh-leeze!

In a show of admirable will, the school district has not buckled under the pressure of the meat industry. And it has been fierce! Who would have thought that meatless lasagna, cheese sandwiches and broccoli could wreak such havoc? Mr. Boyle has gone as far as stating that Meatless Mondays seeks 'an end to the United States' efficient and advanced food production system that delivers to Americans the safest, most abundant and affordable food supply in the world.'

Even the school dietician's public assurances that the ultimate goal of this program in schools is to help children have a better relationship with vegetables and to start the discussion about the impact of food choices on health, communities and the planet have fallen on deaf ears in the meat industry.

Meatless Mondays is a positive program designed to educate our children to be healthier for life and is being attacked from all sides. Troy Hadrick, a rancher, wrote on the Advocates for Agriculture website that Meatless Mondays are obviously designed to push children toward vegetarian lifestyles by telling them that 'they can't have meat on Monday because meat isn't healthy for you.' He goes on to advocate parents doing whatever it takes to keep this information from their children. Yikes!

As ranchers and lobbyists rail about one school district's plan to make our children healthier by teaching them to have a better relationship with veggies, Fairbanks Farms in North Carolina has recalled more than 500,000 pounds of meat contaminated with E. coli, resulting in 2 people dead and more fallen ill.

What was it that Patrick Boyle said about the safest food supply?

Here's what's interesting. We vegans and vegetarians are more often than not dismissed as petty, unimportant nuisances to meat producing conglomerates. They paint us as Birkenstock-wearing, ungroomed, tree-hugging puppy lovers who mean nothing in the grand scheme of things.

So why is that all these people, from the American Meat Institute to cattle ranchers to lobbyists are so up in arms with one school district taking meat off the menu for one meal a week? Trust me when I tell you it has nothing to do with your children's health and welfare. Could it be that they fear a change in thinking that's in the air? Could it be that they sense that Americans have had enough? Enough of their cheap, subsidized, poor quality meat, loaded with antibiotics, growth hormones, steroids...enough of their swill that is stealing the health of their children and families? Could it be that they are shaking in their cowboy boots at the idea that the children of the future might make better choices than what they have been marketed to want?

The American Meat Institute and their ilk would have us eat more meat, even in the face of the overwhelming evidence that the food they produce and the way they produce it is directly linked to many of the lifestyle diseases that threaten to extinguish the light on the health of our children...obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

This generation of children could be the first that lives shorter, sicker lives than their parents. So many of these problems could be avoided if children ate more whole grains and vegetables and less meat.

Instead of attacking visionaries like those in the Baltimore school district who want nothing but the best for our children, they should be applauding the efforts to create a strong and healthy future for this country.

It's time to stop thinking only of our bottom lines, our profit centers and the health of our checkbooks and make the health of our society a priority. We won't find long term vitality in 99-cent burgers, no matter what Patrick Boyle says. We won't find it in grilled chicken in a bucket either. These organizations have only the health of their business in mind, not the health of our children. For them, our kids are a disposable demographic that can be replaced by another generation.

Who will be next on their hit list, Catholics who still choose not to eat meat on Fridays?

 

Comments

[StopGlobalWarmingBeVegan]

Be vegan everyone!

[Roguer]

Eat grass fed beef everyone! You will be healthy for it. And not have to worry about food allergies.

www.eatwild.com

[CommunistUtopia]

Hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza. I wish I was a little kid again and could eat this stuff for every meal. I love it.

[Troy Hadrick]

What this article's author didn't tell you was that I was advocating for our schools to teach kids the importance of eating a balanced diet that includes meat and dairy products. Never have I advocated for overconsumption of meat. I am also very concerned about the qualtiy of the product I raise, not just because I eat it, but more importantly, because my children eat it as well. I'm not sure why this reporter thought that advocating for our children to eat a balanced diet, that includes foods from each of the food groups every day, is such a radical thing, but it's unfortunate that she did.

[condor101]

25% of children are lactose intollerant.
Milk in schools is full of hormones.

Meat kills people. 2 people recently died because of contaminated meat.

[Troy Hadrick]

No matter what type of food you eat, it will contain hormones. Hormones are the chemical messengers that sustain life. Milk has hormones in it because it is produced by a mammal which depends on hormones for life. Cabbage has very high levels of estrogen in it compared to beef, over 1000x more. Unless you are eating rocks, you will be consuming hormones.

The two people that died, didn't die because of the meat they ate. It was because of human error in producing the product. If meat is properly handled and cooked, you will not get sick from eating it.

[MiHi]

"NO ONE in Ethiopia is lactose intolerant." -- Chris Rock

[Fran1972]

Troy, don't you know its possible for our children to eat a balanced, meatless and non-diary school lunch with all pyramid food groups in balance and represented? You seem insincere when you talk about balanced diets and food groups because the food pyramid supports a vegetarian diet. I think it's really about money. About half the world is vegetarian and the US percentage is increasing every year. That's got to be a little scary.

The article never said anything about the quality of the dead animals you and your children eat. What it is saying is that you want US school children to eat dead animals on Mondays.

Now, some vegetarians aren't about the "Meat is M.ur.der!" thing. Some go vegetarian for the environment. The earth and people get too much meat and taking it off the menu at our schools on Mondays isn't going to hurt anyone but your industry. And Big Ag is not someone you want to meet in a dark ally. So, don't worry. They are working on your problem, right now.

Check out "Eating Animals" on Amazon.com and know your industry's heyday may be over (no matter what they tell you in their flyers and at their conferences). Try converting your ranch into an organic one so it's in balance with earth if you have ranching in your blood. If not, maybe your lobbyists can save you once the republicans get back into power.

[CaliGrown78]

I think what Baltimore is doing is wonderful. The meat industry & lobby don't care about our children all they wanna do is make a buck @ the expense of peoples childrens lives. Add that to the fact that people will grow with a lifetime of problems & big pharma should be happy because then the kids will need meds when they're older, it's a tangled web

[Katie Young]

I have been a vegan since the age of 18. I am now going to be 50 in a mere 4 months, am routinely mistaken for a 30 year old, have no health problems, loads of energy and know that I am living a life of harming none. I am 30 pounds thinner than I was at age 12, and have no trouble maintaining that weight. If you look at all those benefits, I simply don't see how anyone can argue with meatless Monday. Life is not about profit and improving the meat industry. It's about healthy, happy children who will live long productive lives and know what quality of life really means....

[Jolimont]

HuffPost's Pick

I'm no vegetarian, but I recognize that we must reduce our meat consumption drastically. We started working on this 4 years ago, we're down to 3-4oz per day which is still a lot, but we used to eat 10-20oz per day. Our weight is down considerably, we're much healthier overall, not perfect, but on the right path. The American way of life (too much food, too sedentary, too much stress) is bad for people's health. If you don't believe me just go on a trip outside of North America and look around.

[MiHi]

Good. More for me.

[SARGE1]

Me Too Human are Omnivores and true issue with meat is "Fatty Meat" ! Not Meat that is Free Range or Wild Cave Men never Grew Crops or Baked Bread

-Sarge

[carrieanna]

During these tough eonomic times it seems like a no-brainer to do more meatless entrees for school lunches in an effort to save money. Can't get much cheaper than vegetable soup, pasta primavera and bean-and-rice burritos. Plus, with the popularity of Chipotle I'd think burritos would be uber-popular on the school cafeteria line.

Not surprisingly, these low-cost foods are also healthy...­dovetailin­g with the concern over rising obesity rates in children.

I guess the only reason the meat producers attacked is because a formal name was given to the program. If the Monday meatless options had simply appeared without fanfare, I doubt any kids would complain about the lack of a meat dish.

[lalalalilly127]

All of you who can defend eating meat every day, multiple times, I hope you are otherwise healthy and not putting a burden on society in the form of higher insurance premiums for those of us who make healthy choice. I am not in favor of subsidizing people's fatness diseases.

[empiricalWeb]

Laugh out loud. I eat meat 5 times within my 8 daily meals...

Fatness doesn't come from meat, it comes from sugar and non-complex carbohydrates.

[Trittydi]

While our children were growing up we had meat with meals perhaps 2-3 times a week - and then in very small amounts. While my husband and I continue thus - perhaps eating even less meat - our two daughters have been vegetarians for years. They live together now and are edging their way - with intent - toward veganism. We're proud of them and this decision.

One thing that may have helped in our house is that we turned off the television - completely - when the oldest was 9 years old. We did not want to turn their souls over to corporate America. They never complained - it was just the way life was in our house - and they have since thanked us for it.

But I do believe the constant onslaught of commercials telling us what to think, eat, wear, own, do, not do, etc., is simply brainwashing. if we called it what it was, perhaps more people would turn off their own television sets.
*

[condor101]

Agreed!!!!
I watched less T.V. as i got older and 8 years ago I cancelled Cable. It was the best decision.
I have sinced saved over $5,000 and my mind is clear and free.
I have since read many books and have done more activities.
T.V. is evil. It's a tool to brainwash people into being dumb consumers for Corporate America.
It's not a coincidence that I have purchased far less goods since not watching any more T.V.

[Trittydi]

Also missing - the sense that you have to have more and better things all the time because the neighbors have wonderful new things.

Who cares? We have what's important - and it's not a cruise, a car we can't afford, or a big screen television.
*

[aliceautumn]

I just heard an interview with a researcher from the Boston University School of Public Health who was talking about research that links high levels of bad cholesterol with levels of PFCs in a persons body. PFCs are things like Teflon, coatings on carpets, clothes, matresses. Here is a definitive link to a physical ailment. I cant find any solid research linking childhood obesity, diabetes or other ailments to eating meat. Especially since people have alway eaten meat. As long as we are barking up the wrong tree we might miss the real culprits here. Besides I know lots of very obese children and adults are are vegans and vegetarians who do not eat junk food either.

[nanderson65]

'linking childhood obesity, diabetes or other ailments to eating meat

No the meat doesn't cause the diabetes. That would be the HFCS.
The soda pop and meat and white flour all add up to a patter of bad eating.

And I call bs on you knowing... 'lots of very obese children and adults are are vegans and vegetarians who do not eat junk food either

Lots? Very obese?
Prolly not...

[swanie]

YOU ARE WRONG ! !

Read the following from the US National Institutes of Health web site:

"A vegetarian diet focuses on plants for food. These include fruits, vegetables, dried beans and peas, grains, seeds and nuts. There is no single type of vegetarian diet. Instead, vegetarian eating patterns usually fall into the following groups:
- The vegan diet, which excludes all meat and animal products
- The lacto vegetarian diet, which includes plant foods plus dairy products
- The lacto-ovo vegetarian diet, which includes both dairy products and eggs.

People who follow vegetarian diets can get all the nutrients they need. " You can see it at:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/vegetariandiet.html

Try next time to do some checking first to get ACCURATE INFORMATION ! !

BTW I am not against meat, but I am against misstating the truth ! .
.

[Roguer]

you forget

the lacto, ovo, fish vegetarians
and the lacto, ovo, fish, beef, chicken, pork vegetarians
and the B12 vitamin enriched food vegetarians
and the sodium laced, faux meat vegetarians
and the insect, reptile, amphibian vegetarians
and the Hindu pork, chicken, anything but beef vegetarians
and the ever popular: oriental canine, feline vegetarians

Sorry to poke fun, but either you are vegetarian or not. It is obvious from your comments that many vegetarians do not feel they are not getting enough protein and good fats and B12 from a purely plant based diet. Science and cultures the world over disagree with you. Even the Dali Lama was told to start eating meat for health reasons.

Eat what you wish, it is your body. But don't yell at others for their choices. It is more important to eat what is available locally and what does not come from a factory. In other words in your quest for an environmentally healthy diet don't eat mangos if you live in Minnesota.

[ddanimal]

I know a lot of lacto ovo fisho "vegetarians".

[ddanimal]

Meat isnt the problem. Factory farming of meat is the problem, along with grain subsidies that make confinement feeding operations economically viable.

Grassfed meat is an essential source of nutrients that are impossible to obtain from plant foods.

[Roguer]

Here we go again. I remember school lunches. I remember seeing kids eat them. All of it was barely passable as food. I always brown bagged it. A piece of fruit and a couple sandwiches or left overs from the night before. Home made applesauce was common in the winter time. Sometimes my mom would make "cookies" with saltines and homemade frosting. Most times there was a note on the napkin telling me she loved me.

Parents, if you are so concerned about what your kids are eating at school, make their lunches and better yet as they get older, teach them how to make their own lunch. Why do people always think government has to solve their problems.

[Vickster]

I always had a brown-bag lunch because my parents were too cheap to give me money for school lunch, and to be honest those brown-bag lunches were probably healthier than the cafeteria fare. As for my own kids, I gave them more choices when it came to deciding what they wanted to eat at school, but they also had to help me with weeding the gardens, milking the goats and butchering some of our meat.

[condor101]

Meat and Dairy are toxic and full of hormones. This is a fact.
I want my tax money to be used to put healthy food in schools.
Yes, I want the government to regulate school lunches. It's my tax money and the children deserve good healthy food.
Those vending machines with all that candy and sugar laced sodas need to go too.

[LGrace]

This is just plain not true.

[ddanimal]

Oh really? Prove it.

please explain how you get

B12
carnitine
zinc
vitamin A
vitamin K2
EPA/DHA

from plants

[toxicbrainpoison]

lol. This was awesome. I could not believe the flack that Baltimore has gotten because of this. The dietary guidelines put out by the USDA even suggest eating way more vegetables and grains than meat. We have to help kids meet their nutritional needs in school. If kids were eating grass fed organic beef then maybe it would be ok but right now its a toxic mess and the preservatives they pack them in are pretty toxic too. They also arent following the 25% meat rule. You need to balance out every portion of meat 1:3 with a balance of grains and mostly vegetables.

[ndem]

after six months of living back in the US my 7 year old ended up with endocrine probs...we moved back to Europe and more unprocessed whole foods..her public school in France has an organic cafeteria! I am convinced that hormones in the meat and pesticides and other chemicals in food and all prducts were affecting my chld's hormonal development...the Children's hospital in Paris confirmed this. Our children are NOT disposable!!!!!

[condor101]

If people in the U.S. were to actually see a classroom of french children, they would be shocked. All of the children are thin and active and well fed with organic lunches.

It's criminal what our schools here feed our children. The whole food system is corrupted with GMO and hormone contaminated food.
It's no wonder that brad pitta and angelina jolie are raising their children in France. The food is better there.

[jglow77]

I'd like to see someone tackle the issue that we just eat too much, period. The fear to not eat to full satiation at all times has become part of the mentality. However, regarding meat I hear phony arguments on both sides. As long as our bodies need protein and essential amino acids, meat will remain the best source since it has the closest combination of amino acids to our body's composition than any other sources of protein. However, it is also true that common practices of meat industry such as using antibiotics are potentially very dangerous to our health (although it is hard to conduct studies to prove it scientifically). The solution in my opinion is meat production on smaller and healthier scale. The problem is that as long as we overeat nothing but the cheapest and most abundant meat would do.

[jsarets]

Mostly agree.

But egg whites and low-fat dairy are excellent protein sources, at least as good as meat.

Food service distributors sell frozen egg beaters patties. Add reduced-fat cheese and whole wheat rounds, and there's an ideal school lunch entree: healthy, economical, and kid-friendly.

[ddanimal]

Fats contain essential nuteients. Low fat foods will make you sick.

[LGrace]

With all due respect: You may want to learn more about current nutrition science. Whole foods (eggs with the yolks, dairy with the fat), foods closest to their natural state, have the most complete nutrients. Crackers and other processed foods create problems with sugar spikes and inadequate fiber. A good book to check out is Dr. Mark Hyman's Ultrametab­olism--gre­at discussion of how the right foods keep hormones and health in balance.

[KathDimmick]

... a combination of GRAINS & LEGUMES ( rice & beans for example ) will supply all the essential amino acids ...

[ddanimal]

There is a lot more to a diet than just amino acids.