The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

USDA, meatpacking industry downplay covid-19 risks resulting in worker illnesses and deaths

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the meatpacking industry worked together to downplay and disregard risks to worker health during the pandemic, as shown in documents obtained by Public Citizen and American Oversight.

“While we knew that the meatpacking industry was lobbying the Trump administration to take steps to protect its profits regardless of the cost to workers’ lives, the degree of collaboration these documents show is astounding,” said Adam Pulver, attorney for Public Citizen.

Pulver said as outbreaks continue to emerge in meatpacking plants, it’s stunning to see the cavalier attitude officials took to the health and safety of workers in the early part of the pandemic.

20 books to read about food this summer

The world as we know it is changing due to the coronavirus pandemic. But as it exposes inequities in the health and food systems, many people hope that the pandemic offers an opportunity to build a new and more sustainable food system.

To understand what it will take to move forward, the Food Tank has compiled its summer reading list to examine the issues that affect the country's food system today. These 20 books provide insight into food access and justice in black communities, food relief and school nutrition programs, the effects of technology on global food supply chains, the relationship between climate change and food production, and more:

1. "Be My Guest: Reflections on Food, Community, and the Meaning of Generosity" by Priya Basil. Forthcoming November 2020

Priya Basil explores the meaning of hospitality within a variety of cultural, linguistic, and sociopolitical contexts. Basil uses her cross-cultural experience to illustrate how food amplifies discourse within families and touches on the hospitality and the lack thereof that migrants and refugees experience.

Bayer to pay more than $10 billion to settle cancer lawsuits

Bayer agreed to pay $10 billion over claims its herbicide Roundup causes cancer in people in a settlement announced Wednesday.

Most of the money will be sent to four leading plaintiffs’ law firms, who will distribute it to nearly 100,000 clients who were diagnosed with cancer after prolonged use of the weed killer. Bayer still faces at least 30,000 claims from plaintiffs who haven’t agreed to join the settlement.

The settlement also includes $1.25 billion for potential future claims from Roundup customers who may develop the form of cancer known as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Individuals, depending on the strength of their cases, will receive payments of $5,000 to $250,000, according to a New York Times article.

Genetically engineered and gene edited plants face less oversight under the Trump administration’s USDA

A majority of genetically engineered and gene edited plants now will escape any oversight from the U.S. Department of Agriculture under revised regulations issued recently by the agency.

Despite comments from environmental groups, consumer organizations, biotech crop developers, and food industry stakeholders asking the USDA to eliminate a provision allowing crop developers to self-determine whether their products are regulated, the Trump administration refused to require developers to even notify the agency of products they believe are exempt under the new regulations.

“The result is that government regulators and the public will have no idea what products will enter the market and whether those products appropriately qualified for an exemption from oversight,” said Gregory Jaffe, biotechnology project director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “They will stealthily enter our food supply at a time when consumers want greater transparency, leading to potential consumer backlash and acceptance problems, even for safe and beneficial products. That is why many industry members supported increased transparency.”

Foodborne illnesses increasing, CDC says, but Trump administration drags its feet on enforcement

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday infections caused by Campylobacter, Yersinia, Cyclospora, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, and Vibrio increased in 2019 compared to 2016-2018, with progress in reducing Salmonella, Shigella, and Listeria infections stalled.

“This latest CDC data makes clear that the status quo is not working,” said Thomas Gremillion, director of food policy for the Consumer Federation of America. “The food industry can do much better, particularly when it comes to meat and poultry.”

A CDC report, based on preliminary data, emphasizes the role of chicken as an ongoing source of disease. Campylobacter, usually associated with eating chicken, remained the most commonly reported pathogen associated with foodborne illness in 2019. The rate of Campylobacter infection increased by 13 percent.

Don’t give businesses immunity from liability for exposing workers or consumers to covid-19, consumer groups say

No business should be given immunity from potential liability for exposing workers or customers to covid-19, Public Citizen and 117 other groups said Wednesday in a letter to leaders in Congress.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, has called for businesses to be immune from liability if their workers and customers get sick because a business failed to take reasonable steps to protect people. Such a proposal, if enacted, would undermine consumer and worker protections, reward negligent conduct, and show unwarranted disrespect for state law, the groups said.

“[W]e strongly oppose any legislation that would establish nationwide immunity for businesses that operate in an unreasonably unsafe manner, causing returning workers and consumers to risk COVID-19 infection,” the groups wrote. “Removing legal accountability for businesses not only would jeopardize the health and safety of workers, it would also jeopardize everyone who enters those workplaces. This would be extremely damaging to the nation’s economic recovery.”

Stock up on protein foods on your next trip to the grocery store, because some meat processing plants are closing

Around the United States, several meat processing plants are closing because workers are getting the coronavirus.

A Tyson Foods pork plant and a National Beef Packing slaughterhouse, both in Iowa, and JBS USA beef plant in Pennsylvania have closed, according to an article on National Public Radio.

The plant closings aren’t yet having a significant impact on the supply of meat to consumers, Christine McCracken, a meat industry analyst, was quoted as saying in the article.

Baby boomers concentrate on keepin’ on during the coronavirus pandemic

I’m working on my book about my journalism career, so these days of staying at home are going by quickly for me. I have plenty of food (and toilet paper) and just found out I can order groceries, expect frozen food, from my local food co-op. I was ready to try Safeway or Fred Meyer thinking eating nonorganic food would be a lesser risk than going to the co-op to shop.

Then, I wrote about the Dirty Dozen, a list of the produce with the highest pesticide residues offered yearly by the Environmental Working Group. Topping the list are strawberries, spinach, and kale. The EWG recommends that whenever possible, consumers purchase organic versions of produce on the Dirty Dozen list.

Raisins, which hadn’t been tested by the U.S. Department of Agriculture since 2007, had the most pesticide residues. The EWG recommends eating organic raisins or prunes. Prunes, USDA tests found, had much lower pesticide residues than either conventional and organic raisins.

Meanwhile, boomer bloggers are writing about:

Grower’s edge vaporizers are being recalled by Hawthorne Hydroponics due to shock, burn, and fire hazards

Hawthorne Hydroponics is recalling about 60,000 grower’s edge vaporizers in the United States and about 340 in Canada.

The vaporizers can overheat, and the vaporized materials can pose a burn risk if spilled or cause a fire if they fall onto a combustible surface. The deluxe model vaporizer also poses an electrical shock hazard if a consumer touches a small copper piece at the base of the vaporizer while it’s being used.

Hawthorne has received 11 reports of overheating or fire, nine for the deluxe and two for the commercial model. Hawthorne has received one report of property damage as a result of vaporizer use. No injuries have been reported.

Strawberries, spinach, and kale top this year’s Dirty Dozen list for pesticide residue, but raisins are worse

Nearly 70 percent of the fresh produce sold in the United States contains residues of potentially harmful chemical pesticides, according to the Environmental Working Group’s 2020 Dirty Dozen. This year’s Dirty Dozen are:

1. Strawberries
2. Spinach
3. Kale
4. Nectarines
5. Apples
6. Grapes
7. Peaches
8. Cherries
9. Pears
10. Tomatoes
11. Celery
12. Potatoes