Accept no fillers! Well...not so fast

Recently, a disgruntled microbiologist at the USDA blew the lid open on the "pink slime" controversy. If you haven't heard about the process, beef trimmings are separated using a centrifuge and is then sterilized using ammonia gas. This is used as a filler in ground beef. This has caused an upset in people that eat anything with this pink slime. However, I think this has been a sensationalized issue that has been blown out of proportion. This post is dedicated to why fillers are used not only in the meat industry, but in coffee, beer, and many other foods (Hot dogs are especially notorious). Additionally, the use of fillers is found in many household items, such as cleaning solutions, detergents, and just about anything, as we'll see.

The biggest reason that fillers are used in foods today is to maintain low prices. In the US, we spend less than 10% of our income on food. I truly believe that is because our food is cheap rather than us being rich. The price of this food is controlled through subsidies and the use of fillers. Both of these features allow the US to feed so many people, regardless of their level of income.

Another reason to use fillers is to take an existing product, and stretch it out to reach more people. A great example of this is during the civil war. During the civil war, confederate troops would add root chicory and even acorns to their coffee to make their rations stretch out. Sometimes when supplies are tight, it just makes sense to make the most of a limited product.

Now that we have established the needs for fillers, we will look at some common fillers used in common foods or drinks. The most common filler used in the world is water. That's right, water. Water is used to dilute detergents, cleaning solutions, and even in pesticides. Why? water as a filler makes substances like those mentioned safer. It also makes for a more convenient product as it is often ready to use.

Another common filler is corn-based products. Corn is used in everything as a filler it seems. Corn is used as a filler in malted barley to make cheaper beer (which is probably why it doesn't taste as good). Corn starch is used as a thickener with literally hundreds of uses. Then there's public enemy #1, corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup literally is in thousands of products. Why? it all goes back to price. To use a sweetener produced in the US is much cheaper than importing cane sugar from the Caribbean or Central America. The US is addicted to sugar, and a cheap alternative equals lower prices. While I don't necessarily agree with the US sugar addiction, it's there and people would be outraged to pay $2 for a soda.

While writing this, I got to thinking about all the fillers that may be in products, and I'll leave you with a few products I found while browsing the house. And while no one prefers fillers, they make our American lifestyle possible with low prices. And as I leave you today, I want you to ponder on the cost of ground beef, versus prime cut steaks. Many people simply cannot afford to eat prime rib, New York strip steak, and filet mignon every week. Sometimes, you gotta have a burger and hotdog night.

Left: some "original syrup" from Giant. On the reverse, we see the ingredients. Apparently, the original syrup wasn't a maple syrup.

This is the back of a coke can. The first ingredient is water, followed by high fructose corn syrup. This 12 oz portion has 39 grams of sugar from the syrup.

While this is non-dairy creamer, the first ingredient, again is corn. This is a common filler used. 

Use your words: Organic

This week, we look at the most over-used buzz word in the discussion of our food. We will look at what organic means, how it differs from conventional production, and how organic food is produced.

What is Organic?
When talking organic agriculture, this is a specific term that is owned by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This government agency regulates the certification process and deems what is considered an organic practice, and conducts audits on farms to maintain growers' certification. This is important, because without a regulating agency, anyone could slap an "organic" on anything (a misuse of the logo is punishable with an $11,000 fine). There are synthetic items that are banned from organic production (unless there's an exemption). Additionally, there are organic items that are allowed in organic production (unless they have been banned for any reason).

Wait, so what kind of synthetic compounds are still allowed?
Although this is a fairly long list (the sum of which can be found here), many of which are used in negligible amounts. A few synthetic compounds include: hydrogen peroxide, some antibiotics (bacteria derived), plastic mulches, Ozone for sterilizing, bleach, gasoline.

If something is organic is it pesticide free?
NO! this is the most common misconception about organic agriculture. Organic just means that only organic pesticides can be used. These pesticides are normally plant-derived, or an organic by-product. This applies to growing the crop AND processing the crop, say, into snack foods.

Is organic automatically sustainable?
Not necessarily, organic is not automatically sustainable. Sustainability is a management goal that many growers strive for, whereas organic is a restriction on what can and can't be use on the crop. An organic grower has just as many tools as a conventional grower in many cases. In fact, many growers use a hybrid system with conventional chemistry and biological tools. Many people found that having the most tools in their belt makes sustainability more attainable.

Why does organic cost so much?
This is connected to the previous question. In many cases, management is more difficult, and organic producers are limited in what they can and can't use for specific problems (mainly insects and pathogens). This often leads to more blemishes, and more losses in marketable crops. Additionally, there's a pricetag on maintaining your USDA certification. It's a sliding scale cost, but the average is about $750 per certification. There's a value added to the produce and in many cases it's more difficult to maintain profitability without raising prices.

So the next time you see that USDA organic logo on something, remember that the product, along with going through the same rigors of growing, inspecting, packing, and marketing, the grower also has additional regulations to comply to. It's a lot of extra work (and money), and doesn't guarantee success for the grower. But, it does provide a value-added product to the market that some people enjoy just based on the principle of the matter.

What is Agriculture? The Beginning

When you hear the word "agriculture", what comes to mind? Most people think, farming. However, this is only part-true. First, let's look at the word itself. The word agriculture, as with most words comes from a Latin word, agricultura. If we split the word down into agri, which means field, and cultura which translates into cultivation, we find that agriculture's literal translation from Latin is cultivation of the fields. This is a series of  the history of the "cultivation of the fields".

Imagine a world where your entire livelihood was searching and gathering food. From sunrise to sunset, all you and your family does is hunt and gather. The nomadic nature of your family means that you move with the food, and instead of a nice 3 bedroom 2 bath ranch house, it's a tent. I mean, why build a house when you need to follow migration patterns of the animals. This is a rough way of living, and because you spend all day looking for food, there isn't enough time to really do anything else, all you do is eat, sleep, and search for food. This is what life was like in 11,000BC.

Fast forward to 8,000BC, the fertile crescent in a region of Mesoptamia, a Hebrew word which translates to "land between 2 rivers". This region is in what is now modern-day Iraq (the two rivers being the Tigris and Euphrates). People got smart about their food supply. I couldn't imagine how revolutionary it was to think, "I'm going to GROW my own food". Now, this wasn't something that happened overnight, and this revolution didn't discontinue the hunter-gatherer way of life. It did, however, allow a shift. Now, instead of hunting and gathering all day, you're able to grow food, either on the side, or in its entirety. For the time, this was a totally new idea.

Fast forward again about 2,000 years, it's 6000BC, in the Nile River Valley, what is now modern day Egypt. The area was very fertile, and was flooded annually, which deposited all sorts of debris onto the fields, but most importantly, it provided nutrition to plants. Could you imagine if your livelihood was all dependent on what we consider today to be a natural disaster? There is a reason that the Egyptians were so advanced, and that is agriculture. Think for a minute, if you are able to grow enough of your own food, and enough to feed your neighbor, then your neighbor is now free to do something else. This was another revolution. This was a shift from subsistence agriculture, a system where you grow just for yourself or your family, to supporting more and more people. Some of the people are now free to specialize. The crazy part of this story is it's repeated again and again throughout history, in Asia, Europe, even in the United States. This is the natural progression of civilization.

Agriculture is responsible for civilization itself. If that nomad didn't think to grow his own food, where would we be today? We wouldn't be able to enjoy our free time, because we wouldn't have any free time. While many of my friends hunt seasonally, it's a totally different story when you come home empty-handed and go to bed hungry.

This is the beginning of the story, I will continue going through the history of agriculture and note major events throughout the journey of people as we became more and more advanced. And it all started with a nomad that had a new idea on how to feed his family.

Introduction:

A few days ago, I read an article that bothered me. I wasn't bothered so much by the content, as I was from the attitude. The article was College Majors That are Useless, and I was expecting to find a bunch of obscure majors, and to my surprise, the author noted Agriculture as #1 most useless major, Animal Science as #4, and Horticulture as #5. Now, the information used to justify the author's views may lead you to think he is right. And while I could sit here and rant about how important agriculture is, and how my plant science knowledge is by no means useless, I would like to, instead, address a much grander problem facing this nation.

The author, along with countless other Americans have lost their roots to agriculture. This is much more of a heartbreak to me than anyone calling my major/career useless. I honestly don't know whether to be angry at people like this, or feel sorry for them. There seems to be a growing disconnect between growers, who produce the food, and the consumers who buy the food. And while this may not seem like a problem, it is.

My goal with this blog is to educate everyone on where the ag products you use every day, got their start, and how they ended up on your kitchen table, in your pantry, in your cupholder. I intend to learn just as much during this project as you, the readers will. I am interested in ALL forms of agriculture, and will try to spread out the topics to capture a broad spectrum of readers.

I am hoping to take you along the path of ag production from the field, to processing, to the household. I am not interested in chastising anyone on their carbon footprint, or not eating organically. That's a life choice that is none of my business. I would also like to plot out the path on a map to thoroughly illustrate the various steps within the ag system. If there is a topic you would like me to report, feel free to email me or leave a comment. I am just as interested in learning where my food, drink, clothing, and other household products come from.

Stay tuned for updates weekly (that's the plan at least). I'll try to cover an aspect of agriculture weekly, whether it's a specific crop or a specific product in the household. I am very open to suggestions on topics to cover.