Re: Food Thread : Tue Jul 02, 2013 2:55 pm  

World of Redboy wrote:

I'm not sure if this issue has been mentioned before in a separate thread but apparently now Monsanto and others are being granted patents by the European Patents office on all natural crops such as broccoli, in essence making it Monsantos private property. This was shared with me from a friend of mine. It's mentioned on the natural news website. Have only viewed it on my mobile phone, so haven't included a link. Maybe other people can look more deeply? if this is the case will it Monsanto and other holding the world to ransom of natural food?

I haven't heard that Monsanto have patented or are patenting "normal" food crops but they do own patents on Roundup-Ready food crop genes, i.e. crops that are immune to Monsanto's weedkiller Roundup.
One can plant Roundup-Ready and then use Roundup weedkiller at will, killing all plants it touches except the Roundup-Ready crop, which survives.
Some say (and with some conviction) that Roundup-Ready genes can and will find their way into non-Roundup-Ready varieties of the same plant, thereby affecting large areas of the gene pool of that plant.

Anyway ... there have reportedly been cases in the third world where people have been sued for saving seeds from one year's crop to sow the next year, the case being that Monsanto is due a royalty on those saved seeds.
Is that what you're thinking of?

Re: Food Thread : Tue Jul 02, 2013 3:13 pm  

By the way ... the USA refuses to differentiate between Soya and GM Soya, so if you buy US Soya, you don't know whether it is all GM, mixed with GM, or GM-free.

So, when the ingredients on your wrapped bread from the supermarket includes soya, it's most likely that US poop.

AND ... the soya is only there as a carrier for the so-called "Flour treatment agents" that the law does not force producers to name but usually contain GM enzymes to facilitate the Chorleywood baking process (of which we have spoken before).
The idea is that the enzymes are killed in the high heat of the oven, hence you won't ingest living enzymes, so they aren't listed on the ingredients.
If that's the case, why so shy of naming them?
I await being convinced.

Re: Food Thread : Tue Jul 02, 2013 3:33 pm  

On the subject of GM, Owen Patterson was interviewed on The Today Programme last week. Basically he came across as a cheerleader for GM crops. One of his views was how tragic it was that 60000 people a year were dying or going blind because goldenrice (a GM form of rice modified to contain vitamin A) isn't available to them because of restrictions. It was unfortunate that his interviewer didn't ask him whether he was as passionate about other methods of ensuring that people get their vitamin A which are apparently just as possible. Personally I like my Environment Ministers to have a bit of regard for the precautionary principle, but he seemed to be straight out of the John Gummer mould.

Re: Food Thread : Tue Jul 02, 2013 3:43 pm  

Got a nice piece of smoked haddock for tea tonight which I'll enjoy with some buttered Jerseys and green beans.
Some strawberries out of the greenhouse with some single cream for afters.

Re: Food Thread : Tue Jul 02, 2013 3:44 pm  

A few years back, there was a "controlled" test of GM rapeseed.
There was a bit of an argument about how many hundreds of metres of gap needed to be left around the test fields to prevent cross-pollination contamination.

Around that time, I was in Birmingham New Street station one morning.
BNS is situated in the centre of a large conurbation (i.e. Birmingham) and is largely underground.

One part of the track in the station, however, is open to the sky in a sort of urban canyon.
There, between the tracks, was a flourishing patch of rape in full yellow flower.

Re: Food Thread : Tue Jul 02, 2013 6:43 pm  

Anyone who thinks that GM is the answer to the world's problems is naive at best.

Simple as.

Re: Food Thread : Tue Jul 02, 2013 7:31 pm  

El Barbudo wrote:

BNS is situated in the centre of a large conurbation (i.e. Birmingham) and is largely underground.

A bit of an understatement

There isn't a single tree or patch of greenery within half a mile of New Street Station, believe me, I've walked those streets on many an occasion trying to find a f'k** way in

Re: Food Thread : Tue Jul 02, 2013 8:33 pm  

El Barbudo wrote:

Anyway ... there have reportedly been cases in the third world where people have been sued for saving seeds from one year's crop to sow the next year, the case being that Monsanto is due a royalty on those saved seeds.
Is that what you're thinking of?

There have been cases of farmers in the US being sued for saving seed never mind the third world.

Re: Food Thread : Wed Jul 03, 2013 7:00 am  

There have been cases in India of farmers killing themselves after the failure of their GM crops that they were persuaded to use by the likes of Monsanto.

Re: Food Thread : Sat Jul 06, 2013 5:28 am  

WIZEB wrote:

Got a nice piece of smoked haddock for tea tonight which I'll enjoy with some buttered Jerseys and green beans.
Some strawberries out of the greenhouse with some single cream for afters.

Glad someone is continuing the thread along it's intended lines, am sure a GM foods thread would be very interesting for those that have an opinion on it, but to me a "Food" thread should be about food, not an ethical debate (or should I say an opportunity to knock big business, again, under the facade of and ethical debate).

WIZEB, am interested to know a couple of things:

Where was the Smoked Haddock from?
Dyed or un Dyed?
How did you cook it?, I usually just poach it in milk, butter and black pepper and then have crusty bread to soak up the "sauce", I've tried poaching in water but it didn't taste as good (may well have been the quality of the fish though), have also been told to try poaching it in cider but I just can't quite see how that would work.